During the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening (1784–1830), Reverend Asa Dunham was among the many circuit-riding preachers sent out by denominations to minister to early settlers in the Susquehanna Valley.

Dunham’s involvement with the Hidlay Presbyterian Church in Columbia County was the focus of an October 1938 story in the Berwick Enterprise newspaper.  His life story was part of a sermon preached by Dr. D.J. Waller Sr. of Bloomsburg in July 1876 at the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomsburg.

Reverend Asa Dunham’s name was first found on the role of Huntington Presbytery in 1798. He was born in 1752 in Middlesex, New Jersey, educated in New Brunswick, and licensed to preach by that Presbytery.  

The article continues, “He served under Washington in the army of the Revolution. Standing by his father in the ranks at the battle of Monmouth, he fell from the overpowering heat. On being carried to a church, he revived. There he saw a British officer sitting on his horse and waving is sword in triumph, when he was instantly killed by a cannon ball.

“After the close of the war, Mr. Dunham was ordained and installed pastor of the churches of Oxford, New Jersey, and Upper Mount Bethel, in Pennsylvania.

“In the year 1798, he had purchased a farm and was living with his fourth wife, on the ridge immediately west of Buckhorn, (Columbia County). The records of Huntington Presbytery mention his appointment by the General Assembly, in connection with the Rev. John B. Patterson to labor in the counties of Northumberland and Luzerne. In 1799, he was appointed to labor at Fishingcreek. Between this date and the year 1804, Mr. Dunham's house caught fire in the night and was destroyed with all its contents. Mrs. Dunham, having narrowly escaped, endeavored to get her mother, who was living with her, out through a window. The effort was unsuccessful because of the bodily infirmity of Mrs. McKinney and her great weight. In the effort to save her mother, Mrs. Dunham was so burned that she died at the house of the nearest neighbor, shortly after. Two brothers of Mrs. Dunham were sleeping in the loft. Finding escape by the ladder cut off, the older attempted to break through the roof, but in vain. He then put a pillow, from bed, upon his head, and butting off the boards from the gable, fell upon the frame which was attached to the house, and was killed, while the younger brother perished in the flames. Thus, four members of the family perished through the burning of this primitive log dwelling, and the minister was left alone.

“The records of the Presbytery mention him as a Missionary in the counties of Luzerne and Northumberland. He seems to have supplied Briar Creek Church in part and to have journeyed through the lower part of Luzerne County, especially below the Susquehanna, to the Mahanoy Mountain, and home, through Catawissa preaching in schoolhouses and at private dwellings and baptizing the children. During the summer season, he frequently preached in the barn of Elias Furman, which, being about midway, was a convenient meeting place for dwellers in the incipient villages of Bloomsburg and Espy. Those who had horses often attended the preaching of Mr. Dunham at Briar Creek. Mrs. James McClure, when her family was young and help was scarce, would attend to all her domestic cares then mount her horse and ride with her husband six miles to church, sometimes taking a child or two with them upon the horses. "The word of the Lord was precious to his people, in those days.”

“In the spring of 1811, Mr. Dunham was sent as a commissioner to the General Assembly from the Presbytery of Huntington. In October of the same year, he was present as a member at the organization of the Presbytery of Northumberland, and by appointment or seniority, preached the opening sermon and was elected first Moderator.

“About this period, Mr. Dunham was employed in raising funds for the endowment of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. His mildness of manner and large and respectable family connection in New Jersey rendered him peculiarly suitable for this service. His heart was in it. Possibly, in his journeying in this service, he formed the acquaintance of Miss Moore, whom he afterward married as his fifth wife.

“His ministerial service at Briar Creek continued until the autumn of 1816, when he preached his farewell sermon. There, his remains repose, awaiting resurrection of the just. He died in the autumn of 1825, in the seventy-third year of his age. (Tombstone Pictured)

“Mr. Dunham was a man of medium stature and neither robust in health nor physical development. Though not remarkable for force of character, he bore the reputation of a conscientious and courteous Christian minister. His amiability is attested by the fact that no rankling memories appear to have survived him. The peculiarity, which afforded some amusement to his friends, was his fondness for the sleigh as a means of locomotion. The remark was common that he rode in his sleigh as long as snow could be seen upon the hills. This, however, was in the days of new and rough roads before the invention of steel springs or the introduction of buckboards. He left no children. His widow, who survived him by some twenty years, was a lady of great dignity- a lover of the Lord's house and of the Lord's people. Many of the living remember her as a regular and devout attendant at the Sanctuary, and coming in her carriage punctually to the female missionary society, and other weekday meetings for religious purposes.”

After 228 years, the Hidlay Church, known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church, closed on December 1^st of 2024. A Bloomsburg Press Enterprise newspaper reported the original building was a log structure, built in 1796, and replaced by a schoolhouse-style building in 1838.

According to the December 2024 article, “The Hidlay Church got its name from the family who donated the land on which it's situated, Henry Hidlay and his wife, Sarah. They settled here after moving from New Jersey in the 1700s and donated one acre of land for the church to be built on Nov. 16, 1776. They are buried in the historic cemetery that adjoins the church.

“The reason given for the donation of land to build Hidlay Church was 'to locate it away from the river and away from the route of the Indians up and down the river,' according to the church's historical collection, compiled by Ezra Harris in 1994.”

As mentioned, Asa Dunham’s grave is found among the early settlers of the Susquehanna Valley in Columbia County.