Peter Gilmore's book examines the development of Irish Presbyterian ritual and tradition in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century western Pennsylvania. Drawing on Andrew Holmes's 2006 study of Ulster Presbyterianism as a ‘control’ (p. xxi), Gilmore charts how the beliefs and traditions of Presbyterians of Irish origin developed in response to changing American conditions. The choice of western Pennsylvania is well defended. As Gilmore notes, the region witnessed successive heavy waves of Irish Presbyterian migration, establishing it as the preferred place of settlement for Presbyterian immigrants (p. 9). The book is split into seven chapters, focusing broadly on three key themes: migration and the institutional beginnings of Presbyterianism in North America; Presbyterian belief and practice; and the evolution of Irish Presbyterian traditions in response to wider cultural, social, political and economic developments. Gilmore's main argument is clearly made throughout: the Irish experience was integral to the shaping of Presbyterianism in North America.
A notable strength of this book are the flashes of how Presbyterian belief and practice was experienced by the ordinary church member, particularly women. Indeed, Gilmore himself noted that this was one of the main aims of the book: ‘to uncover facets of the lives of women and men seldom referenced unless in sweeping statements’ (p. xxvi). Peppered throughout the book are interesting vignettes that bring to life how wider developments in Presbyterian belief and practice impacted the lives of families. In chapter six, Gilmore focuses on psalmody, noting how changes in the meaning and use of psalm-singing reveals how Irish Presbyterian beliefs were transformed by the American experience (p. 89). While old world traditions clung to the exclusive use of Scots psalms in the meeting house, the adoption of hymns by some mainstream Presbyterian congregations resulted in the defection of many communicants.
Such splits also impacted upon families. Gilmore tells the story of the Gilfillans, an Irish-immigrant family, whose loyalties were tested after their congregation split over the issue of unscriptural psalms (p. 91). Whereas Alexander Gilfillan led the secession movement and became an elder in the newly formed congregation, his wife, Martha, remained in the original congregation. ‘Growing up amid the rancour’, one of their sons retained membership in both congregations, while the other became a trustee of that frequented by his mother. When Martha died in 1840, the remaining family joined the congregation of the father. Such stories offer tantalising glimpses into the real impact that religious belief had on daily family life, casting light on family dynamics, marital relationships and competing duties of obligation and allegiance. Such stories add to the richness of the book overall.
For this reviewer, a historian of women, gender and the family, the most intriguing aspects of the book can be found in chapters three and four on Presbyterian belief and practice. Here, Gilmore brings into sharper focus the intersections between religion, culture and family life. Notably, we are offered glimpses of how migration shaped these experiences. Gilmore notes how the church courts investigated a number of adultery cases alleging men married in America had living wives in Ireland (p. 43). In this respect, the notes to this chapter are indispensable to those interested in how migration dissolved and disrupted family life.
Yet, one gets the impression that the reliance on Holmes's work as a ‘control’ means that solid conclusions cannot always be drawn. Gilmore intriguingly tells us that there were ‘interesting and possibly illuminating differences between Old World and New World’ systems of church discipline. Cases of sexual offences, which dominated the business of kirk sessions and Presbyteries in Ulster, were not as common a feature in these Irish-American communities. Rather, drunkenness and cases of interpersonal conflict appeared much more frequently. Moreover, Gilmore notes that church elders in western Pennsylvania ‘tended to judge perpetrators more harshly’ than in Ireland – a feature of discipline that carried important gendered implications. As Gilmore reveals, the sessions ‘rarely indicted men for sexual transgressions’ and ‘male elders tended to assume female guilt’ (pp 41–2). Such points stand in contrast to the character of the church courts in Ulster. As the work of Andrew Blaikie, Paul Gray and Holmes has demonstrated, women were not unfairly targeted by the church courts in Ulster; men in Presbyterian Ulster were held to account for their sexual transgressions.
These points are certainly thought-provoking. But how do we explain such differences? Gilmore tentatively suggests that neighbours may have been unwilling to ‘breach the bonds of familial relationships and male sociability’ (p. 42). This is intriguing and suggests a different culture of church discipline than that in operation in Ulster. However, the reasons for these differences are not explored in the same degree of detail (or as confidently) as other aspects of Irish-American Presbyterian belief and practice, such as psalmody, temperance and sabbatarian societies. This reviewer was left wanting to know more.
Overall, Gilmore has produced a rigorously researched and extremely readable study that offers a refreshing and long overdue insight into the beliefs and practices of Presbyterians of Irish origin in North America. He succeeds in his overall aim of telling the story of these Irish Presbyterian migrants. As such, it is essential reading for those interested in the development of Presbyterianism in North America, but also has much to offer those with interests in women's history and the history of the family more broadly.
