Pipe Creek Church of the Brethren - African American Presence

Historic site Viewable from the road. Things to do and see Operating church Location 26 Pipe Creek Road, Union Bridge, MD 21791 Contact information (410) 775-7343 This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it On the Web

The Church of the Brethren began in Germany in 1708, with the first church in North America established in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1728. It promoted non-violence and spiritual regeneration. Daniel Saylor, baptized in the Germantown church in 1750, moved to Maryland and, with Philip Englar, organized Pipe Creek Church of the Brethren in 1758. It is thought to be the oldest and the “mother church” of its denomination in the eastern district of Maryland. Because baptismal candidates were immersed three times in a nearby creek, outsiders called members Dunkers. Congregations usually named their churches after the stream in which they performed baptisms. Throughout their history, the church strongly opposed to slavery and barred members from holding slaves. Particularly in Maryland, some African Americans joined the church. In 1835 delegates at the annual meeting debated and affirmed that membership should be the same for people regardless of color.

John T. Lewis, who joined Pipe Creek Church in 1853, later moved to New York where he earned the affection and esteem of Mark Twain and inspired his writing. Lewis kept in touch with the Brethren through church publications. In 1870 the Christian Family Companion published his letter stating, “I am trying by the help of God to live in accordance with the gospel and the order of the Brethren. I hope the brothers and sisters will pray for me that I may be faithful to the end.” He was.

Resources

• Ronald J. Gordon. The Little Dunker Church: Who Are the Dunkers? Church of the Brethren Network, 2002.

People in the Places

John T. Lewis (1835-1906)

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and John T. Lewis. (Library of Congress)

John T. Lewis, a free man of color, lived the first twenty-five years of his life in Carroll County, Maryland. At age 18 he joined the Church of the Brethren and was baptized at Meadow Creek Church in Westminster. He became a member of the congregation at the Pipe Creek Church and later transferred to the Beaver Dam Church in Frederick County. In 1860 he moved north to Adams County, Pennsylvania, and the Marsh Creek congregation, then migrated further up the Old Carolina Road (Route 15) and settled in Elmira, New York. There he married Mary Stover, who was born in slavery near the same road south of Leesburg, Virginia. Her uncle was John W. Jones (see Loudoun County, page __). There were no Brethren congregations in that part of New York, but he held to his religion.

John Lewis came to know Mark Twain after Twain’s marriage to Olivia Langdon and their lengthy stays at her sister’s home at Quarry Farm near Elmira. Lewis worked at Quarry Farm in addition to cultivating his own farm and selling its produce. Lewis earned Twain’s respect and gratitude when he leaped from his farm wagon to seize the bridle of a horse galloping toward him. He managed to stop the horse before its carriage, containing Twain’s sister-in-law, niece, and a nurse, careened over a precipice on an upcoming curve. The extended Langdon family expressed their appreciation by giving Lewis a large sum of money and a watch. Twain reported, “The instant he found himself possessed of money, he forgot himself in a plan to make his old father comfortable, who is wretchedly poor and lives down in Maryland.” In 1903, Ladies Home Journal printed a photograph of Twain and Lewis together. The reporter wrote that Twain identified Lewis as “a friend of mine” and added, “I have not known an honester man nor a more respect-worthy one.” Scholars surmise that Twain based the Huckleberry Finn character, Jim, largely on Lewis.

In 1903, John Lewis restored the pulpit Bible to the “Little Dunker Church” at Antietam in Maryland. A member of a Union regiment in Elmira had removed it from the church after the battle, and eventually gave it to the late sergeant’s sister who was widowed and in need. She, however, wanted it returned to the church and told members of the regiment during its 1903 reunion in Elmira. Not knowing how to contact the church or even if it still existed, they sought out the only Brethren member they knew in Elmira—John T. Lewis. Because he read the denomination’s periodicals, he was able to tell them that the current pastor was Elder John E. Otto of Sharpsburg. They charged Lewis with returning the Bible, which he did personally. The National Park Service owns it now and displays it in the visitor center.

Resources

• For Mark Twain’s description of John T. Lewis and the rescue, see Mark Twain to W.D. Howells and Wife, August 25, 1877. The Letters of Mark Twain, Vol. 3.
• Ronald J. Gordon. “The Pulpit Bible,” in The Little Dunker Church: Who Are the Dunkers? Church of the Brethren Network, 2002.
• Antietam National Battlefield. “The Mumma Bible.”

Interest-African American, Carroll County, Maryland, >African-American, >AF Carroll County