A SERIES OF SKETCHES 
 
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 HOME MISSIONS 
 
 OF TME 
 
 PRE SBYTERtAN CHURCH, US-A., 
 
a../o.o6~ 
 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
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 Presented bySocTvr^X o\Cy\C>m(S.VC\\3S\0'C\S 
 BX 9220 .H76 1904 
 
HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 A SERIES OF SKETCHES 
 
 LlTERATtTRE DEPARTMENT 
 
 Presbyterian Hobie Missions 
 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
 
 1904 
 
 * 
 
coptright, 1904, by 
 The Board of Home Missions 
 OF THE Presbyterian Church 
 
 IN THE U. S. A. 
 
 THE TROW PRESS, NEW YORK 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 To know the history of our Church in our 
 land is to be interested in Home Missions. 
 
 Our Board of Home Missions and our 
 Woman's Board of Home Missions are there- 
 fore placing before our young people — for 
 general reading or for use in study classes — 
 a series of sketches which trace the planting 
 and progress of gospel truth among our In- 
 dians, Mexicans, Mormons, Mountaineers of 
 the South, Alaskans, and the dwellers in 
 Porto Rico and Cuba. This book of the series 
 introduces its readers to seven typical home 
 mission heroes. 
 
 This little library of seven volumes, writ- 
 ten by those who know the work, is warmly 
 commended for accuracy and attractiveness. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER *AGB 
 
 I. America's Pioneer Home Missionary, 
 
 Francis Makeraie, 1658-1708 ... 1 
 By the Rev. Samuel McLanahan. 
 
 II. An Apostle to the Indians, David Braiii<- 
 
 ard, 1T18-1747 24 
 
 By the Hev. Samuel McLanahan. 
 
 III. A Pioneer of the Old "Southwest,** 
 
 Gideon Blackburn, D.D., 1772-1838 . 45 
 
 By Edgar A. Elmore, D.D. 
 
 IV. A Winner of Souls, Daniel Baker, D.D., 
 
 1791-1857 67 
 
 By Henry S. Little, D.D. 
 
 V. The Pioneer Among the Sioux, Thomas 
 
 Smith Williamson, M.D., 1800-1879 . 83 
 By John P. Williamson, D.D. 
 
 VI. The Patriarch of Two Synods, Henry 
 
 Little, D.D., 1800-1882 106 
 
 By George O. Little, D.D. 
 
 VII. One of the "Missouri Ten," Timothy 
 
 Hill, D.D., 1819-1887 126 
 
 By John B. HiU, D.D. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OPPOSITE 
 PAGE 
 
 Daniel Baker, D.D., 1791-1857 67 
 
 Rev. Thomas Smith Williamson, M.D., 1800- 
 
 1879 83 
 
 Henry Little, D.D., 1800-1882 106 
 
 Timothy Hill, D.D., 1819-1887 126 
 
PIONEERS— O PIONEERS! 
 
 "Come, my tan-faced children. 
 Follow well in order, get your weapons ready. 
 Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged 
 axes? 
 
 Pioneers — O Pioneers. 
 
 " For we can not tarry here; 
 
 We must march, my darlings, we must bear the brunt 
 
 of danger; 
 We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend. 
 Pioneers — O Pioneers. 
 
 "We, the primeval forest felling; 
 
 We, the rivers stemming; vexing we, and piercing deep 
 
 the mines witliin; 
 We, the surface broad surveying; we, the virgin soil 
 
 upheaving; — 
 
 Pioneers — O Pioneers. 
 
 "See my children, resolute children. 
 
 By those swarms upon our rear, we must never yield 
 
 or falter; 
 Ages back in ghostly millions, frowning there behind 
 
 us urging, — 
 
 Pioneers — O Pioneers. 
 
 "We, detachments steady throwing 
 
 Down the edges through the passes, up the mountains 
 
 steep, 
 Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the 
 
 unknown ways. 
 
 Pioneers — O Pioneers. 
 
 "All the past we leave behind — 
 We debouch upon a newer, mightier world; 
 Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor 
 and the march. 
 
 Pioneers — O Pioneers." 
 
HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AMERICA'S PIONEER HOME MISSIONARY. 
 FRANCIS MAKE^nE. 
 
 1658—1708. 
 By the Rev. Samuel McLanahan. 
 
 Francis Makemie deserves the title of pio- 
 neer home missionary among American Pres- 
 byterians. He himself came from abroad. 
 Other Presbyterian ministers had preceded 
 him. Presbyterian churches had been found- 
 ed before he came. But Makemie first in an 
 eminent degree embodied the home mission- 
 ary spirit and illustrated home missionary 
 methods. In his compassion over the tender 
 souls in an American desert ready to perish 
 for want of a "vision," in his care for weak 
 congregations and his zeal to establish new 
 ones, in his efforts and journeys to secure 
 men and money to supply these fields, in 
 1 
 
2 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 bringing the separated laborers together in 
 the first Presbytery, in his public spirit and 
 personal self-sacrifice, Francis Makemie ap- 
 pears at once the leader and the incarnation of 
 Presbyterian home missions in America. 
 
 To find his birthplace we must go to the 
 north of Ireland. There in a cottage on the 
 hillside by a long arm of the sea called Lough 
 Swilly, Francis Makemie was born about 
 1658 — ^the year Cromwell died. There were 
 at least two older brothers, John and Robert, 
 and two sisters, of whom "Sister Ann" was 
 youngest. The family was what we know in 
 America as Scotch-Irish. They were mem- 
 bers or descendants of that considerable com- 
 pany of Scotch people who, under royal en- 
 couragement, had helped to repeople this 
 desolated region of Ulster, during the pre- 
 ceding half century. The family attended 
 church at the village of Ramelton, nearby. 
 The children were strictly governed and dil- 
 igently taught the Scriptures at home by 
 parents who sought to train up not "vassals 
 for the Devil" but "servants for the living 
 God." 
 
 Makemie wrote in later life that when he 
 came before Presbytery he was able to give 
 "satisfaction to godly, learned and judicious 
 discerning men of a work of grace and con- 
 version wrought in my heart at fifteen years 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 3 
 
 of age, by and from the pains of a godly 
 schoolmaster, who used no small diligence in 
 gaining tender souls to God's service and 
 fear." 
 
 Evidently he soon felt called to be a min- 
 ister. In February, 1676, "Franciscus Make- 
 mius Scoto-Hiburnus" was enrolled as a stu- 
 dent at the University of Glasgow. Four 
 years later, January twenty-eight, 1680, he 
 appeared as a candidate for the ministry in 
 the Presbytery of Laggan,* at St. Johnstown, 
 a few miles from his home. He bore a com- 
 mendation from his pastor, Mr. Drummond. 
 For more than a year he was under the direc- 
 tion and examination of committees that re- 
 ported favorably. Twice the meeting heard 
 him preach, and finally Presbytery licensed 
 and ordained him somewhere in the years 
 1681-2. 
 
 Of the latter acts no written record is 
 known to exist. The probable reason is in- 
 teresting and suggestive. The period of 
 Makemie's youth was a hard time for Pres- 
 byterians in both Scotland and Ireland. The 
 treacherous, profligate, time-serving Charles 
 II was on the throne. Repeated efforts were 
 made to enforce episcopacy. Wave after 
 wave of persecution threatened to destroy 
 every vestige of Presbyterianism. But when 
 
 * For full extracts of Minutes, see Bowen, p. 515 sq. 
 
4 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 the ebb came, the strong foundations reap- 
 peared and earnest hands quickly rebuilt the 
 superstructure. 
 
 Just when Makemie sought the Presbytery, 
 one of the worst of these waves was swell- 
 ing. So severe was it that in after years this 
 period was known, by eminence, as "the kill- 
 ing time." It was particularly dangerous 
 to be a Presbyterian minister. Makemie's 
 pastor, Drummond, had been one of sixty-one 
 ministers driven from their pulpits in I66I. 
 They were forbidden under heavy penalties to 
 perform any ministerial act. Three years 
 later this same pastor, with three others, had 
 been thrown into prison for six years for dis- 
 obedience. Just at the time that the written 
 minutes which tell of Makemie's trials break 
 off, the Rev. William Trail, the Moderator, 
 with others of the Presbytery, was arrested 
 > for holding a fast day.* That in such cir- 
 cumstances, Francis Makemie sought the 
 Presbyterian ministry, is proof of his zeal 
 and courage. 
 
 In December, I68O, while Makemie was 
 under the care of the Presbytery and was 
 probably present, its minutes record : 
 
 "Colonell Stevens from Maryland beside 
 Virginia his desire of a godly minister is pre- 
 
 * For full and interesting report of trial see Reid's 
 History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 5 
 
 sented to us. The meeting will consider it 
 seriously and do what they can in it." 
 
 "When the Rev. William Trail was released 
 from the imprisonment above noted, he came 
 to America, probably in 1682, In 1684 the 
 majority of the ministers of this Presbytery 
 of Laggan intimated to other Presbyteries^ 
 their purpose to emigrate to America "be- 
 cause of persecution and general poverty 
 abounding in those parts (Ireland) and on ac- 
 count of their straits and little or no access 
 to their ministry." Makemie was not afraid 
 to preach in Ireland. He did so as we know at 
 Burt, April second, 1682. Yet from hin- 
 drances in Ireland on the one hand and the 
 Macedonian call from over the sea on the 
 other, Makemie seems to have gathered "that 
 the Lord had called" him to preach the gos- 
 pel in America. 
 
 A letter from Elizabeth River of July 
 twenty-second, 1684, shows that he had been 
 in "Maryland," doubtless the eastern shore. 
 There Colonel Stevens, who had written to 
 the Presbytery, lived. There we suppose Mr. 
 Trail already was as pastor of Rehoboth, a 
 position we know he held a little later.* 
 Probably the Rev. Thomas Wilson, f known 
 
 * Somersett records give marriage by him 1684. 
 Bowen, 523. 
 
 t A Thomas Wilson obtains land 1681. McIIvain, 
 p. 20. 
 
6 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 to have been pastor at Manokin (Princess 
 Anne, Maryland) and perhaps the Rev. Sam- 
 uel Davis,* earliest known pastor of Snow 
 Hill, Maryland, were also in that region. At 
 all events Mr. Makemie had not settled there 
 then and did not intend to do so. He was 
 prospecting for himself and others. He wrote 
 letters to points as widely separated as Massa- 
 chusetts and South Carolina. He had pro- 
 jected a journey south. He was hindered 
 from fully carrying out his plan, as we will 
 see. Under these circumstances he writes in 
 the letter quoted above: 
 
 "But for the satisfaction of my friends in 
 Ireland, whom I design to be very nice in in- 
 viting to any place of America I have yet 
 seen, I have sent one of our number to ac- 
 quaint me further concerning the place" 
 (Ashley River). 
 
 On his way south he had preached for a 
 time to little companies of Presbyterian Puri- 
 tans f on the Elizabeth River, Virginia, near 
 the present site of Norfolk, Virginia. Then 
 proceeding to North Carolina, he embarked 
 for Ashley River (near Charleston, South 
 Carolina). Buffeted by contrary winds for 
 
 * Somersett records give marriage by him 1684. 
 Bowen, 523. 
 
 t See article by Rev. E. Mack, D.D., Pres. Ortly, 
 July, 1901, p. 398. 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 7 
 
 five weeks and driven as far north as Dela- 
 ware Bay, the vessel finally put into the 
 Chesapeake for supplies. 
 
 Some of the Elizabeth River congregation 
 happened at the landing and renewed their 
 importunity that he should become their min- 
 ister. It seemed to him the hand of God. He' 
 resolved, as he says, "to submit myself to the 
 sovereign providence of God, who has been 
 pleased so unexpectedly to drive me back to 
 this poor, desolate people, among whom I de- 
 sire to continue till God in his providence de- 
 termine otherwise concerning me," 
 
 This was evidently his first settlement; he 
 obtained a house and lot there. When he 
 appeared on the eastern shore a few years 
 later he was already a man of some property. 
 Under these circumstances it seems probable 
 that while ministering to the Elizabeth River 
 congregation, Mr. Makemie began for his own 
 support the West India trading in which we 
 know he was subsequently engaged. His suc- 
 cessor in that charge, the Rev. Josias Mackie, 
 conducted a store and plantation, although he 
 had four registered preaching points. All 
 that we know indicates that Mr. Makemie re- 
 mained on the Elizabeth River until about 
 1690. 
 
 It is in 1690 that we first find him estab- 
 lished on the shore of the Chesapeake. In 
 
8 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 that year his name appears on the list of 
 taxables in Accomack County, Virginia. He 
 was assessed for three "tithables" (servants). 
 He became possessed of a plantation on the 
 south side of Matchatank Creek. Almost 
 certainly the occasion of his removal is to be 
 found in the return that year of the Rev. Mr. 
 Trail to Scotland, where he took charge. This 
 would leave vacant Rehoboth, apparently the 
 most important charge. By the terms of a 
 will dated in l691j Mr. Makemie had become 
 "minister of the Gospel at Rehoboth Town." 
 He was bequeathed "five thousand pounds of 
 pork," convenient to him or his order within 
 twelve months. 
 
 Apparently about this time Mr. Makemie 
 issued his first publication — a Catechism for 
 "young ones." No copy of it is known to 
 exist. George Keith, then a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Society of Friends, came into the 
 region. He visited Mr. Makemie at his house 
 at Pocomoke (Rehoboth?) and challenged 
 him to a public discussion. This Mr. Make- 
 mie declined, as likely to be indecisive and 
 profitless, but suggested instead that Keith 
 should write a criticism of the doctrines 
 taught in the Catechism. To this Makemie 
 would reply in writing. This was done, and 
 the whole, with some additional strictures by 
 JNIr. Makemie, was ultimately published by 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 9 
 
 him in Boston in 1693. Increase Mather gave 
 the book his "Imprimatur" in black letters; 
 and he, his son Cotton and other prominent 
 ministers united in commending the discourses 
 as "seasonable and profitable," and speak of 
 the "faithful endeavours" of the "reverent 
 and judicious author." 
 
 Probably late in that year Mr. Makemie 
 went abroad. He was in London.* He re- 
 turned early in 1692. He seems to have 
 brought some colonists with him, for in Feb- 
 ruary of that year the court of Accomack 
 grants him four hundred and fifty acres of 
 land for bringing nine settlers into the prov- 
 ince. One of these was his nephew, William 
 Boggs. As the Rev. Josias Mackie, who took 
 his place on the Elizabeth River, was from 
 his old home region in the north of Ireland 
 and qualified as a minister in Virginia, June, 
 1692, it is entirely possible that he too had 
 been induced to come over for this purpose by 
 Mr. Makemie. 
 
 It is about this time that Mr. Makemie 
 alludes to "my tedious affliction" — as enig- 
 matical as Paul's thorn in the flesh. What- 
 ever it was, it hindered his transcribing his 
 answer to Keith for a year. 
 
 It was in this year 1692 also that he made 
 his first visit to Philadelphia, "Having," he 
 * Webster, 299. 
 
10 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 says, "satisfied my longing desire in visiting 
 Pennsylvania." Webster makes the very 
 probable suggestion that he preached there, 
 but of this there is no note. His visit was 
 particularly related to his discussion with 
 Keith. 
 
 Mr. Makemie's name disappears from the 
 tax-roll of Virginia in 1693. Probably in 
 that year, certainly before I696, he went to 
 the island of Barbadoes. This is the most 
 easterly of the islands associated with our 
 American continent. It was the chief calling 
 place of vessels between the new and old 
 worlds. An active trade was carried on with 
 the Chesapeake. It had then as now a very 
 mixed population. ^Motives of health and of 
 business may have had something to do with 
 ^Ir. Makemie's going, but all that we know 
 of him there relates to religious work. It is 
 chiefly contained in a tractate, vindicating the 
 Non-Conformists, which was called "Truths 
 in a True Light: or a Pastoral Letter to the 
 Reformed Protestants in Barbadoes"; and in 
 two letters to Increase Mather. In the for- 
 mer letter he expresses his disappointment 
 that Samuel Mather, whom he had expected 
 to come and take his place, seemed to have 
 decided to go elsewhere. ^lakemie wrote 
 under date of January 17, 1698: 
 
 "I shall be necessitated to leave this people. 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 11 
 
 and many strangers, who resort to this island 
 desolate, being purely confined these two 
 years from going off for my health, for want 
 of supply." 
 
 The Mather letters, just referred to, and 
 notices of his presence in the Virginia records _ 
 later in that year, enable us to fix the early 
 part of 1698 as the time of his return to the 
 eastern shore of Virginia. The movements of 
 Mr. Makemie himself and indications drawn 
 from the will of his father-in-law, made on 
 July twenty-third of that year, point to the 
 spring of 1698 as the date of Makemie's mar- 
 riage. His wife was Naomi, daughter of 
 William Anderson, a wealthy planter and 
 trader, whose home, "Pocomoke," was on the 
 bay and near the mouth of the river of that 
 name. By the will of Mr. Anderson, who 
 died in August, this plantation with much 
 other property passed into the hands of the 
 Makemies. It became their home. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Makemie were executors of the will. 
 They were called to fill a like office in 1701 
 for Edmund Custis, a wealthy neighbor who, 
 passing by relatives, committed his children 
 as well as his estate to their care. The new 
 responsibilities must have made large drafts 
 on Mr. Makemie's time and attention. He 
 built a mill near one of Mr. Anderson's out- 
 lying estates. He purchased additional prop- 
 
12 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 erty in his own name. His business transac- 
 tions brought him frequently into the local 
 courts, where he appeared as his own lawyer. 
 But these secular affairs did not lead him to 
 demit his ministry, nor so far as we can dis- 
 cover, to remit his zeal. 
 
 It is matter of tradition that Mr. Makemie 
 was arrested for preaching in Virginia, and 
 that he was taken to Williamstown, where he 
 so ably pleaded the cause of the dissenters as 
 not only to clear himself, but to secure the 
 formal recognition of the Toleration Act by 
 the Governor and Council. It is of record 
 that the latter action was taken in April, 
 1699, and that in October of that year Mr. 
 Makemie was granted a certificate which au- 
 thorized him to preach, and named his own 
 dwelling-house at Pocomoke, also his own 
 house at Onancock, as "the first places of his 
 constant and ordinary preaching." There is 
 evidence that he ministered also at points in 
 Somersett County, ]Mar3'land. 
 
 The opening of the eighteenth century was 
 marked in many of the colonies by an effort 
 to enforce conformity to the English Church. 
 The accession of Queen Anne in 1702 and the 
 formation of the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel were the immediate occasions. 
 The special agent of the latter society was the 
 former Friend, George Keith, who after a few 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 13 
 
 3'^ears' absence had returned to America in 
 Episcopal orders. With him was associated 
 the Rev. John Talbot. They traveled widely 
 through the colonies from 1 702-4. 
 
 Dr. Briggs (p. 138) is doubtless right in 
 finding in this active propaganda one of the 
 occasions, but certainly only one of the occa- 
 sions, which incited Mr. Makemie to go 
 abroad for reinforcements. He at first in- 
 tended to go in 1 703, but did not get off until 
 1704. Two things mark this visit. 
 
 One was his publication of what he calls 
 "A Plain and Friendly Persuasive to the In- 
 habitants of Virginia and Maryland for Pro- 
 moting Towns and Co-habitation." The 
 advantages of the towns for promoting re- 
 ligion as well as temporal well-being is set 
 forth in it. The other and more notable 
 feature was his success in securing two young 
 ministers to return with him. They were 
 George McNish, a Scotchman who subse- 
 quently labored in IMaryland and on Long 
 Island, and John Hampton from Mr. Make- 
 mie's old Presbytery of Laggan in Ireland. 
 He presently settled for life at Snow Hill, 
 IMaryland. Mr. ]\Iakemie also secured from 
 the London ministers the promise of support 
 of these two young men for two years, during 
 which they were to itinerate among the scat- 
 tered settlements. After that time they were 
 
14 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 expected to settle as pastors, and two more 
 young men were to be sent out and supported 
 for a like purpose. This scheme, which was 
 undoubtedly Mr. Makemie's, shows that he 
 had the whole field in his mind and was plan- 
 ning for persistent extension. The arrange- 
 ments were not carried out after his death.* 
 
 In 1706, the year following Mr. Makemie's 
 return, the first Presbytery on American soil 
 M'as formed in Philadelphia. Its members 
 were Mr. Makemie, Rev. John Wilson, Na- 
 thaniel Taylor, and Samuel Davis (who were 
 Mr. Makemie's older co-laborers on the pen- 
 insula), John Hampton and George McNish 
 (just brought over by him), and Jedediah An- 
 drews, of Philadelphia. That Mr, Makemie 
 was the leading spirit in forming it and that 
 he was its first moderator can scarcely be 
 questioned. He held the latter office at the 
 second meeting, which was held at Freehold, 
 New Jersey, December, 1706. 
 
 Immediately following the second meeting 
 of Presbytery Mr. Makemie and Mr. Hamp- 
 ton set out for Boston. Probably the trip 
 was in the interest of extending the new or- 
 ganization, for a letter written a few months 
 later shows that he had such extension in 
 mind. 
 
 Being in New York they paid their re- 
 * See Briggs, p. 165. 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 15 
 
 spects to the Governor, Lord Cornbury. They 
 were invited to dine with him. Subsequently 
 Mr. Makeniie was asked to remain over Sun- 
 day and preach. He consented. The Dutch 
 would have given their church, but the Gov- 
 ernor, when approached by the promoters of 
 the service, refused to allow Mr. Makemie to' 
 preach. But Mr. Makemie, " Consider in g/ ' 
 as he afterwards wrote, "the solemn obliga- 
 tions I am under both to God and the souls of 
 men — to embrace all opportunities for exer- 
 cising those ministerial gifts vouchsafed from 
 heaven,') preached, nevertheless, in a private 
 house. Mr. Hampton preached on Long 
 Island. For this they were arrested and 
 illegally held as prisoners for more than six 
 weeks, in the face of numerous pleas and 
 petitions. At length they were released on 
 bail, and Mr. Hampton was presently dis- 
 charged. 
 
 "Being let go," like the Apostles, "they 
 went to their own company" — the little Pres- 
 bytery in Philadelphia, which had adjourned 
 a few days to await their coming. There Mr. 
 Makemie discoursed to his brethren by ap- 
 pointment on Hebrews I: 1, 2. He went 
 thence to Virginia but he was back in New 
 York, accompanied by his serving man, ready 
 to stand his trial in Jvme. The question in- 
 volved the right of dissenting ministers in the 
 
16 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 colonies under the Toleration Act of Great 
 Britain. The judge, Mompesson, said in the 
 trial, 
 
 "This is the first instance I can learn 
 [there] has been of a trial or prosecution of 
 this nature in America," 
 
 and Mr. Makemie reiterates this statement 
 in his published account. He regarded him- 
 self as engaged not simply in defending him- 
 self, but in establishing a vital principle in 
 the religious and civil life of the colonies. 
 Able professional counsel assisted in the de- 
 fence, but Mr. Makemie himself made the 
 most able, broad, and striking speech. His 
 passes with the Governor and the attorneys in 
 this controversy sliow his readiness and clear- 
 headedness. Although the Governor and the 
 Court were evidently against him, the jury 
 quickly brought in a verdict of "Not guilty." 
 But the Court imposed all the charges, in- 
 cluding those of the prosecuting attorney, 
 tipon the man who had just been declared 
 innocent, and had already suffered much 
 unjustly. 
 
 It is quite characteristic that Mr. Makemie, 
 after acquital, remained in New York over 
 the following Sunday, and again preached. 
 It is equally characteristic of the Governor 
 that he attempted to have him re-arrested on 
 a false charge about another matter, and that 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 17 
 
 Mr. Makemie with difficulty escaped from 
 New Jersey into New England. There Mr. 
 Makemie published an account of the impris- 
 onment and trial. 
 
 The trial made a great stir in New York 
 and throughout the colonies. It is said to 
 have been an influential factor in the recall * 
 of Lord Cornbury shortly after. Makemie's 
 account was re-published in 1755 for its bear- 
 ing on the growing conflict between the colo- 
 nies and the mother country, which issued in 
 the Revolution, 1776. 
 
 In the summer of 1708 Mr. Makemie died 
 at his Virginia home. He was scarcely fifty 
 years of age. Just one half of his life had 
 been devoted to promoting the cause of Christ 
 in the New World. JNIr. Makemie lies in an 
 unmarked, if indeed it be not an unknown, 
 grave. He left a widow and two daughters. 
 The elder of these, Elizabeth, died shortly 
 after her father. The younger, Anna, mar- 
 ried and lived to old age, but had no children. 
 
 There is no contemporary description of 
 Mr. Makemie's appearance. A picture from 
 life existed until 1831, when it was burned. 
 Dr. Bowen bases an imaginary description of 
 him upon the recollection of that picture given 
 nearly half a century after its destruction by 
 a daughter of INIr. Balch, in whose home it 
 hung when destroyed. He speaks of Mr. 
 
18 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 Makeraie as "Wearing the black Genevan 
 gown and the white bands"; as having "an 
 intellectual forehead, crowned with brown 
 locks"; "a fair complexion, expressive blue 
 eyes and, over all, the mein of an Irish gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 The bequests and trusts committed to him, 
 his numerous nanjesakes on both sides of the 
 sea, the explicit testimony of contemporaries 
 both lay and clerical, and the fragrant tra- 
 dition * which still lingers about the scene of 
 his ministry, attest tlie confidence and affec- 
 tion which he inspired. 
 
 His correspondence shows that he was a 
 lover and reader of books. He possessed at 
 the time of his death what was then a large 
 library, about a thousand volumes, on the- 
 ology, law and miscellaneous subjects, includ- 
 ing books in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. His 
 productions which survive are not always 
 smooth and clear in style, but they show keen 
 intelligence, original and vigorous thought, 
 sane and comprehensive judgment, and a 
 forceful, if sometimes rugged, utterance. 
 Tradition ascribes to him the native Irish trait 
 of eloquent speech. 
 
 Lord Cornbury in an intended slur paid 
 him a true compliment when he said, 
 
 "He is a Jack-at-all-trades; he is a preach- 
 * See particulars, Spence, p. 81. 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 19 
 
 er, a doctor of physic, a merchant, an attor- 
 ney, a counsellor-at-law, and, which is worst, 
 a disturber of governments." 
 
 He was called upon to do many things in 
 many different places, and he seems to have 
 wrought effectively in all — disturbing even 
 Lord Cornbury's unrighteous government. 
 -^ Circumstances, disposition and intention 
 seem to have conspired to make him a cham- 
 pion of religious liberty. The experiences of 
 his youth gave him an understanding of what 
 was involved in the question. His observa- 
 tions in the Barbadoes led him to study and 
 write upon the subject. His arrest (or ar- 
 rests) in the colonies summoned him, thus fit- 
 ted, to do public battle for the principles he 
 had espoused. It was his privilege to win 
 victory not for himself alone, but for the 
 great body of Christian people then on this 
 continent. His account of the trial gave pub- 
 licity and permanence to it. 
 
 But before all and in all Francis Makemie 
 waji a Missionary. He came to America with- 
 out pledge of support behind him or promise 
 of place before him. On account of the gen- 
 eral poverty he did not seek a fixed salary, but 
 received such offerings as were freely made. 
 Like the Apostle Paul, he engaged in busi- 
 ness; but he portrays himself when he is de- 
 scribing ministers who "Have been neces- 
 
20 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 sitated to labor with their hands and to betake 
 themselves for a time to merchandising, and 
 jxt would never dare to lay aside the preach- 
 ing of the gospel." 
 
 It was the destitution not the emoluments 
 which led him to Elizabeth River, which held 
 him for years in Barbadoes. He became a 
 man of property, but it was held for the 
 Lord's use. His houses were preaching 
 points. Rehoboth church was built on the lot 
 which he gave. Even on the Lord's business, 
 he traveled at his own charge. His soul was 
 burdened for the immigrants, of whom he 
 says that they, "Removing to remote settle- 
 ments, neglected by others and careless of 
 themselves, continue grossly ignorant of many 
 necessary parts of the Christian religion"; 
 and for native whites "born in ignorant fam- 
 ilies," and who "by distance seldom hear a 
 sermon." His interest extended also to "all 
 pagans, whether Indians or negroes." He 
 gave his best efforts to the ministry of the 
 gospel, whatever else he did, seeking "by all 
 means to save some." 
 
 It is impossible now to tell what share he 
 had in establishing particular churches. The 
 organization of the first Presbytery through 
 his statesmanship and influence gave a crown, 
 a j^ermanence, and an extension to his work 
 of which he never could have dreamed. His 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 21 
 
 works follow him. Churches he tended still 
 live and fruit. The Presbytery which he 
 helped to form has become three Assemblies. 
 In these great organizations, the missionary 
 spirit and methods which Francis Makemie 
 exemplified survive, and through them the 
 gospel is being carried to men of our own and 
 all lands. 
 
22 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 KNOWN PUBLICATIONS OF THE REV. 
 FRANCIS MAKEMIE. 
 
 A Catechism. About 50 pages. 1691 (?) No extant 
 copy. 
 
 An Answer to George Keith's Libel Ag.mnst a 
 Catechism Published by Fr.vncis Makemie. 
 Boston, 1693. Two copies known, one in Old 
 South Church Library, the other in that of the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
 
 Truths in a True Light or — A Pastoral Letter 
 to the Reformed Protestants in Barbadoes, 
 Vindicating the Non-Comf or mists, etc., Edin- 
 burgh, 1699. One copy. Library of Harvard 
 University. 
 
 A Plain and Friendly Persuasive to the In- 
 habit^uvts of Virginia and Maryl.\nd for 
 Promoting Towns and Cohabitation. By a 
 well-wisher to both Governments. London, 1705. 
 One copy. Ivibrary of Harvard University. 
 
 A Good Conversation. A sermon preached at the 
 City of New York, January 19, 1706-7. Boston, 
 1707. Republished in Collections of New York 
 Historical Society, III, 1870, p. 411. 
 
 A Narrative of a New and Unusual American 
 Imprisonment of Two Presbyterian Minis- 
 ters: AND Prosecution of Mr. Francis Ma- 
 kemie, Etc. By a Learner of Law and Lover 
 of Liberty. Reprinted in Force's Historical Tracts. 
 
 Five Private Letters. Most fully and accurately 
 given in Briggs' American Presbyteriaiiism, Ap- 
 pendix X. 
 
FRANCIS MAKEMIE 23 
 
 PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES ON THE LIFE 
 OF MAKEMIE. 
 
 BowEN, Rev. L. P., D.D. "The Days of Makemie." 
 Philadelphia, 1885, p. 558. 
 
 Briggs, Rev. C, D.D., "American Presbyterianism." 
 New York, 1885. 
 
 Hill, William. "History of the Rise, Progress, 
 Genius and Character of American Presbyterian- 
 ism," Washington, 1839. 
 
 McIlvain, Rev. J. William. "Early Presbji:erisn- 
 ism in Maryland, Notes Supplementary to the 
 Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical 
 and Political Science," 1890, No. 8. 
 
 Spence, Irving, Esq. "Letters on the Early History 
 of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1838." 
 
 Sprague, Rev. W. B., D.D. "Annals of the Ameri- 
 can Pulpit." 
 
 Webster, Rev. Richakd. "A History of the Pres- 
 byterian Church in America, 1857." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN APOSTLE TO THE INDIANS, 
 DAVID BRAINERD. 
 
 1718—1747. 
 
 By The Rev. Samuel McLanahan. 
 
 Valuable, even wonderful as men account- 
 ed what Brainerd did, the power and pathos 
 of his story lie chiefly in what he was. His 
 diaries are the main source of information. 
 Extracts were published by the Society which 
 emj^loyed him during his lifetime. After his 
 death Jonathan Edwards edited and pub- 
 lished much of the remaining portions in his 
 "Life of David Brainerd." This has been a 
 religious classic on both sides of the sea for a 
 century and a half. It is significant of the 
 real communion of saints that John Wesley, 
 the Arminian, re-published a briefer edition 
 of the life of this high Calvinist, and that 
 Henry Martyn, the early and devoted mis- 
 sionary of the Church of England, found the 
 impulse and example for his devotion in the 
 life of this non-conformist. Dr. Prentiss 
 calls him "the missionary saint of New Eng- 
 21. 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 25 
 
 land," while Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 claim him because he wrought there. Trained 
 among Congregationalists, he was ordained 
 and labored among Presbyterians. 
 
 David Brainerd was born at Haddam, Con- 
 necticut, April twentieth, 1718. His father, 
 Hezekiah, and his father's father, Daniel, had 
 been active in business, church and public 
 affairs. His mother, Dorothy Hobart, came 
 of a double line of ministerial ancestors. Of 
 her five sons, four chose the ministry. John, 
 next younger than David, became the latter's 
 successor among the Indians. His father 
 died when David was nine and his mother 
 when he was fourteen. The next year he 
 left home and lived for four years at East 
 Haddam. At the age of nineteen he started 
 to work his own farm at Durham, Connecti- 
 cut. But his longings for a liberal education 
 led him to abandon farming within a year and 
 devote himself to study. 
 
 Of his religious experience in this early 
 period we have this brief but interesting 
 sketch from his own hand: 
 
 "I was from my youth somewhat sober, and 
 inclined to melancholy; but do not remember 
 anything of conviction of sin, worthy of re- 
 mark, till I was, I believe, about seven or 
 eight years of age. Then I became con- 
 cerned for my soul, and terrified at the 
 
26 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 tlioughts of death: and was driven to the 
 performance of religious duties; but it ap- 
 peared a melancholy business^ that destroyed 
 my eagerness for play. And though, alas ! 
 this religious concern was but short-lived, I 
 sometimes attended secret prayer: and thus 
 lived at 'ease in Zion^ without God in the 
 world/ and without much concern, as I re- 
 member, till I was above thirteen years of 
 age. In the winter of 1732, I was roused 
 out of this carnal security, by I scarce know 
 what means at firstj but was much excited 
 by the prevalence of mortal sickness in Had- 
 dam. I was frequent, constant, and some- 
 what fervent in prayer: and took delight in 
 reading, especially Mr. Janeway's Token for 
 Children. I felt sometimes much melted in 
 the duties of religion, took great delight in 
 the performance of them, and sometimes 
 hoped that I was converted, or at least in a 
 good and hopeful way for heaven and hap- 
 piness; not knowing what conversion was. 
 The Spirit of God at this time proceeded far 
 with me. I was remarkably dead to the 
 world: my thoughts were almost wholly em- 
 ployed about my soul's concerns: and I may 
 indeed say, 'Almost I was jDcrsuaded to be 
 a Christian.' I was also exceedingly dis- 
 tressed and melancholy at the death of my 
 mother, in March, 1732. But afterwards my 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 27 
 
 religious concern began to decline, and by de- 
 grees I fell back into a considerable degree 
 of security, though I still attended secret 
 prayer." 
 
 During the four years at East Haddam he 
 "went a round of secret duty" ; went little into 
 the company and amusements of the young 
 and felt uncomfortable when he did; but had 
 some "good frames," in which he found satis- 
 faction. Later he Avrote of them, 
 
 "But, alas ! all my good frames were but 
 self-righteousness, not founded on a desire 
 for the glory of God." 
 
 Of himself at twenty, when he decided to 
 devote himself to study, he writes : 
 
 "I became very strict and watchful over 
 my thoughts, words and actions, concluded 
 that I must be sober indeed, because I de- 
 signed to devote myself to the ministry: and 
 imagined that I did dedicate myself to the 
 Lord." 
 
 He went to live with the pastor at Had- 
 dam, who encouraged him in these austerities. 
 It is interesting to note tliat young people's 
 meetings were held even then, for he writes, 
 
 "So much concerned was I about religion, 
 that I agreed with some young persons to 
 meet privately on Sabbath evenings for relig- 
 ious exercises." 
 
 He read the Bible diligently, prayed much. 
 
28 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 reviewed carefully the sermons he heard, "and 
 had many thoughts of joining the church. In 
 short, I had a very good outside, and rested 
 entirely on my duties, though I was not sen- 
 sible of it. 
 
 "Thus I proceeded a considerable length 
 on a self-righteous foundation, and should 
 have been entirely lost and undone, had not 
 the mercy of God prevented. Sometime in 
 the beginning of winter, 1738, it pleased God 
 one Sabbath morning, as I was walking out 
 for a prayer, to give me on a sudden such a 
 sense of my danger, and the wrath of God, 
 that I stood amazed, and my former good 
 frames presently vanished. From the view 
 of which I had of my sin and vileness, I was 
 much distressed all that day." 
 
 Then began a weary struggle of months 
 as he tried by voluntary humility and by in- 
 creasing his own convictions to merit God's 
 pity in some way. The only result was a 
 deepening sense of his own unworthiness, 
 helplessness and hopelessness. Rebellious 
 thoughts against God arose. He was espe- 
 cially irritated by the strictness of God's law, 
 by the fact that faith alone was the condition 
 of salvation, by his inability to find out what 
 faith was and, especially, by the sovereignty 
 of God. At last he writes : 
 
 "I was brought quite to a stand, as finding 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 29 
 
 myself totally lost. I had thought many 
 times before that the difficulties in my way 
 were very great : but now I saw in another and 
 very different light, that it was forever im- 
 possible for me to do anything towards help- 
 ing or delivering myself." 
 
 Then it was (July twelfth, 1739) in the 
 same place where God had begun to show 
 Brainerd his own heart, that he was given 
 a vision of God's glory and grace. It was 
 not "any external brightness" but a "new 
 inward apprehension or view that I had of 
 God." "My soul rejoiced with joy unspeak- 
 able to see such a God, such a glorious divine 
 being: and I was inwardly pleased and sat- 
 isfied that he should be God over all for ever 
 and ever." "Thus God, I trust, brought me 
 to a hearty disposition to exalt him, and to set 
 him on the throne, and principally and ulti- 
 mately to aim at his honour and glory as the 
 King of the universe." "At this time the way 
 of salvation opened to me with such infinite 
 wisdom, suitableness and excellency, that I 
 wondered I should ever think of any other 
 way of salvation. I wondered that all the 
 world did not see and comply with this way 
 of salvation, — entirely by the righteousness of 
 Christ." 
 
 Such definite and supreme devotion to the 
 glory of God and such entire reliance on His 
 
30 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 grace through Christ, Brainerd ever after re- 
 garded as the essential elements and marks of 
 true religion. His last religious teaching (at 
 Boston) was devoted to vindicating this view 
 in opposition to current views of the way of 
 salvation, which he considered imtrue. 
 
 In September, 1739, he entered Yale. He 
 went, as he says, "With some degree of re- 
 luctance, fearing lest I should not be able to 
 live a life of strict religion, in the midst of so 
 many temptations." But he adds: 
 
 "I enjoyed considerable sweetness in re- 
 ligion, all the winter following. Yet, owing 
 to hard study, and to my being much exposed 
 on account of my freshmanship, as I had but 
 little time for spiritual duties, my soul often 
 mourned for more time and opportunity to be 
 alone with God." "My ambition in my 
 studies greatly wronged the activity and 
 vigor of my spiritual life, yet God's comforts 
 principally delighted my soul." 
 
 He broke down in health and was obliged 
 to leave college for a time. He returned 
 shortly before the "Great Awakening" began 
 in New Haven. Brainerd was naturally very 
 much interested and very enthusiastic in this 
 movement. He was one of a little band of 
 students who had associated for mutual as- 
 sistance in spiritual things. Two or three of 
 these were together just after one of the 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 31 
 
 tutors had conducted prayers. Some one 
 asked Brainerd's opinion of the tutor's piety. 
 Brainerd replied, 
 
 "He has no more grace than this chair." 
 The remark was overheard and reported. 
 Those present were required to reveal the 
 speaker and the person spoken of. Brainerd 
 was directed to make a public apology. He 
 felt himself ill-used in the method pursued 
 and in this requirement of a public apology 
 for something said in private conversation. 
 He refused. He also persisted in attending a 
 religious meeting when forbidden. He was 
 expelled. It was toward the close of his jun- 
 ior year. Although he never changed his 
 opinion regarding the treatment he had re- 
 ceived, he later sorely bewailed his own "spir- 
 itual pride" and "the imprudences and inde- 
 cent heats" of this period. He destroyed the 
 diaries covering it. He made ample apologies 
 subsequently, and offered every possible repa- 
 ration; friends and even ministerial councils 
 interceded on his behalf. It is an interesting 
 revelation of the strength of feeling and the 
 sternness of the times, that although he was 
 one of the purest characters and the finest 
 scholars in the college, the authorities refused 
 to allow him to take his degree with his class. 
 Thenceforward he pursued his studies un- 
 der direction of ministerial friends in that 
 
32 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 region. His minute self-scrutiny continued. 
 Ebbs in the tide of his religious feelings often 
 gave him distress. He perceived more and 
 more "the wickedness of my heart." He be- 
 wailed particularly the stubbornness of his 
 will and the cursed pride of his heart. But 
 he could and did rejoice almost continually 
 in God. "I seldom prayed without some sen- 
 sible joy in the Lord." He found himself 
 growing in his desire and purpose to live for 
 God only. 
 
 Now appears a new burden in his prayers. 
 He begins "To wrestle earnestly for others, 
 for the kingdom of Christ in the world and 
 for dear Christian friends." "I found myself 
 willing, if God should so order it, to suffer 
 banishment from my native land among the 
 Heathen, that I might do something for their 
 salvation, in distresses and deaths of any 
 kind." He prays "For special grace for my- 
 self to fit me for special services," — for min- 
 isterial qualifications. His soul is drawn out 
 "for multitudes of souls." Hours together 
 and sometimes whole days were spent in 
 prayer. On these days he fasted also. 
 
 Brainerd was examined and licensed by a 
 coimcil of Congregational ministers at Dan- 
 bury, Connecticut, July twenty-ninth, 17-12. 
 The next three months were spent in visiting 
 friends and preaching at various points in 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 33 
 
 that region. Although sometimes depressed, 
 he was generally happy in his work and in 
 the sweet fellowship which he enjoyed with 
 ministers and others. His services were 
 much sought after. 
 
 "The honorable Society in Scotland for 
 Propagating Christian Knowledge" upon so- 
 licitation from America agreed to maintain 
 two missionaries among the Indians. The 
 Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton of Xew York, the 
 Rev. Aaron Burr of Newark, Xew Jersey, the 
 Rev. Jonathan Dickinson of Elizabeth, New 
 Jersey, and others were requested to act as 
 correspondents of the Society, and to take im- 
 mediate supervision of the work. They had 
 difficulty in finding suitable men who were 
 Avilling to imdertake the mission. Their at- 
 tention was directed to David Brainerd, and 
 they prevailed on him to accept the appoint- 
 ment. The original plan was to send him to 
 the Forks of the Delaware. But conflicts be- 
 tween the whites and Indians in that region 
 led them to send him to a place then known as 
 Kaunaumeek, in the woods half way between 
 Stockbridge in Massachusetts and Albany in 
 New York and about twenty miles from each. 
 
 Before going, he sold property and devoted 
 it to educating a young man for the ministry. 
 This was in some respects the saddest period 
 in his existence. He had external trials. He 
 
34 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 was in poor health; he was much exposed to 
 cold and storm on long and lonely rides. His 
 bed was a pallet of straw on the floor of a 
 wretched hut of a Scotch woman; then he re- 
 moved to a rude wigwam among the Indians 
 and finally to a log house, built largely with 
 his own hands. He rarely and with great 
 difficulty obtained suitable food; he was cut 
 off not only from friends but for weeks from 
 anyone with whom he could converse in Eng- 
 lish, except his Indian interpreter. But these 
 things were as nothing compared with the 
 melancholy that preyed upon him. The im- 
 pression of his own utter unworthiness and 
 unfitness for any service to God or man almost 
 drove him to despair. But, terrible as were 
 the storms, the anchor of his hope did not 
 slip. 
 
 There were seasons of brightnes and calm. 
 His heroism and consecration came out in 
 unflagging efforts to promote his own spir- 
 itual life, to fit himself for service and to 
 confer immediate benefit upon those to whom 
 he was sent. The Indians showed some ap- 
 preciation of his services and he thought he 
 saw some marks of grace. But after a year's 
 labor, he decided that he ought to seek an- 
 other field because of the small number 
 within reach and the fact that they could be 
 ministered to by Mr. Sargeant at Stockbridge, 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 35 
 
 to which place Brainerd had persuaded them 
 to remove. 
 
 The correspondents consenting, he set out 
 for his original destination. He visited 
 among New England friends on the way. 
 East Hampton on Long Island, then regarded 
 as one of the most desirable churches, was 
 urgent to obtain his services. Millington, 
 near his old home, also wanted him. But 
 turning his back upon comfort and friends he 
 set out for his long and lonely horse-back 
 ride, through what seemed to him a "desolate 
 and hideous country," to find a new home 
 among the savages on the Delaware. 
 
 He arrived about the middle of May on 
 the Delaware where Easton, Pennsylvania, 
 now stands. Soon after, on June eleventh, he 
 was ordained by the Presbytery of New York 
 at Newark, New Jersey. He preached to 
 frontier settlements of whites in the region 
 of the Forks, as well as to the Indians. He 
 was better in health and his spiritual experi- 
 ences were happier. In July he wrote : 
 
 "Last year I longed to be prepared for a 
 world of glory, and speedily to depart out of 
 this world ; but of late all my concern almost 
 is for the conversion of the heathen : and for 
 that end I long to live." 
 
 But the number of Indians permanently in 
 the neighborhood was small. Having learned 
 
36 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 that the Indians were more numerous on the 
 upper Susquehanna, he set out in October to 
 visit them. He was accompanied by his 
 friend, the Rev. Mr. Byram, and three In- 
 dians. It was a journey of a hundred and 
 fifty miles through an unbroken wilderness 
 over great and rugged mountains. It was the 
 most dangerous traveling any of them had 
 ever seen. Brainerd's horse broke her leg 
 and had to be shot. It is characteristic that 
 he found even in this accident occasion for 
 thanksgiving because he himself escaped un- 
 hurt. Four days were spent among the In- 
 dians near the present site of Berwick, Colum- 
 bia County, Pennsylvania. Returning to the 
 Forks he spent the winter there and there- 
 about. 
 
 In early spring (1745) he went for a 
 month into New England to secure a col- 
 league and raise money to support him. He 
 hoped in this way to escape the dreadful lone- 
 liness and to increase the efficiency of the 
 work. He was ready to contribute largely 
 from his own scant salary. But he was 
 unsuccessful. 
 
 He was planning to remove to the Susque- 
 hanna, and in May made his second journey 
 thither. It was again a hard trip and in- 
 volved much exposure. Brainerd lay sick for 
 a week in the rude hut of a trader. He ex- 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 37 
 
 plored the settlements of Indians for a hun- 
 dred miles along the river, and sought to 
 interest them in Christian truth. But he was 
 much discouraged by the general indifference 
 and gross idolatry. He came back worn out, 
 sick and greatly depressed. He feared that 
 the money spent in his support was wasted, i, 
 and began to think of resigning his commis- 
 sion since he seemed to himself to be an un- 
 profitable servant. Of this time he wrote: 
 "As my body was very feeble, so my mind 
 was scarce ever so much damped and dis- 
 couraged about the conversion of the Indians, 
 as at this time." 
 
 A week after his return to the Forks, how- 
 ever, he started for a place called Cross- 
 weeksung, now Crosswicks, near Burlington, 
 New Jersey, where he heard Indians were to 
 be found. He visited churches in Pennsyl- 
 vania and New Jersey on the way. He ar- 
 rived at Crosswicks on the nineteenth of June, 
 but again found the Indians much scattered. 
 His first audience consisted of a few women 
 and children. But they were interested and 
 spread the annoimcement of the meeting next 
 day over a radius of ten or fifteen miles. The 
 audiences grew rapidly. Brainerd preached 
 daily, sometimes twice a day. In the inter- 
 vals of public service he spoke in private 
 with those interested. He reports: "God was 
 
38 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 pleased to put upon them a spirit of awaken- 
 ing and concern for their souls, and sur- 
 prisingly to engage their attention to divine 
 truths." But Brainerd "Had passed through 
 so considerable a series of almost fruitless 
 labors and fatigues" and "his rising hopes 
 had been so often frustrated among these poor 
 pagans" that he "could not believe, and 
 scarcely dared to hope" that "God would give 
 any special success to his labors." 
 
 After two weeks of almost incessant 
 preaching and teaching, worn out but happy, 
 Brainerd returned by slow stages to the 
 Forks. There, a few days later, he baptized 
 his first Indian converts — Moses Finda Fau- 
 taury, his wife and their children. This 
 man, about fifty j'^ears of age, had been his 
 interpreter for more than a year. He knew 
 Indian lore and English well. He had been 
 a hard drinker. At first indifferent, he had 
 come imder deep religious impressions about 
 a year before, and for six months had ap- 
 peared to Brainerd "another man" and he 
 hoped "a new man." "His heart echoed to 
 the soul-humbling doctrines of grace." 
 
 It was the sheaf of first fruits. The 
 transaction deeply impressed the other In- 
 dians. But what was far more important to 
 Brainerd, this man, having now an experi- 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 39 
 
 mental as well as an intellectual apprehension 
 of the truth, became a thoroughly sympa- 
 thetic medium for Brainerd's discourses. He 
 also himself exhorted the Indians, 
 
 By the first of August (1745) Brain erd 
 was back at Crosswicks. He was eagerly 
 welcomed. The interest previously kindled 
 had not cooled, with his coming it burst into 
 fresh flame. Indians, and Avhites too, came 
 from far. While some of the latter were 
 impressed, of others to their shame Brainerd 
 reports, 
 
 "They behaved more indecently than any 
 Indians I have ever addressed." 
 
 Among the Indians old and young were 
 led to cry out, 
 
 "Outturn Mauhalummet — Outturn Mauhal- 
 ummet" — "Have mercy upon me! Have 
 mercy upon me !" 
 
 The influence that swept over the audience 
 seemed to Brainerd like "the irresistible 
 force of a mighty torrent." Ood's manner 
 of working appeared to him clearly super- 
 natural and almost independent of means. 
 But he reports also the effective theme — 
 Christ crucified. His testimony is: 
 
 "It was remarkable from time to time that 
 when I was favored with any special freedom 
 in discoursing of the ability and willingness 
 
40 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 of Christ to save sinners and the need in 
 which they stood of such a Saviour, there was 
 then the greatest appearance of divine power 
 in awakening numbers of secure souls, pro- 
 moting convictions begun, and comforting the 
 distressed." 
 
 Almost daily some souls found peace. The 
 converts sought to help and guide others. At 
 the end of three weeks he baptized twenty- 
 five, fifteen adults and ten children. 
 
 In September he went to the Forks and 
 from there with only his interpreter visited 
 many Indian settlements along the Susque- 
 hanna. He suffered much from the hard- 
 ships of the wilderness and more from the 
 indifference and gross idolatry of the savages, 
 but came back somewhat encouraged. 
 
 The region of Crosswicks had now become 
 his home. The remarkable interest kept up 
 through the winter, and Brainerd was inces- 
 sant in preaching, catechising and visiting. 
 He set about establishing a permanent com- 
 munity, raised and paid off more than eighty 
 pounds of debts on the land of the Indians, 
 established a school and in the spring set the 
 Indians to work clearing for a new town — 
 Bethel — located near Cranberry, New Jersey, 
 whither they and he soon removed. The com- 
 munity now numbered one hundred and fifty. 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 41 
 
 He baptized altogether nearly one hundred, 
 about one half of whom were adults. Many 
 others were impressed and imder instruction. 
 The changed life of some who had been 
 openly vicious, and the rapidity with which 
 both religious and secular knowledge was 
 acquired, astonished all. 
 
 But he did not forget the Indians at the 
 Forks and on the Susquehanna. In mid- 
 winter he took half a dozen converts to the 
 former place and held meetings. In August, 
 1746, he made his fourth trip to the interior 
 Pennsylvania Indians. It was a terrible ex- 
 perience extending over a month. He was so 
 weak as scarcely to be able to sit on his horse 
 at times. The evening dews of the forest 
 chilled him, night-sweats and hemorrhages 
 wasted him. From very weariness sleep 
 sometimes forsook him. Still he traveled 
 and preached. 
 
 It was late in September when he finally 
 got back to Bethel. He tried to maintain 
 services. Wlien too weak to go to the meet- 
 ing place he gathered his Indians at his hut 
 and spoke from chair or bed. 
 
 In November he started for New England, 
 hoping to recuperate among his friends. But 
 he got only to Elizabeth, Ncav Jersey, where 
 he was iU through the winter. It was the 
 
42 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 last of May, 1747, when he reached his des- 
 tination, the home of Jonathan Edwards at 
 Northampton, Massachusetts. A physician 
 pronounced his case hopeless, but advised con- 
 tinued horse-back riding. He went to Bos- 
 ton, where notable ministers and others vis- 
 ited him. He aroused great interest in Indian 
 missions. Returning to the house of Edwards 
 (to whose daughter Jerusha he was be- 
 trothed) and busy still with voice and pen in 
 his Master's work, he calmly, even joyfully, 
 awaited his change. The purpose of his life 
 here and the hope of life hereafter breathe in 
 one of his last utterances: 
 
 "My heaven is to please God, and glorify 
 Him, and to give all to Him and to be wholly 
 devoted to his glory — ^that is the heaven I 
 long for." 
 
 He fell asleep Friday, October ninth, 1 747, 
 in the thirtieth year of his age. 
 
 Brainerd's story contains elements of pro- 
 found sadness. Ill health and melancholy 
 temperament threw dark shadows on his path. 
 It can scarcely be questioned that the type of 
 piety he cultivated, in common with the best 
 people of his day, was excessively introspec- 
 tive. As he became actively concerned in the 
 salvation of others, he escaped largely from 
 the self-torture of earlier days. 
 
DAVID BRAINERD 43 
 
 But this dark background brings out his 
 gaining qualities. Always weak and often 
 suffering, he shrank from no service however 
 hard. He so jealously guarded each moment 
 and so fully expended each atom of strength 
 that he accomplished what would have been 
 prodigous tasks for a well man. In a single 
 year he rode over four hundred miles on 
 horse-back, beside all his preaching, counsel- 
 ing and studying. 
 
 His splendid devotion appears in the fact 
 that, although he was of unusual intellectual 
 ability and tastes, personally attractive and 
 delighting in congenial friends, possessed of 
 some pri\;ate means and sought by eager con- 
 gregations, he deliberately chose and contin- 
 ued in the isolation and loneliness, the low- 
 liness and hardship of work among savages. 
 
 Brainerd's chief end was to glorify God, 
 and in God he found rare joy — even here. 
 Hours and days of meditation and prayer 
 were not only the means of his spiritual 
 power but the seasons of his greatest happi- 
 ness. Even upon the blackest pool of self- 
 reproach, the fair lilies of adoration and trust 
 are found. Upon the darkness of his deepest 
 discouragement, there rose a glorious morn- 
 ing of great and blessed success. His path 
 shone more and more unto the perfect day. 
 
44 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 The note of pity is swallowed up in the song 
 of thanksgiving to God, who giveth the vic- 
 tory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 [It is interesting that so introspective a life as that 
 of David Brainerd should have impressed itself indel- 
 ibly upon young men, as is shown by the organiza- 
 tion of the Brainerd Evangelical Society in 1832 in 
 Lafayette College. The original object of this society 
 was to cultivate a missionary spirit. Of late it is 
 allied to the group of college Young Men's Christian 
 Associations. On August first, 1904, the forty-third 
 missionary from its membership started for China. 
 
 On December sixth, 1894, the Brainerd Society 
 dedicated a neat marble monument, five feet high, at 
 Martin's Creek, Pennsylvania, seven miles north of 
 Easton, on the spot on which David Brainerd built 
 the first cabin for his sole use. The inscription on 
 the west side reads, 
 
 "Erected by the Brainerd Society of Lafayette 
 College, 1894." 
 
 The inscription on the south side reads, 
 
 "A few rods north of this spot David Brainerd 
 erected his missionary cabin, December sixth. 1744, 
 in which a part of his memorable 'Journal' was 
 written." — Eds.] 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 A FIONEER OF THE OLD "SOUTHWEST," 
 GmEON BLACKBURN, D.D. 
 
 1772-1838. 
 
 By Edgar A. Elmore, D.D. 
 
 GiDKON Blackburn was a pioneer. He 
 was born with this blood in his veins. He had 
 a part in the "great deeds of a border peo- 
 ple." He was one of those early Presby- 
 terian preachers of whom it has been said, 
 
 "Wherever one of these settled he first 
 prayed, then preached, built a church, a 
 school house, and spent the rest of his life 
 praying, preaching, teaching, and on occasion 
 fighting." 
 
 He Avas born in the only part of Virginia 
 where "dissenters" were encouraged to settle 
 by the intolerant churchmen of those early 
 days — that was the frontier settlements on 
 the west of the Blue Ridge, where they might 
 be for a defence against the bloody incursions 
 of the Indians. Dr. Baird tells us that from 
 1729 to 1750 twelve thousand Scotch-Irish 
 came annually to our shores from Ulster. 
 
 4.^ 
 
46 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 Many of them turned southward to find 
 homes in the valley of Virginia — "a people 
 bringing little money, but strong hands and 
 stout hearts and divine principles, to improve 
 their own condition, and to bless the land that 
 gave them a home." Augusta Count}'' was 
 settled almost entirely by Scotch-Irish, and 
 here on the frontier, "amid a bold, hardy, 
 austere people," Gideon Blackburn was born 
 in the year 1772. 
 
 It was a good time to be born. A new 
 spirit was in the air. The great continental 
 movement across the mountains had begun. 
 
 "It had taken the Americans over a cen- 
 tury and a half to spread from the Atlantic 
 to the Alleghanies. In the next three quar- 
 ters of a century they spread from the Alle- 
 ghanies to the Pacific. In doing this they not 
 only dispossessed the Indian tribes but they 
 won the land from the European owners." 
 
 In 1769 William Bean had built the first 
 cabin in the State of Tennessee. In 1770 
 the van of Presbyterian immigration from 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland and the Carolinas en- 
 tered the same State. In 1772 Samuel Adams 
 at a public meeting in Boston moved that a 
 "committee of correspondence be appointed 
 to state the rights of the colonies" — "the step 
 that fairly organized the Revolution." 
 
 The same year the "Watauga Association" 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 47 
 
 along the head-waters of the Tennessee River 
 "adopted a written constitution, the first ever 
 adopted west of the mountains, or by a com- 
 munity composed of American freemen." In 
 1774 the first Continental Congress assem- 
 bled, in 1775 the battles of Lexington and 
 Bunker Hill were fought, and the Mecklen- 
 burgh Presbyterians in North Carolina de- 
 clared "America should be free." It was in 
 such a time Gideon Blackburn was born. 
 
 He came of fighting stock. General Black- 
 burn being his grandfather. His father's 
 name was Robert, and his mother was a 
 Richie. They were poor, but Christian ; from 
 them he received his Scotch-Irish blood and 
 a Presbyterian training. He had robust health 
 and a mind of more than usual promise. An 
 unmarried uncle on the mother's side, Gideon 
 Richie, generously helped him to get an edu- 
 cation, though himself only a day laborer. 
 He was converted at the age of fifteen. 
 
 While young his family was caught in the 
 movement that was carrying many families 
 into Tennessee. This immigration was un- 
 like that of any other State in the Union. 
 There were no roads through the moimtains. 
 Not until the year 1776 was a wagon seen in 
 Tennessee. The pilgrims journeyed mostly 
 on foot, with a horse or two to carrj'^ the older 
 women and children and "a few necessary 
 
48 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 things, such as cooking utensils, salt, seed 
 corn, medicine, wearing apparel, and some 
 meal or flour." 
 
 In Washington Coimty, Tennessee, Gideon 
 Blackburn came under the influence of two 
 men who were to educate and fit him for his 
 life work. One was the Rev. Samuel Doak, 
 D.D., "the apostle of learning and religion 
 in the Southwest," Educated at Princeton, 
 and carrying a diploma signed by John 
 Witherspoon, he preferred a field on the fron- 
 tier "and, tramping through Virginia and 
 driving before him an old flea-bitten gray 
 horse loaded with a sackful of books, crossed 
 the Alleghanies and came down the blazed 
 trails to the Holston Settlements," there to 
 organize Salem Church and establish Mar- 
 tin's Academy (now Washington College), 
 "the first literary institution in the Mississippi 
 Valley." This was the man also who, when 
 Shelby Campbell and Sevier assembled their 
 men at the Sycamore Shoals to march on the 
 King's Mountain campaign, to strike the blow 
 which was to turn the tide in the war of the 
 Revolution, met them there to offer prayer 
 for their success, and give them as their 
 watchword, "The sword of the Lord and of 
 Gideon." 
 
 Under this patriot, missionary, scholar, 
 young Blackburn almost completed his lit- 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 49 
 
 erary course. Then, owing to the removal of 
 his family some fifty miles westward, he 
 finished his education and fitted himself for 
 the ministry under Dr. Robert Henderson, 
 pastor of the Hopewell Church, at Dandridge, 
 Tennessee, and a preacher of such power and 
 eloquence as to become a mighty inspiration 
 to him in the power of speech which later 
 characterized his ministry. He was licensed 
 to preach by the Presbytery of Abingdon in 
 1792. 
 
 To the ordinary man facing his work it 
 was not a pleasing prospect. There was no 
 Home Mission Board to appeal to, for not 
 till 1802 did the General Assembly appoint 
 a "Standing Committee on Missions." He 
 had no money, but few books, no church or- 
 ganized to call him. There was only the 
 frontier, of which some one has said: 
 
 "It is the edge of civilization, and rough 
 and shaggy enough it is, as edges are apt 
 to be. It is the battle ground where men and 
 nature meet to fight it out. Ah ! and the 
 men have hard times there, I can tell you. 
 They have to turn to and use every bit of 
 stuff that is in them or they get the worst of 
 the conflict. But nature is a friendly foe. 
 When she has proved them she grows kind. 
 The trees fall, the stumps come out of the 
 ground, every year the work tells more and 
 
50 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 more, and the frontier is pushed further and 
 further away." 
 
 Add to this the Indians resisting all 
 progress, striking at every exposed point; no 
 family safe vmless near a fort; "the war- 
 like borderers, the restless, reckless hunters" ; 
 the incoming of new people; the constant 
 struggle with the Indians, "developing traits 
 of cunning, fierceness and cruelty, as well as 
 courage and adroitness"; the hunger and 
 struggle for land, as shown by the "hardy, 
 dogged farmers, Calvinistic in faith. God- 
 fearing in practice, building their cabins, 
 clearing their farms from the everlasting 
 forests, and by dint of grim tenacity dis- 
 placing the Indians and making homes for 
 their children in the wilderness" — and you 
 have a picture of the life he was facing. 
 
 Yet how well fitted he was for such a field 
 of labor. He was a part of such a life. He 
 had grown up in it. He was accustomed to 
 its every hardship. He knew the people, 
 understood their ways of looking at things, 
 shared in their hopes and fears and plans. 
 He was not afraid of danger, or of the hon- 
 orable poverty of the frontier. He had a 
 love of adventure, and was ready to lead a 
 military expedition if necessary, as he did 
 sometimes. He was a born leader, and above 
 all he had the true spirit of a missionary. 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 51 
 
 The scattered, endangered people without the 
 bread of life was all the call he needed to 
 begin the ministr3\ 
 
 He found his first field of labor by march- 
 ing with a company of soldiers to defend a 
 fort, threatened by Indians, some forty miles 
 away, where Maryville, Tennessee, is now 
 located. 
 
 With hunting shirt, rifle and knapsack, as 
 well as with Bible and hymn book, he went 
 forth to preach to soldiers and settlers. 
 Near the fort at Maryville he built two log 
 houses in 1794, one for a church and one for 
 his residence. To this he brought his young 
 wife, whom he had married in 1793. Then 
 began a most arduous and self-denying min- 
 istry. As everybody was poor and strug- 
 gling, and he received scant support from the 
 people, it was necessary for him to cultivate 
 his farm for a living. ]\Iany of his sermons 
 were prepared by taking inkhorn and paper 
 to the field, and jotting down the thoughts 
 that came while busy with hoe or plow. 
 He worked by day and studied by night, until 
 his people could do more for his support. 
 
 The settlements of people clustered about 
 the forts for protection. He went from fort 
 to fort, under the escort of soldiers, and often 
 in great peril, preaching and teaching either 
 in the forts or under the trees. Intense, 
 
52 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 earnest, courageous, believing in the Word of 
 God implicitly, anxious for the souls of men, 
 and possessing a wondrous natural eloquence, 
 his preaching found great acceptance. The 
 people flocked to hear him when it was known 
 that he was to preach. We soon find him 
 preaching to two organized churches. New 
 Providence at ]\Iaryville, and Eusebia ten 
 miles away, both of which still exist, and 
 are sending forth streams of influence. In 
 these churches his ministry was greatly 
 blessed. 
 
 "He kept himself not only on familiar 
 terms, but in exceedingly kind relations with, 
 all his people and exerted a powerful and 
 most benign influence in forming their char- 
 acters. He took special pains both in pri- 
 vate and public to make them well acquainted 
 with the Bible and, by accustoming them to 
 frequent meetings for devotion, he taught 
 them to cultivate both the gift and spirit of 
 prayer, thus rendering many of them, at least, 
 at once intelligent and spiritually minded 
 Christians." 
 
 But while pastor of these two churches his 
 parish was wherever new settlements were 
 forming. He was constantly preaching in 
 the regions round about. Several churches 
 were organized as a result of these outside 
 labors, so that we find him (1797) uniting 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 53 
 
 with Carrick^ Henderson and Ramsey to or- 
 ganize Union Presbytery, the strongest Pres- 
 bytery now in the Synod of Tennessee. Alert, 
 active, sensitive to all the life about him, 
 deeply impressed with the needs of the peo- 
 ple, and a sturdy defender of the faith, he 
 was a good Presbyter, who laid deep and well 
 the foundations of Presbyterianism amid the 
 valleys of East Tennessee. He ministered to 
 this people for sixteen years. 
 
 Not satisfied with the increasing work 
 among the white settlers, his heart soon be- 
 gan to go out to the Indians in the region 
 about him. The Cherokees were the moun- 
 taineers of their race. They "dwelt among 
 the blue tipped ridges and lofty peaks of the 
 Southern Alleghanies, in the wild picturesque 
 region where the present States of Tennessee, 
 Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas join one 
 another. Their towns stretched from the 
 high upland regions to the warm coast of the 
 low country. Each village stood by itself in 
 some fertile river bottom, surrounded by 
 apple orchards and fields of maize, for the 
 Cherokees were more industrious than their 
 northern neighbors, and lived by tillage and 
 agriculture as much as by hunting. They 
 were a bright and intelligent race, and better 
 fitted to follow the white man's road than any 
 other Indians." 
 
54 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 As to Dr. Blackburn's work with this peo- 
 ple, this is his own story: 
 
 "I settled in that part of the State called 
 Blount County when the Cherokees were en- 
 gaged in a bloody and destructive war with 
 our frontiers. As this circumstance fre- 
 quently called out the youths of my charge 
 in defence of their country and exposed them 
 to the vices attached to military life, I chose 
 at some times to go with them, and was 
 thereby led into the causes of the savage and 
 wretched state of those Indians. From that 
 moment my mind began to be agitated with 
 the question, Can nothing be done with this 
 people.'' Is it impossible they should be civ- 
 ilized and become acquainted with the gos- 
 pel } Some rays of hope would flash upon my 
 mind when I reflected they were of the same 
 race with ourselves. 
 
 "It was evident that a plan must be laid 
 with expectations of having to combat igno- 
 rance, obstinacy, and strong prejudices. I 
 conceived it therefore necessary to prepare 
 the mind by the most simple ideas, and by a 
 process which would associate civilization 
 with religious instruction, and thus gradually 
 prepare the rising race for the more solemn 
 truths of religion, and flt this strong minded 
 and high spirited people eventually to become 
 American citizens, and a valuable part of the 
 Union. 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 55 
 
 "This subject became frequently the ob- 
 ject of request at the throne of grace until 
 1799. That year I introduced the subject 
 to the Presbytery of Union, but found many 
 embarrassing difficulties. The year following 
 I laid a plan for a missionary society in that 
 county, with a special reference to this ob- 
 ject. The scarcity of money and the poverty 
 of the people in that newly settled country 
 were such that I was compelled to give up the 
 attempt. In 1803 I came to General Assem- 
 bly as a delegate hoping I might find some 
 method of bringing the subject before that 
 body. For this purpose I had drawn up the 
 outlines of a plan for the education of Indian 
 children. 
 
 "I presented this plan to the 'Committee 
 of Missions,' and was requested to undertake 
 its execution, and two hundred dollars were 
 given for its support, and to engage my ser- 
 vices as a missionary for two months. 
 
 "On my return to Tennessee I collected 
 four hundred and fifty dollars and some 
 books. I had several interviews with the 
 chiefs of the nation, taking care not to 
 promise anj^thing in the performance of 
 which I could not exceed the promise, as a 
 single failure would have destroyed my credit 
 and ruined the design. In October a council 
 of two thousand Indians assembled, including 
 
56 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 all the chiefs. I received their approbation 
 in writing, with a declaration that they would 
 send their children and assist in fixing a place 
 for the school. 
 
 "A place on Highwassee River was chosen, 
 and a school house and one for the teacher 
 erected. The school house was so con- 
 structed that it might serve the children to 
 eat in and be comfortable for the lodging of 
 the males. The females were appointed to 
 sleep in the master's family. I was remark- 
 ably fortunate in the choice of a master. He 
 was a man of prudence, good sense and piety, 
 with a heart fully set on the work. The 
 school was opened in 1804, with twenty-one 
 children. The order of the day for the 
 school is: — the children rise and pray and 
 wash, then the school opens by reading the 
 Scriptures first and public prayer; then en- 
 gaged on lessons until breakfast; then an 
 hour for recreations, and again engaged from 
 nine to twelve; play two hours, then in school 
 till evening. In evening have spelling les- 
 sons and close by singing hymns and prayer. 
 The children were all neatly clothed, mostly 
 in striped cotton or plain linen. The first 
 principles of religion as contained in the 
 Shorter Catechism were early taught, many 
 hymns of praise were committed to memory. 
 They were taught to sing plain melodious 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 57 
 
 tunes with a great deal of ease and sweet- 
 ness." 
 
 The principal chiefs of the nation, many 
 Indians and two or three hundred white peo- 
 ple, with General Smith, Colonel Meigs and 
 Governor Sevier, met on the Highwassie 
 River to make a treat3^ Dr. Blackburn thus 
 describes the attendance of his school: 
 
 "Then I attended with my school, consist- 
 ing of twenty-five children. Figure to your- 
 self twenty-five little savages in the forest, 
 all seated in a large canoe, the teacher in 
 one end and myself at the other, steering 
 our canoe down the stream about twenty 
 miles. See the little creatures neatly dressed 
 in homespun cotton (presented them by the 
 females of my white congregation), their 
 hearts beating with the anticipation of their 
 expected examination, frequently reviewing 
 their lessons, and then joining in anthems of 
 praise to their Redeemer. 
 
 "Thus we arrived at the place of treaty. 
 It was a large bower in the midst of a de- 
 lightful grove, where the school was intro- 
 duced, marching in procession between the 
 open ranks of white and red spectators. 
 Each scholar read such part as requested, the 
 different classes spelled a number of words 
 without the book, specimens of their writing 
 and ciphering were shown, and the exhibition 
 
58 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 closed by the children singing a hymn or two 
 committed to memory with a clear, distinct 
 voice. The scene was very impressive, many 
 shed tears plentifully. The Governor (Sev- 
 ier), a hardy veteran, who had often braved 
 the danger of war in the same forest, said 
 to me: 
 
 " 'I have often stood unmoved amidst 
 showers of bullets from Indian rifles, but this 
 effectually unmans me. I see civilization 
 taking the ground of barbarism, and the 
 praises of Jesus succeeding the war-whoop 
 of the savage,' — all the time tears streaming 
 down his face. 
 
 "The red people immediately requested a 
 second establishment in the lower districts of 
 the nation, and by the twenty-sixth of 
 August I had another school in operation. 
 
 "About this time my circumstances were 
 truly embarrassing. I had the care of a con- 
 gregation among the white people — generally 
 poor. I had also a rising and helpless fam- 
 ily for which provision must be made, and by 
 the fatigues and being exposed to cold, hun- 
 ger and wet, together with all the wretched- 
 ness of savage accommodation in my visits to 
 the nation, and hard labor at home, I was 
 attacked by a complaint which settled in one 
 of my legs, causing much pain. INIy schools 
 were increasing, my funds exhausted, my 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 59 
 
 credit sinking, and my health to all appear- 
 ances gone ; but in 1 806, in a tour through the 
 South, I collected upward of fifteen hundred 
 dollars and was relieved of my affliction." 
 
 In 1807 he made a tour through the north- 
 ern States and collected in seven months over 
 five thousand dollars, with books and clothes. 
 He preached a sermon before the General 
 Assembly, for which he received a vote of 
 thanks from the Assembly. 
 
 In 1808 and 1809 he made tours of seven 
 and twelve weeks through the Cherokee Na- 
 tion, and was much encouraged with their 
 progress towards civilization. Seven years 
 he gave himself to this service, and would 
 gladly have continued it, but failing health 
 and his own pecuniary embarrassment grow- 
 ing out of his work constrained him to retire 
 from the field. 
 
 His labor had not been in vain among the 
 Indians. He had developed agriculture, also 
 the formation of civil government, with a 
 constitution, legislature and laws. He had 
 taught them how to build roads. In one of 
 his letters towards the close of his work he 
 gave these facts, showing advance of Chero- 
 kees towards civilization: Population, 12,395; 
 negro slaves, 583; cattle, 20,000; horses, 
 6,100; hogs, 19,600; sheep, 1,037; grist 
 mills, 13; sawmills, 3; saltpetre works, 3; 
 
60 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 powder mill, 1; wagons, 50; plows, 500; 
 spinning wheels, 1,600; looms, 464; and 49 
 silversmiths, and in the schools four or five 
 hundred had been taught to read the English 
 Bible, and several persons had been received 
 as hopeful Christians. 
 
 In 1810 he gave up the work, and the Gen- 
 eral Assembly not being able to find a man 
 to replace him, the work among the Indians 
 passed into the hands of the American Board 
 of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
 
 Owing to continued impaired health, and 
 the growing needs of his family, he resigned 
 also in 1810 the charge of the New Provi- 
 dence church, which he had continued all 
 through his work with the Indians, and set- 
 tled eventually at Franklin, eighteen miles 
 south of Nashville, Tennessee. 
 
 Here he took charge of the Harpeth Acad- 
 emy, and for twelve years the core of his 
 work was teaching. He was not a finished 
 scholar, but was strong in logic, rhetoric, men- 
 tal and moral philosophy. 
 
 He was a good disciplinarian, yet governed 
 largely by moral suasion, appealing to such 
 motives as were calculated to develop manly 
 and religious character. In addition to the 
 ordinary duties as teacher he superintended 
 the studies of several young men preparing 
 for the ministry, thus laboring to increase the 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 61 
 
 number of ministers so greatly needed in the 
 Southwest. 
 
 Though thus engaged in teaching he by no 
 means gave up preaching, for he soon had 
 five preaching points, a rotation circuit of 
 fifty miles, to vphich he gave his Saturdays 
 and Sabbaths. He found religious life at a 
 low ebb, but was soon greatly blessed here 
 too in his ministry. Churches were organized, 
 and at his first communion service three thou- 
 sand persons were present, and forty-five 
 members added to the church. His vacations 
 were given to evangelistic labors, and in the 
 great revivals held in the early part of the 
 century multitudes were converted under his 
 preaching. Throughout this period he was 
 still the home missionary, reaching out to 
 regions beyond. 
 
 In 1823 he accepted a call to the pastorate 
 of the Presbyterian church of Louisville, 
 leaving his son, the Rev. John N. Blackburn, 
 as his successor at Franklin. After a fruitful 
 pastorate of four years at Louisville he ac- 
 cepted the presidency of Centre College, Dan- 
 ville, Kentucky. For three years he held this 
 office, performing an immense amount of 
 ministerial labor in addition to the duties of 
 president. 
 
 In 1830 he resigned and removed to Ver- 
 sailles, Kentucky, where in addition to his 
 
62 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 care of the church, he became the agent for 
 the Kentucky State Temperance Society, 
 which afforded him ample opportunity to 
 make burning appeals in the interest of tem- 
 perance. 
 
 He removed in 1833 to Illinois, but never 
 had charge of a church. He became agent 
 for the Illinois College to raise funds in the 
 eastern States. While engaged in this work 
 he conceived the idea of establishing a the- 
 ological seminary in Illinois. This plan he 
 did not live to carry out, but after his death 
 such an institution was established at Carlin- 
 ville, Illinois, and named for him. It was 
 under the control of New School branch of 
 the Church. In 1838, at the age of sixty- 
 six, he died at Carlinville, of dysentery, 
 though he had suffered for some time from a 
 cancerous affection on the lip and a severe 
 fall on the ice, which had confined him to his 
 bed for six months before death came. 
 
 Dr. Blackburn had eleven children, seven 
 sons and four daughters. Two of the sons 
 became useful ministers, and one died while 
 preparing to preach. The degree of D.D. 
 was conferred on him by Greenville College 
 in 1818. 
 
 In person he was of military bearing, 
 stood six feet two inches; was well-propor- 
 tioned; had strongly marked features; he 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 63 
 
 had a large head, fair complexion ; high fore- 
 head; eyes large, full, light blue, or rather 
 grayish; a firm but benignant expression; 
 dark hair, parting in the middle and reaching 
 almost to his shoulders. Although a fine- 
 looking man, yet the only picture ever taken, 
 of him was secured unawares by some friends 
 in Boston, who had an artist sketch him while 
 they kept him busy talking on his "only 
 hobby, the Southwest." This picture was a 
 grief to him, as he did not approve of 
 pictures. 
 
 In his manner he "was of the old school, 
 easy, gentle, mild, courteous, affable, but 
 always dignified." There was always some- 
 thing of reserve about him. No one could 
 treat him with familiarity. His bearing in- 
 spired reverence. At times he could be severe 
 and haughty. One time General Jackson at- 
 tempted to assign a company of young men 
 that Blackburn himself had raised and led 
 to the army to the command of an officer that 
 Blackburn had promised them they should 
 not serve under. 
 
 "Thereupon a difficulty arose. General 
 Jackson was imperious, the Doctor was firm. 
 It came to words, high words ; many feared it 
 would end in blows. The Doctor was as 
 haughty in his bearing as the General was im- 
 perious and threatening." But he was calm. 
 
64. HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 collected and firm, and he carried his point; 
 and then Avith a bow of great dignity he 
 ended by saying, 
 
 "General, that is all that I ever asked, and 
 now with the greatest confidence I commit 
 these noble young men to your care whose 
 parents have committed them to me." 
 
 "They parted with mutual civilities," and 
 Jackson spoke of him ever afterwards as my 
 "much respected friend. Dr. Blackburn." It 
 is said that when Jackson was president Dr. 
 Blackburn sent a personal letter to him by a 
 friend, to urge him to fulfil a promise that 
 he had made to confess Christ — thus showing 
 how close their friendship had become. 
 
 But Blackburn was first of all a preacher. 
 He was a master of assemblies, he had all the 
 elements of a natural orator — a tall and com- 
 manding figure, a strong personality, dignity 
 in bearing, musical voice, appropriate gest- 
 ures, intense earnestness, a passion for souls, 
 absolute confidence in the Bible as the Word 
 of God, and such a vivid power of description 
 as to make his audiences forget they were 
 hearing, and act as if they were seeing. He 
 preached without notes. 
 
 His rule in preaching was, 
 
 "Get your head, heart and soul full of your 
 subject, and then let nature have its OAvn 
 way." 
 
GIDEON BLACKBURN 65 
 
 "His sermons were generally didactic and 
 analogical in the beginning, but highly de- 
 scriptive, and abounding in appeals to the 
 imagination, conscience and hearts of his 
 hearers towards the close." Though his ser- 
 mons were an hour and a half long he held 
 his audiences to the end. 
 
 He had many qualities that fitted him to be 
 a pioneer home missionary. He was a con- 
 scientious, earnest pastor, he delighted to 
 preach the gospel; this led him to "range" 
 and make long preaching tours. We hear of 
 him in many different States, everywhere 
 pleading with men to be saved. 
 
 He had the spirit of a reformer, freeing his 
 own slaves and sending them to Liberia, and 
 using his influence to lead others to do the 
 same. He was an ardent advocate of tem- 
 perance. His religion was of the active type, 
 not the introspective. "Doing good" was his 
 motto. He lived for the future, not the past. 
 
 He influenced men who held public office. 
 He was frequently invited to preach to the 
 legislature of his State, and often consulted 
 by those in authority. In that period, when 
 great States were emerging from the wilder- 
 ness, and calling for the equipments of Chris- 
 tian civilization, when school houses and 
 churches had to be built, when standards of 
 right living had to be set up and maintained 
 
66 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 under adverse conditions, when the moral and 
 religious character of hundreds of communi- 
 ties had to be shaped, this man wrought. His 
 is one of the influences that has "leavened the 
 nation." He spared not himself, but devoted 
 every gift to his Master's use. 
 
 His work remains. Many of the churches 
 he established still abide in strength. The 
 foundations he laid are still there, the prin- 
 ciples he taught still shape the lives of those 
 coming after him. He labored not in vain 
 for the old "Southwest." 
 
Daniel Baker, D.D., 1791-1857 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A WINNER OF SOULS, 
 DANIEL BAKER, D.D. 
 
 1791—1857. 
 By Henry S. Little, D.D.* 
 
 The key-note to this wonderful man's life 
 was expressed on his deathbed in 1857: 
 "I want this epitaph carved on my tomb: 
 
 Here lies Daniel Baker — 
 Preacher of the gospel — 
 A sinner saved by grace. 
 
 "Remember/* he added, "a sinner saved by 
 grace." 
 
 Daniel Baker was born in Midway, Geor- 
 gia, August seventeenth, 1791. He was born 
 again when fourteen years of age. He joined 
 the church April nineteenth, 1812. He en- 
 tered the junior class at Princeton in 1813. 
 He died at Austin, Texas, December tenth, 
 1857, at the age of sixty-seven. 
 
 He lived a boy's life, with its longings for 
 the good, and sometimes the practice of the 
 
 * Synodical missionary in Texas. See p. 78. 
 67 
 
68 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 bad, — at least one would say so if his morbid 
 diary can be trusted. For years he depended 
 too much on frames of mind. He tried to 
 live an impossible life, sometimes in the most 
 delightful frames of mind and often berating 
 himself for depressions that needed physical 
 exercise and a physician. He needed to 
 learn, as a young man and a college student, 
 to cast his frames of mind, along with his sins, 
 on Jesus and then to go right on with the 
 Master's work and be hopeful whether happy 
 or not. 
 
 In his college diary he writes: 
 
 "In the review of the past year I find many 
 things to weep and lament over ; many follies, 
 many sins and backslidings to lay me low in 
 repentance and humility, and I likewise find 
 many things for adoring love and augmented 
 gratitude to God. I have experienced many 
 vicissitudes of heavenly affections during the 
 past year ; sometimes the light of God's coun- 
 tenance beamed upon me, which let in sweet 
 comfort and joy into my soul; at other times, 
 under the hidings of God's countenance, un- 
 der the heavy pressure of temptations and 
 afflictions, my enjoyments were dried tip and 
 I went sorrowing. Sometimes, but especially 
 about the first of spring, I had clear manifes- 
 tations of the love of God, brighter hopes of 
 a joyful immortality. At other times heavy 
 
DANIEL BAKER 69 
 
 clouds hung over my soul and shed a dismal 
 gloom on all things. I began to imagine all 
 my former experiences to be mere delusions; 
 that I had never sincerely loved my God; my 
 views were low, my hopes almost extin- 
 guished; but, blessed be God, even in these 
 seasons of darkness and distress God did not 
 utterly forsake me; some glimmerings from 
 above would, now and then, cast a bright 
 though transient gleam into my soul, and I 
 was enabled to persevere." 
 
 It may be remarked here that up to this 
 time and for years after Dr. Baker lived in 
 the swamps of Georgia and was of a sallow, 
 slender, sickly appearance, giving no promise 
 of the health and vigor he afterwards pos- 
 sessed. It would be well for those who be- 
 wail their spiritual darkness; their fearful 
 apprehensions in regard to things of earth 
 and heaven; their manifold prayers, fastings 
 and efforts for God without result, to see if 
 the cause of their unhappiness and inefficiency 
 does not lie in their want of bodily health. 
 The man who stands in the pulpit, broad- 
 chested, in evident possession of health and 
 happiness, exerts a living force upon an audi- 
 ence, even apart from what he has to say. 
 Dr. Baker's college melancholy was the result 
 of over-study, under-exercise and indiscreet 
 eating. It was all wrong to charge God with 
 
70 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 it. Student sins like all other sin are pun- 
 ished directly and indirectly, and invariably, 
 by the laws of health. 
 
 Afterwards Dr. Baker's incessant travels 
 and preaching developed and strengthened 
 his constitution to a remarkable degree. He 
 became the happiest and most hopeful man 
 living. His capacity for labor became almost 
 unlimited — bounded by consideration for his 
 hearers, not for himself. And there is never 
 a word of, "Oh, dear me !" in his grand life. 
 As to his untiring energy, it was remarked of 
 him by a business man, himself by no means 
 lacking in this quality, 
 
 "Dr. Baker's energy would be worth to me 
 ten thousand dollars a year." 
 
 Owing to his health, his cheerfulness was 
 also never impaired; in fact, it amounted all 
 the year round to steady joyousness. No one, 
 in or out of his famil}'^, can remember even 
 a momentary cloud of depression on his sunny 
 brow or a breath of petulance on his smiling 
 lips. He may have been angry at times but 
 never for an instant cross. Into the fun of 
 children he entered as cordially as them- 
 selves. Of all "croaking," as he termed it, he 
 had a cordial dislike. AVhatever else may be 
 said of him, since Adam left Paradise a hap- 
 pier man never walked the earth. It need 
 scarce be said, his energy, cheerfulness, 
 
DANIEL BAKER 71 
 
 buoyancy, had their fountain-head in his faith 
 in God, manifested in Christ; but their deep, 
 wide, unobstructed channels were in his 
 healthy body. 
 
 When Dr. Baker entered Princeton Col- 
 lege he found, of the one hundred and forty- 
 six students, only six who professed to be 
 Christians, and only two who seemed to care 
 much about it. With these two he instituted 
 a prayer meeting which became an object of 
 ridicule. This meeting grew into a great re- 
 vival, and of the fifty students then converted 
 twenty became ministers of the gospel. Two 
 of them have been distinguished bishops of 
 the Episcopal Church; one has been a presi- 
 dent of a college; another, according to Brit- 
 ish print, is "the greatest divine now living." 
 Another has become famous in the Sandwich 
 Islands as a missionary. It was a glorious 
 work of grace, and verily its blessed conse- 
 quences will not only run along down the 
 whole stream of time, but will not lose their 
 traces through the wide ocean of eternity. 
 
 In 1818 Dr. Baker took pastoral charge of 
 Harrisonburg and New Erection, Virginia, 
 and preached in all the villages and country 
 round about with wonderful success. Three 
 years later he was called to the Second 
 Church of Washington, D. C, where he had 
 as parishioners President John Quincy Adams 
 
72 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 and General Andrew Jackson. Mr. Adams 
 never failed to be in his pew on the Sabbath, 
 and was a most attentive listener. This 
 brought the Second Church into notice, and 
 Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, and Judge Southard, the Secretary of 
 the Navy, each took a pew. The meetings 
 were usually well attended and, although 
 they never had what is called a revival, they 
 had what might be called heavenly dew. They 
 had professions at every communion, so that 
 when Dr. Baker resigned in the spring of 
 1828 the number of communicants had in- 
 creased from thirty-nine to one hundred and 
 forty-two, not including those who had died 
 or been dismissed. 
 
 Having removed to Savannah, Dr. Baker 
 writes to his former people at Washington as 
 follows : 
 
 "After laboring in your midst a little more 
 than six years, with much comfort to myself, 
 and I hope some usefulness to you, I have 
 withdrawn. I am now far away ; another city 
 is the place of my residence; another people 
 the people of my charge. Was this of my 
 own seeking? It was the providence of God 
 — most remarkably the providence of God. 
 The field of usefulness open to me in this 
 place is very extensive, and very promising. 
 JSIy congregation is decidedly the largest in 
 
DANIEL BAKER 73 
 
 Savannah, and embraces a great portion of 
 the wealth and intelligence of the city. I 
 am happy to add, it embraces much piety too, 
 much more than I had expected. Our 
 prayer-meetings are crowded; I have a very 
 flourishing Female Bible class — the present 
 number is forty-six. There are two things 
 which now, in review, afford me satisfaction 
 — a consciousness that I endeavored to be. 
 faithful whilst I was over you in the Lord, 
 and a conviction that my labors were not in 
 vain in the Lord. O, that the number had 
 been a thousand times greater! But what 
 a shade is that which comes over my soul? 
 What pang was that which even now I feel.'* 
 O, it is the recollection that some, that many 
 too, heard me preach, heard me .invite, heard 
 me warn, heard me, even with tears, entreat 
 them to attend to the great concern, and all 
 without profit. My preaching with them is 
 now over; my warnings are now ended, my 
 work is now done; the volume of my pastoral 
 labors is now closed, is sealed, is laid up by 
 the throne of God against the judgment day. 
 God have mercy upon them, and save them 
 from the death that never dies." 
 
 One secret of Dr. Baker's success is his 
 craving for souls. It was his one great busi- 
 ness here to win men to Christ. 
 
 In a great revival in Savannah twenty were 
 
74 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 added to Dr. Baker's church. This being 
 noised abroad, meetings sprang up all about. 
 Dr. Baker was in great demand. At Gillison- 
 ville sixty were hopefully converted; two of 
 these entered the gospel ministry. Shortly 
 after this he attended a meeting in Grahams- 
 ville, South Carolina, and also in a certain 
 church on May River, both of which were 
 greatly blessed. But a meeting held about 
 this time in Beaufort, South Carolina, was of 
 all others most remarkable. It continued to 
 increase in interest. The crowds which at- 
 tended were very great. About two hundred 
 and fifty were hopefully converted, of whom 
 many were heads of families, and individuals 
 from fourteen to eighty-six years of age. 
 Eight devoted themselves to the ministry. 
 One, a talented lawyer, grasped Dr. Baker's 
 hand with strong emotion and exclaimed, 
 
 "O, Mr. Baker, I have an ocean of joy! 
 What would have become of me if you had 
 not come here?" 
 
 Another, seeing Dr. Baker pass by the 
 door of his house, rushed out, and seizing him 
 by the hand said, 
 
 "Only to think, that that Name which I 
 used to blaspheme is now my only hope !" 
 
 The Beaufort Gazette summed up the meet- 
 ing as follows: 
 
 "The Rev. Daniel Baker has been with 
 
DANIEL BAKER 75 
 
 us for some time, and never, surely, since the 
 days of the Apostles, has more fervid zeal, 
 or ardent piety, or untiring labor been de- 
 voted by a Christian minister to his cause. 
 For ten imwearied days, from morning until 
 nine at night, have we heard the strongest and 
 most impassioned appeals to the heads and 
 hearts of his hearers. All that is terrible or 
 beautiful; all that is winning or appalling; 
 all that could steal and charm and soothe the 
 heart, or shake the confidence of security and 
 command its attention to the truths of relig- 
 ion, we have seen pressed upon the commu- 
 nity with an earnestness, energy and ajFec- 
 tionate persuasiveness almost irresistible. The 
 effect no one can conceive who was not 
 present." 
 
 A whist club received one of Dr. Baker's 
 notices. With many sneers and much ridicule 
 they accepted the invitation. Eight of a 
 party of eleven were converted, and one is 
 now a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Eleven 
 ministers came out of this revival, six of 
 whom exchanged the profession of law for 
 the ministry. 
 
 This meeting determined Dr. Baker to be- 
 come an evangelist. He resigned his charge 
 at Savannah, received a complimentary gift 
 of five hundred dollars from them, and 
 preached his farewell sermon in 1831. 
 
76 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 As an evangelist his most remarkable tour 
 embraced twelve protracted meetings in 
 twelve consecutive weeks, those hopefully con- 
 verted averaging forty-five for each meeting. 
 They were mostly held in South Carolina. 
 
 The limits of this sketch forbid me to fol- 
 low this great evangelist through Ohio and 
 Kentucky, where he had great results in win- 
 ning men to Christ. We have seen him at his 
 best and at his accustomed power with God 
 for men. There will be many stars in the 
 crown of his rejoicing at that day when God 
 makes up his jewels. 
 
 We must now follow Dr. Baker to Texas, 
 where his great life-work was done. In 1838 
 he heard the Rev. John Breckenridge, D.D., 
 make a masterly plea for Texas, and after 
 it was done, Dr. Breckenridge laid his hand 
 upon Dr. Baker and said, 
 
 "Brother Baker, you are the man for 
 Texas." 
 
 At repeated times others made a like asser- 
 tion, and so he was led to think that the hand 
 of the Lord was in it and he must go. But 
 after starting he could not refrain from hold- 
 ing meetings by the way, and one hundred 
 and fifteen were converted. At Memphis he 
 met his old-time friend and parisliioner, Gen- 
 eral Jackson, from whom he bore a letter of 
 introduction to General Houston. From New 
 
DANIEL BAKER 77 
 
 Orleans he went by boat to Galveston, arriv- 
 ing in 1840. The town had grown in two 
 years from three houses to three hundred. 
 A Presbyterian church had been organized a 
 short time before his arrival. There were 
 then six Presbyterian ministers in Texas. 
 Sabbath, February third, 1840, the first com- 
 munion season under Presbyterian control on 
 Galveston Island was observed. Four were 
 added on profession. 
 
 On April third, 1840, Dr. Baker was pres- 
 ent at the organization of Brazos Presbytery 
 in the Christman school house at Independ- 
 ence Settlement, the first Presbytery organ- 
 ized in Texas. At the first meeting of the 
 Presbytery of Brazos the building of a col- 
 lege was suggested. The burden of securing 
 means for it fell on Dr. Baker. Six different 
 journeys he made to the States in its interest, 
 and he was wonderfully successful. Besides 
 securing the gift of many thousand acres of 
 land he collected one hundred thousand dol- 
 lars. The details of these wonderful jour- 
 neys as recorded in his published memoirs are 
 full of romantic and thrilling interest. The 
 self-denial of such a man in his constant 
 separation from his family, with meagre com- 
 pensation, hardships indescribable and hero- 
 ism almost unexampled, places him among the 
 wonderful men of the past century. His 
 
78 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 methods were his own. He believed in the 
 power of the gospel. This he preached and 
 then made his appeal. In his last tour, in- 
 cluding eight months soliciting for the col- 
 lege^ he won seven hundred converts. 
 
 "Lead a man to Christ first if you want 
 him to say, 'The half of my goods I give to 
 the poor.' " This was Dr. Baker's method, 
 and Austin College, Sherman, Texas, con- 
 firms its correctness. 
 
 About this time Dr. Baker wrote a letter, 
 which reads as follows: 
 
 "I have been to Texas. I have just re- 
 turned; and so well pleased am I with what 
 I have seen and heard in that new Republic, 
 that I think I shall make it my home. The 
 lands in general are very rich, and some parts 
 of the country are extremely beautiful. But 
 what is more important, the people set a very 
 great value upon a preached gospel, and 
 come out wonderfully. I have often said, on 
 week evenings as well as on Sabbath days. 
 Where do all these people come from? I 
 think the associations of early life have some- 
 thing to do with it; a mother's prayers and 
 a mother's tears are not forgotten. More- 
 over, there seems to be a disposition to roll 
 away the reproach cast upon them, that they 
 are a set of outlaws and demi-savages ; and, 
 besides, you know that what is scarce is much 
 
DANIEL BAKER 79 
 
 prized. I have preached in places where no 
 gospel sermon had ever been preached be- 
 fore; and I have seen adults who have not 
 heard a single discourse, some for eight, 
 some for twelve, some for twenty years. I 
 saw a lady and gentleman who, on a Sunday 
 morning, rode eighteen miles to church, with- 
 out having any certain information that there 
 would be preaching that day. You may judge 
 how much delighted they were to find that it 
 was a communion season, and that there was 
 a blessed revival of religion going on. Hav- 
 ing both of them been professors of religion 
 in the old States, I trust they received spirit- 
 ual benefit that day. I will not enter upon 
 any particulars; suffice it to say, I had the 
 pleasure of witnessing several precious sea- 
 sons of refreshing in Texas, and had the sat- 
 isfaction of seeing some of Austin's colony 
 brought in. Laus Deo !" 
 
 As a kind of accident Dr. Baker visited 
 Nashville, Tennessee. According to the al- 
 most imiversal custom of the West, a four 
 days' meeting was held by this church at its 
 communion season. On the occasion Dr. 
 Baker accepted an invitation to assist at the 
 communion. After Dr. Baker's second ser- 
 mon a great deal of solemnity was apparent 
 through the congregation. From this time 
 there was no diminution of the interest dur- 
 
80 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 ing his stay of about a fortnight, during 
 which he preached twenty-seven times, be- 
 sides giving exhortations and conversing with 
 those who attended the inquiry meetings. 
 Two weeks after the first communion it was 
 adjudged expedient and proper by the pastor 
 and session to hold another, when about forty 
 were admitted. Although the special meet- 
 ings were suspended soon after, the good 
 spirit that was kindled seemed to remain in 
 the church, and at the next communion an- 
 other large number was added, making a 
 total of nearly one hundred who were brought 
 into the church as the fruit of this man's 
 faithful labors. The great glory of this 
 work of grace was its genuineness and perma- 
 nent effect upon the church. Years after its 
 pastor said he could not remember one who 
 had been made a subject of discipline. 
 
 In fact, if not in office, Dr. Baker was the 
 first synodical missionary in Texas. The 
 Indians were hostile and cruel. The distances 
 were vast. He suffered exposure and fatigue. 
 Coming into a town where he was unknown, 
 he rang his own bell, beat his own triangle, 
 or used other methods personally from house 
 to house to gather people together. At first 
 probably the audience was small, but after- 
 wards no house would hold the throngs that 
 came. Doors and windows were removed to 
 permit those on the outside to hear. With 
 
DANIEL BAKER 81 
 
 the earth for a bed and the sky for a roof 
 this man of God, many times called to large 
 churches and comfortable salaries, passed 
 many of his nights. Often wild beasts or 
 wilder men threatened his life. In the East 
 faculties and students of colleges helped to 
 pack audiences to hear him preach, and hun- 
 dreds of them were born again. This man 
 was all things to all men that he might save 
 some. To a man of the world it must have 
 seemed a life thrown away; but he gave his 
 splendid capabilities to those who otherwise 
 would have gone to the bar of God without 
 hearing the gospel. 
 
 The writer once received a letter saying: 
 
 "I want to commend to you Rev. , a 
 
 dear, good brother, a spotless man, who has 
 never succeeded very well anywhere, but he 
 is just the man for Texas." 
 
 Not so thought Dr. Baker. Send the best 
 to home mission fields and let good men, who 
 don't succeed, stay where people have some 
 church-going habits. 
 
 "Christ gave rmtil He felt it," Dr. Baker 
 was used to say. "Do you give until you 
 feel it?" 
 
 Holding places easily supplied was not to 
 be compared with laying foundations, so 
 thought Dr. Baker. He believed that if the 
 heart is to be kept in healthy working con- 
 dition the extremities must be kept warm. 
 
82 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 The reflex influences of his life are to be meas- 
 ured by the hundred thousand dollars east- 
 ern churches were willing to give him for his 
 college. He lives twice who lives once for 
 home missions. To use Dr. Baker's own 
 words : 
 
 "Home missionaries have no beds of roses, 
 but they have wide fields of usefulness. They 
 have little California gold, but they have 
 precious souls which as jewels are safely 
 casketed for eternity." 
 
 Dr. Baker might have been distinguished 
 as a politician, rich as a financier, famous as 
 a scholar or teacher, or eminent as a states- 
 man, but "they that turn many to righteous- 
 ness shall shine as the stars for ever and 
 ever." 
 
 Deeply indeed did his spotless life, his 
 abundant labors and his holy influence im- 
 press the people of Texas. On the first news 
 of his death the legislature in both of its 
 branches adjourned, though in a thronged 
 and excited session. Fervent and eloquent ad- 
 dresses were made. One said: 
 
 "I consider the death of Dr. Baker a public 
 calamity. His is justly entitled to rank as 
 one of Texas' benefactors. There has been 
 scarcely a State in the Union but has heard 
 his eloquent pleading in behalf of religion 
 and all the great interests of society." 
 
Rev. Tlioiiias Siuitli Williaiiisoii. M.D., IH()()-1S7!) 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 THE PIONEER AMONG THE SIOUX, 
 REV. THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON, M.D. 
 
 1800—1879. 
 
 By the Rev. John P. Williamson, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M.D., 
 labored as a missionary of the Presbyterian 
 Church among the Sioux or Dakota Indians 
 for forty-five years, dying June twenty- 
 fourth, 1879. When he entered the work the 
 Sioux were one of the largest and most savage 
 tribes on the continent, among whom as yet 
 not a single convert had been made to Chris- 
 tianity. When he died he left behind the 
 largest and most thoroughly organized mis- 
 sions of the Presbyterian Church among any 
 tribe of Indians. A whole Presbytery of In- 
 dian churches is the monument that stands to 
 his memory. 
 
 Dr. Williamson was without doubt chosen 
 of God for this work; and it is interesting to 
 notice how God prepared him for it. He 
 83 
 
84 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 came of godly ancestry who had been trained 
 for generations to the conscientious observ- 
 ance of God's law. His father^ the Rev. 
 William Williamson, was of Scotch-Irish de- 
 scent and a Revolutionary soldier, who at the 
 close of the War enlisted in the army of the 
 Lord and preached Christ for over forty 
 years. The mother of the Rev. William Will- 
 iamson was Anne Newton, a near relative of 
 Isaac and John Newton. Those acquainted 
 with the history of John Newton will not be 
 surprised to learn that she was a South Caro- 
 lina slave-holder. Notwithstanding this she 
 was an independent thinker, and when God 
 in His providence led her to consider the bear- 
 ings of moral law upon the southern institu- 
 tion, she freed her slaves; and, among other 
 things which she did to help them start out 
 in their new life, she gave two of them a lib- 
 eral education. One of these was the Rev. 
 Benjamin Templeton, pastor of a colored 
 church in Philadelphia; and the other, John 
 Templeton, was one of the early graduates of 
 Ohio University, and afterwards for many 
 years a successful teacher in Pittsburgh, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 William Williamson's wife, Mary W. 
 Smith, was a woman of the same noble and 
 consecrated spirit as his mother. Sitting one 
 morning in the small parsonage of the Fair 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 85 
 
 Forest Presbyterian Church, South Carolina, 
 a baby girl in her arms and a little boy at 
 her knee, just old enough to prattle and drink 
 in his mother's feelings, some one knocked 
 at the door. It was the patrol, who imme- 
 diately proceeded to read to her the order 
 from the officers of the district that she must 
 at once cease instructing her slaves, or be 
 prosecuted according to law. The order was 
 not unexpected to Mrs. Williamson. As the 
 minister's wife, the community felt that she 
 must not be treated roughly. So every other 
 means were employed to dissuade her from 
 continuing her instruction. Near and dear 
 neighbors and learned expositors of law had 
 labored in vain to show her the folly of 
 her course. So something had to be done. 
 As early as 1803 the wise men of the South 
 could see that the cannon of education must 
 be muzzled, or it would blow the institution 
 of slavery to atoms. But in Mrs. William- 
 son's eyes God's law was far above man's 
 law. So the patrol had hardly shut the door 
 when she said, 
 
 "Thomas, the gospel must be taught to 
 every creature; go to the cabin and tell thq 
 children to come to school." 
 
 Further notices, a trial, a fine followed. 
 It was a terrible effort for the faithful offi- 
 cers to bring the law down thus upon a lady 
 
86 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 of the most high repute, but as they viewed 
 it the salvation of the country depended on 
 it, and it was done. The immediate result 
 was that in less than twelve months that deli- 
 cate mother, with baby Jane in her lap was 
 climbing the Alleghany Mountains on horse- 
 back. Just ahead was her good husband on 
 another horse, with little Thomas astride be- 
 hind him, and their twenty-seven negroes 
 stringing along as they pleased — all bound 
 for the Ohio River, across which was the land 
 of liberty. 
 
 The strong-hearted mother was not spared 
 to Thomas and Jane for many years, but 
 long enough to impress upon their hearts her 
 devotion to God's law and the love of Jesus 
 for all men. So it was not surprising when 
 her two children reached the age of maturity 
 in 1821, knowing that slaves had been left 
 them by a deceased relative in South Caro- 
 lina, that they should make the long horse- 
 back journey thither to liberate them instead 
 of having them sold. They knew the value 
 of time, and the money would have given 
 them what they did not have — some capital 
 to start out in life. But these losses touched 
 them lightly. The trip, however, brought 
 other experiences which were like frigid 
 blasts to their tender hearts. As they neared 
 the old stamping ground of their fathers, they 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 87 
 
 were filled with expectancy and longing as 
 they called to mind the stories their parents 
 had told them of the large circle of dear 
 friends and relatives who there lived. They 
 stopped one night at the plantation of one 
 of these near relatives. The large house with 
 wide porches stood some distance from the 
 roadj with negro quarters in the rear. They 
 were courteously though somewhat cautiously 
 entertained. In the morning when prayers 
 and breakfast were over the negro boys who 
 had taken their horses the evening before 
 were seen holding them by the reins at the 
 mounting-block. The host then called Thomas 
 to one side and said, 
 
 "Now, Thomas, as you have told us of the 
 object of your visit, I wish to tell you that 
 it will be impossible for us to entertain you 
 on your return; and for the future, if you 
 continue in your present course, the farther 
 away you stay the better." 
 
 Thus it was that "for conscience' sake" the 
 ties which bound them to earthly kith and 
 kin were rudely severed. One family alone, 
 a dear sister of their father's, followed them 
 to Ohio with their twenty-four slaves. This 
 loss, however painful at the time, was more 
 than made up by the love of Jesus. 
 
 A liberal education at that time was only 
 attained by the favored ones. Thomas Will- 
 
88 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 iamson was a favored one, being an only son. 
 Besides his sister Jane he had four older sis- 
 ters by another mother, but higher education 
 was not for girls in those days. So by the 
 combined effort of the family, and his own 
 economy, he was graduated at Jefferson Col- 
 lege when nineteen years old. After leaving 
 college he taught school for a time, and then 
 decided to study medicine. Slow of speech 
 and wielding a clumsy pen, neither he nor 
 his friends seem to have thought of his en- 
 tering the ministry. Tutoring was common 
 then. His father had tutored him for col- 
 lege, and now his oldest sister had married 
 William B. Willson, M.D.; so he read medi- 
 cine with him, and afterwards took lectures in 
 Philadelphia, and then at New Haven, where 
 he took the degree of M.D. 
 
 He settled for the practice of medicine at 
 Ripley, Ohio, where he had been the prin- 
 cipal of an academy for two years. He soon 
 built up a large practice, and married Mar- 
 garet Poage, the daughter of the town pro- 
 prietor. He took an active interest in the 
 academy, was elected a member of the Board 
 of Trustees, and was the means of starting 
 several young men to prepare for the min- 
 istry. The Rev. S. R. Riggs, D.D., who after- 
 wards became his co-laborer, was one of the 
 students at the time, and wrote. 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 89 
 
 "Whoever else is absent from the examina- 
 tions. Dr. Williamson is always present, and 
 for a purpose." 
 
 From directing others to work for Christ 
 he was doubtless led to think more of what 
 he could do for Him. The story of the Nez 
 Perces who came from the Rocky Mountains 
 to St. Louis in search of Christ moved him 
 deeply. He felt his heart going out after 
 them. But he had too many little children. 
 God was still following him, and arranged 
 for their better care. An old marble slab still 
 standing in the cemetery at Ripley tells how. 
 The inscription reads: 
 
 "In memory of William Blair, Mary Poage 
 and Gilliland, children of Thomas S. and 
 Margaret Poage Williamson, who died in the 
 year 1833." 
 
 He recognized the voice of God calling 
 him to be a missionary. His wife, though 
 of weak constitution, joined heartily in his 
 decisions. He immediately closed up his pro- 
 fessional work and went to Lane Seminary 
 to study theology. The next spring he was 
 licensed to preach and, under appointment of 
 the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions, made a tour of exploration 
 among the Indian tribes of the upper Mis- 
 sissippi Valley. Returning that fall he con- 
 tinued his theological studies, and in the 
 
90 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 spring of 1835 was ordained to the ministry 
 by Chillicothe Presbytery. He secured as as- 
 sistant missionaries Mr. Alexander G. Hug- 
 gins and wife and Miss Sarah Poage, his 
 sister-in-law. The party took a steamboat 
 for St. Louis, and there another for Fort 
 Snelling, Minnesota. 
 
 As the steamboat hove in sight of Fort 
 Snelling the little mission party peered out 
 to catch a first sight of the field to which 
 God had called them. Were it the earth they 
 were to cultivate, — truly it was a goodly land. 
 But their work was to be in the vineyard of 
 souls, and the appalling darkness was 
 enough to chill the stoutest heart. Thirty 
 thousand Sioux and every one a heathen ! 
 
 Then what of the bodily safety of the 
 missionaries.'' The last white settlements 
 had been passed several days before at Prai- 
 rie du Chien. True, they were in territory 
 claimed by the United States, but no land in 
 ^Minnesota had yet been purchased of the In- 
 dians, except nine miles square upon which 
 Fort Snelling stood. The Indians knew noth- 
 ing of the sale which France had made thirty 
 years before of the great territory west of 
 the Mississippi to the United States. Min- 
 nesota had been the home of the Sioux from 
 time immemorial. The best blood of every 
 generation had been spilt in protecting it 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 91 
 
 from the incursions of Indian enemies. 
 Neither could the white man have it without 
 their consent. Such was their statement 
 then, and the long string of ghastly battle- 
 grounds and blood-crying camps that stretch 
 from the Mississippi River to the Rocky 
 Mountains bear witness to its truth. 
 
 The location for a station was now to be 
 decided. Fort Snelling was the natural 
 place. The rivers were then the channels for 
 business, and it was at the confluence of all 
 the streams on which lived the Sioux of Min- 
 nesota. The Government had already placed 
 there the Indian agency and the military 
 post for that region. The principal fur 
 company had also just located their supply 
 depot for the traders of the Northwest at that 
 point. A few officers had brought their 
 wives — the only white women in the country. 
 Fort Snelling was also the only post-office, 
 where they received mail once a month, post- 
 age being twenty-five cents. 
 
 However, Dr. Williamson decided to locate 
 elsewhere. The American Board had ap- 
 pointed another missionary. Licentiate J. D. 
 Stevens, who was already on the way. Also 
 two remarkable young men from Connecti- 
 cut had come to teach the heathen at their 
 own charges, and had located at an Indian 
 village near by. Their names were Samuel 
 
92 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 W. and Gideon H. Pond, and both afterwards 
 became ministers. He would leave this field 
 for them. His Lord had not located at Jeru- 
 salem. Perchance he would lead him to the 
 Sea of Galilee. 
 
 On his tour the previous year he had met 
 a French half-breed, Joseph Renville, who 
 interested him much. He had a small trading 
 post at Lac qui Parle, two hvmdred miles 
 west of Fort Snelling. He met him again 
 at this time, and his cry was, 
 
 "Come over and help us." 
 
 The Doctor prayed over it and was assured 
 in his heart it was God's call. He told Mr. 
 Renville he would go. 
 
 During his few weeks' stay at Fort Snel- 
 ling he had not been idle. Quite remarkably, 
 the commandant of the post, ^lajor Loomis, 
 with his wife and daughter, were active 
 Christian workers. He asked the Pond 
 brothers to come and hold meetings at the 
 post on the Sabbath. The result was a dozen 
 or more conversions. The timely arrival of 
 an ordained minister suggested the advan- 
 tages of a church organization. Dr. Will- 
 iamson accordingly organized the church with 
 twenty-two members, over whom four elders 
 were ordained, one of whom was the com- 
 mandant, another the head trader of the fur 
 company, and another the older of the Pond 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 93 
 
 brothers. This was the first church organ- 
 ized in what is now the State of Minnesota, 
 and was the genesis of the First Church of 
 Minneapolis. 
 
 Some time in June Dr. Williamson and his 
 party again started West, Their conveyance 
 was a large lumber wagon bought for the 
 purpose. But it was found the first eighty 
 miles was a dense forest, through which no 
 road had been cut. Mr. Renville, however, 
 came to his assistance and loaded everything 
 except the horses on his Mackinaw flat-boat, 
 which was already well filled with his yearly 
 supply of store goods. The horses Dr. Will- 
 iamson took by land. The dozen or more 
 Canadians made slow progress shoving the 
 boat against the current, so Dr. Williamson 
 easily made their camjDS every night. Reach- 
 ing a point near St. Peter, Mr. Renville's 
 caravan of some fifty Red River carts was 
 found waiting. All took to wheels for one 
 hundred and twenty miles, over great rolling 
 prairies to Lac qui Parle, which they reached 
 on the sixth day. 
 
 Mr. Renville's trading post consisted of a 
 cluster of a dozen or more log cabins, sur- 
 rounded by a stockade. He offered the mis- 
 sion party the use of one of these cabins 
 until they could build. Mr. Huggins built a 
 cabin for himself that fall, but Dr. William- 
 
94 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 son remained with ^Ir. Renville through the 
 winter, and a son was born to him there. 
 
 Dr. Williamson had now entered upon the 
 great work of his life. A voice rang in his 
 ear, 
 
 " Prepare ye the way of the Lord." 
 
 And again the message came, 
 
 " Cast up, cast up the highway, gather out the 
 stones." 
 
 Before the Lord would enter the hearts of 
 this savage heathen people much work had 
 to be done. They did not even have a name 
 for God, as they had no conception of Him. 
 To teach them, the teacher must learn their 
 language. The first services Dr. Williamson 
 held, he spoke in English. The trader's clerk 
 translated it into French. Then the trader, 
 Mr. Renville, translated it into Indian. 
 
 As Dr. Williamson had discovered on his 
 exploring tour that the few interpreters to 
 be found were French, he had spent consid- 
 erable time the intervening winter studying 
 French. So before long he was able to speak 
 in French, and needed only Mr. Renville to in- 
 terpret. To learn the Indian language was 
 a much greater task. It was as yet not re- 
 duced to writing, and the few interpreters, 
 like Mr. Renville, were uneducated men who 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 95 
 
 did not know a noun from a verb, and soon 
 became wearied at being queried. The best 
 help he had was the few days he spent with 
 the Pond brothers. To them belongs the 
 credit of forming the Dakota alphabet which, 
 with some slight changes, is still used in all 
 Dakota books. They gave him a list of In- 
 dian words, and also facts as to the construc- 
 tion of the language. What it took them 
 months to learn they could give to him in a 
 few words. The next need was Christian 
 literature in the Indian language — especially 
 the Bible, and some Christian hymns. At 
 first the missionary would translate as best he 
 could a verse, or short passage, for his next 
 service. The first printed selections were 
 made by the Rev. S. W. Pond. The complete 
 Bible as we now have it was all translated 
 (or revised) by the Rev. Thomas S. William- 
 son, M.D., and Stephen R. Riggs, D.D., who 
 spent a large part of their time for forty 
 years upon it. The last proofs were corrected 
 by Dr. Williamson to his great joy only a 
 short time before his death. 
 
 Heathenism among the Dakotas was a 
 stone wall in the way of Christianity. Be- 
 ing polytheists they did not look upon the 
 worship of a number of gods as inconsistent. 
 So when the White Sacred-man came to them, 
 and a word for God was formed, they looked 
 
96 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 upon it simply as tlie name of the white man's 
 god, and had no more objection to their peo- 
 ple adopting it than to their adopting the 
 white man's dress, or mode of life. So it was 
 several years before the nation generally 
 realized that the adoption of Christianity 
 meant the abandonment of their worship. 
 
 In these years tlie mission at Lac qui Parle 
 was prepared. In March following his ar- 
 rival he organized a small church of the lay 
 members of the mission and a few Indians. 
 Of the first seven Indians received, one was 
 a man and all the rest women. The cause 
 of this disproportion was not probably to be 
 found in the fact that women are more re- 
 ligious than men, but because among the 
 Indians religion, like war and the chase, 
 belongs only to the superior sex. The 
 women therefore were less bound to heathen- 
 ism, and more ready to listen to Christian 
 truth. For the first seven years there were 
 additions every year, averaging seven, mak- 
 ing in all forty-nine and in the latter years 
 a larger proportion of men. Nine were 
 added the seventh year, of whom three were 
 men. 
 
 About this time the idol worshippers be- 
 gan to see the foundation of their institution 
 crmnbling. A coinicil met and determined 
 that Christianity must be wiped out. Vari- 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 97 
 
 ous means were used to accomplish it. All 
 Indians were forbidden to attend either school 
 or church, and policemen were stationed on 
 the road to punish them; so women came to 
 church a number of times with their blankets 
 cut in strips. The officers would deride and 
 make sport of the church-goers in the most' 
 vexatious ways. Sometimes they would use 
 flattery and lead them into sin, perhaps 
 drunkenness. Sorcerers would bewitch them 
 so they would die mysteriously — probably 
 from poison. 
 
 Efforts to drive away the missionaries 
 were also made and might have been carried 
 out, as no government officer was near 
 enough to give any immediate protection. 
 Sometimes the missionaries were directly or- 
 dered to leave the country. More commonly 
 the Indians tried to vex them beyond en- 
 durance so that they would leave. One win- 
 ter all the mission cattle and horses were shot 
 or stolen, except one ox and cow that the mis- 
 sionaries had managed to protect. This ox 
 and cow were all the two families had with 
 which to haul firewood, put in their spring 
 crop, and do all necessary transporting of 
 goods. Again, a large body of men would 
 come galloping up, all decked for war, and 
 surround the house, and with fearful yells 
 give an exhibition of the war dance. Then 
 
98 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 the spokesman would make some exorbitant 
 demand for pay for living in their country. 
 Not receiving it they would renew the dance 
 and keep it up for hours. 
 
 By such means the progress of the work 
 was stayed. Several years there were no ac- 
 cessions, and some of the weak members fell. 
 Yet there was always a little band of faithful 
 ones ready to endure all things for Christ's 
 sake. And had brighter days never come, the 
 Doctor would have gone down to the grave 
 rejoicing that he was permitted to have a 
 part in the salvation of these few souls. 
 
 There were other sources of trial. Famine 
 and pestilence came and scattered the whole 
 band. Many went to Fort Snelling. Dr. 
 Williamson followed them and settled at Lit- 
 tle Crow's village (now South St. Paul), where 
 he remained some six years. During this time 
 the persecution continued. The Lower Sioux 
 were harder to reach than the Western Sioux. 
 Being nearer the whites and better off, they 
 were too proud to listen to the missionaries. 
 Also they were able to get more whiskey. So 
 although much more missionary labor was ex- 
 pended on them, much less was accomplished 
 than for the Lac qui Parle Sioux. 
 
 In 1851 a treaty was made with all the 
 Minnesota Sioux which opened to settlement 
 all their country except a reservation on the 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 99 
 
 upper Minnesota River, and thither the In- 
 dians were all removed. Dr. Williamson then 
 chose a new location at Yellow Medicine, 
 where the Lac qui Parle Indians were to set- 
 tle. A government agency was also estab- 
 lished near by, and not a great way off was 
 Fort Ridgely. The near presence of govern- 
 ment officials prevented much of the former 
 persecution. The Indians being located 
 closer together and roving less, the facilities 
 for church and school work were improved. 
 Converts were again coming forward, now 
 almost as many men as women. At the end 
 of the year (1862) the church membership 
 had increased to sixty-four Indians, besides a 
 few white persons. These members were 
 connected with three churches; Yellow Medi- 
 cine in charge of Dr. Williamson ; Hazlewood 
 in charge of the Rev. S. R. Riggs, D.D. ; 
 and Redwood in charge of the Rev. John P. 
 Williamson.* 
 
 Then the Christians had grown in char- 
 acter much more than in numbers. In the 
 three churches there were six elders — all 
 noble, heroic leaders. The Christian Indians 
 were the foremost in civilization, and some 
 of them were moving to the front in the tribal 
 councils. This was as might be expected, 
 
 * (Son of Dr. Thomas S. Williamson, and writer 
 of this sketch. — Eds.) 
 
100 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 for up to this time the mission schools had 
 done all the educational work. Thus the out- 
 look was more encouraging than it ever had 
 been. 
 
 But in proportion to tlie hopefulness of 
 the church work the heathen leaders were 
 despondent and casting about for retribution. 
 Occasionally they destroyed the property of 
 some Christian and even took a life by poison ; 
 but these methods were getting to be too 
 risky. Then religion was not the only cause 
 of grief. The Government had several times 
 sorely disappointed them. This was partly 
 due to the Indians' misunderstanding, but 
 partly also to mismanagement of the Govern- 
 ment. So the spirit of revenge was heaving 
 their breasts. And it was just the time when 
 the War of the Rebellion was engrossing the 
 nation to the neglect of the Indians. The 
 bombshell was only waiting to be ignited. 
 
 It was on a Sunday afternoon that five In- 
 dians got into a quarrel over a shooting 
 match, and murdered a number of whites. 
 The shell had exploded. In twenty-four 
 hours not a white person was left in his home 
 over an area of sixty square miles. Some had 
 fled, but over five hundred lay weltering in 
 their blood. 
 
 I have said that in twenty-four hours not 
 a white was left; but two days after the 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 101 
 
 massacre Dr. Williamson with his wife and 
 sister Jane were still kneeling as usual for 
 morning prayer in his own house. He had 
 told his children and son-in-law to flee, but 
 he would stay — perhaps he could help the 
 Christian Indians. Messengers and war- 
 parties were continually flying by. Day and, 
 night his friends had stood guard, but early 
 that morning they told him that if he stayed 
 it would be the death of them all. The Doc- 
 tor told afterwards that he still felt that he 
 would rather stay, and if God willed die at 
 his post; but that, after praying, his mind 
 was at once changed and under the guidance 
 of his Indian friends he fled. 
 
 The power of God to "make the wrath of 
 man to praise him" was wonderfully mani- 
 fested in this terrible massacre. What could 
 redound more to the glory of God than the 
 conduct of the Christian Indians in the mas- 
 sacre ! No families were so much exposed 
 as the missionaries, and yet not one was 
 killed. Why.^ Because the Christian Indians 
 saved them. And they saved not only them 
 but many other whites. John Otherday saved 
 the party of sixty whites from Yellow Medi- 
 cine. Simon Anawangmani saved the fam- 
 ily of Mrs. Newman. Lorenzo Lawrence 
 saved Mrs. De Camp and children, and 
 others. John B. Renville and Paul Maza- 
 
102 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 kutemani were the means of rescuing one 
 hundred captive women and children. All 
 these deliverers were Christian Indians. 
 With one exception no heathen man raised a 
 finger to save a soul. That exception was 
 Wakinyantawa, a heathen who saved his 
 friend, George Spencer, a trader. Thus we 
 see the power of the gospel to change the 
 savage heart. 
 
 But God be praised for a greater victory — • 
 a spiritual. As of old the enemies of God's 
 people were swallowed up in the "Dead Sea." 
 The war-prophets, the conjurers, the medi- 
 cine-men were in the lead promising victory 
 — such a victory as would enable them to dic- 
 tate the terms of peace, and they would roll 
 back all these new innovations and reinstate 
 the supremacy of their gods. Instead came 
 defeat. Four hundred warriors were prison- 
 ers at Mankato, and their families to the num- 
 ber of two thousand souls were under guard 
 at Fort Snelling. The rest of the tribe were 
 fleeing for their lives to the Northwest, and 
 to Manitoba. Where now are their gods? 
 Like themselves, lying helpless in the dust. 
 They were humbled. 
 
 It was God's opportunity. Dr. William- 
 son saw a new light. God had saved him for 
 a purpose. He hastened to Mankato to 
 preach Christ Jesus the Saviour of sinners. 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 103 
 
 Seated on the ground, chained two and two, 
 with their blankets over their heads, sat the 
 prisoners — distrustful, wild, sullen. At first 
 his words were like water on the hard rock. 
 But he continued. He searched out individ- 
 ual ones, and spoke words of sympathy. He 
 told them they were bad off, but God was 
 merciful, and he knelt down and prayed for 
 them. He told them of the love of Jesus and 
 how he could save their souls. The Spirit of 
 God came down on them like the gentle rain 
 on the clods of the valley. Many a man ex- 
 pecting to be executed as thirty-eight of 
 their number had already been, and who had 
 such nerve that he would have ascended the 
 scaffold without a tremor, shook like a leaf 
 as he rose and asked that God would for- 
 give their sins for Christ's sake. Three hun- 
 dred were baptized in one day. 
 
 Dr. Williamson continued to minister to the 
 prisoners till they were released, four years 
 afterwards. Dr. Williamson was then sixty- 
 six years old — too old to go West where the 
 Indians were sent and open out mission work. 
 So he settled in his home at St. Peter, Min- 
 nesota, where he died in his eightieth year. 
 During these last years however he was not 
 idle. Every summer he made a tour of the 
 Indian churches. And the superintendence 
 of the work of the native helpers, who were 
 
104 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 quite numerous, was largely in his hands 
 while he lived. 
 
 In conclusion we may ask, wherein lay Dr. 
 Williamson's success? He was no orator, no 
 poet, did not wield a ready pen, and had little 
 confidence in himself. 
 
 He was a man of faith — not only theoret- 
 ically, but practically. He believed in God 
 with all his heart. He believed God had 
 called him to preach to the heathen. He 
 believed God would take care of him and of 
 the results if he followed him. 
 
 He was a man of the Bible. He believed 
 it was God's directory. He was loyal to his 
 church creed because he believed it was drawn 
 from the Bible. 
 
 He was a man of prayer. The family altar 
 and the closet were sacred institutions, as 
 well as the house of God. In days of doubt 
 and fear, and he saw many such, the altar of 
 prayer was his refuge, and brought peace to 
 his soul. 
 
 He was a man of unflinching integrity. 
 Success was a secondary consideration. 
 
 He had the unaffected sympathy which is 
 born of the love of Jesus for sinners. 
 
 He had a good judgment, the grounds of 
 which he could not always give, but which 
 was probably the result of a comprehensive 
 view of the whole situation. When the first 
 
THOMAS S. WILLIAMSON 105 
 
 church among the Indians was organized at 
 Lac qui Parle, in 1836, some thought it hasty. 
 There were so few (the number is not 
 known) and their faith was not proved. How- 
 ever, we know that they all died in the faith, 
 and of the descendants of the first sixteen 
 who united there six have become ministers^ 
 and the little community of church workers 
 thus started wherever they have gone to this 
 day are among the leaders in the worship of 
 God. 
 
 [The Rev. John P. Williamson, in the preparation 
 of the preceding outline of his father's life, has mod- 
 estly hidden his own large share in the work of the 
 Dakota Indians. For more than a generation he has 
 labored with untiring and self-sacrificing heroism. 
 He would not wish us here to enlarge upon his own 
 work. Suffice it to say, that as the result of his 
 father's labors, ably followed by his own, the six 
 tribes of the Sioux nation constitute an entire Pres- 
 bytery and have a membership in the Presbyterian 
 Church of more than fifteen hundred commxmicants. 
 There are seventeen native ministers under the su- 
 perintendence of Dr. Williamson and two other 
 American ministers. For home missions they raised 
 for the year closing April first, 1904, the sum of 
 $2,375. A large part of this is placed by them 
 among their own people for the support of churches 
 which would otherwise require aid from the funds of 
 the Home Board. Of their twenty-seven churches 
 reported in the Minutes, twenty-one are aided by the 
 Home Board. They have a Sabbath school attend- 
 ance of over eight hundred. — Eds.] 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PATRIARCH OF TWO SYNODS, 
 HENRY LITTLE, D.D. 
 
 1800—1882. 
 By George O. Little, D.D.* 
 
 Dr. Little was born in Boscawen, New 
 Hampshire, March twenty-third, 1800. He 
 died in Madison, Indiana, February twenty- 
 fifth, 1882. 
 
 "His religious life," says one of his biog- 
 raphers, "dated back so far into his child- 
 hood that of its beginning there is no incident 
 to be related. In it there was no break until 
 death. Rather, it would be correct to say 
 that the little rill that began away back 
 among the hills of New Hampshire almost 
 insensibly widened and deepened and grew 
 until it reached the waters of the great ocean 
 of immortal life. 
 
 A man who is connected with the manage- 
 ment of large railroad interests in an im- 
 
 * Son of Dr. Henry Little. — Eds. 
 106 
 
Henry Little, D.D., 18()l)-18S:2 
 
HENRY LITTLE 107 
 
 portant centre and who is highly respected 
 for his religious character, Mr. W. N. Jack- 
 son of Indianapolis, sends me this encomium : 
 
 "Dr. Little's character from the meridian 
 to the end was one of the most perfect that 
 was ever presented to a community in which 
 I have lived." 
 
 One of the most attractive features of his 
 religious character was his Christian activity. 
 For him to be at his Master's work seemed to 
 be as natural and as necessary as it is for the 
 physical vitality of a child to manifest itself 
 in the exercise of its bodily powers. 
 
 He spent all his early years, almost up to 
 his majority, on the farm. For farm life, 
 not only agriculture but the raising and tend- 
 ing of cattle, he had a love that amounted to 
 a passion. When imported merino sheep 
 were worth a thousand dollars each he was 
 chosen to take care of a flock of them, watch- 
 ing them all day and folding them by night 
 with a knowledge and a care of each sheep 
 and lamb very much after the manner of the 
 oriental shepherd. The increasingly felt 
 necessity to preach the gospel made him de- 
 cide at twenty to give up the farm, but his 
 love for it, his interest in it, and his knowl- 
 edge of it, which continued unabated all his 
 life, became one of the most important ele- 
 ments of his usefulness and success in his 
 
108 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 missionary itinerary among the agricultural 
 population of the West. 
 
 He entered Dartmouth College at twenty- 
 two, graduating in the class of 1826, standing 
 second in rank of scholarship and being 
 oft'ered a tutorship. He gave up this scholarly 
 life, so inviting to his tastes — as he did farm- 
 ing — for the sake of the gospel. Neverthe- 
 less, it had a great deal to do with his future 
 success. 
 
 His first pastorate was in a college church 
 connected with Miami University, and some 
 of the greatest results of his preaching were 
 found among college students of Marietta 
 and Wabash. 
 
 He was an ideal evangelist, first with the 
 young people of his home church, later with 
 his pupils in the schools he taught, and after- 
 wards in college and theological seminary 
 after a great revival in one of his schools led 
 him to decide to enter the ministry. His mar- 
 velous success in the signal revivals that 
 occurred in his student life largely decided 
 the form of his future activity. He was 
 chosen for his first work, as agent of the 
 Education Society in New England, by Dr. 
 Cornelius and others because of his peculiar 
 aptness in turning young men first to Christ 
 and then to the Christian ministry. It had 
 also a great deal to do with his being twice 
 
HENRY LITTLE 109 
 
 taken from successful pastorates to engage in 
 home missionary work. 
 
 He was ordained September twenty-fourth, 
 1829, in Park Street Church, Boston, Massa- 
 chusetts, with fifteen other evangelists. The 
 hymn 
 
 "Watchman! tell us of the night — 
 What its signs of promise are," 
 
 was sung then for the first time to a tune 
 composed for the occasion by Lowell Mason, 
 which has ever been wedded to it in an in- 
 separable union. It was the keynote of his 
 evangelistic work. 
 
 As agent for the Education Society, he 
 traveled for a year in New England and 
 then, with headquarters at Cincinnati, for an- 
 other year in the West. In June, 1831, he 
 accepted a call from the Presbyterian church 
 at Oxford, Ohio. The young pastor not only 
 satisfied such men as President Bishop and 
 Prof. McGuffee with his preaching, but imder 
 his ministry there was a great revival and in 
 his two years' pastorate an addition to the 
 church of two hundred and ninety-seven 
 members. 
 
 But he was not let alone in his congenial 
 work. Greatest pressure was brought to bear 
 upon him to become agent of the American 
 
110 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 Home Missionary Society. This was urged 
 by the professors of the University and the 
 prominent members of his church. Absalom 
 Peters, corresponding secretary, says in one 
 of his letters : 
 
 "And now, if you find yourself beginning 
 to waver and hesitate, I trust you will do me 
 the favor to read this letter to Dr. Bishop 
 and Prof. McGuffee and tell them for me 
 that I depend on them to hold you to the 
 point and compel you to come. I do not ordi- 
 narily tease a brother at this rate, but im- 
 mense results are depending upon your de- 
 cision of this question. I dare not let you 
 go wrong without earnestly entreating you 
 to go right." 
 
 He writes later that his salary of six hun- 
 dred dollars has been donated by Joseph 
 Brewster, so that "his support was provided 
 for in a most desirable manner." 
 
 He yielded and took for his first field 
 Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. When, five 
 years later Dr. Little became pastor of the 
 Second Church, Madison, Indiana, after only 
 two years, during which his church was 
 doubled, he was brought back by an ever 
 increasing pressure to home missionary work, 
 in which he then continued to the day of his 
 death. The Rev. D. H. Allen writes, 
 
 "I most heartily rejoiced to learn that you 
 
HENRY LITTLE 111 
 
 were about to resume the agency of the 
 American Home Missionary Society. The 
 good cause has dragged ever since you left it." 
 The Rev. T. A. Mills writes, 
 "Your friends have always thought your 
 talents for our agency superior. I have no 
 doubt you could accomplish more in that ca- 
 pacity for the cause of Christ than you could 
 as pastor." 
 
 The Rev. John M. Bishop, son of President 
 Bishop of jNIiami, at the golden wedding, 
 quoted such words as having been said to him 
 at Oxford and added, 
 
 "My father objected to this statement, 
 saying, 'No one who knows you as a pastor 
 will say that.' " 
 
 In later years he received flattering calls to 
 churches at Ottawa, Illinois; Bowling Green, 
 Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; George- 
 town, Troy and Portsmouth, Ohio; Columbia, 
 Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri. 
 
 Of the latter the Rev. A. Bullard of the 
 First Church writes, 
 
 "There is no one in the land I would be 
 more pleased to have pastor of the Second 
 Church than you." 
 
 But henceforth he withstood all calls and 
 invitations that took him away from home 
 missions. Although thus compelled to deny 
 himself the congenial pastoral life, his ac- 
 
112 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 quaintance with the difficulties and opportu- 
 nities of the pastorate was of the greatest use 
 to him in his visitation of the churches, where 
 he often acted as adviser, arbitrator and 
 peacemaker between pastor and people in 
 churches split by divisions. 
 
 Dr. Little had also fine business qualities. 
 New England thrift and economy, good 
 judgment, a cool head, and both insight and 
 foresight. Willing to advise and help others 
 in business affairs, and with abundant oppor- 
 tunities for gain, yet he would not turn aside 
 from his work for any enterprise, however 
 lucrative. One of his associates in the min- 
 istry in Indiana invented and patented what 
 was called a "Fruit House," the forerunner 
 of the cold storage plants of our day. In an 
 address to students of Wabash College Mr. 
 Nice gave Dr. Little credit for great help in 
 mastering the principles of cold storage. 
 Together they worked out the problem. 
 When it was all done and a patent had been 
 secured which was supposed to be worth a 
 great fortune, Mr. Nice said, 
 
 "Brother Little, if you will go in with me 
 we will give half to the Lord and the other 
 half we will divide equally between us." 
 
 In an instant the reply came, 
 
 "Oh no. Brother Nice, my business is to 
 preach the gospel." 
 
HENRY LITTLE 113 
 
 At first, until mismanaged, it brought in 
 large returns daily and he was asked if he 
 had not made a mistake in refusing. He 
 answered, 
 
 "It did not amoimt to a temptation." 
 
 Again, Dr. Little was of a most univer- 
 sally cheerful and genial disposition, a ready 
 conversationalist, a fluent talker, and an in- 
 teresting story teller and narrator of remark- 
 able incidents and notable events, so that both 
 in private and in public he was always sure 
 to have admiring listeners. A veteran minis- 
 ter has lately told how when a boy riding in 
 a stage from Cincinnati to Oxford the pas- 
 sengers were greatly entertained all the way 
 by the versatile conversation of one of their 
 number whose name they did not know, and 
 how surprised he was next morning to find 
 this man in the pulpit and to learn that he 
 was the Mr. Little who had been announced 
 to preach. He said he preached as well as he 
 talked, and that in all his association with 
 him in after life he had found him under all 
 circumstances the same interesting talker, the 
 life of every circle in which he moved. But 
 this power to entertain was never used for 
 itself alone, much less for his own popular- 
 ity, but always to interest men in the work of 
 saving souls through the gospel of Christ. 
 
 These marked characteristics of Dr. Lit- 
 
114 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 tie, — his pre-eminent religious life and Chris- 
 tian activity, his practical knowledge of and 
 interest in farm life, his scholarly attain- 
 ments and tastes, his aptness for and success 
 in the pastorate, his fine business sagacity and 
 management of monetary affairs, his power as 
 a conversationali.T and fluent talker, — fur- 
 nished the warp of his uninterrupted half 
 century's work in the ministry, whose busy 
 labors were the woof, and his remarkable 
 record the web. 
 
 Dr. Little was 'he veteran pioneer home 
 missionary of the nineteenth century, having 
 given nearly one half of it to continuous 
 work in connection with the different agencies 
 of home missions, — from 1833 to 1861 with 
 the American Home Missionary Society; 
 from 1861 to 1869 with the Presbyterian 
 Committee of Home Missions, New School; 
 and from 1869 to 1882 with the Board of 
 Home Missions of the reunited Church. In 
 all this period — as was said at his golden 
 wedding — he never took a vacation, never 
 made a visit except in connection with some 
 work of the Church, never had a quarrel, and 
 was very rarely sick, although he constantly 
 traveled in a malarious climate. He handed 
 down such a vigorous constitution to his 
 eight children that twenty-one years after 
 his death all are living. His own years of 
 
HENRY LITTLE 115 
 
 service, with those already rendered by his 
 four sons who followed in his profession, 
 complete two centuries of continuous work in 
 the ministry of the gospel. Dr. Little more 
 than any other man, as pioneer and veteran, 
 created the office which in the evolution of 
 the work has been successively styled Home 
 Missionary Agent, Synodical Missionary and 
 Superintendent of Home Missions. He be- 
 came the model exemplar for the many 
 worthy men who have followed in this posi- 
 tion of responsibility and trust. 
 
 Dr. Little's forty-eight years' work in 
 home missions in the West may naturally be 
 divided into three parts. First, the raising 
 of money for the support of home mission- 
 aries. Secondly, the organizing and care 
 of churches. Thirdly, the evangelistic work 
 for the salvation of souls. 
 
 First. As home missionary agent his chief 
 work was to present the cause and collect 
 funds. He proved to be a wonderful money 
 collector. Some one said at the General As- 
 sembly at ]\Iadison, Wisconsin, 
 
 "His obituary sermon ought to be preached 
 from the text, 'And the beggar died.' " 
 
 His ability in this direction was utilized in 
 two great emergencies, — to secure fifty thou- 
 sand dollars for Lane Theological Seminary 
 and ten thousand dollars for Western Female 
 
116 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 Seminary, other ministers acting as substi- 
 tutes for him while he was engaged in this 
 work. 
 
 The pastors of strong churches did not 
 then as now take up their own collections for 
 missions, being furnished with needed infor- 
 mation and statistics ; but they depended upon 
 the agent to present the cause on the Sab- 
 bath and take a collection. Dr. Little had 
 the gift of interesting all classes in his work 
 and of getting an adequate expression of this 
 interest in liberal contributions, — not dragged 
 from them unwillingly to be regretted after- 
 wards, but to be poured out willingly from 
 a full heart with regret that the purse was not 
 as full as the heart. 
 
 In raising these funds from the churches 
 as much was done out of the pulpit as in it. 
 His business qualities which have been men- 
 tioned won the confidence of the rich men 
 and they intrusted him with their growing 
 wealth. The majority of the members of the 
 churches and congregations were farmers ; 
 and his own love and knowledge of farming 
 was so full and complete that in his conver- 
 sation with them in their homes and in his 
 agricultural addresses he not only helped 
 them to make money by farming, but so inter- 
 ested them that the money they made they 
 freely gave to missions. 
 
HENRY LITTLE 117 
 
 At that time the churches that could give 
 all cash contributions were few. Money in 
 the earlier periods of his labors often was 
 harder to get than other articles of value 
 which could be sent for the use of the mis- 
 sionary laborers or sold for their support. 
 Consequently some of his collections were 
 quite unusual in their character. For in- 
 stance, he says of his first visit to a certain 
 church : 
 
 "I asked the minister, 'How much more 
 would your folks give to subscribe now (in 
 April) wheat or corn they would sow and pay 
 next Christmas?' And he said, 'At least 
 twice as much.' 
 
 "So I preached a missionary sermon on the 
 Sabbath. And Monday morning they came 
 together, and one gave a horse, one a two 
 dollar calf, one his highest priced fat wether, 
 one the making of a suit of clothes, one a 
 half and another a quarter of an acre of 
 wheat, one a pound of butter a week till 
 Christmas, and so on ; and as much cash as if 
 I had asked only for cash. Then a man gave 
 a new bridle, and it was on the horse which 
 stood there, and the men who were looking 
 on knew I had to ride twenty-five miles and 
 preach that night; and I told them I could 
 not ride well without a saddle; and in five 
 minutes seven of them gave two dollars each 
 
118 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 and put a fifteen dollar saddle on my horse, 
 the saddler who gave me the bridle throwing 
 in the profits. The next six years they gave 
 me eight horses for eight home missionaries, 
 and all with the most hearty good cheer as at 
 the time when young Stuart gave me the 
 colt." 
 
 This is only a sample of what constantly 
 occurred. Similar instances could be multi- 
 plied indefinitely. 
 
 These products were sent directly to the 
 home missionaries in place of salary, or were 
 shipped to persons who would convert them 
 into cash. His business abilities served him 
 in good stead in these commission transac- 
 tions. Another way of maintaining the mis- 
 sionaries was by the home mission boxes 
 which were not prepared especially for and 
 sent directly to each missionary as they now 
 are, but were packed indiscriminately in one 
 box and sent to Dr. Little as agent to be 
 sorted over and distributed. He had to know 
 the needs of each family; the number, ages, 
 sizes and sex of the children in each family; 
 and assort for each; and, being thus pre- 
 pared, to save expressage or freight, to carry 
 them on his next visit to the different mis- 
 sionaries. 
 
 In the course of his ministry another large 
 source of income for missions was the large 
 
HENRY LITTLE 119 
 
 personal contributions made to Dr. Little at 
 the close of his evangelistic services, out of 
 gratitude for what he had been able to do 
 for the donors or for members of their fam- 
 ilies. All these, in spite of earnest protest 
 of the givers, were turned over to the treasury 
 as regular collections for missions. 
 
 The second work of Dr. Little was the 
 organizing and care of home missionary 
 churches. As the pastors more and more un- 
 dertook the collection of needed funds the 
 character of his work changed, and instead of 
 agent he became synodical missionary whose 
 chief work was to visit destitute fields ; to 
 hunt up and awaken church members whose 
 letters were in eastern churches; to organize 
 churches and after grouping them wisely to 
 secure suitable ministers for them and then 
 to care for their development and growth. 
 
 He combined in himself many admirable 
 qualities that especially fitted him for this 
 ever widening work. He was universally 
 known, respected and welcomed. He was 
 tactful with ministers and people. He was 
 unwearied in his efforts, both by correspond- 
 ence and personal visits, to meet the varied 
 wants of the different parts of the field. He 
 was singularly free from partiality and 
 favoritism. He always chose the harder and 
 more difficult work to do first. He was pa- 
 
120 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 tient, forbearing and forgiving, never taking 
 offence and never giving cause for any. He 
 was alike successful in wise initiatory work of 
 forming churches and in caring for them in 
 all the trying stages of reaching self-sup- 
 port. He was a good organizer, a good judge 
 of both men and means, a wise adviser and 
 a superb helper. He always did good and — 
 equally important — never did harm. Further- 
 more, he carried the golden rule into practice 
 with other denominations in tlie formation of 
 new churches. He was so fair to them and 
 their interests that they cooperated with him, 
 often holding union services while he was 
 gathering together the Presbyterians in a 
 church organization. 
 
 As the States grew in population and the 
 number of churches increased, his field was 
 gradually narrowed, — first to the two States 
 of Ohio and Indiana and then to Indiana 
 alone; and he, with a more general work, be- 
 came Superintendent of Missions, the patri- 
 arch of the two Synods finally merged into 
 one. 
 
 In the first and second forms of work 
 ^already named there was of course a good 
 deal of similarity with that of others occu- 
 pying the same position then and since, the 
 special difference being that he antedated 
 them, originating rather than copying. 
 
HENRY LITTLE 121 
 
 But in the third great work of his life, 
 that of an evangelist, he was unique. He 
 thus modestly expressed himself in a private 
 letter to a relative in a review of his life: 
 
 ""When about fifty years ago, beginning 
 for a year as agent for the Education So- 
 ciety in New England, then coming West and 
 locating at Cincinnati with the whole West 
 for my field, and preaching at many camp 
 meetings and in school houses, in private 
 houses, in barns, in groves, on canal boats 
 and steamboats, also in many large cities and 
 towns, and often in new fields where no min- 
 ister had ever preached a sermon before, I do 
 not know that I ever looked at the question in 
 just this light before, but really I cannot 
 think of a bishop, presiding elder, agent, 
 evangelist, or any old minister in any of our 
 church work, whose duties have given him a 
 chance to preach in so many places in the 
 more than forty-eight years since I was 
 licensed." 
 
 He was everywhere the effective preacher, 
 the winning evangelist, the awakening re- 
 vivalist. He talked so naturally and easily 
 that he never knew fatigue in preaching. He 
 so trusted God for results that he was never 
 worn out by nervous strain of anxiety even 
 in the most protracted and excited meetings. 
 It was estimated that he averaged one ser- 
 
122 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 mon a day through the year, as he generally 
 preached three times on the Sabbath and daily 
 through the week whenever protracted re- 
 vival services could wisely be held. The only 
 cessation, sometimes for weeks together, 
 would be the time taken for travel from place 
 to place. He seemed equally adapted to rural 
 or city churches, to uneducated workmen or 
 to college students. He became all things to 
 all men, everywhere so telling the old, old 
 story that men were led to see how sweet is 
 His service and how safe is His fold. 
 
 Dr. Tuttle, President of Wabash College, 
 writes : 
 
 "He never appeared to better advantage 
 than in a revival. There he was at home. 
 His desire to save sinners seemed like a fire 
 in his bones, a holy passion. As I have heard 
 him it has ceased to be a wonder that he has 
 been honored of God in an extraordinary 
 number of conversions in revivals. He has 
 often aided in revival services in the older 
 churches but his glory is in having been the 
 revivalist of home missionary fields, the waste 
 and neglected regions. What a preacher, 
 what a soul harvester, what a wise friend, 
 what a sagacious judge of places needing 
 churches, what a peacemaker has he been !" 
 
 No biography of Dr. Little would be com- 
 plete which did not make loving and appre- 
 
HENRY LITTLE 123 
 
 ciative mention of his wife^ Susan Norton 
 Smith. If there were "perils" innumerable 
 and "the care of aU the churches" for the 
 loving heart and broad shoulders of the great 
 missionary, think you there were no perils 
 and cares in the Madison home under the 
 hills ? It fell to her to manage the meagre 
 salary so that eight children could have the 
 best education afforded by the schools, col- 
 leges and seminaries of that day. To her 
 far more than their father, who was absent 
 most of the time, these children owe the train- 
 ing which gave high ideals of life and broad 
 and inspiring views of the kingdom of God. 
 She interpreted the Bible and translated it 
 into the language of childhood. She made a 
 manual training school of the home, for 
 which she was especially fitted as a pupil of 
 Mary Lyons. 
 
 If Dr. Little had the care of all the 
 churches, she had the care of all the ministers 
 — yes, and of their families too — who used 
 to come and stay until a field of labor could 
 be found. The old tent of Sheik Abraham 
 afforded no truer hospitality than that brick 
 house in Madison where nearly all the chil- 
 dren were born, where they all grew up and 
 where "angels" — and some others — were 
 cheerfully and lovingly cared for. 
 
 On September nineteenth, 1881, a few 
 
124. HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 months before his death, the golden wedding 
 of Dr. Little and his wife was appropriately 
 celebrated at their home in Madison. The ex- 
 ercises had been arranged and were in the 
 main conducted by a committee of the Presby- 
 tery of New Albany appointed for this pur- 
 pose. It afforded an opportunity for his many 
 friends, either by their presence or by cor- 
 respondence, to give expression to their ap- 
 preciation of his life-work and to show by 
 loving words and liberal gifts their admira- 
 tion, love and gratitude to this noble husband 
 and wife for what they had been able to do 
 together in their busy, self-denying fifty 
 years of married life. 
 
 One of the latest utterances and noblest 
 speeches of Dr. Little was made in the Synod 
 of Indiana when the poor pay and hard work 
 of the ministry were being discussed. Dr. 
 Little arose and with loving protest began to 
 tell of his happy ministry, — how many thou- 
 sands he had seen accept the great salvation; 
 how many young men he had turned toward 
 the ministry ; how many friends he had ; what 
 evidence of divine favor. "And now," said 
 he, "I am near the end of the journey, but I 
 have four sons to hold forth the word of life 
 after I am gone. Let no man pity me, a very 
 humble but a very happy minister of the 
 gospel." 
 
HENRY LITTLE 125 
 
 His mantle has fallen upon the son named 
 for him. Following in his father's footsteps 
 with much of the same ability and success 
 for twenty-five years he has filled the same 
 office of Superintendent of Home Missions in 
 the great State of Texas. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ONE OF THE "MISSOURI TEN," 
 TIMOTHY HILL, D.D. 
 
 1819—1887. 
 By John B. Hill, D.D.* 
 
 It is difficult to condense into the short 
 limits of a sketch a statement of the facts nec- 
 essary to the right understanding of any life- 
 work worth studying. So at least we find it 
 in writing of Timothy Hill^ perhaps the best 
 known synodical missionary of his day. 
 
 He was descended from pious and patriotic, 
 energetic and thrifty Puritan pioneers, long- 
 lived and fairly influential. His were schol- 
 arly antecedents, inclination and opportuni- 
 ties. His life was filled with continuous 
 ministerial activity from ordination to death, 
 attended with more than ordinary honors and, 
 presumably therefore, with reasonable suc- 
 cess. His varied labors required constructive 
 and executive ability. He had historical in- 
 stincts and literary tastes, for whose gratifica- 
 
 * Son of Dr. Timothy Hill and synodical missionary 
 in Missouri. — Eds. 
 
 126 
 
Timothy Hill, D.D., 1819-1887 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 127 
 
 tion little time could be taken from the en- 
 grossing cares of official life. The predomi- 
 nant spirit of the whole life was evidently 
 missionary. 
 
 The childhood of Timothy Hill was doubt- 
 less fairly happy and useful; but neither 
 theoretically nor experimentally could he en- 
 dorse the oft-expressed sentiment that "A boy 
 is seeing the happiest days of his life." 
 
 His own experience was that every period 
 of life, however great its perplexities, was, 
 as it should be, happier than any that pre- 
 ceded. His home experiences will be reason- 
 ably understood when we say that he was 
 born and reared on a farm, in a small, retired 
 village, fifty miles from Boston. His broth- 
 ers and older sisters, all much older than he, 
 soon left home for distant homes of their 
 own. But to the youngest six of his sisters 
 he was a companion, helper, pet and tease. 
 At seven he fell from a stone wall and broke 
 his right arm. About fifty years later, in 
 Kansas, he was thrown from a spring wagon, 
 and broke the other arm. Neither arm ever 
 fully recovered its strength, a fact which, in 
 his years of missionary travel, caused many 
 a weary rest, when between depot and home 
 or hotel he had to carry his own heavy 
 satchel. In his teens came another accident 
 — so called — which incapacitated him for 
 
1S8 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 farm labor, and thus opened for him the way 
 to college and to the ministry. Years after- 
 ward the eifect of that same accident again 
 wrought a sudden change in his life, and 
 transferred him from a village to a city work. 
 Of his early religious life, the Rev. Dr. 
 John Spaulding, who had assisted his father, 
 the Rev. Ebenezer Hill, in a revival season 
 in 1827, when eighty-six imited with the 
 Mason church, wrote sixty years later: 
 
 "For a while special religious interest was 
 confined to adults and heads of families; but 
 now it reached the young, a large number of 
 whom have since shone as lights in the world. 
 But where was the youngest son of the fam- 
 ily? I inquired for him one day, and found 
 he was in the field, hoeing Iiis father's corn. I 
 went to him; told him that many had chosen 
 the good part, and assured him that now was 
 his accepted time, and the day of his salva- 
 tion. He believed it and acted accordingly, 
 frankly and freely saying that he wanted an 
 interest in Christ. Thus Timothy, at the age 
 of eight years, like Josiah, King of Judah, 
 began to serve the God of his father. At the 
 late anniversary of the Union Theological 
 Seminary, he very tenderly reminded me anew 
 of that scene in the cornfield, intimating that 
 then and there he consecrated his mind and 
 heart to the Lord." 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 129 
 
 But — possibly because he was then thought 
 too young for church membership — he did 
 not imite with the church until he was sixteen 
 years of age, at which time he wrote on a 
 slip of paper, still carefully preserved by his 
 family, 
 
 "I am now resolved to be the Lord's, to 
 resign myself to the will of God. 
 
 (Signed) "Timothy Hill." 
 
 From that time on he was unceasingly active 
 in Christian work, careful of his own relig- 
 ious life, and intensely missionary in spirit. 
 
 The desire to go as a foreign missionary, 
 preferably to India, was uppermost in his 
 mind for years while in college and semi- 
 nary. But the close of his course found him 
 so deeply in debt for his education that he 
 could not honorably go until that debt was 
 paid. He therefore went to Missouri in the 
 fall of 1845 as one of a band of ten young 
 theologues induced to go by the Rev. Dr. 
 Artemas Bullard, pastor of the First Presby- 
 terian church of St. Louis, who was then 
 soliciting funds for the starting of the Mis- 
 souri Church Erection Fund, the first such 
 fund established by any denomination. But 
 on the small home missionary salary of those 
 days ($350 to $400), from which he had to 
 deduct the cost of several trips to the old 
 home during the declining years of his 
 
130 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 parents, it took him over ten years to pay that 
 debt, and left him almost a physical wreck — ■ 
 glad to do even a small work in the home 
 land. 
 
 Dr. Hill's ideal ministerial life was that 
 of his own father, — a lifetime settlement over 
 one charge. Yet — like most western minis- 
 ters — he himself was never installed. West- 
 ern fields then as now offered little promise 
 of long pastorates, — not because smaller or 
 weaker than eastern villages where such pas- 
 torates are common, but because of a popula- 
 tion more restless and less homogeneous, con- 
 stantly shifting from or to the older States, or 
 from frontier to frontier. 
 
 From his readiness at public speaking one 
 would never have suspected what was never- 
 theless true, — that his father was also his 
 ideal sermonizer, habitually preaching from 
 carefully prepared manuscript. Very few 
 such sermons did he himself ever preach. 
 Rather his first preaching experience, while 
 still in the Seminary, was a sort of fore- 
 taste of what he would have to do in later 
 years. He used to relate that the congrega- 
 tion in Dr. Hatfield's church, which he then 
 attended, one morning gathered as usual, but 
 the pastor came not. A little after the hour 
 for service one of the elders asked the young 
 theologue if he would not preach, as other- 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 131 
 
 wise the congregation must be dismissed 
 without a sermon and too late to go elsewhere. 
 He finally consented, gave out a long hymn, 
 during the singing of which he collected his 
 thoughts as best he could, and then gave off- 
 hand the substance of a recent theological 
 lecture he had heard. When he went West, 
 he had to preach in much the same way, as 
 western audiences were then even more averse 
 than now to written sermons. Their feeling, 
 as expressed to a brother minister of his, was 
 that manner counted for more than matter : — 
 
 "We can eat hoe-cake, sir; but we want it 
 hot, sir, — we want it hot!" 
 
 Dr. Hill's first charge kept him almost 
 constantly in the saddle, serving three small 
 churches. He left it mainly because of his 
 pronounced disapproval of slavery, which 
 permeated the whole life of the community. 
 Believing nevertheless that slaveholding Mis- 
 souri was as legitimate a mission field as caste- 
 bound India or priest-ridden Mexico, he took 
 a second and a third field in the same State. 
 In each field — in spite of continued opposi- 
 tion to slavery — he labored for years with fair 
 success, preaching in good houses of worship 
 erected under his ministry. Then came the 
 Civil War with its attendant controversy and 
 bitterness, which wrecked his church and sent 
 him to labor for four years in Illinois where 
 
132 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 again his people erected a house of worship 
 under his leadership. The War had scarcely 
 closed when he was back in Missouri organiz- 
 ing the Second Presbyterian Church of Kan- 
 sas City, building its house of worship, and 
 getting it started on its noble career of local 
 and missionary effort. 
 
 During all these years in obscure pulpits 
 Dr. Hill had much to do with the home mis- 
 sion work of his presbytery and synod. He 
 conducted evangelistic meetings for his 
 brother ministers; was the colaborer and suc- 
 cessor of Dr. Artemas Bullard in the man- 
 agement of the Missouri Home Missionary 
 Society and of the ]\Iissouri Church Erection 
 Fund; wrote much concerning Missouri and 
 the West to the American Home Missionary 
 Society and to the religious press; and spoke 
 in many eastern pulpits while on his frequent 
 trips on various ecclesiastical errands and on 
 visits to the old home. On all these jour- 
 neyings, whether for business, for pleasure or 
 for health, he became acquainted in a remark- 
 able degree with the religious conditions and 
 needs of the wide territory traversed. He 
 thus gained an accurate, personal knowledge 
 of the whole field north of the Ohio and east 
 of the Rockies. In later life he visited all 
 parts of this country, except the Southeast. 
 
 In the work of his denomination he was 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 133 
 
 ever intensely interested, not as a sectarian 
 (though he strongly preferred Presbyterian- 
 ism to any other doctrine or polity), but be- 
 cause through it as through other denomina- 
 tions souls were reached and brought into the 
 Kingdom of his divine Master. Beginning 
 his ministerial life almost at the time of the 
 division of the Presbyterian Church into Old 
 School and New School, he threw his energy 
 into the New School so fully as to have a per- 
 sonal acquaintance with nearly every minister 
 of prominence in the denomination. His 
 varied experience and his long residence in 
 St. Louis and in Kansas City largely increased 
 that acquaintance and made warm friends of 
 many of these distant acquaintances. He was 
 a splendid judge of men and of opportuni- 
 ties ; as for example in the case of Dr. Henry 
 Kendall, whom he did much to place in the 
 office that the great Home Missionary Secre- 
 tary so long filled with distinguished ability. 
 
 There were in Dr. Hill's life three long 
 periods of serious ill health, though never a 
 d«iy when he was not up and dressed. The 
 first, which was an outgrowth of the accident 
 of his boyhood, kept him months indoors and 
 finally broke up his work in St. Charles. The 
 second was aggravated by his teaching, while 
 also doing full work in his St. Louis church 
 in the last desperate struggle to wipe out 
 
1S4) HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 that long-standing debt. The third sent him 
 at the request of Dr. Kendall on a winter 
 journey of six hundred miles, by ambulance 
 and on horseback, to explore the war-blasted 
 missions among the Cherokees of the Indian 
 Territory, and later for several weeks with a 
 surveying party among the forests of Wis- 
 consin. 
 
 The visit to the Cherokees in 1867;, by 
 whom he was thereafter beloved to the day 
 of his death, gave him his first sight of a 
 people in whom he had been deeply inter- 
 ested ever since his seminary daj^s. At that 
 time he had considered a position as mission- 
 ary teacher among their eastern brethren in 
 the mountains of Tennessee and Georgia. 
 His report on his visit aroused the denomma- 
 tion to reopen the missions (which had been 
 abandoned by the American Board of Com- 
 missioners for Foreign Missions during the 
 War), and as soon as possible to appoint a 
 District Secretary to superintend the home 
 mission work in the Southwest. For that 
 office, whenever established, he had long been 
 Dr. Kendall's choice. He preferred the pul- 
 pit. But when health would not permit his 
 preaching regularly he finally accepted the 
 place offered him, and entered upon it in Octo- 
 ber, 1868. That work proved the very tonic 
 needed. Arduous as it was, especially in the 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 135 
 
 days before railroads, it probably prolonged 
 his life, as it certainly did his usefulness. 
 
 Western church history has many times 
 been largely moulded by missionary bands, 
 sent out to labor in a given State or Terri- 
 tory. The American Home Missionary So- 
 ciety sent out several such bands by which 
 the early history of some regions was made 
 predominantly Congregational in some in- 
 stances, in others Presbyterian. Of the lat- 
 ter class were "the Auburn Seven" who came 
 to Missouri in 1830, and the "Missouri Ten," 
 of whom Dr. Hill was one, in ISl-S. No 
 doubt partially in remembrance of the work 
 of such bands, he corresponded, while still 
 in his pulpit, with members of the senior class 
 of 1868 in Union Theological Seminary, and 
 took advantage of his attendance on the Gen- 
 eral Assembly that spring to visit the Semi- 
 nary also. 
 
 Among the students of that day were many 
 young army officers and others, who had in- 
 terrupted their educational courses to serve 
 their country at the front. Of such students, 
 largely as the result of Dr. Hill's effort, 
 eight members of the graduating class and 
 two others from the same Seminary went 
 west that summer under the splendid leader- 
 ship of Colonel James Lewis. Settling in 
 eastern Kansas and western Missouri, some 
 
136 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 of them over churches they themselves gath- 
 ered, they so added to the strength of their 
 Presbyteries that in the fall the new Synod 
 of Kansas was set off from the Synod of Mis- 
 souri, including three Kansas Presbyteries 
 and those of Santa Fe and Colorado. Dr. 
 Hill then gave up his pulpit and became Dis- 
 trict Secretary of Home Missions over a ter- 
 ritory covering practically all the country 
 west of the Mississippi River and south of 
 Iowa and Nebraska to the Gulf of Mexico'. 
 
 That was a time when there was much tr 
 do — and to do quickly. Immigration was 
 then unprecedented in volume and various in 
 character. The railroads beat the immi- 
 grants' wagons into hundreds of beautifiV^ 
 valleys and smiling plains. Cities sprang up 
 like mushrooms, many of them to become 
 permanent. Religious activity was never 
 more needed. Providentially the divided 
 forces of Presbyterianism were then fast 
 hastening to the Reunion of 1870. Under the 
 leadership of the new Synodical Missionary 
 (as the District Secretary was soon called) 
 churches were organized in residences, halls, 
 store buildings, railroad depots and plains' 
 dugouts, according to the frontier necessities 
 in each case, — many of them "in advance of 
 all others," as the New School organizers 
 always endeavored to be. Often the first ser- 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 137 
 
 mon in a new town was preached by Dr. Hill, 
 his hearers gathered in some unfinished room 
 or in the open air, seated on boards laid on 
 nail kegs or beer kegs, while his extem- 
 porized pulpit was a dry goods box, possibly 
 lighted with a tallow candle attached to the 
 box by its own grease. These primitive con- 
 ditions soon gave place to those of civiliza- 
 tion; and dedications, installations, and num- 
 berless meetings of Presbytery followed. In 
 all of these the Synodical Missionary was 
 f-xpected to have some part. 
 
 Missouri was the older State of his bish- 
 opric. After the War it grew rapidly for a 
 lime, but soon the wave of population flowed 
 tover it in reaching the farther West. Be- 
 fore that time Missouri had come to need the 
 full time of a Synodical Missionary of its 
 own, and Dr. J. W. Allen was appointed as 
 Dr. Hill's successor. The mountain region 
 also began to fill up and before Timothy Hill 
 had time to visit it Sheldon Jackson, a more 
 picturesque pioneer, was appointed to super- 
 vise it. But in the vast interior region that 
 was left him there remained a work that 
 taxed to the utmost his time, strength and 
 thought. The unprecedented growth of Kan- 
 sas was checked by the grasshopper scourge 
 of 1874-5, only to be redoubled by the pros- 
 perity of 1876, when Kansas made a mag- 
 
138 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 nificent showing at the Centennial Exposi- 
 tion in Philadelphia. 
 
 In that year Dr. Hill prepared for the 
 meeting of the Synod a Historical Sketch of 
 the Presbyterian Church in Kansas (pub- 
 lished as a forty-six page pamphlet), in 
 which he called attention to the missionary 
 aspect of that whole history. He said: 
 
 "Kansas Synod in its origin, growth and all 
 its life, is missionary in the fullest sense. 
 Here the foreign missionary who began to 
 preach to pagans continued until his work 
 came into the present home mission work. As 
 he met and cared for the children of the 
 Church, who left their churches behind, as 
 they came seeking new homes, so now the 
 home and foreign missionary are in the same 
 Presbytery, and near neighbors in the locali- 
 ties in which they dwell. The foreign and the 
 home interblend in inseparable union here. 
 
 "Every church in all Kansas Synod owes its 
 origin to missionary work. The Mission 
 Boards have cared for this Synod with a most 
 liberal hand; and in harmony with them the 
 Church Erection Board has come in to aid in 
 sheltering the tender flocks. There is but a 
 single church in Kansas that has never drawn 
 home mission funds, and that had its origin 
 in the same way, and is exceptional only be- 
 cause its pastor was a missionary Board to 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 139 
 
 himself. . . . Patriotic they were withal, 
 and anxious to develop the country, for each 
 one is by vote of Presbytery a committee to 
 induce settlers into his neighborhood." 
 
 To cover so large a territory, especially dur- 
 ing the years before Texas was released from 
 his bishopric, required almost constant travel. 
 Returning home from his long trips he could 
 take no time for rest, but must turn at once 
 to the great pile of accumulated correspond- 
 ence, far different from the same sized pile 
 of correspondence that daily faces the busi- 
 ness man who can dictate many short, formal 
 letters and statements to be written and sent 
 by his stenographer. Dr. Hill's average let- 
 ter, always penned by himself, embodied his 
 own personal knowledge and estimate of the 
 field or man mentioned; his plea for a for- 
 ward movement or for the strengthening of 
 things that remained; his report on recent 
 journeyings; his plan for a campaign, or his 
 advice in a matter of business. 
 
 Few commercial travelers of his day were 
 more steadily "on the road" than Dr. Hill, 
 and none of them had his chance to study 
 life in all its aspects. Unlike them, he was 
 expected not to stop at the hotel but to be the 
 guest of some home in every town or neigh- 
 borhood visited. And in every home, whether 
 of city elegance or of frontier primitive- 
 
140 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 ness, a welcome guest he always was or 
 soon became on account of his genial spirit, 
 his ready conversation and vast fund of anec- 
 dote, his earnest purpose and his sunny relig- 
 ious life. He thus acquired such a thorough 
 knowledge of a wide territory — in its agri- 
 cultural, commercial, manufacturing, and rail- 
 road possibilities and development, no less 
 than in its political, educational and religious 
 life — that he was known for years as "a walk- 
 ing encyclopaedia of the West." His business 
 judgment as well as his knowledge was re- 
 spected and was always at the disposal of any 
 that asked. Naturally he was consulted on a 
 great variety of questions foreign to the chief 
 occupation of his life, and earned the lasting 
 gratitude of many a person, and of many an 
 institution, for the information and advice he 
 freely gave. 
 
 Time has but emphasized the admiration in 
 which Dr. Hill was held by his large circle of 
 acquaintances. As the father's life closed, his 
 oldest son was entering upon the ministry. 
 That son's lot has called him to speak in many 
 pulpits other than his own. With scarce an 
 exception, in all the years of his ministry, he 
 has never closed such a service without hear- 
 ing from some stranger a reminiscence of his 
 father's visits and ministry, accompanied by 
 words of affectionate regard. 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 141 
 
 Another marked proof of the esteem in 
 which his father was held came very miex- 
 pectedly fifteen years after his death when 
 the son was a visitor at the General Assembly 
 of 1902 in New York City. During the cele- 
 bration by the Assembly of the Home Mission 
 Centennial there were three eloquent ad- 
 dresses upon the work of home missions, — ea«t 
 of the Alleghanies, in the IMississippi Valley 
 and on the Pacific Coast. These were listened 
 to with quiet and interested attention through- 
 out, except that when the name of Timothy 
 Hill was mentioned there was immediate 
 and generous applause from all parts of the 
 house. Truly such is a son's richest possible 
 heritage. 
 
 In closing this fragmentary sketch, we can- 
 not do better than to quote from some of the 
 many tributes to Dr. Hill's memory soon after 
 his death. Among them that of Dr. D. C. 
 Milner before the Synod of Kansas speaks 
 most fully of his work in Kansas, for which 
 he will ever be best known. Dr. Milner said 
 in part: — 
 
 "The growth of the State of Kansas has 
 been without a parallel. . . . The growth 
 of the Presbyterian Church is also unparal- 
 leled. During these years when the popula- 
 tion of the State has increased six fold, the 
 membership of the Presbyterian Church has 
 
142 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 more than multiplied thirteen fold. This mar- 
 velous growth has been due in large measure 
 to the energy, wisdom and devotion of Dr. 
 Hill. We believe that no other man has done 
 so much for the growth of the Church of 
 Christ in Kansas, as well as that of the Pres- 
 byterian Church. His reports as Synodical 
 Missionary would be almost a complete his- 
 tory of the Presbyterian Church in Kansas 
 for seventeen years. We sometimes hear of 
 the slowness of the Presbyterian Church. In 
 this Synod it has often been in advance of all 
 others. . . . 
 
 "He had preeminent qualifications for his 
 work as Superintendent of Missions. He was 
 devoted to the missionary idea. He has been 
 well called 'a born missionary.' His whole 
 clerical life of more than forty years was 
 spent in home mission work. He had broad 
 ideas of the work to be done in the West. He 
 had studied carefully the question as to our 
 exceptional populations. . . . He had not 
 only planned for the rural districts and the 
 smaller towns, but had advanced ideas on the 
 needs of the cities and the importance of 
 Church Extension in those great centers of 
 population. He was emphatically a western 
 man, and Dr. Nelson well styled him a 'walk- 
 ing cyclopaedia of the West.' 
 
 "He was a man of unusual business ability. 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 143 
 
 His shrewdness, however, was of the wise and 
 helpful kind, and his judgment was of vast 
 value to many Church enterprises. He had a 
 remarkable power in reading men, and his 
 prophecies as to the future of ministers rarely 
 failed. He had a good deal of sympathy 
 with weak men ; but he had no patience with 
 the 'dead beat,' who occasionally takes the role 
 of the preacher, and tries to force himself 
 upon churches to their destruction. Presby- 
 teries would have saved themselves much 
 trouble, if they had in some notable instances 
 profited by his judgment. There is some- 
 times expressed a fear of the 'one-man 
 power' ; but it is especially true in the work 
 of missions that the wisdom and experience 
 of one man is superior to the confused coun- 
 sel of many. We hear at times of the need 
 of a 'ministerial bureau' to bring ministers 
 and vacant churches together. Dr. Hill was 
 himself such a bureau. There are many 
 churches in the Synod to-day that are thank- 
 ful for his wisdom in sending them 'the right 
 man for the right place.' . . . He was the 
 great medium of intelligence between minis- 
 ters and churches. He visited the Theological 
 Seminaries, and urged upon them the claims 
 of home mission fields. He was connected, 
 directly and indirectly, with the organization 
 of a large proportion of our churches, and as- 
 
144 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 sisted at the dedication of many houses of 
 worship. In his visits to our Presbyteries, 
 how often did he show that he knew more 
 about the work in their bounds than any mem- 
 ber. He assisted in settling many a church 
 quarrel. He deeply sympathized with min- 
 isters in their trials, and letters of tender 
 comfort from him can be found in homes of 
 bereavement. . . . 
 
 "We sometimes hear of a Bishop in charge 
 of a great Diocese. Here was a Bishop of the 
 true Apostolic succession, and a Superintend- 
 ent of Missions of Kansas. What growth and 
 what conquests for Christ did he witness 
 under his administration ! On the twenty-first 
 of May he was found dead, with his glasses 
 in place, and a letter concerning missionary 
 work dropped from his hand. A few moments 
 before he looked out of a western window 
 from the Bluffs of Kansas City and said, 
 'What a splendid prospect!' His last vision 
 of this earth with mortal eyes was of that 
 State for which he had an intense love, and 
 for which he had given so many years of 
 labor, and his last thoughts were of the work 
 among the Indians." 
 
 Of his work in the Indian Territory a vol- 
 ume might be written. We have space, how- 
 ever, for only the touching resume of it con- 
 tained in an incident related by Mrs. Judge 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 145 
 
 Moore, Superintendent of the Indian Train- 
 ing School at Nuyaka, which was included 
 by the Board of Home Missions in its little 
 leaflet concerning Dr. Hill, published soon 
 after his death. She then wrote of one of his 
 later visits to the Indian Territory: 
 
 "He came to us a day or two before the 
 meeting of that child of his own heart, the 
 Muskogee Presbytery, and three of us went 
 to Okmulgee with him to the meetings. He 
 sat through them all, wide awake, alert, but 
 saying little, except occasionally, if there was 
 a little hesitancy, or some subject came up 
 where his advice was needed. But the last 
 night of the Presbytery, after the sermon by 
 an applicant for licensure, and the other ex- 
 ercises were over, he arose and gave the Pres- 
 bytery one of the most touching and effective 
 talks it was ever my privilege to hear. His 
 heart seemed to be full of the magnitude of 
 the work, and the responsibility resting upon 
 the first Indian Presbyteries. The one before 
 him was composed of white men and of In- 
 dians, some of whom could understand only his 
 manner, but none of his words. It was like a 
 father's charge to his sons whom he never ex- 
 pected to see again, but upon whose shoulders 
 he was leaving his own life. 
 
 "The following morning the Presbytery 
 broke up; but there seemed to be scarce one 
 
146 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 of the members and visitors who felt they 
 could leave without coming to the jDleasant 
 home of Mrs. Robertson (i.e., Mrs. A. E. W. 
 Robertson, the translator of the Bible into 
 the Creek language), where Dr. Hill was en- 
 tertained, to bid them both good-by. So 
 there were twenty-six in that parlor when 
 Mrs. Robertson handed the Bible to Dr. Hill, 
 requesting him to conduct family prayers once 
 more before we parted. There were present 
 the representatives of Tahlequah, Park Hill, 
 Nuyaka, Muskogee, and Tulsa of the Home 
 Board; of Wealaka, Eufaula and Wewohka 
 of the Foreign; and of Pittsburgh Mission 
 under the Freedmen's Board. Among them 
 were the veteran missionaries. Revs. R. M. 
 Loughridge, D.D., and J. R. Ramsay, and 
 their former pupils. Rev. T. W. Ferryman 
 and Messrs. J. C. Ferryman and D. C. Hodge ; 
 and, of later years of Mrs. Robertson's pupils. 
 Rev. Dorsey Fife and Henry Land, together 
 with the last pupil ever received at Talla- 
 hassee before it passed into the hands of the 
 Freedmen. Mrs. Robertson's two sisters were 
 with her, for the first time in several years, 
 as also one who in former years had been asso- 
 ciated with their father. Dr. Worcester, at 
 Park Hill, who was much like a daughter in 
 the family, now again in the work for the 
 Indians at Nuyaka Mission (Mrs. James E. 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 147 
 
 Latta), and also Mrs. Robertson's eldest 
 daughter. 
 
 "Dr. Hill seemed almost oppressed with 
 the immensity of the work represented by 
 these many workers in fields which he himself 
 had been the means of opening. After read- 
 ing a chapter from the Bible, we imited in 
 singing 'Blest be the tie that binds_,' after 
 which we knelt together, and listened to one 
 of the most wonderful prayers I ever heard. 
 He prayed in such a manner that each one 
 felt his own special work and himself com- 
 mended to God; that they might all have the 
 constant guidance of the Holy Spirit in the 
 work, the difficulties of which seem never to 
 have impressed him so much. He prayed that 
 they might have a special grace and Avisdom 
 given them for reaching the heart of this 
 'peculiar people' among whom they were 
 placed. He thanked God for what had been 
 done, and prayed that it might be only the 
 beginning. He then prayed specially for a 
 blessing on the reunited family and their chil- 
 dren, engaged as their forefathers had been 
 in the work for souls. We all seemed drawn 
 nearer together and to God, as our spiritual 
 father bore us together to the throne of grace, 
 and I think there were few dry eyes. The 
 leavetakings were solemn and tender when 
 we rose to our feet, and, although the distance 
 
148 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 to be traveled was great, every one seemed 
 loath to break away." 
 
 At the funeral of Dr. Hill, the present 
 Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, 
 Dr. Charles L. Thompson, then pastor of the 
 Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, 
 made the principal address. In closing he 
 said: 
 
 "Dr. Hill was a born missionary. It can 
 be truthfully said of him that he organized 
 and helped to organize more Presbyterian 
 churches in this country than any other man. 
 Directly or indirectly he was concerned in the 
 organization of most of the three hundred 
 churches of Kansas. When he was at his 
 own request released from the care of the 
 churches of Kansas, he threw all his energy 
 into the work in the Indian Territory. Those 
 who have talked with him much during the 
 past year know how unspeakably full his 
 heart was of the work and its promise. In 
 the last conversation we had with him, just 
 before his departure for the East, he referred 
 to it at length and with great enthusiasm, 
 and then said it was a long story and he would 
 talk it over with us again. The Church, he 
 said, had no conception of the opportunity 
 that is there presented. The last rich months 
 of his life he lived for the Indian Territory, 
 and that last long journey to the East, 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 149 
 
 fatiguing as it proved to be, beyond his 
 strength, was undertaken in part . . . that 
 he might once more plead before the Board of 
 Missions the claims of the Indian work. His 
 love for the work at the closing days was a 
 touching reminder of the foreign missionary 
 zeal of the student days. Thus his desire to 
 preach to the heathen was reached at last; 
 and he illustrated in his work the sentiment he 
 expressed in print only a few months ago 
 when he said: 'Foreign missions and home 
 missions are so blended that no man can tell 
 where one ends and the other begins: and no 
 man who is not cordially interested in both 
 has any true conception of the spirit of the 
 gospel,' 
 
 "These words, as Dr. (Henry A.) Nelson 
 said, are indeed worthy to be printed in gold; 
 they are worthy of the man who in purpose 
 as a boy would go to the heathen, who gave 
 his strength to founding churches in our own 
 country, and his ripest and tenderest months 
 to those who are the neglected heathen of a 
 Christian land. 
 
 "His knowledge of men was commanding. 
 We have never known a man who could give 
 a fairer, clearer, juster estimate of people. 
 With charity toward all and malice for none 
 he held and expressed his own convictions in 
 no uncertain way. His trumpet gave a ring- 
 
150 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 ing sound. And yet, while he was tenacious 
 of his opinions and extremely frank in avow- 
 ing them, there was something so manly in 
 his manner and so kind withal that firm- 
 ness seldom offended and frankness seldom 
 wounded. He had no smooth arts of speech; 
 he never sued for favor; he went straight on, 
 but with consideration so tempering earnest 
 conviction, and a kind heart so appearing 
 through a plainness of speech, that those 
 whose opinions or conduct he crossed were 
 still his stanch friends. 
 
 "The cause of our Church in all the West 
 has sustained a great loss. How many enter- 
 prises will miss his counsel and help ! The 
 Presbyterian Alliance of Kansas City into 
 whose projected work he threw himself with 
 great energy; the Ladies' College at Inde- 
 pendence in which he felt a great interest; 
 and especially Park College for which he had 
 the highest hopes and to which he gave him- 
 self in most unstinted measure, — how all 
 these works will miss his strong hand and 
 ready word ! 
 
 "The history of Presbyterianism in this 
 and neighboring States is also a great loser in 
 his death. He knew more about the religious 
 development of Missouri and Kansas, and 
 more about the marvelous and even romantic 
 history of missions among the Indian nations 
 
TIMOTHY HILL 151 
 
 than any living man. So impressed with this 
 fact was the Synod of Missouri that a few 
 years ago they asked him to prepare from the 
 valuable materials in his hand and in his mem- 
 ory a history of our Church in this State. To 
 this large work he hoped to give his declining 
 years. Much knowledge will be buried to-day. 
 The busy hand and brain are still, and much 
 of our history has gone into the irrecoverable 
 past. 
 
 "Two of the fairest of our States will be 
 forever associated with the name of Timothy 
 Hill. Hundreds of churches will be his 
 monuments; streams of blessing across the 
 desert will tell to remotest times of the faith 
 and toil of the prince of Presbyterian Mis- 
 sionaries. 
 
 "His son found him dead; but the angels 
 had called him into life, — into life and ever- 
 lasting reward. He had fought the good 
 fight. He had finished his course. The 
 saints he had gathered into the Kingdom met 
 him at the goal, and the angels lowered the 
 crown to his forehead — crown of righteous- 
 ness, crown of glory. 'I have kept the faith.' 
 Kept it he had in stormy days, when to stand 
 for human rights and an undivided Nation 
 was perilous ; kept it in stormy days, when to 
 stand for the faith once delivered to tlie 
 saints, for the unity and purity of the Church, 
 
152 HOME MISSION HEROES 
 
 required courage; kept the faith in days of 
 high debate and in years of loyal service, — 
 and the Master has received the steward with 
 the 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' " 
 
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