USA > Arkansas > History of Methodism in Arkansas > Part 9
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In this list of members we have several names that are perfectly familiar to the people of the present day in the southeastern portion of the State. The name of Charles H. Seay was for many years a household word in all that coun- try. He settled in what is now called Bradley County, near Warren, at a very early date, when the country was a com- parative wilderness. He was a man of sterling worth and great integrity of character. While to strangers he often appeared plain to rudeness ; his friends knew that behind that stern exterior there beat one of the kindest hearts that ever throbbed in a human breast. He did much toward the planting and formation of the Church in that portion of the State.
CHAPTER X.
ARKANSAS ADMITTED AS A STATE-THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARKANSAS CONFERENCE -- BATESVILLE-LIST OF MEM- BERS - STATISTICS -- TRANSFERS -- ROBERT GREGORY- WILLIAM H. BUMP-JEROME B. ANNIS-PETER MCGOWAN -JOHN L. IRWIN-A. W. SIMMONS-JOHN B. DENTON- URIAH WHATELEY -- JOHN C. PARKER-JACOB CUSTER- JOHN .M. STEELE-LETTERS FROM BISHOP ANDREW- HIRAM GEERING -- CHARLES T. RAMSEY -- WILLIAM MUL- KEY.
The year 1836 was memorable in the history of Arkansas as the date of its admission as a State into the Union. Pre- vious to this time, it had been under the jurisdiction first of the French, from 1669 to 1766. It then passed under the jurisdiction of the Spanish, until 1803, when it again passed under the jurisdiction of the French, who the same year sold the entire territory to the United States.
From 1804 until 1812 it was a part of the Louisiana Ter- ritory. From 1812 to 1819, it was a part of the Missouri Territory. From 1819 until 1836, it was known as the Arkan- sas Territory, since which time it has been a sovereign State of the Union. James S. Conway was elected the first Gov- ernor of the State.
While these important changes were taking place in the civil affairs of the State, corresponding changes were taking place in the Church. During this year the General Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church authorized the or- ganization of a new Conference to be called the Arkansas. Conference, the first session of which met at Batesville, Arkansas. Bishop Morris presided.
The following is a list of the members of the Conference
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at its organization : Charles T. Ramsey, William Ratcliffe, Henry Cornelius, Erastus B. Duncan, Jacob Whitesides, Lemuel Wakelee, Burwell Lee, John L. Irwin, Robert Gregory, Charles J. Karney, Fountain Brown, John H. Rives, W. H. Turnley, Richmond Randle, Winfree B. Scott, John N. Hamill, Jesse A. Guice, William Stephenson, John A. Cotton, Sidney Squires, John Harrell, Thomas Bertholf, Moses Perry, A. D. Smythe, 27.
Who remain on trial, John R. McIntosh, John Powell, John H. Carr, James Gore, Ansel Webber, Arthur W. Sim- mons, Benjamin Jones, 7.
Who are admitted on trial? Andrew Hunter, James Essex, James L. Newman, Enoch Whateley, Thomas Benn, William H. Bump, Philip Asborne, J. W. P. Mckenzie, 8.
The Arkansas Conference at this time embraced two dis- tricts in North Louisiana.
The territory of the Conference was divided into six dis- tricts: The Little Rock District, Batesville District, Arkan- sas District, Alexandria District, Monroe District and the South Indian Mission District. There were twenty pastoral charges in Arkansas and eleven in Louisiana, and nine pas- toral charges and schools among the Indians.
The statistical reports show that there were 2733 white, 599 colored, and 1225 Indian members within the territory embraced by the Conference. Of these, 2042 whites. and 423 colored were embraced within the State of Arkansas ; the remainder of the number were in the Louisiana districts and in the Indian Territory.
The Little Rock District embraced all the territory south of the Arkansas River to the Louisiana state line, and bounded on the east by the Bayou Bartholomew. The Batesville District all the territory north of the Arkansas River, except the teritory lying within the Mississippi River bottom. The Arkansas District all the Mississippi River bot- tom country from the Louisiana to the Missouri State lines.
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At this session of the Conference Peter M. McGowan transferred to the Pittsburg Conference, Alvin Baird to the Missouri Conference, and Levi Pearce to the Mississippi Conference.
A number of valuable transfers were received at this Con- ference from the older Conferences-Cotman Methrin and Henry B. Price from the Mississippi Conference. Cotman Methrin located in 1837. Henry B. Price traveled in North Louisiana until these districts were incorporated in the Mis- sissippi Conference, when he became a member of that Con- ference.
At the session of the Tennessee Conference, held at Co- lumbia, a call was made by Bishop Morris for preachers to transfer to the Arkansas Conference ; and in response to that call Robert Gregory, Richmond Randle, Arthur W. Sim- mons, Erastus B. Duncan and J. W. P. Mckenzie were transferred to that new field of labor, and in company with Bishop Morris started immediately for Arkansas.
The entire distance from Columbia, Tenn., to Batesville, Ark., was traveled on horseback by the Bishop and these young transfers. The entire road west of the Mississippi was through a new and sparsely settled country, the greater portion of which was a dense swamp, and at this season of the year was filled with water and mud. After a long and fatiguing trip, the Bishop and his company of young preach- ers reached the seat of the Annual Conference about the 6th of November, 1836. These young men all proved to be valuable acquisitions to the Conference, and in a very short time became thoroughly identified with the work in the State. We will have occasion to speak of them again in. the course of this work.
We will again quote from the articles of Dr. Hunter. as they appeared in the Arkansas Methodist :
" There are a few more names that should be noticed as being present at the first Arkansas Conference. William
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H. Bump was transferred from the Erie Conference and re- ceived an appointment to the Washington Circuit, which then meant Washington County, and the appointments which were in Benton County. He was a young man of fine personal appearance, a good scholar and scrupulously neat in his dress-rather too much so for that day, some thought. He preached well and made progress-came to Conference in the fall of 1837, made a good report of his work and was heartily indorsed by his Presiding Elder. His next ap- pointment was in the south part of North Louisiana, viz .: Franklin and Newtown. From Fayettevile, Ark , to New- town was at least 500 miles. How some of the preachers of this day would wince if they were read out to an ap- pointment 500 miles away ! The young man went out and came back in the fall delighted with his work. Ever after when he spoke of his work in Louisiana, he always referred to Franklin and Newtown in terms of commendation. The following year he was stationed in Little Rock and did the work acceptably. At the close of the year he thought it necessary to return to Ohio, and he asked and obtained a. location. He never joined the Conference again, but re- turned after a year or so to Little Rock, where he married a most estimable lady. After this he engaged in secular business of various kinds. At last he was clerk on a small steamboat on the Arkansas River. Sometime in the spring of 1847, passing down the steps from the cabin to the lower deck, he made a misstep and was unable to recover himself, fell overboad and was drowned. That occurred somewhere between Little Rock and Van Buren. It was a long time before his body was found, but it was finally recovered lodged on a sand-bar, and cared for as it should have been. Brother Bump was a good man and a good preacher, but fearing he would not be supported by the Church of that day chose to take the matter of support in his own hands. The result was as stated above. My observation after years
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of experience is that it is a risky business in any preacher to forsake his high and holy calling to engage in anything outside of his legitimate work as a minister of Christ. I have known several who were in possession of a reasonable amount of property to have carried them safely through an itinerant career of many years, who to better their condi- tion financially have invested in some secular calling and the result has been failure, failure. A man who has been a traveling preacher for any length of time is not fit for much else. If he prays and preaches he will be too religious to take much pleasure in secular things, and if he gets cold and backslides the Lord gives him over to his heart's lusts and he is a man with the livery of the Church upon him, serving the world. Such an one never hears one of his brethren of the itinerancy preach, that he does not remem- ber the 'peaceful hours he once enjoyed.' I have known them after years spent in secular pursuits, when money was gone, and reputation too, in a measure, to come back and knock at the Conference door and plead piteously to be per- mitted to have a name and place in the ranks once deserted. May all my brethren shun the rock on which not a few have split. A feeling of sadness comes over me as these memories come rushing up from the past, as I think of my brother who left the ranks of the itinerancy when there were such white harvest fields ready for his sickle. Wesley says there is a sin unto death-of the body ; many I fear sin that way and do not live out their alloted time. Brother Bump left two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter is the wife of one of our most useful traveling preachers in the Little Rock Conference, Rev. John R. Sanders. She is one of that noble band of godly women raised up in the last days to be helpers of the sterner sex who are pushing the battle to the gates of the enemy.
" At this Conference another man put in an appearance. We must not pass him without mention. Jerome B. Annis
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came to the first Arkansas Conference a local preacher. He was from Western New York. He had a wife and two children. Burwell Lee, who was appointed Presiding Elder on the Batesville District, employed Annis to travel the Car- rollton Circuit. That circuit then covered the territory now embraced in three or more counties in North Arkansas. By some means he reached his circuit, took up his work and did it well. The support, it is true, was meager, but his good wife supplemented his salary by teaching school, and altogether he had a prosperous year. My recollection is he was returned to the same work after being received on trial at the second session of the Arkansas Conference held at Little Rock in the fall of 1837. After this he traveled the Washington Circuit, and then two years on Clarksville, which at that time covered all the settlements in Johnson, Pope and Franklin Counties. Brother Annis located some- time in the forties, and when the gold excitement in Cali- fornia broke out, he like many, tried his fortune there. He was a shifty man, and although he did not succeed in mak- ing a 'pile,' he did not lose. In the fall of 1852, having returned, he was readmitted and stationed at Camden, in South Arkansas. He continued in the regular work, serving circuits and stations, and at the time the war broke out was Presiding Elder on one of the districts. When the Federal troops took possession of Arkansas, he went to Texas with his family, where he continued to work until God gave him a release and took him to himself. His wife has since joined him in the bright beyond. His only son who has his father's name, is a worthy member of the Northwest Texas Conference, and a good representative of his honored father. His brethren honored him by giving him a place in the del- egation to the last General Conference, at Richmond, Va. I love the son for the father's sake. May he honor the name he inherits."
Of Peter McGowan, who transferred to the Pittsburg
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Conference in 1836, his friend Dr. Hunter, who was inti- mately acquainted with him, says :
" At this session of 1835 Peter M. McGowan was assigned to the South Indian Missionary District, which included the Cherokee and Creek Nations, and John L. Erwin, was ap- pointed to the Creek Circuit. They were transfers from the Pittsburg Conference. Bro. McGowan was one of the most holy men it was ever my privilege to know. He 'prayed without ceasing.' I have occupied the same bed with him and have been waked in the silent hours of the night by him as he talked to God in whispers by my side. I have heard him for half hours at a time as he has lain by my side in the stillness of the night offering fervent prayers to God for the preachers and people of his district. I am thankful that it was my privilege to be with him in the beginning of my ministry. He presided in the Quarterly Conference, where I was licensed to preach. He kept the affairs of his district well in hand and did everything in his power to for- ward the good work in the two Nations. He was a plain scriptural preacher-was very familiar with the good Book and knew how to simplify Bible stories and Bible history so as to bring it within the reach of the most illiterate. He was only one year with the Indians. He had a severe attack of sickness in the latter part of the summer, and believing that he was completely broken down in health he returned to his old Conference, where for a number of years he did effective work. I met him in Pittsburg in the summer of 1854, where we held sweet counsel together. I presume ere this he has joined the companions who had gone before."
Dr. Hunter has given us an interesting sketch of another one of these old pioneers that deserves to be preserved from oblivion :
" John L. Irwin, who came with McGowan from Pitts- burgh, was a young man of superior preaching ability. He was appointed to the Creek Circuit, and by the advice of the
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Superintendent he took charge of a school also. Irwin was a man of fine social qualities and was at one time by far the most popular preacher in the Creek Nation. He won the hearts of all with whom he came in contact. In the fall there were rumors in circulation reflecting on his moral and ministerial character. These were investigated in the regular way according to the discipline, and he was acquitted, but still there was a cloud over him and it was very plain that he had lost caste with the red man. He was shorn of his strength like Samson, and it was very evident that his use- fulness was at an end in the Nation. A Christian and espec- ially a minister must be a clean man ; yea, he must be above suspicion. Irwin did good work for two years among the whites in Lawrence and Independence Counties and re- turned to the West Virginia Conference, where for many years he did the work of a Methodist preacher. The last years of his life he served the American Bible Society, in which work he died loved and honored by the ministry and membership of all the churches in that region. Irwin was a man capable of doing effective work any where; I have known but few men that were his equal in the pulpit. He was of medium height, well formed, a handsome face and a master of eloquence. He never had a peer west of the Mississippi as a pulpit orator except John B. Denton, of whom I wrote in a former communication. I love to think of these men ; friends of my youth, from whom I received at a time when I needed it most, and to none am I more in- debted than to John L. Irwin. The last year he was in Ar- kansas we traveled adjoining circuits ; we arranged to meet once in four weeks ; we heard each other preach, we roomed together and were as intimate as David and Jonathan. My judgment is that he was a good man. He was modest, chaste in language, and I have no recollection of ever having heard him use any words that would not have been proper in the society of the most refined ladies. If any one should
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ever write the history of Methodism in Arkansas the name of my early friend should have a place there."
Of the first Arkansas Conference, held at Batesville, Ark., Rev. Arthur W. Simmons has this to say :
" Well do I remember the effort made by Bishop Morris, in the fall of 1836, at Columbia, Tenn., to get volunteers to transfer to the Arkansas Conference, to be held in Batesville. Four of us gave our consent, viz .: E. B. Duncan, R. Randle, A. W. Simmons and R. Gregory. Three of us accompanied the Bishop from Columbia, Tenn., to Batesville, Ark., viz .: R. Randle, E. B. Duncan and the writer. We had a hard time in getting through the mud and water. But being well mounted, we landed safely at Batesville, sometime about the last of November. There the first Conference in Ar- kansas was to be held. It was then a large Conference, em- bracing the whole of Arkansas and North Louisiana. We met with a hearty welcome, and after a pleasant session, we were all assigned to our fields of labor for the next year. All left but one. The Rev. Rev. Charles T. Ramsey preached his last sermon on the last night of the Conference with power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. In three days he was dead. Since that time the brethren have been pass- ing away, until, as far as I know, I am the only one living who attended the first Conference held in the State. I feel very lonely when I think of a Duncan, a Randle, a Smith, the sweet-spirited Ratcliffe, and many others that could be mentioned ; but thank God, although they have crossed the river, I believe they have landed safely in the City of God. I am still here, worn out, and often feel that it will not be long until I shall see them again."
The writer of the above was mistaken in the supposition that he was the only one living who attended that first ses- sion of the Arkansas Conference. Andrew Hunter, who was received on trial at that Conference, is still living.
The second session of the Arkansas Conference met in
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the City of Little Rock, November 1, 1837, Bishop Andrew presiding.
At this session of the Conference there was a class of ten admitted into the Conference on trial, viz .: Lewis C. Props, John B. Denton, Jerome B. Annis, Moses Spear, Uriah Whateley, Samuel Allen, James Graham, James E. Grace, George W. Turnley and John F. Seaman.
The Conference at this session received some very valu- able accessions by transfer from the older Conferences. John C. Parker, Alexander Avery, Jacob Custer and John M. Steele, from the Tennessee Conference ; and Turtle Fields, from the Holston Conference. Several of these became intimately identified with the work for many years, and their names will frequently appear in the course of this history.
Two of these, Alexander Avery and Jacob Custer, are still living to bless the Church by their presence and labors. Alexander Avery is at present a superannuated preacher in the Little Rock Conference, and in ripe old age enjoys the confidence and respect of his brethren.
Jacob Custer traveled for ten years in the Arkansas Con- ference, from 1836 to 1846, and filled with great acceptability some of the most important charges in the Conference. He then located and engaged in the practice of medicine, in which profession he enjoys the reputation of being one of the most successful physicians in the community in which he lives. He is at the same time an honor to the local ministry, and preaches with great acceptability to the people. He has been a tower of strength to Methodism in Southwestern Arkansas. He has always been the devoted friend of the itinerant preachers, and has by his personal labors and judicious counsels greatly aided them in their pastoral work. Of his labors we may have occasion to again refer in the progress of this work.
The Rev. Alexander Avery has furnished a brief sketch
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of his life, from which the following facts are gathered. He was born in Johnson County, North Carolina, August II, 1809, and was converted August 29, 1829, and was licensed to exhort in 1833, and was licensed to preach in 1836. He was admitted on trial in the Tennessee Conference the same year, and appointed to the Sandy Circuit with Arthur Davis as P. C., and Thomas Joiner, Presiding Elder. In the fall of 1837 he was transferred to the Arkansas Conference and appointed to the Marion Circuit, John C. Parker, Presiding Elder. This was a hard year for the young preacher, as the circuit had only been formed the previous year, and there were but few religious people in that portion of the country. There was no one in the bounds of the circuit that would pray in public. The young preacher became so much discouraged that he requested the Presiding Elder to remove him to another charge, but the Presiding Elder told him to remain a little longer until he could find a suitable place for him. In a few months the prospects were so en- couraging that he requested the Presiding Elder to permit him to remain the balance of the year. The next year he was appointed to the Mount Prairie Circuit, where he had a gracious revival of religion, in which there were about one hundred conversions and additions to the Church. He was then appointed to the Choctaw Nation as a missionary, where he remained for three years. As an illustration of the difficulties encountered in that early day, Bro. Avery relates that during the last year of his stay among the In- dians, he went to a camp-meeting in Texas. On Friday night there was a rumor that the wild Indians were within twenty miles of the place, and on Sunday morning there was a report that a man had been shot by them within eight miles of the camp-ground. He says when his time came to preach he "tried to preach easy, but could not." For a number of years Bro. Avery traveled circuits and districts to the great acceptability of the people. In 1870 his health
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became so much impaired that he was compelled to ask for a superannuated relation, which he has held until the present time.
In summing up his labors he says: "I have received about 1500 persons into the Church, baptized about 800, performed the marriage ceremony for 125 couples, and preached about 3500 times, held many class and prayer meetings, have frequently been sick, shared with his brethren the privations and hardships of itinerant life in a new country, and now feel that I have been an unworthy servant, and my need of a Savior. The old soldier remains with us a little longer, full of years, and looking forward with pleasing an- ticipation to the time when the Master will say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.'"
The name of John B. Denton appears for the first time in connection with the Mount Prairie Circuit in 1833. The following year he was discontinued. In 1837 he was re- admitted into the traveling connection, and appointed to the Sulphur Fork Circuit.
" John B. Denton was a native of Clark County, Arkan- sas. While yet an infant he had the misfortune to lose both his parents. It was the further misfortune of this doubly- orphaned boy to be thrown into a family destitute of moral culture, and who hardly observed the decencies of life. Until twelve years old he had never enjoyed the luxury of hat or shoes. Disgusted with this degraded kind of life he ran away in hopes of bettering his condition, without form- ing any definite plans for the future ; and while scarcely out of his teens he married. Soon after this he professed relig- ion, and with this change in his moral nature came a yearn- ing for mental culture. Fortunately his young wife encour- aged him, and taught him letters at night by the light of blazing pine-knots. It was not long until he was licensed to preach, when his wonderful powers began to develop. The people of Virginia were not more surprised at the masterly
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eloquence displayed by Patrick Henry in the celebrated tithe suit, than were the Arkansians at the oratorical powers of this unlettered and uncultivated frontier boy. This furnishes another illustration of the fact that orators, like poets, are born, not made. Young Denton had a fine personal appear- ance and musical voice. His language rose with the grand- eur of his theme, until it would remind the classical scholar of Cicero. His action was like that of Roscius; his use of figures most appropriate. We have read an apostrophe to water, in one of his temperance speeches, which for impas- sioned eloquence is equal to almost anything found in the language. His mastery over the human passions was com- plete. He could touch them as the skilled musician touches the chords of his instrument. When he addressed the mul- titudes that flocked to hear him preach upon the sublime themes of the gospel, his appeals were all but irresistible."
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