USA > Arkansas > History of Methodism in Arkansas > Part 7
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The names of William Shores and Edward T. Peevy ap- pear in connection with the appointments in Arkansas. Wil- liam Shores located in 1829. Edward Peevy was appointed to one of the Indian schools, where he labored for several years. He continued in the traveling connection until 1836, when he located. He was regarded as an efficient and faith- ful preacher of the gospel.
James Bankson was appointed to the Arkansas Circuit in 1829. He appears to have done an excellent work on this circuit, as there was a very large increase in the member- ship of the Church during this year. He transferred in 1830 to the Illinois Conference.
At the session of the Conference which met at Potosi, September 10, 1829, Will Haw was appointed Presiding El- der of the Arkansas District; White River Circuit, John Kelly ; Arkansas Circuit, John Henry and Pleasant Tackett; Hot Springs and Mount Prairie, Rucker Tanner, and Jerome C. Berryman ; Helena, John Harris. Helena, appears for the
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first time on the list of appointments as a distinct pastoral charge, with that veteran John Harris as the preacher in charge. We have already had occasion to speak of the col- ony of Kentuckians who settled in 1811 near where Helena now stands, and of the valuable labors of Harrison Bailey at that early day. We have already noticed the great injury done to the Church by the violent measures of Jesse Haile, whose extreme abolition sentiments had driven so many from the Methodist Church.
Uriel Haw was the opposite of Jesse Haile, and by his mild, pacific measures, did much to allay the excitement caused by Jesse Haile's violent course, and to restore har- mony to the Church. During Haw's administration the Church enjoyed great prosperity, and there was a very large increase in the membership.
Jerome Berryman, who traveled the Hot Springs and Mount Prairie Circuit in connection with Rucker Tanner, was a young man in his second year. In Dr. McAnally's " Methodism in Missouri," we have an account of the labors of Berryman in Arkansas, quoted from "Recollections of J. C. Berryman," which will be of much interest to the reader as casting much light upon the condition of the Church at that time : " Among the preachers whom Berryman saw and noted at the Potosi Conference were Jesse Greene, Andrew Monroe, Benjamin S. Ashley, Joseph Edmondson, Uriel Haw, Cassell Harrison, Thomas Johnson, William Heath, Nathaniel Talbott, Parker Snedecor and John Kelly. Most of these were able preachers, and all of them ' Holy men of God,' who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
" At this Conference, Berryman was assigned to the Hot Springs and Mount Prairie Circuit in the extreme southern part of the Territory of Arkansas. Rucker Tanner, whose home was in the bounds of the Circuit in Hempstead County, was the preacher in charge. Berryman traveled 500 miles on horseback through a sparsely settled country to find his
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colleague prostrate on a bed of sickness with malarial fever, and unable to render him any assistance. But he was a young man, his heart full of the love of God, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his work. He therefore attacked the great six weeks' circuit with an energy and devotion which carried all before them, so long as his physical strength endured. He made two complete and successful rounds on his work ; but in doing this he had to sustain much unac- customed hardship and exposure. Heat and cold, rain and wind, and high waters, sometimes crossed in a canoe, but more frequently by swimming on horseback, the whole coun- try being low and subject to inundation. These things brought on an attack of malignant typhus fever, in the delir- ium of which he was for five weeks unconscious, only waking to learn that his colleague who had lingered all this while, had just expired. During this sickness of young Ber- ryman an incident occurred which is worth preserving as a new contribution to the already vast treasury of religious psychology.
"It is given in his own words, as follows: 'I had been suffering for a week with premonitory symptoms of my disease before reaching the Mount Prairie settle- ment, filling my week-day appointments meanwhile, and was barely able to sit on my horse the day of reaching this settlement. I felt that my situation was dangerous in the extreme, and my thoughts were much occupied about death. I was not afraid to die; but I was among strangers and far away from all the loved ones at home. Besides I had en- tered upon the ministerial work with large desires and pur- poses of usefulness. I did not want to die then and there ; And as I lay upon my bed soon after arriving at Bro. Shooks', with my face turned to the back of the bed, I was in an ag- ony of prayer, when there appeared to me the figure of a man upon the wall, just above my bed, and very near me. He spoke to me to the effect that though my sickness would
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be protracted and severe, it was not unto death; I should recover. John Henry, a local preacher of that neighbor- hood was sitting in the room at that time; I turned my- self as I lay in bed, and told him I was going to have a hard time, but should not die then, for God had appeared to me on the wall, and told me so. This was not dream. What was it? And yet about four weeks after this my nurses thought I was dead, and held a consultation about my burial. When I recovered from this sickness, I was to- totally blind, but regained my sight gradually, as I was re- stored to health and strength. For a long time after I got up from that sick-bed my mind was more clear and my communion with God more constant than ever before. I was all the time happy.' "
Speaking of the difficulties that arose out of Jesse Haile's administration in Arkansas, Berryman says :
" Jesse Haile had been Presiding Elder on the Arkansas District for several years prior to 1829. He was an aboli- tionist of the Garrison type, and did not hesitate to preach against slavery publicly as well as privately ; and as there were some in the bounds of the Hot Springs and Mount Prairie Cir- cuits who were of his way of thinking, he did not fail to bring about much controversy and hard feeling among the mem- bership, which had resulted in the expulsion or withdrawal of not a few from our Church. Under these circumstances it required much prudence upon the part of those who fol- lowed Haile to keep our people from going off to the Cum- berland Presbyterians, who had seized upon this opportu- nity and were building themselves up at our expense. But Uriel Haw, who was Presiding Elder this year, was a man just suited to the emergency. Possessed of a large amount of practical sense and judgment, a good tactician, full of love, always ready in every good word and work, logical and eloquent in presenting divine truth, whether in the adminis- tration of discipline, or in his pulpit performances, he drew
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everybody to him, and to one another; so that after all we enjoyed great prosperity on the circuit this year, and left it with a large increase of membership, and in possession of peace and good will among themselves.
"Uriel Haw, at the time of which' I write, was about 40 years of age, and had been preaching twelve or fifteen years. In person he was tall, but slenderly built, and car- ried himself erect, with quick, elastic step. His features were not handsome, but very expressive. In particular he had the most sparkling eyes that were ever set in a man's head; not large, but sparkling with an unusual fire of intel- lect and heart. His literary attainments were respectable, though not scholastic; but his knowledge of divine things made him one of God's mighty men. And yet this great and good man finished his work while comparatively young. And no wonder that he died young. He acted as one who had adopted as the rule of his life whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. The year he was my Presiding Elder he had for his district the entire Territory of Arkansas, while his family lived in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. My circuit was about 500 miles from his home ; and yet I do not think he failed to attend any of the quarterly meetings of his district during the year ; and he was abundant in labors wherever he went. He died and was buried in Mississippi County among as good people as can be found anywhere ; and his name is like sweet incense in their memory to this day."
By the death of Rucker Tanner, Berryman was left alone on the Mount Prairie and Hot Springs Circuit, but the Pre- siding Elder soon employed a local preacher to help him in the work, in the person of Nelson R. Bewley, who with his brother George W., had recently come to Missouri. Of these brothers, George W., although a member of the Con- ference, was the younger. They were both men of good preaching talents, though George was superior and above the
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average. Berryman and Nelson R. Bewley worked together harmoniously and successful during the remainder of the year.
On one occasion, at the solicitation of a pious young man who was teaching school in a settlement about twenty miles distant from their circuit, on Red River, and on the border of the Choctaw Nation, Berryman visited the settlement and. held a meeting at the house of a Mr. Bradshaw. The meet- ing lasted two days. It was the first preaching they had had for years, and with the exception of the young teacher above mentioned, there was not a professor of religion among them. A few of them had been Church members in their former homes, but all had fallen into a state of deplor- able immorality since their arrival on the frontier. Berry- man was encouraged by the appearance of things, and left an appointment for his colleague, which was afterwards filled, and resulted in the conversion of some fifty souls. As an illustration of the manners of the times, it may be men- tioned that the hostess at Berryman's first meeting, immedi- ately after the close of dinner service, and while the audi- tors-those in the house were all females-were still seated, presented a bottle of liquor, and everyone of the ladies turned it up to her lips. The lady did not slight the preacher, but when she offered him the bottle he declined, saying : "I do not drink." She replied : "Well, I do," accompanying the word with the act. At the same time the men out of doors were doing the same thing until they seemed very happy, if not over-joyful. After closing up his year's work, Berry- man started with his Presiding Elder for St. Louis, the seat of the Conference. One of the company, John Henry, who: had been traveling as a supply on the Arkansas Circuit, fell sick at Batesville with malarial fever, and died within a few days after the others had left him.
The fifteenth session of the Missouri Conference was held in St. Louis, commencing September 16, 1830, Bishop Rob-
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erts in the chair. The appointments for Arkansas were : Arkansas District, Jesse Greene, Presiding Elder ; Helena Circuit, John Harris; Hot Springs and Mount Prairie, Nel- son R. Bewley ; Arkansas Circuit, Mahlon Bewley; Mount Pleasant, Pleasant Tackett; James Fork, to be supplied ; Spring River, James H. Slavens.
The statistical returns show that this was a prosperous year for Methodism in the Territory of Arkansas. A com- parison of the increase of the membership of the Church with the increase in the population of the Territory will show a healthy growth upon the part of the Church. The census for 1820 showed a population of 14,255. In 1830 the population was 30,388, showing that the population had been a little more than doubled during this decade. The membership of the Church in 1820 was 536, in 1830 it was 1334 ; showing that the membership had been considerably more than doubled during the decade. The year 1830 was one of great immigation to Arkansas.
Several steamboats were now plying the rivers, and these were constantly loaded with immigrants coming from Ten- nessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Missouri. In the southwestern part of the State there was considerable immigration from Virginia and South Carolina.
In March of this year there was a new paper established at Little Rock, by Charles P. Bertrand, called the Arkansas Advocate. We sometimes hear unfavorable comparisons made between the politics of this day and the politics of that early period, to the great disparagement of the present. A comparison of the files of the Gazette and the Arkansas Advocate will show that there is nothing in the journalism of the present that will compare in bitterness to the person- alities of that period. There is nothing in the hatred of the parties of the present that can equal the hatred of the old parties of that period. The caution of the wise man will apply in this as well as in other questions of interest : "Say
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not thou, ' What is the cause that the former days were better than these ?' for thou dost not inquire wisely concern- ing this." The former days were not equal in any sense to. the present. A candid comparison will show that there has been great improvement in every respect, both in Church and in State.
During this decade seventeen new counties were formed, making in all twenty-three counties within the Territory.
At the Conference of 1830 the names of Nelson R. Bew- ley and Mahlon Bewley appear in the list of appointments. for Arkansas. To the Rev. Mahlon Bewley, and his sons Nelson R. Bewley and Robert R. Bewley, belong the honor of planting Methodism in the western part of the State. Robert Bewley came to Arkansas in 1828, and located on Illinois Bayou in what is now Pope County. In all the country west of Point Remove, previous to this time, there had been no Methodist preaching from any one.
The Rev. J. B. Hickman has kindly furnished us with the following facts in reference to the organization of Method- ism in Pope County, which at that time embraced a large part of the western portion of the State. On the first Sun- day in January, 1829, Robert S. Bewley preached at the old Dwight Mission Station. At the conclusion of the ser- vice, the Rev. Cephas Washburn said to the preacher : " You have the honor of preaching the first Methodist ser- mon in Pope County." Brother Bewley built a log cabin, which answered the double purpose of a residence and a chapel for preaching. His father, Rev. Mahlon Bewley, came to his assistance in 1830.
At the Conference in 1830 the elder Bewley was appointed to the Arkansas Circuit, and his son, Nelson R. Bewley, to the Hot Springs and Mount Prairie Circuit. The elder Bewley broke down during the year, and his place on the work was filled by his son, Robert Bewley. That we may have some idea of the extent of the circuits of that day, we.
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must remember that the Arkansas Circuit reached from the western border of civilization, where Fort Smith now stands, to Little Rock on the east, thence thirty miles south, to a Bro. Lindsay's, and all the territory between these points.
Of Little Rock, in 1831, Bro. Bewley says: "The only church in the place was a log cabin belonging to the Pres- byterians. It was in this house that the first Methodist so- ciety was organized, and worshiped for a long time."
Robert Bewley never joined the Conference, but contin- ued to travel as a supply for a number of years. He lived to the great age of four-score years, and died in peace at his home in Pope County, in 1883.
Nelson R. Bewley died of consumption in 1836. He was a faithful and efficient preacher, and was held in esteem by all who knew him, as a deeply pious man. The approach of death had no terrors for him. His last hours were peace- ful, and his end triumphant.
As an illustration of the difficulties under which our preachers of that day labored and the sparsely settled con- dition of the country, the following quotations from the " Recollections of Berryman" is given : "The first night (from Cane Hill, Ark.) we spent at the house of a Mr. Locke. Bro. Green had a hard chill, and was very sick all that night. The Bishop also was unwell. We had a cold rain all the forenoon of the next day, and did not resume our journey until the afternoon. It was fifteen miles to the next house on our route, which was reached about sunset. We found the improvements about the place to consist of a stock pen or corral, and a cabin, built of small, round logs, which Mr. Renfroe, the proprietor, said he had put up with no assist- ance, except what his wife gave him. The height of the cabin was just sufficient for the door to come under the first rib on which the board roof rested, the cracks of the wall were chinked, but not daubed, the cat and clay chimney oc- cupied the space of nearly one end, and the sixteen or
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eighteen feet square of Mother Earth on which the building stood served all the purposes of a floor. In each corner of the end opposite the fire-place there was a board scaffold bed which, with a few rough stools, a square table of similar make and a few cooking utensils, constituted the inventory of household furniture. And did we, seven travelers, in- cluding a Bishop, lodge there that night? What else could we do? It was seventeen miles to the next human habita- tation. Of course we turned in, with a hearty welcome from Mr. and Mrs. Renfroe and their six children."
CHAPTER IX.
AN INCREASE OF LABORERS-NEW FIELDS OPENING-NEW DISTRICTS-TRANSFERS-INDIAN WORK-BURWELL LEE -- CONFERENCE AT CANE HILL-ARKANSAS CHURCH PAPER -- CHURCH MUSIC -- CONFERENCE OF 1835.
At the session of the Missouri Conference which met at McKendree's Chapel September, 1831, the appointments for Arkansas were: Arkansas District, A. D. Smith; Helena Circuit, Fountain Brown; Pine Bluff, William R. Boyce ; Chicot, John Harris ; Hot Springs and Mount Prairie, H. G. Joplin, W. Duke; Arkansas, John N. Hamill, Richard Overby; Washington Circuit, John Kelly; Creek Mission, Alvin Baird; Washington and Cherokee Mission, John Har- rell, Allen M. Scott; White and Spring River, Nelson R. Bewley. It will be seen from this list of appointments that there were ten new preachers for the field in Arkansas. In fact, every appointment in Arkansas was filled by a new man, with the exception of Spring River, which was supplied by Nelson R. Bewley. Eight of these were transfers from that old Mother of Conferences, the Tennessee Conference. Fountain Brown was transferred the year before. Several of these names became very prominent in after years, and they will frequently appear in the course of this history as leaders in the work of the Church in Arkansas.
It will be seen that the Towns of Helena, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and Washington begin to stand out prominently on the list of appointments as centers of influence in the State. The faithful labors of the pioneers were beginning to bear rich fruit in the permanent organizations that were being established.
The labors of the faithful band of workmen who culti-
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vated the field in Arkansas was richly repaid by a large in- crease in the membership of the Church. The statistics show 1512 whites; 222 colored, and 308 Indian members.
The Rev. John Harrell, for many years Superintendent of the Indian Mission Conference, has given us in "McFerrin's History of Methodism in Tennessee," the following account of the call made by Bishop Roberts for volunteers for the work in Arkansas in 1831 :
"In the year 1831, the Missouri Conference was attended by Bishop Roberts, and at that time included the Arkansas Territory, which was left mainly to be supplied. When the Bishop reached Paris, the seat of the Tennessee Conference, he began to beat for volunteers to fill the Arkansas District, and the following preachers consented to go to that wild and sparsely settled field of labor, viz .: A. D. Smith, Presid- ing Elder; Harris G. Joplin, Alvin Baird, William G. Duke, John N. Hamill, William A. Boyce, Allen M. Scott and John Harrell. We were to meet in Memphis by Christmas day. At the appointed time we were all present, and ready for the march west of the Father of Waters. The weather, however, had been extremely cold, so that the swamp directly in the route to Little Rock was considered impass- able. Brother Smith suggested the plan of purchasing a flatboat and going down to Helena, believing that to be a better route than the other way. A boat was purchased, each preacher bearing his part of the price, and after adjust- ing our horses, saddles and saddle-bags, we unloosed our moorings. A stranger was taken in with us, the company then consisting of nine in all. We left Memphis on the 25th of December, 1831. The scene was new to most of us; sometimes we pulled with the oars, and then again we would let our boat drift for awhile. When night came we would land, tie our boat to a tree, make us a big fire, cut an armful of cane to make us a bed, and after praying together we retired to sleep, using our saddle-blankets for a covering.
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We arrived at Helena on the evening of the third day. The river had fallen suddenly, making it very difficult to gain the bank with our horses; but we finally succeeded and reached the hotel. After breakfast next day, our bills paid, Brother Smith asked the landlord to let him pray with his family. The answer was, 'I do my own praying.' This was our in- troduction to our new field of labor.
" Traveling west a few miles, we reached the house of a Brother Burriss, a good and useful local preacher who had settled in the cane-brake with a large family, most of whom were daughters; but they were cheerful and happy, and their hospitality was truly pleasant to enjoy. Here we met Brother Fountain Brown, who had been sent over to cultivate this wild and unsettled land. Brother Brown lived to travel extensively through the State, both as a circuit preacher and Presiding Elder, and has left scores of seals to his min- istry. He was taken prisoner during the war, and after suf- fering nearly two years up North, was released from prison and started to his family, but died within a few miles of his home. After parting with the kind family above mentioned, and leaving Brother Smith to hold a quarterly meeting on that circuit, we set out for our places of destination. After traveling two days Brother Boyce left us for Pine Bluff, Brothers Joplin and Duke for Mount Prairie, Brother Ham- ill to the Little Rock Circuit. The remaining three had a long ride to the northwestern part of the country. Brother Baird went to the Creek Nation, J. M. Hamill to the Cher- okee Nation, and A. M. Scott to the Washington Circuit. During the year we had several camp-meetings in the Indian Country, and a revival of religion through the whole Arkansas District. The next Conference was held at Pilot Grove, in the State of Missouri, and several of the preachers had to travel 500 miles on horseback to reach the seat of the Conference. These were days of labor and sufferings. In this year, 1832, the first circuit was formed in the Cherokee
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Nation, West, by the writer, and a school commenced in the Creek Nation, with several preaching places by Brother Baird.
"I believe all the men that were there in the field have passed away except two. Brother Duke lives in Texas, and is a good and faithful local preacher; Brothers Baird and Hamill, I have learned, died in Texas; Brother Joplin, in Missouri; Brother Boyce was drowned in the Ouachita River; Brother Smith died in Arkansas since the war closed ; he had been for many years a useful local preacher. Rumor says A. M. Scott was killed, perhaps about the close of the war, in Tennessee. It is rather a sad reflection that none of these brethren died in-the itinerant ranks save J. N. Hamill.
"In reviewing the labors of that year, it is wonderful to know that four Annual Conferences now exist in what was then the Arkansas District ; and the writer of this sketch is spared to see these wonderful changes during the space of thirty-nine years. Most of the preachers of that day have passed away. Many of them were burning and shining lights, and we trust are gone where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.
" Your brother in Christ,
" JOHN HARRELL."
At the session of the Missouri Conference for 1832, there were two districts formed in Arkansas. The Arkansas Dis- trict embraced the southern part of the State, and the Little Rock District the northern part of the State. The appoint- ments were: Arkansas District, to be supplied ; Helena Circuit, Micah Casteel; Pine Bluff, William A. Boyce ; Chicot and Ouachita, to be supplied ; Hot Springs, Henry Cornelius; Mount Prairie, Fountain Brown, Lemuel Wake- lee ; Red River, to be supplied ; Little Rock District, An- drew Smith; Little Rock Circuit, to be supplied ; Arkansas Circuit, to be supplied; Washington, William G. Duke. Harris G. Joplin, John N. Hamill, Allen Baird, Henry
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