History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 18

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670

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" Most of the pioneer preachers were young men- some mere youths who had been sent into this new region to cultivate a ministerial talent, preparatory to engagement in other and more refined fields of labor. So far as the Methodist Church of Michigan is con- cerned, its ablest and best men have been through this back woods probation. For example, many years ago, there came into the circuit two mere boys, El- dred and Collins. Both became eminent men. The latter, before his death, bid fair to reach the highest

position in the church-the former now holds high rank in it. To write the history of Methodism in Michigan, with either of these names left out, would simply be to give to the world a broken and unsatis- factory view of the church in Michigan, its power and extent."

The earliest minister of the Gospel in Cass County, concerning whom we have any authoritative informa- tion, was the Rev. Adam Miller, a Baptist, who settled in Ontwa Township in 1830. Several Method- ist circuit riders had preached in the county prior to this time. Adam Miller was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1781. At the age of twenty-three, he married Sarah Prior, and settled as a farmer in the neighborhood of his birthplace. About the same time, he began to preach, but with what success is not known. In 1815, he emigrated to Franklin County, Ohio, where he labored in his chosen fields, temporal and spiritual, until the year 1830, when he removed to Michigan. Many persons now living can remem- ber the emigrant wagon of fifty years ago-its heavy, unsightly, comfortless make-up, its roof of tent-cloth supported on hickory bows, its interior crowded with bundles of bedding, clothes, boxes of edibles, babies, boys and girls, pots, kettles, etc., etc. The wagon, with its heavy load, was drawn by one, two or three yoke of oxen. In one of these cumberons vehicles Elder Miller and his family made the journey from Ohio to Southwestern Michigan, crossing the great Black Swamp, and following a tortuous trail through the heavy forest. The passage through the swamp in the spring was anything but a pleasure trip. Many stories have been told of it which would not read well in the biography of a minister. After a wearisome journey of from three to four weeks' duration, Elder Miller and family reached the northwest part of Beardsley's Prairie, near Edwardsburg, where they found three cabins and a few settlers. The preacher bought eighty acres of land of a Mr. Coan, or Coon, which he immediately proceeded to plow and plant. Soon afterward, he entered quite a large tract of land, adjoining his original purchase, and lying partly in Michigan and partly in Indiana. Elder Miller's time was divided between farming and preaching. Laboring at agriculture through the weck, he saddled his horse Saturday night, or early upon Sunday, and traveled often many miles to fill preaching appoint- ments, usually following Indian trails, and occasionally the primitive roads cut through the woods by the white settlers. Ilis first sermon in the vicinity of Brownsville, Calvin Township, was preached under a burr-oak tree. The congregation was not a large one, but it is safe to say that not many in the surrounding country, who had heard of the appointment, remained

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

away. Religious meetings were very frequently held in the open air, but the settlers proffered the use of their humble homes when the weather was such as to forbid out-door gatherings. The field of Elder Mil ler's labors included Cass and Berrien Counties, and the counties of St. Joseph and Elkhart in Indiana. His simple, zealous style of preaching, and his per- sonal persuasion, led many to embrace Christianity. Among his earliest converts was an Indian, whose name is not now remembered. He was a very earnest adherent of the faith, and died in its enjoyment. The pioneer preacher was present at his deathbed. The Indian arose, and, with his eyes and arms raised heavenward, exclaimed as if addressing a spiritual personage made visible to him, " Come, Jesus ; " then, sinking back upon the couch, peacefully expired.

It is said Elder Miller organized, or assisted in organizing, Liberty Church, two and a half miles south of Cassopolis; also the Baptist Churches at Edwardsburg, Niles, Mishawaka (Ind.), and a number of others. Elder Miller had an education of only the merest rudimentary character in his early days, and whatever of usefulness characterized his after life was the result of self-improvement, native ability and force of character, combined with goodness of heart, deep sense of duty, and untiring zeal. He was a fair type of the pioneer minister of the Gospel. He was a man of genial temperament, and was full of kindness and sympathy for all mankind. Notwithstanding the fact that he had a large family, several poor boys, at different periods, found homes under his roof, and his benevolence was exhibited in various deeds. He sup- ported himself upon the proceeds of his farm ; never received a salary during his fifty years' service in the cause of religion, and very rarely accepted a donation. He perceived at an early day the impro- priety of a minister of the Gospel using intoxicating liquors as a beverage in his family. He said that he wanted none of his boys to become drunkards through his influence, and poured out his stock of whisky as a libation to the earth. His wife anticipated diffi- culty in getting the neighbors to assist in raising a barn the following week, if they learned that liquor was not to be served. They were notified on being invited to " the raising " that the usual custom would not be observed. but turned out notwithstanding, and the barn was raised in as good shape as if the jug of stimulating spirits had been present. Rev. Adam Miller was rather singularly the seventh son of a seventh son, and himself the father of seven sons. He was twice married. His sons were John P., Anthony, Samuel, David, Adam, Jacob and IIenry. Three of them, Anthony, Samuel and David, are ordained ministers; two or three others are occasional

exhorters, and all church members. His daughters were, by his first wife, Sarah ; by his second, Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth and Eliza, three of whom-Sarah, Elizabeth and Eliza-are now living. A grand- daughter, Mrs. Sarah K. Owen, resides in Cassopo- lis. A few years before his death, Elder Miller re- moved from Cass County and settled a few miles from Mishawaka, Ind., where he died August 27, 1854.

In 1832, the county was visited by a pioneer of Episcopalianism who was no less a character than Bishop Philander Chase. He came out from Ohio with Bazaleel Wells, of Steubenville, who wished to make a visit to his sons in Kalamazoo County. The Bishop bought land in Branch County and made a temporary home there, to which, because of the pro- ductiveness of the land he gave the name of " Gilead." In his published " Reminiscences," Bishop Chase gives the following description of Southwestern Michigan as it was when he first saw it: "The whole region of the St. Joseph, embracing one hundred miles square and more, never till now had an Episcopal minister to officiate in it. All was waste in regard to the primitive Protestant Church. Wherever the writer went, he invaded no man's diocese, parish or labors. In and throughout this country a circuit of duty was planned to be fulfilled in that and coming years. This embraced Niles, South Bend, Beardsley's Prairie or Edwardsburg, Cassopolis, White Pigeon, Mongoquinon, English Prairie and Coldwater, besides other places afterward erected-Constantine and Centerville. Some of these appertained to Michigan and some to Indiana."

Bishop Chase married the first couple ever joined in the bonds of wedlock at the county seat of Cass, upon New Year's Day, 1833, and performed the first religious services in the village afterward.

An incident of some local interest is related as oc- curring in Cass County when the Bishop was on his way with his family to Illinois, in 1836: “ At Edwardsburg they were the guests of Abiel Silver. The Bishop's favorite horse, Cincinnatus, well along in years, got quite lame, and he resorted to the fol- lowing expedient to return him to his farm in " Gilead." He tied a small piece of board to his neck, upon which there was written, 'My name is Cincinnatus; I belong to P. Chase, Gilead, now Bishop of Illinois; I am 18 years old and somewhat lame. Let me pass on to Gilead, where I shall be taken care of through the winter as a reward for my past services.' It is needless to say the old horse reached his destination and was well taken care of during the winter." Much of Bishop Chase's life was spent in the West, and he exerted a large influence in Chris- tianizing it.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.

Elder Jacob Price, one of the foremost pioneers of the Baptist faith, came to Cass County in 1833. Probably no minister who has lived in the county was more widely known or generally loved. He was brought to Michigan through the instrumentality of Martin C. Whitman, a merchant of Whitmanville (La Grange), who made his acquaintance in the city of New York in the summer of 1833. He arrived in Detroit on the 1st of September, and two Sundays later preached at Whitmanville, where he had taken up his residence. He next preached at Geneva (on the banks of Diamond Lake), and upon the 27th of September at South Bend. While returning from that place, his wife was taken sick with a form of fever common to the new country, from which she died, October 19. Elder Price resided at Whitmanville about three years, preaching regularly there, at Ed- wardsburg, and at Bertrand (Berrien County), as well as filling occasional appointments in all parts of Cass County. In 1836, he came to Edwardsburg, where he lived until 1842, when he took up his residence at Cassopolis, which place he made his home until his death, which occurred August 8, 1871-a period of twenty-nine years. He was, during the whole period of his residence in Cass County, zealously engaged in propagating the seed of Christian faith, and probably delivered more sermons than any other minister of the Gospel who ever had a residence in the county. He officiated at a very large number of funerals and weddings during his ministry, being sent for from all parts of the region around his home. Rev. Jacob Price was of Welsh nativity, being born in South Wales March 28, 1799, and was the son of a Deacon in the Baptist Church. He married his first wife, Miss Ann Price, an English lady, in 1830, and sailed from England to New York in 1831. Until he re- moved to Michigan, he was pastor of the Second Bap- tist Church of Brooklyn. His second wife, whom he married in 1836 and who still survives, was Miss Sarah Bennett.

His children were: By his first wife, Anna, now Mrs. Carmichael, of Benton Harbor. By his second wife, Sarah and Ellen, residents in Cassopolis; Mary (Fletcher), now in Chautauqua County, N. Y .; Carrie (Mrs. Orson Rudd) recently removed to Dakota; Judson, in Kansas; and Alfred, at present a Professor in Central University, of Pella, Iowa.

Mr. Turner says of Elder Price: "Perhaps no clergyman who ever ministered to our people was more universally and thoroughly known to them at the time of his death or more generally beloved. than this truly good man. * * * He was not what would be called a great preacher; that is, one of those possessed of the marvelous power to stir up at will

the emotional in men and women, and promote wide- spread revivals. But in one sense he was a great man. His humble life, his uniform goodness of heart, his unvarying piety, which, taught every day, as well by example as by precept, endeared him to our people, and stamped him as a Christian of extraordinary purity of character. In that sense, he was a great man-a profound preacher."

A beautiful monument in the Cassopolis Cemetery, reared to the memory of Elder Price through the contributions of hundreds of citizens of the county, will bear testimony for centuries to the esteem in which he was held.

Universalism was preached in Cassopolis in the year 1836, by the Rev. George R. Brown, and he was the first settled pastor of any denomination in the county seat.

The Rev. Justus Gage who died in Dowagiac on the 21st of January, 1875, was, however, the best known clergyman of the Universalist faith in the county, and has been commonly regarded as its pioneer preacher. He settled in Wayne Township in 1837, coming from New York, in which State, the county of Madison and village of De Ruyter, he was born on the 13th of March, 1805. He became a Universal- ist in 1822, and was soon after licensed to preach. Until declining health forbade, he continued to exer- cise his high calling. He was the organizer of the Dowagiac Universalist Church, which enjoyed his ministry for many years, and has been a flourishing society. Mr. Gage was a man of much public spirit, and took a deep interest in educational matters and various secular subjects as well as religious. He was prominently identified in the organization and build- ing up of the County Agricultural Society, and for eight years was a member of the State Board of Agriculture.

Another early preacher of Universalism in this county was the Rev. J. P. Averill. " He was re- garded as a young man of much promise, and during his short career in this vicinity made many warm friends. His early death deprived the church of a strong pillar and society of a genial, warm-hearted gentleman."

Among the early Methodist ministers of note who resided for a long term of years in the county, were " Father " McCool and Rev. Jolin Byrns, both of whom settled in Pokagon. Of the first named, Mr. Turner writes : "He was a man of large frame, of strong native ability, and possessed a fair amount of book-learning. As a preacher, he was not of the sympathetic order. He rather held up the pains and penalty of a violated law, and thundered anathemas upon the heads of obdurate sinners; and among that

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

class in which fear of a hereafter was the main in- down, in order to cover much of the wrist left exposed centive to religious life, he was unusually successful. by the extreme scantiness of the cloth. While sitting Combativeness was a strong element in his character. He never, so far as I knew, declined a discussion with one of another denomination. His meetings in the

there, his eyes, the most of the time, were cast down to the floor, but occasionally he would raise them for a moment, and take a glance at the congregation, as early days of his ministry were remarkably orderly. ! if to take in its character and capacity, then let them fall again.

If his intellectual forces were not sufficient to reduce the refractory young men to order, his physical forces were, and when he did bring them into action, woe was it to the luckless sinner who felt his strong hand grasp him. Not long since (1874), this really good and useful man passed to his reward."

A man of quite different character in many essen- tials is the Rev. John Byrns, who settled in Pokagon in 1837. He is a native of Ireland; was born in 1816, and came with his parents to America when he was six years of age. Prior to his emigration to Michigan, he resided in Syracuse, N. Y. In 1840, he was converted, joined the Methodist Church, and it was not long thereafter that he was licensed to exhort. In 1841, he was licensed to preach. Since that time, he has devoted himself unselfishly to the church, and been very active in its service. Few men have done more for the advancement of Methodism in Southwestern Michigan than Mr. Byrns. He never joined the Conference, but has been appointed to and has filled numerous circuits, and when not so em- ployed has had charges nearer home. He has main- tained himself by industrious farming, and his labors for the church have been performed through the most strenuous extra exertions. He has often been obliged to travel from fifty to seventy-five miles upon horse- back at the end of the week, besides doing his regular work upon the farm.

Collins, " the Boy Preacher " (afterward in the front rank of Methodist divines) and the impression he pro- duced in Cassopolis, in the fall of 1839, are described by Mr. Turner, in his paper on "The Pioneer Clergy," very happily :

"I naturally looked toward the speaker's stand. There, occupying his chair, sat a youth, who seemed to be eighteen or nineteen years of age, yet he was probably several years older than his looks indicated. He was of good size, well proportioned, with a full, fresh beardless face and flaxen hair. His garments, which were of some dark gray material, seemed, in every way, too small for him, and evidently made him feel uncomfortable, for I noticed him occasionally try to lengthen out his pants by thrusting his thumbs just inside of the pockets and pushing down on them. Then he would pull at the bottom of his vest, so as to close up the open space between it and the waist-band of his panis. Now and then he would catch, with his fingers, the lower end of his coat sleeve and pull it

" The time for service had come. He slowly raised to his feet, and, in a tremulous, indistinct manner, read a hymn, which having been sung, he knelt down and made a brief, but certainly not a powerful, prayer. Then rising to his feet, he gave out his text, which may be found in the first epistle general of John- ' God is love.'

" Up to this time, he had not made a very favorable impression upon his audience. Indeed, some of the old campaigners of the church began to hang their heads, feeling that Methodism would suffer in the hands of the 'Boy Preacher.' His manner, his read- ing, his prayer all fell short of what was expected of one sent to take charge of so large and important a field of labor as Cass Circuit."

"My sympathies, however, were strongly enlisted in his favor from the first. He was young and inex- perienced. He must begin his career somewhere. The Conference, no doubt, regarded our circuit as a new field, comparatively, and eminently fit ground for a young theologian to practice in. Then, as now, the most matured talent of the church was thrown into the cities and larger villages. But, notwithstanding all the drawbacks that the ' boy' had to contend with, I felt, if there was any truth in physiognomy, he had within him the germs of a noble manhood-the indices of a great mind. If he had disappointed his hearers in the preliminary exercises of the morning, his slow, hesitating words and awkward gestures at the opening of his discourse, bid fair to intensify that feeling be- fore its close. Yet, as he stumbled along, there was something in his honest face, something in his clear, blue eyes, that gradually attracted and fixed the at- tention of his audience. It was a kind of magnetic influence, such as some of our best public speakers possess and often wield to control the masses on great and important occasions.

" By degrees the embarrassment under which he labored wore off; his language and gestures im- proved; his Methodist friends began to look up again, and hope at least that he would not disgrace them. His slow, broken utterances gave way to a stronger, better-connected and clearer train of thought. His eyes, which had before sought the floor, now looked confidently up, and his countenance beamed with an intelligence so grandly good as to rivet the attention of every one who could see and hear him.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

The transformation from the uncouth, inexperienced, stammering boy to the convincing, powerful minister of God's word was now complete." * * * *

" Concluding his discourse by a brief exhortation, Brother Collins sat down, and for a time all was wonderfully still in the house. That he had made a decidedly favorable impression was clearly apparent. A satisfied and pleased expression lit up the faces of many, especially of church members. Others, un- usually sympathetic in their feelings, wept freely ; and not a few seemed thoughtful and solemn. * *

"From that day we kept the young brother in view. With each succeeding year, he grew in impor- tance among the Methodists of Michigan and the public generally. His acknowledged ability placed him in the front rank of his denomination. He be- came a leader; honors upon honors were showered upon him, and had his life been spared, the crowning one of them all in the church militant would have been his-a Bishopric."

Presbyterianism had among its leading early ex- ponents the Rev. Mr. Bryant, and the Rev. Mr. McClaren-" both eminent for piety, learning and ability. Perhaps none who preceeded them, and cer- tainly none who came after them, exercised so great an influence for good in the church as these pioneers. They were industrious and earnest in their advocacy of the cause they had espoused."

Roman Catholicism was first preached in Cass County to the Pottawatomie Indians. The Chief, Pokagon, and his followers, built a small log church in Silver Creek Township, on the north bank of Long Lake, in 1838. The first priest who regularly visited them was the Rev. De Salle, who came from the Col- lege of Notre Dame, at South Bend, Ind .*

EDUCATIONAL.+

The ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest Territory contained the declaration that " schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." An ordinance for the sale of Western lands, passed by Congress in 1785, provided that Sec- tion 16 in every township should be reserved for the use of schools, and that wise and beneficent measure has been re-enacted and enforced by subsequent legis- lation-the acts for the sale of lands in the Indiana Territory, for the organization of Michigan Territory, and the ordinance admitting the State of Michigan into the Union. The original and the present consti- tutions of the State required that the proceeds of these lands should remain a perpetual fund for the

*The interesting history of the Silver Creek Catholic Church la given at length in the chapter devoted to the township.

+Elncational matters are here treated only in a general way-as per- taloing to the county se a whole. Detailed histories of the principal schools of tho county appear in their appropriate places in this work.

purpose originally designed. The measure was sub- sequently modified to the advantage of the State as a whole .*

The success of the school system of the State is very largely due to the foresight and wise manage- ment of its organizers. Educational interests have nowhere in the Union received more attention or been more enhanced by the people than in Michigan. School- houses everywhere dot the landscape. The cities and villages have vied with each other in erecting the best school edifices, and it is no rare thing to see in towns of one, two or three thousand population schoolhouses admirable in architecture and arrangement, which have cost ten, twenty or thirty thousand dollars.

In 1827 was enacted the first Territorial school law. This law ordaine.l that the citizens of any township having fifty householders should employ a school- master of good morals to teach the children to read and write, and that the citizens of any township hav- ing two hundred householders should secure the services of a schoolmaster competent to teach Latin, French and English. The townships which neglected to observe this law were liable to the payment of a fine of not less than $50 or more than $150.

This law gave place to another in 1833, which re- enacted many of its leading provisions and placed the school lands which had formerly been under the super- vision of the Governor and Legislative Council, un- der the management of three Commissioners and ten Inspectors. The office of Superintendent of Com- mon Schools was also created.

In 1837, a primary school law was enacted by the State Legislature. This law, which was almost identical with that of New York, provided for the division of the State into districts, each containing a sufficient number of inhabitants to support a school with a single teacher. The districts were divided and sub- divided as the population increased.

The union or graded schools followed by a natural process of growth, and these have been constantly developed until at present they are the glory of the State.

During the later years of the Territorial and the early years of the State government, there was a pop- ular rage for the establishment of academies. Charters were secured for their organization in almost every county in Southern Michigan. As a matter of course, many of them never progressed beyond the stage of incorporation.

An act of the Territorial Legislative Council, ap- proved April 19, 1833, incorporated the Cass County Academy. The corporators were Baldwin Jenkins, William Burke, Isaac Shurte, Jacob Silver, Martin

* See (ante this volume) chapter on lands.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.

Shields, Abiel Silver, Alexander H. Redfield, Demster Beatty and Elias B. Sherman. The charter granted to the corporators the privilege of building an acad- emy in Cassopolis, and stipulated that the amount of property owned by the incorporation should not exceed in value $20,000. No action was taken to- ward carrying out the objects for which this corpora- tion was made.

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History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 18

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co. Number of Pages: 670

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670