USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 19
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3. That Synod recommend to its members to use their exertions to obtain subscribers to this memorial, to secure the cooperation of other denominations, and to forward the memorial as soon as practicable to our representatives, at the ensuing session of Congress.
4. That Synod enjoin upon its members to pay particular atten- tion to the recommendation of the General Assembly on the profanation of the Lord's Day contained in the 29th and 30th pages of their minutes for IS26.
Mr. Hall was appointed to superintend the printing of the memorial above referred to.
The committee appointed to prepare a petition to the General Assembly respecting boundaries presented a report which was accepted and adopted and is as follows, viz .:
The committee appointed to prepare a petition to the General Assembly submit the following: To the Rev. Moderator of the General Assembly :
Rev. Sir: Permit us through you to lay before your body the
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following resolution of the Synod of Indiana passed at its sessions in Vincennes at its first meeting, viz .:
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare a petition to the General Assembly to make the Ohio River our boundary on the south and the eastern line of the state of Indiana our boundary on the east. In support of the above petition we would respectfully offer the following considerations : 1
1. We deem it very desirable that the boundaries of our respect- ive Synods should be so obvious and notorious that there can be no difficulty in ascertaining them and consequently no conflicting claims to congregations. That a case of this kind occurred in respect to Sand Creek church will be seen by referring to the minutes of the General Assembly of 1825.
2. The boundaries of the state of Indiana seem to be the natural boundaries of the Synod of the same name.
3. As the Presbytery of Missouri is attached to the Synod of Indiana, and the state of Illinois seems naturally to belong to the same Synod, it appears improper for the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Synod to extend north of the Ohio River.
4. The convenience of the churches within the specified limits requires that they should all be attached to the same Synod.
5. The desire of the churches that would be affected by the proposed alterations has been expressed, to a considerable extent at least, decidedly in favor of these alterations.
Resolved, That the above petition be signed by the moderator and forwarded by the stated clerk to the General Assembly.
Resolved, moreover, that the stated clerk be directed to write to the stated clerks of the Muhlenburg, Cincinnati, and Miami Presbyteries, and inform them of the measures adopted by Synod on this subject and request the cooperation of their respective Presbyteries.
The following overture was taken up, viz .: "Is it right for ministers of our order to invite ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian order to assist in the administration of the sealing ordinances?"
Resolved, That this business be indefinitely postponed.
The following overture was taken up and adopted, viz .: WHEREAS our Synod presents a great missionary field which ought to be occupied, and inasmuch as our people are more ready to contribute for missionary exertions within our bounds, therefore,
Resolved, That the General Assembly be requested to permit
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this Synod to manage its own missionary concerns and that the stated clerk be directed to forward this resolution to the General Assembly.
Synod adjourned to meet at Salem on the third Thurs- day of October next. Concluded with prayer and the Apostolic Benediction.
JOHN M. DICKEY, Moderator. JAMES H. JOHNSTON, Clerk.
Having now traversed the first period of our Indiana church history, concluded in the establishment of the Synod, the limit of these studies has been reached. What we have seen may well satisfy our pride. The roll-call of pioneers in any presence may be listened to with gladness and gratitude. Their labors were prodigious. Their success was abundant. Their reward is assured. It will be our duty not to forget what they heroically and wisely did to lay the foundations of that Christian society whose privileges remain for us and for our children.
The five good men who came in 1827 have all passed from earth. CALVIN BUTLER, from Andover and the A. H. M. Society, was for twenty years eminently useful at Princeton, Evansville, Washington, Booneville, and other points.1
The two following letters, addressed by Mr. Butler to the secretary of the Indiana Missionary Society, are better than a biography :
ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, June 22, 1827. Rev. and Dear Sir: 1 learn from the first Report of the A. H. M. S., of which the Rev. A. Peters is the corresponding secretary, that the Rev. James H. Johnston is the corresponding secretary of the Indiana Missionary Society. I have agreed to go as a mis- sionary to Indiana under the patronage of the A. H. M. S. The report of the Executive Committee of that Society runs thus : "Your appointment, therefore, is for twelve months from your
1 See McCarer's " Memorial Sermon " ; A. H. M. S. Reports, 1828-1835 ; The Home Missionary, Vol. I., p. 11 ; Vol. II., p. 195 ; Vol. III., p. 200.
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arrival on the field of labor, to labor in such place or places in the State of Indiana as shall be advised by the Indiana Missionary So- ciety." The object of my writing is that you, as Cor. Sec. of your Society, would write me, as soon as possible, designating the field to which I shall bear my course immediately after leaving this Seminary.
I wish to state explicitly the situation in which I am going. I am going with a companion ; not, however, with a feeble, sickly thing, unaccustomed to any place except the parlor. The health of my intended companion, like my own, is at present perfectly good. We both have firm constitutions. I am to receive my support, in- cluding what I may obtain from the people there, from the A. H. M. S. I am going with the expectation of staying there, and of settling, when it shall be convenient and best. I am going without any property, except it be a good library, but am owing more than the value of that ; but I think I know the meaning of the old adage -"Necessity is the mother of Invention," and I hope I am not ignorant of another of a superior kind-" For we walk by faith, not by sight." .
I have been thus explicit because Mr. Bush from Indianapolis, who is here at present, told me that there were many places to which he should not recommend a man to go with a companion ; but there were others where he should. I have no particular choice, except it be to go where there is a fair prospect of enjoy- ing good health and of doing the most good. If there were two places equal, as it regards these, the one lying on the river Wabash and the other in the country, probably I should prefer the former. Mr. Bush mentioned some places which he considered the most important, viz. : Terre Haute, Crawfordsville, Raccoon, Franklin County, and Bartholomew County. Still he said you would decide it.
I hope to start from New England about the middle of October next, and I wish to know the field of labor as soon as possible, in order to make the necessary preparations.
I am requested to make a similar inquiry for a definite field of labor for Brother Cobb, a classmate, who is going to labor under the patronage of the same society. I will give you the vote of the Ex. Com., viz. : Voted to commission Mr. Leander Cobb, to labor twelve months in such place or places in the State of Indiana, or Illinois, as shall be advised by the Indiana Missionary Society. Mr. Cobb will go out single, but wishes to know where his field of labor is as soon as possible. Mr. Bush mentioned Fountain and
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Tippecanoe Counties, Vermillion, Putnam, Owen, and Morgan Counties as inviting fields for Brother Cobb.
PRINCETON, Nov. 30, 1827.
. Rev. and Dear Sir: After the trials of a long and tedious journey I have at last arrived at what I shall call the place of my destination. Myself and companion were mercifully preserved in perfect health and without accident through the whole way. When we arrived at Indianapolis we were somewhat disappointed to learn that Terre Haute was preoccupied. Our minds had been fixed upon that place ever since I received your letter last summer and for some time before ; but I doubt not that it was all ordered for the best. I was still further disappointed not to find according to your letter-"a copy of instructions ready for me at Indianapo- lis," but still shall hope 'tis all for the best. I was told there that my place of location was to be at Washington and that I was to labor in Washington, Paoli, and Princeton. I went to Washington and Mr. Carnahan told me that I was to locate myself in either of the places, and was to labor in the vicinity of the place I should choose, and not in the other two places. I thought he must be correct as he was personally interested. I accordingly went to Paoli, and made some inquiries, and went to see Mr. Martin, supposing that he would know all about it. He told me as he understood the business it would be proper for me to select any place within the bounds of the Salem Presbytery, or in Washington, etc. I then went to Princeton, and made what inquiries were necessary, and called on Mr. Scott as I returned to Washington, where I had left my wife. He thought I was to labor in Washington and Porters- ville and that no other places were assigned. I then concluded to make my own selection, according as I thought the path of duty marked out, after I had made all necessary inquiries ; and accordingly came to this place. I thought it would be eventually more for the interest of Christ's kingdom to come here than to stay in Washington, because the principal part of the inhabitants are not professors of any denomination, and still they are very anxious to have a Presbyterian minister reside among them. They have also a fine institution just coming into existence which they wish to have patronized in such a manner as to make it valu- able to the cause of education. At Washington they are mostly professors of some denomination. They have also a Cumberland minister among them and although they have a large church and are anxious that I should stay, still I thought it more for the interest of the cause to come to this place, which is larger and unoccupied.
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LEANDER COBB, also from Andover, labored long in Clark and Washington Counties, returning to Massachu- setts in 1841.1 WILLIAM LOWRY, a Princeton graduate of unusual promise and maturity, was drowned in the Drift- wood, near Columbus, February II, 1828.2 WILLIAM HENDERSON was received from Ebenezer Presbytery, but in a few months died. JAMES THOMSON, eldest son of John Thomson, of Springfield, Ohio, licensed by Cincin- nati Presbytery, October 5, 1826, and ordained October 3, 1827, came to the wilderness where Crawfordsville has been built and was prominent in the penniless quintet of missionaries who, a little later, established Wabash College. He died at Mankato, Minn., October 4, 1873.
Our review closes just as a second generation of noble men, some of whom are still among us, appears to prose- cute the Master's work. The last name recorded natu- rally suggests a brief consideration of what was accom- plished by Presbyterians for the cause of education in Indiana, during these first years.
1 See A. H. M. S. Reports ; "Salem Presbytery Reporter "; The Home Mis- sionary, Vol. I., pp. 11, 63, 98, 182 ;. Vol. II., pp. 81, 141 ; Vol. III., pp. 60, 119, 201.
2 See an obituary notice in Report of A. H. M. S., 1828, p. 31. The water- stained Confession of Faith found in the saddle-bags of the missionary after his death is an interesting relic of the " perils of waters " in the early days.
CHAPTER XVII.
INDIANA PRESBYTERIANS AND EDUCATION.
PRESBYTERIANS build schoolhouse and church side by side. In all their history and in many lands they have been educators. Upon American soil this characteristic tendency has noticeably appeared. Of Indiana it is almost literally true that there were no schools until the Presbyterian minister arrived. Nearly without exception the first ministers were school-teachers also, and when an exception did occur the minister's wife usually was com- petent and willing to take upon herself what had come to be regarded as a feature of the ordinary pastoral work. Scott at Vincennes, about 1803, and Baldridge at Law- renceburgh, as early as 1811, started schools. Who in Indiana taught Greek and Latin before them?' Their immediate successors in the pulpits-Robinson, Dickey, Todd, Martin, Reed-all followed them into the school- room too. Bible and spelling-book as civilizers helped each other, and tuition fees made a grateful though slight addition to the precarious and scanty income. In the early schemes to establish permanent institutions of learn- ing, there was, however, a different and stronger motive, the desire to obtain for the new West a competent, in- digenous ministry.
1 In "The Schools of Indiana" a statement is made which requires modification. " The pioneer teachers," says the writer, " were generally adventurers from the East, or from England, Scotland, or Ireland, who sought temporary employment during winter while waiting for an opening for business." This may be largely true of the second generation of school-teachers whom Mr. Hobbs remembers. But there were others of a different sort, twenty or thirty years before them. It is believed that the best pioneer school work in Indiana was done by Presbyterian ministers, and that they were the literal pioneers in that work, with the sole exception of two or three Catholic missionaries like Father Rivet. Cf. "The Schools of Indiana," pp. 53, 54.
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Of the oldest Indiana college, the State Institution at Bloomington, the origin is to be traced to national legisla- tion. But in its beginnings, the work, though unde- nominational, fell upon the Presbyterians.1 The first in- structors were all Presbyterian ministers and the board of trustees was largely Presbyterian. This predominance, fairly won at first, naturally disappeared in time from an institution adopted and fostered by the state, and might probably with advantage have been yielded with less delay.
In 1802 the national Congress had made a grant of a township of land in Gibson County for the support of an institution of learning, and encouraged by that act the territorial legislature in 1807 incorporated the Vincennes University. When in 1816 Indiana was admitted into the Union, Congress granted an additional township for college purposes, and under that act Perry township in Monroe County was designated. Thereupon, the Vincennes University being regarded as a lifeless scheme, the legis- lature in 1820 appointed the trustees of the Indiana Seminary, and the board having met in the following June at Bloomington, selected the site of the future university. Steps were taken toward the erection of a building, the contracts being let in March, 1822. Two years were consumed in the work, which was still incomplete when, in the spring of 1825, with about twenty students, Baynard R. Hall, who had come West for that service, opened the school. He had entire charge of the institution until May, 1827, when John H. Harney became associated with him, as professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy. Early in 1828 the legislature chartered the' school as a state college, and the Rev. Andrew Wylie, D.D., president of Washington College, Pennsylvania,
1 On an ill-considered page an Indiana writer, describing the origin of the first schools, ventures to attribute to unworthy motives the natural prominence in the work of education of the few men on the field who were themselves educated. See " Indiana Methodism," p. 317.
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was summoned to the head of it. There he remained until his death, November 11, 1851, for twenty-three years successfully conducting its affairs through many perils and conflicts.1 The school was greatly embarrassed by its poverty. By and by serious disagreements arose in the
faculty. The jealousies of the sects made trouble. In 1854 nearly everything visible belonging to the college was destroyed by fire. And finally the Vincennes Univer- sity, supposed to have been long comfortable in its grave, successfully asserted before the courts its claims to the proceeds of the Gibson County lands, which had been
expended at Bloomington. By the timely intervention of the legislature, the state, rather than the college, was made the sufferer, the judgment against it amounting to sixty-six thousand five hundred and eighty-five dollars. The institution was thereby rescued from what had looked like irretrievable disaster. In recent years a generous attitude toward its child has been maintained by the General Assembly, and the State University now honorably occupies the place it has bravely conquered for itself. With regard to its aims, its methods, and its success Indiana Presbyterians can never be indifferent, having borne so largely all the responsibilities of its early career.
It was in the establishment of HANOVER COLLEGE, however, the oldest of the denominational schools, and only a little less ancient than the institution at Blooming- ton, that the earliest energies and affections of the church were directly engaged. The lack of Christian laborers was a daily burden upon the hearts of the faithful men who were toiling in these swamps and forests .? Few recruits could be expected from the older communities.
1 See " Address on the Life and Character of Andrew Wylie, D.D.," by Theophilus Parvin, M.D., Indianapolis, 1858.
2 See Dr. Crowe's account of the origin of the college, Johnston's " Forty Years in Indiana," pp. 21, 22. Cf. Cressy's "Appeal in Behalf of the Indiana Theological Seminary," pp. 7, 9.
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Some who did venture away from the more luxurious con- ditions of society in the East were feeble and useless as frontiersmen. There must be a way devised to educate the Christian young men already on the ground. How could that object be secured? The problem was a con- stant theme of lonely thought, and of long debate in Presbytery, by cabin back-logs and on horseback jour- neys, considered too with an intensity of feeling, a fixed- ness of purpose, and a solidity of judgment in every way remarkable. The names of the men most conspicuous in these negotiations are happily not forgotten. They were chiefly John Finley Crowe, John McElroy Dickey, and William W. Martin. Into their circle was fully admitted, upon his arrival in 1824, James H. Johnston, whose position at Madison, and as secretary of the Indiana Missionary Society, made him painfully familiar with all the necessities of the field. Dickey had carried the burden longest. Martin was already training ministers and ministers' wives in his own Livonia log house. Crowe, the pastor at Hanover, years before a successful teacher in Kentucky, a man of admirable discretion and persistence, was steadily pushed forward by providence until, laying down a few first bricks, he found that he had "builded better than he knew," and had become the founder of a college.
No sooner had Salem Presbytery come together at the first meeting than they began to confer about the means of Christian education.' The theme so promptly introduced was never allowed to rest in Presbytery or Synod until provision had been made for a complete classical and pro- fessional training. At the meeting of Presbytery in the autumn of 1825 a committee was appointed to perfect a scheme for a Presbyterial academy and to determine its location. The committee's report at a subsequent meeting I Cf. Chapter XII.
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favored the village of Hanover as the seat of the academy and a committee was designated to obtain a teacher. Already as a preparatory step a private school had been opened at Hanover by a gentleman invited thither by Mr. Crowe. But the search for a permanent instructor proved unsuccessful, and finally, in 1826, the Presbytery1 formally laid the whole work upon Mr. Crowe, requesting him to organize the academy and take charge of it until other arrangements should be made. Accordingly "in a log cabin on Dr. Crowe's grounds, near the Presbyterian Church, on the first of January, 1827, the school was organized with prayer."? Thus at last was planted in Indiana the germ of a Presbyterian college.
The first pupil of the school, the Rev. William M. Cheever, has furnished an account of his earliest Hanover experiences :
My father,3 who was teaching school in Paris, Jennings County,. Indiana, was prevailed upon by Rev. John Finley Crowe to remove in 1825 to South Hanover and open a school in the old stone meeting-house, which was to become in part a sort of feeder to the classical academy which Mr. Crowe intended to open at no. distant day. Though a mere lad, I attended my father's school, studying under him the Latin grammar. Two years after, in 1827, when between eight and nine years of age, I started to Mr. Crowe's Classical Academy, which was opened in his old loom- house. I remember vividly that first day. It was quite an epoch in my life. Besides, my father, who was deeply interested in this. "young school of the prophets," as he termed it, often afterward alluded to the events of that day and they became fixed in my memory. He used to tell me that I had this preëminence, if no other, "I was the first student on the ground the day when Dr. Crowe opened his academy." I have seen and heard a 1 The first steps were taken by Salem Presbytery, at the time the only Presbytery in the state. Upon the organization of the Synod in 1826 the academy was included in the territory of Madison Presbytery, which conducted its affairs until they were committed to the Synod.
2 " Semi-Centennial Sketch," by George C. Heckman, D.D., pp. 4, 5.
3 Joshua Cushman Cheever, a native of Vermont, a student, though not a graduate, at Brattleboro, a good classical scholar and lifelong teacher .
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variety of statements as to those early days, none of them being absolutely correct. Indeed, I suppose it will be impossible now to reproduce all the facts as they actually transpired during the first few weeks. But this much is correct. On the first day there were but two students present, James Logan and I. He was several years my senior. I have seen the statement that the academy opened in the old loom-house with some half-dozen young men present the first day, among whom were Daniel and Samuel Lattimer, James Logan, David V. Smock, and young McNutt. But none of them were there on the morning of the opening save Logan.1 He and I had the distinguished honor of being the pioneer students.
For the academy thus established an act of incorporation was obtained from the legislature December 30, 1828. As there was now every promise of permanent success the Presbytery sought to transfer the school to the supervision of the Synod, and at the fall meeting in 1829 a committee was appointed to effect that object. The committee ap- peared in Synod in October, and having reported the action of Presbytery it was approved by Synod and the academy was adopted as a Synodical school "provided the trustees of the same will permit the Synod to establish a theological department and appoint the theological pro- fessors."? The condition named was willingly acceded to, the negotiations were at once completed, and the school became the Synod's property.
Steady progress had from the first been made toward
1 A little later (July 4, 1877), while suffering severely from the cancerous affection which was soon to terminate his useful life, Mr. Cheever wrote as follows; "The real fact, as nearly as it will probably ever be ascertained in this world is-there were but two at the first recitation, three at the second, and several others dropped in that week, and more the week following. This is probably the order as to their coming: (1) Cheever, (2) Logan, (3) Smock, (4) McNutt, (5) Hanna, (6) Creswell, (7) Daniel Latti- mer, (8) Samuel Lattimer, (9) Tilford, (10) Graham, (11) Miller." Mr. Cheever adds : " Perhaps one reason why my memory of those early days ought to be better than that of others is that my father was Dr. Crowe's nearest neighbor and intimate friend. These matters were themes of constant conversation between Dr. Crowe and my father, in my presence. I call up with more ease the recollection of those days than I do the transactions after 1832, when I reëntered and graduated."
2 " Minutes Synod of Indiana," Vol. I., pp. 101, 102.
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the work and position of a college, and in 1833, the legis- lature having amended its charter, the Hanover Academy was in future to be known as Hanover College. Funds had been diligently collected, buildings had been erected, and the Rev. James Blythe, D. D., of Lexington, Ky., be- came the first president of the enlarged institution. Of the first board of trustees of the college the Rev. John M. Dickey was president, the Rev. James H. Johnston secretary, and the Hon. Williamson Dunn treasurer. From the first college catalogue it appears that there were already in attendance seven theological, sixty-three collegi- ate, and one hundred and thirteen preparatory students. Since that early day the college has shared with similar institutions a varied experience of prosperity and gloom, but now, with seventy years of history back of it, has in its faculty, its alumni, its endowments and traditions, a permanent foundation.
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