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In the midst of the great Puritan Migration to New England (1620-1640), some Scotch-Irish assembled a congregation in Boston, Massachusetts which was known as the ‘Church of the Presbyterian Strangers.’ Its first pastor was the Rev. John Moorhead (1703-1773). He was born in Newton, near Belfast, in County Down, Ireland (Ulster), and educated in Edinburgh, before arriving in Massachusetts.
All accounts indicate that he was a very pious minister, who engaged in family visitation, catechism, and a faithful ministry of the Word. He left a deep impression among his flock and others, and has been noted in various studies of New England Presbyterianism.
It was not until 1730 that a Presbyterian Church was organized in Boston. Under the leadership of the Reverend John Moorhead a congregation known as “The Church of the Presbyterian Strangers” was organized and met in a “converted barn” owned by John Little on Long Lane. In 1735 title to the property was conveyed to the congregation for use by the Presbyterian Society forever “and for no other use, intention, or purpose whatever.” This “converted barn” served the congregation until 1744 when a new edifice was erected. It was in this building in 1788 that action was taken to make Massachusetts a state, in commemoration of which the name Long Lane was changed to Federal Street and the meeting house came to be known as Federal Street Church.
The congregation flourished and by the time their new building was erected numbered more than 250. Mr. Moorhead served the group until his death in December, 1773, following which the church was supplied by itinerant ministers [including David McClure] until 1783 when the Reverend Robert Annan was called to be pastor. Internal strife and opposition from the Puritan oligarchy finally led Mr. Annan to resign in 1786 after which the group voted themselves into a Congregational Society and after 1803 when William Ellery Channing became pastor, they joined the Unitarian fold. Relocating and erecting a new building in 1860 this group became the Arlington Street Church. In similar fashion one by one most of the seventy fairly well established Presbyterian churches of eighteenth century New England went over to other denominations. — Charles N. Pickell, Presbyterianism in New England: The Story of a Mission, pp. 6-7
A memoir of Moorhead written in 1807 says this of the early days of that congregation:
This little colony of Christians, for some time, carried on the public worship of God in a barn, which stood on the lot which they had purchased. In this humble temple, with uplifted hearts and voices, they worshipped and honoured Him, who, for our salvation, condescended to be born in a stable.
This same biographer highlights an important aspect of Moorhead’s ministry - family visitation.
Once or twice in the year, Mr. Moorhead visited all the families of his congregation, in town and country; (one of the Elders, in rotation, accompanying him,) for the purpose of religious instruction. On these occasions, he addressed the heads of families with freedom and affection, and inquired into their spiritual state, catechised and exhorted the children and servants, and concluded his visit with prayer. In this last solemn act, (which he always performed on his knees, at home and in the houses of his people), he used earnestly to pray for the family, and the spiritual circumstances of each member, as they respectively needed.
In addition to this labour of family visitations, he also convened, twice in the year, the families, according to the districts, at the meeting-house, when he conversed with the heads of families, asking them questions, on some of the most important doctrines of the gospel, agreeably to the Westminster confession of faith; and catechised the children and youth.
A young parishioner of Rev. Moorhead, David McClure, who briefly ministered to the flock in Boston after Moorhead’s death, wrote in his journal about this feature of the ministry at the Church of the Presbyterian Strangers.
We had the special advantage of a religious education & government in early life. Our parents gave us the best school education that their circumstances would allow. The children who could walk were obliged to attend public worship on the Sabbath, & spend the interval in learning the Shorter & the Larger Westminster Catechisms, & committing to memory some portion of the Scriptures. My mother commonly heard us repeat the catechisms on Sunday evenings. My parents departed with the supporting hope of salvation through the glorious Redeemer. In her expiring moments my mother gave her blessing & her prayers to each of her children, in order. She had many friends who mourned her death. She was favored with a good degree of health & was very cheerful, active & laborious, in the arduous task of raising, with slender means, a large family. To the labours of our worthy minister the Rev. Mr. Moorhead, we were much indebted for early impressions of religious sentiments. His practice was frequently to catechize the Children & youth at the meeting House & at their homes & converse & pray with them. He also visited & catechized the heads of all the families in his congregation, statedly.
Moorhead is mentioned often in Alexander Blaikie’s History of Presbyterianism in New England (although under the spelling of “Moorehead”). Blaikie writes that Moorhead was ordained on March 30, 1730, and adds that
"This religious society was established by his pious zeal and assiduity."…He was the forty-sixth minister settled in Boston, and "soon after his induction he married Miss Sarah Parsons, an English lady, who survived him about one year."
André Le Mercier, the 37th minister settled in Boston, a French Huguenot Presbyterian, was a colleague of Moorhead’s at this time and is mentioned by Blaikie in this connection.
A letter from Rev. Moorhead [not yet available on Log College Press] was published in Glasgow, Scotland in 1741, which gives an account of conversions associated with the Great Awakening ministries of George Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent.
Portrait of Phillis Wheatley by Scipio Moorhead (1773). It is said to be “the first frontispiece depicting a woman writer in American history, and possibly the first ever portrait of an American woman in the act of writing.”
Moorhead was a slave owner. His slave, Scipio Moorhead, is famous in history for his artistic skill. His portrait of Phillis Wheatley appeared in her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). Wheatley wrote An Elegy to Miss Mary Moorhead, on the Death of Her Father, the Rev. Mr. John Moorhead in December 1773. Of him she wrote:
With humble Gratitude he render'd Praise,
To Him whose Spirit had inspir'd his Lays;
To Him whose Guidance gave his Words to flow,
Divine Instruction, and the Balm of Wo:
To you his Offspring, and his Church, be given,
A triple Portion of his Thirst for Heaven;
Such was the Prophet; we the Stroke deplore,
Which let's us hear his warning Voice no more.
But cease complaining, hush each murm'ring Tongue,
Pursue the Example which inspires my Song.
Let his Example in your Conduct shine;
Own the afflicting Providence, divine;
So shall bright Periods grace your joyful Days,
And heavenly Anthems swell your Songs of Praise.
The “Presbyterian Strangers” of Boston thought very highly of their pastor. In his funeral sermon [not yet available on Log College Press], by David McGregore, he was described as “an Israelite indeed.” He left an enduring legacy that is reflected in the lives of David McClure and others. Boston is not the city set upon a hill that it once was, although pockets of piety endure. But Moorhead is worthy of remembrance today as a pioneer of New England Presbyterianism.
