USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 6
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Preaching every Sabbath, and often during the week, he was compelled to do much of his studying while at work on the farm, or as he rode on horseback from place to place. The family were too poor to afford a lamp or can- dles, and often, after a day of manual labor, Mr. Dickey would gather pine knots, and having kindled a bright fire, would sit on the hearth and write the plan of a sermon. His best opportunities for meditation, however, came while riding to his preaching stations, through the forests, and along the quiet roads. With his Bible, hymn-book, and Confession of Faith in the saddle-bags, and a Testa-
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ment and small concordance in his pocket ready for use, he pursued careful investigations of important themes. His son says :
On a pony that had learned to avoid the mud by going close to the rail fence, I have seen him riding for miles, and at every cor- ner lifting his leg and drawing it up on the saddle to avoid the rails, too much absorbed in thought to observe what the pony or himself was doing. Occasionally returning to consciousness of things about him, he would rein the horse out into the road ; but the beast, preferring the harder ground, would soon go back to the fence, and creep so close to the sharp corners that the process of leg-lifting would begin again and go steadily on for another hour.1
At one time, returning from a preaching-tour to find the family entirely out of meal and flour, he remounted his horse, went to the mill several miles distant, procured a supply, and with the sack on the horse's back started homeward. But becoming engaged in meditation, the sack fell off without his notice. The hungry children, who had made several meals of potatoes, saw with dismay that he was returning without the supplies, and, calling their mother, met him as he rode up to the gate. A single question was enough to reveal the state of the case, and wheeling about, half-amused and half-ashamed, he hurried back to find the sack at the roadside. He often said that to think closely he must be on his horse. There was no subject engaging the attention of the world which he did not ponder as thoroughly as his opportunities allowed. He was well informed on questions of public policy, and sometimes addressed communications to those in power, always urging that "righteousness exalteth a nation." These communications were kindly received and often elicited respectful replies,
Mr. Dickey's cheerful labors were overshadowed, how-
1 The Rev. Ninian Steele Dickey, to whom the writer is under many obligations for the use of MSS.
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ever, and sometimes wholly interrupted, by the alarming diseases common in such new settlements. At first his own family escaped, but before a year had passed all were prostrated, and on October 23, 1816, Mrs. Dickey died. Added to these personal sorrows was the discouragement arising from frequent removals of his people to other neighborhoods. There was, moreover, no suitable place of worship. This latter want was soon supplied, however. Though it was difficult to select a site against which no one would object, scattered as his congregation were along White River, upon a track sixteen miles long by ten wide, they finally united upon a piece of "Congress land"
whose sterile soil would not be likely soon to tempt a purchaser to dispossess them. The members of the little society met on a day appointed, and cut logs twenty feet in length, which, with their native covering of bark and moss, were laid together. The minister was present to encourage his people, and some of the logs were notched by his own hands. The roof was of clap-boards. The earth formed both floor and carpet. The seats were hewed puncheons. On this log meeting-house, the third, it would seem, which the Indiana Presbyterians possessed, the people looked with pride. Rude as was the humble sanctuary, it equaled, if it did not surpass, the houses in which several of the congregation lived. It continued to be the place of worship until shortly after Davies County was organized, when the county-seat was located at Wash- ington, a temporary court-house was erected, and this then be- came the meeting-house.1
After four years' service? in this field, Mr. Dickey re- moved to Lexington, Scott County, and became pastor of the New Lexington and Pisgah churches, while he also had charge of the Graham church, situated on a creek of that name between Paris and Vernon, in Jennings County. His installation, August, 1819, over the two former congrega-
1 MSS. of the Rev. Thomas S. Milligan, long a friend of Mr. Dickey's family, a man of studious tastes and noble character. His death (October 7, 1876) occasioned great and sorrowful surprise.
2 Dickey's " Brief History," p. 4.
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tions, was the first formal Presbyterian settlement in the territory.1 Previously, however, April 2, 1818, Mr. Dickey had married Miss Margaret Osborn Steele. This wife shared his trials and successes for nearly thirty years? and ( became the mother of eleven children. The picture of the pioneer parsonage and its busy life would be sadly imper- fect without the portrait of this Christian woman.
She was worthy of her husband. Much of his usefulness must be attributed to her. For the maintenance of the fam- ily she gave her full share of toil and self-denial, often living alone with her children for months together, disciplining them to industry and usefulness, while their father was ab- sent upon long and laborious missionary journeys. She cultivated a garden which supplied many household wants. Reared as she had been on the frontier, her education was at first limited, but under her husband's tuition she be- came a respectable scholar, able to instruct her own and her neighbors' children. She was an adept at the spinning- wheel and loom, and for many years made with her own hands all the linen and woolen cloth and garments for the family. There were also frequent additions to the exche- quer from the sale of jeans of her manufacture. Such was her trust in God that fear never seemed to disturb her peace. She had lived for a time where the dread of prowl- ing savages forbade the lighting of a lamp, or of a fire at night, and ordinary trouble produced no visible disturb- ance of her mind. In every good work she was foremost, whether it were making husk mattresses for the students at Hanover College, gathering supplies for destitute mission- aries, or caring for the sick and unfortunate at home. The meagerness of her own household stores did not prevent her from doing much for others. In the absence of her husband the family altar was regularly maintained, and the
1 Reed's " Christian Traveller," pp. 91, 213.
2 Her death occurred October 24, 1847.
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Sabbath afternoon recitations from the Shorter Catechism were by no means omitted. Though her residence was on a farin and most of Mr. Dickey's public life was spent as pastor of a country church, she sustained a woman's weekly prayer-meeting. In the Sabbath-school and at public worship her place was seldom vacant, notwithstanding the claims of so large a family. It was the custom to begin the communion services on Friday, which was often a fast- day, and to continue them through the following Monday. Neighboring ministers and congregations attended these services in great numbers. Often was the hospitality of the parish taxed to the utmost. A member of Mr. Dickey's family says :
Though I relished heartily the enthusiasm of these gatherings, especially the singing and the social enjoyment, I recollect that in my early days I dreaded these occasions, because I had to sleep on the floor, often without even a carpet or pillow, that room might be made for strangers. One of my father's neighbors, they used to say, had accommodation for sixty guests, while many young men and boys slept on the hay in the barns. Notwith- standing the claims of guests and the necessity of unusual work at these seasons, everything was ordered so that the women of the household might be present at all the public meetings. I do not recollect ever to have known my mother to be absent except on account of the severe illness of herself or some member of the family, and never did I hear her complain of the burden of enter- taining so many strangers. I have known her to be much con- cerned as to suitable provision for their comfort, but what she had was cheerfully given.
Is it not natural to ask whether the dignity and graceful- ness of these hospitable rites are often surpassed or equaled now? The preparations are more elaborate and the cere- monies more pretentious, but is the welcome as warm or as wise ?
It is not surprising that a mother, so prudent and dili- gent, so religious in her denial of self and her generosity to others, aided, too, by such a husband, should be blessed
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with dutiful and noble children. Her sons and daughters grew up in piety, and most of them survive in prominent and useful stations. 1
In the midst of the scenes now described, Mr. Dickey's indefatigable labors continued. He served the New Lex- ington and Pisgah churches until April, 1835, a period of sixteen years, when the care of the former congregation was committed to other hands, though he held the pulpit of the Pisgah society for twelve years longer, and until the infirm- ities of age admonished him that the end was near.
It is not as pastor of the small country flock that his usefulness is to be measured, however. He was a traveling bishop. From far and near he was called to assist in special services, in revivals, at communions, and in vacant churches. The whole southern half of the territory he often traversed in difficult horseback journeys, and fre- quently his mission work extended to the "regions be- yond." In January and February, 1823, having received an appointment from the Assembly's Committee of Mis- sions, he made an exploring tour to Vincennes and Crawfordsville, and returning fulfilled appointments for preaching which he had scattered as he advanced.
Before he had reached the end of his outward journey violent rains had fallen, and the' Wabash, with its tributaries, became very high, and was for the most part without bridges. Yet he preached thirty-one sermons in thirty days, and kept all his appointments save two. In a number of cases if the engagements had been a
1 It would seem that our pioneer history furnishes a notable illustration of the power of parental influence. Especially do the humble parsonages of the early days in the woods prove what worthy children God gives to faithful fathers and mothers. Of Mr. Dickey's children are : Margaret, wife of Dr. James F. Knowlton, Geneva, Kan .; Jane, wife of Dr. W. W. Britain, on the homestead, near New Washington, Clark County, Ind. ; the Rev. Ninian S., for eighteen years pastor of our church in Columbus, Ind .; John P., a Presbyterian ruling elder, and James H., in Allen County, Kan .; Nancy E., wife of Mr. Mattoon, Geneva, Kan. ; Martha E., wife of Thomas Bare, Esq., Carrolton, Ill .; Mary E., wife of James M. Haines, Esq., New Albany, Ind .; and William Matthews, a graduate of Wabash College, a student of medicine, a prisoner at Andersonville, and a resident of California. The oldest son died at the age of seven- teen, while a student for the ministry.
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single day earlier or later, the impassable streams must have de- tained him. And so he was accustomed to say, "The Lord deliv- ered me out of the deep waters." In the summer of 1824 he spent two months in the counties of Bartholomew, Rush, Shelby, and Decatur, under the direction of the Indiana Missionary Society, which a short time before he had assisted in forming. During this journey he organized the churches of Columbus and Franklin and the church of New Providence, near Shelbyville. His custom was to make a tour of two weeks, preaching daily, and then for an equal length of time remain at home laboring in his own parish.1
We are aided in recalling the methods and sacrifices of those days by the vivid pen of one of Mr. Dickey's fellow- laborers.
At Madison, in 1829, I first met with Father Dickey, who came to assist Mr. Johnston2 during a protracted meeting. He had been delayed a little by stress of weather and bad roads ; the con- gregation were assembled when he entered the church, fresh from his horse and journey. I seem to see his figure, of full medium height, spare and bent, marching up the aisle in a well-worn and soldier-like overcoat, and drab leggings, with saddle-bags on his arm, and presenting a face, thoughtful, gentle, and earnest, ex- pressive of an equable spirit, firm and mild. When he spoke from the pulpit he had an unnatural tone; he showed little rhetoric, little of the learning or art of the schools, but much good sense, faith, and fruit of study in prayer and love. The people listened with a kind and appreciative attention. His character evidently helped him. He was well known in Madison, and everybody felt that his words were those of a wise and disinterested friend. There I learned to revere him as one communing much with God and ever penetrated with everlasting things; whose mind and heart were habitually conversant with the greatest interests ; who sought not his own, but was revolving plans of large usefulness ; a man, sober and trusty of judgment, and of organizing ability ; laborious and modest ; stable in the truth ; candid and liberal, but not lax; fraternal and broad in his sympathies, loving and, like Christ, loving the world.
1 MSS. of the Rev. Thomas S. Milligan.
2 The Rev. James H. Johnston, who died at Crawfordsville March 8, 1876, having completed the longest term of continuous service ever attained by a minister of our church in Indiana-more than fifty-one years.
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A few days later I found Father Dickey at Indianapolis, attend- ing the anniversaries of the State Benevolent Societies, in estab- lishing which he had been among the prime movers and in which he continued to show an efficient interest. The legislature was in session, and on the Sabbath he preached to a large audience, from Jeremiah vi .: 16-"Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." He spoke with unction and to general acceptance, notwithstanding his peculiar mode of delivery.
Two months afterward he surprised me with a visit at my bach- elor's room at an inn in Logansport. He had come on an exploring mission from his home in the southern part of the state, in February, 1830, encountering such difficulties from the roads and high waters and rude beginnings of the settlers, remote from each other, as belonged to that period, and all from a desire, preaching as he went, better to know the spiritual destitutions of the state, and more intelligently to labor in removing them.
During a few more years I was wont to see him at Synods, where his presence was always valued, and notably I remember him in the General Assembly at Philadelphia, IS32. In the strifes of the times he was not a warm partisan ; he knew nothing of intrigue ; and beyond most men seemed to act above prejudice and in the light of conscience and the spirit of Christ.1
Though never of a rugged constitution, the contrast with his wife's vigor and endurance being the occasion of fre- quent remark on her part, indulging the hope, as she did, that she might be permitted to cheer him in life's decline, Mr. Dickey sustained such various labors as have been described for a long period. Not until April, 1847, was he compelled by failing health to surrender the pastorate
1 MS. letter of the Rev. Dr. Martin M. Post, dated January 7, 1876. Born in Corn- wall, Vt., December 3, 1805, Middlebury's valedictorian in 1826, a graduate of Andover, reaching his mission field at Logansport, Ind., December, 1829, he there continued to reside until his death, October 11, 1876. For the fathers of the Indiana Synod the semi- centennial year was a fatal one. Johnston fell asleep March S, but three days before John Ross (ct. 92), these two having been the sole remaining representatives of the former times in the Synod, North. Dr. Post's demise occurred but four days later than that of Thomas S. Milligan. The five sons of the former all received a collegiate and theological training, the youngest, Roswell O., having become pastor of the flock so long cared for by his father.
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he had held for twenty-eight years. After an interval of a few months his health was so far restored that he was able to labor in the service of the American Tract Society for nearly a year. On the termination of this work he sought no further fixed employment, but ministered in the pulpit and as a counselor, most usefully, as opportunity came.
In 1828 Mr. Dickey had published, under the direction of the Synod, "A Brief History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Indiana," now the source of our best information with regard to the early days.' This small pamphlet it was his earnest desire to enlarge and complete. His son writes :
The last work of my father's life, on which his heart was set, was the completion of the history. He was very feeble in body at the last, but vigorous in mind, and sat at his table and wrote as long as he was able. Industry was his characteristic. I never saw him idle an hour. When forced to lay down his pen it cost him a struggle. At his request I acted as his amanuensis and prepared several sketches of churches, of which he said no other living man knew so much as he.
All was, however, left quite unfinished. He lived but a day or two after laying aside his pen.2
1 " In regard to the early history of Presbyterianism in Indiana, he was a sort of gazetteer or book of reference, from which we had rarely, if ever, occasion to appeal." -Dr. Henry Little, in Sprague's "Annals," Vol. IV., pp. 518-9.
2 As to the origin of the " Brief History," and the various efforts to supplement and complete it, see " Minutes of Salem Presbytery," Vol. 1., p. 20; " Minutes of Madison Presbytery," Vol. I., p. 26; " Minutes of Indiana Synod," Vol. I., pp. 13, 15, 31, 53, 59, 60, 549, 586, 612, 624 ; Vol. II., pp. 207, 225, 347, 384, 401, 419, 423, 436, 437, 446. Mr. Dickey's pamphlet, though accurate, is not infallible. 1 have before me the author's copy, with his manuscript corrections. The more important of these are the following: Page 5, as to Madison church read, "it was supplied by Mr. Robinson for two years. In the summer of 1819 the Rev. Thomas S. Searle located at Madison, and was installed the following year pastor of Madison and Hanover churches "; page 6, as to the date of the organization of Pisgah church read, " February 27, 1816"; the name of Daniel C. Banks is substituted for that of James McGready, as having constituted the New Albany church, the latter having formed the church at Jeffersonville ; page 7, as to the date of the Rev. Isaac Reed's settlement in Owen County read, " October, 1822"; page 8, read, " Mr. Proctor labored three fourths of his time (at Indianapolis) for a year, beginning October, 1822. Mr. George Bush commenced his labors there in June, 1824"; page 10, read, " June, 1821," as the date of the organization of Evansville
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The only meetings of the Presbytery and Synod he had failed to attend were those held at New Albany a few weeks previous to his death. He wrote to his brethren apprising them of his feebleness, and assuring them that his work was nearly done. Synod appointed a committee to suggest a suitable reply, on the reception of which Mr. Dickey was deeply moved, at the family altar with choked utterance giving thanks to God that the lines had fallen to him in such goodly places, among such loving and faithful brethren, and praying that God would greatly prosper them. Suffering intensely in the closing hours, his peace
was great. Although for twenty-five years afflicted with a pulmonary disease, his endurance was remarkable. He finally fell asleep November 21, 1849. The Rev. Philip Bevan, a licentiate of Cincinnati Presbytery, at this time supplying the New Washington church, officiated at the funeral. On the following Sabbath the Rev. Dr. Harvey Curtis, then pastor of the Second Church, Madison, preached in the New Washington Meeting-house a com- memorative discourse from the text descriptive of Barna- bas : " He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith."-Acts xi. : 24.
Mr. Dickey's remains lie buried beside his second wife and three of his children, in the cemetery of the Pisgah (now New Washington) church. His tombstone is a plain marble slab, inscribed with his name, age, the date of his death, and the text of the commemorative discourse.1
church ; page 11, for James Balch substitute Nathan B. Derrow, the name of the " New Hope " church having been originally and until 1825, " Hopewell."
There are such typographical errors as Samuel B. Robinson for Robertson, and Martin B. for Nathan B. Derrow.
It is also to be observed that Dickey makes no allusion to the organization of Rising Sun church, September, 1816 (by Nathan B. Derrow), and of Concord church, Orange County, September 27, 1818 (by Orin Fowler), nor to the labors of Samuel Baldridge (1810-2), Samuel J. Mills (1814-5), William Goodell (1822), Lucius Alden (1825), and John Ross (1822-76).
1 On the announcement of his death in Synod a movement was made to erect a . monument to his memory at the expense of his brethren. The motion was opposed by
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Of the man who so wisely and laboriously laid the foundations of Christian society in Indiana, the best esti- mate is presented in the simple record of his career. It is, however, to be observed how sagacious and determined he was in the advocacy of views which then were new, but now are generally accepted among good men.
In his personal appearance most unostentatious, his dress was usually homespun. Though in his later years he wore broadcloth in the pulpit, his every-day garb was of the jeans provided by the hands of his wife and daughters. Doubt- less the necessity of economy determined this habit, but there was also still remaining among the plain people of the frontier that prejudice against imported stuffs which during the Revolution had been so violent.1 Beneath such an unassuming exterior, however, dwelt a singularly broad and self-reliant mind.
The character of the man was indicated in his early and bold advocacy of the temperance reform. It has been asserted that he preached the first sermon in Indiana against intemperance.2 A lady relates, as illustrating the propriety of such preaching at the time, that on one occa- sion, when a child, she was put out of a back window by her mother, and sent with great haste to one of the neigh- bors for whisky, "because they saw Mr. Dickey, the preacher, coming." One of his son's earliest recollections
5 Samuel Merrill, Esq., who said that he knew Mr. Dickey well enough to be sure that such display would have offended his modesty. Mr. Merrill suggested instead that funds be raised for a hall in Wabash College, to be known as " Dickey Hall." The suggestion met with cordial approbation, but was never carried out.
1 The Rev. James Dickey, of South Salem, Ohio, a cousin of " Father Dickey," went to the General Assembly in Philadelphia dressed in homespun, and on a Sabbath was invited to fill one of the city pulpits. After ascending the pulpit the sexton first came to him, and subsequently the elders, to offer him a pew, as he was now occupying the clergyman's place. But they were soon surprised with a good sermon from the intruder. The next day the ladies of the congregation presented . him with a clerical suit, but he gently declined it, saying that where he lived the people would not hear him preach in such clothes.
" The honor seems to belong either to him or to " Father Cravens," of the Methodist Church.
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is of a stormy onset upon him by four of his parishioners, all distillers, as they were gathered under a spreading beech, after one of his discourses against the prevailing vice.
I expected that he would give them a severe castigation, and was indignant when afterward, with reference to the affair, ,he merely said, "Why, I didn't suppose they would like the ser- mon." And yet, so great was the influence of his teaching that two of these men never distilled whisky afterward. One of them would not even sell his distilling apparatus, but let it stand and rot. In a few years public sentiment, aided by a fire which destroyed one of the establishments, closed the other stills, so that intoxicating drinks were not manufactured within the bounds of his congregation.
He met the neighboring ministers in argument upon this subject, and so ably and with such good humor did he maintain his cause that, largely owing to his influence, the region where he lived and labored banished intoxicating liquors from use as a beverage. His reputation as a debater in behalf of total abstinence was so assured, and the unpopularity of opposing him so well known, that a young man who had represented the district in Congress, and was an aspirant again for the position, declined to debate the question with him, though he had issued a chal- lenge to any one who would meet him.
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