USA > Missouri > Presbyterianism in the Ozarks : a history of the work of the various branches of the Presbyterian Church in Southwest Missouri, 1834-1907 > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02607 1891
26.1 YE 250
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Gc 977.8 St8p Stringfield, E. E. b. 1863. Presbyterianism in the Ozarks
Presbyterianism in the Ozarks
1
A History of the Work of the Various Branches of the Pres- byterian Church in Southwest Missouri
1834-1907
-BY-
E. E. STRINGFIELD, Ph. D.
Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A.
MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Introduction by John B. Hill, D. D. with an Appendix con- taining Occasional Addresses
Published at the request of the Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A.
1909
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
١٠
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DEDICATED TO
"'A wife as tender and as true withal As the first woman was before the Fall."
7
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
CONTENTS
BOOK I.
Introduction by Rev. John B. Hill, D. D. 9
Preliminary Word 11
Chapter I. Confluent Streams that Sink to Rise in Rills 16
Chapter II. The Rise of the Rills 35
Chapter III. Ozark Presbytery U. S. A. 1870-1907, (with
an account of the reorganization in 1907 and the or- ganization of Carthage Presbytery) 41
Chapter IV. Woman's Presbyterial Society 75
Chapter V. Educational Interests. 80
Chapter VI. Some Presbyterial Statistics
84
Chapter VII. Chronological Register and Sketches of the Churches 117
Chapter VIII. Sketches of Ministers 183
Chapter IX. Etchings from the Pews. 274
BOOK II.
Cumberland Presbyterianism in Southwest Missouri
Chapter I. The First Presbytery. 290
Chapter II. Amicable Divisions Incident to Enlargement. 305
Chapter III. The Destruction that Wasteth at Noon Day Reconstruction 314
Chapter IV. Homeward Bound. 320
Chapter V. Historic Churches
Chapter VI. Sketches of Ministers and Elders. 334
340
Chapter VII. In Silhouette 370
Chapter VIII. Other Presbyterian Bodies.
379
Chapter IX. Colored Cumberland Presbyterianism 383
APPENDIX
I. The Men and Times of the Westminster Assembly.
385
II. Forefathers' Day Address. 392
III. Two Hundred Years of Organized Presbyterianism
397
IV. Presbyterian Reunions 405
V. Presbyterianism; Its Affinities 416
VI. Pulpit and Pew in Perspective. 429
INTRODUCTION.
Doctor Stringfield has written a valuable and a readable his- tory. It treats of a period, a territory and a branch of the church well worthy of lasting remembrance in the annals of American Home Missions. Following no precedent as to contents, arrange- ment or literary style, his work is stamped throughout with his own originality and independence. Even where other writers had preceded him, from whom he could and very properly did quote extensively, he did not accept their statements without personal verification from original sources, wherever possible. How difficult the task the Doctor set before himself, and persist- ently pursued until its completion, none can fully realize that has not been through a similar experience. No one could ever have succeeded as well as he has done without a love for the truth and a desire for its dissemination.
The joy that comes to the historian is like that that comes to the student of mathematics in the solution of a difficult prob- lem or to any earnest soul in the achievement of a laudable ambi- tion. The history one writes thus becomes a part of himself, and never more so than when it tells of events in which he himself has had a real participation as well as an interest. The writer's enthusiasm is then shared by his reader. It is especially re- freshing when he dares to use the first pronoun, if. as in this case, he always uses it modestly.
The preparation of every history is largely a work of love. Its publication is seldom remunerative. For this particular book there has been a list of advance subscribers sufficiently large to relieve the author of the cost of publication. Those eager snb- scribers will not be disappointed when they have a chance to read the work : but this history will be almost a failure if it does not secure such a reading as to produce results in its readers. It is fitted to give every reader a perspective by which to judge present-day positions and tendencies, and also to inspire many a reader, especially among the ministers, to try to make similar contributions to local history. God's hand is shaping modern history as truly as it ever shaped the past. If it is ours to recog- nize His providence, it should be ours to help others to a similar recognition.
Hearty thanks are due to Dr. Stringfield for coming to us after the manner of Asaph of old, saying: "Give ear, O my people. * # * I will open my mouth in parable; I will utter dark sayings of old; which we have heard and known and our
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their chil- dren, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He hath established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments." (Ps. 78:1-7.) In fact, the Doctor has made himself one of the Church Fathers, to be con- sulted by present and future generations of godly parents and church officers who desire to act in accordance with the com- mand of Moses, when he said: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father and he will shew thee; thy elders and they will tell thee." (Dt. 32:7.) Rising from the reading of his book, we can but "call to remem- brance the former days" (Heb. 10:32), and thank the Lord, saying: "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days in times of old : how Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plant- edst them." (Ps. 44:1-2.) We can but say also, with still an- other Psalmist: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my month, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (Ps. 137:5-6.)
JOHN B. HILL.
Kansas City, Mo., July 1, 1909.
II
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
PRELIMINARY WORD.
I purpose to write a history of Presbyterianisin within the confines of the first Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A. I shall men- tion in detail the beginnings of Presbyterianism in Southwest Missouri, dwelling particularly upon the origin and fortune of the charter churches of the Presbytery, and I shall present pen and picture sketches of the men who laid the foundations on which we are building as well as of those who have reared the superstructure. I believe with our fathers "that truth is in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its tend- ency to promote holiness, according to our Saviour's rule 'by their fruits ye shall know them.'" Yet all historical truths are not alike agreeable or profitable. And since facts are so numerous that if "They should be written every one I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," I shall select for narration those which bear upon a purpose-to be discovered by the "gentle reader." Leaving to the magazine writers the pastime of muck-raking, I shall dwell upon disagreeable facts only in so far as they point a moral or are essential to the story, for the things that are lovely and of good report have not received the attention they deserve.
The Presbytery of Ozark had its birth in the throes of the readjustments incident to the union of the Old and New School churches. It is the lineal heir of the Old School Presbytery of Southwest Missouri and inherited a small part of the fame and fortunes of the New School Presbytery of Osage. In the year of grace 1906 it confronted new readjustments incident to an- other union that materially changed its territory and constit- nency. The reunited church inherits from the Cumberland wing another Presbytery of Ozark which covers only a small part of the territory occupied by the Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A. Lest some thirtieth century "redactor" should overlook this fact, I pause to record the names of the ministers and churches and to inark the boundaries of the first Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A.,
3 1833 02607 1891
I2
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
at the time when the General Assemblies of 1906 declared the union effective :
MINISTERS
ADDRESS
Churches
Membership
Balthasar Hoffman, H. R ...
Webb City, Mo.
Pilny S. Smith
Amsterdam, Mo.
George H. Williamson, P. E
Monett, Mo.
Monett 143
Leonidas J. Matthews, H. R.
Houston, Mo.
Edward J. Nugent.
Mammoth Spring, Ark ....
David Bell Whimster, S. S
West Plains, Mo.
West Plains
93
Charles H. Mitchelmore, S. S.
Springfield, Mo.
.. Evans
(and assistant pastor of
Calvary)
George M. Bonner (colored) Springfield, Mo
William L. Hackett
Springfield, Mo ...
.Occasionally Supplying Crane
12
Mt. Zion 72
Willard 17
Lockwood 57
White Oak
30
Benjamin F. Logan, S. S. Jasper, Mo.
Salem 37
Grace
28
John R. Trett.
Franklin, Ark
Eureka Springs 97
24
Madison
17
Alba, an unorganized work.
John F. Shepherd, Ph. D. D. D ..... Webb City, Mo.
Webb City. 175
Jacob F. Scherer, S. S ..
Willow Springs, Mo.
Supplying & Cumberland
Church
Burnham
56
James H. Glanville, P Bolivar, Mo.
.Bolivar 77
Fair Play 22
Eugene E. Stringfield, Ph. D. P.
Springfield, Mo.
Springfield, Second 160
Benjamin M. Shive, D. D. P.
Joplin, Mo
Joplin First 431
Henry Little, Springfield, Mo.
Calvary 547
Benjamin L. Stuart, S. S.
Neosho,
Mo.
Neosho
139
Wilbur F. Grundy. Fayetteville, Ark.
(Sabbath School Missionary )
Edward L. Renick Springfield, Mo.
(Sabbath School Missionary )
Simpson V. Sydenstricker, Stu Cincinnati, Ohio
Huston Taylor, P.
Carthage,
Mo
Carthage Firs 504
Bethany (Joplin)
91
Abram Nelson Wylie, P.
Ravenden Springs, Ark .. Ravenden Springs
26
Stations
Ebenezer (Greenfield) 92
Mt. Vernon 42
Ozark Prairie 69
Irwin 31
Fordland
24
Conway
52
Buffalo 18
Ash Grove
56
Waldensian
54
Seneca
22
Harrison (Ark) 27
Lehigh
14
Harris (Ark)
1
Stockton 8
Mammoth Spring (Ark) .. 12
Mt. Olivet (Ark) 18
Bethel (Ark) 13
Trace' Valley (Ark)
12
Preston
George B. Sproule, S. S.
Alba, Mo.
Nathanael Chestnut, P ..
Eureka Springs, Ark
Robert L. Kinnaird, S. S. Joplin, Mo.
The following churches were supplied by Cumberland Presbyterian ministers
And the following churches were vacant
(Pastor at Large)
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PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
These forty-two churches are widely scattered over South- west Missouri and a large part of Arkansas. In Missouri the Presbytery embraced twenty-three counties, with the exceptions that Kansas City Presbytery had jurisdiction in that part of Camden County lying north of the Osage River and the north- west corner of Cedar County. The counties are as follows: Barton. Jasper, Newton, McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, Dade. Cedar, Hickory, Polk, Greene, Christian, Stone, Taney, Ozark, Douglas, Webster, Dallas, Camden, Laclede, Wright, Texas and Howell. In early days Vernon County belonged to the Presby- tery, but was transferred to the Presbytery of Kansas City. The boundaries of the Presbyteries in Arkansas were laid by a frac- ture of the then extant law of the church as to "elective affinity courts." In 1898 they were defined as follows:
"The Presbytery of White River * * * originally embraced 17 counties in Southeastern Arkansas (according to the report of the Commission; 20 counties according to the Stated Clerk of White River Presbytery; 21 coun- ties according to the map.) 'Since then,' says the Stated Clerk, 'we have extended our boundaries so as to include the whole state.' None of these extensions have been authorized, approved, or disapproved by the Synod of Missouri. White River Presbytery is composed of Freedmen. No jurisdic- diction has ever been exercised by that Presbytery over the White churches in Arkansas. At least the following churches in Arkansas belong to other Presbyteries than that of White River, viz:
Eureka Springs to the Presbytery of Ozark, Synod of Missouri. Jones- boro, to the Presbytery of St. Louis, Synod of Missouri. Ridge Station to the Presbytery of St. Louis, Synod of Missouri. Hot Springs First to the Presbytery of St. Louis, Synod of Missouri. Mena to the Presbytery of Choctaw, Synod of Indian Territory. * * * Inasmuch as none of the exten- sions of the original boundaries `of White River Presbytery have been sanctioned by Synod, and those churches in Arkansas not belonging to White River Presbytery were organized by the Presbyteries to which they now belong, and with which they are in direct rail road connection, the follow- ing readjustment of Presbyterial lines is recommended: 1. White River Presbytery shall consist of all those ministers and churches situated in the State of Arkansas south and east of a line drawn on the north and west lines of the following counties, to-wit: Sevier, Howard, Pike, Clark, Dallas, Grant, Jefferson, Pulaski, Conway, Faulkner, .White, Jackson, Poinsett, and Mississippi.
2. The Arkansas counties of Benton, Carroll, Boone, Marion, Baxter, Fulton, Izard, Stone, Searey, Newton, Madison, Washington, Crawford, Se- bastian, Franklin and Johnson shall he annexed to the Presbytery of Ozark.
3. The remaining counties in Arkansas shall he annexed to the Pres- bytery of St. Louis.
4. The Synod of Missouri shall notify the Synod of the Indian Terri- tory of the foregoing action, with the request, that hereafter all work in Arkansas shall be done by the Presbyteries covering the state, with the exception of the church at Mena, which it is hereby agreed shall be allowed to remain in connection with the Presbytery of Choctaw, until a further
14
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
readjustment of Presbyter al lines is made." (Minutes of Synod, 1898, pp. 67, 68.)
This readjustment was made in 1900 when the church of Mena was transferred from the Presbytery of Choctaw to the Presbytery of Ozark aud Synod passed the following:
"Resolved, That the western tier of counties in the State of Arkansas, so far as not now belonging to the Presbytery of Ozark, be now detached from the Presbytery of White River and annexed to the Presbytery of Ozark." (Minutes 1900, p. 47).
Previous to this the churches of Jonesboro and Ridge Sta- tion had been transferred from the Presbytery of St. Louis to the Presbytery of Ozark, whilst the moribund church of Hot Springs disappeared from the Assembly minutes after 1900. At present the Presbyteries of White River and Ozark are supposed to cover the State. But as Mena and Jonesboro have been trans- ferred to the Presbyterian Church in the United States. and Ridge Station has ceased to be, the work of the Presbytery of Ozark is represented by the church of Eureka Springs and a few other churches whose names will appear later in this vol- ume. It will be seen that in Arkansas we have a vast territory and but little else. But since the Master's kingdom is "not of this earth" the space given to this territory is out of prophetic regard to the greater things yet to be when reunited Presby- terianism shall come to an inheritance commensurate with her capacity to aid and bless. I have found traces of a rather ex- tensive work in Arkansas carried on by the New School Minis- ters prior to the Civil War. The following extract from a cor- respondence from Bentonville, Ark., to "The Home Missionary" of May, 1844, is given as a sample : "Since my last report I have been called to deliver several public addresses upon the subject of education. I have also engaged with others in the enterprise of putting a collegiate institution into operation in this section of the State. The college is to be called 'Far West Seminary,' and to be located in Washington County. A Board of Visitors, of which I am the presiding officer, and a Board of Trustees have been appointed. We have already obtained con- siderable donations in lands and other property, and have agreed to erect a brick edifice to commence the institution as soon as practicable. My heart is very much set on this enterprise and I am greatly encouraged to hope we may succeed."
But this Arkansas work is buried in an oblivion so deep that
.
15
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
I have failed to find any connection herewith to the post-bellum operations of Ozark Presbytery, and therefore I shall not attempt to exhume it farther.
The offspring of a reunion herself, it was but natural that the Presbytery of Ozark should hail with glad acclaim the re- union with "The Army of the Cumberland." At the first op- portunity, without a dissenting voice, without debate and fol- lowed by the singing of the doxology, she voted for the union- impelled to an early action by the thought that it would encour- age the union movement in the Cumberland wing of the church. And as an evidence of her faith in the final triumph of the move- ment received and amalgamated the Cumberland churches of Joplin and Webb City with her churches of these places, and formed tentative unions with her churches and the Cumberland churches at Ash Grove, Greenfield, Mount Vernon, Neosho and West Plains. This historical sketch was begun the 10th day of July, 1906. Ten days before this, by order of Presbytery, a church was organized in the populous mining city of Carterville.
Through the co-operation of the Committees of Home Mis- sions and Sunday School Work a student from the Lebanon Theo- logical Seminary, Mr. C. W. Sample, had been laboring in the city for about a month. The reunited church of Webb City agreed to give the new church the building that had formerly belonged to the Cumberland Church of Webb City, worth about $2,500; the prospective members of the new church purchased the lot and the Board of Church Erection was asked for $500 to defray the cost of moving and placing the building. Thus the wisdom of the reunion became apparent.
16
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARK'S
CHAPTER I.
CONFLUENT STREAMS THAT SINK TO RISE IN RILLS.
It has been intimated that the Presbytery of Ozark was formed by the converging of two streams of Presbyterianism. Like a lost river, these streams all but sank from view for a time, only to reappear with diminished force, then to gather momentum until they converged.
A FOREIGN MISSION FOUNDATION.
Let those who are inclined to disparage foreign missions in the supposed interests of home missions remember that South- west Missouri was first foreign mission territory. And it took its missionaries longer to reach their field than it takes mis- sionaries to reach China today.
"In the year 1819 the United Foreign Mission Society sent two men as exploring agents among the Indians in what was then known as Missouri Territory. * *
They finally se- lected a site for their mission on the west side of the Grand River, about twenty miles from Fort Gibson, in the present Cherokee country. This. is the first notice we have of the Osages attracting the attention of Christian people or any endeavors to carry the gospel to them. The Osages were a tribe of Indians that claimed and ocenpied, as wandering hunters do, the region south of the Kansas River to the Arkansas, thus embracing a considerable portion of what is now Western Missouri, Eastern Kansas and the territory now occupied by the Cherokee and Creek Indians. They were divided into two bands, one of which had headquarters * * along the Marais des Cygnes River.
* * A mission company consisting of nine men and eight women was sent out by the society in the year 1820 to establish a mission among the Osages of the Grand River. Two of the ladies died on the journey. * * * Having made a beginning with the Osages of the Grand River, the society decided to send another company to the Osages of Missouri, and a second com- pany was formed, which left New York for its destination March
.
17
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
-
7th. 1821. This company came by way of the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri and Osage Rivers, on keel boats." # * * After a most laborious passage they landed in Bates County August 9, 1821 .*
This mission, known as Harmony Mission, subsequently passed under the care of the American Board of Foreign Mis- sions, and was continued with varying fortunes until 1836. In 1822 a church was formed of twenty members. Only two were added for twenty years, when there was a revival that brought into it twenty others. In 1830 it was said of the Indians: "They remain the same dark, bewildered race, clinging to their idols. This mission has been established at great. expense of money and some valuable lives. Many prayers have been offered for its success, but little, very little, to human view has been accom- plished."
But though this mission did little for the Indians, it left permanent traces on this Synod, for the missionaries were ready for the incoming white population and were transferred from the roll of foreign missionaries to that of home missionaries.
The churches in this and contiguous missions were for a time isolated and independent.
In 1823 the missionaries in Harmony, Union and Dwight Missions formed what was called the Indian Mission Presbytery. As the Indians passed away, under the name of Harmony Pres- bytery, the work became identified with the Synod of Missouri."
HARMONY AND (THE FIRST) OSAGE PRESBYTERIES.
In 1836 the mission was given up and the work for the In- dians was abandoned. The report of the Board says: "No modern effort among the American Indians has been attended with more trials of various kinds."
Gradually the Harmony Church became disintegrated. But the families of the mission formed the nucleus of various churches in that region, and their descendants are found there to th's day None of these churches appear to have been in the confines of Ozark Presbytery, as described on a previous page. But as Ver- non County was a part of Ozark Presbytery. as constituted in 1870, two of them-Little Osage and Marmiton-have a place in this history. When the church was disrupted in 1837 the fruits of these early efforts fell to the lot of the New School Church. And as they were first on the field the results of their labors will be given first. The Presbytery bore the name of Harmony until 1846, when it was changed to Osage. Unfortu-
*See Dr. John B. Hill's History of Kansas City Presbytery, pp. 100, 101.
18
PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
nately the minutes of this first Osage Presbytery seem to be lost beyond recovery. However, as the major part of the work founded by this Presbytery passed through the Second Presby- tery of Osage to the Presbytery of Kansas City, a detailed ac- count thereof is not pertinent in this work. The Presbytery of Harmony is given in the minutes of the New School Assembly for the first time in 1843. At that time this Assembly convened but once in three years. The reports, therefore, are probably for three years. The statistics for this Presbytery are not very luminous, as a copy here given will show :
1843
CHURCHES
Communicants added
on examination
Communicants added
on certificate
Total number of Communicants
Adults baptized
Infants baptized
POST OFFICE
79 Presbytery of Harmony
Nathan P. Dodge
Little Osage
Little Osage, Mo.
Amasa Jones
Deepwater Salem Oseola
Deepwater, Mo.
E. P. Noel
George A. M. Ren- shaw
Mount Zion
Springfield, Mo. Bolivar, Mo.
B. Ryland --- 5
Herman
Warbelau -?
82
14
Of the seven churches, Little Osage. Mount Zion, Hermon and Warbleau were in the territory subsequently assigned to Ozark Presbytery. How many of the 146 members reported as belonging to the Presbytery were in these four churches we have no means of knowing. The Marmiton Church, in Vernon County, is not given in the minutes of 1843, though it is sup- posed to have been organized prior to 1837. Little Osage was or- ganized by Rev. N. B. Dodge June 27, 1835; and Herman or Her-
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PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE OZARKS
mon, in Polk County, some time before 1839. The next triennial minutes make no mention of Warbleau.
All vestiges of Hermon and Warbleau have disappeared. Little Osage and Marmiton have left but a fragrant memory. Only Mount Zion remains. "They that trust in the Lord shali be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, bat abideth for- ever."
In addition to these five churches, five or six others were organized before the Civil War-North Prairie, Hickory County, about 1843; Springfield, Greene County, 1849: Gasconade, Wright County, about 1851; Walnut Grove, Greene County, 1853, and Red Hill, Greene County. There seems also to have been a church at Hermitage,in Hickory County, but it does not appear on the Assembly's roll.
It is worthy of note that a large part of these early efforts were made in country districts. Mount Zion and North Prair:e were the strongest churches. The former was a tower of strength, sending out colonies not only to Walnut Grove and Springfield, but also to far-away Oregon and California. In 1851 Mount Zion reported 100 members, and in 1857 North Prairie reported 93. Here were the scenes of spiritual refreshings, and from these sources went forth streams of salvation to make glad the city of our God. Where are the descendants of these pioneer Presbyterians? Hickory County, a veritable land of promise, has long been without a Presbyterian church. The county historian of Polk County evidently failed to find traces of Presbyterian activity in that county before the war. Wright County we have long since given over to the moles and the bats.
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