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Brethren In Northern Illinois and Wisconsin
By
John Heckman
and J. E. Miller
BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE Elgin, Illinois 1941
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DEDICATED to those Noble Men and Women of the Church of the Brethren who Left Their Eastern Friends Endured Pioneer Hardships
Built Christian Homes in Illinois and Wisconsin Established the Church as the Community Center and
Left Their Children a Priceless Heritage
From the library of
AdelleFrank.com
Preface
It was in 1915, that, at the suggestion of the writer, the Polo church asked the district meeting to appoint a committee to "gather and preserve historical material and data of the churches and workers of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, that it may be available when a history is to be written." Committee ap- pointed: Cyrus M. Suter, D. L. Miller and John Heckman. D. L. Miller soon after withdrew from the committee and J. E. Miller was added. Questionnaires were sent out and much valuable material was brought together. Several approaches were made toward writing the history. Suter passed on to his reward. Delay proved valuable, for in 1936 the way opened to devote time to completing the research through all the churches and communities to secure facts and materials that were fading from the memory of the pioneers and their descendants.
We acknowledge the interest and help so generously given by all. Special mention is made of Eld. John J. Emmert of Mt. Carroll, who kept a diary from 1857 to 1893 (with one year miss- ing), the time of his death, in which he jotted many passing events of the church, its leaders and membership. And, also, of Eld. Allen Boyer of Lena, who made notes of many district meetings, subjects discussed, and especially of love feasts and ministers.
In the earlier years the churches kept no orderly records of their doings. In the late seventies records were beginning. They were making history with little time to record it. With some there was an aversion to recording the activities of their public meetings. Much of this early history has been secured from what has been told by word of mouth, family traditions, old deeds and wills, old Bibles, marriage records and diaries. Even tombstones hold secrets, some of which we have been able to un- lock. The research work has become a fascinating hobby. These people of the past have become my friends. I almost live with them. I let them talk to me. Their good deeds and achieve- ments have become a great inspiration to me and this little vol- ume is put forth to record the doings and thoughts of those who have gone before us that we may inherit, not so much their methods as the spirit in which they did their work, and the de- votion to their tasks, unfinished and left to us to carry on.
John Heckman.
Contents
Page
Preface
4
PART ONE
Introduction
7
PART TWO
Illinois Congregations
Arnold's Grove (1842) 13
Franklin Grove (Rock River). (1845) 20
West Branch (1846)
25
Yellow Creek (1848)
32
Hickory Grove (1858) .36
Pine Creek (1858) 39
Milledgeville (Dutchtown) (1850 or '59)
41
Bethel (Naperville) (1858-1860) 46
Cherry Grove (1859) 50
Waddams Grove (1859) 54
Rock Creek (1866) 58
Silver Creek (Mount Morris) (1867) 61
Shannon (1875) 69
Lanark (1878) 73
Pigeon Creek (Oak Grove) (1881) 77
First Church, Chicago (1889) 78
Batavia (1896) 84
Elgin (1899) 86
Polo (1905)
90
Dixon (1908) 92
Rockford (1911) 96
Freeport (1920) 98
Chelsea (1924) 100
Douglas Park (1938) 102
Wisconsin Congregations
Ash Ridge (1854)
104
6
CONTENTS
Irvin Creek (1869) 106
Pierce County (1875?) 106
Chippewa Valley (1879) 107
Maple Grove (1885) 108
Barron (1888) 111
Worden (1904) 113
Elk River (1904?) 114
Cloverdale (1909) 115
Rice Lake (1913) 116
Stanley (1919) 117
White Rapids (1920)
119
PART THREE Activities
Publishing Interests 121
Mission Board-Board of Administration 124
Beyond the Seas 126
Annual Meetings
129
District Meeting 133
Mount Morris College 135
Bethany Biblical Seminary 139
The Home 141
Bethany Hospital 144
Women's Work 146
PART FOUR Who's Who
Biographies 148
Pictures 161
PART FIVE Appendix
Illinois Congregations 219
Wisconsin Congregations 243
Elders Ordained 248
Index
251
PART ONE
Introductory
For the origin of the Church of the Brethren one must go back to the fiery and profound preaching and writing of Martin Luther, through whose labors the Reformation resulted. Such were the power and influence of Luther that the Catholic Church experienced a reformation and the Protestant denominations came into being. Notwithstanding the Reformation the years brought forth a spiritual decadence which again cried out for a reform. The Pietistic movement which followed brought satis- faction to some. There were those, however, who could not go with those Pietists who, in their desire to get away from for- malism, were ready to discard all church organizations. Among those who appreciated the strength of Pietism, but held to an organized church, was Alexander Mack, the founder of the Church of the Brethren. Biblical in his study, evangelistic in his message, he gathered around him other earnest seekers who were eager to discover the message of the New Testament and were ready to follow its teachings. Mack was living at Schwarz- enau in the province of Wittgenstein, Prussia. Finally eight of these seekers were ready to bind themselves together in a more formal manner. Because they were not able to find a church that practiced the teachings of the New Testament as they discovered and understood them, in the year 1708, early one morning they met on the banks of the Eder River and were im- mersed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost as taught in Matthew 28: 19, 20. This trine immer- sion, they had discovered according to history, was the early mode of Christian baptism. They experienced great joy in this move, continued their Bible study, practiced what they knew and proclaimed their belief to others. Such was the simple origin of the Church of the Brethren.
The denomination has been known by various names, though their preference at the beginning was simply brethren, for they considered themselves merely a brotherhood, a fellowship. They have been known as Tunkers, Dunkards, Dunkers. Because of their German origin, German has often been applied to them. Because of their form of baptism they have often been called Baptists. Conference of 1836 adopted the name, Fraternity of
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German Baptists. In 18- the legal name adopted was German Baptist Brethren. Finally the Conference of 1908 adopted the name, Church of the Brethren, which has since been in use, though one must often call himself a Dunkard when he tries to explain to a stranger what his church really is.
Ere many years both the established churches and the state began to persecute this new brotherhood, this church of protest that dared to preach doctrines at variance with those generally accepted. From Schwarzenau the membership was driven west- ward. So bitter was this persecution that in 1719 Peter Becker, an outstanding minister, led the first Brethren group to Amer- ica, settling in and near Germantown, Pennsylvania. In 1729 Alexander Mack followed with a second party, which settled among the first group. This drain upon the European congre- gations was so heavy that they finally disappeared altogether. On the other hand, their number in America increased. The first American organization was formed at Germantown on Christmas Day of 1723, at which time the first baptisms were performed and the first love feast was held in the New World. From this beginning new settlements and new congregations de- veloped in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and westward to the Mississippi River, later to the Pacific coast, south to the Gulf of Mexico and north into Canada. Foreign congregations are found in Denmark, Sweden, Nigeria, China and India.
The scope of this study deals specifically with what is known in denominational language as the District of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin. The time begins with the second quarter of the nineteenth century and comes down to the present. We deal with men, institutions and movements as they have come into and affected the Church of the Brethren. The Brethren first settled in Ogle, Carroll, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Lee and Whiteside counties, later spreading into DuPage, Cook and Kane counties in Illinois, and into several counties in Wisconsin, though the Wisconsin membership has never been very large. Between the districts of Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois lies a large territory that has never come under Brethren influ- ence.
In the century that has passed since the Brethren first came to Illinois great changes have taken place. At that time short
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distances were long, transportation facilities were primitive and means of communication tremendously slow. The telegraph and steam railway were in their swaddling clothes. The tele- phone, trolley, automobile, airplane, electric light, radio and other electrical appliances were not even dreamed of. The lum- ber wagon, the horse's back and the human foot were the com- mon instruments of going from place to place. Water travel was very slow. Men cut grain with the cradle and grass with the scythe, and threshed with the flail. Women toiled in the field, spun the wool and flax from which they wove the cloth and made the garments for the entire family, cooked the meals, baked the bread, bent over the washtub, dried fruit and berries for winter use and did the thousand and one other things of which the modern woman knows nothing. Then the kitchen and the laboratory alike were ignorant of calories and vitamins. But what delightful meals the women set before the hungry family! Doctors were hard to reach and their treatment was primitive. Disease germs, then unknown to the human mind, ran riot in the human body and waged a winning battle. As a result the suffering, especially among infants and children, was so appalling that death was a welcome relief. Disease was fought, if fought it was, by home remedies often compounded from roots and leaves and berries gathered from field and forest. Fortunately many of these remedies, if they did not cure, at least did not harm the patient. Hours were long, work hard, days dreary, advantages few. Conditions called for sturdy souls, and these same conditions produced the sturdy souls needed.
The Brethren, being opposed to slavery, turned westward rather than southward. Because they were an agricultural peo- ple rather than urban, the broad and productive prairies of Illi- nois, landscaped with woods and streams, appealed to them. The happy hunting grounds so recently vacated by the Indians, who were being shoved farther and farther west, offered new homes at figures amazingly low. The price of land in the eastern states was rising and the population increasing. Naturally some of the more venturesome were ready to leave the blessings of the East, break ties with the home community, cast their lot with those who were reporting the glories of Illinois, and share what- ever hardships pioneer life was sure to offer.
The Brethren who first came to northern Illinois brought
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with them the pioneer spirit. They were not driven out of their comfortable Eastern homes; they left them voluntarily. Peer- ing into the future they beheld doors opening to opportunities for themselves and their children that were not possible in their old and populous communities. They were industrious and not afraid of work. They were optimists, not pessimists. They desired homes more than wealth. They sought a living; yea more; they sought life. They were not blind to the hardships to be endured in a new and undeveloped land. They well knew what was before them, but they had the sturdy faith and the unbending will to grapple with difficulties and turn them into steppingstones.
They came not for a day nor a year, but for a lifetime. They brought with them their families, their all. Having burned all bridges behind them, they staked their claims and built their modest houses, which they turned into Christian homes, bul- warks of the community, the church and the nation. Best of all, they brought their religion with them, for to them religion was a way of life and an essential part of one's being. Having been Brethren in the East they remained Brethren in the West. They knew the value of the church and made it the community center. With the Bible in the home and the spirit of Christ in the heart they were slothful neither in business nor in assem- bling for public worship. Often, but not always, they brought with them their preacher to whom they looked for guidance. Even without their preacher they lived their faith openly until a spiritual leader moved among them or until they found one from among their own number. They met for worship in pri- vate homes, the public schoolhouse, and, in Mt. Carroll, in the courthouse before the meetinghouse was built. Regardless of handicap they found a place for public worship. When sick- ness came and took toll of their loved ones, they laid them away in newly consecrated soil near which they later built the meet- inghouse. Thus did new ties bind them to their new homes.
Father, mother, children, all were ready to accept the new conditions and make the best of them. Their simple faith was matched by their simple life, all of which helped to lessen fric- tion. Being rurally reared they were adept in selecting the best soil. They were at home in the country and loved farm life. Because they loved God's open fields they endured privations
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without complaint and were content on the prairies with scat- tered neighbors. This pioneer spirit and love of the soil they passed on to their descendants who in turn settled on the farm. Thus families multiplied and neighbors increased. Community groups of Brethren joined in building the meetinghouses. With- out knowing it they became a co-operative society and kept ex- penses at the minimum. Working with their own hands in erecting their meetinghouses was a strong factor in uniting them and making the church central in rural sections. With a free ministry church expenses were never high. Often the min- istry bore the greater part of the expense. It is not necessary to say here that this may have been to the detriment of the laity and was hard on the minister's finances. Those pioneer preachers would not have had it otherwise.
Fortunately this pioneer spirit came down through the years and helped to make northern Illinois a sort of laboratory for pioneering in the Church of the Brethren. When this section had only four organized congregations and fewer than five hun- dred members it asked for two successive years that Annual Meeting be held within its borders. The request was granted and in 1856 Conference came to Lena, Illinois, Annual Meeting's western point up to that time. Faith and works joined hands in that effort, which would stagger the churches now, for all entertainment at that time was free, the expense being borne by the local community and churches. That you may the better appreciate how Northern Illinois and Wisconsin has pioneered, consider the following outstanding activities:
1. The district meetings dating from 1857, and their com- plete minutes beginning with 1860.
2. The Danish Mission, concretely set on foot at a special district meeting at Cherry Grove on November 12, 1875. This became the harbinger of all our future foreign missions.
3. The launching of the Brethren at Work at Lanark in 1876. This led to the shifting of our printing interests from Pennsyl- vania to Illinois. As a result the main church organizations are located at Elgin and have brought a large number of active men and women into the district.
4. The special two-day district meeting at Lanark, in 1878, which appointed a district mission board, the first in the broth- erhood.
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5. The opening of Mount Morris College on August 20, 1879.
6. The opening of the Home at Mount Morris on February 1, 1893, the fourth Home for our denomination.
7. The opening of the India Mission in the fall of 1894 with Wilbur B. and Mary Emmert Stover from our own district as pioneer missionaries.
8. The founding of Bethany Bible School in Chicago in 1905.
9. The opening of the doors of Bethany Hospital on Decem- ber 31, 1920, with trustees holding the property in trust until such time as the church may see fit to assume full responsibility.
These nine projects originating within the bounds of our dis- trict all mark advance steps in the efforts of the Church of the Brethren to contribute its share in establishing the kingdom of God.
In our study we will consider the following:
1. The Churches in Northern Illinois.
2. The Churches in Wisconsin.
3. Special Activities.
4. Appendix. For the benefit of the reader who desires to have a connected story certain materials are included in the Appendix. This arrangement also makes it easy to locate per- sons, times and officials in the several congregations. In these matters the authors have found much difficulty in fixing the periods of service of many of the ministers and elders. They know full well that there must be many errors in this tabulation, but they hope that their efforts may stimulate others to suggest corrections and to supply gaps so that more nearly exact dates can be given.
PART TWO
Illinois Congregations
Arnold's Grove (1842)
By 1840 a few Brethren had settled in Ogle County. Not living close together they did not meet for public services for several years. At the same time a group of Brethren had settled four miles northeast of Mt. Carroll, in Carroll County. Because they lived close together conditions for public worship were favorable. This, in midsummer of 1842, led to the organization of the Arnold's Grove congregation, the first Church of the Brethren in our district. To restore the record of the transac- tions of these early pioneers is not easy. They were busy men, busy making history, not recording their every deed. As we have tried to gather the scattered fragments of their active lives we have been impressed with this fact: we are so busy trying to record what they did that we have little time left in which to do things worth recording. Being Brethren, they, of course, held "council meetings." But the written records of these meetings do not begin until September 16, 1874. There are, however, sources of information other than minutes of local councils, which, when set in proper order, make it possible to reconstruct and relive the days when the Church of the Brethren was being planted in this new territory. To do this is our happy privilege.
Once upon a time, as so many old stories begin, there lived a man of the name of John Jacob Price. No, he did not spell his name that way but probably wrote it Johannes Jakob Preisz, for he was a German. He became a follower of Alex- ander Mack and a forceful minister in the early Church of the Brethren. He was present at the first love feast in Prussia and in Germantown. His power in the pulpit did not rest on his physical prowess for he was small and not very strong. He had an only son named John who also became a Brethren min- ister, when young, and wrote good poetry but was weak physi- cally. John being the only son, his father was eager that he marry a strong woman so as to perpetuate the family name. There was in the bounds of the present Indian Creek congre- gation of Pennsylvania a buxom maiden whose father was a white man and whose mother was an Indian. John married this
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girl and by her became the father of two sons, though he himself died at the age of twenty-two before the second child was born. From this sickly John come the thousands of Prices who are members of the Church of the Brethren. But why mention the Prices? Because the Price family is found among the first set- tlers of Illinois as our story unfolds. The first congregation in our district runs back to Westphalia, Germany, and through its veins courses the blood of the American Indian. This is the origin of one pure American Brethren family.
Of this Price tribe three Price sisters and their husbands helped to lay the foundation for the Arnold's Grove congrega- tion. These three sisters were Susan Price Emmert, Elizabeth Price Arnold and Mary Price Strickler. We turn now to these.
David and Susan Price Emmert with their family came from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to Carroll County, Illinois, in 1839, most likely accompanied by their nephews, Daniel and Samuel Price, who in September of that year located in Ogle County in the Salem settlement south of Mt. Morris. In the spring of 1840 David Emmert bought the claim of Thomas Crane at Cherry Grove, a mile west of Georgetown. As a protection against intruders in this new country Crane had felled a number of trees and had arranged them with the tops turned outward. Within this enclosure were his house and garden. At this point the Peoria-Galena trail connected with the trail leading to Savanna. Here the Emmerts had charge of the Cherry Grove House, one of the many busy taverns along this famous and much-traveled road, where weary travelers found food and lodging. It chanced in the fall of 1841 that Nathaniel Halder- man, who had come into Carroll County, came to this tavern. This chance meeting developed into a warm friendship between Emmert and Halderman which culminated in a business part- nership vital in the development of the county. The incoming settlers were sorely in need of a gristmill. Emmert and Halder- man, sensing this need, decided to build the mill and sought a suitable site. They found one on Waukarusa Creek on a tract of land which speculators had bought but could not hold. They purchased the land, which included a goodly portion of the pres- ent site of Mt. Carroll, for $3,000 and perfected plans for the mill-to-be and erected a log house at Stag's Point, which the Emmerts occupied in June of 1842. Being adepts in tavern
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management they boarded the twenty-odd men who worked on the mill project. This log house was the first building erected in Mt. Carroll, though the place then was known as Emmert, Halderman and Company's Mill Site. This mill became a land- mark and for many years served a wide territory.
Carroll County was organized on December 3, 1838, with the county seat at Savanna on the Mississippi River. Mt. Carroll had coveted this honor. In 1843 by popular vote the county seat was transferred to Mt. Carroll. Emmert, Halderman and Com- pany had agreed to give Mt. Carroll forty acres of land if and when the county seat should be moved. There was need of a courthouse but the county had no money with which to build. Again Emmert, Halderman and Company came to the rescue and offered to build a stone courthouse, two stories in height with a foundation 31 feet by 41 feet, valued at $3,000, on condition that they themselves might designate the location and that the town return the forty acres which had been donated by the firm. In making this offer they expected to be reimbursed by the sale of lots. The county officers gladly accepted the proposition and the exchange was made.
In the contract for erecting the courthouse Emmert, Halder- man and Company asked the county to agree that, when com- pleted, the courthouse should, for a period of ten years, be open for religious services and such other gatherings as the times might demand. The county gladly accepted this proposition. Thus it came to pass that the Brethren and other religious bodies held services in this courthouse not only for ten years but for more than twice that period.
We have dwelt on this matter to show that the Brethren of that early day were leaders in business and were vitally inter- ested in the moral and spiritual uplift of the community. Da- vid Emmert and wife were Brethren. In fact, David was called to the ministry in 1854, being the first minister elected in Carroll County. The Galena lead mines extended south to near Mt. Carroll. In 1844 a certain mining prospector from Ohio sickened and died at Mt. Carroll. As yet there was no graveyard in that vicinity. They went to Halderman to arrange for the burial. Halderman said, "Wait till David Emmert comes and we will see about it." Soon Emmert was on the scene and said, "We must have a graveyard." Then and there they located what is
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