History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 60

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 60

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In the spring of 1866 President Juarez, having taken and shot Maximilian, United States troops were no longer needed on the border, the Christian and Sanitary commissions recalled their agents, and Mr. and Mrs. Porter returned to Chicago, where a reception was given them at the Sherman House. That summer while visit- ing his old parishioners at Green Bay, Mr. Porter received a call to a vacant church at l'rairie De Chien. This he desired to make his permanent home, but after different members of his family had located in business in different parts of the country, and his daugh- ter had in 1868 gone to l'ekin, China, as a missionary, he him- self at the earnest solicitation of friends from Brownsville, Texas, returned thither, accompanied by Mrs. Porter to rebuild the church that had been demolished by a tornado, and to preach in place of Rev. Hiram Chamberlain, who had died in 1867; taking with them generous donations from Chicago to ald in that and other enter- prises. In February t869, the new brick church was dedicated. Mr. and Mrs. Porter remained in Brownsville except during the summer of t 869, he to preach and she to teach, until t870, when he was appointed Post Chaplain, at Brownsville, U. S. A., and assigned by General Augur to Fort Brown. In addition to his duties as Post Chaplain Mr. Porter preached in the afternoon to a church of colored people organized by himself from among the colored peo- ple of Brownsville and Matamoras, Mexico, and whose church edi- fice was built by the Freedmen's Bureau at a cost of $4,000. Mrs. Porter remained actively engaged in the work of teaching until the school funds of Texas became available, when the schools in Brownsville became public schools, and she severed her connection therewith. In the winter of 1873 Mir. Porter was assigned to the Chaplaincy of Fort Sill in the Indian Territory. Here he remained until the winter of 1874, when Sirs Porter, who had here, ns else. where, engaged in teaching, was suffering from an attack of mala- rial fever, and in order to regain her health, she, accompanied by Mr. l'orter, returned to Chicago, and again visited friends in Circen Bay. Mr. Porter then returned to Fort Sill, leaving Mrs. Porter in Chicago, and in the winter of 1876 was ordered to report to General J. J. Reynolds for service at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming Terri- tory. There in improvedl health Mrs. Porter joined him from Chicago. For four years Mr. Porter remained in active service at Fort Russell, maintaining regular services on Sunday, a Sunday and a day school for children, and part of the time an evening school for soldiers, In November, 1876, Mr. Porter's danghi- ter, Mary H. Porter, arrived at Fort Russell, from China, after an absence of nearly nine years, She remained at Fort Russell until the following March, when she proceeded to Chicago, her return to the United States being in quest of health. Mr. Porter obtaining leave of absence from bis post, overtook his missionary daughter at Chicago, made visits to various prominent educators and private person« in the East, where Miss Porter by her report to the A. B. C. F. M., which ten years before had sent her to China, and by her representations of the con- dition and needs of the heathen in China, awakened renewed inter- est in missionary labor both in the East and the West. A reunion of Mr. Porter's family occurred in Beloit. Wis .. in the spring of

1 879, the first in twelve years. At this reunion were-Miss Mary H. Porter, whose health was sufficiently recovered for her to return to her missionary work in China, and Kev. Henry D), Porter, M. D., a son of Rev. Jeremiah Porter, who had also been a missionary to China for six years, and who had returned to America and was at this time married to Elizabeth, the eklest daughter of Dr. A. L. Chapin, president of Beloit College. After this reunion Mr. and Mrs. Porter returned to Fort Russell and soon after went to San Francisco on leave of absence to see Dr. Henry D. Porter and his wife depart therefrom to their missionary labor in China, their daughter having returned thither three months before. They re- mained in California fourteen months and in the autumn of 1880 returned to Chicago, Mr. l'orter was on a leave of absence from the army until he was retired on the 30th of June, 1882, when all officers over sixty-four years of age were retired. Since then he has been seeking health, making his home with his son in Detroit. Both Mr. and Mrs. Porter were present at the semi-centennial cele- bration of the organization of the First Presbyterian Church in Chi- cago, in quite vigorous health. Rev. Mr. Porter was married June 15, 1835, at Rochester, N. Y., to Miss Eliza Chappel. They have had nine chikiren, three of whom died in infancy-one in Peoria, Ill., In 1837 ; two at Green Bay, Wis., one in 1843 and one in 1849 Two others died in Chicago-Robert Otto, September 25, 1859, and Charlotte Elizabeth, October 31, 1859. The four living are as follows : James W., Edwards W., llenry Dwight and Mary Harriet. Rev. Ilenry Dwight Porter, M. D., has been a mission- ary in China since 1872, and Mary Harriet since 1968.

REV. FLAVEL BASCOM, I). D., was born June 8, 1804, at Lcb- anon, Conn. His parents were Abiel and Sybil ( Roberts) Bascom. His childhood and youth, until he was seventeen years of age, were spent upon a farm with such advantages for education as were af- forded by a rural public school. Ilis preparation for college was under private instruction. He entered Vale College in 1824, and gradnated with honor in 1828. For the next year he was principal of an academy in New Canaan. Conn., and then pursued his theo- logical studies in New Haven, where, in t83t, he was licensed to preach. From 183t to 1833 he was tutor in Yale College, and in the latter year cast in his lot with the " Y'ale Band," who had de- voted themselves to Christian education and home evangelization in Illinois. In the summer of 1833 he arrived in Illinois under com- mission by the American Ilome Missionary Society, and spent five years In pioneer missionary work, mainly in Tazewell County. Ile then labored two seasons in northern Illinois, as Ilome Missionary Agent, exploring new settlements, organizing churches and intro- ducing missionaries to new fields of labor. In December, 1839, he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was in- stalled November 10, 1840, and remained pastor until December, 1849. He then accepted a call to the First I'resbyterian Church at Galesburg, Ill .. remaining there until 1856. After spending a year as agent of the American Missionary Association he became pastor of the Congregational Church at Dover. After serving that church seven years, he accepted an invitation to the pastorate of the Con- gregational Church at I'rinceton, where he remained until 1869. "T'hence he removed to Ilinsdale, where for several years he was in charge of the Congregational Church. Since relinquishing this charge he has been almost constantly engaged in filling vacancies and aiding destitute and feeble churches. Hle has been one of the executive committee of the Illinois Home Missionary Society since it became an independent auxilliary to the A. H. M. S. in t878 ; was one of the founders of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee ; has been for twenty-five years a trustee of Knox College, and was one of the founders and one of the charter trustees of Beloit Col- lege, which institution in 1869 conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Mr. Bascom has been married three times. Ilis first wife was Ellen P. Cleaveland, - daughter of William P. Cleaveland, of New London, Conn. They were married April 30, [$33, and Mrs. Bascom died at Pekin, Ill., December to, 1837. Mr. Bascom's second wife was Elizabeth B. Sparhawk, daughter of Dr. Jonathan Sparhawk, of llartford, Conn., to whom he was married August 16, 1841, She died March 27. 1851, at Galesburg, Ill. Ile was again married on the 21st of June, 1852, to Ruth S. l'omeroy, daughter of Samuel l'omeroy, ol Southampton, Mass., and sister of Hon, S. C. l'omeray, of Kansas, His surviving chil- dren are three sons, two of whom, the children of his second wife. are graduates of Beloit College, and one, the son of his present wife, is a physician at Ottawa, III. Rev. Mr. Bascom, though in his eightieth year, is still able to meet the frequent calls made upon him to supply temporarily vacant pulpits in his vicinity.

REV. JOHN BLATCHFORD, 1). 1)., was born May 24, 1796, at Newfield (now Bridgeport), Conn. Ilis father was the Rev. Sam- uel Blatchford, a clergyman of note in his day, resident pastor in Bridgeport, then pastor of the associated churches of Lansing- burgh, Waterford and Troy. When John Blatchford was eight years old his father moved to Lansingburgh, where he spent his

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childhood. Great interest in his future was manifested by the Rev. J. Romeyn, 1).1)., and through the liberality of William, who sup- plied him with $200 per year, his expenses at Cambridge Academy, Washington Co., N. Y., were paid. Ile entered Union College, at Schenectady, in 1817, and graduated therefrom in 1820. In the fall of the latter year he entered I'rinceton College, and after three years' study was licensed to preach by the Troy I'resbytery. Imme. diately after being licensed he accepted a call to the Pinstown Presbyterian Church, in Rensselaer County, N. Y., where he re- mained until the spring of 1825. On the 20th of April of this year he accepted a unanimous call to the Church at Stillwater, Saratoga Co., N. Y., where he remained until 1829, when he received a call from the Congregational Church at Bridgeport, Conn., to which place he removed in 1830. In this Church he labored successfully for six years, and at the close of this period, on account of the ill. ness of his wife, he resigned his charge with a view to foreign travel. Instead of carrying out this plan, however, he turned his steps westward, and spent the winter of 1836-37 . 1 Jacksonville. Ill. In 1837 he received a call to the First Presbyterian t'hurch at Chicago, where he labored with great success and satisfaction to the Church until 1840, but his habitually intense application to the duties of his ministry produced brain fever, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. After retiring from the pastorate of this Church, he returned to the East, with the view to permanent residence there, and spent the winter of 1840-41 in Wheeling. Va., where he was warmly solicited to remain. From 1841 to 1844 he was connected with Marion College, first as professor of intel- lectual and moral philosophy, and afterward as president of the institution. After the purchase of the college by the Freemasons, he was requested to remain, bus preferred to remove 10 West Ely. where in impaired health he remained until 1847, when he removed to Quincy. In his later years he was engaged in the enterprise of establishing a Presbyterian theological seminary for the Northwest. and at the time of his death was president of the organization for this purpose. His last discourse was preached in St. Louis, about three months previous lo his death, and about two months before he was attacked by his last painful illness. He died Sunday, April 8. 1855.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH was organized Oc- tober 19, 1833, with nineteen members, by Rev. Allen B. Freeman, With the exception of Mrs. Rebecca Heald, wife of Captain Nathan Heald, and Rev. Isaac McCoy, Dr. John T. Temple was the first Baptist to arrive in Chicago, Dr. Temple, with his wife and four children, reached Chicago about the 4th of July, 1833. For some time after his arrival, he and his family at- tended the Presbyterian services in Fort Dearborn, but having, through correspondence with the American Bap- tist Home Mission Society, secured the appointment of a missionary for Chicago, and thinking best that the two denominations shoultl at the first begin with separate churches, started a subscription for a building, heading it with one hundred dollars. In a few weeks the build. ing was erected near the corner of Franklin and South Water streets. It was a two-story frame structure, the upper story for school, the lower for religious purposes, and cost about nine hundred dollars. With the excep- tion of Rev. Jesse Walker's log house at the Point, this was the first house built for religious worship in Chicago. It was designated as the " Temple Building," and was used by the Methodlists, Presbyterians and Baptists alike until the Presbyterian church was ready for occupancy. When Rev, Allen B. Freeman, with his wife, arrived on the 16th of August, he found the church building ready for use. On the first Sunday after his arrival he preached to the Rev. Jeremiah Porter's congregation, in that minister's absence, at Blackstone's Grove, twenty eight miles south of Chicago, and from this time until Mr. Freeman's death these two ministers preached once each month to congregations in some distant village; on such occasions the two congregations uniting to hear the one remaining at home, until the Presbyterian church was dedicated January 4, 1834. At the time of the organ- ization of the Baptist Church, October 19, 1833, there were about twenty-five Baptists in Chicago, fourteen of whom were present at the church and gave in their names

as follows: Rev. Allen B. Freeman and Hannah C., his wife; S. T. Jackson, Martin D. Harmon, Peter Moore, Nathaniel Carpenter, John K. Sargents, Peter Warden, Willard Jones, Ebenezer and Betsey Crane, Susannah Rice, Samantha Harmon and Lucinda Jackson.

THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH .- Reference to the " Pre-Church" history of Chicago will show that the Methodists were the first in this city to form the nucleus of a church society, and might without impropriety have been placed first in the list of organized churches, but as their regular and permanent organization was not ef- fected until 1834, the sketches of the churches organized in 1833 precede.

At Rev. Jesse Walker's first quarterly meeting in 1833, held in the Watkin's school-house, which was lo- cated on North Water Street, between Clark and La- Salle, Rev. Henry Whitehead received his license to preach, and occasionally preached in the Temple Build- ing. In the spring of 1834 Charles Wisencraft was ap- pointed class-leader. For a time services were held in various places-in Billy Caldwell's log council-house, in Chester Ingersoll's tavern, or in Watkin's school-house; but as the membership of the Church increased, the ne- cessity for a builtling became more pressing, and meas- ures for its erection were soon taken. It was built at the corner of North Water and Clark streets, by Henry Whitehead and John Stewart. According to the origi- nal contract it was to be a " frame building twenty-six by thirty-eight feet; twelve-foot posts; sheeted and shingled roof; a neat pulpit; a platform for table and chairs; the whole to be done in a workmanlike manner," for $580. The contract was signed June 30, 1834. The building was finished, and religious services held there- in until 1836. Rev. Jesse Walker preached regularly every Sunday most of the remainder of the year 1834, but about the beginning of the winter of 1834-35, he became superannuated and was succeeded by Rev. J. T. Mitchell. On October 4, 1835, Rev. Jesse Walker died at the age of sixty-nine years.

During the winter of 1834-35 a number of conver- sions and accessions to the membership was made. Chi- cago Methodism is largely indebted to the zeal and efficiency of Rev. John T. Mitchell. He gave to the Church a thorough organization and laid the founda- tions of its future stability. He was succeeded in 1836 by Rev. O. T. Curtis. The Church that year was struck off the list of missions, and erected into an independent society. Mr. Curtis was a pious, amiable and quiet man, but not very energetic. In part for this reason the financial crisis that began to be felt that year had a peculiar effect upon the religious zeal of many of the members. At the loss of their wealth they lost faith in God, and turned their backs on the Church. In addi- tion to this sonie members lost their integrity, and the fall of others was especially ignominous and sad, Blow after blow fell with quick succession and crushing effect upon the Church and, added to the financial embarrass- ments, threatened to overwhelm it with confusion and shame The faithful few were deeply humiliated. They " gathered around their almost forsaken altars, and humbling themselves before God with tears and agoniz- ing prayers, besought the World's Redeemer for mercy and help." In answer to their prayers, as they believed, the Conference of 1837 sent Rev. Peter R. Borein to them "for a Joshua to lead them out of the wilderness." * * " He came in the fullness of the Gospel, burdened with the love of Christ to dying mnen. He gathered his feeble flock around him and breathed into them some- thing of his own mighty faith, and with them, at the feet of the Redeemer, cried for help. Salvation was

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poured as in a mighty torrent upon the people." This effect was not produced, however, at once upon the ar- rival of Mr. Borcin. It was a year afterward that the great revival occurred. So great was the interest awakened at this revival, still vividly remembered by many now living at Chicago, that about three hundred united with the Church; the young city containing at the time a population of about three thousand. This revival commenced in December, 1838, and lasted till April, 1839. Mr. Borein died soon after its close. Those who heard it will never forget his last sermon. His subject was the vision of the dying Stephen, and during the delivery of the sermon he pictured for the congrega- tion his own conception of heaven. In the language of S. R. Beggs, "he believed that in the next, as in this world, there were degrees of Christian attainments, and that in the land of glory some would occupy higher positions than others; that sometimes his imagination had pictured heaven as a vast amphitheatre, whose seats rose tier above tier, up to the very throne itself; and when, from the lower seats, the white-robed struck the exultant song of redemption, it was caught up from rank to rank, growing louder and sweeter as it rose, while in unison the angel choir struck their lyres, and from every golden harpstring of saint, angel, cherubim and seraphim, was poured the rapturous, jubilant, ador- ing song, and heaven was filled with an atmosphere of melody "

During the summer of 1838, the church was moved across the river, on scows, from its position on the North Side, to a lot at the corner of Clark and Wash- ington streets, purchased in 1836, by Dr. R. Tripp, for $3,250. The society purchased a portion of this lot, which was eighty by one hundred and eighty feet in size, but never paid for it, as before the payments were completed, eighty by one hundred and thirty feet of it was secured as a donation from the canal company. Subsequently a lot on the corner of Adams Street and Wabash Avenue was donated for a parsonage, by David Carver. The church building after removal was en- larged from time to time to meet the necessities of a continually increasing congregation; and in 1845, through the influence of Rev. W. M. D. Ryan, a brick building, sixty-six by ninety-five fect, was erected at a cost of $12,000, The corner stone was laid on the 8th of May, and the dedication occurred in November. This church stood at the corner of Clark and Washing- ton streets. It had a stone basement eight feet high, and walls thirty feet high. The apex of the spire was one hundred and forty-eight feet from the ground. The auditorium seated one thousand persons.

This Church was incorporated November 20, 1835. as the "Methodist Episcopal Church of Chicago." Being located later on Clark-street, it was popularly known as the "Clark street M. E. Church." On the 14th of February, 1857, an act of the Legislature was approved, changing the name to the "First Methodist Episcopal Church of Chicago."

ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH was organized in 1834. The gentlemen taking part in the organization were : William B. Egan, Dr. Philip Maxwell, Giles Spring, John H. Kinzie, Dr. Clarke, Gurdon S. Hub- bard, John 1 .. Wilcox, William Pettit, Eli B. Williams, Jacob Russell and Hans Crocker. The first eight were elected vestrymen. The first communicants were l'eter Johnson, Mrs. Peter Johnson, Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzic, Mrs. Francis W. Magill, Mrs. Nancy Hullman and Mrs. Margaret Helm. Rev. Palmer Dyer arrived in Chicago on the 10th of October, 1834, and on or about the 12th, by invitation of Rev. Jeremiah Porter, preached both

morning and afternoon in the Presbyterian church. These were the first Episcopal services held in Chicago. In the morning the text was Matthew, xviii, 3: " Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." In the after- noon the text was Isaiah, xi, 8 : " The grass withereth, the flowers fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." After the afternoon service Mr. Dyer ad- ministered the sacrament to four Episcopalians-three lady members of Mr. Kinzie's family and one gentle- man-and about twenty-five Presbyterians. Mr. Dyer did not remain in Chicago, but afterward went to Peoria, and thence to Fort Snelling as army Chaplain. On the next Sunday, October 19, Rev. Isaac W. Hallam preached his first sermon in Chicago, in the Baptist church. For some time religious services were held in a building named afterward " Tippecanoe Hall," fitted up for the purpose by John H. Kinzie, on the southeast corner of Kinzie and State streets. In 1836 Mr. Kinzie donated to the Church two lots at the corner of Cass and Illinois streets, and in 1837 the first church build- ing of the society was erected thereon. On the 25th of June of that year the new church was dedicated by Bishop Philander Chase. The style of the building was Gothic, forty-four by sixty-four feet in size, and, though really a very modest structure, was thought to be very imposing for a frontier town. It was the first brick church built in Chicago. The tower contained a bell bearing the name and date of the erection of the church.

The entire cost of the building, furnished with organ, bell, carpet and lainps, was $15,500. By the sale of the slips and pews there was realized the sum of $13,- 860, and by means of fairs something over $5,600 more, so that after paying for the church there was a surplus of $4,000, which was used in 1838 for the erec- tion of a parsonage.

THE GERMAN EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION .- The initiatory steps toward the organization in the United States of this Association were taken in 1790, by Rev. Jacob Albright, a Methodist clergyman. Mr. Albright was impelled to special effort among the German resi- (lents of eastern Pennsylvania, by observing their gen- eral decline of religious life, and their corruption of morals. Without having in view such a design, his labors resulted, ten years later, in the organization of the " Evangelical Association," which name, although unsatisfactory to most of the members, and notwith- standing numerous attempts to change it have been made, is still retained. Its first Conference was held in 1807, and its first General Conference in 1816. In doc- trine and theology the Association is Arminian; with reference to sanctification, Wesleyan, and in its modes of worship it conforms very nearly to the Methodist Episcopal Church. A few of the differences between them are as follows: In the Evangelical Association the bishops are elected for four years, instead of for life; the ministers are assigned to their charges by the pre- siding elders instead of by the bishops, the latter how- ever having a revisory power, and the elders are elected by the Church members, instead of being appointed by the minister. The first members of this Association to come to Chicago were Daniel and Christopher Stanger, in 1835. The former wrote back to Jacob Esher, the father of John G. and J. J. Esher, the latter of whom is the present Bishop of Chicago, describing to him the exceeding fertility of the soil of Illinois, and urging him to emigrate from the mountainous country and rocky soil of eastern Pennsylvania, and come to this fair and fertile region of the West. Mr. Esher, ac- companied by a number of other Germans, came to the

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

vicinity of Chicago in 1836. Among them were his brother Martin, Lewis Arnet and a Mr. Suther. In 1837 Jacob Ott and his sons Lawrence, Jacob and Philip came. During this year quite a number had set- tled in Chicago, and in August, Jacob Boaz, after rid- ing on horseback three hundred miles, arrived in the city, having come as the first minister of the Association to preach to the members already here. 'The first place of preaching was the City Hall.

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 60

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875