USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 18
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"Mr. Gregg was a frequent and most welcome visitor at my father's house," says an aged member of the Shelby- ville congregation, "and invariably he took the Bible and gathered us children around him, and taught us a chapter in an impressive and attractive manner. The first re- ligious conversation I ever had was with him." He organized the first Sunday-school in Shelby County.
WILLIAM NESBIT, formerly pastor of the Hopewell con- gregation in Hartford Presbytery, Synod of Pittsburg, was sent this year to Perry and Spencer Counties.
STEPHEN BLISS is a name that belongs especially to Illinois, but his ordination by Salem Presbytery, August 6, 1825, his intimate association with ministers of the Synod of Indiana, and his occasional labor on the eastern bank of the Wabash require some reference to him here. Born in
1 Dr. Henry Little, during his first Indiana journey, saw him there, and on the same occasion found the father of the Rev. Henry I .. Dickerson ardently exercising his gifts as music-master.
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Lebanon, N. H., March 27, 1787, prepared for the junior class in college under the tuition of his uncle, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wood, of Boscaween, a graduate of Middlebury in 1812, a student of theology for two years in his uncle's parsonage, he applied in 1814 to the Hopkinton Associa- tion for licensure, but was rejected on account of what were deemed defective views of the person and work of the Redeemer. He turned to the Yankee boy's unfailing resource, and had charge successively at Greenbush, Milton, and Utica of important schools, where his reputa- tion steadily increased, securing to him from Hamilton College the complimentary degree of Master of Arts. Consumption, the scourge of his family, compelled him, however, to seek a change of climate, and in September, 1818, he set out on horseback, with his friend May, for the West. He traversed Ohio and Indiana, crossed the Wabash at Vincennes, and purchased a small farm on Decker's Prairie. April 11, 1819, the two friends opened what was perhaps the first Sunday-school in Illinois. In the autumn of 1820 he traveled back to New Hampshire, and was married, April 7, 1821, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Noah Worcester. Returning with his bride to the log house on the Illinois prairie, Sabbath "reading meetings" were soon instituted, Mr. Bliss conducting the service. The Hopkinton Associa- tion, through the influence of Dr. Wood, in 1822 review- ing its action with regard to him, sent him a license, and he began in an informal way to preach in his own neigh- borhood, gathering the little flock which he was long to lead, and which, as the Wabash Presbyterian Church, still reveres his memory. What was the estimation in which the people held him is shown by his unsolicited election in October, 1824, to the senate of the state. Returning from the first session of the legislature in Van- dalia he went, with his elders, Danforth and Gould, to
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Washington, Ind., where occurred his ordination by Salem Presbytery. Of the work thus at last prepared by providence there was no serious interruption until the death of the pastor, December 6, 1847.
Mr. Bliss was a man of substantial abilities, great kind- ness and modesty, uncommon perseverance, evangelical character, and permanent usefulness. Though not impas- sioned in utterance, as a public speaker he was both instructive and impressive. Except in a period of strife his theological views would perhaps not have been criticized, and his mature opinions occasioned him no embarrassment among the "Old-school" Presbyterians of Illinois. 1
SAMUEL G. LOWRY was born March 26, 1800, in Washington County, Tenn., and received his education at Washington College in his native state. Licensed by Ebenezer Presbytery October 6, 1821, and ordained by the same Presbytery December, 1822, he came to Indiana in December, 1825, and was received by Madison from Cincinnati Presbytery October 5, 1826. For seven years he labored in Decatur County in charge of Sand Creek (now Kingston) church, and during four and a half years of that period also cared for the church at Greensburgh, which he himself organized May 2, 1826. Supplying the pulpit of Poplar Spring church, Putnam County, for two years from 1832, an agent of the A. H. M. Society from 1834 to 1839, during a part of which time he was likewise engaged as agent of Wabash College, preaching for nearly eight years at Rockville from July, 1839, his last charge in Indiana comprised the Bainbridge and New Winchester congregations, over which he was installed in February, 1848. While at Bainbridge he gave a portion of his time to the churches of Parkersburgh and Waveland. Resigning his position in November, 1856, he removed to Minnesota
1 See " Life and Times of Stephen Bliss," by Samuel C. Baldridge, Cincinnati, 1870.
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in the spring of 1857, where he remained until his death, at Austin, September 26, 1886. Of all the Indiana pioneers settled previous to 1826 he was long the solitary survivor.
The Rev. Thomas S. Milligan wrote :
Mr. Lowry spent more than thirty years of his ministry in Indiana and performed much hard labor for the churches, besides enduring a great amount of physical toil in providing for a numer- ous family.1 His amiable manners, practical wisdom, his familiar acquaintance with ecclesiastical law, his soundness of doctrine and wide experience made him useful in an eminent degree.2
1 This was an incident frequently emphasizing the necessity of applications to the missionary treasury. The Sand Creek church in its request for aid wrote to the A. H. M. S., September, 1825: " Our proposed minister is a young man with a rising family, who has expended his small patrimony in preparing himself to preach the gos- pel." Report, May, 1826, p. 69.
2 See also Sluter's " History of the Shelbyville Church," pp. 10, 11.
CHAPTER XVI. ORGANIZATION OF THE SYNOD OF INDIANA. 1826.
WHAT Indiana was in 1826 we may learn from one whose observation was uncommonly intelligent and whose pen was singularly graceful. It was no doubt George Bush who wrote from Indianapolis, November 30, his im- pressions of his western field :1
The state of Indiana presents at this moment a field both of action and contemplation in the highest degree interesting. Possessing a territory of which the beauty of its visible aspect is equaled only by the amazing fertility of the soil, a soil un- moistened by the sweat or the tears or the blood of the slave, it must soon, from its local relations and its internal resour- ces, rank with the most populous states of the Union. It is now teeming with the hordes of emigration, and the progress of improvement is inconceivable. The earlier inhabitants, in viewing or describing the changes which ten or fifteen years have effected in the state of this immense forest (as it was at that time), can scarce refrain from bursts of astonishment. Though the trees, wherever you travel, bear the marks of the Indian tomahawk, and the very poles and the crisped barks which formed their temporary camps are still to be seen, yet farms are everywhere opening in the wilderness, the resounding axe is heard as often and as far as the yells of wild beasts, the nimble deer feed among the domestic herds, and every twenty or thirty miles the spire of a handsome court-house of brick rises amidst the deadened trunks of the poplars, walnuts, and oaks.
From living in a central part of the state, on a road that forms the great thoroughfare from the East to the West, I am situated favorably for observing the flow of emigration. During the autumnal months, nothing is more common than to see ten,
1 See Report of A. H. M. S. for 1827, pp. 93-5.
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fifteen, or twenty wagons passing in a single day, carrying the little all of the families, which pass in groups by their sides. As many as thirty of these loaded wagons have been known to camp for the night at the same spot in the wilderness. The destina- tion of the great body of emigrants that pass through the center of the state is the tract of country bordering along the Wabash, particularly from the point where this river falls in with the eastern boundary line of Illinois, upward toward its source. This region is becoming the garden spot of Indiana ; and the rate at which population is augmenting in that quarter exceeds belief. And truly, from the, acquaintance I have gained, during a recent tour to the Wabash, with that part of the state, I am ready to believe that, were a stranger to the peculiar features of the Mississippi Valley to be suddenly set down in any of the prairie tracts which adorn that noble stream, he could not but wonder that the wisdom and goodness of providence should have so long withheld such enchanting regions from the possession of civilized men.
Such is the natural character of a very considerable portion of a country, of which its moral aspect forms a mournful reverse to the sketch now given. The Canaanite is yet in the land ; its clusters are the clusters of Sodom. Not that the body of the population are entirely regardless of any form of religion. On the contrary, there is an abundance of what is called the preaching of the gospel ; much of a disposition to hear ; much of a certain kind of zeal and of the form of godliness. But alas ! there is little, little of the true evangelical dispensation of the word of life, or its appropriate fruits.
This dark view, however, we are happy to state, is relieved by many grateful facts of a different kind. The Lord has a chosen seed scattered here and there over this barren land. And the lonely missionary who turns aside to tarry for a night in the humble cabins of the wilderness will often find himself delighted and refreshed by the pious conversation and prayers of a venerable father or mother in Christ. These are they who are pining for the bread of life, who are turning their anxious eyes to the proffered aid of your society. They are few in number and weak in means; but could the gospel once be statedly fixed among them, their prospects would be enlightened, as it is well ascertained that there is scarcely any settlement in the country containing a few pious families but the number would be speedily increased by emigrants were there only a certainty
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that the privileges and ordinances of the gospel awaited their arrival. How then shall this seed become productive of a future harvest without cultivators? And where are the cultivators to be found? They are not in the field ; nor are they rearing up in the midst of us. In the Presbyterian connection there are not three candidates for the ministry in the whole state. Whence then shall we look for Pauls and Apolloses to tend the husbandry of God but to your society ?
Our population at present is rated at between 200,000 and 300,- 000 ; and we have only twelve resident Presbyterian ministers in the state. The Presbytery to which I belong embraces a range of territory nearly 200 miles in length and So in breadth ; in which we have only four members with charges, though we number nineteen congregations. I am stationed in the center of a large body of population, yet my nearest clerical neighbor lives at the distance of 50 or 60 miles. I was this year obliged to travel 140 miles to attend Presbytery.
The scarcity of ministers and missionaries forms the burden of our lamentation. Few are they who are found ready to devote themselves to the blessed apostolical work of seeking the wander- ing sheep ; fewer, no doubt, than they would be, could those who have abundance be persuaded to bestow a part of it toward furnishing the laborer with his well-earned hire. "The Lord's. sheep are scattered because there is no shepherd ; yea, his flock are scattered upon all the face of the earth and there is none- to search or seek after them." Most earnestly therefore do we request that shepherds may be sent among us, those who shall "seek that which is lost, and bring again that which is driven away, and bind up that which is broken, and strengthen that which is sick."
The needed "shepherds" came slowly. TRUMAN PER- RIN, however, of the Royalton Association of Vermont, arrived this year, having been summoned to take charge of the Presbyterian seminary at Vincennes. He was also- helpful in the pulpits on both banks of the Wabash, but did not formally connect himself with Presbytery. As. a corresponding member he was present in the Synod of Indiana at its first meeting, and again the subsequent year.
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JAMES CRAWFORD, a Princeton graduate, "was ap- pointed as a missionary in Indiana" by the A. H. M. S., August 14, 1826. He reached the state December 1, and labored in Jennings County, "in a circuit embracing Paris, Vernon, and Dartmouth." In northern Indiana his usefulness extended through many years.1
SAMUEL E. BLACKBURN, a licentiate of Louisville Pres- bytery, was received by Salem Presbytery, and on December 1, 1826, was ordained at Jeffersonville. .
JAMES DUNCAN, a minister of the kirk of Scotland, a man of force and scholarship, coming to America had settled in the neighborhood of Steubenville, Ohio. He was received by Madison Presbytery October 5, 1826. Already an old man, and afflicted with dropsy, he preached irregularly. He frequently visited the family of Mr. Alexander Gordon, at Shelbyville, where he occupied his leisure upon the manuscript of a volume of sermons which he afterward printed.2
On his foot-journeyings through the state [says James M. Ray?] he preached several times in the Indianapolis church. He was a well-built, broad-shouldered, sturdy traveler, a scholar of the olden days, having the paragraphs of his sermons duly numbered, and taking his periods so leisurely that his stopping at times to cut a chew of tobacco with his jack-knife from a plug from his pocket would only cause him to say to us, "Well, well, as I was stating under my last head." He was the father of Congressman Duncan, from Cincinnati. Among the scraps of memories of his preaching I still have hold of one in which he manifested to his own satisfaction, and doubtless to all those who had kept awake
1 See The Home Missionary, Vol. I., pp. 116, 183 ; Vol. II., pp. 63, 176; Vol. III., p. 134; Stewart's "Recollections of Carroll County," and Ranney's "History of the Presbyterian Church, Delphi, Carroll County."
2 A copy of this rare volume was presented to the Franklin church, at its seni- ·centennial, by Judge Fabius M. Finch.
8 MS. " History of the Early Days of Presbyterianism at Indianapolis." Cf. Judge Banta's " Historical Address " at Franklin, pp. 18, 19.
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in a summer day, that slavery was a breach of every one of the Twelve Commandments.
Among the missionaries of the Assembly this year were ISAAC A. OGDEN in Union, Franklin, and Fayette Coun- ties, and JOSEPH ROBINSON in Bartholomew and Shelby Counties.
The event of the year, however, was the organization, by an act of the General Assembly on the 29th of May, of the Synod of Indiana, consisting of the four Presbyteries of Salem, Madison, Wabash, and Missouri, and including, besides nearly the whole of Indiana, vast regions in Missouri and Illinois. To the Indiana congregations and ministers, thus far required to contemplate annually a long, toilsome, and perilous journey across the Ohio to the Kentucky Synod, it occasioned most welcome relief to see the center of ecclesiastical power transferred to their own borders.
Old Vincennes was appropriately designated by the Assembly as the first place of meeting. Baynard R. Hall, who was present, has described the horseback ride from Bloomington.
Uncle John had been appointed lay delegate from the Welden Diocese to attend an ecclesiastical convention about to meet early this fall at Vincennes ; and he now, before our return to Wood- ville, obtained my promise to accompany him. Accordingly, a few days after our return, he, and with him Bishop Shrub, called on me, and we three set out for the convention, or-as all such gatherings are there called-the Big Meeting.
The weather was luxurious, and the ride across the small prairies was to me, who now for the first time saw these natural meadows, indescribably bewitching ; indeed, this first glimpse of the prairie world was like beholding an enchanted country. . . The bosoms of these grassy lakes undulate at the slightest breeze, and are sprinkled with picturesque islets of timber, on which the trees are fancifully and regularly disposed, suggesting an arrange- ment by the taste of an unrecorded people of bygone centuries for pleasure and religion. The whole brought back delusive
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dreams-we felt the strange and half celestial thrill of a fairy scene.
This Protestant assembly was a gathering of delegates principally from the land of Hoosiers and Suckers, but with a smart sprinkling of Corn-crackers and a small chance of Pukes from beyond the father of floods, and even one or two from the Buckeye country. These were not all eminent for learning, and polish, and dress, wearing neither doane gowns nor cocked hats ; although some there were worthy seats in the most august assemblies anywhere and however distinguished for wit, learning, and goodness. Most of these Protestants, indeed, carried to excess a somewhat false and dangerous maxim-"Better wear out than rust out," since it is better to do neither. And worn, truly, were they, both in apparel and body, as they entered the town on jaded horses, after many days of hard and dangerous traveling away from their cabin-homes, left far behind in dim woods, beyond rivers, hills, and prairies.
Truly it was a House of Bishops, if not of Lords ; if by a bishop is meant one that has the care of many congrega- tions, an enormous parish, abundant religious labors, and a salary of one or two hundred dollars above nothing. In the midst of so fraternal a band of ministers and brothers, I was constantly reminded of an old saying, " Behold how these Christians love one another." What could exceed their cordial and reciprocal greetings at each arrival ? What their courtesy in debate? What the deep interest in each other's welfare, the lively emotions excited by their religious narratives and anecdotes? And then their tender farewells ! To many the separation was final as to this life.1
Of this interesting meeting, the first Indiana Synod, the following full abstract from the records is taken :
The Synod of Indiana convened at Vincennes on the 18th day of October, 1826, agreeably to the appointment of the General Assembly. Rev. William W. Martin, the person appointed to preach the opening sermon, being absent, Synod was opened with a sermon from Rev. John M. Dickey on Genesis xviii. : 19. Constituted with prayer.
Present : From Missouri Presbytery, Mr. Salmon Giddings,
1 See "The New Purchase," 3d. ed., pp. 271, 272, 278, 279. The thin veil of romance in these descriptions is easily penetrated. Cf. Chapter XIII.
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minister, and Mr. James McClung, elder ; from Salem Presbytery, Mr. Tilly H. Brown, minister, and Mr. James Young, elder ; from Wabash Presbytery, Messrs. Samuel T. Scott, George Bush, and Baynard R. Hall, ministers, and Messrs. James Scott, John Orchard, Frederick Dey Hoff, John Holme, James Carnahan, Robert Taylor, Thomas Gold, Samuel Peery, and James McKee, elders; from Madison Presbytery, Messrs. John M. Dickey, John F. Crow, and James H. Johnston, ministers, and Alexander Walker, elder.
Absent : From Missouri Presbytery, Rev. Messrs. John Mat- thews, Charles S. Robinson, Thomas Donnell, John Brich, William S. Lacy, and John S. Ball ; from Salem Presbytery, Rev. Messrs. William W. Martin, John Todd, John T. Hamilton, and Alexander Williamson ; from Wabash Presbytery, Rev. Messrs. Isaac Reed and Stephen Bliss ; from Madison Presbytery, Rev. Messrs. William Robinson, James Duncan, Samuel G. Lowry, and Samuel Gregg.
Mr. Dickey was appointed moderator, Mr. Johnston clerk, and Mr. Brown assistant clerk.
Rev. Truman Perrin, from the convention of Vermont, being present, was requested to take his seat as a corresponding member.
Resolved, That Synod adopt the General Rules for Judicatories, recommended by the General Assembly, as the general rules of this Synod.
Messrs. Samuel T. Scott, Crow, Giddings, and Dickey were appointed a committee to prepare Permanent Regulations and a Standing Docket. Messrs. Crow and Dey Hoff were appointed a committee to examine the records of Missouri Presbytery. Messrs. Samuel T. Scott and Carnahan, a committee to examine the records of Madison Presbytery. Messrs. Giddings and Holme to examine the records of Salem Presbytery. Messrs. Johnston and Walker to examine the records of Wabash Presbytery. Messrs. Crow and Bush were appointed a committee to prepare a Synodical report. Messrs. Samuel T. Scott, Bush, James Scott, and Holme were appointed a committee of Bills and Overtures, to meet at this place to-morrow morning at 8:30 o'clock and after- ward on their own adjournments. Messrs. Crow, Hall, Brown, McKee, and Gold were appointed a committee for judicial pur- poses, to meet at this place to-morrow morning at 8:30 o'clock and afterward on their own adjournments.
Presbyterial reports were presented from Missouri, Salem, and Madison Presbyteries, all of which were accepted.
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On motion, Resolved, That Synod meet to-morrow morning at 6:30 o'clock to spend a season in special prayer that a spirit of union and harmony may be granted during its deliberations. Adjourned. Concluded with prayer.
October 19th. Synod met agreeably to adjournment. Consti- tuted with prayer. Members present as on yesterday. Minutes of yesterday were read. Synod spent a season in social prayer.
. Resolved, That Synod proceed to the election of a stated clerk and treasurer. Whereupon Mr. Johnston was appointed stated clerk and Mr. Crow treasurer.
An overture was presented requesting Synod to form a new Presbytery in the state of Illinois, making the boundaries of the state the boundaries of the Presbytery. . After some discussion it was resolved that this business be indefinitely post- poned.
An overture was presented requesting Synod to appoint a com- mittee to prepare a petition to the General Assembly, to make the Ohio River our boundary on the south and the eastern line of Indiana our boundary on the east. This overture was now taken up and Messrs. Johnston, Crow, and Giddings were appointed said committee.
An overture was presented requesting Synod to con- sider whether some plan may not be adopted to put a stop, in some measure, to the growing evils resulting from the intem- perate use of spirituous liquors and the profanation of the Sabbath within our bounds.
Resolved, That this overture be now taken up and a committee be appointed to report on the subject before the close of the present session of the Synod. Messrs. Giddings, Hall, and Crow were appointed said committee.
An overture was presented requesting Synod to consider what exertions ought to be made by this body to secure the location of the Western Theological Seminary at Charlestown in Indiana.
Resolved, That this overture be now taken up and a committee be appointed to report on the same before the close of the present sessions of Synod. Messrs. Giddings, Bush, Hall, Crow, and Johnston were appointed said committee.
The following Preamble and Resolutions were presented for the consideration of Synod, viz .:
WHEREAS, Salem Presbytery at its spring session in 1825 appointed a committee to prepare a succinct history of the churches under its care, which history was not completed until
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after the division of said Presbytery and the formation of the Synod of Indiana, therefore
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to examine said history and report to Synod what disposition shall be made of it. Messrs. Giddings, Hall, and Carnahan were appointed a com- mittee agreeably to the above resolution.
Resolved, That Mr. Bush be appointed to preach the missionary sermon at the next meeting and that Mr. Hall be his alternate.
Resolved, That Mr. Scott be appointed to preach the "Concio ad clerum" at the next meeting and that Mr. Crow be his alternate.
October 20th. Synod met agreeably to adjournment. The committee appointed to report on the growing evils of intem- perance and Sabbath breaking presented a report which was accepted and adopted and is as follows, viz. :
The committee appointed to inquire what can be done to remedy the evils arising from the intemperate use of ardent spirits and the profanation of the Sabbath beg leave to report,
I. That Synod recommend to each minister to preach a sermon on the subject of intemperance.
2. That Synod procure one hundred and fifty printed copies of a memorial to Congress, praying for an excise upon spirituous liquors, to be distributed among the members of Synod.
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