Thomas Barton is appointed as rector

The Rev. Thomas Barton was a SPG missionary of Anglo-Irish descent. Before he arrived in Lancaster, he had served as an itinerant missionary for York and Cumberland counties and as a chaplain under General John Forbes in the march on Fort Duquesne in 1758. He was appointed rector of Saint James and missionary to the congregation of Pequea (now Compass) and Churchtown in 1759. Like his two predecessors he was a circuit-riding priest. He also ministered, in Columbia, Morgantown and Reading. His home for 19 years was on the southeast corner of Orange and Lime streets, Lancaster.