Few now remember the name of Rev. John Black. That’s hardly surprising, since he was born more than 250 years ago. As one of the most important ministers in RPCNA history, he deserves greater attention.

Black was born in 1768 to an Irish RP family in the village of Ahoghill, County Antrim. After graduating from the University of Glasgow, he began studying for the ministry in Ireland, but, as the British government began suppressing anti-government dissidents in 1797, he fled to America with his pastor and many other Irish RPs.

After teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, Black was licensed by the Reformed Presbytery in 1799 and sent to preach to scattered RP societies all over western Pennsylvania. When he was ordained in 1800, he was installed as pastor of the new “Ohio” congregation, which included all RP societies in western Pennsylvania.

Black’s charge extended far beyond Pennsylvania. It encompassed eastern Ohio and technically even included the earliest Indiana and Virginia settlements mentioned in previous issues. Not even the congregation’s core Pennsylvania settlements were close to each other. In addition to Pitts-burgh, he was responsible for congregations near the towns of New Galilee, Rose Point, Canonsburg, Monongahela, New Alexandria, Mars, and Freeport.

Some of these communities are more than 70 miles apart, so another minister was ordained to help him in 1807. Even 30 years later, a historian said, “The country was an unbroken forest, and the wild beasts were often his companions. He rode on horseback almost incessantly and was often away from his family for many weeks at a time.”

Black didn’t merely pastor his geographically immense congregation. He was assigned to create Presbytery’s new Directory for Worship in 1807. Before the creation of the seminary in Philadelphia, and during years when it was not in operation, he personally supervised the studies of his congregation’s theological students. Perhaps most significantly, he was clerk of Presbytery, and then Synod, for more than 30 years. He even taught at the University of Pittsburgh.

When the church divided in 1833, Black adhered to the “New Light” side (which ultimately joined the PCA in 1982) and continued pastoring part of his congregation until his 1849 death. Although the final third of his ministry was spent in another church, he remains significant to the RPCNA: he was our pioneer west of the Appalachians, serving hundreds of miles away from his colleagues in the ministry for many years, and he laid the foundation for what is still one of the RPCNA’s strongest regions.