USA > Illinois > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 1
USA > Indiana > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 1
USA > Missouri > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 1
USA > Ohio > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at http://books.google.com/
C8088.30
ABADEM
VER RI
TAS
ECCLESIA
Marbard College Library
FROM THE
BRIGHT LEGACY.
Descendants of Henry Bright, jr., who died at Water- town, Mass., in 1686, are entitled to hold scholarships in Harvard College, established in 1880 under the will of JONATHAN BROWN BRIGHT of Waltham, Mass., with one half the income of this Legacy. Such descendants failing, other persons are eligible to the scholarships. The will requires that this announcement shall be made in every book added to the Library under its provisions,
Received 18 Feb., 1890.
- 7
1 1
.٠
Cl
/
O
PAGES
FROM THE
EARLY HISTORY
OF THE
WEST AND NORTH-WEST:
EMBRACING REMINISCENCES AND INCIDENTS OF SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH, AND SKETCHES OF THE MATERIAL AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS
OF THE
STATES OF OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, AND MISSOURI,
WITH
ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF METHODISM.
BY REV. S. R. BEGGS.
CINCINNATI : PRINTED AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN. 1868.
C 8088.30
$$23465,45 V
FEB 18 1830
Brus:
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
S. R. BEGGS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio.
-
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE.
Autobiographical-Ancestry-Life in Southern Indiana-Con-
version
CHAPTER II.
Early Methodism in Indiana-Notable Preachers-Confer-
ences-Districts and Circuits.
17
CHAPTER III.
Compilations from Smith's "Indiana Miscellany"
......
31
CHAPTER IV.
The Same continued-The Pious Wife and Impenitent Hus-
band-Remarkable Conversion.
44
CHAPTER V.
Received into Missouri Conference-Remarkable Experiences
in the Primitive Itinerancy
51
CHAPTER VI.
Introduction to the Illinois Work-Minutes of the First Con-
ference
59
CHAPTER VII.
Pioneer Experiences-Home Again-Pleasant Conference Occa-
sions ...
67
CHAPTER VIII.
Quakers and Infidels at a Methodist Meeting-A Primitive
Baptism
... 75
4 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX. PAGE.
Marriage-Rough Experiences of a Young Bride-Painful and Perilous Journeyings. 81
CHAPTER X
Mission Work in Chicago, 1831-32-Terrors of an Indian Raid-A Home-Made Fort. 94
CHAPTER XI.
Privations in Chicago-Division of Illinois Conference-Inci-
dents of Labor.
103
CHAPTER XII.
A Clear Conversion-Statistics of Desplaines Mission-Rock
River Conference formed.
114
CHAPTER XIII. History of Peoria-A Curious Church-Building Enterprise ... 122 CHAPTER XIV.
Sketch of Rev. Jesse Walker-Interesting Narrative from his
own Manuscript ..
131
CHAPTER XV.
Statistics of Early Methodism in the Fox River Region-Au-
rora and Ottowa
143
CHAPTER XVI.
Early Methodism in Middle Illinois-Sangamon County-First
Settlement of Peoria
151
CHAPTER XVII.
Miscellaneous Statistics-The Plainfield Work-How Roberts
became Bishop.
161
CHAPTER XVIII.
Biographical Episode-The Author's Work and Experiences ou the Christian Commission, in 1864. 169
5
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX. PAGE.
Chicago Methodism-Great Religious Struggle and Victory .... 175 CHAPTER XX.
The First Chicago Churches-Canal-Street, Clark-Street, and
Indiana-Street.
182
CHAPTER XXI. The Chicago Indian Massacre of 1812-Mrs. Kinzie's Narrative 191 CHAPTER XXII.
Mrs. Kinzie's Narrative continued.
..
200
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Author's Observations on the Indian Character-Causes
of the Sauk War.
213
CHAPTER XXIV.
.(the ancedotes?)
Indian Anecdotes-How Jesse Walker dealt with them .....
221
CHAPTER XXV.
Chicago-Origin of Name-Incidents of Early Settlement-
First Methodist Preaching.
227
CHAPTER XXVI.
Our Publishing Interests-The Methodist Book Concerns in
New York and Cincinnati.
236
CHAPTER XXVII. First Baptist Church in Plainfield-Methodism in Plainfield .. 241 CHAPTER XXVIII.
A Sketch of Methodism in Lockport.
...
249
CHAPTER XXIX.
History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal-A Great Under-
taking under Great Difficulties
260
6
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXX.
PAGE.
A Sketch of the Conversion and Ministry of Rev. John Hill- :
Extraordinary Effects of his Preaching. 268
CHAPTER XXXI.
Anecdotes of Bishops Roberta and Soule Singular Incident Sketches of Western Methodism. 274
CHAPTER XXXII.
Western Methodism-James B. Finley-Nolley -Bangs-
M'Kendree
293
CHAPTER XXXIII. .
Administration of Discipline-Rev. John Sinclair ................. 301 CHAPTER XXXIV.
First Session of Rock River Conference. ..... ...... 311
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Prairie State-Its Beauty, Resources, Population, and
Destiny
.......
317
CHAPTER XXXVI.
St. Louis in the Olden Time-Its First Newspaper-Progress
of Methodism in Illinois
321
INTRODUCTION.
-
BY T. M. EDDY, D. D.
YEARS ago, when the writer first came to the North-West, among his earliest and most hearty greetings was one from Stephen R. Beggs. We found so pleasant a spirit, so happy a disposition, so cheerful a retrospect that we sought further acquaintance. His experience ran back into pioneer days, swept along the rough places, and wound among the bridle- paths of frontier settlements. So interesting were his reminis- cences that, at our request, he wrote a portion of them, which appeared in successive numbers of the North-Western Christian Advocate. Artless, natural, just, they attracted favorable atten- tion, and called out an expression favorable to publication in a more extended and permanent form.
The thought of a book came to him as an amazement. He, Stephen R. Beggs, become the author of a duodecimo volume! He had never thought of entering into history, much less writ- ing it. When he made his way from one appointment to another by blazed trees, and stood up on a puncheon floor and preached in the dim glare of one or two tallow candles, kept alight by the snuffing of backwoods fingers, he would have laughed outright at the prediction that he should ever make a book to be read by the light streaming into richly carpeted parlors from patent gas-burners. Balisi!
Yet why not? These early Methodist pioneers have led an eventful life, and its record is almost as marvelous as any thing
8
INTRODUCTION.
in the annals of chivalry, and possesses the glitter of romance They have a knowledge of persons, places, and events essential to a perfect history of our Church in the West, and, unless writ- ten, it dies with them. Written, and not printed, it will be of no service to the future historian. A few years ago autobiographie literature was overdone, and yet the poorest, stalest, and least enduring had its value, and from such ephemeral annals will history be enriched.
The author was at the laying of foundations in the North- West, both political and ecclesiastical. He was in Chicago ere Mi it was Chicago. He rocked the cradle of young Methodism here, but, musical as he is, would never sing to it a lullaby. He has told the story as he knew it, and as other careful observers have recited it. He was here among the Indian troubles when Black Hawk was devastating the country, and that, too, is told. He has labored in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri when there was more hard work than pecuniary compensation.
With his own experience he has connected anecdotes, sketches, stray waifs of biography, and incidents in danger of being lost.
He sends it forth, especially commending it to his old friends, the associates, lay and cleric, of earlier days. There are many yet living, for of tough stock and hardy fiber were those pioneer folks. They will read, and "remember the days of former times." We commend it to younger readers. It is well to see, amid our present, what was the character of our near past. Those days can never come again; changes of population and society make them impossible. The scream of the locomotive has scared the saddle-bags out of sight, and almost out of existence. New duties, new conflicts, new responsibilities are upon us. But let us keep in sympathy with the heroic aggressions, the chivalrous spirit, the daring and doing which made "the paths straight" for our present. For this there is nothing like the facts as they were, and some of them the author has told.
OFFICE NORTH-WESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE,
Chicago, April 25, 1868,
PAGES
FROM THE
Carly History of the Celest and Forth-detest.
CHAPTER I.
My great-grandfathers were born, the one, James Beggs, in Ireland; the other, Charles Barns, in America, of English extraction. One of my great- grandmothers was born in Ireland, the other in En- gland; the maiden name of one being Hardy, of the other, M'Dow. My grandfather, Thomas Beggs, was a native of New Jersey, where he married Sarah Barnes, and afterward emigrated to Virginia. He lived in Rockingham county, till the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. He joined the pa- triot army, and became an officer in the commissary department, and died of camp fever in 1779 or 1780. He had four sons and one daughter. His three oldest sons had large families-that of John consisting of one son, James, and eight daughters. James had four sons-Charles, John, Stephen, and Thomas. John married Hannah Barnes; James married Mary Custer; and Charles married Dorothy Trumbow.
10
EARLY HISTORY OF THE
All settled at an early day in Clark county, Indiana John Beggs was Judge of the Court; James was State Senator for nine years, joining the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1791; Charles was a member of the Legislature for several years, and served as Captain of a light-horse company in the Indian War, participating in the battle of Tippecanoe. He moved to Illinois in 1829. He still lives, at the advanced age of ninety-two; and during the Rebellion was as bitter against the "Tories," as he termed the rebels, as his family had been in '76. My father and moth- er, James Beggs and Mary Custer, were members of the Methodist Church from 1791 to the day of their death, a period of three-fourths of a century ; and if I am an ultra Methodist, I came honestly by it.
I was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, March 30, 1801. When I was four years old, my father moved West, stopping about two years in Kentucky; and then settling in Clark county, Indiana, on the Ohio River, about seventeen miles above the falls at Louisville, where my father passed the rest of his life. My father had scarcely cleared off a small piece of ground-he had bought a heavily timbered farm of one hundred and sixty acres-and erected a log cabin, when the whole family, father, mother, and five children, myself excepted, were taken sick with chills and fever. In the absence of a physician, a brother Methodist administered the novel remedy, calomel; and we all soon became convalescent.
11
WEST AND NORTH-WEST.
Father, however, attempted work too soon, and one damp day took a cold, which resulted in an attack of rheumatism that kept him laid up for nine years, unable to do a day's work. This was a sore afflic- tion to us all, especially to mother, upon whom it imposed heavy responsibilities. These misfortunes induced father to exchange his large farm for a smaller one, with some improvements. My elder brothers held the plow, and I drove or rode the team; and we thus managed to raise grain enough for the supply of the family and the stock through the first Winter. Subsequently, father was elected to the Legislature, finally serving as a Senator more than ten years, greatly to the comfort of his family. He was a great stickler for grammar, receiving the name of "Mr. Syntax," by which he was known for years.
Among other deprivations consequent on the new- ness of the country, was that of shoes. I was seven' years old before I ever rejoiced in the possession of. a pair. Little did my parents or I myself see, in this pioneer life of the boy, God's hardening process, preparatory for the hardships of the uncultivated fields of his vineyard.
During our youth we enjoyed all the manly out- door sports, such as hunting, wrestling, jumping, ball-playing, etc .; but swearing, lying, and dancing were eschewed and detested. As for dancing, I felt something as Daniel Webster expressed it, who said he never had sense enough to learn. It really
1
12
EARLY HISTORY OF THE
seemed such hard work, that I had a fellow-feeling with the heathen, who, seeing how hard people exerted themselves in that "amusement," wondered why they did not make their servants dance as well as do the rest of their drudgery.
My father, though not a very large man, was very athletic. I had the reputation of being the strongest man in Clark county. John Strange, one day, saw me walking at a short distance; and stop- ping in amazement at my apparent strength, said that if I could only get my feet properly set, I could rock the earth. I was just six feet in hight, and weighed from one hundred and eighty-five to one hundred and ninety-nine pounds. I have passed a generally healthy life; and now, 1868, my health is good, my lungs sound, and I am free from dyspepsia, or other chronic ailment.
What little schooling we got was in the Winter, in a school-house, which it may be worth while to describe: built of round logs; the window, a rude opening filled with white paper, greased with lard to admit the light; the benches made of "slabs" split from logs, and so high that the smaller chil- dren's feet could not touch the ground, that being all the floor we had; one entire end of the structure _ being used for a fireplace, the chimney built of split sticks, plastered over with mortar. With the im- provement of the country, our advantages became greater. The old Dillworth spelling-book used to cost one dollar, equal to four dollars of our money.
13
WEST AND NORTH-WEST.
From early youth I had a desire to become a preacher. This I manifested in conducting meetings in innocent play among the children, or alone in the deep forest, going through with the regular order of exercises. I learned to think that if a man could read, and write, and sing, and pray, he had about all the qualifications needed for the itinerant work. V When I was about twelve years of age, the Indian troubles began in Scott and Clark counties. My fears I can vividly recall. I expected the savages would kill me; felt that I was not prepared to die, and would have made any sacrifice, could I have felt that I was not an accountable being.
When the news came of the "Pigeon-Roost mas- sacre," nearly all the settlers north of us fled across the Ohio, leaving their effects behind. Returning, they built a fortification around my father's house, which was of stone. Here they remained for days, in constant expectation of the Indians. Several block-houses were built to the north of us, the occu- pants of which would flee to our fort on every fresh alarm. The "Pigeon-Roost massacre,".of which I spoke, occurred at a settlement of that name, formed in 1809, and which, confined to a square mile of land, was five or six miles distant from neighboring settlements.
On the afternoon of the third of September, 1812, Jeremiah Payne and a man by the name of Kauff- . mann, were surprised and killed by a party of Indi- ans while at work in the woods, about two miles
14
EARLY HISTORY OF THE
from the settlement. The Indians then-Shawnees, ten or twelve in number-attacked the settlement about sunset, and murdered one man, five women, and sixteen children. The bodies of some of the victims were burned in the cabins where they were slaughtered. Mrs. John Biggs alone escaped with her three small children, reaching a settlement six miles distant near daylight.
A number of the militia of Clark county proceeded to the scene of the massacre, where they found only the mangled and half-consumed bodies of the dead, and the ruins of the houses; and the remains were all buried in one grave.
- From a child I enjoyed the advantages of relig- ious education, and was taught at school, as well as at home, to read the Bible. I formed the habit of prayer very young, and continued it regularly till my conversion in the nineteenth year of my age. At that time I visited a camp meeting at Jacobs' camp-grounds, seven miles above Louisville, which began October 6th. On Sabbath afternoon, after a powerful sermon by Rev. James Ward, of the Ken- tucky Conference, I took my place at the altar, among seekers of religion. The deliverance, on which I had fixed my determination, did not come till sunset. I can never forget those first bright joys of pardoned sin, nor cease recalling, when I think of that blessed hour, the shouts of joy that arose like the "sounds of many waters," "Glory to God in the highest !" multiplied, as they were, by
1
15
WEST . AND. NORTH-WEST.
scores, till two hundred were converted. Among these seven of us were licensed to preach, the most of whom entered the itinerant work.
. Soon after my probation expired I was appointed assistant class-leader. It was a heavy cross to ad- dress in reproof and exhortation, as well as comfort, the old alike with the young; yet I found, as I have ever found, His grace sufficient for me. I was soon afterward licensed to exhort, by Rev. Samuel Glaze. Blessed in these labors, I was speedily licensed to preach. I had long felt this necessity laid upon me, though I shrank from the great duty; but the resolution once formed, and the step taken, I felt wonderfully blest. This occurred at the local con- ference at a quarterly camp meeting near Salem, Indiana.
: I resolved that after two years' schooling, I would offer myself to the Annual Conference as a pro- bationer. Rev. James Armstrong, who succeeded Rev. C. Ruter-under whose untiring labors six hundred had . been added to the Church on the cir- cuit-insisted that I should at once receive a recom- mendation to the next Annual Conference, which was to be held at St. Louis that Fall. He held that I could better receive my education and graduate in the "Brush .College," as most of our preachers had done. After much anxious and prayerful reflection, I finally said: " Here am I." My recommendation was presented, and I was received; and glad am I to this day that I began when I did and as I did.
L
16
EARLY HISTORY OF THE
This one lesson I learned: to look to the Lord, whence cometh our help. I know that I have thus formed a habit of trust stronger than I should have done, had I waited to receive a liberal education. Yet I realize what a blessing and what a power a sanctified education is.
The great revival above mentioned was attended with many extraordinary physical manifestations, in which both the converted and the unconverted were alike exercised. Some laughed so excessively and so long that it seemed as though they would literally "die laughing." Bending backward as far as they could, they would laugh at the top of their voice, then bending forward almost to the ground, they would continue till they well-nigh lost breath, then straightening up and catching breath, they would renew their convulsive laughter, repeating the same phenomena for an hour or more, till completely exhausted they would fall down in a swoon. The "jerks" were also very common in the prayer meet- ings, particularly among the women. Sometimes three or four were affected at once, being thrown flat on the floor, and when forced to their feet by a couple of strong men, "jerked" irresistibly back and forth. Often have I seen a frail woman surpass the utmost strength of two strong men.
Elder Hamilton was preaching on one occasion when several became affected in this way. It pre- vented his going on with his discourse, as he thought it all assumed, or at least a thing which could be
17
WEST AND NORTH-WEST.
controlled. That very night, however, after retiring, he was himself seized with the "jerks." On finding them to be a reality, he fervently prayed the good Lord to deliver him from what he considered an affliction, promising that if similar occurrences took place again at his meetings, he would make the best of it. They were so prevalent in places, in these early days, that Peter Cartwright said that he had heard of the dogs and hogs having them; a fact to which brother John Stewart bears the testimony of personal observation.
Brother Cartwright tells of one man whose neck was actually broken while thus exercised. The falling "exercise" was also very common; those affected by it lying apparently lifeless for hours. The subjects returned to consciousness with a bound, and generally with a shout of " Glory to God !" President Edwards, for his personal satisfaction, ex- amined carefully into these phenomena, and gave it as his deliberate conviction, that these "foxfire " and "wildfire" conversions, as they were termed, were often among the most powerful and lasting that he had ever witnessed.
2
18
EARLY HISTORY OF THE
CHAPTER II.
As early as 1802 Methodists ventured within the present limits of Indiana, among its few scattered settlers. The first was Nathan Robertson, who moved from Kentucky to Charlestown, Clark county, in 1779. Three years later a small class was organ- ized near Charlestown. This class built the first chapel in the State, on David Roland's land. This was afterward burned down, and another erected a mile farther north, called Gassaway, or Salem meet- ing-house. It was made of hewed logs, and still stands in a good state of preservation, though not used for worship. In the old church-yard in which it stands, lie the remains of my revered father and mother, of two brothers and a sister, all members of the Methodist Church. Within the walls of this church I was faithfully warned to flee from the wrath to come, and pointed to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, by some of the best men the Church has ever produced. The class was very strong in faith and in numbers, em- bracing a hundred members at the close of Calvin Ruter's Conference year, 1820.
Wm. Cravens made a practice of meeting the class at his appointments, where he would examine each member, asking them if they drank strong drink.
19
WEST AND NORTH-WEST.
All who confessed to doing so and who would not promise total abstinence, he would direct to sit on a separate bench. At the close of the class meeting he would have a prayer meeting in their behalf. If no reformation followed these efforts, he had them tried promptly and turned out of the Church. He was a very large man and of great strength. His sermons were original and powerful. His eccentric- ity was proverbial. In one of his sermons before election he said he .would as soon vote for a horse- thief as a dram-drinker or whisky distiller.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.