Among the Scotch and Scotch-Irish settlers along Marsh and Rock Creeks were small clusters of families called “Covenanters” because they asserted that the obligation of the “Solemn League and Covenant” of their forefathers were binding upon them. Their presbytery in the mother country took the name of the Reformed Presbytery and they styled themselves Reformed Presbyterians. They had been called Cameronians in Scotland after one of their field preachers, Richard Cameron, who was beheaded in 1680.

They had also been known as Mountain People, because in times of persecution they fled to the mountains to worship in secret places. There were seven or eight little Covenanter societies between the Susquehanna and the Blue Ridge before the arrival of their first minister from the mother country. Rev. Alexander Craighead a Presbyterian minister who sympathized with the Covenanters in their distinctive principles, preached to them for a time. One of these little societies was at Marsh Creek, and had what was called a “tent” for their public meetings not far from the site of Gettysburg. The “tent” of the Covenanters of that time is described as simply a stand in the woods with a shelter overhead, a board braced against a tree on which to lay the Bible and psalm book, and rude seats in front for the congregation over whom there was no covering but the sky.

At a general meeting of delegates from the different societies held at Middle Octorora, March 4, 1744, Thomas Wilson and David Dunwoody were delegates from the Marsh Creek society.

In 1751 Rev. John Cuthbertson, the first Reformed Presbyterian minister in America sent by the denomination in Scotland, arrived in Pennsylvania. On September 1, 1751, Mr. Cuthbertson preached his first sermon to the Adams County Covenanters at their tent, which was not far from the residence of David Dunwoody. On April 8, 1753, was the first ordination of ruling elders of this denomination in America. Six persons were ordained, two of whom, David Dunwoody and Jeremiah Morrow, were the first ruling elders of the Covenanters about the site of Gettysburg; the former was the grandfather of Rev. Dr. J. L. Dinwiddie, the latter the grandfather of Gov. Jeremiah Morrow, of Ohio.

The society soon took the name of Rock Creek Church, and built its first log meeting-house near that stream about one mile northeast of where Gettysburg now stands.

In 1764 John Murphy and Andrew Branwood were ordained elders. The Rock Creek Church at the period of the Revolution was probably the most important and influential Covenanter Church in America. They learned Rev. Alexander Dobbin became pastor of this congregation in 1774, immediately after his arrival in this country and so continued until his death in 1809. After the union of the Reformed Presbyterians and Associate Presbyterians in 1782, it became an Associate Reformed Church, and about 1804 began the erection of the first house of worship in Gettysburg. This church was “a substantial brick structure, of good size, finished in the old style, with high-backed pews, brick-paved aisles, high pulpit and huge sounding-board.” It has since been remodeled in the interior, and since 1858 has been known as the United Presbyterian Church.

The early Covenanters maintained a practical dissent against the British Government prior to the American Revolution. They were all Whigs; not a Tory could be found among them. Their public religious services lasted four or five hours, and on communion days, often from seven to nine hours, with an intermission of fifteen minutes for lunch. Some of the lead tokens used by them at communion services are still in existence. They are about one-half an inch long, and nearly as wide, with the letters R. P. (Reformed Presbyterian) on one side, and L. S. (Lord’s Supper) and the date, 1752, on the other.

For twenty-two years Rev. John Cuthbertson was the only Covenanter pastor in America. During his first year in this country he preached on 120 days, baptized 110 children and married ten couples. Year after year he made his way in summer’s heat and winter’s storm over a region now forming four or five counties. At many of his preaching stations there were no churches for years; at such places he preached in the groves, when the weather would permit, and in private houses when the weather was not propitious. He died in 1791, after having toiled in this country nearly forty years, during which he preached on 2,452 days baptized 1,806 children, married 240 couples and rode on horseback about 70,000 miles. These facts are shown by his diary.

I've recently found a book in the Cumberland County Historical Society (Carlisle, PA) which was indexed by S. Helen Fields (1934) called, "Register of Marriages and Baptisms performed by Rev. John Cuthbertson, Covenanter Minister 1751-1791" -From: Mary Louise Townsend

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