Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

A February 21, 1952 piece in the Clinton County Times begins with a question: “Was Dunnstown Church first on West Branch?”

After some research, I’m going to say that the short answer is,”Maybe.”

Of course, I’ll never get a whole column out of just the short answer. So let me explain this to death.

The article begins,”Henry W. Shoemaker, president of the Pennsylvania Folklore Society, State Museum, today said ministers and historians do not agree as to which is the oldest church in the valley on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.”

I am aware I just lost some of you with the mention of Henry Shoemaker. Many people do not view him as a reliable resource. But I’ve always felt that he was more accurate than he’s been given credit for, plus, in this case, he was consulting with a respected citizen of Clinton County, Judge Charles Dunn.

Dunn claimed that the Dunnstown Church was the first one built along the Susquehanna’s West Branch. Now, this wouldn’t have been the current Dunnstown Church building, which came a bit later, but an earlier one built on the same site.

Dunn was quoted as explaining ,”It was a Methodist church, built in 1786 at Dunnsburg, now Dunnstown, Clinton County, and Peter Grove, the great Indian fighter, and other noteworthy figures are buried there.”

Peter Grove is indeed buried in the Dunnstown Cemetery. I’ve been to his grave many times. So we can confirm that we’re talking about the same location. As to the church itself, the Clinton County Genealogical Society cemetery book says,”Next to the cemetery, a small log church had been bullt at a very early day, and here the Methodists met regularly for worship. In 1851, this church was replaced with the present church structure.”

So, so far, that checks out. But was the old church actually the oldest?

To investigate further, I tried my go-to source for this sort of thing, John Blair Linn’s “History of Centre and Clinton Counties,” published in 1883. Which is also a bit unclear, but about the best I can do.

On page 669, Linn describes an “old log school-house about sixteen by twenty feet.” He says it was used for religious services, specifically Methodist. This was built prior to 1850, when he says the current church was built. (Either Linn or the CCGS is off by one year, but that’s not really pertinent here.) Linn does not specify exactly when the log schoolhouse/church was constructed, and he may not have had much of a record on that.

And, honestly, if Linn didn’t record it, I’m not too likely to find out much else from another source. Theres a reason why Linn’s History is the first place I turn: It’s the most thorough book about our local early days.

Interestingly, Dunn also suggests that the notorious criminal John Michael Conley was buried on the outskirts of Dunnstown Cemetery. Conley, in partnership with David “Robber” Lewis of Bellefonte, was shot down in 1820.

Dunn says,”It was reported to lay him out in the Methodist Church until his relatives could be contacted, but opposition arose and in the woodhouse on the church biers until his family arrived, three days later, then he was buried outside the stone wall of the churchyard.”

This fascinates me, because I’d always read that Conley was buried on the outskirts of Great Island Cemetery in Lock Haven. But I can’t rule out that he could be in Dunnstown, which means this article has given me two new mysteries to work on. It’s been a good day.