USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 18
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people is located. The other one is located at College Mound in the building formerly known as McGee College. These camp meetings oceur in August and run for ten days. They both are attended by min- isters who come here from all parts of the United States. A large tabernacle is erected for the services. Another large tent is used for dining quarters. From fifty to sixty smaller tents are seattered about the grounds for the eampers. The annual camp meetings are seasons of revival. The greatest enthusiasm is worked up and many are added to the church. The membership appears to be growing rapidly in northern Missouri.
Following is a sketeh of the Holiness movement furnished by a gentleman who was elosely identified with its inception :
"The Holiness movement from the west was inaugurated by Elder W. B. Colt, of Illinois, in the spring of 1875. The first meetings were held in Hannibal. It was not the original intention to establish another church, but simply to lift church members and others up to a higher plane of worship. When Mr. Colt left Hannibal his work in Missouri was continued by Rev. A. M. Kiergan, then pastor of the Arch Street M. E. Church, South, at Hannibal. While yet a member of the eon- ferenee Mr. Kiergan condueted Holiness meetings. These were attended by members of all denominations as well as the non-eleet. Complaints were poured into the conference that there was a fanatieal preacher over at Hannibal who was disintegrating the churches by telling the members that they were not good enough, and needed finishing touches put on their religion.
"Mr. Kiergan pursued the even tenor of his way, all the while striving to increase the interest in the Holiness move. He was ably assisted by his wife, who was almost as good a talker and fully as earnest as himself. They eondneted the first Holiness camp meeting west of the Mississippi river in 1877. The site of the camp was a pic- turesque grove west of Hannibal. The daily attendanee was tremen- dous. Mr. Kiergan estimates there were frequently as many as 5,000 people on the grounds. No adequate tent could be secured, and the trees formed the only eanopy. This meeting served to put the Holiness move in the west on a firm foundation. The congregations were made up of people from various remote parts of the state as well as the neigh- boring counties. When they returned home they began talking up the new faith, and did an earnest missionary work.
"It was not a great while before Mr. Kiergan found more Holiness people on his hand than he knew what to do with. Many of his converts had not united with any church and seemed disinclined to do so. The
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reason was they felt it would be retrogression to unite with anybody holding less advanced religious principles than those taught at the pioneer camp meeting. So Holiness churches, strictly independent, were established in those communities where there were sufficient mem- bers of the sect. Where there were 110 churches the meeting's were held at residences. Any one who had a mind to could do the preach- ing. A characteristic of the Holiness people is that nearly every man, woman and child among them can get up at a moment's notice and deliver a good talk on the faith that is in them. All of them are in the habit of relating their experiences before large congregations. And they enjoy to the utmost this part of the services. When a man feels called upon to enter the ministry they let him go in without objection, if he is sound in the doctrine and of good reputation. No examining committee worries him with fine points of ecclesiastical law. The peo- ple among whom he has lived are supposed to know whether he is a fit subject or not, and if they recommend him for the ministry there is no red tape between that and his ordination. The question of salary never worries a Holiness preacher, because he rarely gets one. If he goes to a community where the membership is fairly strong he may get irregular donations of money and things to eat. If he doesn't he goes to work at something to make a living, and preaches on Sunday just as hard as if he were a high-salaried prelate.
"During the earlier days of the Holiness Crusade in the west its members were called cranks and fanatics, because they used the term, 'sanctified holy.' Scoffers would point their fingers and say: 'Yonder goes a man who thinks he's so all-fired good that he can't sin any more.'
"About sixteen years back an extremely pious man, who had embraced the Holiness faith, thoughit he would go one better than the Creed provided and he established a third state, which he called 'Glorifi- cation.' He taught that those who were glorified were literal saints, absolutely free from sin, and could not do wrong if they wanted to; to all intents and purposes they were already in Heaven. This belief grew for a while with astonishing rapidity, and threatened to over- throw the work so patiently wrought ont by Mr. Kiergan and his co-la- borers. Glorification was a fascinating state to those in the back coun- try districts, where religion was the main theme of converse. They had experienced the joys of regeneration and sanctification; to them glorification and absolute perfection were the next natural steps on the ladder of Holiness.
"About one-fourth of the Holiness people in Missouri followed this fanaticism, but it was short-lived. Disaffected ones nearly all
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returned to the ranks of their former faith. The impracticability of a ' glorification degree' was clear, after trying to live up to it for a while."
No account of the membership of the Holiness church is kept. The elders say that it is growing rapidly in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and the territories. They work as hard as the Salvation Army to get recruits. When they are camped near a town at an annual meeting they march into the streets every evening and hold revival services there, at the conclusion of which they invite the crowd out to the tents to get salvation. While the meeting is on emissaries, both men and women, circulate through the audience and plead with likely subjects. The same system is practiced at their honse meetings back home.
Elder Kiergan withdrew from the Missouri Conference in 1883, and devoted his whole time to Holiness work. In response to a question Elder Kiergan gave this definition of Holiness as understood by his church :
"When a person is sanctified holy it means that he is cleansed from what palls the carnal mind. It means that he has increased power over temptations above what he had before, and hence is an easier victor when temptations come. For these reasons he is less liable to commit sin, but he is not where he cannot commit sin; but we say the converted one need not sin, and as long as he remains true to God he will not sin."
The Seventh Day Adventists are quite numerous about Goldsberry and other places in Macon county. The church there was established in 1885. Elder C. H. Chaffee was the first minister. The membership was then about twenty, but has grown considerably. Elder J. C. Bradley, the well-known banker of Goldsberry, now has charge of the church, as pastor. There are three organized churches in Macon county, the other two being at Atlanta and Macon. Elder V. Nutter has charge of the church in the latter town. The total membership of the three churches is about 150. The Seventh Day Adventists use the Bible literally as their creed. Saturday is their day of rest, the seventh day of the week. The word, "advent," means coming. The Seventh Day Adventists are constantly on the lookout for the coming of the Saviour, which they say is nearly due, according to the Bible.
In addition to the churches mentioned, the Adventists have a strong intermediate school in Macon county, which is treated in the educational chapter.
The Unitarians have a nice church at La Plata, where they have regular preaching under the leadership of the Rev. G. E. Cunningham. The membership is quite strong in the northern part of the county.
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The Tenth Legion is the name of an interesting organization at the Presbyterian church which flourished most promisingly during the life of R. G. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was a son of Dr. J. B. Mitchell, presi- dent of McGee College. He took the unequivocal position that every man should devote one-tenth of his income to the Lord. Mr. Mitchell insisted that this was not a gift but an absolute duty.
"You didn't begin giving until after you had paid your tenth."
Someone asked him if he would "keep books with the Lord."
"Why not?" replied Mr. Mitchell. "How else would you know you had done your duty ?"
Whenever he received a check for services of any sort Mr. Mitchell would promptly place one-tenth of it to the church's account, or else to some charity, which he regarded as doing the Master's work.
An enthusiastic supporter of the movement was the Rev. R. T. Caldwell. They induced about sixty-five or seventy of the members to enroll with the Tenth Legion. It is said that while this organization was kept up there was never any lack of funds to meet all church requirements. In discussing the operations of the tithers in his church, Mr. Caldwell said :
"It is harder to get wealthy men to join the legion than men in moderate circumstances. The man of means will say, loftily: 'Just come to me, brother, whenever you get in a bad place, and tell me what you expect from me, and I will draw a check for the amount.'
"The mistake of that man is that he regards giving to the church an act of charity instead of his bounden duty. A church should be run on business principles just the same as any commercial establislı- ment. It is entitled to an adequate revenue from its members and that revenue should be faithfully collected to the last cent. The church should never pose as a beggar or as being dependent upon the general public for assistance. If it does it will find that its influence is greatly weakened.
"The Tenth Legion-as our tithers are denominated-is composed of sixty-five members from all ages. Side by side with the patriarchial old member walk the little girls of five or six and deposit their mites in the Lord's box. They would no more think of missing this act on a Sabbath day than they would fail to say their prayers of a night. Sometimes, alongside of large bills that a tither drops in a basket are small pieces of silver and even pennies. This indicates that he has figured the amount due to the Lord to a cent. As a rule, though, the tithers estimate their income in round members and place even money in the receptacle.
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"It makes a man better, it makes him happier, and, I believe, hon- estly, that it makes him more prosperous to render unto the Lord weekly just what belongs to him with the same fidelity that he pays his employes off Saturday night or settles with his butcher and grocer."
In the five years when the Tenth Legion was most active it raised, along with the other contributions of the church $30,271, which went into the varions channels of church enterprise. Quite a number of members are yet following the tithering principle.
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of Macon County. (By T. A. Rowland.) History recording the advent of this religion says that in the year 1830 Joseph Smith, a young man living in the state of New York, made the announcement to the world that an angel appeared to him giving divine instructions to establish the Kingdom of God upon earth in the last dispensation, or the eleventh hour of the dispensation of time, to be patterned after the New Testa- ment Church established by Christ with Apostles, Prophets, Evangel- ists, Elders, Teachers, Deacons, etc.
From this beginning a large body of communicants, numbering 240,000, was enlisted under Smith's leadership of a few years; the evil power was alert and crept into the organizations. This, coupled with the heavy cannonading from without against the work, finally led to the assassination of Joseph Smith, the founder and head of the church, and his brother, Hiram Smith, at Carthage, Illinois, jail in the year of 1844.
The loss sustained by the assassination of the head of the church left the church organization as a ship without a rudder upon the high seas. Several organizations sprang up from this disorder, claiming the right to lead the church. Probably the most prominent, or the one best known to the every-day reader, was the faction led by Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley, in Utah. However, church history records that a few members, though scattered by persecution, held steadfast to the original tenets of the church, believing that God in His own due time and season would cause to be chosen a successor, and this band kept the campfires of their faith burning until the year 1860, when young Joseph Smith, the son of the martyred president, was chosen to be the head of a conference held at Amboy, Illinois, April 6, 1860.
Before passing to the history of the church in Macon county it may be well to note some of the memorable events in the history of the church briefly, viz .: On December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont, Joseph Smith was born. Early in the spring of 1820 Smith had his first vision, and on September 21, 1823, had his second vision,
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in which the existence of the plates of the Book of Mormon was revealed to him. The following day he opened the place where the plates were deposited and saw them. In September, 1827, Smith obtained the plates of the Book of Mormon to Urim and Thummin and breastplate. On Feb- ruary 28 Martin Harris showed some of the characters transcribed from the plates and the translation of them to Professor Anthon and Dr. Mitchell, of New York. On May 15, 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist, and were baptized by each other. On April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized; elders were ordained, the sacrament was administered and for the first time in the history of the church hands were laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost. On June 1 the church held its first conference at Fayette, Seneca county, New York. In October the first missionaries to the Lamanites were appointed. In January, 1831, Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio. On April 26, 1832, Joseph Smith was acknowledged president of the High Priesthood at a general conference of the church. June, the same year, the first periodical, the Evening and Morning Star, was published in Independence, Missouri. On February 2, 1833, Smith completed the translation of the New Testament. On July 2, the same year. finished translation of the Bible. On May 3, 1834, a conference of elders was held in Kirtland, Ohio. The church was first named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In May, same year, Zion's camp left Kirtland for Missouri. In July, 1835, the rolls of Egyptian papy- rus, which contained the writing's of Abraham and Joseph in Egypt, were obtained. On March 14, 1838, Smith and his family arrived in Far West District in Missouri. In July of the same year 500 saints left Kirtland for Missouri. On October 27, Governor Bogg's extermi- nating order was issued. On October 30, the massacre at Haun's mill took place. On November 1, same year, Joseph Smith and others were condemned to be shot, and the Far West District in Missouri plundered. On April 26, 1839, the saints commenced evacuating the Far West Dis- triet in Missouri. On June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hiram Smith were assassinated in the Carthage, Illinois, jail. On September 24, 1845, the authorities of the church made a treaty with the mob to evacuate Nauvoo, Illinois. Early in February, 1846, the exodus of the saints from Nauvoo, Illinois, commenced. On May 16 the pioneer eamp of the saints arrived at Mount Pisgah, Iowa Territory. On November 18, 1851, a revelation came to J. W. Briggs, that the seed of Josepli Smith should yet lead the church. During the same fall one came to Z. H. Gurley, Sr., to the same effect. On June 12, 1852, a preparatory
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council or conference was held near Beloit, Newark township, Wiscon- sin. The claims of all leaders were cast off and the right of Joseph's seed sustained. In the year 1853 the reorganized church had its begin- ning. Seven men were chosen as apostles, and one of them to repre- sent the legal Heir until He comes. On April 6, 1860, Joseph Smith, son of the Prophet, united with the reorganization church and was chosen its leader at Amiboy, Illinois.
The Macon county part of the reorganization began in Bevier in the year 1867, when a church organization was had of a membership of twenty adults. In the years '69 and '70 the organization decided to erect a house of worship. Ground was purchased, and a building 20x30 feet erected thereon. Fifteen years later, on account of the growing membership, it was determined to enlarge the building, which was done by an addition, 10x20 feet in size. This building was adequate for the needs of the church until the year 1904, when it was further determined that their church, of necessity to accommodate the growth of membership, must build a new church edifice. Another more central . location in the city was purchased and the erection of a cement block building, 54x35 feet, was made, having an octavian ceiling, 14 feet highı, with Sunday-school room, 19x20 feet, with two class-rooms, 9x10 feet, belfry tower, 7x10 feet, 35 feet high. The Bevier church has a mem- bership of 270. Elder Edward E. Thomas presides over the church and is assisted in his work by Daniel Edmunds, priest; F. O. DeLong, teacher; W. T. Hicklin, deacon; Miss Ethel Harris, clerk. There are two auxiliary organizations. First, the Sunday-school, having an enroll- ment of 240; F. O. DeLong superintendent. Second, Zion's Religilo Society, with an enrollment of eighty; Mrs. Helen Davis, president. This is an organization for the young people. They use the Book of Mormon for a study.
. In the year 1877 a church organization of the L. D. S. church was instituted in Middle Fork township, known as the Salt River branch. Death, removal and other canses resulted in a falling away and the branch organization was disorganized in the year 1893. Again, in June, 1897, a branch was set in order and on February 3, 1906, was disorganized at a district conference held at Bevier, Missouri, thus leav- ing only one church organization of this body in Macon county at the present time. However, the church is steadily gaining ground cach year in the county. New places are open for the missionary work.
The Bevier church has sent some able church workers to hold high positions in the different quorums of the reorganized church. Elder Gomer T. Griffith of Ohio, who spent his early days with the Bevier
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church, is now holding a position of one of the twelve apostles, having been ordained in April, 1887. His travels have been extensive in mis- sion work throughout the United States and Europe. He has caused to be written and published several books dealing with the great Latter Day work. Elder J. A. Tanner, pastor of St. Louis, Missouri, came from the ranks of the Bevier church, where he received his early tutor- ship. He holds a commission in one of the quorums of the high priest council, an important place in church work. Elder Tanner's life work is consecrated to preaching the Angel's message of the restored gospel to the children of men.
Many other prominent men who could be mentioned have been called hence to sleep the sweet sleep in Macon county soil, awaiting the Arch-Angel's trumpet sound, when those who fell asleep in Christ will arise and reign for a thousand years on earth under the dominion- ship of Him whose right it is to rule as King of Kings and Lord of all.
CHAPTER XI.
WARS AND SOLDIERS' REUNIONS-MACON COUNTY'S FIGHTING MEN-TREK OF THE MORMONS-CALL TO ARMS IN '61-MACON AS A MILITARY POST -MARTIAL LAW-A VICTIM'S TOMBSTONE-THE HARRIS HOUSE PRISON-BATTLE OF PAINTER CREEK-ORDERED TO BURN BLOOMING- TON-RAID OF THE GUERRILLAS-A COURIER'S RIDE FOR LIFE-AUGUS- TIN BRADSHER DRAFTED-MEN OF THE BLACK FLAG-VETERANS OF 1812-STATE ENCAMPMENT AT MACON-DAUGHTERS OF THE REVO- LUTION.
In every war in which this nation has been engaged since Macon county was organized, a fair proportion of her sons have gone forth to battle. From the county's birth the citizens have been keenly inter- ested in politics. In the early years great statesmen came here fre- quently and met the people from a wide scope of country north, east and west. The assemblies were at Bloomington. That martial spirit, so manifest in the Civil war, germinated at these great gatherings, where public questions were discussed. "All roads led to Bloomington, the capital of northern Missouri," was the way a writer expressed it, and with a fair degree of accuracy. There was a beautiful May day, in 1861, when Bloomington was alive with thousands assembled to pledge their fealty to the Southern canse. It was on the eve of the gathering of the clans, and the assemblage was typical of Macon county's initiative in time of war. Her people did not wait to be dragged in on either side ; they were impatient to "fall in" at the first command.
In reviewing a war among brothers there are many things which are best left unsaid. In the fierce animosities of such a strife zealots overstepped the bounds of fair play, and no man can presume to strike the balance. It shall not be the purpose to dwell on those things which caused bitter denunciation at the time. Yet there is much in the great war of the states which can be told without arousing resentment from either side. The old history, a copy of which lies close at hand, gives a long and pathetic account of a military execution at Macon. We shall touch that but lightly, and more particularly direct attention to those incidents to which the grizzled soldiers refer with a smile.
The town of Macon was headquarters of a prominent Federal post
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throughout the Civil war. At times its military population was as great as its entire citizenship is now. There was a military prison here, the Harris house. Troops were quartered in tobacco barns, churches and store-rooms. The general operations over a wide territory were directed from this point. Each sunrise was greeted with the roll of drum, and during the day the streets echoed with the tramp of marehing squadrons. Parties arrested in adjoining counties, charged with activ- ities against the Federal cause, were brought to Macon for military trial. In the midst of the war the county capital was removed from Bloomington to Macon, because Bloomington was regarded as the seat of disloyalty. It was one of the very few instances in Missouri where a county seat was removed from one town to another without a fierce fight. Very likely, the people of Bloomington strongly opposed the move, but their opposition was not considered.
The Indians had hardly been driven out of Missouri when there was talk of war with the Mormons. In 1838 Governor Boggs issued an exterminating order against them and they were driven out. of Mis- souri. They went to Illinois, locating at Nauvoo. Joe Smith was the "prophet." Nauvoo flourished and soon became a town of 2.000, with a beautiful temple built, according to plans which Smith claimed he had received in a vision. In 1844 a discontented member of Smith's church issued a newspaper at Nauvoo assailing the prophet and threatening to expose him for various misdeeds. The city council at Nauvoo passed an ordinance declaring the printing office a nuisance. It was destroyed by the officers of the law. Smith was put under arrest, and taken to Carthage. On June 27, 1844, a mob attacked the jail, overpowering the guard, killed Smith and his brother Hiram, and wounded others of the prophet's party. In 1846 Brigham Young and a party left Nauvoo for the west, and was soon followed by another company of Mormons. It was while passing through Missouri and other states that war was declared against the Mormons, some of whom showed a disposition to settle in certain counties of northern Missouri. There was a call for troops and two companies were raised in Macon county to suppress the Mormon uprising, as it was called, in Jackson, Caldwell and Daviess. One of these companies was commanded by Capt. Lewis Gilstrap, the other by Capt. John H. Rose. General Joseph Shelby, who later became a noted Confederate leader, was one of the first to respond to the call for service in this campaign. The Mormons, how- ever, decided to evacuate the state and there was no real fighting.
At the call of President Polk for the Mexican war a number responded from Macon county. There was no regular company organ-
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ized however; those from Macon county who went to the front joined Captain Hancock Jackson's company, which was formed in Randolph county. Following are the names of some of those who went from Macon county to the Mexican war: J. B. Clarkson, Robert Myers, T. A. H. Smith, O. P. Magee, Benjamin F. Heater, Pleasant Richardson, Samuel Love, Thomas Barnes, John Peyton, Daniel G. Sweeney, Hardin Butler, Wilson Fletcher, Dennis D. Wright and Ellis Wilson.
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