Our congregation has a long and storied history. We were founded in 1726, by the Reverend William Tennent. Tennent was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, class of 1695. He set sail for the new world and landed in Philadelphia on September 6th, 1718. In 1726 he moved to Bucks County and preached first at Bensalem, near the mouth of the Neshaminy Creek. He then made his way up the creek, to the area near the “forks”, where there were enough Scotch-Irish Presbyterians to organize a congregation. The following year, 1727, a meetinghouse was begun on the grounds of the present cemetery. All that remains of that original sanctuary is its datestone, now embedded in the cemetery’s south wall near the current chapel.
William Tennent founded the “Log College” not long after, which closed after his death in May of 1746. Later that year the College of New Jersey (later named “Princeton University”) opened, enthusiastically supported by Tennent’s former Log College students. Four were on its charter board of trustees, as were two of Tennent’s sons, William Jr. and Gilbert.
To find out more about the history of our church, please read Rev. D. K. Turner’s ‘History of Neshaminy Presbyterian church of Warwick from 1726-1876‘.
Interested in even more history of the Neshaminy-Warwick Presbyterian church? Here is a collection of newsletters from the past.
