St. James’ is the Pioneer Episcopal church in Lancaster city. The first entry in the record of St. James’ Parish is dated October 3, 1744. Land for the building site was donated by James Hamilton. Thomas Cookson, Lancaster’s first Burgess, raised the money for the building. The church was built in 1754 on the lot still occupied for that purpose, and has been an historic landmark in Lancaster for more than two centuries. St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lancaster, dates from 1853. It was established by Bishop Bowman and was known as St. John’s Free Church, in which the seats would be free to all who desired to avail themselves of the privileges of God’s house. The Scotch Irish and the Welsh came to Lancaster County in the second decade of the 18th century, and brought with them the tenets of the Presbyterian church. The Rev. David Evans founded the Upper Octorara Church in 1720 and was at Donegal in the same year. For twenty years the immigration from Ulster averaged 20,000 a year. Donegal in Lancaster County became one of the strong seats of Presbyterianism in America. The Donegal Church became a center of patriotic endeavor, both in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolution. Its story is unique in American church history. The Pequea Presbyterian Church dates back to the Rev. Adam Boyd who came from Ireland in 1722 and organized a group of churches west of the Octoraro. In 1731 the Pequea Church secured his services every sixth Sabbath. The first log Pequea Church stood near a large white oak tree, which is still standing and marks the spot where Geo. Whitefield preached. The Middle Octoraro Presbyterian Church was organized by the Rev. Adam Boyd in 1727. In the lower end of the county the Chestnut Level Church and the Little Britain Church belong to the early colonial period, as does the Leacock Church of 1739. [Illustration: FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH] The First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster began in 1763, when James Hamilton granted Lot No. 19 on East Orange Street, on which a church building was erected in 1767. Services were held in the old Court House in Centre Square while the church was being built with funds secured by a lottery enterprise. This method was frequently used in the 18th century to build churches or construct roads. The Presbyterian Church of Strasburg was dedicated on Christmas Day, 1833; that of Marietta in 1821; of Mt. Joy, 1840; of Christiana, 1859; Memorial Presbyterian Church of Lancaster, 1871. Methodist ministers first visited Lancaster County in 1781, and a year later the Lancaster Circuit was formed. Bishop Asbury, who died in 1816, was well known in Lancaster County. He frequently stayed in Strasburg at the Inn of John Funck who painted his portrait on a now famous wooden panel in Washington, D. C. The Methodists erected a church near Willow Street in 1791, and another at Strasburg in 1807.