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IDIANA COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02482 4820
Gc 977.2 Ep7c EDSON, HANFORD A. B. 1837. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN
1
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CONTRIBUTIONS
TO
THE EARLY HISTORY
OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
IN INDIANA
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE PIONEER MINISTERS
BY
HANFORD A. EDSON
CINCINNATI, INDIANAPOLIS, AND CHICAGO WINONA PUBLISHING COMPANY
1898
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
1864601
PREFATORY NOTE.
THESE pages seek to preserve materials which would soon have been beyond reach-diaries, letters, the remi- niscences of pioneers. It will be a satisfaction if any one is prompted to put other such materials into a safe place.
Several years since I had occasion to make inquiries about the ministers who laid the foundations of our Indiana church. The study took me into an unknown land. I was surprised at every step. Courage, self-sacrifice, piety, were to be expected ; but I found besides a beau- tiful social life, uncommon learning, undoubted genius for affairs, and gifts of utterance in every way memorable.
Such fathers leave for their children the best of all legacies. If in any degree I may have helped to perpetu- ate their memory and light up their example, I shall rejoice.
Indianapolis, May 1, 1898.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BEGINNINGS AND SPREAD OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN AMERICA.
Genius of the Reformed Churches-Wide Extension of Pres- byterianism-Earliest History of the Church in America- Presbyterians in New England, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia-Francis Makemie, Old Han- over, and William Robinson-Samuel Davies-David Rice-Transylvania Presbytery 9
CHAPTER II. THE SETTLEMENT OF INDIANA.
.
Discovery of the Great West-Spanish and French Ex- plorers-La Salle and the Mississippi Valley-First White Man on Indiana Soil-Vincennes the Earliest Settlement -French succeeded by English Dominion-Northwestern Territory - Indiana Territory - Character of Early Settlers-A Large Presbyterian Element 20
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST MISSIONARIES. 1800-1806. Volunteers from Kentucky-Samuel Rannels-Samuel B. Robertson-James McGready-James Kemper-Thomas Cleland-Organization of First Church-Samuel Thorn- ton Scott the First Settled Minister . 30
CHAPTER IV.
HINDRANCES AND DISORDERS INCIDENT TO WAR.
1807-1814.
Palmyra Church-James H. Dickey-Lawrenceburgh- Samuel Baldridge-Charlestown-Joseph B. Lapsley- Matthew G. Wallace-Tour of Samuel J. Mills-William Robinson at Madison
45
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
THE WAR OVER AND THE WORK ADVANCED. 1815. More Missionaries-John McElroy Dickey-His Great Use- fulness-Close of the Territorial Period . 61
CHAPTER VI.
AID FROM NEW ENGLAND. 1816, 1817.
McGready, Cleland, and Lapsley Again-Samuel Shannon- First New England Missionaries-Nathan B. Derrow- Clement Hickman-William Dickey-Daniel C. Banks- John Todd at Charlestown-James Balch SI 1
CHAPTER VII.
A NOTABLE QUARTET. 1818.
William W. Martin at Livonia-Isaac Reed-Orin Fowler from the Connecticut Missionary Society-Ravaud K. Rodgers Commissioned by the General Assembly- Charles Stebbins Robinson on His Way to Missouri . 10I
CHAPTER VIII.
BETTER ECCLESIASTICAL SUPERVISION. 1819-1821.
Lack of Settled Pastors-David Monfort-Thomas C. Searle -His Brilliant Promise and Early Death . I31
CHAPTER IX.
INDIANAPOLIS. 1821.
Seat of Government Transferred from Corydon-First Settle- ment and First Settlers at the New Capital-Coe, Blake, Scudder, Ray-First Presbyterian Sermon-Ludwell G. Gaines-Church Organization Effected-David Choate Proctor I38
CHAPTER X.
EXTENSION TOWARD THE NORTH. 1822.
Fort Wayne-John Ross-His Unique History-Ezra H. Day at New Albany-William Goodell-Charles C. Beatty . . 148
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
THE SHADOW OF SLAVERY. 1823.
Joseph Trimble-The Madison Flock again without a Pastor -John Finley Crowe at Hanover-The Slavery Conflict . 156 ,
CHAPTER XII.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERY. 1823, 1824.
Salem Presbytery Organized-Its Original Members-First Records-Tilly H. Brown the First Licentiate-John T. Hamilton 162
CHAPTER XIII.
HELP FROM PRINCETON. 1824.
Samuel Taylor Commissioned by General Assembly-George Bush at Indianapolis-Baynard R. Hall in the State Semi- nary at Bloomington-Alexander Williamson 169
CHAPTER XIV.
Two FELLOW-TRAVELERS. 1824.
John Young's Brief Career-James Harvey Johnston . . 192
CHAPTER XV.
A PERIOD OF INCREASED MISSIONARY ZEAL. 1825.
Missions at Andover Seminary-Union of Missionary So- cieties-A. H. M. S .- Lucius Alden-Lewis McLeod- James Stewart-Samuel Gregg-William Nesbit-Stephen Bliss across the Wabash-Samuel G. Lowry in Decatur County . 206
CHAPTER XVI.
ORGANIZATION OF THE SYNOD OF INDIANA. 1826.
Condition of Indiana-Truman Perrin-James Crawford- Samuel E. Blackburn-James Duncan-Isaac A. Ogden- Joseph Robinson-Synod Organized-First Records- Calvin Butler-Leander Cobb-William Lowry-William Henderson-James Thomson
214
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
INDIANA PRESBYTERIANS AND EDUCATION.
The First Schools-The State Seminary and College at Bloom- ington-Hanover Academy and College-Indiana Theo- logical Seminary-Wabash College 22S
APPENDIX.
I. Missionary Agencies at Work in Indiana previous to 1826. 255.
II. Ecclesiastical Relations of the Indiana Congregations previous to 1826 258
III. Bibliography 260
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EARLY HIS- TORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN INDIANA.
CHAPTER I.
BEGINNINGS AND SPREAD OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN AMERICA.
"Go ye into all the world " is a command suited to the genius of that community of Christians to which Presby- terians belong.
Nothing is more striking in a general view of the history of the Reformed Churches than the variety of countries into which we find their characteristic spirit, both in doctrine and polity, pene- trating. Throughout Switzerland it was a grand popular move- ment. There is, first of all, Zwingle, the hero of Zurich, already in 1516 preaching against the idolatrous veneration of Mary, a man of generous culture and intrepid spirit, who at last laid down his life upon the field of battle. In Basle we find ŒEcolampadius, and also Bullinger, the chronicler of the Swiss reform. Farel arouses Geneva to iconoclasm by his inspiring eloquence. Thither comes in 1536, from the France which disowned him, Calvin, the mighty law-giver, great as a preacher, an expositor, a teacher, and a ruler ; cold in exterior, but burning with internal fire; who produced at twenty-four years of age his unmatched "Institutes," and at thirty-five had made Geneva, under an al- most theocratic government, the model city of Europe, with its inspiring motto, "Post tenebras lux." He was feared and op- posed by the libertines of his day, as he is in our own. His errors were those of his own times ; his greatness is of all times. Hooker calls him "incomparably the wisest man of the French Church"; he compares him to the "Master of Sentences," and says "that though thousands were debtors to him as touching divine knowl- edge, yet he was to none, only to God." Montesquieu declares
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
that "the Genevese should ever bless the day of his birth." Jewel terms him "a reverend father, and worthy ornament of the church of God." "He that will not honor the memory of Cal- vin," says Mr. Bancroft, " knows but little of the origin of Ameri- can liberty." Under his influence Geneva became the "fertile seed-plot " of reform for all Europe ; with Zurich and Strasbourg, it was the refuge of the oppressed from the British Isles, and thus indoctrinated England and ourselves with its own spirit.
The same form of faith was planted in the German Palatinate, modified by the influence of Melanchthon, receiving an admirable exposition in the Heidelberg Catechism and the writings ot Ursinus, and forming the German Reformed Church. Holland accepted the same system of faith with the spirit of martyrdom ; against Charles and Philip, against Alba and the Inquisition, it fought heroically, under the Prince of Orange, of imperishable fame. In contending for freedom in religion it imbibed the love of civil freedom, which it brought also to our shores; and though Guizot does not once name Holland in his "History of European Civilization," we can never name it but with honor and gratitude ; itself oppressed, it became the refuge of the oppressed. In Eng- land, God overruled the selfish policy of Henry VIII. to the furtherance of the gospel; the persecution of Mary, 1553-8, sent forth the best of England's blood to Zurich and Geneva, there to imbibe more deeply the principles of the Reform and to bring back the seeds of Puritanism, which germinated in spite of the High Court of Commission and the Acts of Uniformity of 1559 and subsequent years. The universities were Calvinistic in their most vigorous period, when Bucer and Peter Martyr taught in them a pure faith. "The Reformation in England," says the Christian Remembrancer (1845), "ended by showing itself a decidedly Cal- vinistic movement." "The Reformation produced Calvinism ; this was its immediate offspring, its genuine matter-of-fact expres- sion." And need I speak of Scotland, where the towering form of John Knox, also taught in Geneva, stands out severe in doc- trine and morals, in vivid contrast with the loveliness of the frail and passionate Mary? Her chivalry could not stem the tide. Presbyterianism prevailed, never to lose its hold of the Scotch nation. Their "fervid genius " was well pleased with this strong theology. Tenacity like that of the Burghers and of the Anti- Burghers, both New and Old Light, and the indomitable spirit of religious independence go with them wherever they go. The Free Church battles in the nineteenth century for the principles of
AJK
II
SPREAD OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN AMERICA.
its sires. The Solemn League and Covenant reappear in our own land, transferred from religion to politics in the Mecklenburg Declaration.1
Upon the earliest history of the Presbyterian Church in America a degree of obscurity rests. The few feeble con- gregations on the new continent were scattered over an immense breadth of territory.2 Probably the French Huguenots were the earliest Presbyterian immigrants. These came under the auspices of Admiral Coligny to the Carolinas in 1562 and to Florida in 1565. They were not successful however. Alexander Whitaker, "the self- denying apostle of Virginia,"3 writes of his work in 1614. In New England a considerable number of Puritan Pres- byterians were at work before the middle of the seven- teenth century. Among those "inclined to Presbyterian views of church government " may be mentioned Thomas Parker and James Noyes, of Newbury, Mass., John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, and Peter Hobart, of Hing- ham.4 At Southold, L. I., a church was organized October 21, 1640, by John Young, and not much later Pierson, Doughty, Fordham, and Denton were preaching in that neighborhood, Doughty being the first Presbyterian min- ister in New York City and Denton the second. The sufferings in Great Britain under James and Charles occa- sioned constant accessions to the Presbyterian community in America. After the battle of Dunbar, in 1650, many Scottish prisoners, Cromwell's Presbyterians, were shipped to the plantations beyond the seas to be sold. Upon the restoration of Charles II. there was a voluntary exodus from the persecuted parishes in Scotland. "Robert Liv-
1 " Address before the Presbyterian Historical Society at St. Louis," 1855, by Dr. Henry B. Smith, pp. 13-5.
2 See Sprague's "Annals," Vol. III., p. xi.
3 Bancroft's " History," 1883 ed., Vol. I., p. 104.
4 Briggs's " American Presbyterianism," p. 94. For a good résumé of the earliest his- tory see Ency. Brit., Art. " Presbyterianism."
1
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
ingston came to New York in 1672 with his nephew. He was a son of the venerable minister of Ancrum who was banished to Holland, and whose name is linked in honora- ble remembrance with the signal refreshing at the Kirk of Shotts."1 A Presbyterian settlement near Norfolk, Va., had a pastor from Ireland who died in 1683. Emigrants from Scotland and the north of Ireland multiplied in East Jersey, Del., along the York and Rappahannock Rivers, and in Charleston, S. C.
A congregational minister of London, one Henry Jacob, had removed in 1624 to Virginia, where he died. In 1642 an appeal was made to New England by seventy-one "in- habitants of the county of the Upper Norfolk in Virginia" for three ministers " faithful in pureness of doctrine and in- tegrity of life." Knowles, Thompson, and James, who re- sponded to this appeal, were successful in their labors, but were silenced by the Episcopal authorities, and in less than a year returned home. Through the continued intolerance of the government, aided by a plague and by Indian massa- cres, dissent was nearly rooted out of that region.2
The duty of sending the gospel to the colonies had been considered in Great Britain in 1641, Mr. Castell of Corten- hall parish devising a scheme for that purpose which was approved by seventy of the Westminster divines. The first formal application to the British churches for aid seems, however, to have been a letter from Colonel Wil- liam Stevens. It was laid before the Irish Presbytery of Laggan in 1680, and Makemie, who yielded to the over- ture and soon after migrated to America, became one of the most useful pioneers of the church in this country. 3
1 Webster's " History," p. 66.
2 Felt's " Ecclesiastical History," Vol I., pp. 216, 471-7, 487, 496, 515, 526-7. Vol. II., p. 7. (Referred to by Gillett, Vol. I., pp. 7-9.)
3 " It is a fact not generally known that in the year 1636, soon after their establish- ment in Ulster, some of these emigrants [the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians] projected a settlement in New England. In the month of September of that year the Eaglewing
?
1
13
SPREAD OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN AMERICA.
FRANCIS MAKEMIE, a native of county Donegal, Ire- land, a student of the University of Glasgow, ordained by Laggan Presbytery, came in 1683 to "Maryland, beside Virginia." It has been thought that he first labored on the western shore of the Chesapeake,1 as his name does not appear until 1690 in the records of Accomac County. 2 Not a mark of his pen is preserved with the exception of a half-dozen letters. 3 No contemporary sketch of his character is to be found. But he was evidently not only a pious, learned, and imposing minister, but also a remark- ably resolute and persevering man.4 Though he suffered imprisonment in New York for venturing to preach the gospel there, his defense of himself before the court both won respect and inspired fear. In 1704 he returned to Europe, coming back the year after with two more Pres- byterian ministers, Hampton and McNish. It is probable that Samuel Davis also came to America under his per- suasion ; and Nathaniel Taylor, another of the pioneers, seems to have been connected with the Makemie family by marriage.5 Only two of the seven" original members of sailed from Loch Fergus for the Merrimac River with one hundred and forty passengers, including the celebrated preachers Robert Blair, John Livingston, James Hamilton, and John McClelland. The vessel was driven back by stress of weather, and the next year these ministers returned to Scotland, where they affiliated with the still more famous Johnston of Warriston and Alexander Henderson, and became prominent in the commotions, civil and religious, which led to the subversion of the English throne and the execution of its treacherous occupant.
"Two thirds of a century later, in consequence of persecution from a government which in some sense owed its existence to the heroism shown at the terrible siege of Londonderry, and the crowning victory of the Boyne, the emigration from Ulster to this country began in earnest, and from about the year 1720 swarm followed swarm from the great hive, some of the emigrants stopping in New England and New York, but the greater part passing into the upper regions of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas." -A writer in the New York Tribune, January 13, 1877.
1 Hodge's " History," p. 66.
2 " This is the record of a suit brought by him to recover from one William Finney the amount due him for molasses sold."-Foote's " Sketches of Virginia," first series, p. 43.
8 Briggs's " American Presbyterianism," appendix.
+ Hodge's " History," p. 76.
5 Webster's " History," p. 318.
6 Hodge (p. 76), omitting the name of John Hampton, makes the number six.
14
EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
the first Presbytery1 could have been influenced by him in their resolution to preach the gospel in America. In 1708 Makemie died,2 leaving for his family a considerable estate.
About the time of Makemie's decease began the settle- ment of that portion of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge, and it is interesting to observe how generally the promi- nent names of "the Valley" reappear in the later annals of the church upon newer ground. Lyle, Stuart, Craw- ford, Campbell, Moore, Wallace, Wilson, Cummins, Mc- Kee, belong not more to the "Potomoke" region than to Kentucky.
An austere, thoughtful race, they preferred the peaceful pursuits of agriculture to the wild license of the hunter's life and constituted a manly and virtuous yeomanry, of whom Washington is reported to have said, that should all his plans be crushed, and but a single standard left him, he would plant that standard on the Blue Ridge, make the mountain heights his barrier, and rallying round him the noblest patriots of the Valley, found, under better auspices, a new republic in the West.3
At their request, in 1719, "the people of Potomoke," near Martinsburgh, were supplied with a minister by the Synod of Philadelphia. Immigration to that region was rapidly increasing and several congregations maintained worship without interference from the prelatical authorities of the colony.
Besides the counties on the eastern shore, where the blessing of Makemie's labors remained, and the settlements in "the Valley," there were also remarkable religious de- velopments in Hanover and the counties adjacent.
The established clergy were many of them notoriously profligate
1 It is a familiar fact that the first leaf of the records is wanting. But the organization occurred in 1705 or 1706.
2 " Spence's 'Letters' contain much information relating to Mr. Makemie. In Smith's 'History of New York ' may be found an instructive account of his imprison- ment and trial ; and the most interesting portion of Dr. Hill's 'Sketches' relate to his character and labors."-Hodge, p. 76, foot-note.
3 Davidson's "Kentucky," p. 21.
..
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SPREAD OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN AMERICA.
in their lives, and very few among them preached, or appeared to understand, the gospel of Christ. It was under these circum- stances that some pious books, or fragments of books, which fell into the hands of a few individuals, were made the means of awak- ening them to a concern for their eternal interest, and of commen- cing a work of grace which was afterward most powerfully and happily extended.1
A few leaves of Boston's "Fourfold State," which had belonged to a good Scotchwoman, came into the possession of a wealthy planter, awakened his mind, and brought him to the truth. Another prominent citizen of Hanover, Mr. Samuel Morris, about the same time got hold of "Luther on the Galatians," and was deeply affected by it. In the spirit of genuine piety he at once became interested in his neighbors, and invited them to his house that they might together engage in the reading of religious books. Thus was established the famous "Morris' Reading House." The large number of people there frequently assembled soon attracted the notice of the government, but Mr. Morris and his friends declaring themselves "Lutherans " for a time escaped further annoyance.
It was now that William Robinson, son of an English Quaker, and a member of New Brunswick Presbytery, was making his memorable preaching tour through some of the remote counties of Virginia. A singular power accom- panied him. Many conversions occurred. It happened that these results were witnessed by some of the young people of the "Reading-House" assemblies, and their report of the matter on their return home so interested these inquiring Dissenters that they despatched messengers to prevail with Mr. Robinson to visit them. On the 6th of July, 1743, he preached the first Presbyterian sermon heard in that region, and the interest it kindled rapidly increased during the four days he remained with them. " There is reason to believe," wrote Mr. Morris himself,
1 Miller's "Life of Rodgers," p. 32.
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
" there was as much good done by these four sermons as by all the sermons preached in these parts before or since."1 Upon Robinson's departure the people secretly conveyed into his saddle-bags, as a mark of their grati- tude, a considerable sum of money, which he had, before refused.
Discovering the benevolent artifice he no longer declined receiving the money, but informed his kind friends that he would appropriate it to the use of a young man of his acquaintance who was studying for the ministry, but embarrassed in his circum- stances. "As soon as he is licensed," he added, "we will send him to visit you ; it may be that you may now, by your liberality, be educating a minister for yourselves.""
Samuel Davies was the young student referred to, and thus occurs another distinguished name directly in that course of providence which, sixty years later, was to carry the gospel to the Indiana wilderness.
SAMUEL DAVIES, of Welsh parentage, was born in New- castle County, Del., November 3, 1723, and seems to have been converted under the preaching of Gilbert Ten- nent. After his licensure, though affected with a threaten- ing pulmonary disease, he went down to the eastern shore of Maryland, where, for two months, he preached by day, though delirious with fever at night. In the spring of 1747 he was sent, by Newcastle Presbytery, to Hanover, in Virginia, where "the people received him as an angel of God and earnestly urged him to settle among them." The following year he accepted the call, obtained from the General Court at Williamsburg permission to preach in the colony, and entered upon the work which was soon to secure, in 1755, the organization of Hanover Presbytery.3
1 Gillies's " Historical Collections," Vol. II., p. 330.
2 Gillett's " History," Vol. 1., pp. 114, 115.
3 Besides William Robinson, it is not to be forgotten that John Roan, the Blairs, and the Tennents had also preached the gospel in Virginia, assisting in laying " the founda- tion on which Davies builded." Foote's "Sketches of Virginia," first series, p. 146.
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SPREAD OF PRESBYTERIANISM IN AMERICA.
Though Davies afterward became a notable president of Princeton College and a preacher admired no less in Great Britain than at home, it is to be doubted whether anything he ever accomplished was more serviceable to Christ's kingdom than the modest beginnings in Virginia.
In 1750 Davies prevailed upon . John Todd to come to his assistance. Settling in Louisa County, contiguous to Hanover, Todd soon opened a classical and theological school. In this academy James Waddell, Wirt's "blind preacher," became first a pupil and afterward an assistant instructor. It was here also that David Rice, a young man of Todd's congregation, received the inspiration and training which fitted him for his subsequent commanding position on the frontier, now to be moved westward to the hunting grounds of Daniel Boone, and to the very borders of the Indiana history.
The year 1783 opened with a prospect of peace with Great Britain, and of comparative quiet from savages ; while the abun- dance of the products of the soil promised to reward the labors of the husbandmen. New settlers poured [into Kentucky] by thou- sands, and the forest and the cane-brake rapidly disappeared beneath the axe and the plough. Among those who were attracted to this land of promise, flowing, as was represented, with milk and honey, was the Rev. David Rice, at that time pas- tor of a congregation at the Peaks of Otter. He came, not with the intention of becoming a resident, but solely with a view to make some provision for his numerous and dependent family ; but, being disgusted with the shameless spirit of speculation which was then rife, he returned without purchasing an acre. In vain were the broad rich lands of Kentucky spread in unrivaled beauty before him ; in vain did the cheapness of the price tempt him ; he valued his peace of mind too much to suspend it on the doubtful risks of inevitable litigation.
During his stay Mr. Rice preached as opportunity offered, and his appearance was hailed with joy by the Presbyterian settlers, some of whom had known him personally and all by reputation. They had learned by their long destitution and silent Sabbaths to appreciate the value of the stated ministry ; and, like David in his
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