USA > Arkansas > History of Methodism in Arkansas > Part 8
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Perryman, John Harrell, Burwell Lee, Thomas Bertholf and Richard Overby were appointed to labor in the schools and missions among the Indians.
It will be seen that the Methodist Church at an early day placed some of the most efficient men of the Conference in charge of the work among the Indians. As we propose de- voting a chapter to this subject, there will be but little more than a bare reference to it until we come to treat of the subject in a separate chapter.
At this Conference John P. Neil, Burwell Lee, Lemuel Wakelee, Henry Cornelius and Henry Perryman were re- ceived on trial. While all of these proved to be faithful, de- voted preachers, the name of Burwell Lee deserves especial notice on account of the long and faithful service he ren- dered the Church. His name was closely identified with the history of the Church for many years.
The eighteenth session of the Missouri Conference was held at Mountain Spring Camp-ground, in Arkansas, Sep- tember 4, 1833. Bishop Joshua Soule presided and William Redman was chosen Secretary. This was the first Annual Conference ever held on Arkansas Territory, and marks an era in the history of Arkansas Methodism.
The minutes of the Conference for that year show that " Mr. C. P. Bertrand, of Little Rock, Arkansas Territory, having proposed to publish at that point a weekly newspa- per under the patronage of the Conference, the matter was referred to a committee, who reported unfavorably to the project, and the Conference took occasion to resolve on this subject that, whereas, it is in contemplation to publish a pa- per at Cincinnati, Ohio, bearing the same relation to the Book Concern as the Christian Advocate and Journal does, this Conference highly approves of this measure and will patronize the paper."
By another resolution the Conference memorialized the United States Secretary of War to clothe our missionaries
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with proper authority to enter the Indian country, which was done, and the mission work there was entered upon and carried on with gratifying success.
That the brethren of that day were troubled over the music question in the Church, is evident from the following resolution on the subject :
"Resolved, That we consider the singing of fugue tunes, and light and unmeaning choruses a departure from the true spirit and solemnity of divine worship, and a departure from the letter and spirit of our Church discipline."
The appointments for Arkansas this year were : Arkan- sas District, Martin Wells; Helena Circuit, John P. Neil ; Pine Bluff Circuit, to be supplied; Ouachita, Henry Cor- nelius; Hot Springs, Fountain Brown ; Mount Prairie, Rich- ard Overby, J. B. Denton; Red River, to be supplied. Little Rock District, Andrew D. Smith, Presiding Elder. Little Rock Circuit, William Duke; Arkansas, John H. Rives; Washington, Alvin Baird; White River, John H. Ruble; Spring River, Valentine P. Fink. Missions and Schools, Pleasant Tackett, Learner B. Stateler, John N. Hamill, Pleasant Berryhill, John Harrell, Thomas Bertholf, Richard W. Owen, Burwell Lee, J. Brewston, Harris G. Joplin.
The Church in Arkansas received this year three valuable accessions from the Tennessee Conference-Charles T. Ram- sey, Joseph L. Gould and William P. Ratcliffe. The follow- ing were admitted on trial and received appointments in Arkansas: Pleasant Tackett, John H. Rives, Pleasant Ber- ryhill and John B. Denton. William P. Ratcliffe was ap- pointed to Pine Bluff Circuit, and C. T. Ramsey to Red River Circuit. One of these, William P. Ratcliffe, was one of the most remarkable men that ever labored in Arkansas. During the whole period of his life he was closely connected with every interest of the Church, and he left the impress of his labors upon the State as but few men have been found
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able to do. From this date until his death, which occurred in 1868, he was one of the principal actors in the history of the Church until his death in 1868.
The nineteenth session of the Conference met at Bellevue, Washington County, Mo., September 10, 1834. Bishop Roberts presided.
The appointments for Arkansas were : Arkansas District, C. T. Ramsey ; Helena Circuit, S. Wakelee; Pine Bluff, W. P. Ratcliffe ; Ouachita, N. Keith ; Hot Springs, William G. Duke ; Mount Prairie, H. Cornelius ; Franklin, F. Brown ; Rolling Fork, W. Sorrels; Little Rock District, J. K. Lacy ; Little Rock Circuit, Martin Wells; Arkansas Circuit, J. H. Rives; Washington, H. J. Joplin ; Greene, J. P. Neil; King's River Mission, J. G. Duke; Seneca Circuit, J. L. Gould ; White River Circuit, Andrew Peace; Spring River to be supplied ; Indian Schools and Missions, A. O. Smith, J. Horne, B. Lee, Thomas Bertholf, P. Berryhill, John Harrell, J. N. Hamill.
The locations were Uriel Haw, Richard Overby, James V. Watson, James H. Slavens. The membership of the Church was 2306 whites, 343 colored and 509 Indians.
"Charles P. Ramsey, Presiding Elder on the Arkansas District, was a transfer from Tennessee Conference. He was trained under Arthur Davis in the Western District. Davis in his day was the great revivalist of the Conference. Young Ramsey, full of zeal for his Master, labored under him for a year or two and was transferred west of the river. He was a burning and shining light. His great fort was in exhorta- tion; while he preached acceptably, in exhortation he was a wonderful success. The old Methodists told marvelous stories of Ramsey's power on camp-meeting occasions, when after some one had preached he would sing one of the old- time songs, and then starting in on one of his rousing ex- hortations, warming as he went, carrying his hearers with him until the whole audience surrendered to Christ. What
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was the secret of his power? It was much more common in the days of which I write than now. These men had none of the advantages afforded young ministers of today, and yet they were more successful in their pulpit ministra- tions. Is it not true that they were men of one Book more than we of the present day, and realizing their own weak- ness they depended on the Holy Spirit, and as they believed - so it was unto them. It is a fact that many of these early preachers, with very little education, such as is stressed and emphasized at the present day, were mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. I would not under- value education, but I would value the baptism of the Holy Ghost more than all else as a means of certain success in the work of the ministry. Saving souls is our work, and that which will fit us for doing that, is what we should seek and pray for ; nor should we rest until we possess the grace to preach the gospel successfully. Charles T. Ramsey was a preacher of this sort. He swept around his district like a flaming comet. His zeal was contagious. The preachers caught it. His quarterly meetings were times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. He traveled two years as Presiding Elder, and went up to Batesville in the fall of 1836, where Bishop Morris organized the Arkansas Conference. At its close Brother Ramsey was sick-too sick to attempt the journey home. His brethren had left him for their fields of labor, and he, restive under the restraints imposed, awaited results. His disease developed into pneumonia. All that could be done by skilled physicians and kind friends was done. In a few days he breathed his last at the home of Isaac Fulsom at Batesville. In the graveyard these good men laid him away to await the resurrection of the just.
" Andrew Boyd, who gave two sons to the ministry in Ar- kansas-a faithful local preacher -- is buried there. John Henry, the most promising young man that had entered the ministry in the early days of Methodism and had died
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in the same town, is buried there. Side by side this trio sleep in that cemetery. They sleep their last sleep; the battle fought and victory won, they have entered the Master's joy.
" The names of Burwell Lee and Thomas Bertholf appear on the roll of the Missouri Conference for 1834. Bertholf's ministry was altogether in the Indian country. By marriage he was connected with the Cherokees. In 1836 when I first knew him he was spare-made, light hair, inclined to be curly, light blue eyes, and in the social circle a most pleasant and companionable man. He preached acceptably and was one of the weeping prophets. When I last knew him his home was on the Illinois Creek in the Cherokee Nation, near the present Town of Tahlequah. In returning from Washing- ton County, Arkansas, in the early days of 1837, I was be- lated and lost my way, but at last reached the home of young Wolf, a good brother of the Cherokee Nation, and a faithful local preacher. At his house that night I met Bro. Bertholf. He was filling an appointment at Bro. Wolf's that night and I came on them a little while before he closed his sermon. He was preaching about the well of living water springing up unto everlasting life. He was talking in a fine mellow strain, and as usual he was crying and the rest were enjoy- ing it to the full. It was a regular old-fashioned Methodist meeting. Except Bro. Bertholf I have not met any of that company since, but when God makes up his jewels they will be of them; for they are worthy. In the fall of 1837 he accompanied Bro. Harrell to the last quarterly meeting in the Choctaw Nation, and we journeyed from there to the Conference at Little Rock together, where we parted to meet again in the future. My company has gone before. Young Wolf was converted in the old Nation, came West as a local preacher and was a great stay and support to the first missionaries in the West. He interpreted the first sermon I attempted to preach to the Cherokees. He was a large man, not tall but 'wide around.' My recollection is, that his
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weight was about 300. He spoke English very well and in his own tongue was said to be a good speaker and an able preacher. Long since he has been gathered to his fathers. Doubtless his children and his grandchildren remain to this day. The family of Bro. Bertholf remain citizens of the Cherokee Nation. The times and scenes of long ago are brought to my remembrance by these sketches. Thank God we shall not be strangers in the next world. Our friends are waiting and watching at the gates ready to welcome us to the Master's joy.
"Burwell Lee's name appears first on the roll in 1834. He taught school at Adairs. He was then a young man and this was his last appointment in the Nation. He did valua- ble work among the whites, mostly as a Presiding Elder. He traveled a District that embraced Helena on the Missis- sippi River and Fayetteville in the West, with various ap- pointments between. With the exception of a few years he gave a long life to the itinerancy in Arkansas. He always preached well. He had the courage of a Christian minister, and never compromised that character. In the social circle he was always pleasant and genial. The last years of his life he was a superannuate, his home being at Batesville, where he had lived for many years. I know nothing of the particulars of his death, which happened a few years since. Doubtless he died as he lived, trusting in his Savior. In the great day many a brother in red as well as white, will greet him where congregations do not break up and Sabbaths do not end. All over North Arkansas Burwell Lee is remem- bered by the old Methodists with great affection." (Sketches from Dr. Hunter in Arkansas Methodist.)
The name of Martin Wells appears for the first time in connection with the work in Arkansas, as a transfer from the Tennessee Conference, and appointed to the Arkansas District in 1832 and 1833. In 1834 he was supernumerary at Little Rock, where he died during the year. He was ad-
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mitted on trial in the Tennessee Conference in 1828, and® filled some important and difficult stations in the service of the Church. He was for several years a missionary among the Cherokee Indians in troublous times. Such was the state of feeling among the Indians about this time that it re- quired great prudence upon the part of our preachers to en- able them to gain access to them. In many instances they had been cruelly treated by the whites, and were wrought up to such a pitch of desperation that it required more than ordinary skill to enable our preachers to retain the hold they had gained upon the affections of the Indians. The influence of these godly men in restraining the violence of these poor savages has never been fully appreciated by the government.
The twentieth session of the Conference met at Arrow Rock Camp-ground, September 10, 1835. Bishop Roberts presided. Several of the preachers admitted on trial at this session labored in the State for a number of years in con- nection with the Arkansas Conference. Thomas Ashby, Samuel Calhoun, John Powell, John H. Carr, James M. Gore, Joseph Renfroe. Among the locations were Joseph L. Gould. The deaths were John P. Neil and Martin Wells. The following obituary notices of these brethren appear in general minutes :
"John P. Neil. We have no certain information concern- ing the early history of Bro. Neil. In 1832 he was admitted on trial in the Missouri Conference, and appointed to Spring River Circuit. In 1833 he was appointed to the Helena circuit. At the Conference of 1834 he was ordained deacon and appointed to Greene Circuit. During this year his health failed and after lingering for a few months he passed away in great peace."
Martin Wells, who was appointed as a supernumerary preacher on the Little Rock Circuit, died during the present year, of influenza. Bro. Wells filled some important and
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difficult stations in the Church. He was a missionary for several years to the Cherokee Indians in troublous times, and suffered in common with his brethren. He served two years as Presiding Elder on the Arkansas District, and dis- charged the duties of that relation with fidelity and useful- ness, and in a way to endear himself to the people of that district. The statistics show that the district was prosperous. during his administration.
In a letter to the Arkansas Methodist the venerable An- drew Hunter, D. D., gives an interesting account of the ses- sion of the Missouri Conference in 1835.
" The only representative from the Arkansas part of the Conference was William P. Ratcliffe, a young man who had been transferred from Tennessee and who had just closed his first year west of the river. His Presiding Elder had intrusted him with all his papers and he made the journey of between three and four hundred miles on horseback and discharged the duties imposed upon him as well as if he had been a veteran of a score of years. That was the last time Arkansas was represented by any one on the floor of the Missouri Conference. The General Conference that met in Cincinnati the following May formed the Arkansas Con- ference. In the new Conference was included all Arkansas, North Louisiana, the Indian Territory and the 'Sulphur Fork ' country, in what is now Texas.
" The division gave the Choctaws to the new Conference. Before this they were in the Mississippi Conference, which covered all North Louisiana. The Chickasaws, in the latter part of 1836, or the first of 1837, sent over a delegation and negotiated with the Choctaws for a part of their territory, which they now occupy, and which has proven to be a bountiful field for missionary labor. The Conference at Arrow Rock made two districts in Arkansas Territory and the Indian Missionary District. Batesville District had Bur- well Lee as Presiding Elder. This district covered all the
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territory of North Arkansas, from Helena on the east to Washington County, in the west, with Upper Arkansas Valley. There were four places to be supplied. Charles T. Ramsey was on the Little Rock District; Pine Bluff Cir- cuit, F. Brown ; Hot Springs, H. Cornelius ; Mount Prairie, J. N. Hamill; Sulphur Fork, J. H. Carr; Chicot, Joseph Renfroe; Bartholomew, J. M. Gore ; Little Rock Circuit, William P. Ratcliffe. There were seventeen appointments in the Territory, with twelve preachers besides the two Pre- siding Elders, leaving five places to be supplied.
"Peter M. McGowan was appointed Superintendent of the South Indian Missionary District in the fall of 1835. It was a' letter written by McGowan and published in one of the Church papers that influenced this writer to offer him- self as a missionary among his red brethren. I was teach- ing school in the vicinity of Manchester, twenty miles west of St. Louis; was prayerfully asking God to direct me in my life-work. I did not know whether I was called to preach or not, but I did feel a desire to be useful to my fellow-men. When McGowan's call for teachers for the Indian schools reached me I felt I could enter that field, and if I could not preach I could at least teach one of these schools. It was a relief to my mind when the open- ing was presented. Accordingly, in the last weeks of De- cember, 1835, I closed my school and made arrangements to start on my journey of 300 and more miles. Fortunately I had a very pleasant traveling companion in the person of a Mr. Bartlett, a merchant of Fort Towson, who had been to New York and was returning by way of St. Louis, and was making his way to Towson on horseback. We made the trip from Manchester to Fayetteville together. He was a most genial traveling companion. To this day it is pleas- ant to think of him. We parted at Fayetteville, he toward Red River and I toward Fort Gibson. I spent the night on Cane Hill with Gen. Campbell, who had been an Indian
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agent, and who gave me much valuable information as to my route and the Indians among whom I expected to labor. Sunday was spent with this kind family ; part of the day at church, where I heard the Presbyterian minister who had been pastor of the church at Cane Hill preach his farewell sermon, he having been called to another field. Monday morning I started alone into the Indian country, Fort Gibson being the objective point. The second night was spent there, and the following day crossed the Grand River and then the Verdigris in search of the Superintendent of Indian Missions. Pleasant Berryhill lived on the south bank of the Verdigris; he was a half-breed and a Methodist, and from him I obtained information that I supposed would bring me into the presence of the Superintendent, but after riding for hours I had to return to Berryhill's and spend the night. The next morning I found my man at the house of James Perryman in the vicinity of the Hawkins school. Bro. McGowan received me as a messenger sent in answer to prayer. He had been asking for help and help had come so he believed. After resting a day or two it was decided that I should be placed at Mr. Lott's, south of the Arkansas, in the Creek Nation, to teach school. This is not far from where the Town of Muskogee now stands. Equipped with blankets, a buffalo robe and a new bed-tick, which was to be filled with new cut hay chopped up fine with an axe, Bro. McGowan and I started across the Arkansas River, and in a few days I was inaugurated school master at 'Hichity Town,' 'monarch of all I surveyed.' I would like to know what became of my pupils there; doubtless some of them are citizens of the Creek Nation. How happy I would be if I knew that anything said or done by me had influenced any life for the better ! There in that little log school house I preached my first sermon. It was through an interpreter ; twenty or thirty persons were present and heard my dis- course on the conversion of Cornelius, the Roman centurion.
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I have preached the same subject many times since, but I have never preached it when I was happier than I was that day.
"'There is a divinity that shapes our ends.' God cares for sparrows, and we are of more value than many sparrows. The longer I live the more I believe in a special providence. It was not in my plans to come South. Andrew Monroe, Presiding Elder of the St. Louis District, had arranged to put me on a circuit in North Missouri with Lerner B. State- ler, and I was to accompany him on his next round to the field, but before he came McGowan's letter had fallen into my hands, and that decided the question of my work for life. God moves in mysterious ways, carrying on his de- signs for his own glory. It never was my intention to re- main south of Missouri, but the way never was open for my return to a northern climate. More than half a century has passed away since I reported to P. C. McGowan, on the first of January, 1836, and here I am still, the companions of my early ministry all gone; not one left, and I, like some lone tree of the forest with its companions all swept away by the breath of the storm, am still standing a monument of God's preserving mercy. 'Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. His grace has brought me safe thus far. His grace will lead me home.' And now as I survey the past I say to my brethren of the itinerancy, take it all in all I have had a good time. Fifty-three years I have trusted God in the ranks, and I have no complaints to make. The 'iron wheel' has never crushed me. Old and gray- headed. I wait my appointed time, saying with old Jacob : ' I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.'"
That the reader may have a clearer idea of the extent of the work at that day we will give the list of appointments for that year, for the districts in the Arkansas Territory :
Batesville District, Burwell Lee, Presiding Elder .- Helena, to be supplied. Franklin, to be supplied. Big Creek, L.
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Wakelee, Jackson J. Powell. White River, A. Baird. Clin- ton, to be supplied. Arkansas, to be supplied. Washing- ton, J. Harrell.
Little Rock District, C. Ramsey, Presiding Elder .- Pine Bluff, Fountain Brown. Ouachita, to be supplied. Hot Springs, H. Cornelius. Mount Prairie, J. N. Hamill, W. G. Duke. Rolling Fork, to be supplied. Sulphur Fork, John H. Carr. Chicot, Joseph Renfroe. Bartholomew, J. M. Gore. Little Rock Circuit, William P. Ratcliffe.
South Indian Mission, P. M. McGowan, Superintendent .- Cherokee Circuit, Thomas Bertholf. Schools-S. K.Waldron, J. Horne, J. L. Irwin, A. D. Smith, P. Berryhill, J. H. Rives.
From the introduction of Methodism in the Territory, the appointments in Arkansas, were connected with the Mis- souri Conference. It will therefore be proper for us to review the history of the fifteen years this field was supplied by that Conference.
We have seen that the Spring River Circuit, which was formed in 1815, and supplied by Eli Lindsay, reported a membership of eighty-eight white and four colored. At the Conference of 1835 the membership was 2326 whites, 373 colored and 467 Indians, making a total membership of 3164. During this period there had been at different times seventy-two itinerant preachers laboring within the Arkan- sas Territory. Many of these, however, had remained but one year within the Territory. At the close of this period there were three Presiding Elders' Districts, two for the whites and one for the Indians. There were eighteen pas- toral charges for the whites and twelve for the Indians. These charges were served by thirty-three pastors. Method- ism had been planted in all the principal towns of the State, and while none of these town had become large enough to support a separate pastor, several of them had become cen- ters of influence for the surrounding country and tended largely to mould the sentiment of the people.
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Little Rock, Batesville, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs, Washing- ton and Helena were considered of sufficient importance to give the name to the pastoral charges of which they formed a part.
The circuits of that day were as large as two or three of the Presiding Elders' Districts of the present day. The Lit- , tle Rock District embraced all the territory south of the Arkansas River, and the Batesville District all the territory north of that river.
The writer has an old Quarterly Conference Record lying before him for the year 1835.
" The Fourth Quarterly Meeting Conference held at Bar- tholomew Camp-ground, in Chicot Circuit, on the 20th of July, 1835. The following members present: Charles T. Ramsey, Presiding Elder ; A. I. S. Harris, P. I. C .; James C. Gore, L. P .; Joseph Renfroe, Ex .; Solomon Hopkins, C. L .; William Harris, L. P. James C. Gore was recom- mended as a suitable person to travel and preach. At the Fourth Quarterly Meeting Conference for 1836 we have Charles T. Ramsey, Presiding Elder ; James M. Gore, P. I. C .; Charles H. Seay, L. P .; Joseph Renfroe, L. P .; James L. Newman, C. L .; Alfred D. Galloway, Ex.
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