USA > Florida > The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 > Part 11
USA > Georgia > The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 > Part 11
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The local preachers of those days were numerous and efficient. They knew they had work to do, and they did it. The circuit preacher came to only four of his twenty-eight appointments on Sunday, and the Sabbaths fell to the local preachers. They led the way into new fields. They assisted at every quarterly and every camp meeting. They oftentimes had to ride fifty miles to get to them ; but they were there. We are painfully conscious of our inability to give to those good men the place they are entitled to, but no effort of ours has been sufficient to rescue many honored names from unmerited oblivion. The faithful class- leader, the only pastor of the flock in those days, was invaluable when the preacher in charge was not ex-
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
pected to be more than he was, the preacher in charge. The steward's office, so important now, was only of small value when all that was required of 900 members was to pay up their $100. There was only in a large cir- cuit, embracing several counties, only seven, and these circuit stewards, as they were called, visited the churches occasionally, and took what the people were willing to give. They had no system, and did not see the need of one. David Merriwether or Thomas Grant could have paid the whole assessment for the Little River Circuit, and never felt the loss of the money. So the people were not trained to do anything systematically in this direction, nor was there much improvement for several years after this.
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CHAPTER VI.
FROM 1812 TO THE DEATH OF ASBURY IN 1816. HENRY BASS.
JAMES O. ANDREWS-SAMUEL K. HODGES-LOCATION OF LOVICK PIERCE -SKETCH OF HIS WIFE-THOMAS DARLEY-LOCATION OF RUSSELL- ALLEN TURNER-ELIJAH BIRD-CONTINUED DECLINE - ASBURY'S DEATH-CHARACTER OF ASBURY, ETC., ETC.
THE districts retain the same presiding elders. The Oconee District, over which Lovick Pierce presided, had in it only three appointments, Apalachee, Broad River, and Oconee, but they stretched from the Savan- nah River to the Ocmulgee, and from the upper part of Jackson County to the lower part of Putnam.
Samuel M. Meek, a gentle, gifted man, was sent to Milledgeville. During this year he established the first Methodist Sunday-School in Georgia of which we have been able to find any mention .* IIe studied medicine with Dr. Byrd, and located at the next conference.
Henry Bass was on the Apalachee Circuit this year, and though it was his first year, he was in charge. Ile was from Connecticut. At twenty-one he came to North Carolina. In Fayetteville he was converted and joined the Church, and soon after entered the confer- ence. He began in 1811 a travelling ministry, which continued for forty-nine years. His first circuit was in Georgia, but he did the most of this work in South
. Mr. Troutman.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
Carolina, and there ended his life. He was an earnest worker and a very successful one. He was in Augusta in 1819, when there was the most gracious revival that city had ever known. He was in Savannah in 1817, when Methodism made an advance it never lost. Ile enterprised and built the first parsonage in the State. He was laborious, careful, devotedly pious, and very useful. His last days were days of great suffering and of great peace.
He married a Georgia maiden, a lovely young Meth- odist, in Augusta. He left behind him two sons, faith- ful ministers of the Word, Dr. W. Capers Bass, of Ma- con, Ga., and Prof. Henry A. Bass, of South Carolina.
James Russell was sent to Savannah this year. Savan- nah was still a forlorn hope. There were but three white members in the society. A church lot and some building material had been secured, but the house was not built. Lewis Myers desired the Bishop to send the most famous man of his time to help him in the important work ; and Russell was sent. IIe left the country to which he was so well suited, to enter into the city for which he had no fitness at all. He left a people who rarely heard any preaching but that of plain men, to go where for years the matchless elo- quence of Dr. Henry Kolloch, and the scarcely less attractive preaching of Dr. Henry Holcomb, was for every Sunday. He left a country where the Metho- dists were numerous and wealthy, to go where three poor white people and four poorer negroes were all the society. It was like confining such a frontiersman as Daniel Boone to the limits of a child's nursery. Russell needed room for work, and encouragement in it, but the city afforded him but little opportunity for
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the work he would do, and no encouragement to do that. The man who had held thousands by the en- chantment of his eloquence, could not be eloquent before the empty benches of a small room.
To support his family he ent the marsh grass from the neighboring marshes and hawked it about the streets of Savannah. To build the church he cut the timber on the banks of the river with his own hands, and brought it in a raft down the stream. He finished the house and found himself involved in debt. He entered into trade, made some successful contracts with the quartermasters, then began to do business of various kinds for his friends in the interior. Success attended him. He made money rapidly. Ile spent it like a prince. The times were those of wild speculation, and he began to speculate. He bought the old site of Vienna in Abbeville, S. C., at the head of Savannah river navigation, and purposed the building up of s city .* Then suddenly came the peace. Then many of the largest commercial houses in the world went down, and soon James Russell was a bankrupt, injur- ing in his fall his dearest friends.
Next to an intentional dishonesty, one of the most painful things in life is a bankruptcy, when the bank- rupt is conscious of uprightness, but knows others do not so regard his course ; when he has never intended to injure any man, but knows he has done so. Poor Russell ! he had held so high a place among his breth- ren. And now to be denounced, by those who once loved him and honored him, as one who had deceived and defranded them! He was a hopeless bankrupt. IIe
* Dr. Pieroo.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
could not, if he had had capacity, have recovered him- self; and alas ! he had lost what was dearer to him than all, his ministerial place. He located-his family had grown up around him ; he struggled hard to support them. In Augusta he used to make a scanty living by using a wheelbarrow to carry packages .* He was still a young man, but care had broken him in heart and in body. He had given his youth and young manhood to the work of the ministry ; he was fitted for nothing else. He was still permitted to preach as a local preacher, and Stephen Olin heard him at that time with unmixed delight.t The lamed eagle would attempt to soar as had been his wont, and, crippled as he was, he soared like an eagle still, but he soon grew weary, and came to earth again. He never lost his Christian integrity. His name was never sullied with the stain of inten- tional wrong. He was as meek, and gentle, and pa- tient, in the days of his adversity, as he had been joy- ous, and brave, and generous in other times. None now recall him save to honor him as the wonderful genius who had consecrated all to Christ and brought many souls home to glory. He died in 1825, at Dr. Meredith Moon's, in Abbeville, S. C., when he was about forty-five years of age .;
The general conference met in May, 1812, in New York. Bishops Asbury and Mckendree were both present. It was the last general conference Asbury ever attended ; cre the next he was in Heaven. The general conferences before this had had their sessions with closed doors, excluding every one except the elders,
* Mrs. Waterman.
t See letter in the first issue of the Christian Journal.
# Dr. Sprague, Bishop Wightman, Dr. Pierce, and others.
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who composed the body ; but now all the preachers in full connection were admitted into the gallery as spec- tators. Bishop McKendree presented the first Bishop's Pastoral, which was referred for consideration to the respective committees. Lewis Myers was on the Com- mittee of Episcopacy. The presiding elder question again came up, and some some very strong men from the east and north argued that the office should be made elective. The delegates from the south and west opposed this view then, and at future times. It was, however, only defeated by a small majority.
James Axley endeavored unsuccessfully to have a new law introduced into the discipline, forbidding the distillation and retail of spirituous liquors by members of the Church. This was voted down, on the ground that we had already decided that such persons should be dealt with as in case of other immoralities. A motion to forbid members of the Church from buying lottery tickets was presented, and action was deferred to the next general conference. The slavery question as usual came up, but was quietly disposed of by a motion to lay the subject on the table. J. Early introduced a resolution which for many years stood in the discipline, to forbid the giving of treats at elections. The South Carolina delegation seems to have been a very quiet one, only one motion having been made by Lewis Myers, and none by any other of the delegates.
The conference continued its sessions till May 22d, when it adjourned to meet in Baltimore, May 1, 1816.
As its hour of meeting and adjournment were from nine to twelve, and from three to five, it was really in session more hours than the conferences of the present time, which remain together for one month.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
The war was now upon the country, the Indians as well as the British were in arms, and the embargo stagnated all trade, so that there was general aların and depression. It was not to be wondered at that there should be for the first time in several years a decrease of members. In the Sparta District the decrease was nearly 400, and in the Ogeechee over 200; but in the Oconee there was a considerable increase, so as to nearly offset the lapse in the other two. There were no considerable revivals, and this was the beginning of years of constant, though slow decline. The total num- ber of members reported at the Conference of 1813 was 8,453 whites and 1,450 colored members of the Church.
Jno. B. Glenn, who was on the Ohoopee Circuit, was from Chester District, S. C. He was converted when he was twenty-one, and joined the conference in 1809. He travelled for some years, then located, and after living in Jones and Merriwether counties in Georgia, finally moved to Alabama, and settled in Auburn, where he died in 1869. He was a good and useful man to the end.
The conference met at Charleston, December 19, 1812. Bishop Asbury was present. To reach the confer- ence the feeble old man had ridden on horseback from Kentucky, where he was in October, over the mountains of East Tennessee and North Carolina, through the upper part of South Carolina, and on to Charleston. The weather was severe, and he often had to swim his noble horse, Fox, through the swollen streams. Although it does not properly belong to this history, we cannot for- bear giving one view of this noble old man's travels when he was nearly seventy years old. Leaving Charles-
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ton January 7th, he rode through the swamps of east- ern South and North Carolina, suffering much from long rides, insufficient accommodations, and excessive cold. By the 8th of February he was at Norfolk, Va., and then, facing the cold March winds, he went north- ward through Eastern Maryland to Baltimore, which he reached on the 11th of March .* By the 5th of April he was in Pennsylvania ; on the 1st of May in New York, to attend the sessions of the general conference ; in June he was in Connecticut, suffering from high fever; passing into Massachusetts, he returned to New York, and held conference in the upper part of the State; then through Western New York into Pennsyl- vania, among the mountains and the Germans ; across into Virginia, and back again to Maryland by Septemn- ber 1st ; through Pennsylvania again to Ohio by the 11th of September, and into Kentucky by the 7th of October; southward through Kentucky, across Cum- berland Gap to East Tennessee, and thence to Charles- ton.t To any one who will take the map of the United States, and consider not only the geography but the topography of the country through which the old Bishop and his faithful young companion travelled, the accom- plishment of such a journey by such a man will appear almost incredible.
He says that the session of the conference was a pleas- ant one, and that the preachers saw eye to eye in making the appointments.
The arrangement of the Georgia work was changed. Lovick Pierce left the Oconee District, and Joseph Tarpley was appointed to it. The Sparta District ceased
" Asbury's Journal. t Ibid.
James O. Andiw
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IN GEORGIA AND FMYRIDA, 1785-1865.
to be, and ita einvisita were divilunit between Joseph Tarpley and Lewis Myers. Lawiek Pierce was stationed In Milledgeville, During this your a draft for soldiers Nina ordered, and, . preachers wie not excluded, be was drafted will the enlitis. Thu colonel of the regl- wok offered him the chaplainey of it, which he ao- aupied, and was datomal at Savannah, Tere he began To read misluitus and prepare himself for Bat foen- Who ho iew whe inevitable, fuder the then condition of
At the apiformee Loviek Pierca Through zs Doma Uit shroud Ihver (iranit the recommendation of Jaars Oggied Andrew. He was the son of Jolin Andrew, fier It native Ga egiao who bad joined the travelling con Amfmiw was not & promising looking rly conthe to preach; but. ho was a good boy, Trenings sud might make a nefol man; they Think AL Paschere wore needed, and to the confer- binsus ci thỏ recommendation of his presiding older, re- mivết hăm ný Frial, and he wus sons os second ma0, ou the Sale atcher Giraidt, in Barnwell and Bohufort Di- Diols, 4., Ills own kiemmate of himself was low, but not lowes tipu that of rome who composed the quarter- ly opes ben, which Tone d him. It required the eu- Treaties &# Epja Tucker In induce them to grant him Neense, Ile was required to preach, and after he ennie uut of the church, mortified at his failure, he was am- forted by one of the brethren saying to him, " James, I wood for yon, but if I had heard that sermon I would at have done it.7 James did not go to Camden town- ferance, but recolved through the preacher on the ofr- colt his appolinmient. A kind friend gave him a little
James O. Andrew C
.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLOSUIDA, 1785-1835.
to be, and Its iranie were divided between Joseph Tarpley and Lowis Myers, Lawick Pierce was stationed mn Milledgeville. During this year a draft for soldiers wn ordered, and, se preachers were not exelnded, he www.drafted weitli the bolitis. The culimol of the regi- mens offered Jumu Ile chapliney of it, which ho ac- pred, And was stationest at Barnanah. Here he began head modicinot and prepared himmelf for that Joea- The he veny kep inevitablo, nuder the then condition of
this wojfordice Laviek Pierce brought up fiume Wie shroud Rivor Ciranit the recommendation of Jemen Ofgood Andrew. He was the son of John Andrew, tho 1 Baby Gorzjan who bad joined the travelling cow Amdmw was sot & promising Looking Ben ho wać , wiesluit reluctantly licensed by the valorly confir vo to preach; but he was a good boy, nfGymrentagy, and might make a useful man; they Peeschema ware needed, and so the confer geo, vit flin rocomigoudation of his presiding elder, re- wivel làm on trial, and he was sont as second 1080, on The & sontcher GiconIL ju Burowell and Bohufort Dis- tim, e. C., His own weimate of himself was low, but mit lower than ded of gore who composed the quarter- ly. condawwee which ligouved him. It required the en- tredive / Kyypa Tucher to Induce thom to graut him license. Tle was propufred to preach, und after he camo wet of the church, mortified at Liis failure, he was roma- forted by ame ut the brethren saying to him, "Janes, 1 l for you, but if I lind heard that hormon [ vonid set have done It.7 James did not go to Camden to ouli- femneg, but received through the preacher on the wie- mit he appointment: A kind friend gave him a little
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
to be, and its circuits were divided between Joseph Tarpley and Lewis Myers. Lovick Pierce was stationed in Milledgeville. During this year a draft for soldiers was ordered, and, as preachers were not excluded, he was drafted with the militia. The colonel of the regi- ment offered him the chaplaincy of it, which he ac- cepted, and was stationed at Savannah. Here he began to read medicine, and prepared himself for that loca- tion he saw was inevitable, under the then condition of things.
At this conference Lovick Pierce brought up from the Broad River Circuit the recommendation of James Osgood Andrew. He was the son of John Andrew, the first native Georgian who had joined the travelling con- nection. James Andrew was not a promising-looking lad when he was somewhat reluctantly licensed by the quarterly conference to preach ; but he was a good boy, of good parentage, and might make a useful man, they thought. Preachers were needed, and so the confer- ence, on the recommendation of his presiding elder, re- ceived him on trial, and he was sent as second man, on the Saltcatcher Circuit, in Barnwell and Beaufort Dis- tricts, S. C. Ilis own estimate of himself was low, but not lower than that of some who composed the quarter- ly conference which licensed him. It required the en- treaties of Epps Tucker to induce them to grant him license. He was required to preach, and after he came out of the church, mortified at his failure, he was com .- forted by one of the brethren saying to him, " James, I voted for you, but if I had heard that sermon I would not have done it." Jaines did not go to Cainden to con- ference, but received through the preacher on the cir- cuit his appointment. A kind friend gave him a little
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black pony which he called Cicero, and he started for South Carolina, on his life-long work in the travelling ministry .* W. M. Kennedy was his presiding elder, and it was well for the sensitive boy that he was, for Kennedy saw the brilliant mind of the young preacher, though the simple-hearted brethren of the quarterly conference did not. The crust on the diamond does not hide its beauty from the lapidary, and W. M. Ken- nedy was a judge of jewels. Thomas Darley was now a local preacher in the bounds of the circuit, and he did the boy every service which judicious counsel could do. The year ended, and he had done well. . IIe was not required to go to conference, and went on a visit home to receive his appointment to the Bladen Circuit, in North Carolina. IIe was now in charge of a large cir- cnit, with 600 members scattered over three counties in North Carolina and one district in South Carolina. There were many poor people in his circuit, and in one part of it the people had neither bread nor meat, but lived on peas, buttermilk, and honey. There were a number of Scotch Highlanders in the bounds of his work, who spoke nothing but Gaelic. They were rigid Presbyterians, but not sober, and the old Scotch pastor was himself too fond of a glass. The pious ones among them were known as new lights.t
Amid these surroundings the future Bishop prepared for conference. There was at that time no examina- tion into literary proficiency. The great question was as to the young preacher's piety and zeal, and his success in winning souls, and his firmness in executing the
* From himself.
t His own reminiscence as published in S. C. Advocate.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
discipline. While the circuit had not increased much in numbers, it was evident to the conference that young Andrew was not a failure. IIe went now to his first conference, which met in Milledgeville. IIe was sent in charge of the Warren Circuit, in Georgia. It was large and important, extending from Warren to Richmond, and including Warren, Columbia, and Richmond Coun- ties. There were in it near 800 members-no small charge to a young man just admitted into full connec- tion. Gause, his companion, was somewhat eccentric, who, after travelling a little while as Methodist, formed a now extinct body known as the Benign Society, and died in communion with the Baptist Church .* IIis next appointment was Charleston. He was the third man on the station, and two other young men, G. Christopher and Thomas Stanley, were with him. Timid and sensi- tive he always was; but now, in his twenty-third year, to be thrust into a large city was a great trial to his cour- age ; but he did his work well. Hle was by this time a preacher of real power. IIe had been trained by con- stant practice for the pulpit. He had a mind of great native grasp, a heart full of deep feeling, a taste of the nicest order, and his expression was full of earnestness, tenderness, and pathos. IIe was fervent and fearless. His imagination was glowing, and although he was but a young man, he commanded the admiration of all who heard him; and though so young, was even then the peer of many of the foremost. There was a Scotch merchant in Charleston, named McFarland, who had a lovely daughter, Amelia. The family were all Metho- dists, and Amelia not the least devoted. The young
* Leaves from the Diary of an Itinerant. 8
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HISTORY OF METHODISM
preacher was not invulnerable, and in his fourth year he found himself deeply in love with his young parish- ioner, and engaged to be married to her. Now, there is nothing wonderful in this, and it requires no special amount of courage in a young preacher in this day to marry a good girl, when he has graduated into elder's orders ; but not so then. The good Asbury had reached old age unmarried, and so had Mckendree, and Bruce, and Lee. The preachers who married, located ; and if Andrew married ere he was twenty-three, his elders thought he would be lost to the Church as an itinerant. Lewis Myers, yet unmarried, was noted for the severity of his castigations when a young preacher was so infatuated as to marry early and when Andrew knew all this and took the gentle Amelia as he did to be his wedded wife, he evinced the depth and ardor of his affection. He married her, and proved the falsity of the predictions and the folly of the scourging, and during thirty years of toil she was the joy of his life and the light of his home. With his young bride he went to Wilmington, N. C., for two years, and then to Columbia, S. C., for one, aud in 1820 returned to Georgia, and was stationed at Augusta, where we will see him again.
Samuel Dunwoody was appointed at the Conference of 1812 to go to the Mississippi District, but, being a mein- ber-elect to the General Conference, did not go, and was sent at this conference to St. Mary's, which had been a station for two years, but continued one only during this year.
Samuel K. Hodges joined the conference this session, and was sent on Little River Circuit. He continued in the work in some relation until his death, in 1842. Ile
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
was a leading man in Georgia, and exerted a great deal of influence both in church and state. He was a man of finest business capacity, and was an efficient presiding elder the larger part of the time that he was an effective preacher. He was presiding elder on the Columbus District, when he was taken seriously ill and died at his home in Columbus, saying that for thirty years he had been trying to get ready for the change, and was not afraid to go. He did much for the Church in Georgia, and to his sagacious labors much of her present prosper- ity is owing.
Anthony Senter, who had been a blacksmith, and who had left his forge for the pulpit, was on the Sparta Cir- cuit this year. IIe was a good man, with a strong mind and a warm heart. He filled important places, and died of consumption in Georgetown, S. C., in 1817.
Allen Turner's name appears as junior preacher on the Washington Circuit. It stood upon the minutes for forty years after this. He was an unlettered boy, but one whose very heart-depths had been stirred by his religious con- flicts, and who had found a rich peace in a simple faith. He was a man of very marked peculiarities, strong in his convictions of what was right, and bold in asserting them. He dressed in the style of the older Methodists, never allowed himself the luxury of a laugh, and ap- peared to be a man of great austerity, but was really a man of exquisite gentleness. IIe was afraid of no man, and fought fearlessly when his principles were attacked. Judge Longstreet, who was his great friend, wrote some articles in favor of instrumental music in churches. Unele Allen assailed him right gallantly, and made a brave tilt, even though he failed to unhorse his antagonist. Did & preacher wear a beard, or shave on Sunday, he might
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