USA > Indiana > Indiana Methodism: a series of sketches and incidents grave and humorous concerning preachers and people of the West with an appendix containing personal recollections, public addresses and other miscellany > Part 22
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Dr. David Holmes passed away November 14, 1873. He was born in Newburg, New York, March 16, 1810. He was converted in early life, and ad- mitted on trial in the Oneida conference in 1834; transferred to the Southern Illinois conference in 1855 ; and in 1860 was transferred to the Northwest Indiana conference, and appointed to LaPorte sta- tion. Dr. Holmes was an able preacher, a ripe scholar; a thorough educator, and a respectable au- thor. His death was peaceful and happy.
Brother Spinks was a useful and successful Meth- odist preacher ; he was licensed to preach in 1851 ; in 1863 he was superannuated. He was ordained
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both deacon and elder by Bishop Ames. For some ten years before his death he was sorely afflicted, but was, in all those years, a patient and uncom- plaining sufferer. During his last illness his soul was filled with the glory of God, and he frequently expressed himself as willing to depart and be with Christ.
The appointments of the West LaFayette dis- trict for the next year were as follow : John L. Smith, presiding elder ; Chauncy, W. H. Hickman ; Battle Ground, W. Beckner; Battle Ground Cir- cuit, H. M. Middleton ; Brookston, Isaac Dale ; Rey- nolds and Wolcott, J. R. Baker ; Bradford and Fran- cisville, J. B. Smith ; Medaryville, J. J. Hines ; Rens- selaer, to be supplied ; Morocco, A. L. Backus, J. C. Martin ; Beaver Lake, to be supplied ; Kentland, H. N. Ogden ; Kentland Circuit. A. W. Wood ; Goodland, J. M. Stafford ; Aydelotte, W. G. Benton; Remington, E. A. Andrew ; Fowler and Earl Park, J. Blackstock ; Oxford, D. G. LeSourd ; Boswell, R. T. Pressley ; Pine village, W. Crapp ; Montmor- ency, N. A. Chamberlain ; F. J. Tolby, Missionary to New Mexico ; G. W. Rice, Principal of Battle Ground Institute.
Rev. J. B. Smith was among those admitted on trial that year, and, as above noted, received his first appointment to Bradford and Francisville charge. J. B. Smith is a true man, a devoted Christian, an excellent preacher, and every way well qualified to do successful work, as he has ever done, and con- tinues to do. He is a man of unflinching integrity, can be trusted anywhere and at all times. After faithful and successful service in all the years, from
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1874 to 1891, after nearly completing a very hand- some and commodious church at Hebron, he was transferred by Bishop Fowler,and stationed at Payne, in the Central Ohio conference, where he is still battling for the Lord, and building up the Redeem- er's Kingdom.
The session of the Northwest Indiana conference for 1875 was held at Greencastle, Indiana, Septem- ber 8-13, Bishop Janes in the chair. Of the seven- teen admitted on trial only one remains with the conference to-day, viz., Salem B. Town.
' Brother Town is a graduate from Asbury, now De- Pauw university. He is now stationed at College Avenue, Greencastle. His father was a prominent physician and also a distinguished layman in the church. His honored son also studied medicine,and, for a time, was engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. Brother Town's first pastoral charge was Argos circuit ; since which time he has served as pastor in several of the principal stations of the con- ference. He is a pleasantand polite Christian gentle- man. As a preacher, he is chaste, scholarly, ener- getic, and effective ; he is, in all respects, every inch a man. For a number of years he has been the faithful,correct, and popular treasurer of the An- nual conference ; and at the session of I891 was elected as first Reserve delegate to the General conference of 1892.
At this conference (1875) was reported the death of two among the venerable and highly respected members of the General conference, viz., Joseph White and Daniel DeMotte.
Brother White, while not brilliant or remarkable
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in any way as a preacher, except for plainness of speech, was an old-fashioned, pioneer Methodist preacher. He came from Green county, Ohio, to Indiana, in an early day, having just money enough on arriving in the new country to enter eighty acres of government land, as he did, in Montgomery county. He was born in Mifflin county, Penn., in 1805, and removed thence with his father's family to Ohio, in 1812 ; joined the Indiana conference at its organization in 1832. He traveled a large number of very laborious circuits with very meager pecuni- ary compensation for his toil. For the most part, during the years of his active itinerancy, his family lived on the farm, where they first settled, in the woods. For a number of years, the latter years of his life, he sustained a superannuated relation ; in peaceful hope of the blessed immortality he passed from earth to heaven, November 27, 1875. His last words were, "Come, Jesus take me."
Daniel DeMotte was a unique character. He had but few educational advantages in early life ; he, nevertheless, accumulated a large stock of useful knowledge. It was the pleasure of this writer to be associated with him at least one year, while he was in charge of the Belmore circuit.
His second quarterly meeting, for that year, was held in the early spring, and, in reporting the Sun- day-schools of his charge, he made no exception of those in the country, which had suspended opera- tion during the winter. When he finished his re- port, Brother S., one of the stewards, arose and said he wished to correct the preacher's report, for, said he, "He reported four Sunday-schools, when we only
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have two, the other two being suspended for the winter." Upon which the grand old pioneer preach- er, ever ready in wit, remarked by way of reply to Brother S., "You say, if a Sunday-school doesn't run through the winter, it is not a Sunday-school, and ought not to be reported. Now I wish to know, if a bear goes up into his hollow in the fall and stays there all winter, whether he isn't as much of a bear while he is in the hollow as when he comes out in the spring ? And so also, I understand it to be with the Sunday school suspended in the winter." It is enough to say there was no further controversy touching the preachers report.
Brother DeMotte was also equal to the occasion in the pulpit, in pastoral work, on the conference floor, or in the private circle. Among his other pe- culiarities, if it might be called a peculiarity, he had a fixed and abiding dislike for dogs.
On one occasion he and the presiding elder were invited to the home of a very clever family living on a farm. It so happened that very soon after their arrival one of the little boys of the family, with great animation and apparent joy, brought in from one of the neighbors a young puppy, at which Brother D. frowned rather than smiled. The sister at once took charge of the prize, and undertook to have the dog drink milk, which she found a rather difficult task. Meanwhile the baby was fretting and crying for the want of some needed attention of the mother. The presiding elder watched Brother D. with no little interest ; for he, too, equally disliked anything be- longing to the canine race. At length Brother De- Motte, who, as it would seem could endure it no
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longer, said to the good woman, "Sister, it does seem to me that this dear baby in the cradle here is as much entitled to care and consideration as a dog." To this, with considerable warmth, the Sister re- sponded, "Brother DeMotte, I would like to know what in this world makes you hate dogs as you do ?" "Well," said the old gentleman very calmly, "Sister, I have two reasons for not liking a dog : in the first place, I don't like a dog because he is a dog ; and, secondly, I think, if you farmers over here in Parke county would raise more sheep and fewer dogs, the result would be, you would have fewer fleas and more stocking yarn."
Once, after his superannuation, when his name was called in the Annual conference, he made the following report : "The superannuate, Mr. Presi- dent, sustains, as I find, a very peculiar relation to the church. He has nothing to do, nothing to do it with, and gets no pay for doing it. I was happy in the active work. I am happy in this my superan- uate relation."
Brother DeMotte was for a number of years a very active and efficient agent of the Indiana Asbury university. If this writer were called upon to de- termine the question, who were the principal men concerned in founding, and afterwards financially sustaining, that institution ? he would give it as his judgment that the three men entitled to the most credit for their herculean labors, would stand in the order as here named : Samuel C. Cooper, Daniel DeMotte, and Isaac Owen. Brother DeMotte was born in Mercer county, Ky., March 19, 1798. He was converted in the twenty-eighth year of his age
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and at once became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church ; he removed to Park county, In- diana, in 1831 ; was soon licensed to preach and ap- pointed to Rockville circuit. Trusted, tried and true, he maintained, through his long life, to the day of his death, the highest distinction as a man of sterling worth, unflinching integrity, and a large share of good common sense. He succeeded well in raising a highly respectable family. His cultured daughters and noble sons now rise up and call him blessed,-blessed for the sacrifices he made to give them a liberal education, and for having taught them the right ways of the Lord. He closed his life November 2, 1875, and his last words were, "All is well ! All is well ! Blessed Jesus!"
The delegates to the General conference to meet in Baltimore, in May, 1876, were as follow : J. L. Smith, C. A. Brooke, Aaron Wood ; reserves, I. W. Joyce, William Graham. The lay delegates were James F. Darnall, Jesse Meharry ; reserves, J. Q. A. Perrin, L. B. Sims.
The venerable Thomas A. Morris, so long a fa- miliar figure in the General conference, and, for a number of years, the senior bishop, was sadly missed, especially by the older members of the conference. He closed his long life and valuable labors in Sep- tember, 1874, in the eighty-first year of his age. The life and labors of this grand man and minister-au- thor, editor, circuit preacher, stationed preacher, presiding elder, and bishop, are too well known to be reported in detail here. He was a special and personal friend of the writer of these pages. He was remarkable for his laconic and crisp sentences
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in preaching ; it was a remark of his that he never felt in preaching that he had said anything that, then and there, was worth repeating. In corre- spondence he was brief and to the point. His fa- miliarity with the laws and general polity of the Methodist Episcopal church caused him to be looked upon as next to an oracle on any and all questions which might rise in the administration of the dis- cipline. In short he was looked upon in his day as standing without a peer as an ecclesiastical jurist in the Methodist Episcopal church.
The leading question of discussion in the General conference of 1876 was the presiding eldership. It was found very early in the session that there was a well organized force, determined if pos- sible to force the question through, making that of- fice directly or indirectly elective by the Annual conference. The friends of the measure exhausted their skill in defense of their favorite notion ; and this writer, in seeing and hearing, and in a humble way supporting the opposition to this scheme, was happy when the collapse came, in the failure of the measure.
On the fourteenth day of the session J. L. Smith offered the following Preamble and resolutions, which were referred to the committee on the state of the church :
Whereas, As "embassadors" of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are acting under the high commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature ;" and,
Whereas, Our itinerant evangelical labor for and care of the flocks over which the Holy Ghost hath
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make us overseers is of the issue of the great com- mission, and should be maintained in tact ; and,
Whereas, The high places of honor and trust, such as that of Agents, Editors, and Missionary Sec- retaries, have enough in them to allure the Pastor, and lead him to desire such positions, even without unjust discriminations in his favor in the matter of salary ; therefore,
Resolved, I. That we have, as we have ever had, an abiding conviction that the itinerant system in the Methodist Episcopal church should be maintain- ed in all its vigor, and handed down to the genera- tions following unimpaired as we received it from the fathers.
Resolved, 2. That the Book Committee, or those to whom shall be committed the duty of fix- ing the salaries of the General conference officers hereafter to be elected, are hereby instructed to fix said salaries so as to make them equal to but not above the average salary of the pastor or pas- tors in the town or city where any such General conference officers may reside.
On May 20, C. A. Brook offered the following pre- amble and resolutions, which were referred to the Committee on Missions :
Whereas, Our missionary treasury is deeply in- volved in debt ; and,
Whereas, The financial condition of the whole country is such that we cannot hope for largely in- creased collections ; therefore,
Resolved, I. That the most careful economy should be employed in the management and expen - ditures of our missionary funds.
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Resolved, 2. That we recommend to our Mission- ary Secretaries and Board of Managers to devise means whereby intelligence of our missionary work and wants may be more generally diffused among our people.
Resolved, 3. That while we are always glad to re- ceive the visits of the Missionary Secretaries at our Annual conferences, yet we do not believe these visitations as productive of sufficient amount of good to justify their uniform continuance.
Resolved, 4. That we recommend that the Bish- ops so arrange their work that they may be able to attend the missionary anniversaries at all our Annual conferences, and that they furnish to these confer- ence auxiliaries all needed information in regard to our missionary operations and wants.
It may not be regarded as out of place to refer to an incident which took place during the session at Greencastle in 1875, with its sequel at Baltimore in 1876. When the conference was fixing the relations of the preachers, the case of good Brother B. came before the conference for consideration. He was among the superannuated, but greatly desired "to be made effective." This brother, though evidently suffering under the infirmities of age, stoutly main- tained that he was fully able for the work, and at his earnest solicitation-largely through sympathy of course-the conference granted his request. At the next meeting of the cabinet Bish- op Janes seemed to be a good deal disturb- ed over this case and said : "Brother Smith, I am astonished at you to lead out and use your influence in putting that poor diseased man where we are
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bound to find a place for him." To this Brother S. replied : "Bishop, my heart was touched and I could not well do otherwise." The Bishop replying with a good deal of warmth said, "Sympathy ! what has sympathy to do with a case of this kind ? Would a General commanding an army put a crippled or disabled soldier in the front of the battle ? or would he leave him in the camp or hospital ? We must learn brothers, to bring only such men to the front as can do effective service in the work of the Lord." When the same good bishop appeared before the committee on episcopacy at Baltimore, to answer some inquiries in regard to his ability to continue in the effective service as a bishop, while perhaps the entire committee knew that he was physically un- able to do effective service, yet, like Brother B., and most old and infirm men, he believed himself to be able to perform as effective service as at any time in his life and so stated. The high respect and brotherly love, and, above all, the deep sympathy that the committee felt for the grand and good man, resulted in their reporting the bishop effective. This writer thought the opportunity too good to be lost, and so made it convenient, as the bishop re- tired from the room, to accompany him to the street, kindly taking him by the arm and saying : "Bishop, you remember the case of Brother B. at our confer- enc, do you not ? and now don't you think that, af- ter all, the sympathy of your brethren is a pretty good thing ?" And so it is, it always did make a difference as to "whose ox is gored."
The General Book Committee appointed in 1876, consisting of one member from each General Con-
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ference District, was as follows : First District, Ami Prince ; Second District, Jacob B. Graw ; Third Dis- trict, Sanford Hunt ; Fourth District, Thompson Mitchell ; Fifth District, Lucius C. Matlack ; Sixth District, Fernandes C. Holliday ; Seventh Dis- trict, William Brush ; Eighth District, John L. Smith ; Ninth District, William P. Stowe ;. Tenth District, William S. Prentice ; Eleventh Dis- trict, William B. Slaughter ; Twelfth District, Will- iam Koeneke.
The Committee was organized by electing J. L. Smith, chairman ; L. C. Matlack, secretary. Soon after the third annual meeting of the Book com- mittee, Rev. Reuben Nelson D. D., the senior book- agent at New York, died, viz., Nov. 20, 1879. This sad event made it necessary for the chairman of the Book committee to call together the members of the committee, and also invite the bishops to be present at the meeting, in the City of New York, on a given day, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Nelson. At the opening of the meeting the chairman, in stating the object of the meeting, viz., to fill the vacancy, among other things, said, that, according to the language of the law, the bishops were there, not simply for the purpose of ratifying what the committee should do, as in some other cases made and provided, but that they were there as a part of the committee, two or more of them, which might include all, and that it was their right to vote in filling the vacancy as it was the right of any member of the committee. To this ruling ex- ceptions were taken and the point for a time was warmly contested by a certain layman, who
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was very sure that the ruling of the chair was wrong. Quite a number of the bishops being present, the chair stated that he would like to have an expres- sion of the bishops on the ruling,when Bishop Scott arose, and asked leave of absence for the bishops for a few minutes. The confident brother layman, meanwhile, reiterating that he was right and the chair was wrong. In a very few minutes the bishops returned to the room, and Bishop Scott, the senior, addressing the chair, said : "After a little reflection, and examining the language of the law, we unani- mously sustain the ruling of the chair." And so the present energetic and faithful Dr. S. Hunt was elected to fill the vacancy.
CHAPTER XXVI.
BATTLE GROUND 1876-BISHOP SIMPSON.
Beginning August 30th, 1876,the Northwest Indi- ana conference was held by Bishop Simpson at Tippecanoe Battle Ground. Of the four who were admitted, Brother J. J. Thompson only, remains with the conference.
Rev. J. A. Cullen, who was admitted at this time, was afterwards transferred to Colorado ; he returned to Indiana a few years ago, took a regular course in the DePauw university, and, after graduation, was received into the Indiana conference. From the beginning Brother Cullen has been a successful
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soul-winner; he is now, with his advantages of higher education, rapidly becoming one of the leading men of his conference, and is still successful in revivals and in gathering members into the church.
Brother Thompson is a great worker,and perhaps, in all the years of his life as a traveling preacher, never did better work than during the last confer- ence year on Morocco circuit. He was instrumental in the erection of a beautiful house of worship at what is known as the North Star appointment ; he repaired and renovated the Russel chapel and the church at Mt. Ayr,and built a beautiful and commo- dious church at Morocco, the head of the circuit. He is now on the Medaryville circuit, among his old friends and former parishioners, and is still battling for the Lord.
The death of Brother F. J. Tolby and Melville Van Arsdal was reported, of whom mention has al- ready been made.
The session of the conference was a very pleasant one. Bishop Simpson preached grandly on the Sab- bath to thousands of admiring friends.
The appointments were, in part, as follow :
Crawfordsville District, W. R. Mikels ; Lafayette District,J. W. T. McMullen; East Lafayette District, A. A. Gee; Greencastle District,C. A. Brooke; Terre Haute District, J. W. Greene ; LaPorte District, G. M. Boyd : Valparaiso District, R. D. Utter; Battle Ground District, J. L. Smith. Battle Ground Station, WV. Beckner ; Battle Ground Circuit, H. M. Middle- ton; Chauncey, Charles E. Lambert; Montmorency, W. A. Smith; Pine Village, William Crapp; Boswell, James T. Stafford ; Fowler and Oxford, Franklin
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Taylor ; Brookston, W. W. Barnard ; Templeton, J. C. Martin, J. A. Cullen; Wolcott and Reynolds, J. J. Thompson ; Medaryville, B. H. Bradbury ; Brad- ford, to be supplied ; Rensselaer, Thomas Vanscoy ; Morocco, A. W. Wood, one to be supplied ; Beaver Lake and Kankakee Mission, to be supplied ; Rem- ington, G. A. Blackstock ; Goodland, Joseph Fox- worthy; Kentland, C. B. Mock, C. A. Howells; G.W. Rice, Principal of Battle Ground Collegiate Institute.
Bishop Merrill held the conference in the City of LaPorte commencing September 12, 1877. No one of the three admitted at the time remain in the con- ference now.
Brother Wesley F. Clark,a faithful and good man, after years of faithful service, was, in the fall of 1891, transferred to Puget Sound conference.
One death was reported viz., Thomas S. Webb. As a revivalist Brother Webb had few equals in his conference. While he could not be called a great preacher, he was a great pastor ; he was loved and honored wherever he went,and neverfailed anywhere to succeed in winning souls to Christ and build up the church. He was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, Octo- ber 28, 1813,and died in Lebanon, Indiana, March 31, 1877. The acquaintance of this writer with Brother Webb commenced in Union county, Indiana, in the fall or winter of 1840-41. That acquaintance was renewed in 1846, when he removed and settled in Cambridge City, Wayne county, where he carried on blacksmithing six days in the week,preached,ex- horted, sang and prayed at two or three meetings on Sunday. He was present and participated in the meeting at the village of Dublin, where then
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lived John R. Tansey, pastor, William F. Wheeler,a superannuate member of the conference, and J. L. Smith, College agent. At that meeting, among the many converted to God, was Rev. F. A. Harden, so well known as one of the most successful evangelists in all Methodism, and now the popular and useful presiding elder of Freeport district, the Rock River conference.
Brother Webb was, soon after the meeting referred to,admitted to the conference, and ever after, through all the years of his ministry, went, as the flaming herald that he was, from one charge to another; and many, very many, now rise up and call him blessed as the instrument in the hands of the Lord in lead- ing them to Christ. At his request this writer con- ducted his funeral services, which were attended by hundreds of his loving and weeping friends.
In 1878 the session of the Northwest Indiana con- ference was presided over by Bishop Jesse T. Peck, at Brazil, Indiana, beginning September II.
Of the eight admitted on trial at this conference, Brother T. F. Drake is now stationed at Rensselaer ; J. B. Combs, at Burlington; J. N. Harman, at Moroc- co ; James H. Hollingworth, at the First church, South Bend. These brethern are all at work, still in the conference where they commenced their labors.
T. Wakiyama and K. Kosaka, after taking a reg- ular course in DePauw university, returned to their native Japan, to work in the Master's vineyard.
Brother Drake is a vigorous, robust and dignified personality, with a warm brotherly heart. For sev- eral years before being admitted into the confer-
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ence he was engaged in teaching ; he is a man of very respectable attainments, and keeps fully abreast of the times. He has also been successful in his work ; he is esteemed among the people as a noble specimen of dignified Christian manhood ; he is a sound, able preacher and faithful pastor ; was spoken of last fall as a suitable man for presiding elder ; and in talents, industry, and capability, in all re- spects, would, it is believed, be competent for any station or district in the conference.
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