USA > Indiana > Indiana Methodism : being an account of the introduction, progress, and present position of Methodism in the State; and also a history of the literary institutions under the care of the church, with sketches of the principle Methodist educators in the state . . > Part 10
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traveling preachers; South-eastern Indiana Conference, 19,367 members, and 100 traveling preachers,-all of the German work in the state being included in the South- eastern Indiana Conference; the German work compris- ing two entire districts, called, respectively, South Indi- ana District, and North Indiana District. George A. Breunig was presiding elder on South Indiana District, and John Kisling on North Indiana District; and the German membership amounted to 2,061.
In 1849, South-eastern Indiana Conference suffered the loss of three of its members by death: Benjamin T. Griffith, Walter Prescott, and James E. Tiffany. Grif- fith was a native of Virginia. He united with the Church in 1830, and soon commenced preaching. He was admitted on trial in the Indiana Conference, in 1831 or 1832, and labored faithfully till the time of his death (with the exception of one year, during which he was superannuated), which occurred August 30, 1849.
Walter Prescott was a native of England, the son of a Wesleyan preacher. He came to America in 1841, and connected himself with the Missouri Annual Conference, with which he remained until the separation of the Southern Conferences from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Determining to continue in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he came to Indiana in 1846, and at the session of the conference that Fall, he was appointed to Jeffersonville. Here he remained two years. He was then appointed to Wesley Chapel, in the city of Madison, where he labored until the 30th of July, when the Mas- ter called him up higher. His death was triumphant. When told that he was dying, he replied, "I am glad ;" and faintly repeated :
"Preach him to all, and cry in death,
Behold, behold the Lamb!"
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He was a superior preacher, and during his brief ca- reer made full proof of his ministry.
James E. Tiffany was also a native of England, born near Huddlesfield, in Yorkshire, that great home and hive of Methodism, on the 21st of September, 1820. He came to America in 1829. He made a profession of re- ligion and united with the Methodist Church in 1839, at which time he was a student in Miami University. He died of cholera on the 18th of July, 1849. The mid- night cry found him with his lamp trimmed and burning.
In 1850, William C. Hensley, John L. Eagers, Fran- cis F. Sheldon, Emmons Rutledge, and Isaac Crawford were all gathered to their rest. Hensley had been five years in the ministry, and was but twenty-nine years of age; yet his ministry had been blessed to the salvation of many. Sheldon entered the Conference in 1840, and ended his earthly course on the 16th of January, 1850. Rutledge was admitted on trial in the Indiana Confer- ence in 1837, and continued to labor with efficiency till the close of life. He was a useful and faithful minister, and had victory in death.
Isaac Crawford was a native of New York. He came to Indiana in 1835, and in 1837 was admitted on trial in- to the Indiana Conference, and continued to labor faith- fully till the close of life. By his amiability and the faithfulness with which he performed his duties, he se- cured the confidence and co-operation of the Church, and his labors were usually blessed to the upbuilding of the Church.
The same Conference was called, the ensuing year, to mourn the loss by death of a young minister of more than ordinary ability-Hosier J. Durbin-who, at the time of his death, was agent for the American Bible Society. August 11, 1851, he left Greensburg, for his
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residence in Madison, designing to take the cars at Ver- non; and, although there was the prospect of a severe storm, yet he could not be prevailed on to delay his journey. When a few miles south of Greensburg, the storm increased in violence, and when entering a wood, he hesitated a moment as to whether he should proceed, and, as he was in the act of turning back, a limb fell upon him, causing the injury which resulted in his death, on the ensuing Friday; he having received the injury on Monday. He was licensed to preach, August 26, 1833. In the Fall of 1835, he was admitted on trial in the Indiana Conference, and appointed to Vevay Circuit, with James Jones as preacher in charge. At the end of the year, Mr. Durbin desisted from traveling, and, until 1842, devoted himself to secular pursuits. In 1840, he was a representative in the State Legislature, from Switzerland County. In 1842, he again united with the Conference, and was appointed to Vevay. His subsequent appointments were : Jeffersonville, Canaan, Rising Sun, Connersville. In 1849, he accepted the agency for the American Bible Society for the southern half of the state of Indiana; in which agency he was laboring with great efficiency at the time of his death. He was an able preacher, an amiable man, and respected and beloved in all the relations of life.
REV. ISAAC OWEN .- The life of Isaac Owen is full of instruction. He was a native of Vermont, but came, with his parents, to the territory of Indiana, in 1811. He said : "When I was a boy, we lived in the woods in Knox County. Grist-mills were few and far between. In order to get meal to make our bread, we had to pound the corn in a hominy-mortar, with a pestle. In the Winter season, sometimes having no shoes, I was driven to the expedient of heating blocks of wood to stand
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upon, in order to keep my feet from the frozen ground, while I pounded the corn to make meal for our bread." His father died in 1824. And yet this boy of the back- woods, fatherless and poor, secured a good education, attained to eminence as a preacher of the Gospel, and did more to found Asbury University in Indiana, and the university in California, than any other man.
At the age of sixteen, young Owen made a profes- sion of religion, and united with the Methodist Episco- pal Church; and, in 1834, he was admitted on trial in the Indiana Conference, and sent to Otter-creek Mission. Although he began the active work of the ministry with a very limited education, and an equally limited acquaint- ance with theology as a science, yet he prosecuted suc- cessfully both his literary and theological studies. As soon as he had mastered the grammar of his own lan- guage, he took up the study of the Greek, and in a short time his Greek Testament became, and continued to be, his daily companion. He spent fourteen years in the itinerancy in Indiana, four of which were spent as financial agent for Indiana Asbury University; and, during that time, he raised, by the sale of scholarships, over sixty thousand dollars. He was one of the first missionaries to California, and had the honor of preach- ing, if not the first, among the first, Methodist sermons preached in California. He was the first presiding elder ever appointed in California. Much of Mr. Owens's work was that of a pioneer, and few men were better fitted for such work. His ministry extended through a period of thirty-two years; and in that time he accomplished much for the cause of his Master. As college agent, he not only secured funds for the insti- tution, but he explained to poor young men how they could obtain an education. There are many men in
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useful and honorable positions, who owe their success to the encouragement they received from Isaac Owen.
Rev. Calvin W. Ruter was among the pioneers of In- diana Methodism. He entered the ministry in the old Ohio Conference in 1818. In the Fall of 1820, he was admitted into full connection, ordained deacon, and transferred to Missouri Conference, and appointed to the charge of Silver-creek Circuit. This was his first introduction to the work in Indiana-a work with which he was to be henceforth identified till the day of his death. Mr. Ruter filled the most important appoint- ments in his Conference through the whole course of his ministry. He was for many years the secretary of his Conference, and represented it in several sessions of the General Conference. He was a man of fine personal presence, dignified and courteous in his bearing. He was an excellent presiding elder, and always popular as a stationed preacher. Impaired health compelled him, on several occasions, to take a supernumerary or a super- annuated relation to his Conference. He was post- master at New Albany for four years, during the admin- istration of James K. Polk; and, at a later period, was Register of the United States Land-office at Indian- apolis for four years. But he never compromised his Christian or ministerial character. He died in Switzer- land County, in 1859.
Rev. James Jones was a pioneer and hero of early Methodism in the West. He was a native of England, and came to the United States in 1803. In August, 1817, he was licensed to preach by Rev. Moses Crume, Presiding Elder in Ohio Conference. He removed the same year to Indiana, and settled in Rising Sun, where a small class of Methodists had been organized a few years. previously, by John Strange. Here he lived and labored
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as a local preacher till 1820, when he was admitted on trial in the Ohio Annual Conference, and appointed in charge of Whitewater Circuit. After traveling six years, he located, and continued to labor in a local relation until 1834, when he was readmitted into the traveling con- nection in the Indiana Conference, with which he retained his connection until the time of his death, which occurred on the 7th of November, 1856. He had been attacked by a stroke of paralysis while holding a protracted meet- ing in 1848, from which he but partially recovered; yet, unwilling to leave the work, he sustained an effective re- lation until the Fall of 1851, when he reluctantly con- sented to a superannuated relation, which he sustained until called to his heavenly rest. He was a man of true courage, of indomitable resolution, great perseverance and promptness in filling all of his appointments. He was a man of much prayer and of extraordinary faith. While a local preacher, it was his habit for several years to spend his Winters in New Orleans; and his labors were greatly blessed, on several occasions, in promoting reviv- als of religion in that city. He was bold in reproving vice. His sympathies were tender as a woman's, and his zeal for the Master's cause was a flame that burned to the close of life.
Rev. Seth Smith died in October, 1843. He had been fifteen years in the ministry, having united with the conference in 1838. The whole of his ministerial life was spent in Indiana. His last appointment was Milton Circuit, in Wayne County. He was blessed with several ·extensive revivals of religion during his ministry.
In 1853, George M. Beswick closed his ministry. Mr. Beswick was licensed to exhort in his sixteenth year, and to preach in his eighteenth year; and at the age of twenty-two he was admitted on trial in the Indiana Con-
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ference, and appointed to Salem Circuit. He traveled circuits in different parts of the state until 1838, when he was appointed to Logansport District. He subse- quently traveled Greencastle, Centerville, and Lafayette Districts, and filled several other important appointments in the Church. He was a member of the General Con- ference of 1852. Of him, Hon. R. W. Thompson said : " He was a man of immense power. Gentle by nature, and accomplished by study and reflection, he bore about him, wherever he went, an air of dignity and decorum which always excited respect; and whatever he said, was uttered with so much propriety and eloquence as to com- mand the closest attention. He always interested and instructed his hearers, and had no superior in the state." At the time of his death he had just been appointed a second time to Greencastle District, after an absence of eight years.
John H. Bruce, of the same Conference, died the same year. At the age of fifteen he was converted, at a camp-meeting, and soon after began to exhort. He was admitted on trial in the Indiana Conference in 1836. He spent seven years on circuits-one as agent of Ft. Wayne College, and the remainder of his ministerial life as pre- siding elder. He traveled Logansport and Terre Haute Districts. He was a faithful man, and made full proof of his ministry.
The statistics for 1856 were as follows: Indiana Conference, 22,702 members, and 103 traveling preach- ers; South-eastern Indiana Conference, 19,503 members, and 99 traveling preachers; North Indiana Conference, 20,049 members, and 105 traveling preachers; North- west Indiana Conference, 14,900 members, and 92 travel- ing preachers ; making a total of 77,154 Church mem- bers, and 399 traveling preachers, being an increase in
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the ministry, in four years, of 65, and a decrease in the membership of 4,301.
The relinquishment of week-day preaching involved the breaking up of the large circuits, and the abandoning of many small societies. Our early circuit system, while it was admirably adapted to carry the Gospel to the whole people, multiplied preaching-places needlessly, and established societies so close together that they must necessarily remain feeble. In many instances they were unwilling to consolidate and unite on some common cen- ter of population, where a strong society could be built up; and, as a consequence, during this transition period, many members were lost to the Church. And it is pos- sible that, in some cases, circuits were needlessly reduced, and week-day preaching abandoned sooner than it should have been. But it is an unwise administration that al- lows churches in the country to be built nearer than four or five miles of each other. With the facilities for get- ting to church, possessed by our farming population, a mile or two, more or less, in the distance to church, is no object; while, if churches are built closer together, they can not, in the very nature of the case, command con- gregations of sufficient size to sustain Sabbath preaching, without making church expenses burdensome, or failing to give the ministry an adequate support.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Sketch of Samuel C, Cooper-Samuel Brenton-Indiana Conference in 1857-George W. Ames-Transfers-Wm. H. Metts-Time of holding North Indiana Conference changed-Increase in Member- ship in 1857-North Indiana Conference in 1859-Joseph R. Downey appointed Missionary to India-South-eastern Indiana Conference in 1859-Delegates to General Conference-Indiana Conference Delegates-North-west Indiana Conference Delegates- Churches in Indiana in 1860, from "United States Census Re- port "-Methodist Liberality-Allen Wiley-His Character and La- bors-Sessions of the Indiana Conference down to 1850-Annual Increase of Ministers and Members from the organization of the Conference to 1851-Growth of North Indiana Conference from its organization to 1851-Aggregate Membership in the State in 1850- Number in 1860.
TN 1856, North Indiana lost one of its old and influ- ential members, in the person of Samuel C. Cooper, who closed his earthly pilgrimage on the 19th of July, 1856. Mr. Cooper entered the ministry in 1827. His first appointment was to Cash-river Circuit, in the state of Illinois. The remainder of his appointments were in Indiana. He was for several years an efficient agent for Indiana Asbury University. He was twice a dele- gate to the General Conference. He was a man of supe- rior business talents, and in secular life would probably have amassed a fortune; but he gave his undivided energy to the Church. His early educational oppor- tunities were poor ; but, by reading and observation, he became an instructive preacher. He was a fine execu- tive officer, and a safe counselor.
Samuel Brenton, of the same Conference, died on the 27th of March, 1857. He was a native of Ken-
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tucky; born in 1810. He entered the ministry in the Illinois Conference in 1830, and traveled successively Paoli, Crawfordsville, and Bloomington Circuits. In 1830, his health having failed, he located, and con- tinued in a local relation until 1841; during which time he studied law, and was admitted to the bar as a prac- ticing attorney; in which profession he took immediate rank as an able counselor. In 1844, he re-entered the itinerancy, and filled important stations, including that of presiding elder on Fort Wayne District, down to 1848; which year he was elected a delegate to the General Conference. During this year he had an attack of paralysis, by which he lost the use of his right side, and was compelled to resign the pastoral work. And the same year he was appointed Register of the Land- office at Fort Wayne. In 1851, he was elected a rep- resentative in Congress from the Tenth Congressional District, and served two sessions. In 1853, he was elected President of Fort Wayne College, which position he filled with efficiency. In 1854, he was again elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1856; but death cut short his career of honor and usefulness. He was a man of superior mental power, and his intellectual achieve- ments in his later years, after one-half of his physical frame was paralyzed, evinced, in a striking manner, the triumph of mind over matter. He was a true Christian, and whether in the work of the ministry, or engaged as a practicing attorney, or as president of a college, or as a member of the National Congress, he never laid aside his character, nor compromised his Christian profession.
In October, 1857, Indiana Conference met in New Albany, Bishop Morris presiding. At this Conference George W. Ames was entered "withdrawn." He had been for several years in the ministry, but had not been
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especially successful, and, without any avowed change of opinion, but, perhaps, partly from declining health, and partly from not being heartily in sympathy with ministerial work, he withdrew from the connection. Daniel Curry, who had resigned the presidency of In- diana Asbury University, was transferred to New York East Conference. Benjamin F. Crary, who had been elected President of Hamline University, at Red Wing, was transferred to Minnesota Conference. Wm. H. Metts, of the North Indiana Conference, died at Dub- lin, Indiana, January 20, 1857. He had entered the ministry in 1853. He was a young man of promise, and died in the midst of his usefulness.
In 1856, the North Indiana Conference was changed from a Fall to a Spring Conference-its first Spring session being held in Marion, April, 1857.
In April, 1858, North Indiana Conference held its session in Winchester. The other Indiana Conferences continued to meet in the Fall. The North-west Indiana Conference met that Fall in Valparaiso. Indiana Con- ference at Mount Vernon, and South-eastern Indiana Conference at Columbus. The increase in the member- ship during the year had been as follows: North In- diana Conference, 339; North-west Indiana Conference, 2,674; Indiana Conference, 3,509; South-eastern Indi- ana Conference, 1,599; making a total increase of 8,121.
In the Spring of 1859, North Indiana Conference held its session at Logansport. At this Conference, Joseph R. Downey was appointed missionary to India .. In due time he and his young wife sailed for that dis- tant mission field. Downey entered with zeal upon his work, but fell an early victim to the climate. But the graves of Christian missionaries constitute a bond of union between Christian and pagan lands that can never
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be broken, and enlist the sympathies and efforts of the Church for the universal subjugation of the world to Christ. The dying language of Cox, the early mission- ary to Africa, " Though a thousand fall, let not Africa be given up," did much toward kindling missionary zeal in the Churches at home.
South-eastern Indiana Conference met in Indian- apolis, October, 1859. At this Conference, E. G. Wood, F. C. Holliday, John W. Locke, and John H. Barth were elected delegates to the ensuing General Confer- ence, which was to meet in Buffalo, in May, 1860.
The Indiana Conference held its session in Bloom- ington, and the delegates elected by the Indiana Confer- ence were : C. B. Davidson, W. C. Smith, John Kiger, and Elias H. Sabin. The delegates from North Indi- ana Conference were : Cyrus Nutt, John B. Birt, Jacob Colclazer, and Lonson W. Monson. The delegates from North-west Indiana Conference were : John L. Smith, Jacob M. Stallard, Richard Hargrave, and James Johnson.
According to the United States Census Reports for 1860, the churches in Indiana stood as follows :
Baptists-Number of churches, 475; church-sittings, 164,710; value of church property, $430,510.
Baptist (Tunker)-Number of churches, 27; church-sittings, 9,900; value of church property, $25,350.
Christian-Number of churches, 347; church-sittings, 125,600; value of property, $270,515.
Congregational-Number of churches, 11; church-sittings, 5,250; value of property, $42,600.
Dutch Reformed-Number of churches, 6; church-sittings, 1,500; value of property, $7,850.
Episcopal-Number of churches, 29; church-sittings, 10,350; value of property, $117,800.
Friends-Number of churches, 93; church- sittings, 41,330; value of property, $111,650.
German Reformed-Number of churches, 9; church-sittings, 3,800; value of property, $26,600.
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Jewish-Number of churches, 2; members, 450; value of property, $8,000.
Lutherans-Number of churches, 150; church-sittings, 46,384; value of property, $237,000.
Moravian-Number of churches, 1; church-sittings, 400; value of prop- erty, $3,500.
Presbyterian-Number of churches, 275; church-sittings, 104,195; value of property, $626,435.
Cumberland Presbyterian-Number of churches, 27; church-sittings, 11,270; value of property, $32,200.
Reformed Presbyterian-Number of churches, 8; church-sittings, 3,150; value of property, $16,350.
United Presbyterian-Number of churches, 18; church-sittings, 6,650; value of property, $24,300.
Universalists-Number of churches, 28; church-sittings, 9,130; value of property, $37,850.
Union-Number of churches, 44; church-sittings, 13,022; value of property, $35,804.
Roman Catholics-Number of churches, 127; church-sittings, 57,960; value of property, $665,025.
Methodist-Number of churches, 125; church-sittings, 432,160; value of property, $1,345,935.
Of the 2,933 churches reported in the state, 1,256 were Methodist churches; and of the $4,065,274 worth of church property in the state, $1,345,935 were owned by the Methodists. A pretty good showing for a de- nomination that has gloried in preaching the Gospel to the poor, and that had received no foreign aid in the accumulation of its Church property.
The men who, under God, achieved such success for Methodism in Indiana, were, many of them, remarkable men. They were men of large views. They planned for the future, and out of their scanty means they con- tributed liberally to build up the institutions of the Church; and their example, as well as teaching, encour- aged liberality on the part of the Church; and while the Church, as a whole, has, perhaps, failed to come up to the Bible standard of liberality, yet, when we look at the property the Methodist Church has literally created in
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this comparatively new state, and other annual contribu- tions for Church purposes, it is evident that the upbraid- ings it sometimes receives for penuriousness is unmerited.
Prominent among those who laid the foundations of Methodism in Indiana, and prominent among its most successful builders, was Allen Wiley. Mr. Wiley was born January 15, 1789, and came to Indiana Territory with his parents in 1804. He joined the Church, as a seeker of religion, in April, 1810, and in the June follow- ing obtained the evidence of personal acceptance with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. He was licensed to preach in 1813, and entered the traveling connection, De- cember 1, 1816. He was ordained a deacon by Bishop M'Kendree, in 1818, and an elder by Bishop Roberts, in 1820. He spent eleven years of his ministry in travel- ing extensive and laborious circuits. He was presiding elder during fourteen years, and a part of that time his district extended from the Ohio River to the vicinity of Lake Michigan, including the present cities of Madison and Ft. Wayne, and required an amount of energy, sac- rifice, and toil, of which it is now difficult to conceive. He spent five years as stationed preacher in our larger towns. He served as a delegate in the General Confer- ences of 1832, 1836, 1840, and 1844. He entered the itinerancy as a married man; he raised and educated a large family; two of his sons became ministers, and one a physician. His early education only included the or- dinary branches of an English education, and yet, by continuous study, he became a ripe scholar, familiar with Latin and Greek literature, and a profound theologian. He was an instructive preacher. His sermons were rich in thought, and profound in argument. His voice was heavy and monotonous; and yet, in the days of his vigor, when presiding elder of his large districts, it was no
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