USA > Indiana > Indiana Baptist history, 1798-1908 > 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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
GEN
ATTENTION: BAR CODE IS LOCATED INSIDE OF BOOK
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 02413 0707
Gc 977.2 St7i Stott, William Indiana Baptist history, 1798-1908
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY
-
1798-1908
WILLIAM T. STOTT, D. D., LL.D. Ex-President Franklin College Franklin, Indiana
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Copyright, 1908, by W. T. STOTT
-
1555088
Dedicated to FRANKLIN COLLEGE
To which are flowing in increasing volume the interest, the sympathy, the gifts and the prayers of the Baptists of Indiana; and from which is going out a growing multitude of symmetrically trained young men and young women to be the bearers of social, moral and spiritual health and blessing to the churches, the commonwealth, the country and the world.
ILLUSTRATIONS
State Convention Monument
4
Elder Isaac McCoy 52
The Rev. Albert A. Ogle 316
The Rev. R. E. Neighbor
320
The Rev. S. H. Huffman
322
Mrs. Mary E. Jeffrey.
325
The Rev. S. M. Stimson
328
Mrs. S. M. Stimson 328
345
Mr. E. C. Crawford
Mrs. E. C. Crawford.
345
Franklin College Presidents
352
The Rev. Norman Carr
356
Dr. B. Wallace
360
Franklin College Buildings
364
INDIANABA TTATE CONVENTION
ORGANIZEDHERE APRIL 261833 REV. SAMUEL HARDINGH MODERATOR REv. J.L.HOLMAN SECRETARY
CONTENTS.
DIVISION I.
General Conditions
1-36
DIVISION II.
Silver Creek and Maria Creek Churches.
37-60
DIVISION III.
Associations
61-300
DIVISION IV.
Indiana Baptist Convention-
1. Organization 301-312
2. Missions 312-331
3. Education 331-369
PREFACE.
The author having through many years interested himself in gathering data for a history of the Baptists of Indiana, had the impression that he owed it to his brethren to undertake the work. He has found them willing and glad to assist in the undertaking, and he is under obligation to many ; he would particularly men- tion the help rendered by the Rev. J. K. Howard, of Indianapolis, and the Rev. L. S. Sanders, of Franklin, in gaining a knowledge of the Associations of south- western Indiana; and the Rev. Charles Herring, of Lima, in securing statistics of the Free Baptists of northern Indiana. Certain facts are found here which may also be found in Dr. William Cathcart's Baptist Encyclopædia, and in Dr. J. A. Smith's Baptists of the Western States east of the Mississippi-but the author furnished the Indiana notes for both these treatises.
As to the statistics of numbers and finances, only approximate accuracy can be claimed, because of the imperfect records and reports of the churches and be- cause of the fact that the church year, the Association year, the Convention year and the year of the different national denominational organizations do not coincide with the calendar year, nor with each other. The sta- tistics given are substantially correct. The biographi- cal sketches have been given in connection with the Association or Society in which the person did most of his denominational work. It is believed that the Index is sufficiently full for the guidance of the reader; and
the cuts inserted will afford pleasure to the thousands in the State who personally know the men and women thus brought to remembrance.
If the reader shall find as much interest and profit in a review of the high Christian character and heroic deeds of the early Indiana Baptists, as the author has found, the volume will not have been written in vain. He wishes to record his indebtedness to his sons, Wil- fred T. Stott and Roscoe G. Stott, for valuable assist- ance as the work was being carried through the press.
Franklin, Indiana, 1908. W. T. STOTT.
DIVISION I.
GENERAL CONDITIONS IN THAT PART OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY, NOW CALLED INDIANA, AT THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
The general surface of Indiana is well drained ex- cept at the north where there is a good deal of low swampy ground, and also a large number of small lakes. The principal streams are the Ohio river on the south, the Wabash river on the west, White Water on the east, the Kankakee river on the northwest and the Maumee on the northeast.
The highest point of land is near the present city of Fort Wayne, from which there is a gradual descent towards the southwest. Along the streams there is a heavy growth of timber consisting of a great variety of trees, prominent among which are the beech, oak, poplar, maple, walnut, elm, ash and sycamore. The surface is rich alluvial soil, but more fertile in the north and center than at the south. In the northwest there are several extensive stretches of prairie.
This much of the geography is given for the more ready location of the centers of population, and also the centers towards which the white immigrants would tend; for it is well known that the first settlements
2
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
were made on or near the principal lakes and streams. Accordingly we find the larger number of Indiana vil- lages on the Wabash river and its tributaries, and on the Maumee and Illinois rivers. The present site of Fort Wayne more than any other locality, was the headquarters of the Miamis (a branch of the Algon- quins), a principal tribe of the territory. The principal highways used by immigrants in coming to this new territory were the rivers and lakes-especially such rivers as take their rise in the localities whence the immigrants came.
A study of the geography of the country will also make clear the natural location of the so-called "por- tages." Those, for instance, who came by the way of the northern lakes-as Lake Erie-would find their way up the Maumee, and then if they desired to reach the Mississippi river they must carry their boats across the land to the headwaters of the Wabash; hence the term portage was given to the carrying place. The one just now mentioned was probably the principal one; others were those connecting St. Josephs of the Lake with the headwaters of the Kankakee, and Lake Michigan with the headwaters of the Tippecanoe which empties into the Wabash. Another overland route much used, although it cannot be called a port- age was that from The Falls (Louisville, Ky.), to the Post at St. Vincents (Vincennes). The direct dis- tance between these two points is about eighty-five miles, while that by way of the Ohio and Wabash rivers is more than three times as great.
The first settlements of white men in the territory
3
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
now called Indiana were made by the French who came by the way of the St. Lawrence river and the lakes ; they were not only discoverers but also settlers and missionaries. Among these were some who established a trading post at Vincennes as early as 1710; and fol- lowing these came a colony in 1735. These were all on terms of friendship with the Indians, for they were engaged in trade with each other, the Indians furnish- ing furs, for the most part, and the French such arti- cles of manufacture as they found to be most accept- able to the Indians.
Following the Treaty of Paris, made in 1763, by which the French relinquished Canada and the terri- tory east of the Mississippi river, except New Orleans, the English began to occupy trading posts formerly in possession of the French. Vincennes was one of the points in what is now Indiana to come under the con- trol of the English; and it remained under their con- trol till 1779 when it was captured by General George C. Clark. Those who came into the state from the south came either down the Ohio river, stop- ping at The Falls, or at some point on the northern bank farther up; or, coming through Kentucky, crossed the Ohio at The Falls. Some followed the Ohio down to the mouth of the Wabash and ascended that river.
Another means of access to the state at that early time was from the east. Immigrants would enter the mouth of the Miami river, below Cincinnati, and as- cending that stream for a few miles would enter White Water river and thus reach the White Water valley, far-famed for its beauty and fertility. Immigrants
4
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
came to the new west in large and increasing numbers, as rapidly as the main difficulties were gotten out of the way. Reports of the fertility of soil and salubrity of climate in the Mississippi valley had spread far and wide, and thousands were ready to come, willing to endure the privations of pioneer life, but could not overcome their dread of the savage Indians.
The wave of immigration would ebb or flow as the prospect for conquering the savages would grow dim or bright. There was a strong and general conviction that so rich a territory ought not to be abandoned to men who had none of the elements of progress in their nature and habits; and yet it was acknowledged that their lands should not be taken from them without their consent, and without remuneration. But the ini- tiative must lie not with the Indians who were satis- fied with their wild, idle and savage mode of living, but with the white men who were anxious to conquer the natural difficulties, develop the vast possibilities of the country, and "make the wilderness to blossom as the rose." In addition to the attractiveness of the soil and other material resources the white men clearly foresaw the bright political and religious future made sure by the famous Ordinance of 1787. This ordinance will be referred to at length further on.
The depredations of the Indians were frequent, made sometimes because of real or fancied ill treatment, and sometimes without any apparent reason except the gen- eral one that the white man was determined by fair means or foul, to rob them of their lands and the home of their fathers. Kindly treatment sometimes
5
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
had a salutary effect, but usually the Indians were will- ing to sue for peace and enter into treaty only after they had been severely chastised in battle. The depre- dations on the white settlements in Ohio, along the Miami river and in adjacent parts of the country be- came so numerous and dastardly in 1789 that General Washington determined to send an army under Gen- eral Josiah Harmar to administer a merited and severe rebuke.
The expedition started out from Fort Washington, Cincinnati. The Indians-mainly Miamis-under their leader, Little Turtle, met General Harmar's men, and using tactics unknown to civilized warfare, de- feated them ; not, however, till they had destroyed sev- eral Indian villages, and burned the corn that was stored in them. This defeat greatly retarded immigra- tion, and carried consternation to the families already settled in that part of the country adjoining the Miami and Ohio rivers, for the Indians became the more bold and cruel.
So great was the fear and inconvenience that Gen- eral Washington decided to gather, equip and send another army into the Indian country. General Arthur St. Clair was chosen to lead the campaign. It started from Fort Washington also, and invaded the Indian country in 1791. It met with a sorer defeat, if pos- sible, than did General Harmar's army two years be- fore. As a consequence immigration greatly declined, in fact came to a standstill.
But the Mississippi valley was too tempting to allow the white man to give up all efforts to gain control of
6
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
it; and in 1794 another campaign was organized with a larger number of soldiers and in command of a gen- eral (Anthony Wayne), as to whose success there could hardly be a rational doubt. It was believed that a general who had accomplished so many daring feats during the Revolutionary war, would be equal to any military tactics that Little Turtle might see fit to bring to bear.
General Wayne's military fame had preceded him to the place of conflict. In the Indian council of war, Little Turtle somewhat discouraged undertaking the engagement saying: "We gained the victory in two battles under different leaders, and it is hardly pos- sible that we shall gain a third." He also reminded his warriors that "General Wayne is a blacksnake, a soldier who never sleeps."
True to his past record General Wayne achieved a great victory and made the savages willing and glad to sue for peace. Accordingly there was effected that great treaty called the treaty of Greenville, by which a large area of the Indian lands was ceded to the United States. With these further obstructions re- moved the tide of immigration again set in. In 1800 Indiana had a sufficient population to be erected into a territory of the United States, and General William Henry Harrison, who had been a very efficient officer under General Wayne, was made governor with head- quarters, for the time, at Vincennes. The work of organization and improvement went on at a fair rate, except for the occasional raids of the Indians on the white settlements. It was known to Governor Harri-
7
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
son that Tecumseh, an Indian chief, and his brother "the prophet," were quietly at work to form a north- west Indian Confederacy-the ultimate purpose being the extermination of the whites and again controlling the lands once occupied by their own fathers. These leaders pretended great friendship for the whites and especially for Governor Harrison. Tecumseh proposed a friendly visit, and the governor promptly consented ; the latter however knew Indian treachery too well to be deceived, and went to the council prepared for any emergency.
It soon became known that at a given signal the Indian warriors were to fall upon the whites, including the governor, and dispatch them; but they found that the white soldiers who were with the governor were ready for whatever might come, and the purpose was abandoned. However, preparations went on and at length the governor gathered an army and marched north to meet the Indian warriors. The result was the well known battle of Tippecanoe, in which the Indians were completely routed, and peace was once more in prospect.
The next account that we have of Tecumseh is that he was killed in the battle of Thames, in which Gov- ernor Harrison led the Americans against the allied English and Indians, and gained as complete a victory as he had previously in the battle of Tippecanoe.
With the principal hindrances now out of the way, the tide of immigration again set in, so that by 1816 the population of Indiana Territory was sufficient for it to be formed into a State.
8
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
The State was organized December 11th, 1816, with the capital at Corydon, where the capital of the terri- tory had been located in 1813; Jonathan Jennings was elected first governor. The population of the State was 4,875 in 1800; 24,520 in 1810, and 147,178 in 1820.
Among the principal causes that invited immigration to the west was the great Ordinance of 1787. Various states had ceded their western territory to the United States and these lands composed the Northwest Ter- ritory formed in 1787 and an ordinance was passed for its government on July 13th of the same year. For breadth of view and catholicity of spirit this ordinance is scarcely less important than the Declaration of Inde- pendence itself. The men who were foremost in the construction and enactment of this ordinance will be held in grateful remembrance as long as the people of this northwest shall live and prosper.
Worthy of particular mention among these men are President Jefferson, who insisted upon the clause ex- cluding slavery; Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, who wrote the ordinance, and Manasseh Cutler, of Con- necticut, whose interest was doubtless due in part to the fact that he was one of a company to buy a large tract of land in the territory. Others doubtless had a share in the final passage of the act, as Rufus King, of Maine; Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, and William Grayson, of Virginia.
We can scarcely conceive the importance of this or- dinance, except in the light of the results. Today the five states into which this territory was divided-Ohio,
9
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin-contain a population of 15,895,581 (census of 1900), and a total assessed valuation of $7,101,690,993 (valuation of 1900). Their annual expenditure for education and religion is many millions of dollars, and the modern means of communication, travel, transportation and manufacture find their fullest use within the boundary of these states.
But the sections of the ordinance that had most in- fluence in directing the home-seekers to the North- west Territory were Article 1st :
"No person demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship, or religious sentiments in said Territory"; and Article 3d :
"Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and prop- erty shall never be taken from them without their con- sent; and in their property, rights, and liberty they shall never be invaded nor disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress, but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrong being done them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them."
The most powerful of the statements, however, was found in the first part of Article 6th :
"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- tude, in the said territory, otherwise than in the pun-
.10
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
ishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. ... "
The immigrants came from both south and east; those from the south were in the main from Virginia and North Carolina, and many of them first settled in Tennessee and Kentucky. Hoping to escape the in- stitution of slavery they made their way north, cross- ing the Ohio river, for the most part at "The Falls," Louisville, Ky., and finding homes in southern Indiana, were soon active in labors for the building up of the new country. Others came down the Ohio river, and found homes either near the river on the bottom lands, or farther back on the up-lands, or they followed up the Big Miami river and crossed overland to the White Water valley. Still others came from New England through New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and found homes in the middle and northern parts of Indiana. Of course a few came from other directions; for instance some followed the Ohio river to the mouth of the Wabash river and then followed up that stream, and- entered the state from the west. As has already been said some came by the way of the lakes and entered the state from the north; these latter were mostly from New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Among those who came to this new country it is fair to suppose that not a few were Baptists; for the states from which they came were well represented by Bap- tists who had made a long and heroic struggle for their religious beliefs. This was especially true as to Vir- ginia and New England. Will it not be well there- fore for us to inquire somewhat carefully into the Bap-
11
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
tist conditions prevailing in the localities from which the pioneers came to early Indiana?
For this purpose I have selected a well known docu- ment, believing that it will give as full and accurate a notion of Baptist principles as anything that could be placed in evidence ; it is a memorial and remonstrance presented to the General Assembly of Virginia at the session for 1775.
"TO THE HONORABLE, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA :
"We, the subscribers, citizens of the said common- wealth, having taken into serious consideration a bill, printed by order of the last session of the General As- sembly, entitled, 'A bill establishing a provision for teachers of the christian religion, and conceiving that the same, if finally armed with the sanction of the law, will be a dangerous abuse of power ; are bound as faith- ful members of a free state, to remonstrate against it and to declare the reasons by which we are deter- mined.
"We remonstrate against said bill :
"BECAUSE we hold it for a fundamental and unalien- able truth 'that religion, or the duty which we owe to the Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.'. The religion, then, of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man ; and it is the right of every man to exercise it, as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable because the opinions of men depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds,
-
12
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
cannot follow the dictates of other men. It is unalien- able also because what is here right towards men is duty towards the Creator. It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes acceptable to him. The duty is prece- dent both in order of time and in degree of obligation to the claims of civil society. Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society he must be considered as a subject of the governor of the universe. And if a member of civil society, who enters into any subordinate association must always do it with a reser- vation of his duty to the general authority ; much more must every man who becomes a member of any par- ticular civil society do it with a saving allegiance to the universal Sovereign. We maintain therefore that in matters of religion no man's right is abridged by the institution of civil society ; and that religion is wholly exempt from its cognizance. True it is that no other rule exists, by which any question that may divide so- ciety can be ultimately determined, but by the will of the majority. But it is also true that the majority may trespass on the rights of the minority.
"BECAUSE if religion be exempt from the authority of the society at large, still less can it be subject to that of the legislative body. The latter are but the creatures and vicegerents of the former. Their jurisdiction is both derivative and limited. It is limited with regard to the co-ordinate departments; more necessarily it is limited with reference to the constituents. The preser- vation of a free government requires, not that merely the metes and bounds which separate each department
13
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
of power, be invariably maintained ; but more espe- cially that neither of them be permitted to overleap the great barrier which defends the rights of the people. The rulers who are guilty of such an encroachment, ex- ceed the commission from which they derive their au- thority, and they are tyrants. The people who submit to it, are governed by laws made neither by themselves, nor by an authority derived from them, and are slaves.
"BECAUSE it is proper to take alarm at the first ex- periment on our liberties we hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the late revolution. The freemen of America did not wait until usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and avoided the consequences by deny- ing the principle. We revere this lesson too much soon to forget it. Who does not see that the same authority which can establish christianity in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease, any particular sect of christians to the exclusion of all other sects? The same authority that can force a citi- zen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment may force him to contribute to any other establishment, in all cases whatsoever.
"BECAUSE the bill violates that equality which ought to be the basis of every law; and which is more indis- pensable in proportion as the validity or expediency of any law is more liable to be impeached. If 'all men are, by nature equally free and independent,' all men are to
14
INDIANA BAPTIST HISTORY.
be considered as entering into society on equal condi- tions, are relinquishing no more, and therefore retain- ing no less, one than another of their natural rights ; above all they are to be considered as retaining an equal title to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience. While we assert for our- selves a freedom to embrace, to profess and observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin ; we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence that has con- vinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offence against God, not against man. To God therefore, and not to man, must an account be rendered. As the bill advocates equality, by subjecting some to peculiar bur- dens, so it violates the same principle by granting to others peculiar exemptions. Are the Quakers and Menonists the only sects who think a compulsive sup- port of their religion unnecessary and unwarrantable? Can their piety alone be entrusted with the care of pub- lic worship? Ought their religions to be endowed, above all others, with extraordinary privileges by which the proselytes may be enticed from all others? We think too favorably of the justice and good sense of these denominations to believe that they either covet pre-eminences over their fellow-citizens, or that they will be seduced by them from the common opposition to the measure.
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.