According to local historian Michael Leibrandt, Malachi Jones, the founder of Abington Presbyterian Church, began cultivating his congregation shortly after his North American arrival in 1711.

For the Church’s site, Jones chose the top of a hill in Abington Village near the future corner of Old York Road and Susquehanna Street Road. The original church was constructed between 1714–1719 and stood in the center of the graveyard. It was moved to its present site in 1793. 

In addition to acting as minister, Jones also provided his house as a meeting place for the early church. Later, Jones donated land from his farm “to build a House for the Publick Worship of God And also a place for Burying the Dead.” 

Born in 1651, Jones was the father of famous dissenter and future educator Samuel Jones, the only Jones child who did not join him on the trip to North America. Reverend Jones was instrumental in the development of other Presbyterian Churches in the area and was also involved in the establishment of the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

Upon his death in 1729, Jones was buried across the street from the Abington Presbyterian Meeting, a plot (pictured above) which has survived for 310 years. 2024 will mark the Church’s 310th anniversary, and 2023 is the 330th year since Malachi Jones’ first recorded employment as a tanner in England.

For more on the Abington Presbyterian Church, you can visit their website.

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Photos courtesy of The Historical Marker Database, Presbyterian Historical Society