HORATIO GATES JONES, D.D.
The first pastor was Horatio Gates Jones D.D., 1808 to December 12, 1853. He was a son of David Jones, A.M., pastor of Great Valley Church, and a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army. Educated in Allison's Academy, Bordentown, N.J., he studied divinity under his father. His first pastorate was in Salem N.J., where he was ordained in 1802. In 1805 he settled on a farm in Roxborough Township, near the mouth of the Wissahickon, from whence he traveled to the Meeting House here. He received the degree of A.M. from Brown University, and Lewisburg (now Bucknell) conferred on him their first degree of D.D. He was president of the Board of Trustees of Haddington College and Chancellor of Lewisburg. He was one of the organizers of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions (Triennial Convention) and also helped organize the Pennsylvania Baptist Convention (State Mission Society). He held many denominational offices, including the presidency of the Philadelphia Association Board of Trustees for twenty-four years. He mingled in politics and was a director and controller of the public schools. He held many positions of honor in Roxborough and was a director of the Bank of Germantown. Twice married, his first wife was Esther Righter and his second Deborah Levering.