History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 83

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340


USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time > Part 83


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 (link on the Part 1 page).


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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177


.


299


PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS.


the Lake. In 1858 the University was still under the direction of the members of the Holy Cross, Rev. J. B. Force being the principal. After a few years it became evident that it was impossible to pay the rent, and the members of the Holy Cross retired from the manage- ment. In the fall of 1861 secular Catholics again as- sumed control of the institution, with a faculty organized as follows : Rev. John MeMullen, late Catholic Bishop of Davenport, president : Rev. John P. Roles, vice- president, professor of ecclesiastical history and spirit- ual director ; Rev. Dr. McGovern, principal of the ecclesiastical department and professor of dogmatic theology; Dr. T. G. Butler, professor of moral the- ology. Subsequently the Rev. P. W. Riordan, present Coadjutor Archbishop of the See of San Francisco, was added to the staff. Dr. Quackenbos was professor of Greek, Dr. Beleke professor of German and philology, and Dr. Guerin, professor of English literature. In 1862 the authorities of the University commenced the erection of a building on a large scale, G. P. Randall . being the architect. One wing only of this proposed building was erected, at a cost of $35,000. After the erection of this wing, it was used for students in the lay department, while the old buildings were used for the ecclesiastical department, professors' rooms, and dormi- tories. In these buildings the work of the University was carried on until 1867, at which time there were twenty-three ecclesiastical students and eighty lay stu- dents. For various reasons the number of students soon became so small that it was deemed advisable to abandon the University project, which was finally done in 1868, and the buildings were thenceforward occupied by the St. Joseph Orphan Asylum. From this time the history of this property with that of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart will be found in the third volume of this History,


THE SISTERS OF MERCY .- The Catholics of Chicago are indebted to the Rt. Rev. William Quarter for the establishment of this order in the city, in 1846. The Sisters arrived on the 23d of September, 1846, in com- pany with Sister Mary Frances Ward. Their names were Mary Agatha O'Brien, Mary Vincent MeGirr, Mary Gertrude McGuire, Mary Eliza Cerbitt and Mary Eva Schmidt. This small group began at once the work of dispensing the rich stores of their earthly acquisitions, opening schools which were well attended from the first. Their convent soon became too small, and Bishop Quar- ter in the last year of his life, completed the building they occupied in 1849, as convent and academy. It stood on a lot adjoining the cathedral on Wabash Avenue and cost $6,000. In 1847 the convent was incorporat- ed by the Legislature with a most ample charter and by 1849, such had been the growth of the academy, that ten Sisters were constantly engaged in teaching the two hundred children in attendance at the schools, and there were about fifteen in the community of Sisters. In 1865 a new building was erected on Wabash Avenue, adjoining the old one, which cost $32,000. The num- ber of pupils in this convent in 1855 was three hun- dred; in 186o, four hundred and fifty; and in 1865, six hundred and fifty.


THE CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM was established AAugust 16, 1849. It was under the control of the Sis- ters of Mercy from its institution until October, 1863. Originally a building known as the Cumberland House, which stood at the southwest corner of Wabash Avenue and Van Buren Street, was purchased for the use of the orphans, large numbers of whom lost their parents by the cholera which ravaged the city that year. On the 13th of February, 1852, another building was opened


to the public, and on the 21st of June the Asylum was incorporated by the Legislature. Some time previous to this a benevolent association had been organized, of which Mrs. Michael Lantry was president, and Rer. John Breen secretary, to procure funds for the Asylum. In IS53 was commenced the erection of a new building which was designed to be more commodious than the old one ; the cost of which when completed was $8,000. The number of orphans in the Asylum in 1849 was one hundred and twenty-five; in 1854, one hundred and forty ; in 1859, one hundred and eighty, and in 1863, two hundred. The numbers of Sisters in charge at the same time were: In 1849, five; in 1854, ten, and in 1863, sixteen. The names of the superiors were Sisters M. Stanislaus and M. Ursula.


PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS.


THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was organized June 26, 1833, by Rev. Jeremiah Porter. This gentle- man had been appointed Chaplain of the garrison at Fort Brady in the fall of. 1831. In the spring of IS33, the troops at Fort Brady were transferred to Fort Dearborn. As there was a Baptist mission at the Sault Ste Marie, sufficient to meet the wants of the people at that place, Mr. Porter accepted the invitation of the soldiers to accompany them to Chicago,-the more readily, as quite a number of them were members of his church at Fort Brady, and as the Home Mission Society at Boston had requested him to explore the shores of Lake Michigan to see if there were any set- tlements where the gospel might be preached. Mr. Porter, therefore, in company with the troops under command of Major John Fowle, arrived off Fort Dear- born Sunday, May 12, 1833, but on account of the roughness of the lake did not land until next day. Major Fowle bad come to relieve Captain Seth Johnson; and the little body of Christians in the fort were much cast down over the departure of the Captain, who was a devout Christian and a warm-hearted man. They knew what they were to lose, but did not know what they were to gain; hence it was natural that they should feel impatience and anxiety as to the religious charac- ter of those on board the schooner. On Monday, the waters of the lake being sufficiently smooth, the troops and others on the vessel landed. The surprise of those in the village of Chicago was very great and agreeable to find that the schooner brought not only a minister but also the nucleus of a church organization ; and a very warm welcome was extended to the strangers. John Wright, one of the praying men in the village, taking the hand of Rev. Jeremiah Porter, said :


" Well, I do rejoice, for yesterday was the darkest day I ever saw. Captain Johnson, who had aided in our meetings, was to leave us, and I was almost alone. I have been talking about and writing for a minister for months in vain, and yesterday as we prayed with the Christians about to leave us, I was almost ready to despair, as I feared the troops coming in would all be utterly care- less about religion. The fact that you and a little church were, at the hour of our meeting, riding at anchor within gunshot of the fort, is like the bursting out of the sun from behind the darkest clouds."


Temporary arrangements were made for preaching in the fort; the carpenter-shop being emptied, cleaned and seated, and on the next Sunday morning, May 19. 1833, Rev. Jeremiah Porter preached his first sermon in Chicago, from the text, John xv, 8, " Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples."


In the afternoon, by invitation of " Father Walker." Mr. Porter preached in the log school-house on the


300


HISTORY OF CHICAGO.


west side of the river, at the Point, half a mile from the fort. Of this meeting Mr. Porter, in his journal, says :


" The school-house was crowded to overflowing and many went away for want of room to stand within the doors. I think 1 have not preached to such an audience before, only at Mackinac, since I left Detroit. There seemed profound attention. Mr. Wright said his eyes filled with tears several times to see the happy influence of the Major and his fellow-officers on this community."


With reference to other religious services on this, his first Sunday in Chicago, Mr. Porter also says:


" At six o'clock I had a prayer meeting in the fort. After candle lighting I went to Father Walker's place, where he had given notice that a Methodist minister from New York would preach. Though it was eight when I went in, I found no one but Mr. Walker, and he was grieving that he was disappointed in regard to his preacher, who having an opportunity to go on to New York that afternoon, had embraced it and left Mr. Walker to fill the ap- pointment. If he had so little regard for the Sabbath, I think it is well he did not stay and preach. At length fifteen persons came in and Mr. Walker addressed them."


Early in the morning of the same day Mr. Porter witnessed a desecration of the Sabbath which greatly shocked him. Quoting still further from his journal:


" The first dreadful spectacle that met my eyes on going to church was a group of Indians sitting on the ground before a mis- erable French dram house, playing cards, and as many trifling white men standing around to witness the game."


Thus passed Mr. Porter's first Sunday in Chicago. On the next Sunday, May 26, Rev. Mr. Kent, of Galena, paid a visit to Mr. Porter, and preached for him an ex- cellent sermon from Hebrews, xi, 24-26. On June I arrangements were made for public worship outside the fort. This was because many of the citizens objected to going into the fort. Father Walker consented to rent to Mr. Porter his house at the Point for one-half of each Sunday, and for some time, commencing with Sunday, June 2, he preached in the fort to the garrison at 10 A. M., and to the citizens at 2 P. M., in Father Walker's log house; held prayer meeting at 6 p. M. in the fort, and preached alternately with the Methodists on Sunday evenings at the Point. This arrangement was still un- satisfactory, and, as there was no prospect of having better accommodations, except as they should be pro- vided by those who desired the advantages of them, Mr. Porter advised that the sums subscribed for his support should be appropriated to paying for the erection of a frame and covering it as soon as possible. The citizens interested met in the evening of June 11, and appointed a committee to carry this plan into effect, which made it necessary for Mr. Porter to look to the Home Mission Society for support for the year to come.


On Wednesday, June 26, 1833, Mr. Porter organized the First Presbyterian Church with twenty-six members, seventeen of them, including Major De Lafayette Wil- cox, having been members of this church at Fort Brady, the remaining nine being citizens of the village. The names of these nine citizens were John Wright, Philo Car- penter, Rufus Brown, John S. Wright, J. H. Poor, Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, Mary Taylor, E. Clark, and Mrs. Cyn- thia Brown. The names of the seventeen members of the garrison were, Major DeLafayette Wilcox, Mrs. S. G. Wilcox, Miss Eliza Chappel, Lieutenant L. T. Jame- son, Sergeant J. Adams, Mrs. H. Adams, Sergeant W. C. Cole, Mrs. Julia Cole, Mrs. Ruth Ward, Richard Bur- tis, Benjamin Briscoe. Ebenezer Ford, Jobn Guy. Isaac Ingraham, William Johnson, David Lake, and James Murray. All of these first members were Congregation- alists, except Philo Carpenter, who was a Presbyterian. John Wright, Philo Carpenter and Major Wilcox were chosen and ordained elders of the church. For some time the society continued to worship in Father Walker's log school-house at the Point. On Sunday, June 30,


Mr. Porter attempted to re-organize the Sunday-school founded the year before by Philo Carpenter, but was prevented doing so by heavy showers of rain. The first communion held in Chicago was on Sunday, July 7, 1833. The service was supplied by Major Wilcox from his table silver. Twenty-seven sat at this first com- munion. Mr. Porter's journal reads: " Many witnessed the solemn scene, but a majority were females, as two vessels were unloading in the harbor, causing a wanton abuse of the holy day by many who sin against clear


Jeremiah Porter,


light, and abuse divine compassion and love." The subject of the erection of a church building hay- ing agitated the minds of the members for some time, Lot No. 1, Block 34, Original Town, southwest corner of Lake and Clark streets, was chosen and measures taken to build upon the lot, which has been described as being at that time a " lonely spot, almost inaccessible on account of surrounding sloughs and bogs." While preparations were being made for the erection of their temple of worship, they and other citizens of the vil- lage were surprised one morning to see the frame of a small building on the Lake-street front of their lot, which had been raised during the previous night. Work upon this little building was industriously con- tinued during the day. But alas for the hopes of the prospective store-keepers ! Their squatter right of occupancy was not to be recognized, and during the succeeding night, in obedience probably to the sugges- tion of a member of the society, a number of yokes of oxen were noiselessly marshalled in front of the tres- passing store, heavy chains securely fastened to the sills of the building and to the oxen's yokes, and in the morn-


301


PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS.


ing away down Lake Street the intruding building was seen standing, to indicate thwarted hopes and to teach the lesson that the rights of property could not with impunity be invaded. Meantime their own prepara- tions proceeded. " The timbers were at length hewed and squared and set up on the prairie. Each one, according as he was able, gave his mite to aid in the construction; one worked at the turner's lathe to prepare the columns that adorned the pulpit; some worked in the mortar-bed, and all labored who could, for a common desire actuated the members, which was_ not only to have a house exclusively set apart for wor- ship, but, when done, to be free from that crushing incubus-debt." The church, when built, stood upon the southeast corner of the lot, fronting east; it was built by Joseph Meeker; its size, though not now defi- nitely ascertainable, was about thirty by forty feet, and the cost was $600. It was completed during the late fall or early winter months of 1833, and dedicated Jan- uary 4, 1834. Notwithstanding the extreme severity of the weather, the mercury being twenty-four degrees below zero, a respectable audience assembled to par- ticipate in or witness the dedicatory services. The prayer of consecration was offered by Rev. A. B. Free- man, of the Baptist church, then recently organized, and the sermon was delivered by the pastor, Rev. Jere- miah Porter, from the text (Psalm Ixxxiv, 3): " Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God."


During the following year, fifty-two persons were added to the membership, and by December, 1834, the church had become self-supporting. The following resolution was passed in that month:


" Feeling under great obligations to the American Home Missionary Society. for its aid in sustaining the Rev. Jeremiah Porter as pastor of the church, in our infancy. we now gladly 'as- sume his support from the Ist of June of last year."


In the spring of 1835, Mr. Porter was chosen by the Presbytery of Ottawa its first delegate to the General Assembly which met that spring in Pittsburgh. After the adjournment of the Assembly, Mr. Porter was mar- ried, at Rochester, N. Y., to Miss Eliza Chappel, then late of Chicago, and with his wife visited his parents who were living in Massachusetts. In the autumn of that year, he accepted a call to the Main-street Church, in Peoria, thus leaving the church without a pastor ; but after deciding to leave, made efforts in various direc- tions to supply the approaching vacancy, feeling "as if Chicago should have the best minister in the land." There were at that time one hundred and nine mem- bers.


The church had considerable difficulty in finding a successor to Mr. Porter. They corresponded with Ed- . ward Humphrey, of Amherst, Rev. Dr. J. W. Adams, of Syracuse, Dr. E. N. Kirk, and Dr. Hall, of Auburn Theological Seminary, and Dr. Joel Hawes, of Hart- ford, Conn., all to no avail. The latter gentleman took his letter which had been written by Deacon John Wright, to Judge Williams of his own Church, with the remark, "I've got a letter from some place out west called Chickago, asking me to come there and preach. Can you tell me where it is?" Upon being informed that it was in a great swamp west of Lake Michigan, he de- cided to remain in Connecticut. Dr. Deric Lansing, of Auburn, once preached here, but could not be induced to remain. For some time during the year and a half that the church was without a regular pastor, Rev. Isaac T. Hinton was virtually pastor of the Presby- terian, as well as of his own, the Baptist Church. Be-


sides these mentioned Rev. Mr. McLain preached a few times. Of this gentleman, Miss Frances L. Willard, who was one of the early teachers, wrote as follows in a letter dated May 25, 1836 :


" Mr. McLain arrived in good health-receives much attention -gives good satisfaction thus far-preaches with eloquence and studied argumentative style. I have met him often, and from con- versations with him suspect that even Chicago will not meet his ambition. It is plain to me that his heart is set on New Orleans."


An extract from the same authority, on the state of religion in Chicago, is as follows :


" Religion here-ah ! Look at Alton, and see sister churches suffering from the same cause-worldly cares. Vet Alton is ap- parently more spiritual than we are. Your friend Brown (William H ) seems to take the lead among the church. But all are asleep. Mr. McLain says that in all his travels he never was in a place where money was talked of as here. T'en thousand dollars is con- sidered nothing ! Fifty thousand or one hundred thousand only are named."


Again under date of August 25, 1836, Miss Willard wrote :


"I like everything here but the low state of religion. Rev. Mr. McLain has returned to Ohio, and we are without preaching in the Presbyterian society. It was a year fast June since the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper was administered here, and it is still neglected."


On December 25, 1836, she wrote :


"We have prospects of a minister at last. Rev. Mr. Blatch- ยท ford from some town near New York City has received a call, has not accepted it but will preach here this winter. Thirty thousand dollars are subscribed for the erection of a meeting house, which is to be built of marble. It is not calculated by the committee, that it will be finished in less than two years. ..... The building of four meeting houses (Episcopal almost finished) will abundantly oc- cupy the public mind for two years to come."


Again under date of October 9, 1837 :


" I intend to continue teaching but the fine promises of public buildings, etc., made to me before I left Alton, have never been fulfilled, nor is there now any prospect even of a meeting house within two years. Chicago is blest with four spiritual ministers, but the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the inhabitants."


At length, in 1837, the Rev. John Blatchford, who was traveling from New York and unexpectedly detained here, was called and installed pastor in July. Mr. Blatchford remained with the church until August, 1839. During his pastorate the build- ing was removed south of Washington Street. Mr. Blatchford was succeeded by Rev. Flavel Bascom, who commenced his labors in December, 1839, and was installed as pastor in November, 1840, Mr. Bascom had preached once in Fort Dearborn, in 1833, at the request of Philo Carpenter, and when shown by Mr. Carpenter the place selected, on Clark Street, near Lake, he said it would bring the church too far out on the prairie. The building, when moved to its second site, was doubled in length, and, in the summer of 1840, was doubled in width. In 1848 the brick church, which stood at the corner of Clark and Washington streets, was so far completed that in the fall religious services were held in the basement, and in September, 1849, it was completed and dedicated. Mr. Bascom preached the dedicatory sermon from the text, Haggai, xi, 9 : " The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts." At his own request he was dismissed in December, 1849, and was succeeded by Henry Harvey Curtis, who began his ministry August 25, and was installed pastor on the 13th of October, 1850. . After a successful pastorate of eight years, he retired for the purpose of assuming the presidency of Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., departing from the church June 8, 1858. His death occurred September 18, 1862.


The church building dedicated as above recited in


-


.


.


302


HISTORY OF CHICAGO.


October, 1849, cost $28,000. In its erection a debt was incurred which, for some years, greatly embarrassed the society. As the city prospered, business houses so encroached upon the residences that surrounded the church, that the people sought more retired localities for homes. The church itself also became inadequate to accommodate the rapidly increasing congregation, and as a result of all these canses it was resolved, in the autumn of 1855, to sell the lot and the building, pay the outstanding indebtedness, and divide the net proceeds in such manner as to secure the erection of three new church buildings, in the three divisions of the city. This plan was adopted on the supposition that those members living on the West Side would identify them- selves with the Third Presbyterian Church, organized July 1, 1847 ; and that those living on the North Side would affiliate with a new society then in contemplation there, and which was consummated in the organization of the Westminster Presbyterian 'afterward Fourth) Church. The property was sold in November, 1855, and a lot on Wabash Avenue, between Van Buren and Congress streets, was immediately purchased by the First Presbyterian Church for its own use. A new edifice was erected, of Athens marble, and of the Nor- man style of architecture, the front highly ornamented with richly-carved work in stone. The main audience room was sixty-three by ninety-seven feet, and fifty feet to the highest point in the vaulted ceiling. This church was dedicated October 15, 1857. The lot cost $16,000 and the building $115,000.


By way of review of the history of the First Presby- terian Church a brief statement as to its work and growth and relations to other Presbyterian churches in Chicago is appropriate. In the early part of 1841, a series of revival meetings was held, which were very suc- cessful in its results. The meetings were conducted by Rev. Flavel Bascom, pastor of the church, assisted by Rev. Mr. Gallaher, an itinerant revivalist. As a result of this revival one hundred new members were added. The years 1843 and 1845 were likewise distinguished by extensive revivals. In April, 1846, there were re- ported to the Presbytery four hundred and fifty-six members. During the next five years the membership declined to two hundred and fifty-four. This was in part owing to the organization of the Third Presby- terian Church ; but only in part, as during this time the population of the city increased from 10,000 to 25,000, and the First Church should on this account have re- ceived considerable accessinns to its membership. There was want of harmony within the Church itself. In the winter and spring of 1852, peace having re- turned, "a gentle but precious season of spiritual re- freshing" took place, the Church recovered a portion of what it had lost, and made steady but sure progress un- til the winter and spring of 1857 and 1858, when in con- sequence of a powerful revival "about seventy-five were added on profession, and an impulse was imparted to the spiritual activities of the Church," which was es- pecially perceived in the establishment of mission schools.


The first baptism in the First Presbyterian Church occurred Sunday, November 24, 1833, the subject being the infant daughter of Major Wilcox. The ceremony look place in the Major's house in Fort Dearborn, Mrs. Wilcox not being able to go to church. The little chikl was four months old. With reference to this baptism, Rev. Jeremiah Porter says in his journal : "The child seemed to smile with joy, after prayer and the applica- tion of the water, as though it were conscious of the act, and 1 hoped as an evidence that the prayer had


been answered, and that the child's heart had been bap- tized by the Holy Spirit."


REV. JEREMIAH PORTER was born in Hadley, Mass., in 1804, where his ancestors had lived for nearly two centuries, Samuel Porter went to Hadley in 1639, and the house built by him is still owned by his descendants. The grandfather of Rev. Jeremiah Porter, whose name was also Samuel, married Susanna Edwards, a daughter of President Jonathan Edwards. His father, William Porter, was a physician and served during the war of 1812, as sur- geon in the Army of the United States, and died in Hadley, Mass., at the age of eighty-four years. His mother, Charlotte (Williams) Porter, was a daughter of Hon. William Williams, of Hatfield, Mass, William and Mrs. Porter were the parents of twelve children, sev- eral of whom died in infancy. Of the six who lived to arrive at man's estate, most of whom lived beyond the threescore years and ten, the eldest of whom died at eighty-three, Jeremiah was the youngest. He was educated at Hopkins Academy, under Rev. Dr. Dan Huntington, father of Bishop F. D. Huntington, of the dio- cese of central New York, and in Lee, Mass., in the family of Alvan Hyde, D. D. At the age of seventeen he entered Williams College, at the beginning of the presidency of Dr. Edward Dorr Griffin. He graduated at the age of twenty-one, and in the autumn of that year, IS25, entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass. At this time he had not decided upon the choice of a pro- fession, but had not a taste for the law or medicine. After two years' study in this seminary, he passed the winter at his father's home. In the spring of IS28, he was induced by Dr. Griffin to accept the position of principal of the Monitorial Fligh School, in Troy, N. Y., and after spending two pleasant years in that school, he was induced by the late Henry A. Boardman, D. D., of . Phila- delphia, to accompany him to Princeton Theological Seminary, N. J. Here for a year Mr. Porter enjoyed the teaching of Drs. Alexander. Miller and Hodge, and graduated from this institution in 1831. In the spring of that year he was licensed by the Hamp- shire Congregational Association to preach the Gospel, and preached in several towns in that county. But previous to his graduating at Princeton, Rev. Dr. Absalom Peters, of New York, Secretary of the A. H. M. Society, visited the seminary in search of ministers for the West. Dr. Peters told Rev. Mr. Porter of a wish sent from Fort Brady, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., for a minister at that place, and asked him if he would listen to that call. To this Rev. Mr. Porter replied, that if Dr. Peters failed with the gentleman at And- over, to whom he had applied, and considered him a proper man for the place he would go. Dr. Peters soon wrote to Rev. Mr. - Porter from New York, to proceed at once to his Massachusetts home to be ordained by the same association that had licensed him to preach, and go at once to the "Soo," as the Sault Ste. Marie was then usually called. After being ordained he left by stage toward the West, for a country of which he had heard much, but of which he knew little, leaving all his family and kindred be- hind, except one brother who lived at Auburn, N. Y., with whom he spent the first Sabbath of his journey, having reached there from Albany by the newly constructed New York & Erie Canal. By the same means he proceeded to Buffalo, then a city of three thousand inhabitants, and into which new life had been infused by the completed canal. He then proceeded by steamer to Cleveland, a city then containing fifteen hundred inhabitants; thence to Detroit where he waited several days for a schooner, the last one up that fall, upon which he embarked for Mackinac. Upon arriving at Mackinac he was received into and kindly entertained by the charming Christian family of Robert Stuart, of the Astor Fur Company, the company being composed nf John Jacob Astor, Robert Stuart and Ramsey Crookes. In the family of Robert Stuart, Rev. Mr. Porter awaited an opportunity of going over to the Sault, and while wait- ing preached at an evening service at Rev. William M. Ferry's church. On Thanksgiving Day, November 24, a small bark canoe, sent from the Sault by Mr. Schoolcraft for him arrived, with orders "not to return without Mr. Porter." A larger canoe, manned by Indians, had started previously, but overtaken by a snow-storm, and delayed until the provisions were eaten up, had returned to re- port to Mr. Schoolcraft. Hence the sending of this small canoe in charge of three French voyageurs with the above orders. Feel- ing that he could not wait to participate in public Thanksgiving services at Mackinac, he determined to reach the Sault as early as practicable, and so, with the three Frenchmen, and a negro on his way to an army officer at Fort Brady, and with a mess basket pro- vided by his newly-found friend, Mrs. Robert Stuart, he set out in the morning for his destination. Something over three days and nights were occupied in the voyage, forty-five miles casting on Lake lfuron, and forty-five miles ascending St. Mary's River, rest- ing each night by camp fires on shore, and pitching their tent one of the nights in snow. At the foot of the falls they found the vil- lage and fort, but landed below both, at the United States Indian Agent's beautiful home. Breaking the ice to land, Rev. Mr. P'or-




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.