Doylestown, Presbyterian Church
According to the Works Progress Administration survey, William Tennent helped to found Deep Run Presbyterian Church in Perkasie, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1725. Sources indicate that Deep Run was reported to the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1732 as the Reverend Tennent’s “Upper Congregation.” Tennent and his successor, Francis McHenry, served both Deep Run and Neshaminy-Warwick Presbyterian churches until McHenry was formally installed at Deep Run in 1738. Deep Run is the mother congregation of the Presbyterian Church in neighboring Doylestown (organized 1804). In 1815, a new church building was dedicated at Doylestown, and Deep Run Presbyterians who lived closer to Doylestown began attending services there.
At this time Deep Run also merged its records with the Doylestown Presbyterian Church, and the two churches’ records are listed together for this reason. The joint congregations are part of the same parent organization, but meet in separate buildings in their respective communities. There are no graveyard records of the cemetery at Deep Run. Records containing genealogical information held at the Presbyterian Historical Society include:
- Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pa.) Congregation. Minutes and records, 1770-1876, 1928-1940] 2 volumes. (Call number: Vault/Vault Folio BX 9211 .P48901 D411)
- v.1, 1770-1876 [Vault Folio] (includes membership, subscription lists, and historical sketches).
- v.2, 1928-1940.
- Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pa.) Session. [Minutes, 1823-1948] 6 volumes. (Call number: Vault BX 9211 .P48901 D41)
- v.1, 1823-1868.
- v.2, 1868-1892.
- v.3, 1892-1903.
- v.4, 1903-1913.
- v.5, 1913-1923.
- v.6, 1923-1948.
- Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pa.) [Register, 1814-1889, 1928, 1932-1937] 3 volumes. (Call number: Vault BX 9211 .P48901 D42)
- v.1, Membership, 1816-1822 -- Baptisms, 1815-1881 -- Marriages, 1814-1848.
- v.2, Membership, 1823-1885 -- Marriages, 1831-1889, 1928.
- v.3, Marriages, 1932-1937.
- Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pa.) Records, 1792-1970.
- Articles of Incorporation, Minutes, Correspondence, Blueprint, Property Records. (Call number: RG 167)
See the Guide to the Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church Records, 1792-1970.
- Articles of Incorporation, Minutes, Correspondence, Blueprint, Property Records. (Call number: RG 167)
- Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pa.) Minutes, 1970-1991. (Call number: 92 1123d)
- Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pa.) Directory of the Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church, Doylestown, Penna. ... January 1, 1915. [Doylestown, Pa. : the Church], 1915. (Democrat Press) 44 pages. (Call number: Pam BX 9211.P48901 D404 1915) (Also directories for 1901, 1904)
Holdings also include trustee’s records, women missionary records, William Marshall papers and related manuscript collections, pamphlets, etc.
Note: Records less than 50 years old are restricted.
In 1984, the History Committee of the Doylestown Presbyterian Church published A History of the Doylestown Presbyterian Church, which can be viewed on the church's website. The book's appendix includes lists of baptisms (1816-1850), marriages (1814-1848), and persons interred in the cemetery (1815-1976).
Sources:
Cameron, Dorothy Stockton. History of the Deep Run Presbyterian Church. Perkasie, PA: Ross Painter, 1976. (Call number: BX 9211.P48944 D406 1976)
DuBois, John L. The Deep Run and Doylestown Presbyterian Church. 1883. (Call number: BX 9211.P48901 D406 1883)
Inventory of the Church Archives of Pennsylvania: Presbyterian Churches. Newark, NJ: The Historical Records Survey. Works Progress Administration, 1940.(Call number: Ref CD 3471.H54 P68v.7)
