USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 8
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It is to be observed that throughout this period much labor was bestowed by the Presbyterians upon the slave population.
Last Sunday I had a sacrament [wrote Davies], assisted by my good brother and next neighbor, Mr. Todd. It was a time of un- usual anxiety to me. I hope it was a refreshing time to some
1 See Gillies's " Collections." The above letter is reprinted by Foote.
? Davies's " Journal," July 25, 1753.
Davies's " Sermons," Barnes ed., Vol. III., p. 467, foot-note.
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hungry souls. I had the pleasure of seeing the table of the Lord adorned with about forty-four black faces.1
As early as 1755 Todd had a hundred of these people "under his instruction."?
Public affairs also began to require the attention of our ministers. The discussions and conflicts which brought on the Revolution were warmly maintained in the valley of Virginia. Our ministers and people were loyal to liberty. Archibald Alexander says :
That man will go on a desperate adventure who shall proceed to hunt out the Presbyterian Tories of the Revolution. Our min- isters were Whigs, patriots, haters of tyranny, known abettors of the very earliest resistance, and often soldiers in the field.3
It is not surprising then that Todd was "a staunch Whig." At the first meeting of the Presbytery of Han- over after the Declaration of Independence that body addressed a memorial to the Virginia House of Delegates, identifying themselves with the patriot cause. It was signed by John Todd as moderator.5 In 1785, on the 13th of August, at Bethel, Augusta County, an important con- vention was held to oppose a scheme for general taxation in support of religion -- a scheme which Patrick Henry and others advocated. Todd was chairman of the convention. "
To his other work the care of a classical school was now to be added. The chief motive seems to have been the preparation of young men for the ministry. David Rice, a member of Todd's congregation, who afterward became "Father Rice" of Kentucky, began the study of Latin at
1 Foote's " Sketches of Virginia," second series, p. 47.
2 Foote's " Sketches of Virginia," first series, p. 286.
.3 Princeton Review, Vol. XIX., p. 482. Cf. Miller's " Life of Rodgers," p. 146, and Bishop's " Memoir of Rice," Chap. XV.
+ Foote's " Sketches of Virginia," second series, p. 47.
5 Davidson's " History of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky," p. 37, and Foote's " Sketches," first series, pp. 323-4.
6 Davidson's "Kentucky," p. 37. Foote's " Sketches," first series, pp. 342-4:
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this school.1 James Waddel, Wirt's "blind preacher," who had emigrated from Ulster in Ireland, and whose family, it is possible, was there not unknown to Todd, be- came an assistant instructor, and under the principal's direction pursued the study of divinity.2 The needed fur- niture of books was secured for the school from England, the London merchant, John Thornton, contributing fifty pounds sterling to promote the object, and the Rev. Dr. Gordon, with whom the correspondence was carried on and who interested others in the enterprise, himself giving liberally.3 This donation of books was destined to serve most important ends beyond the original design. By and by, with Mr. Todd's increasing age, the classical school declined. No successor appeared to conduct it. Other academies, with more ambitious claims, had now been established. It was the venerable preceptor's happy sug- gestion, therefore, that the library be transferred to Kentucky, for the use of the students of Transylvania Seminary. In that region it was natural that he should be interested, where his old pupil Rice was making himself famous, and where James Moore,4 who married Todd's daughter, was to have the new institution in charge. Accordingly, among the names of the founders of Transyl- vania University that of the Rev. John Todd of Hanover Presbytery in Virginia stands first,5 with that of his nephew, Colonel John Todd, member of the Virginia legislature from the county of Fayette.
In the later years of his life Mr. Todd was unable to per-
1 Bishop's " Memoir of Rice," pp. 28, 55.
2 Foote's " Sketches," first series, p. 351. Sprague's " Annals," Vol. III., p. 236.
3 Davidson's " Kentucky," pp. 292-3.
4 The Rev. Dr. James Moore was originally a Presbyterian, but, upon his trials for licensure, meeting what he, perhaps rightly, esteemed too little charity, he took orders in the Episcopal Church. The Rev. Dr. Daniel McCalla, of South Carolina, also married a daughter of Mr. Todd.
5 Davidson's " Kentucky," p. 289.
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form all the duties of his pastoral charge. Severe labors in the Virginia wilderness, during the ardor of youth, had exhausted his vigor. Compelled to cease entirely from preaching tours in " the parts beyond," and often detained by ill-health from the church courts, both he and James Waddel were severely criticized by the younger men, who "knew not Joseph," though it was into Joseph's labors that they were so cheerfully entering. A foolish slander as to his laxity in the admission of candidates to the communion appeared to Todd's sensitiveness deserving of reply, and he made his way to Presbytery in the Cove congregation, Albemarle, July, 1793. Having fully vindicated himself he set out for home on Saturday, the 27th, but on the same day was found in the road lifeless. Either his spirited horse had thrown him, or he had suffered from an apoplectic attack.
John Todd of Virginia was evidently a man of solid and useful rather than brilliant qualities. With a vigorous and well-trained mind, in circumstances offering abundant scope for the highest abilities, he gave himself with entire devotion to the service of the church. He was an impres- sive preacher. "Heard Mr. Todd preach an honest sermon," is Davies's record in his diary. Colonel Gordon said, on hearing him at the communion, November I, 1761 :
I never heard a sermon, but one from Mr. Davies, that I heard with more attention and delight. Oh, if the Lord would be pleased to send us a minister of as much piety as Mr. Todd.1
It was of such a father that John Todd, the younger, was born, in Louisa County, Va., October, 1772. The region itself was in its variety and beauty of scenery well fitted to quicken the faculties of a boy, and the manse of Provi- dence parish, which was at the same time the seminary, by its daily routine fostering a high intellectual life, also gave
1 Webster's " History," p. 609.
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frequent welcome to guests who would have shone in the most brilliant assembly. Here the pastor's son obtained his first knowledge of books, and here he was molded by the stately manners of the society around him. The prepara- tory course having been finished at the parsonage and at Washington Academy, he was sent to Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, where he graduated. His theological studies at Princeton were in the days of Dr. John Wither- spoon, and when they were completed he returned to Virginia to begin his ministerial career in his native county. Licensed by Hanover Presbytery, September 13, 1800, he "preached his first sermon where his father preached his last."1 For some time he served the churches left vacant by his father. Having previously, in 1795, married, he removed to the West in 1806,2 and settled in Louisville, Ky., where he kept alive the family traditions in establish- ing a school. He first connected himself, October 10, 1809, with the Presbytery of West Lexington, but was received October 3, 1810, by Transylvania Presbytery. Though occupied with his school he was accustomed to preach at various points in Kentucky, and sometimes spent a Sabbath on the northern side of the Ohio in the territory of Indiana.
It was just at this time that Craighead's erratic theology was producing great excitement throughout Kentucky. Notwithstanding the previous admonition of Synod (Oc- tober, 1806), he had in 1809 preached and printed the famous sermon on "Regeneration." He was understood to maintain, with other clearly Pelagian tenets, that faith and sanctification are effects of the written word, apart from any direct agency of the Holy Spirit. His views had at- tracted a considerable number of independent minds, and among them John Todd. It is not unlikely that the fasci-
1 Foote's " Sketches," second series, p. 49.
2 Not 1809, the date which Davidson, followed by Foote, gives.
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nations of his oratory, acknowledged by jurists like John Breckinridge, had prejudiced Todd's judgment. The lat- ter, however, maintained a correspondence with his father's former neighbor, Dr. Archibald Alexander, with reference to the points in dispute, seeking light and counsel. Such good-tempered discussion, with his own solitary reflection, would probably have led a candid man like Todd gradually back to the accepted theology. But these were times of war. Kentucky Presbyterians had suffered too much an- noyance from heretics to be in a patient mood. They drew the scimitar at once. Todd, having been accused of teach- ing Craigheadism, was arraigned by Transylvania Presbytery August 14, 1812, and after trial was admonished. This Presbyterial onset not being calculated to calm one's judg- ment, it is perhaps not surprising that the accused contin- ued to preach the views which admonition had failed to en- lighten. Upon the advice of Synod he was therefore sus- pended, April 15, 1813, but October 13, 1817, the contro- versy was amicably adjusted. 1
It will be remembered that Dr. James Moore, Todd's sister's husband, had experienced what he and his friends considered needless rigor when seeking licensure from Presbytery. Perhaps it will now be generally thought that a larger measure of kindness might have retained that valuable man? in the Presbyterian Church. At any rate
1 " Minutes Transylvania Presbytery, " Vol. IV., pp. 35, 52, 119. " Minutes Synod of Kentucky," Vol. II., pp. 31, 36, 61, 105. Cf. Davidson's " Kentucky," p. 276. The tone of Davidson's account of this affair is needlessly offensive. His book is valuable- the result of independent study of original documents and written not unattractively. It is, however, too warm for history. In his notice of the Cumberland difficulty, of Craighead, and of the separation of 1837, he put himself too near the fray. At the dis- tance of forty years his expletives seem quite too fierce. The treatment of Todd is only a single instance illustrating the justice of Dr. Alexander's criticism : " We think that in some cases there is too much minuteness of detail, as in describing certain irregulari- ties ; and in others there is what may be called too rigid a fidelity in recording facts which might have been better left in perpetual oblivion." See Princeton Review, Vol. XIX., p. 308.
" Davidson's " Kentucky," pp. 295-6, foot-note.
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this household tradition must have affected the mind of Todd and rendered a judicial process the more offensive. That indeed does not seem to be the successful means of curing, though doubtless it is sometimes the necessary instrument for cutting off heretics. But in this same region, where the ability and taste for theological debate yet survive, Todd had afterward the satisfaction of illus- trating the advantage of milder methods A young Ken- tucky preacher, John A. McClung, who was creating a considerable sensation by his powers of argument and oratory, early in his career was distressed by serious doubts. His biographer says :
He promptly stated his condition to Presbytery and asked to be relieved. In the discussion which ensued a motion was made to go to the extent of expulsion .. The Rev. John Todd, a noble and venerable soldier of the cross, rose and said : "Brethren, I hope no such action will be taken. Brother McClung is honest ; he is a seeker after truth, but under a cloud. Give him time. Relieve him as he asks. Do nothing more. The light will again dawn upon him and he will surely return."1
The counsel of Todd was followed, and the light did dawn. A valuable reputation was spared and the usefulness of a minister's life defended.
During Mr. Todd's residence at Louisville he had occa- sionally preached, as early as 1808 apparently, at Charles- town, Ind., whither he sometimes took his family in the summer to avoid the heat of a southern city. These excursions were continued until the autumn of 1817, when, in October, the disagreement with Presbytery having been adjusted, he removed to Indiana and took the pastoral charge of Charlestown church .? Here he remained, a part of the time also maintaining a school, until September,
1 McClung's " Western Adventure, " p. vii.
3 Dickey's " Brief History." p. 14.
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1824,' when he returned to Kentucky and settled at Paris, there establishing a classical academy. Though his health was now somewhat impaired he also continued to preach as opportunity was presented, but in 1831 crossed the Ohio again, and took up his residence in the southern part of Marion County, whither two daughters, Mrs. Judge James Morrison and Mrs. Thomas J. Todd, had preceded him. The church of South Marion having been organized, he supplied it and the church of Eagle Creek, both now extinct, until his death, which occurred, unexpectedly, from apoplexy, December 13, 1839. His remains rest in the cemetery at Greenwood, Ind.
Mr. Todd had enjoyed better opportunities for literary culture in early life than most of his contemporaries in the western woods, and naturally the tradition of his scholarship survives him. He was especially strong in the Greek, employing constantly the Septuagint of the Old Testament and the original version of the New when prosecuting his biblical studies, and not uncommonly em- ploying the latter at family worship. He habitually read the fathers in the original. A son of another of our Indiana pioneers retains vivid impressions of his "won- derful library."? "It was full of the old books," Mr. . Kent recollects. Richard Baxter was a favorite, and in the peculiar views at one time entertained by Mr. Todd it was claimed that he was only Baxter's disciple. The style of his preaching was controlled by his studious habits, and was rather argumentative and biblical than rhetorical. It
1 He was not dismissed to West Lexington Presbytery until April 5, 1827. See " Minutes Madison Presbytery," Vol. I., pp. 45, 46. The letter of dismission was pre- sented to and received by Ebenezer Presbytery, April 15, 1829.
2 It is probable that this library preserved a portion of the Gordon gift from England. Most of the books have been scattered and lost. By the courtesy of Dr. Henry G. Todd, of Danville, I have in my possession a volume of the Monthly Review, London, 1753, with the autograph of Samuel Davies on the title page, and on a fly leaf, in beautiful chirography, " John Todd's book, rober, 1760."
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was usually extemporaneous, though the preparation was careful and often written.
By inheritance from both branches of his family Mr. Todd held a number of slaves, which he brought with him to Kentucky, but as he did not recognize the right of slavery he received these servants as a trust for which he was to be held responsible to God. He taught them to read the Scriptures and gave them careful religious instruction. As they arrived at the age of twenty-one they received their freedom, a condition which at that time was not prohibited by the state law.
The manners of Mr. Todd were of the old school, especially polite. The Rev. N. S. Dickey writes :
I saw him at my father's. He came in with his hat under his arm, having taken it off before he reached the outer door, and with a very cordial but formal greeting met my father and mother. I noticed the old gentleman's politeness and dignity, and though but a child spoke to my mother upon the subject. She took occa- sion to commend him as a model of deportment. "Why, mother," said I, "a neighbor's boy declares that Mr. Todd takes off his hat to the niggers." "Well," she answered, "the negroes uncover their heads out of respect to Mr. Todd, and surely he would not allow them to excel him in courtesy. I wish all my sons might be as good and polite as he."
Mr. Todd seems to have been as hospitable as he was urbane. The manse at Charlestown was a well-known "missionary stopping-place."1 The old logs listened to many an hour's noble conversation, while around the big fire the guests and the host recounted God's past mercies and laid plans for the highway in the wilderness. At that chimney corner Martin, Crowe, Dickey, Reed, Bush, Fowler, Day, Goodale, and indeed all the pioneers of that early day found a welcome.
In person Mr. Todd was rather stout, about five feet 1 Cf. MS. diary of Orin Fowler.
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eight inches in height, weighing usually one hundred and eighty pounds. His head was bald.
The following extracts from a letter written from Green- wood, February 7, 1835,' throw some light upon the occupations and spirit of his later years :
My settlement after I came to this vicinity was in the midst of a people very generally possessing religion, but connected mostly with the Methodists and Baptists. Few as we are, however, and not generally in independent circumstances, there is a readiness expressed to build a house of worship. One of our members, in a situation the most central for the church, has offered to furnish the ground and to aid in the undertaking. And last season they expressed a particular desire that as I was unsettled I should make my residence among them, with the generous offer of aiding me in my support, furnishing ground necessary during my life, and erecting for me necessary buildings, with the consideration that I should give some aid to a few young persons, not confining myself from other duties. This was the offer of two families. . . . During the last year my preaching, with little exception, was con- fined to the people of this church" and New Providence,3 to whom I preached on the Sabbath-once a month only at New Providence, except that occasionally I preached to them on other Sabbath afternoons, when in the forenoon I had preached to the people of South Marion.
The stately movement of these sentences and their dig- nified formality are as good as a portrait. It was evi- dently a Virginia gentleman of the olden time who held the pen.
Also in 1817 came to Indiana, the same year as Todd, JAMES BALCH, son of James and Anne (Goodwyn ) Balch, who was born in Mecklenburg County, N. C., December 25, 1750. His three elder brothers were all distinguished
1 The penmanship is remarkably precise and bears a striking similarity to that of his father.
2 Eagle Creek church.
3 'This now extinct organization in the vicinity of Greenwood is not to be confounded with Shelbyville, which was first called New Providence. See Dickey's " Brief History," p. 9, and Sluter's " History of Shelbyville Church, " p. 2.
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Presbyterian clergymen. Hezekiah Balch, original, in- trepid, imprudent, the first president of Greenville College, Tennessee, made himself conspicuous as a controversialist and was sooner or later summoned to the bar of almost every ecclesiastical court to which he was amenable. Hezekiah James Balch, five years younger, was a member of the Mecklenburg Convention ( May 19, 1775), and had "an important agency" ' in forming the "Declaration" which has been held to be the germ of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia the following year. His personal presence was impressive ; he was an excellent scholar ; and his early death in the summer of 1775 disappointed the hopes of many in the church." Dr. Stephen Bloomer Balch, born April 5, 1747, lived until September 7, 1833, having been able after passing the age of fourscore to preach with power.3 With such brothers James, the youngest of the four, passed his childhood. He seems to have been one of the first licentiates of Abingdon Presbytery, and took charge, October, 1786, the year after the Presbytery was formed, of Sinking Spring congrega- tion. He was a member of the first board of trustees of Greenville College, and in the church courts was an earnest defender of sound doctrine and rigid order. Re- moving to Kentucky he was received from Abingdon by Transylvania Presbytery, October 1, 1799; settled in Logan County ; and there had an opportunity to display the bold and independent qualities which characterized his family. An original member of Cumberland Presbytery, he put himself into prominent opposition toward the new
1 He was a member of the committee of three which drafted the paper adopted by the convention May 20. Cf. Lossing's " Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution," Vol. Il., p. 412.
2 " There is nowhere a monument or tradition to direct to the grave of Ifezekiah James Balch, or anywhere a living mortal to claim him as ancestor." - Foote's "Sketches of North Carolina," p. 441.
3 'T'he notices of the Balch family in Sprague's " Annals " contain but a single sentence, and that an inaccurate one, with reference to the youngest brother.
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measures inaugurated by that body. He openly disap- proved of the extravagant methods employed during the McGready revival. That he should have been censured by McGready1 for his course need occasion no surprise, but his conservatism scarcely deserves the rebuke of a historian. 2
In 1817 Mr. Balch removed to Sullivan County, Ind., already having completed his sixty-sixth year. Founding the Hopewell church, on Turman's Creek, he continued to labor there until his death, which occurred January 12, 1821. He was a resolute and sometimes no doubt ap- peared a stubborn man. His mental acquirements were what his favorable early opportunities would lead us to ex- pect. He was a faithful and pungent preacher.
Until recently there had been no stone to mark in an open field the sunken grave of a pioneer who bore and honored one of the notable names of his generation. At the spring meeting of Vincennes Presbytery (1879) a com- mittee was appointed to reinter the body. This was done on the 29th of the following October. At his own request Mr. Balch had been buried near the old Hopewell meeting- house-a comfortable log house near Turman's Creek, in Sullivan County, Ind. The church had long ago dis- appeared, and the land had fallen into the hands of one who knew nothing of the grave, which had been plowed over several years. The remains were removed to the Presbyterian burying-ground near Graysville, in the same township. Mr. James Johnson, who almost sixty years before attended the funeral, was present.
1 "About this time the Rev. J. B. came here and found a Mr. R. to join him. In a little time he involved our infant churches in confusion, disputation, etc., opposed the doc- trines preached here, ridiculed the whole work of the revival, formed a considerable party, etc., etc."-McGready's " Posthumous Works," p. viii.
2 Cf. Gillett, Vol. II., p. 159.
CHAPTER VII. A NOTABLE QUARTET. 1818.
THERE were now eleven congregations in the state. Except Mr. Balch's society on Turman's Creek all were within the oldest neighborhoods, and none ventured far from the Wabash and the Ohio. The roll of settled labor- ers is a short one, comprising but five names-Scott, Robinson, Dickey, Todd, and Balch. The year 1818 makes a most valuable addition to the force, bringing two remarkable itinerants, Orin Fowler from the Connecticut Missionary Society and Ravaud K. Rodgers from the General Assembly ; besides William W. Martin, another Kentucky volunteer, and Isaac Reed from New England, both of whom became citizens of Indiana, laborious, influ- ential, and useful in an eminent degree. In this quartet of 1818 there was a variety of gifts and graces as picturesque as can well be imagined. If they could have been seen together before the blazing logs of a frontier cabin the dullest observer would have hugged the chimney corner to watch their diversity of manner and mind. Mirthfulness and sobriety, loquacity and reticence, a polished urbanity and a homely eccentricity, would have been quickly appar- ent, with scholarship and piety quite evenly distributed. Of the four, Mr. Martin was the first to reach the state. He only left it for the better country. If providence had sent William Wirt to hear "Father Martin" preach, the famous description of James Waddel's eloquence might fitly have had a companion-piece. For many years he was.
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the popular favorite throughout the southern half of Indiana, and his name was sufficient to draw to any rustic platform or pulpit an immense throng of admirers, accus- tomed to bow before the energy and pathos of his oratory.
WILLIAM W. MARTIN, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was born in Bedford County, Pa., August 12, 1781. He was one of four children, all of whom became useful members of the Presbyterian Church. The piety of his parents made early and deep impressions on his character. He was accustomed to refer to the solemn reflections awakened by a sermon on " The Last Judgment" which he heard his father read one wintry day before he was eight years old. The regular observance of family worship, and especially the instructions and example of his mother, exercised a power over his childhood which he often gratefully acknowledged, and at the age of ten he had already begun to hope that he might become a Christian minister. Meanwhile, however, the family had removed to West- moreland County, Pa., and in the spring of 1794 they sought a home in the wilds of Kentucky, the depreciation of continental money having reduced them from comfort to poverty. Notwithstanding the influence of reckless com- panions there was a renewal of former religious impressions when he was about sixteen years of age and he became a member of the Presbyterian Church at Paris, Ky., then under the care of the Rev. Samuel Rannels. During the summer he wrought upon a farm and in the winter at the cooper's trade. The desire to become a minister of the gospel was still cherished, and at the age of twenty-three he entered Bourbon Academy at Paris, under the precep- torship of the Rev. John Lyle. There he remained five years, and then for two years pursued a course of theology under the same instructor. Receiving licensure from the West Lexington Presbytery in October, 1812, he settled in
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