In a recent addition of the Lancaster Intelligencer / New Era, local columnist and historian Jack Brubaker (also known as “The Scribbler”) wrote an interesting piece on a new book that is coming out this month by Gettysburg College English professor James P. Myers Jr. entitled The Ordeal of Thomas Barton: Anglican Missionary in the Pennsylvania Backcountry, 1755-1780. In the book, Myers explores the life, work, and psyche of a controversial religious leader here in the mid-state named Thomas Barton, who ministered both to European and Native American believers from his main rectory at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (Lancaster County).
Barton was born in Ireland in 1730, the child of poor working class Irish parents. He received an education at Trinity College in Dublin before immigrating to American in 1751, eventually settling in Pennsylvania where he worked as a tutor and educator in Philadelphia. In 1755, he returned to Europe to study for the clergy, becoming an Anglican minister in the British Church of England. Upon returning to Pennsylvania, Barton became a traveling missionary in the service of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, an Anglican missionary organization that had existed since 1701 (and remains in existence today as USPG), Barton ministered to the scattered settlements of York and Cumberland Counties. He also served as a military chaplain during the French and Indian War, most notable during the 1758 expedition by British Brigadier-General John Forbes which successfully captured the French Fort Duquesne at present-day Pittsburgh. It was during this expedition that Barton made the acquaintance of young Virginia militia officer named George Washington.
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