USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 16
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 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
Nearly south of Glenville was the grand town-our Woodville .? And nearly west, some eight or nine miles and a piece, was Spice- burg,3 at least in dry times, for the town being on the bottom of Shining River was, in hard rains, commonly under water, so that a conscientious man dared not then to affirm, without a proviso, where Spiceburg was precisely. Northeast from us, some fifty long lonesome miles, was the capital of the state, Timberopolis, + the seat of the legislature and of mortality. 5 South of Wood- ville and in the very edge of the forest were at this time two un- finished brick buildings, destined for the use of the future univer- sity. As we passed to-day in our vehicle the smaller house was crammed with somebody's hay and flax, while the larger was.
1 Hall's " New Purchase," pp. 84-6.
2 Bloomington.
3 Spencer.
4 Indianapolis.
5 " New Purchase," p. 83. It is considerately added concerning "Timberopolis " that " death in later times there domineered less."
187
HELP FROM PRINCETON.
pouring forth a flock of sheep-a very curious form in which to issue college parchments. 1
In connection with the care of the school at Bloomington Mr. Hall at once undertook the labors of the pulpit. Having been received by Salem Presbytery, in March, 1825, he was ordained and installed over the Bloomington society the month following.2 Though this relation was dissolved one year later he continued to preach to the con- gregation until early in 1830. Meanwhile the young State Seminary had got into stormy seas, the rivalries of political parties and ecclesiastical sects seriously threaten- ing its existence. In the effort to establish it upon a colle- giate basis it was thought necessary to distribute the professorships among the combatants, and Mr. Hall retired. He had certainly not been "the very first man since the creation of the world that read Greek in the New Purchase," 3 though he had no doubt been one of the best classical scholars there. His experience as a teacher had also prepared him for the profession which he was to prose- cute during nearly all of his later life.
Leaving Indiana in 1831, he became pastor of the church in Bedford, Pa., the following year, where he remained, at the same time conducting a school, until
1 " New Purchase," p. 68. This, and other "New Purchase" descriptions, intended as suggestions of the small and rude beginnings of that day, must be taken, so far as the details are concerned, " with a grain of salt."
2 In this year there were six ordinations in the Presbyterian Church in Indiana. "Four of these I attended and took a part in them," says the Rev. Isaac Reed. ("Christian Traveller," p. 146.) " At the first, which was the installation of the Rev. George Bush at Indianapolis as moderator, I gave out the appointments to the others, and took the address to the congregation on myself. At the second, which was this at Bloomington, I preached the sermon. At the'next, the .ordination of the Rev. Alexan- der Williamson as evangelist, I was not present. At the fourth, the settlement of the Rev. Tilly H. Brown over the Bethlehem church, I preached the sermon. At the fifth, the ordination of Rev. Stephen Bliss, which took place at Vincennes, I gave the charge to the evangelist."
8 See " New Purchase," p. 153. He could justly claim the distinction of bringing the first piano to Bloomington.
.
188
EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
1838.1 He then became successively the principal of academies at Bordentown and Trenton, N. J. (at the latter place also having charge of the recently organized Second Church?), and at Poughkeepsie and Newburgh, N. Y., and in 1852 removed to Brooklyn and became principal of the Park Institute.3 The last few years of his life he spent in preaching to the poor, a portion of the time under the direction of the Reformed (Dutch) Church. He died January 23, 1863, and was laid to rest in the cemetery of the Evergreens, a beautiful spot two or three miles east of Brooklyn, and overlooking the bay. He left a widow and two children in destitute circumstances, but three years after the last member of his family followed him. None of his near relatives survive.
In 1842 the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by the College of New Jersey, and in 1848 the degree of D. D. by Rutgers College. His first publication was a "New and Compendious Latin Grammar." In 1842 an article from his pen on "Theories of Education" appeared in the Princeton Review. Twelve years after leaving Indiana he published " The New Purchase, or Life in the Far West " and " Something for Everybody." The following year, in 1847, "Teaching, a Science ; the Teacher an Artist," and "Frank Freeman's Barber Shop" appeared. His cliosophic address at Princeton in 1852 was printed.4 His writings were not unsuccessful. "The New Purchase," a story founded on his experience in Indiana, reached a third revised edition in 1855, its two volumes in one. The book has many readers still, especially in the region where its amusing scenes are laid. 5 Extracts from it already
1 Gillett's "History of the Presbyterian Church," Vol. I., p. 494.
2 See Dr. John Hall's " History of the First Church in Trenton," p 118.
3 See index volume of the Princeton Review.
4 Dr. John Hall's " History of the First Church in Trenton," p. 118.
6 An intelligent reader will easily detect some of the localities and characters partially obscured by their noms de plume. Perhaps, however, a glossary will be welcomed. The
189
HELP FROM PRINCETON.
quoted will sufficiently indicate its style. Too diffuse and familiar, it still has elements of strength. The narrative is often racy, and sometimes admirably preserves the ver- nacular of the region and the time. There was a degree of offensive personality in the first edition which did not multiply the author's friends among those at all sensitive to sarcasm. This feature of the book was removed from the revised issue and we may all thank the lively pen, never dipped in gall, for its familiar trifling with our household gods.
During his residence in Brooklyn Dr. Hall occasionally ventured into the lecture field, and with success. In these efforts, as in his writings, wit sometimes had too sharp an edge. The "hits were admirable," but cut too deep. "In his long struggle with poverty, finding him- self distanced in the race of life by many who were greatly his inferiors, both in mental power and intellectual attain- ments, it is no wonder that he sometimes gave way to melancholy and permitted a bitter tone."' He had lost his father in early childhood, and thus was deprived of a friendship admirably suited to help and educate a boy. His considerable patrimony he had not been permitted to receive and enjoy. By nature well endowed and in the best schools thoroughly trained, his refined faculties found his circumstances discordant. The high but wearisome task of the schoolmaster, even when joined to ministerial work, failed to yield a sufficient support, and lie was
Carlton and the Rev. Mr. Clarence, of the book, are the author ; Rev. James Hilsbury is Rev. Isaac Reed; Dr. Bloduplex, Dr. Wiley ; Rev. Mr. Shrub, Rev. George Bush ; Wood- ville, Bloomington ; Spiceburg, Spencer; Sugartown, Crawfordsville ; Sproutsburg, La Fayette ; Timberopolis, Indianapolis ; Big Shiney, White River; Slippery River, Eel River. Mrs. Glenville, Chap. XXXII., is the mother of Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Isaac Reed, and " John Glenville "; Dr. Sylvan is Dr. Maxwell; and the leader of the party described in Chap. XLIV. is Williamson Dunn, father of the Hon. McKee Dunn. Harwood is Harvey, at his death, a few years since, editor of the Louisville Democrat. Lawyer Cutswell afterward became Governor Whitcomb.
1 MSS. of the Rev. J. Edson Rockwell, D.D., who kindly communicated the facts of Dr. Hall's later life.
190
EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
forced to frequent removals. It was a long struggle for bread, most honorably maintained by one who doubtless reflected that he had been wronged, and that his wife and his children were suffering needlessly. We must grate- fully remember the man who in his earliest enthusiasm so gaily bore for us the heat of the day, and in the "Cottage of Peace" with "Bishop Hilsbury," and at "Timberop- olis" with the "Rev. Mr., Shrub," showed qualities so genial, generous, and strong. !
By one who saw him at Bloomington in the winter of 1830-11 he is remembered as "a short, heavily-built man, with long, light hair." The lithograph prefixed to his principal book, and representing him as he was twenty years later, shows a noble, finely-chiseled face, marked deeply with lines of sorrow. / In the portrait the story of · his life is accurately told.
ALEXANDER WILLIAMSON was born in Cumberland County, Pa., September 17, 1797. He graduated from Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, in 1818. Having entered Washington College early in 1816, he was there converted under the ministry of Dr. M. Brown, but afterward became a student at Jefferson. He studied theology at Princeton and graduated in the class of 1822. Licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, on account of delicate health he accepted a missionary appointment for two years in Missis- sippi. Thence he came to Indiana, settling at Corydon, and after eight or nine years removing to Delphi, Carroll County, and to Monticello, White County. In these fields he remained for ten years, when, his health and his mind becoming impaired, he removed to Corydon, about two years before his death, which occurred July 14, 1849. For some years he was able to do but little in the ministry, but, though he took gloomy views of himself, he was,
1 The Rev. Dr. Henry Little.
1
191
HELP FROM PRINCETON.
says Dr. C. C. Beatty, his classmate at Princeton, "emi- nently a man of God."
At the meeting of Synod, Indianapolis, September, 1849, formal record was made of his fidelity. "No ordinary cause," says the memorial, "would prevent him from fulfilling his appointments, however distant, and it is believed that the exposure he thus endured brought on the disease which disabled him and finally terminated his life. . . . He was eminently a man of prayer. His delight was in the law of the Lord."
:
CHAPTER XIV. Two FELLOW-TRAVELERS. 1824.
OF the Princeton quintet referred to in the previous chapter, Young and Johnston made the journey westward in company. The latter lived to a good old age, enduring half a century of most honorable toil. His friend, smitten by the poisonous fogs of the Wabash, scarcely survived to complete the brief term of his first commission.
JOHN YOUNG spent the early years of his life in Spring- field, Otsego County, N. Y., graduated from Union College in 1821, and studied divinity at Princeton. He came West in 1824, reaching Madison, Ind., December 9. His commission, from the Assembly's Committee of Missions, was for six months. Remaining in Madison eight weeks, he supplied the vacant pulpit there. He was present at the ordination of Mr. Bush at Indianapolis, March 5, 1825.1 After a few weeks' labor along the White River in the vicinity of Indianapolis he went to the Wabash. He was at the meeting of Presbytery in April at Washington. Crossing into Illinois, he gave most of his time until July 15 to the congregation of Paris, Edgar County, and New Hope, partly in Vigo County, Ind., and partly in Clark County, Ill. The term for which he had been commis- sioned had already expired and he had turned toward home. Arriving at the house of the Rev. S. T. Scott, near Vincennes, he delayed his journey eastward in order
1 See " A Funeral Sermon, occasioned by the early death of Mr. John Young . . by Isaac Reed, A. M., Indianapolis, printed by Douglass and Maguire." Cf. " Christian 'Traveller," pp. 149, 150, 209, 210.
102
1
-
193
TWO FELLOW-TRAVELERS.
to attend the third anniversary of the Indiana Missionary Society. On the 2d of August he preached at Princeton what proved to be his last sermon. He was at that time suffering from illness. Returning on the 3d to Vincennes, symptoms of fever appeared, but on the two following days he was able to attend the meetings of the Presbytery and the Missionary Society. On the latter occasion he ad- dressed the assembly with singular solemnity. But he soon withdrew to the house of a good physician of the town, and lying down, sank steadily until near midnight, August 15, when he died. He had expected soon to be in the home of his childhood again, but another welcome was prepared for him. His little property he bequeathed to the Domestic Missionary Society of New York, the Ameri- can Bible Society, and the Tract Society.1
Mr. Young was small in stature, of a well-formed person and fine countenance. His manners were grave. He was "a man of ardent piety and earnest zeal." ? In the churches of Paris and New Hope he was greatly loved. 3 " He did much in little time." His early death caused "great lamentation," and especially grieved the little company of Princeton fellow-students who had chosen the same field of labor. Baynard R. Hall5 says :
We visited the grave of a young man who, unavoidably exposed to a fatal illness in discharging his missionary duties, had died at Vincennes in early manhood and far away from his home. Deep solemnity was in the little company of his classmates as they stood gazing where rested the remains of the youthful hero. Dear young man, his warfare was soon ended, and there he lay among the silent ones in the scented meadow-land of the far West.
A faded letter of Mr. Young's, dated "Washington,
1 Letter of the Rev. Samuel T. Scott in Reed's " Funeral Discourse," p. 12.
2 Johnston's " Forty Years in Indiana, " p. 28.
3 See Indiana Journal of September 6, 1825.
4 Bush, Hall, Williamson, Johnston.
5 " New Purchase," p. 280.
194
EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
April 9, 1825," contains the following references to his work in Indiana :
You will perhaps have some curiosity to know where I have been and what doing since I saw you. (1) I have been in Indiana, in the mud, in log cabins, in the woods. (2) After'you left me at Indianapolis I took a tour up White River and preached one Sabbath at a Mr. Mallory's. Visited the falls of Fall Creek.1 Preached one sermon in the prison of that place. I spent some time conversing with those poor unhappy murderers .? Found them free to converse. The two old men are from all accounts bad. The young man appears truly penitent. He frankly con- fesses the whole transaction. After visiting these unhappy wretches I returned to Indianapolis ; spent one Sabbath there ; then left for Illinois. From Indianapolis to the Wabash I had a rather gloomy, unpleasant time. The greater part of the way is woods.
JAMES HARVEY JOHNSTON was of goodly parentage. His grandfather, the Rev. William Johnston, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1713. He had received a thorough education at Edinburgh University, spending four years in the literary and three in the theological department.3 He came to this country when a young man and married Miss Cummins, an English lady of education and rare accom- plishments. She was annually in receipt of £150 from England, which after the Revolution, however, was not transmitted. " Dominie" Johnston, having previously resided in the vicinity of Albany and Schenectady and at Curry's Bush4 and Warren's Bush, settled in Sidney Plains, N. Y., arriving there May 10, 1772. He was the pioneer of that town. He came on foot, with his son Witter, subsequently known as Colonel Johnston, driving a cow from the neighborhood of Cherry Valley. The son remained during the winter, his father returning in the
1 Now Pendleton.
2 Cf. Oliver H. Smith's " Indiana Trials," pp. 51-3.
3 See " The Sidney Centennial Jubilee," p. 28.
+ Now Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y.
195
TWO FELLOW-TRAVELERS.
autumn to Curry's Bush for the remainder of the family, who reached Sidney Plains the following June. A tract of land consisting of 520 acres was secured, and upon this homestead the Johnstons enjoyed comparative quiet until November 11, 1778, when occurred the fatal Cherry Valley massacre under Captain Walter Butler and the Mohawk Indian, Brandt. The family, warned by "Hughy," the younger son, escaped only to see their house in flames. They fled to the vicinity of their former residence, where they remained until after the war. The " Dominie," who died in 1783, never returned to his estate.
Colonel Witter, father of the subject of this sketch, con- tinued in the service of the colonies until peace was secured, when he returned to Sidney Plains and success- fully sought from the legislature a title to the homestead, the former title having been found worthless and the whole property, really held by a loyalist, having been confiscated. Colonel Johnston was a man of great force of character, though not possessed of a robust frame or vigorous consti- tution. While an officer in the army of the Revolution his pay was the chief support of the family. In later life, when in prosperous circumstances, he was accustomed to lead in all public enterprises. His firmness and self- reliance were characteristic. ] He died in October, 1839, at the age of eighty-six.
James Harvey Johnston was born at Sidney Plains, October 14, 1798. When about fourteen years of age he heard his pastor preach on "the unpardonable sin," and such was the impression the sermon made upon him that he could not study and in the schoolroom was continually weeping. The teacher, a woman, sent him home, advising him to make his case known to his mother. It is probable that then, under his mother's sympathy and instruction, the life of faith began.
:
196
EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
It was the wish of his mother that he should have an education, and his studies were now directed to prepare him for a collegiate course. Before he had reached the age of seventeen he taught school at Unadilla to obtain means to prosecute his studies, and in 1816 he entered the freshman class at Hamilton College. Albert Barnes was his classmate, and remained through life a warm friend.1 Mr. Johnston graduated in 1820, with the first honors of his class. Having spent a year in teaching at Utica he went to Princeton Seminary, and there completed the course in divinity. He was licensed to preach at the open- ing of the last year at the seminary, and concerning that event the following entry in his diary appears, under the date October 24, 1823 :
I last week attended the Columbia Presbytery, to which I had previously attached myself, and having sustained the examina- tions, and passed through the trials required, was only licensed to preach the gospel. My licensure took place on the 14th day of this month, my birthday, I having on that day completed my 25th year. In this entering upon the high and holy work of the gospel ministry I trust my mind has been in some measure impressed with a sense of its importance. May I never be guilty of doing the work of the Lord deceitfully. May. I never neglect or abandon it. As I hope that this work has not been undertaken from mere worldly motives, for the purpose of obtaining a tempo- ral support, I pray God that in prosecuting it my aim and my conduct may never become mercenary. Though the laborer is worthy of his hire this direction is given to govern those to whom the gospel is preached, rather than to be insisted on by preachers themselves. My motto should be, " A necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel wherever providence may call me."
The diary continues :
Princeton, July 1, 182.4. The time allotted to my theological
1 Upon the death of Mr. Barnes Mr. Johnston preached, February 26, 1871, in the Centre Church, Crawfordsville, Ind., a memorial discourse, containing extracts from a long correspondence. It forms a beautiful and just tribute to his distinguished friend. The sermon was published, Philadelphia, 1874.
1
197
TWO FELLOW-TRAVELERS.
course is rapidly drawing to a close. I have now entered upon the last session at this seminary. The last two months have been spent on a missionary tour. My field of labor was in Montgomery and Albany Counties in New York. I preached almost daily and was constantly employed in visiting from house to house. As op- portunities presented did all in my power to promote Sabbath- schools. My traveling, during the tour, which would average from ten to fifteen miles per day, I performed on foot. This tour was to me a very interesting one. Took much satisfaction in dis- charging the duties incumbent upon me. Saw much to convince me of the need of missionary labor in the region which I visited. The means enjoyed by the people limited ; ignorance great ; errors abounding ; vices prevailing. Was treated with much kindness and with much respect for my work's sake. A pleasing attention was generally manifested to the preaching of the Word. One or two hopeful conversions under my preaching. Was solicited to remain in two different places. In either place my station would have been obscure and my sphere limited, but I felt willing to remain if it appeared to be God's will.
Sidney Plains, October 28. God has mercifully restored me once more to my father's family, but it is in circumstances differ- ent from any in which I formerly visited home. I am this day to bid adieu to my friends and direct my course to the far distant West. Previous to leaving Princeton I thought it my duty, after much prayerful deliberation, to take a mission for the state of Indiana. An engagement to spend a year in that state as a mis- sionary was entered into, with the Domestic Missionary Society of New York, before I reached home. Some intimation of such an intention had some weeks before been given to my friends at home in a letter, but no explicit avowal had been made till after my commission had been obtained.
On arriving at home and declaring my purpose my father and other friends opposed me. They had expected me to settle nearer them. They cannot even now be convinced that duty requires me to move so far. Their opposition renders the trial of parting still more severe, but, happy as I should be to comply with their wishes could I consistently do it, my views of duty remain un- changed. The wants of the church and the prospects of useful- ness in the region assigned me by my commission I believe to be greater than in the vicinity of this place, or anywhere in my native state. It appears clear to me, notwithstanding the argu- ments which my friends have used and the wishes they have
198
EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
expressed, that I ought to go to the field which I have engaged to visit. This is the day appointed for my departure. The separa- tion about to take place, the: distance to which I am destined to go, the responsibility of the undertaking, my ignorance of the character of the people whom I may visit, and of the circum- stances in which I shall be placed, the privations and hardships which I shall experience, and the dangers to which I shall be exposed, all these combine to fill my mind with anxious and pain- ful feelings. But my trust is in the Lord ; in his strength I will go forward.
Madison, Indiana, December 9, 1824. Agreeably to my expec- tation, on the 28th of October I left home and commenced my journey on horseback to this state. Mr. John Young, another missionary for Indiana, had agreed with me before leaving Prince- ton to bear me company on the journey. We were to meet at Geneva. The first Sabbath after leaving home I spent at Hamilton College ; the second at Geneva. At that place I found that Mr. Young had waited for me for some days, but had left for Canandaigua. On Monday the Sth of November I proceeded to the latter place, hoping to overtake him, but he had left about three hours before my arrival there. I pursued my journey alone to Buffalo, where I had the pleasure of overtaking Mr. Young. In his company I proceeded to Chautauqua County before the next Sabbath. In that county we both spent the Sabbath. The follow- ing Sabbath was spent near Cleveland in Ohio, the Sabbath succeeding near Worthington in the same state, and the next Sabbath in Harrison and vicinity, on the borders of Indiana. This day we have reached Madison.
I feel bound to render humble thanks to God for his goodness in rendering my journey so pleasant and prosperous. He has preserved me from sickness and from death, has permitted no accident or harm to befall me. We have met with a very kind and apparently cordial reception from the people of this place. I am greatly pleased with the appearance of the town and of the people. The recent affliction the church has experienced in the loss of their minister, the Rev. Joseph Trimble, renders their case still more interesting.
Thus began what was to be the longest period of continuous service ever accomplished by a Presbyterian minister in Indiana-eighteen years at Madison and nearly a half-century of active labor in the state.
1
199
TWO FELLOW-TRAVELERS.
The work was initiated by an extensive tour of explora- tion, Mr. Young having undertaken for a time the supply .of the Madison pulpit. Mr. Johnston was engaged for nearly three months upon this missionary journey. He makes the following reference to it in his journal : 1
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.