In the mid-18th century, western Pennsylvania was prime country for white settlers from the East, looking for land and opportunity. In what is now the Circleville area of North Huntingdon Township, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians built homes, farmed the land, and worshipped at some of the earliest churches in Westmoreland County. Long Run Presbyterian Church, now Calvin Presbyterian, first held worship in 1770. The log building was erected on land donated by the William Marshall family. 'The original log building was burned down,' said Fred Lau, a member of Christ United Presbyterian Church on Maus Drive in the township. 'Church members had their problems with Indians.' The entire Marshall family was massacred by Indians and is now buried in Long Run Cemetery on the grounds of the Calvin Presbyterian Church. In the 'History of Long Run Presbyterian Church,' authored by the Rev. C.W. Maus in 1931, the tragic events of the Marshalls' July 1780 murder are documented. 'Marshall's hired man, John Acklen, was working in a field below the house, when happening to look up from his task he noticed some crows circling about the cabin site on the adjoining hill. At almost the same glance he discovered wisps of smoke rising through the trees that hid the cabin from sight. Soon the flames from the burning log cabin broke above the trees and he started to give the alarm, not however, until there had broken on his ears the dread war whoop of the Indians. Running as fast as he could, pursued by some of the savages he warned the folks as best he might, enabling them to reach the blockhouse in safety. 'The Indians, taking another path were encountered by the settlers running for protection and killed the last of the family, a little girl, in sight of the settlers. ... A party made its way up to the smoking ruins of the Marshall home and there found the rest of the family murdered and scalped by these relentless marauders of the frontier. Tenderly they carried the outraged bodies down to the old Meetinghouse and there laid them to their eternal rest. They sleep near the present church. The slab that marked their common grave is within the cemetery, near the entrance.' The old stone that marked the Marshalls' grave, wrote Maus, 'has disintegrated so that the inscription that it bore is almost gone, the date almost impossible to decipher.' Now, a memorial headstone marks the final resting place of the William Marshall family. It wasn't long after the Marshalls were killed when the old log church building was destroyed by fire. A brick structure was then constructed to serve the parishioners of the church. Bill Kunkle, a board member of the Norwin Historical Society, has read the Maus history of the church and is familiar with the well-known names of those buried in the cemetery. 'Mathias Cowan was the first white settler in the area,' said Kunkle. 'He is a direct ancestor on my mother's side of the family.' Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Cowan arrived in the township in a covered cart where they lived until a cabin home was built in the wilderness. 'Mathias' brother-in-law, Abner Gray, came with them,' Kunkle added. 'Shortly after they settled in, Gray was captured by Indians and never heard from again.' The Cowans are buried in Long Run Cemetery as is William Fullerton, who settled at Jacktown and worked in the mercantile business; the Rev. Christopher Hodgson, a 'minister of the Gospel in the Methodist Church'; and Robert McKean, one of many Revolutionary War veterans interred there. 'Back around the early 1900s, church members incorporated the cemetery and formed a board in order to provide perpetual care of the cemetery,' said Lau. Another early township church, the Bethel United Presbyterian Church, formerly known as the Brush Creek Church, had its original meeting place south of Old Jack's Run Road in 1784. Later, a log church was constructed on Leger Road. 'The church had a circuit rider preacher who came from McKeesport, went to Turtle Creek, then came to Bethel,' Lau said. 'The log church was burned down. They also had a lot of trouble with Indians.' The church eventually moved to a site on Bethel Road on land donated by Humphrey Fullerton. It now serves the parishioners of St. Stephen's Byzantine Catholic Church. In 1958, national church action united the Presbyterian and United Presbyterian churches, making Long Run and Bethel part of the same denomination. When a storm blew the roof off the Long Run building in 1967, Redstone Presbytery called for a union of the two congregations. 'When the churches merged, they wanted to build a bigger building, but the architect said the site at Long Run wouldn't be a good one,' said Lau. 'That's when Christ United Presbyterian Church was formed and built down the road on land purchased from the Robert Daily family. The new church building was dedicated in 1981.' The Rev. Robert Weeber is current pastor of Calvin Presbyterian, formerly known as Long Run Presbyterian Church. The Christ United Presbyterian Church had the Rev. Dr. Robert J. Anderson as pastor from November 1981 to July 7, 2001, until his transfer to Florida. The church is currently being served by two interim pastors, the Rev. Robert W. Sheeham and the Rev. Donald Dilley. It was C.W. Maus who so eloquently summed up the story of Long Run Presbyterian Church and its parishioners in 1931. 'Long Run has seen some stirring scenes; her first known preaching preceded the Declaration of Independence by nine months and 21 days; her actual organization took place a year and three months before the King of England acknowledged the independence of the United States. Her founders saw service in the War of Independence and the serious border fighting of the pioneer days. 'But for all her accomplishments have not been confined to the offensive or defensive campaigns of the country's chivalry, the larger and more enduring contributions have been made by her sons and daughters in the quiet times of peace. They have given liberally of time, talents and possessions that the work of social and spiritual uplift might go on unimpeded through the years.'