UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS L; r 1ARY AT URBANA-ChAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN L161 O-1096 HISTORY METHODISM IN ILLINOIS, Krom 1793 to 1832. BY REV. JAMES LEATON, D- D., OF THE ILLINOIS CONFERENCE. CINCINNATI: PRINTED BY WALDEN AND STOWE, FOR THK AUTHOR. 1883. Copyright by JAMES "L EATON, 1883. DEAR BRETHREN, Five years ago you honored me by the appointment of Conference Historian. I have during these years been engaged in collecting mat- ter bearing upon the history of Methodism in Illi- nois. But the care of heavy pastoral charges, and the necessity of establishing the truth of the matter obtained, have prevented me from making that progress with the work that I had expected when commencing it. The first installment is now pub- lished with the hope that it will meet your expec- tations, and prove available to the future historian. Should you approve this volume, if the life of the compiler be spared, it will be followed by a second, and possibly a third, for which a large amount of matter has already been gathered, and some prog- ress made in the arrangement of it. Your fellow-laborer, JAMES LEATON. EUSHVILLE, ILLINOIS, June 18, 1883. 387339 CONTENTS. fVt I. WESTERN 1793 1811. CHAPTER I. Introductory First Settlers Joseph Ogle Joseph Lil- lard John Clarke Hosea Rigg William Scott, . . Page 27 CHAPTER II. Conference at Mt. Gerizim, Kentucky, 1803 Illinois Mission formed Benjamin Young Thomas Harrison John Kirkpatrick Lewis Garrett, 34 CHAPTER III. Conference of 1804 Joseph Oglesby Locates Practices Medicine Usefulness and Lahors Visits Missouri, ... 41 CHAPTER IV. Appointments for 1805 Charles R. Matheny "William McKendree Entrance upon the ministry, 45 CHAPTER V. Western Conference, 1806 Jesse Walker Camp-meet- ings Church at Shiloh, St. Clair County First Sermon in Chicago St. Louis Cape Girardeau Pioneering Enoch Moore, 48 5 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. "Western Conference, 1807 John Clingan James Ward, Page 66 CHAPTER VII. Conference, 1808 Samuel Parker Personal Appear- ance Labors Incident, 70 CHAPTER VIII. Conference, 1809 Abraham Amos Marriage Lo- cation, 74 CHAPTER IX. Conference, 1810 Daniel Fraley First Society at Union Grove Thomas Kirkman Learner Blackmail Josias Ran- dle Incident, 76 CHAPTER X. Conference, 1811 Appointments George A. Colbert Baker Wrather James A xley Characteristics His Preach- ingDeath Description of Axley by Peter Cartwright, . 85 fVt II. TENNESEE CONFERENCE, 1812 1815. CHAPTER I. Division of Western Conference First Session of Ten- nessee Conference, 1812 Arrangement of the Work James Dixon John Smith David Gardner Peter Cartwright, . 95 CONTENTS. 1 CHAPTER II. Conference of 1813 Ivy Walke James Porter Josiah Patterson His Appointments Personal Appearance and Peculiarities Labors and Exposure, Page 101 CHAPTER III. Conference, 1814 Appointments James Noland John C. Harbison, 104 CHAPTER IV. Conference, 1815 Work Arranged First Churches Presbyterianism Introduced Itinerant Labors Large Cir- cuits Hardships A Winter Trip At a Tavern John Scripps Superannuation Characteristics Church rela- tionsDeath, . . 107 fVt III. MISSOURI CONFERENCE:, 1816 1823. CHAPTER I. First Session of Missouri Conference, 1816 Samuel H. Thompson Appearance and Character "Beggar-General" Superannuation Jesse Haile Characteristics Jacob White- sidesWilliam R. Jones John Harris, Camp-meeting, . 131 CHAPTER II. Conference, 1817 Samuel Mitchell Zadoc Casey Anec- dote Joseph Pownal William Sterrett Conversion Inci- dents of his life, 146 9 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. . Illinois Admitted as a State Conference Session, 1818 Appointments Thomas Heliums Thomas Davis Charles Slocumb Style and Characteristics, Page 151 CHAPTER IV. Conference, 1819 Mt. Carmel founded William Beau- champ Character Mt. Carmel Circuit Nathaniel Pinck- ard Bennett Maxey John D. Gilham A Missionary Society Founded David Sharp James Lowry, 157 CHAPTER V. Conference, 1820 Joseph Dixon Sangamon County John Cooper Nathan Scarritt New Settlements The Corrie Family Parham Randle Jacob Lurton Alexander McAl- lister Hackaliah Vredenburg Francis Moore John Stew- artJames Simms, 107 CHAPTER VI. Conference, 1821 Joseph Basey William Padon Rob- ert Delap Thomas Rice James Scott Parham Randle John Glanville, 178 CHAPTER VII. Conference, 1822 Reuben Harrison Samuel Hull William H. Smith Anthony W. Casad Cornelius Ruddle- John Blaisdell William Town send Isaac N. Piggott His Career, 183 CHAPTER VIII. Conference, 1823 New Settlements Beginnings of Meth- odism in Paris and Elsewhere William McReynolds Fred- erick B. Leach John Dew Orceiieth Fisher Jesse Green- John Miller, 1'JO CONTENTS. IV. ILLINOIS CONKKR.KNCE, . 1824 1831. CHAPTER I. Illinois Conference Organized Proceedings of Confer- ence Preachers in Illinois Changes in the Work Circuits Peoria James Armstrong Samuel Bassett William Moore Thomas Randle James E. Johnson William Medford Ehenezer T. Webster Peter Cartwright Mrs. Cartwright Controversies Characteristics, Page 205 CHAPTER II. Illinois Conference, Second Session, 1825 Mission Work Conference Action Leven Green Charles Holliday James Hadley John W. McReynolds Philip Cole Asa D. West- Joseph Foulks AVilliain Chambers William See, . . .228 CHAPTER III. Conference, 1826 Correspondence Changes Made Re- vivals Dr. John Logan Isaac Landis Richard Gaines Eli P. Farmer Thomas H. Files William Evans Richard Har- grave Effects of his Preaching Traits of Character Joseph Tarkington Isaac S. House Characteristics, 244 CHAPTER IV. Conference, 1827 Business Transacted Course of Study Recommended Conference Seminary Indian Mission Heresy Investigation Camp-meetings New Societies formed Abel L. Williams Educational Interests Miles Hart John Fox Style of Preaching Aaron Wood Samuel C. Cooper John Hogan William Echols John Kerns I 10 CONTENTS. Smith L. Robinson Isaac Scarritt Circumstances of his Conversion and Call to Preach Labors John T. Johnson Samuel Bogart, Page 257 CHAPTER V. Conference, 1828 Proceedings Lebanon Seminary Methodist Protestant Controversy Jacob Baker George Locke Style and Habits Asahel L. Risley Wm. Mavity Miles Huffaker Asahel E. Phelps Debate with Mormons William L. Deneen James McKean John H. Benson Hardin A. Tarkington John E. French, 278 CHAPTER VI. Conference, 1829 Business of Conference Seminary Established Articles of Agreement Conference Action Indian Mission Closed Papers Presented Changes Made- John A. Decker Alfred W. Arrington His Career Anthony F. Thompson Wilson Pitner Call to the Ministry Ludi- crous Incident Anecdote Characteristics Eccentricities Style of Preaching Lorenzo Edwards James Bankson David B. Carter Benjamin C. Stephenson, 300 CHAPTER VII. Illinois Conference, 1830 Proceedings Sunday-school Union McKcndree College Missions Constituted Revi- vals Benjamin Hypes Dr. George H. Harrison New Places Occupied Samuel Sackett William Peter Thomas Kersey Hiram M. Tremble Edward R. Ames As a Preacher As a Presiding Officer His Benevolence William H. Askins Philip T. Cordier James P. Crawford Spencer W. Hunter Amos Prentice John Sinclair In Snow and Ice His Characteristics Simeon Walker William D. R. Trotter His Career Summary of Character John Van Cleve Boyd Phelps S. M. Otwell Stephen R. Beggs, . 335 CHAPTER VIII. Conference Session, 1831 Proceedings Sunday-school Union Temperance A Draft Withheld Resolutions New CONTENTS. 11 Arrangements New Places Occupied Church built James Plasters James M. Massey William McHenry James Walker Barton Randle Superannuation Levi Springer John T. Mitchell Outline of his Life As a Pastor In Church Work William S. Crissey His Faithfulness Will- iam Royal Removal to Oregon Incidents on the Way Concluding Note, Page 378 * is not so much a history as a collection of ina- -L terial for the use of the future "historian. Webster defines history as "a* statement of the progress of a nation or an institution, with philosophical inquiries respecting effects and causes, in distinction from annals, which relate simply the facts and events of each year in strict chronological order, without any observations of the annalist; and from biography, which is the record of an individual's life." The larger the field of the historian, and the longer the period embraced in his work, the more fully can he carry out this definition of the great lexicographer, and make the philosophical element the more prominent. But as his field becomes less, and his time shorter, the more will the annalistic and biographical elements pre- dominate over the philosophical. The stately, but unreadable, histories of Gibbon and Hume, the former covering a period of more than four- teen hundred years, and embracing the whole civilized world, and the latter covering the whole period of En- glish history, afford examples of the one ; whilst that most interesting and readable of modern historical -works, Macaulay's England, confined as it is to the events of a brief period, well illustrates the other. So in ecclesiast- ical history, whilst the magnificent volumes of Neander, with their grand thoughts, well rounded periods, and 14 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. philosophic generalizations, will find a place on the shelves of the library and be occasionally referred to by the student, the sketchy volumes of that model denomi- national historian, Abel Stevens, will find their place on the study or centre table, to be read and re-read with continually increasing delight. In the very limited field assigned the writer, the preparation of a history of Methodism in a single State, annals and biography must necessarily be made more prominent features than history in the proper or Web- sterian sense of the term. The field is too limited, the period too brief, and the actors too few, for philosophic generalizations. A simple narration of facts and events in their chronological order, biographical sketches of the principal actors, with such occasional reflections as may be suggested by the circumstances narrated, must consti- tute the leading features of a history of Methodism iu Illinois. And yet in the preparation of such a work, simple and easy as it may appear to one who had not paid special attention to the subject, serious difficulties are encountered. As Dr. Stevens says in the preface to his History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, "Such are the paucity, the carelessness even, and consequent inac. curacy of our early documents, that my task has had extreme embarrassments." "The private correspondence, the collection and combination of fugitive and fragment- ary accounts, the collation of documents, the harmoniz- ation of conflicting statements, the grouping of events lacking often their most essential connecting links, the portraiture of characters, historically important but al- most totally obscured in undeserved oblivion, present embarrassments which may well constrain the writer to throw down his pen in despair." PRELIMINA R Y ESS A Y. 15 Let us look at the authorities to be consulted by the historian of Methodism in Illinois, the sources whence he is to draw facts and events, often obscure, sometimes apparently contradictory, and combine them in one con- tinuous, harmonious, and truthful whole. And first in order, though not in importance, are the Journals of the General Conference. From them Ave learn the changes that have been made in the bound- aries of the annual conferences, and the names of the brethren who occupied seats in the General Conference as delegates. It is true that the boundaries of the annual conferences are set forth in the Book of Discipline; but the earlier editions of the Discipline are now very scarce, and virtually inaccessible to most of us. And it is also true that the journals of the annual conferences show who Avere elected as delegates to the General Conference, but they do not show who of those elected as delegates actually served. Until 1856 no list of reserve delegates was published in the General Conference journals, so that the lists of delegates as published in them often vary from the statements of elections in the annual con- ference journals. For instance, in 1831 the Illinois Conference elected as its delegates to the General Conference of 1832 John Strange, Allen Wiley, George Locke, James Armstrong, S. H. Thompson, John Dew, William Shanks, P. Cart- wright, and C. W. Ruter ; and as its reserves Thos. S. Hitt, James Scott, Joseph Oglesby, and Jesse Haile. But in the Journal of the General Conference the names of Strange, Dew, and Cartwright do not appear, and Hitt is named as one of the delegates. So that, although nine delegates and four reserves were elected by the Illi- nois Conference, the actual representation in the General Conference was only six of the delegates and one of the 1 6 PRELIMINAR Y ESS A Y. reserves. A comparison of the General and Annual Con- ference journals thus becomes necessary in order to ascer- tain the facts. The second authority, and in some respects the most important, to be consulted by the historian of Method- ism in Illinois, is the General Minutes. From them we learn the conference history and standing of all the preachers from the time they are received on trial until they cease to be itinerant Methodist preachers by death, location, withdrawal, or expulsion. There should be no difficulty in tracing the career of every one who has ever belonged to an annual conference. And yet he who attempts it will soon discover that there are many errors and omissions in the General Minutes, causing him great present perplexity, and often requiring hours of labor for their correction. There are many errors in names. The bishops who furnish the manuscript for the Minutes are not always the most legible or careful of writers, and sometimes their mistakes are as ludicrous as they are embarrassing. Who could imagine, for instance, as he looks over the Minutes of the Illinois Conference for 1843 that Scollin meant Leollin, that Halton Avas intended for Hatton, that Melburn was Milburn, or that Joseph Seaton meant James Leatou? It is sometimes the case, too, that a preacher, though appointed to a certain charge by the bishop, is afterwards changed to another by the presiding elder, and the General Minutes fail to show the change. For example, the Minutes show that Bradley Hungerford was appointed to the Shelbyville Circuit in 1856 as junior preacher. Yet after traveling there a few months he was transferred to the newly formed Pana Circuit. In 1875 D. H. Stubblefield was appointed by the bishop to Irving and Butler, as the Minutes show, but before commencing his PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 17 labors there for the year lie was removed by the presi- ding elder to Tower Hill. And such changes occur al- most every year. There arc, too, many omissions of names in the General Minutes. By the carelessness of some one a name is dropped out of the list, and in some cases remains out two or three years before the omission is discovered and rectified. Previous to the year 1869 the writer discovered that there had been omissions of the names of preachers connected with the Illinois Con- ference amounting in all to one hundred and thirty-two years. Again there are perplexing omissions of the manner in which preachers cease to travel. There are seventeen preachers, once connected with the Illinois Conference, whose names simply disappear from the Minutes; and the only way in which we can ascertain what became of them whether they were located, ex- pelled, withdrew, or died is by an examination of the journals of the conferences of which they were members at the time of their disappearance. The General Minutes purport to give memoirs of those who have died in the work ; though in many cases, when looking for the memoir of a deceased preacher, we are met with the disappointing notice, " Memoir not re- ceived." Some of these memoirs are of great value to the historian, as well as highly edifying to the Christian ; but as a whole they are too monotonously laudatory. Some of them are defective in very important matters, giving no account of the nativity or conversion of the deceased ; whilst others furnish a bare statement of the appointments of the departed without any estimate of his character or account of his labors. And but few present to us a faithful portrait of the real man, as Tyerman does in his Life of Wesley. We learn, too, from the General Minutes the changes 18 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. that have taken place in the plan of the work, the new charges formed, and the changes in the districts. To understand these changes, however, a very thorough knowledge of the topography of the country is indis- pensable, as well as a very careful examination of the quarterly conference records. And even then the exact territory embraced in the charges must often remain in doubt. It is only since the circuits have been named after the chief towns in them that we can determine their location with certainty. So long as they were called by the name of some stream upon which they might touch, as Wabash, or Muddy River, or Okaw, we have to look to other authorities than their names, to de- termine their whereabouts. The General Minutes of 1824 tell us that Wm. Medford was assigned to the Mississippi Circuit. We have to go to other sources than the Minutes to learn that it embraced what are now the counties of Jersey, Greene, Scott, Morgan, and Macoupin. So the General Minutes of 1828 tell us that S. H. Thompson and W. L. Deneen were appointed to the Shoal Creek Circuit. And yet, but for a letter from the latter, we should not have known that that circuit embraced all the territory from Trenton, in St. Clair County, to the head-waters of the Okaw, in what is now Champaign County. And so with most of the earlier charges in the conference. The General Minutes also furnish us with the statis- tics of the Church, from which we learn its growth in numbers, wealth, and benevolence. Previous to 1838 the only reports published were of numbers, the distinction between white and colored members being kept up until 1856. In 1839 the number of local preachers was first reported ; and in 1848 the probationers were reported, as distinct from the members in full connection. And since PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 19 then the reports have become more and more extensive with each successive quadrennium, until now almost every thing connected with the numbers, property, work, or be- nevolence of the Church is made a matter of record, and published in the General Minutes. There is one peculiarity in the dates of the early Minutes that has been overlooked by some writers. Pre- vious to the year 1836 the Minutes of the Western and most of the Southern conferences are dated one year in advance of the true time. For instance, the Minutes of the Illinois Conference for 1824 are found in the General Minutes for 1825. The reason of this is that the Minute year began with the first of the Fall conferences, and closed with the last of the Spring conferences, and the volume received the date of the latter. Since 1836, how- ever, the dates have conformed to the actual time. Dr. Cart wright and others have, in some instances, overlooked this peculiarity, and have thus given the wrong dates in their works. The journals of the annual conferences furnish our third source of information. In them we have accounts of the proceedings of the conferences at their annual ses- sions, the changes that occur in the relations of the preach- ers, accounts of elections to orders, and the various reso- lutions adopted and action taken on the matters before the body. But though the journals of the conferences in Illinois have been usually well kept, and the old journal from 1824 to 1835 especially is a mine of curious and valuable information, in two respects the journals fail to meet, the wants of the writer of Methodist history. First, they cover only a part of the existence of Methodism in Illinois. For the first ten years of the life of Methodism in this region, from 1703 to 1803, it was not connected with any conference, and had no ministerial oversight, 20 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. save that of local preachers. From 1803 to 1812 it was connected with the Western Conference, which then em- braced all the territory west of the Alleghauy Mountains; and whether the journals of its sessions are in existence the writer can not learn. From 1812 to 1816 it was a part of the Tennessee Conference, the journals of which probably still exist, as they are often referred to in the works of Drs. McFerrin and Redford. From 1816 to 1824 it constituted a part of the Missouri Conference. Whether its journals for that period are in being the writer has been unable to ascertain. And, secondly, there are in the old conference journals numerous ref- erences to documents placed on file, many of Avhich can not now be found. Sometimes reports of committees of inquiry in cases affecting the character of some of the preachers are merely referred to in the conference jour- nal, and the reference is so obscure that, without the report itself, we can not learn the nature of the complaint made, and, consequently, must remain ignorant of some of the facts needed to enable us to form a correct esti- mate of the individual. An instance of this is found in the journal for 1827, an account of which is given in the body of this work. The journals of the quarterly conferences, which ought to be among the most satisfactory and reliable sources of information to the Methodist historian, are, unfortu- nately, amongst the most uncertain and unsatisfactory. Most of the early quarterly conference records are lost or destroyed. The oldest that the writer has yet discovered reaches back only to 1834. Some of those now existing have been shamefully mutilated. An old record fell into the hands of the writer some years ago that had been used by somebody as a scrap-book, clippings from news- papers having been pasted over all the quarterly confer- PEELIMINAR Y ESXA Y. 21 ence proceedings. It took a day's labor of two persons, with damp cloths und paper knives, to remove this extra- neous matter. Fortunately the paper upon which and the ink with which the record had been kept were so good that the writing was still legible. Some of the old quarterly conference journals are in the hands of private individuals, who refuse to surrender them to the author- ities of the Church ; and some even refuse to allow them to be copied. In some cases the penmanship in these journals is such as to be almost illegible ; and as to the orthography in some of them, that of Josh Billings is perfection in comparison. Most of these records are so brief as to be valueless. In many cases, as in the an- nual conference journals, references are made to docu- ments placed on file that can not now be found; and in but few instances are the "Pastors' Reports," which ought to supply to the historian his most valuable material, placed on record at all ; and even when they are, many of them are so meagre as to be of but little value. There are a few quarterly conference journals, however, in which the " Pastors' Reports" are not only copied in the record, but present, in addition to the statistics called for by the Discipline, a full history of the charge for the quarter. And such should they all be. From published histories and biographies much valua- ble matter may be obtained. Stevens's " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church" supplies a few items of interest. But to Redford's "History of Methodism in Kentucky," McFerrin's "Methodism in Tennessee," and Me Anally's " Methodism in Missouri," the historian of Methodism in Illinois will find himself compelled to refer most frequently for information in regard to the early preachers in Illinois, most of whom came to us from Tennessee and Kentucky. The " History of the West 22 PRELIM IN A R Y ESS A Y. and North-west," by Rev. S. R. Bcggs, contains much valuable information in regard to early Methodism in Illinois as well as in Indiana. The writings of Dr. J. M. Peck, the noted Baptist divine, contain much of interest in regard to the early settlement of the country and the pioneers of Methodism in it. The autobiography of Peter Cartwright is also valuable so far as it relates to his own personal history. From "Morris's Miscellany," "Recollections of John Johnson," J. C. Smith's "Early Methodism in Indiana," and W. C. Smith's " Indiana Miscellany," some information may be obtained in regard to some of the early Illinois preachers. The secular his- tories of the State, particularly Reynolds's and Ford's, must also be consulted. The eccentric U. S. Linder, in his " Recollections," gives sketches of a few prominent Methodists. And from the county histories, now becom- ing so common, some valuable matter may be obtained. It is true that many errors, particularly in dates, are to be found in these histories, yet many items of interest may be gathered from them, and in most cases their errors can readily be corrected by comparison with other and more reliable authorities. Some valuable local sketches have also been published, of which the historian of Methodism will gladly avail himself. Such are the pamphlets of Dr. Stevenson on Methodism in Rushville, the Semi-centennial of the Presbyterian Church at Hills- boro, the Annual Compendium of Methodism in Chi- cago, etc. The periodicals of the Church constitute another val- uable source of supply to the Methodist historian. The obituaries, the revival notices, the accounts of church building and dedications, the controversies on doctrine and Church polity, and the occasional historical sketches constitute an invaluable treasure to the compiler of Meth- PRELIMINARY ESSA Y. 23. odist history. And, fortunately, full files of the leading papers have been preserved, and are accessible. The old volumes of the Methodist Magazine contain many interest- ing revival notices and sketches from Theophilus Arrniu- ius and others. And in the files of the Western, North- western, and Central Christian Advocates may be found numerous articles of great interest and value. Another source of information, of which the writer has largely availed himself, is correspondence with the ministers and laymen of the Church. Whilst a few of those to whom he has written have paid no attention to his requests, from some of them he has received sketches that are invaluable, aud items of history that could have been gathered from no other sources. And he would here especially acknowledge his obligations to Dr. Aaron Wood and Rev. Joseph Tarkington, of the Indiana Con- ferences; Revs. Ephraim Joy and James B. Woolard, of the Southern Illinois Conference ; Rev. S. R. Bcggs, of the Rock River Conference ; and the late J. H. Dickens and Rev. W. T. Bennett, of the Illinois Conference. From many others he has received very valuable infor- mation ; but the communications of these brethren have been so copious, and in the case of Brothers Wood and Dickens so frequent, as to deserve especial mention. The last means of obtaining information to be referred to is the interviewing of the living; and this the writer has done as far as his duty as a pastor would permit him. This is, in some respects, the most productive field for the cultivation of the Methodist item-gatherer. Many of those who have accumulated large stores of informa- tion in regard to Methodist history have never been ac- customed to put their thoughts on paper writing is an irksome task to them so that the only way to draw from them their stores of knowledge and transmit them to 24 PRELIMINARY ESSA Y. future generations is by interviewing. And these pio- neers, these men who can say of our Illinois Methodism, " Omnia quse vidi, et magna pars quorum fui," are fast passing away, and as they disappear their knowledge disappears with them. The writer can only regret that more frequent opportunities of drawing from this source have not been afforded him. And he would suggest to the conferences in Illinois that no better investment could be made than the employment of a competent per- son for a few years to travel over the State, and gather from the pioneers who are so rapidly leaving us those items in regard to our early history which will otherwise be lost to the Church forever. PART I. IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE. 1793 to 1811. Part I. IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE. 1793 to 1811. I. INTRODUCTORY. IN most of the Western States the first settlement of the country and the introduction of Method- ism were contemporaneous. Scarcely had the pio- neer erected his cabin, before the itinerant was there \ with his saddle-bags containing his Bible, hymn- book, and Discipline, to proclaim to him and his household the glad tidings of a free salvation, and to gather them into the fold of Christ. But this was not the case in Illinois. The State had been settled more than a century before the first Method- ist sermon was preached in it, and it was more than thirty years after that before a Methodist conference was organized in its territory. The first settlers of Illinois were French Cana- dians, who, under the leadership of LaSalle, estab- lished themselves first at Pcoria, in 1680, where a fort was built, and in 1682 at Cahokia, Kaskaski,a, and one or two other points on the Mississippi. They were strict Roman Catholics, bringing with 28 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. them their priests and all the appliances for their peculiar worship. The towns continued for more than a century to be mere trading-posts and mission stations. It was only in their immediate neighbor- hood that the soil was cultivated ; and no attempt was made to extend the settlements into the interior of the country. About thirty years after the set- tlements on the Mississippi had been made by the French, Fort Massacre was built by them on the Ohio River, and occupied, as was their custom, both as a fortress and a mission station for the conversion of the Indians. In 1763 the territory east of the Mississippi that had been claimed by the French came into posses- sion of the English ; but it was not until after the War of the Revolution that Americans began to settle in the country ; and they came so slowly that at the beginning of the present century there were not more than two or three thousand inhabit- ants; and the census of 1810 reported only between twelve and thirteen thousand in what is now the fourth State in the Union. In 1809 the country, which, after its transfer to the United States, had formed a part, first of the North-west Territory, and then of the Indiana Ter- ritory, was organized as the Illinois Territory, with its seat of government at Kaskaskia ; and nine years afterward it was admitted into the Union as a State. The exact year in which Methodism was intro- duced is not positively -known. But it seems prob- able that the first Methodist was Captain Joseph Ogle, who was converted through the instrumen- INTRODUCTORY. 29 tality of James Smith, a Separate Baptist preacher of Kentucky, who visited and preached in Illinois in 1787, and who was undoubtedly the first Protestant preacher who visited the Territory. ' CAPTAIN OGLE was a native of Virginia, born in 1741. He removed from the south branch of the Potomac to Wheeling in 1769, and in the Summer of 1785 came to Illinois, settling first in the Amer- ican Bottom, in the present county of Monroe, and afterwards removed to St. Clair County, about eight miles north of Belleville, where he died, in Febru- ary, 1821, aged eighty. Having seen service as a soldier during his residence in Virginia, Mr. Ogle was selected by his neighbors as their captain to lead them in their skirmishes with the Indians. He was a man scrupulously honest, punctual and strict in the performance of all his engagements, and demand- ing from others the same promptness that he observed himself. With uncommon firmness and energy he united great kindness and gentleness, and ruled the people by a happy blending of fear and love. He was always a moral man, but after his conversion he became a devout Christian. 1 The first Methodist preacher who visited the country was JOSEPH LILLARD, then a local preacher of Kentucky, who, during his visit, gathered the few scattered Methodists into a class, and appointed Captain Ogle as their leader. This was in 1793 ; and this was the first Methodist class in a State in which the membership now numbers more than a hundred and twenty-five thousand. 1 Dr. jTM. Peek. 30 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Mr. Lillard had been for a short time a traveling preacher. He was born near Harrodsburg, Ken- tucky ; was received on trial in the traveling con- nection in 1789 (there were no conferences then), and appointed to Limestone Circuit as junior preacher with Samuel Tucker. The next year he traveled the Salt River Circuit, with Wilson Lee as his col- league, and at the close of the year was discontinued. He settled in Kentucky near his birthplace, and labored as a local preacher until his death. During his visit to Illinois he became temporarily deranged, made his escape from his friends, and took the trail to Kaskaskia. On the way he came across the body of a man named Sipp, whom the Indians had killed and scalped. The sight so startled him that his mind was restored, and he returned to his friends at New Design. 2 He was a very ordinary preacher, but was regarded as a good man and truly pious, though somewhat eccentric. He was liberal in the support of the Church and her institutions. About nine miles from Harrodsburg is a large brick church, built principally by him, and named after him Joseph's Chapel. At his house the itiner- ant was always welcome ; and though of such mod- erate ability as a preacher, yet by his deep piety and liberality lie was very useful. He died in a good old age whilst on his return from a visit to Missouri. 3 Four or five years after Mr. Lillard's visit, JOHN CLARKE, who had been a traveling preacher in South Carolina, visited the settlements in Illinois, 2 Dr. J. M. Peck. 3 Dr. Red ford. INTR OD UC TOR Y. 31 and then crossed into Missouri in 1798, being, it is believed, the first Protestant minister who preached the Gospel west of the Mississippi. Mr. Clarke was a Scotchman, born near Inverness, November 29, 1758. His mother was a strict Presbyterian, and taught him from childhood to fear God. He re- ceived a good education. When about twenty he went to sea. Whilst in the British navy he was taken prisoner and sent to Havana, where he re- mained in prison nineteen months. Being ex- changed, he some time afterward left the sea, and wandered into South Carolina and Georgia during the Revolutionary War. In 1786 he was converted whilst reading Russell's " Discourse on the Sin against the Holy Ghost," and united with the Meth- odists. He subsequently visited England, and had several conversations with Mr. Wesley, and often heard him preach. In 1791, two years after his return, he was received on trial in the traveling connection. He traveled for five years in South Carolina, and in 1796 withdrew from "our order and connection," and removed to the West, to be free from the embarrassments of slavery. He was an ardent lover of liberty. Injustice in every form was abhorrent to his nature. He would not even receive money that had been earned by the labor of slaves. He was a very conscientious and a very devout man, habitually referring every thing to God, and making it the subject of prayer. He had a gift of prayer that was quite uncommon, seeming to hold converse with the Lord of heaven as with a familiar friend. He was accustomed to travel his circuits on 32 METHODI8M IN ILLINOIS. foot, and, when asked for his reason, said, " The Savior walked on his preaching excursions in Ju- dea." After his withdrawal from the Church, he traveled on foot to Kentucky, and then, meeting with James Gilham, who was about moving to Illi- nois, accompanied him and his family in their boat. Mr. Gilham landed at Kaskaskia, and settled on the American Bottom, twenty-five or thirty miles above the town. For some time Mr. Clarke labored as an independent Methodist preacher, but about 1811 he joined an organization of Baptists, calling them- selves " Friends of Humanity," formed a circuit in Illinois and Missouri, and continued traveling it until his death in 1833, in his seventy-fifth year. His change of views and of Church relation did not alienate him from his former associates. He still retained the confidence and love of the Meth- odists, and when he died funeral services were held for him all over the country. 4 In the same year that Mr. Clarke came, HOSEA RIGG, the first local preacher in Illinois, settled in the American Bottom, in St. Clair County. He was a native of Western Pennsylvania, born in 1760. He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. When twenty-two years old he was converted, and soon afterwards was licensed to exhort. Finding the class, of which Captain Ogle had been appointed leader a few years before, disorganized, he gathered the old members together Joseph Ogle and family, Peter Casterline and family, and Wm. Murray, an Irishman and placed them again under Mr. Ogle's *Dr. Peck. INTRODUCTORY. 33 charge. Some time afterwards he organized another class in what is now Madison County, in the Goshen settlement, between Edwardsville and the American Bottom. In appearance Mr. Rigg was tall and quite thin. He had a voice of wonderful power. He was a man of deep and active piety, abundant in labors, very tenacious for Methodist doctrine and usage, and very useful in the Church. " He was a good man, a faithful preacher, lived a Christian life, and died a Christian death" in 1841, at his residence, near Belleville, at the' age of eighty -one/' Another of the early settlers who aided in the establishment of Methodism was WILLIAM SCOTT, who was born in Botetourt County, Virginia, May 17, 1745. In 1797 he moved from Kentucky to Illinois, and settled at Turkey Hill. He died in 1828. 5 Dr. Peck. 34 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. II. 1803. CUMBERLAND DISTRICT Lewis Garrett, P. E. Illinois Benjamin Young, Missionary. IN 1803 Mr. Rigg visited Kentucky to consult the authorities of the Church, and secure from the Western Conference, which then embraced all the country west of the Allcghany Mountains, a regular preacher for Illinois. As a result of his visit, at the session of the conference held at Mt. Gerizim, Kentucky, the Illinois mission was formed, and Benjamin Young appointed its first missionary. It was connected with the Cumberland District, of which Lewis Garrett was presiding elder. BENJAMIN YOUNG, a brother of Dr. Jacob Young, was born on Back Creek, Berkeley County, Virginia, before the Revolutionary War. In childhood he moved with his parents to Pennsylvania, and thence in 1796 to Kentucky. He was converted through the instrumentality of his brother Jacob; united with the Church, and soon after commenced preach- ing. Under his labors a gracious revival com- menced at the mouth of the Kentucky River, that spread up and down the Ohio till many were hap- pily converted to God. He was received on trial in the Western Conference, held at Bethel Academy, BENJAMIN YOUNG. 35 Kentucky, in 1800, and was appointed to Cumber- land Circuit. The next year he was on the Scioto and Miami Circuit; the next year on Powell's Valley ; and in 1803 was sent, as stated above, to the Illinois mission. At the conference of 1804, at the close of his year in Illinois, he was expelled from the Church. Dr. Jacob Young, in his autobiography, thus speaks of his expulsion: "My brother Benjamin, who was then a missionary in Illinois, had fallen into some improprieties, though nothing worthy of expulsion, or even of great censure, was brought against him. His convictions being deep and pierc- ing, he deeply repented of his follies. McKendree (who presided at the conference), not having a favor- able opinion of him, took a very strong view of his imprudences, and thought he had been guilty of im- moral conduct. He was accordingly expelled from the Church, as I thought then and think now, most cruelly. I was strengthened in my opinion the next year. Bishop Asbury, being then present, gave it as his opinion that Benjamin had been wrongfully expelled, and made an attempt to have the case re- considered, but was overruled by the conference. Brother McKendree afterward went to Illinois, where my brother then live*l in a backslidden state. He was reclaimed under McKendree's preaching, who took him into the Church, and, I believe, had his parchments restored." His end was very sad. He remained in Illinois and engaged in school- teaching. But he gradually became deranged, and avowed infidel principles. He died in 1815 in the 36 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. old fort in the Goshen settlement. 1 A letter from him, in possession of Rev. Dr. De Hass, gives us some insight into his labors and sufferings during his year on the Illinois mission. It is dated " Indiana Ter- ritory, Randolph County, June 1, 1804." In it he says, " I am and have been very sickly since I have been here, but I hope I 'm on the mend. As for the state of religion, it is bad. I have formed a circuit and five classes of fifty members. In some places there is a revival. About twenty have pro- fessed to be converted since I came, but the bulk of the people are given up to wickedness of every kind. Of all places, it is the worst for stealing, fighting, and lying. My soul, come not into their secret places ! I met with great difficulties in com- ing to this country. I lost my horse in the wilder- ness, fifty miles from any settlement, and had to walk in and hire a horse to go and find mine. The Kickapoo Indians had stolen him and Mr. Reed's, who was with me, but we got them with cost and trouble. When I got to Kaskaskia I preached there, but they made me pay two dollars for the room, and twenty shillings for two days' board. I am out of money and had to sell my books. At last the people began to help me, but I thank God I can make out, though* I have suffered with cold. Last Winter my clothes were thin and worn out, and I had no money to buy new. But I trust I am in the way to heaven, and I know my heart is engaged in the work of God. As I do not expect to come to conference, I may not see you again in 1 Rev. 11. Handle. THOMAS HARRISON. 37 this life, but I hope to meet you in a better world." Mr. Young, despite his discouragements, reported to conference a membership of sixty-seven. His mission embraced all the settlements from the mouth of the Kaskaskia River to Wood River in Madison County. One of his preaching places was the house of Esquire Reynolds, father of Governor John Rey- nolds, a short distance east of Kaskaskia. Another was in the New Design settlement, a few miles south of where Waterloo now stands. The Turkey Hill settlement, in St. Clair County, three miles south-east of Belleville, which had been established by William Scott in 1787, contained a number of Methodists, but the preaching place for some years was at Shiloh, six miles north of it. The Goshen settlement, a few miles south of Edwardsville, founded by the Gilhams and Whitesides in 1802, was most likely another of his appointments; and it is not improbable that during the Summer of 1804 he preached in the Wood River settlement, which was formed that season by Cummins, Waddle, and others, whose names were afterwards well known in Methodism. Amongst the valuable accessions to the mission this year was REV. THOMAS HARRISON, a local preacher, who settled in St. Clair County, and whose family afterwards became leading mem- bers of the Church in Belleville. Mr. Harrison was a faithful Christian, careful in his dealings, and of strict integrity. He had a fine voice and was an excellent singer. He was a fair preacher, quite animated and energetic. He settled first a few miles south of where Belleville now 38 MET HOD KM IN ILLINOIS. stands, and established a cotton gin. He after- wards moved to the town, and died there, highly respected. Among the principal members of the Church this year was JOHN KIBKPATEICK, who had re- moved from Georgia in 1802, and settled in the neighborhood of Edwardsville. He was probably the first local preacher who received license in Illi- nois, but whether he received authority to preach this year or later is not known. He moved to Springfield at an early day, where he built a horse mill, the first and only mill there at that time. In 1829 he moved to Adams County, and afterwards to the neighborhood of Ottumwa, Iowa, where he died in 1845. He was an active and earnest preacher, and was occasionally employed as a sup- ply under the presiding elder. In one of his charges two members of the Church, neighbors, got into a quarrel, and preferred charges against each other and demanded a trial. A committee was ac- cordingly called, and the accused and accuser brought face to face. But before entering upon the trial, Mr. Kirkpatrick asked both of them to go alone with him to the woods. Then, after pray- ing earnestly himself for them, he called on each of them in succession to pray, and the result was they were then and there reconciled, and returned to the house in love and friendship with each other. About the time he moved to Adams County he in- herited three slaves in Georgia, a woman and two little boys. Bringing them to Illinois, he gave them all their freedom; but that the boys might be LEWIS GAERETT. 39 prepared to make a better living than as mere day laborers, he apprenticed them to a man in Quincy to learn a trade. The boys were afterwards kid- naped, probably run into a slave State, and it is supposed that the man to whom they were bound was not altogether clear of the crime. His wife testified that she had seen them in bed the night before, and that was the last she or Mr. Kirkpatrick ever saw of them. 2 LEWIS GAERETT, the presiding elder, was a na- tive of Pennsylvania, born in 1772, but removed with his parents, whilst he was a child, to Virginia, and afterwards to Kentucky. In 1790 he was con- verted, and four years afterwards entered the trav- eling connection. He died in Mississippi in 1837. Dr. McFerrin says of him, " He was an extraordi- nary man and accomplished much for the Church. His voice was full and mellow, his accent and artic- ulation superior, his manner very deliberate, and his sermons at times overpowering." The connection of Mr. Garrett with the work in Illinois was prob- ably only nominal. Peter Cartwright gives it as his opinion that he never visited the distant Illinois mission during the two years that he was its pre- siding elder. He made an effort to reach it once, and failed. In his " Recollections of the West," Mr. Garrett says : " In the Spring of the year 1804 the writer of these sketches and that laborious, use- ful pioneer, Jesse Walker, designed visiting Illinois, to which place a missionary had been sent the pre- ceding Fall, but the season being wet, the Ohio had *Kev. J. 8. Kirkpatrick. 40 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. overflowed its banks and obstructed our passage so that we could not proceed." Failing in this they turned up the Ohio, swam the Tradewater, and, searching out the new settlements, formed a num- ber of societies, and organized them into a circuit. WESTERN CONFERENCE, 1804. 41 CHAPTER in. 1804. CUMBERLAND DISTRICT Lewis Garrett, P. E. Illinois Joseph Oglcsby. FROM the conference of 1804, which was also held at Mt. Gerizim, Kentucky, and which Was under the presidency of William McKendree, Bishop Asbury being kept from it by sickness, JOSEPH OGLESBY was appointed to Illinois. He was a man of great energy and power, and was very successful in his efforts to extend vital godliness in the fields in which he labored. Of the time or place of his birth we are not informed. He- united with the Western Conference in 1803, and, after traveling in succession the Miami Circuit in Ohio, the Illinois in what was then the Indiana Territory, the Little Kanawha in Virginia, the Shelby in Kentucky, the Nashville in Tennessee, and the Maramec in Mis- souri, six charges in six different States and Terri- tories, he located in 1809. In 1831 he was read- mitted in the Illinois Conference, but the next year fell into the newly formed Indiana Conference, trav- eling the Lawrenceville Circuit two years, the Lex- ington, one, and the Bloomington District, two, when he again located in 1836. Ten years after- wards he was readmitted in the Indiana Conference, 4 42 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. and placed on the superannuated list, in which he continued, with the exception of one year, till his death, which occurred in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, September 9, 1852. His memoir in the General Minutes says : " He was a pioneer Method- ist minister. Nearly fifty years ago he began his arduous, toils. Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri he traversed, preaching everywhere ' the Gospel of the kingdom,' l the Word of this sal- vation.' No history of Methodism in the Mississippi Valley can be complete which does not speak largely of the labors of Joseph Oglesby. Much of it he was. In the days of his strength he stood among the strong men of Methodism. ' He was an able minister of the New Testament.' As old age pressed upon him his zeal did not abate. He con- tinued in his superannuated days to preach Jesus almost every Sabbath, and often through the week. The last Sabbath before his short and fatal illness he preached with great power from 'O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments; then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.' He died with his armor on, and fell in sight of glory. Many shall rise up and call him blessed." Rev. S. R. Beggs, in his Early His- tory of the West and North-west, describes him as being fully six feet in height, very straight, with dark hair, a penetrating eye beneath a prominent forehead, and a thin, tapering face. His manner was dignified, his gestures correct, and his whole appearance impressive. At a camp-meeting on the Vincenncs Circuit, during Mr. Beggs's administra- JOSEPH OGLESBY. 43 tion, he preached from the text, " The Master is come and callcth for thee." " No words of mine/' says Mr. Beggs, " could do the sermon justice. It seemed as if every sentence uttered was a direct in- spiration from on high. It was the eloquence of the Holy Ghost, and it came with power." Sometimes, however, in his sermons he indulged quite freely in speculation. 1 In a discourse preached before the Indiana Conference in 1836 he attempted to define the tendency of the natural capacities of man for good or evil. His brethren, less tolerant of heter- odoxy than Methodist preachers are now, decided that he was unsound in the faith, that his doctrine was Pelagianism, and after a vote of censure by the conference, he retired from the itinerant to the local ranks, in which he remained, as stated above, until 1846. But his errors were of the head, not of the heart. He was a good man, and God greatly blessed his labors. Whilst sustaining a local relation he engaged in the practice of medicine, in which he became quite successful. His zeal and industry were great, both as it regarded his professional engagements in the healing art and his duties as a preacher, being at all times ready to do good to the bodies and the souls of men. 2 During his year on Illinois Circuit he crossed the Mississippi and spent some time in a tour of inspection among the new settlements in Missouri. He was probably the first Methodist itinerant to visit and preach ifi the country west of the Missis- ^r. Aaron Wood. 2 Rev. J. B. Finley. 44 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. sippi ; for, although John Clarke had preceded him there, it was first whilst he was a local preacher and afterwards a Baptist. Under Mr. Oglesby's labors the membership in the Illinois Circuit was increased to one hundred and twenty. CHARLES R. MATH EN Y. 45 iv. 1805. CUMBERLAND DISTRICT William Mclvendree, P. E. Illinois Charles R. Matheny. IN 1805 CHARLES E. MATHENY was appointed to the Illinois Circuit, which still remained in the Cumberland District, of which William McKendree was presiding elder. Mr. Matheny had just been received into the Western Conference at its session at Griffiths, Scott County, Kentucky. Of his labors during the year we have no account. At the close of the year he was discontinued at his own request, and settled in the Ogle settlement, in St. Clair County. In 1808 we find him present at a camp- meeting held by Jesse Walker. He moved to San- gamon County in the Spring of 1821, and when the county was organized in the same year he was elected county clerk, and filled the office until his death in 1839. His house was for some time the preaching-place in Springfield, as well as a home for the preachers. He married a Miss Ogle, and was the father of a large and highly respectable family, most of whom became leading members of the Church. During the latter part of his life he was an invalid, and seldom preached. He was but 46 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. a moderate preacher, but was highly esteemed as an honorable, upright Christian gentleman. There was a slight decrease in the membership this year, only one hundred and ten being reported to conference. But the year was signalized by the erection of the first Methodist church in Illinois, the Bethel Church, in Goshen settlement, in what was afterwards Madison County, and where a good society has been maintained until the present time. The church was built on the land of Thomas Good, two and a half miles south of Edwardsvillc. A conference was held in it in 1817, and the old church, with the neighboring camp-ground, was the spiritual birthplace of multitudes of souls. Of the presiding elder, WILLIAM McKENDEEE, a volume might be written; but we can give here only a brief notice of him. He was a native of Virginia, born in 1757. His early education was quite limited ; but in after life, by diligent study, he accumulated a large store of knowledge. During the War of the Revolution he enlisted as a private soldier, but was soon made adjutant, and afterwards, for his superior business qualifications, was placed in the commissary department. He was a man of fine appearance, with good features, and possessed of great physical strength. When thirty years old, under the preaching of John Easter, he was con- verted; and the next year, 1788, he w-as received in the traveling connection. After eight years of cir- cuit work he was appointed presiding elder in Vir- ginia, serving on four different districts in four successive years, until, in 1800, he was removed to WILLIAM M'KENDREE. 47 the West, in which he continued to labor as presid- ing elder until his election to the episcopacy in 1808. Bishop Simpson says of him : " He was a man of great energy and genius, and was deeply pious, and modest almost to timidity. His mind was clear and logical, his 'knowledge varied and extensive, his imagination lively but well regulated, and his elo- quence was unusually powerful. He was careful in the administration of discipline, and introduced sys- tem into all the operations of the Church. His influence was patent everywhere ; but especially was he regarded as the father of Western Methodism, to which he had given years of earnest labor, and in the success of which he felt a deep and abiding interest. He died March 5, 1835, at the residence of his brother, near Nashville, Tennessee. One of Ms last expressions was, ( All is well.' " 48 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. v, 1806. CUMBERLAND DISTRICT Wm. McKendree, P. E. Illinois Jesse Walker. FROM the session of the Western Conference held at Ebenczer, Nollichuckie, Tennessee, JESSE WALKER was sent to the Illinois Circuit. To him Methodism in Illinois and Missouri is doubtless indebted more than to any other single individual ; for throughout a large portion of both States he was literally its pioneer. He was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, June 9, 1766. His parents were not religious, but moral, teaching him to pray and attend divine worship, and abstain from gross sin. He had but few educational advantages in his youth, twenty days covering the whole of his school life. When a child of nine years he was awakened under the sermon of a Baptist preacher, and soon afterwards was converted. But for want of religious instruction and religions society he backslid, and became very wicked. When about twenty he was powerfully reclaimed, and in July, 1786, he united with the Methodists. He was im- mediately appointed class-leader, and in that work became so useful that the preachers urged him to accompany them on the circuit. For some years he JESSE WALKER. 49 held back ; but at length, whilst living in the neigh- borhood of Nashville, Tennessee, the command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel," came to him with such power that he yielded, and in 1802 united with the Western Conference at its ses- sion at Strothers, Sumner County, Tennessee. At the time he entered the itinerancy he was poor, with but little education and with a wife and several children. Of moderate preaching ability, lie yet possessed a soul burning with desire for the salva- tion of the people ; and though unable to discuss the doctrines of the Bible, he could yet tell the story of tlio cross with such pathos and power as to melt the hardest heart. Governor Reynolds says of him : " Mr. Walker was a man of great energy and courage, very warm and excitable, and produc- ing great excitement in his congregations. He was a short, well-set man, walked erect, and was pos- sessed of great firmness, energy, and perseverance. His complexion was sallow, his eyes blue, small, and piercing. He was not a profound scholar, but a student of the Scriptures and human nature." His first four appointments, which were in Tennessee and Kentucky, were Red River, Livingston, Liv- ingston and Hartford, and Hartford alone. In the Spring of 1806, in company with his pre- siding elder, William McKendree, he paid his first visit to Illinois. He was greatly delighted with the country, and felt that here God had a great work for him to do. He returned to his circuit, preached in it until conference, and then received his appoint- ment to the Illinois Circuit. Reaching home about 50 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. noon, by ten o'clock the next day he was ready to start with his family, a wife and two daughters, for his new field of labor, a distance of at least two hundred miles. Their only mode of travel was on horseback. After a tiresome journey through the wilderness, in which they were greatly detained by storms and high waters, and' suffered much from cold and hunger, they at length reached the Turkey Hill settlement, in St. Clair County, a few miles from which he located his family, and where lie continued to reside for a number of years. His parsonage was an old log cabin belonging to a Brother Scott. It had a plank floor and a stick chimney, with the hearth so low that the edge of the floor made seats for all the family around the fire. As soon as possible he entered on his labors, and it was not long before souls were converted. On New- Year's eve he held a watch-night meeting, probably the first ever held in Illinois, and in con- nection with the meeting he held also the first love- feast. In April, 1807, he held the first camp-meeting ever held in' the State, about three miles south of the present town of Edwardsville. It was the day of small things in numbers. There were only three preachers present, Jesse AValker, Charles R. Math- eny (who had traveled the circuit the year before), and Hosea Rigg. But the meeting was a powerful one, and many present were affected with that strange movement, the jerks. During the Summer another camp-meeting was held on the circuit at a place called Three Springs, afterwards known as AN INCIDENT. 51 Shiloh. This was in connection with* a quarterly- meeting. The meeting commenced on Friday morn- ing, and continued until the following Monday. The presiding elder, William McKendree, was present from the beginning of the meeting. He was accom- panied by Abbot Goddard and James Gwin. Some local preachers were also present. Mr.- McKendree and his traveling companions had just visited John Travis, the only preacher then laboring in Missouri. After attending a camp-meeting on his work, where their labors were greatly blessed, they came to Mr. Walker's meeting, during which several interesting incidents occurred. The following is related by Mr. Beggs : " On Friday morning the meeting commenced by the sounding of a horn, as a signal to rise; then, at the second sounding, they were to assemble at the altar for prayer before breakfast. Having as- sembled, a hymn was first lined, and then sung." Whilst singing, they suddenly heard the sound of voices at a distance, as if also engaged in singing. It was the elder, who rode up in company with sev- eral preachers ; and the singing was continued amidst hearty hand-shakings, tears, and smiles, and shout- ings of hosannas, which lasted fifteen or twenty minutes before the preachers could get off their horses. Mr. Gwin has given so graphic an account of the meeting that we can not do better than quote his language : " From the camp-meeting we returned, crossed the river to Judge L.'s, who refreshed us and sent forward our baggage in a cart to Brother Garrett's, 52 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. where our next meeting was to be held, which was called the Three Springs. We arrived on Friday morning on the camp-ground, which was situated in a beautiful grove surrounded by a prairie. A considerable congregation had collected, for the news of the other meeting had gone abroad and produced much excitement. Some were in favor of the work and others were opposed to it. A certain major had raised a company of lewd fellows of the baser sort, to drive us from the ground. On Saturday, while I was preaching, the major and his company rode into the congregation and halted, which pro- duced considerable confusion and alarm. I stopped preaching for a moment and quite calmly invited them to be off with themselves, and they retired to the spring for a fresh drink of brandy. The major said he had heard of these Methodists before; that they always broke up the peace of the people wherever they went; that they preached against horse-racing, card-playing, and every other kind of amusement. However, they used no violence against us, but determined to camp on the ground and prevent us doing harm. But at three o'clock, when Brother Goddard and I were singing a hymn, an awful sense of Divine Power fell on the congre- gation, when a , r man, with a terrified look, ran to me and said, l Are you the man that keeps the roll ?' I asked, < What roll ?' ' That roll,' he replied, < that people put their names to when they are going to heaven.' I supposed he meant the class-paper, and sent him to Brother Walker. Turning to Brother Walker, he said, ' Put my name down, if you please/ CAMP-MEETING. 53 and then fell to tfye ground. Others started to run off, and fell ; some escaped. We were busy in get- ting the fallen to one place, which we effected about sunset, when the man who wished his name on the roll arose and ran off like a wild beast. Looking around upon the scene, and listening to the sobs, groans, and cries of the penitents, reminded me of a battle-field after a heavy battle. All night the struggle went on. Victory was on the Lord's side; many were converted, and by sunrise next morning there was the shout of a King in the camp. " It was Sabbath morning, and I thought it the most beautiful morning I had ever seen. A little after sunrise, the man that had run off came back, wet with the dews of the night, and with strong symptoms of derangement. At eleven o'clock Brother McKendree administered the holy sacrament; and while he was dwelling upon its origin, nature, and design, some of the major's company were affected, and we had a melting time. After sacrament, Brother McKendree preached to a large congrega- tion, all the principal men of the country, and all in reach, who could get there, being present. His text was, ( Come, let us reason together ;' and, per- haps, no man ever managed the subject better or with more effect. His reasoning on the atonement, the great plan of salvation, and the love of God was so clear and strong, and was delivered with such pathos, that the congregation involuntarily arose to their feet and pressed toward him from all parts. While he was preaching, he very ingeniously ad- verted to the conduct of the major, and remarked : 54 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. ' We are Americans, and some art II. IN THE TENNESSEE CONFERENCE. 1812 to 1815. I. 1812. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Jesse "Walker, P. E. Illinois James Dixon. WABASH DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. Little Wabash John Smith. Massac David Goodner. AT the General Conference of 1812 the Western Conference was divided into two : the Ohio Conference, embracing Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Eastern Indiana, Western Virginia, and Northern Kentucky ; and the Tennessee Conference, including Mississippi, Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Western Indiana, Illinois, and all the .territory west of the Mississippi River. The first session of the Tennessee Conference was held at Fountain Head, Snmner County, Ten- nessee, November 12, 1812. Bishops Asbury and McKendree were both present, though the confer- ence was under the superintendency of the latter. Some changes were made in the work in Illinois. The name of the Cash Itiver .Circuit was changed 96 METIlODrx\f IX to Massac, and a ne\v circuit was formed in the eastern part of the territory and named Little Wa- bash. It is probable that some societies had been formed in this region before this year, and had been supplied by the preachers on the Vineennes Cir- cuit. These two circuits were placed in the Wabash District, of which Peter Cartwright was appointed presiding elder. The Illinois Circuit was connected with the Illinois District, of which Jesse Walker was made presiding elder. Though this district was called Illinois, five out of the six circuits composing it were in Missouri, and only one in the territory from which it took its name. To the Illinois' Cir- cuit James Dixon was appointed, John Smith to the Little Wabash, and David Goodlier to Massac. There was some decrease in the membership this year. In the Illinois Circuit was a falling off of a hundred and eleven from the year before ; the Massac Circuit had only one hundred and seventy- one instead of the two hundred and fifteen reported from Cash River; and the newly established Little Wabash Circuit reported only seventy-two, making a loss of eighty-three members in the three charges during the year. Yet in other respects advancement was made. John Moore, son of James Moore, who was one of the first settlers in what is now Monroe County, built a large brick house a mile and a half north of Waterloo, cutting ff two small rooms from one end for his family, and setting apart all the rest of the house for a preaching-place. Many protracted and quarterly-meetings were held there, and many JAMES DJXOX. 97 souls were born into the kingdom. The meetings were wholly supported by Mr. Moore, but he never begrudged what he gave, and would have given more for the sake of the cause. JAMES Dixox was a native of Ireland. When young he came to America with his father, who set- tled in Western Virginia. Mr. Dixon was admitted into the Western Conference in 1810. His first cir- cuit was Tuscarawas, in Ohio, his next Green River, in Kentucky, and this year the Illinois Circuit. In 1813 he was sent to Goose Creek, in 1814 to Knox- villc, and the next year to Claiborne and Natchez. Here his health failed, and for some years he sus- tained a superannuated relation to the conference. In 1820 he was appointed to Knoxville and Green- ville ; but the next year he was again placed on the superannuated list, and continued in it until his death, in 1849. Says Dr. Me Anally: "He was finely educated and highly gifted. In his prime he was an able preacher and an able exponent and de- fender of the doctrines and polity of the Church to which he belonged." He gave evidence of this in a protracted newspaper controversy with Dr. I. Anderson, a leading member of the Presbyterian Church in Tennessee, who had attacked the peculiar doctrines and polity of the Methodist Church. Mr. Dixon ably defended them, and, in the opinion of many, was not worsted by his learned and able op- ponent. Whilst traveling the Knoxville and Green- ville charge he was suddenly stricken down by disease, remaining for some weeks utterly helpless and almost unconscious. When restored to con- 98 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. sciousness, it was found that his memory had com- pletely failed, so that he could not even tell his own name. Some years afterwards he became entirely deranged, and was placed in the lunatic asylum at Nashville, where he continued until released by death. JOHN SMITH was by birth a Virginian. This was his first year in the conference. The next year lie was appointed to Red River Circuit, and at the close of the year was discontinued. But the follow- ing year lie was again received on trial, and at the end of the year the conference gave him the benefit of his previous probation, and admitted him into full connection, and elected him to deacon's orders. He continued traveling until 1821, when he located. After his location he settled at Monticello, Ken- tucky, and engaged in the practice of medicine. In 1832 he removed to Springfield, Illinois, and formed a partnership with Dr. Todd, a leading physician of that place. He afterwards removed, first to Car- linvillc, where he also practiced medicine in part- nership with Dr. Jaync, and thence to Edwards- ville, where he died. He was a good preacher, a natural orator, of fine education, neat in his per- sonal appearance, a faithful Christian, quite active for many years as a local preacher, and a man of influence in the community in which he lived. In his early ministry he was very popular and useful. But for some time before he died he ceased preach- ing altogether. 1 One of his daughters was married to Rev. L. L. Harlan, of Macoupin County. 1 Rev. L. L. Harlan. PETER CARTWRIGHT. 99 Of DAVID GOODXER, who traveled the Massac Circuit this year, we have but a meager account. He had united with the Western Conference in 1811, and had been appointed to Richmond and Flint Circuit. At the close of his year on Massac he located. In 1819 he was readmitted, and trav- eled the Caney Fork Circuit one year, at the close of which he located again, and we have no further account of him. Much has been written of PETER CARTWRIGHT, who was this year presiding elder of the "VVabash District, and much more might be written. But as this was the only year in which he was connected with Methodism in Illinois until his permanent connection with it by transfer to the conference, it will be more appropriate to postpone an account of his life and character until we reach the organiza- tion of that body. This was the first of his fifty years in the presiding eldership. He says of his appointment in his autobiography : " I told Bishop Asbury that I deliberately believed that I ought not to be appointed presiding elder, for I was not qualified for the office ; but he told me there was no appeal from his judgment. At the end of six months I wrote to him, begging a release from the post he had assigned me; but when he returned an answer he said I must abide his judgment, and stand in my lot to the end of the time. I continued accordingly in the service; but the most of the year was gloomy to me, feeling that I had not the first qualification for the office of a presiding elder. Perhaps I never spent a more gloomy and sad yeai 1 100 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. than this in all my itinerant life ; and from that day to this I can safely say the presiding elder's office has had no special charm for me ; and I will re- mark that I have often wondered at the aspirations of many, very many Methodist preachers for the office of presiding elder, and have frequently said, if I were a bishop, that such aspirants should always go without office under my administration. I look upon this disposition as the outcropping of fallen and unsanctified human nature, and whenever this spirit, in a large degree, gets into a preacher, he seldom ever does much good afterward." To those who knew Dr. Cartwright, and especially to those who were associated with him in the presiding elder- ship, and witnessed the scene with Bishop Waugh, described by Mr. Daniels in the National Repository for April, 1880, these remarks appear very singular, to say the least. IVY WALKE. 101 II. 1813. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Jesse Walker, P. E. Illinois Ivy Wulke. Little Wabash James Porter. Massac Josiah Patterson. *"r\EIE conference held its session of 1813 at Rush JL Chapel, Williamson County, Tennessee, begin- ning on Friday, October 1st, and continuing six days. The work in Illinois was placed in one dis- trict, under the superintendence of Jesse Walker, the circuits remaining the same as last year. To the Illinois Circuit Ivy Walke was appointed, James Porter to the Little Wabash, and Josiah Patterson to Massac. On the Illinois Circuit there was a decrease this year of twenty-eight members ; but on the Little Wabash there was an increase of eighty- two, and on Massac of one hundred and eleven, making an increase in the Territory of one hundred and sixty-five. Of IVY WALKE we have no information save that afforded by the General Minutes. This was his first year in the conference. The next year he traveled Goose Creek Circuit, in Tennessee, and the next year Clinch Circuit. In 1816 his name does not appear on the Minutes, and the next year he is reported located. 102 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. JAMES PORTER was born in Washington County, Virginia. He united with the Tennessee Confer- ence in 1812, and was appointed to Wayne Circuit. After leaving Illinois he continued traveling in the Tennessee Conference until 1820, when he fell into the Kentuky Conference, in which he remained until 1823, when, on account of ill-health, he located. He was, says Dr. McFerrin, a faithful servant of the Church. JOSIAH PATTERSON'S experience as an itinerant was peculiar for the time in which he lived, and very different from that of most of his associates. Whilst other preachers were changed through all the States and Territories from Illinois to Missis- sippi, and from Virginia to Missouri, his labors for his whole itinerant life were confined to Illinois; and, though connected with three conferences, he never received an appointment out of the territory to which he was first appointed. He was a native of South Carolina, born May 12, 1793. In 1812 he removed to Tennessee, where he was converted and united with the Church. Soon after he was licensed to preach, and in 1813, when he was only in his twenty-first year, he was received into the Tennessee Conference. His appointments were as follows: 1813, to Massac; 1814, St. Mary's; 1815, Bigbay ; 1816, Cash River and Bigbay; 1817-18, Okaw ; 1819, Cash River; 1820, Shoal Creek; 1821, Okaw; 1822, Wabash and Mt. Vernon ; 1823-24, Cash River. In 1825 he was granted a supernumerary relation, and assigned to Brownsville alone, and in 1826, in JOS T AH PATTERSON. 103 the same relation, to Kaskaskia with James Had- ley. During all these years he labored with great acceptability and usefulness. At the conference of 1827 he was granted a superannuated relation, in which he remained until his death, October 15, 1829. His memoir in the General Minutes says of him : " He was eminently a man of faith and prayer, punctual in attending his appointments, faithful in preaching and visiting from house to house, and wherever he went God owned and blessed his labors. Few men among us have been instrumental in bringing more souls to the Lord Jesus Christ than Brother Patter- son." " In personal appearance he was not very prepossessing, being low in stature, somewhat stoop- shouldered, and in repose apparently thoughtless; but when aroused in preaching, as was usually the case with him, every muscle seemed instinct with life. He was a man of strong religious emotions, and was sometimes affected with that strange dis- ease, the jerks. In his pastoral visitations he was accustomed to pay particular attention to the chil- dren, and made it a rule to teach them the cat- echism of the Church wherever he visited." 1 In severe labor and exposure probably none of the pioneers of Methodism in Illinois, save Jesse Walker, endured more than Mr. Patterson. The writer has heard from his descendants, who resided in Bloomington, many stories of his sufferings from high water and storms, and lodging on the ground whilst traveling his vast circuits in South- ern Illinois. 104 METHOD1XM IN JLL1NOIS. in. 1814. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Jesse Walker, P. E. Illinois James Noland. St. Mary's Josiali Patterson. Forl Massac and Little Wabash John C. Harbison. OF the year 1814 but a brief account can be given. The session of the Tennessee Confer- ence was held at New Chapel, Logan County, Ken- tucky, beginning September 29th, and continuing eight days. Jesse Walker was reappointed to the district, James Noland was sent to the Illinois Cir- cuit, Josiah Patterson to a new charge called St. Mary's, and John C. Harbison to Fort Massac and Little Wabash, which were united this year. The St. Mary's Circuit was a part of the old Cash River Circuit, embracing the territory from the mouth of the Ohio to the Okaw. Several changes seem to have been made in the work during the year by the presiding elder, as indicated in the reports of charges and numbers made to the next conference. Some of the charges formed in 1814 were not re- ported at all, and some new ones are mentioned. The Illinois Circuit reports 462 members against 408 last year. A new circuit, the Okaw, formed from the south part of the Illinois Circuit, is re- JAMES NOLAND. 105 turned with thirty-three members. The Cash River Circuit, which was not mentioned last year, reports 286 whites and 38 colored members. Bigby or Big- bay, as it should be written, which was probably the Fort Massac of last year, reports 317 whites and 29 colored, and Wabash returns 261 whites. The entire membership in Illinois this year, as re- ported, was 1359 whites and 67 colored, an increase of 582 in all over the membership of the year be- fore. There is probably some error in these reports. JAMES XOLAND traveled only this year, having been received by the Tennessee Conference at the beginning, and discontinued at the close of the year. He was a native of North Carolina, born about 1790. He came to Illinois in 1793 with his parents, who settled in Monroe County. He was converted in early life under the ministry of John Clarke. He was more than an average preacher, and at times was wonderfully eloquent. He was very zealous, quite independent, and somewhat disposed to con- troversy. There was a Dunkard settlement at White- side Station, two miles south of Columbia, with the elders of which he discussed the restorationist doc- trine, and utterly discomfited them. He was a great peace-maker, was very industrious, and stood high as a Christian. It is believed that he started the first Sunday-school in the State, in Columbia, Mon- roe County, in 1816 or 1817. He retired from the itinerancy to attend to his temporal matters, and spent the rest of his life on his farm near Co- lumbia. 1 1 Capt. J. M. Moore. 106 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. This was also the first year of JOHN C. HARBI- SON in the itinerancy. He had been a lawyer, and gave up a good practice for the sake of the minis- try. The next year he was on Cash Biver Circuit. In 1816 he was elected as the first secretary of the newly formed Missouri Conference, into which he had fallen, and was sent from it to Belleview and Saline. The two following years he was on the Buffalo Circuit, in Missouri. In 1819 his name does not appear on the Minutes, and in 1820 he is reported expelled. At the joint session of the Illi- nois and Missouri Conferences, in 1824, " Thomas Wright introduced a motion, seconded by Jesse Walker, that John C. Harbison, late a deacon in the traveling connection, but expelled, should be restored to his official standing ; which motion was lost. It was then moved by John Dew that the presiding elder be instructed to demand his parch- ments, which motion prevailed." 2 It is evident from this that the justice or propriety of his expulsion was questioned by some of the best men in the Conference. 2 Journal of Illinois Conference. CONFERENCE SESSIONS. 107 iv. 1815. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Jesse Walker, P. E. Illinois John Scripps. Okaw To be supplied. Cash River- John C. Harbison. Bigbay Josiah Patterson. Wabash Daniel McHenry. session of the Tennessee Conference of X 1815 was an important one in many respects. It was held at Bethlehem meeting-house, Wilson County, Tennessee, beginning October 20th. It was the last session at which the preachers from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi met with those from Tennessee and Kentucky; for, at the General Conference in the following Spring, the first three were formed into the Missouri Confer- ence, and the fourth into the Mississippi. It was also the last visit of Bishop Asbury to the West. During the session he preached a discourse on the death of Bishop Coke, and delivered also his own farewell address to the conference. Bishop Mc- Kendree was also present at the session. Some changes were made in the work in Illinois, the three appointments of the year before being increased to five. Only four preachers, however, were appointed, one of the charges, the Okaw, being left to be sup- 108 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. plied. But, instead of continuing it as a separate charge, the presiding elder reunited it with the Illi- nois Circuit, of which it had once formed a part, and appointed the same preacher, John Scripps, to travel the whole work, embracing the counties of Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, and Randolph. The returns at the end of the year show a great falling off in the membership, so great, indeed, as to lead to a suspicion that there must be some error in the figures of the preceding year. This year, from all the circuits, only nine hundred and sixty-three white and five colored members were reported, a loss for the year of three hundred and ninety-six whites and sixty-two colored. But, although there was such a large decrease in the membership of the Church, the country continued to improve; new settlements were con- stantly made, and new opportunities thus afforded for the spread of the Gospel. It was during this year that the first settlements were made in what are now the counties of Maconpin and Greene, a Mr. Coop, being the first to settle in the former, and Thomas Carlin and Thomas Rollin in the lat- ter. The settlements, however, did not increase very rapidly in these counties until after the with- drawal of the Kickapoo Indians, in 1818. During this year the first Methodist society was formed in Alton, by John Scripps, who was then traveling the Illinois Circuit. 1 "At Kaskaskia, the then seat of government, there had been occasional preaching, but these occasions had been few and far between." 2 'Rev. J. Scripps. 2 Dr. McAnally. PROTESTANT CHURCHES. 109 The itinerancy had entirely neglected this place. "At my first appointment," says Scripps, "Sunday, April 14th, I was much annoyed by the French Catholics, who crowded the court-house door, with noisy disturbances, while their chapel bell, in imme- diate contiguity, commenced ringing, and its clatter- ing reverberations filled our room, till Governor Edwards went out and procured silence. Through the residue of the year we had quietness, a respect- able, attentive, feeling congregation, and much pros- pect of doing good; but I made no efforts towards raising a class." Up to this time, the only organized Protestant Churches in the Territory had been the Methodists, the Regular or Hardshell, as they were termed, and the Separating Baptists. But on July 1, 1816, the first Presbyterian sermon was preached by a travel- ing minister at the house of a Mr. Alexander, near Shiloh, in St. Clair County. His text was 1 Peter iv, 18. Soon afterwards, Rev. Mr. Giddings moved to the country and organized the first Presbyterian Churches. Many of that denomination scattered through the country, had put themselves under the watch-care of the Methodists until their own soci- eties could be organized. Some of them became so attached to our usages that they preferred remain- ing with us permanently; but most, as opportunity was afforded, returned to the mother Church, and aided in the establishment of Presbyterianism in the land. As a specimen of the labors of some of the early itinerants in Illinois, the following description of a 110 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. round of quarterly-meetings by the presiding elder, Jesse Walker, as given by John Scripps, is worth preserving: " He commenced this round at Goshen meeting- house, near the site of the present town of Edwards- ville, Illinois, on Friday, the 1st of April. Closing his meeting on Monday, the 4th, he traveled a zig- zag route, filling daily and nightly appointments in different neighborhoods in the Illinois Circuit, till he arrived at the Big Spring meeting-house on Fri- day, the 8th, where, in a protracted meeting, he la- bored till Monday, the llth. A second week of similar services, through otherwise destitute settle- ments, brought him to Davis's school-house, below the confluence of the Big Muddy River with the Mississippi, probably one hundred miles south of his starting-point. I found him here on Saturday, the 16th, accompanied by Jacob Whitesides (then just putting on the itinerant harness). At this place there were some conversions, and a class of sixteen persons was formed. Jacob Whitesides was sent back to labor in the field of the last week's opera- tions, with directions to form a new circuit, which was eventually effected, and it was denominated the Okaw Circuit. "On Monday, the 18th, Jesse Walker, J. Patter- son, and myself set out for the Massac camp-meet- ing, to be held at the Rock and Cave, on the Ohio River. We traveled this day in an easterly direc- tion, through a generally uninhabited country and almost pathless woods, thirty-two miles, to Thomas Standard's, where a congregation, previously notified MINISTERIAL LABORS. Ill by Brother Patterson, awaited our arrival. The exercises of the evening were thrillingly interesting, and continued till midnight. About noon the next day we separated, still tending onward in devious paths to hold night-meetings six or eight miles apart, to meet again the next day, probably again to part for the night, to hold as many meetings as our numbers and the localities of the neighborhood would admit of. On Friday, the 22d, we arrived at the camp-ground. Services commenced imme- diately upon our arrival, and during the entire progress of the meeting we had precious seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, sev- eral conversions, and many accessions to the Church. Brother J. Johnson was with us one of the nights, and preached for us. This meeting broke on Mon- day. Brother Walker closed the services with an interesting discourse ; but Monday night found him several miles on his way to his next appointment, again holding forth to a large congregation in Proc- tor's meeting-house. But to particularize his labors would swell this account to too great an extent. Suffice it to say that, crossing the Big Wabash near its mouth, we ascended that river in the then Ter-' ritory of Indiana, crossed the Black River, Patoka and White Rivers, to Brother Johnson's, about twelve miles from Vincennes. By the next Friday, April 29th, the quarterly-meeting for Vincennes Circuit was held. It was a time of power, and closed Monday morning. We made a short travel that day of six or eight miles, and held a night- meeting at J)r. Messick's ; the next day, noon, at Harrington's Tavern ; at night at Anlliony (Jriffin's, 112 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. on Black River. We recrossed the Wabash, and commenced the Wabash Quarterly-meeting, Friday, May 6th, at Brother Hannah's, in a block-house, from which our next appointment was one hundred and seventy or eighty miles south-west across the Mississippi, to New Madrid Circuit, Missouri Ter- ritory, commencing Friday, the 13th ; thence sixty miles north to Cape Girardeau Circuit, May 20th. At both these appointments, and all subsequent to them through the Summer, camp-meetings were held, the necessity for which grew out of the fact that no one-room, or even tw r o-room, log-cabin (and we had no other sort of houses) was capable of entertaining one-half or even one-fourth of Jesse Walker's quar- terly-meetings ; for his regular Sabbath congrega- tions collected, far and near, from ten, twenty, or thirty miles around, to these attractive centers of religious services. From Cape Girardeau Brother Walker proceeded, by himself, to hold a camp and quarterly meeting on Saline Circuit, commencing Friday, 27th; on the Maramec Circuit, June 3d; Cold Water, 10th ; and Missouri Circuit, June 17th; to which appointment, following the circuitous route he had to travel, it was upwards of two hundred miles north ; and here, on Monday, the 20th of June, he concluded his second round of meetings, about eighty miles north-west of home, and sixty from Goshen, the commencement of this round, where he again preached in returning to his family, there to enjoy a few day's respite, to repair his itinerant gear, and prepare for the still more exten- sive operations of the Summer campaign, under the more favorable auspices of shallow streams, better HARDSHIPS. 113 roads, longer days, and the sweltering fervor of a July sun. " Such labors as I have recounted would, in these times of good roads, bridged waters, wealthy friends, comfortable accommodations, and table luxuries, be deemed great ; but the circumstances under which Jesse Walker performed them were characterized by difficulties, dangers, privations, and sufferings almost inconceivable in the present improved state of things. Our roads were narrow, winding horse- paths, sometimes scarcely perceptible, and frequently for miles no path at all, amid tangled brushwood, over fallen timber, rocky glens, mountainous preci- pices ; through swamps and low grounds, overflowed or saturated with water for miles together, and con- sequently muddy, which the breaking up of the Winter and the continued rains gave a continued supply of; the streams some of them large and rapid, swollen to overflowing, we had to swim on our horses, carrying our saddle-bags on our shoul- ders. It was a common occurrence, in our jour- neying, to close our day's ride drenched to the skin by continually descending rains, for which that Spring was remarkable. Our nights were spent, not in two but in one room log-cabins, each gener- ally constituting our evening meeting-bouse, kitchen, nursery, parlor, dining and bed room, all within the dimensions of sixteen feet square, and not unfre- quently a loom occupying one-fourth of it, together with spinning-wheels and other apparatus for man- ufacturing their apparel -our congregations requir- ing our services till ten or twelve o'clock ; our sup- 10 114 . XETHODteX IX ILLINOIS. per after dismission, not of select, but of just such aliment as our hospitable entertainer? could provide (for hospitable, in the highest sense of the word, they were)^ ; corn-cakes.,, fried bacon, sometimes but- ter, with milk or herb-tea, or some substitute for coffee. At the Rock and C'ave camp-meeting, the measles being very prevalent in the congregation, I took them. Very high fevers were the first symp- tom ; but, unconscious of the cause aucl nature of my affliction, I continued traveling through all weathers for upwards of two weeks, before the com- plaint developed its character. My stomach became very delicate, and through a populous port of our journey I inquired for coffee at every house we ptissed. and was invariably directed to Mr. L/s, sev- eral miles ahead, as the only probable place for the procurement of the grateful beverage. On making known my wants to Mrs. L-, she searched and found a few scattered grains at the bottom of a chest, of which she made us two cupfiils. " We have sometimes sat in the large fire-place, occupying the entire end of a log cabin, and plucked from out the smoke of the chimney above us pieces of dried and smoked venison, or jerk, the only pro- vision the place could afford us, and the only food the inmates had to sustain themselves, till they could obtain it by the cultivation of the soil. Our horses fared worse, in muddy pens, or tied up to saplings or corners of the cabin, regaled with the refuse of the Winters fodder, sometimes (when we could not re- strain over-liberality) with seed-corn, purchased in Kentucky at a dollar per bushel, and brought in A WINTER TRIP. 115 small quantities, according to the circumstances of the purchaser, one hundred miles or more at some expense and trouble. This, when they had it, our remonstrances to the contrary could not prevent being pounded in mortars to make us bread. Our lodgings were on beds of various qualities, gener- ally- feather-beds, but not unfrequently fodder, chaff, shucks, straw, and sometimes only deer-skins, but always the best the house afforded, either spread on the rough puncheon floor before the fire (from which we must rise early to make room for breakfast oper- ations), or on a patched-up platform attached to the wall, which not unfrequently would fall down, some- times in the night, with its triplicate burden of three in a bed. Such incidents would occasion a little mirth among us, but we would soon fix up and be asleep again. Now, I would here remark, that many of these privations could have been avoided by keeping a more direct course from one quarterly- meeting to another, and selecting, with a view to comfort, our lodging-places. But Brother Walker sought not personal comfort so much as the good of souls, and he sought the most destitute, in their most retired recesses, and in their earliest settle- ments." Severe as was this it was surpassed by a trip of Walker and Seripi>s the Winter before. Says the latter: " The indefatigable Walker was then preparing for a Winter's campaign through cold and storm and snow on his district, extending to Vincennes and Evaiisvillp, Indiana, So inclement was the 116 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. season that I thought it dangerous for him to travel alone, and therefore procured substitutes from among my equally sympathizing loeal brethren to supply my place on the circuit while I accompanied him. The weather, on this tour, was in general intensely cold ; nor were the means then in the country of procuring habiliments adequate to the season, as at present. The prairies, where the cold north-easter raged with unchecked fury, were settled only on their margins; and, at whatever time of day we entered on one, however extensive, we could have no comfortable hope of seeing a fire, or shelter from the most pitiless storm, till we had crossed it. On one occasion we entered a twelve-mile prairie at about four o'clock in the evening, with our upper gar- ments completely saturated the effects of an after- noon's hard rain. At about five o'clock the wind changed and the residue of our way we traveled in a sleet, or rather, more literally, a storm of ice, while the darkness of the night compelled us to yield the reins to our horses; and, on our arrival at the house we were obliged to require assistance to help us off our horses, as our clothes were so in- flexible with ice that we could scarcely move in them, and could not, without help, have dismounted. But, if the cold was uncomfortable, the thaws were more dreaded, as more dangerous, by flooding the streams. In one of these thaws .we came to a large stream, the ice on which was sufficiently strong to have borne us ; but, raised by the flood and thawed next the shore, we could not get our horses on it. In meandering the stream in quest of a more pro- AT A TAVERN. 117 pitious place to cross, we found one where the lower ice had been separated by the flood from the upper, leaving between the two -a space of about three feet. Not knowing whether the stream here was swim- ming or not, with some difficulty I restrained Brother Walker from going foremost, while I precipitated myself and horse, by sliding down an almost per- pendicular bank, into the water. He followed close behind. It was very deep, but fordable; and, while scrambling up the opposite bank, we barely escaped; the whole mass, loosened from above, jammed with a violent concussion against the lower, and the whole rushed on with the stream. " After closing a very fatiguing and disagreeable day's ride, on the eighth of February, we put up at the Ohio Saline Tavern, a center of resort for all the young bucks and other more exceptionable char- acters of a dissolute community. After supper we were favored with a separate room and a cheerful fire. A privilege so seldom enjoyed, we thought to improve by a recourse to Wesley's Notes (by the by, the only commentary we had access to in those days in our far West) ; but we were scarcely seated, before a fiddle in an adjoining room struck up a solemn tune of sacred music, followed by livelier and still more lively airs, hurrying onward to catches, jigs, glees, and still more exceptionable music, with an accompaniment, at first, of sup- pressed titters, but rising with the music to loudest bursts of uproarionsness. Being satisfied, in my own mind, that they were peepers, anxious to witness the effects of the unhallowed sounds on the preach- 118 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. ers, I wished my companion not to seem to notice it, but in vain. He either could not, or would not, restrain his feelings. He laid aside his book and appeared engaged in silent and devout ejaculations till, an opportunity offering, by the landlord's com- ing into our room, he asked him to request these merry gentlemen to suspend their mirth a few min- utes, and to invite them in for worship before we should retire for repose. I believe they all a large company acceded to the request, accepted the in- vitation, and behaved with the greatest decorum, while Brother Walker very appropriately read and paraphrased a chapter, gave out and sang a hymn (in which most that could sing, joined), and then, in a most fervent prayer, acknowledged the mercies of the day, and implored the pardon of all offenses, and supplicated the Divine protection through the night. All kneeled, and some of them remained after the services, in interesting and profitable con- versation, until late bed-time, and no further dis- cordant sounds annoyed us." JOHN SCRIPPS was a native of England, having been born in London, August 26th, 1785. When he was six years old his father removed to America, settling first at Alexandria, and afterwards in the neighborhood of Morgantown, Virginia. John, who was a sickly child, was not sent to school, but was allowed to avail himself of his father's excellent library, which he did to such advantage that, when in his twentieth year he entered the Virginia Acad- emy, with the exception of the dead languages, he was found the best scholar in the institution. On JOHN SCRIP PS. 119 his eighth birthday, under the direction of his mother, he began reading the Scriptures consecu- tively a practice which he kept up as long as he lived. And yet, in spite of this, he early imbibed infidel notions, of which he did not get rid until he read " Grotius on the Truth of the Christian Religion." He now became a firm believer in the truth of Christianity, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his mother had already become a member. But he could never give the exact date of his conversion. In 1809 he removed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and established a tan- yard. He was soon after made class-leader, and was then given license to exhort, and afterwards to preach. In the Fall of 1814 he was employed by the presiding elder to travel the Illinois Circuit whilst the preachers went to conference; and on their return found, to his surprise for he had not been consulted that he had been received into the con- ference and appointed to Patoka Circuit, in Indiana. He went to his charge, however, resolved to do his duty. Up to this time no society had been formed in Columbia, the only town in his circuit ; but Mr. Scripps not only formed a class there, but extended his circuit so as to include Evansville, on the Ohio River, where he also formed a good society, in which nearly every family in town was represented. In 1815 he was appointed to the Illinois Circuit, to which, as stated above, the Okaw Circuit was at- tached. In it was Kaskaskia, the capital of the Territory, which Mr. Scripps made ore of his preaching-places, and where he had good success. 120 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. At the close of the year he had to prepare for the session of the newly formed Missouri Conference, which was to be held at Shiloh, in his circuit. He was to meet Bishop McKcndree at a camp-meeting near Vincennes, to conduct him to the seat of the conference. But, instead of taking the circuitous route down the Mississippi and up the Ohio and Wabash, which was usually taken in order to avoid danger from the Indians and keep within the set- tlements, Mr. Scripps resolved to take a straight course for Vincennes, though it would compel him to travel one hundred and thirty miles through a country infested with Indians and uninhabited by a single white settler. In company with several others, he made the trip in safety, preached four times at the camp-meeting, and then returned by the same route with the bishop, starting from the camp-ground on Tuesday and reaching Shiloh on Saturday, after resting four nights under the open canopy of heaven. Before this, Mr. Scripps had' often doubted his call to the ministry ; but after conversing with Bishop McKendrec on the subject whilst on this trip, the bishop told him that if John Scripps had not been called to preach, neither had AVilliam McKendree. After the first session of the Missouri Conference, Mr. Scripps was its secretary until the formation of the Illinois Conference, in 1824. In 1816 he was appointed to Coldwater, afterwards called St. Louis Circuit. He took the city into his charge, nnd made his debut in an old, dilapidated log building used as the court-house, legislative hall, and theater, which was the only SUPERANNUATED. 121 public building in the place, except the Roman Catholic cathedral. He stood on the stage, sur- rounded by the comic scenery, and preached to a large and attentive audience, composing the entire American population. He continued to preach there and in a school-house, which was built during the year; but his successors abandoned the place, and there was no more Methodist preaching in St. Louis until Jesse Walker re-established it in 1820. During this year Mr. Scripps visited Kaskaskia, where he had preached the year before. He was in rough pioneer costume, with knees, toes, and elbows out. Two other well-dressed missionaries from the East were in the place. But when the time for preaching came, Governor Edwards selected Mr. Scripps, who had been tried, in preference to the untried strangers, and put him in the sheriff's box, a small platform above the heads of the audience, for a pulpit. His next appointment was Boonslick. In 1818 he was sent to Cape Girardeau, in 1819 to Boonslick and Lamoine, and in 1820 to Blue River. For the two following years he was on the Arkan- sas District, and in 1823 on the St. Louis Circuit. At the close of the year, his health having failed, he was granted a superannuated relation to the Mis- souri Conference, in which he continued until the division of the Church in 1845. Refusing to go South with his conference, he was transferred to the Illinois Conference in 1846, and placed on the su- perannuated list, and continued in it until 1850, when he withdrew from the Church. In 1854 he reunited with the Church, was restored to the inin- 11 122 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. istry, and remained a local preacher until his death, July 26, 1865. He was a member of the General Conferences of 1820 and 1824. Soon after his superannuation he married Miss Agnes Corrie, of whose conversion an account is given in the history of 1820. In 1825 he settled in Jackson the county-seat of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, and engaged in the mercantile business. But, being unwilling to lead his children into temptation by bringing them up in a slave State, in 1830 he removed to Illinois, and settled in Rushville, where for a time he engaged in mer- chandising. He afterwards published a county paper, and held several county and township offices. Soon after his removal to Rushville he organized a Sunday-school, of which he was superintendent for seventeen years, and was afterwards a teacher in it for ten years. Mr. Scripps was a man of more than ordinary ability. Small in stature, he was yet possessed of remarkable energy and determination. Sometimes, indeed, the strength of his will and his adherence to his own convictions of right impressed others with the belief that he was obstinate, and occasion- ally brought him into collision with his pastors or presiding elders. He could not endure oppression in any form, nor would he submit to be dictated to by others. Having made up his mind in regard to right or duty, it was with difficulty he could be in- duced to change his course, and the slightest exer- cise of compulsion would excite in him the most determined opposition. Having done so much to CHURCH RELATIONS. 123 build up Methodism in Rushville, having shown his love to the Church by a life of labor and sacri- fice in her behalf, and having a vastly wider expe- rience than most of those appointed as pastors of the Church there, he felt that his views of Church polity were entitled to some consideration from them, more, indeed, than they were always dis- posed to give them. At the conference of 1848 his character was arrested on the ground that he had imprudently indulged in the use of intoxicating liquors. The matter was referred to his presiding elder, Dr. Akers, who investigated it, and concluded that there was no ground of complaint in the case. Mr. Scripps, on the recommendation of his physician and for a disease from which he suffered greatly, and which eventually caused his death, did of necessity use spirituous liquors, but only as a medicine. And so well satisfied was the presiding elder of the ground- lessness of the charge, that he employed him for six months of the year to fill a vacancy in the sta- tion where he lived. But in 1850 his pastor, W. W. Mitchell, took such strong ground in opposi- tion to him that he withdrew from the Church, and surrendered his ordination parchments to the con- ference. Yet, during the four years in which he was out of the Church, he kept up the family altar, and attended to all the outward duties of religion ; and was frequently called on to officiate at funerals. After his reunion with the Church he seems to have become much more spiritual, and in March, 1860, he writes in his journal: "This month T obtained 124 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. a second blessing." Mr. Seripps " possessed an iron will, never tired till his object was accomplished, and clung to his opinions with a tenacity that com- manded admiration, if not assent. Self-educated, a close student in early life, he maintained the same habit to the close of his days. While a mere boy in the wilds of Virginia, with no schools and but few facilities for acquiring knowledge, he com- menced the work of self-instruction, and though his time was all occupied in labor, except at night and on the Sabbath, yet, by the light descending through an old-fashioned chimney by day and pine splinters by night, he learned to write by epitomizing two large volumes of the History of Rome. A careful observer of particulars and generals, with a strong, retentive memory, the incidents of his early career were ever fresh in his mind in all their details, thus rendering him a most delightful companion. In- dustrious and methodical in all his habits, both sec- ular and religious, he accomplished an amount of labor equaled by fe'w, and surpassed by fewer still. Given to hospitality, with enlarged Christian benev- olence, much of his time and means were employed for the good of others, and many a young man has gone forth to bless the world who owes his aspira- tions and success in life to the early and long-con- tinued training received from him." 3 Dr. Stevenson well says of him: "To an intel- lect naturally vigorous there was added a culture that was extensive, accurate, and intensely practical. A close and critical examination of his numerous s Schuyler Citifeen. HIS DEA TH. 125 papers failed to discover a misspelled word, a sen- tence faulty in construction, or a sentiment that would not bear the closest scrutiny." To his pastor and other friends, who were with him in his last moments, he expressed himself as assured of a blissful immortality. A short time before his death he called his family around his bedside, gave to each of them his dying admonition, bade them an affectionate farewell, and then, in full possession of his mental faculties, quietly sank to rest in Jesus his Savior. He was a careful observer and faithful recorder of passing events. He was a good preacher, his ser- mons being always thoroughly evangelical and in- dicative of much thought. In doctrine he was sound. He was very fluent in conversation ; and his habits of close observation and his very reten- tive memory, made him, in his old age, one of the most delightful of companions. He was an excel- lent business man, careful, correct, and yet prompt and ready. The writer knew him well during the last years of his life, being often entertained by him at his quarterly visitations to Rushville, and learned to esteem him highly for his intelligence, geniality, and piety. He had the sad privilege of visiting him on his death-bed and preaching at his funeral. He died well, in the full faith of the Gospel. One of his contemporaries and fellow itinerants, Rev. John Hogan, thus writes of him: "I have been acquainted with him for many years. I have traveled several circuits that had been traveled long 126 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. before by John Scripps, and the recollections of. him by all the people were very vivid and pleas- ant. He was very strict and particular in all the minutia? of a Methodist preacher's diity. I have often been shown, as a relic, treasured by the old class-leaders, the class papers prepared by Brother Scripps. How singularly neat they were! He wrote a beautiful, plain hand. He made no flour- ishes, no extras, every thing so clean and neat; and then, the state of life and state of grace were so particularly noted ; the attendance on the means of grace regularly noted ; and, on the front leaf, clearly written out, the disciplinary requirements as to the regular quarterly fast. He was very careful to have all these matters regularly attended to. This was his method. " In his day there were but few public roads, and in most places not even a pathway from one settle- ment to another. Sometimes the preachers traveled by the use of the pocket-compass. Sometimes they took along a little hatchet, and, being shown the way, blazed or notched the trees to point out the road, or rather course, afterwards. John Scripps had a sharp iron with which he would scratch the trees in the course he was to pursue in going from one appointment to another. And these remained plain for years afterwards. When the trees had not been disturbed, I have often followed those marks upon such parts of his original circuits as remained in my bounds. I have heard many anecdotes of his manner of preaching, of study, and devotion to his work. The people loved him, and his ministry was DANIEL MCHENRY. 127 profitable to them, and his memorial was written on their hearts. No wonder, then, that his memory was cherished, and that they loved to speak of his work of faith and his labors of love." Of DANIEL McHENRY, who traveled the Wa- bash Circuit this year, we have no other account than his appointments in the General Minutes. He had just been received into the Tennessee Con- ference, and this was his first appointment. The next year he was sent to Patoka; in 1817 he again traveled the Wabash Circuit; in 1818 he was ap- pointed to Patoka and Pigeon, in 1819 to Vin- cennes, and at the next session he located, and set- tled near Carmi, Illinois. During the four years in which Illinois was con- nected with the Tennessee Conference, the member- ship had increased from seven hundred and sixty- two to nine hundred and sixty-eight, and the appointments from two to five. PART III. IN THE MISSOURI CONFERENCE. 1816 to 1823. Part III. IN THE MISSOURI CONFERENCE. 1816 to 1823. I. 1816. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E. Illinois Jesse Haile. Okato Jacob Whitesides. Cash River and BtgbayJosi&h Patterson, Wm. Jones. Wabash John Harris. THE first session of the Missouri Conference was held at Shiloh, St. Cluir County, Illinois, beginning September 23d. Bishop McKendree pre- sided, and John C. Harbison was secretary. Sev- eral changes were made in the work in Illinois, both in the 'circuits and the men. The Cash River and Bigbay Circuits were united and two preachers sent to it, so that the five charges of the year before were reduced to four this year. Of the preachers laboring in the Territory, Josiah Patterson was the only one who had traveled in it before; all the others were new men. The presiding elder, SAMUEL H. THOMPSON, who from this time occupies a prominent position in connection with Illinois Methodism, was born in .. -::. . _ t .. >. Hs* n ter 1 --- - .- . - : -_. Diarirt. Mi *c errd all Ac MJnliili li pate f m 1819 the Ufaar CiniL Fr the Mat TO 1: - wiskitae &** life B^*^^V^*Z *Laa^^>L I^J ^^J ^M^tf ^^^Jx ^V >B^^i^E_ H. His ldb*e en** UtLiAeie 334 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. ecring act." Fortunately, perhaps, for him, he was not elected. His health having failed through his incessant labors, he was granted a supernumerary relation at the conference of 1826, and for the two following years he served as such on the Illinois Circuit. The next year he traveled the Shoal Creek Circuit; in 1829 he was appointed to the Kaskaskia District, which he traveled for three years; in 1832 he served as agent for the newly established Lebanon Semi- nary (afterwards McKendree College), and the next year he was on the Lebanon Circuit. In 1834 he was appointed to Vandalia, but at the close of the year was placed on the superannuated list. The next year his position was changed to supernumer- ary, and as such he labored as he could on Van- dalia and Hillsboro, Lower Alton and Belleville charges successively. But his health having failed completely, in 1841 he was again placed on the su- perannuated list, and on March 19th of the next year he was released from his sufferings by death. Mr. Thompson was a man of fine personal ap- pearance, and in manners was the polished Chris- tian gentleman. He was possessed of fine social qualities, and was an admirable conversationalist. As a preacher he was very popular. His style was rather hortatory than didactic, and his discourses abounded in anecdote and illustration. He seemed, indeed, to possess an inexhaustible fund of anec- dotes, and could tell them with a grace and force that impressed strongly those who heard him. He was very sympathetic, and, like Jeremiah, his head HIS CHARACTER. . 135 was a fountain of tears. His sweet spirit endeared him to all who knew him. No member of confer- ence was more highly esteemed by his brethren than he. He was five times elected by them to the General Conference, twice from the Missouri, and three times from the Illinois Conference, and at the session of the latter at Vincennes, in 1830, no bishop being present, Mr. Thompson was unanimously called to the chair; and from the journal it appears that the business was transacted with as much dispatch and correctness as though under the direction of a bishop. He was for many years the leading spirit in the conference, serving on the most important committees, and impressing himself upon the whole body. Dr. Redford says of him, " He was one of the most indefatigable preachers of his day. And to the labors of no preacher is the Church in Illi- nois more indebted than to Mr. Thompson." His memoir in the General Minutes says : " While his zeal for the divine law and his love for the souls of men impelled him to express his disapprobation of every form of moral evil, and fearlessly to administer the discipline of the Church, the exquisite sensibility of his own feelings made him a model of courtesy to all men, and tempered the edge of his reproof with the most aifectionate tenderness. The duty of praying with his family was never, after his marriage, omitted by him but once; and so highly did he value the privilege of uniting with them around the domestic altar, that he uniformly requested whoever might be a visitant at his house to permit him once a day to lead in 136 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. their devotions. Eminently a man of peace him- self, he breathed the peaceful spirit of Christianity everywhere around him; and especially upon his family, and upon the Church in his vicinity, he impressed this characteristic mark of Christianity in a very high degree. Full of sympathy, his gen- erosity and hospitality abounded toward all men, but especially toward that body of men in con- nection with whom he had suffered so much in the cause of their common Master. A few days before his death God was pleased to give him such a view of the heavenly world as filled his soul with joy un- speakable and full of glory ; and he continued until his death glorying in tribulation, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God." The following confirms what is said in his me- moir in regard to his attachment to family prayer. As Mr. Bcggs was on his way from his father's in Indiana to his circuit in Missouri, to which he had been appointed from the conference of 1823, he says : " I was not a little comforted to meet Brother Samuel H. Thompson, presiding elder of Illinois District, late one evening on his way to a quarterly- meeting. He insisted on my stopping over night with him. After some religious conversation, in which he gave me very good advice, he led the fam- ily prayers, in which he remembered not only me, but my horse, suggesting what Mr. Wesley said, that when he prayed for his horse he never lost any. He then gave me a way-bill to my circuit, being acquainted with the whole five hundred miles I had to travel." " BEGGAR GENERAL." 137 Mr. Thompson excelled in raising funds for Church and benevolent objects, and was so fre- quently engaged in that work that he was called by some " the beggar general." Says Mr. Beggs : " His strong appeals were almost resistless. On one occasion he closed his appeal by telling the people to come forward and lay their oiferings on the table. Among those who responded was a gentleman who put his hand deep into his pocket, and took out a handful of silver to get some change. Thompson saw him, and, as if supposing that he intended to lay all upon the table, exclaimed at the top of his voice, ' Thank God for one liberal soul!' By this time all eyes were fixed on the ' liberal ' gentleman, who could not help laying down the entire handful. But Thompson illustrated his precept in this respect by example. He generally headed the contribution, and so generous was he in his offerings that he not unfrequently had to borrow money to get home wifh. The liberality of the Methodist preachers was remarkable. Giving beyond their means, they yet realized it was more blessed to give than to receive." "Brother Thompson," says Cartwright, " labored hard and suffered much for more than thirty years. His field of labor for these years embraced large portions of Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas States, most of which was new and on the outskirts of civilization, destitute of means of comfortable support, In these respects his' zeal, like a quenchless fire, urged him on night and day, over desert wastes, towering 12 138 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. mountains, rapid rivers. He often suffered hunger and almost nakedness in quest of lost and wander- ing sinners, to bring them back to God; and thou- sands now in heaven will praise God forever that this self-sacrificing Methodist preacher taught them the way to life in their mud hovels and smoky cabins. The last year of his eventful life his health almost entirely gave way, and while confined to his bed, from which he never rose, such was his ardent thirst for the salvation of souls that he requested to call in the neighbors, and to be propped up in his bed, and to preach one more sermon to them before he left for heaven. His desire was granted ; the room was crowded, and such a sermon hardly ever fell from the lips of mortal man. The power of God fell on the congregation ; they wept aloud, and fell in every direction ; and many will date their start for heaven from that sermon. And now, hav- ing delivered his last message, he said : ' My work is done, and I am ready to go at my Master's bidding.'" After his superannuation he was appointed re- ceiver at the United States land office at Edwards- ville, and retained that position until his death. Of the early history and conversion of JESSE HAILE, who this year traveled the Illinois Circuit, we have no information. He sought admission to the Tennessee Conference of 1812, but for some cause was not received. He then bought a rifle, and proposed to enter into the service of his country in the war with Great Britain, saying that in serving his country he would be in the service of God and JESSE HAILE. 139 his fellow-men. In 1813 he was received on trial in the Tennessee Conference, and appointed to Mis- souri Circuit, which he traveled for two years. In 1815 he was sent to Cape Girardeau, and in 1816 to the Illinois Circuit, which he also traveled two years. The next year he was on the Illinois Dis- trict, and the following year on the Missouri Dis- trict. In 1820 he was appointed to New Madrid, in 1821 to Shoal Creek, and in 1822 to the Illinois Circuit again. The next year he was sent to Indi- anapolis Circuit, in 1824 he was again appointed to the Missouri District, and for the four following years he traveled the Arkansas District. In 1827 he was transferred to the Illinois Conference, and appointed to Bloomington Circuit, Indiana. S. R. Beggs was his colleague for three-quarters of this year, and he speaks of it as a prosperous year, with a number of conversions. The preachers visited sev- eral camp-meetings, everywhere meeting with great success. Each of them received his full allowance of quarterage ($100) from the charge. The next year Mr. Haile was sent to Sangamon Circuit, the next year to Paris, the next to Pekin, and in 1833 was placed on the superannuated list. The year following he was appointed to Carrollton; but, his health being still insufficient, he was again for two years kept in the relation of a superannuate. In 1837 his relation was" changed to supernumerary, and he was appointed to Carlisle, in 1838 to Hills- boro, and in 1839 to Shelbyvillc. His appointment in 1840 was Big Creek, in 1841 Ncwhaven, in 1842 Livingston, and in 1843 Paris. This was his last 140 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. appointment. He died at Nashville, Illinois, just after the session of conference of 1844. His end was peace. His memoir in the General Minutes says : " On all of the above fields Brother Haile labored faithfully and usefully, and we know not that any wrong was ever charged against him. He was a good, plain, pointed, and practical preacher and minister, and studied to do every thing by rule and at the time. The circuits he traveled in the early part of his itinerancy embraced extensive ter- ritory, thinly peopled, in which he endured much fatigue and exposure, but was never known to say, 'My work is hard.' " " Mr. Haile was a man of medium size, always grave and dignified in his bearing. He was seldom known to laugh, but his countenance would give out an expression of inward pleasure. He was quite polite in his manners, and, though a man of few words, his conversation was always interesting. He was never light or trifling in word or manner, nor could any one indulge in levity in his presence. As a preacher, he was sensible and instructive, un- derstanding well his subjects, and discussing them with system. In the pulpit he was always dignified and self-possessed, speaking as though conscious that he had authority. He was a very modest man, as far as possible from self-seeking, accepting with- out a murmur whatever the Church gave him to do, and doing it to the best of his ability. He never made any attempt to accumulate property. It is said, though this must be a mistake, that he owned but two horses during his long career as a traveling CHARACTERISTICS. 141 preacher; but it was true that, when he died, his horse, saddle, and bridle, with a few books, com- posed the sum of his earthly possessions. He had been suffering from chills before he went to confer- ence;, but on reaching Nashville he was stricken down with bilious fever, and, despite the efforts of physicians and friends, sunk under it in a few days after the session closed. As he neared his end, after conversing pleasantly with some brethren who had called on him, he became so happy in view of the prospect before him that he broke out into triumph- ant shouts of praise, and soon after passed to his reward." 3 Mr. Haile was one of a class of preachers of whom but few remain, thoroughly devoted to his work, strictly conscientious, and believing Method- ism to be the divinely appointed agency for the con- version of the world, he was strict in observing and enforcing every feature of the Discipline, as well as in believing and proclaiming all its doctrines. He had no compromise to make with sin in any form. It is said that he once had a member arraigned and excluded from the Church on the sole charge of not maintaining family worship. And in his preach- ing he feared not to tell men plainly that they were sinners, and that if they did not repent they would go to hell. While on the Arkansas District, he boldly denounced the prevalent sins. Rev. J. C. Berryman says of him: "He was an Abolitionist of the Garrison type, and did not hesitate to preach against slavery, publicly as well as privately." Like 3 Gen. JuFl. Mooiv. 142 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. many of the fathers, he was very severe on dram- drinking, and made it his special business by preach- ing and discipline to rid the Church of the evil prac- tice. And so with conformity to the world in dress or fashion. He believed that to insure heave.n, the Christian must be crucified to the world. Of course, his plainness of speech and fidelity in preaching the Word and administering discipline made him un- popular with worldly-minded and nominal Method- ists, but by the faithful oues few ministers were more highly esteemed than Jesse Haile. " He was very plain in his apparel, usually wearing a Quaker coat and a broad-brimmed hat. His eyes were small, eyebrows heavy, nose large, and hair thin and straight. He was an able debater, particularly strong on the baptismal controversy, and never releasing an opponent until he had completely de- molished him. He was very firm and unyielding." 1 Like Asbury and McKendree, and many of the early preachers, he never married, deeming it his duty to give to the Church his whole time and effort, JACOB WHJTESIDES, who was this year appointed to Okaw Circuit, was born in North Carolina in 1788, and with his parents moved to Illinois in 1793. He was converted at an early age under the minis- try of Rev. John Clark, and was received in the Tennessee Conference in 1814, and appointed to Cold Water and Maramec, and in 1815 to the Missouri Circuit. At the close of his year on the Okaw Circuit he was sent to Cash River and Big- ~ 4 Rev. N.P. Heath. JOHN HARRIS. 143 bay, and the next year to Shoal Creek and Illinois as supernumerary. He continued in this relation and in that of a superannuate until 1822, when he located. Being impressed with the belief that he was providentially called to Arkansas, he removed to that country in 1823, and in 1836 was readmitted in the Arkansas Conference, and appointed to Mount Prairie Circuit, on which he labored two years; in 1838, he was sent to Sulphur Fork, and at the close of the year located. " He had married a Miss Clark, a most estimable and worthy lady, and finely adapted to itinerant work. He was a man of me- dium height and rather spare. He was full of sympathy and wept much while preaching. As a minister, he was of about average ability, but in piety, zeal, and efficiency, he excelled. He was a good singer, and deeply devoted to the spiritual in- terests of the young. He was a decided opponent of American slavery; and, after his settlement in Arkansas, he did not cease advocating the cause of the oppressed." 5 WILLIAM R. JONES, the junior preacher on Cash River and Bigbay Circuit, had just been received in the conference. He was returned to the charge the next year. In 1818 he was sent to Lamoine Circuit, Missouri, and, at the session of 1819, was expelled from the Church. This was also the first year in the conference of JOHN HARRIS, who was sent to the Wabash Cir- cuit. The next year he was appointed to Hot Springs, and in 1818 to Cash River. He contin- """ 5 Capt.~J. M. Moore. 144 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. ued to travel in Missouri and Arkansas, save two years, when he was superannuated, until 1833; when he located. Mr. Beggs relates the following con- cerning Mr. Harris and his work on the Fishing River Circuit, to which he was appointed in 1823 : " It was some time in July that I went up to assist Brother Harris, of the Fishing River Circuit. It was the first camp-meeting held on Brother Bax- ter's camp-ground, near Liberty, about one hundred miles up the Missouri. Brother Harris and myself were the only Methodist preachers present, and we both preached and exhorted, each in turn. The meeting grew in interest till Monday. I tried to preach on that day, and Brother Harris was to preach a funeral sermon. When T closed, he com- menced giving out the hymn, ' And am I born to die, To lay this body down?' When he came to -the second verse, ' Soon as from earth I go, What will become of me ?' the power of the Almighty came down in such a wonderful manner as is seldom witnessed. Brother Harris fell back in the pulpit, overcome by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and called upon me to invite the people forward for prayers. During my sermon I had noticed that one powerfully built man in the congregation was so filled with the power of God that it was with difficulty he restrained his feelings. Now was the time for him to give vent to his feelings, and his shouts of ' Glory to God in the highest,' were such that the whole congregation A CAMP-MEETING. 145 seemed thrilled with the power of God. It was as if a current of electricity ran through the assembly, setting on fire with the love of Jesus each soul in divine presence. It was a memorable time; the whole camp-ground was convulsed, and the invita- tion was no sooner extended than the mourners came pouring forward in a body for prayers till the altar was filled with weeping penitents. It was as if the shouts of his sacramental hosts were heard afar off. The meeting continued that afternoon and all night. Late in the night I went to Brother Baxter's house to get some rest, but the work was so urgent, sinners weeping all over the camp- ground, that I was sent for to come back and con- tinue my exertions; and there we wrestled, the Christian and the sinner, in one common interest, like Jacob of old, till the break of day. On Tues- day morning scarcely a soul remained unconverted or not seeking pardon." The year was one of only moderate prosperity. On the Illinois Circuit there was a gain of 63 mem- bers, on the Okaw of 39, and on the Wabash of 33, whilst on the Cash River and Bigbay Circuit there was a decrease of 95, making a net gain in Illinois for the year of only 41. The entire membership was 998 whites and 11 colored. 13 146 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. II. 1817. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E. Illinois Joseph Powiiall . Okaw Josiah Patterson. Cash River and Btijbay Jacob Whitesides, Wm. R. Jones. Wabash Daniel McHenry. THE Missouri Conference for 1817 was held at Goshen, in the Bethel meeting-house, Madison County, Illinois, October 6th. Bishop Roberts pre- sided and John Scripps was secretary. No changes were made in the plan of the work in Illinois, the circuits remaining the same as they were the year before. The year was one of some prosperity. On the Illinois Circuit, under the labors of Joseph Pownall, there was an increase of 94 members. On the Okaw Circuit, under Josiah Patterson and William Sterrett, there was an increase of 101. The Cash River and Bigbay Circuit, however, traveled by Jacob Whitesides and William R. Jones, re- ported a decrease of 58 ; and the Wabash, of which Daniel McHenry was pastor, a decrease of 26. The whole number of members in the territory was 1,107 white and 13 colored. There were some very valuable accessions to the Methodist population of Illinois this year. Amongst them wass SAMUIOL MITCHELL, who settled near ZADOC CASEY. 147 Belleville. He had been a resident of Botetourt County, Virginia. For more than half a century he labored as a local preacher. He was a man of great natural endowments, of prepossessing and dig- nified personal appearance, of most winning and affable manners, and a very able, acceptable, and useful preacher. Before leaving Virginia he manu- mitted his slaves, and selected a home in a free State, where his children could grow up free from the contaminating influence of slavery. 1 He was the father of John T. and James Mitchell. Another of the notable accessions to the Church this year was ZADOC CASEY, who settled at Mt. Vernon, in Jefferson County. He was born in Georgia in 1798, but at an early age removed to Tennessee. He enjoyed but few educational advan- tages in his youth, having attended school but three months, and not learning to write until manhood. Yet by his own efforts he became a well-read and intelligent man, and was honored by his fellow- citizens with some of the most important offices in the land. In 1828 he became a member of the State Legislature. In 1830 he was elected lieuten- ant-governor, and was said to be one of the best presiding officers the senate ever had. In 1832 he was elected to Congress, in which he served ten years, and where he acquired an honorable reputa- tion for attention to business, for punctuality in at- tending the sessions, and for his sound mind and judgment. He was afterwards a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1848, and often 1 General Minutes. * 148 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. afterwards a member of the Legislature. For over forty years he was a faithful and useful local preacher. At the conference at Madison, Indiana, in 1828, he was elected to elder's orders. He was a natural orator, always commanding large congre- gations, and making a favorable impression on his hearers. He was a man of fine personal appear- ance, of remarkable suavity of manners, yet modest, retiring, and unassuming. He died September 12, 1862. An amusing anecdote is told of the influence Methodism was already exerting in the country, and illustrating the zeal and fidelity of the pioneer preachers. A Pennsylvania!! of German descent, named Richard Wilhelm, had settled this year in what is now Staunton Township, in Macoupin County. He and his family lived for some time in the hollow of a sycamore-tree ten feet in diameter. He had a great dread of Methodists. Soon learn- ing, however, that the preachers were coming, he sold out his claim and moved southward. When asked what was his destination, he declared that he was going until he found a country a good deal hotter than this, but that he would get away from the Methodists. He was last heard from in Texas. Of JOSEPH POWXAL, who labored in Illinois for the first time this year, we have but little informa- tion. He was received on trial in the Ohio Confer- ence in 1814 and appointed to Marietta, and in 1815 to Steubenville. In 1816 he appears in the Mis- souri Conference, and was sent to Silver Creek, the next year to Illinois, the two following years to WILLIAM STERRETT. 149 Blue Kiver, and at the conference of 1820 he lo- cated. At the session of the Illinois Conference, held at Charleston, Indiana, in 1825, he was elected to elders' orders. WILLIAM STERRETT, who this year traveled as junior preacher on the Okaw Circuit, but whose name does not appear on the Minutes, deserves more than the mere mention of his name. He was born in Pennsylvania about 1790, and while yet a boy, came with his parents to the Territory of Illinois, and settled in the American Bottom near Kaskas- kia. He was converted in early life. His conver- sion was so clear and powerful as to give tone to all his after life. Possessed of rare natural gifts and enjoying much of the grace of God, his father, who was then a Presbyterian, resolved to educate him for the ministry of that Church. But a great re- vival occurring under the auspices of the Method- ists in the neighborhood, both father and son were led to become members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Young Sterrett served in the war with Great Britain from its beginning to its close as a private soldier in Captain Moore's company of mounted rangers. Whilst in the service he was detailed with a squad as guard to a boat load of provisions destined for some point on the upper Mississippi. Whilst on their way, entering a group of islands thickly covered with willows, they were suddenly assailed by a deadly fire from savages in ambuscade, whilst a heavy wind was driving them directly into the power of the foe. So sudden and unexpected was the assault, and so perilous the sit- 150 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. nation, that the pilot, pale with terror, deserted his post, leaving the boat to drift before the wind. Mr. Sterrett, amid whizzing bullets, some of which pen- etrated his clothing, sprang to the helm, and suc- ceeded by his coolness and courage in saving the boat and crew from destruction. He was naturally very diffident, and it was only at the earnest solici- tation of the Church that he consented to receive license to preach. During this year, whilst serving as junior preacher under Josiah Patterson on the Okaw Circuit, his zeal impelled him to labors be- yond his strength, and he was compelled at the close of the year to retire from the itinerant field, and henceforth labor only in a local sphere. This he did efficiently and usefully. After some years he removed to St. Louis, where he faithfully served the Church as local preacher, class leader, and finan- cial agent, until his death. He was the father of S. T. Sterrett, formerly of the Illinois, but now of the California Conference. 2 Capt. J. M. Moore. ILLINOIS A STATE. 151 CHAPTER III. 1818. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Jesse Haile, P. E. Shocd Creek and Illinois S. H. Thompson, Thomas Heliums, Jacob Whitesides, Sup. Okaw Josiah Patterson. Cash River John Harris. Bigbarj Thomas Davis. Wabash Charles Slocumb. THE year 1818 was an important one in the history of Illinois. The State was that year admitted into the Union. The population had in- creased to about forty-five thousand ; fifteen counties had been already organized, and settlements were spreading more rapidly than in any previous period of its history. The treaty of Edwardsville, entered into this year, by which the Kickapoo Indians csded to the United States ten million acres of land, embracing all the central portion of the State, opened up for the settlement a vast region, unsur- passed in fertility, and directed to Illinois a stream of emigration from most of the older States of the Union. To keep up with the advancing population, the bishop, presiding at the session of the Missouri Conference, which was held at the Bethel meeting- house, where the previous session had been held, and not at Mt. Zion meeting-house, in Murphy's 152 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. settlement, as announced in the General Minutes, made several changes in the circuits. The number was increased to six, though two of them were united, and, instead of the five preachers of the year before, seven were now employed. A Shoal Creek Circuit was formed, embracing the settle- ments on both sides of that stream and on the Upper Okaw, though connected for the time with the Illinois Circuit, and Cash River and Bigbay were separated. Jesse Haile, who had traveled the Illinois Circuit two years before, succeeded Samuel H. Thompson on the district, whilst Mr. Thompson was put in charge of the combined Illinois and Shoal Creek Circuits, with Thomas Heliums as assistant, and Jacob Whitesides, supernumerary. Josiah Patterson was returned to the Okaw Circuit; John Harris, who had traveled the Wabash Circuit two years before, was appointed to Cash River; Thomas Davis, a new man in the State, was sent to Bigbay; and Charles Slocumb to W abash. There was an increase in the membership this year of three hundred and thirty-two, mostly in the Illinois, Shoal Creek, and Okaw charges, the membership for the year being reported at 1435 whites and 17 col- ored. THOMAS HELJAJMS was brought up by pious parents, who from childhood taught him the way of the Lord. In 1805 he was received on trial in the Western Conference, and appointed to Red River Circuit; the next year he was sent to White River; in 1807 to Shelby, and in 1808 to Natchez. His appointment in 1809 was Nashville, in 1810 THOMAS HELLUMS. 153 Tennessee Valley, the next year Cumberland, and in 1812, falling into the Ohio Conference, he was sent to Licking. At the close of this year, says Bedford, " worn down by constant toil and expo- sure, he was compelled to seek for rest, and in 1813 asked for a location. In a local sphere he first en- gaged in teaching school as a means of support, but, compelled to relinquish this for want of health, he entered upon the practice of law, having previously studied that profession. Impressed, however, with the belief that it embarrassed his ministerial and Christian standing, he abandoned it." In 1818 he was readmitted in the Missouri Conference, and ap- pointed, as stated above, to the Illinois and Shoal Creek Circuit as junior preacher. At the close of the year he again located. The remainder of his sad history is given by Rev. Jonathan Stamper in the Home Circle, Vol. 3 : "Under protracted affliction of body his mind became a ruin, and the remainder of his life was spent in a state of partial insanity. During this period he traveled extensively and preached often ; and it is remarkable that no trace of derangement could be seen in his discourses. He investigated subjects with clearness and force, but immediately after leaving the pulpit exhibited signs of his mal- ady. He was fearful of all who came near, imagin- ing them to be enemies who were trying to injure him, and often exhibited defensive weapons as a means of deterring them. The end of this good brother was melancholy. While traveling in what was then the Territory of Arkansas, he fell in with 154 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS, some acquaintances, who induced him to attend a camp-meeting. But he seemed to be greatly har- assed by fear from the time he readied the camp- ground, and could not be persuaded to preach until some time of the day on Sunday, when he took the stand, and preached one of the most lucid and power- ful sermons those present had ever heard. On leav- ing the pulpit he became deeply deranged, manifesting alarm at the approach of his best friends, whom he forbade to come near him, at the same time show- ing in his hand a large knife. He at length got his horse and started from the meeting (which was held on the border of an immense prairie) out into the trackless waste, and has never been heard of since." THOMAS DAVIS, who was this year on Bigbay Circuit, united with the Tennessee Conference in 1815, and was appointed to Vincennes. The next year, from the Missouri Conference, he was sent to Patoka, and in 1817 to Little Pigeon. In 1819-20 he traveled the Wabash Circuit; for the two following years he was on the Cape Girardeau Circuit, in Missouri ; in 1823, he labored on the Shoal Creek Circuit; and, in 1824, he was ap- pointed from the Illinois Conference to Mt. Cawnel. In 1825 he was again on the Wabash Circuit. For the four following years he labored in Indiana, and at the conference of 1830 he located. He after- wards united with the Methodist Protestant Church. CHARLES SLOOUMB was received on trial at the first session of the Missouri Conference, and ap- pointed to Vincennes and Harrison, and the next CHARLES SLOCUMB. 155 year to Patoka. In 1819 he was sent to the Mt. Carmel Circuit, but his health failing, he was placed on the superannuated list at the end of the year, and in 1821 he located. Six years afterwards he was readmitted in the Illinois Conference, and sent to Patoka Circuit, but at the close of the year he again located. In 1833 he was once more read- mitted, and appointed to Shawneetown, and at the expiration of the year was again granted a location, and in this relation he continued until his death. He settled in White County, near Carmi. One who knew him well, says of him : " He was deeply re- ligious. He was very popular as a preacher, and preached the funeral sermons for all the coitntry for miles around. In his manner he was very pathetic, his sermons often producing a powerful effect on his hearers. He Avas especially strong on the baptismal controversy. He was considered by the people as a great preacher." " Mr. Maffitt, in describing the Eastern preachers," says Mr. Beggs, " spoke of their method as being, as a general rule, systematic and phlegmatic; but the Western preachers their voice was like a mountain horn. Our camp-meetings were peculiarly the school of this style, in which the appeals had all the freedom of the open air and the winds and the directness and speed of the light- ning. I attended such a meeting at Mt. Carmel, in 1825, over which S. H. Thompson, presiding elder, presided. The converts in those days were born strong into the kingdom, and entered it shouting. " Charles Slocumb, who labored in the Wabash region, was such a preacher as I have described, a 156 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. local preacher, yet his ministrations were invariably attended with great power. At the above camp- meeting, a most hardened sinner was forced to cry for mercy under one of his powerful sermons. He was portraying the misery of the damned, when this man, an old Revolutionary soldier, who had been standing on the outskirts of the throng, came rushing towards the altar, crying at the top of his voice, ( Quarter! quarter!' Falling on his knees, he exclaimed, ' I am an old soldier ; I fought through the Revolutionary war, I have heard the cannon roar in battle, and seen the blood pour forth in streams ; but since God made me, I have never heard such cannonading as that. I yield ! I yield !" Mr. Slocumb " was a fine, spirited man, a strong, useful, and popular preacher. He died in 1844. Plis death was peaceful and triumphant." 1 Eev. J.H. Dickens. MT. CA11MEL FOUNDED. 157 iv. 1819. ILLINOIS DISTRICT David Sharp, P. E. Illinois Samuel II. Thompson. Okaw James Lowry. Cash River Josiah Patterson. Wabash Thomas Davis. Mt. Carmcl Charles Slocumb. THE fourth session of the Missouri Conference was held at McKendree Chapel, Cape Girar- deau County, Missouri, beginning September 14, 1819. The chapel in which the conference was held was probably the first church edifice erected west of the Mississippi River. It was built of pop- lar logs, under the direction of Jesse Walker, in 1807 or 8, and in 1882 was still standing and in good repair, though some alterations had been made in the arrangement of the building. Some changes were made in the work in Illinois. The name of Shoal Creek disappears, and the Illinois Circuit stands as before 1818. The Bigbay Circuit also disappears, probably connected with Cash River, and a new charge, Mt. Carmel, was formed from the Wabash Circuit. The town of Mt. Carmel, from which the cir- cuit was named, had been settled by a Methodist colony from Ohio. A company, of whom Thomas S. Hinde, Wm. McDowell, and Dr. Stubbs were the chief, had purchased, in 1817, a tract of land from 158 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. a Mr. Greathouse, on the bank of the Wabash, three miles below the Grand Rapids, and sent out REV. WILLIAM BEAUCHAMP, as their agent, to lay off the town. Mr. Beauchamp, after laboring with great success as a traveling preacher for several years in New England, New York, and Pittsburg, and as a local preacher in Western Virginia, had for one year been editing the Western Christian Mon- itor, at Chillicothe, Ohio, the only religious paper then published in the Church. With his family and assistants, he moved in a boat down the Scioto and Ohio and up the Wabash, holding family prayer regularly, observing the Sabbath, and traveling as befitted a Methodist colony. In the first cabin that was erected after their arrival he organized a Church, composed of his own family, the carpenter, the black- smith, some laborers, and two colored boys. Soon afterwards their number was increased by the addi- tion of pther Methodist families who removed to the town. Mr. Beauchamp himself was preacher, doctor, and surveyor for the colony. Dr. Stevens says of him : " He showed himself the truly great man in all the details of this new business, planning public measures and economical arrangement; de- vising mechanical improvements, for which he had a rare genius ; directing the instruction of the youth, and simplifying its modes ; ministering as pastor to the congregation, and meanwhile advancing in his own studies and improvement." Before leaving Chillicothe, he had drawn up a charter for the gov- ernment of the colony which was adopted by the Illinois Territorial Legislature at its session in 1817, WILLIAM BEAUCHAMP. 159 and, under this old charter, the municipal govern- ment has ever since been administered. It is a remarkably well-planned document for the design of the proprietors. In 1821 Mr. Beauchamp retired to his farm, three miles from Mt. Carmel. Soon after this he lost his only son, a promising boy of fourteen. He then re-entered the itinerant ranks, and was sta- tioned one year in St. Louis, at the end of which he was appointed presiding elder of the Indiana District. He was a member of the General Con- ference of 1824, and such was the estimate his brethren had of his talents and piety that he came within a few votes of being elected bishop. He returned from the General Conference in feeble health, and died at Paoli, Indiana, just before the first session of the Illinois Conference, in his fifty- third year. Mr. Beauchamp was about five feet, eight inches in height, slender but well-propor- tioned, with dark hair, sallow complexion, and thin visage. " His features were regular and oval, his head, forehead, and face well-proportioned. There was nothing remarkable in his appearance, even his eye in repose seeming languid and uninterested. But when aroused all this was changed, and every feature was eloquent. Usually, he impressed one with a reserve bordering on austerity ; yet in con- versation none could be more interesting or adapt- ive. In a company of select friends his soul ex- panded as at a mental feast. In public speaking his voice was uniform, remarkably soft, but became loud and energetic in argument. His gestures were 160 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. natural and easy. One of his much-admired traits was that, in preaching, when dwelling on the prom- ises and invitations of the Gospel, there was a soft tenderness, a sweetness in his voice, interrupted fre- quently by gentle breaks, as if the swelling sympa- thies of his heart obstructed his utterance, when a gentle, thrilling sensation appeared to move the lis- tening multitude, all bending forward to catch every word as it fell from his lips. But when he became argumentative, and especially when assailing false doctrines, his tone was elevated, his whole system nerved, his voice assumed a deep, hollow tone, was elevated to its utmost pitch, and fell like peals of thunder on the assembly. On one occasion, while engaged in controversy, his antagonist, who had sat and listened for some length of time to arguments too powerful for him to answer, began to look ter- rified, as if the voice which he now heard came from another world. He arose, apparently with the design of leaving the house, but was seemingly so overcome that he had no power to do so ; he stag- gered, caught by the railing, reeled and fell into his seat, and there remained, overwhelmed and con- founded, until Beauchamp had concluded, when he quickly left the house." ' " He was a man of refined taste and gentlemanly manners. He was possessed of great versatility, and could adapt himself to all classes. As a preacher, he was attractive and impressive, solemn and elo- quent, and very popular. Besides his numerous essays and newspaper articles, he was the author of 2 Methodist Magazine. MOUNT CARMEL CIRCUIT. 161 a work on the ' Evidences of Christianity,' that was widely and deservedly popular. Besides his son, he had three daughters, who were married, one of them to Aaron Wood; but all died childless. When Mr. Beauchamp lived in Virginia, and his sister married a slaveholder, he uttered the follow- ing prayer: *O God, write all my children childless rather than the latest generation from me should ever own a slave.' " At the time Mt. Carmel was laid out,. Wabash County, of which it is now the county-seat, was not organized, but constituted a part of Edwards County. Its county-seat was Palmyra, a town of about three hundred inhabitants, at the Wabash Rapids, three miles above Mt. Carmel. There was the United States Land-office, and there, before 1820, was a branch of the old State Bank of Illinois. After- wards the county-seat was removed to Albion. The growing town, Mt. Carmel, drew off the population from Palmyra, and where was once a flourishing village is now a forest. It is worthy of note that this was the first circuit in Illinois named after the chief town and post- office in it. Generally the circuits were called by the names of the streams upon which they were sit- uated; and as some of these streams are two or three hundred miles long, it is not always easy to ascertain the location or boundaries of the circuits named from them. It is only recently that the im- portance has been seen of naming the charge after the chief town in it. 162 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. The year was a very prosperous one. The coun- try was settling more rapidly than ever, and new Methodist societies were formed in every direction. REV. JOSEPH CURTIS, who had just removed from Ohio, formed the first class this year in what is now Edgar County, in the house of Col. Jona- than Mayo, the first settler in that region. The class consisted of seven persons ; namely, Jonathan Mayo and wife, John Stratton and wife, Joseph Curtis and wife, and Sallie Whitley. Three of these Mr. and Mrs. Mayo and Mrs. Curtis were still living in 1882. Mr. Curtis was also first to proclaim the Word of God in Edgar County. He was a man of mod- erate preaching ability, but a consistent Christian and an industrious local preacher, enjoying the con- fidence of the community. The Pinckard family moved from Ohio this year, and settled at Alton in the Fall of 1819. NATHAN- IEL. PINCKARD, the father, was a native of Virginia. He was a very acceptable and useful local preacher. In early life he had been a missionary to the West Indies under Dr. Coke, and for several years had charge of an academy at Kingston, Jamaica. He was a man of fine education, and spent much of his life in teaching. As soon as his cabin was erected in Upper Alton, he commenced preaching in it on the Sabbath, and soon it became the regular preach- ing-place for the appointment. One of his sons, William G., and his son-in-law, Mr. Heath, erected the first cabin in what is now Alton City. Three of his grandsons became Methodist preachers, NEW SETTLERS. 163 N. P. Heath and John C. Pinckard, of the Illinois Conference, and P. M. Pinckard, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. One of his granddaugh- ters became the wife of C. P. Baldwin, of the Illi- nois Conference, and another the wife of T. W. Chandler, who died a member of the Southern Illi- nois Conference. In the Spring of 1820 BENNETT MAXEY, a local preacher from Ohio, settled near Mr. Pinckard, and alternated with him in preaching to the people. Amongst the new-comers to Sanga- mon County were the Husseys, who settled on Fancy Creek, and were, indeed, the first settlers in that part of the county. For many years the house of Nathan Hussey, the father, was a preaching- place ; and most of his large family of children be- came active and useful members of the Church. His eldest son, William, has long been a pillar in the Church on Williamsville Circuit. A camp- ground was established in the neighborhood, where many souls found the Savior, and where the writer of these sketches experienced his second birth. This year the Ross family moved from New York and settled at Atlas, in what is now Pike County. Some of them were, or afterwards became, Methodists, but a society was not formed there for some time. JOHN D. GILHAM settled this- year on the Piasa, in what is now Jersey County, and it was not long until a flourishing society was formed in his neigh- borhood. In the Spring of 1820 several persons who were, or afterwards became, Methodists, .settled in Morgan 164 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. County. Amongst them were the Wyatts, James Deaton, Jesse Ruble, and James Gilham, who all became leading members of the Church in different parts of the county. Amongst the visitors to the country this year was the eccentric Lorenzo Dow. Paying a visit to Fort Clark, he preached quite extensively in the State as lie was going and returning, attracting everywhere huge congregations, and making im- pressions upon his hearers that have never been forgotten. The increase in the number of members reported this year was 419, a gain of nearly thirty per cent. The whole number at the close of the year was 1864 whites and 7 colored. During this year the first missionary society in the State was formed. The following detailed ac- count of it is taken from the Methodist Magazine; "At a meeting of the citizens of Mt. Carmel, in Edwards County, Illinois, Saturday afternoon, July 22, 1820, to take into consideration the establish- ment of an Indian free school and Indian mission, Elias Stone, a traveling preacher, was chosen chair- man, and Thomas S. Hinde, secretary. After an address by W. Beau champ, a Methodist Missionary Society was organized, and a constitution adopted. The president elected was David Sharp, P. E. ; Wm. Beauchamp, vice-president; Thomas S. Hinde, sec- retary; Scoby Stewart, treasurer, and John Inger- soll, John Tilton, Edward Ulm, Thomas Gould, Joshua Beall, managers." Two new men appear as connected with the work DA VID SHARP. 165 this year, David Sharp as presiding elder of. the dis- trict, and James Lowry, sent to the Okaw Circuit. DAVID SHARP was born of Quaker parents in the State of New Jersey, September 5, 1787. In 1800 he removed with them to Logan County, Ohio. When in his twentieth year he was converted and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. This step brought on him the displeasure of his parents, and, though they afterwards became reconciled to it, he was compelled, for a time, to find a home away from his father's house. In his twenty-third year he was licensed to preach, and employed by the presiding elder to travel a circuit. He united with the Ohio Conference in 1813, and was appointed to Whitewater Circuit in Indiana. During the four following years he traveled successively White Oak, Lawrenceburg, Piqua, and Milford Circuits. The following year he was transferred to Missouri Con- ference and appointed to Silver Creek ; and the next year, as stated above, he succeeded Jesse Haile on the Illinois District, on which he remained two years. In 1824 he was transferred to the Ohio Conference and appointed to Grand River. The next year he fell into the Pittsburg Conference, in which he remained until 1849. For four years of this time he was on the Pittsburg District, and dur- ing the remainder in some of the most important stations and circuits in the conference. In 1849 he was transferred again to the Ohio Conference, in which he continued until his death. For the last six years of his life he was on the superannuated list. He died April 21, 1865, in his seventy-eighth 166 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. year. As a preacher " his discourses were respect- able, but not extraordinary. It may be said, how- ever, of his performances and of himself, that he never made great pretensions, and never wearied his hearers with long discourses. It has often been said that his sermons were like trees with more fruit than blossoms or foliage. He was punctual. It was a rare occurrence for him to be absent from, or too late at, an appointment. It is said that his judgment of law and the order of business in quar- terly conferences commanded universal respect. He was an unassuming, modest man, clothed with hu- mility, uniformly pious. Indeed, we think, what was said of Barnabas might in truth be applied to him, ' He was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.' He died well. The religion he had so long and faithfully preached to others was his theme and solace in the chamber of his sickness and on his dying bed. While his vigorous consti- tution and retentive memory were yielding to the weight of years and the power of disease, his inner man, unimpaired, not only retained but magnified the grace of God in Christ. The same cheerful- ness of mind which had alleviated the burdens and sweetened the sorrows of life, now imparted its hal- lowing influences to the closing scene." 3 JAMES LOWRY traveled but two years. He was received into the Missouri Conference in 1818, and appointed to Mt. Prairie and Pecan Point. At the close of his year on Okaw Circuit he was dis- continued, and we have no further account of him. 3 General Minutes. PROSPERITY. 167 v. 1820. ILLINOIS DISTRICT David Sharp, P. E. Illinois Alexander McAllister. Okaw Hackaliah Vredenburg. Cash River Francis Moore. Wabash Thomas Davis. Mt. Carmel John Stewart. /S'emecting his labors, which was accepted, and articles of agreement lx?- tween him and the chiefs of the Pottawattomie Indians having been read and approved by the con- ference, he was clothed with proper authority to en- ter into such agreement, and furnished with suitable instructions as missionary amongst them. A com- mittee was appointed to meet with the bishops to estimate the amount of money needed for the sup- port of the mission. Mr. Walker wrote shortly afterwards to the mis- sionary society, giving the following sketch of his operations. His letter is dated October 25, 1825. 230 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. "In the Spring of 1824 I opened a communication with the Pottawattomie Indians, and found they were willing to receive a missionary then; but my call to the General Conference prevented me from holding a satisfactory council with them. Being reappointed the next Autumn by Bishop Roberts, I opened a school at Fort Clarke on the Illinois River, which continued through the Winter, and in which I had six Indian children, whose progress was ex- tremely flattering for so short a period. In the Spring of 1825, with five white families, I pro- ceeded to the mouth of Fox River, shortly after which I had a most satisfactory council with five chiefs of said tribe. We immediately built cabins for the accommodation of the families. I then opened a school into which I received fourteen Indian children. But finding that the station was not located on Indian land, I proceeded up Fox River about thirteen miles further, selected a sta- tion, and am now preparing to move into it. The place selected for the establishment is about one hundred miles above Fort Clarke, about twenty miles north of the Illinois River, and between it and Fox River. The soil is very good, timber plenty, and the spot well watered." At this session a committee on necessitous cases seems to have been appointed for the first time. " The stewards having made a distribution of the div- idend money to the claimants, a committee of three was appointed to appropriate a small balance that had been reserved to those whom they might con- ceive the most needy, and report their doings to the CONFERENCE ACTION. 231 conference." Forty-five dollars was distributed by them. The conference ordered that each preacher shall in future bring a certificate from the recording stew- ard of the circuit or station where he has labored, stating how much he has received as quarterage, how much as traveling expenses, and how much for table expenses. Near the close of the session a conference mis- sionary society was formed. Six preachers were received on trial this year: Philip Cole, Eli P. Farmer, James Hadley, William See, Joseph Tarkington, Asa D. West. William Chambers, Charles Holliday, and George Locke were received by transfer from the Kentucky Conference. Joseph Foulks, John W. McReynolds, and Will- iam Shanks were readmitted. Samuel Hull, Cornelius Ruddle, Peter Stephens, and Dennis Wiley were located. John Fish, Jacob Varner, and James E. Johnson were discontinued. John Dew and Thomas Randle were transferred to the Missouri Conference, Thomas Rice to the Holston Conference, and Edward Smith to the Bal- timore Conference. The following local preachers were elected to dea- con's orders : John Havens, James Jaggers, Bennett Hancock, William Sterrett, Joseph Basey, William See. And the following local deacons to ciders' or- ders; Joseph Arnold, Isham West, James Nolan. 232 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. A change was made in the arrangement of the districts this year, all the charges on the Wabash in Illinois being united with a number in Indiana, and formed into a Wabash District, under the .su- perintendence of Charles Holliday ; the remainder of the work constituting the Illinois District, of which S. H. Thompson was presiding elder. A new circuit, the Carmi, was formed from the Mt. Carmel and Wabash Circuits; but this seems to have been only a temporary arrangement, for the next year it disappears, reunited to the original charges. Two new circuits were formed on the Illi- nois District, the Peoria (or Peora or Paori as it is printed in the Minutes), including the town of Peoria on the west side of the Illinois River, and the settlements previously embraced in the Sanga- nion Circuit north of Salt Creek; and the Browns- ville Circuit formed from the northern part of the old Cash River Circuit. The first Methodist sermon was preached this year in the town of Rushville by Rev. LEVEN GREKX, who had just moved to the neighborhood from Missouri. Mr. Green first appears as a supply on the Maramec Circuit, Missouri, in 1811, having been appointed by the presiding elder, Samuel Par- ker, to travel under John McFarland. Whilst on this circuit he married the belle of the settlement, which so enraged her numerous suitors, amongst whom was his colleague, that they did not rest until Green was expelled from the Church. In 1818 John Scripps, who had charge of Boonslick Circuit, found him living on the Missouri River, and re- LEVEN GREEN. 233 ceived him again into the Church and gave him license to exhort. He was soon after licensed to preach, and in 1821 was sent as a supply to the Lamoine Circuit. In 1825, as stated above, he moved to Schuyler County, Illinois, and remained there five or six years. He then returned to Mis- souri, where he probably died. He was a great oddity. Utterly indifferent about his personal ap- pearance, he would frequently appear in the garb in which Mr. Scripps met him as he was exploring the country "an old round-crown felt hat, with half the rim torn or worn off, the other half slouch- ing down behind; a coarse shirt stuck into the waistband of an almost worn out pair of deerskin breeches, reaching a little below the knee, bare- legged and shoeless." He had but three books, his Bible, hymn-book, and camp-meeting songs. Yet, " his discourses were clear, comprehensive, appro- priate, and to the point, delivered Hi good language, yet not unmixed with a plentiful sprinkling of vari- ous backwoods idioms, sayings, and witticisms, giv- ing a startling effect and attractive raciness to his discourses, and rather adding to than detracting from their merits." "He was purely an original, no man's counterpart, an eccentric genius, an inter- esting and always acceptable preacher, whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever listened to. His ser- mon izings were at once the admiration and aston- ishment of all competent judges of good preaching, looking to the presence from whence they emanated. I used to denominate him 'the Lord's prodigy.'" 1 1 Rev. J. Scrippfe. 20 234 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. This year, too, the first society was organized in Lebanon. The first place of worship was a log school-house, which was afterwards replaced by a frame building. But as soon as a seminary build- ing was erected the society worshiped in the chapel, which they continued to occupy until the erection of a brick church in 1853. A class was also organized in Belleville this year. It consisted of Richard Randle and wife, James and Ann Mitchell, James Harrison and wife, Susan Dennis, and Caroline E. Blackwell. The class met in Dennis's school-house, with Richard Randle as the leader. A class had been formed some time before this about a mile and a half north-west, but this was the first in town. The increase in the membership this year was only 176; the entire report being 3,859 whites and 49 colored. CHARLES HOLLIDAY began this year his connec- tion with the Illinois Conference. He was a native of Baltimore, born November 23, 1771. His pa- rents were Presbyterians, and he was educated for the ministry of that Church. But his parents dy- ing before he was of age, he abandoned the idea of entering the ministry and turned his attention to secular pursuits. In his twenty-second year he was married, and the day after his marriage, with his wife, he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and on the same evening commenced fam- ily devotion. Of the time or circumstances of his conversion, we have no information. He was licensed to preach in 1797, and in 1809 he united CHARLES IIOLLIDAY. 235 with the Western Conference, and was appointed to Danville Circuit. The two following years he traveled the Lexington Circuit. In 1812, falling into the Ohio Conference, he was sent to Shelby, and in 1813 to the Salt River District, on which he remained three yeans, at the expiration of which he located. The next year he was readmitted in the Tennessee Conference, and appointed to the Cum- berland District, on which he traveled three years in connection with that conference, and one in the Kentucky Conference, into which the district fell in 1820. Then for the four following years, he was on the Green River District, and in 1825 was trans- ferred to the Illinois Conference and placed on Wabash District, which he traveled for three years. When first transferred to Illinois he settled near Whitehall, but on account of sickness he changed his residence to Mt. Carmel, where he continued, until his removal to Cincinnati. At the General Conference of 1828 he was elected agent of the Western Book Concern, and four years afterwards he was re-elected to the same position. During this period he held his member- ship in the Ohio Conference, but at the expiration of his service as Book Agent, he transferred again to the Illinois Conference and was appointed to Leb- anon District, upon which and on Alton District he traveled until 1844. He was then assigned to the Grafton Circuit, and the following year to Carlinville, where he closed his active labors. His health hav- ing failed, he was granted a superannuated relation in 1846, in which he remained until his death, 236 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. March 8, 1850, at his residence near Chesterfield. He was five times a member of General Confer- ence, twice from the Ohio Conference, and once each from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. From his memoir in the General Minutes, and from the statements of others who knew him, we may form a fair estimate of his character and worth. Says his memoir : " Although his sufferings in his last illness were extreme, he frequently exulted in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which enabled him to bear so much suffering without complain- ing. He retained his reason to the last. It had been his practice for thirty years to pray three times a day in his family, and from his devotional spirit we wonder not that his sun of life set in great peace. In summing up the character of our lamen- ted Brother Holliday, we may say that there are few traits of real excellence that he did not possess in an eminent degree. As a preacher, he was clear, sound, and practical. When he indulged in doc- trinal controversy, although he was decided and expressed his views in strong language, he was always kind and loving to the person of an oppo- nent. In all the relations of life, as a husband, a father, a pastor, a friend, a companion, he was a most lovely and interesting man, and in the suffer- ings and disappointments of life his conduct was characterized by that charity which ' suffereth long and is kind.' " Mr. Beggs says of him : " He was my elder when I was on the Vincennes Circuit, and few men ever proved a greater blessing to me. The JAMES HADLEY. 237 precision and directness of the appeals in his edify- ing, soul-stirring sermons produced effects which remained fresh and powerful for weeks. He was a great help in establishing me in the work of holi- ness of heart. What a man of God was he ! A Methodist preacher in very truth. I am afraid I should have gone astray had he not held me to the virtue of wearing plain apparel." " Charles Holliday," says Mrs. Johnson, " was our presiding elder (on the Green River District), and an excellent man he was. He was somewhat tall and very spare, but full of fire when roused. Few men had so shrill and musical a voice as he; and when he became animated with his subject his thin form seemed to tremble in every muscle, and his clear, ringing tones thrilled like electricity." " For the office of presiding elder," says Dr. Redford, " he was eminently qualified. His fine executive talents, his marked ability in the pulpit, whether in defending the doctrines and peculiarities of Methodism, or enforcing its practical and ex- perimental truths, together with the kindness and gentleness he showed toward the younger preachers in his district, rendered him a universal favorite as a presiding elder during his stay in Kentucky. No man in the West was better adapted to the training of young men for the work of the ministry than he." Says Dr. McFerrin : " He was a man of power and great circumspection, and wielded great influence in favor of religion." JAMES HADLKY had just been received on trial in the conference. He traveled in succession the 238 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Vermillion, Kaskaskia, Wabash, Carlisle, Peters- burg, Greencastle, Washington, Fairfiekl, Alton, Quincy, Iowa, Mt. Carmel, Sangamon, Shawnee- town, and Worcester Circuits, and in 1840 he was granted a superannuated relation, in which he con- tinued for three years. Then he labored on the Greenville, Carlisle, Lebanon, and Waterloo Cir- cuits until 1847, when he was again placed on the superannuated list for a year. In 18489 he was on Edwardsville Circuit, and in 1850 at Illinois- town. The next year his name does not appear on the minutes. In 1852 he fell into the Southern Illinois Conference, and was sent to Marion Circuit. The next year he was appointed to Collinsville Cir- cuit as supernumerary, and in 1854 he was again on the superannuated list. In 1855 he was sent to Carlisle, the next year to Waterloo, and at the con- ference of 1857 he was granted a location. He died a few years afterwards at his residence near Collins- ville. He was a good man, calm and equable in disposition, and uniform in his religious life, a mod- erate preacher, yet generally acceptable to the peo- ple, and standing fair on the circuits he traveled. JOHN WHEELER MCREYNOLDS was born in Washington County, Virginia, February 6, 1800. As stated in the sketch of his brother William, he was the child of deeply devoted Christian parents, under whose faithful instruction he not only became deeply impressed with religious truth, but well- versed in the doctrines and usages of the Church. He was converted in 1819, and the following year was sent by the presiding elder, Charles Holliday, ASA D. WEST. 239 as a supply to the Somerset Circuit, with G. "W. Taylor as his colleague. At the session of the Ten- nessee Conference, in 1820, he was received on trial, and assigned to Little Sandy Circuit, in the Ken- tucky Conference, and the next year to Goose Creek. In 1822, after having been admitted into full con^ nection and ordained deacon, owing to feeble health, he located. The same Fall he removed to Illinois, and settled near his brother-in-law, Colonel Mayo, in Edgar County. In 1825 he was readmitted in the Illinois Conference, as already stated, and as- signed to the Mt. Carmcl Circuit, which he trav- eled for two years. From 1827 until 1834 he trav- eled in Indiana, becoming a member of the Indiana Conference at its formation, in 1832, and in 1835 he was placed on the .superannuated list. The next year he was transferred to the Illinois Conference, and continued in a superannuated relation until 1841, when, owing to the protracted affliction, men- tal and bodily, of his wife, which rendered his return to the active work of the itinerancy highly improb- able, he asked and received a location. Eight days after the death of his afflicted companion, he died, filled with joy, on the 15th of October, 1846. PHILIP COLE traveled only this year. At its close he was discontinued at his own request. ASA D. WEST was assigned to the Cash River Circuit this year, in 1826 to Patoka, and at the conference of 1827 he was received into full con- nection, ordained deacon, and, at his own request, granted a location. The next year he was read- mitted and assigned to the Atlas Circuit, and in 240 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. 1829 to the Spoon River Circuit, and again located in 1830. Six years afterwards he was readmitted and assigned to Hock Island, in 1837 to Mt. Pleas- ant, and in 1838 to Knoxville; in 1839 he again retired from the itinerant to the local ranks. In 1855 he was readmitted in the Missouri Conference, traveled until 1860, when, for the fourth time, he located, and the Minutes give no further account of him. Of JOSEPH FOUI.KS, who was this year readmitted into the itinerant work, we have an interesting ac- count in Redford's Methodism in Kentucky, from which the following sketch is in part condensed. He was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, August 30, 1786. His parents were from Wales and were members of the Moravian Church. His mother, however, became a Methodist, and two of his sons afterwards became Methodist preachers. Before Joseph was seventeen he was converted and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1811 he was licensed to preach, and in the Fall of the same year united with the Western Conference. After traveling four years in Tennessee and Ken- tucky, he located in 1815 and settled in Logan County, Kentucky. In 1820 he removed to Illi- nois, laboring with energy as a local preacher; and by his labors in the pulpit and the piety of his life, contributing much to the prosperity of the Church. In 1825, as already stated, he was readmitted to the Illinois Conference and appointed to Shoal Creek Circuit. Whilst on this charge, he killed a man in self-defense. He had said something in a sermon JOSEPH FOULKS. 241 that displeased the man, a drunken half Indian, half negro, who swore that he would take the preacher's life. The fears of the family with whom he was staying being aroused by seeing the man whet his knife, they urged Mr. Foulks to be on his guard. Accordingly, upon retiring, he took with him a gun and remained awake to watch. In the night the Indian crept stealthily up the stairway with his knife and gun in his hand, and just as he appeared above, Mr. Foulks fired ; the ball struck the man in the breast, killing him instantly. At the ensuing conference his conduct was " fully ap- proved." At the close of his second year on this charge he again located. In 1835 he was again re- admitted and appointed to Alton City, but with impaired health he was .compelled to locate at the close of the year, and never re-entered the traveling connection. In 1837 he returned to Kentucky and settled in Logan County, where he spent the re- mainder of his life. In this community he lived for a quarter of a century, a laborious and success- ful local preacher, and where his name and memory will long be fragrant. One who knew him we'll says: "His call to the ministry was fully established by the success that crowned his efforts in the vari- ous departments of ministerial labor. His talents were above mediocrity. He spoke with fluency ; and, although his preaching was generally of a prac- tical and experimental character, yet he was per- fectly familiar with the doctrines of the Bible. His literary attainments were not such as to entitle him, in modern parlance, to the name of a learned man, 21 242 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. yet his mind was well stored with useful knowledge. He was uncompromising in his fidelity to his own branch of the Church, and deprecated every depar- ture from the old paths." On the 3d of May, 1863, he slept with his fathers. His last illness, though not protracted, was attended with severe suffering; but his mind was kept in perfect peace. His last moments were full of triumph. WILLIAM CHAMBERS was born in Calvert County, Maryland, in 1796. He was brought up in the Protestant Episcopal Church, but in early life professed religion and united with the Method- ists in Baltimore. When a young man he served two years in the War of 1812. In 1820 he was re- ceived on trial in the Kentucky Conference, and after traveling in i-t four years was transferred to the Illinois Conference and appointed to the San- gamon Circuit as junior preacher, with Peter Cart- wright as his senior. At the close of the year he asked and was granted a location. Twa-years after- wards he was readmitted, and traveled first the Illi- nois, and then the Shoal Creek Circuit, and at the end of the year again located. In 1838 he was readmitted, and, after traveling Apple Creek and Carlinville Circuits, again located. The next year he was readmitted once more, and appointed succes- sively to the American Bottom, Manchester, Carlin- ville, and Sharon charges. Refusing to go to his last appointment, his place was supplied by the pre- siding elder, and, at the ensuing session of confer- ence one of his friends asked for him a location, which the conference granted. He continued in the WILLIAM SEE. 243 local ranks until his death in 1859, at his residence near Taylorville. Brother Chambers was a little below medium size, spare and delicate in appear- ance. He was an acceptable preacher, and an ac- tive, energetic man. WILLIAM SEE traveled only two years both on the newly formed Peoria Circuit, and at the expira- tion of his term was discontinued at his own request. During these two years he was active in carrying the Gospel to the newly formed settlements, and organizing the scattering Methodists into societies. He formed the first class in Schuyler County, in the cabin of the first settler, Calvin Hobart. After he ceased traveling, he became government black- smith for the Indians. He lived in Chicago, where Mr. Beggs, the pastor, appointed him the first class- leader. 244 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. III. 1826. WABASII DISTRICT Charles Holliday, P. E. Vermiliutn Eli P. Fanner. Wabash Robert Delap. Mt. Vernon Thomas H. Files.. ML Cannel John W. McReynolds. Cdsh River William Evans. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. and Superintendent of the Pottawattomie Mission. Illinois Samuel H. Thompson, Sup., John Miller. Kask'askia Josiah Patterson, sup., James Hadley. Shoal Creek Joseph Foulks. Sangamon Richard Hargrave, Joseph Tarkington. Peoria William See. Mississippi Thomas Randle, Isaac S. House. Alias William Medford. Pottawattomie Mission Jesse Walker. THE conference held its third session at Bloom- ington, Indiana, commencing on Thursday, Sep** tember 28th, and closing on the following Tuesday. Bishops Roberts and Soule were both in attendance, presiding alternately, and the journal is signed by' both. The attendance seems to have been small, only eleven answering to their names at the open- ing session. Calvin Ruter was elected secretary, and Charles Holliday assistant secretary. The jour- nal was written by Mr. Holliday, and is a model of CORRESPONDENCE. . 245 chirographical neatness and clearness. At this ses- sion a committee was appointed to draw up rules for the government of the conference, with instruc- tions to report as soon as convenient. The report was not presented until the next session. Drafts were ordered on the Book Concern for $150, and on the Chartered Fund for $190. Some complaints were made against Peter Cart- wright through a member of this conference by John Schrader, a local preacher, relative to the pro- ceedings of Brother Cartwright when acting as president of the board of trustees of Hopkinsville meeting-house in Kentucky. After some discussion, Brother Cartwright was exonerated from any cen- sure in the case, and his character was approved. The conference voted unanimously to concur with the Mississippi Annual Conference in recom- mending to the General Conference at its next ses- sion to alter the Restrictive Rule so that it would read : " They shall not allow of more than one rep- resentative for every seven members of the annual conference, nor allow of a less number than one for every twenty-one." Votes were carried to patronize the Christian Advocate, published by the agents of the Methodist Book Concern at New York, and also to patronize Augusta College. A committee was appointed to address a letter to the Rev. John T. Hamilton, a member of the com- mittee on correspondence of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in answer to a communi- cation which this conference had received from him. The subject of the communication is not stated. 246 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. The Sabbath collection was placed in the hands of the four presiding elders to be distributed to the most needy ; and a surplus of $14.37| in the hands of the stewards was ordered to be given to the preacher who may be appointed to the Atlas Circuit. It was ordered that the Pottawattomie Mission be continued, and that every preacher of the con- ference exert himself to procure funds and means for the support of said mission, and that St. Louis and Fort Clarke be the places of deposit of those articles conveyed by water, and Springfield, Sanga- mon County, for those articles and moneys by land. It was estimated that one thousand dollars would be necessary and amply sufficient for the support of the mission. On the 25th of December of this year, the su- perintendent of the mission wrote to John Emory, the corresponding secretary of the Missionary Soci- ety, as follows: "The Pottawattoraie Mission was established on Fox River, twenty miles from its entrance into the Illinois River. We have pre- pared a building, thirty by fifty, with five rooms, two stories high, and some other buildings. We have opened forty acres of a farm. We have a school in operation, with about twenty Indian children, Avho promise to learn rapidly. The mis- sion family consists of the missionary and wife, one teacher, two laboring men, and two women. I think this nation will receive the Gospel." The following mysterious item appears among the closing proceedings^of the session : "Samuel H. Thompson was by the president appointed to obtain CHANGES MADE. 247 a copy of the report of the committee of safety that it may be entered on the journals of this conference." The following class was received on trial : Henry Buell, Robert Burns, Abner H. Cheever, William Evans, Thomas H. Files, John Hogan, Isaac S. House, John T. Johnson, Daniel Newton, Stith M. Otwell, Smith L. Robinson. James Scott was readmitted. Seven located, viz.: Thomas Hewson, George K. Hester, William Chambers, Hackaliah Vredenburg, Samuel Bassett, James Jones, Ebenezer T. Webster. One local deacon was elected to elder's orders; viz., Robert Burns. And Samuel Bellamy, Levi Poston, Samuel Morrison, Gamaliel Taylor, Thomas Lowry, Thomas C. Collins, Reuben Clearwater, Humphrey Finch, and Samuel Lyon were elected to deacon's orders. Some changes were made in the plan of the work in Illinois. The Carmi and Brownsville Cir- cuits were merged in the circuits from which they had been taken. The Cash River and Mt. Vernon Circuits were transferred from the Illinois to the Wabash District. Perhaps this was done to concil- iate Peter Cartwright, who was appointed presiding elder of the Illinois District. He once said of Cash River in the cabinet: "I have known that country for many years. The raccoons get half the corn, and the people have none to sell, and I won't have it in my district." A new circuit, the Atlas, was formed of the southern portion of the Territory between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, known 248 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. familiarly as " the Military Tract/' extending from the mouth of the Illinois River to Canton, in Ful- ton County. There were extensive revivals on several of the charges both during the Winter and at the camp- meetings. On Big Creek, Vermillion Circuit, un- der the labors of Eli P. Farmer, was a good work of grace, and many were gathered into the Church. Under the labors of William Blackwell, a local preacher, there was a good revival in Bellevelle, and about forty united with the Church. On the Sangamon Circuit a change was made in the pastor- ate. The health of Mr. Hargrave, the preacher in charge, having failed, he left the circuit in the Spring for his home in Indiana, and the junior preacher, Joseph Tarkington, was put in charge, and James Johnson employed as his assistant to the end of the year. Two camp-meetings were held on the circuit; one at Walter's camp-ground, on Spring Creek, and another near Jacksonville, at Hender- shott's, at both of which were good revivals. To- wards the close of the conference year a camp- meeting was held in Pike County, of which Peter Cartwright gives an account : " We had but one tent on the ground, and that was called ' the preach- er's tent.' The people rolled on to the ground in their wagons. We held this meeting several days and nights in this way, and we had a prosperous meeting. We held one in Schuyler County the same season, and many souls were blessed." Among the laymen who this year became iden- tified with Methodism in Illinois was DR. JOHN LAYMEN. 249 LOG AX, who afterwards occupied a prominent posi- tion in the State as well as in the Church. He was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, December 30, 1809. When but a child he removed with his parents to Perry County, Missouri, and in 1826 to Jackson County, Illinois. He was converted this year, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. When only twenty-two he was elected major of the Ninth Regiment of Illinois Militia, and the next year served in the Black Hawk war. In 1833 he settled at Carlinville, and soon after engaged in the prac- tice of medicine. At the beginning of the war of the rebellion, in 1861, he was elected colonel of the Thirty-second Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and served until 1865. The next year he was appointed United States marshal for Southern Illinois, and held the office until 1870. He was one of the orig- inal abolitionists who voted for Birney, in 1844. Dr. Logan has been an active member of the Church for over fifty years, and has filled most of the offices to which a layman is eligible. ISAAC LANDIS, a local preacher, moved from Missouri to Indiana, and thence to Greene County, Illinois, in 1827, and settled in the neighborhood of Carroll ton. He was elected to deacon's orders in 1832, and to elder's in 1840. His house was for a long time a preaching-place on the Grafton Cir- cuit. He was a man of moderate ability as a preacher, but of deep piety. He died in 1857, aged seventy-nine. In November of this year, RICHARD G A INKS, a brother-in-law of Peter Oart wight,' moved from 250 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Kentucky and settled in the neighborhood of Pleasant Plains, in Sangamon County. He was born November 8, 1777, in Charlotte County, Vir- ginia, and died January 7, 1845. He was a useful and faithful local preacher. The membership reported at the close of the year was 4,41 2 whites, 53 colored, and 1 Indian, an increase during the year of 558. The largest increase was on the Vermillion Circuit, being 197. Sangamon Cir- cuit had an increase of 125, and in several other charges there was an increase of from 40 to 60 each. In the Shoal Creek and Cash River Circuits there was a slight decrease. The following brethren appear for the first time in connection with the work in Illinois : ELI P. FARMER was born in' Virginia, Janu- ary 27, 1794. He removed to Indiana in 1822, and three years afterwards was received on trial in the Illinois Conference and appointed to Bloomfield. In 1826 he was sent to Vermillion Circuit. This was the only year in which he labored in Illinois. He continued in the conference, however, until 1832, when he fell into the Indiana Conference, in which he traveled a year and then located. In 1837 he was readmitted, traveled two years and located again in 1839. His died at his residence near Bloomington, Indiana, February 6, 1881. Mr. Farmer was a man of marked peculiarities. He believed in muscular Christianity. Regarded as one of the strongest and most active men in the State, he did not hesitate to use his strength in the maintenance of order at the meetings he held; and ELI P. FARMER. 251 it was not infrequently the case that he would leave the pulpit to administer personal chastisement to the rowdies who attempted to disturb the peace of his meetings. Though of moderate education, and not excelling as a preacher, he was yet a man of great power in the pulpit, and many were won to Christ through his instrumentality. He was a sol- dier in the war of 1812, and took part in the battle of New Orleans. When the war of the rebellion broke out, though he had previously been a Demo- crat, he at once espoused the cause of his country, making many strong speeches in favor of the pres- ervation of the Union, and bitterly denouncing those with whom he had formerly acted. Though then nearly seventy years of age, he entered the army as a chaplain, and not only did his duty as such faithfully, but refused to receive compensation for his services. Indeed, this was one of his pecu- liarities. A writer in the Indianapolis Journal says of him : " His profession was that of the ministry, but his means of support were derived from the farm. In his ministerial career he introduced the novel practice of giving the people a free Gospel ; and in all his experience, extending over a long life, he was never known to ask any congregation or Church for a contribution on his own behalf." After his location he became an active partisan politician, and represented his county in the State legislature. While there, he became involved in a quarrel with the speaker of the house, and admin- istered to him a severe thrashing. He also studied law and was admitted to the bar. " He passed 252 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. through many storms in his day, but his sun came to a golden setting. For several years he gave himself to seek holiness and walk with God alone. At the last he rejoiced greatly, and was eager to depart and go home." ' This was the first year of the itinerant life of THOMAS H. FILES. He traveled in succession the Mt. Vernon, Cash River, Golconda, Wabash, Mc- Leansboro, Frankfort, and Paris Circuits, and in 1835 was granted a superannuated relation, in which he remained until his death, in 1849. His memoir is not published in the General Minutes, but Mr. Beggs says he was " of great service to the Church." WILLIAM EVANS was also received on trial this year. He traveled only two circuits in Illinois the Cash River in 1826, and the Golconda in 1831. The rest of his charges were in Indiana, and in 1832 he was transferred to the Indiana Conference, and located at its first session. RICHARD HARQ.RAVE was a native of North Carolina, born December 5, 1803. In youth he removed with his parents to Indiana, and when he was nineteen he was converted and joined the so- called " O'Kelly Christian Church." He remained in it but for a short time, and then united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was licensed to preach in 1823. He traveled some months under the presiding elder, William Beau- champ, duiiing the Summer of 1824, and in the Fall united with the Illinois Conference at its first ses- sion and was appointed to Salem Circuit. In 1825 J Eev. J. W. Webb. RICHARD HARGRAVE. 253 his appointment, was Honey Creek, and in 1826 Sangarnon. Here his health failed, and he was compelled to retire from the work in the Spring, but was so far restored as to receive an appointment at the next session of conference. This was the only year he traveled in Illinois, all the rest of his itin- erant life being spent in Indiana. He belonged successively to the Illinois, Indiana, North Indi- ana, and North-west Indiana Conferences, occupy- ing many of their most important charges. He was, seventeen years in the presiding eldership, twenty- four years in circuits and stations, and fourteen on the superannuated list. He died near Attica, Indi- ana, June 23, 1879. Mr. Hargrave was one of the strongest preachers in the West. He delighted to dwell on the doctrines of the Bible. " With a voice full of melody, and forceful enough for greater au- diences than ever assemble; with a sharp, clear, articulation, and a phraseology so unique as to charm the ear strangely, he uttered great doctrinal sermons, which in other hands might have been dry and stale, but from him possessed all the enchant- ment of tales of the heroic. This was not all. He drew argument and illustration from the common scenes observed by common sense men, and con- vinced the mind. Then, so rapidly as to startle the sinner, he made him conscious of his guilt, and left the soul with a loving Savior. On many occasions members fell around him as if dead, and remained so in some cases for hours, coming to consciousness with the song of salvation on their lips." 2 An ex- 2 'Western Christian Advocate. 254 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. hortation delivered during his year on the Sangamon Circuit was long remembered. Standing on the roof of the jail at Springfield, he addressed the thousands who had come to witness an execution in such burning and eloquent words that twenty years afterwards the writer heard many who listened to it declare it the most powerful address they had ever heard from human lips. Perhaps the most marked traits in Mr. Hargravc's character were his dcop reverence and strong trust in God, and his earnest and hearty sympathy with suffering human- ity. In labors he was more abundant. Even when superannuated he preached above two hundred ser- mons a year, and in the last year of his life, during the seven months in which he was able to get about, he preached one hundred and four times. He was, during his whole life, a great sufferer from disease. His last illness of over two months was attended with the most acute suffering. But over all he tri- umphed through grace, desiring to depart and be Avith Christ. He was a member of the General Conferences of 1848 and 1860. JOSEPH TARKINGTON was born at Nashville, Tennessee, October 30, 1800. In his twentieth year he was converted at a camp-meeting near Bloomington, Indiana, and in 1825 was received into the Illinois Conference and appointed to Patoka Circuit. For the two following years he traveled the Sangamon Circuit. The remainder of his itin- erant life has been spent in Indiana. He is still living at Greensburg, Indiana, and is a superannu- ated member of the South-east Indiana Conference. ISAAC S. HOUSE. 255 He was presiding elder eight years and agent for Asbury University two years. Pie has filled several leading stations in the conferences of which he has been a member. ISAAC S. HOUSE was born at Brookfield, New York, April 7, 1806. His parents were among the first Methodists in that section of the country and early instructed their son in the principles of our holy religion. At the age of twelve he became a sub- ject of converting grace and united with the Church. For several years he remained faithful; but, having removed to the West, where he was deprived of the care of Christian friends and of many of the privileges of the Church which he had previously enjoyed, he backslid, sought enjoyment in the pleas- ures of the world, and became very wicked. In 1821, at a camp-meeting at Gilham's camp-ground, between Alton and Edwardsville, he was reclaimed, and the next year received license to preach, and united with the Illinois Conference. His first ap- pointment was the Mississippi Circuit, with Thomas Handle as his senior. The next year he was junior preacher on the Sangamon Circuit ; and at the con- ference of 1828, after being received into full con- nection and ordained deacon, his health being poor, he was placed on the superannuated list. At the next session he located. In this relation he contin- ued for fifteen years, preaching and laboring for the cause of Christ as his health would permit. In 1844 he was readmitted in the Providence Confer- ence, and stationed at Fourth Street, New Bedford, to which he was returned the next year. Then, his 256 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. health again failing, he was granted a superannuated relation, in which he remained until his death, July 7, 1847. " Brother House was a good man, was distinguished for his social qualities, and was a kind and affectionate father and husband. He often spoke of his parents with strong filial affection, and of the gratitude he owed them for early religious instruc- tion. He was more than an ordinary preacher, sound in doctrine, fervent, affectionate, and power- ful. He united many excellencies as a man, a Chris- tian, and a minister, and was respected and beloved by those who knew him. His sickness was painful and protracted, but he was patient and resigned, and died in peace and full assurance of a blissful im- mortality." 3 One of his early colleagues says, "He was a sweet-spirited young man, who labored ear- nestly and was much beloved." 8 General Minutes. CONFERENCE OF 1827. 257 iv. 1827. WABASII DISTRICT Charles Holliday, P. E. Vermillion John Fox. Wobash James Hadley. ML Vernon Thomas H. Files. Ml. CVmne/ Aaron Wood. Casli River Samuel C. Cooper. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. Illinois Samuel H. Thompson, John Hogan. Kaskaskia William Echols. Shoal Creek John Kerns. Sangamon Joseph Tarkington, Isaac S. House. Peoria Smith L. Robinson. Apple Creek Isaac Scarritt, John T. Johnson. Alias Samuel Bogart. Pottaivattomie Mission at Salem John Dew, super- intendent and collector for the mission. Jesse Walker, missionary. THE session of 1827 was held at Mt. Carmel, Illinois, in an upper room of the house of T. S. Hinde, beginning on Thursday, September 20th, and closing 0:1 the following Wednesday. Bishop Roberts presided, and Calvin W. Ruter was elected secretary. The attendance was much larger than at any previous session, twenty-seven answering to their names at the first calling of the roll. Then the probationers of the first year did not attend conference, but remained on their circuits. 22 258 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. The session was an important one on account of the amount and variety of the business transacted. Eleven persons were received on trial ; viz., John Hardy, Constant B. Jones, Enoch G. "Wood, Asahel L. Risley, Benjamin Stephenson, Samuel Bogart, John Kerns, William Mavity, William Ech- ols, Samuel C. Cooper, James McKean. John Fox, Isaac Scarritt, and Charles Slocumb were readmitted. Asa D. West, Joseph Foulks, George Handle, and William Medford were granted a location. William See was discontinued. Two had died, William Cravens, and John Cord. Three local deacons were elected to elder's orders; viz., Robert Ray, Hezekiah Holland, and Ebenezcr Jones. And eight local preachers were elected to dea- con's order. Charles W. Morrow, Elijah McDan- iel, Alfred J. Colton, Daniel Dillings, John Giv- ens, Thornton Peeples, William Mcldrum, Lorenzo Edwards. The rule adopted by the conference at its session in 1825, requiring of located preachers applying for readmission into the traveling connection a rec- ommendation from the quarterly conference, was rescinded. Much has been said and written about the ignorance of the early Methodist preachers, their lack of culture, and general inferiority in scholastic attainments to the preachers of the present day. The following course of reading and study, to be pursued by the candidates for the ministry, which COURSE OF STUDY. 259 was presented by Bishop Roberts and ordered to be spread on the conference journal, shows that onr fathers were not inattentive to the work of minis- terial education. And while our modern caurses of study may be more extensive than this, running through a longer period and embracing a wider range, with vastly improved text-books, the master- ing of this course by a candidate would secure for him a qualification for the work of the ministry not greatly inferior to that demanded of candidates at the present day. " The Holy Ghost saith : ' Study to show thy- self approved unto God, a workman that nccdeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.' " It is therefore recommended to candidates for the ministry to study and make themselves ac- quainted with the following important points of doctrine: The general depravity and corruption of the human heart, redemption by Christ, repentance toward God, justification by faith, the direct witness of the Holy Spirit, holiness of heart and life, in- cluding regeneration and sanetification, the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the perseverance of those who have been justified, baptism, the resurrection of the dead, and future rewards and punishments. " It is recommended to them to study the nature 2nd principles of Church government, especially our own ; the philosophy or grammar of the En- 260 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. glish language, geography, ancient history, ecclesi- astical history, moral and natural philosophy, and logic. " To aid the student in the acquisition of these important branches of knowledge, the reading of the following books, or as many of them as can be obtained, is recommended: The Holy Scriptures, Wesley's Notes, Benson's, Coke's, and Clarke's Com- mentaries, Wesley's Sermons, Answer to Taylor, Saints' Rest, Benson's Sermons, Fletcher's Checks and Appeal, Portrait of St. Paul, Watson's Theo- logical Institutes, Wood's or Martindale's Diction- ary, the Methodist Discipline, Murray's Grammar, Morse's Geography, Rollin's Ancient History, Mos- heim's Ecclesiastical History, Locke on the Under- standing, Palcy's Philosophy, Duncan's or Watts' Logic, the Methodist Magazine" The committee appointed at the last session to draft rules for the government of the conference presented a report, which, after amendment, was adopted. The rules, twelve in number, are those by which deliberative bodies are usually governed. The eleventh and twelfth, however, are especially appropriate to a body of Christian ministers : " Every member of this conference, in his debates, shall have due regard to the feelings of his brethren, and avoid all personality." " No member shall prefer a complaint against another member of this confer- ence, unless he has spoken to him on the subject first out of conference." At this session the question of a conference sem- inary was introduced. A petition on the subject INDIAN MISSION. 261 was presented by Peter Cartwright from certain cit- izens of Greene County, which was referred to a committee, with instructions to report at this ses- sion. Their report, which was adopted, recom- mended the appointment of a committee of five to obtain all the information they could on the subject during the ensuing year, and report the result of their inquiries to the next conference. And John Strange, James Armstrong, Charles Holliday, Peter Cartwright, and William Shanks were appointed that committee. The Pottawattomie Mission at Salem, on Fox River, occupied much of the attention of the con- ference. When the superintendent and missionary made their reports, a committee of five was ap- pointed to take into consideration the state of the mission, and the expediency of continuing it. That committee reported as follows: "At the Illinois Conference held in Charleston, 1825, an allowance of one thousand dollars was made for the support of the mission, and put into the hands of the mis- sionary. From our recollection of the missionary report to the conference of 1826, that money was laid out for the mission, and a debt contracted of $1,208.80; cash on hand to meet the debt, $150; which leaves the .mission in debt, $1,058.80. At the conference of 1826 an allowance was made for the support of the mission of one thousand dollars, and put in the hands of the superintendent of the mission. From' the report to this conference it ap- pears that the money has been laid out for the mis- sion. No debts have been contracted the past year. 262 MET HOD KM IN ILLINOIS. " According to the report to this conference, the mission property amounts to $303.25. The crop, as valued in the report, amounts to $502. The property offered in the report, which we advise the conference to accept and make mission property, amounts to $250. If the conference accept this property, then the property and crop belonging to the mission will amount to $1,055.25. " But little has been effected, as yet, by the mis- sion when compared to the expense, labor, and suf- ferings of the missionary and his family ; but, when we consider what it has cost, and,the probability of its being less expensive in future, we can not advise its discontinuance until further trial is given it. " As it respects the debt now against the mis- sion, it is our opinion that a man had better be appointed, whose duty it shall be to make collec- tions in the bounds of the conference and elsewhere to pay that debt." The person appointed in ac- cordance with this report to make collections for the mission, John Dew, was styled the superintend- ent, and the collections made during the past year, in money and property, were ordered to be placed in his hands. A case of supposed heresy was before the confer- ence, and excited considerable interest. When the name of James Scott, an elder, was called, objections were made to the passage of his character, on the ground that he had advanced certain ideas believed to be heterodox. A committee was appointed to wait on Brother Scott and obtain his views on certain HERESY. 263 doctrines by him advanced, and report to the confer- ence. When two days afterwards, the committee presented their report, after considerable discussion the further consideration of it was postponed until the next annual session, the conference ordering that he be admonished by the president not to dis- seminate his peculiar views on the points of doctrine referred to in the report of the committee. His character was then passed. Dr. Aaron Wood gives the following statement of the case: "At the re- bound from the Augustinian doctrine and Edward- can philosophy which affected the three churches in the West, viz. : Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian, the three errors of the ancient Church were broached afresh in Kentucky, and many of the members and some preachers were Pelagians, Arians, or Socinians, and though most of them went with the New Lights, yet some remained with the Methodists. Holliday, Cartwright, S. H. Thompson, and George Locke had all contended with these errors in Kentucky, and knew the men. One of them was the father- in-law, and three others the friends, of Scott, loca- ted and living in Indiana. Scott \vas arrested on certain expressions in a sermon preached at the con- ference, and was called before a committee. Scott was a hypercritical, sharp Jerseyman, who, instead of a frank statement of his views, did what he could to puzzle the committee, and they reported as pun- ishment that he be kept from charge of a circuit, which was indefinitely postponed. At the next con- ference, I remember that when, on the motion of his presiding elder, he was asked " Do you believe 264 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. in the generation, or t reduction, or impartation of depravity?" he replied, "I do n't believe either, for it is a matter of opinion, and can not be faith, as there is no testimony." Mr. Scott, after traveling a number of years in the conferences in Indiana, was finally deposed from the ministry in 1860. The conference at this session elected its first delegates to the General Conference to meet the next year. They were John Strange, Peter Cart- wright, James Armstrong, Charles Holliday, Samuel H. Thompson, and John Dew. A resolution was adopted, which, if carried out, would have greatly aided the historian of the Illi- nois Conference ; but, like too many conference res- olutions, it was adopted, and then forgotten. It was a request that each preacher belonging to the conference present in writing to the next conference a succinct account of the time and place of his birth, the most important incidents of his life, when and by what means he was brought to the knowledge of salvation, with any other important matter that may concern him, and that the same be kept on file among the papers of the conference. This was a year of prosperity. All the charges in Illinois, save two, report an increase in the num- ber of members. The Wabash, Mt. Vernon, Illi- nois, Shoal Creek, Mississippi, and Atlas Circuits, each reported an increase of over one hundred, the increase for the State being 920, or more than twen- ty-five per cent. The entire membership was 5,335 whites and fifty-two colored. NEW SOCIETIES FORMED. 265 Several interesting camp-meetings were held this year; among them were two on the Sangamon Cir- cuit, one east of Springfield, and the other at Hus- sey's, on Fancy Creek. This was a very successful meeting, and many were born into the kingdom. A meeting described by Mr. Beggs was held on Farm Creek, on the Peoria Circuit, of which S. L. Robinson was preacher in charge, Jesse Walker and William See assisted at the meeting, which was con- ducted by the presiding elder. Governor Edwards, the first governor of the State, was also present. They had a gracious time, yet even in that early day they were not free from disturbance. A cer- tain individual was sent after whisky, and who, in going for it, had to pass the camp-ground. He stopped to hear the presiding elder's sermon. After its close a collection was taken up, and the money designed for the whisky (fifty cents), was thrown into the hat. When he returned, and was asked where his money was gone to, he replied, " O, I thought the preachers needed it more than you did the whisky." Some new societies were formed this year. Rev. J. Mayo, a local preacher, preached the first sermon in Brouillett Township, Edgar County, this year. The first society was also formed in Pekin by Smith L. Robinson. It consisted of eight or ten members. A class was also organized on Robinson's Creek, in Shelby County, by Thomas Randle, who traveled the Shoal Creek Circuit. Preaching was introduced and societies formed at Lawrence ville and Palestine, on the Mt. Curmel Circuit. At the former of these 266 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. places was a great revival. Under the labors of John Fox on the Vermillion Circuit, there was a good work of grace. Among the removals to the State and accessions to the Church this year was ABEL L. WILLIAMS, who settled in Vermillion County. He was a native of North Carolina, and was born January 30, 1786. When a child, he moved with his parents to Ten- nessee. In 1811, with his wife, he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and after coming to their new home in Illinois, such were his faith and zeal, that he took his ax, went to the timber, and upon his own responsibility, began cutting the timber for the erection of a church. Witnessing his determination, his neighbors came to his assist- ance, and soon the old Lebanon Church took the place of the private house as a place of worship. This became and was for many years a center of Methodism in Eastern Illinois. He became super- intendent of the Sunday-school, and served as such for twenty -five years. While listening to the fire- side conversation of the old preachers in his boy- hood home, a desire for the attainment of knowl- edge was excited, and though unable to reach a collegiate or even academic education, yet such w T as his thirst for knowledge, that, availing himself of the opportunities in his reach, he became a profi- cient in ancient and modern history, and well ac- quainted with the literature of the Church. He had a well-selected library, embracing the complete works of Wesley, Fletcher, Watson, and Clarke, besides many works on philosophy and science. He JOHN FOX. 267 was much interested in the educational interests of the Church. To the first conference academy built in Eastern Illinois, the Georgetown, he was the most liberal contributor, and of all the institutions of the Church he was a liberal supporter. He died full of years at the house of his son, Rev. James Williams, near Newman, Douglas County, February 15, 1881, in his ninety-sixth year. 1 REV. MILES HART, a local preacher from Ken- tucky, settled this year at Wabash Point, in Coles County. He was the first permanent settler there. Finding a cabin that had been erected by a Mr. Sawyer, who, after building it, had gone after his family, Mr. Hart took possession of it, and, by the time the owner returned with his household, had put up one for himself, into which he removed. He was a good preacher, rather above the average, very pleasant and smooth in his address, even and uniform in his whole course, and so agreeable in his manners that he acquired the sobriquet of " Old Jolly." He was about six feet high and very slen- der. He died highly respected about twenty years ago. The plan of the work remained the same as it had been the year before, the only change being the substitution of Apple Creek for Mississippi as the name of one of the circuits. Ten new preachers labored this year in Illinois. JOHN Fox was a native of New Jersey, born in 1774. In 1809 he united with the Philadelphia Conference, and traveled in it until 1820, when he located. He then moved to Illinois, and settled on ' Rev. W. S. Calhoun. 268 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. a farm a few miles from Palestine. Here he accu- mulated a handsome property. In 1827 he was re- admitted in the Illinois Conference, and traveled in succession the Vermillion, Mt. Vernon, AVabash, Mt. Carmel; Paris, Eugene, Shawneetown, Wabash, Eu- gene, Mt. Carmel, Maysville, Charleston, Carlisle, McLeansboro, Richland, Crooked Creek, and Ur- bana Circuits. He died at Homer, Champaign County, Illinois, August 26, 1846. His memoir says of him : "As a man, Brother Fox was a pattern of neatness and industry ; as a Christian, uniform and consistent; as a preacher, plain, practical, and pointed; and as a pastor, faithful and affectionate." One of his parishioners on the Vermillion Circuit describes him as " a nice man and a good singer. He was a rigid disciplinarian, excluding from the Church many of those who had been received by his predecessor." 2 As a preacher he was moderate, and was accustomed to relate many anecdotes in his preaching. One who listened to him heard him tell thirty -two anecdotes in one sermon. He had a thorough knowledge of Methodism as a system of Church polity, and insisted strongly upon the ob- servance of all its peculiarities. Mr. Beggs speaks of " John Fox, of precious memory neat in person and attire, correct in his preaching, diligent in pas- toral visitation, strict in administration of discipline, and powerful in prayer his labors never failing to result in the salvation of souls." He died in holy triumph. The last words he uttered, just as the soul left the body, were " Jesus, Jesus." 2 Col. Mayo. AARON WOOD. 269 AARON WOOD was born in Pendleton County, Virginia, October 15, 1802. He was the first-born of praying parents. His father's house was occa- sionally visited by Bishop Asbury, whose horse Aaron would care for, and who always spoke to the boy about his soul, urging him to give himself to the Savior, that he might grow up to be a good and useful man. In 1815 he was converted, and in 1822 united with the Ohio Conference, in which he traveled two years, and then fell into the Illinois Conference, of which he remained a member until 1831, when he located. His only appointment in Illinois was Mt. Carmel Circuit, which he traveled two years. They were years of great spiritual pros- perity. In the Fall of 1827 he had married the daughter of Rev. William Beauchamp, with whom he lived until 1838 when she died. The years in which he was located he spent in Mt. Carmel, where he engaged in teaching school, laboring faithfully meanwhile as a local preacher. In 1834 he was re- admitted in the Indiana Conference, and has been connected ever since with the conferences in that State, being now (1883) an honored member of the North-west Indiana Conference. During his itin- erant life he has spent thirteen years on districts, thirteen years in agencies for Asbury University, the American Bible Society, and the Preachers' Aid Society, six years as chaplain to the Penitentiary and Orphans' Home, and twenty-four years on circuits and stations. He was a member of the General Conferences of 1840, 1844, 1864, 1868, and 1876. Mr. Beggs says of him, "A. Wood, D. D., and my- 270 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. self were both young men when we became ac- quainted. He bid fair, at an early age, to become a useful man. He had a sound mind, a most felic- itous elocution, and a zeal without bound. He preached always with all his power, frequently be- coming so exhausted as to fall helpless into the arms of those near him." " The fields of his labor have been as wide as his eventful experience, for he be- gan his ministry in the days when a circuit was as large as a modern conference, a district as extensive as a State, and a conference was bounded almost alone by the possibility of the itinerant's return in time for the next session. These fields embraced Western Ohio, all of Indiana, Eastern Illinois, and Southern Michigan. All this labor has been unre- lieved by one hour of superannuation, and all his life untarnished by a moment of moral reproach." 3 SAMUEL C. COOPER traveled two circuits in Illi- nois, the Cash River this year, and the Jonesboro, a part of the same circuit, two years afterwards. He was born of Methodist parents in the city of Bal- timore, May 17, 1799. In 1818 he was converted in the State of Ohio, and was soon after licensed to exhort. He felt that God had called him to preach, but resisted the impression and engaged in worldly business. He prospered for a time, but the hand of God was then laid upon him his wife died, he was compelled to close his business, and at length, after a severe mental conflict, he yielded to his con- victions of duty. After serving as a supply on the Yincennes Circuit, he was received in the Illinois 3 Dr. A. Edwards. JOHN HOGAN. 271 Conference in 1827, but all his itinerant life, with the exceptions above named, was spent in Indiana. He died, a member of the North Indiana Confer- ence, July 19, 1856. He was eleven years on dis- tricts, seven years agent for Asbury University, one year agent for the Fort Wayne Female College, and ten years in circuits and stations. He was twice a member of the General Conference, and performed his last service for the Church at its session in In- dianapolis a few weeks before his death. In his early ministry he experienced much of the hard- ships and privations of the itinerancy. During his first year in the conference, on Cash River Circuit, he received but fifteen dollars in money for his services, and of that five dollars was given by one man. " He was a good preacher, always systematic and clear. He had great business capacities and was a safe counselor to his younger brethren." 4 The life of JOHX HOGAN belongs to civil rather than ecclesiastical history. He traveled only four years as a preacher, and then engaged in secular business. He came to the Illinois Conference with a recommendation from the quarterly conference of Baltimore city station, and was received at the ses- sion of 1826 and appointed to Salem Circuit, and in 1829 transferred to the Missouri Conference and stationed in St. Louis. At the close of the year he located. He settled at first in Alton, and engaged actively in politics. In 1836 and 1837 he repre- sented his county in the State Legislature. Mr. Under says of him that he was a fluent and inter- 4 General Minutes. 272 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. esting speaker. In 1838 ho was a candidate for Congress in opposition to Governor John Reynolds, and was defeated. He soon after removed to St. Louis, where he is still (1883) living. Whilst in the itinerancy he was an effective, useful, and pop- ular preacher. Of WILLIAM ECHOLS we know but little. From the journal of conference and General Minutes we learn that he was received on trial in 1827, ap- pointed to the Kaskaskia Circuit, and at the close of the year Avas discontinued at his own request. One who knew him well says, "He was a young man of a good deal of vivacity and a fair preacher. He was gentlemanly in his manners, and had been accustomed to good society." 5 JOHN KERNS is now (1883), and has been for the last ten years, a superannuate of the Minnesota Conference. After his year on Shoal Creek Circuit he traveled in Indiana until 1853, when he was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference, and in 1856 fell into the Minnesota Conference. He served several years in the presiding eldership, and has filled many of the most important circuits and stations in the conferences to which he has belonged. SMITH L. ROBINSON was born in the State of Kentucky, in 1806. His parents were Presby- terians. While he was a child they emigrated to Illinois, and settled in the neighborhood of Shaw- neetown. In his nineteenth year he was powerfully converted at a camp-meeting in Madison County, 2 Dr. John Logan. IK A AC SCARRITT. 273 at which Isaac S. House and Stith M. Otwell were also converted. His conversion is thus described by Rev. N. P. Heath : " He had been at the altar as a seeker of religion, and was apparently in great agony of mind. All at once he became perfectly calm, and remained in that condition for about an hour and a half, lying on his back and not moving a muscle. His eyes were closed, and he was seemingly unconscious. Suddenly he sprang to his feet, caught hold of a small tree, and sprang up it about ten feet, crying in a loud voice, ' Hello, Jesus!' Then he fell back in the altar, where he lay some time, ap- parently dead, and as cold as a corpse. Finally he sprang to his feet and praised God for pardoning mercy." He was received in the Illinois Confer- ence in 1826, and assigned to the Paoli Circuit, in Indiana. He then traveled in succession the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Sangamon, Galena, and Lebanon Cir- cuits. In 1833 he was agent for the newly estab- lished Lebanon Seminary. The next year he was in the Jacksonville Station, and at the close of the year was transferred to the Indiana Conference, and stationed at Terre Haute. At the session of 1836, being then sick, he was placed on the superannuated list, and died a few days after the close of the session. ISAAC SCARRITT was born in the State of Con- necticut, in 1775. After he reached the age of manhood, he was alone, engaged in his work, when there came upon him an overwhelming sense of sin and guilt before God. He knew nothing of con- version as- now taught and understood, but with a 274 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. depth of sorrow and anguish which almost crushed him, he dropped upon his knees, and immediately his sorrow was gone, and joy and peace filled his whole soul. His love to God was such as he could not express, and he praised him constantly as he went on with the work of the day whero he was then engaged. He was alone in the woods, and his business detained him there for several days. Dur- ing all this time he was happy, and praise to God was the abiding sentiment of his heart. He had heard a Baptist preacher several times, and although he could not recollect any thing by way of impres- sion made on his mind before this great change was wrought, yet now some things he had heard came to his remembrance, and he began to think this was the new heart he had heard about; and, feeling a love for the preacher he had never felt before, and for those who were members of his Church, he resolved to see and converse with the preacher, and, if worthy, to offer himself to the Church. But, after a walk of ten miles, he failed to meet him, and shortly after he met with Rev. E. R. Sabin, a Methodist preacher and presiding elder. He heard him preach, and the doctrine and spirit of the ser- mon were in such complete harmony with his views and feelings at the time, that he invited him to his father's house. They conversed together, and as a result which shortly followed, he united with the Methodist Church, and after a hasty preparation he accompanied him on his district, and under his instructions and by his advice began to preach the Gospel. He was received on trial in the New CIT A RA CTER IXTIC8. 275 England Conference, in 1807, and appointed to Needham, the next year to Durham, and in 1809 to Portsmouth. His health having failed, he located. In 1818 he removed to Edwardsville, Illinois, and nine years afterwards he was readmitted in the Illi- nois Conference, and appointed to Apple Creek. In 1828 he was appointed missionary to the Potta- wattomies, on Fox River; in 1829 he was sent to the Kaskaskia Circuit, and in 1830 to Fort Clark. At the close of the year he located and settled on the Dupage, in Will County. In 1860 he was re- admitted in the Rock River Conference and placed on the superannuated list; and, on the 15th of May following, at the residence of his son-in-law, at Joliet, he closed his life with unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, and a firm hope of a glorious immor- tality. He was courageous in difficulties, patient under suffering, strong in faith. He cheerfully per- formed every duty required of him to the full extent of his ability. He was sound in doctrine, pure in motive, and correct in life, and possessed the confi- dence of all who knew him/' Mr. Heath, who knew him well, says of him : " He was a real, live Yan- kee, sharp, far-seeing, and when he spoke it was evident that he had something to say. He was a strong and smooth preacher, easy in manner and forcible in style, very logical and convincing in argument, often completely overwhelming his oppo- nents, and yet using so keen a sword that they would hardly be conscious of the wound until they attempted to defend themselves, when they would 6 General Minutes. 276 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. discover that they were mortally wounded. He was particularly strong on the Calvinistic contro- versy." JOHN T. JOHNSON was received on trial in the Illinois Conference in 1826, and appointed to the Whitewater Circuit. In 1827 he was junior preacher on the Apple Creek Circuit with Isaac Scarritt, and the three following years he traveled in Indiana. In 1832 he fell into the Indiana Conference, in which he remained until 1836, when he located. Twelve years afterwards he was readmitted in the Illinois Conference, and traveled in succession Mc- Leansboro, Wabash, Palestine, and Lawrenceville Circuits. In 1852 he fell into the Southern Illinois Conference, and filled the Olney, Mt. Carmel, Ben- ton, Richview, Tamaroa, Spring Garden, and Hick- ory Hill Circuits until 1862, when he again located. He was readmitted in 1871, and appointed to Ram- sey, but at the close of the year was granted a su- perannuated relation, in which he still continues. He resides on his farm a few miles from Mt. Ver- non, Illinois. SAMUEL BOGART Avas received on trial in the conference this year, and appointed to Atlas Cir- cuit. In 1828 his appointment was Apple Creek, frorn^ which he had been recommended to the con- ference. The next year he was sent again to Atlas, and at the session of 1830 he received a location at his own request. " He was a man of fine appear- ance, six feet high and well proportioned, and of good address. He was rather illiterate, but was quite popular as a preacher. After he ceased trav- SAMUEL BOGART. 277 eling he settled at Rushville, and his house was for a time the preaching-place. He afterwards moved to Macomb, and during the Black Hawk War raised a battalion, whence he obtained the title of colonel. He subsequently moved to Missouri, where, having been set upon by ruffians he killed one of them in self-defense; but such was the combination against him that he fled to Texas, after which we have no account of him." 7 7 Dr.A. Dunlap. 278 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. ISK V. 1828. WABASH DISTRICT George Locke, P. E. VermilUon Henry Buell, Asahel L. Risley. Wabash William Mavity. Aft. Vernon John Fox. Mt. Carmd Aaron Wood. Cash River Thomas H. Files, Miles Huffaker. ILLINOIS DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. Illinois William Chambers. Ka-skaskia Smith L. Robinson, Asahel E. Phelps. Shoal Cretk- Samuel H. Thompson, William L. Deneen. Sangamon James McKean, John II. Benson. Peoria Jesse Walker, Hardin A. Tarkington. Apple Creek Samuel Bogart, J. French. Atlas Asa D. West. Galena John Dew. Pottawattomie Mission at Salem, Isaac Scarritt. THE Illinois Conference held its fifth session in the Masonic Hall, Madison, Indiana, begin- ning on Thursday, October 9, 1828, and continuing until Wednesday, the 15th. Bishop Roberts was the presiding officer, and Calvin "W. Ruter was sec- retary. Twenty-five members were present at the opening session. Twelve preachers were admitted on trial; viz., Asa Beek, John H. Benson, Charles Bonner, David Bruner, William L. Deneen, John E. French, Miles Huifaker, Asahel E. Phelps, Cornelius Ruddle, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS. 279 Hardin A. Tarkington, George W. Teas, John Van Clove. Asa D. West and William Chambers were re- admitted. Two located, Charles Slocumb and Thos. Randle. And three, John Hardy, William Echols, and Daniel Newton were discontinued, the two latter at their own request. None had died, and none were transferred to or from the conference. Six local deacons were elected to elder's orders : Thomas Silvey, John Mercer, George A. Colbert, Zadoc Casey, Anthony W. Casad, and John Burns. And fifteen local preachers were elected deacons: Samuel Barrett, James Lunaville, Philip Connor, Isaac N. Ellsbury, George Swartz, Henry Summers, Benjamin Davis, Jacob Swartz, Braxton Parrish, Richard Wheeler, John Dallihan, Robert Parritt, Little Page Proctor, David B. Carter, William Mills. Two of the preachers, William Shanks and James Garner, were, at their own request, left without ap- pointments. The conference received from the Book Concern $150, and from the Chartered Fund $90. A communication was received from a society denominated " The Female Domestic Missionary Society of Madison," accompanied with a donation of $6.46;f. The conference gave a vote of thanks to the society for " their laudable zeal in support of the Gospel," and appointed a committee of four to appropriate it to the most needy. 280 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Thomas Biggs, a local preacher, who had been expelled by the quarterly conference of Whitewater Circuit, appealed from their decision to the annual conference. The case was sent back for a new trial. The Pottawattoraie Mission, as usual, received attention from the conference. The superintendent presented a report, and a committee was appointed upon the mission, who also made a report, which was read and accepted, but the journal does not show what the report recommended, or whether the conference took any further action upon it. Indeed, the journal of this year is so brief as to show but little of the action of conference beyond the regu- lar minute business. " The book agent from Cincinnati made a verbal communication relative to the books on hand in the bounds of the conference." This item to one not acquainted with the former mode of operations by the Book Concern, would be unintelligible ; but to those who are aware that for some years books were deposited with the presiding elders, who were to supply the preachers and people, and that serious losses were incurred by the conference from this mode of doing business, the item will be plain enough. Upon the subject of a conference seminary the following action was had : The vacancy in the com- mittee appointed at the previous session, occasioned by the absence of Peter Cartwright, was filled by the appointment of Samuel H. Thompson. A me- morial with accompanying documents in his hands, LEBANON SEMINARY. 281 concerning a seminary at Lebanon, Illinois, was read and referred to a committee of three to con- sider and report on. They presented a report, which was read and accepted. Then the vote by which it was accepted was reconsidered, and it was resolved that the report be amended by striking out that portion of it which recommends the conference at its present session to appoint trustees to said semi- nary, and then the report was accepted. Then it was resolved that the conference unite in requesting the stockholders of the seminary at Lebanon 1 to meet as soon as convenient, and so alter and amend their constitution as to designate the number of trustees for said institution, and the manner of their appointment more definitely ; and the secretary was instructed to furnish the committee of the Illinois Circuit with a copy of the resolution of the confer- ence. We are thus particular in detailing the action of the conference, as this was the first literary insti- tution under the patronage of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in the great North-west Territory, and also because it was the beginning of an insti- tution (McKendree College) that lias done as much by its numerous graduates who have entered into political life, and by the many ministers it has edu- cated, to shape the policy of the State, and give character to the Church, as any institution in the State. Resolutions were adopted requiring each preacher 1 The seminary was already in operation. Its first teacher was a Miss MoMnrphy. Afterward Edward R. Ames was called to the principalship. 282 METHODISM IN ILLIXOIS. to use his best efforts to form a missionary society within his charge, to sustain the relation of a branch society to the conference society, and also to do what he could in the formation of Sunday-schools auxiliary to the Sunday-school Society of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. This session was held while the so-called Radi- cal controversy that resulted in the formation of the Methodist Protestant Church was raging. A num- ber of persons had been expelled from the Church in Cincinnati, Pittsburg, and elsewhere for agitating the question of lay representation and kindred top- ics. Many believed these expulsions unwise; some thought them illegal. While presiding at this session of the conference, Bishop Roberts was asked, " Whether the per- sons who composed the quarterly conference, after having sat on a trial below, could sit as jurors in the quarterly conference?" The bishop replied: " If the same persons were to try the case again, what would be the advantage of an appeal ? " The questioner then observed that the Discipline was in favor of it. The bishop said, " The Discipline gives them a seat in the conference, and though it does not say they should not act, yet delicacy and a sense of propriety would dictate that they should not act in such case." 2 The only change in the plan of the work this year was the establishment of the Galena Mission in the lead mining region in the north-western por- tion of the State. 2 Bassett's History of the M. P. Church. METHODIST PROTESTANTS. 283 Charles Holliday, having been elected book agent at Cincinnati, was succeeded on the Wabash District by George Locke ; and John Dew, who had been superintendent of and collector for the Indian Mis- sion the year before, was now sent to the newly formed Galena Mission. This year witnessed the first organization of the Methodist Protestant Church in Illinois. It took place in Morgan County, on the Sangamon Circuit, February 13, 1829. Two local elders, Reddick H. Home and James Sims, united in the movement with thirteen laymen. Mr. Home had been twice suspended for his views on Church polity. After his trial and deposition, he and those who sympa- thized with him as the victim of oppression with- drew from the Methodist Episcopal Church, and united with the new organization. Mr. Home after- wards became president of one of the conferences of that Church. But despite this agitation and secession, the year was one of great prosperity to the Church. There was an increase in the membership of 1,719, the whole number reported at the close of the year being 7,042 whites, and 64 colored. The largest increase was on the Vermillion Circuit, which, under the labors of Henry Bucll and A. L. Risley, gained 336 members. Shoal Creek gained 297 ; Kaskaskia, 208; Apple Creek, 184, and several others over 100 each. Illinois Circuit was the only charge reporting a decrease, and that of only one member. Amongst the many new preaching places estab- 284 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS lished this year was one on the Apple Creek Cir- cuit, four miles west of Winchester, at the house of JACOB BAKER, of whom honorable mention de- serves to be made. He was a native of Pennsyl- vania, born in 1791. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 under General Harrison, and saw the death of Tccumseh at the battle of the Thames. In 1820 he emigrated to Illinois; and in 1828, having mar- ried Elizabeth Slagel, he erected a log-cabin, and even before a floor was laid in it, offered it to the Church as a preaching place. For thirty years cir- cuit preaching continued to be held in his house, until a comfortable church, Rutledge Chapel, was erected in the neighborhood. He died in 1879. 3 The following appear as laborers in Illinois for the first time : GEORGE LOCKE was born at Cannonstown, Penn- sylvania, June 8, 1797. His grandfather and great- grandfather were clergymen of the Church of En- gland. When but an infant, his parents emigrated to Kentucky, settling first in Mason County, and afterwards at Shelbyville. His early school advan- tages were limited ; but his father had a good library, and in boyhood he acquired a great love of books, spending most of his leisure hours in reading. When about seventeen he was converted and united with the Church in a great revival that occurred in Shel- byville under the labors of a local preacher, Edward Talbot. In his twentieth year he received license to exhort, and was employed by the presiding elder, Marcus Lindsey, to travel a circuit. The next year, GEORGE LOCKE. 285 1818, he was received in the Tennessee Conference, traveling in it two years, and one in the Kentucky Conference, into which he had fallen at its forma- tion in 1820. At the conference of 1821, having married Miss Elizabeth B. McReyuolds, he located and settled in Shelbyville. The following year he was readmitted, and labored in the Kentucky Con- ference until 1825, when, on account of his dislike to slavery, with his brother-in-law, William Cham- bers, and Charles Holliday, he was transferred to the Illinois Conference. He traveled for three years on circuits in Indiana, and in 1828 was appointed to the W abash District, on which he remained four years. Here his labors and exposure were so severe as seriously to affect his health. His constitution, never strong, received a shock in the last year of his labors on the district from which he. never re- covered. " Some time in the Winter of 1831 and 1832, one of the severest Winters ever known in the West, Mr. Locke was returning home after an absence of several weeks. When he reached the Wabash River he found it gorged with ice. He and another traveler waited at the house of the ferryman three or four days for a change in the weather, or in the condition of the ice; but as no change came, and as they were impatient to proceed on their journey, they resolved on breaking a chan- nel through the ice for the ferry-boat. Accordingly, the next morning they addressed themselves to the work with all diligence, and at sunset found them- selves within a rod or two of the opposite shore. Mr. Locke was standing on the bow of the boat, 286 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. fatigued and tremulous, breaking the ice with a rail. Striking a piece of it with all the force he could command, it suddenly gave way, not making the resistance he had anticipated, and precipitated him into the river. As he rose and was just drifting under the ice, his companions rescued him. Though the shock was a fearful one, and he was not only thoroughly drenched, but thoroughly chilled also, he resolved to persevere in his work, and actually did persevere till the shore was reached. He then mounted his horse and rode ten miles to the next house, but when he reached there he was frozen to the saddle and speechless. The horse stopped of his own accord, and the family coming to the door and perceiving his condition, lifted him from his horse and cared for him very kindly, until after a day or two he was able to resume his journey."* Whilst on this district his pay was so meager as often barely to meet his traveling expenses, so that it became necessary for his wife to engage in teach- ing to support the family. In 1832, falling into the newly formed Indiana Conference, he was ap- pointed to the Corydon Circuit; but at the next session, his health having failed, he was granted a superannuated relation, and removed to New Al- bany, where, with his wife, he engaged in teaching. After a few months, however, he was compelled to yield to the disease which had fastened on him, consumption, and on July 15, 1834, he died in full prospect of heaven, crying with his last breath, " Glory, glory, glory !" Mr. Locke was a man of 4 Sprague's Annals. STYLE AND HABITS. 287 more than ordinary ability. He was a hard student during his whole life. "Amidst all his manifold and self-denying labors he never abated his habits of study. He redeemed time, not only for the. study of systematic theology, but for general reading. He acquired some knowledge of Greek -and Latin, and made considerable proficiency in the higher branches of mathematics. He continued his studies till a few weeks before his death, and had his books brought to him even after he was confined to his bed." During his entire ministry he was blessed with extensive revivals of religion. He was a superior preacher. His sermons were clear, forcible, and logical. He was well versed in all the doctrines of the Church, and was faithful and earnest in defend- ing them against opposers. He was a man of strong convictions and of remarkable firmness. He al- lowed nothing to turn him aside from what he be- lieved to be the path of duty. He was very decided in his opposition to slavery and to the use of tobacco. So strong was his opposition to the latter, that when in his last illness smoking was recommended to him as a means of relief, he utterly refused it, preferring to suffer rather than violate his convictions of right. His social qualities were fine ; he was a true Chris- tian gentleman. His piety was deep and ardent. So faithful was he in secret prayer that even in his journeys it was never neglected. Although travel- ing in company with others, when his hour for prayer arrived, he would dismount from his horse, and retiring into some secret place, would hold his accustomed communion with God. He is still re- 288 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. mernbered by some of the old settlers in the Wabash valley as one of the best of men, and one of the ablest of the preachers of his day. Of the early history of HENRY BUELL we know nothing. He was received on trial in 1826, and for two years assigned to appointments in Indiana. Whilst on the Vermillion Circuit this year, he was charged with improper conduct, and at the ensuing annual conference, " some objections being made to his moral character, he received a location at his own request, and the presiding elder of the district was instructed to withhold the certificate of his loca- tion until his case should be legally investigated." 4 ASAHEL, L. BJSI.EY was a native of Kentucky, born in Bullitt County, February 14, 1804. In 1825 he united with the Church as a seeker of re- ligion, and was soon after happily converted at a camp-meeting near Shelby ville. Two years after- wards, having removed to Indiana, he was licensed to preach, and united with the Illinois Conference in 1827. He traveled in succession the Vincennes, Vermillion, Brownsville, Sullivan, and Eugene Cir- cuits, the latter for two years, when, his health hav- ing failed, he was in 1833 granted a superannuated relation. The next year he was on the supernu- merary list, and in 1835 he was appointed to Alton. At the close of the year he located. The next year he was readmitted and assigned to Mt. Carmel, and the following year to Danville, at the close of which he again located. In 1842 he was readmitted and appointed to Bloomington ; for the two following * Illinois Conference Journal. WILLIAM MA VITY. 289 years he was at Pittsfield, and then for three years he presided over the Quincy District. In 1848 he was transferred to Rock Iliver Conference and ap- pointed to Chicago District, upon which he labored two years, when he was retransferred to the Illinois Conference and appointed agent for McKendrce College. The next year he fell into the Southern Illinois Conference, of which he remained a mem- ber till death. His appointments in it were Brigh- ton, Jerseyville, Jerseyville Circuit, Collinsville two years, Pocahontas, Trenton two years, Mas- coutah two years, and Centralia and Richview two years. In 1864 he was placed on the superannu- ated list, on which he remained until his death, August 24, 1874. " Brother Risley possessed a very amiable, loving spirit. He was a devoted lover of God and his Church. He was a good preacher, of sound doctrines, and exemplary practice in good works. He was kind to his family and beloved by his friends. Few men have traveled mote exten- sively, or labored more faithfully, and his memory is precious in numerous places. He was a good man who passed unspotted through this world." 5 WII,L,IAM MAVITY was born in Franklin County, Virginia, in the year 1780. In 1804 he removed to Tennessee, where he was converted four years after- wards, and the following year received license to preach. He labored as a local preacher in Tennes- see, Kentucky, and Indiana until 1827, when he was received as an itinerant in the Illinois Confer- ence. His first appointment was Booneville Cir- 5 General Minutes. 290 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. cuit. In 1828 he was sent to Wabash Circuit, and the next year to Rockville, where he labored two years. In 1831 he was appointed to Iroquois Cir- cuit. The following year he was on the superannu- ated list. From the conference of 1833 he was sent again to the Wabash Circuit, but died before completing the year, in August, 1834. "He labored with acceptance and usefulness as a minister of Christ. He lived a pious life, and died a happy death." 6 MILES HUFFAKER was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, in the year 1806. He was converted when nine years old, and licensed to preach when twenty-one. In 1828 he was received on trial in the Illinois Conference, and traveled in succession the Cash River, Mt. Vcrnon, and Shelbyville Cir- cuits in Illinois, and Frankfort, in Indiana. He then fell into the Indiana Conference, in which he traveled until 1844, Avhcn the conference was divi- ded ; and, with the exception of one year, in which he was local, he retained his connection with the North Indiana Conference until his death, July 27, 1852. " His abilities for preaching were but mod- erate, but he was a good man and a laborious min- ister. He was firmly attached to the doctrines and usages of Methodism. He was fully sustained in his last moments by the power of that Gospel he preached to others." 7 The name of ASAHEL E. PHELPS will be long remembered in the charges in which he labored. Though his itinerant career continued only for 6 General Minutes. 'General Minutes. A. E. PHELPS. 291 twenty-five years, he accomplished in it as much as many have done in a much longer period. Received on trial this year, he traveled successively the Kas- kaskia, Lebanon, Salt Creek, Sangamon, Alton, Car- rollton, Carlisle, and Pekin Circuits, the latter two years. In 1837 he was sent to Peoria Mission Sta- tion. Here, says Mr. Beggs, " he sustained him- self well. The court-house (in which he preached) was occupied by a Unitarian preacher as well as himself. One day the former, in preaching on the divinity of Christ, ran across the track of A. E. Phelps, and so he pitched into the Unitarian cham- pion, rough-shod, and so completely showed the fal- lacy of his doctrine that he had to leave, and A. E. Phelps had the house to himself. By this he rose fifty per cent in the estimation of his hearers. Here commenced his brilliant career as a successful cham- pion against Unitarianism, Universalism, Deism, and exclusive imrnersiouists, as practicing the only mode of baptism. I do not think any one of his antago- nists ever got the better of him. He excelled as a historian, and was truly an able defender of Meth- odism. He increased in usefulness till he was called from his labors to his long rest." In 1838 he was appointed to the Mt. Vcrnon District, which he traveled four years. Of his early experience on this district we give an item or two from a letter from Rev. J. H. Dickens, who was then traveling the Nashville Circuit : " My presiding elder, Brother Phelps, was a man of fine taste, not only as to all the proprieties of life, but in his person and dress he was always neat, trim, and cleanly. He went 292 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. with me to my first quarterly-meeting at the house of a Brother P. On arrival we found a little, black, round-poled eabin, twelve by sixteen, in two rooms, the front one for meeting, the other with two beds or bunks in it. The wind was high, and the front door closed, while the wooden chimney smoked ter- ribly. To get in at the back door with our saddle- bags, we had to press in sideways. The cabin was full of smoke, but the sister said, ( Sit down.' I obeyed, but the elder beat a retreat. Very soon I had to follow. I found him perched on the top of a huge pile of wood, surveying the scene. The sides of the cabin were mostly covered with deer- skins, 'coon skins, and all sorts of wild game skins. The top of it (it was a very low, one-story build- ing) was laden with horns and various bones of the animals whose hides covered the sides. When I spoke to the elder and told him it was about time for service, he, utterly discouraged at the prospect, asked me if we had not better go home. I cheered him as well as I could, and told him it would be better further on. A dozen or so of hearers were soon gathered, but the eleven o'clock service was enough for all in. the house. We concluded to hold the remaining services of the meeting in a log shed the brother had erected near the house. It had no floor, the sides were open, and it was late in the Fall, but this was the best we could do. With a pile of rough boards we covered about half the floor for the ladies, raising it more than two feet from the ground, and leaving the bare earth for the men. On Sunday night we had a time of power. DEBATE WITH MORMONS. 293 The mourners were invited to the board floor, and a number came. The space was so limited, and the male mourners so crowded, that some were lying rather across the others. Soon one of the men was converted. He was a very stout man and had been at the bottom of the pile. As he felt the power he sprang up and kicked at once. Two or three others were pushed ov.er the edge of the floor ; for a few moments arms and legs seemed to be flying in all directions, and the scene was so ludicrous that, de- spite the surroundings, there was general laughter. A number were converted, however, that night, and united with the Church. And, amid the general joy, in which the elder shared with the rest of us, the smoke, skins, and bones were all forgotten. It was a glorious quarterly-meeting. "In the Summer of 1839 three Mormon elders made a raid into the region south of the Nashville Circuit, and soon began their proselyting. Mr. Plu-lps, who was living at Mt. Vernon, heard of it, and sent a challenge to them to debate with him. Passing through Nashville, he would have me go with him. He debated with the three, one at a time, at a large, private house, until noon ; when the crowd becoming too great, they adjourned to a large barn in the neighborhood. The discussion continued during the afternoon until about five o'clock, when one of the Mormons, completely dis- comfited, broke down, and left the field. About an hour later, a second of the champions quit, nmid the derision of the crowd. The third was soon silenced, and as he started to run, Brother Phelps 294 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. kept hurling at him hot, blazing missiles, while the shouts and hootings of the crowd rent the air. The next morning a committee of the citizens waited on the Mormons, giving them three hours in which to leave the country. They left." Mr. Phelps's next appointment was Peoria Dis- trict, on which he labored two years, when, falling into the Rock River Conference, he was assigned to the Washington District, on which he also continued two years. Then for three years he was agent for Rock River Seminary. In 1849-50 he was in Ga- lena Station. In 1851 he was appointed to Rock Island District, on which he labored until his death, in 1853. WILLIAM L. DEXEEN was a native of Pennsyl- vania, born at Bedford, Mifflin County, October 30, 1798. He was converted at Charleston, Indiana, in 1827, under the ministry of Rev. George Locke, mentioned above. He was soon licensed to preach, and in 1828 united with the Illinois Conference. He received sixteen appointments; viz., Shoal Creek, Salt Creek, Lebanon three times, Kaskaskia, Browns- ville, Carlisle, Waterloo twice, Edwardsville, Belle- ville twice, Upper Alton, Alton, and Staunton. During the remainder of his connection with the conferences, at first the Illinois, and after 1852 the Southern Illinois, he was on the superannuated list. " For more than thirty years he lived in Lebanon, and all concede him to have been an honest, faith- ful, pure, and strictly conscientious man. As a preacher he was able, searching, and very instruc- tive. He loved all the doctrines of the Bible, and JAMES McKEAN. 295 for many years was a living witness to the cleans- ing power of the atoning blood of Christ. For near six months prior to his decease he was mostly confined to his room ; yet he never became impa- tient, nor did a repining word escape his lips. In visiting him his pastor always found him deeply interested in the advancement of every good and noble cause, but especially with regard to the wel- fare of our own Zion ; and in their last interview he stated that he had no fear, no anxiety, no cloud, and that no thought nor will of his conflicted with the will of his heavenly Father." 8 For many years of his superannuation he was surveyor or deputy- surveyor for the county, a position in which he had but fe\v equals and no superiors. It was while surveying that he took the cold that caused his last illness. He died July 1, 1879, in his eighty-first year. Of the parentage or birthplace of JAMES Mo KEAX we have no information. He was born in 1795, and converted in 1824. His conviction was deep and pungent, and his conversion clear and powerful. Having been licensed first to exhort and then to preach, he was received on trial in the Illi- nois Conference in 1827, and appointed to Paoli, Indiana. In 1828 he traveled the Sangamon Cir- cuit, and the next two years the Vermillion Circuit. Then he spent one year each on Mt. Carmel, "VVabash, Paris, and Embarrass River Circuits. In 1835 his name does not appear on the Minutes. In 183G he was sent to Buffalo Grove; the next year 8 General Minutes. 296 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. to Picatolica; in 1838 to Freeport, and in 1839 to Wai worth, Wisconsin. In 1840, falling into the newly formed Rock River Conference, he was ap- pointed to Troy, Wisconsin. During the next four years he was at Roscoe, Freeport, and Apple River, remaining on this charge two years. In 1845 he was superannuated. In 1846 and 1847 he was at Union Grove, in 1848 at Prophetstown, and at the close of the year was again placed on the superan- nuated list, on which he remained until his death at his own residence in Carroll County, Illinois, May, 28, 1856. " Brother McKean was not regarded as a great preacher, but he was a good preacher and useful wherever he went. He was faithful in attend- ing to his appointments; visited from house to house, held prayer-meetings, met his classes, and in- structed the children in every place. He was a most excellent pastor, and did all he could to get men converted to God and build up the Church. He was a devoted Christian, and so consistent that none doubted his piety or the purity of his motives. He was an affectionate, kind, and devoted husband. In the discharge of his duty as a father, he labored to bring up his children in the fear and favor of God. As a neighbor, he was peaceable, kind, and obliging in all his intercourse with society. He was emphatically given to hospitality. The preach- ers and their families were especially welcome to the best he had to give. None called who were not affectionately received ; none departed who did not carry away with him a deep impression that Chris- tianity ruled in that family. He, although super- JOHN H. BENSON. 297 animated, continued to preach as much as his health would allow in different neighborhoods in the coun- try around his residence, and always with accep- tance to those who heard him. His sickness, though severe, was endured with patience and Christian submission ; he often expressed confidence in a liv- ing Redeemer, and an entire trust in the sufficiency of his grace. A little before his death he took his wife by the hand, and in a most touching manner, alluded to their toils and travels in the vineyard of the Lord, through the frontiers of the West ; and then said, l This is our last interview, now we must part.' Calling for his children, he spoke to each in an appropriate manner, exhorting them all to devote their hearts and lives to God. Thus finishing his work, he fell asleep in Jesus." 9 JOHN H. BENSON was born in Boston, Massa- chusetts, August 10, 1797, and lived in that place and New York City until the age of twenty -three, when he came to the West. He embraced religion at the Union Grove Camp-meeting, near Lebanon, Illinois, in August, 1825, and united with the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. He was licensed to exhort and to preach in 1826. In 1828 he was admitted on trial in the traveling connection, and appointed to the Sangamon Circuit. In 1829 and 1830 he was at Mt. Vernon, in 1831 at Shoal Creek, in 1832 at Carlinville, and the next year he was sent the second time to Sangamon. His next appointment was Alton Circuit, In 1835 and 1836 he was at Lebanon, in 1837 in Upper and Middle Alton, and 9 General Minutes. 298 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. in 1838 at Lebanon again. The next year he was sent to Carlisle, in 1840 to Waterloo, and in 1841 to Edwardsville. His lust appointment was Green- ville, but his health, which had for some time been very poor, growing worse, he got round his circuit but once. On January 1, 1843, his affliction became very great (it was bronchitis), and on Sunday morning, February 5th, in great peace and composure, he fell asleep in Jesus. Brother Benson was a spare, slen- der man, of medium height, straight black hair, and a well-developed forehead. He was a dignified, Chris- tian gentleman, very urbane, and an able, impressive, and interesting preacher. " Enjoying the fullness of the blessing of Christ's life and death in himself, the great trait in his preaching was Christ crucified. To 'the cross all stained with hallowed blood/ he continually pointed his weeping congregations. His leading characteristic was a grave dignity. Though very social, he was never known to jest. He was very useful; he had many powerful revivals in dif- ferent portions of the fields assigned him, many souls were convicted and converted under his min- istry ; many wanderers were called back, many were stirred up to increased faith in the Lord." 1 " His frequent reappointment to the same charge, uncom- mon in those days, indicated his popularity, as well as his ability as a preacher. Of the fifteen appoint- ments he received, there were only three, exclusive of his last, to which he was not sent a second time, and on one, Lebanon, he labored three years. 10 General Minutes. JOHN E. FRENCH. 209 HARDIN A. TARKIXGTOX, received on trial this year, traveled in succession the Peoria, Rockville, and Logausport Circuits, and in 1831 received a location at his own request. When admitted to conference he was quite young, and had had but few advantages. JOHN E. FREXCH was an Englishman, born in Dorsetshire, September 29, 1805. In his thir- teenth year, with his parents he emigrated to Amer- ica, and settled in Cincinnati. While living there he was converted and united w r ith the Church. In 1828 he commenced his itinerant life in the Illinois Conference on the Apple Creek Circuit. His next appointment was Bloomington, to which he was ap- pointed again in 1833. In 1830 he was assigned to Vermillion, the next year to Brownsville, and the next to Jonesboro. In 1834 he was sent to Flat Branch, 1835 to Marion, the next year to Mt. Car- mel Circuit, and in 1837 to Eugene, on which he labored two years. At the conference of 1839 he was granted a superannuated relation, in which he remained until his death, February 2, 1841. He was a man of fine appearance, large and portly, and possessed of great energy. "Brother French, as a preacher, did not excel, unless it was in usefulness. His talents were of the ordinary class, his literary attainments but moderate ; but such was his deep piety, that in usefulness he excelled most of the brethren of his age." 11 11 General Minutes. 300 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. vi. 1829. WABASH DISTRICT George Locke, P. E. Vermillion James McKean. v Paris Robert Deltip, John Decker. Wabask John Fox, Alfred Arrington. Ml. Carmel John Miller, A. F. Thompson. KASKASKIA DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E. Kaskaskia Isaac Scarritt. , Brownsville Asahel Risley, Orceneth Fisher. . Jonesboro Samuel C. Cooper. . Golconda Thomas H. Files. Ml. Vernon John H. Benson, Miles Huffaker. Shoal Creek William Chambers, Wilson Pitner. . Shelbyville --Lorenzo Edwards. SANGAMON DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. - Lebanon John Dew, Asahel E. Phelps. Apple Creek James Bankson. Atlas Samuel Bogart. - Spoon RiverAsa D. West. Sangamon Smith L. Robinson, David B. Carter. . Salt Creek William L. Deneen. Peoria James Latta. Fox River Mission Jesse Walker. Galena Mission Benjamin C. Stephenson. THE session of 1829 was held at Edwardsville, Illinois, Bishop Soule presiding, and Calvin "W. R uter being elected secretary. It commenced on Friday, September 18th, and closed on the even- ing of the following Friday. At the first calling CONFERENCE SESSION. 301 of the roll, twenty-eight responded to their names. As usual, a camp-meeting was held in connection with the conference, at which about one hundred and eighty souls were converted. Thirteen preachers were received on trial, viz.: Richard S. Robinson, Boyd Phelps, Lorenzo D. Smith, Anthony F. Thompson, Wilson Pitner, Al- fred Arrington, James Latta, John Decker, David B. Carter, Isaac N. Ellsbury, George West, Samuel Brenton, Lorenzo Edwards. Cornelius Ruddle and David Bruner were dis- continued at their own request. Abner H. Cheever was discontinued in consequence of inability, from affliction, to perform the duties of a preacher, and Constant B. Jones on account of some objections that were made. James Garner, Henry Buell, Samuel Lowe, and Isaac S. House were at their own request granted a location. Jesse Haile and James Bankson were transferred from the Missouri Conference to this; and also Amos Sparks and Wesley Wood, who had just been received on probation in the Ohio Conference. William Grain, John Hogan, Robert H. Jordan, and George W. Teas were transferred from this to the Missouri Conference. The following local preachers were elected to deacon's orders : Enoch Moore, Henry Davidson, Clarke Banning, James Bristoe, William Johnson, Thomas Depoysture, Joseph Curtis, Thomas Cotting- ham, Charles Robinson, John Arrington, Francis A. Brown, John Byrnes, Joseph Springer, Benja- 302 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. min Blackstone, Jacob Lopp, Ebenezcr Patrick, Reuben Claypool, Jonathan Shaw, James McLane, John C. Archer. And the following local deacons were elected elders.: John Kirkpatrick, James Stringfield, Par- ham Handle, William Planter, Moses Osbnrn, Law- rence Killibrew, Thomas Upjohn, John W. Jones, David Gunn. A draft was ordered on the Book Concern for $150, and on the Chartered Fund for $90. A proposition made on the first day that the con- ference sit with open doors was rejected. A resolution was adopted that in the examination of character it shall be inquired concerning each presiding elder, " Has he uniformly held love-feasts at his quarterly meetings?" and concerning each traveling preacher, " Has he uniformly attended his appointments and met the classes?" Upon the conference seminary the following ac- tion was had : A committee of three was appointed to meet and confer with a committee appointed by the Missouri Conference at its last session (and who were announced by the president to be in waiting), on the subject of a conference seminary, with in- structions to report as soon as convenient to the conference. John Dew, John Strange, and Peter Cartwright were the committee. The committee appointed at the last session to take into consideration the subject of a conference seminary, and report to this conference, were dis- charged from the performance of any further duties on that subject, they having made no report. CONFER EXCE SEM1NA RY. 303 The joint committee of the two conferences pre- sented the following report: "That in the opinion of the committee, the members and friends of the Methodist Episcopal Church within the bounds of the two conferences are sufficiently numerous and wealthy to establish a literary institution that would do honor to any country. We have but to enlist the hearty co-operation of the members and friends of our Church herein. Your committee doubt not for a moment the practicability of establishing a seminary of learning that shall not only vie with, but excel, any now in operation west of the Wabash River. Your committee, therefore, respectfully sub- mit to your consideration the following preamble and resolutions : "Whereas the Missouri Annual Conference at its last session did appoint a committee to confer with this conference on the subject of a seminary of learning, and did fully authorize said committee to agree upon a union between that conference and this, if in the opinion of this conference it be ad- visable, and to do all other matters and things on behalf of said Missouri Conference in relation to a joint seminary of learning: "Resolved, Therefore, that the Illinois Conference do approve of a union, and by and with the con- sent of the Missouri Annual Conference, through their committee now present, do unite both confer- ences for the purpose of establishing a seminary of learning under the patronage of the Methodist Epis- copal Church." This was adopted, and the committee was then 304 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. instructed to locate the site for said seminary, and do all things necessary for the accomplishment of the object contemplated in said report, and report as soon as convenient to the conference. The president informed the conference that he had received a communication from certain citizens at Mt. Carmel on the subject of the conference sem- inary site. It was placed in the hands of the com- mittee. The joint committee presented this further re- port : " Your committee have had under consideration the subject of locating the contemplated seminary, and have not come to any thing definite on that subject; but your committee have agreed to report the following places as suitable sites for said loca- tion : Lebanon, in St. Glair County in this State, and Mount Salubria, one mile west of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri. " Your committee submit the following articles of confederation, as a compact between the two con- ferences, and recommend their adoption : " ARTICLES Of Con federation and Agreement bet-ween the Illinois and Missouri Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the Purpose of establishing a Joint Seminar;/ of Learning for both Conferences, made and entered into at Edwardsrille, September 23, 1829, by the Illinois Conference on its own Part, and by Alexander McAllister, Andrew Monroe, and Jesse Green, Delegates empowered to act on the Part of the Missouri Conference. "ARTICLE 1. There shall be by the conferences aforesaid a seminary of learning located and estab- ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT. 305 lished at , under the following regulations and restrictions : "ARTICLE 2. The Illinois and Missouri Annual Conferences shall have equal claim to all the rights, privileges, and immunities belonging to, or growing out of, said seminary of learning. "ARTICLE 3. It shall be the duty of said confer- ences respectively at each annual session to appoint a committee of ways and means to adopt such meas- ures as to them may seem necessary to raise funds to carry into effect the designs of this confederation. And all moneys or other means collected for the above purpose shall be subject to the order of the board of managers or trustees, as the case may be, who may be appointed to superintend said institution. "ARTICLE 4. Each conference shall annually elect trustees, who shall constitute a board, who shall have authority to receive conveyances of all real estate, and superintend said seminary, trans- act its business, make all necessary rules and regu- lations for their own government and for the gov- ernment of the institution; to fill vacancies that may occur in their body during the year; appoint their own secretary and treasurer, and do all other matters and things pertaining to the management of said institution. Provided nothing be done which shall in any wise infringe the articles of this confederation. "ARTICLE 5. Any of the foregoing articles of this confederation may be altered, amended, or re- scinded upon the concurrent majority of each of these conferences agreeing thereto." 26 306 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. The conference then proceeded to fill by ballot the blank in the first article of the confederation, and on counting the votes it was found that Mount Salubria, Missouri, had a majority, and the blank was filled accordingly. The next day the conference proceeded to fill the blanks in the remaining articles of confedera- tion as contained in the report of the joint com- mittee of Missouri and Illinois Conferences on the subject of a conference seminary, and proceeded to adopt the several articles separately. But on the question of adopting the report as a whole, after some discussion, the question was decided in the negative, and the report and articles were not adopted. The vote by which the first report of 'the committee was adopted was then reconsidered and the report was rejected. The explanation of this strange action is given by Dr. Aaron Wood in a letter to the writer. It was supposed at first that but two sites would be presented for the proposed seminary, Mt. Carmel and Lebanon. The Indiana preachers desired the school to be located at Mt. Carmel, and would have co-operated heartily in its establishment and sup- port. But the leading Illinois preachers were pledged to Lebanon as the location. And in order to secure it, and thus defeat the wishes of the Indi- ana preachers, they invited the aid of the Missouri Conference, who would be willing, they of course supposed, to come over the line so short a distance as to Lebanon. But to their surprise, when the commissioners from Missouri came, they presented INDIAN MISSION CLOSED. 307 St. Louis as the site, or rather Mt. Salubria, as it was termed, the property now held by the Roman Catholics for their university. When the vote was taken the Indiana preachers, to show their appre- ciation of the ignoring of Mt. Carniel by the com- mittee, united with the Missouri Conference, and left the friends of Lebanon in the minority. "In- diana would have united at Mt. Carmel, but the leading Illinois men were committed to Lebanon, and wanted to draw us all there, and brought over Missouri to checkmate Indiana, and lost both." ' This of course caused great excitement among the friends of Lebanon. Peter Cartwright declared he would rather send his children to a Calvinistic school than to one in a slave State. And when the final vote was taken the Illinois men succeeded in rejecting the whole arrangement, and leaving open for future settlement the question of a conference school. The Pottawattomie Mission was closed at this conference, as the following resolution shows: Resolved, That, whereas the Pottawattomie In- dians have disposed of t"heir lands where the mission Avas located, it is inexpedient longer to continue a mission among the Pottawattomie Indians, and the same is hereby discontinued. A committee was appointed to audit the accounts of Brother Scarritt, the missionary to them ; and another committee to take into consideration the claims of Jesse Walker to certain property at the missionary station. ~Dr7A. Wood. 308 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. The former committee reported, after examining the accounts, that there was a balance in their hands of one hundred and forty-six dollars, which was ordered to be placed in the hands of the treasurer of the Illinois Missionary Society. Brother Scar- ritt was also instructed to furnish a list of the prop- erty at the Pottawattomie Mission to the missionary -who may be appointed to the Fox River Mission, and that said missionary, together with the presiding elder of the district to which said mission shall be attached, take charge of said property and dispose of the same according to their best judgment for the use of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and report to the next session of this conference. The committee on the claim of Jesse Walker reported him to be justly entitled to the mill, smith- tools, wagon, and remnant of hogs, if any, which he claimed, and that these articles Avere purchased with his own funds. The mission to the Indians having been closed, the conference turned its attention to missions among the rapidly extending, but poor, white settlements in the northern portion of their territory, and three new missions were established, two in Illinois and one in Indiana, and a committee appointed to meet the superintendent to estimate the amount necessary to support these missions. For the Galena Mission, embracing the mining district on and near Fever River, on the Upper Mississippi, and which was attached to the Illinois District, one hundred dollars was appropriated. PAPERS PRESENTED. 309 For the Fox River Mission, which was to com- mence at Sandy Creek settlement, on the Illinois River, and, extending up the river, to include the Vermillion and Fox River settlements, and all the settlements up said river to Chiuaugo, on the Lake Michigan, two hundred dollars was appropriated. And for the Logansport Mission in Indiana, in- cluding the country north and west of Crawfords- ville Circuit, and north of the Vermillion Circuit, on the Wabash River, fifty dollars. The presiding elders, in conjunction with the preachers, were requested to use their utmost exer- tions to organize one or more branch missionary societies in each circuit and station in this con- ference. Various documents were presented to the con- ference from private individuals, or local preachers, the nature of which is not specified in the journal, though in some cases we can infer their character. A document was presented from Benjamin Watt, an expelled local preacher, which was considered by the conference, and it was ordered that he be allowed a new trial before the quarterly conference of which he was a member, and the document was returned to him. Two documents were presented to the conference, one from Alexander Colbert and another from Henry Allen, which they were allowed to withdraw. Another paper, presented to the conference by Pierce Holley, was ordered to be returned to him. At the last session of the body the secretary was requested to insert, at the close of the minutes trans- 310 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. mitted to the publishers of the Christian Advocate and Journal and Zion's Herald for publication, " an ac- count of the good feeling that has existed among the members while in session, the profitable camp- meeting held during conference, and the amount of the conference collection, together with the amount of missionary funds raised on the occasion." Numerous changes were made this year in the plan of the work. The south-western portion of the Wabash and the southern portion of the Illinois District were formed into a new district, the Kas- kaskia, and the name of the Illinois District was changed to Sangamon. The Vermillion Circuit was divided, the Paris Circuit being formed from the southern part of it. The old Cash River Circuit disappears, and the Brownsville, Jonesboro, and Golconda Circuits appear in the place of it. The name of the Illinois Circuit was changed to Leba- non. The Shoal . Creek Circuit was divided, the north-eastern part of it being formed into the Shel- byvillc Circuit. Sangamon Circuit was divided, and the northern part styled Salt Creek. A new circuit, the Spoon River, was formed west of the Illinois River, from parts of Pcoria and Atlas Cir- cuits. And, as stated above, the Pottawattomic In- dian Mission disappears, and in its place appears the Fox River Mission to the white settlers. Under the changes that were made, the work continued to prosper, not only in the older settle- ments, but by the formation of new societies in the newly established settlements. During this year the first society was formed in Dewitt County by JOHN A. DECKER. 311 W. L. Deneen, who was traveling the Salt Creek Circuit. The class was organi/ed in the house of Judge William Lowry, a mile and a half cast of the present town of Kenney, and consisted of nineteen members. Some years afterwards the circuit preach- ing was removed to the house of Joseph Howard, in which it continued for eighteen years, and until the erection of a church. The increase in the membership in Illinois this year was 1,258, and the entire membership was 8,233 whites, and 131 colored. The only appointment of JOHN A. DECKER in Illinois was his first, the Paris Circuit. After this he traveled two years in Indiana, and then located. In 1840 he was readmitted in the Indiana Confer- ence, received three appointments, one of them as supernumerary, and was then placed on the superan- nuated list. Pie was born in West Tennessee, May 19, 1808. When but a child he moved with his parents to Harrison County, Indiana, and at the age of eighteen, through the instrumentality of Rev. George Locke, was brought to the knowedge of sal- vation. He was licensed to preach in the Fall of 1828, and the next year united with the conference. He " was a man of feeble constitution, but possessed a vigorous mind. His attainments in theology, and especially in Bible knowledge, were very respecta- ble. As a Christian minister his deportment Avas dignified and commanding, and a vein of unmixed piety ran through his whole course of conduct. His public ministrations were always rich in instruction, and we doubt not but many will rise up in eternity 312 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. and call him blessed. In the Summer before he died, he suffered an attack of hemorrhage from the lungs. From this time he declined rapidly, and on the 25th of October, 1843, after commending his wife and children to Almighty God, he departed this life, triumphing in the grace of that Gospel which he had preached to others." 2 It is probable that the Illinois Conference never received a more brilliant man than ALFRED W. ARRINGTOX, who was this year assigned to the Wabash Circuit, with John Fox as his colleague. His next appointment was Lawrenceburg, Indiana, with John \V. McReynolds as his senior. Here "he at once took high rank among the ministers and people of that section as a young man of no ordi- nary attainments in knowledge and in powers of eloquence ; but no one dreamed till towards the middle of the year of the hidden powers that lurked within him. At a protracted meeting in a village near Lawrenceburg his powers as a revivalist began to develop themselves, and by his wonderful elo- quence and zeal for the conversion of the people, he swept the entire neighborhood, embracing a class of men who were generally supposed to be abso- lutely beyond the power of the Gospel. These he swayed with the ease of a giant playing with a child." 3 In 1831 he was appointed to Vevay as junior preacher under John T. Johnson. At the close of the year he was transferred to the Missouri Conference, and in 1833 was sent to Boonslick Cir- cuit. At the next session of conference he was ex- z Generai Minutes. 3 Early Methodism in Indiana. A. W. ARRINGTON. 313 pelled from the Church. Rev. J. C. Smith thus describes him as he preached at a camp-meeting near Greensburg, Indiana, in 1831. "A young man, tall and magisterial in appear- ance, with broad shoulders, large head, massive fore- head, large gray eyes, dull and inexpressive while at rest, but rolling like balls of liquid fire when ex- cited in public harangue, with light hair bordering on the blonde, carelessly though rather genteelly dressed, calm, sober, and decorous in behavior, stepped upon the stand filled with ministers, old and young. After a moment's pause he rose and read the opening hymn, beginning ' Father, how wide thy glories shine, how high thy wonders rise.' The reading of the hymn was done in easy, grace- ful style, every word and sentence properly empha- sized, and the true poetic meaning and force brought out. His prayer was in keeping with the hymn, solemn, reverent, comprehensive ; no rant, no false adulations of the Deity, no semblance of a devotion he did not feel, no affectation of learning, or attempt to inform God of things he knew not of before. It was prayer, confession, contrition, and earnest peti- tion. The prayer ended, he soon announced his text. It related to the wisdom and power of God in creation, and his goodness in redemption. The sermon was a close, profound, masterly argument, a priori and a posteriori, to prove the existence, the power, the omnipresence, and omniscience of God, and his goodness in redemption. The whole empire of learning and thought seemed to lie at his feet. At will he gathered resources from the kingdom of 27 814 METHODISM JN ILLINOIS. matter and mind, from the ocean, from the clouds, from the firmament above and the earth beneath. He seemed as familiar with the whole planetary world as you are with your flower garden. He strayed with ease along the milky way as a famil- iar path often trod, and seemed at home in the re- motest regions of space, where even angels stand abashed. Never was language more chaste, classic, and elegant, or argument more logical and conclu- sive, than those employed in that sermon. But what of the effect on the audience? That was the proper exponent of the merit of the sermon and the orator. The effect was his highest eulogium. Dur- ing the delivery of the discourse there was no loud shouting, no boisterous applause, no sleeping, no walking about or whispering one with another; every eye was fixed on the speaker, and every ear and every thought was chained in rapt and mute attention. The sermon occupied one hour and three- quarters, and at its close most of the audience were standing upon their feet leaning forward, eagerly gasping for more. The young orator retired directly from the stand to the preachers' tent, and, as if ut- terly indifferent to praise or censure, fell into a pro- found sleep." After his expulsion from the Church, he engaged in the practice of law, first in Arkansas, and after- wards in Chicago, Illinois, where he was transferred from the bar to the bench. He was an able judge, and as an eloquent and powerful pleader he had no superior. He united with the Roman Catholic Church, and died in 1867. WILSON PITNER. 315 ANTHONY F. THOMPSON was a native of Ken- tucky, born September 2, 1806. In his twelfth year he was eonvertecl and united with the Church. After laboring some years as a local preacher, he was received into the conference in 1829 and ap- pointed to Mt. Curmel. His next appointment was Brownsville. In 1831 he was sent to Corydon, In- diana, and falling into the Indiana Conference, was appointed the next year to Terre Haute Circuit. Here he labored only about three months, when he was stricken by paralysis and forced to abandon the "work. He lingered until the next Spring, and died in peace May 19, 1833. "He was regarded as a more talented man than his brother, Samuel II. Thompson, and more brilliant in the pulpit." 4 If Alfred W. Arrington was the most eloquent man ever received in the Illinois Conference, WIL- SON PITNER was certainly the most eccentric. He was born on Cedar Creek, Wilson County, Tennes- see, in the Spring of 1806. He had six brothers and five sisters, who with his parents afterward be- came members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. But at the time of his conversion, which occurred when he was about sixteen, his parents were irre- ligious, and much opposed to the noisy religion of the Methodists, through whose instrumentality he was led to the Savior. Soon after his conversion he joined the Church ; but so ignorant was he that he thought every one uniting with it had to pay quarterage, which he understood to be a quarter of a dollar; and so, when he went forward to give his 4 Rev. N. P. Heath. 316 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. hand to the preacher, imagining, perhaps, that he might not be regarded as suitable for admission, he cried out with confidence, " I Ve got the money I" At a Bible meeting in Belleville, in 1848, he related this of himself: " Soon after I joined the Church I felt that I must have a Bible. I had never owned one, but I could read, and was determined to have, a Bible of my own. Father had given me a little piece of ground to work for myself. I put it in cotton ; and when it was gathered I took it to Nashville and sold it, and with the money I received I bought a Bible. I was so delighted I could hardly contain myself. I put it in my bosom and hurried home as fast as I could to get an opportunity to read it. But I could not resist the temptation of taking it out of my bosom and smelling of it, and it seemed to me that it smelt of the Holy Ghost." Whilst yet a youth, one night, after he had re- tired, like Samuel, he heard a voice calling to him, " Wilson, Wilson !" He got up and searched the room to find out where the voice came from, but could find nothing. After a while he got courage to speak, when the voice said to him, " Go, preach my Gospel." But he felt that he could not preach. He had but the rudiments of an education. His father had threatened him severely, commanding him to desist from his prayers and songs of praise. But the Spirit of God wrought powerfully upon him, and impelled him not only to attend the meet- ings himself, but to hold meetings at which not a few were awakened and converted. LUDICROUS INCIDENT. 317 While thus hesitating about preaching, he felt moved to pray in his father's family, but he was afraid to ask permission. So, late one evening he retired a little distance from the house to pray, and while there wrestling with the angel of the cove- nant, both the parents were powerfully convinced of sin, and sent for him to come to the house and pray for them. As he received this message he was so overcome that he felt himself unworthy to walk to the house, but falling on the ground, he rolled nearly all the way. With two of his sisters, who had by this time found the Savior, he labored with the old folks till a late hour, when both were hap- pily converted to God. In 1829, having received license to preach, he was received on trial in the Illinois Conference and appointed to Shoal Creek Circuit as junior preacher with William Chambers. He did considerable good, but his unlettered mind, his peculiar and awkward deportment, his impulsive and erratic mode of speech, and his very singular illustrations in the pulpit, while taking finely with some, were strongly objected to by others as unbecoming in a minister of the Gospel, and the result was that at the next ses- sion of the conference he was discontinued. He had some ludicrous adventures this year, to one or two of which it may not be amiss to refer. The following was related by himself to the writer as they were returning together from conference at Nashville in 1844, and passing very near the place where the circumstance occurred. He heard that a little town had sprung up in the Okaw timber in 318 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. which the Gospel had never been preached. Greatly desirous of being a pioneer preacher to some, he accordingly sent them an appointment. When he reached the place he found the whole population assembled in a little log school-house, and preached to them as best he could. After the sermon he be- gan singing (he was a good singer), and, as was common in those days, he thought he would go through the congregation and shake hands with the people. It happened that the first person to whom he offered his hand was a Connecticut dancing mas- ter who had recently come to the place and started a dancing school, and who, by the people, was looked on as the very pink of politeness. Now, the dancing master had never seen any such thing as this Western hand-shaking in meeting, and so, when the preacher offered his hand, thinking that it was a friendly way of taking his leave of the congregation, he rose, and with a polite bow, took his hand and said, " Good-bye, sir." This was al- most too much for the preacher's gravity. He had to keep on singing to avoid bursting out in laugh- ter. The next one he approached was a raw native, who took it for granted that the dancing master's move was the latest fashion, and so he jumped up, and with an awkward bow, cried, "Good-bye, sir." By this time the preacher was almost upset, and it was only by persisting in singing, at the top of his voice that he kept from screaming with laughter. But he thought it would not do to stop then, and so he went on through the male portion of the con- gregation, every one, however, imitating the exam- ANECDOTE. 319 pie of the dancing master. As soon as he had re- ceived the " good-bye, sir/' of the last one, he seized his hat and saddle-bags, and without dismissing the congregation, left the house, hastily mounted his horse and rode away, convulsed with laughter, and never had the courage to visit them again. The following is related by his brother-in-law, Rev. J. H. Dickens: "It was during this year he was called on by his presiding elder, S. H. Thompson, to exhort at a camp-meeting, held below Carlisle, in a sassafras grove. The meeting had been a drag, and so Pitner was put up as a kind of forlorn hope, to exhort and move the masses, as he often did. He pulled string after string, but there was no move. At last he undertook to tell sinners how strong the Lord was with whom they were trifling; as a climax he said, ' I would n't be surprised if God Almighty would come down in a thundergust of woodpeckers and sweep all these sassafras bushes and sinners down to hell together,' and just then he grasped one of the saplings and shook it, when down fell the top of it, for it was dead, upon the people in the altar. The effect was fearful. The people thought they were going down. The women screamed ter- ribly. But in. a little while the reaction came, the excitement was felt to be any thing but religious, and the meeting closed without a mourner. Wil- son's mortification was indescribable. He felt that he had been led into over-acting, and heartily ashamed, he got away as soon as he could." At the instance of his friends he concluded he would go to school for a while and acquire an edu- 320 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. cation that he might be better fitted for the work of the ministry. He accordingly attended Illinois College at Jacksonville, with his talented cousin, Peter R. Borcin; but after remaining six months, he could not be persuaded to continue longer. And when asked the reason, he replied, " It will be lost time and money, for my head is chock-full of learn- ing, and as fast as I get a new idea in my head, it crowds out an old one." He felt, too, as he told the writer, that it was wicked for him to stay there in college, when souls Avere perishing all about him whom he might direct to Christ. Leaving the school then, he was employed by the presiding elder on the Athens Circuit for the remainder of the year, and in 1832 he was again received on trial in the conference, and appointed to Carrollton Circuit, with John Van Cleve as his senior. For the two follow- ing years he was alone on the Pittsfield Circuit. In 1835 he was sent to Rushville, but traveled the circuit only part of the year, being removed by his presiding elder to the Black Hawk purchase in Iowa, Dr. John P. Richmond being employed for the remainder of the year. In 1836 his appoint- ment was Canton; 1837, Buckhart; 1838, Canton again; 1839, Vermillion; 1840, Mercer Mission; 1841, Pcoria Circuit; 1842, Carthage; 1843, Ran- dolph; 1844 and 1845, Jacksonville Circuit; 1846, Urbana; 1847, Charleston. In 1848, at the resus- citation of the Missouri Conference, he was trans- ferred to it, and appointed to the St. Louis County Mission, in which he labored two years. In 1850 he was re-transferred to the Illinois Conference and CHARA CTER1ST1CS. 321 appointed to Ewington, and the next year to Mt. Pulaski. At the close of the year he located and soon afterwards removed to California. In 1859 he was readmitted in the California Conference, traveled in succession the Colusi, Cosumnes, and Michigan Bar charges, and in 1862 again located. He afterwards removed to Washington Territory,* where he closed his labors and sufferings in Feb- ruary, 1880. Mr. Pitner was, probably, less influenced by artificial rules than any one who ever traveled in Illinois. In all his actions and addresses he was a perfect child of nature. He looked at things as no other man did ; and whatever thought came into his mind, no matter how odd or incongruous or foreign to the occasion or subject, would be very likely to find utterance. He was preaching once to a large audience, and with much freedom, when he sud- denly stopped and quaintly remarked, " Brethren, I had a good idea, but somehow it's gone. We'll sit down and sing a verse or two, and it will come back again." So he sat down, started a familiar hymn, and in a few moments sprang up, crying, " I told you it would come back, I have it now," and went on with his sermon as though nothing had happened. Of course his hearers were greatly amused, but on the whole the effect was good. He was so constituted that he could not preach at all if there happened to be any thing very strange or novel before him. " I was present once," says Mr. Dickens, " when he preached in his brother's house. There was hanging just before him a new-fashioned 322 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. pin-cushion. His eye fell upon it as he was preach- ing. He tried for a few moments to preach while attempting to make out what it was, when he sud- denly stopped, and asked what sort of a thing it was, saying that he had never seen such a droll thing in his life. At his request it was removed, *and then he proceeded with his sermon with a good degree of liberty ; but it was not easy for the amused hearers to bring back their feeling to a de- votional frame again." On another occasion, while preaching at a prir vate house, after he had commenced his sermon, he espied on the opposite side of the room a very oddly constructed spinning-wheel. For a little while he tried to divert his mind from it, but the more he tried the more confused he became, until at length he suddenly paused in his sermon, and ad- dressing the man of the house, said, " Brother, I wish you would take that wheel away. I never saw such an ugly looking thing before. I could make a better wheel than that myself." So, amid the laughter that such a ludicrous remark would produce, the brother removed the wheel from the house, and the preacher resumed his sermon. While preaching in a country school-house by the side of a public road on the Jacksonville Cir- cuit, one warm Summer afternoon, he was much annoyed by the antics of a little dog just in front of the desk behind which he stood. Still preach- ing, he stepped from behind the desk, seized the dog by the back of his neck, deliberately walked to the open door and threw the little beast as far into ECCENTRICITIES. 323 the road as he could, and deliberately marched back to the desk, preaching all the time as hard as he I could, as though his act was nothing out of the [ way. The congregation had been a little drowsy before, but that act thoroughly aroused them, and if no spiritual good was accomplished, he certainly had the wakeful attention of those present during the rest of the service. At another time, while exhorting after a sermon preached by G. W. Robbins, in a grove, in the midst of his exhortation he happened to look up, and saw on one of the trees before him a limb with a peculiar crook in it. He suddenly stopped in his exhortation, and said, " That limb would make a first rate saddle-tree." Of course none, sought religion as the effect of that exhortation. He was a great hunter, and in some of his early charges drew no small portion of his support from his fishing and trapping. He was particularly expert in finding bee-trees and securing the honey lodged in them. Once at a camp-meeting in Ful- ton County, he was put up to exhort, and, if pos- sible, arouse the people, who seemed quite indif- ferent to their spiritual interests. While exhorting at the top of his voice, he suddenly paused, and, pointing in a certain direction, cried out, "There went a bee \" There were no seekers of religion at that exhortation. Once, while immersing a person in one of the streams in the military tract, just as he was about to plunge him under the water, and had commenced the formula, "I baptize thce," his eye caught sight of a bee ; he paused for a little 324 ME THODIHM IN IL L IN 018. while, until he had got the exact direction in which the bee was flying, and then completed the cere- mony. And as soon as possible after he came from the water he started in search of the bee-tree. In the central portion of Illinois there is a weed vulgarly called cuckle-burr, that is a great annoy- ance in the fields and gardens. One Sabbath af- ternoon, in the .Summer of 1845, the writer had preached, and called on Brother Pitner to pray at the close of the sermon. It seems that there was something in it with which he was pleased, and with more than ordinary fervor he prayed, " O Lord, bless the sermon we have just heard, bless it might- ily; make it the means of doing great harm to the devil's kingdom ; O Lord, make it like cuckle-burrs in the devil's garden." But despite these eccentricities, he was a deeply devoted and conscientious Christian. Perhaps no member of the conference was more faithful and regular in his private and family devotions than he; for he firmly believed that if he neglected these duties God would send some great calamity upon him. Though illiterate, in the ordinary sense of the term, for it is said that he declared he had never read but three books in his life, the Bible, the Hymn-book, and the Discipline, his close and constant study of the Scriptures had given him a wonderful command of language, and sometimes when preaching, and more frequently in exhorta- tion, his language would not only be grammatically correct, but the most appropriate words would spring forth to express his ideas, and thoughts the STYLE OF PREACHING. 325 most sublime would roll from him in measured ca- dence like the grandest blank verse, reaching the souls of the most cultivated as well as the most illiterate of his hearers, and stirring them to their profoundest depths. There were times, indeed, when he seemed to be inspired, and when the people felt that it was not Pitner who was speaking, but God, who was speaking through him. At a conference in Springfield he was appointed to speak at the missionary anniversary and take the collection. The railroad from Naples to Spring- field was then in operation, the cars being drawn by mules. After the speaker had portrayed as best he could the necessity of saving the world and the grandeur of the work, he compared the missionary machinery to a long train of cars, heavily freighted with all the appliances of salvation. " But where," he asked, "is the motive power? Brethren, I tell you it has to go. This grand train must go, and it will go, for God Almighty himself is hitched to it." Rough and irreverent as it was, the eifect was elec- trical ; shouts were heard all over the house, and the collection was a grand one. Dr. Cartwright describes a camp-meeting in Ful- ton County, at which Pitner was present, and says of him: "We had a very singular and remarkable man among us, a traveling preacher in the Illinois Conference; his name \vas Wilson Pitner. He was at this camp-meeting. He was uneducated, and it seemed impossible for him to learn ; but, notwith- standing his want of learning, and in common he was an ordinary preacher, yet at times, as we say in 326 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. the back-woods, when he swung clear there were very few that could excel him in the pulpit, and, perhaps, he was one of the most eloquent and pow- erful exhorters that was in the land. On Monday he came to me and desired me to let him preach at 11 o'clock, saying, 'I have faith to believe that God will this day convert many of these rowdies and per- secutors.' I consented, and he preached with great liberty and power. Nearly the whole congregation were powerfully moved, as he closed by calling for every rowdy and persecutor to meet him in the altar; for, said he, 'I have faith to believe that God will convert every one of you that will come and kneel at the place of prayer.' There was a general rush for the altar, and many of our persecutors, and those who had interrupted us in the forepart of the meeting, came and fell on their knees and cried aloud for mercy; and it is certainly beyond my power to describe the scene ; but more than fifty souls were converted to God that day and night. Our meeting continued for several days, and about ninety professed to obtain the pardon of their sins, most of whom joined the Church, and much good was accomplished, although we waded through trib- ulation to accomplish it. Such success often attended the Gospel labors of this brother." " In 1841," says Mr. Beggs, " W. Pitner was appointed to Peoria Circuit, and held a camp-meet- ing at Princcville. I had the privilege of attend- ing this camp-meeting. It was increasingly pros- perous till Sabbath morning, when W. Pitner was to preach and I to exhort and call up the mourners. AN EFFECTIVE SERMON. 327 The preacher began in his odd way of portraying the downward path of the sinner. His apt and un- varnished illustration of a sinner on the way to hell excited laughter all over the house. Every one seemed too merry and trifling to have any good re- sult from such a sermon, and most of us gave up all expectations of inviting up the mourners at its close. I felt that I could not exhort after that ser- mon, and told the elder so; when all of a sudden he changed to one of the most terrific descriptions of the finally impenitent, and the waitings of the damned, till it seemed as if the sound of those wail- ings reached our ears, and we could almost feel the darkness of despair brooding over the sinner, and see his tearless eyeballs rolling in their burning sockets, and his poor, unsheltered soul cry out, 'Lost, lost, lost!' All eyes seemed as if turned toward the yawning pit, and the deep sighs heaved from a thousand breasts, l Lord, save ! Lord, save the sin- ner!' And then he pointed to the Savior as the sinner's only refuge, telling how, through him, there was yet hope ; that all might come and receive par- don, and that the joys of heaven were freely offered, without money and without price. I have never witnessed another such a scene. It was as if they realized that the judgment was near at hand. Some fell, and lay all night and cried for mercy; others screamed as if hell was moving from beneath to meet them at their coming. And how beautifully he cleared up the way and invited the sinners to the altar. Such as had strength came rushing and fairly tumbling along, some, with uplifted voices, crying, 328 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. ( Thou son of David, have mercy on us.' In the midst of all this the preacher's mellowing tones and his invitation to come to Jesus, beggar all descrip- tion. The cries for mercy, the bursting forth of praise, and the preacher's voice sounding out over all with its melting tones of pardon, produced a scene, I imagine, like that of God's ancient people when laying the foundation of the second temple, when the old men ' wept with a loud shout, so that they could not discern the noise of the shouts of joy from the voice of the weeping people.' This camp-meeting ended with glorious results, which may be seen to this day." He was appointed to preach one Sunday night at a camp-meeting in Hancock County. There had been a good religious interest, and some souls had been converted. After supper the men and women had been out in the woods holding prayer-meetings, each on its own side of the ground. As the horn blew for service, rejoicing in God they came in from their prayer- meetings and met at the head of the main aisle. As they marched up to take their seats on either side of it, Brother Pitner, who was already in the pulpit, seized the horn, which hung on one side of it, and blew a blast loud and long, and then grasping the Bible, and holding it open toward the moving crowd, he cried out with a voice like a trumpet, "Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." The people, already powerfully excited, seemed now to be overwhelmed, some fell ; when the preacher blew another blast, and again cried, " Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." STYLE IN PREACHING. 329 Saints shouted aloud, sinners began to cry for mercy. The preacher leaped from the pulpit and gave a brief invitation to seekers of salvation. Multitudes rushed to the altar, and multitudes were that night led to the Savior, how many eternity will reveal. Brother Pitner told the writer afterwards that while he had intended to take as a text the words he ut- tered, and while the Bible was open at the passage, the thought of the trumpet flashed into his mind the moment he seized it, and that as he stood there holding the open Bible before the congregation, he felt flashes of power darting out from the ends of his fingers, and his whole frame was convulsed as if from the shocks of a battery. " His conversion," says Mr. Dickens, " was clear and powerful. His call to preach was convincing and even miraculous. His preaching, when he swung clear, as he expressed it, was masterly and often overwhelming. When energized with the Spirit, he was the most powerful and successful ex- horter I ever knew, and thousands, I doubt not, will own him in heaven as their spiritual father. His preaching and exhortations were unlike any other man's. He was always original. A true Ben- jaminite, he always hit on the left side." The wri- ter was his colleague in 1844 on the Jacksonville Circuit, and heard him frequently. While in his sermons he often failed, at times his exhortations were eloquent and powerful beyond description. With the simplicity and guilelessness of a child, he possessed the intellect of a giant, and had that in- tellect been cultivated, he must have been one of 23 330 MET HOD MM IN ILLINOIS. the most powerful men in the Church. He was an original thinker. While his illustrations and his addresses abounded in them were sometimes crude and sometimes ridiculous, they were often the most sublime that the mind could grasp, and clothed in language so appropriate, beautiful, and poetic that the most fastidious critic could find no fault in them. Of the business of the Church he had very little idea. His forte was to save souls and to build up the Church. A man of wonderful faith, at times he was yet subject to deep depression of spirit, when he thought he had not a single friend in the world. When he attempted to speak in his own strength he always failed, but when he spoke in dependence on God, and feeling that without divine help he must fail, then the Spirit seemed to speak through him as he spoke through the prophets of old, and mighty results followed. For several years before he died he was able to preach but little. But he remained deeply pious, loving the Church, with all her ministers, members, and institutions, to the last. He was ready when the summons came, and died in full faith and hope. LORENZO EDWARDS traveled but one year in the Illinois Conference. He had been received on trial in the Missouri Conference in 1822, and appointed to the St. Francis Circuit, but at the close of the year was discontinued. After laboring this year on the Shelbyville Circuit, he was again discontinued. He settled in Scott County near Winchester, where he long labored as a local preacher. JAMES BANKSON. 331 JAMES BANKSON was the only son of pious parents, who taught him to know the Scriptures from his youth. He was born in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, January 8, 1795, and when about eight years of age, removed with his parents to Illinois. "When about fourteen he embraced religion, and it is said of him that when he was converted, he sprang from the mourner's bench, and at the top of his voice shouted, " Whoop-pee, hallelujah ! Jesus, Jesus !" Though his educational advantages were but limited in boyhood, he yet possessed an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and from the time of his conversion applied himself to study with such diligence that he became a respectable scholar; and before his death acquired a good knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, besides making consid- erable progress in the sciences. In 1821 he com- menced his intineraut life in the Missouri Confer- ence, in which he traveled eight years, mostly on frontier circuits, until 1829, when he was trans- ferred to the Illinois Conference, and assigned to the Apple Creek Circuit. The next year he was appointed to Spoon River. But while crossing a stream on the ice, in the "Winter of 1830-1, on his way to Calvin Hobart's, his horse fell, and in- flicted on him an injury from which he did not recover. In the Spring he returned to his father's house, and was never afterwards able to resume his labors. For the benefit of medical aid, he was, .of choice, taken to the St. Louis Hospital, where he un- derwent a painful surgical operation. After linger- ing in pain for some weeks, lie died in triutuph, 332 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. September 4, 1831. Though his beginning in the ministry was very unpromising, by his diligence in study and fidelity to God, he became a very elo- quent and powerful preacher. It is related by one who was present when he made his first attempt to preach, soon after taking his text, his embarrass- ment quite overcame him. He stopped short, sat down in the pulpit, and crossing his legs, shook as if he had an ague. There was, however, that in him that was not to be discouraged or broken down. Though he retained, in some degree, his awkward- ness in gesture and manner, he yet became " a pol- ished arrow in the Gospel quiver, a burning and shining light in the Methodist Church, and when he died he had few equals in the Illinois Con- ference." 5 DAVID B. CARTER was born in Virginia in 1793. He removed to Tennessee before he was married, which occurred when he was nineteen years old. He was converted soon after his mar- riage, and united with the Church. At this time " he could not read a hymn intelligibly, but believ- ing God had called him to preach the Gospel, he industriously applied himself to books, and soon learned to read very well." 6 In 1827 he moved to Illinois, and settled in San gam on County. He was received on trial in the Illinois Conference in 1829, and appointed to Sangamon Circuit, which he trav- eled two years as junior preacher, the first under Smith L. Robinson, and the second with Jesse Haile as his senior. In 1831 he was appointed to 6 Rev. E. M. West. 6 Dr. Ca it w right. DAVID B. CARTER. 333 Spoon River, and the next year to Fort Edward Mission. In 1833 his appointment was Quincy, and for the two following years he again labored on the Fort Edward Charge. In 1836 he was sent to Rushville Circuit, and at the close of the year, his health having failed, he was granted a superannu- ated relation. The next year he was placed on the supernumerary list, and assigned in that relation to Rushville again. But consumption having fastened on him, he was, at the conference session of 1839, again placed on the superannuated list, on which he remained until he died, in great peace and tri- umph, October 28, 1840. Brother Carter was not a great or brilliant preacher or a profound theolo- gian, but he was, as his memoir states, " a thorough reformation preacher." During his short ministe- rial career many were the seals to his ministry. He was a very industrious preacher, always enlarging his circuits by taking in new appointments. He was much beloved in life and greatly lamented in death. In Rushville, his last field of labor, and where he died, he is " affectionately remembered as a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, as an excellent preacher, an industrious pastor, and a wise counselor; and to his labors the Church is greatly indebted for its permanent and efficient organiza- tion. To him must be accorded the credit of organ- izing what has ever been, and is to-day, the glory and pride of our Church the Sabbath-school." 7 JAMES LATTA was brought up in Champaign County, Ohio. In 1824 he removed to Illinois and 7 Dr. W. Stevenson. 334 METHODISM IN 1 L L I XOLS. settled in Blooming Grove, where the present city of Bloomington is. In 1827, while the Winuebugo Indians were making some trouble in the mining regions, he obtained a position in connection with the militia, and was afterwards known as Colonel Latta. Having served for some years as a loeal preacher, in 1829 he was received on trial in the Illinois Conference, and appointed to the Pcoria Cir- cuit, tficn including the region in which Blooming- ton is situated, and at the close of the year was discontinued at his own request. He was a good preacher, very effective, and, though faithfully and pointedly telling the people of their sins, he was yet very popular and greatly beloved. After he ceased traveling he removed to Indiana, and died near Crab Orchard. Dr. Samuel A. Latta, of the Ohio Conference, was his younger brother. BENJAMIN C. STEPHKNSOX was converted in his sixteenth year, and was received as a traveling preacher in the Illinois Conference in 1827. For two years he traveled in Indiana, and in 1829 was appointed to the Galena Mission. His next appoint- ment was Madison, Indiana. In 1831 he was ap- pointed to Indianapolis, but died before starting for his new field of labor. He " was a dignified young man, of respectable talents, and promised much to the Church." 8 B General Minutes. CONFERENCE OF 1830. 335 vii. 1830. WABASH DISTRICT George Locke, P. E. Vermillion James McKean, Jolm E. French. Para William H. Smith. Wabash Thomas H. Files, Philip T. Cordier. Ml. Carmd John Miller, John Fox, Sup. KASKASKIA DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E. Xaskaskia John Van Cleve. Brownsville Mission Anthony F. Thompson. Jonesboro Mission Boyd Phelps. Golconda James P. Crawford. McLeansboro Amos Prentice. Mi. I'ernon John H. Benson. Shoal Creek John Dew, Edward R. Ames. (SfcdfeywMe Miles Huffaker. Grand Prairie Mission Simeon Walker. SANGAMON DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. Lebanon Stith M. Otwell, Win. L. Deneen. Apple Creek Wm. D. R. Trotter, Win. H. Askins. Jacksonville John Sinclair. Atlas Spencer W. Hunter. Spoon River James Bankson. Tazewill Stephen R. Beggs. Salt Creek Asahel E. Phelps. Sangamon Jesse Haile, David B. Carter. Galena Mission Smith L. Robinson. Chicago Mission Jesse Walker. Fort Clark Mission Isaac Scarritt. r \ A HE seventh session of the Illinois Conference was A held at Vincennes, Indiana, beginning on Thurs- day, September 30th, and closing on the following 336 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Thursday. No bishop being present, Bishop Rob- erts, whose work it was, having been taken sick at St. Louis, Samuel H. Thomson was elected presi- dent, and Calvin W. Ruter, secretary. Twenty- seven preachers were present at the opening service. Two sessions were held each day, from 8 A. M. to 12, and from 2 P. M. to 5. Seventeen preachers were received on trial John C. Smith, Spencer W. Hunter, Isaac Kimball, Will- iam Taylor, William S. Crissey, Henry S. Talbot, John Richey, James M. Massey, James P. Crawford, Josiah H. Hill, Philip T. Cordier, Simeon Walker, Edward R. Ames, Amos Prentice, William D. R. Trotter, Daniel M. Murphy, Ancil Beach. Four were discontinued : George West, Wilson Pitner, Lorenzo Edwards, James Latta. Four were granted a location : Thomas Davis, William Chambers, Asa D. West, Samuel Bogart. Three were transferred from the Kentucky Con- ference to this : William H. Askiiis, Samuel Julian, and John Sinclair. One had died Josiah Patterson. He was the first member of the Illinois Conference, who had labored in Illinois, to be called to his reward. Two others had died, John Cord and William Cravens, but their labors had been confined to Indiana. One local deacon was elected to elder's orders, viz.: James Conwell. Twenty-two local preachers were elected to dea- con's orders : James P. Crawford, Jesse Spradling, Harbert P. DeBuelle, Joseph Walker, Joseph Springer, Barton Randle, Robert Thomas, Levin SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 337 Green, David Bruner, Jonathan Prosser, Francis Standaford, Benjamin Jones, Thomas Evans, Hardy Cain, Jeremiah Sherwood, Solomon Cross, Vance Jones, George M. Hanson, Stephen C. Rentfro, Will- iam Echols, Simeon Walker, Abraham P. Casey. As no bishop was present, there were, of course, no ordinations. The persons elected received cer- tificates of the fact from the secretary of the con- ference, and were ordained whenever they could meet with a bishop. A draft on the Book Concern was ordered for $300, and on the Chartered Fund for $80. Among the miscellaneous business transacted was the following: After the reading of a communi- cation from the book agents at New York, the. fol- lowing was adopted : "Resolved, That the members of this conference do express their entire satisfaction with the report and address of their general book agents at New York, and that we will do all in our power to aid them in publishing and circulating our very valu- able books." The subject of Sunday-schools took up a good deal of the time of the conference. An agent of the American Sunday-school Union being in town, and desiring an interview with the conference, was granted permission to address them on the second afternoon at four o'clock. The journal states that he delivered an interesting address, and immediately after it the conference adjourned. The whole of the Monday afternoon session was spent in discuss- ing a resolution on the subject, which was, after all, 29 338 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. laid on the table. The next day the resolution was called up, and, after amendment, a motion was made to postpone the subject indefinitely, but before this was acted on, conference adjourned. Two days afterwards the subject was again called up, when the motion to postpone indefinitely was withdrawn, and the question on the adoption of the amended resolution was decided in the negative. It is un- fortunate that the journal does not give this much discussed resolution. It would have been interest- ing as showing the demands of the Sunday-school Union at that early day, and the feeling of the con- ference in regard to it. The case of Thomas Davis was called, and some objections being made in consequence of his not having attended to the duties of a traveling preacher during the last year, it was moved that he be deprived of his ministerial office, and, after some discussion, the motion was withdrawn, where- upon his character was passed, and his presiding elder asked and received for him a location. A small sum of money, unappropriated by the stewards, was directed to be put in the hands of the presiding elders, to be by them appropriated to those persons whom they shall deem most needy. A report having been sent to conference by Jesse Walker, who had been on the Fox River Mission the past year, in which was embraced the old Pot- tawattomic Mission, a committee was appointed to consider it, who reported as follows : " That they have examined the documents, and find that they contain a report of his missionary labors during the M C KENDREE COLLEGE. 339 past year, and the amount of property belonging to the old Pottawattomie Mission, which has been sold by said Walker, together with a list of property be- longing to said mission, remaining unsold. Your committee would say that they are fully satisfied with the transactions of your missionary, and report as the proceeds of the sale the sum of $303, which is now on hand and at the disposal of the confer- ence." Peter Cartwright was appointed a committee to settle the claims against the Pottawattomie Mis- sion, and it was ordered that the amount raised from the sale of the property of the mission now on hand be appropriated to the payment of those claims in an equal proportion to their amount as far as the money will go. Two appeal cases were brought before the con- ference. Benjamin Watts, a local elder, appealed from the decision of the quarterly conference of the Lebanon Circuit, by which he was expelled from the Church ; and, after an examination of the case, the conference confirmed the decision. William J. Mayo, a local elder, appealed from the decision of the quarterly conference of Paris Circuit, by which he was expelled. The case was sent back to the quarterly conference for a new trial on the ground of informality. A committee having been appointed to take into consideration the expediency of adopting the Mc- Kendree College as the literary institution of the conference, reported in favor of it, and the follow- ing resolutions were adopted : "1. That the conference accede to the proposals 340 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. of the managers of the McKendree College of Illi- nois at Lebanon, and now agree to adopt the said college as a conference seminary. " 2. That a committee of three be appointed by this conference to appoint a president whose literary and religious qualifications are such as will do credit to the institution. " 3. That each preacher of the conference be re- quired to open subscriptions and solicit donations from the friends of literature within their respective charges, which moneys, when 'collected, shall be paid to the person who may be legally appointed, either by this conference or the managers, to superintend the moneyed concerns of said institution." John Dew, Peter Cartwright, and Samuel H. Thompson were elected as the committee to nomi- nate the president, and were instructed to act in conjunction with the managers of said institution in the matter ; and also as soon as possible to address a circular to each member of the conference, giving such information as they shall deem necessary. As soon as this action was had, fixing the con- ference seminary at Lebanon, the Indiana brethren began to make arrangements for a similar institu- tion in Indiana, and a committee of five was ap- pointed " to make inquiry respecting a suitable site where to establish an institution of learning, and also as to the amount of money that can be obtained in the vicinity of such site to aid in the erection of suitable buildings for the purpose," and report to the next session of the conference. The president appointed as the committee John Strange, Calvin MISSIONS CONSTITUTED. 341 W. Ruter, James Armstrong, Edwin Ray, and Allen Wiley. Missions were constituted as follows : Grand Prairie Mission, including all the country lying be- tween the Little Wabash and Kaskaskia Rivers, lying on and near the State road leading from Maysville to Vandalia not included in any other circuit, except those preaching places now included in the Mt. Carmel Circuit west of the Little Wa- bash, and those appointments included in Shoal Creek Circuit lying east of the Kaskaskia River. To this $100 was appropriated. Brownsville Mis- sion, embracing all the country formerly included in the Brownsville Circuit, except that portion now embraced in the Mt. Vernon and* Jonesboro Cir- cuits. $75 was appropriated to it. Jonesboro Circuit was transformed into a mis- sion, and fifty dollars assigned to it. Fort Clark Mission, to which $200 was appro- priated, embracing the district of country lying on both sides of the Illinois River from Fort Clark to the mouth of Fox and Vermillion Rivers. To the Galena Mission, which was continued the same as last year, was assigned $250. The name of Fox River Mission was changed to Chicago Mission, and $250 was appropriated to it. The whole amount appropriated to the work in Illinois was $925. Some other changes were made in the plan of the work besides those indicated in the formation of these missions. A new circuit, McLcansboro, was formed from the Mt. Vernon and Mt. Carmel 342 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Charges, embracing Hamilton County, and perhaps parts of Saline and Wayne. The north part of Apple Creek Circuit was constituted into the Jack- sonville Circuit, including what are now Morgan, Scott, and Cass Counties. The Tazewell Circuit was formed from the east part of the Peoria Cir- cuit, embracing the counties of Tazewell, McLean, and parts of Logan and De Witt. Many excellent revivals occurred this year, in spite of the great difficulties of travel during the Winter, for this was the Winter of " the deep snow," the hardships of which arc still remembered by the old settlers of the country. On the Apple Creek Circuit, at the Sappington appointment, was an extensive wcfrk of grace ; and on the whole cir- cuit there was a continuous advance. On the Taze- well Circuit, under the pastorate of S. R. Beggs, two camp-meetings were held, at which a number of souls were converted. A good revival occurred at Lebanon. One of the valuable accessions to the Church there during it was BENJAMIN HYPES, who for near half a century has been a pillar in the Church. He was born in Botetourt County, Vir- ginia, February 10, 1805. His conversion took place in an old mill in Lebanon, on the 27th of January, 1831, and he united with the Church in the March following. He has held every office in the Church to which a layman is eligible, and was the first lay representative of the Southern Illinois Conference in the General Conference. He has been intimately connected with McKendree College as trustee from its commencement, and has given FIRST CHURCHES. 343 largely of his time and means for the promotion of its interests. At a camp-meeting on the Sangamon Circuit, at Waters's camp-ground, was a gracious revival. Among the converts was DR. GEORGE H. HARRI- SON, who has for many years occupied a prominent position in the community. In the Fall of this year Dr. W. T. Crissy moved to the newly laid off town of Decatur, and settled where the fair-ground now is. The next Spring his nephew, Rev. \V. S. Crissy, visited him, and while there preached the first Methodist sermon ever preached in the town, at the house of Brother Isaac Miller, just east of where the Illinois Central Railroad is now. There had been a small society a mile and a half off, which was afterwards removed to the town, and became the germ from which has sprung the flourishing Churches now existing there. The first church in Jacksonville was built this year. It was of brick, and was the first brick church in the county. It was on East Morgan Street, a little north of the present Centenary Church. The first church was also erected this year in Springfield. It was a frame building, put up on the site of the present First Church, on lots do- nated by P. P. Enos, on the corner of Monroe and Fifth Streets. Several persons united with the Church this year who afterwards became pillars in it, and whose names deserve mention. Among them was SAMUP^L, SACKETT, a native of Butler County, Ohio, born 344 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. September 1, 1797. In 1829 he removed to Sanga- mon County, Illinois. He lived many years in Clinton, Illinois, and in 1875 moved to Linn County, Kansas, to spend his last days with his daughter. He was, during most of his religious life, an officer in the Church, having been Sunday-school superin- tendent, trustee, class-leader, and steward. He was a good man, spurning all conformity to the world, and seeking, through earnest prayer and diligent study of God's Word, to become an Israelite indeed, and his efforts were rewarded with a rich and happy experience. His last words were, " Christ is all my hope." 1 In November of this year REV. WILLIAM PE- TER and family removed to Illinois. He had been a traveling preacher in connection with the Ten- nessee and Kentucky Conferences since 1819, and had filled some of the most important circuits in Kentucky. In 1829 his name disappears from the minutes without any intimation of the cause. Dr. Bedford says of him: "His zeal and devotion to the work to which he was called rendered him re- markably useful. During his ministry in Ken- tucky but few men were more useful than William Peter." He died in great peace, eleven days after his arrival in Illinois, leaving a widow with ten children. All of them she saw become heads of families. She died in 1880, at the age of ninety, having been for sixty years a member of the Church. She was an uncomplaining, happy Christian. " Be- fore she died she uttered many expressions indicat- 1 Rev. J. M. Payne. JOHN E. A YERS. . 345 ing her triumph in the last conflict, such as 'The Lord is my Shepherd/ etc." "And until conscious- ness was gone she never ceased to talk of God and his goodness." 2 THOMAS KERSEY, a native of Delaware, born in 1803, moved to Winchester, Illinois, in 1830, and died September 17, 1880. He was for many years a practicing physician. After leaving the practice of medicine he engaged in business 4 , and when misfortune came upon him, he bore his losses and troubles with the highest degree of Christian grace, and acted toward men who suffered financially by his misfortunes in a manner of the very highest degree of honor. Being a pioneer Methodist, his house was the home of the early preachers, where they found the comforts and joys of life in their hard, itinerant pilgrimages. He was a faithful class-leader during many years, and a just steward, looking after the temporal wants of the servants of God. In a class-meeting, the Sunday before he died, he said : " I am poor in this world's goods, but God will take care of me. I am the son of a King who is rich." " He was one of nature's noble- men, and a grand prince in Israel, one of the pillars of the Church whose place can never be filled." 3 JOHN E. A YERS and wife moved this year from New Jersey to Illinois. For many years he lived in Pike County, a few miles west of Griggsville, filling many of the offices of the Church, and being universally esteemed as a consistent Christian, a useful officer, and honest man. In 1855 they moved 2 Rev. J. W. Caldwell. 3 Rev. W. ,S. Hooper. 346 , METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. to Moawcqua, where they lived till called to their reward. Brother Avers was for years "one of the main members of the Church there; consistent in life, and liberal in the use of his means for the be- nevolent as well as the local uses of the Church." 4 He died in 1879, and his widow, who, in devising liberal things, imitated his example, survived him only about two years. In November of this year HIRAM M. TREMBLE, an exhorter, moved from Harrison County, Indiana, and settled on Robinson's Creek, in Shelby County, Illinois. He was born in Ohio, April 21, 1808. In the fall of 1832 he was licensed to preach, and delivered his first sermon in the neighborhood in which he lived. .While there, and before he was authorized to preach, he kept up an itinerant prayer- meeting at four appointments surrounding Shelby- ville, at which, during the Fall and Winter, seventy- six were converted. On Robinson's Creek lived an old Baptist lady, who had two sons and two daugh- ters, all grown. Her children were all converted at the meeting. The old lady was very happy, but she would not give way to her emotions and shout. Soon she took the jerks and continued jerking until she did shout. A wicked cattle buyer named Byles, having gone to the meeting out of curiosity to see the jerks, undertaking afterwards to show another how they worked, was seized with them himself, and for awhile was unable to restrain them. He be- haved himself better after that. A year or two af- terwards Mr. Tremble moved to Coles County, near "Rev. J. B. Col well. H. M. TREMBLE. 347 where Mattoon now is, where he continued to reside until his death. While there he was abundant in labors, and by his zeal and faithfulness not only won many souls to Christ, but exerted a strong in- fluence in the community. He was among the first advocates of the anti-slavery cause in Illinois. When the war of the rebellion broke out he heart- ily supported the cause of his country, and in 1862 was commissioned chaplain of the Sixty-second Reg- iment of Illinois volunteers. He served three years, and when he retired he was presented with a certif- icate signed by the officers of his regiment, attest- ing his fidelity as chaplain and overseer of refugees, and asserting that in his discharge the army had lost a most valuable officer and an upright man and honorable gentleman. On returning to his home he resumed his labors as a preacher, and in the lan- guage of his memoir, " he was a true representative of what a local preacher ought to be, traveling and preaching whenever and wherever he could, and as- sisting the traveling preachers when possible. As age crept upon him, his labors did not abate ; he did not become fossilized, but remained the zealous ad- vocate of progress to the last." r> Among his ex- pressions as he grew older were, " I am living by the day;" "I am living by the hour;" and, finally, "I am living by the minute, yet enjoying the pres- ence of God continually." He died while on a visit to his daughter, near Eureka Springs, March 14, 1881, but his remains were brought to Mattoon for interment. He was a man of intelligence, of good 5 Rev. W. M. Poo. 348 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. mind, of great energy and force of character, devo- tedly attached to the Church, and as a preacher far above mediocrity, and deservedly popular. There was a decrease in the colored membership this year of 88, but an increase in the whites of 1,296, making an aggregate increase of 1,208, and leaving Illinois with 9,529 white members, and 43 colored. Some ministers, who afterwards became distin- guished in the Church, commenced their labor in Illinois this year. Chief among them was EDWARD EAYMOND AMES. He was born at Amesville, Ath- ens County, Ohio, May 30, 1806. In 1827, while a student at the State University at Athens, Ohio, during a great revival, in which many of the stu- dents were converted, he was brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He soon after united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The next year Ife left college and became the principal of the Lebanon Seminary, at Lebanon, Illinois, which afterwards grew into McKendree College. He was quite successful as a teacher, though some complained of him for his rigid discipline. While at Lebanon his case was brought before the society for recommendation for license to preach. He was opposed by Joseph Foulks, a located itinerant who lived there, and who did not believe that he would make a successful preacher. Several meetings were held before the recommendation was obtained. At the quarterly-meeting held at Padfield's, he received license to preach, but when his friends asked for him a recommendation to the annual conference, he EDWARD R. AMES. X 349 was again objected to, and when the vote was taken it was a tie. It was taken again, with the same re- sult. The conference then adjourned until after- noon. Meanwhile Emanuel Wilkerson, a colored local preacher, arrived, and on the case being called up at the afternoon session, there was a majority of one in favor of the recommendation ; so that it was often said afterwards that a colored preacher made Edward R. Ames a bishop. The objections urged against him were that he was a dyspeptic, and would never be able to do the work of a Methodist preacher, and that he was too fastidious in his taste, particularly in regard to eating, to become accepta- ble with the people. Of his ability none enter- tained any doubt. Having been admitted into con- ference, his first appointment was the Shoal Creek Circuit, with John Dew as his senior, and Samuel H. Thompson as his presiding elder. A more judi- cious appointment could not have been made; and the training he received from his colleague and pre- siding elder told favorably upon all his after life. The next year he was sent to Vincennes, and in 1832 fell into the Indiana Conference, of which he remained a member until his election to the episcopacy, with the exception of one year, in which he was stationed in St. Louis. Rev. S. G. Patterson, who was his neighbor on the St. Louis Circuit, describes him at this time as "a man of so-cial qualities, preposses- sing in his manners, of fair attainments, sound in doctrine, a good preacher, and one who enjoyed the reputation of being a good pastor." From 1840 to 1844 he was one of the secretaries of the Missionary 350 - METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Society, during which he traveled extensively, vis- iting all the Indian missions on the Western frontier, from Lake Superior to Arkansas, and aiding in es- tablishing schools among them. In 1852, at the General Conference in Boston, he was elected to the office of bishop, in which he continued until his death at his residence in Baltimore, April 25, 1879. He was in circuits and stations seven years, two years agent of the Conference Preachers' Aid So- ciety, nine years on districts, four years missionary secretary, and twenty-seven years in the episcopal office, making an itinerant career in all of forty- nine years. He was a member of the General Con- ference of 1840, 1844, and 1852. " God blessed him with a powerful physical frame and a commanding person. In his earlier years he had a- strong voice, with great oratorical power and pathos ; and as in clarion notes he rang out the great truths of God, men were moved under his appeals ; great religious revivals everywhere at- tended his preaching ; sinners were awakened and brought to Christ, and believers were strengthened and built up in the faith and hope of the Gospel. In his later years his voice was more subdued, and its tones were soft and sympathetic, but the old fire and the old power pervaded his sermons to the last, and the preachers and the people always heard him with great delight, and were abundantly instructed and blessed under his ministry. The salient points in his character, and which fitted him for eminence and success in his office as a bishop, were quickness, clearness, and comprehensiveness of perception, en- BISHOP AMES AS A PREACHER. 351 abling liim to grasp almost any subject at once, and to perceive also its collateral relations and bearings; a strong, unbending will to maintain the right as he saw it, which, when sanctified to God, as it was, made him a master over men ; to which may be added an intuitive perception of human character, enabling him to see through men, scarcely ever mis- judging them, and scarcely ever failing to judge rightly in estimating their capacity to succeed in any given line of action ; so that in his superin- tendency, having formed his plans, he selected his agents to execute them, and the result almost al- ways justified the wisdom of his plans, and the sagacity of his appointments." 6 "As a preacher," says Daniels, " Bishop Ames was capable of wonderful eloquence, which was only occasionally manifested ; but sometimes with some simple narrative, some tender little story, told with all the pathos of his great nature, he would melt a congregation to tears; or' in some grand statement of doctrine or duty he would stir the blood of a conference, until the 'Amens' became so loud that he wmild be obliged to pause for silence. There was a broad, deep vein of humor in him; his smile was sunshine; his commendation was a power and blessing to those who received it; and his re- buke had so much of the terrible in it that few ventured to incur it a second time." He was one of the best presiding officers the Church ever had; ready and correct in his decis.- ions, rapid in the transaction of business, and de- 6 General Minutes. 352 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. cided in the repression of all disorder. Possessed of great personal dignity, he was yet affable, court- eous, and accessible to all. His knowledge of hu- man nature, and his thorough acquaintance with all the phases of the itinerant work, particularly in the the West, rendered him peculiarly successful in mak- ing appointments for the preachers, for he rarely failed to send the right man to the right place. He had no sympathy with pretension, or sham, or un- fairness, or meanness of any kind ; and sometimes, in his reproofs of those whom he thought guilty of such conduct, he would use language that many of the hearers would characterize as unmercifully se- vere. Occasionally his indignation would get the better of his judgment and make him too hasty, as well as too severe in his reproofs. An instance of this occurred at one of the sessions of the Illinois Conference at which he presided. A brother had been charged with imprudent language in connec- tion with the subject of holiness. The case was re- ferred to a committee, who in their report recom- mended that the brother be admonished by the chair. As soon as the report was read, the bishop called up the brother and administered to him a severe reproof; and as he took his seat, was about to proceed with other business, when the secretary whispered to him that the report of the committee had not been acted on by the conference. The question was taken, and, fortunately for the bishop, the report was adopted. Had it been rejected he would have been placed in a very awkward posi- tion. In one respect Bishop Ames has been greatly BISHOP AMES'S BENEVOLENCE. 353 misjudged. Because he left no legacies to the be- nevolent enterprises of the Church he was charged with being penurious. The truth is, he was one of the most liberal of men in the use of his means. He exercised his own judgment in his gifts, never giving for show, or because others thought he ought to give, but because he believed that the object or< person was both worthy and needy. From his own early experience of the hardships of the itinerant life he had learned to sympathize with the preachers in their sufferings and privations, and it was upon them his benefactions were chiefly bestowed. The writer has heard of cases in which gifts of ten, twenty, fifty, and a hundred dollars were made to preachers in distress. And this was his constant habit. It is safe to say that he never attended a conference where cases of need were presented with- out contributing largely to their relief. And it is safe, also, to say that his gifts to needy preachers, privately, largely exceeded in amount his public contributions. He loved the Church. Many tempting oppor- tunities were afforded him of attaining high civil office, and strong inducements were presented to him, but he promptly rejected them, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the highest honors or offices of this world. " Take him all in all, he had few equals and no superiors in the Church he lo'ved so well." 7 WILLIAM H. ASKINS was born in Virginia July 8, 1803. He was converted at a camp-meeting in 7 General Minutes. 30 354 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Clarke County, Kentucky, in 1820. " Being very soon impressed that it was his duty to preach the Gospel, he conferred not with flesh and blood, but obeyed his convictions, and being authorized by the Church, he entered upon his new life with all the zeal and fervor peculiar to his character. He gave himself up entirely to the great work assigned him, and labored to the utmost of his strength for the salvation of immortal souls." 8 After traveling six years in the Kentucky Con- ference, and filling some of its most important ap- pointments acceptably, he was transferred to the Illinois Conference, and assigned to the Apple Creek Circuit with W. D. R. Trotter. The next year he was appointed to Jacksonville Circuit, which he traveled " until February, 1832, when his afflictions compelled him to desist. About the first of April he received a stroke of paralysis, and about six weeks after, another, which deprived him of his speech, and mostly of his hearing. In this condi- tion he continued several weeks, and died July 6th, aged twenty-nine years. He was a popular and very successful preacher, lived beloved and died lamented, but he bore his sufferings with patience, and gave evidence to the last that God was with him in the mighty deep." 9 One of his colleagues describes \\irn as " a true Christian, and a thorough Wesleyan in all his feelings an old-time Methodist. He had tact, self-reliance, and spiritual power. He was a fair preacher, but 'as an exhorter he excelled. He dared once in Kentucky to follow with an ex- 8 Dr. Redford. 9 General Minutes. JAMES P. CRA WFORD. 355 hortation one of the most powerful sermons of Bishop McKendree." 10 Jonathan Stamper says of him, " He had a remarkable mind ; never forgot what he once learned, and possessed the rare faculty of bringing every thing he knew into requisition in the very best manner. But the most important se- cret of his success as a preacher lay in the fact that he was filled with love toward God and man. A clear, musical voice, dignified gestures, and correct, well-chosen language, all characterized his pulpit efforts. He was certainly one of the most powerful exhorters I ever heard, and, when engaged in this peculiar exercise, often grew wonderfully eloquent. Take him altogether, he was one among the fore- most ministers of his age, in respect both of talent and usefulness." PHILIP T. CORDIER, who was this year received on trial and appointed to Wabash Circuit, traveled only three years. In 1831 his appointment was Rock Island, and in 1832, Grand Prairie. At the close of this year he was located by the conference. Dr. Cartwright says of him : "He was a man of feeble talents, unstable, and did but little good. He was finally expelled." Of JAMES P, CRAWFORD we have no account but the record of his appointments in the General Min- utes. He traveled six years, four of them by alter- nate appointments on the Golconda Circuit, in 1831 on Jonesboro Circuit, and in 1834 on Frankfort Cir- cuit. At the conference of 1836 he was granted a location. 10 Rev. W. D. R. Trotter. 356 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. SPENCER W. HUNTER was born of Baptist pa- rents in Shelby County, Kentucky, December 21, 1801. In his twenty-second year he was converted, and four years afterwards was licensed to preach. He traveled for two years under the presiding elder, and in 1830 w r as received on trial in the Illinois Conference and appointed to Quincy Circuit, to which he was reappointed the next year. In 1832 he was transferred to Indiana Conference, in which he traveled three years. In 1835 he was, at his own request, left without an appointment, and the next year was transferred to the Illinois Confer- ence and again appointed to Quincy Circuit.' In 1837 he was sent to Pittsfield Circuit, and reap- pointed to it the next year, but on his way home from conference, at Alton, he was attacked by severe disease, and, after suffering for twenty-eight days, on the 18th of October, 1838, he fell asleep in Jesus. "For some days previous to his depar- ture his mind was troubled ; but, on the day of his departure, the sun of righteousness dispelled the cloud and shone divinely clear upon his rejoicing soul. The prospect before him was glorious, and Avith his latest breath he shouted, f Victory !' Brother Hunter was a good and useful minister of the Gos- pel. In him was blended a discriminating mind Avith a good delivery. The graces which ornament the man united in him with the gifts of a sound Christian minister. In the pulpit he was plain and energetic; in the social circle, a man of God; and as he visited from house to house, his agreeable manners and the holiness of his life made him both AMOS PRENTICE. 357 a welcome and a useful guest. He lived most be- loved, and died greatly lamented." n AMOS PRENTICE was born in the State of New York, September 4, 1804. When twelve years old he removed with his parents to Illinois, and in 1825 was converted and united with the Church. In 1827 he was licensed to preach, and then spent a year as teacher at the Pottawattomie Mission, to which Jesse Walker was missionary. The next year, having married, he moved to Decatur, and engaged in the mercantile business. But his wife dying, he settled his secular business and entered the itinerancy. His first appointment was Mc- Leansboro Circuit. The next year, 1831, he \vas assigned to Salt Creek, but at the close of the year, his health having failed, he was, at his own request, discontinued. He then settled in Greenfield, and went into partnership with G. W. Allen in the mer- cantile business. In 1833 he was again received into the itinerancy, and appointed to Shelbyville Circuit, on which he labored quite successfully for a year, having several good revivals, and commenc- ing the first church in Shelbyville, but in conse- quence of failing health he was again compelled to retire from the work at the close of the year. He afterwards settled at Sullivan, laboring as a local preacher, as his strength would permit, until his death. He was a man of a remarkably sweet spirit, modest, gentle, sympathetic, loving every one and universally beloved. His preaching was greatly "General Minutes. 358 ME TIlODmi IN ILLINOIS. admired for its tenderness, and he was much in demand for funeral sermons and at the sick bed. He was an instrument of good to many souls. One who knew him intimately for many years, says, "I never saw him angry or heard him speak an unkind word to any one." 12 He died at the residence of his brother William, at Shclbyville, whither he had been removed for medical attendance, August 17, 1849. One of the most valuable accessions to the con- ference this year was JOHN SINCLAIR. He was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, April 9, 1793. "When he Avas six years old his parents moved into East Tennessee, where he remained until he was twenty. They then removed to Kentucky, and settled at Lex- ington. In 1819 he was married to Miss Lydia Short, who for near forty years shared with him the labors and privations of the itinerancy, and sur- viving him many years, passed away in 1878. About a year after his marriage he was deeply con- vinced of sin, and, having united with the Church as a seeker of religion, was soon after powerfully converted at a class-meeting. He was very soon made a class-leader, leading two classes, while he himself was a member of a third. In 1824 he was licensed to preach, and soon after was received into the Kentucky Conference, in which he labored for six years, and where " he was remarkably useful, and his ministry was blessed in the conversion of hundreds." 13 But, "having for some'time felt that the existence of slavery in the State of Kentucky " Dr. W. S. Prentice. 13 Dr. Kedford. IN SNOW AND ICE. 359 was a serious thing, and dreading its consequences upon after generations and this was the feeling generally of Methodist preachers at that time " H in 1830 he sought and received a transfer to the Illinois Conference, to which his father's family had removed in 1829, and had settled in the neighbor- hood of Jacksonville. His first appointment was the Jacksonville Circuit. In 1831-2 he was on the Sangamon Circuit, and in 1833 he was made pre- siding elder of the Chicago District, which then embraced all the settlements now embraced in the Rock River, Central Illinois, Upper Iowa, and Wisconsin Conferences, and some in the Illinois Conference. The next year he was returned to the district, which was somewhat diminished in size by the formation of the Galena Mission District, which included the north-western portion of the territory he had traveled the year before. In 1835 he was appointed to the Sangamon District. These were years of great affliction of body, both to himself and wife. In the Winter of 1836-7 he came near losing his life in one of the sudden changes of weather for which Illinois is noted. He had started across the prairie between the Vermillion River and Ottawa, when suddenly the wind changed to the north. A good deal of snow had fallen that had partially melted, and the earth was covered with slush. Before he reached Cole's Creek he became so cold that he got down from his horse to walk. Soon his leggings became so clogged with ice that he could not bear the weight, and so left them "Begga. 3GO METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. standing on the prairie. His horse's legs became covered with ice and his own so clogged that he could not mount his horse again to cross the creek. All he could do was to let the horse drag him through the stream, he holding to the stirrup, until at length, utterly exhausted, and almost frozen to' death, he reached a house some miles beyond, where he was cared for. At the conference of 1838 he was placed in a supernumerary relation, and appointed to Ottawa. The next year he Avas sent to Ottawa District, and, in 1840, falling into the newly-formed Rock River Conference, he was returned to it, and also for the two following years. In 1843 he was appointed to Rock River District, and " elected delegate to the General Conference, which held its session in the city of New York, May, 1844. From New York he returned home sick, and at the session of the annual conference in the Fall he was, at his own request, given a superannuated relation, which he sustained until 1847, when he was made effective and appointed to Rock River District, where he Was continued for four years. In 1851 he was ap- pointed to Chicago District, and remained on it four years. In 1855-6 he was pastor at Evanston, and in 1857 he consented to take a superannuated rela- tion, and made his home in Evanston, where he resided at the time on his death," 15 in 1861. Mr. Sinclair was a decided Methodist, making no com- promise in regard to any of the doctrines or usages of the Church. Says Mr. Beggs: " In the Summer 15 General Minutes. HIS CHARACTERISTICS. 361 of 1834 I accompanied John Sinclair, presiding elder, to his quarterly-meeting at Galena. Barton Handle and J. T. Mitchell were laboring on that circuit. After a profitable and pleasant meeting, we started for a camp-meeting that was to be held near Princeton. The meeting was somewhat ad- vanced, and there was a prospect of a good work. Two Congregational ministers came to the camp- grounds, and proposed to join us in our efforts. There was to be no doctrine preached, and at the close of the meeting the converts were to join whom they pleased. To this our presiding elder strongly objected. He said he was a Methodist, and he must preach their doctrines, and that there could be no union on such terms. We had an unusually success- ful meeting, the fruits of which, I trust, will be seen in eternity." " Brother Sinclair was a faithful, good Christian, who lived with good conscience toward God and in fellowship with his brethren; a man of a sweet, amiable disposition, and while he was true and hon- est himself, he was kind and forgiving toward oth- ers. As a husband, he was tender and affectionate; as a neighbor, he was generous and obliging. In his own house he was given to hospitality. As a preacher, he was plain, simple, and good, a preacher of the true Methodist type. Few men were ever more beloved than he was. His friends were many and lasting, because he pleased all men for their good and to edification. He was always cheerful and happy, a firm believer in divine revelation, and a happy partaker of the grace of salvation ; he trusted 31 362 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. God at all times. He did not fear death, enjoying a clear title to a glorious inheritance. Death he called a ( falling/ ' departing/ ' going away.' A few days before his death, and when in his usual health, he said to his wife : ' When I go away, dress me as if I was going to meeting.' She replied, ' I will, if it be your wish.' ' I wish it,' he said. ' Do n't/ said he, ( put on mourning ; it seems to me that it is very improper to mourn for a minister who has, gone to so good a place as heaven/ This was his dying request. He died suddenly, but he was ready. For years he had been ready." 16 SIMEON WALKER was born in Jackson County, Georgia, April 13, 1802. In 1809 his parents moved to the then Territory of Illinois, but the In- dians being troublesome, they removed to Kentucky the next year, where his father died, and his mother, with the children, returned to Illinois in 1813. In 1819 he was powerfully converted at a camp-meet- ing at Shiloh, and from that hour till his death he was a faithful laborer for the cause of Christ. He often said of himself, "I was converted a preacher." The next year he was licensed to exhort, and six years afterwards to preach. He was received into the con- ference in 1830, and appointed to Grand Prairie Mis- sion, a new work to embrace the settlements between the Little Wabash and the Okaw. He traveled this charge two years, and reported at the expiration of his term 303 members and twenty-eight preaching places. In 1832 he was sent to Mt. Vernon Cir- cuit, on which he had great revivals of religion, 16 General Minutes. SIMEON WALKER. 363 and reported an increase of nearly 300 members. His next appointment was Carlyle. Here his health failed, and with his means all spent, and a family of six children, he felt that he must retire from the regular work for a season, and at the ses- sion of conference of 1834 he was granted a loca- tion. In this relation he continued for twenty-two years, laboring constantly, however, for the cause of Christ, manifesting the same zeal that had in- fluenced him from the beginning, and really perform- ing as much ministerial labor as many of the itin- erants. In 1856 he was readmitted in the Southern Illinois Conference, and was sent to McLeansboro ; in 1857 and 1858 he traveled Mt. Vernon Circuit; in 1859 and 1860, Carlyle; in 1861, Pocahontas, and in 1862, Tamaroa. In 1863 he entered the army as chaplain of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, and remained in that position until his health utterly failed. In 1864 and 1865 he was on the supernu- merary list, and in 1866 he was granted a superan- nuated relation, in which he remained until his death at the residence of his son at Carbondale, February 22, 1880. "His opportunities for early education were quite limited. But he had an un- quenchable thirst for knowledge, and was a diligent student, often bending over his books by a dim light till the hours of midnight. He thus obtained a fair English education. For sixty years, mingling study and work together, he lived and labored with the one desire to save souls and bless the world, ever preaching as much by example as by precept. It was ever his rule to make daily a strict personal 364 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. examination into his standing with God. He died, as he lived, in the triumph of a living faith." 17 WILLIAM DAVID RICE TROTTER was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, March 17, 1807. His father, dying when he was in his fourth year, he was raised in the family of Judge Underwood, of Bowling Green, Kentucky. In the year 1825, at the age of eighteen, he entered the United Sates Navy as a midshipman. At the end of two years he returned home on account of sickness, and thinking that the work did not agree with him, he resigned his posi- tion. When he recovered his health, he entered the office of his brother-in-law, Judge Underwood, as a student of law. He was pushing his studies with energy and success, and would soon have been admitted to the bar, but for an event which altered his plans, and molded his after life. Attending a camp-meeting held in the neighborhood of Bowling Green, he was converted and joined the Methodist Church. This event changed the direction of his thoughts, and he commenced preparation for the ministry." 18 In 1830 he came to Illinois, and was that year received into the conference, and assigned to Apple Creek Circuit. In 1831 he was appointed to Lebanon with John Dew as his senior, and in 1832 to Blue River Mission. A camp-meeting was held here in August, 1833, at which Bishop Soule was present. He was on his way to the Missouri Conference at Salem, in Arkansas, and stopping at the residence of Peter Cart-wright, accompanied him to his quarterly meeting. Mr. C. thus describes the "Rev. 0. E. Cline. 18 Dr. F. W. Phillips. W. D. R. TROTTER. 365 trip: "After we crossed the Illinois River, we had a hilly country to pass through to get to the quar- terly-meeting, almost without roads. So steep were some of the hills, and so deep the hollows and ra- vines, that we had to loose the horses from the bishop's carriage, and let it down by hand ; then hitch on and drive up the hills. After much labor to man and beast, we got safe to the quarterly-meet- ing. The bishop stayed with us over the Sabbath, and preached two excellent sermons, which had a good effect on the congregations; and the curiosity of many was gratified, for if circumstances had not transpired to bring him to our camp quarterly-meet- ing, they would have lived and died without ever seeng a Methodist bishop." Mr. Trotter's next appointment was the Hen- derson River Mission. Whilst on this charge he crossed the Mississippi, and preached the first ser- mon in Burlington, Iowa. Dr. Cartwright thinks this to have been the first Methodist sermon ever preached in the State, but this is probably a mis- take, as Barton Randle had preached at Dubuque just before this. "Burlington, as it is now called, was built on the Bottom, at the mouth of a creek emptying into the Mississippi River, and the char- acter of its inhabitants may be inferred from this incident. A man crossed over from this side the river, and told the people they had better quit their carousing and gambling, for a preacher named Trot- ter was coming over and was going to bring the Sabbath with him." 19 "Dr." Phillips. * 366 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. In 1834 he was teacher in Pleasant Plains Acad- emy; in 1835 he was sent to Rushville Station, and in 1836 to Sangamon Circuit. In 1837 and 1838 he was on the superannuated list, spending the first of these years in teaching on Spring Creek, in San- gamon County, and the second year in the Ebenezer Manual Labor School. In 1839 he was placed on the effective list and appointed to Jacksonville Sta- tion, and in 1840 and 1841 to Winchester Circuit. In 1841 he was appointed to the Bloomington Dis- trict, on which he labored two years. In 1844 he was placed on the Springfield District, on which he remained three years. In 1847 he was appointed agent for the Conference Female Academy at Jack- sonville. In 1848 he was assigned to the Jackson- ville District, from which he was removed to the Griggsville District, on which he labored but a single year. In 1852 he was placed upon the su- perannuated list, in view of his connection with the publication of the Central Christian Advocate at St. Louis, of which he was the first editor and pub- lisher. As an editor he fully met the public expec- tation, and his personal management of the business was satisfactory ; but such was the financial condi- tion of the country and so great the difficulty of securing a sufficient circulation to the paper, that Brother Trotter, who had assumed the whole pecun- iary responsibility of it, became so greatly embar- rassed financially that he never fully recovered from it. Efforts were made by him and his friends to induce the General Conference, after taking charge of the paper, to relieve him, but they failed, and AS A PREACHER. 367 he had to bear the loss alone. In 1854 he was ap- pointed professor in Illinois Conference Female College, and the next year was financial agent for it. In 1856 and 1857 he was on the superannuated list, endeavoring, by engaging in business, to recover from the losses he had suffered while in charge of the paper, but with small success. In 1858 he was on Exeter Circuit, in 1859 on Jacksonville Circuit, and in 1860 at Concord. In 1861 he was appointed to Paris District, on which he remained four years. In 1865 and 1866 he was on the Quincy District, on which he continued two years. In 1867 he was stationed at Alexander, in 1868 at Havana, and in 1869 and 1870 at Carrollton. In 1871 he was placed on the superannuated list, on which he remained un- til his death, at his residence in Jacksonville, July 25, 1880. " Few pleasanter men than Brother Trotter are to be found in social life. Ever cheerful, he brought the very sunshine into your house when he visited you. A reader all his days, possessed of a retentive mind, his fund of information, acquired by study and observation, being always at command, he was a conversationalist who both instructed and inter- ested. As a preacher he was possessed of more than ordinary ability. His sermons were methodi- cal in their arrangement, and might often have been taken as models by younger ministers. His manner of preaching required more time than this swift moving age is willing to give to a minister, but when he had pursued one line of thought after an- other to legitimate conclusions, the summing up was 368 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. often with wonderful effect upon the audience." 20 One who heard him frequently says, "His sermons were logical and clear, though sometimes two hours and a half long. In the beginning of his sermons he was very deliberate and slow of speech, but when he became warmed up with his theme he was often exceedingly eloquent." One of the most efficient and useful of those who commenced their labors in Illinois this year was JOHN VAN CLEVE, who had united with the con- ference two years before, during which he had la- bored in Indiana. He was born in 'Shrewsbury, New Jersey, May 28, 1804. His parents moved to Scipio, New York, in 1808, and from thence to Ohio in 1815. He was religiously inclined from childhood. While an apprentice in Cincinnati, in his eighteenth year, he became an earnest seeker of salvation. He was converted August 12, 1822, and a few days afterwards united with the old Stone Church in Cincinnati. From this time forth he never wavered in his religious integrity ; his piety was constant and fervent. In February, 1825, he was licensed to .exhort, and in September following to preach. As remarked before, he was received on trial in the Illinois Conference in 1828 and ap- pointed to Bloomington Circuit, Indiana, and the next year to Salem. All the rest of his appoint- ments, save one, were in Illinois. In 1830 he was sent to Kaskaskia, and then in succession to Apple Creek, Carrollton, Jacksonville Circuit, and Lebanon. In 1835 he was appointed to Mt. Vernon Dis- 20 Dr. Phillips. JOHN VAN CLEVE. 369 trict, and for the three following years. He was then two years in Rush vi lie Station, and two years at Mt. Carmel. In 1842 he was sent to Hillsboro. In 1843 and 1844 he was presiding elder of Mt. Vernon District, and for the three following years on Mt. Carmel District. Then for two years he was in Quincy Station, and the two following on Griggsville Circuit. In 1851 he was transferred to Missouri Conference and stationed at Ebenezer, St. Louis, and at the end of the year was transferred to the Southern Illinois Conference, just organized > and stationed at Belleville, where he remained two years. During the next four years he was on the Lebanon District; and the following four on the Alton District. In 1862 he was appointed to Jer- seyville, and returned the following year. Then for three years he was stationed at Centralia, and in 1867 at Cairo. The next year he was sent to Edwardsville, the two following to Bunker Hill, then to Olney and to Flora two years each. In 1875 he received his last appointment, Carlyle, in which he labored only about a month, when he was called from labor to rest. He was elected delegate to the General Conference four times, and at the time of his death he was a member of the General Missionary Committee. It was while attending the session of this committee in New York that he was stricken down by disease, and died there in St. Luke's Hospital, to which he had been taken for medical treatment. McKcndree College honored itself and him by conferring on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 370 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. "Brother Van Cleve was emphatically a self- made man. By the providence of God he was de- pendent upon his own efforts in his boyhood. His early education was limited, but by dint of persistent effort he overcame obstacles and attained to schol- arship. He possessed a vigorous intellect, a well disciplined mind, and a generous, noble heart. He was a methodical, clear, strong, earnest preacher, sometimes eloquent. Thirty years ago, to meet a demand of the times, he often preached controver- sial sermons. In this department of pulpit effort he had no superior in this country. He was strong in his convictions and positive in his statements, yet he always treated with respect those who differed with him. He was thoroughly in sympathy with all the work of the Church, and enthusiastic in his devotion to the cause of education." 21 Brother Van Cleve was a man of strong com- mon sense, eminently practical, and free from all pretension. He was an excellent presiding elder, a good business man, well acquainted with Methodist law, and strongly attached to Methodist usages. As a preacher he was able, dignified, clear, and for- cible, never wearying his hearers, and always leav- ing upon their minds a clear and distinct impres- sion of his subject. His sermons were always timely and appropriate to the occasion. He was a good administrator of discipline, attending faithfully to all the details of a Methodist pastor's duty, and al- ways leaving his charge in good order for his suc- cessor. In his intercourse with society he was ever "General Minutes. 9 STITH M. OTWELL. 371 the genial, Christian gentleman. In short, as his memoir says, he was " a devoted husband, a kind father, a genial companion, an earnest Christian, a friend of humanity, and an able minister of the Lord Jesus." BOYD PHELPS was received on trial in the Illi- nois Conference in 1829, and appointed to Carlisle, Indiana. His only appointment in Illinois was the Jonesboro Mission, to which he was sent this year. In 1831 he was sent to Lafayette, and continued to labor in the Indiana Conference until 1838, when he located. In 1851 he was readmitted in the Wis- consin Conference, in which he labored until 1856, when he was transferred to the Minnesota Confer- ence, and located in 1857. Two years afterwards he was readmitted, and labored in the effective ranks until 1880, when he was placed on the superannu- ated list. STITH MEAD OTWELL was a native of Georgia, born in Jackson County, August 2, 1805. He moved with his parents to Illinois in 1811. He was religiously brought up, and when only twelve years old gave his heart to the Savior. In 1826 he was licensed to preach, and immediately received on trial in the Illinois Conference. His first four appointments were in Indiana. This year he was on the Lebanon Circuit, and the two following years on the Macoupin Mission. In ^1833, his health having failed, he was granted a superannu- ated relation, in which he remained three years. In 1836 he was appointed agent for McKendree Col- lege. The next year he was again placed on the 372 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. superannuated list, in which he continued until his death, March 26, 1843. For several years he faith- fully discharged the duties of treasurer of the Con- ference Missionary Society. " He suffered much in the work of the ministry, yet he never murmured, and rarely spoke of his afflictions. Having em- braced religion when very young, and having main- tained an irreproachable standing in the Church of his choice, all through life his mind had become deeply imbued with the spirit of piety, and it shone out with increasing luster in all his various rela- tions. He was thirty-eight years of age when he died, having lived twenty-six years in honorable standing in the Church and seventeen in the min- istry. He was gentlemanly and dignified in his de- portment, and a man of industrious, economical, and business habits. Being very amiable and affa- ble, and a consistent Christian, he was as extensively beloved as he was known. He was a good citizen, and, therefore, had the confidence and esteem of the general community. He was an obedient son, an affectionate husband, and a good parent. On his dying bed we find him engaged in teaching his little daughter Harriet her daily lesson. In one word, ' those who knew him best, loved him most.' " He was a good preacher. His style was correct and chaste, simple and strong. His gestures were good, and in his preaching generally there was a pathos and solemnity, an emphasis in the intona- tions of his voice, and the manner of his delivery, that failed not to secure the attention and affect the heart. His preaching was practical, doctrinal, and STEPHAN R. BEGGS. 373 sometimes polemical. Indeed, he was faithful in endeavoring to fulfill his ordination vow, to edify the Church, and to drive away error in doctrine, and evil in practice from her borders. He was a good pastor, and hence attended to as many of the interests of the Church as he possibly could. He was very active in the missionary, Sunday-school, and temperance causes, and he was a good nurse for the young converts, the babes in Christ." 22 One who knew him well says of him : "He was a hand- some man, slender, but dignified, and would com- mand respect in any company. He had a great deal of personal magnetism. He was an intelligent gentleman, and a good preacher, persuasive in man- ner, but faithful in declaring the whole counsel of God." 23 "He was one of nature's noblemen, a very devout Christian. After he ceased traveling he settled at Carlinville and engaged in the dry-goods trade. He was a sweet-spirited, pure-minded man, very useful in his local capacity, and very skillful in handling the Word." 24 In his last illness he was abundantly sustained by the grace of God. When dying, he exhorted his companion to trust in the Lord, saying, " He will take care of you. I feel Jesus in my soul. I have peace, peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ." STEPHEN R. BEGGS was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, March 30, 1801. When he was four years old his parents moved to Kentucky, and two years afterwards to Clark County, Indiana, about seventeen miles above Louisville. As he grew 22 General Minutes. 23 Dr. J. Logan. 24 Rev. N. P. Heath. 374 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. up he became noted for his physical power, and was looked on as the strongest man in Clark County. He 'had but slight opportunities for education in his youth, but by diligent study in after years he became a respectable English scholar. He enjoyed from a child the advantages of religious instruction, and was early taught to read the Bible. He says: " I formed the habit of prayer very young, and con- tinued it regularly till my conversion." In his nineteenth year he attended a camp-meeting, and then he was soundly converted to God, as were about two hundred others, seven of whom after- wards became preachers. He was soon appointed class leader, then licensed to exhort, and soon after- wards to preach. He had intended to go to school for two years before entering the itinerant field, but his pastor, James Armstrong, told him he could better receive his education and graduate at Brush College, as most of the preachers had done, and so he consented to join the conference at once. He was received in the Illinois Conference in 1822, and appointed to Mt. Sterling Circuit, Indiana. The year was one of severe labor, some sickness, but great spiritual prosperity to the preachers, and in- crease to the Church. At a camp-meeting among the hills of Patoka he sought and found the bless- ing of entire sanctification. " God's will," says he, " became my will, and I learned to live in him con- tinually. All my soul was love, and for weeks I could continually sing : " ' Not a cloud doth arise to darken my skies, Or hide for a moment rny Lord from my eyes.' " STEPHEN R. BEGGS. 375 There were numerous Church trials and difficul- ties during the year, but an increase of ninety in the membership. The next year, 1823, he was sent to Lamoine Circuit, Missouri, five hundred miles from his former charge. This, too, was a success- ful year. He attended the conference at Padfield's in 1824, at which the Illinois Conference was formed, but he was continued in the Missouri division, and sent to Falling River Circuit. At the close of the year, at his request, he was transferred to the Illi- nois Conference, and appointed to Rushville, Indi- ana. This was a very successful year, many sinners being converted, and many believers brought to the enjoyment of full salvation. In 1826 his appoint- ment was Vincennes, and the next year, Wayne, Indiana. Here he met with great success, as de- scribed by W. C. Smith in his Indiana Miscellany, His next appointment was Crawfordsville, and in 1829 he was sent to Logansport, remaining on it, however, but one quarter, and being then removed by the presiding elder to Bloomington Circuit. From the conference of 1830 he was sent to his first charge in Illinois, the Tazewell Circuit. Here he had a prosperous year, and at its close was married to a Miss Heath, who for many years shared with him the toils and privations of the itinerancy. During this Summer, in company with Jesse Walker, he visited Chicago, and after spending a few days there a class of ten members was formed, constitu- ting the first organization of Methodism in what is now the metropolis of the North-west. The next year, 1831, he was sent to Chicago as a mission sta- 376 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. tion. At first', his labors were attended with some success, and additions were made to the membership. But the Black Hawk war breaking out, and the cholera being brought to the place by the troops of General Scott, caused most of the people to leave the place, and as no good could be accomplished, Mr. Beggs himself also left. In 1832 he was ap- pointed to Des Plaines Mission, to which he was returned the next year. In 1834 and 1835 he spent two successful years on Bureau Mission, the mem- bership being more than doubled during the second year. In 1836 he was appointed to Joliet. He says of it: " It was a glorious year to me. We had several conversions with strong evidence of their being born into the kingdom, and especially at our camp-meeting did the work of grace thrive." He built this year the first church in Joliet, having it completed in time for the last quarterly meeting. His next appointment was Forked Creek Circuit. " This year," says he, " was a great spiritual feast to my poor soul." In 1838 he was again sent to Joliet, and in 1839 to Peoria. Here he was very coldly received, the people having made arrange- ments to secure another preacher. But despite their indifference, by the help of those "without," he suc- ceeded in building the first Methodist church in the town, and having it ready for the last quarterly meeting, where the Lord graciously revived his work, many joining on probation. In 1840 he was sent to Peoria Circuit; in 1841, to Canton, and the next year to Knoxville. In 1843 he was transferred to the Rock River Conference and assigned to STEPHEN R. %EGGS. 377 Joliet. His subsequent appointments in that con- ference have been : 1844, Milford; 1845, Sycamore; 1846, Washington; 1847, Napiersville ; 1848 to 1850, superannuated; 1851, Flagg Creek; 1852, Pawpaw; 1853, Little Hock; 1854, superannuated ; 1855, Channahoii. In 1856 he was again placed on the superannuated list, on which he has remained to the present time. His residence is Plainfield, Illinois. He is now, 1883, eighty-two years old, tall, erect, with white flowing beard and hair, and not looking more than sixty-five. In 1868 he pub- lished " Pages from the Early History of the West and North-west, embracing reminiscences and inci- dents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, with especial refer- ences to the history of Methodism." The work, though destitute of proper arrangement, and some- times in error in its dates, contains, nevertheless, a very valuable collection of facts; and the writer is glad to acknowledge the great use he has made of it in the preparation of this work. JRev. W. S. Crisscy thus describes him in his prime : " He was fully six feet high, straight as an arrow, a little full in the chest, of good health, and strong constitu- tion. He was industrious, faithful, and quite suc- cessful when young ; but as society changed, his services were less in demand. In his manner of preaching, he strikingly resembled John Strange. He bought the school section at Walker's Grove, near Plainfield, and settled on it, not moving to his appointments afterwards." 32 378 METHODJSM IN ILLINOIS. CHAPTER VIII. 1831. CRAWFORDSVILLE DISTRICT James Armstrong, P. E. ' Eugene A. L. Kisley. v Paris Jesse Haile. WABASH DISTRICT George Locke, P. E. Ml. Carmel James McKean, John Fox. Wabash Thomas H. Files, James M. Massey. Charles Slocumb. KASKASKIA DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E. Kaskaskia William L. Deneen. Brownsville Mission John E. French. Jonesboro James T. Crawford. Golconda William Evans. McLeansboro William McHenry. Ml. Vernon James Walker. Slioal Creek John H. Benson. She/byville Barton Randle. Grand Prairie Mission Simeon Walker. SANGAMON DISTRICT Peter Cartwright, P. E. Lebanon John Dew, W. D. R. Trotter. Apple Creek John Van Cleve, Levi Springer. Jacksonville William H. Askins, John T. Mitchell. Atlas Spencer W. Hunter. Spoon River David B. Carter. Tazewell William S. Crissey. Salt Creek Amos Prentice. Sangamon John Sinclair, Asahel E. Phelps. Macoupin Mission Stith M. Otwell. CONFERENCE OF 1831. 379 MISSION DISTRICT Jesse Walker, Superintendent. - Deplain Jesse Walker, Missionary. Chicago Stephen R. Beggs. Fort Clark William Royal. Galena Smith L. Robinson. _ Rock Island Philip T. Cordier. THE session of 1831 was held at Indianapolis. It was presided over by Bishop Roberts, and Calvin W. Ruter was elected secretary. The ses- sion commenced on Tuesday, October 4th, and closed on the afternoon of the following Monday. Twenty-one members were present at the first roll call. Eleven were received on trial, viz. : George W. Beswick, Nathan Fairchild, William M. Daily, James T. Robe, Cornelius Swank, William McIIenry, James Walker, John T. Mitchell, William Royal, Levi Springer, Barton Randle. Joseph Oglesby, Thomas Davis, Hackaliah Vre- denburg, and Charles Slocumb were admitted. Two had died, Edwin Ray and James Bankson. Four received a location : Hardin A. Tarking- ton, Aaron Wood, Isaac Scarritt, and Geo. Randle. The following local deacons were elected to elder's orders : Gamaliel Taylor, Isaac G. Lewis, Samuel Hull, Thomas C. Collins, and Jeremiah Dodson. And the following local preachers to deacon's orders : Thomas T. Spillman, Stephen Liddle, John Hughes, John Cook, Hull Tower, Nathan Fairchild, William Clark, Henry Barnwell, John Cartwright, Daniel Harcoat, William Taylor, James Walker. 380 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Drafts were ordered on the Chartered Fund for $80, and on the Book Concern for $800, and $200 in addition, which was left undrawn last year. At this session the following delegates were elected to the General Conference of 1832; John Strange, Allen Wiley, George Locke, James Arm- strong, Samuel H. Thompson, John Dew, William Shanks, Peter Cartwright, and Calvin W. Ruter. Four alternates were elected : Thomas S. Hitt, James Scott, Joseph Oglesby, Jesse Haile. Of the delegates elected, John Strange, John Dew, and Peter Cartwright failed to attend the session of General Conference, which was held in Philadelphia, and only one of the alternates, Thomas S. Hitt, was present ; so that, although the confer- ence was entitled to nine representatives, it had only seven. The usual collection for defraying the expenses of the delegates was ordered to be taken in every charge, and in case any of the delegates should fail to attend, they were instructed to give timely notice to the secretary of the conference, who was to notify the alternates in the order of their election. When the name of James Bankson, deceased, was called, and an account was given of his last ill- ness, Brother McAllister, of the Missouri Confer- ence, who was present, was requested to bear the grateful acknowledgements of this conference to the brethren and friends in St. Louis for their kindness to him in his illness, and W. L. Deneen was ap- pointed to receive any money which any of the preachers might have on hand for Brother Bankson. SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 381 A resolution was offered that the preachers who had been employed by presiding elders should be considered as claimants on the conference funds. The resolution was not adopted, but the stewards were afterwards instructed to consider Joseph Oglesby, Nathan Fairchild, Leven Green, and Bar- ton Ran die, who had served as supplies, as legal claimants in proportion to their labors rendered as traveling preachers during the year. Sunday-school matters again occupied much of the time and attention of the conference. A communication from Rev. Samuel Sneed was read, in which he requested the privilege of address- ing the conference on the subject of Christian edu- cation as connected with the Sunday-school, he being superintending agent of the American Sunday- school Union in Indiana. His request was granted, and Brother McAllister was requested to respond to Mr. Sneed, if necessary, and to give a general view of the claims of the Methodist Sunday-school Union. After the addresses, a vote of thanks was given to Brother McAllister for the course he took with the American Sunday-school agent for saying what he did, and for saying no more than he did. The fol- lowing was offered : "Resolved, That in the opinion of this conference it is inexpedient for any of our traveling preachers to accept an agency in the American Sunday-school Union." It was moved to amend by adding u without the consent of his presiding elder and the consent of the quarterly conference of which he is a member." 382 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. The amendment was defeated, and the original mo- tion was adopted by rising vote, only one voting against it. The conference then resolved that every member would use his best efforts to organize and promote the interest of Methodist Sunday-schools, and all other benevolent institutions of the Church as far as practicable. It was also "Resolved, That as a matter of expediency this conference have a special agent to promote the in- terest of the benevolent institutions of the Church, namely, the Sunday-school, the Tract, the Mission- ary, and Bible Societies; and that he receive twenty per cent on all the money collected by him for Sunday-school purposes to defray his traveling ex- penses and to pay his salary, provided that he do not receive more than his allowance as a traveling preacher." A committee of five was appointed to examine the probable missionary ground within the bounds of the conference. Their report was "considered in its various fields" by the conference, and then adopted in full, and appropriations were afterwards made to them as follows: Logansport, $100; Fort Wayne, $75; Iroquois, $200; South Bend, $75; Grand Prairie, $100; Jonesboro, $100; Brownsville, $50; Macoupin, $100; Desplaines, $250; Chicago, $200; Fort Clark, $100; Galena, $250; Rock Island, $75 Total, $1,675. The report was approved by the bishop and then adopted by the conference. A communication was received from the Marion County Temperance Society, inviting the conference A DRAFT WITHHELD. 383 to moot with them. The invitation was at first de- clined on account of the pressure of business, but the conference expressed their best wishes and hearty resolve to co-operate in the advancement of the temperance cause ; but afterwards resolved to meet with them on Monday night " at the lighting of the candle." But before that time conference had ad- journed. Peter Cartwright reported that he had made some payments to those who had demands on the Pottawattomie Mission, and he was continued as a committee to liquidate the claims against it, and instructed to proceed in the settlements as he should deem most conducive to the ends of justice. An unfortunate difficulty occurred at this session. that resulted in the retirement from the conference of one of its most useful members. Peter Cart- Avright stated to the conference that in consequence of Brother Isaac Scarritt, who was last year ap- pointed to the Fort Clark Mission, having failed, in part, of discharging the duties assigned him, he had withheld one of the drafts in favor of said Scarritt, amounting to $50. The draft was pre- sented to the conference and ordered to be de- stroyed. Brother Scarritt had asked and received a location. Feeling aggrieved at the action of Mr. Cart- wright and the conference, Mr. Scarritt was granted the privilege of appearing before it at its next ses- sion. After making his statements, the conference "Itesolved, 'That in withholding from Brother Scarritt his draft for his last installment as a mis- 384 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. sionary on the Fort Clark Mission, no impeach- ment of his moral character was intended; and from all such imputation this conference fully exonerate him." The result of the affair, however, was that Mr. Scarritt, who had as a traveling preacher been quite successful, remained in a local relation until 1860, when he was readmitted in the Rock River Confer- ence and placed on the superannuated list. An expression of opinion having been asked by the delegates elected to the General Conference in regard to the division of the conference, the mem- bers, by rising vote, expressed a desire for a divi- sion, two only voting against it. The following preamble and resolution were adopted : " Whereas the General Conference has become so large as to be burdensome to the brethren where it sits, to be slow in its proceedings, and expensive to the Church to defray the traveling expenses of the delegates, and, also, to draw from the work many that would be otherwise employed in their respec- tive fields of labor; "Resolved, That this conference recommend to the next General Conference an alteration of that part of our Discipline that requires one delegate for every seven members of our annual conferences, so as to lessen the number of delegates." Bishop Roberts informed the conference that the stewards of the last session, at which no bishop was present, in makvng the dividends, had appropriated a larger amount to the .superintendents than they NEW ARRANGEMENTS. 385 claimed, and stated that he was prepared to return the overplus. The conference requested the super- intendents to retain the surplus amounts that had been appropriated to them. John Strange was elected conference vice-presi- dent of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Henry Buell complained of some grievances, and the conference ordered that he be tried by a com- mittee of traveling preachers, as the Discipline di- rects, and that the presiding elder, who may be ap- pointed in charge of the district in the bounds of which the charges originated, proceed to try him as soon as convenient. And the proceedings of George Locke in the case were, on motion, approved. The usual resolution of thanks was then passed, the appointments were read, and the last session at which the preachers of Illinois and Indiana met together was closed. A few changes were made in the arrangement of the work this year. Two appointments that had previously been in the Wabash District were placed in the Crawfordsville District, Vcrmillion and Paris, and the name of the former was changed to Eugene. The Shawnectown Circuit was cut off from the Wa- bash. The east part of the Apple Creek Circuit, and the newly-settled country between the Lebanon, Sangamon, and Shoal Creek Circuits, was formed into the Macoupin Mission and connected with the Sangamon District. And the Galena, Chicago, and Fort Clark Missions were taken from the Sanga- mon District and, with two new missions, the DCS 33 386 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. Plaines and Rock Island, formed into a Mission District, with the indefatigable Jesse Walker as missionary presiding elder. During this year Methodism was organized in Macoupin County. Sermons had been preached in the south part of the county at an early day by local preachers, but no society had been formed. The county had been organized two years before, in spite of the opposition of Peter Cartwright, who was then in the legislature, who declared that " God had set apart this region as a reservation for geese and ducks." S. M. Otwell preached the first ser- mon in the county seat, Carlinville, in the Fall of the year in an old log tavern. His audience con- sisted of four women and as many children. The men were attending a horse-race outside. Mr. Ot- well soon after gathered a class of nine members there; and not long after James Cane, a local preacher, organized a class in his own house in Palmyra, in the north-Avest part of the county. The first Methodist society was organized this year in Vandalia. There had been preaching in the place ever since 1818, but no class was formed. But now a class of seven members was gathered, consisting of Dr. N. M. McCurdy and wife, Moses and Susan Phelps, and John Delaplaine, wife, and daughter. A church was commenced by them in 1835, but was not completed until 1837. Among the numerous camp-meetings held this year, we have an account of the first one ever held in Randolph Grove, in McLean County. Peter Cartwright, James Latta, and others preached at it. CH URCH B UIL T. 387 Among other things, Cartwright, who despised East- ern missionaries and correspondents, said : " They represent this country as a vast waste, and the peo- ple as very ignorant; but if I were going to shoot a fool, I should not take aim at a Western man, but would go down by* the seashore and cock my fusee at the imps who live on oysters." Mr. Latta preached at popular vices, antf was particularly severe on horse-racing. He said : " There is a class of people who can 't go to hell fast enough on foot, so they get on their poor, mean ponies, and go to the horse-race. Even professors of religion are not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pre- text that they want to see such a man or such a man ; but they know in their own hearts that they want to see the horse-race." The first church was erected this year in Belle- ville under circumstances somewhat peculiar. Dur- ing a quarterly-meeting, which was held in a hall, Brother McAllister, who was then on the St. Louis District, having come over to attend it, the congre- gations were so large that they had to adjourn to the woods. During the Sunday service a heavy rain fell, and the congregation got very wet. The next day, Mrs. Blackwell, one of the first members of the class, wrote to her brother in Maryland, ask- ing him to raise money to aid them in building a church. He sent them fifty dollars, and the soci- ety then went on until enough was raised to put up a respectable frame building, which was used until the erection of the present one in 1849. Among the persons who settled in Illinois this 388 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. year, and were or became Methodists, was JAMES PLASTERS, who was born in Loudoun County, Vir- ginia, in 1791. He served as a soldier during the war of 1812, and participated in the defense of Fort McHenry. He settled near Livingston, Clark County, and remained there until 1858, when he removed to Marshall. He was converted at a Cum- berland Presbyterian camp-meeting, in 1832, and united with that Church. But when he came to examine its creed, he found that with the doctrine of unconditional final perseverance he could not agree, and so he took a letter and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he remained a worthy member until his death, October 25, 1882. One of his daughters became the wife of Rev. C. D. James, of the Illinois Conference. The increase in the membership this year was smaller than for several years before. The entire membership in Illinois was 10,257 whites and 61 colored, an increase of 746 over the year before. Among those who labored in Illinois this year for the first time was JAMES M. MASSEY, who was born in Tennessee, while his parents were moving from South Carolina to Illinois in the year 1809. In his eighteenth year he was converted at a camp- meeting in White County. After serving as class- leader and exhorter, he was licensed to preach in 1830, and the same year united with the- Illinois Conference. His first appointment was Petersburg, Indiana. During the rest of his itinerant life he labored in Illinois. The following were his appoint- ments: 1831, Wabash; 1832, Mt. Carmel ; 1833, JAMES M. MASSE Y. 389 Eugene; 1834, Shelbyville ; 1835, Vandalia; 1836, Okaw; 1837, Mt. Vernon ; 1838, Mt. Carmel Sta- tion; 1839 and 1840, Nashville; 1841, Mt. Vernon ; 1842, Mt. Carmel Circuit; 1843, Fan-field; 1844 and 1845, Shawneetown ; 1846, Lebanon; 1847 and 1848, Carlylc; 1849, Highland. In 1850 he was on the superannuated list, but the next year he was sent to Equality. In 1852 he fell into the Southern Illinois Conference, and was appointed in succession to Xenia, Chester, and Salem. In 1855 lie was again superannuated. But in 1856 he was again effective, and was sent to Mt. Erie, in 1857 to Xenia, and in 1858 to New Middleton. Here he ceased his labors and sufferings March 14, 1859. "Brother Massey was a faithful man, emphatically a^Method- ist preacher, a man of one work. He loved and defended the doctrines and discipline of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. He was at all times ready to resist the innovations upon any of our long tried rules and usages. His preaching was clear, his manner strong, and his appeals sometimes irresist- ible. It is said by some that he had no poor ser- mon. He suffered much during the last two years of life with rheumatic pains, but he suffered as see- ing him that is invisible. His last sickness was ac- companied with the impression that his work was done. He spoke of death as a matter with which he was familiarly conversant. His physician came int9 the room when he was about dying, and he said to him, " Doctor, the Avaters of Jordan are coming upon me fast ;" and added, " O tell my brethren in the ministry that the religion I have 390 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. preached to others is sufficient to sustain me in death ; it is indeed the power of God unto salva- tion." 1 One of his colleagues says of him that he "was an admirable declaimer. He had a voice like a bugle, and lungs that never got sore or hoarse. He was a great revivalist and a splendid recruiting officer for Christ. He always had revivals in his charges, and large ingatherings; sometimes too large, necessitating a good deal of pruning by his successor. He was a very pleasant man, quite com- panionable, and showing all good fidelity. He was not an original thinker or investigator, but relied almost wholly on the opinions of others. He was an indefatigable worker and very zealous. He made it a rule never to neglect an appointment when it was possible for him to get there. His frequent journeyings through storm and exposure brought on rheumatism, from which he suffered severely for many years, and which finally carried him off." 2 The itinerant career of WILLIAM McHENEY was a short one. He traveled but two years. In 1831 he was appointed to McLeansboro, in 1832 to Fairfield, and at the next session of conference he was discontinued at his own request. JAMES WALKER was a native of Georgia. He was received as a traveling preacher this year, and sent to Mt. Vernon Circuit. During the next two years he was on Brownsville Mission; in 1834, on Wabash Circuit, and at the next session of confer- ence he was elected to elder's orders, and granted a location at his own request. He was readmitted 1 General Minutes. 2 Rev. E. Joy. BARTON RANDLE. 391 the next year and appointed to Fairfield Circuit, but at the session of 1837 he again located. He never afterwards united with the conference, but for about thirty years labored quite extensively as a local preacher, and occasionally filled appoint- ments under the presiding elder until his death. He was a good Christian man, enjoying the con- fidence of all, and a respectable and useful preacher. Of BARTON RANDLE nothing but good can be said. He was born in Scriven County, Georgia, November 7, 1796. In his sixteenth year he was converted in Madison County, Illinois. In 1831, after he had traveled part of a year under the pre- siding elder on the Spoon River Circuit, he united with the Illinois Conference and was appointed to the Shelbyville Circuit. This charge then embraced the counties of Shelby, Moultrie, the larger portion of Coles, and parts of Fayette and Cumberland. He had a successful year, closing with a camp- meeting at Wabash Point, at which much good was done. His next appointment was the Henderson River Mission. This was a new charge, embracing the scattered settlements in Henderson, Warren, and adjoining counties. Mr. Cartwright, who was pre- siding elder of the district, states, that at one of his quarterly meetings on the charge this year there were present the six members of the Church and eight who were not members, and these comprised the whole settlement, save one family, who were so much opposed to the Methodists that they would not attend the meeting. "At another quarterly meeting in this mission, on Sunday, we had twenty- 392 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. seven for our congregation, and yet the scattered population were all, or nearly all, there for many miles round, and when we administered the sacra- ment on Sabbath we had just seven communicants, preachers and all. Barton Randle, the missionary, though a man of feeble health and strength, was yet faithful in hunting up the lost sheep in this new and laborious field of labor. He suffered many privations and hardships, but he endured all as see- ing Him who is invisible, and I have thought that he was among the very best missionaries I was ever acquainted with. He did great good in this new and rising country, and laid firmly the foundation of future good, which the increasing and now densely populated country has realized. No doubt, many, in the great day of retribution, will rise up and call Brother Randle blessed, and he will hail many of his spiritual children in heaven from this field of labor." 3 The next appointment to which Mr. Randle was sent in 1833 was also a mission- field Galena and Dubuque. While on this charge he preached the first Protestant sermon ever preached in the State of Iowa. His colleague was John T. Mitchell, who had filled the Galena mis- sion the year before. "On account of the difficulty of crossing the river (the Mississippi) at that time, the work on the mission was practically divided, Mitchell remaining at Galena, and Barton Randle taking the new work at Dubuque. To that place, accompanied by his colleague, he proceeded on Sat- urday, November 6, 1833, and there, in the tavern 3 Dr. Cartwright. SUPERANNUATION. 393 of Jesse M. Harrison, on the present site of the Julian House, on the same evening, he preached the first Methodist sermon of which we have any account as preached on Iowa soil. The next day his co-missionary Mitchell preached the second ser- mon at the same place. The next May a society was organized, consisting of twelve members; and during the Summer a hewed log meeting-house, twenty by twenty-six in the clear, was built, and a two days' meeting held in it." 4 Mr. Randle's next appointment was Alton Station. But his health having failed, at the end of the year he was placed on the superannuated list. During his second year, however, his health being partially restored, he was employed by the presiding elder to assist G. G. Worthington on the Carlinville Circuit. In 1837 he was sent to Carrollton Circuit, and in 1838 to Vandalia and Hillsboro, a double station. During the two following years he was on Vandalia Dis- trict, and from 1841 to 1843 on the Mt. Carmel District. In 1844, having been injured by a shock received from a stroke of lightning, from which he never fully recovered, he was placed on the super- annuated list, on which he remained five years. Having somewhat recovered, he was in 1849 again sent to the Shelbyville Circuit, then much smaller than when he had traveled it before. But the work was still too much for him, and at the session of conference of 1850 he was again granted a super- annuated relation, in which he continued till his death, January 2, 1882. One who recollects him 4 Kev. E. H. Waring. 391 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. on his first circuit, says of him, "He was a strong preacher and a fine theologian. He was particularly strong on baptism and the divinity of Christ. He was a good scholar and a hard student." " The last twenty years of his life were spent at the house of his sister, Mrs. M. P. Ripley, at Staunton, Illi- nois. For six months before his death he was en- tirely deprived of sight and confined to his bed. All his faculties, except the spiritual, seemed to fail ; but he never lost his interest in Christ, and was al- ways patient, cheerful, and happy in the midst of his sufferings. Often when his pastor would inquire after his welfare, his answer would be, 'As happy as a king.' " 5 LEVI SPRINGER removed from Indiana to Illi- nois in the Fall of 1823. He traveled with his wife on horseback. They slept two nights on the open prairie, with no protection save their blanket, while the wolves were howling around them. They settled in what is now Cass County, a short dis- tance from Virginia. Mr. Springer united with the conference this year, and was appointed to Apple Creek Circuit. In 1832 he was sent to Salt Creek; in 1833, to Fort Edward Mission, and in '1834 to Carlinville. The next two years he was on Pecan Mission, and in 1837 on Athens Circuit. At the end of the year he located. He was a strong preacher, sometimes rather lengthy. As a local preacher he labored quite extensively and usefully. He loved the Church, and was highly esteemed on the circuit on which he lived. & Rev. W. Van Cleve. JOHN T. MITCHELL. 395 The following sketch of JOHN T. MITCHELL is mostly condensed from the excellent memoir of him in the General Minutes. He was born August 20, 1810, near the village of Salem, Botetourt County, Virginia. In 1817 his father moved to Illinois and settled near Belleville. In the Fall of 1829, John, then a lad of nineteen years, attended what was de- nominated in those times a conference camp-meet- ing, " when he was awakened to a sense of his lost condition as a sinner, and formed a resolution to devote his life to the service of God. He accord- ingly united with the Church as a probationer, but did not then obtain an evidence of his conversion. At a camp-meeting, however, held later in the same season, near Carlyle, he obtained the forgiveness of sins and the witness of the spirit that he was a child of God. The next Spring he was appointed assistant superintendent of a Sunday-school, and while engaged in that work became convinced that God had called him to the work of the ministry. He accordingly received license to preach, and in April, 1831, delivered his first sermon in the town of Hillsboro." That Fall he was received into the Illinois Conference, and appointed to Jacksonville Circuit with William H. Askins as his senior. The next year, 1832, he was sent to Galena Mission, and in 1833 to Galena and Dubnque, with Barton Ran- dle as his chief. In 1834 and 1835 he was at Chi- cago. Mr. Beggs declares of his labors at that time, "To the zeal and efficiency of John T. Mitch- ell, Chicago Methodism is greatly indebted. He gave to the Church a thorough organization, and 396 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. laid the foundations of her future usefulness and stability." In 1836 he was appointed to Jackson- ville, and reappointed the next year. During his pastorate here he sought and found the blessing of entire sanctification. Becoming deeply anxious to promote the doctrine and experience of Christian purity, he organized a " select society" in accord- ance with the plan of Mr. Wesley. In his journal he thus records his experience: "My soul this even- ing was drawn out in prayer that the blessing might be given now. I confessed my unfaithfulness, I pleaded the merits of Christ, the infinite love of God, his delight in making his children like him- self, his promise to cleanse from all unrighteous- ness, and, glory to God, his Spirit broke into my heart, the darkness fled away, the glory of God was revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, my sin was all destroyed, the love of God filled and overflowed my heart, and all my soul was love." His after life was a constant heart-struggle to maintain this high and rare experience. It was the theme of very much of his preaching. No congregation to whom he ever ministered can forget his frequent and pow- erful appeals to the Church to arise and put on her beautiful garments. In 1838 and 1839 he was sta- tioned in Springfield, and at the close of his term was transferred to the Rock River Conference and appointed presiding elder of the Chicago District, on which he remained two years. In 1842 and 1843 he was sent to Mt. Morris District, and was at the same time appointed financial agent of the Rock River Seminary at Mt. Morris. By the Gen- AS A PASTOR. 397 eral Conference of 1844 he was elected assistant agent of the Western Book Concern, and for four years he performed the delicate and responsible du- ties of this post with marked ability. In 1848 he was transferred to the Ohio Conference, and stationed at Ninth Street, now Trinity, Cincinnati, -where he labored with zeal and success for two years. In 1850 he was stationed at Wesley Chapel, in Cin- cinnati, and remained two years. In 1852 he fell into the Cincinnati Conference, and was sent to Ur- bana, where as pastor, presiding elder, and one year as supernumerary, he lived and labored for seven years. In 1859 he was reappointed to Wesley Chapel, where he remained two years. In 1861 he was stationed at Park Chapel, and the next year was appointed to the Cincinnati District, on which he labored until his death. He was a delegate to the General Conference in 1840 from Illinois Con- ference, in 1844 from Rock River, and in 1860 from Cincinnati. He was for many years secretary of the different conferences to which he belonged. From the beginning of his ministry he was a close student. Not only did he apply himslf to the study of theology, but he found time and means likewise to gain considerable knowledge of philosophy, mathe- matics, general literature, and the Latin and Greek languages. As a minister of the Gospel he had a high and growing position to the close of his life. He possessed a combination of social, intellectual, and moral qualities which are rarely found in one individual. A heart overflowing with love for a perishing world, an understanding clear and discrim- 398 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. mating, an imagination remarkably chaste, a social manner, serious, affectionate, yet very winning and gentle, all combined to make him a minister of ex- traordinary influence and usefulness. No one who attended his ministry ever doubted that the love of Christ constrained him. His style was exceedingly neat, simple, and dignified, and yet very impressive. At times when his soul kindled with the themes of the Gospel, he would speak with a tongue of fire, and stir every heart by the power of his earnest and eloquent utterances. In the use of language he seemed to seize by intuition the words best adapted to convey to the understanding of his hearers the clear and forcible conceptions of his own mind. He was greatly skilled in the use of pure English undefiled. His sentences were often striking aphor- isms, brief, comprehensive, suggestive. As a speaker he was in many respects a model. A graceful dig- nity of mien, a fervid, affectionate style, and a di- rectness and pungency of appeal to the hearts of sinners, comprised to make his ministrations a great blessing wherever they were enjoyed. Few of his brethren in the ministry have excelled him as a doctrinal, and at the same time practical, preacher. In his religious belief he was steadfast and nil- movable. He embraced with his whole soul the theology of Wesley, and never wavered in the con- viction that it was more nearly a transcript of the teachings of Christ than any other system of doc- trines held among men. There was no appearance of fickleness or indecision in his religious life. He did not grow weary of opinions because they were IN CHURCH WORK. 399 old ; nor did he ever manifest the slightest inclina- tion to embrace new views of Church polity or doc- trine from a mere morbid desire for novelties. No cunning of men or wind of doctrine could turn him aside from the deliberate convictions of his mind. His personal experience was so inwoven with the grand, fundamental doctrines of the cross, that he could not be otherwise than firmly rooted and grounded in the faith delivered to the saints. He loved the Church of his fathers with a great and overmastering affection. He was exceedingly zeal- ous of her honor, and seemed to court life and strength only for her service. A more thoroughly tried and true watchman has rarely fallen from the walls of our Zion. And yet he was in no sense a bigoted sectarian. Enthusiastically devoted as he was to Methodism, no narrow and exclusive spirit characterized his private or public life. He was, on the contrary, a truly Catholic spirited Christian. As an executive officer of the Church, charged with the administration of discipline, he was pro- verbially firm. Very few men are endowed in this world with more practical wisdom than he pos- sessed. On all questions of grave moment that arose in the conference, no man's opinions had more weight. His brethren will never forget, I am sure, how often the clear, brief statements of the secre- tary have unraveled the most perplexing difficulties. His cool judgment and evenly balanced mind always comprehended the practicability as well as the de- sirableness of a thing. As a counselor in the Church his place can not easily be supplied. 400 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. In private life he was an example to his breth- ren. There was a simple, unaffected courtesy in his manner, a genuine politeness in all his deport- ment towards others, a fascinating charm in his fireside and social intercourse with society, a hearty and open-handed hospitality in entertaining friends that won the hearts of all, and made him a welcome guest wherever he was known. In March, 1863, he was seized with hemorrhage of the lungs. After suffering for some time in Cin- cinnati, having somewhat improved, he resolved to visit a sister in Minnesota. But before he reached her residence, Red Wing, he died on a steamer on the Mississippi, on the 30th of. May. While in full view of death before he left Cincinnati, he said to one : " I am going home to rest. The port is in sight. My peace flows as a river. I have a desire to depart and be with Christ." To another he de- clared : " I am unspeakably happy. I am waiting in weakness and pain, but not impatient, for God to call me home. I am a sinner saved by grace." To another : " I am very weak, but very happy. My Savior is ever near me. I have no fear but peace, perfect peace. I am waiting for my change to come." WILLIAM STODDART CRISSEY was born in Salis- bury, Connecticut, April 21, 1811. In 1815, his parents, who were Presbyterians, moved to Cincin- nati, and died there three years afterwards. Will- iam then went to live with his uncle, who was a druggist and physician in Cincinnati. When he was ten years old he was converted and united with WILLIAMS. CRISSEY. 401 the Methodist Episcopal Church at the Old Stone Church, afterwards Wesley Chapel. A large num- ber of boys were converted at the same time, and formed into a class, with Samuel Huston as leader. In 1823 he removed with his uncle to Louisville, Kentucky, and two years afterwards to Blooming- ton, Indiana. While there he received license to exhort from James Armstrong, and, in 1829, hav- ing removed to Paris, Illinois, he was licensed to preach. The next year he was received into con- ference, and sent to Paoli Circuit, Indiana. In 1831 he was appointed to Tazewell Circuit. This was the year of the Black Hawk War, and the cir- cuit being on the frontiers, there was, of course, great excitement among the people. But despite this, the year was a prosperous one ; two good camp- meetings were held, at both of which there were gracious revivals, and some increase in the mem- bership was reported at the close of the year. In 1832 he was sent to Jacksonville Circuit. The charge included what are now Morgan, Cass, and Scott Counties. For the first half of the year Mr. Crissey was alone, but in the Spring C. B. U. Mc- Cabe, a local preacher, who had just come from the lead regions of Missouri, was employed to assist him. During this year the Asiatic cholera made its first appearance in the country. There were about one hundred deaths in Morgan County and nearly sixty in Jacksonville. And yet, despite the panic created by the disease, there was a general advance at most of the appointments, and a slight increase iu the membership. Mr. Crissey 's next appointment 402 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. was Mt. Carrael Circuit. In 1834 he was sent to Eugene, and in 1835 to Danville. The latter charge had been included in the former, which was divided at the conference of 1835. Mr. Crissey's residence was at Danville during both years. During his first year he commenced the building of a church at Danville, and completed it the next year. It was, for those days, a great undertaking, and the whole country for twenty miles around was can- vassed for means to build it. At the last quarterly- meeting a camp-meeting was held, a few miles from Danville, at which there were about one hundred and twenty conversions and accessions to the Church, and about twenty-five professed to be en- tirely sanctified. His next appointment was Mil- waukee, and in 1837 he was sent to Joliet, where he remained two years. These were very successful years. Many souls were won to Christ, and general advancement was made. A church that had been begun before at Plainfield was completed, and another at Joliet. In the Winter of 1838 Mr. Crissey formed the first class at Lockport. Mr. Beggs, who was his col- league on this charge, says of him : " He was a good preacher, a faithful pastor, and possessed a good business tact. He was an indefatigable laborer, attending to all matters both small and great." So faithful was he in attending to all his disciplinary duties that, it is said, while on this circuit he read at all the appointments Mr. Wesley's sermons on Dress and Evil Speaking, and the General Rules. At the conference of 1839 he was granted a super- HIS FAITHFULNESS. 403 annuated relation, which he sustained until 1842, when he was appointed to Decatur Circuit. This was a very prosperous year. Between sixty and seventy were added to the Church in Decatur, and on the entire charge there was an increase in the membership of one hundred and twenty-five. His next appointment was Springfield Station. Here, though there was a decrease in the membership, was a good revival of religion and a number of souls clearly converted. At the close of the year he was again placed on the superannuated list, on which he continued until 1848, when he was ap- pointed to Rushville. He had notified his presid- ing elder that it would be impossible for him to fill an appointment, and yet in spite of this he was appointed. He did not go to the charge, and at the next conference he was granted a location. Mr. Crissey, as stated above by Mr. Beggs, was a good preacher, somewhat given to metaphysical discus- sion, but acceptable and popular. He was scrupu- lous in observing all the requirements of the Disci- pline, fasting every Friday, visiting among the people, and regularly meeting the classes. In this duty he was particular in inquiring of the members in regard to their attention to family and secret prayer, and their abstinence from intoxicating drinks. He was a faithful administrator of disci- pline ; and while blessed with many gracious revi- vals of religion, his forte seemed to be the purifica- tion and building up of the Church. He is now (1883) enjoying a vigorous and honored old age in Decatur. 404 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. No better man ever belonged to the Illinois Con- ference than WILLIAM ROYAL, who was this year received on trial and appointed to Fort Clark. The next year he was sent to Bloomington, in 1833-4 to Ottawa, and the next year to Fox River Mission. In 1836, his appointment was Des Plaines; 1837, Waterloo; 1838, Waynesville ; 1839, Winchester; 1840-41, Pnlaski; 1842, Monmouth ; 1843, Rich- land; and 1844, Greenville. In 1845 he was trans- ferred to the Rock River Conference and appointed to Peoria Circuit. In 1846-7 he was on Little Rock Circuit, and in 1848 at Newark. The next year he was on the superannuated list, but in 1850 he was appointed to Livingston Circuit. At the close of the year he was again superannuated, and continued in that relation until 1860, when he was transferred to the Oregon Conference and appointed to Portland Mission. In 1861 he was sent to East Tualatin. In 1862 he was appointed conference tract agent, a position to which he was annu- ally reappointed until 1868, when he was again placed on the superannuated list, in which he con- tinued until his death, in 1871. Brother Royal was a deeply devoted Christian. It was his habit to pray in his family after each meal. He was a very kind-hearted man, loving his neighbor as him- self. As a preacher he was very moderate, but he could talk about religion ; and his deep personal piety and the interest he took in the welfare of others rendered him acceptable to the people. He was an excellent pastor, and a very prudent and careful man. He afforded one of the best exam- REMOVAL TO OREGON. 405 pies of the success of a preacher of very moderate abilities, but possessed of an eye single to the glory of God, ever known. The one talent used, in such a character, becomes more than the ten talents wasted in men who live to themselves. He made the glory of God the great aim of his life, and, as a natural result, God blessed his labors wonder- fully, and made him an instrument of good to mul- titudes of souls. In 1859 he removed with his children to Oregon. A considerable company was formed and he was appointed commander and chap- lain. Every Saturday, at noon, they pitched their tents, and did not leave until Monday morning, he preaching to them on the Sabbath. This course was kept up until they reached the edge of the desert. Then the rest of the company concluded that it would not be prudent or safe for them to make any further stoppage until they were safely through the dangerous desert and Indian country, and so they pushed on, leaving him and his family, for Brother Royal had made up his mind that, whatever might be the danger, he would trust in God and honor his day. The result was that, while the other party lost about twenty head of cattle, stolen by the Indians, and suffered severely from storms, Brother Royal and his family got through pleasantly and safely, and overtook the others before they reached their destination* He was mighty in prayer. At a quarterly-meeting on the Ottawa Circuit, at which John Sinclair, Stephen R. Beggs, and William Royal were present, a brother who had recently come to the country remarked, " that 406 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS. if he only had Brother Beggs to preach, Brother Sinclair to exhort, for he was mighty therein, and Brother Royal to pray, he wanted no more." 6 IT is designed that this volume shall be followed by others on " Later Methodism in Illinois." As stated at the beginning of the work, a large amount of material has been collected by the author, and he is daily adding to his stores. He hopes, if life and health are spared, to send out a second volume in 1884. 6 Kev. S. E. INDKX. PAGE. AMFS E R 348 PAGE. Clarke John ... 30 Amos, Abraham, .... 74 Apple Creek Circuit . . 257 Class in Illinois, First, . . 29 Clingan John, 66 Armstrong, James, . . 214 Amngton, A. W., .... 312 Asians W H .... 353 Colbert, George A., ... 86 Cole, Philip, 239 Cooper John 169 Atlas Circuit . . 244 Cooper S C 270 Cordier P T 355 Avers John E., 345 Corrie familv, 171 BAKBR JACOB 284 Crawford, J.' P., 355 Crissey W S . 400 Bankson, James, .... 331 Curtis, Joseph, 162 Bassett, Samuel, 215 Beauchamp William 158 NDAYLDSON, GEORGE, ... 83 Davis Thomas 154 Beggs, S. K., 373 Belleville Methodism, 234, 387 Benson John H 297 Decatur Methodism, . . .343 Decker, John A., .... 311 Delap Robert . . . 180 Bigbay Circuit, 107 Blackmail, Learner, ... 79 Blackwell, William, . . .248 Delegates to Gen'l Conf., 264 380 Deneen, W. L., ..... 294 Blaisdell, John, 188 Bogart, Samuel, 276 Brownsville Circuit, . . .228 Buell Henry 288 Desplaines Mission, . . . 385 Dew, John, 194 Dewitt County Methodism 310 Dixon Joseph 168 CAMP-MEETINGS, . 50, 51, 52, 53 61, 70, 111, 131, 144, 155 167, 171, 191, 192, 248, 265 301, 386 Carmi Circuit, 228 Carter David B .... 332 Dow, Lorenzo, 164 ECHOLS, WILLIAM, .... 272 Edwards, Lorenzo, . . .330 Essay, Preliminary, ... 13 Eugene Circuit 385 Cartwrifht Peter . . 99 218 Evans William 9 52 Casad, A. W., 189 Casey, Zadoc, 147 FARMER ELI P 250 Cash River Circuit, . . 76, 212 Chambers, William, ... 242 Chicago Methodism, ... 57 Chicago Mission .... 341 Files, Thomas H., . . . . 252 Fisher, Orceneth, .... 196 Fort Clark Mission, . . . 341 Foulks Joseph 240 Church in Illinois First 46 Fox John . . 67 " " " Second, 56 Fox River Mission, . . . 309 407 408 INDEX. PAGE. 76 PAGE. Illinois Territory, .... 28 State, 151 Iowa Methodism, .... 392 JACKSONVILLE CIRCUIT, . . 342 " Methodism, 178, 343 Johnson, James E., . . 217 Johnson, John T., . . . .276 Jonesboro Circuit, .... 310 Jones W R ... 143 French, John E., . . GAINES, RICHARD, . . Galena Mission, . . . . . 299 . . 249 . . 282 Galena Methodism, . Garrett, Lewis, . . . . . 195 . 2Q Gilham, James, 32 Gilham, John D., . . . . 163 Glanville, John 182 Golconda Circuit, .... 310 Goodner, David, .... 99 Goshen Society, 37 Grand Prairie Mission, . 341 Green, Jesse, 198 KASKASKIA CIRCUIT, . 183, 212 Kerns, John, 272 Kersey, Thomas, .... 345 Kirkman, Thomas, ... 78 Kirkpatrick, John, ... 38 LANDIS, ISAAC, 249 Lapham, Alonzo, .... 191 Latta James ... . 333 Green, Leven, .... . . 232 HADLEY, JAMES, . . . Huile, Jesse, .... . .237 . . 138 Harbison, John C., . Hargravc, Richard, . Harris, John, .... Harrison, Reuben, . Harrison, Thomas, . Hart, Miles, Heliums, Thomas, . . Heresy, Case of, . . . .106 209, 252 . . 143 . . 184 . . 37 . .267 . .152 . .262 . 210 Lawrenceville Methodism, 265 Leach F B 194 Lebanon Circuit, .... 310 Methodism, . . 234 Lillard, Joseph, . . . . '. 29 Locke, George, 284 Logan, Dr. John, .... 248 Lowry, James, 166 Lurton, Jacob, 172 MCALLISTER, ALEXANDER, 172 McHenry, Daniel, .... 127 McHenry, William, . . . McKeau, James, .... 295 McKendree, William, . . 46 McKendree College, . . .339 McLean County Method- ism 191 . . 271 Holliday, Charles, . . Hopewell Methodism House, Isaac S., . . . Huffaker, Miles, . . . . . 234 , .. .184 . .255 . .290 . . 185 Hunter, S. W., . . . . . 356 Hussey, Nathan, . . Hypes, Benjamin, . . . . 163 . .342 . 212 Conf. Session, 1st, 205 2d, 228 3d, 246 4th, 257 5th, 278 6th, 300 7th, 335 8th, 379 Mission, .... 38 First settlers in, . 27 McLeansboro Circuit, . . 341 McReynolds, J. W., . . . 238 McReynolds, William, . . 192 Macoupin Methodism, . . 386 _ Mission,. . . . 385 Massac Circuit, 95 Massey, James M., ... 388 Matheny, C. R., 45 Mavity, William, .... 289 Maxey, Bennett, .... 163 . INDEX. 409 1 Mayo, Jonathan, .... Medford, William, .... Moth. Prot. Church, . 282, Miller John LGE. 190 217 283 200 164 212 395 146 64 175 96 215 157 211 212 37 105 29 41 107 371 179 265 310 191 71 102 265 228 213 344 290 371 188 162 315 388 102 229 383 148 357 391 82 3 PAGE. Handle, Parham, . . 172, 181 Handle, Thomas, .... 216 Rice Thomas 180 Rigg, Hosea, 32 Risley, A. L., 288 Robinson, Smith L., . . . 272 Rock Island Mission, . . 386 Royal William . . . 404 Missionary Society, First, Mississippi Circuit, . 183, Mitchell, John T., . . . . Mitchell, Samuel, .... Moore, Enoch, Moore, Francis, Moore, John, Moore, William, Mt. Carmel founded, . . " " Circuit, . 157, Mt. Vernon Circuit, . 183, NEW DESIGN, Noland, James, OGLE, JOSEPH, Ruddle, Cornelius, ... 188 SACKETT, SAMUEL, .... 343 St. Louis Methodism, . 59, 120 St. Mary's Circuit, .... 104 Salt Creek Circuit, . . .310 Sangamon Circuit, . .167, 212 Scarritt, Isaac, .... 273, 383 Scarritt, Nathan, .... 169 Scott, James 181 Scott William 33 Scripps, John, . . . 110, 118 Schuyler County Method- ism, 211 See, William, 243 Seminary, Conference, 260, 280 302 Sharon Methodism. . . . 179 Sharp, David, 165 Shawneetown Circuit, . . 385 Shelbyville Circuit, ... 310 Shiloh Methodism, ... 37 Shoal Creek Circuit, . 151, 212 Simms James, 176 Oglesby, Joseph, .... Okaw Circuit, Otwell, S. M., PADON, WILLIAM, .... Palestine Methodism, . . " Methodism, .... Patterson, Josiah, .... Pekin Methodism, .... Peoria Circuit, " Methodism, . . . " settled, Peter William Sinclair, John, 358 Slocumb, Charles, .... 154 Smith, John, 98 Smith, William H 186 Spoon River Circuit, . . .310 Springer, Levi, 394 Springfield Methodism, . 179 343 Stephenson, B. C., . . . . 334 Sterrett, William, . . . . 149 Stewart, John, 175 S. S. Union, American, 337, 381 TARKINGTON, H. A., . . . 299 Tarkington, Joseph, . . .254 Tazewell Circuit, .... 342 Thompson, A. F., . . . . 315 5 Phelps A E Phelps Bovd Piggott, I. N., Pinckard, N., Plasters, James, Pottawattomie Mission, . 246, 261, 280, 307, 338, Pownal, Joseph, Prentice, Amos, ..... HANDLE, BARTON, . . . . Handle, Josias, 410 INDEX. PAGE. Thompson, S. H., . . . .131 Walker, James, . . PAGE. ... 390 Townsend, William, . . .188 Walker, Jesse, . . . 48,110 Tremble, H. M 346 Walker, Simeon, . ... 362 Trotter, W. D. R., . . . .304 Ward, James, . . . ... 66 Watt, Benjamin, . ... 309 UNION GROVE METHODISM, 77 Webster, E. T., . . . . .217 West, Asa D., . . . ... 239 VAN CLEVE, JOHN, .... 368 WMteside, Jacob, . . 110, 142 Vermillion Circuit, . 190, 211 Wilhelm, Richard, ... 148 Vredenburg, H., .... 173 Williams, Abel L., ... 266 Wood, Aaron, . . . . . . 269 W ABASH CIRCUIT, . . 107, 211 Wrather, Baker, . ... 86 Little, . 95 Walke. Ivv. . . 101 YOUNG. BENJAMIN. . 34