History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 50

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships > Part 50

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YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

In the spring of 1874, a paper was circulated and signed by twenty-two persons, residents of the city, containing a call for a meeting for the formation of a Young Men's Christian Associa- tion for Union City and vicinity. The meeting was held in May, 1874, and officers were chosen as follows: James F. Rubey,

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

President; J. N. Hoover, Vice President; M. A. Harlan, Secre- tary; Simon Hedrick, Treasurer; John S. Starbuck, Correspond- ing Secretary; Bentley Masslick, Levi Reck, W. T. Worthington, John C. Read, J. N. Galloway, Executive Committee. A consti- tution was adopted, some of the features of which are given below:

PREAMBLE .- We, the subscribers, actuated by a desire to promote evan- gelical religion among the young men of Union City and vicinity, and im- pressed with the importance of forming an association in which we may labor together for the great end proposed, do hereby agree to adopt for our government the following constitution :

Name-Young Men's Christian Association of Union City.

Object-Salvation of young men through Jesus Christ, and the pro- motion of evangelical religion.

CLASSES OF MEMBERS.

1. Active, church members by the payment of $3 a year. Resident pastors, free.

2. Associate, persons of good moral character, by payment of $2 an- nually ; ladies, 50 cents.

3. Sustaining. persons as in "Second, " by payment of $5 at one time.

4. Life, by payment of $20 at one time.

5. Honorary, elected by a two-thirds vote, having been proposed at a previous meeting.

The association occupied a room at No. 38 Columbia street. In June, 1874, Messrs. Hedrick, Starbuck and Rubey report attend- ance upon a Young Men's Christian Association Convention at Dayton, and state that they found an excellent spirit pervading the assembly and great enthusiasm in the prosecution of their work. In December, 1874, a Young Men's Christian Association Convention was held at Union City. Rev. L. J. Templin was appointed to deliver the welcoming address on the part of the association, and the pastors of the churches were invited to do the same in behalf of their respective societies.

December 22, 1874, the city was districted and committees appointed to canvass the town to get children and youth into the Sunday schools.

December 29, 1874, it was decided to hold "Cottage Prayer- meetings," that is, meetings in private houses throughont the city.

May 3, 1875, Rev. L. J. Templin was appointed delegate to the national convention at Richmond, Va., May 26, and Brethren Worthington, Foster, Hedrick, Fisher, Masslich, Read and Star- buck delegates to the district convention at Richmond, Ind., on the 15th and 16th instant.

November 14, 1875, " Week of Prayer" observed throughout the city and at the reading-room, and a union Sabbath meeting at the M. E. Church, November 21, 1875. Services as follows:

Sabbath, November 14 - Reading-room, conducted by Fisher and Wiggs.

Monday, November 15, ditto.

Tuesday, November 16-First Christian Church, Union City, Ohio, Gebhart and Worthington.

Wednesday, November 17-Presbyterian Church, Starbuck and Read.

Thursday. November 18 -- Methodist Episcopal Church, Hed- rick and Haulin.

Friday, November 19-Friends' Church, Knight and Flee- hart.

Saturday, November 20-Disciples' Church.

Sabbath, November 21-Methodist Episcopal Church, Hed- rick, Starbuck and Fisher, with meetings during the weck at the reading-room, at 8:30 A. M. and 6:30 P. M., for prayer.

The series of meetings was continued till Tuesday, December 14, 1875.

Moved to new room in Hartzell building in December, 1875.

July 1, 1876, Brethren Fisher and Starbuck were appointed delegates to the International Convention at Toronto, Canada, to be held July 12, 1876.

November 6, 1876, twenty-one meetings reported to have been held during the summer and fall in the region, and much good accomplished.

In the spring of 1877, James Moorman presented a large brick building to the association.

November 12, 1877, report of work for the year shows as fol- lows: Sabbath meetings held, 26; services, 188; members at- tending, 376; accessions to the church, 56: cottage prayer-meet- ings held, 111.

February 11, 1878, report made that the course of lectures by Prof. J. C. Fletcher had resulted in a debt on the association of $11.25. The association met for the first time in their own property.

December 16, 1878, reported forty-seven country and village meetings, with good attendance and interest; thirty-five cottage prayer-meotings, twenty three Bible readings and twelve Murphy meetings.

November 17, 1879, report of cottage prayer-meetings during the year, eighteen. School in progress at Bennett's Schoolhouse from April to September, with a good interest and an average attendance of fifty. Other meetings reported, thirty.

November 23, 1880, report twenty cottage prayer-meetings and twelve religious services elsewhere.

For several years, great activity was shown by the association and much good was accomplished. The past year, their work has been mostly suspended, though the association still exists. They own the building donated by James Moorman, estimated to be worth $2.500, with a debt of $250. During a portion of the time, Sab- bath Bible meetings for reading and study were held at the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association, but the Sabbath is so fully taken with regular meetings in connection with the various churches of the city, leaving little or no time for any outside work that but few could be found who would attend the Bible readings, and they were at length discontinued.

In November, 1881, the week of prayer was observed in Union City by a union meeting, as follows: Presbyterian Church, Mon- day and Wednesday evenings; United Brethren, Tuesday and Friday evenings: Methodist, Thursday evening and Disciples' Church, Saturday evening. Some interest was manifest and a considerable attendance was obtained during the week at the various honses of worship, though only a bare fraction of those who should have taken part in this renewal of prayer and effort. for the souls of the young to bring them to regeneration and salvation.

PROMINENT MINISTERS, ETC.

Below will be found biographies of a few persons out of the many who have in days past been active leaders of religious sen- timent, or earnest workers in the cause of Christ in the region. They are given, not because they are the most important among the noble band of Christian heroes whose lot has fallen in these parts, but because these persons were especially accessible, or because the facts concerning their life and work were within reach. The denomination, as also the township to which they respectively belonged is pointed out with each statement.

Rev. Thomas Addington, Franklin, Christian, was born in 1829, in Wayne County. Ind. His father moved to Randolph County, Ind., in 1834, settling.one and a half miles southeast of Maxville. He married Martha Ann Hughes in 1851. They resided on his father's farm until 1865, and from that time mostly on Bear Creek, in Franklin Township. They have had five children, all living, and two married, and the oldest, Emerson, is also a preacher. T. A. attended the common schools. as also the Union Literary Institute, and Liber College in Jay County. Ind., and was ordained a minister of the Christian denomination, sometimes called New Lights, in 1858. He is a talented, influential and useful preacher, and his field of labor has extended through Randolph, Jay, Blackford and Wells Counties, etc. Elder Ad- dington gave us a brief statement of the society to which he be- longs, which we subjoin.

Between 1792 and 1802, three separate bodies of Christians arose in different and distant localities, entirely unknown to each other, and from different sources.

In the East, from the Congregationalists and Baptists; in the South from the Methodists, and in the West (Cane Ridge, Ky.), from the Presbyterians. Their chief men were: In the East, Dr. Smith; in North Carolina, Elder Jones; in Kentucky, Elders Stone, Purviance, Thompson, etc. By and by they be- came acquainted, and united on this basis:

I. The Bible the only guide.

II. Christian character the only test of membership.

III. Christian the only name.

In 1823, the followers of A. Campbell organized as Disciples,

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

and were early known as such; but Elder Barton W. Stone, in the Christian branch, adopted Campbell's views, and took many with him, and the name also; and since that time many of the Disciples claim the name Christian. The original Christians claim, however, that the name "Christian " as a modern donom- inational appellation, belongs rightfully to them, and not to the Disciples,

Elder Addington has preached extensively and successfully in the region in connection with the Christian (New Light) Church. He is reckoned a prominent clergyman, and is doing much good among the people to whom he preaches.

He is, in politics, a Republican, having in his early life been an Abolitionist. One of his sons though a young man, is an or- dained preacher in the Christian Church, and gives high promise, by Divine favor, of future usefulness in gathering the "Lord's harvest" in the great world-field; and he has before him, if God spare his life among men, the prospect of many years of labor for Christ and human salvation.

Elder Thomas Addington is ready with the pen as well as fluent in speech, and he has contributed many valuable articles to the press upon important subjects pertaining to religion and morality.

Uriah Ball, magistrate, Disciple, was born at Woodstock, Vt., in 1807, and came to Warren County Ohio, in 1817; went down the Mississippi, spending time in Tennessee and Missouri: re- turned through Kentucky to Warren County, Ohio, and remained until 1829; then went to Cincinnati, and to Oxford, Ohio, in 1831; and to Randolph County, Ind., southeast of Winchester, in 1835-60. He lived at Lynn in 1860-67, and moved to Union City in 1867. He married Susannah Wrench in 1830, and Mrs. Elizabeth Bragg in 1867. He has had four children. all dying in infancy. Mr. Ball served an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and followed the business for twenty years. He was also a farmer, and besides sold goods at Lynn seven years. At Union City, he was a carpenter until too feeble to work (1877).

He was Justice of the Peace for Washington Township nine years, from 1846 to 1851, and has been Justice in Union City from 1878 to 1882. He has been a member of the Disciples' Church for forty-four years, some of the time Elder, and also Local Preacher for many years.

Rev. C. G. Bartholomew, late pastor of Disciples, Union City, was born in Brown County, Ohio, in a country log cabin, in 1830. His removals have been as follows: Clermont County, Ohio, 1850; Campbell County. Ky., 1858; Leavenworth, Kan., 1860; Jefferson College, Ky., 1861; Rockville, Parke Co., Ind., 1863; La Porte County, Ind., 1869; Indianapolis, 1872; Rush County, Ind., 1875; Wayne County, Ind., 1876; Irvington, Indiana, 1877; Cambridge, Indiana, 1878; Union City, Ind., 1879. His occupation has been teaching, preaching and medicine. Teaching and preaching, 1848 to 1863; studying medicine, 1853 to 1854, and again in 1862 and 1863 in Cincinnati School of Medicine and Surgery. He practiced medicine and preached, and was engaged also for a time in secular pursuits. Since 1872, his time has been devoted exclusively to preaching until a year or two past.

He has been largely connected with evangelical and mission- ary work in his denomination in Pennsylvania, New York, Illi- nois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. He has long been a life director of the American Christian Missionary Society. Besides regular pastoral work, his evangelist and missionary labors have been abundant, and, by the Divine favor, many souls have been led to profess Christ through his means.

Mr. B. has a large and interesting family. In 1852, he mar- ried Ann Davidson. They have had ten children, seven sons and throe daughters; eight still living. None are married, and seven aro at home- a lovely and happy group of youth, a joy to the hearts of the loving parents, and giving high promise of ac- tivity, usefulnoss and success in the maturity of manhood and womanhood yet to come.

For some twenty years, Mr. B. has been a large contributor to the current literature of the time, embracing an extensive range of religious, political, scientific and social subjects. In Kentucky, during the war, he was steadfastly, openly and thoroughly Union;

and, though in no sense a partisan politician, he maintains firmly sound morality as an integral part of true political science, hold- ing with the wise man that "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." He has been from the beginning to this day an earnest thorough, radical and en- thusiastie worker in the great cause of total abstinence, and it is a part of his religion to abound in every good word and work,

Mr. Bartholomew has for some two years engaged in general religious work, in the regions of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, etc. During the summer of 1880, he employed some months in speak- ing to his fellow-citizens upon political themes, in the interests of the Republican party and the election of Garfield to the Pres- idency; and at the present time (April, 1882), he is a candidate for the Republican nomination as State Senator from the joint district composed of the counties of Randolph and Delaware, seeking that position from an especial desire to further the in- terests of the temperance cause in general and of constitutional prohibition in particular.

Elkanah Beard, Winchester, Friend, was born in Washing- ton Township, Randolph County, Ind., in 1833, being the son of William Beard, and the grandson of Dr. Paul Beard, one of the first pioneers of Washington Township. He married Irena Johnson, daughter of Silas Johnson, and grand-daughter of Jesse Johnson, another pioneer of that vicinity. She was born in 1835, and they were married in 1852. Their residence was near Lynn Friends' Meeting-House, until 1873, at which time they removed to Winchester, which they have reckoned to be their home for the past eight years. They have, however, spent much time in other parts of the world. Both Elkanah and his wife became recorded ministers among Friends somewhat early in life; and in 1863, about a week after Vicksburg was taken by the Union forces, Elkanalı went there, and in the fall his wife also joined in the work among the freedmen, set on foot by the Society of Friends. In the course of time many schools were established by them throughout the South, and Elkanah and his wife had the oversight of those in Mississippi and Louisiana. Those of which they had charge were at Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss .. Beard's Levee, Papaw Island, Lauderdale, and Young's Point, La.

They remained in the South much of the time, six years, with Vicksburg as headquarters. In 1869, they came North, and went to India as missionaries, spending a year at the Holy City of Benares, on the Ganges (Benares being to the Hindoo what Jerusalem is to the descendants of Israel), establishing at length a mission at Jabulpoor, on the Nerbuddah River, in Central India, a city of 80,000 inhabitants, and dwelling in that town more than a year. Mrs. B.'s health failed, and they were obliged to return to America, having spent more than three years abroad. Mrs. B. had an abscess in the side, internally, and, for two years and four months, was nearly helpless, being unable to walk or dress herself. The physicians, both in India, and in England where they stayed two months in the vain attempt to effect a cure, as also in America, pronounced her disease in- curable. She lay thus helpless for years, apparantly a hopeless case. Her mind, however, dwelt much and long on the precious and abundant promises of Christ to his beloved ones; and it seemed to her, and at length she felt sure, that there was ground for faith that the Lord would, in answer to the "prayer of faith," grant her full deliverance.

They had been eighteen months in America, and were so- journing at Richmond, Ind .. when, on the morning of the 19th of January, 1874, she was healed instantly by faith in Christ. She arose from her bed that morning, dressed herself, walked a mile and a half that day, and has been well and strong ever since. Her husband and herself both declare she had not been able to walk nor dress herself during the whole twenty-eight months; but from that morning her abscess ceased and has not troubled her to this hour. It was about the time of the " Crusade," and she went out with the " praying women," kneeling in the snow, and has ever since been active and healthy.

She says: " I felt that the promises were true, and that they were mine; and I grasped the promise, and, as my faith took hold on Christ, I felt the healing power thrill through my frame

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

as sharply as I ever felt anything, and I knew that I was well; and I sprang from my bed in an ecstacy of bliss, and. if ever a soul rejoiced and praised the Lord, I was that soul."

Mrs. B. has no theory, and offers no explanation; but she says, like the man born blind who was healed by the Savior, "One thing I know, whereas I was for twenty-eight months a helpless invalid, I arose at once healed and sound, and have been so from that day to this hour."

The mission begun by them in India has been maintained, its location being changed, however, from Jabulpoor to Ho-shun- go-bad, also on the Nerbuddah River. They had two schools, and Mrs. B. spent some time in "zenana " visiting. The "zenana " is the portion of the dwelling set apart for females, into which no male person, except, perhaps, the lord of the mansion, is ever permitted to enter. Very few were open even to female visits. but some were so, and these Mrs. B. visited. Her school con- tained about forty "high caste " girls, from ten to fifteen years old, many of whom were already married, marriage at ten years being not at all uncommon. The pupils were taught Hindoo literature, as also they received moral and religious instruction.

The girls were "hired " to attend school, the compensation being, however, very small, according to our idea of values; ¿ to ¿ a cent a day was all they were paid, which sum, oven the small- est of the two named, was, nevertheless, enough to buy a pupil her dinner. Some of these girls, though of high caste, were poor, and lived at very small cost. The work of Elkanah was with the people at large, especially with the students of King's College, a Hindoo school of high rank, containing from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred young men of high promise. Many of these, as also others, were daily visitors at his house, to whom he gave religious instruction. He also made frequent visits to the temples and elsewhere, reading and speak- ing to the thronging crowds in those places. One part of their work was to teach to speak and read English, to prepare the young men for Government employ, and through them access was obtained to families in many cases.

The girls are exceedingly shy of men, and they must never be seen by the male sex. One day Elkanah came to the door and knocked and spoke. In a twinkling, every pupil had disap- peared, in the utmost consternation.

They spent several months at first, part of the time in Lon- don, England, and part in Benares, in acquiring the Hindoo language. There are two kinds, the Hindoo, or common speech, and the Ur-du [oor doo] or court language. Mrs. B. learned the Hindoo, and Mr. B. the Ur-du, so that between the two they had both.

After nearly three years' stay abroad, they returned to America and to Lynn; and in 1873, Winchester was made their home. Since that time several years have been spent by them in missionary work among the Western Indians, beginning in 1877.

Before this, however, and the year after Mrs. B.'s wonderful recovery, they made a religious visit to California and Oregon, spending six months in that labor, visiting the scattered members of the Society of Friends in those distant regions, holding meet- ings, preaching, etc.

They joined Rev. E. P. Hammond in his revival work in that country, being engaged eight weeks in meetings in San Francisco, Sacramento, and in Portland, Ore.

On the way down the coast from San Francisco to San Ber- nardino, April 20, 1875, when about one hundred and twenty-five miles from San Francisco, the steamer ran into a deep fog and was wrecked upon the rocks almost in a moment, there being eight feet of water in the hold when the passengers were roused from their beds to face the terrible danger. The Captain was drinking and fooling away his time in the cabin, having given peremptory orders for the ship's course against the remonstrances of the pilot that they were too near the shore. The passengers escaped mostly in their night clothes, everything being lost. The wreck occurred about 8 P. M., and Mr. B. reached the shore about 1 A. M., but his wife, being in another boat, was on the waves all night, and.until 11 o'clock the next day. He thought her lost. Even the Captain said, "No hope; the lifeboat can- not live in such a sea." But it did, and they met once more,

and praised the Lord for all his mercies, and for that their crowning deliverance. No lives were lost, though 200 persons were on board the doomed vessel; but the ship and its cargo were a total loss.

In 1877, they began work among the Western Indians, spend- ing two summers in traveling through the Indian Territory and elsewhere, in visiting the tribes and engaging in religious work among them. Two years also, they kept house in the " Territory," the last year of which was among the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, who are " Blanket Indians," i. e., comparatively wild and living in tents. Many tribes were visited and labored with with gratify- ing success.

The Modocs, wild and fierce as they were among the lava beds, are tractable and quiet, gentle, tender hearted and ami- able, and very docile. The Apaches and the Camanches also were visited, and some time was spent among them.

The lives of these Friends from 1863 to the present time have been indeed remarkable in labor for the poor and the dark- minded; and their Christian efforts among the Freedmen, among the heatlien of India, and the Western aboriginal tribes, and on the Pacific coast, as also through the Eastern States and the re- gions nearer home, have been crowned with a measure of success for which they devoutly thank the blessed Master and Head of the church that He has counted them worthy to bear and suffer for His dear name.

They have been engaged in religious work in Ohio and In- diana, as also in the East, visiting New York, Boston and else- where.

Elkanah and his wife feel thankful, moreover, that they have been instruments in God's hands in reviving the ancient activity and religious life among Friends, feeling certain as they do that the present revival among them is simply a return to the "old paths" of 250 years ago, when their ancestors in faith were led to wait on the Spirit and work in love and praise the Lord in gladness of heart. Mr. Beard thinks he was the first in later days to go forth and hold meetings for religious awakening with other branches of Christ's people. He joined with Rev. Elijah Coate a Wesleyan preacher, at Economy, Ind., in a series of meetings, which was richly owned and blessed by the presence and power of the gracious Lord to awaken sinners and to com- fort and enlighten and strengthen saints.

In the fall of 1881, Elkanah and his wife set out anew in religious journeying through the land, expecting, if the Lord will, to spend several months in the work among churches of Christ in various regions of the country.

John H. Boud, son of Joseph Bond, Anti-Slavery friends, was born in North Carolina in 1807; came with his parents to Wayne County, Ind., in 1811; married Mary Hockett in 1828; moved to Stony Creek, Randolph Co., Ind., in 1831, and resides on the same place still. They have had nine children, and eight are living, all married. His house is at the mouth of Cabin Creek, near the Winchester and Windsor pike. He is a farmer and miller; is a Friend; was an Abolitionist and an Anti-slavery Friend, and is a Republican. He and his worthy lady are kind and gentle in spirit, meek and lowly in temper, modest in de- meanor, and steadfast and consistent Christians. They were very active and prominent in the operations of the Underground Railroad, of those old times, his house being one of the stations on the branch passing up Cabin Creek toward Jonesboro and elsewhere. Mr. B. was one of the charter Trustees of the Union Literary Institute, a school established in Greenville settlement, northeast of Spartansburg, Randolph Co., Ind., in 1845, for the education of colored and other indigent youth, and continued a member of the board for more than thirty year. He was an earnest and faithful advocate of Anti-slavery truth when such ad- vocacy was unpopular and dangerous; but he has lived to behold his views of truth triumph, and those whom for years he nsed to lodge clandestinely, coming to his house in the night and go ing in the night, conveyed through the land under cover of dark- ness, and helped to flee in secrecy and peril from point to point as though they had been felons while yet justly chargeable with no crime, but only " guilty of a skin not colored like our own," he has seen to rise to light and freedom, and to equal manhood

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History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 50

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman Number of Pages: 664

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664