USA > Missouri > A History of Missouri from the Earliest Explorations and Settlements Until the Admission of the state into the union, Volume III > Part 23
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And yet it was only a few years before this time, in 1817, that the second steamboat, named "Constitution," commanded by R. P. Guyard, arrived at St. Louis.
110 Flint's Recollections, p. 88.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Early Protestant Ministers and Churches-Spanish Authorities opposed to Protestantism-Religious Qualifications Required of Immigrants-First Protestant Ministers in Spanish territory, now Missouri-First Protestant Baptism west of the Mississippi-Religious Decadence of early American Settlers-First German Protestant Minister in upper Louisiana on White- water-First Protestant church west of the Mississippi-Its members- First Baptist church north of the Missouri river-Its Members-Pioneer Baptist Preachers and Laymen-Adventure of Elder David McLain with Indians-Rev. John Mason Peck-Peck's ministry in St. Louis and the territory-Peck's observations-Baptist Congregations and Associations- Pioneer Missionary society-Opposition to Missionary society -Early Ministers poorly compensated-Noted early Baptist Preachers-Women's Mite societies-First Sabbath school at Chariton-Religious Conditions prevailing in St. Louis and the territory in 1812-Distribution of Bibles- Rev. Timothy Flint-Observations of Flint-Pioneer Presbyterian Min- isters-Members of first Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi- Noted early Presbyterian Ministers-Presbytery of Missouri, 1817- Pioneer Bible societies-First Episcopal Minister at St. Louis, 1819-Mem- bers of first Episcopal church at St. Louis-First Methodist church west of the Mississippi-Noted early Methodist Preachers-Early Methodist Cir- cuits and Stations-First Methodist Conference 1810.
Although the Spanish authorities invited American emigration into the country west of the Mississippi, they strenuously objected to the introduction of the Protestant religion. "The privilege of enjoying liberty of conscience is not extended beyond the first genera- tion," says the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, in his ordinance, but the "children of those who enjoy it must positively be Catholics. Those who will not conform to this rule are not to be admitted, but are to be sent back out of the province immediately, even though they possess much property." And "in the Illinois," (it should always be remembered that at that time the country on both sides of the Mississippi was known as Illinois) " none shall be admitted but Catholics of the class of farmers and artisans." He further ordered that the provisions of this article should "be explained to the immigrants already established in the province who are not Catholics," and that it should be observed by them, and " that not having done it until this time being an omission and contrary to the order of his Majesty, which required it from the beginning."1
This ordinance was issued September, 1797. At that time a number of Protestant immigrants had settled in the territory of Spain 1 See also Stoddard's Louisiana, p. 314, on effect of these regulations.
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and received concessions. In order to cut off the settlers from all intercourse with their religious brethren on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, the ordinance expressly provided: "The Commandant will take particular care that no Protestant preacher, or one of any sect other than the Catholic shall introduce himself into the province; the least neglect in this respect will be subject to repre- hension."
At the request of the Bishop of Salamanca Irish priests were sent by the King of Spain to settle among the Protestant and Anglo- Saxon settlers in Louisiana. Thus the Irish priest, Father James Maxwell, as we have seen, came to Ste. Genevieve.
Although the ordinance requiring immigrants to profess the Catholic religion was very strict, the Spanish Commandants and other officers, anxious to secure settlers from the United States, per- mitted Protestants to settle in the country, and granted them con- cessions of land after a vague, general and perfunctory examination on the subject of their faith. It need not surprise us therefore that the French residents throughout upper Louisiana entertained no very exalted opinion of the religion of the American settlers, even going so far as to say that they had no religion at all. Nor did their earliest intercourse with many of these American settlers give them an exalted idea of their piety.2
So whatever may be said as to the religious qualifications required · and at least theoretically exacted from emigrants coming from the United States, the liberal land policy of the Spaniards nevertheless induced many emigrants to cross over the Mississippi into the Spanish dominion and swear allegiance to the Spanish King, perhaps with a vague presentiment that they constituted the advance guard of Americans - destined to carry American institutions into all that wide country stretching to the Pacific.
It was only occasionally that an American emigrant, arriving at the Spanish posts on the west bank of the Mississippi, found the religious test so intolerable and irritating as to cause him to retire from the Spanish possessions. Lieutenant-Governor Trudeau, in January, 1798, writes: "In spite of all the advantages which our government has given them, they have always present in their minds the difference of sect as regards our religion. This point occupies them so much, that worthy and rich families have returned to the other district (i. e., the eastern Illinois) because they are obliged to 2 Schultz's Travels, vol. 2, p. 67.
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celebrate their marriages and baptisms by means of our Catholic priests."" Thus the father of Governor John Reynolds, of Illinois, when he came to Ste. Genevieve and found that under the Spanish law and ordinances, in order to secure permission to settle and a con- cession of land, he must profess the Catholic religion, or at least agree to raise his family in that faith, re-crossed the Mississippi and made a settlement in Illinois." The Murphys, Byrds and others, coming from the same section in Tennessee, remained. We also have an account of how Andrew Wilson, a former Presbyterian minister, came with Colonel Morgan to New Madrid. Wilson was a native of Scotland, but since it is quite certain that he never preached, at least publicly, at New Madrid, or elsewhere, it would seem that he abandoned his religious calling.
The first Protestant preacher said to have crossed over into upper Louisiana from the eastern side of the river, to preach to the English settlers, was the Rev. John Clark, a Methodist. Clark came into upper Louisiana in 1796, and in that year visited the settlements near St. Louis. He is described as a man of "singular simplicity of manners and unaffected piety, and wholly disinterested." Don Zenon Trudeau, who was then Lieutenant-Governor of upper Louisiana, greatly favored American emigrants, and being perhaps tinctured with the French irreligion of that time, appeared little dis- posed to interfere with the periodic visits of Clark. But after Clark had almost fulfilled his appointments Trudeau would send out threatening messages, that the Protestant preacher must leave Spanish territory, or he would be imprisoned. Clark was at no time personally molested although he was accustomed to travel on foot when on his missionary tours from one settlement to another.5
But prior to this time, in February, 1794, a Baptist minister, Rev. Josiah Dodge, from Nelson county, Kentucky, while visiting his brother, Dr. Israel Dodge, on the Saline near Ste. Genevieve, preached to the few scattered American settlers then in that locality." . So that it would seem that the first Protestant sermon west of the Mississippi river was delivered in the Ste. Genevieve district. In
' Report of Trudeau, 1798, in General Archives of the Indies, Seville.
" Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois.
" He subsequently became a Baptist; after the cession settled in Illinois, and died in 1833 .- Reynolds' History of Illinois, p. 221.
' This Rev. Josiah Dodge "was an efficient Baptist preacher." The Dodges according to Peck were "anciently a family of Baptists." The wife of Gen. Henry Dodge was a McDaniel of St. Louis county, and "joined the church in early life."-Life of Peck, p. 118.
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the same year Dodge went over the river to Illinois and baptized four persons in Fountain creek, in what is now Monroe county. It is highly probable that the persons thus baptized were residents of upper Louisiana, who went over the river to be baptized in order not to violate the Spanish ordinances. In 1799, Rev. Thomas Johnson, another Baptist preacher, visited the Cape Girardeau district. He came from Georgia and at one time had been a missionary among the Cherokee Indians. While in this district Johnson baptized Mrs. Agnes Ballew in the waters of Randall creek. This is the first Protestant baptism administered west of the Mississippi river.
Deprived of all religious influences the Protestant American settlers in the Spanish country naturally retrograded morally. Many, it seems, even forgot to note the days of the week or to observe Sunday, and it is said that Mackay, Commandant of St. Andre, hoisted a flag on the first day of the week, in order to advise the inhabitants that it was Sunday. Thus this day with them became a day of festivity. What wonder that under such circumstances Hempstead, speaking of the Anglo-American settlers should write his father in 1810 that their morals were "depraved, and little or no religion in it." 7
At the request of the German settlers, in the Cape Girardeau district, the Rev. Samuel Weyberg, a preacher of the German Re- formed Church, came to upper Louisiana in 1803. Originally from Pennsylvania, this minister of the gospel in 1792 removed to North Carolina, where he labored in the counties of Burk, Lincoln, Rowan, and Carbaras, whence most of these German settlers emigrated to the Spanish possessions. Rev. Samuel Weyberg, a son of the Rev. Casper D. Weyberg, pastor of the Race street Reformed church, of Philadelphia, was born September 19, 1773. He received a classical education, and it is related by his son that during the Revolutionary war, when the English soldiers marched through the streets of Philadelphia, his father and family being enthusiastically devoted to the Revolutionary cause, and he having imbibed these sentiments, loudly yelled as the soldiers were passing his father's house, "Hurrah for General Washington!" and thus came near causing the family serious trouble. It was intended that he should follow the law as a profession, but on the sudden death of his father, at the solicitation of the ministers of the church, he gave up his preparatory legal studies and applied himself to the study of theology under the
" Hempstead Papers in Missouri Historical Society Archives.
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instruction of the Rev. Casper Wack and Rev. Mr. Herman,8 eminent divines of the German Reformed church. After due instruction "in the sciences connected with theology," he was admitted to the ministry. Shortly thereafter he emigrated to the German settle- ments of North Carolina, and subsequently married in that state.
In 1803 he met Major George Frederick Bollinger, one of the earliest settlers of the Cape Girardeau district, who had returned to his old home on a visit and was delegated by his neighbors to secure a minister for the settlement. At his solicitation Weyberg returned with him, traveling from North Carolina on horseback through the then almost unbroken wilderness to his new field of spiritual labor west of the Mississippi. On his arrival in the country late in the year 1803, and when it was already well known that the country had been or was about to be ceded, he preached one of the first Protestant sermons, certainly the first German Protestant sermon, in upper Louisiana, at the house of a German settler about one mile below where. the city of Jackson now stands.º From that time on Weyberg held regular religious services for a number of years at the houses of various German settlers. One of his regular preaching places was the residence of Daniel Bollinger, on Whitewater river, and another, the residence of Philip Bollinger on Little Whitewater creek. He also preached at the residence of John Bollinger as well as at the residence of Peter Grount, who was one of the elders of the church and lived about six miles north of the residence of John Bol- linger. The German settlements then extended up and down the Whitewater river. Weyberg organized his church as well as the isolated conditions of the settlement would permit, and although his people resided within ten miles of the Indian villages, and far distant from his Anglo-American neighbors, he had regular communions, catechumens and confirmations, the religious services being con- ducted in the German language.
Thus early did the Germans establish themselves, their language and one of their churches within the limits of the territory of Missouri. At the time of the acquisition of Louisiana they had become a pros- perous and highly respected community.
' This appears in the minutes of Cotus held in Philadelphia, May 6th and 7th, 1792, where it is said that young Samuel Weyberg has been instructed in theology by him, and requests that this student might be ordained after satis- factory examination .- Harbaugh's Fathers of the German Reformed Church, vol. 3, p. 3, note 2.
' Harbaugh's Fathers of the German Reformed Church, vol. 3, p. 46.
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In 1805 Weyberg's family, together with a large company of new emigrants, came from North Carolina to this settlement. John C. Weyberg, a son of Rev. Samuel Weyberg, and the only chronicler of the life and labors of these Swiss-German pioneers, says that in 1812 the church was well organized and in a flourishing condition, that the members regularly attended divine services, and that they were "open hearted and charitable." He describes the way in which they paid their pastor by saying that, in the fall of the year, they often brought his father fine, fat hogs, well dressed, without asking if he wanted anything before they brought them; that the women often brought loaves of bread in the week besides fresh meat and vegetables in summer, and that the Indians even, in numbers as high as twenty at a time, frequently brought fine venison, bear's meat, turkeys, and also baskets and dressed deer skins. Often they "lodged around our house," says Weyberg; his mother distributed surplus milk to them, and as a boy he often hunted with them.1º
Almost immediately after the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States, in 1805, a Baptist preacher, Rev. Daniel Green, a native of Virginia, came to upper Louisiana to preach to some of his former parishioners, who had settled in the Tywappity bottom. Green continued to preach in various settlements of the Cape Girar- deau district, where he died in 1809. On the 19th day of July, 1806, Green organized Bethel Baptist church at the house of Mr Thomas Bull, near Hubbell creek in the same district. The mem- bers of this first Protestant church west of the Mississippi, if we except the German Reformed church just mentioned, were Thomas English, Learma Greene, Jane English, Agnes Ballew, William Smith, Thomas Bull, Edgar Spears, Anderson Rodgers, John Hitt, Clara Abernathy, Catherine Anderson, Rebecca Randall, Francis Hitt and William Mathews. At a meeting held in September following, Mr.
1º Harbaugh's Fathers of the German Reformed Church, vol. 3, p. 48. Rev. Samuel Weyberg,wrote his name "Whybark," likely adopting this spelling because in English the sound of "Whybark" is about the same as "Weyberg' or "Weiberg," in German. There also seems to be reason to suppose that the name was spelled "Weiberger." The details of the life of the Rev. Samuel Weyberg were secured from the sketch of his life written by his son, John C. Weyberg or Whybark, and furnished Rev. H. Harbaugh by the Rev. John Stoneberger, likely "Steinberger," of Patton, Bollinger county, Missouri. Stoneberger says that Weyberg "was a very ready and eloquent speaker."
Peck, speaking of this settlement in 1818, says: "Mr. Bollinger and a number of other German families made their pitch here, under the Spanish government, about the commencement of the present century. They were nominal Lutherans, but being destitute of a pastor and without schools, they degenerated in religion, but were industrious farmers."-Life of Peck, p. 119.
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Thomas Bull was elected "writing clerk," and this position he held until 1825. In April, 1807, Mr. William Mathews was chosen as "singing clerk." In October, 1806, the congregation resolved to build a house of worship, and this resolution was put into effect by erecting a small log structure on the land of William Bull, on the waters of Hubbell creek." Thus the first Protestant church west of the Mississippi river was erected in upper Louisiana in 1806. Bethel church in 1809 was received into the Red River Association, which met at old Red River church near Clarksville, Tennessee, and remained a member of the association until 1816, when it was decided to form a new association of the churches in Missouri.
From the records of this church, preserved by the labors of Rev. Thomas Parish Green, who was called to the pastorate in 1818, we learn that Thomas Wright and two others were expelled from the church "for holding Arminian views." John Reynolds was also expelled "for joining a Masonic lodge." At a meeting of the church in 1818, Mrs. Hannah Edwards was allowed "to wear gold earrings for the benefit of her health." This entry appears in the minutes of March 11, 1820: "Church in conference. Query: If a member is constrained to shout shall the church bear with it? Ans .: Yes."
One of the pioneer preachers of Bethel church was Wilson Thomp- son, afterward a distinguished Baptist divine, who came to the Missouri territory from Kentucky in 1811. Thompson was born. in 1788, and was of Welsh-English descent. At the age of twenty he began to preach, or "try to preach," as he was accustomed in after- life to say. He married Miss Mary Grigg, in Carroll county, Ken- tucky, in 1810, and in the following year removed to the Cape Gir- ardeau district, settling near where the city of Jackson is now located. For a time he taught school in that neighborhood, and when he began to preach at Bethel church a great religious revival resulted. Among other converts was his uncle Benjamin Thompson, who also
11 Judge W. C. Ranney, who remembered Bethel church as it was in 1825, describes it as follows: "It was a log house capable of seating 100 to 150 people. It was built of hewed logs. It was an old looking church when I first saw it. There were some planks nailed up in the shape of a pulpit, kind of a box shape. The seats were made of slabs, without a back, with legs put through auger holes. The floor was made of plank. It had two or three windows in it, about 8 by 10 glass. It was about 8 or 9 feet to the ceiling. The church had a fireplace in the end of the house opposite the pulpit. They went into church on the east side between the pulpit and fireplace. The chimney was built out of rock. The fireplace was about four feet across. The church had a clapboard roof. It was ceiled overhead. The walls were not whitewashed. It was chinked and daubed, otherwise comfortable." - MS. Recollections of Judge Ranney in the author's possession.
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became one of the pioneer Baptist ministers of Missouri. During this revival, it it said that 400 or 500 were converted. But, not being an ordained minister, he could not administer the ordinance of baptism, and a messenger was sent to call Elder Stilley, who for several years had been pastor of Bethel church, but then resided about thirty miles south in the Tywappity Bottom. Elder Stilley came to the next church meeting, but evidently jealous of the success of the young licentiate, he "seemed distant and 1 gruff, and was unwilling to baptize the : people. His reasons were that he had been afflicted some time before with ague, and going into the water might bring on a . relapse, and that he was too weak to per- - - form the labor. These and many other poor excuses he made, such as perhaps WILSON THOMPSON no Baptist had been known to make before." After much persuasion, he finally, however, agreed to perform the ordinance of baptism, if Thompson would "lead them in and out, and raise them from the water." To this arrangement he agreed, and "so it was done." Under the circumstances, the members of Bethel church were very anxious to have Thompson ordained, but Elder Stilley was the only Baptist minister in the immediate neighborhood, and under the rules of the Red River Association to which Bethel church belonged, it required two ordained ministers to ordain a minister. The only other Baptist minister was Elder Tanner, who then resided near New Madrid. After much persuasion, Elder Stilley finally agreed to go with Thomp- son to Elder Tanner's, but when he, accompanied by Cotteral, another Baptist licentiate, and Mr. Bull, came to his residence for that purpose, "he was crusty and distant," and absolutely refused to accompany them, nor could he be persuaded to do so. Thomp- . son, however, filled his appointments, preached at Robinson's Prairie, by which name Big Prairie was then also known, and at Matthew's Prairie, where Charleston is now located, and arrived at New Mad- rid, at the residence of Elder Tanner, on Sunday evening. On Monday, he and Bull, on their return trip, stopped at Robinson's Prairie the first night, and the next day reached Baldwin's in Tywap- pity Bottom, about four miles below Commerce.
The day after was January 8th, and after leaving Baldwin's,
BAPTIST CHURCHES IN NORTH MISSOURI 209
Thompson records that when about two miles from the hills which set in at Commerce, "a severe shock of an earthquake came on us, as we were in an open place in the timber," and here they dismounted from their "staggering horses, which could scarcely stand up, and we ourselves found it difficult to stand." These shocks were frequent, and he says, "often introduced by a noise like distant thunder and then a roaring like heavy wind would come through the air, and with this sound would come the shock and convulsive surges of the earth." These earthquakes caused Elder Tanner to come up to the high lands of Cape Girardeau. The religious work of Thompson was unusually fruitful, for he tells us the "work of the Lord was progressing gloriously," and that "saints were happy, rejoicing in the display of God's power and grace. Young converts were sing- ing the praises of their Saviour." Elders Stilley and Tanner, being both present at the next meeting of Bethel church, during these exciting times, Thompson was ordained "to the gospel ministry." Elder Tanner delivered the charge in a sermon on this text, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" Thompson was then chosen pastor of Bethel church, but in 1813 he removed to Ohio.12 In 1814 Elders John Farrar and James P. Edwards, of Bethel church, organized Providence and Bellevue churches. In the previous year Elder Farrar had been ordained by Bethel church, Elder Colden Williams then being the regular preacher of the church, assisted by the Rev. Fielding Wolf." Colden Williams seems to have succeeded Thomp- son as pastor.
According to Peck, Mount Zion, the first Baptist church north of the Missouri river, was organized in about 1810, probably by Elder McLain, who came to north Missouri in that year and resided within the limits of the present Howard county. Between 1810 and 1815 but little progress was made by this church. In that sparsely inhab- ited country and in those perilous times of isolation and Indian wars church services were irregular. Rev. M. J. Breaker seems to think that the Mt. Pleasant church near New Franklin was the first Baptist church organized in north Missouri, and he mentions Elders David McLain, Colden Williams and John Sneethan, as the elders; Colden Williams, however, did not remove to north Missouri until 1813.14
12 Life of Thompson, p. 130, et seq.
18 Life of Peck, p. 121.
" The first members of this church, says Rev. Breaker, were: Samuel Brown, Abraham Grooms, William Creson and wife, William Monroe, - Stephenson and wife, Mrs. Winscott, Nancy Goggin, Nancy Cojum, Joseph Boty, Mrs. John Sneethan, Sophia Swearingen, Josiah Boon and wife, and Dan Reder and wife.
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After 1815 a stream of immigration began to pour into the country. One wagon train of settlers came after the other in quick succession to this new and promising land. This new immigration and the more settled condition of affairs made possible a revival of religion.
With the first immigration from Kentucky to north Missouri in 1810, came Elder David McLain, a Baptist preacher. An interesting incident in the life of this early Baptist preacher has been preserved. It is said that in 1813 he started on a visit to Kentucky on horseback in company with a man named Young. On this trip while traveling in Illinois along the old trace leading from St. Louis to Vincennes they were fired on by the Indians. Young was instantly killed, and McLain's horse shot through the body. McLain was uninjured, but fell with the horse, and quickly extricating himself threw his saddle bags into the brush and ran for his life, chased by the Indians. After a time all the Indians fell back except one tall, athletic fellow who kept up the pursuit. McLain had on a thick overcoat, leggins and spurs on his boots, and was not a little inconvenienced by these incumbrances, and when the Indian fired and missed him, he took advantage of this to throw away his overcoat, thinking the Indian might perhaps be diverted by this prize. But when he found the Indian, having reloaded his gun, still followed him, he made a sign of surrender. Then when the Indian came within a few feet he assumed an attitude of defiance, carefully watched his motion, dodged the instant he fired and thus escaped the ball; then gathering all his energy he again began to run. In this wise he continued for over an hour, during which the Indian fired on him several times while in pursuit. McLain in the meantime managed to throw away his boots and spurs, and running thus through the timber of the Kaskaskia bottoms for about three or four miles, he finally reached the river. Deeming this his last chance to escape, he jumped in the water, exerting his utmost strength to swim away, with his eyes, however, constantly fixed on his foe, who had loaded his gun and fired for the eighth time just when Elder McLain dived into the water. By swimming diagonally down the river he so gained dis- tance from his pursuer that the latter giving vent to a horrible yell gave up the chase and returned to his band. McLain on reaching the opposite shore was greatly exhausted and only succeeded in climbing up the river bank with the utmost difficulty. He was so chilled by the cold water into which he had plunged when in great perspiration, that he could only get his blood into circulation by
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