USA > Missouri > Annals of Methodism in Missouri : containing an outline of the ministerial life of more than one thousand preachers, and sketches of more than three hundred ; also sketches of charges, churches and laymen from the beginning in 1806 to the centennial year, 1884, containing seventy-eight years of history > Part 8
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Dr. Heath, as I remember him, was well advanced in years,. had a blunt, direct way of his own, but was fond of innocent pleas- antry. Ile put up one night at one of his stopping places. A young;
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IS27.
Baptist lady was there, and to tease the Doctor she said to him: Well, Father Heath, we got some of your sheep while you were gone." "Ah, sister," replied the Doctor, "I don't know what you mean." "Why, I mean," said she, "that we got some of your mem- bers." "Oh then, they must have been goslings, for you can't get a sheep to go into water." After a pause he inquired, "Well, sister, do they make you good members?" "O yes," said she, "the best we have." "I am mighty glad of it, for they were the worst we had," was the prompt but blunt reply.
I presume that Dr. Heath was an Englishman, and that he was a man of good abilities. He was the first man ever ap- pointed to an agency by the Conference, and he was agent for three societies at the same time. "He was eminently practical and attended to all the duties of a Methodist preacher."
J. W. YORK served Saline and St. Francois for three years and Cape Girardeau one, and located in 1830. I think he married and located in the Abernathy neighborhood, in Perry county, where his name is perpetuated by a stone church called .. York Chapel." "He was a good preacher and a gentleman."
1827.
PARKER SNEDICOR was admitted on trial in IS26 and sent to Hot Springs ; 1827, Fishing River ; 1S2S, White River ; 1829, Saline and St. Francois ; 1830, Belleview; IS32, located. "A good man, but a poor preacher."
A. H. STEMMONS and N. M. TALBOT were admitted on trial into the Kentucky Conference in IS25. Here they traveled two years. They were received into full connection, ordained deacons and transferred to Missouri in IS27. Side by side they were ordained elders in 1829. In 1830 Mr. Stem- mons went back to Kentucky, and located in 1832. While in
60
N. M. TALBOT.
Missouri he served Missouri circuit one year and Belleview two. "He would now be regarded as one of our best young preachers."
Nathaniel M. Talbot deserves and shall have a more extended notice.
He was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, March 27, ISO5. Born again at Jones' camp ground in 1821, under the ministry of Rev. S. L. Booker. His long ministerial life began in his twenty-first year and reached to his sixty-eighth, running through forty-seven years, ten in Missouri and thir- ty-seven elsewhere. His appointments were: 1825, Hart- ford ; 1826, Jones' Creek : 1827, came to Missouri and appoint- ed to Boonslick ; IS2S, Cedar Creek ; 1829, Missouri circuit ; 1830, St. Louis circuit ; 1831, Union ; 1832, Belleview. In IS33 he was appointed to the Peoria mission, in the Indian Territory. For twenty-four years consecutively, he toiled to civilize and Christianize the sun-tanned aborigines of the prairies and plains of the West, being the co-laborer and peer of the Johnsons, the Peerys, Berryman and others. He was particularly adapted to this field of labor, and was eminently useful among the Indians. Many of the sons and daughters of the wild tribes of this untamed race of immortals were brought to the Saviour by his labors. Ile was one of the charter members of the Indian Mission Conferences, which was organized in 1844. He was, for several years, presiding elder in that Conference.
Wishing his children to have the benefits of civilized society, he sought and secured a transfer to the St. Louis Conference in 1857, and was appointed to Saline circuit ; 1858, Arrow Rock; 1859, Jefferson City, colored charge ; 1860, Arrow Rock ; 1861, Georgetown.
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IS27.
During the war he was a chaplain in the Confederate army, in which relation he probably was more useful than in any other he ever sustained, if not more so than any other man who served in that capacity. Confederate soldiers seem never to tire of telling how much good Uncle Nat did in the army. The boys almost idolized him. Pages could be filled with incidents illustrative of his devotion and use- fulness during those times which tried men's souls and brought out character in its true colors. He was tested in this crucible and found-proven to be a true man and a faithful minister of the Grace of God. "The brightest and most successful period of his life was contained in these four years." In 1865 he was transferred to the Louisiana Confer- ence and appointed to North Bossier circuit ; 1866, South Bos- sier, two years ; 1868, transferred back to the St. Louis Con- ference ; 1869, Dover circuit ; 1870, Warrensburg ; 1871, Bell Air. Ere the conference for IS72 met he had been trans- ferred by the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls to the "general assembly of the first-born above."
Uncle Nat, for so he was called by almost every one that knew him, possessed many elements of usefulness. He had a warm heart, generous nature and noble impulses. He was cheerful and happy himself. and strove to make every- body happy about him. He had a good vein of humor in his composition and kept himself well stocked with anec- dotes ; hence in the social circle he was generally the central person.
He was tall and portly, had a commanding presence, and was a good expository preacher.
He closed forty-seven years of unbroken service in the ministry July 31, 1872. "A few days before his death he
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JOHN TROTTER.
joined a part of his family in singing, 'There is a land of pure delight,' and led them in prayer, asking special biess- ings on each member of his household." He was anxious to meet his Conference once more. But his work was done. ". He rests from his labors and his works do follow him."
JOHN TROTTER entered the Holston Conference in IS25 ; was received, ordained, sent to Missouri and appointed to Saline and St. Francois with J. W. York in 1827. The next year he served Fishing River under Thomas Johnson, and located in IS29.
ABRAHAM NORFLEET came to Missouri this year with Stemmons and Talbott from Kentucky, where he com- menced his ministry in IS26, and was appointed to Cape Girardeau with U. Haw ; IS2S, Saline and St. Francois ; IS29, junior on Boonslick ; IS30, located. "He was a poor preacher, but a man much engaged in prayer."
1828.
THOS. JOHNSON was a member of the class of 1826. His first appointment was Mount Prairie, in Arkansas, where he remained two years. In IS2S he went to Fishing River ; 1829, Buffalo. In IS30 he was sent to the Indian missions where he continued eleven years, serving most of the time as super- intendent ; IS41, superannuated ; 1842, stationed in Boonville ; 1843, superannuated again ; 1844, Glasgow and Soule Chapel ; 1845 and 1846, agent for Howard High School ; IS47, transferred back to the Indian Mission Conference and appointed to take charge of an Indian manual labor school, in which relation he was continued during the remainder of his eventful life.
Mr. Johnson was born in Virginia, July 11, ISO2 ; 1822, came to Missouri at the age of twenty ; entered the ministry in 1826, and died January 3, 1865.
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1828.
He was a man of principle; one of the very few among the many thousands, who, on all occasions, and under all circumstances, acted upon the settled principles of morality and religion. Firm, without being austere; generous, without temporizing; liberal, without prod- igality; and religious, without either asceticism or bigotry, he held the golden medium between those extremes into which so many even good men sometimes fall. The natural goodness of his heart caused him, on the one hand, to sympathize with, and be interested in, every object of charity, and every benevolent enterprise that might appeal to him for aid; and prompted him, on the other, to those amenities and kind offices which constitute the web of social happiness, and conciliated for him the favor and good will of all within the circle of his acquaintance.
Mr. Johnson was born to be a leader and ruler of men, and right well did he fulfill the mission of his life. Of large physique, portly commanding presence, a penetrating eye and full and pleasant voice, he attracted attention, and being wise in counsel and prompt in execution, he was by common con- sent looked to as a leader in his Conference, and also in the General Conference of which he was several times a member. He attended the meeting of the Board of Missions in New York and pleaded for the Indians ; he made the rulers at Washington City feel his power; and by these means, as well as by teaching and preaching, he labored to Christian- ize and civilize the Red Men of the west. His end was tragic. An unknown enemy to the 'good man, under the cover of darkness, called him from his house and shot him in his yard. After six years of effective work in Missouri, two in Arkansas, twenty-nine in what is now Kansas and two on the superannuated list, he "fell on sleep."
EDWARD T. PEERY joined the Tennessee Conference in IS22 ; traveled there six years ; transferred to Missouri in IS2S, ยท and appointed to Missouri circuit; 1829, La Mine ; 1830, Salt
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WILLIAM JOHNSON.
River, two years ; 1832, Shawnee mission ; 1833, Delaware, four years ; IS37, located ; 1838, readmitted, and sent to the Pottawatomies, two years ; 1840, Delaware, two years ; 1842, presiding elder of Indian mission district, two years ; 1844, Indian Mission Sunday School ; 1845, presiding elder of Cher- okee district ; 1846, Wyandotte, two years; 1848, located again. He subsequently lived, finally died and was buried where Kansas City now is. Mr. Peery traveled four years in Missouri and twenty-one elsewhere, making in all a quarter of a century. He was regarded by his co-laborers as a sweet spirited man, a devoted, faithful Christian, a consecrated servant of the church, and a good preacher.
1828.
Two young men, WILLIAM JOHNSON and JEROME C. BERRYMAN, were admitted on trial by the Missouri Confer- ence this year. Together they were received into full con- nection and ordained deacons in 1830, and shoulder to shoulder they received elders' orders in 1832. For once, an entire class completed the course of study and obtained the highest order in the ministry without the loss of one.
True, it was not a large class, but it was a good one. William Johnson, a brother of Thomas, was born in Nelson county, Virginia, February 2, 1805 ; was converted at a camp. meeting, held at Salem meeting house, in the same county, in 1823 ; moved with his parents to Missouri in IS25; was licensed to preach in the spring of 182S, and employed by the presiding elder on Buffalo circuit until fall, when he joined the Conference and was appointed to La Mine circuit ; 1829, New Madrid. In 1830 he was sent to the Indian missions, where he labored faithfully on missions, districts, and in schools for twelve years. He died April S, 1842, of pneu-
65
IS2S.
monia, at the Indian Mission Manuel Labor School, and was buried there. His death was a triumph. The minutes say of him :
As a missionary, in the true sense of the word, he had no superior ; as a Christian, he was consistent and uniform; as a hus- band and father, he was all that is expressed by those endearing titles; and as a gentleman and a friend, he was beloved by all who knew him.
Mr. Johnson was noted for the sweetness of his spirit among sweet spirited men.
J. C. BERRYMAN. Of the eighty-nine men who have passed before us, not one, so far as known to the writer, is now living. All have gone to " that bourne whence no trav- eler returns." The ninetieth man is still living. Jerome C. Berryman, a native Kentuckian, came to Missouri August, IS2S, was soon after licensed to preach by the quarterly Con- ference of Saline and St. Francois circuits, and recommended to the annual Conference ; admitted on trial by the Missouri Conference held at Fayette camp ground that fall and appointed junior preacher on the circuit that gave him license. In IS29 he was sent to Hot Springs and Mount Prairie, in Arkansas ; 1830, Cedar Creek; 1831, Palmyra; 1332, St. Charles. In 1833 he was sent to the Kickapoo mission and school among the Indians. Here he continued till IS46 or
IS47. He says in a letter, 1846, the minutes say 1847. That year he was appointed presiding elder of Cape Girardeau district ; 1848, Arcadia High School, where he was continued till. 1858. In the meantime he served stations and districts. In IS51 he was appointed to Centenary Church in St. Louis to mollify the discordant elements aroused by the trial of Nathaniel Childs, the preceding year. In 1854 and 1855 he was presiding elder on Cape Girardeau district; IS58,
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JEROME C. BERRYMAN.
principal of Howard High School ; 1859, located. In 1863 he again took charge of Arcadia High School, in which work he continued four years more. I think he was readmitted in 1864; 1866, principal of the Arcadia High School ; 1867, Arcadia, Ironton, and Potosi ; IS6S, Arcadia and Ironton ; 1869, Charleston district; 1870, Arcadia, two years ; IS72, superintendent of Arcadia College ; 1873, Iron Mountain ; 1874, Arcadia; 1875, Jackson circuit; 1876, Bellefontaine, four years; ISSo, Kirkwood and Fenton ; ISSI, Arcadia ; ISS3, superannuated.
The above list gives forty-nine years of active itinerant labor, two in the superannuated relation and five in the local ranks-total, fifty-six. Mr. Berryman began his itinerant labors at Arcadia, it being an appointment in his first circuit in IS2S, and ended the same there in ISS3. More than half of his ministerial life has been spent there. For thirty years the seven mountains around that beautiful valley have returned the echo of his strong, musical voice, as he has proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation to the people who never tire of hearing him. From the church, which stands on a veritable Nebo in the midst of the valley, he has had many a glimpse of the better land. Fit place for the toil-worn servant to await his release from carth and translation to heaven. Who will be king of Arcadia when J. C. Berryman dies ?
Mr. Berryman was a member of the General Conference of 1844. It is worthy of note that the four strong men who began their ministry in Missouri in IS2S spent the prime. of their lives among the Indians. Their united, effective labors aggregate one hundred and twenty-five years-seventy-nine among the Indians, thirty-seven in Missouri, six in Tennessee, and three in Arkansas. Three of them rest from their labors, and the other waits for the Master's coming. .
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IS29.
1829.
JAMES P. BURKS was admitted on trial in 1829, and dis- continued in 1830. He served as junior preacher on Missouri circuit.
WILLIAM CRANE entered the Kentucky Conference in IS24, came to Missouri in 1829, and located in 1832. In Mis- sonri he traveled Cedar Creek, La Mine, and Cape Girar- deau circuits.
JAMES H. SLAVENS, the ninety-third preacher on the roll, is still living. He entered the Missouri Conference in IS29 and located in 1834. His appointments were : 1829, Fishing River ; 1830, Spring and White River, St. Francois, and Saline ; 1831, James Fork of White River mission ; 1832, Peoria mission and school ; 1833, Chariton. In ISS1, "Uncle Buck Rountree," of Springfield, Mo., gave me the following incident : "In 1831, as we were moving to this country, we had stopped on the road one day for dinner. A small, dark- skinned, black-eyed gentleman rode up and engaged in con- versation. Ile was invited to take dinner with us, which he did. He told us that he was on his way to the Springfield country ; that he was a Methodist preacher and was going to preach to the settlers and organize the Methodist Church among them. Up to this time there had been no preaching there. We settled in Springfield, and the young preacher whose acquaintance we made on the road, and whom we fed in the wilderness, came to see us. We all liked him. One of my sisters took a peculiar fancy for him ; so much so that the next June the Rev. Justinian Williams had to ride on horseback from Boonville to Springfield to unite Rev. James H. Slavens and my sister in marriage."
Mr. Slavens studied medicine, and after his location became a practicing physician in Greene and adjoining
6S
R. H. JORDAN.
counties, where he also served the people as a local preacher most acceptably. No other man, in the early days, was elected secretary of the quarterly Conference of Springfield circuit so often as he. Though a practicing physician, he was nearly always at the quarterly meetings.
Under the weight of more than half a century of labor and toil, intermingled with painful affliction, he and his wife wait at Urbana, Mo., for their summons home to rest.
ROBERT H. JORDAN began his itinerant career in the Baltimore Conference in 1828 and came to Missouri in 1829. He served in the following fields: 1829, La Mine ; 1830, Boonslick ; 1831, Missouri ; 1832, Bowling Green ; IS33, St. Charles : 1834, Columbia ; 1835, Independence and Lexing- ton ; 1836, Columbia ; 1837, Boonville ; 1838, Paris; IS39, Hannibal ; IS40, Fayette ; I841, Richmond ; IS42, Weston ; IS43, St. Louis circuit, two years; 1845, superannuated ; 1846, Liberty ; 1847, Huntsville, two years; 1849, without an appointment on account of extreme family affliction ; 1850, Portland ; 1851, Liberty ; 1852, Weston; 1853, Clarksville and Paynesville ; 1854, Hannibal district, two years ; 1856, Plattsburg ; 1857, Richmond, two years; 1859, Rocheport, two years; 1861, New Franklin, two years ; 1863, Colum- bia, two years ; 1865, Rocheport, supernumerary, two years ; 1867, Chillicothe mission; 1868, Breckinridge; 1869, Chillicothe circuit, supernumerary ; 1870, Pleasant Park ; IS71, Pattonsburg ; IS72, Paynesville ; 1873, superannuated, in which relation he was continued till the Master said : "It is enough ; come up higher."
Mr. Jordan was born near Baltimore January 1, ISO1, joined the church in 1824, licensed to preach in 1827, and died "in full assurance of his heavenly inheritance October 11,
IS30. 69
IS7S. Brother Jordan stood high as a preacher. He was a man of eminent piety, modest and retiring, almost to a fault -on which account he seldom took part in Conference dis- cussions. He was universally beloved by his brethren of the Conference and the church at large." He preached fifty years ; was effective forty. He is remembered and loved all over North Missouri, where he was so well known.
GEO. W. TEAS joined the Ohio Conference in 1828; came to Missouri in IS29, and located in 1832. His appoint- ments were Saline and St. Francois, Fishing River, Cedar Creek.
JOHN HOGAN commenced in Illinois in IS26; came to Missouri in 1829; traveled St. Louis circuit, and located in 1830 ; since which he has made St. Louis, where he still lives, his home.
Although Mr. Hogan itinerated but one year in Missouri, yet he has not been idle, but labored long, faith- fully and efficiently as a local preacher, and has contributed no little in establishing Methodism in the metropolis of the state. Being "a ready writer," he has often invoked the power of the press, and, by his facile pen, done much to build up the church he loves so much, and "spread scriptural holi- ness over the land." He was for a while a member of congress.
1830
BENJAMIN RICE JOHNSON entered the Missouri Con- ference in IS30. His appointments were : 1830, Lexington ; 1831, Belleview ; 1832, St. Louis circuit ; IS33, Union ; 1834, Paris ; 1835, St. Charles ; 1836, Boonville ; 1837, Arrow Rock, two years: 1839, Independence ; 1840, Columbia, two years ; 1842, Fulton, two years ; 1844, Lexington station ;
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BENJAMIN RICE JOHNSON
IS45, Independence circuit ; 1846, Arrow Rock; 1847, Springfield district, four years ; 1851, superannuated, three years ; 1854, transferred to Pacific Conference and appointed to Bodega : 1855, San Jose and Santa Clara ; 1856, Sonoma and Napa, two years ; 1858, Petaluma station ; 1859, Marys- ville district ; 1860, Petaluma district ;- war-1866. super- annuated, two years ; 1868, Santa Rosa circuit ; 1869, name lost; 1870, transferred to Columbia Conference ; 1871, Jacksonville circuit; 1872, Jacksonville district ; IS73, Umatilla district; 1874, located. The above list outlines thirty-nine years of effective work, and five in the superannnuated relation. He died at Napa City, Cali- fornia, I think in ISSo. Mr. Johnson was born to be a general, and such he was. A decided, positive, firm man. At the close of his first year on the Springfield district, there was strong opposition to him, and had the present method of con- sulting laymen with regard to the preachers whom they wish sent to their districts and circuits prevailed then as it does now, probably he would not have been returned. But that was before the days of lay representation, and happily he was reappointed and continued for a term of four years, at the close of which he was as popular as he was unpopular at the close of the first year, and much more so. No positive man can please everybody. None but negative men can do this. Fallible men will differ in their opinions and plans. Hence, men of strong convictions, high resolves and firm purpose, will collide with others, entertaining different views, and more or less friction will be engendered. A negative man, who watches straws to see which way the wind blows, and then follows in the wake of the multitude, will make no foes-he will produce no friction ; but such men do
7 1
IS30.
not move the world; rather, the world moves them. They are not leaders, but are led. Woe betide the state or church that puts such men in the front. Aggressive and progressive men are those who have strong convictions of duty, and who dare to proclaim and maintain their principles. Such men always make friends and foes, but right-minded people, when assured of the honesty of their purposes, will always respect them for their fidelity to principle, though they differ with them with regard to methods. Mr. Johnson was at the time of which I write, of portly mien and commanding pres- ence. As a preacher he was analytical, logical and pointed. His sermons were well arranged and his propositions well sustained. He excelled in polemic theology ; he believed the doctrines of the Methodist church, and dared to maintain and defend them. His sermons were not unctions, like those of David Ross, yet I have known him at camp meetings, when filled with the Holy Ghost, to cause people to weep tears like rain. He twice represented his Conference in the General Conference, the St. Louis in 1850, and the Colum- bia in 1874. He licensed me to preach, took my recom- mendation to the annual Conference, and was my presiding elder during my first year. I expect to meet him in the general assembly of the first born above. At the time of his death he had been a preacher more than fifty years. He was a brother of Thomas and William; in time of birth between them.
BENJAMIN BABBITT, of the class of IS30, traveled Missouri and Lexington circuits, and discontinued in 1832.
CHRISTIAN EAKER, of the same class. was appointed to West Prairie mission, two years ; 1832, St. Francois ; 1833, West Prairie ; 1834, located. He was readmitted in IS4S, and
72
WILLIAM KETRON.
sent to Benton ; 1849, Fredericktown, two years ; 1851, super- annuated, in which relation he was continued thirty-three years, during which time he was totally blind. But the long, dreary, dark night ended in 1884, and he passed "out of dark- ness into light," entering triumphantly into that bright world where they have "no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
Mr. Eaker served fourteen years in the local ranks and seven in the itinerancy. These, added to thirty-three as a superannuate, make fifty-four years. He was a deeply pious and truly consecrated man ; a good preacher, full of faith and zeal. Until too much enfeebled by age, he preached fre- quently, and the people heard him gladly. He had a tena- cious memory, which enabled him to draw from the rich treasury of truth "things both new and old" for the edifica- tion of his hearers.
He and I were once riding in company when, at a slight curve in the road, he struck a tree with his cane, saying as he did so, "That is a fine, large tree." He had then been blind fifteen years; yet he remembered precisely where the tree stood.
WILLIAM KETRON joined the Holston Conference in IS25, where he labored five years ; was transferred to Missouri in 1830 and appointed to Palmyra ; 1831, Boonslick; 1832, . Cape Girardeau district three years ; 1835, Shawnee mission ; 1836, Boonslick ; 1837, Columbia; 1838, superannuated, seven years ; 1845, Weston district, two years ; 1847, Savan- . nah ; 1848, Oregon mission, two years ; 1850, located ; 1854, readmitted, Trenton mission ; 1855, Spring Hill mission, two years ; 1857, Gallatin ; 1858, Bethany mission ; 1859,
73
IS30.
Pattonsburg mission : 1860, Trenton circuit ; iSor, superan- nuated, two yers ; 1863, Gallatin district two years ; 1865, the minutes say: "William Ketron, presiding elder of the Gal- latin district, a veteran itinerant and indefatigable servant of the church, has passed away. He fell at his post, his face to the foe, with his armor on. He died as he lived, full of faith, exclaiming-the last words he spoke-'All is well.'"' Forty years in the ministry, nine a superannuate, four local, seven, presiding elder and twenty on circuits and missions. "Well done, good and faithful servant." Rest from thy labor.
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