Rev. Robert Glenn and Mary Ann McCracken
Husband Rev. Robert Glenn 1 2 3
Born: 22 Mar 1802 - Wolf Creek Twp, Mercer Co, PA 1 2 4 Christened: Died: 6 Sep 1857 1 2 4 Buried: - Mill Creek Cemetery, Utica, Frenchcreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 5
Father: Samuel Glenn (Bef 1799- ) 3 Mother: [Unk] Cunningham ( - ) 4
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Rebecca Wycoff (Abt 1801-1846) 2 4 6
Other Spouse: Harriet Finley ( -1901) 4 7 8 - 10 Dec 1849 4 8
Wife Mary Ann McCracken 4 8
Born: Christened: Died: 14 Sep 1848 Buried:
Father: James McCracken ( - ) 9 Mother: Isabella Moore ( - ) 9
Children
1 M [Infant] Glenn
Born: Christened: Died: 3 Sep 1848 Buried: - Mill Creek Cemetery, Utica, Frenchcreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 5
General Notes: Husband - Rev. Robert Glenn
He was born March 2. [HVC 1879, 188]
He was in a peculiar sense a child of the Presbytery of Erie. He was born within its boundaries. He was gathered into the fold of the Good Shepherd through the ministry of its members. He was licensed and ordained by it. All his ministerial labors were confined to its field; and within its bounds his sleeping dust awaits the Master's call on the morning of the Resurrection.
It is believed that his deepest convictions of sin, and most triumphant hopes in Christ, were received under the ministrations of Rev. Samuel Tait, late of Mercer, PA. To him he was in the habit of going in his time of conflict and trouble, seeking instruction and advice. Often the mistake was made that is so common in all religious experience, of expecting too much from the minister in the way of light and comfort. The rugged experience and matter-of-fact mind of Mr. Tait often left the young inquirer to labor and struggle and wait until he was ready to conclude that his spiritual adviser was without sympathy or interest in his welfare. But he afterwards found that the discipline was most salutary, and that in those days of trial he was but preparing for the solemn work of dealing with immortal souls, in the labors of the ministry. Throughout his entire Christian course he was not a sanguine Christian. He was oftener in the Valley of Humiliation than on the Delectable Mountains. Yet withal, he felt that his feet were planted on the Rock, and whilst trembling at times as the billows dashed around him, he felt safe.
After some preparatory study, Mr. Glenn became a student of Jefferson College, where he graduated in 1828. One of his classmates at College said, "While at College, he was one of the most sedate and circumspect of the students; and although cheerful, free from all the levities so characteristic of youth." Mr. Glenn was for two years a student of the Western Theological Seminary. He also studied for some time under the advice and direction of his old pastor, Rev. Samuel Tait. He was licensed to preach the gospel at a meeting of the Presbytery of Erie, held at Mercer, Pennsylvania, on the 2d day of February, 1831. The intervening year and a half was spent chiefly in preaching to the vacant congregations of Amity, Mill Creek, and Sandy Lake, where, at a meeting of Presbytery held at Mill Creek on the 12th day of September, 1832, he was ordained to the whole work of the ministry, and installed as pastor of the congregations of Mill Creek and Amity for two-thirds of his time. The remaining third was spent as a stated supply in the church of Sandy Lake. The relation to the church of Amity continued until April 3, 1850; that to Mill Creek until it was dissolved by death. About the time he was released from Amity, the relation to the church of Sandy Lake was suspended, and Mr. Glenn accepted calls from the congregation of Big Sugar Creek, and was installed as pastor there on the 18th day of June, 1850, spending half his time in each of the congregations of Mill Creek and Big Sugar Creek. This was his charge during the remainder of his ministry, making at Mill Creek a ministry of over twenty-five years.
Mr. Glenn was a laborious and most faithful pastor. He was instant in season and out of season, and literally wore himself out in preaching the gospel. He was not a great man, but he was a good man. He was not an orator, but he was a faithful preacher of the Word. He labored for the souls of men as one that must give account. He labored and toiled over his sermons as the miner does in his quest for gold. It is not strange then that his preaching was accompanied with the demonstration of the Spirit and with power. If he did not excel in the power of logic, or in that intense grappling of mind with great subjects that exhibits peculiar powers of intellect, he could relate the simple story of the Cross with most persuasive power and unction. And, like Jacob of old, he had peculiar power in wrestling with the Angel of the Covenant. He was mighty in prayer. Those who heard him felt that to him the mercy-seat was a familiar place, and that reverence and boldness and faith were all prominent in his addresses to the Most High. As a man he was uniformly meek, humble, diffident of his own judgment and abilities, yet firm in his adherence to principle and conscience. He was a power for good in the community where he dwelt, and had fewer enemies than many who are less zealous for the cause of truth and righteousness. As a Christian he was simple and childlike in his piety, shrinking from any allusion to his own attainments; yet most evidently bearing about with him the glow of ardent love to God and the souls of men. His ministry was characterized by regular, systematic, conscientious effort, and its fruits were a gradual growth, and a steady, constant adding to the church not only from the families already connected with it, but from the families of the world.
The last hours of such a man were, of course, peaceful. Constant labor and frequent exposure gradually undermined a constitution that must have been originally of great power and endurance. The disease to which he ultimately succumbed was consumption. He saw the end approaching, and commenced setting his house in order. His religious exercises were most delightful and comforting to those who witnessed them. Yet there was nothing of presumption or mere sentiment connected with them. When the deep waters were approaching his footsteps, a ministerial brother inquired if he felt that he was on the Rock. He replied, "Yes; but as a poor guilty sinner, with no hope but in precious, atoning blood." He looked across the dark valley, not with the presumption of the sentimentalist, or the feigned calmness of the philosopher, but with the earnest, humble faith of the believer in Jesus. And thus, in sublime faith and childlike confidence in God, he passed through the valley, and entered the City of Gold, to "see the King in his beauty."
His death occurred on the morning of the Sabbath, September 6, 1857; and he was laid to rest in the burial ground of the church of Mill Creek, just in the rear of the pulpit from which he had preached the gospel for more than a quarter of a century. A simple marble shaft marks the place of his burial, on which was inscribed, by the direction of Presbytery, the following words:\emdash
(First Side of the Die.)
ROBERT GLENN:
A MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS PASTOR
OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF MILL CREEK.
(Second Side.)
BORN MARCH 2, 18O2
DIED SEPT. 6, 1857,
"HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP."
Ps. cxxvii. 2.
(Third Side.)
THEY THAT TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
SHALL SHINE AS THE STARS, FOREVER AND EVER.
Dan. xii. 3.
(Fourth Side.)
HE LOVED TO PREACH CHRIST,
AND WITH A BURNING ZEAL FOR SOULS
HE WORE HIMSELF OUT IN THE
MASTER'S SERVICE. [HVC 1879, 188]
He was highly educated and became one of the early ministers of the Presbyterian Church in western Pennsylvania. After attending the academy at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and graduating from Jefferson College, in 1828, he entered the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny; and on the 3d of February, 1831, at a meeting of the Presbytery of Erie held at Mercer, Pennsylvania, was licensed to preach. The ensuing year he spent chiefly in supplying the vacant pulpits of the congregations at Amity, Mill Creek and Sandy Lake. At a meeting of the Presbytery of Erie held at Mill Creek, Sept. 12, 1832, he was ordained and installed pastor of the congregation at Mill Creek, Venango County, also giving part of his time to Amity and Sandy Lake. He made his home at Mill Creek, where he had a farm and reared his family. On April 3, 1850, Mr. Glenn discontinued serving the charge at Amity and about the same time that at Sandy Lake, and on June 18, 1850, became the pastor of the Big Sugar Creek Church, supplying both Big Sugar Creek and Mill Creek until his death. He did notable work in advancing educational facilities in his neighborhood. Largely through his influence select schools were organized and competent teachers secured, and when no more suitable place could be had the church building at Mill Creek was used for school purposes\emdash a progressive idea which then found little favor among the strict Presbyterians who worshipped there. It was principally due to his efforts that the commodious building of the Utica Academy, afterwards destroyed by fire, was erected in 1855. [CAB, 471]
He had three sons and two daughters with his first wife. [HVC 1879, 189]
General Notes: Wife - Mary Ann McCracken
She was a member of the congregation of Mill Creek, and daughter of one of the elders.
She died about eight months after her marriage to Rev. Glenn.
1 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 188.
2 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1009.
3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 471, 493.
4 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 471.
5 Venango County Historical Society, Venango County Pennsylvania Cemetery Records and Early Church Histories, Vol. 6, Frenchcreek Township (Franklin, PA: Venango County Historical Society, 1998), Pg 20.
6 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 189.
7 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 189, 597.
8 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1010.
9
J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 887.
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