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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 <jf us have fought
for our liberty, and have come here to teach men
the way to heaven.' This seemed to strike the
major, and he afterwards became friendly, and has
remained so ever since.
" This was a great day. The work became gen-
eral, the place was awful, and many souls were
born of God. Among the rest was our wild man.
His history was a peculiar one. He lived in the
American Bottom, had a fine estate, and was a pro-
fessed deist. He told us that, a few nights before
we passed his house, he dreamed that the day of
judgment was at hand, and that three men had
come from the. East to warn the people to prepare
for it; that so soon as he saw us he became alarmed,
believing we were those men; and, having ascer-
tained where we were from, who we were, and where
going, he came to the camp-meeting. He became
a reformed and good man.
" We went to Goshcn camp-meeting. Here we
had comfortable camps and an arbor large enough
to shelter seven hundred persons, in the form of an
L. The stand was in an unsheltered spot between
the two squares. We had, also, a small, log meet-
ing-house, in which our first quarterly-meeting was
held. Preaching began on Friday, and was kept
up regularly. The people having heard of the re-
vival at the other camp-meetings, flocked out in
great numbers, many to see the strange work. Some
brought brandy and cards for their amusement dur-
ing the meeting. On Friday and Saturday, the
Word preached seemed to do little good. An aw-
INDIA N CON VER TED. 55
ful cloud seemed to rest upon us. In passing the
preachers' tent I saw Brother McKendree alone,
bathed in tears. I stepped in, and he said to me,
' Brother, we have been preaching for ourselves, and
not for the Lord. Go, brother, and preach Christ
crucified to the people !' My heart was deeply af-
fected. We fell upon our knees, and implored the
help of God. This was about sunset. I preached
at candle-lighting. My text was, ' Behold the man !'
It commenced raining shortly after I began to
preach, and as the audience was under shelter, I did
not stop, although exposed to the rain. My heart
was fired and my tongue loosened in an unusual
manner. For a few moments nothing but sobs and
sighs were heard among the people; at length the
whole congregation seemed suddenly smitten with
the power of God. Many fell as in battle, and were
presently raised to tell of pardoning mercy and en-
courage others to seek the Lord.
" \Ve continued all night in the work. On the
next day, Sunday, at nine o'clock in the morning,
the Lord's-supper was administered.
" It was a memorable day, and eternity only will
reveal the result. One conversion deserves partic-
ular notice. An Indian, of the Chickamauga tribe,
on a hunting-trip, fell in with us at our camp-
meeting. I will give his own account of his con-
version. He said : ( When I saw so many people,
I thought I would stop and get some whisky; and
while you were talking in the rain, I was standing
by a sapling, and there came on me a mighty weight,
too heavy for me to stand under. I caught the
56 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
sapling, but my hands would not hold it, and I fell
to the ground. While there, blackness came over
me : I tried to get away, but could not until about
daylight. I thought surely I had been drunk ; but
then I remembered I had nothing to drink. Al-
though I concluded not to go back, yet, when they
began to sing, something drew me back, and before
I knew it I was among them again, and then the
same weight came on me, and the darkness. I fell
to the ground, and thought I was about to die. I
tried to get up, but was too weak. At last a white
man came and talked over me, and while he was
talking I got lighter and lighter, and every thing
looked whiter than the sun could make it look.
The heavy load and the blackness all left me. I
felt glad in my heart, and jumped up and felt light.'
Arrangements were made to send this Indian to
school. He soon learned to read and write, and at
the last account of him he was trying to walk in the
light. On Monday, the last day of the meeting, one
hundred joined the Church."
The conference year closed successfully, Mr.
Walker reporting a membership of two hundred
and eighteen white, and two colored, this being the
first report of colored members in Illinois. The
Church has learned since that day that in Christ
white and black are no more important distinctions
than male and female.
This year was signalized also by the erection of
the second church, in Illinois at Shiloh, in St. Clair
County. It continued to be a place of worship
until 1819, when a new church was built of brick.
FIRST SERMON IN CHICAGO. 57
In 1875 a third church was built on the same spot,
costing $6,700.
Mr. Walker's subsequent appointments were as
follows: 1807, Missouri; 1808, Illinois; 1809-10,
Cape Girardeau, and 1811, Illinois Circuit for the
third time. In 1812, falling into the Tennessee
Conference, he was made presiding elder of the
Illinois District, which he traveled the full term
of four years. In 1816, at the formation of the
Missouri Conference, he was placed on Missouri
District, on which he remained three years. In
1819-20, he simply appears in the General Minutes
as missionary. In 1821 his appointment was St.
Louis. In 1822 he was conference missionary in
Missouri, and in 1823 he was appointed as " mis-
sionary to the Missouri Conference, whose attention
is particularly directed to the Indians in the bounds
of said conference." In 1824 he was sent as " mis-
sionary to the settlements between the Illinois and
the Mississippi Rivers, and to the Indians in the
vicinity of Fort Clark." In the Spring of 1825 he
accompanied Mr. John Hamlin, whose wife was a
member of the Church, in his flat-boat, well-manned,
to Chicago. It was a tedious trip, but he failed not
to have family prayers on the boat every morning.
It is probable that while in Chicago he preached
the first sermon ever preached there. 1 For the three
following years he was missionary to the Pottawat-
tomie Indians. In 1828, his appointment was Peo-
ria; 1829, Fox River; 1830, Chicago Mission, and
1831, DCS Plaines. In 1832 he was appointed pre-
Rev. 8. R. Bcg-s.
58 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
siding elder of Chicago District, but traveled it only
one year. The next year he was again sent to Chi-
cago mission, and with this appointment his labors
as an effective preacher closed. At the conference
of 1834 he was placed on the superannuated list,
on which he remained a little over a year until his
death, October 15, 1835.
Mr. Walker " was five feet, seven inches high,
of slender, but vigorous frame, sallow complexion,
light hair, prominent cheeks, small blue eyes, a gen-
erous and cheerful expression, and dressed always
in drab-colored clothes of the plainest Quaker
fashion, with a light-colored beaver hat, nearly as
large as a lady's parasol. He had extraordinary
aptness to win the confidence and sympathy of back-
woodsmen ; his friendships were most hearty, his
courage equal to any test, his piety thorough, his
talents as a preacher moderate." 2
His dress, however, was not always such as Dr.
Stevens describes above. "I think," says Cart-
wright, "it was in the Fall of 1819 our beloved
old Brother Walker, who had traveled all his life,
or nearly so, came over to our Tennessee Confer-
ence, which sat at Nashville, to sec us ; but, O, how
weather-beaten and war-worn was he; almost, if
not altogether, without decent apparel to appear
among us. We soon made a collection, and had
him a decent suit of clothes to put on; and never
shall I forget the blushing modesty and thankful-
ness with which he accepted that suit."
One of the most remarkable traits in the char-
2 Dr. A. Stevens.
ST. LOUIS. 59
acter of Mr. Walker was his strong will. It was
this, combined with his steadfast faith in God and
his earnest love for souls, that inspired him with an
energy that carried him through difficulties which
to most men would have appeared insuperable, and
that induced him to persevere when most others
would have acknowledged defeat. His securing a
foothold for Methodism in St. Louis in the face of
the greatest obstacles is only an instance of what
he accomplished by his unconquerable determina-
tion. Says Mr. Witten, "Soon after the first ses-
sion of the conference that was held in McKendree
Chapel in 1819 Jesse Walker determined to plant
Methodism in the city of St. Louis. He engaged
two young ministers to assist him in his apostolic
work. When they reached the city the Legislature
was in session, and every public house was crowded
with guests. Literally, there was no room for them
in the inn. When it became known who they were,
and what their visit to St. Louis meant, they became
the laughing-stock of all who saw them. They en-
dured insult and scorn in various ways, and at last
concluded to leave the place in disgust ; and accord-
ingly mounted their horses and rode into the public
square, where they held a consultation. The young
ministers resolved to leave, and thus the apostolic
Walker was forsaken. The outlook was so poor that
he concluded to go to Mississippi, and actually started
and went eighteen miles; but his mortification over
his repulse in St. Louis was so great that he resolved
to go back and try it again, saying, ' Was I ever
defeated in this blessed work? Never. Did any
60 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
one ever trust God and get confounded ? No. Then
by the grace of God I '11 go back and take St. Louis.'
With some difficulty he found entertainment, but
at a high price. He obtained permission to preach
in a place occupied occasionally by the Baptists.
At his first meeting but few came out, the second
was better attended and some interest was mani-
fested, and then the place was closed against him.
He then rented a room at ten dollars a month, and
held divine service twice every Sabbath, teaching
five days in the week gratuitously. He now began
to take steps for the building of a church. Help
from unexpected sources was found, and a plain
house was erected and a membership was reported
at the end of the year of seventy-five." But Mr.
Walker did not confine his labors to St. Louis. No
" pent-up Utica " could confine his powers. The
pioneer spirit by which he was influenced led him to
enter into every open door; and, during the years in
which St. Louis was his head-quarters, he kept up
an appointment at Alton, thirty miles distant, preach-
ing regularly once a month in the house of Nathaniel
Pinckard.
Mr. Scripps gives a striking account of his la-
bors in Missouri at an earlier period. In 1809-10
he was on the Cape Girardeau Circuit. Indeed, he
formed the circuit. Joseph Oglesby had traveled
the Maramcc Circuit the year before, and had re-
connoitered the country and preached in the neigh-
borhood. And Samuel Parker, the presiding elder,
had preached the first sermon in the town. But
" these preliminary efforts of Oglesby and Parker
CAPE GIRARDEAU. 61
were only the harbingers of Walker's advent as
preacher in charge of the Cape Girardeau Circuit.
Bringing his deeply interesting family of wife,
Sukey, and two daughters, Polly and Jenny, with
him, he sat down with an unconquerable determi-
nation to make Methodists out of the most inauspi-
cious, ungainly materials for such an operation
imaginable, the most knotted, gnarled, twisted, and
jagged specimens of the genus homo conceivable;
the denizens of a region over which the sanctity of
the Sabbath had not as yet cast a shred of its sacred
mantle, and whose boast was that Sunday was im-
peded by the Mississippi, and could not get across
the river to them. Yet among such he sat down
to thunder the denunciations of the law, or herald
the invitations of the Gospel, casting his unreserved
confidence for a support amongst them on Him in
whose cause he labored, who provideth for the
young ravens when they cry, and without whom
not a sparrow fallcth to the ground. Indeed, he
could depend upon no other, for his charge were
pioneers, recent settlers, struggling for a hand to
mouth livelihood themselves, and, if willing, too
poor, and himself as poor in this world's goods as
they were, if not more so." When he was on the
Cape Girardeau Circuit he held the first camp-
meeting ever held in Missouri. To give notice of
it, he, with John Scripps, then a young man, crossed
the swamp to New Madrid, and there he offered the
first prayer ever offered at a family altar in the place.
There were five camps on the ground. The audience
never exceeded two or three hundred. There was
62 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
good order and strict attention. Some had the jerks.
There were many convictions, a few conversions,
and some accessions to the Church. At the sacra-
ment there were eleven communicants. The wine
was squeezed from wild grapes. The communion-
table was a puncheon, split from a log and smoothed
a little on the upper side, laid on crosjs-ties on four
forks stuck in the ground, and covered with a sheet,
for there were no table-cloths then. 3
Mr. Walker could not confine himself within the
limits of any particular field. Like Mr. Wesley's,
his motto was, " The world is my parish," and wher-
ever he heard of those who needed the Gospel, he
felt that it was his mission to bear it to them. To
hundreds of the early settlers he was the first to
carry the glad tidings of great joy, and that, too, not
un frequently before they had erected their cabins.
When John Sinclair was appointed to Chicago Dis-
trict, he soon found that, " wherever he had been,
Walker had been there before him, and, being am-
bitious to preach Christ first to some of the new-
comers, and hearing of a family that had just set-
tled at Root River, now Racine, he made all haste
to bear them the offer of eternal life. Coming by
the way of Chicago, he met Brother Walker. In-
quiring after his health, he was told that he (Walker)
was well, but very tired, as he had just been to look
after a family recently settled at Root River. In
despair, Sinclair gave up the hope of the honor he
had counted upon as unattainable." 4 Indeed, as
Dr. A. L. P. Green says, Jesse Walker " was to the
3 Rev. John Scripps. 4 Rev. S. R. Beggs.
PIONEERING. 63
Church what Daniel Boonc was to the early settlers
always first, always ahead of every body else, pre-
ceding all others long enough to be the pilot of the
new-comer. His natural vigor was almost super-
human. He did not seem to require food and
rest as other men; no day's journey was long
enough to tire him, no fare too poor for him to live
upon. To him, in traveling, roads and paths were
useless things; he blazed out his own course. No
way was too bad for him to travel ; if his horse
could not carry him, he led him; and where his
horse could not follow, he would leave him, and
take it on foot ; and if night and a cabin did not
come together, he would pass the night alone in the
wilderness, which with him was no uncommon oc-
currence. Looking up the pioneer settler was his
chief delight, and he found his Avay through hill
and brake as by instinct. He was never lost ; and,
as Bishop McKendree once said of him, in address-
ing an annual conference, he never complained, and
as the Church moved west and north it seemed to
bear Walker before it. Every time you would hear
from him he w r as still .further on; and when the
settlements of the white man seemed to take shape
and form, he was next heard of among the Indian
tribes of the North-west."
When placed on the superannuated list he settled
at the Desplaines River, twelve miles west of Chi-
cago, and kept a kind of tavern or stopping-place
for travelers. His step-daughter, Mrs. J. R. Gorin,
of Decatur, says that he never omitted family
prayer, morning and night, no matter who might
64 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
be stopping with him. He was greatly beloved by
the Indians, and often gave them the last morsel
of food in the house. He was never known to be
angry or to speak an impatient word. The cause
of his death was a severe cold he took on his way
to camp-meeting. In crossing Root River he found
the water deeper than he had calculated on. He
got very wet, took cold, and died in about six
weeks, at the very time when his conference was in
session. " His last moments were such as might be
expected from his long and laborious life in the way
of doing good. To a ministerial brother, who visited
him shortly before his demise, he said that God had
been with him from the time of his conversion, and
was still with him. His last moments were tran-
quil, and he died in full and confident hope of a
blessed immortality." 5
It is believed that at one of Mr. AValker's camp-
meetings this year ENOCH MOORE was converted.
He was the first American male child born in Illi-
nois, having first seen the light in a block-house at
Bellefontaine, Monroe County, Illinois, 'February
17, 1783. "At a very youthful age he developed
a thirst for knowledge and a great avidity for study.
He eagerly sought after all kinds of books and lit-
erature of a practical and useful character, and,
possessing a mathematical mind of high order, he,
when comparatively young, became one of the most
competent surveyors and civil engineers of his days,
and much of the government surveying of that
time was done under his immediate direction and
5 General Minutes.
ENOCH MOORE. 65
Whiteside, a native of Kentucky, but who had
moved to Illinois in 1793. His wife was converted
at the same camp-meeting as he. He was not at
first satisfied with his conversion ; but shortly after-
wards, at a meeting held at a Brother Mace's, he
was so powerfully blessed as to remain unconscious
for a time. Soon after his conversion he was
licensed to preach, but remained in the local ranks
until his death. He labored quite extensively as a
local preacher, and was regarded as one of the best
in the region in which he lived. Though his house
was not a preaching-place, yet it was a place to
which the preachers delighted to resort, where they
always met a cordial welcome, and where they had
access to one of the best libraries in the country at
that time. Though not an active politician, he was
well versed in political science, and much of his life
was in office. He was a member of the convention
that formed the first constitution of Illinois. He
was also a member of the Legislature. For ten or
twelve years he was clerk of the circuit court of
his county, and for about twenty years probate
judge. He was a man of fine personal appearance,
about six feet high and very straight. He had ten
children, most of whom became active members of
the Church. He died in 1848.
6 Captain J. M. Moore.
METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
vi.
1807.
CUMBERLAND DISTRICT James Ward, P. E.
Illinois John Clingan.
FROM the session of the Western Conference of
1807, which was held at Chillicothe, Ohio, John
Clingan was appointed to the Illinois Circuit, with
James Ward as presiding elder.
Of JOHN CLINGAN we have no other account
than that furnished by his appointments in the Gen-
eral Minutes. He was admitted on trial in the Bal-
timore Conference, but received his appointment to
Guyandotte in the Western Conference. In 1807
he was appointed to Illinois, the next year to Lick-
ing, the next to Letart Falls, and in 1810 to Mad
River. The next year his name does not appear in
the Minutes. In 1812 he stands connected with the
Ohio Conference as appointed to Zanesville, and at
the close of the year is reported as located. Of his
labors in Illinois we have no account. It is prob-
able that he did not attend conference at the close
of the year, as the report of members is the same
as that made by Mr. Walker the year before.
JAMES WARD, the presiding elder, was for more
than half a century one of the most devoted and
successful ministers in the Church. Born in Maly-
JAMES WARD. 67
land in 1771, and converted in his seventeenth year,
in 1792 he united with the Baltimore Conference.
For eleven years he traveled circuits in that con-
ference, chiefly in the valley and mountainous re-
gions of Virginia ; then for four years he was pre-
siding elder of the Greenbrier District. In the
Spring of 1807 he was transferred to the Western
Conference, and appointed to Lexington. In the
Minutes of the Western Conference for that year he
appears to have been assigned to the Cumberland
District as presiding elder, though it is probable that
he did not actually receive the appointment until the
election of Mr. McKendree to the episcopacy in the
Spring of 1808. For the next two years he was on
the Kentucky District; in 1811 he was assigned to
Shelby Circuit ; then for two years to the Salt River
District ; and in 1813 he located, and continued in
that relation for fifteen years. In 1828 he was read-
mitted in the Kentucky Conference, continuing most
of the time in the active work until 1840, when he
was superannuated. On the division of the Church
in 1845 he refused to go south with his conference,
and in 1848, "without controversy and by a unan-
imous vote," T he was received as a member of the
Baltimore Conference, and placed on the list of su-
perannuated members, in which he remained until
his death in 1855, in the eighty-fourth year of his
age and the sixty-third of his ministry.
Mr. Ward was a man of great firmness and de-
cision, carrying out his convictions of right and duty
regardless of consequences to himself. Brought up
1 General Minutes.
68 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
in the Church of England, of which his parents were
members, in opposition to the wishes of his friends,
he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church,
through the instrumentality of whose ministers he
had been led to the Savior. Then, impressed with
the conviction that it was his duty to devote him-
self to the work of the ministry, despite his domes-
tic claims (for his father had died and left to him
the care of the family), and the strenuous opposi-
tion of his mother, constrained by the love of Christ,
he resolved to devote himself to the itinerant work.
So, fifty-three years afterwards, when he was called
on to choose between the pro-slavery ism of the newly
formed Methodist Episcopal Church South and the
mother Church, with her anti-slavery principles, he
unhesitatingly chose the latter, though his choice
deprived him for a time of a conference home with
its privileges and separated him from those with
whom for more than forty years he had been in
close and loving fellow T ship. He was remarkable,
too, for his untiring zeal and energy. During the
year in which he presided over the work in Illi-
nois, " he astonished the people by his zeal." Dur-
ing the years of his location, his son tells us that,
"working diligently with his hands, he embraced
every opportunity of preaching. He spent no idle
Sabbaths when it was possible for him to get to
Church. He kept up regular appointments, and
was always willing to assist the traveling preachers
at camp-meetings and two days' meetings, and spent
much of his time from home." Those who knew
him in his early ministry in Virginia, "speak with
JAMES WARD. 69
rupture of his untiring zeal and his almost exhaust-
less energy." 2 His labors were greatly blessed.
" In the various charges he filled, the most extraor-
dinary revivals of religion were, under God, the
result of his labors." While on the Cumberland
District, "great displays of divine power were
everywhere within its bounds seen and felt under
his ministrations." Cartwright speaks of him as
" a warm-hearted, lively, and zealous preacher ; his
labors were greatly blessed, and some very powerful
revivals of religion followed." " As a preacher,"
says Bedford, " Mr. Ward was not what the world
would call eloquent. There was nothing rhetorical
in his gestures, nor did he appeal to the sympathetic
passions of the people. His preaching was Scriptu-
ral; and this, with the fact that he was a man of
prayer, always trusting in God, was the basis of
his great success."
* General Minutes.
70 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
vii.
1808.
INDIANA DISTRICT Samuel Parker, P. E.
Illinois Jesse Walker.
AT the session of the Western Conference held
October I, 1808, at Liberty Hill, Tennessee,
the Indiana District was formed, Samuel Parker
being appointed presiding elder of it. The district
embraced two circuits in Indiana, three in Missouri,
and the Illinois Circuit, to which Jesse Walker,
after spending a year in Missouri, was appointed.
It was probably during this year that the follow-
ing, related in " Morris's Miscellany," occurred. At
a camp-meeting held by Mr. Walker during the
Summer, " early in the meeting, a young lady of
influence, sister-in-law of the territorial judge sent
out by the general government, was so powerfully
converted that her shouts of joy and triumph broke
the silence of all the surrounding forest and sent a
thrilling sensation through every heart in the en-
campment. This example of the power of saving
grace cheered on the soldiers of the cross, and in-
spired all with confidence of success. After opera-
ting till, as Jesse Walker expressed it, 'the last
stick of timber was used up/ that is, till the last
sinner left on the ground was converted, the meet-
SAMUEL PARKER. 71
ing adjourned." Bishop Morris relates this as occur-
ring two years before, during Mr. Walker's first
term on the circuit. But this is evidently an error,
for it was not until 1809 that the Illinois Territory
was organized, and S, territorial judge appointed.
At the close of the year Mr. Walker reported a
membership of three hundred and fifty.
SAMUEL PARKER was a native of New Jersey,
born in 1772. With his parents he removed to
what was afterwards Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and
there, in his fifteenth year, under the preaching of
James Lurton, he was converted. Removing to the
neighborhood of Newcastle, Kentucky, for four
years he labored faithfully, zealously, and success-
fully as a local preacher. In 1804 he was received
in the Western Conference, and appointed to the
Hinkstone Circuit. For three years he traveled in
Kentucky, and one year on the Miami Circuit, in
Ohio ; and so efficient had he proved himself in
these charges, and so remarkably had his labors
been blessed, that, immediately after his ordination
as elder, he was appointed to preside over the newly
formed Indiana District, one of the most laborious
and one of the most responsible appointments in the
Church. This appointment alone, as it shows the
estimate formed of him by that w r onderful discerner
of character, Bishop Asbury, proves him to have
been one of the foremost men of his day. In the
infancy of the Church, advancement from the diac-
onate to the presiding eldership was, in some cases,
a necessity ; but for many years before Mr. Parker's
day the bishops had selected as their representatives
72 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
only those who had served some time as elders ; and
since that time, this, with the rarest exceptions, has
been their invariable practice. During- the four
years he was on the Indiana District he was in
labors more abundant; and so greatly were his
labors and those of his preachers blessed of the
Lord, that, before the expiration of his term, the
district was divided into two, and the membership
increased more than fourfold. He labored after-
wards in Ohio and Kentucky until the conference
of 1819, when he was appointed, though in declin-
ing health, to superintend the work in Mississippi.
He went to his field of labor, but it was only to
die. Before three months had expired, consump-
tion did its work, and he passed from earth to his
heavenly home.
His personal appearance was prepossessing. His
form was slender but well made, his forehead ex-
pansive, his eye black and piercing, and his voice
musical and capable of the softest and sweetest in-
tonations, and he was excelled by few in the power
of song. In the pulpit he was often almost irre-
sistible, and wherever he went, wondering and weep-
ing audiences crowded to hear him. Such was his
fame as a pulpit orator that many came from great
distances to listen to him. In his Christian char-
acter he exemplified in an unusual degree the de-
scription of charity given by Paul in his first letter
to the Corinthians. It was love that led him to
perform such labors and endure such privations
that before he reached his fiftieth year he had lit-
erally worn himself out in the work of the Lord.
MA RKET-HO USE SER VICES. 73
The following account of a service in which he en-
gaged shows the wonderful readiness and earnest
zeal of the preachers of that day. At the confer-
ence in Cincinnati, at the close of his term on the
Indiana District, no church being large enough to
hold the crowds who attended on the Sabbath, serv-
ices were held in the Lower Market, where the
preachers occupied a butcher's block as their pulpit.
Learner Blackmail preached first from " Thy King-
dom come." He was followed immediately by Sam-
uel Parker with another sermon from " Thy will be
done." Then James Ward gave an exhortation.
And after that John Collins gave a thrilling address,
based upon their peculiar surroundings, offering sal-
vation without money and without price, and invited
all who desired religion to designate themselves,
when a large number came forward and kneeled as
seekers of salvation, and before the services closed
many were happily converted.
7
74 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
VIII.
1809.
INDIANA DISTRICT Samuel Parker, P. E.
Illinois Abraham Amos.
THE session of the Western Conference of 1809
was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bishops Asbury
and McKendrec being both present. ABRAHAM
AMOS was appointed to the Illinois Circuit. He
had been received in the Western Conference in
1803 and appointed to Natchez in Mississippi. The
next year his appointment was the Miami and Mad
River Circuit in Ohio. In 1805 he was sent to
Guyandotte in Virginia, the next year to Licking
in Kentucky, and in 1807 to the Livingston Circuit
in the same State; in 1808 he was appointed to the
Missouri Circuit, and this year to the Illinois. At
the close of the year he located. He was a native
of Bourbon County, Kentucky. After his location
he settled in that part of St. Clair which was after-
wards set off as Monroe County, where he resided
until his death. He married Mary Garrettson, the
first American child in the State of Illinois who
grew up to womanhood. After the death of Mr,
Amos she married Nathaniel Pinckard, grandfathe;
of John C. Pinckard and N. P. Heath, formerly of
the Illinois Conference, and P. M. Pinckard, of the
ABRAHAM AMOS. 75
Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Amos
was a large, muscular man, very vehement in voice
and gesture, sometimes, whilst preaching, bringing
his fist down with such violence as to split the
book-board. He was a man of sterling worth, sus-
taining a good Christian and ministerial character
as long as he lived. 1 He reported three hundred
and forty-one members on the circuit, a slight de-
crease from the number reported the year before.
There were also reported from Massac fifteen
members, though no such appointment appears on
the Minutes of this year or the year after. It is
probable that tUis was the beginning of the Cash
Creek Circuit, to which an appointment was made
the next year.
1 Eev. J. A. Scarritt
76 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
1810.
INDIANA DISTRICT Samuel Parker, P. E.
Illinois Daniel Fraley.
CUMBERLAND DISTRICT Learner Blackman, P. E.
CasJi Creek Thomas Kirkman.
IN 1810 the Western Conference held its session
in the brick chapel, about four miles north-east
of Shelbyville, Kentucky. Two preachers were
sent this year to the settlements in Illinois; namely,
Daniel Fraley, to the Illinois Circuit; and Thomas
Kirkman, to the Cash Creek Circuit, an appoint-
ment connected with the Cumberland District, of
which Learner Blackman was the presiding elder.
This was DANIEL FRALEY'S first year in the
conference. In 1811 he was appointed to Cold-
water. The next year he was in the Ohio Confer-
ence, and was assigned to Madison ; the next year
to Salt River; in 1814 to Pickaway, and in 1815
to Whitewater. At the close of this year he located,
and settled at Centerville, Indiana, where he re-
mained until his death. In the Spring before his
location the first execution in the eastern portion
of Indiana took place. The criminal was a man
who had been convicted of the murder of his son-
in-law. At the gallows Mr. Fraley stood in the
DANIEL FRALEY. 77
wagon in which the murderer had been conveyed
from the jail, and preached a very impressive ser-
mon to him as he sat on his coffin, and to the hun-
dreds of people who had gathered from miles
around to witness the execution. 1 Mr. Fraley's
year on the Illinois Circuit was a successful one,
the membership having increased to four hundred
and eleven. A camp-meeting which he held at
Shiloh, in the month of August, was, according to
Governor Reynolds, who attended it, a time of
power and success.
He also organized the first, society in Union
Grove, St. Clair County. The place of meeting
was the house of William Padfield, where the first
session of the Illinois Conference was held, in 1824.
The present Summerfield society is a continuation
of the old Union Grove class.
That part of Illinois south and east of the Kas-
kaskia River was not settled by the whites quite as
early or as rapidly as that embraced in the Illinois
Circuit. Yet settlements were gradually formed,
and the population increased so that more laborers
were needed to supply the spiritual wants of the
people. In 1802 a few whites settled in Shawnee-
town, and by 1805 it had become a place of consid-
erable trade. The salt-works, twelve miles north-
west of Shawneetown, had been purchased of the
Indians by Governor Harrison, and were attracting
a considerable number of settlers. Several families
had settled on Bigbay Creek about 1805. Before
1809 the town of Newhaven, on the Little Wabash,
Indiana Miscellany.
78 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
had been begun ; and the population had increased
so rapidly in the country along the Ohio and the
streams running into it, that in 1812 three new
counties were established Gallatin, Johnson, and
Pope embracing the settlements about Shawnee-
town and the salt-works and those on Bigbay and
Cash Creeks.
It is probable that the circuit of which Thomas
Kirkman was the first preacher embraced all the
settlements south of the mouth of the Kaskaskia
River, around the Mississippi and Ohio to Fort
Massac, if not to Shawneetown. He reported as
the result of his labors a membership of seventy-one.
According to the General Minutes, THOMAS
KIRKMAN was received on trial in the Western
Conference in 1807, but his appointment for that
year is not given. In 1808 he was sent to the Liv-
ingston Circuit, in Kentucky. The next year his
name is again omitted, both in the appointments and
the list of members. But in 1810 he appears again
as appointed to Cash Creek. In 1811 he was sent
to Roaring River, and at the next session of con-
ference, owing to failing health, he located. He
settled in the neighborhood of Hopkinsvillc, Ken-
tucky. "His life was a reflection of the Gospel
of Christ. He was a preacher of only moderate tal-
ents ; but so consistent was he in his deportment
that he attracted many to Christ by his walk and
conversation. He lived to a good old age, an orna-
ment to the Church and a blessing to the commu-
nity in which he lived and died." 2
2 Dr. Bedford.
LEARNER BLACKMAN. 79
Of the presiding elder, LEARNER BLACKMAN, a
volume might be written. He was a native of New
Jersey, born in Gloucester County, in 1781. In his
sixteenth year, through the instrumentality of his
brother-in-law, Rev. John Collins, under the first
sermon he ever preached, he was soundly converted,
and before he was nineteen was licensed to preach,
and received in the Philadelphia Conference. His
first appointment was to the Kent Circuit, in Mary-
land. His experience at the beginning of his pas-
torate on this charge was peculiar. The people had
heard that the bishop had sent a black man as their
preacher, and, of course, felt that such an appoint-
ment was an insult to them. His arrival amongst
them, however, removed this difficulty ; but his
youthful appearance was an oifensc they could not
overlook. At his first service a leading member
of the society requested a local preacher to conduct
the exercises, thus ignoring entirely their regularly
appointed pastor. The local preacher consented,
but at the close of his sermon called on the youth-
ful pastor to exhort. Mr. Blackmail's exhortation
convinced them that, though a boy in appearance,
in intellect and experience he was of full age. He
became so popular in the circuit that, at the close
of the year, a petition was sent to conference for
his return. The request was not granted; for in
the Spring of 1801 he was sent to the Dover Cir-
cuit in Delaware, and in the Fall of the same year
was transferred to the Western Conference, and ap-
pointed to Russell Circuit, in Virginia. The next
year he traveled the New River Circuit, in the same
80 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
State, and the next year the Lexington Circuit, in
Kentucky.
At the close of his year there, as stated in his
memoir in the General Minutes, " in compliance
with the request of the bishops, he went on a mis-
sion to Natchez. Here a new scene of things pre-
sented itself to his view. He is now to face un-
civilized nations and a wilderness of four or five
hundred miles. After a journey of ten or eleven
days, and lying out as many nights, making his
saddle-bags his pillow, his blanket and cloak his
bed, the heavens his covering, the God of Israel
his defense, he arrived safe in the Territory." For
the two following years he was presiding elder of
the Mississippi District, In 1808 and 1809 he pre-
sided in Holston District, in Tennessee. The two
following years he was on the Cumberland Dis-
trict, embracing parts of Kentucky, Indiana, and
Illinois. Then, for three years, he was presiding
elder of the Nashville District, and in 1815 was
reappointed to the Cumberland District, This was
his last appointment, as he was drowned in the Ohio
River whilst returning from a visit to his brother-
in-law in Ohio. In personal appearance, says the
biographer 'of John Johnson, " he was tall, rather
slender, but erect, gentlemanly, dignified, grave, and
impressive, neat and tasteful in dress, and affable
and polished in manners." Jacob Young says of
him: "He was a man of extraordinary natural and
moral courage. Of him it might be said in truth,
as Rev. William Cravens from Virginia once said,
'The fear of man never once entered into his expe-
LEARNER BLACKMAN. 81
rience.' He feared no danger, dreaded not the
tongue of slander, while he was doing and suffering
for the glory of God. Whatever he thought ought
to be done, he thought could be done, and, like
General Jackson, he accomplished every thing he
undertook. I have had a close acquaintance with
many Methodist preachers, and truth binds me to
say, although I have known greater, I know not
that I ever knew a better man." The following
from his own diary shows the completeness of his
consecration to God : " This morning I entered into
the following resolution, to ask myself twelve times
in the course of each day this important question :
Am I prepared to die? First, when I awake in
the morn ; second, third, and fourth, in private re-
tirement before private devotion; fifth, at family
worship; sixth, when I arise on my horse to travel
to appointments ; seventh, when I alight off my
horse at meeting ; eighth, when I begin to preach ;
ninth, in class-meeting ; tenth, in private devotion ;
eleventh, at family prayer ; twelfth, when I lie down
to rest at night." This resolution, as his diary
shows, was faithfully observed. "Whenever he
preached," says Dr. Bedford, " he expected immedi-
ate results, and he was seldom disappointed. ( I am
alarmed/ said he, ' when sinners are not converted/
No danger daunted him, no privations were shunned.
In the pulpit, in the altar, in the social and family
circle, everywhere he was the faithful ambassador
of Christ, and counted not his life dear if he could
be instrumental in the accomplishment of good. In
every department of his work he excelled. If he
82 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
preached upon the duties of Christianity, he im-
pressed upon his hearers the paramount importance
of a holy life. If he presented the great doctrines
of the Bible, he handled error with a giant grasp.
Frequently he bore down every thing before him.
Inspired often with the grandeur of his theme, he
arose to the loftiest heights of oratory, and in words
of burning eloquence portrayed the exceeding sin-
fulness of sin and the fearful doom of the ungodly ;
and then, dipping his pencil in living light, he would
paint the agonies that Jesus bore on Calvary, while
the hundreds who sat before him would be melted
to tenderness and tears." He " was a man," says
Mrs. Johnson, " whom every body loved. No word
but love will express the feelings with which all
regarded him."
Among the accessions to Methodism in Illinois
during the conference year one of the most impor-
tant was Rev. JOSIAS HANDLE. He was born in
Brunswick County, Virginia. After a severe strug-
gle he was converted in North Carolina and united
with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1788. He
was sent by R. Ellis, presiding elder, to superintend
a mission school among the Cherokee Indians. He
remained there about a year and formed a class of
white emigrants who had settled in the neighbor-
hood of the school. After supplying a circuit till
conference in 1791, he was received in the traveling
connection and sent to Broad River. In 1798 he
located and settled in Warren County, Georgia. In
1802 he was readmitted and in 1809 again located.
He was a member of the General Conferences of
AN INCIDENT. 83
1804 and 1808. In 1811 he removed to Illinois
and settled near Edwardsville. He died there in
triumph January 15, 1824.
Rev. Richard Haney, D. T)., relates the follow-
ing, which is inserted here as this was probably the
year in which a preacher was sent to them, though
the circumstance occurred many years before: "Not
long after the time when Methodism was introduced
into St. Clair County, a remarkable circumstance
occurred in the south-eastern portion of the State.
A party of eight or ten men were together assisting
an emigrant to put up a cabin not far from the
mouth of the Wabash, when it was proposed that
they meet on the next Sabbath at one of the cabins
for worship. To this they all agreed. On the Sab-
bath eight women and ten men were assembled.
But amongst them there was no one who had ever
conducted public worship. Indeed, of the men not
one had ever made a profession of religion. A
three-legged stool was placed in the midst of them,
a Bible laid upon it, and then all waited for some
one to begin the service. No one being willing to
lead, the man of the house suggested that nine
straws be prepared of equal length and one a little
longer, and that he who drew the longer one should
conduct the service. To this they all pledged them-
selves. The longest straw was drawn by George
Davidson, who with great trepidation commenced
the task. After reading a chapter in the Bible,
they sang the hymn, beginning " Come, thou Fount
of every blessing," and then he fell upon his knees
to pray. As with sinking heart and trembling voice
84 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
he began, the power of God fell upon the assembly ;
before he arose from his knees he was powerfully
converted, and others were prostrate on the floor,
crying for mercy. It was not long before some of
them were converted, and the work went on until
every adult in the settlement had become a child of
God. They chose Mr. Davidson as their leader,
who continued to lead them and minister to them
until they were supplied with the services of an
itinerant by Bishop Asbury."
WORK EXTENDING. 85
1811.
ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel Parker, P. E.
Illinois Jesse Walker, George A. Colbert.
WABASH DISTRICT Jiunes Axley, P. E.
Cash Jiiver Baker Wratlier.
THE Western Conference held its session for
1811 at Cincinnati, Ohio, commencing October
1st. To the Illinois Circuit Jesse Walker was ap-
pointed for the third time, with George A. Colbert
as his colleague. We have no record of Mr. Walker's
labors this year, but the increase in the membership
during the year shows that it was both laborious
and successful. He reported an increase of one
hundred and thirty-five whites and two colored.
The settlements were now rapidly spreading along
the water-courses and into the interior of the State.
As early as 1809 there were settlements on Shoal
Creek as far up as where the flourishing town of
Greenville now stands, and along the Okaw and
smaller streams settlers were rapidly opening farms.
The spirit of Mr. Walker would impel him, as it
did afterwards in Northern Illinois, to follow up
these settlements as fast as they were formed, no
matter how great the labor or how severe the ex-
posure, and we may safely assume that by this time
86 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
his circuit included more than twice the territory
that it covered when he was first appointed to it.
But Mr. Walker did not complete his year on
the circuit. The presiding elder, Mr. Parker, hav-
ing left the district early in the Spring to attend
the General Conference, to which he was a delegate,
Mr. Walker was taken from the Illinois Circuit to
supply his place for the remainder of the year.
Of his colleague, GEORGE A. COLBERT, we know
but little beyond the record of his appointments in
the General Minutes. This was his second year in
the Western Conference. His first year had been
spent on Cold Water Circuit. At the close of his
year in Illinois he was sent to Natchez. The next
year his name docs not appear in the Minutes, and
at the conference of 1814 he was returned located.
He probably settled in the Wabash District, for at
the Illinois Conference of 1828, held at Madison,
Indiana, his recommendation to elder's orders was
presented from that district ; and that he had main-
tained a good report is evident from his election to
that office by the conference.
To Cash River (Cash Creek last year), Baker
Wrath er was appointed, with James Axley as pre-
siding elder. The year was a prosperous one, two
hundred and fifteen members being reported at its
close an increase over the previous year of nearly
one hundred and fifty.
BAKKR WRATHER was received on trial in the
Western Conference in 1810 and appointed to Dan-
ville Circuit. His second charge was Cash River.
The next year he was assigned to Abingdon, the
JAMES AXLEY. 87
next year to Dover, and in 1814 to Nashville. In
the Minutes for 1815 he is reported as located.
But this is probably an error, for at the conference
of 1816 he was expelled from the Church. It seems
that he had sold a slave and sent him to the South,
thus separating husband and wife, and for this he
was tried and expelled. It is said that he returned
to the Church some years before he died.
JAMES AXLEY was one of the most remarkable
men of his day. More anecdotes are probably re-
lated of him than of any other Western preacher
save Peter Cartwright. And yet from the anecdotes
current in regard to these men we learn but little
of their true character. They give us the humor-
ous or ludicrous, or uncouth or severe side of them,
but fail to show us their real worth as faithful
Christians and laborious ministers of the Gospel.
Mr. Axley was a native of North Carolina, but re-
moved with his parents to Kentucky in childhood.
He was converted in early life and was received into
the Church by Peter Cartwright when forming the
Livingston Circuit whilst serving as a supply under
the presiding elder. He united with the Western
Conference in 1804, and continued traveling until
1822, when he located and settled on a farm in
East Tennessee. During his itinerant life he was
eight years on circuits in Tennessee, Kentucky, and
Ohio, and ten years on districts, all save one in the
Tennessee Conference.
Physically he was a large man, nearly six feet in
height, with a large, strong, muscular frame with
but little surplus flesh, with a chest broad and deep,
88 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
and a voice so strong that he could frequently be
heard distinctly at a distance of half a mile. His
features were coarse, his countenance indicative of
great firmness, and his walk erect and steady. His
advantages for education were quite limited, but by
his fidelity in study he became mighty in the Scrip-
tures, and one of the most successful preachers of his
day. As a Christian, he was noted for his strong
faith, his intense earnestness, his deep devotion to
the cause of Christ, and his uncompromising hatred
of sin in every form.
As a preacher, he varied as much in manner as
in matter. When unfolding the riches of the Gos-
pel, he often moved his hearers to tears. But when
denouncing sin, to quote from Dr. McAnally, he could
use "such sharp-pointed irony, such biting ridicule,
such withering sarcasm " as has rarely, if ever,
been heard before or since. He was especially
severe on slavery, drunkenness, the use of tobacco,
and extravagance in dress. Such was his hatred
of slavery, that, as preacher and presiding elder, he
took decided ground against slaveholders having any
thing to do in managing the affairs of the Church,
and especially preaching. He was not willing even
that a man who owned slaves should lead a public
prayer-meeting. He had wonderful power over his
congregations. Sometimes, by one of his odd re-
marks, the whole audience would 'be convulsed with
laughter, and, in a few minutes, by his melting
pathos, would be bathed in tears. No preacher of
his day could command larger congregations than
he. Generally he would take a text, and unfold
AXLE Y 8 PREACHING. - 89
and apply it in the orthodox manner. But some-
times he would take a whole paragraph denouncing
some special sin, and, after dwelling on that until
satisfied, would take another in which another sin
is spoken of, and another, and another, until he felt
that he had delivered his soul. " As a doctrinal-
preacher, Mr. Axley deservedly stood high. Few
men ever better understood or could better expound
the doctrines of the Methodist Church than he."
Mrs. Johnson says of his preaching : " He usually
began his sermons with natural strokes which were
generally mistaken for humor, and seldom failed to
excite his hearers to laughter. But before he had
spoken long, his deep, sonorous voice became exceed-
ingly impressive, and the weeping was as universal
and as irresistible as the laughter had been at first."
In the social circle among his intimate friends,
he was easy in his manners, free in conversation
and quite communicative. In mixed society he was
reserved and abrupt. At home he was kind, indus-
trious, and economical. Of his wonderful power
in prayer and the wonderful answers that Avere
accorded to his prayers, many remarkable facts are
recorded.
He died near Madison ville, Tennessee, in 1838.
His end was peace. Though his sufferings for the
three weeks of his last illness were great, he bore
them patiently. Says Dr. Redford of him : "When
asked by a member of the Church if it was con-
venient to have prayers, ' It is always convenient
to have prayers in my house,' said the dying saint.
Just before he passed away, he called first his wife,
90 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
and afterwards his children, one by one, and laying
his hands on their heads, imparted to them his last
blessing, requesting each one to meet him in heaven.
He then made the same request of his friends who
were present, and in a few moments closed his eyes
in death.".
There were many points of resemblance between
Axley and his friend Peter Cartwright. The latter
says of him : " Brother Axley was truly a child of
nature, a great deal of sternness and firmness about
him as well as oddity. But he was a great and
good minister of Jesus Christ. He often said, a
preacher that was good and true had a trinity of dev-
ils to fight superfluous dress, whisky, and slavery.
Brother Axley and myself were like Jonathan and
David." And the friendship formed between them
in early life continued unbroken until Axley entered
into rest.
During the nine years in which the work in
Illinois had been connected with the Western Con-
ference, Methodism, at first confined to a narrow
strip along the Mississippi, had spread over the
southern portion of the State, keeping pace with the
ever advancing settlements, so that instead of the
one feeble mission, with which the work com-
menced, there were now two strong circuits with a
membership of seven hundred and sixty whites and
two colored. Instead of the one discouraged mis-
sionary, unvisited by a presiding elder during his
whole term, there were now three circuit preachers,
cheered by the frequent, if not quarterly, visits of
two able and sympathizing presiding elders. And
THE WORK EXTENDING. 91
thus was the work begun that afterwards, by the
divine blessing, spread over the whole State, and,
indeed, over the whole North-west, divided already
into four strong annual conferences in Illinois, and
more than twice that number in Iowa, Wisconsin,
and Minnesota.
PART II.
IN THE TENNESSEE CONFERENCE.
1812 to 1815.
F>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
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-
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Diarirt. Mi *c
errd all Ac MJnliili li pate f
m 1819 the Ufaar CiniL Fr the Mat TO
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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'em</amo James Simms.
Shoal Creek Josiah Patterson.
THE year 1820 was a very prosperous one for
Methodism in Illinois. It began with a re-
vival, and revival influences were felt in most of the
districts throughout the entire year. The session of
the Missouri Conference was held at Shiloh, in the
Illinois Circuit, beginning September 13th. Bishop
Roberts presided. In connection with the confer-
ence session, as was then the almost universal prac-
tice in the West, a camp-meeting was held, which
continued for nearly two weeks. Ovgr one hun-
dred persons were converted. It was, as S. H.
Thompson declared, " a grand jubilee," and the
preachers went out from it to their new fields of
labor, " strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might." The number of circuits in the district
was increased from five to seven. The Shoal Creek
Circuit was now established as a permanent charge,
1 68 ME TIIODISM IN ILLINOIS.
and a new circuit was formed in the rapidly settling
Sangaraon region. The name of this circuit was
first written Sangamo, then Sangamaugh, then San-
gama, and finally Sangamon. This region began to
be settled about 1817. In that year Henry Fun-
derburk settled on Horse Creek. The next year
the Drennans, William and Joseph, whose house was
afterwards a preaching-place, settled on Sugar Creek,
a few miles from where Chatham now stands. In
1819 JOSEPH DIXON, who had settled at Shiloh, in
St. Glair County, as early as 1806, moved to San-
gamon County, and settled on Horse Creek. His
home was also one of the first preaching-places,
and he became one of the most efficient stewards in
the circuit. His conversion was under peculiar cir-
cumstances. He was a great hunter, and frequently
made long trips to the unsettled portions of the
country, returning from them laden with peltries.
In connection with two others, he had gone on a
trapping expedition several hundred miles up the
Missouri River. He spent two Winters there the
first with his companions, in a cave dug out of the
side of a hill, and the second alone ; for his com-
panions had quarreled with him and deserted him.
Whilst ther<i in solitude, his eyes became inflamed,
and he eventually lost his sight. In this helpless
condition, reflecting upon his past life and his want
of preparation for death, he fell upon his knees and
asked God to have mercy on him and deliver him,
promising that if he would deliver him, he would
serve him all the rest of his life. His prayer was
heard ; he was directed to the use of means by
NATHAN SCARRITT. 169
which his sight was restored ; and as he recognized
in tliis the hand of God, and fell before him to re-
turn thanks for the cure that had been wrought, he
felt a sweet peace filling his soul, and then realized
that his sins were forgiven and he was made a child
of God. In the Summer, after a successful season
of trapping, after many narrow escapes, he returned
to St. Louis, sold his furs for several thousand dol-
lars, and then, with his family, from whom he had
been absent nearly three years, removed to the San-
gamon country, and became a useful and active
steward and cxhorter in the Church. In the Spring
of 1821, a church, to which the name of Zion
Chapel was given, was built chiefly by his agency,
and to which he afterwards deeded five acres of
ground for church and cemetery purposes. It con-
tinued to be used for worship until 1843, when it
was burned down. Mr. Dixon died at the resi-
dence of a daughter, in Morgan County, in 1844.
Another person who settled in Sangamon County
this year, and became an active and influential
Methodist, was JOHN COOPER. He was born in
South Carolina, June 3, 1794, but with his parents
moved to Tennessee in childhood. He was a faith-
ful, laborious, and useful local preacher, preaching
nearly as much as the traveling preachers, and with
great acceptability to the people. He was a justice
of the peace and county commissioner for many
years. He died in June, 1860.
In the Fall of this year NATHAN SCARRITT and
his wife Latty moved from New Hampshire to Ed-
wardsville, Illinois. He was born in Connecticut,
15
170
METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
she in New Hampshire. They were married about
1812. Both were religious before marriage. They
were the parents of ten sons and two daughters.
In 1821 they moved from Edwardsville to Scarritt's
Prairie. When he went to the spot he had selected
to build a house, he laid down his tools and knelt
upon the prairie-grass, and invoked God's blessing.
The family altar was a fixture in his dwelling, and
incense ascended as regularly as the morning and
evening meal were eaten. 1 He died fully conscious,
and in great peace and holy triumph, December 12,
1847. He was, during most of his religious life,
an officer in the Church, and as a class-leader he
had few superiors. His wife lived a widow twenty-
eight years, and died at her son's, in Kansas City,
December 7, 1875. Of their sons, Dr. N. Scarritt
is an honored member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, and Jotharn A. Scarritt has been for
many years an active and influential minister in the
Southern Illinois Conference.
Other settlements were formed about the same
time on Rock Creek and Spring Creek. The newly
formed circuit embraced the settlements on both
sides of the Sangamon River and the streams run-
ning into it ; and as this was for some time the most
northern circuit in the district, the preachers fol-
lowed up the rapidly extending settlements, until
in 1824 the circuit reached as far north as Ran-
dolph Grove, in what is now McLean County.
On most of the charges there was an increase in
the membership this year, Cash River being the
1 Rev. J. A. Scarritt
THE CORRIE FAMILY. ' 171
only one reporting a decrease. The camp-meeting
season was especially prosperous. A large number
were held in the district, two or three in each
charge, and at most of them large numbers were
converted. Two of these meetings were held on
the Mt. Carmel Circuit this year, of which Mr.
Beauchamp gives an account that is quoted by Dr.
Bangs in his history of the Church. The first was
held about thirty-five miles south-west of Mt. Car-
mel, commencing on Friday and closing on the fol-
lowing Monday. About twenty professed faith in
Christ. The second was held near Mt. Carmel,
continuing for the same time, and resulted in the
conversion of about forty-five, twenty-three of
whom united with the Church. Among the con-
verts were the CORRIE family, who had removed
from Kircudbright County,. Scotland, the year be-
fore, and had settled some miles north of Mt. Car-
mel, in what was afterwards Lawrence County.
The family had been raised Presbyterians ; but the
mother only knew any thing of experimental re-
ligion. At the camp-meeting, the father, his son
John, then a youth of seventeen, three daughters,
and two cousins, who had come to America with
them, were all converted in the course of a few
hours, and united with the Church. John, in 1834,
removed to Schuyler County, and for many years
has been a pillar in the Church. The eldest daugh-
ter, Agnes, married John Scrijvps, and was long a
mother in Israel, and all the family, so far as known,
held fast their confidence unto the end.
The Gospel continued to spread and new soci-
172 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
etics to be formed as the settlements extended. This
year the first sermon was preached in what after-
wards bceame Macoupin County. The preacher
was PARHAM RAXDLE, a local preacher, who was
then living near Ed wards vi lie, and the place was
the cabin of Richard Chapman, in what is now
Dorchester Township. Mr. Chapman's house con-
tinued to be a preaching-place for several years.
This year JACOB LURTOX moved from Kentucky,
and settled on the Piasa, a few miles from Alton,
where he became an active laborer. He had en-
tered Hie traveling connection in 1786, and had
traveled in succession the West Jersey Circuit, in
New Jersey; Berkeley, in Virginia; Redstone, in
Pennsylvania; Clarksburg and Kanawha, in Vir-
ginia; Baltimore and Harford, in Maryland; Salt
River, in Kentucky; and Cumberland, in Tennes-
see and Kentucky. While in this circuit he preached
in the cabin of the father of Peter Cartwright with
great power, while the congregation were melted to
tears. His health having failed, he retired from
the itinerant work, and spent the rest of his days
in a local relation, preaching, however, whenever his
health would permit. He was an original genius,
a real son of thunder, and a faithful and useful
minister of the Gospel. He died at his home in
Illinois in great peace.
The increase in membership for the entire dis-
trict was 530, and the whole number of members
reported was 2,401 whites, and 20 colored.
ALEXANDER MCALLISTER, who was this year
sent to Illinois Circuit, was a native of Kentucky.
ALEXANDER MCALLISTER. 173
He was converted in the Fall of 1812, was received
in the Missouri Conference in 1816, and appointed
to Cape Girardeau and New Madrid. With the
exception of his year in Illinois, his whole itinerant
life was spent in Missouri. Between his admission
and 1832, when he finally located, he was seven
years on circuits, four years presiding elder, two
years superannuated, one year supernumerary, and
two years local. After his last location he entered
into the mercantile business in Rushville, Illinois,
in partnership with John Scripps, and died at the
residence of Mr. Scripps, in March, 1834, while his
family were still residing in St. Louis. Mr. McAl-
lister was tall and rather slender in form, very
pleasant and affable in manner, a preacher of more
than ordinary ability, always well received in his
charges, and popular with those to whom he minis-
tered. " Though a mechanic, with a very limited
education at the beginning of his ministerial career,
he very soon attained a high position as a preacher
of the Gospel. Indeed, he seems to have had few
equals, and fswer, if any, superiors in his field and
day. His strong mind, original power of thought,
clear perception, and cool judgment soon made him
the favorite champion of the cause he had espoused ;
and this, combined with his indomitable energy,
decision of character, and strict habits of study and
business, placed him in the front rank of the min-
istry, where he made a deep and lasting impression
on the public mind." 2
This was HACKALIAH VEEDENBURG'S first year
2 Dr. McAn.illy.
174 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
in the itinerancy. He was born in Westchester
County, New York, May 10, 1790. In 1817, he
settled in Terre Haute, Indiana, and three years
afterwards united with the Missouri Conference.
After filling his appointment on Okaw Circuit, he
was sent in 1821 to Wabash, and in 1822 to Honey
Creek. In 1823 he formed the Vermillion Cir-
cuit, to which he was returned from the Illinois
Conference the next year. In 1825 he was ap-
pointed to Crawfordsville, and at the close of the
year was granted a location. In 1831 he was read-
mitted and appointed to Logansport. The next
year he fell into the Indiana Conference, and con-
tinued to travel until 1840, when he was granted a
superannuated relation, in which he continued until
his death, with the exception of one year, when he
traveled Prairieville Circuit. In 1844 he fell into
the North Indiana Conference, and in 1852 into the
North-west Indiana, and thus was a member of five
different annual conferences without ever having
been transferred. " Most of Brother Vredenburg's
itinerant life was spent in the valley of the Wabash.
From its mouth almost to its source he preached,
organizing new societies and circuits, carrying the
Gospel message to the scattered settlements, and
enduring all the exposures and privations of pio-
neer life. In one of his charges no house could be
found to shelter his wife and children while he trav-
eled his circuit of three or four hundred miles round.
Rather than leave his work, he took possession of a
deserted log stable, and, fitting it up with his own
hands, made that the parsonage for the year. At
JOHN STEWART, 175
other times, he was compelled on his rest days to
cultivate a small piece of ground to supply his fam-
ily with food, the pittance received being barely
sufficient to furnish them with clothing. But amid
all these privations and dangers, this faithful minis-
ter was always at his post, rarely missing an ap-
pointment, and never deserting his trust." 3 One
who knew him well for nearly fifty years, says : " He
was a good, plain preacher, and an energetic, good
man. He died at the residence of his son-in-law
in Wisconsin, January 23, 1869. Before his death
his sight had become dim and his body exceed-
ingly feeble; yet his mind was clear and strong,
and his memory of the incidents and labors of his
itinerant life unimpaired. When told by his physi-
cian that he could live but a little while, and that
he had better prepare for death, he replied, "I
have been doing so all my life."
The itinerant career of FRANCIS MOORE began
and closed on the Cash River Circuit. He was re-
ceived on trial in the conference this year, returned
to the circuit in 1821, and at the close of the year
discontinued. We have no further account of him.
JOHN STEWART was born in Sussex County,
New Jersey, in 1795. In his twentieth year he
was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal
Church. In 1817 he was received in the Ohio
Conference and appointed to Little Kanawha Cir-
cuit. In 1818 he was sent to Mahoning, and in
1819 was transferred to the Missouri Conference,
and appointed to Blue River. At the close of his
3 General Minutes.
176 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
year at Mt. Carmel, he was assigned to Vincennes,
and the next year was transferred again to the Ohio
Conference, of which he remained a member until
death. For fifty years he sustained an effective
relation to the Church, serving as presiding elder
for eleven years, and laboring on circuits and sta-
tions thirty-nine years. In 1866 he was placed on
the superannuated list, and continued in that relation
until his death, March 10, 1876. "He was a good
preacher and a wise administrator. Truly devoted
to God and the interests of the Church of his choice,
he gave full proof of his calling as a minister of
the Word. On some of his charges he was emi-
nently successful in winning souls to Christ." 4
His year on the Mt. Carmel Circuit was a very
laborious one, as well as a very successful one. His
labors may be seen in the fact that his circuit em-
braced four county seats, those of Edwards, Craw-
ford, Clark, and Wayne Counties, and his success is
seen in the increase of the membership from 146
to 310.
JAMES SIMMS was a native of Virginia. In early
life he moved to South Carolina, where he married.
He afterwards removed to Kentucky, thence to St.
Clair County, Illinois, and in the Spring of 1820
to Sangarnon County. He settled on Sugar Creek,
where he built a horse-mill, quarrying the stone
and preparing the burrs for his mill himself. He
was converted when young, and licensed to preach
while in Kentucky. He labored as a traveling
preacher only this year, and was discontinued at its
4 General Minutes.
JAMES SIMMS. 177
close. On the organization of Sangamon County
he was appointed treasurer, but refused to qualify.
He was the first representative from the county in
the State Legislature. He afterwards moved to
Morgan County, where in February, 1829, he aided
in forming the first Methodist Protestant Church
in Illinois, of which he became the first circuit
preacher. He was a tall venerable looking man,
mild in his manners, kind-hearted, very devout, and
possessed of the qualities that made men popular
in those early days. He was said to be a power-
ful preacher. He died of consumption February
20, 1844.
178 MET HOD ISM IN ILLINOIS.
vi.
1821.
ILLINOIS DISTRICT David Sharp, P. E.
Ml. Car md Robert Delap.
Wabasli Hackaliah Vredenburg, Tliomas Rice.
Cash River Francis Moore.
Okaiv Josiah Patterson.
Illinois James Scott, Parham Handle.
Shoal Creek Jesse Haile, Jacob Whitesides, Sup.
SangamonJolm Glanville.
THE sixth session of the Missouri Conference
was held at McKcndree Chapel, Cape Girar-
(1 oiu County, Missouri, beginning October 17th.
Bishop George presided. The appointments in Illi-
nois remained the same as they were the year before,
but more laborers were employed. To the Wabash,
Illinois, and Shoal Creek Circuits were assigned two
men each. The year was not marked by extensive
revivals, no circuit reporting a large increase, and
only thirty-six additional members being returned
in the entire district. Yet there was some progress
made in the organization of new societies, and the
spread of Methodism in the new settlements. The
first society was formed this year in Jacksonville.
John Glanville, who was on the Sangamon Circuit,
formed a class in the house of John Jordan in the
east part of the town, and this continued to be the
SPRINGFIELD. 179
preaching place for several years. It was after-
wards moved to the log school-house, which was
used by Methodists and Presbyterians alternately,
until church edifices were erected by them. But
the honor of introducing the Gospel into Jackson-
ville belongs to JOSEPH BASEY, a local preacher,
who had settled south-west of Jerseyville, but who
afterwards removed to Morgan County. In 1821
he preached the first sermon in the county, and
continued his labors as a pioneer to the new-comers
until the settlements were organized into a circuit.
He was elected to deacon's orders at the conference
of 1835. He afterwards removed to Platteville,
Wisconsin, and entered upon the practice of medi-
cine, to which he had been educated. He was a
very useful and successful local preacher, and quite
successful in his profession as a physician. He lived
and died respected by all who knew him. 1
The first society was also formed this year in
Springfield through the instrumentality of James
Simms. The society worshiped in the house, and
sometimes in the office of C. R. Matheny, the
county clerk ; afterwards in a school-house, and it
was not until 1830 that a church was erected. This
year, too, the Sharon Society was organized in Fay-
ette County, about a mile east of the present town
of Vera. Here WILLIAM. PADON was converted
this year, who was licensed to preach in 1835, and
has ever since been a most laborious and successful
local preacher.
The whole number of members reported for the
1 Rev. N. P. Heath.
180 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
year was 2,417 whites and 40 colored. Several new
names appear in the district this year.
ROBERT DELAP united with the Ohio Confer-
ence in 1819. His first appointment was Miami.
The next year he traveled the Scioto Circuit. In
1821 he became a member of Missouri Conference
and was appointed to Mt. Carmel. The next year
he was on the superannuated list, and the following
year he was changed to supernumerary and sent to
the Vermillion Circuit with H. Vredenburg. In
1824 he fell into the Illinois Conference and was
returned to Vermillion, the following year he was
sent to Carmi, in 1826 to Wabash, and in 1827 he
was again placed on the superannuated list, on
which he continued two years. He was appointed
to Paris in 1829, and then for seven years was su-
perannuated. In 1837 he was 1 sent to Buffalo Grove
Circuit; at the close of the year he was again su-
perannuated. In. 1840 he fell into the Rock River
Conference, remaining in a superannuated relation
until 1843, when he was appointed to Sugar River
Circuit. At the close of the year he located. He
was a man of medium size, somewhat odd in his
manners, an independent thinker, and always pre-
senting something original in his sermons. 2
THOMAS RICE united first with the Baltimore
Conference in 1819. After traveling the Pendleton
and New River Circuits, he was transferred to the
Missouri Conference, in which he labored in suc-
cession on Wabash, Sangamon, and Flat Rock cir-
cuits. In 1824 he fell into the Illinois Conference,
''John Corrie.
PARHAM RANDLE. 181
but remained in it only one year on the Rushville
Circuit in Indiana, when lie was transferred to the
Holston Conference, in which he continued to travel
until 1837, when he located.
JAMES SCOTT was received on trial in the Mis-
souri Conference in 1819, but his appointment does
not appear in the General Minutes. In 1820 he
was sent to Cedar Creek, in 1821 to -Illinois Cir-
cuit, and in 1822 to Indianapolis. At the close of
the year he located. In 1820 he was readmitted
in the Illinois Conference and appointed to Madi-
son, the next year to Whitewater, and the next to
Charlestown. With the exception of three years in
which he was local, he continued in connection with
the conferences in Indiana until 1860, when he was
deposed from the ministry by the North-west Indi-
ana Conference.
PARHAM HANDLE was received in the Missouri
Conference in 1821, traveled two years on the Illi-
nois and Shoal Creek Circuits, and in 1823, at his
own request, was discontinued. He was a son of
Richard Handle of Montgomery County, North
Carolina, and afterwards of Richmond, Virginia,
where he kept a tavern. His house was the first
Methodist preaching place in Richmond. Richard
Boardman and Bishop W r hatcoat held the first
Methodist meeting there, and the landlord, Richard
Randle, was converted at it. Parham, his son,
moved to Illinois in 1818 or 1819, and settled first
near Edwardsville, in Madison County. He was
then thirty-five or forty years old, and was a local
preacher of some ability. Whilst traveling the
182 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
Shoal Creek Circuit lie lived in a leaky house, and
his wife took a severe cold in it, which resulted in
consumption, and, after a few years, caused her
death. She died in triumph. But her illness com-
pelled Mr. Randle to cease traveling. After his
wife's death he deeded his property to his children,
and lived with his son-in-law at Lebanon. In 1829
we find him elected to elder's orders by the annual
conference at Edwardsvillc. He continued to be a
useful and acceptable local preacher as long as he
was able to preach. On his death-bed, when asked
by Rev. T. Peeples, " Uncle Parham, where are you
going when you leave us?" his answer was, "Why,
direct to heaven." He was a good man, full of the
Holy Ghost, and loved by all who knew him. 3
This was JOHN GLANVILLE'S first year in the
conference. After a successful year on the Sanga-
mon Circuit, he traveled in Missouri until 1829,
when he located. The next year he was readmitted,
and continued in the work, filling many of the
most important appointments, and serving two years
as presiding elder until 1845, when, with his con-
ference, he went into the Methodist Episcopal
Church South. "He was an Englishman of a good
type, a man of superior preaching ability and Chris-
tian character," 4 "a companionable, intellectual,
able minister of the Gospel, distinguished for his
originality." 5
3 Rev. G. D. Randle.
4 Rev. J. C. Berryman. 5 Rev. S. G. Patterson.
METHODIST FAMILIES. 183
vn.
1822.
ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E.
Mt. Cnrmd Samuel Hull.
WabasJt. and Mt. Vernon Josiah Patterson, Win. II. Smith.
Kaskaskia -Anthony W. Casad.
Illinois Jesse Haile, Cornelius Ruddle.
Cash RiverJolm Blaisdell.
fflioal Cm* Parham Randle, William Townsend.
ftangamon Thomas Rice.
Mississippi Isaac N. Piggott.
THE session of the Missouri Conference for 1822
was held in the city of St. Louis, commencing
October 24th. Samuel H. Thompson and David
Sharp exchanged districts, the former being again
appointed to the Illinois District and the latter tak-
ing Mr. Thompson's place on the Missouri. Two
new circuits were formed this year in Illinois, the
Mt. Vernon and the Mississippi, and the name of
the Okaw Circuit was changed to Kaskaskia. The
Mt. Vernon Circuit, however, remained connected
with the W abash, of which it had formed a part,
though the members are reported from it at the end
of the year as from a separate charge. That region
had been settled for a number of years. The Ca-
seys, Johnsons, and Maxeys, and various other Meth-
odist families among the early settlers, made that
one of the strongest circuits in the district. The
184 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
Mississippi Circuit was formed from the north part
of the Illinois Circuit, and included the rapidly
extending settlements now embraced in the counties
of Green, Macoupin, Jersey, Scott, and Morgan.
The year, like the preceding, was a year of only
moderate success. Yet some new societies were
formed. Among them was one which afterwards
became an important and influential one, the Hope-
well society, north of Carrollton, which was this
year formed in the house of John Dodgson, who
had moved to the country from Yorkshire, Eng-
land, the year before. Several new societies in
Morgan County were also organized this year by I.
N. Piggott. There was an increase in the member-
ship of 270, the report at conference being 2,687
white and 40 colored.
Among the new settlers in the country this year
who became influential members of the Church,
was REUBEN HAERISON, a native of Rockingham
County, Virginia, who had moved to Kentucky in
1818, and in November, 1822, settled on Richland
Creek, in Sangamon County. For many years he was
a faithful steward and leader and active worker on
the Sangamon Circuit, and his house was a preach-
ers' house. He was a man of considerable energy.
In 1826, in company with W. B. Renshaw, whose
house for years was a preaching-place, he started
for New Orleans from the mouth of Richland
Creek with a flat-boat load of produce, being the
second that ever went out from the Sangamon
River. Mr. Harrison lived to a good old age, and
died highly respected by all who knew him.
SAMUEL HULL. 185
The following brethren appear in connection
with the work in Illinois for the first time.
SAMUEL HULL, who was this year on the Mt.
Carmel Circuit, had just been received in the Mis-
souri Conference. In 1823 he was assigned to
Honey Creek. During the year a charge of im-
moral conduct was presented against him. The
case was investigated by a committee, and he was
suspended until conference. The following extract
from the Journal of the Illinois Conference at its
first session in 1824, will show the merits of the
case, and is inserted as an act of justice to Mr. Hull:
" The case of Samuel Hull being taken up, charges
of an immoral nature, on the testimony of Eliza-
beth Wallaee, amounting to an attempt on her chas-
tity, and for which he now stands suspended, were
laid before the conference. The circumstances of
the case being duly considered, together with the
character of the woman and the manner of her act-
ing on the occasion, the conference was fully con-
vinced of his innocence ; and, on motion of Brother
Monroe, seconded by Brother Glanville, the sen-
tence of the committee who had suspended him was
reversed. His character was examined, approved,
and he was admitted into full connection and elected
to deacon's orders." He was returned to the Honey
Creek Circuit the next year; and, before its close,
his innocence of the charge that had been made
against him was fully established. A young man,
who was dying, confessed that it was he who had
been guilty in the affair, and that the preacher was
entirely innocent. At the close of the year he
16
1 86 ME T HOD ISM IN IL L L\0 IS.
located and settled in the Vincennes Circuit in In-
diana. He was a large, good-looking man, and an
excellent preacher; very emotional, weeping much
while preaching, and very zealous and faithful in
his work.
WILLIAM H. SMITH, the junior preacher on
Wabash and Mt. Vernon Circuit, commenced this
year an itinerant career that continued for fifty-six
years. He was a native of Georgia, born in 1796.
His parents were elevated Christians. His mother
died when he was only two years old ; but his godly
father trained him in the doctrines of Christianity.
When he was seven years old his family removed
to Kentucky, and when he was fifteen he was con-
verted and received into the Church by Marcus
Lindsay. Having removed to White County, Illi-
nois, he was licensed to preach, and recommended
to the Missouri Conference in 1822, and received
his appointment as junior preacher to the circuit in
which he lived. He was returned as preacher in
charge of the same circuit the next year. In 1824
he fell into the Illinois Conference, and was sent to
Patoka, and the next year to Booneville. In 1826
he was appointed to Paoli, a six-weeks' circuit, and
during the year several hundred were converted.
During his term on Eel River Circuit, which he
traveled in 1827-8, six hundred souls were con-
verted and brought into the Church. The next
year he Avas sent to Carlisle, and in 1830 to Paris
Circuit, which then included Edgar, Coles, and
Clark Counties, in Illinois, and Vigo and Vermill-
ion Counties, in Indiana. He continued to travel
ANftlONY W. CASAD.
187
in the Indiana, North Indiana, and North-west In-
diana Conferences, into which he successively fell
by the division of the work, until 1866, when he
finally ceased his labors in the active ranks of the
ministry, and waited as superannuate until his
change should come. " During his last days he de-
lighted to speak of the past, with its labors and
triumphs. He never seemed happier than when
talking of the noble and glorious band of men with
whom he had labored and won so many victories
for God and the Church." ' His death, which oc-
curred at Greencastle, Indiana, September 28, 1878,
was quiet, peaceful, and triumphant.
ANTHONY W. CASAD was a native of New Jer-
sey. He removed first to Greene County, Ohio, and
about 1820 to Illinois. In 1821 he was received
on trial in the Missouri Conference. His first ap-
pointment was Buffalo, and his second Kaskaskia.
At the conference of 1823 he was ordained deacon,
received into full membership, and then granted a
location. He settled in St. Clair County, near Leb-
anon. In 1828 he was elected to elder's orders as
a local preacher. He afterwards resigned his min-
isterial authority, and surrendered his certificates
of orders to the Church, and remained during the
rest of his life a lay member. As a preacher, he
was logical and instructive, but slow and tedious.
He was naturally very fond of metaphysics. He
was a good preacher, but not a revivalist. As a
citi/en, he was highly esteemed. After his retire-
ment from the ministry he engaged in the practice
1 General Minutes.
188 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
of medicine, and, as his services were demanded,
served also as surveyor, school-teacher, and tailor.
For many years he was a trustee of McKcndree
College. He died in great peace, full of faith and
the Holy Ghost, at his residence near Summerfield,
Illinois, about 1860. One of his daughters was
married to Rev. C. D. James, of the Illinois Con-
ference.
CORNELIUS RUDDLE was received on trial in the
Missouri Conference in 1822, and appointed to Illi-
nois Circuit. The next year he was sent to Wa-
bash and Mt. Vcrnon, and the following year he
was returned from the Illinois Conference to the
Wabash Circuit. In 1825 he located. Three years
afterwards he was again received on trial though
why he was not readmitted the journal does not
show and assigned to Madison, and at the close
of the year was discontinued, at his own request.
JOHN BLAISDELL united with the Missouri Con-
ference in 1821, and was sent to Lamoine. After
his year on Cash River he continued traveling in
the Missouri Conference until its session in 1826,
when he located.
WILLIAM TOWNSEND had been traveling in the
Missouri Conference since 1817. At the close of
his year on Shoal Creek he located. He was rec-
ommended for readmission to the conference of
1827, but was not received, though the presiding
elder had liberty to employ him, should he deem
it expedient.
ISAAC N. PIGGOTT was received on trial in the
Missouri Conference in 1819, traveled two years in
ISAAC N. PIGGOTT. 189
Missouri, and was discontinued. This year he was
received again, and appointed, as stated above, to
the Mississippi Circuit, to which he was returned
the following year. In 1824 he located, and settled
in the circuit he had been traveling. Mr. Piggott
was for some years a prominent man in the State, as
well as in the Church. Having settled south-west
of Jerseyville, he obtained from the Legislature a
ferry license across the Mississippi between Grafton
and Alton in;1821. He afterwards entered the po-
litical field, and ran against Thomas Carlin (subse-
quently governor) for State senator, and both re-
ceived certificates of election. The senate ordered
a new election, and Mr. Piggott was defeated. He
was possessed of strong native talent, and was a
forcible speaker. After his location he turned his
attention to law, and left the Church. When J. B.
Wollard traveled the Grafton Circuit he professed
to be reclaimed, reunited with the Church, and was
again licensed to preach. But he was shorn of his
strength, and after remaining in the Church for a
few years, he again left it. In 1858 he removed to
St. Louis, where he resided until his death, in 1874,
at the age of eighty-two.
190 METHODISM IX ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER VIII.
1823.
ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel II. Thompson, P. E.
Ml. Carmd William McReynolds.
Wabask and Ml. Vernon William H. Smith.
Kaskaskia Frederick B. Leach.
Illinois John Dew, Orceneth Fisher.
Cash River Josiah Patterson.
SJioal Creek Thomas Davis, Jesse Green.
Sangamon John Miller.
Mississippi Isaac N. Piggott.
Vermillion Hackaliah Vredenburg, Robert Delap, Sup.
IN 1823 the Missouri Conference sat again in St.
Louis, beginning its session October 23d. A
new circuit, the Vermillion, was formed this year in
the Illinois District, embracing the settlements on
the west side of the Wabash above the Mt. Carmel
Circuit. This region began to be settled in 1817.
In that year Colonel Jonathan Mayo came to the
country from Kentucky, and settled on North Arm
Prairie, then included in Edwards County; and, as
has been stated before, the first class in that region
had been formed in his house by Joseph Curtis.
Previous to the formation of the Vermillion Circuit,
in addition to the ministrations of the local preach-
ers, the settlements had been occasionally supplied
with circuit preaching, first from the Harrison, and
afterward from the Honey Creek Circuits, in In-
M'LEA N CO UN T Y. 1 1
diana. Hackaliah Vredenburg^. who then traveled
this circuit, preached first at Colonel Mayo's in
February or March, 1823, and in August of that
year held, near the same place, the first camp-meet-
ing ever held in the Upper AVabash region in Illi-
nois. He was assisted by Rev. J. W. McReynolds,
who had formerly traveled in Kentucky, but was
then local, and had recently moved to the neighbor-
hood ; by Dr. James ; by a local preacher named
Robinson, and by Alonzo Lapham, then an exhorter
and class-leader. Dr. James, father of Rev. 0. D.
James, of the Illinois Conference, was a tall, straight
man, and an excellent preacher. Mr. Robinson was
also a good preacher. One of his sermons is re-
membered to this day. It was from the text, "The
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temp-
tation." Mr. Lapham afterwards moved to Macon
County, where he received license to preach. Two
of his sons became traveling preachers. About
eighteen persons were converted at the camp-meet-
ing, and amongst them was Colonel Mayo.
Mr. Vredenburg also formed the first class this
year in the village of Paris, which had been laid
off during the Summer as the county-seat of Edgar
County. The society was formed in the house of
Smith Shaw, father of Rev. H. S. Shaw, which con-
tinued to be the preaching place until the court-
house was built.
This year the Gospel was introduced into what
is now McLean County. The first sermon was
preached by Rev. James Stringfield whilst on a
visit from Kentucky; this was in the Fall of 1823,
192 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
and the next Summer the first class was formed by-
Jesse Walker in the house of John Hendricks, who
was the first white settler in Blooming Grove. This
was the beginning of the flourishing Churches in the
city of Bloomington.
The first camp-meeting in what was afterwards
Morgan County was held this year by S. TI. Thomp-
son on Walnut Creek, near Lynnville.
The year was a more prosperous one than the
district had known for some time. In every charge
there was some increase, the aggregate being 485;
making in all 3,155 whites and 57 colored members
in Illinois. During the eight years in which the
work had been connected with the Missouri Con-
ference the membership had increased from 968 to
3,212, and the preachers from six to fourteen.
Six new men were assigned to the work in Illi-
nois this year.
WILLIAM McREYNOLDS was born in Washing-
ton County, Virginia, March 7, 1798, but with his
parents moved to Kentucky whilst he was yet a
child, and settled in Allen County. His parents
were devoted Christians and brought up their chil-
dren in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
In 1819, in a powerful revival under the labors of
Charles Holliday and others, he was converted, and
soon after entered upon the life of a traveling
preacher. He was employed for a few months un-
der the presiding elder on the Bowling Green Cir-
cuit with Andrew Monroe; and in 1820 he was re-
ceived into the Tennessee Conference and assigned
as junior preacher to the Christian Circuit, with
WILLIAM M C REYNOLDS. 193
Peter Cartwright as his colleague. The next year
he labored on the Middle Island Circuit in "Vir-
ginia, and in 1822 he appears in the Missouri Con-
ference as appointed to Blue River Circuit in Indi-
ana. The following year, as stated above, he was
on the Mt. Carmel Circuit, and at the close of the
year was re-transferred to Kentucky, where he la-
bored until 1833, when he located, and during the
remainder of his life he served the Church as a local
preacher. He died at Portsmouth, Ohio, March 4,
1868. Dr. Bedford 'says of him, "In the several
fields of ministerial labor he occupied he made full
proof of his ministry, discharging his duty with
commendable zeal. Epistles, known and read of
all men, were to be found in the vales and mount-
ains through which he passed as an ambassador of
Jesus Christ." "A man of commanding personal
appearance, of talents above mediocrity, ardent in
his piety, and of popular manners, in the morning
of his ministry he promised much to the Church.
Retiring, as he did, from the active duties of an
itinerant, in the full strength of manhood, how-
ever useful he was as a local preacher, the sphere
of his labors was too circumscribed to give to his
ministry that efficiency for which it was designed.
During the twenty-six years that he sustained
the relation of a local preacher it is gratifying to
record that his zeal and labors in behalf of the
cause of Christ, whether in the pulpit or presiding
over institutions of learning, entitled him to the
confidence of his brethren ; while his consistent
piety challenged the criticism of the enemies of the
17
194 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
cross." " He closed his eventful career as the pas-
tor of the Seamen's Bethel at Portsmouth, Ohio.
On the Sabbath previous to his death he preached
twice with great power. On Monday and Tuesday
evenings, though complaining of indisposition, we
find him again in the pulpit, calling sinners to re-
pentance. On the following Saturday, in great
peace, he breathed his last."
FREDERICK B. LEACH waS received on trial in
the Missouri Conference in 1822, and appointed to
Lamoine Circuit. After his labors on the Kaskas-
kia charge, he continued to travel in Missouri until
1828, when he located. Nine years afterwards he
was readmitted, traveled one year, and again located
in 1838. " He was gifted, pious, devoted to his
work, and eminently useful. Though quite popular
in the pulpit, he did not become vain or proud of
this, but by a humble and consistent life, and a
chaste conversation, seasoned with grace, he made
one of the most consistent and effective traveling
preachers his presiding elder had ever seen." l
Jonx DEW was a native of Virginia, born July
17, 1789. In early life he was converted and united
with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1812 he
was received in the Ohio Conference and appointed
to Salt River Circuit in Kentucky. Then he trav-
eled in succession the Jefferson, Madison, and Guy-
andotte circuits in the same conference. In 1816
he fell into the Tennessee Conference and was sent
to Holston Circuit, and at the close of the year he
located. In 1823 he was readmitted in the Missouri
J Dr. McAnally.
JOHN DEW. 195
Conference and appointed to Illinois Circuit, to
which he was returned the next year from the Illi-
nois Conference. In 1825 he was transferred to
Missouri Conference and appointed presiding elder
of Missouri District. The next year he was sta-
tioned in St. Louis, and in 1827 was retransferred
to the Illinois Conference and appointed superin-
tendent and conference collector for the Pottawat-
tomie Mission at Salem. In 1828 he was appointed
to Galena, in the extreme north-west corner of the
State, and at least four hundred miles from his resi-
dence ; " and such," says Cartwright, " was the pov-
erty of the country at that time, for it was new and
just in its forming state, that he provided for his
family where they were, and spent most of this year
almost entirely from home. His labors were blessed
in this new field of toil, and he was instrumental
in planting Methodism firmly there." During this
year Mr. Dew formed a class in Galena, which dis-
putes with the one at Walker's Grove (now Plain-
field), the honor of being the first class formed in
the Rock River Conference, though Mr. Beggs
thinks the latter entitled to precedence. In 1829
Mr. Dew was sent to Lebanon, in 1830 to Shoal
Creek, with Edward R. Ames as his junior, and the
next year to Lebanon again. Then for two years
he labored on Kaskaskia Circuit, and in the Fall
of 1834 located. Two years afterwards he was re-
admitted and appointed president of McKeudree
College. In 1837 he was assigned to the Carlisle
District as presiding elder, and for the two follow-
ing years to the Lebanon District. He died after
196 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
an illness of about two weeks on the 5th of Sep-
tember, 1840, a few days before the session of the
annual conference.
" As a minister/' says his memoir, " he was able
and useful ; as a circuit preacher, stationed minister,
and presiding elder, his services will be long remem-
bered by those who enjoyed the benefits of his min-
istry. As a man, he was honest ; as a citizen, he
was public-spirited; in the domestic circle he was
kind and affectionate; as a Christian, his walk and
conversation recommended the religion of the meek
and lowly Redeemer." Dr. Cartwright says of him :
" He had a fine order of talent as a preacher, was
a strong theological debater, had a clear and sound
mind, and was well qualified to defend the doctrines
of the Bible against infidelity, and the doctrines of
Methodism against all sectarian assailants. He was
popular and useful as a preacher, labored hard, suf-
fered much in spreading the Gospel, lived beloved,
and died lamented by thousands." Mr. Dew was
about five feet and a half in height, heavy set, dark-
skinned, with black hair and black and piercing
eyes, and of fine personal appearance. He was a
man of strong and cultivated intellect, a hard stu-
dent, and an able and instructive preacher. His
voice was very musical, and in reading the Scrip-
tures and lining the hymns, as was then the cus-
tom, he often produced a powerful effect upon his
hearers. 2 He was a member of the General Con-
ference of 1828.
ORCEXETH FISHER had just been received in
2 Rev. N. P. Heath.
ORCENETH FISHER. 197
the Missouri Conference. The next year he was
appointed from the Illinois Conference to Boon-
ville, Indiana, and the following year to Mt. Ver-
non, Illinois. At the close of the year, his health
having failed, he was granted a superannuated rela-
tion, in which he continued three years. Then, in
1829, he was sent to Brownsville Circuit as a super-
numerary; but, his health being still inadequate to
the work of the itinerancy, he was again placed on
the superannuated list, in which he remained until
1834, when he located. He settled at Nashville, in
Washington County, and engaged in the practice
of medicine. In 1838 he was readmitted in the
conference, and sent to Waterloo Circuit, to which
he was returned the next year. In 1840 he was
stationed in Springfield, and at the close of the
year was transferred to the Texas Conference, and
appointed to Washington, where he labored for two
years. In 1843 his appointment was Brazoria. The
next year he fell into the West Texas Conference,
and was granted a superannuated relation; and in
the division of the Church in 1845 he went into the
Methodist Episcopal Church South. The writer
heard him preach at a camp-meeting on the Athens
Circuit, in the Summer of 1841. By request he
discussed the subject of baptism, and it was cer-
tainly one of the most able, interesting, and for-
cible presentations of the subject ever heard in that
region. One who was his pastor during his location
(Rev. J. H. Dickens) says of him : " He was one
of the most profound, critical, and brilliant preach-
ers of that day. He was controversial, yet practical
198 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
and deeply experimental. His pulpit efforts were
always powerful, and sometimes almost irresistible.
I scarcely ever saw his equal in power over the
masses. His prayers seemed to enter heaven." Mr.
Dickens relates the following anecdote of him.
There was in the town of Nashville a wealthy mer-
chant, who was also a State senator, a very popular
and influential man, though wicked and skeptical,
who had become so incensed at Dr. Fisher that he
had sworn to whip him the first time they met.
One day, as the doctor was passing his store, cer-
tain lewd fellows of the baser sort, who had heard
the threat, told the merchant that Fisher was pass-
ing. Hastily pulling off -his coat, the merchant,
who was a very stout man, confronted the doctor,
who was small and quite feeble, and telling him
that he intended to thrash him, bid him throw off
his coat and. defend himself, for he intended he
should have a fair chance. Dr. Fisher at once fell
on his knees in the dust of the street, and prayed,
as scarcely any other man could, that God would
bless and save the merchant. This was too much
for him. He turned and retreated to his store,
saying that he could fight a man in any other posi-
tion than on his knees. His wicked comrades
laughed at him and taunted him; but they could
not get him to fight a man in prayer.
This was the only year JESSE GREEN labored in
Illinois. He had united with the Tennessee Con-
ference in 1817, and traveled in connection with it
until 1823, when he was transferred to the Missouri
Conference, and appointed, as stated above, to Shoal
JESSE GREEN. 199
Creek. The next year he was assigned to the Cape
Girardeau District, and continued traveling in the
Missouri Conference, mostly as presiding elder, until
1845, when he went, with the majority of his con-
ference, into the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
He died in the Spring of 1847. From the General
Minutes of his Church we learn that " he entered
the ministry in early life, with qualifications tor ex-
traordinary usefulness ; and during the whole period
of thirty years, to his death, his course in the itin-
erancy was alike laborious, self-sacrificing, holy, and
successful." A writer, quoted by Dr. McFerrin,
says : " He was small of stature, erect and manly in
form and bearing, and looked like one ordained to
lead and govern among the hosts of spiritual Israel.
He was a good preacher. His sermons often con-
tained the rare combination of the metaphysical and
the emotional. He commanded the attention and
challenged the intelligence of his congregations. He
spoke as one having authority from God, and his
appeals to sinners to repent and be converted were
sometimes terrific. He was a man of zeal and faith
and power, and finally died in full expectation of a
crown of righteousness."
He was, says Dr. McAnally, " superior as a
preacher of strong and sound doctrine. He devoted
himself to doctrinal studies, and became very able
and successful in assaulting errors and defending the
faith of Methodism. Calvinism and Campbellism,
however, were his specialties, and he dealt them
many a hearty and damaging blow. In the discus-
sion "of questions involving the freedom of the will
200 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
he attained distinguished success, and was regarded
as the strong doctrinal preacher of the conference.
He was, moreover, of pleasant and agreeable man-
ners and very popular on his work."
JOHN MILLER was a native of Kentucky, born
in 1802. When he was about eighteen he was con-
verted in the State of Indiana, and in 1823 united
with the Missouri Conference, and was appointed to
Sangamon Circuit. The next year, from the Illi-
nois Conference, he was sent to Indianapolis, in
1825 to Paoli, and the next year to Illinois Circuit.
In 1827 his appointment was Vincennes, and in
1828, Washington. For the two following years he
was on the Mt. Carmel Circuit. In 1831 he was
assigned to Corydon, and in 1832 fell into the In-
diana Conference, in which he continued to labor
for twenty years, eleven of them on districts, when
he fell into the South-east Indiana Conference, of
which he remained a member until his death. For
fifteen years he continued filling circuits and sta-
tions, but in 1869 he was placed on the superannu-
ated list, on which he continued until his death, in
1874. For some years before he ceased traveling,
he lived in Madison, Indiana, which continued to
be his home until he died. Mr. Miller was a very
genial, companionable man, fond of jokes and anec-
dotes. He was remarkably self-possessed ; one who
knew him well for many years declares that he never
saw him lose his self-control. He was a fine business
man, and, without any apparent effort to make money,
died possessed of a large property, the result of his
prudent investments in real estate. He was a good
JOHN MILLER. 201
preacher, somewhat slow of speech, but usually
drawing good congregations. His sermons were
not flowery nor rhetorical, but rather argumentative
and convincing. His voice was distinct and mu-
sical, and he was a remarkably fine singer. 3
* 3 Dr.A. J. Miller.
PART IV.
THE ILLINOIS CONFERENCE
The Separation from Indiana.
to 1831.
Part IV.
THE ILLINOIS CONFERENCE
TO THE SEPARATION FROM INDIANA.
1824 to 1831.
I.
1824.
INDIANA DISTRICT James Armstrong, P. E.
Fmm7/ion Hackaliah Vredenburg, Robert Delap.
ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E.
Mt. Carmcl Thomas Davis, Samuel Bassett, sup.
Wabash Cornelius Ruddle.
Cash Hirer Josiuh Patterson.
Mt. Vernon William Moore.
Kaskaskia Thomas Raudle.
Illinois John Dew, James E. Johnson.
Mississippi William Medford.
Sangamon Peter Cartwright.
Shoal Creek Ebenezer T. Webster.
Jesse Walker, missionary to the settlements be-
tween the Illinois and the Mississippi Rivers,
and to the Indians in the vicinity of Fort Clark.
AT the session of the General Conference of 1824
the Missouri Conference was divided into two,
the Missouri and the Illinois; the former including
the State of Missouri, and the latter the States of
Illinois and Indiana, that part of Indiana previously
206 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
connected with the Ohio Conference being now in-
cluded in the Illinois. The two conferences held
their sessions together at the house of William Pad-
field, St. Clair County, Illinois. The joint session
began on Saturday, October 23, 1824, and closed on
the following Thursday.
The journal of the session is signed by Bishop
Roberts, though Bishops Mclvendree and ' Soule
were also present. John Scripps was elected secre-
tary, and James Bankson, assistant. At the open-
ing session only eleven members were present, but
on the Monday following thirty-three members of
both conferences answered to their names. A camp-
meeting was held in connection with the confer-
ence, at which, on Sunday, Bishop Soule preached
a funeral sermon on the life, character, and labors
of Rev. William Beauchamp, who had died about
two weeks before. The sermon was afterwards
requested for publication. Bishop Roberts was re-
quested to preach a sermon on the death of Samuel
Glaze, but as he could obtain no information in
regard to him, the sermon was not preached.
The usual conference business was transacted,
though the mode of conducting conference business
then was very different from the present mode; and
the amount of business done was trifling compared
with that of an annual conference now. Then, the
first business after the opening and organization of
the conference was the election of stewards, three
or five, and this was deemed so responsible an office
that the elections were usually by ballot. Then,
there were uo examinations of under-graduates
DOINGS OF CONFERENCE. 207
before the beginning of the session, and no ap-
pointment of committees of examination the year
before. The candidates for admission into full con-
nection were merely examined by a committee ap-
pointed at the beginning of the session, and
the examination was rather on the soundness of
their faith than on an extended course of study. ,
Then, the preachers were required to report in open
conference the amount of their claims and receipts ;
and at this session a resolution was adopted that
" every brother who should fail to render his ac-
count on the second day after the commencement
of the conference should not be a partaker of the
dividend," that is, a sharer in the conference divi-
dend from the profits of the Book Concern and the
income of the Chartered Fund. At this session the
Illinois Conference received one hundred and fifty
dollars from the former, and eighty dollars from the
latter; and the Missouri Conference received a like
amount. Then, the examination of character was
usually conducted with closed doors; and, instead
of the " nothing against him," of the present day,
an account of the labors of each preacher and a
brief sketch of his character were given by the pre-
siding elder. The eifect of this upon the preach-
ers was a better knowledge and a higher apprecia-
tion of each other, and a deeper interest in each
other's welfare. Then, the bishops seemed to con-
sider themselves, far more than now, the PASTORS
of the conference, the spiritual counselors and in-
structors of the preachers; and many were the
godly admonitions given by them during a confer-
208 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
ence session. Their deep piety, their commanding
talents, their wide experience, and, above all, their
hearty sympathy with the preachers in their labors,
privations, and sufferings, for they had endured and
were still enduring the same themselves, secured for
them an affectionate reverence that is now seldom
accorded by a conference to its presiding officer.
In theory a bishop was then, as now, "primus inter
pares;" but then, not in the estimation of the
bishop, but of the preachers, primus was the em-
phatic word; whereas, in these days, the empha-
sis is generally on pares. Then, a committee was
elected in each conference to unite with the bishops
in estimating the probable expense of sustaining
them. Then, at least in the West, a camp-meeting
was usually held in connection with the conference
session, and it was not uncommon for scores of souls
to be converted during the conference week. The
time of the preachers not spent in the transaction
of necessary business was spent on the camp-ground
in laboring for the salvation of souls ; and, as an
effect of this, they went to their new charges full
of zeal for God and love for souls. Now, the nu-
merous anniversaries and specialties of an annual
conference, and the work imposed on the various
committees, divert attention from the work of soul-
saving, so that the conversion of a soul during a
conference session now is the exception rather than
the rule; and it requires no small degree of watch-
fulness and effort on the part of the preachers to
avoid a decrease of spirituality while together at
conference.
MEMBERS OF CONFERENCE. 209
The members of the Illinois Conference at this,
its first session, were the following: James Arm-
strong, Samuel Bassett, Peter Cartwright, John
Cord, William Cravens, Thomas Davis, Robert De-
lap, John Dew, Nathaniel S. Griffith, James Havens,
George K. Hester, Thomas S. Hitt, Samuel Hull,
James Jones, William Medford, Josiah Patterson,
Thomas Handle, Edwin Ray, Thomas Rice, Corne-
lius Ruddle, Calvin W. Enter, William H. Smith,
Peter Stephens, John Strange, James L. Thompson,
Samuel H. Thompson, Hackaliah Vredenbnrg, Jesse
Walker, Ebenezer T. Webster, Allen Wiley, Dennis
Willey, Aaron Wood in all thirty-two. Of these
Peter Cartwright and Edwin Ray were transferred
this year from the Kentucky Conference.
The class of the second year consisted of Orce-
neth Fisher, James E. Johnson, John Miller, Will-
iam Moore, Edward Smith, Thomas Hewson, the
last-named a probationer transferred this year from
the Ohio Conference.
The following persons were received on trial :
Daniel Anderson, John Fish, James Garner, Rich-
ard Hargrave, Samuel Low, George Randle, Jacob
Varner.
When the case of Richard Hargrave was before
the conference for admission on trial, it was stated
that he had traveled in the Indiana District the
year before under the presiding elder, William Beau-
champ, but in consequence of his death there was
no recommendation for Brother Hargrave at the
conference. William Medford and James Arm-
strong assured the conference that a recommenda-
18
210 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
tion for him to travel had been obtained, and
pledged themselves to produce it at the next session
of the conference if he should be admitted ; and on
their assurance and pledge he was admitted.
Two of the preachers were placed on the super-
annuated list, William Cravens and Calvin W. Ruter;
and four were granted a supernumerary relation,
Samuel Bassett, John Cord, Robert Delap, and
Dennis Willey.
Two districts were formed in Indiana, the Mad-
ison, with John Strange as presiding elder, and the
Indiana, with James Armstrong. All the appoint-
ments in Illinois were in one district, with Samuel
H. Thompson as presiding elder, with the exception
of Vermillion Circuit, which was connected with
the Indiana District.
The most important changes in the work this
year were the separation of the Wabash and Mt.
Vernon Circuits, and the appointment of Jesse
Walker as missionary to form a circuit between the
Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. This region began
to be settled soon after the close of the war with
Great Britain. In 1819 the Ross family, from New
York, settled near Atlas in what was afterwards
Pike County. In 1820 Abner Gads, with others,
settled in Peoria, and soon afterwards the govern-
ment established an Indian agency there. In the
Fall of 1821 John Wood, afterwards governor of
the State, with two others, visited the site of Quincy
and selected that as his residence, and the next year
took up his abode there. In February, 1823, Cal-
vin Hobart, father of Chauncey and Norris Hobart,
CIRCUITS. 211
now of the Minnesota Conference, with his family
and William H. Taylor, settled in what is now Schuy-
ler County; and soon after Levin Green, a local
preacher from Missouri, settled in the same region,
and preached the first sermon in the house of Mr.
Hobart in the Fall of 1823. The country had set-
tled so rapidly that in 1821 Pike County was organ-
ized with Atlas as the county-seat; and in 1825 the
whole military tract, as it was termed, was divided
by the Legislature into counties, nearly as they
exist now.
As nearly as can be ascertained, the ten circuits,
with the mission just mentioned, into which Illinois,
or rather the settled portion of it, was then divided,
covered territory about as follows :
VERMILLION CIRCUIT included the settlements
west of the Wabash in Indiana and Illinois, from
the mouth of Big Creek on the south, to Warren
County, Indiana, on the north, and extending west
to the Grand Prairie. This charge covered what
are now Edgar, Vermillion, and part of Clark
Counties in Illinois, and Vermillion and part of
Vigo Counties, Indiana.
MT. CARMEL CIRCUIT embraced the territory
now included in Wabash, Edwards, Lawrence, Rich-
land, Crawford, and parts of Clark and Clay Coun-
ties, reaching from below Mt. Carmel to Darwin,
and including Maysville on the west side of the
Little Wabash.
WABASH CIRCUIT took in the settlements on the
Big and Little Wabash Rivers below the Mt. Car-
mel Circuit, and those on the Ohio to the Cash
212 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
River Circuit, including probably the counties of
White, Gallatin, Hardin, Saline, and perhaps part
of Pope.
CASH RIVER CIRCUIT included all the settle-
ments on the Ohio and Mississippi and their trib-
utaries, between the Wabash and Kaskaskia Cir-
cuits, and covering probably what are now the coun-
ties of Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Union,
and Pope.
MT. VERNON CIRCUIT embraced all the terri-
tory between the Mt. Carmel Circuit on the east,
Wabash and Cash River on the south, and Kaskas-
kia and Shoal Creek on the west.
KASKASKIA CIRCUIT included probably the
counties of Randolph and Jackson, and parts of
Perry and Monroe.
ILLINOIS CIRCUIT covered St. Clair County, and
parts of Monroe and Madison.
MISSISSIPPI CIRCUIT included Greene, Jersey,
Scott, Macoupin, and parts of Morgan and Madison
Counties.
SANGAMON CIRCUIT embraced Sangamon and a
part of Morgan Counties, and all the territory as
far north as the settlements extended.
SHOAL CREEK CIRCUIT took in all the settle-
ments on both sides of Shoal Creek, and on both
sides of the Okaw above the mouth of Crooked
Creek, covering what are now the counties of Clin-
ton, Bond, Fayette, Montgomery, and Shelby.
Several camp-meetings were held this year, at
which many souls were converted. Mr. Beggs re-
lates that on his way from the Missouri to the UK-
PEORIA. 213
nois Conference, to which he had been transferred,
" I fell in with Samuel H. Thompson and Jesse
Walker, at a camp-meeting near Padfield's, and a
most glorious time we had there. On our way, near
Mt. Carmel, Illinois, we attended another camp-
meeting, and the gracious out-pouring of the Spirit
converted many souls, and quickened the believers."
Another camp-meeting was held at Shiloh in
September of this year, at which many souls were
converted, amongst whom was one, Elihu Springer,
who afterwards became a useful traveling preacher.
During this year Jesse Walker, in his missionary
labors, formed the first class in Peoria, numbering
sixteen members. And it was probably during this
year that the following incident, recorded by Bishop
Morris, occurred. He " visited one neighborhood
near the Illinois River, containing some sixty or
seventy souls. They all came to hear him, and
having preached three successive days, he read the
General Rules and proposed that as many of them
as desired to unite to serve God according to the
Bible as expressed in those rules should come for-
ward and make it known. The most prominent
man among them rose to his feet, and said, ' Sir, I
trust we will all unite with you to serve God
here/ then walked forward, and all the rest fol-
lowed."
The year was one of prosperity. There was an
increase in the work in Illinois of 530 white mem-
bers, and a decrease of thirty colored an aggregate
increase of 520. The entire membership was 3,705
white and 27 colored.
214 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
The following brethren were this year connected
with the work in Illinois for the first time:
JAMES ARMSTRONG was a native of Ireland,
born in 1787, and was brought by his parents to
America when but a child. When about nineteen
he was converted in the city of Philadelphia, and
united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Some
years afterwards he was licensed to preach, and in
1821 removed to the State of Indiana, and was re-
ceived in the Missouri Conference, and appointed
to Charleston Circuit, which he traveled for two
years. The following year he was on Bloomington
Circuit; and in 1824, though only entering upon
his fourth year in the itinerancy, he was placed on
the Indiana District as presiding elder. He trav-
eled in all thirteen years, eight of which were spent
in the presiding eldership. He was a member of
the General Conferences of 1828 and 1832. Aaron
Wood says of him: "He was of medium height
and weight ; his chin, lips, and nose sharp, eyes
small, eyebrows heavy, forehead square and high,
and hair thick and dark. He was always neatly
dressed in plain black. He had a good voice, with
a free use of plain English words of Saxon origin ;
nothing of the Irish brogue, but much of the fire,
which, as he felt himself, he failed not to impart to
others who gave him audience, till the bond be-
came so strong between the speaker and hearer that
both were carried along with the force and beauty
of the subject before them. Having been presiding
elder over all the State of Indiana, from the Ohio
to the lakes, he was a herald of the Gospel whom
WILLIA M MOORE. 15
God had owned and blessed, and his untiring in-
dustry and influence, devoted as they were entirely
to the organizing of the Church in the then new
settlements, place him on the page of our history as
the leading evangelist." In his memoir it is said :
" He was an able minister of the New Testament ;
he labored with indefatigable diligence to promote
the prosperity of Ziou. God gave him many souls
to his ministry." He died September 12, 1834, at
his own residence, at Door Village, Laporte County,
Indiana, where he had, two years before, formed
the first society in the county.
Of SAMUEL BASSETT, who was this year ap-
pointed as a supernumerary to Mt. Carmel Circuit,
we have only the record of his appointment. He
was received in the Missouri Conference in 1820,
traveled three years in Missouri, and in 1823 was
placed on the superannuated list. In 1824, at the
first session of the Illinois Conference, his relation
was changed to supernumerary, and at the next
session to effective. In 1825 he was assigned to
Madison, Indiana, and at the end of the year was
granted a location, at his own request.
" WILLIAM MOORE," says his memoir in the
General Minutes, " was esteemed a very good man,
about whose life and labors we have but little in-
formation. It appears, however, that he embraced
religion in the prime of life, entered the traveling
connection in 1823, and, after traveling a number
of circuits with some degree of usefulness to the
Church, he died in peace at his own house in
Charleston, Indiana. " Of the charges he traveled,
216 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
one was in Missouri ; two, the Mt. Vernon and
Kaskaskia, in Illinois ; and the remaining five in
Indiana. Upon one of his circuits he received
only twelve dollars for his year's services, and on
another twenty-four dollars. He was a devoted
Christian, and most of his conversation was on
religion.
The active itinerant life of THOMAS HANDLE
was spent in the Missouri and Illinois Conferences
in alternation. Uniting with the former in 1822,
he traveled two years in the State of Missouri. In
1824 he was in the Illinois Conference, on the Kas-
kaskia Circuit. The next year he was transferred
to the Missouri Conference, and appointed to St.
Louis and Gasconade. Then, in 1826, he was trans-
ferred to Illinois Conference, and traveled in suc-
cession the Mississippi and Shoal Creek Circuits,
and in 1828 was granted a location. Five years
afterward, in 1833, he was readmitted in the Mis-
souri Conference, traveled in it two years, and in
1835 was placed on the superannuated list, and the
next year located. He remained a local preacher
for thirty-one years. In 1867 he was readmitted in
the Southern Illinois Conference, and granted a su-
perannuated relation, in which he continued until
his death, July 18, 1874. During his long location
he lived in the neighborhood of Edwardsville. He
was a man of stern appearance, but with no dispo-
sition to be harsh or tyrannical, and despite his ap-
pearance he was really full of humor and good
sense. He had a strong constitution, and in old age
was a young old man. He was pleasant without
EBENEZER T. WEBSTER. 217
trifling, a good, strong, old-fashioned preacher, and
a warm friend of the itinerants.
This was JAMES E. JOHNSON'S second year in
the itinerancy. He had traveled the Spring "River
and White River Circuit, in Missouri, the year be-
fore ; and at the close of his service this year on
the Illinois Circuit, "after some deliberation con-
cerning his peculiarities, he was, according to his
own request, discontinued," by the conference. 1
WILLIAM MEDFORD traveled in connection with
the Missouri Conference in Missouri and Indiana
from 1818 to 1824. At the first session of the Illi-
nois Conference he was appointed, as stated above,
to the Mississippi Circuit, to which he was returned
the next year; in 1826 he was sent to the newly
formed Atlas Circuit, and at the close of the year
he located.
EBENEZER T. WEBSTER had traveled in the
Missouri Conference, two years in Indiana and one
in Missouri, before receiving his appointment this
year to the Shoal Creek Circuit. In 1825 he was
appointed to the Illinois Circuit, and in 1826, ac-
cording to the General Minutes, was located. But
the journal of the conference makes no mention of
his location. It merely states that when his name
was called, at the request of the presiding elder, his
case was laid over, and no further mention is made
of him. This is probably an unintentional omission
by the secretary. Whether the drfficulties in his
case, resulting in his location, grew out of his con-
nection with Masonry, we are not informed. But
Conference Journal.
19
218 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
the action of the conference in his case, at its ses-
sion in 1825, shows that there was at that time a
strong opposition to the order in the conference, and
that this may have been the cause of his location.
PETER CART WRIGHT, who was this year trans-
ferred to the newly formed conference, and who
remained connected with it during the remainder
of his life, was born of poor parents in Amherst
County, Virginia, September 1, 1785. While he
was an infant his parents moved to Kentucky, set-
tling first in Lincoln County and afterwards in
Logan County. His mother was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and, as soon as the
family reached their new home, their cabin was
opened for preaching. Young Cartwright was nat-
urally a wild, wicked boy, and, as he grew up, de-
lighted in horse-racing, card-playing, and dancing.
His father, who, says Mrs. Johnson, " was not so
much a bad as a good-for-nothing kind of man,"
restrained him but little, though his mother often
talked to him, wept over him, and prayed for him,
and often, be tells us, drew tears from his eyes;
and, though he often wept under preaching, and
resolved to do better and seek religion, yet he broke
his vows, went with young company, rode races,
played cards, and danced. Early in 1801 he was
powerfully convinced of sin ; and after groaning
under its burden for about three months, was con-
verted at a meeting held by a Mr. McGready, a
Presbyterian minister, in the month of May. The
next month he united with the Methodist Episcopal
Church. In the Spring of the following year he
PETER CARTWRIGHT. 219
was licensed to exhort by Jesse Walker, preacher in
charge of the Reel River Circuit, on which he lived;
and this license to exhort, he tells us, was all the
authority he ever received from the Church until
he received his ordination parchment. In the Fall
of that year he moved with his parents to Lewiston
County, near the mouth of the Cumberland River,
a new country not yet embraced in any circuit.
The Church letter he received from his presiding
elder, John Page, was not only a certificate of mem-
bership, but an authorization to hold meetings,
organize classes, and form a circuit in this new ter-
ritory, and then report to him at the last quarterly-
meeting of the year. He accordingly gathered into
the Church about seventy persons, organized them
into classes, appointed leaders, and reported them to
the preacher and presiding elder at the appointed
time, and to the charge thus formed was given the
name Livingston Circuit. The following year he
was employed by the presiding elder on the Red
River Circuit for one quarter, and then removed to
the Wayne Circuit, whose preacher had been com-
pelled by sickness to leave the work. It was on
this circuit that his singular controversy occurred
with the Baptists, who had attempted to proselyte
his converts, and of which he gives a humorous
account in his autobiography, which resulted in the
breaking up of the Baptist society, and the estab-
lishment of a Methodist Church of over seventy
members. At the session of the Western Confer-
ence of 1804 he was formally received into_the
itinerant ranks, and sent as junior preacher to Salt
220 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
River and Shelby Circuit, with Benjamin Lakin as
his senior, and William McKendree as his presid-
ing elder. His early educational advantages had
been quite limited. He had acquired while at his
father's house some knowledge of the common En-
glish branches, but while on this circuit his presid-
ing elder directed him to a proper course of read-
ing and study, selecting books for him both literary
and theological, and at his quarterly visitations ex-
amining into his progress and correcting his errors.
He acknowledged himself more indebted to Bishop
McKendree for his attainments in literature and
divinity than to any other man on earth. The next
year he was sent to the Scioto Circuit in Ohio, with
James Quinn as his senior and John Sale as his
presiding elder. The impress made upon him by
his colleagues and presiding elders, Lakin and Mc-
Kendree, Quinn and Sale, during these first two
years of his ministry could not have been other than
good, and doubtless contributed much toward his
success in after years. At the close of the year he
was ordained deacon by Bishop Asbury, and in
1806 was sent to Barren Circuit, in Kentucky, and
Lewis Anderson was employed by the presiding
elder, James Ward, as his assistant. In the Sum-
mer of this year he was married to Miss Frances
Gaines, a woman worthy to rank with the noble
women of Methodism, and who exerted a more
favorable influence upon her husband during their
long pilgrimage together, than was exerted by any
or all other persons. Her character is well drawn
by Solomon in his description of the virtuous
MRS. CARTWRIGHT. 221
woman : " The heart of her husband doth safely
trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall
rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth
with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kind-
ness. She looketh well to the ways of her house-
hold, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her
children arise up and call her blessed, her husband
also, and he praiseth her." One who was an inmate
of her dwelling in Kentucky for some time, Mrs.
Johnson, says of her : " Sister Cartwright was one
of the most industrious and amiable women I ever
knew. Whatever she did seemed to be done better
and quicker than any body else could do it." Her
death, a few years after that of her husband, was
most triumphant. At a meeting for the promotion
of holiness, held near her residence, she had borne
testimony to the power of Christ to save to the
uttermost, and then remarking, " I know not why
I am permitted to linger here, but I am waiting
for the chariot to come," sat down, and in a few
minutes her head dropped, and the chariot came to
convey her spirit to paradise.
The next year after his marriage Mr. Cartwright
was appointed to Salt River Circuit ; and, during
the two following years, he traveled the circuit he
had formed as an exhorter, the Livingston. There
was not much prosperity on the charge until near
the close of his first year, when a gracious revival
began at a camp-meeting, which spread over the
country until scores were brought to a saving
knowledge of the truth. In 1811 he was sent to
222 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
Christian Circuit, with James Axley as his presiding
elder. It was a year of revival, some three hun-
dred uniting with the Church. At one of the camp-
meetings, near the close of the year, he baptized
one hundred and twenty-seven adults and forty-
seven children, all but seven, who insisted upon
being immersed, in the Scriptural mode, so beauti-
fully representing the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
In 1812 he fell into the Tennessee Conference, and
was appointed as stated before, to the Wabash Dis-
trict in Indiana and Illinois. For the three follow-
ing years he traveled the Green River District. At
the conference of 1815 he was elected, for the first
time, to the General Conference, to be held in Bal-
timore the following May. In 1816 he was again
appointed to Christian Circuit, and was blessed with
some glorious revivals during the year. For the
two following years he traveled the Red River
Circuit. These were years of great losses by the
faithful administration of Discipline, and of great
gains by the displays of the power of God, and the
accession of multitudes to the Church.
At the conference of 1819 the election of dele-
gates to the General Conference turned on the
question of slavery. Mr. Cartwright was a very
decided opponent to the institution, and though far
from advocating the extreme measures of the Abo-
litionists, was yet bitterly opposed by the advocates
of slavery, then unfortunately becoming quite nu-
merous in the Church. He, with the whole anti-
slavery ticket, was elected by a handsome majority.
He was appointed that year to the Christian Circuit,
CONTROVERSIES. 223
and returned the following year. It was during his
pastorate in that charge that he published his cele-
brated " Letter to the Devil." For the three fol-
lowing years he was on the Cumberland District as
presiding elder. These were years of some relig-
ious prosperity, but at the same time of almost con-
stant controversy with the Calvinists on decrees and
unconditional final perseverance, and with the Bap-
tists on the mode and subjects of baptism. Every
preacher was expected to be always prepared to de-
fend his own doctrines and practices, and to refute
the errors and heresies of others ; yet much of this
controversy necessarily, from their position and ex-
perience, fell to the lot of the presiding elders;
and it was often the case that the Sunday morning
sermon at a quarterly-meeting was a long-drawn-
out attack upon and refutation of some form of
error prevalent in the neighborhood. It was not
uncommon then for a quarterly-meeting sermon on
some disputed doctrine to be from three to four hours
long; and if the preacher was a fluent speaker the
people would listen to it with apparent interest to
the end. The result of this frequent and almost
constant controversial preaching was the training
of a race of theological stalwarts in the ministry,
ardently attached to the doctrines and practices of
their own Church, intolerant of every form of error,
and quick to discern the slightest departure from
the truth. The continuance of errorists and her-
etics in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal
Church then would have been an impossibility.
In 1823 Mr. Cartwright was again elected to the
"224 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
General Conference ; and at the session of 1824, as
stated above, lie was transferred to the Illinois Con-
ference. His intention Avas to attend the session of
the conference at Padfield's; but he was prevented
from reaching it by the death of one of his daugh-
ters, who was killed by the falling of a tree upon
her while the family was encamped one night on the
way. This led him to move directly to the farm he
had purchased the year before on the head of Rich-
land Creek, in Sangamon County, which continued
to be his home as long as he lived. The following
extracts from Mrs. Johnson will give us a picture of
the man at this period of his life : " He was short,
thick, heavy set, with a large head and short neck,
coarse and rough in his manners, and any thing
else but grave. After preaching with power, and
praying as few other men could for he was unsur-
passed in prayer he w r ould have a dozen or twenty
persons, frequently some of them the roughest in
the congregation, all indulging in uproarious laugh-
ter at his jests, before he was ten feet from the
pulpit." " He was at times as kind and affectionate
as any man, but often as abrupt as if entirely des-
titute of feeling." " He was, however, generally
affectionate in his family. When his wife would
chide him for leaving home so much when all were
not well, I have seen him sit down and weep like
a child ; and when he came home from his round
of quarterly-meetings, it was not an hour before he
got up a general romp with the children." Rev.
J. M. Gunn, in McFerrin's " Methodism in Ten-
nessee," thus refers to him: " About the year 1818
CHA RA CT ERISTICS. 225
Peter Cartwright traveled the Red River Circuit.
His house was thirty miles from the nearest ap-
pointment, which was Gunn's society. I have
known him to leave home and be at our house at
eleven o'clock, preach, and hold class-meeting, and
then go five miles and preach at night, carrying
his saddle-bags of books for sale. I never knew
him to get hoarse or to appear tired. He was
death upon whisky-drinking, tobacco-chewing, and
coffee-dr inking. Take him altogether, he was one
of the most powerful men I ever heard." The fol-
lowing is Dr. Rcdford's estimate of him : " But few
men in the West have labored with more untiring
energy in the ministry than Peter Cartwright. At
the time he entered the conference the circuits
were large and accommodations poor, and a very
small pittance was all that could be expected for
the support of a preacher. Whilst traveling the
Cumberland District he often returned home worn
and weary from his quarterly-meetings, and, in
order to support his family, would work his fields
by the light of the pale moon. Prompt in meeting
his appointments, it was but seldom that he disap-
pointed a congregation. Devoted to the Church of
which he was a member and minister, he boldly
defended its peculiarities and advocated its doc-
trines. He became in Kentucky, before he left the
State, a ' terror to evil-doers/ administering reproofs
with unsparing hand. Whether we consider the
extent and severity of his labors, the privations he
endured, the humble support he received from the
Church, the fidelity with which he performed his
226 METHODISM IN ILLINOIS.
duties, or his deep devotion to the cause for which
he was laboring, he was not surpassed by any of
his contemporaries. It is true there was much in
Mr. Cartwright of which we would gladly have di-
vested him. If we admire the boldness with which
he defended the Church, we would have preferred
the employment of milder epithets toward his ad-
versaries. If we approve of his preservation of
order in the house of God, we would remember his
reproofs with greater pleasure if they had been ad-
ministered more in the spirit of meekness. With
less of the temper of resentment that so often distin-
guished him, he would have been more useful as a
minister of Christ; nor can it be concealed that his
peculiar views, as well as his manner of expressing
them, on the subject of domestic slavery, not only
greatly impaired his usefulness, but arrested the ad-
vancement of the Church. We have already re-
ferred to the injury Methodism sustained in Ken-
tucky, in an earlier period of its history, by the
unfortunate legislation of the Church on this ques-
tion. It is equally true that at this period we find
a few of the preachers, of whom Mr. Cartwright
was the acknowledged leader, by their interference
with slavery as a civil institution, guilty of embar-
rassing the progress of the Church in the portions
of the State in which they labored, and keeping
out of its communion many families of influence."
That which Dr. Redford so deeply deplores in Mr.
Cartwright his opposition to human slavery will
in the North be regarded as one of his greatest ex-
cellencies. Nor will the spiritually minded, whether
A MINISTERIAL LEADER. 227
in the North or South, regard the Church as suffer-
ing loss by the continued exclusion from it of
worldly-minded slaveholders, however high their
social standing, or however great their political in-
fluence.
From this time his history becomes closely iden-
tified with that of the Illinois Conference, of which
he continued to be one of the leaders until his
death. His first year on the Sangamon Circuit was
only moderately successful, the increase in the mem-
bership during the year being only nineteen.
228 JIETHODI3JI IS ILLINOIS.
II.
1825.
W ABASH DISTRICT Charles Hollidav, P. E.
rcrmillion James Hadley.
Carat i Robert Delap.
Wabadi Thomas Davis.
Jfi. Carmel J. W. McReynolds.
ILLINOIS DISTRICT Samuel H. Thompson, P. E.
Jllinoif Ebenezer T. AVebster.
K(i*ta*tia William Moore.
Cash /rtrvr Philip Cole, Asa D. West
J//. Yfni'.m Onc^eneth Fisher.
&<*tl Cr*<t Joseph Foolks.
Sanyamon Peter Canvrright (who is also Snper-
intendent of the Pottawattomie Mission),
William Chambers.
Panrin AVilliam .See.
Miffisfippi William MedionL
BrmmfriHf Josiah Patterson.
Jesse Walker, Missionary to the Pottawattomie
Indians.
THE second session of the Illinois Conference
was held at Charleston, Indiana, beginning on
Thursday, Angust 25th, and closing on the following
Monday. Bishops McKendree and Roberts were
both present ; but the journal is signed by Bishop
Roberts, Calvin W. Ruter was secretary. In addi-
tion to the usual minute business, the following items
are of interest. When the name of Ebenezer T.
MISSION WORK. 229
Webster, a deacon of the second year, was called, some
objections were made on account of his having be-
come a Freemason, and the conference refused to
elect him to elder's orders. Some days afterwards
the vote was reconsidered, and lie was elected. The
Book Concern dividend to the conference this year
was $150, and that of the Chartered Fund $80.
The conference resolved that in future a rec-
ommendation in favor of every local preacher who
applies for readmission into the traveling connection
should be obtained from the quarterly conference of
which he is a member.
A memorial having been presented from a local
preacher who had been expelled in 1823, two years
before, the conference submitted to the chair the
question whether his case could now legally be
considered, and Bishop Roberts decided that it
could not.
Jesse Walker, conference missionary among the
Indians, submitted a report resj>ecting 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,
