Rev. Cyrus Riggs and Mary Ross
Husband Rev. Cyrus Riggs 1
Born: 15 Oct 1774 - Morris Co, NJ 1 Christened: Died: 14 Feb 1849 1 Buried:
Father: Joseph Riggs ( - ) 1 Mother: Hannah Cook ( - ) 1
Marriage: 25 Jul 1797 1
Wife Mary Ross 1
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Edward Ross ( - ) 1 Mother: Phoebe [Unk] ( - ) 1
Children
1 F Hannah Riggs 2
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
2 F Achsah Riggs 3 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Dr. John Coulter, M.D. (1787/1797-1849) 4 5 6 7
3 M Cyrus Carpenter Riggs, D.D. 2
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Rev. Cyrus Riggs
He belonged to a New Jersey family. His ancestors long resided in that state. In his early years there was nothing remarkable or striking. He was a quiet, unpretending boy, intent on discharging his duty and standing in his lot. From New Jersey Joseph Riggs removed with his family west of the Allegheny Mountains, and settled in Washington county, PA, in the bounds of Lower Ten Mile congregation. At that time Cyrus was about twenty years of age. It is not known exactly when he became a professor of religion, but most probably soon after coming to the west, for a short time after we find him at Cannonsburg Academy, in preparation for the gospel ministry.
But circumstances seemed adverse to his plans. His father failed; his substance was sacrificed, and the son was forced to abandon his studies and give up all hope of the ministry. With his young wife, he removed to Mercer county, PA, and settled in the same congregation, where he was a few years afterward ordained as pastor. Here he commenced the laborious work of hewing himself out a home in the forest, with perhaps no thought but to spend his days in subduing the forest and cultivating the soil.
Soon, however, Dr. McMillan found him and persuaded him to leave his axe and his plough, dispose of his little home, and return to Cannonsburg to study. He graduated in 1803 at Jefferson College, a member of the second class that graduated under the charter. After his graduation, he was employed as a tutor in the college, in the meantime commencing the study of theology under the direction of Dr. McMillan. On the 18th day of October, he was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Ohio, as a candidate for the gospel ministry, and on the 7th day of October, 1805, he was, by the same Presbytery, licensed to preach the gospel. From that time until the 23d day of October, 1806, he was engaged in supplying vacant churches within the bounds of Presbytery, when he received calls to labor in the congregations of Fairfield and Mill Creek, within the bounds of the Presbytery of Erie. In December of the same year, he declared his acceptance of these calls, and was dismissed to put himself under the care of the Presbytery of Erie.
On the 21st day of April, 1807, Mr. Riggs was received under the care of the Presbytery of Erie, and on the 21st day of October, 1807, he was ordained and installed pastor of the churches of Fairfield and Mill Creek. Mr. Riggs' trial sermon was on Psalms lxxi., 10. In the ordination services, Abraham Boyd preached the sermon from Matthew xxiv., 45, and Alexander Cook delivered the charges.
In this charge Mr. Riggs continued to labor until 1812, when the pastoral relation was dissolved. Having accepted calls from the congregations of Scrubgrass and West Unity (now Harrisville), he was installed pastor of this charge, on the 6th day of April, 1814. Here he continued to labor until 1834, when the pastoral relation was dissolved by the Presbytery of Allegheny. In the spring of 1821 he was dismissed with others to form the Presbytery of Allegheny, being one of its original members. In this Presbytery he remained until the autumn of 1835, when he removed with his family to the State of Illinois, and settled for a short time in the neighborhood of Macomb, McDonough county. In the summer of 1838 he removed to Washington county, in the same state, where he labored as a stated supply, in the churches of Elkhorn and Galum, up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 14th day of February, 1849, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and forty-fifth of his ministry. His wife had died about four years previously. Their remains rest together in the cemetery of the Elkhorn church.
Mr. Riggs was a quiet, even taciturn man. He seldom made any allusion to his own life and labors. His great aim was to do good and keep his people up to the requirements of the gospel. He loved Zion and her cause dearly. Like all the early ministers of the Presbytery, he labored under great inconveniences from the smallness of his salary, and the difficulties that attend new fields of labor. He was a man of peace. He embarked in no partisan, schemes, yet feeling that in congregational matters his own judgment was right, he generally managed to secure the success of his plans. This he did, not by open opposition, or dogmatic assertion of power, but by quietly removing obstacles out of the way, allaying prejudices, and meekly answering objections, until the way was open and the people satisfied.
He had the usual prejudices of the times to meet with. One of these was, relating to the subject of psalmody. During his ministry at Scrubgrass and Unity, he passed through the transition from the psalms of Rouse, to the psalms and hymns of Watts. He was anxious for a wider range of subjects than was found in the former, and for the rich, evangelic strains that were found in the latter. But it required all his tact of quiet prudence and firm resolution, to bring about the change. And in this he was eminently successful.
Mr. Riggs had eight children, five daughters and three sons. One of his sons, Cyrus Carpenter Riggs, D. D., is a member of the Presbytery of Beaver. His eldest daughter, Hannah Riggs, was long a missionary to the Indians. She was one of the company of missionaries that went to labor amongst the Ottowas, on the Maumee River. Of this company was Samuel Tait, pastor of the churches of Cool Spring, Salem, and Mercer, and famous in his day for missionary labor. In this missionary work did this devoted female labor, suffering hardships and privations of various kinds; now from cold, and now from a scarcity of provisions, and again from repeated attacks of fever and ague, until the mission was broken up, eleven years after its establishment. This mission was inaugurated by the Synod of Pittsburg, but was afterwards transferred to the American Board of Missions.
It was the privilege of Mr. Riggs to labor up to the close of his pilgrimage. His last disease was paralysis. It came upon him as he sat in his study making preparation for preaching on the following Sabbath. The first shock was slight, and hardly perceptible. In the course of half an hour another shock fell upon him that prostrated him, and laid him helpless and speechless. He lingered but three days, unable to communicate his ideas or feelings, when he passed away from his labors on earth to his reward on high. [HVC 1879, 187]
1 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 187.
2 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 188.
3 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 1000.
4 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 680.
5 J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Columbus, OH: J. A. Caldwell Publishers, 1879), Pg 574.
6 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 986, 1000.
7
—, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 1043.
Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This Web Site was Created 15 Apr 2023 with Legacy 9.0 from Millennia