USA > Kansas > A history of Methodism in northwest Kansas > Part 7
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We built a parsonage the next year. After we were settled in it, some of the rummyes tackled me about the enforcement of prohibition. They said, "You will want money to pay for your parsonage, and we will not give you any." I said to them, the parsonage is finished and we are living in it; and it is paid for, and if any who gave to it are dissatisfied, tell me how much you gave, and he shall have his money. One spoke up and said he wanted his money. I said, "How much did you give?" He said two dol- lars. I said, "Here is your money." "Oh," said he, "I do not want it. I did not think a preacher had that much." It raised a laugh and they left.
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Another wrote of the Bird City pastorate as fol- lows: "At the session of the Northwestern Kansas Conference the spring of 1889, David Harrison was appointed to the Bird City charge, and held it for three years.
On his arrival he found the people quite discou- raged, owing to repeated crop failures. Most of the early settlers had proved up on their claims, and gone back to their wives and folks. The county had been organized only three years, and the hard times had made it a life and death struggle for the churches. We had no church property at this point. Two other denominations had been on the field, one owning a church.
With his saw and hatchet, the pastor built a par- sonage all alone. It stands today, and is a part of the pleasant home of the pastor. Later the church was bought from the other denomination, which had abandoned the field.
Today Bird City is a strong point, with a good equipment of church property, valued at $4,000, and paid for.
My next work was St. Francis circuit. This was new work and I had to organize new points. At one place, sixteen miles from St. Francis, people of differ- ent churches got together and sent me word that if I would come, they would all stand by me.
They sent a young lady to invite me. I told her I had all the appointments I could fill. She began to weep. Said her father was not a Christian, and if I would preach, she thought he would come. I thought it was of the Lord, so sent an appointment by her. The people made their word good, and the young lady's prayers were answered. Her father accepted Christ.
A lady, a member of the Baptist Church, said to me one day, "Why do not our preaches come like you Methodists do?" "Oh," I said, "they come by water,
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and this is a dry country." She came into the church and was a devoted worker. Some one said to her one day, "Why don't you leave this God forsaken coun- try ?" "Oh," she replied, "it is not God forsaken as long as Brother Harrison preaches for us."
Within the territory then included in the St. Fran- cis circuit there are now six regular preaching points, and instead of the sod shanties, there are three modern school houses used for church services, and two good churches, worth $5,000, and paid for.
M. M. STOLZ.
M. M. Stolz came to Kansas from Indiana in 1879. Although not on the ground as early as some others, his work was such that he had ample opportunity for frontier experience.
In 1886 he was appointed Presiding Elder of the Ellsworth District, which included the whole, or a part of, Ellsworth, Russell, Ellis, Rooks, Trugo, Gra- ham, Gove, Sheridan, Logan and Wallace Counties. More than one-half of the territory was unorganized a year ago. There were twenty-nine charges and one hundred and twenty-five preaching places.
He records that at the beginning of his term there was no class organized for one hundred miles west of Wakeeny. At the close there were fifty societies organized and five church buildings, and seven others approaching completion.
On some charges very successful work was done from the beginning. At Bunker Hill F. N. Cox held a very gracious revival. One hundred were converted and eighty-three united with the church. The pastor secured the use of twenty-five acres of land, on which he induced the people to sew wheat, from which $400 was realized to apply on a new church.
At Hays City J. W. Blundon built a church worth $3,000, and the Sunday school reached an enrollment of one hundred and fifty.
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At Hoxie, a town of 500, though only a year old, a sod church was built, largely through the influence of Brother Haney of the Rock River Conference. At the first Quarterly Meeting three cowboys took pos- session of the town and amused themselves by shooting at the feet of people to make them dance. One man refused to dance and they shot the sole off of one boot. So he danced rather than lose the sole of the other boot.
The first Quarterly Meeting at Gove City was held in an old sod school house, one end of which had been partitioned off for a chicken house. When the services were under way the chickens began to make their presence known, and the crowing of the cock and the cackling of the hens mingled with sermon and song. The first Quarterly Meeting for the next year was held in a building used as a Court House. During the service people passed through the room to office rooms, looking after homesteads and other business, which was little, if any, less annoying than the crowing of the chickens of the previous year. An empty barrel was used for a pulpit, but they had a good meeting and one was converted. The second Quarterly Meeting was held in a sod school house, with slabs lying on naft kegs for seats. The Presiding Elder remarks: "If the flies in Egypt were any thicker than they were in that room, it was no wonder that Pharo said, 'Let Israel go!" Owing to failure of crops, church claims were only half met.
During Stolz's second year on the district, G. L. Rarick succeeded in building a church and parsonage at Plainville. A revival followed the dedication of the church, which resulted in the conversion of about one hundred persons. W. A. Saville, who was at Russell for the second year, conducted a revival for several weeks, at which fifty accepted Christ. A. W. J. Best had a most gracious revival at Stockton. The mem-
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bership, when the meeting began, was twenty-seven. At the close there were three hundred. The church building was also improved. At Hays City Blundon did good work for Methodism and temperance. Kan- apolis and Millbrook each built a neat church. A short time afterward Millbrook was destroyed by a cyclone. Only one house in the town escaped all in- jury, while the church was a total wreck. The society did not recover from the loss for years. T. J. H. Tag- gart held a good revival at Oakley, with the assistance of Mahaffa and Ferguson. J. N. Moore was pastor at Ellis. Sixty-five were converted during his pastorate. Colyer was organized a year before with fifteen mem- bers; at the close of the year there were fifty. Crops failed and they had only buffalo chips for fuel, but a good revival was held. One hundred and fifty were converted and $110 was raised for the support of the cause. The parsonage was remodeled and improved.
During this second year there were 1,000 conver- sions on the district, six churches dedicated, and two parsonages built.
At the close of the third year on the district the Elder reported in part as follows: "Failure of previous years has intensified conditions. There was more suffering than in 1874, the grasshopper year. Preach- ers worked on the railroads to support their families ; and wives kept charges together, reading sermons and visiting. Sometimes they drove thirty miles to meet appointments, then drove home on Monday morning to a cowchip fire. Only God and the preachers them- selves know what many endured. One preacher was so destitute of the comforts of life that he had no underclothing, not even a shirt, yet he continued his work. He wore his coat buttoned to the neck and had a string around his neck, to which he attached his white collar. Finally comfortable clothing was re- ceived through the W. H. M. S. When it came, the
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brother shouted, "Glory to God; now I shall not have to give up my charge." He tells of another family that lived on bread and water for days.
Along with these experiences of destitution there were others more inspiring. If some cowboys shot the soles off men's shoes to make them dance, there were others not so hard to reach. One came to me on the train one day and told of hearing me preach at a cer- tain place, and it had led him to see his folly, and he was then on his way back home to se his mothr.
J. E. Langley was appointed to Millbrook, in Gra- ham County, before the county was organized. He started in asking the Lord for one hundred souls. At the close of the year he reported two hundred, and had begun the erection of a church. T. J. H. Taggart built a church at Oakley in 1886, with the aid of a loan of $250 from the Board of Church Extension and a donation of $250, and organized four M. E. Sunday Schools. All benevolent apportionments were raised in full. That of church extensions was three times the apportionment. At Wilson W. H. Williams was pastor. Three appointments reported two hunred and sixty-two full members and eighty-three probationers. About a thousand dollars was collected and expended for payment of debts and improvements. Five times the amount asked for missions and three times the amount asked for Freedmen's Aid were raised.
The Elder concludes his report for the term with the statement that at its beginning all the Western part of the district was a wilderness, whole counties being under fence. At its close land was taken up and towns and settlements dotted the prairies.
In the spring of 1897 Stolz was appointed to the Norton District, which covers the northwest portion of the state. He begins his report of the district with the statement that the Norton District, the weakest of the five districts of the Conference, has elements of
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strength that when the hot winds cease to blow, and the destructive electric storms are controlled, and the clouds drop their refreshing, will develop into one of the most magnificent agricultural countries in the world. At present it is a buffalo or short grass country.
The year 1897 opened auspiciously and continued so till July. Wheat and corn both promised fine crops. The people were in fine spirits and devised liberal things for their pastors and the benevolences. All went well till one day in July a hot wind blew, which destroyed everything. One brother had three hundred acres of wheat. Only one hundred was worth cutting, and from that he threshed but twenty-nine bushels. Corn that had promised twenty-five to fifty bushels to the acre was so withered and dead that it was unfit for fodder. Many were left without anything except their cows and chickens. The contingent fund of the Missionary Society and the W. H. M. S. was the main dependence.
The labor performed and the privation endured by some had to be witnessed to be appreciated. One brother traveled forty miles and preached three times every other Sunday, taking his dinner with him and eating on the way. He received less than $100 from the circuit. One who was serving as a supply would leave home without his breakfast, that the family might have more to eat while he was gone.
This devastated country covered Sherman, Chey- enne, Thomas, Rawlins and part of Sheridan and Decatur Counties.
Many pastors wrote the Presiding Elder, "What shall we do?" I was, from experience, able to reply, "Who fed thee last will feed thee still," and He did. Not one left the district because of the hard times.
Gracious revivals were enjoyed in most of the charges. The motto for the district was "a thousand
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souls for Christ." Nearly that number were converted or reclaimed. The pastors assisted one another largely. It was thus that the best results were reached.
Owing to the crop failure, the reports for benevo- lences are small. As a rule pastors have been faith- ful in presenting the causes, and many of the people have given fully to the measure of their ability. A number of Epworth and Junior Leagues have been organized and are doing good work.
In the spring of '98 Stolz was changed from the Norton to the Salina District, which occupies the southeastern corner of the Conference, and is there- fore a more promising territory than the short grass country. However, no part of Western Kansas is exempt from drouth and hot winds, as my experience during June and July of my first year on this district proved. Owing to the failure of crops, there were in- dividuals as little able to meet their financial obliga- tions as any of those in the short grass country. Still a study of statistics will show that the eastern district had a decided advantage over the western. The aver- age pastor's salary in the Norton District was $331, while the average in the Salina was $492.
The growth of the work during my term of office on this district was quite encouraging in one respect. The first year the average pastor's salary was $492; the last year it was $586. Church property increased $18,600. Contributions for missions increased $569. Pastoral support increased during these years $2.659. That is an average of $115 for each pastor.
Three things seem to have characterized the pas- tors of the district which were in a high degree com- mendable. Harmony among themselves, unity of aim and purpose for the best results, and faithfulness to their tasks and fidelity to the cause. A single misfit grew to such proportions that the Presiding Elder felt impelled to call a committee of investigation. The
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committee found conditions such that they felt con- strained to suspend the brother for a year. He finally withdrew from the church and resumed the practice of law, which he gave up before entering the ministry. This was especially afflictive to this writer, as that brother was brought into the Conference by him, and had served several years successfully. He finally drifted into another communion and resumed preach- ing. Not finding the associations congenial, within the past year he returned to the Methodist Church, asked for the restoration of his parchments, has been readmitted to a conference, and is again a Methodist pastor. So that the one slip in the administration of Dr. Stolz in the Salina District has been mended as far as may be. In this fact this writer rejoices.
The fidelity and faithfulness of pastors is attested by the improved conditions on the charges. Good re- vivals were reported in nearly all of them. Church debts were paid, except in a single charge; pastoral support and benevolent apportionments were generally reported raised in full.
Parsonages and churches were built and largely paid for. This, following years of dearth and crop failure, evidently could not have been done if the peo- ple, as well as the preachers, had not been very gen- erally and very largely imbued with devotion and self- sacrifice.
This is the spirit that largely characterizes Kan- sas people. It is this that has made of Kansas the grand state it is, and which, with the blessing of God, will make of Kansas Methodism the glorious church it is to be.
J. D. BAKER.
I was licensed to preach in the United Brethren Church, at Harland, Smith County, in 1880, and con- tinued to work in that church in Jewell, Republic and Decatur Counties until 1885, when they withdrew
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their support from that part of the country. I had taken a homestead, which I could not well afford to leave.
In 1886 Rev. S. A. Green, Presiding Elder of the Norton District, appointed me to the Achilles charge, in Rawlins County, which was a very wild country. There were two classes of people, who were in almost constant strife, and a stranger was looked upon with suspicion. Both parties went armed and were ready to shoot on the slightest provocation. Stock would disappear mysteriously, never to be seen or heard of by the owners. Those were very trying times ; but the Lord was with us, and we found friends among all classes.
There was a sod church at Achilles that would ac- commodate two hundred people. The trustees were Esom Masterson, Harrison Hays and B. F. Morton. Masterson was an exhorter and also the class leader. During the winter of 1886-7, under the blessing of God, we had gracious revivals. At Achilles there were fifty-four conversions and accessions to the church; at Barretsville there were fifteen; at the Welsh appoint- ment there were fifty-six. I preached at two other points in Sheridan County.
In 1887 I was sent to the Cumberlin charge, in Thomas County. At the Buelah appointment there was almost a constant revival, the Lord adding to the church every Sabbath such as were saved. There were about seventy accessions during the year. There was a sod church here, of which W. W. Armstrong. John Clawson, C. R. McVae, W. A. Scott and Edward Snell were trustees. John Clawson was class leader. and Jennie Scott Sunday school superintendent.
In 1888 I was returned to the Achilles Circuit. We had a good year. There were about thirty additions to the church. There were many antelope in the coun- try and we had some merry times along with the hard-
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ship. There were no bridges, and many times we had to ford raging streams to reach our appointments. I remember once my horse drifted quite a way before he was caught by a Mr. Edward Robbins and brought to shore.
In 1889 I was returned to Achilles, but the work had been divided and I had only Achilles and Basset- ville; but nothing daunted, I proceeded to take up other points. One was seven miles south of Atwood, where a class of thirty-five was organized, and one four miles east of Old Chardon, where there was a class of twenty-seven members. There were thirty conversions at the other two points. Most of our services were held either in sod houses or dugouts. I remember Brother W. K. Loobourrow came to hold my Quarterly Meeting once, in place of the Presiding Elder. He thought it was pretty hard to get up en- thusiasm under such conditions.
In 1890 I was sent to Rexford, where there were four appointments, Rexford, Menlo, Vernon and Gem. I remained here two years. This was a very hard year. Nothing was raised. I received $87 from the work, but the Lord was with us, and we were not permitted to suffer want. In 1891 crops were much better, but so many were not able to get seed that there was not much more for the preachers than in 1890. These were years when the souls of men and women were tried. All the churches except the Methodist withdrew their ministers from the field. It was by the assist- ance of the Woman's Home Missionary Society that ours were able to stay.
In 1892 I was returned to Achilles, which I con- tinued to serve till 1897. In 1892 the circuit consisted of Achilles, Bassetville, the Welsh appointment, Bethel, Summit school house, in Decatur County, six miles south of Oberlin, where a class of thirty members was organized, and one at Center school house, where
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we organized with thirty-five members. There were revivals at the other points, and seventy-five were re- ceived into church fellowship. Thus closed quite a successful year.
In 1893 the circuit was changed. The two points where classes were organized the previous year were placed in another circuit, and in their stead I took up the Fairview school house, where a revival was held in connection with the Summit class, and there were forty-seven conversions.
In 1894 a class of forty-seven was organized at Decatur Center, and there were at the other points forty conversions and accessions to the church.
In 1896 a class of thirty-five was formed north of Bassetville, and another of twenty-seven at the Vickers school house, in the southwest township of Decatur County. Fifty-two persons were received into church fellowship at the other points on the circuit.
In 1897, on account of my wife's health, I did not take regular work, but continued to preach at different places as opportunity offered. This year M. M. Stolz succeeded E. W. Allen on the district.
In 1898 L. O. Housel was appointed to the Norton District. J. W. Bates was appointed to the Dresden charge, which he resigned to take an appointment in the eastern part of the Conference. The Presiding Elder then appointed me to the Dresden charge, which I served this and the following year. The charge con- sisted of five appointments, viz .: Dresden, Jackson, Summit, McGraw and Shibbolith. At this last point we built a neat church building, and during the pas- torate received seventy into the church. The trustees of the new church were J. Amlin, J. W. Tibbles, Fred Bundy, Perry Ashcroft and H. Winchell. Fred Bundy was the class leader, and J. Amlin the Sunday school superintendent.
Y
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I again served the Achilles circuit during 1901 and 1902. A class of thirty members was organized at Pleasantville. James Purvis was appointed leader, and Isaac Lyons and Sarah Purvis were stewards.
Lest a detailed report should be longer than the editor shall care to publish, I will simply give a sum- mary for the remaining thirteen years of my active work. I may say, however, that for three years of this time, from 1909 to 1912, I so nearly lost my sight that I was unable to take work. There are, therefore, but ten years to be accounted for. During that time I served seven charges for one or more years, and organized three new classes with a total membership of sixty-nine, and received into the church at other points one hundred and seventy-six. One league of fifty members was organized.
It would have been pleasant to have had Conference relation during these years, but before I decided to ask admission to Conference I had reached an age when, in the judgment of the Conference, it was not wise to admit men. I have therefore been content to work as a supply, if only I might be privileged to preach Christ to a lost world. So I have no complaint to make. The Lord has been with me and wonder- fully blessed my labors, and now, at three score and ten, I am sweetly trusting Jesus as one strong to de- liver and mighty to save. I only hope I may be able to hold up the cross of Christ till He shall say: "It is enough, come up higher."
The Editor-I find in going over Brother Baker's reports that he has served for twenty-six years as a supply. In that time he has organized eleven new classes, with a total membership of two hundred and eighty-one. He has received into organized societies seven hundred and sixty-nine, making a total of one thousand and fifty received into the church. This is a remarkable report, and especially so when we con-
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sider the meager salaries he has received in view of this service.
This writer moves that he be granted unconditional membership in the Conference, and that he be placed on the retired list.
CHAPTER III.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CONFERENCE.
When the Kansas-Nebraska Conference was organ- ized, in 1856, it was supposed that settlements would never extend beyond the sixth principal meridian, if indeed they should ever reach that far; but the desire to possess themselves of the broad acres which the government offered as a gift, and thus to hold in their own name a home, influenced people to press farther and farther westward, until, in 1880, the extreme western counties in the state had been entered. At that time, or shortly afterward, county organization had been effected in every part of the state. As a mat- ter of course, Methodism kept pace with the westward march of the settlers, and there are pastoral charges older than the county organizations.
The cities and churches that were able to entertain the conference were all in the eastern portion of the state, thus western men felt themselves at a disad- vantage. Those who received the least support had to travel farthest to the seat of the conference. This was felt so keenly that western men soon began to agitate the division of the conference. This agitation finally came to a head in the conference of 1880, when on the second day of the session a resolution was passed instructing the delegates to the General Con- ference to ask it to empower the Kansas Conference to divide at any time during the coming quardenium, if it should seem desirable to do so.
The men of the west were anxious for the division, and on the organization of the Kansas Conference of 1882, among other committees, one was raised on the division of the conference. This committee consisted
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of W. E. Wilson, E. H. Fleisher, C. L. Shackelford, W. H. Zimmerman, I. McDowell, W. H. Underwood, William Jones and James Lawrence. This committee, later in the session, reported favoring the division.
Fearing that some of the western men who might not be in favor of the division would feel that the men of the east had set the west off in an arbitrary man- ner, the writer made a motion that an informal vote be taken, the two sections voting separately. This was accordingly done, and it was found that eighty-four favored and twenty-five opposed the division. It was then ordered that this be declared the vote of the Con- ference.
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