Whitewater Conference.--Report on Slavery.--Election of Delegates.--Whitewater.--Early History.--Rev. Dr. Bannister.--General Conference.--Member of Mission Committee.--Conference 1860.--Rev. I.L. Hauser.--Mrs. I.L. Hauser.--Rev. J.C. Robbins.--The Rebellion.--Its Causes.--Fall of Sumter.--Extract of Sermon.--Conference 1861.--Rev. J.H. Jenne.--Rev. S.C. Thomas.--Rev. G.C. Haddock.--Colonelcy.--Close of Term.
The thirteenth session of the Wisconsin Conference was held Oct. 13, 1859, in the village of Whitewater, and was presided over by Bishop Ames. The year had been of less than seven months duration, as by request of the Conference, the time of holding the sessions had been changed back to the Fall. When the change was made in the first place, from Fall to Spring, it was believed by many that such an arrangement would be a benefit to the Preachers, by giving them, for the winter, the products of their gardens. But, after a trial, it was found that the roads were generally much worse in the Spring than in the fall, and if the Conferences were delayed so as to find good roads for moving, the Preachers would reach their new fields too late to plant their gardens. Hence, after trying the experiment, it was thought best to return to the Fall.
At this Conference the election of delegates to the General Conference again occurred. The slavery question was now rife, and of course this election could not be held without making it an issue. During the early part of the Conference this subject became the general theme of conversation, and, I might add, the discussions and the prayers. In short, every man who was in danger of being struck with a vote must certainly show his colors on the slavery issue. An able Committee was formed, and a careful report rendered. And when the vote was taken on the report, all eyes were on the alert to see how each candidate voted.
As the Report on Slavery is not lengthy, I will insert it as taken from the Conference Minutes:
1. That the assertion that the M.E. Church is constitutionallypro-slavery, whether that assertion be made by our professedfriends or by our enemies, is a base slander.2. That we recommend to the next General Conference soto change the General Rule on Slavery as to prohibit the buyingselling or holding a human being as a slave.3. That we concur with the Providence Conference in recommendingto the next General Conference so to change theGeneral Rule on Slavery as to read: 'Slavery, the buying orselling of men, women or children, with an intention toenslave them.'4. That we concur with the Erie Conference in recommendingto the next General Conference so to change theGeneral Rule on Slavery as to read: 'The buying, selling,holding or transferring of a human being, to be used inslavery.'
It will be observed that the Wisconsin Conference preferred the wording of her own proposed Rule, yet such was her anxiety to secure action by the General Conference, that she was willing to adopt any other form of words, if the same sentiment should be explicitly incorporated. And by concurring in those sent from the Providence and Erie Conferences, and at the same time re-affirming her own, which was going the circuit of the other Conferences, she hoped to see some one of them reach the approaching General Conference, with the recommendation of a sufficient number of the Annual Conferences, to make it a law at once on the action of that body. With this intense interest thrown around the subject, it is not a matter of surprise that the votes of the candidates, on the adoption of the report, were carefully watched.
But in some cases even a fair and unequivocal vote was not enough. Committees were self-constituted, or perhaps caucus-constituted to interview candidates, much after the modern style, to see whether they were sound on the main question. And as I had now become sufficiently advanced in years to be considered a candidate, I was waited on by such an inquisitorial body. I told the good brethren that I was not a little surprised to find any one in doubt as to my position. "Oh," said they, "we are not really in doubt as to your position, but we would like to understand how strong your convictions are, as you have not attended our meetings." "Yes," said I, "and perhaps you will say that by neglecting your meetings, I have shown a want of zeal for the cause. If so, I wish to state my position. In the first place, I have never felt it to be my duty to make a great show of valor, as long as the enemy is out of reach. And in the second place, I am in a different position from many of our present abolitionists, and should bear myself accordingly. They are young converts, and having just come into the kingdom, they must get up a tremendous shout, so as to satisfy their new associates that their conversion is genuine. But as to myself, I was always an abolitionist. I have never uttered a word, written a sentence, or cast a vote that did not look in that direction. Why, then, should I go into a spasm on the eve of an election?" Whether my little speech had anything to do with the result of the ballot which placed me at the head of the delegation or not, it is impossible to divine. But of one thing I felt assured. I had "freed my mind," as the old lady said, and felt better. The balance of the delegation were I.M. Leihy, S. C. Thomas, E. Cooke, and P. S. Bennett. At this Conference, I was also appointed the Chairman of a Committee "To Collect Historical Facts." Thus early did the Conference indicate a desire that the record of her devoted and pioneer men should not be lost.
Whitewater, the seat of the Conference, was a thriving village of two or three thousand inhabitants, and gave the Conference a most hospitable entertainment. This place was settled April 1st, 1837, by Mr. William Barren, who was joined by Mr. Calvin Prince in the middle of the same month.
The first sermon was preached in the fall of the same year by Rev. Jesse Halstead. Whitewater became a separate charge in 1843, with Rev. Alpha Warren as Pastor. During this year a class was formed. The members were: J.K. Wood, Leader; Mrs. J.K. Wood, Henry Johnson, A.R. Eaton, Mrs. A.R. Eaton, Mrs. Dr. Clark, Mrs. J.J. Stearin, Roxana Hamilton, and Miss Whitcomb. The meetings were held in private houses until the new brick school house was built. They were then held in the school house until the Church was erected. The first Church was commenced under the Pastorate of Rev. J. Harrington in 1849, and was completed under that of Rev. J.M. Walker in 1852. It was dedicated by the last named, Feb. 5th, 1852. The Church was enlarged under the Pastorate of Rev. A.C. Huntley.
Whitewater Station erected a new brick Church, one of the finest in the interior, under the Pastorate of Rev. C.N. Stowers, which was dedicated by Bishop Merrill Oct. 19th, 1873. At this writing, Whitewater ranks among the leading stations of the Conference, having a good congregation and a most enterprising Society.
At the close of this Conference I was returned to the Milwaukee District. There were only a few changes made in the appointments of the Preachers. At this Conference the name of Rev. Henry Bannister, D.D., Professor in Garrett Biblical Institute, was transferred from the Racine to the Milwaukee District, and he was made a member of the Summerfield Quarterly Conference.
Dr. Bannister entered the Oneida Conference in 1842, and for two years served as Professor of Languages in the Oneida Conference Seminary. At the Conference of 1844, he was appointed Principal, and held that position with distinguished honor until he was elected to a Professorship in the Garrett Biblical Institute. At the present writing he is still at the Institute, doing efficient work. Nearly a third of a century he has devoted to teaching, dividing his time almost equally between the Seminary and the Institute.
Dr. Bannister is one of Nature's noblemen, and his membership in any Conference is an honor to the body. The Wisconsin Conference has recognized his worth, and has sent him three times as one of her delegates to the General Conference, and on one occasion was pleased to put him at the head of the list. But he is not the property of a Conference; he belongs to the whole Church, and is the peer of his brethren in any convocation she may assemble.
The General Conference met in Buffalo, N.Y., in May, 1860. The agitation known as the Nazarite movement was then raging through Western New York, and it was understood that several cases would come before the General Conference on appeal from the expelled members of the Genesee Conference. I was requested to go down to the troubled District and look the ground over before the opening of the Conference. I did so, but found the movement too far advanced to avoid a rupture of the Societies in many of the charges. Several of the men who had taken an appeal had stultified themselves and vitiated their appeals, by forming Societies on the basis of the new movement; and though they disclaimed all intention to establish another Church, the formation of these Societies, it was held, could be interpreted in no other way. Having thus become members of another Church their appeals, which contemplated their restoration to the former Church, could not be entertained.
But the great question before the body was the new Rule on Slavery. At the beginning, the subject was given to one of the large Committees, of which the writer was a member. The late Bishop Kingsley was the Chairman, and the Committee met almost daily for three weeks. The report to the General Conference was made to cover the whole ground, and accepted the basis which had been advocated so long by the Wisconsin Conference. On its presentation a long discussion followed, and it was believed that the requisite two-thirds vote would be obtained. But judge of our surprise when, on taking the vote, we found the measure had been lost by a few votes, and these had been mostly given by the delegation of the troubled District in Western New York.
But though the majority were thus defeated in their effort to change the General Rule, they passed a chapter that declared it to be unchristian to hold slaves, as well as to traffic in them. The war, however, soon followed, and the "logic of events," disposed of the Slavery question. At this Conference I was elected a member of the General Mission Committee at New York, which rendered it necessary for me to visit the city annually for four years.
The Conference of 1860 was held Sept. 26th, at Janesville, Bishop Scott presiding. At this session the Conference received Rev. I.L. Hauser, and he was sent as a Missionary to India.
Brother Hauser is of Austrian, German and French descent. His mother's family were German, and the Hauser name is over six hundred years old in Vienna, Austria. His grandmother on his father's side was directly descended from one of the Huguenot families driven out of France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Coming to America, the family settled in Pennsylvania, where Brother Hauser was born, in 1834. His family came to Wisconsin and settled at Delavan in 1850. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1860. During his senior year he was President of the College Missionary Society, and when writing to Rev. Dr. Durbin, requesting him to preach the annual sermon at Commencement, he stated that he would soon be through College and be ready for duty, but he did not know just what it was, and wished advice. The reply came for him to send the name of the Pastor of the Church. The names of Rev. M. Himebaugh, Pastor, and Rev. Dr. Knox, one of the Professors, were sent. Three days after his graduation, having reached his home, he received a letter from Bishop Simpson, asking him to come at once to Evanston. From there the Bishop sent him to the Erie Conference, then in session at Erie, Penn., where he was ordained and appointed to the Mission in India.
Returning to Wisconsin, he was united in marriage with Miss Jeannette Shepherd, of Kenosha, Sept. 13th. Starting for their field of labor, they sailed from Boston on the vessel Sea King, and after a tedious and stormy voyage of one hundred and thirty-eight days, they reached Calcutta. From there, after an eleven days' journey of one thousand and three miles up the valley of the Ganges, they arrived at Bijnour, forty-five miles from where the river Ganges flows out of the mountains into the plains of India. Here they labored six years, their field comprising a District of nineteen hundred square miles, with a population of nearly one million, being fifty-four miles from the nearest Mission Station.
Four schools were organized, in which twenty teachers were employed, and six languages were used in the various studies. When the schools were first started not two natives in the District could speak English, but after six years nearly six hundred had been taught in the schools to both read and speak it. Regular services in the Chapel, such as preaching, Sunday School, class and prayer meetings, were held in the Urdu language for the native Christian Church. Brother Hauser also conducted the Church of England service each Sabbath morning for five years, for the few English residents stationed there, as they had no Chaplain.
Besides studying the several languages of the country, preaching in the bazaars and other public places to tens of thousands of people, instructing the native preachers and teachers, looking after and giving employment to the native Christians, he was appointed by the Publishing Committee of the Mission to translate the Discipline into the Urdu language, having the honor of making the first translation of that book into any Eastern tongue. But in the midst of his labors, sickness fell upon himself and family. Diptheria attacked himself, his wife, and two of his children. One little girl died of that disease, and shortly after another from fever. Brother Hauser's throat became seriously affected, and he was compelled to retire from the work. With his family, he made a tour of several months through the Himalaya Mountains, to within eight miles of the borders of Thibet. In this tour he was not unfrequently twenty thousand feet above the sea, but failing to recover his health, he, in 1868, returned to the United States, after an absence of eight years.
Since his return, he has devoted his labor to the publication of the Christian Statesman, the only Protestant religious paper published in Wisconsin. Being undenominational, the paper, patronized by all the Protestant Churches, has attained a wide circulation. Brother Hauser is a man of great energy, and is doing a grand work for the Churches of Wisconsin.
Mrs. Hauser is a lady of very superior talent. In their Mission field she took her full share of the work, and since her return, she has not only been one of the best contributors to the Statesman, but has largely identified herself with the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society work in the State. Both on the platform, and in the general work of the Society, she holds a high rank. And in addition to this work, she is now preparing a volume of sketches of Women in Heathen Lands.
At the close of the preceding year, the Summerfield Quarterly Conference requested my appointment to the Pastorate of that station. The Bishop at first was inclined to grant the request, but finally came to the conclusion that I ought to remain on the District. This left the charge to be supplied, and I secured the services of Rev. J.E. Wilson, then of Ohio, but who had formerly served Milwaukee, as stated in a preceding chapter.
Summerfield was just in the midst of her financial embarrassment. The indebtedness was about fifteen thousand dollars, and threatened to overwhelm the charge. But the good brethren were steadfast, and through great labor and sacrifice, aided by Rev. S.C. Thomas, succeeded in meeting their obligations. Brother Wilson rendered effective service, but at the close of the year returned to his home in Ohio.
Rev. J.C. Robbins was appointed this year to the Spring Street Station. Brother Robbins entered the North Indiana Conference in 1844. His appointments were Winchester, Plymouth, Clinton, Hagerstown, Williamsburg, Knightstown, Doublin and Lewisville. He was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference in 1855, and stationed at North Ward, Fond du Lac. His subsequent appointments were Waupun, Berlin and Empire. The year opened finely, and during the winter Brother Robbins held a protracted meeting, which resulted in the conversion of many souls. But the Society met with a severe loss this year, in the destruction of their Church by fire.
Brother Robbins remained a second year at Spring Street, and again enjoyed a good revival. After leaving the city, he has been stationed at Racine, Waukesha, Sheboygan Falls, Waupun, Berlin, Green Bay, Hart Prairie, Sharon and Footville. At the present writing, he is at the last named place, seeking to gather sheaves for the Master.
This year intense excitement prevailed throughout the country. The Presidential election, which placed Abraham Lincoln at the head of our national affairs, occurred in November. And during the following months, the rebellion was taking form in the Southern States, but did not culminate in open rupture until the middle of April. But before stating the position of the Conference and Church in the pending struggle, it will be proper to refer to the causes which produced the conflict.
In the settlement of the United States, two distinct types of society planted themselves in the two great centres of the Atlantic Coast. The one made New England the theater of development, and the other the Eastern cordon of the Southern States. From the first center, the population moved westward through New York, Pennsylvania, and the Prairie States, to the Mississippi. From the other, the settlements extended through the savannahs of the South to the Gulf.
The emigrants in the North were mainly those who came to the Western world to find an asylum from the religious persecutions to which they had been subjected at home. In the South, society was largely established under the sanctions of royalty. These two facts will account for the radical differences existing between the people of the two sections. In the North, society very naturally accepted the political doctrines of personal equality and universal freedom. In the South, the people as naturally adhered to their aristocratic ideas, and held to the doctrine of privileged classes.
The two types of society, thus placed side by side, were now given an open field, in which the contest for supremacy could not long be delayed. In geographical position, it would seem that the advantage was decidedly with the South. And the same may be said of the patronage bestowed by the home governments. But notwithstanding the high mountain ranges, the deep forests, and the sterile coasts of New England, her people cut their way through every obstacle, and soon stood face to face with their aristocratic neighbors. A collision of ideas was now inevitable. The South, quick to discover the unheralded force of Yankee character, took the alarm and declared that "Mason and Dixon's line" should divide between her and her neighbor. Here was deposited the first egg in the nest, from which has been hatched the terrible brood of vipers which, under the name of "State Rights," has involved the country in a most desolating war. It was on this line that Calhoun planted his standard when he sought to inflame the South against the North. And it was on this fatal line that his followers, thirty years after, sought to overturn the decisions of the ballot-box, and establish a Southern Confederacy. With what result, the record of the conflict affords an answer.
On the 13th of April, 1861, the rebels opened fire on Fort Sumter, and on the 14th Major Anderson and his brave men were compelled to surrender their stronghold. As the news of this attack and surrender swept along the telegraphic wires throughout the North, a most intense patriotism awoke in the heart of every loyal citizen. The people assembled on the corners of the streets, in halls, in places of business, and in short, at every convenient place of resort, to discuss the situation, and feed the flames of patriotism. Everywhere men and money were offered to support the government, without stint. The press teemed with burning words, and the pulpit was outspoken in characterizing the rebellion and vindicating the government.
The writer was in Milwaukee when the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter reached the city. On Sabbath, April 21st, I preached a sermon, from which the following extract is taken. I quote from Rev. Mr. Love's "History of Wisconsin in the War."
"But, Ladies and Gentlemen, the war is inevitable. Its coming may be hastened or retarded by the shaping of events during the next thirty days, but that war is upon us, and a civil war, of a most frightful character and most alarming proportions, is to my mind no longer a question. You can no more prevent it than you can stay the leaping floods of Niagara, or quench the king of day in the palm of your hand. It is the legitimate offspring of an 'irrepressible conflict' of ideas as antagonistic as light and darkness, as diametrically opposed to each other as right and wrong, truth and error. The Bible declaration, that God hath made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, so beautifully set forth in our Declaration of Independence, and teaching the great lesson of universal equality and universal freedom, forms the corner-stone of our institutions. But a plague spot is found in the opposing doctrine of caste and privileged classes, which finds illustration in American slavery. This war of principles has already culminated in a collision at Fort Sumter, and it would be contrary to all history to arrest the tide of war at this stage. The antagonism is too direct, and the conflict too heated to quench the flame till rivers of blood shall pass over it. The act of the South in firing on Sumter is none other than a rebellion, and that of the most inexcusable and wicked character, against the best government on earth; and I am free to confess that I am filled with horror when I contemplate the result of this suicidal act on their part, an act that must lead to years of war, as far as human ken can see, and the most fearful desolations in its train. But, gentlemen, there is no alternative. The glove is thrown to us, and we must accept it. If our principles are right, and we believe they are, we would be unworthy of our noble paternity if we were to shrink from the issue. Let there, then, be no shrinking from the contest. The battle is for human liberty, and it were better that every man should go down, and every dollar be sacrificed, than that we should transmit to the coming millions of this land other than a legacy of freedom. Were it not that good men have gone down into the dust and smoke of the battle, there would not be to-day a government on the face of the globe under which a good man could well live. And since God in his Providence has brought us to this hour, I trust that by his help we shall not prove unworthy of the trust--the noblest ever given to man--committed to our keeping. There can be no question as to the result. We shall triumph, and with the triumph we shall win a glorious national destiny."
The next Conference session was held in Fond du Lac Sept. 18, 1861, Bishop Baker presiding. The session was one of unusual excitement. The war had been begun, the terrible Bull Run defeat had occurred, and already seven regiments of our brave boys had gone to the front. And with the seventh, one of our own members, Rev. S.L. Brown, had gone as Chaplain, while several others were either in the ranks or looking in the same direction. In the matter of furnishing men, Wisconsin was already ahead of the call made upon her, but such was the devotion of her people to the Old Flag, that ten other regiments could have been sent during the year.
At this session, the Conference adopted a very able Report, written by Rev. J.H. Jenne, on the state of the country, showing a deep interest in the issue before the Nation, and pledging her unwavering support to the Government.
Brother Jenne entered the traveling connection in Maine, and came to the Wisconsin Conference by transfer in 1856. His first appointment was Agent of the Lawrence University. His next appointment was Presiding Elder of Appleton District, where he remained four years. His subsequent appointments have been Janesville, Janesville District, Lake Mills, Hart Prairie, Allen's Grove, Union Grove, Lyons, and Waupun. At the present writing he is on his second year at the last named place.
Brother Jenne is an able Minister of the New Testament. He is a man of large brain and profound research. Well versed in all the questions of the day, as well as in the writings of the Fathers, he is able to furnish a high standard of pulpit labor. He is a, true man, has a genial spirit, and to persons who can strike his plane of thought he is companionable.
At this Conference I was returned to the District for a fourth year, and Rev. S.C. Thomas was appointed to the Summerfield Church.
Brother Thomas entered the Erie Conference in 1842, and, before coming to Wisconsin by transfer in 1851, had been stationed at Conneautville, Geneva, Ravenna, Willoughby, and Fredonia, besides serving two years as Agent of the Alleghany College. After coming to Wisconsin, he had served Spring Street, Platteville, Jackson Street, and had been Agent of the Lawrence University for five years. He now remained two years at Summerfield, when he returned again to the Agency of the University. In 1864 he was made Presiding Elder of the Milwaukee District, where he remained four years. He next served four years as Presiding Elder of the Janesville District, when he was appointed to Fort Atkinson. At the present writing he is at Lyons. This outline completes a record of nearly a quarter of a century of labor in Wisconsin.
Brother Thomas is a man of good business habits, a careful administrator, and a good Preacher. He loves the theology and economy of the Church for which he has so long expended his energies. He is wise in counsel, closely attentive to all the trusts committed to his keeping, and has a host of friends.
Rev. George C. Haddock, Pastor at Waukesha, was received into the Conference the previous year, had been at Port Washington one year, where he had been a supply a part of the previous year, and was now appointed to Waukesha. He remained two years, and did a good work. During the first year, the new stone Church was built in the place of the old frame building that had been burned during the former year. And during the winter following, the charge was blessed with a good revival, and among the fruits gathered into the Church, was our second daughter, then ten years of age.
After leaving Waukesha, Brother Haddock's appointments have been Clinton, Oshkosh, Ripon, Appleton, Division Street, Fond du Lac; Fond du Lac District, and Racine, where he is laboring at this writing.
Brother Haddock is a man of mark. Early in life he acquired the printer's trade, and subsequently devoted several years to the business of editing and publishing secular papers. Soon after his conversion he entered the Ministry, and in less than two years he was received into the Conference. During the fifteen years of his connection with the Conference, he has been an earnest and successful laborer, making full proof of his Ministry. Brother Haddock has a large intellectual development, a warm heart, an eloquent tongue, and an intense spiritual activity. What he does must be done at once, and done thoroughly. He has an ardent hatred of shams, and despises all clap-trap. Both in sermons and debate, he strikes home, and woe be to the luckless pate that has the temerity to dash under his well-aimed strokes. And yet under all this seeming severity, there dwells a spirit as kind and manly as ever throbbed in a human bosom.
During this, the closing year of my term on the District, my labors were very extended. Besides the regular duties of a large District, I added that of aiding in raising regiments for the war. At all suitable times and places, I held war meetings, as they were called, and addressed the people, often finding immense crowds congregated in groves and other convenient localities.
It was in connection with these services that I was nominated for the Colonelcy of a religious regiment, to be raised out of the Churches of the city. But such were my responsibilities at home, where the Government needed all the support it could obtain, it was deemed inadvisable for me to accept. And on further thought it was considered better for the service to avoid such distinctive organizations.
During my term on the District, the annual Camp Meeting at Brookfield greatly prospered. Permanent tents were erected, and the Meeting gave considerable promise of stability. And on these grounds from year to year many persons, were brought into the liberty of the Gospel.
Conference of 1862.--The War.--Position of the Conference.--Rev. J.M. Snow.--Appointed again to Spring Street.--Dr. Bowman.--Changes.--Rev. P.S. Bennett.--Rev. C.S. Macreading.--Official Board.-The New Church Enterprise.--Juvenile Missionary Society.--Conference of 1863.--Rev. P.B. Pease.--Rev. George Fellows.--Rev. Samuel Fallows.--Rev. R.B. Curtis.--Rev. D.H. Muller.--Third Year.--Pastoral Work.--Revival. Visit to the Army.--Illness.--Close of Term.
The Conference of 1862 was held Oct. 1st at Kenosha, Bishop Janes presiding. The country was now in the full tide of war. During the year several members of the Conference had gone out as Chaplains, Rev. H.C. Tilton with the Thirteenth Regiment, Rev. C.D. Pillsbury with the Twenty-Second, and Rev. Samuel Fallows with the Thirty-Second.
This was the hour for brave words, and the Wisconsin Conference had them to give. Nor was it in words alone that she was prepared to sustain the Government. Such was the patriotism of the body that her ranks might have been seriously depleted at any time, if it could have been done with safety to the interests of the country. But it was conceded that the Government must now have a vigorous support at home. Partisan feeling in the late canvass had greatly demoralized the people, and a strong moral influence was needed to rightly shape the tone of public sentiment. In fact, it was necessary throughout the struggle that the Churches, under the lead of the clergy, should act the part of Aaron and Hur, in sustaining the Government.
The Report adopted by the Conference on the state of the country gave no uncertain expression of sentiment. Assuming the position dictated by the most lofty patriotism, she pledged the country an unwavering support until the flag of the Commonwealth should again wave in peaceful triumph over the entire land. Recognizing human freedom as the issue in the conflict, she deemed it alike the duty of the citizen and the Christian to prosecute the war.
At this Conference the death of Rev. Jonathan M. Snow was announced, and his obituary placed upon the Minutes. Brother Snow, after spending a short time in Racine, entered the Illinois Conference in 1838. His appointments were Elgin, Princeton, Mount Morris, Geneva, Washington, Sylvania, Troy, Janesville, Mineral Point and Madison. At the close of his labors at Madison, in 1852, he retired from the active work, but in 1859, he was re-admitted and granted a superannuated relation. Brother Snow was a decisive man, earnest, energetic and persevering. He performed his full share of pioneer work, and deserves an honorable mention among the Fathers of the Conference,
In compliance with the request of the Spring Street Station, Milwaukee, I was this year appointed to its Pastorate, my term on the District having expired. At the earliest possible moment, I entered upon the work of my new field. But at the opening of the year we were called to pass under a cloud. I refer to the death of Dr. Bowman, the father of Mrs. Miller. The Doctor had been compelled, through illness, to surrender his practice in Iowa, and had now been with us three years. His death was peaceful, and his assurance triumphant.
Dr. Bowman came to Wisconsin in 1840, residing, as we have seen, first at Troy, and subsequently at Waupun. In early life he was a skeptic, and continued in unbelief, until after his elevation to a Judgeship in Michigan. He was converted through the influence of his wife, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Distinguished in his profession, reliable in his religious convictions, and devoted to the Church, he was an arm of strength to the cause in its early struggles in the West.
During the interval since my former Pastorate in 1851 and the present, various changes had occurred at Spring Street. The Society had lost two Churches by fire, and Summerfield charge had been formed. The successive Pastors had been Revs. S.C. Thomas, Chauncey Hobart, P.S. Bennett, Milton Rowley, C.S. Macreading, E. Robinson, J.M. Walker, and J.C. Robbins. To several of them reference has been made in former chapters. We will now refer to others.
Rev. P.S. Bennett entered the Black River Conference in 1838, and remained a member of that body until 1849, when he was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference. Among the several charges he filled in his old Conference, were Norfolk, Bangor, Brownville, Salina, Cleveland, Van Buren and Red Creek. In Wisconsin he had been stationed at Platteville, Beloit, and Waukesha.
After leaving Spring Street, he was made Presiding Elder of the Milwaukee District, where he remained four years. His subsequent appointments were Racine, Appleton, Agent of Lawrence University, Green Bay, and Appleton District. At the close of his term on this District, he retired from active labor, having given to the Church a long, devoted, and efficient service.
Brother Bennett is well read in the literature of the Church, and loves her doctrines with a "true heart, fervently." During his active labor he was faithful to every trust confided to his keeping, was a good Pastor and a successful Presiding Elder. And at the present time, it needs only an attack upon the doctrines or usages of the Church to bring him to the front in their defence. He is emphatically a true man.
Rev. C.S. Macreading came from New England, where he had held leading appointments in the Providence and New England Conferences for many years. He had located, and had come West, seeking a field of labor. Coming to Milwaukee, he found the charge vacant, by the removal of the former Pastor on account of affliction in his family, and was employed by the Elder. He served his full term, and at its close the people were reluctant to part with him.
Brother Macreading was a man of superior preaching talent; had an earnest spirit, and a warm heart. At Spring Street, the Lord greatly blessed his labors in the conversion of souls, several of whom remain to this day to bless the Church with their wise counsel and devoted services.
In entering upon the labor of the year, it was my first concern to retrieve, if possible, the disaster which had befallen the Society in the loss of the Church. But to do this, it was deemed important to put every branch of the work in the best possible condition. In this endeavor I had the earnest co-operation of the Official Board, composed at this time of Rev. T.T. Greenwood, Rev. Edwin Hyde, and Messrs. John H. Van Dyke, J.B. Judson, A.J.W. Pierce, Walter Lacy, Cornelius Morse, Daniel Petrie, Jonathan Crouch, James Seville, H.W. Goodall, Thomas Greenwood, O.H. Earl, J.R. Cocup, James Cherry, and Lawrence Harrison.
The spiritual condition of the Society was excellent, and the class and prayer meetings were in a flourishing condition. The next thing to be done was to organize the financial department. In doing this I submitted a new plan, called the "Card System," for raising the current expenses. The plan provided for monthly payments, and was operated through the use of cards. These were so prepared as to contain a subscription on one side, and rulings for entering the payments monthly on the other. The subscriptions were to be made at the beginning of the year, and each subscriber was expected to hand to the collector the several amounts promptly. The plan worked admirably, and placed the finances in a healthy condition.
During the winter we held a series of meetings, which resulted in a considerable accession to the membership. But this success was only preparatory to the Church enterprise before us. The hall that had been used as a chapel was small and inconveniently located. Better accommodations must be had. By the middle of the year the necessity became so urgent that the Pastor could hardly preach, pray or visit without making this subject his principal theme. Finding that the financial basis was quite limited, it was decided to erect a business block, thereby providing for a subsequent income, should the enterprise entail an indebtedness upon the Society. The precaution, however, was unnecessary, as the unparalleled liberality of the people not only met the demands of the enterprise, but provided for a former indebtedness. Ground was broken for the new edifice on the fifteenth day of July, and the Church was dedicated by Rev. Dr. Eddy on the twenty-third of January following.
The Juvenile Missionary Society was formed this year, and thereby the Sunday School became an efficient agency in raising Missionary money. In our plan, each class in the School constituted a Missionary Society, taking a distinctive name. The gatherings of the class for a month went into a common fund, and was reported at the monthly meeting. This meeting was held on the last Sabbath of each month, and was usually made an occasion of special interest.
The year now closing had been full of work. Besides my regular labor, and the responsibilities of the Church enterprise, I had rendered considerable service in raising regiments for the war, by delivering addresses in various portions of the State.
From the beginning of the conflict, I greatly desired to go forward with the brave boys and share with them the burdens and perils of the camp and field. But it was the view of many of my friends, and especially of the Central War Committee of the State, that I was doing a better service for my country at home, in seeking to shape public sentiment, than I could render by leading a regiment in the field. Accepting their judgment, I endeavored to fulfil my mission to the best of my ability in the field to which I seemed to be specially called.
The Conference of 1863 was held Oct. 1st, at Waukesha, and was presided over by Bishop Scott. The body again adopted a strong report in support of the Government. At this Conference Delegates to the General Conference were again elected. They were H. Bannister, S.C. Thomas, C.D. Pillsbury and M. Himebaugh. At the close of the session I was returned to Spring Street. My fellow Pastors in the city were Revs. P.B. Pease and George Fellows.
Brother Pease entered the Wisconsin Conference at its session in Fond du Lac, Sept. 1st, 1852. His appointments had been Aztalan, Wauwatosa, Palmyra, Appleton, Kenosha, and Beloit. He remained two years at Summerfield. His subsequent appointments have been Spring Street, Appleton District, and Janesville District, where at the present writing he is doing a good-work.
Brother Pease has a clear head, a sound understanding, and positive convictions. His pulpit ministrations are impressive and practical, his administration wise and reliable, and his intercourse with the people agreeable and spiritual. Wherever he has labored he has left a record of ability and fidelity.
Brother Fellows entered the Wisconsin Conference in 1852, in the same class with Brother Pease. He was stationed at Wauwatosa, Grafton, Hartford, Oconomowoc, Beaver Dam, and Kenosha. He located in 1859, was re-admitted in 1862, and appointed to Asbury the same year. Here he had been engaged in the erection of a new Church. During this year the building was completed, and the old Church changed into a Parsonage. The Church was dedicated by Rev. Dr. Eddy, assisted by Rev. Dr. Tiffany.
In 1864 Brother Fellows located, and for two years served Madison Station. He returned to the Conference in 1866, and was appointed to Oconomowoc. His subsequent fields of labor were Waukesha, Neenah, Menasha, and Cotton Street, Fond du Lac. In 1872 he accepted a Bible Agency, and in 1874 was appointed Presiding Elder of Waupaca District. Brother Fellows is a man of energy, and will doubtless make an efficient Presiding Elder.
On the Spring Street charge the new year opened auspiciously. The accessions of the former year, in connection, with the better Church accommodations, had given to the work a broader basis, and afforded the promise of wider usefulness. From month to month throughout the year, the stakes were strengthened and the cords lengthened. And at its close there was a general feeling of grateful satisfaction.
In 1864 the Conference was held Oct. 5th at Oshkosh, Bishop Scott presiding. At this session Rev. Samuel Fallows was elected Secretary. Brother Fallows, after his graduation from the State University, devoted several years to the profession of teaching, in connection with the Galesville University, in the Northwestern part of the State. He came to the Wisconsin Conference in 1861, and was stationed at Oshkosh. Before the expiration of the year, however, he went out as a Chaplain in the army, in the service of the Thirty-Second Regiment, and at the Conference of 1862, he received his appointment to that post. Having returned from the army his next appointment, in 1863, was Appleton Station. He was reappointed to the same charge in 1864, but before the expiration of the year he became interested in raising a regiment of one hundred days' men, and went out as Lieutenant Colonel. He graduated to the Colonelcy while in the service, and was brevetted as Brigadier General on his return home. The war having closed before the expiration of the Conference year, he returned to the regular work, and received his appointment in 1865 to the Summerfield Station. After serving three years at Summerfield, he was appointed in 1868 to Spring Street. Here he drew to his ministry a large congregation, and had an extensive revival, thereby hastening the erection of a new Church. The building during the second year was enclosed, but was not completed until the close of the following year.
Brother Fallows enjoyed a successful Pastorate at Spring Street, but before the expiration of his second year, he was appointed by the Executive of the State to the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction. He remained in this position until his second term expired, Jan. 1, 1874, when having been elected President of the Illinois Wesleyan University, he was transferred to the Illinois Conference.
Brother Fallows was a man whom his brethren delighted to honor. Though still a young man comparatively, he had served his Conference as Secretary nine years, and had been sent once as a Delegate to the General Conference. He is a man of superior culture, pleasant voice, and entertaining address. His genial spirit is a perpetual sunshine, and his conversational interviews, the fragrance of summer. In his addresses and sermons, the beautiful predominates. He was born an orator, and he has never been able to shake off the enchantment. It is not his fault that he is generally popular.
At this session the Conference adopted another report of the state of the country. It was full of patriotism, pledging an unwavering support to the Government. The chairman of the committee was Rev. R.B. Curtis.
Brother Curtis entered the Maine Conference in 1845, and in that Conference and the East Maine he filled the following appointments: Bingham, Corinth, Onoro, Frankfort, Searsport, Brick Chapel, Bangor, Bangor District, and again Brick Chapel. He was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference in 1862, and was appointed to Janesville. His next appointment was Delavan, where he remained three years. While here his health failed, and at the ensuing Conference he was compelled to take a superannuated relation. He passed from the earthly to the heavenly home, in Appleton, May 21st, 1872.
Brother Curtis was a man of rare endowments and sublime piety. In his mental development, there was an almost absolute equipoise between the imagination and the logical powers. In his logical dissections of error and defence of truth, a keener blade has seldom, if ever, leaped from its scabbard. Under his masterly imagery his audiences were sometimes chained to their seats, as if held by the toils of an enchantment. With such extraordinary elements of popular address, it is not surprising that he held a high rank in the pulpit. Nor was he deficient in his other qualifications as a Minister of Christ. When Brother Curtis fell from the walls of Zion, it might have been truly said, "A Prince in Israel has this day exchanged the earthly for the Heavenly Crown."
During this year Rev. D.H. Muller was Pastor of Asbury Church. Brother Muller entered the Conference in 1861, coming from the Biblical School at Evanston. His first appointment was Menasha, and his second Oshkosh. And from the last named he came to Asbury. He remained two years, was successful and highly esteemed; but at the close of his term he took a transfer to the Genesee Conference. He has held leading appointments in that Conference up to the present, and has also graduated to the dignity of a Presiding Elder.
Brother Muller is a man of superior talent, genial spirit and fine conversational powers. His name is fragrant in all the charges he served in Wisconsin and the Conference regretted his transfer from the State.
I was again returned to Spring Street, and the salary was now placed at thirteen hundred dollars. With the new Church full of people, with every department of Church work thoroughly organized and in successful operation, I was now permitted to devote my labor to the regular pastoral work. As far as possible, the forenoons were given to my study and the afternoons to pastoral visiting.
In a city like Milwaukee, this last department of labor is absolutely indispensable. It is not intended in this form of expression to intimate that it can be dispensed with in any other field, for it cannot, but simply to indicate the impossibility of caring rightly for the souls of men in a great city, if this form of labor shall be neglected.
In a large city, the population is constantly changing, and unless the Pastor shall be on the alert in looking up the people, members of his own flock, to say nothing of others, will drop out of sight. Soon they will feel that the band of union between them and the Church has been severed, and they have become outcasts. The result of such a state of things, will be either recklessness of life, or a seeking of other Church alliances. In either case, the charge itself suffers loss. In addition to this class of cases that need the eagle eye of the Pastor, there is a constant influx of population. These coming people, in large numbers, will fail to find churchly affiliations unless there is some one who shall seek them out at their new homes, and invite them to attend the means of grace.
I know it will be said, "Let the members of the Churches do this." I grant that the open field for this kind of labor is inviting to the Church members, but suppose they do not enter it, what then? Shall the work be left undone? Besides, the work can be done effectively only, through systematic arrangement, and this feature can only be given to it through the supervision of the Pastor. He only can know the entire ground, and become the nucleus around which the membership will be able to rally.
It would greatly aid the Pastor in his work, if all new-comers would immediately report themselves at the Parsonage or the Church. But as all such are usually burdened with many cares and perplexities during the first weeks or months in making a new home, the only way to reach the desired result seems to be through the vigilant maintenance of pastoral visiting.
During the winter I held a protracted meeting, which gave an addition of forty-seven probationers. I felt the fatigue very much, and at the close of the meeting found it necessary for a time to abridge my labors.
In March following, the Official Board granted me leave of absence to engage for six weeks in the service of the Christian Commission. I was assigned to service at City Point, and along the lines of Gen. Grant's army, before Richmond and Petersburgh. Leaving Milwaukee March 14th, and passing through Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, I entered the James River at Fortress Monroe, and reached City Point on the 21st. After calling at the headquarters of Gen. Grant, and preaching once in the Chapel at the headquarters of the Christian Commission, I went along the line of the army, first to the north of Point of Rocks, twenty miles, and then to the south, twenty miles, as far as Hatch's Run, making forty miles in all. In these excursions I preached in the several Chapels as opportunity offered, and rendered such assistance as I was able, in making the necessary preparations for the forward movement of the army, which was expected to occur in a few days. But I soon found that the exposures along the front were too great for my system, in its enfeebled condition. I contracted a severe cold, which rendered it necessary to leave the lines. I returned to City Point, and was advised to leave at once for Washington, where I could obtain the desired medical treatment. I took the steamboat the very afternoon the army was put in motion. By the time Gen. Grant had taken Gen. Lee, I had taken Washington.
The physicians here believed that my lungs were seriously compromised, and advised me to go to the seashore. I went immediately down to Brooklyn, and became the guest of my cousin, Col. J.T. Hildreth. My family and friends at Milwaukee at once became alarmed, and Mrs. Miller came down. But through skillful treatment, good nursing, and a kind Providence, the indications soon changed for the better, and at the end of two months I was able to return to my people. On reaching the city the friends gave us a reception, and left us over two hundred dollars. I was able to resume my labors soon after, and the balance of the year passed pleasantly. I had now completed my full term of three years. During this time I had received into the Church about two hundred members, and after allowing for removals and other changes, the net increase had been about half that number.
Though the people had been greatly taxed in building their new Church, it was found that the benevolent collections had considerably increased. The Missionary, collection advanced during the first year from seventy-five dollars to two hundred and twenty. The second year it was two hundred and sixty-two, and the third, three hundred and forty.
The Sunday School had now reached an aggregate of four hundred scholars, and the Library six hundred volumes. Among the accessions of the term, there were several who gave considerable financial strength to the charge.