History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 31

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 31

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

On October 14th, 1820, the territorial as- sembly chartered the academy in Jackson with the following trustees: David Armour, Joseph Frizzell, Thomas Neal, Van B. De

* Life of Peck, p. 123.

195

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Lashmutt and William Surrell. The same restriction was placed on them with regard to religious privileges and discrimination as in the case of the Ste. Genevieve academy.

In spite of these things, there was a feeling among the leading men in the territory that provision must be made for a system of public education. Congress was early asked to set aside lands for the support of schools.

We have seen that one of the early assem- blies chartered an academy at Potosi and also organized a public school board for St. Louis. Ste. Genevieve and Little Prairie, along with one or two other towns, received grants of the land which was held in common, the in- come from the property to be used for school purposes. Out of these feeble beginnings and most unpromising circumstances there grew up a great system of public schools.

We may suppose that under the conditions we have described there were few libraries in the southeast part of the state. In fact, there was not a public library of any kind in all this section until 1820. There were only a few private libraries deserving of the name. In many homes there were no books of any

kind whatever, in others there were copies of the Bible and very few other books. A few men who lived in the district, however, had good libraries; these were usually the minis- ters.

The dress of the people did not differ much from the dress as described in a former chap- ter ; everybody wore home-spun. Every house was a factory, the women spun the thread and wove the cloth and made the garments for the entire family. By the close of the terri- torial period there had grown up in the larger towns something of the society that gave at- tention to dress. Some people began to bring clothing from the eastern states and to devote time and money to these matters. The great majority of people, however, were dressed as we have seen. To them dress was not an adornment nor a luxury, but a necessity. John Clark, the famous pioneer minister, who spent many years in traveling throughout Southeast Missouri, preaching, was always dressed in home-spun. He was a bachelor and his clothing was made for him by members of his congregations.

CHAPTER XIII

PROTESTANT IMMIGRATION

VISITS OF PROTESTANT MINISTERS- JOHN CLARK - JOSIAH DODGE-THOMAS JOHNSON-AN- DREW WILSON-RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE SETTLERS-MOTIVES WHICH BROUGHT THEM TO LOUISIANA - THE WORK OF THE BAPTISTS - DAVID GREENE - BETHEL CHURCH NEAR JACKSON - ITS EARLY MEMBERS - THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE - RELICS OF OLD BETHEL CHURCH-MEMORIAL SERVICES IN 1906-GROWTH OF THE CHURCH-OTHER CHURCHES OR- GANIZED BY MEMBERS OF BETHEL-EARLY MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH-WILSON THOMPSON -THOMAS STEPHENS-THOMAS P. GREENE-THE FIRST MISSIONARY COLLECTION-THE FOR- MATION OF AN ASSOCIATION OF CHURCHES IN MISSOURI-JOHN M. PECK-THE WORK OF THE METHODIST CHURCH - FIRST PREACHERS - JOHN TRAVIS-ORGANIZATION OF MCKENDREE- EARLY MEMBERS-FIRST MEETING HOUSE-JESSE WALKER - THE FIRST CIRCUITS - FIRST SERMON IN CAPE GIRARDEAU-CAMPMEETING AT MCKENDREE IN 1810 - HARBISON - NEW CIRCUITS FORMED-ORGANIZATION OF THE MISSOURI CONFERENCE -- RUCKER TANNER - THE FIRST CONFERENCE HELD IN MISSOURI-THE WORK OF THE PRESBYTERIANS-HEMPSTEAD'S LETTER - A CHURCH ORGANIZED IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, 1816 - ORGANIZATION OF THE PRESBYTERY OF MISSOURI - EARLY MINISTERS - TIMOTHY FLINT - THE COLUMBIAN BIBLE SOCIETY-FLINT'S WRITINGS-DISCIPLES OF CHRIST-WILLIAM MCMURTRY-FIRST ORGAN- IZATION IN MISSOURI, 1822 - DIFFICULTIES UNDER WHICH EARLY MINISTERS LABORED - PROGRESS MADE-PECK'S DESCRIPTION-DEBT OWED TO PIONEER MINISTERS.

We have seen something of the work of the missionaries who came to the state in the early years, and have traced and outlined the growth of the Catholic church up to the time of the transfer in 1804. Of course, up to this time there was no religious history of the state, except of the activity of the Catholic church. While, as we have seen, there were other persons living in the state, they were required to conform to the Catholic religion, to rear their children in the Catholic faith, and they were forbidden to hold public serv- ices of any kind. These restrictions, while they did not prevent Protestant immigration, . hindered it greatly. There are a number of

cases of families moving to Upper Louisiana then, on finding what they were required to subscribe to, declining to stay and returning to the east side of the river. Of course, these restrictions were swept away with the trans- fer to the United States. The principle rec- ognized by the American people of absolute toleration in religious matters was extended to Louisiana. It was not long before the activity of the Protestant ministers brought them to the new territory.

We have seen, in fact, that even before the transfer some ministers had, in violation of the provisions of the Spanish law, come to

196

197

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Louisiana and held services. John Clark, a minister of the Methodist church, was one of these who as early as 1796 came to Louisiana and visited a number of the settlements. Clark is described as a man simple, unaffected, and wholly disinterested. He violated the Spanish law in holding these services, but the lieutenant governor, then at St. Louis, Zenon Trudeau, was very much in favor of the com- ing of American settlers and, in order not to discourage them, he was disposed to allow these visits. He seemed to have warned Clark on a number of occasions, but he never really molested him, though he threatened him with imprisonment. Clark at the time resided in Illinois ; he died in 1813; he became a Baptist at some time subsequent to his visits to Louis- iana.

Doubtless the earliest of these ministers was Josiah Dodge. Dodge lived in Kentucky and was a Baptist. He was a brother of Israel Dodge, who lived near Ste. Genevieve. Dur- ing his visits to his brother, Rev. Josiah Dodge was accustomed to preach to the American settlers in the vicinity. It is possible that these sermons were the first non-Catholic ser- mons delivered west of the Mississippi river. This was in 1794. In the same year, it is recorded that he crossed the river to Illinois and baptized four persons in Fountain creek. Perhaps these were residents of Upper Louis- iana who were thus baptized in the Illinois to avoid violating the law regarding baptisms in Upper Louisiana. In 1799 Rev. Thomas John- son, another Baptist minister, came to Cape Girardeau district ; he was a native of Georgia. In that year he baptized Mrs. Agnes Ballou in Randol creek. This was, doubtless, the first baptism, not performed by a Catholic priest, west of the river.

One of the men who came with Morgan to New Madrid was Andrew Wilson. He was a

Scotchman and had been a Presbyterian min- ister. He never preached in New Madrid and it is probable that he had previously given up the ministry.

The testimony of almost all observers as to some of the American settlers prior to the transfer to the United States is that their con- dition, religiously considered, was deplorable. We cannot believe it to have been otherwise. In the first place, the fact that though they were Protestants they were willing to con- form to the nominal requirements of the Spanish law with regard to the rearing of their children as Catholics, and the further fact that they were compelled to forego any public religious services, are sufficient to show that they were not distinctly or deeply re- ligions. Cut off, as they were, from all re- ligions teaching by their situation and the requirements of the laws under which they lived, they must have fallen into a deplorable condition. It was reported by some observers that in some cases they had even forgotten the days of the week and that they made no attempt whatever to observe the Sabbath in any way, and where it was observed, too often it was a day given up to amusements such as the country offered. Andrew Ramsay's place in Cape Girardeau was used as an assembly place for all the people of the neighborhood. They came together, not for worship, but for the purpose of whatever amusement could be found. The condition of the early settlers, as here set out, unfavorable as it was with regard to religion, must not be taken to represent the feelings and convictions of all the people of Upper Louisiana. While those who were Prot- estants in belief had to give up, as we have seen, the open practice of their religion, it should not be forgotten that the motives that impelled men to settle in the Louisiana terri-

198

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

tory were very strong. American settlers who lived in the Northwest territory and who owned slaves found that in order to continue holding them they must give up their home- steads and seek another territory after the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Many of these men crossed the Mississippi river to Upper Louisiana ; others came because they were attracted by the ease with which land might be secured from the Spanish gov- ernment, and still others were moved by the love of adventure and of a free life in the open which characterized so many Americans in the early period of history. These motives were very strong and they induced many respect- able, honest and upright people to give up their homes and to take up their residence in what is now Missouri.

These people no doubt felt the deprivation of religious service and experience. That they still meditated on religion and wished for an opportunity to exercise it openly is made evident by the cordial reception which was given to the few Protestant ministers who, in spite of the proclamation of Spain, made their way into the territory. In the life of John Clark, which was no doubt written by John Mason Peck, it is clearly set out that the American families were very glad indeed to receive Clark into their homes and to listen to him as he read and preached, and were re- joiced at an opportunity to hear the Gospel in their new territory and according to their own beliefs again.

It seems that the first Baptists in Missouri were Thomas Bull. his wife and mother-in- law, Mrs. Lee. They moved to the Cape Gir- ardeau district from Kentucky in 1796. They were followed, in 1797, by Enos Randol and wife, and the wife of John Abernathy. For a number of years they lived without any re-

ligions services, except such as they held at private houses. At one time they were in fear of being required to leave the province on account of their religious belief, but Lori- mier was favorable to them and they con- tinned to reside here. Elder Thomas John- son, of Georgia, was perhaps the first Baptist minister who preached in Upper Louisiana. He was a resident of Georgia. He came to the Cape Girardeau district on a visit in 1799, and while there he preached. He per- formed the first non-Catholic baptism west of the river. He baptized Mrs. Ballou in Ran- dol's creek. In 1805, Elder David Greene, a native of Virginia, but at that time a resi- dent of Kentucky, came to the district. Greene preached. first, about the settlements near Commerce. He organized a church in Tywappity bottom in 1805. This was the first Baptist church in Louisiana. It had only some six or seven members and soon dis- banded. Elder Greene, after a visit of some months, returned to Kentucky. He was im- pressed, however, by the importance of the field in Upper Louisiana and came back to the Cape Girardeau district in 1806. He resided in the district with his family until the time of his death in 1809.

On July 19, 1806, Elder Greene gathered together the Baptists near Jackson and or- ganized a church which was called Bethel. It is not definitely known just where the organi- zation took place, but it is believed to have been made in the house of Thomas Bull. This church so organized was the center from which sprang the large number of early Bap- tist churches in Missouri. The members who took part in the organization of the church were David Greene, Thomas English, Leanna Greene, Jane English, Agnes Ballou, Thomas Bull, Edward Spear, Anderson Rogers, John Hitt, Clara Abernathy, Katherine Anderson,

199

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Rebecca Randol, Frances Hitt and William Matthews.

The board which took part in the organiza- tion of the church was composed of Elder David Greene and Deacons George Laurence and Henry Cockerham. The officers of the church as organized were: David Greene, pastor; Thomas English, deacon. In August, after the organization, Thomas Bull was elected writing clerk, and in the following April, William Matthews was elected singing clerk.

Thomas English, who was thus one of the charter members of the church, was a native of Georgia. He came to Missouri about 1804, and lived in the Ramsay settlement. He re- maiued a member of the church and a deacon until his death, May 16, 1829. He left a large family of sons and daughters, and his descendants still live in Cape Girardeau county. His wife, Jane, was also a member. He died in 1842.

William Hitt, who became a member of Bethel church in 1812, and who afterward served as its clerk for a number of years, was one of the prominent members. He was the grandfather of the late Deacon Smith Hitt of the Cape Girardeau Baptist church. Ben- jamin Hitt, who also united with Bethel church in 1812, was the father of the late Judge Samnel Hitt, of Cape Girardeau.

The Randol family was one of the early Baptist families in the district. Enos Randol united with Bethel church in 1808. His son, Enos, was a sergeant in Peter Craig's com- pany of mounted rangers that fought the battle of the Sink Hole. The Randol family still live in Cape Girardeau county.

Edward Spear, who was one of the charter members of the church, was afterward a lieu- tenant in Craig's company, and was killed at the Sink Hole.

Some of the other members of the church in the early time were William Smith, John Sheppard and his wife, Nancy; Isaac Shep- pard, who united with Bethel church in 1809. Isaac Sheppard was elected deacon and treas- urer, and was also one of the judges both of the common pleas court at Cape Girardeau and the county court.

Ezekiel Hill, Rachel Hill, William Hill, the Thompson family, John Daugherty and ITiram C. Davis were also among the early members, having united with the church prior to the year 1820.

John Juden, Sr., was a native of England, and came from Baltimore in 1805 to Missouri. In 1820 he and John Juden, Jr., joined Bethel church. This family and its descendants were very prominent in Cape Girardeau county for many years.

On October 11, 1806, the congregation voted to erect a meeting house. In pursuance of this resolution, a small log house was built on the farm of Thomas Bull. It proved, however, to be too small and in 1812 was replaced by a hewn log building. This second house was well and strongly constructed of poplar logs. It was thirty feet by twenty-four feet in size. This house was used by the church until about 1861. The church then transferred its ses- sions to a house northwest of Jackson on Byrd's creek. Sometime, about the same date, the old house was sold to a resident in the neighborhood who moved it away, about the distance of a mile, and rebuilt it into a barn. Some of the logs of the old house were saved at the time of the sale, and from them were constructed a number of walking canes and two gavels. One of these gavels was pre- sented to the Baptist General Association of the state at its meeting in St. Joseph in the year 1875 by the Rev. Dr. J. C. Maple. It was handsomely inscribed and is still in

200

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

use by the moderator of the general associa- tion. The other of the two gavels made at the time remained in the possession of Dr. Maple until the year 1910, when it was pre- sented by him to the moderator of the Cape Girardeau Baptist Association at its meeting in Crosstown, Perry county, in September of that year. The old house as rebuilt still stands. The site on which it was erected has been purchased and is now owned by the Bap- tist General Association of Missouri. In 1906 this association held its annual meeting in Cape Girardeau. This was the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Bethel church. One reason for the selection of Cape Girardeau as the place of meeting was to hold appropriate exercises in commemoration of the founding at the site of the old church, and to unveil a monument which had been erected on the spot.

One day during the meeting of the body was set aside for a visit to the site. After a session held in the Baptist church in Jackson on the morning of October 24th, the Associa- tion adjourned to meet in the grove of trees on the spot where the old church stood. This is about two miles from the town of Jackson and was reached after some difficulties. The meeting was called to order by E. W. Steph- ens of Columbia, the moderator of the Gen- eral Association. After prayer and singing, E. W. Stephens delivered an address on the subject, "The Reason for Baptist Existence and Baptist Work One Hundred Years Ago and Now." The' monument was then un- veiled by Mrs. E. W. Stephens and Miss Mae Brown of Jackson.

The monument which was erected by the association is four feet high of granite and bears this inscription: "Here stood Bethel Baptist church, the first permanent non- Catholic church west of the Mississippi river.

Constituted July 19, 1806, with these mem- bers: David Green, Thomas English, Will- iam Matthews, Leanna Green, William Smith, Jane English, Agnes Ballou, Thomas Bull, Clara Abernathy, Catherine Anderson, An- derson Rogers, Edward Spear, Rebecca Ran- dol, John Hitt, and Frances Hitt. What Hath God Wrought ?"

The membership of the church had grown to eighty by the year 1812 and in 1813 it was one hundred eighty-six. In June, 1814, forty- five of its members were dismissed to organize a church in what is now St. Francois county, but even after this dismissal there remained one hundred seventy-three members. In 1809 Bethel church became a member of the Red River Association, which held its meeting that year at Red River church, near Clarksville, Tennessee. It remained a member of this association until 1816, when it was decided to form a new association of the churches in Missouri.

One thing which distinguished the members of Bethel church from the very day of the or- ganization was their fervent missionary spirit. They were untiring in their efforts to have the gospel preached in every possible place within the bounds of Upper Louisiana. To this end they contributed money and encouraged their ministers to visit the different parts of the dis- trict. We find them organizing congregations wherever that was possible. These congrega- tions remained for a time as members of Bethel church, and were looked after, as much as possible, by the pastor of that church. As soon as these congregations became large enough they were organized into regular churches and their direct connection with Bethel church ceased.

The first of these in point of time was or- ganized in the Bois Brule Bottom in what was then Ste. Genevieve county, but what is now

201

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Perry county. Members were received there in 1807. Among them was Thomas Donohoe, who afterward became a preacher. This con- gregation of members seems to have disap- peared after the year 1815. Donohoe and, perhaps some of the other members, then joined a church called Barren church in the same vicinity. This church was constituted in 1816 at the house of Jesse Evans. It soon disappeared, also, and was succeeded by an- other church known as Hepzibah.

The second organization constituted by Bethel was that at St. Michaels. This was in October, 1812. On the same day John Farrar was obtained as a minister. IIe was a mem- ber of this congregation. In 1814 this con- gregation was organized into a church known as Providence church, and Farrar became its pastor.

In January, 1813, a committee was sent from Bethel to organize a congregation on Saline creek. This soon became a church and seems to have been united, later, with Barren church and still later with Hepzibah.

In 1813 there were twenty-three members of Bethel church who lived about twenty-five miles south of Fredericktown. In 1814 they were organized into a church called St. Fran- cois.

A church was organized on Turkey creek in 1815. There had previously been a num- · ber of members of Bethel church living in that vicinity.

In June, 1820, an organization was estab- lished on Apple creek, near Oak Ridge, and it was formed into a church in September of that year. The committee which had charge of the organization of the church was com- posed of Elders T. P. Greene, James Williams, and J. K. Gile, and Isaac Sheppard, Benjamin Thompson, Abraham Randol, Thomas Eng- lish and Benjamin Hitt.

In June, 1821, it was resolved to constitute a church in the Big Bend. The church so organized was called Ebenezer and was sit- uated near the site of Egypt Mills.

On May 11, 1822, fourteen members of Bethel church were dismissed for the purpose of organizing Hebron church, five miles south- east of Jackson. These members so dis- missed, were, most of them, of the Randol, Poe and Ilitt families. Seven members of Bethel were dismissed in April, 1824, and they constituted a church at Jackson.

In the period from the organization of the church in 1806 to 1824, nine church were con- stituted through the efforts of Bethel church. Of these nine churches, only two seem to have survived to the present date. They are Prov- idence church at Fredericktown and the Jack- son church.

The ministers of Bethel church from its foundation were David Greene, 1806 to 1809; Wilson Thompson, 1812 to 1814; Thomas Stephens, 1817; Thomas P. Greene, 1818 to 1826; Benjamin Thompson, 1826 to 1853; John Canterbury, 1853 to 1861, and Joel Foster, 1866.

David Greene, who organized the church, had spent some years as a minister in the Carolinas. Ile loved the life of the frontier, and moved from Carolina to Kentucky, where he preached among the frontier settlers of that date. In 1805, as we have said. he visited Missouri and stopped for a time in the Ty- wappity Bottom. There were some Baptists living in the neighborhood, and he preached to them and organized a church. The mem- bers of this church were Henry Cockerham, John Baldwin, William Ross and a few others. After residing in this settlement for a few months, Elder Greene paid a visit to the vi- cinity of Jackson, but after preaching for a

202

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

time he returned to Kentucky. The condi- tion of the Baptists in Missouri, however, rested heavily on his mind, and, though he was old and had spent a long life in the min- istry, he resolved to visit the Cape Girardeau district again. This time he moved and lo- cated with his family near Bethel church. He was the pastor of the church until his death in 1809.

The second pastor of Bethel church was Wilson Thompson. It was the work of Thomp- son that made the church a power in Missouri. Like so many other famous preachers, he was of Welsh descent. He was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, August 17, 1788. In 1810 he was married to Miss Mary Gregg, and in January, 1811, they moved to the Cape Girar- dean district, settling near Jackson. They were accompanied by his father and mother, and the entire family united with Bethel church. Ile had begun preaching at the age of twenty, before his removal from Ken- tucky, and his preaching was attended with marvelous results. Shortly after he united with Bethel church there occurred the great earthquake at New Madrid, and the shocks were felt over a large part of Upper Louisi- ana. In the following February Thompson began a revival service in Bethel church. It was one of the most remarkable religious manifestations in Missouri. It covered a period of two years, and spread to almost all the congregations which had been organized by the church. There was evidence of the power of the revival at Bois Brule, Saline, Providence and St. Francois, and during its progress Thompson baptized about five hun- dred persons. Up to this time he had not been an ordained minister, but on April 11, 1825, a council composed of John Farrar and Stephen Stilly ordained him. The following July he was chosen pastor of the church and

served until September, 1814. At that time he resigned, and with his family moved to Ohio. He died in Indiana in 1865. He was, doubt- less, the most powerful of the preachers ever connected with the church.

For some years the church seems to have been without a regular pastor, but in Febru- ary, 1817, it called Thomas Stephens, who was a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. He served the church until December of that year. In the following year Thomas Parish Greene, a native of North Carolina, who had lived for some time in Tennessee, was chosen as the fourth of the church's pastors. This was in March, 1818. Elder Greene had moved to Missouri in 1817. He served as pastor of the church for eight years, and it was under his leadership that an interest was aroused in missions and Sunday schools. Elder Greene was an ardent advocate of the church's duty to assist in preaching the gospel to the entire world. While he was pastor of the church it was voted that the association should cor- respond with the board of foreign missions. Under his leadership the church welcomed the visit of John Mason Peck, who had come from the east under the direction of the board of missions to evangelize Missouri. During Peck's visit to Bethel church he organized a missionary society, and on November 8, 1818, after a missionary sermon, he took up a col- lection for missions, amounting to $31.37. The entire work of the church prospered, so long as Greene was its pastor. He closed his pastorate of the church in 1826, when he was called to the care of Hebron church. In 1828 he removed to Rock Springs, Illinois, where he was associated with Peck in publishing the Western Pioneer. He was also at the time agent of the American Sunday School Union, and assisted in establishing Sunday schools and libraries in New Madrid, Scott, Cape Gir-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 31

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844