USA > Indiana > Circuit-rider days in Indiana > Part 6
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On the 20th of June was the day appointed for the laying of the corner-stone of the college building. The little town was full of people, who had come from far and near, to witness the impressive ceremonies. At 9 a. m. a sermon was preached in the Methodist Church by Rev. Hooper Crews of Illinois. At 11 o'clock a pro- cession was formed and they proceeded to the site of the University where a speech was made over the cor- ner-stone by Calvin Fletcher, Esq., of Indianapolis.
24 Western Christian Advocate, February 17, 1858.
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This speech was heard by few, for it was delivered in a low voice. The procession then proceeded to a grove on the southwest border of the town where seats and platform had been erected for the occasion. On the platform were Rev. Allen Wiley, James Havens, C. W. Ruter, and E. R. Ames, and a few other of the leading ministers of the conference. Prayer was offered by Rev. E. R. Ames, after which Rev. H. B. Bascom, re- puted to be one of the greatest orators of the west, gave an address, which lasted two hours. The day was very chilly, and Dr. Bascom asked to speak with his hat on. During an interlude some rain and a little snow fell, and the speaker sat down a few minutes and while he was seated a Hoosier who had provided himself with a roll of ginger bread, stepped up behind the speaker's stand and pulling Dr. Bascom by the coat, broke off a piece of his ginger loaf and offered it to him, saying, "Mister, as you have been speaking hard, you must be hungry, here take a piece." Dr. Bascom thanked him kindly, but refused the refreshment, saying he had no occasion. 25
The college proper was organized in September, 1837, and the Trustees elected Rev. Cyrus Nutt, Pro- fessor of Languages, and Acting President. In the spring of 1838 Rev. J. W. Weakley was appointed Pre- ceptor of the Preparatory department. Rev. Matthew Simpson was elected President in 1839, and he arrived and took charge in May of that year. The first cata- logue was published at the close of that term and the number of students recorded there is 140. In the fall of 1840 the first commencement was held and Presi- dent Simpson was inaugurated.26 The charge to the President was delivered by Governor Wallace, and the President delivered an inaugural address. The new
25 Western Christian Advocate, February 17, 1858: Holliday, "Indiana Methodism." 320.
26 Crooks "Life of Simpson."
(5)
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building was completed and the college was safely launched upon its long and useful career. The first graduates were John Wheeler of Bellefontaine, Ohio; T. A. Goodwin of Brookville, Indiana, and James Mad- dox of Crawfordsville. In 1841 W. C. Larrabee was elected to the chair of Mathematics and Natural Sci- ence, and there are no two names in the history of Education in Indiana more important than Cyrus Nutt and W. C. Larrabee.
Cyrus Nutt remained a Professor in Indiana As- bury University until 1843 when he resigned and took an appointment in the Indiana conference and was sta- tioned at Bloomington. In the fall of 1848 he returned to the University but the next year he was elected to the presidency of Fort Wayne Female College, where he remained but one year, going from that institution to the presidency of Whitewater College at Centerville. In this position he remained for a number of years when he again entered the ministry, serving as Presid- ing Elder of the Richmond district. Again in 1857 he returned to Indiana Asbury University, this time serv- ing as Professor of Mathematics; he was elected also Vice-President and for nearly two years he was the acting president.27 In 1860 he was elected President of the Indiana State University and was inaugurated on June 7, 1861, the great war Governor, Oliver P. Morton, making the address of investiture. He served as President of the State University for fifteen years, resigning in 1875.28 It is extremely interesting that Cyrus Nutt, the first member of the faculty of Indiana Asbury University and a Methodist preacher, should serve as President of the State University during the years of the Civil War.
W. C. Larrabee was a native of Maine, and a gradu- 27 Holliday, Indiana Methodism, 281-285.
28 T. A. Wylie, Indiana University. Its History from 1820 to 1890, 71-81.
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ate of Bowdoin College in the class of 1828, and when Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., was opened he was appointed tutor and was the first actual teacher in that honorable institution. In 1840 Dr. Larrabee was a delegate to the General Conference, which met at Baltimore, and there he met Dr. Simpson, then presi- dent of Indiana Asbury University, and as a result of this acquaintance he was elected to the Chair of Mathematics and Natural Science in the new Univer- sity. Dr. Larrabee remained at Indiana Asbury Uni- versity until 1852, when he was elected superintendent of public instruction, and was the first the state ever had, and while in that office he laid the foundation for Indiana's present school system.29
The year 1836 had been one of great prosperity in Indiana, as far as the Church was concerned. There was an increase of 2,616 members during the year, and the circuits reported great increase in the interest of the people in religious matters. The preacher on the Vevay circuit writes : 'The Lord of the harvest hath begun to revive His work on Vevay circuit. The last two rounds on the circuit I have taken into the Church thirty-four members and my colleague has taken in several, and we have had a good many hopeful conver- sions. The membership are waking up from their long sleep and are trimming their lamps."30 The preacher on the Bedford circuit reports 129 received into the Church from that circuit.31 Richard Hargrave re- ported from Fort Wayne, "The cause is marching for- ward through much opposition in this far North- west,"32 while the minister from the Noblesville circuit writes that when he came to the circuit in October, 1835, there were twelve preaching places and not a meeting house on the circuit, but that during the year
29 Holliday, 285-289.
30 Western Christian Advocate, February 12, 1836.
31 Ibid., October 21, 1836.
32 Ibid., July 22, 1836.
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money had been raised for the building of a meeting house at Noblesville, which was to cost $700, and that there had been an increase of 103 members on the cir- cuit.33 During this year Elkhart circuit was organized with the following preaching places : Elkhart, Conley's, Warner's, Shelby's, Goshen, Gornell's, Elkhart Prairie, Woods', Hawpatch, Burton's, Little Elkhart, Shady Creek, Cross' and White Plains.34 Successful camp- meetings were numerous during the year, on many of the circuits. On the Danville circuit 113 joined the Church as the result of a camp-meeting and another successful camp-meeting added 84 to the Church on the Paris circuit.35 William M. Dailey, writing from the Bloomington station in the midst of a revival meeting, says, "A considerable number have been added to the Church, but the crowning feature of this meeting is the number of clear and powerful conversions.
The Lord is at work, sinners are shaken, the trembling throne of infidelity is falling, saints are on the wing and children are born to God. Hallelujah, Amen!"36 At a camp-meeting held near Indianapolis during the early fall of this year, a desperate character by the name of David Buckhart attempted to breakup the meeting, but James Havens, the Presiding Elder, who was on the ground, conquered the hoodlum, after a desperate struggle, and he was confined in the county jail. As Buckhart entered the jail door, he was heard to say, "Has it come to this, that David Buckhart has been whipped by a Methodist preacher."37
Two resolutions passed by the Indiana conference during the thirties, bearing on the liquor and tobacco questions, are of interest. In 1835 a resolution was adopted requesting the General Conference at its next
33 Ibid., September 16, 1836.
34 Holliday, "Indiana Methodism," 113.
35 Western Christian Advocate. November 25, 1836.
36 Ibid., September 23, 1836.
37 J. C. Smith, "Early Methodism in Indiana," 68-70.
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session to restore to the discipline Mr. Wesley's original rule on the subject of ardent spirits. This rule pro- hibits "drunkenness, buying or selling of spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity."38 For some reason this rule had early been abandoned by the Methodist Church in America, and at this time only ministers were forbidden the buying or selling of liquors, members being permitted its sale, provided they permitted no disorderly conduct on their premises.39 It was not an uncommon thing for Meth- odists, in good standing, to run distilleries and deal in liquor. On one occasion Joseph Tarkington was con- ducting a "speaking meeting" on the Centerville cir- cuit, "when a well-to-do Methodist farmer and dis- tiller arose to speak. He began by saying, 'I have been governed by two spirits; one is the good-spirit, that prompts me to be good and to do good. The other is-' Here Tarkington called out 'Whiskey!' at the top of his voice. 'No,' said the distiller, who was then quite under the influence of his home-made goods, as he often was, 'No; nobody ever saw me drunk.' 'Some people never get drunk-it always stands up in them,' replied Tarkington, and the half drunken Methodist distiller took his seat." This rude treatment evidently was the thing the Methodist whiskey dealer needed, for within six months he abandoned his distillery, and became a total abstainer.40 Dram drinking was not uncommon among the preachers themselves, though it had been much more practiced in previous years than it was in the thirties and forties. Peter Cartwright, in his account of his trip to the General Conference of 1824, held in Baltimore, in the company of Jesse Walker, Samuel Thompson and a certain F. S., says that at every stop F. S. and Walker called for spirits.
38 Minutes of Indiana Conference, 1835. The Ohio Conference passed a similar resolution at their session in 1835.
39 Western Christian Advocate, September 18. 1835.
40 Tarkington, Autobiography, 26-27.
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Cartwright and Thompson protested, but the other two preachers defended the practice, whereupon Cart- wright and Thompson threatened to quit their com- pany if they did not stop using liquor for this time at least.41
In the early pioneer days the drinking of whiskey "in family and social circles was considered harmless and allowable sociabilities. It was almost universally the custom for preachers, in common with others, to take drams, and if a man would not have it in his family, his harvest, his house raisings, log rollings, weddings and so on, he was considered parsimonious and unsociable ; and many, even professors of christian- ity, would not help a man if he did not have spirits and treat the company."42 About 1825, however, a great temperance movement began, and agitation in favor of temperance spread all over the country. In 1835 a National Temperance convention was held, and the various states held state temperance conventions, in all of which the Methodists were active, and as a result of the movement several states adopted prohibition laws, and the drinking of liquor became much less common than before.43
The Indiana conference at its session in 1836 passed a resolution "that during the session of this confer- ence none of its members is to use tobacco or defile the floor by spitting, and every brother is particularly requested to avoid it." From the text of this resolu- tion we may infer that tobacco using, particularly the chewing of tobacco, was common among the preachers. The Western Christian Advocate, in one of its issues in 1835, prints a clipping from another religious paper, in which the writer protests against tobacco spitting min- isters, and gives as an instance, one young preacher
41 Peter Cartwright, Autobiography, 212-214.
42 Ibid., 212.
43 Fish, "The Development of American Nationality," 287-289.
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who "spat as often as once in two minutes during his whole sermon, so that the pulpit floor was as filthy as a stable when he finished his discourse."44
The sixth session of the Indiana Conference met at New Albany on October 27, 1837, with Bishop Soule as the presiding officer. The reports of the preachers from their circuits showed a gain of 3,140 in the mem- bership, making the total for the conference of 31,058; and 116 preachers received appointments. This year there were four agents appointed for Indiana Asbury University, William Shanks, S. C. Cooper, William M. Dailey and John A. Brouse, the first agents, John C. Smith and Aaron Wood, having been appointed the year previous.+5 At this session of the conference one man was refused admittance on the ground of his poor family government and the deficient moral education of his children.46 At this session John Ray and S. L. Robinson were reported to have died during the year. John Ray was born in Virginia, in 1768, and began preaching in Kentucky in 1790, but marrying soon afterwards, he located, as most of the early frontier Methodist preachers did, when they married. In 1819 he re-entered the ministry in Kentucky and served cir- cuits there until he was superannuated, when he was transferred to the Indiana conference, in order to be near his son, Edwin Ray. 47 John Ray was always much interested in the negroes and was a strong anti- slavery advocate, and the last act of his life was to give $50.00 to the American Colonization Society, and $50.00 for the redemption of James Thompson, a slave, who understood the Wyandotte tongue and who had
44 Western Christian Advocate, November 13, 1835, from "The Religious Herald." The Conference of 1843 passed the resolu- tion, "Resolved, That by precept and example, we will use our influence to prevent the use of tobacco in our houses of worship." 45 Minutes of Conferences. Vol. II (1829-1839), 509-510.
46 Western Christian Advocate, May 26, 1858.
47 Minutes of Conference, Vol. II, 572.
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been acting as an interpreter in the Methodist Wyan- dotte mission. The Western Christian Advocate urged his purchase, in order to prevent his sale, and this was finally accomplished for $1,200.48
To the conference in New Albany, in 1837, most of the preachers from the eastern part of the state came by way of the Ohio river, and many of them returned the same way. After the close of the conference some forty or fifty preachers, and among them Bishop Soule, were passengers on board the mail boat, the General Pike, running between Louisville and Cincinnati. On board the boat also was a large company of gamblers, returning from the Louisville races, which had just closed, and they soon took possession of the gentlemen's cabin, which was soon lined with card tables, and liquor began to flow in abundance. The scene was too much for Bishop Soule, and he rose from his seat and walked about in an excited manner surveying the scene, and in the midst of the bacchanalian songs and coarse jests, he called upon the preachers to gather in a group, and they began to sing :
"Jesus, the name high over all, In hell, or earth, or sky; Angels and men before it fall, And devils fear and fly."
This soon proved to be the correct remedy for the situation, for by the time the Methodist preachers had sung several hymns, the astonished gamblers had all retired from their card tables, to the decks and state rooms, and the remainder of the journey was spent in quietness. 49
The seventh session of the Indiana conference con- vened at Rockville, on October 17, 1838, and the largest
48 Western Christian Advocate, March 10, 1837; Ibid .. March 17, 1837.
49 Holliday, Indiana Methodism, 119-120.
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gain in membership yet recorded, was reported, 4,220, and also the greatest number was received on trial into the conference, 32. This year a new district appears in the minutes, the Logansport, over which George M. Beswick was appointed Presiding Elder. The district included the following appointments, Logansport, Mon- ticello, Independence, Delphi, Peru, Fort Wayne, War- saw mission and Rochester mission.5ยบ At this session of the conference the preachers along the Ohio river had to travel across the state on horse back. Enoch G. Wood and F. C. Holliday made the journey from In- dianapolis together. They started from Indianapolis on Saturday morning and arrived in Danville for dinner. Here Wood was taken sick, and they were compelled to remain until Monday, and Holliday improved the Sabbath by preaching twice in the court house. They resumed their journey on Monday, and reached Green- castle in time for dinner. Monday night they stayed at a double log-cabin, and during the night there was a tremendous racket in the yard, the master of the cabin and his dog engaged in fighting some wild animal, but the preachers were so tired with their travel, they did not arise to assist in the fight. In the morning the farmer informed them that a bear had gotten into his hog pen and was attempting to carry off a hog, and he had succeeded in saving the hogs, but the bear had escaped. The preachers were sorry they had not been called to his assistance, as the capture of : bear on the way to conference would have been a romantic incident, and would have made a good story to relate to their brethren.51
The year had been a fruitful one of ingathering, and many conversions and accessions were reported from all over the state. Joseph Tarkington, that year, the preacher at Lawrenceburg station, received some
50 Minutes of Conferences, Vol. II. 595, 596.
51 Holliday, Indiana Methodism, 125- 126.
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two hundred into the Church, among them being some of the best people of the town. Ninety-eight were baptised in the church and twenty-eight in the Ohio river, those being baptised in the river, were of course immersed.52 On the Kalamazoo circuit two protracted meetings were held during the winter, and resulted in not only adding a number of members to the circuit, but in raising a subscription of $1,000 for the building of a meeting house. At Shelbyville, Danville, Rising Sun, Elkhart, Rushville, Pine Creek, Lagrange, New Albany, and on many other circuits successful revivals were conducted, resulting in the bringing of many new members into the Church.33 Allen Wiley, the Presid- ing Elder of the Crawfordsville district in 1837-38, re- ports that his district contains 4,000 square miles, that it includes ten "city towns" three of which contain a population of 2,000, and that in this territory there are 60,000 inhabitants, 3,000 church members, and 12,000 people who attend Church, but are not members. He complains that there are no places large enough to accomodate the crowds who come to the Church serv- ices, which he says is due to the newness of the country.54
The conference which met in Lawrenceburg in 1839 was a very interesting and important meeting. In the first place there were three bishops present, Bishops Roberts and Soules being visitors and Bishop Morris the president of the conference. There were thirty-one preachers received on trial, and twenty-one received into full connection, and an increase of 8,694 members was reported for the conference. It was also the year in which General Conference delegates were elected, and Allen Wiley, E. R. Ames, C. W. Ruter, A. Eddy,
52 Tarkington, Autobiography, 134-135.
53 Accounts of these revivals will be found in the Western Christian Advocate for 1838.
54 Western Christian Advocate, 174, 1838.
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and A. Wood were duly elected to represent the con- ference.
The preachers with few exceptions, came to the con- ference cloathed in home-spun, and all of them except a few who lived along the Ohio river came to the con- ference on horse back, and most of them were seedy when they arrived. "Many had come from a month's tussle with the ague, and some of them kept up the shake habit every other day during conference." Dur- ing the latter part of the conference session a resolu- tion was introduced requesting that the preachers re- turn to the original plainness of dress, and that they be requested to wear either the round breasted or plain frock coats. The reason for this resolution, was the fact that John S. Bayless having married a well-to-do woman of Vincennes, had come to conference wearing his wedding suit, which was tailor made and in the height of fashion; the pants tight with narrow falls ; the coat was "pigeon tailed" and the hat a stove-pipe, the whole giving the wearer a unique appearance in a Methodist conference of that period in Indiana.55 But more and more after this conference the preachers dressed as they pleased, though this motion was passed without a dissenting vote, and a few years later a similar resolution was introduced, and passed.
One of the important parts of a Methodist confer- ence's business is the examination of character. Not only were those just entering the conference examined, in this regard, but each year the characters of every member of the conference had to be "passed." Espe- cially were those, who were up for admission into full connection, given a careful examination. One case which came before the conference of 1839 was espe- cially interesting. The young man under considera- tion was William J. Forbes, who was just closing his second year as a probationer, and therefore if he was
55 Tarkington, Autobiography, 12-22.
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found deserving he might be admitted. The committee on his studies gave a very complimentary report. He was good on everything, and very good on several. Finally the Presiding Elder, under whom he had been traveling, reported that this young man was a very good preacher, and the people liked to hear him. He also reported that he read a great deal and understood what he read, but he said, no one is converted under his preaching. At this juncture up jumped James Havens, and asked, "Does he make anybody mad?" To this the Elder replied, "O no! He is a sweet tempered man, everybody loves him." "Then I'm opposed to him," said Havens. "A man under whose preaching nobody is converted and nobody made mad is not fit for a Methodist preacher." In spite, however, of James Havens' opposition Forbes was admitted, for, said the Bishop, "A young man that reads a great deal and understands what he reads and preaches well, and that everybody loves, is a safe case."56
In this early day a college education was an actual disadvantage to a preacher, as far as gaining advance- ment was concerned. Thomas A. Goodwin was the first preacher to enter the conference with a college diploma. The presiding elders were afraid of showing too much favor to a college man, and on a number of occasions Goodwin was actually demoted for no other reason than that he was a college graduate. One of Goodwin's colleagues was a man very deficient in edu- cation, but was much more popular on the circuit, "chiefly because he could outshout me." "He got all the socks, but he generously divided with me, for he got more than twice as many as he could possibly wear out. He would put up for the night or for a week, as the demands of the appointments would allow. and smoke his pipe, and talk gossip, but read, never, beyond
56 Tarkington. Autobiography, T. A. Goodwin Introduction, 15, 16.
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the Western Christian Advocate. I met his praise everywhere I went. He kissed all the babies and had several namesakes before the year was half out." This situation, and the jealousy and prejudice against college graduates finally drove Thomas A. Goodwin out of the regular ministry of the Methodist Church, and he be- came an editor of a newspaper, the chief policy of which was to fight the saloon and slavery.57
One of the most notable events of the session of 1839 was the first appearance of Dr. Matthew Simp- son, the young president of Indiana Asbury University. At the time he was a young man, less than thirty years of age, and his personal appearance was not very pre- possessing. He was clothed in neat, well-fitting jeans, although a number of others wore store clothes, and his dress and appearance was disappointing to the confer- ence. The opportunity, however, for him to distinguish himself as a preacher, came when he was appointed to preach the anniversary sermon before the conference. This was the year that marked the centenary of Meth- odism, the first Methodist classes having been organ- ized by John Wesley, in London in the year 1739. When the time came for the anniversary sermon, the house was crowded. The preacher took for his text the vision of Ezekiel, in which the prophet sees the waters flow- ing from the sanctuary. It was a sermon which de- scribed the triumph of the gospel, a theme which naturally greatly appealed to a Methodist conference, and which gave President Simpson opportunity of bringing into play his remarkable descriptive powers, and his rich imagination. The effect of that sermon was most impressive. Many preachers were overcome with emotion, and at one of the "climaxes," an intelli- gent lady, not usually excitable, jumped to her feet, waving her parasol, and looking upward exclaimed, "Sun, stand thou still, and let the moon pass by," re-
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