The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 90

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

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In the forenoon I gave them an introductory discourse showing the need and advantages of Divine revelation and of a regular ministry of the word. The assembly, which was more numerous than I expected, appeared to be all attention. We make use of the court-house, which is very convenient for the purpose. As the congregation is more numerous in the forenoon (on account of their being in the habit of visiting and riding out for pleasure in the latter part of the day), if I have a sermon of my own, I deliver it in the forenoon. I am so cold and lifeless through the week that it seems as if I should be in no way useful to this people. But when the Sabbath comes, I am generally so unex- pectedly assisted, and the people appear so uncommonly atten- tive, that I cannot but hope there is mercy in store for them, and that it will be poured out upon them in answer to the prayers of thousands who are pleading for my success. I use notes, but the best of my sermons often come to me while I am preaching.

Four or five of my hearers are men of liberal education, but I have not heard that they have made any unfavorable remarks. Indeed, I am treated with much more respect by all classes of people than I had any right to expect. *

* * Though I have been enabled, as I believe, to declare to this people the counsel of God without reserve, yet the number of my hearers increases.

The people all demanded baptism for their chil- dren, and seemed to think that this was the principal thing for which they wanted a minister. He refused to baptize the children of parents making no pro- fession of religious experience, and this caused much comment.

On August 25, 1801, he wrote that Mr. Denkey, one of the Moravian ministers from Fairfield, Canada, had been to see him. Soon after Mr. Bacon discontinued his afternoon services, and held instead a service about six miles from the town on the Rouge.

About September 25, a second visit was received from Rev. Mr. Hughes. There was also here at the same time the Rev. Joseph Badger, of Con- necticut, sent out by the missionary society of that State. The former preached on the Sabbath morn- ing to but few hearers; in the evening Mr. Badger had a large audience, several of whom expressed their disapproval by "winking and grinning." Mr. Badger subsequently reported that "there was not

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one Christian to be found in all this region, except a black man, who appeared to be pious."

Meantime Mr. Bacon was casting about for a favorable place for a mission among the Indians, and making himself acquainted with their language and logic. On February 19, 1802, he was gladdened by the arrival of his first-born, the late Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon of New Haven.

The following incident of those days is given by the last named in a sketch of his father's life :

It was while my parents were living in Detroit, and when I was an infant of less than four months, that two Indians came as if for a friendly visit ; one of them a tall and stalwart young man : the other shorter and older. As they entered my father met them, gave his hand to the old man, and was just extending it to the other when my mother, quick to discern the danger, exclaimed "See ! he has a knife !" At the word my father saw that while the Indian's right hand was ready for the salute, a gleaming knife in his left hand was partly concealed under his blanket. An Indian coming to assassinate waits for a moment when his in- tended victim is looking away from him, and then strikes.

My father's keen eye was fixed upon the murderer, and watched him eye to eye. The Indian found himself strangely disconcerted. In vain did the old man talk to my father in angry and chiding tones ; that keen black eye was watching the would-be assassin. The time seemed long. My mother took her baby from the birch- bark cradle, and was going out to call help, but when she reached the door she dared not leave her husband. At last the old man became weary of chiding ; the young man had given up his pur- pose for the time, and they retired.

The last week in April, 1802, Mr. Bacon made a missionary visit to the Indians on the Maumee, remaining there nearly three weeks; he returned to Detroit May 18, and about June 2 went to Macki- naw on a similar errand. He remained there until August, 1804, and then returned to Detroit, intend- ing to go to Cleveland, but was detained by sickness nearly two months, after which he started for his destination, and his connection with Detroit termi- nated.

The next religious event of note was the arrival, in the spring of 1804, of Daniel Freeman, an elderly local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church from Canada. Soon after he arrived he announced that he would preach on the following Sabbath afternoon. He faithfully fulfilled his prom- ise, his sermon proving profitable to at least one person, and though he stayed but a few days, his name and his mission were long remembered.

In this same year Rev. Richard Pollard was rector of the Church of England in Sandwich, and the records of that church show that he frequently held services in Detroit, and performed the ceremonies of baptism and marriage. William McDowell Scott, an Episcopal layman, also occasionally read collects for particular days.

Rev. Nathan Bangs, subsequently one of the most eminent ministers and authors of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was the next clerical visitor. He had been appointed by the New York Conference

in July, 1804, to preach in this region. He arrived, probably in August. In his History of the M. E. Church, he says :

When the writer of this history visited Detroit in 1804, he ob- tained an old building called the Council House to preach in.

On his second visit, while preaching in the evening, there arose a tremendous storm, accompanied with the most vivid lightning and awful peals of thunder. He continued the sermon, however, reminding his hearers that this war in the elements was but a faint resemblance of that day " when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." He was afterwards informed that some of the " baser sort " of the young men, after the candles were lighted, deposited some powder in them at such a distance from the blaze that they sup- posed it would take fire and explode during the sermon. They were disappointed. The exercises closed without any explosion, because the candles had not burned down to the powder. These wags, after all was over, informed their associates of what they had done, and remarked that while the peals of thunder were bursting over the house, they were fearful that the Almighty was about to hurl a bolt at their heads as a punishment for their wickedness, and hence they sat trembling for their fate during the greater part of the sermon.

On this visit he met the Rev. David Bacon, who, as has been shown, was detained by sickness in the fall of 1804. Concerning the meeting a note in Mr. Bangs' history states that he

was introduced to a Congregational minister, who told him that he had preached in Detroit until none but a few children would come to hear, and said he : " If you can succeed, which I very much doubt, I shall rejoice." On his third visit, which was on the Sabbath, sure enough, only a few children came to the place of worship ; and no one appearing to take any interest in hearing the Gospel preached there, our missionary shook off the dust of his feet as a testimony against them and took his departure.

Thus even the Methodists at that time gave up Detroit.

In connection with the history of Protestantism, we next notice this entry in the records of the Gov- ernor and Judges, for April 27, 1807 :

A petition for a spot of ground on which to build a Protestant Church was presented and read, and it was thereupon resolved that a committee be appointed to report on said petition, and it was ordered that the committee consist of one, and that Judge Griffin be the said committee.

On May 13, 1807, the following entry appears :

The committee to whom was referred the petition of the Presby- terian Church, made a report, which was ordered to lie upon the table.

It will be noticed that the word "Presbyterian " is used in this latter entry, instead of "Protestant," but it undoubtedly refers to the petition of April 27, and the change may be accounted for by the fact that the entries were made by two different indi- viduals.

On May 18, 1807, the Governor and Judges

Resolved, that a committee be appointed to report on the peti- tion of William Scott, Esq., in behalf of the members of the

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Presbyterian Church. Ordered that said committee consist of one, and that the Governor be the said committee.

No further references to the matter appear in the records.

With the year 1809 a second and successful effort was made by the Methodist Episcopal Church to establish services at Detroit.

At a session of the New York Conference, held in May of that year, Rev. William Case was ap- pointed to this locality as a missionary. In a letter to Bishop Asbury, dated Chatham, N. Y., May 16, 1810, Mr. Case says :

* According to your appointment, I set out from Ancas- ter to Detroit, the 22nd of June. * * * I had thought to have visited Detroit immediately on my first coming into the country ; but by reason of the revival, my whole attention was necessary on the Canada shore, so that I did not visit that town till, I think, about the last of September. *

Our Lord has instructed us, that into whatsoever place we enter, we are to enquire who in it are worthy ; but as I could not understand that there were any serious persons in the town, and as I knew of none more worthy than the rulers ought to be, I immediately went to the governor, and having introduced myself to him as a minister of the Gospel, I requested the privilege of the Council House to hold meetings in. He appeared very friendly, and used me as a Christian minister, and ordered the Council House to be prepared for meeting, where I preached to crowded and listening congregations during the time I staid in that country. As yet there is no society formed in this territory, (Michigan, Detroit being the principal town), though some few were brought under awakening, and three or four had found peace in believing, and expect to join in society when a minister shall again be sent among them.

Mr. Case preached frequently at Detroit, and on one occasion some of the boys of the place, offended at his denunciation of their follies, broke into the stable where his horse was kept, and closely sheared the mane and tail of the unfortunate animal. In the morning the dauntless minister mounted his horse, and exhibited his condition by riding through the town. Several of the leading citizens were so mortified at the occurrence that they offered a large price for the horse, but Mr. Case declined to sell, and was not again molested during the year that he remained. In 1810, about three months after he had left, he was succeeded by Rev. William Mitchell, a member of what was called the " West- ern Conference," and in the autumn of this year a Methodist Episcopal Church was organized.

This, the first Protestant church in the Territory, on its organization numbered seven members, namely, Robert Abbott and wife, William McCarty and wife, William Stacy and wife, and Sarah Ma- comb.

It is evident that, by this time, the Methodist Church was fully alive to the importance of Detroit, for in this year two ministers from two different conferences were sent hither, one of whom was the Mr. Mitchell before mentioned, the other the Rev. Ninian Holmes, who came from the Genesee

Conference ; finding Mr. Mitchell on the ground, he crossed over to the Canada side, and labored there for a year, and in 1811 held services in Detroit.

In the spring of 1811, according to Pilcher's His- tory of Methodism, the ordinance of baptism and sacrament of the Lord's Supper, with other services, were observed by the church at the house of Wil- liam Weaver, a Roman Catholic who lived on the Rouge. At this time the church numbered about thirty members, some of whom lived in Detroit and others at the Rouge. In the autumn, services were conducted at the house of Robert Abbott in Detroit, by Rev. Henry Ryan, the presiding elder, and by Rev. Ninian Holmes. Mr. Holmes remained until August, 1812, and perhaps longer. On Au- gust 16, the day of the surrender, he baptized a child.

In 1811 Rev. Silas Hopkins was appointed to assist Mr. Holmes on the circuit, and by July, 1812, about fifty persons, most of whom lived in or near Detroit, had united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Michigan.

In July of this year, Rev. George W. Densmore was appointed to Detroit, but the war prevented his coming, and scattered the little flock that had been gathered.

When the city was recovered by the Americans in September, 1813, the destitution of its inhabitants as to bodily comforts symbolized their condition as to spiritual good, so far as Protestant services were concerned.

Each brigade of the American troops had a chap- lain. The late Rev. Dr. Alfred Brunson, in a letter to the writer, said that he heard one of them preach at Detroit in 1814. Mr. Brunson was then a private soldier in the Twenty-seventh United States Infan- try. It is quite possible that this chaplain was the Rev. James T. Wilmor, who died at Detroit on April 14, 1814, after a long and painful illness. He was a brigade chaplain in the northwestern army, and had served for thirteen years as chaplain in Congress.

No effort appears to have been made by any one to re-establish Protestant services until July, 1815, when the Rev. Joseph Hickcox of the Genesee Con- ference was appointed to this place. On his arrival he found no members except the original seven ; truly a "perfect number," they held fast their pro- fession through all the storms of war, and all of them remained acceptable members of the church during life.

Mr. Hickcox was received very cordially by Gov- ernor Cass, who said that the Council House would always be at his service, and that himself and his family would be constant attendants at the services.

The morals of Detroit at this time were in a deplorable condition. Soldiers and Indians were frequently seen intoxicated in the streets ; profanity

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and unbelief were rite ; indeed, the whole popula- tion were draining the dregs from the cup of war,

Mr. Hickcox preached at Detroit once in three weeks on Sabbath evening, and in the interim at the Rouge and also in Canada. Going to the latter place in winter was a perilous undertaking ; on one occasion at least he crossed the river on floating ice, leaping from cake to cake.

At the time Mr. Hickcox arrived, Governor Cass and Generals Harrison and Brown were holding a conference with the Indians. A large number of soldiers were also stationed at Detroit. In his diary Mr. Hickcox says :

In this state of society but little impression could be made by a sermon once in three weeks. True, the Council House, a large and commodious building, was always filled with attentive audi- tors, the superior officers setting a decorous example by their uniform presence and respectful attention. But in my hurried rounds on a three weeks circuit, traveling some three hundred miles, my stay in Detroit was necessarily so short that I could not follow up, to any extent, by pastoral visitation, any impression that might have been made by the labor of the pulpit.

In the latter part of 1816, during his second year in Detroit, Mr. Hickcox was greatly aided by the services of Rev. Joseph Mitchell, an elderly local preacher of real ability, who soon filled almost all of the appointments on this side of the river. He became very popular with all classes by reason of his sturdy independence, but his popularity did not dull his weapons or cause him to forget his duty. He was still faithful in reproof and warning. On one Sabbath, when his theme was "The New Birth," the old Council House was crowded with territorial, military, and city officers, together with leading citizens. Near the close of his sermon, addressing the parties almost by name, he called out, " You, governor ! You, lawyers! You, judges ! You, doctors! You must be converted and born again, or God will damn you as soon as the beggar on the dung-hill." The next morning Governor Cass sent him a five-dollar note, and expressed his kindly thanks, saying that the sermon was the best he had ever heard.

At the close of his second year, in the summer of 1817, Mr. Hickcox reported thirty members for Detroit Circuit. In June of this year the Rev. Gideon Lanning was appointed to Detroit, and was so well liked that when he preached the Council House, yard, and adjacent street were filled with listeners. The Detroit Gazette of August I con- tains the following announcement of one of his services :

On Sunday evening the Rev. Mr. Lanning, a missionary from New York, will deliver a discourse in the Council House. People are requested to attend at early candle lighting.

In a letter to Rev. Dr. Carroll, quoted in his Case and his Cotemporaries, Mr. Lanning says :

Detroit in 1818 was a mission-field embracing the whole of Michigan and a small section of Ohio. It did not extend into Canada, as had been the case previously, but was attached to the Upper Canada District still. In Detroit city I found no society, and only two members (Judge Abbott and his wife), belonging to a society seven miles distant ; but I had a large congregation which met in the Council House, there being no church of any denomination in the place. I found but one class of twenty members, and a few other names at various points, making a grand total of thirty members in all in my hands ! But there were many doors open to receive the Gospel message, and I had the honor of preaching in many places where no one had ever preached before. In consequence of failing health I had to leave this most inviting field of ministerial toil after the lapse of a few months; and one Thomas Harmon, a local preacher from Canada, officiated the balance of the year.

On account of sickness, Mr. Lanning remained only until New Year. He had been assisted, espe- cially at the Rouge, by a local preacher named Thomas Harmon, who filled the rest of the appoint- ments for the conference year, which ended in June, 1818. There were reported this year forty members for the circuit. It was under Mr. Harmon's labors that the log church on the Rouge was erected. This location was selected, in part at least, through the influence of Rev. J. Hickcox, who had entered a tract of land on that river. The church was situated on Private Claim 52, then known as the Sargeant Farm. The deed for a square acre of land is dated November 21, 1817, and was recorded in Liber 6, page 89, of County Records, on April 24, 1821. It was made by Thomas and John Sargeant and their wives for the consideration of one dollar. The lot was on the north side of the Rouge, about one hundred and twenty rods from the river, and twenty rods west of the town line which forms the eastern boundary line of Private Claim 52, in the town of Dearborn.

The church was twenty-four by thirty feet in size, and of course a rough affair, remarkable only as being (except the one built by the Moravians in 1782) the first Protestant church built in Michigan. It was erected March 31, 1818. Disaffections arising in the society, the building was used for church pur- poses only about ten years. It then became a school-house, and finally "fell from grace," becom- ing a place of evil resort. In 1843 the neighbors set fire to it, and then pulled it down. In 1882 the site was occupied by an orchard.

In July, 1818, Alpheus Davis was appointed to Detroit Circuit, but on account of ill health he was soon transferred to Ancaster circuit, in Canada, and was succeeded at Detroit by Samuel Belton, who served the rest of the year. He was followed by Truman Dixon, who at the close of his year in 1819 reported sixty-six members.

In 1820 Rev. John P. Kent was put in charge of the circuit, which was probably divided this year, as Mr. Kent reported only twenty members. In the summer of 1821 he was taken sick, and his appoint-

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ments were filled for two or more Sabbaths by Rev. J. B. Finley. So acceptable were his sermons that Governor Cass, the Messrs. Hunt, and other promi- nent citizens sent a request to the bishop to have him stationed at Detroit, but he did not accede to their wishes. In September Platt B. Morey was appointed to this circuit, but he died soon after his appointment, preaching in Detroit only once. His predecessor, John P. Kent, having recovered his health, finished the year, preaching frequently in the first Protestant Church. He reported one hun- dred and thirty mem- bers on the circuit, an increase of one hun- dred and ten.

On January 25, 1822, the charge was visited by Rev. John Strange, the presiding elder, who preached in the Council House, greatly edifying his hearers.

We now turn back to 1816. In that year correspondence with one of the professors of Princeton College resulted in the ap- pointment of the Rev. John Monteith to Detroit by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. A month's pay ($40) was advanced him, until arrangements could be made for COPYRIGHT IPPO BY SILAS FARMER .. his salary among those for whom he was to labor. In due time he reached the city, and on June 30, 1816, he preached his first sermon in the Council House. On August 8, at a public meeting called for the pur- pose, a committee of three, consisting of Governor Cass, H. J. Hunt, and James Abbott, was appointed to represent the people, and they made an arrange- ment with Mr. Monteith to stay one year for $800. He preached regularly every Sabbath in the Council House, except that on every third Sabbath in the evening the services were conducted by a Metho- dist minister.

The next year on September 15, 1817, an associ- ation, comprising all persons who chose to belong, called the First Evangelistic Society of Detroit, was organized with the object of sustaining the services.

It was in no sense a church, but simply an associa- tion. About this time it was decided to fit up the upper story of the new University Building as a place of worship, and on October 24, 1817, the Detroit Gazette contained the following notice :

The citizens of Detroit and vicinity are informed that the upper story of the building now erecting and belonging to the University of Michigan, is to be laid out and furnished for the accommodation of the Protestant Congregation as a place of worship, and that the pews will be sold for one year to the high- est bidder, on Monday next at 3 o'clock P. M. at the Council House, where a plan of the pews will be exhibited.

FIRST PROTESTANT CHURCH AS IT APPEARED WHEN IN USE BY TRINITY CATHOLIC CHURCH.

This project appar- ently did not succeed, for services were still held in the Council House, as appears from the following notice, in the Gazette of December 26, 1817:

The Musical Society and others are requested to assist in the public exer- cises to-morrow at the Council House. The hymns will be selected from Dr. Watts.

It appears that there were some persons who did not approve of the form or the name of the organi- zation of 1817; the Gazette of March 27, 1818, contained the following editorial :

First Evangelic Church of Detroit-On the morn- ing of the 23d inst. an assembly was held at the Council House in this city for the purpose of establishing a Protestant religious society, there being no Protestant Church yet established in this Terri- tory. One of the judges of the Territory addressed the assembly, and deduced the origin of the word Protestant from the publica- tion on the Church door of Wittemberg, on the 31st day of Octo- ber, 1517, of the theses of Luther, containing ninety-five proposi- tions against indulgences ; and the subsequent protest and union of certain potentates of Germany, published on the 19th day of April, 1529. He then stated the events connected with the Cen- tennial anniversary of October the 31st. 1817, and the resolution to reduce the Protestant sects into one general denomination under the name Evangelic. He read parts of the decree signed by the Minister of the Interior at Berlin on the 30th day of June, 1817 ; reducing the Protestant sects into one denomination ; and assigning the reasons for abolishing the term Protestant and sub- stituting the term Evangelic.

After some further explanations it was successively resolved to adopt the term Evangelic in lieu of the term Protestant, or any less general Sectarian denomination, to designate the first reli-

FIRST REGULAR PROTESTANT SERVICES.

557

gious society established within the Territory of Michigan, of a persuasion different from that of the Roman Catholic.

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 90

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096