USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > A Century of history of the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church of Evansville, Indiana : with sketches of it's [sic] pastors, officers, and prominent members and reminiscences of early times > Part 12
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
In 1851, the Church was extended 29 feet and a little gallery constructed 91/2 feet in the clear at the highest point, receding towards the sides. It was reached by a narrow winding staircase. There is a choir legend, that when the balloon-hoop-skirt epidemic was at its height, some of the lady members had to sit with the congregation. A Melo- deon was purchased and in the steeple a bell was hung-the first church bell in Evansville. Mr. Drew says, if the church had a sexton he must have drawn the line on Saturday night service, fer he remembers very well that it was his business to start the fire in the winter time and ring the bell for the choir meeting. After the choir assembled, he was the "Melodeonist." No salaries were paid in those days for choir services-it was the labor of love.
Among the members at that time were David J. Mack- er, Charles Henson, Osborne Reilly, Daniel Woolsey, W. K.
152
McGrew, Miss Cornelia Warner, afterwards Mrs. Culbert- son, Miss Marion Wilcox afterwards Mrs. Dr. Rucker Misses Mary and Martha Morton, Miss Mallie Shanklin, aft- erwards the wife of Associate Justice Harlan, Miss Mary Jones, afterwards Mrs. Blythe Hynes, Miss Tileston, after- wards Mrs. Henson and Miss Mary Mackey, afterwards, Mrs. S. E. Gilbert.
After the dedication of the present Church edifice in 1864, the organ was in the gallery across the Walnut St. end of the building, Mr. Theodore Russell became the leader and Mr. C. K. Drew, Jr., the organist. The organ was built by W. D. B. Simmons & Co., of Boston, Mass., and cost $1,500.00 For about ten years the choir occupied the loft, then the organ was removed to the present location in the rear of the pulpit. The moving of the organ from the gar- ret was not a very expensive or laborious work, but to move the congregation to permit it to be done, was a task, the magnitude of which cannot be appreciated in these days of ready acceptance of new ideas. A campaign document was printed, headed "five reasons why the organ and choir should be removed to the rear of the pulpit," and a copy was placed in every pew at a prayer meeting service. At the conclusion of the service, Mr. Samuel Orr, the nestor of the congregation, arose in his place, and with a copy of the tract in his hand, proceeded to advocate the change.
That settled it. Whatever Mr. Orr's sound judgment approved, was surely done. The organ was moved and the present choir loft was erected.
In the year 1870, Prof. Milton Z. Tinker became the Director of the Choir and served faithfully for a period of forty years. A capable leader, his heart in his work. The foremost qualities he instilled into his choir members, were strict attention and punctuality. He, himself, was never known to be absent or late. After one hour of hard study at choir rehearsals, he was usually heard to say, "We will stop now and trust to Providence tomorrow."
In the year 1883, the present organ was installed, hav- ing been built by H. Pilcher Co., of Louisville, Ky.
A noteworthy event during Prof. Tinker's leadership was the celebration of his Silver Jubilee as leader, held in the church parlors and attended by the membership of the Church, at which time Rev. Otis Smith, then pastor, present- ed him with a handsome diamond stud from the ladies of the church.
Among the members in the decade ending with the year 1880, appeared the names of the following :- Mr. and Mrs.
153
Mason, Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Drew, Mr. and Mrs. Hynes, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert, Mrs. Lizzie Shanklin, Miss Nellie Goodge, Misses Anna and Maggie Farrell, Mr. and Mrs. Butterfield, Miss Anna McCarer, Mr. Theo Russell, Wm. DeLang.
In the year 1895, the membership was as follows, So- pranos-Misses Nellie Goodge, Ruth Kraft, Mayme Herren- bruck, Helen Decker, Olive Goodge, Rose Smith, Grace Trip- lett, Emily Sullivan, Jingling, Mae Mccutcheon, Lena Deck- er, Rose McDowell. Altos-Misses Emma Decker, Emma McCoy, Olive Hankins, Alice Smith, Lena Triplett, Anna Bromm, Mrs. M. H. Lockyear, Martha Orr.
Tenors-Mr. M. Z. Tinker, Otto Barton, Chas. Schau- ner, Richard Northal. Bassos-Messrs Samuel Orr, Colin Gilchrist, Geo. Eggers, Joe Wastjer, Louis Kestner, Robt. Bonner, Charles Little, Frank McCoy, Will Sansom, Will Baird, M. H. Lockyear.
Prof. Tinker was assisted in his work by several prom- inent organists, who, each served a number of years, among them, Miss Amelia Lawrence, Mrs. Boyden, Miss Hobbs, Miss Maggie Allen (afterwards Mrs. Wm. McLean-, Prof. Arnold Habbe and Mrs. Addie K. Millis, who began her serv- ices about the year 1887 and continued until Prof. Tinker's resignation in 1910, when she became Director as well as organist. At this time Mrs. Louis Kestner became assist- ant organist, and was succeeded by Mrs. Willis M. Copeland a year later.
Miss Amelia Lawrence, at her death, left a legacy of $5,000, the interest of which was to be paid to her sister during her life, the principal to come to Walnut Street at her death. It is still unpaid.
Mrs. Lizzie Shanklin raised $250.00 in the congregation toward the proposed Tinker Memorial Organ in memory of Mr. Tinker's long service as leader of Walnut Street Choir.
In Sept., 1917, Prof. Walter A. Otto became Choir Leader and Mrs. Copeland, organist. Mr. Otto was succeed- ed the present year by Prof. Andrew T. Webster, Super- visor of Music in the Public Schools. (A coincidence that half a century after Mr. Tinker began his work with the choir, the present director should have the same position in the Public Schools as that occupied by Mr. Tinker.
The members of the Choir at this time are, Sopranos, Mrs. Philip Knell, Mrs. S. Bayard Goodge. Altos, Mrs. Fred H. Ruff, Miss Blanche Jung. Tenor, Mr. Albert Schanzen- becher.
154
CHAPTER VIII.
REV. OTIS SMITH.
Rev. Otis A. Smith was born in Albion, Ill., April 10, 1862. He was the youngest of seven children and son of Rev. Thomas and Jane Smith, who came from England in 1848. He was graduated from Wabash College in 1884. In the fall of 1884 he went to Union Theological Seminary, New York City. After one year he came back to Chicago and spent two years in McCormick Theological Seminary. He was called to the pastorate of Frankfort, Ind., in 1887.
He was married June 2, 1887 to Miss Martha Binford of Crawfordsville. March 10, 1891 he took up the work at Walnut Street Presbyterian Church at Evansville. A few months later Mrs. Smith died leaving a little daughter, Grace, who was reared by her grandmother in Crawfords- ville. Dr. Smith afterwards married Miss Jennie Gosman of Lawrenceville, N. J., then teaching in Miss Peabody's Classical School for Girls at Evansville, a devoted Christian woman of religious and missionary antecedents. He is now located at Alexandria, Indiana, with his family of three sons and two daughters.
Dr. Smith made use of modern advertising methods, cards giving the subject to his series of evening sermons on popular subjects being distributed by members and draw- ing congregations of young people, to whom his appeal was especially made. It was quite the fashion in his day for young men to come to the C. E. and evening service to meet the young women and later escort them home. Dr. Smith was a young man and full of energy and enthusiasm and actuated by the highest principles of right and duty. He was especially active and beloved in the Parke Memorial Chapel, as evidenced by his reception there on his return to officiate at their 25th anniversary.
Some Incidents in the Ministry of Otis A. Smith as Pas- tor of Walnut Street Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. "I came to Evansville Walnut Street Presbyterian Church through the suggestion of Dr. Jos. F. Tuttle, D. D.,
155
Worth.
Rev. Otis Smith.
156
of Wabash College. The first service I conducted was the prayer meeting, March 11, 1891, having arrived in the city the day before
There was an aroma of sweet spices in connection with my entrance upon the pastorate. Dr. L. M. Gilleland, who had gone to Lake View Presbyterian Church of Chicago from Walnut Street Church passed away March 1, 1891. The second Sunday of my pastorate was given over, in the even- ing service, to a worthy memorial of that good man and faithful pastor. Addresses were made by each of the Pres- byterian pastors, Meldrum and Lowry-also by Dr. Morris of the Episcopal Church, and Dr. Bryan of the C. P. Church, and by James L. Orr. The installation services were held May 17 and participated in by Dr. Jos. F. Tuttle, Rev. W. S. Lowry and Dr. A. B. Meldrum.
The work of the church was growing, both in the Wal- nut Street Church and at the Chapel; the officers of the Church thought best to call a student from the Seminary to assist in the work, especially at Parke Chapel. Rev. Graham Lee was the man who came and who did most excellent ser- vice-his self-sacrificing work will always be remembered by those who came in touch with him. There was not a sel- fish streak in his genial personality. Mr. Lee afterwards married Miss Blanche Webb, and they, together with Mrs. Webb, went to Korea. The going of these consecrated work- ers formed a new and lasting bond between Walnut Street Church and the Mission field.
Two great union meetings were held during my pastor- ate, all the churches of the city uniting; one under B. Fay Mills in 1893, and another under Dr. J. Wilber Chapman in 1895.
The vision and self-sacrifice of the Walnut Street Church is nowhere more evident than in connection with the work of the Sabbath School. The spirit of Walnut Street was never selfish-it was not self-centered. Any good cause that would help the city always found an advocate and loyal supporter in this church. It was so in the temperance cause ; in the case of the waifs and the poor, in city mission work.
I shall never cease to be grateful for the thoughtfulness about the pastor's comfort, which was always exercised with a degree of cheerfulness which I have never known to be ex- ceeded anywhere."
157
CHAPTER IX.
REV. SAMUEL N. WILSON, D. D.
Samuel Newton Wilson, son of Rev. James Alfred Wil son and Emily Maxwell Wilson, was born in Crawfordsville, Ind., Nov. 18, 1847. Losing his parents early in life ,he was reared by an uncle and aunt, Prof. J. M. Coyner and wife. Through the instruction and guidance of this earnest Chris- tian educator during his childhood and youth his mind and purpose was directed to the ministry. He well remembers a conversation with his uncle, which decided his course, upon the return of the latter from a meeting of the Gen- eral Assembly, where the needed increase in the ranks of the ministry had been earnestly pressed. It is worthy of note in this connection that Prof. Coyner in his long and useful career was the means of influencing twenty other young men to choose this high calling. What a comment on the import- ance to the church of Christian schools and men of sterling Christian character and faith as teachers.
I entered Hanover College as a Freshman in the fall of 1868 and graduated with the class of 1872, and the following fall entered Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, completing the course in the spring of 1875, and was at once called to the Pastorate of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceburg, Ind., the scene of the first pastorate of Henry Ward Beecher, and where many graduates of the Seminary did their initial work. As a good old elder of the church once said to me, "Yes, you young men stay with us until you get to be good preachers and then you leave us." From the streets of Law- renceburg you could see the early home of President Harri- son and the territory of three States. It was surrounded by a cordon of distilleries that, year after year, turned the corn of the fertile Miami Valley into whiskey-certainly an in- viting field for missionary effort. November 18, 1875, my birthday, I was united in marriage with Eliza J. Phillips of Hanover, Indiana, my college town.
At the spring meeting of White Water Presbytery the following year I was ordained and installed pastor. Here our children, Edgar, Mary, Gertrude and Alfred were born. We remained 31/2 years, erecting a handsome new church on the site of the old in the very midst of the great floods of the Ohio in 1882-3-4. In the fall of 1884 an unexpected call
158
came from the extreme northwestern corner of the state, from Valparaiso, the location of a great Normal school. The church here was also in the midst of the erection of a fine new building, which called for the utmost wisdom and en- ergy to bring to a successful conclusion. Here our children, Donald and Jeannette, were born. Seven and one-half years were spent witnessing the introduction of Christian En- deavor into the church activities ad affording the joy of wel- coming many into the church fellowship. In 1892 I was called to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church of Anderson, Indiana, one of the rapidly growing cities, lo- cated in the very center of the natural gas belt of the State. Four wonderfully busy years were terminated by a call from the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church of Evansville in the fall of 1896, removing in December. Here, with Parke Me- morial, its child, served Rev. John Engstrow, it was my privilege to labor with its hospitable and cultivated people for another four years.
During this pastorate I received the honorary degree of D. D., from my "Alma Mater", which the present August N. Sonne, D. D., a son of the church esteemed it a privilege, personally to announce to the people from my pulpit. This change gave me the unique distinction of having served in every corner of the state, but one.
In December, 1900, our work in Indiana ceased in an- swer to a call from Wausaw, Wis., six hundred miles north. The church here was a wonderful missionary church where opportunity for local and synodical service of far-reaching import called for the best energies of heart and brain that after eight years brought us to the Semi-centennial of the church in 1908 and led me to feel the need of taking a church involving less responsibility. I, therefore, in August, 1908, accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church of Reeds- burg, Wis., a beautiful little city, some fifty miles north of Madison, the state capital. After a delightful pastorate of eight years, I was led, by advancing age and impaired health, to offer my resignation, and with my wife removed to Stevens Point, Wis., wherer since her marriage, our young- est daughter, Mrs. C. W. Capps, resided. On the occasion of her death, February, 1920, we gave up our home and went to live in that of our son-in-law, that we might care for our little grandson, thus left without a mother.
Since leaving the active work, I have frequently served as a supply for my brethren for months at a time, as in the Home Church, until they secured a pastor in the early spring
159
of 1921. Thus, in watching the growth of the Church in evangelistic and educational lines and in helping, as oppor- tunity offers, we rejoice that we are able "to bring forth fruit in old age," and to enjoy intercessory prayer for the churches we have served and the world at large."
S. N. WILSON.
When you speak of a Centennial Celebration in Indiana, it carries you back to early and pioneer days, both in the matters of church and state. To the days when the tide of emigration swept over the Alleghenies and down the Ohio valley and river and settled along the shores. Naturally, here our earliest Presbyterian churches would be organized and the passage of time give opportunity for growth and usefulness.
My first knowledge of the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church was when as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church at Lawrenceburg (my first charge) I attended a meeting of Synod held within its walls. I have but dim remembrance of its programme and subjects of discussion, but do retain the impression of its choir and wonderful leader, and of the high praises on every lip accorded to Elder Samuel Orr, the staunch and liberal friend of the church and all its work. Little did I dream that one day I would become its pastor and identified in carrying forward that which had called forth his prayers and labors of love.
My next personal touch with the church was when as Commissioner to the General Assembly. I met Rev. Otis Smith, D. D., and Elder Samuel Little and wife bound for the same destination, and had delightful experiences of travel with them at Niagara Falls and other points along the way.
My third and closer introduction was when Elder Rob- ert Smith and Mrs. L. Cutler made an excursion northward with Anderson, Ind., as their goal, and appeared as strang- ers in my congregation and Sunday School one Sabbath morning, and later were present at an afternoon Mission Service. This incursion to spy out the land later led to an invitation to visit the church, the extension of a call, its ac- ceptance and settlement as pastor.
In the late fall of 1896, almost on the borders of winter, our household goods and good sized family (furnishing a representative for almost every department of church activity- arrived and were made at home in the comfortable and well appointed parsonage. As we recall there were few events of marked local interest occurring during our com-
160
paratively brief pastorate. We were a down-town church on the border-line of business, not in a center of teeming population or in a rapidly growing residential position call- ing for special institutional activities.
The usual trend of ministerial service upon the Sabbath claimed the pastor's best work, while co-operating heartily with Parke Memorial, our associate church, the Y. M. C. A., the Home of the Friendless and other public utilities and movements. The great Home Mission self-sustaining move- ment was obtaining momentum, rapidly placing Indiana in the front rank in this comprehensive, far reaching step. Old Vincennes Presbytery felt its impulse, new churches being organized in hitherto neglected regions in coal mining camps and villages, such as those in which Elder Little and Attor- ney Gilchrist were interested.
In this movement, effort was also made to kindle life in dying country churches. The pastor being sent by Pres- bytery to one in the fertile Wabash valley to hold a meeting and take a vote whether its name should be erased from the roll and the church be given decent and formal burial, or whether it should arise and shine, and refuse to be dis- solved. We are happy to announce that the vote was hearty and unanimous for the latter course and the pastor felt that in "strengthening the things which remained," he had achieved something worth while in his pastorate.
The pastor, with the assistance of Elder James Orr, accomplished something of the same kind in the city. The affairs of the First Avenue Presbyterian Church had reach- ed such a low ebb that they were unable to secure a pastor. They could not raise a salary and there was no one willing to go out and make the canvass for subscriptions. Rev. Charles Kircher, D. D., of whom it is said that "he thought it was his special mission to take hold of churches whom no one else would take, and build them up," in the meantime visited the church and preached to the people. He then re- ported that if some one would make a canvass for subscrip- tions he would undertake the pastorate if the church desired. With the fate of a church at stake, there was nothing left for the pastor of Walnut street church and his faithful elder but to roll up their sleeves, or rather put on their seven league boots and undertake the task.
The outcome was made plain in the remarkably suc- cessful pastorate of Dr. Kircher and in the continued use- fulness and growth of the Church in the development of the city. "Coming events cast their shadows before."
A conversation with Dr. Darby as we were mutually on
161
our way to our respective Presbyteries, impressed me deeply so that I was not surprised when later he became easily one of the most potent factors in the great movement for the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with our own. He was certainly a man of remarkable talent and at- tainment in his service rendered, as identified with both de- nominations. I count it an honor to have known him per- sonally and to have come in touch with his life's work.
Our reception by the ministers of our sister churches was most cordial, but with none were they more fraternal and intimate than with Rev. J. L. Marquis. He helped us in adjusting our household effects, he played with our chil- dren and mingled in delightful companionship as one of the family. This happy fellowship found but a larger field in our city Ministerial Association. Our place of meeting was in the Y. M. C. A. parlors where each Monday morning, pa- pers and addresses, debates, sermons and reviews of books and discussions of subjects current or bearing upon our work or that of the public weal were presented, with great helpfulness to us all.
A memorable event in the history of my Pastorate was an annual meeting of the Board of the Northwest. So much did it become a matter of planning and conversation on the part of the ladies of Grace and Walnut Street in their homes and in the manse, that my son, Alfred, got it twisted and said : "The Plank of the Northwest was coming." He knew it had something to do with lumber. This perhaps was prophetic of his present line of employment, a wholesale lumber merchant.
In the division of labor, the programme and public meetings were rendered in Grace Church while the meals and entertainment of guests and delegates occurred in the parlors of Walnut Street. The impressions and inspirations of the meeting were greatly helpful to all our churches.
Speaking of our children. An experience of the Mistress of the Manse may be helpful and suggestice to mothers in the raising of their boys. The back yard of the Manse was often well supplied with boys where an animated game of tennis with improvised slab rackets proved dangerous to the basement windows of the church, until protected by screens. Some one said to the minister's wife, observing the daily situation, "How can you stand all this clutter and crowd and noise ?" To which she replied, "Oh, I would rather have my boys there with their friends and know where they are, than running the streets at will." A wise mother, even if it in- volved paying for a few broken panes of glass. An unsight-
162
ly shack and a topsy turvy barn, the handiwork of the viva- cious youngsters.
The home circle and that of the Church appreciated the presence, for about a year, of our oldest son, Edgar. For a long time he had been battling for his health in the west, and to him home was a blessed haven of rest, but with his cus- tomary energy and tactful adaption, he took hold of church work and soon was chosen for the leadership of our Chris- tion Endeavor, which then and ever since, owing to the sur- roundings of the church, has been a difficult matter to sus- tain, under his guidance it greatly prospered. Sometimes taking charge of the evening service, where the grace with which he presided and the wisdom of the words which he uttered, gave hopeful promise of his usefulness as a minister had his life been spared to enter upon his chosen work.
In this connection we cannot fail to mention one whose life came to the fruitage of the ministry during our pastor- ate, namely August W. Sonne, D. D., a son of the church, whom the discernment and fraternal help of Elder James Orr enabled and encouraged to prosecute his preparatory studies until he reached his goal. Certainly never was a better investment made of interest and help on the part of a business man than this. Would that more were on the out- look for the brightest and best of our youth that they might thus be dedicated to the high service of the church.
Prof. Tinker, so long the superb leader of the church choir, might be claimed by several pastors as a feature of his work and yet it was during my regime that his work cli- maxed, if I correctly remember, in its twenty-fifth anniver- sary. The church delighting to honor him, as well as the community with appropriatae programme, gifts and testi- monials, and well they might, for in all that long interval (unheard of thing) "there had never been a fuss in the choir," and all the churches in the city were indebted to him for trained singers who had received their tuition at one time or another in the free Conservatory of Music of- fered in the experience furnished by his chorus choir in their regular work or special annual public renditions. The pub- lic spirit of the church was manifest in its loyal support of the Y. M. C. A., the Home of the Friendless, and endowed and furnished room in the German Deaconess Hospital as well as standing behind the needs of Park Memorial and kindred weaker sister churches in the city.
Of distinguished visitors, the Manse had the honor to entertain a cousin of the pastor, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, U. S.
163
Chemist and later of Pure Food fame. Dr. Hunter Corbett, a foreign missionary of fifty years service and Moderator of the General Assembly, conducted the Sabbath services and delighted the family and all who met him, with his genial spirit and inspiration for Christian Service.
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.