USA > Missouri > Presbyterianism in the Ozarks : a history of the work of the various branches of the Presbyterian Church in Southwest Missouri, 1834-1907 > Part 35
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"In the spring the young man's fancies Lightly turned to thoughts of love,"
and although the college ceased to be in 1874 the attachment formed for the President's daughter-Miss Callie Mitchell-out- lasted the institution to which it owed the opportunity of its
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birth and for many years she has been the mistress of the manse.
Deprived of this first college home he then entered Drury College and graduated in 1876. Three years later he completed the theological course at Lebanon, Tennessee. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater and in 1908 he received the Degree of L. L. D. During his school days Dr. Fullerton made vigorons exercise of his puplit gifts. He conducted revival meetings in various parts of the Presbytery and for three years supplied the Mount Comfort and Pleasant Hope churches. At the close of his seminary course he took charge of a mission church in Kansas City. This mission had the financial backing of the Presbytery of Lexington and was under the conjoint gnidance of the Presbytery and the Board of Mis- sions. He began work there in September, 1879, without the promise of any definite salary. On the first of January, 1891, he relinquished the work in Kansas City to become pastor of the Lucas Avenue church in St. Louis. This pastorate he resigned August 1st, 1906, to accept the Field Secretaryship of the Board of Missions for the Southwest. His previous training as well as native gifts admirably adapted him to this work. For twelve years he was President of the Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Missions and Church Erection, and for eight years he was editor of the Missionary Record. In the Cumberland branch of the church Dr. Fullerton was one of the potent factors in the re- union. I have heard him say that when the Presbyterian church appointed its evangelistic committee he said to himself that one plank in the Cumberland Platform was gone, and that when the Presbyterian Church revised its Confession he said the platform itself is getting mighty shaky. When then the Cumberland church exhibited such men of piety, zeal and soundness of learn- ing as Dr. Fullerton we said they look just like ourselves, we ought to get together! It was my privilege to be a commis- sioner to the Reunion Assembly of 1907. On returning home I gave my congregation a report in which I said: "The next as- sembly will meet in Kansas City and I predict that a Missouri man will be Moderator"-having in mind at the time the subject of this sketch. The fulfillment of this prophecy is a matter of history. And if the wise supervision of Dr. Fullerton is con- tinued in the Southwest who knows but what these hills are en- uring to hardship other limbs that will stand up under the strain of responsibilities of leadership in the reunited church ?
GEORGE F. HARBOUR.
If gospel fervor makes a man a lineal descendant of the early Cumberland Presbyterian ministers few of the younger
M. A. PRATER
G. F. HARBOUR
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men in the ministry in Southwest Missouri can claim a better title to that descent than George F. Harbour. I asked him for facts concerning his life and characteristically he began with his conversion in 1886 at which time he united with the White Oak congregation of the C. P. Church. There he served as Rul- ing Elder until Neosho Presbytery laid hands of ordination on him in the fall of 1891. In the Spring of 1892 he closed an at- tendance of four years in the Ozark College-Greenfield, Mot, and moved to Mount Vernon, and took charge of three country churches as stated supply. He remained in charge of two of these churches for six years and of the other one for nine years. Here his preaching was "with demonstration of the Spirit and of power." During this ministry over seven hundred persons pro- fessed faith in Christ and between three and four hundred unit- ed with the church. Mr. Harbour was then engaged to serve the Mount Vernon church and rendered faithful service there for the six years. Large numbers were added to this church, an indebtedness of nearly two thousand dollars was liquidated and over a thousand dollars were expended in needed improvements. He was an earnest advocate of the union of the Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian churches and demonstrated his faith by his works in effecting the harmonious union of the two churches in Mount Vernon. Mr. Harbour is especially efficient in pastoral evangelism. He has an intense passion for souls and is an indefatigable worker. His favorite pastime is drawing the reins over a fine and spirited horse of which he is a prime judge. And while this predilection may have something to do with mak- ing him a capital mixer among men it has left him with a name untarnished as wherever he is known his name stands for the synonym of honor and worth.
REV. W. C. HICKS.
The alumni of Cumberland University cherish fond mem- ories of an annual observance in that institution known as "the Election of a Bachelor of Ugliness." When or for what purpose the practice originated I do not know. But according to time- honored precedent in April, 1898, the beauty, culture, youth and wisdom of the University of Lebanon, and of its environs assem- bled in Caruthers' Hall a thousand strong to witness the pageant. It was a time when the sages of faculty and Board, the belles of society and the sturdy men of affairs donned their best attire and gave themselves up to frivolity with the young collegians. The literary, legal and theological departments each had its candidate, and each candidate was brought before the electing constituency
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by a nominating and a seconding speech. On general principles the theological department was at a disadvantage. It was slight- ly outnumbered by each of the other departments and was not altogether exempt from their contemptuous airs. W. C. Hicks, of Greene County, Missouri, was a raw recruit in this depart- ment, the session in question. He was much older than the other students, married, bronzed and innocent of any attempts to keep up with the fast set. A few of the young theologians had dis- covered his native wit and sarcasm, and hence he was selected to make the seconding speech for their candidate, Will Darby, and arrangements were so manipulated that Hicks should speak last. His colleague, like the other four speakers, as well as the dignitaries that occupied the platform, was faultlessly attired in a full dress suit. Hicks wore a Prince Albert coat that had seen hard service and pantaloons carelessly stopping above his shoe tops and void of creases. The old hall reverberated with bom- bastic and eulogistic oratory until Hicks' time came. He arose. peered around awkardly and then began in this strain: "I am forty-eight years old. I have stood on the bleak shores of the Atlantic and watched its waves flow in. I have traveled to the peaceful Pacific and observed its mellow waters. I have been to the great lakes on the north and the muddy gulf on the south. I have lived in eighteen States and have come near being drown- ed in the Arkansas River three times, but this is the first time I was ever asked to play second fiddle at a fools' convention. The wit and drollery that followed this preoration won the elec- tion of Darby on first ballot. The illustration is characteristic of the man. When your program is too long anyway put Hicks down for the last speech. He can awaken a sleepy audience with droll nonsense and induce them to listen to a few grains of sense. A friend said to me recently that he would have been a power if he had been well educated. I am not sure that the Lord ever in- tended for him to be highly. educated. He is endowed with na- tive gifts of wit, sarcasm and judgment, received some book learning at Pleasant Hope Academy and imbibed some theology at Lebanon, and was educated in the great University of Experi- ence. For five years Mr. Hicks was Synodical Superintendent of Missions for the Cumberland Synod of Missouri. Two years he labored in Central Missouri. The rest of his ministry has been spent in his native heath-Southwest Missouri. At present he is serving the Presbytery of Ozark as pastor-at-large. Possessed of executive ability and a knowledge of men, he is admirably adapted to this work. He can go into a moribund church, dis- cover its possibilities and awaken it to an effort to realize these possibilities, and he is thoroughly imbued with the conviction
J. T. BACON
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that the hope of the church rests in the country congregations. Among the former Cumberland Presbyterians he is known all over the State, and many of them have responded generously to his characteristic appeals for missionary funds. Mr. Hicks is thoroughly delighted with the consummation of the union and declares that he is Calvinistic to the core.
REV. JOHN T. BACON.
Destructive critics in days to come may have an easier time in disproving this story than they have had in convincing ns that William Tell never shot the apple, and Washington never pos- sessed a little hatchet. Nevertheless I give it as I received it, for what it is worth :
More than a quarter of a century ago, in the hills of Crawford County, Missouri, there was a long, lank country boy, who went to town to see the sights one chilly autumn day. The boy had grown so rapidly that his trousers failed to meet his socks by several inches, and as he stood gazing in at the store windows. shivering with cold, a benevolent lady took pity on him and gave him a pair of stockings. The boy received a new impulse to do good, subsequently entered Missouri Valley College, graduated in 1896, completed his theological course at the Lebanon Theo- logical Seminary in 1899, and in the month of May. 1909, his alma mater authorized him to sign his name Rev. John T. Bacon, D. D. Dr. Bacon supplied various churches while in school and exercised his gifts freely. He was ordained in March, 1893, by the Presbytery of . and during his course in Missouri. Valley College saw two hundred and forty-seven persons profess Christ under his ministry. He entered upon his work in Spring- field the first Sabbath in June. 1899, and the following year was installed, pastor of the First Cumberland Church. By natural predilections, by training and by grace, Mr. Bacon is a pastor. I was unhitching my horse at his post one day when a huckster at my back exclaimed: "There lives the best preacher and the best singer in this town." As warm-hearted and friendly as Mr. Bryan, whom he strikingly resembles, by the sheer power of per- sonal popularity, he has kept latent most of the opposition to union in his church, and although stringent efforts from withont have been made to storm this citadel, only an insignificant ntinor- ity has gone out. With a commanding presence. a sonorous voice, a rich fund of homely illustrations, and an intense zeal, Dr. Ba- con is popular in the pulpit and on the platform, especially with young people. He is closely identified with all that makes for the well-being of the city; for several years has been manager of the
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local Chautaqua and is gaining more than a local reputation on the lecture platform. In the earlier years of his ministry he de- voted considerable attention to evangelistic services, but for sev- eral years the demands of his growing parish and the calls for all sorts of addresses have engrossed his attention until he has had to turn a deaf ear to most of the appeals from pastors and churches for evangelistie aid.
Mr. Bacon's pastoral work is signally successful. His peo- ple call on him under almost all conceivable circumstances and at almost any time, night and day. He spends a large part of his time in their homes, offices and on the streets, and gathers mate- rial for sermons as he goes from place to place. The people rally to his leadership. The various organizations of the church are aggressive and the pastorate bids fair to be a long one. I have often thought that the esprit de corps is stronger among the for- mer C. P. ministers than among those of my own branch of the church, and have fancied that this is probably due in part to the fact that their theological education was more centralized. Mr. Bacon has this spirit in a large degree, but confines it in no sense to the former C. P. ministry. He is a prime favorite in Presby- tery and Synod, and his brethren in the ministry seek his coun- sel and relish the hospitality of his home, whilst his purse strings are ofttimes open to those in need.
JOSIAH F. DANFORTH.
If the records of the Presbytery are a faithful criterion the subject of this sketch was the leading elder in the Presbytery of Neosho-Ozark during its first decade. Josiah F. Danforth was born in Tennessee August 23, 1800. On the 30th of Decem- ber, 1830, he married Miss Letitia Prather, and after a brief resi- dence in Gasconade county, Missouri, which began in September, 1832, they settled in Greene County. "At that time there were only four farms in Taylor Township." Mr. Danforth secured thirteen hundred acres of land and made wise provision for the life that now is and for that which is to come. "He represented this district in the Legislature from 1844 to 1848, and was one of the ablest members of that body at the time." The Presby- tery of Neosho held its second session in his house September, 1837. At this time the New Providence Church was organized, and Mr. Danforth was an elder in the same as long as he lived. Among the elders he was probably the most frequent attendant on the sessions of the Presbytery. From time to time he served as chairman of such important committees on both spiritual and financial interests as the Committee to Arrange Camp Meetings,
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the Committee to Settle the Claims of the Missionaries, the Com- mittee on the State of Religion, the Committee on the Statistics of the Church, the Committee on Raising Money for the Book Concern, and he was also the first mentioned of the Commission- ers to locate a school. He was the second member on the commit- tee to draft a form for the keeping of sessional records, and at one time was a member of the committee to examine candidates on theology. When the Presbytery wished to raise $100 for the missionaries in its bounds (September, 1840) he pledged New Providence Church for one-fourth of the amount, thus heading the subscription. It does not require one to be very thoroughly versed in modern Presbyterial affairs to be acquainted with the fact that even in this day of awakened lay activities chairmanships of such committees in Missouri Presbyteries are now relegated to the clergy. Mr. Danforth left such an impress on the New Provi- dence Church, which probably gathered increment from others of the name, that to this day it is popularly known as "the Dan- forth Church." In 1849 he started to California in quest of health, but when he reached Las Vegas, New Mexico, his destina- tion was changed by a Higher Power and he passed to the land "whose inhabitants never say I am sick."
MATTHEW HENRY RITCHEY.
The name of the devout commentator might easily have been prefixed to the sirname of one who would have worn it less worthily. And I have sometimes wondered whether it was given as a premonition of its wearer's character or as an expression of the devout tendencies of his parents. In childhood I knew him as Judge Ritchey and by that title I shall call him regularly as to whether I speak of incidents in his life before or after he had earned the distinction. He was born in Tennessee February 7, 1813, and was of strictly Scotch descent. His father died when he was but four years of age and with his mother he moved first to Illinois in 1829 and then to Southwest Missouri in 1832. Their effects were carried in a wagon drawn by a yoke of steers. St. Lonis was then a straggling town of 6,900 inhabitants. and Springfield was the proud possessor of one small and poorly stock- ed grocery store. "All Southwest Missouri was embraced in Crawford county. It was bounded east by Franklin, Washing- ton and Wayne counties, south by Arkansas, west by Indian Territory and north by Osage river. The country west of the Ozarks and drained by the Grand river was then called the Six Bulls in the language of the Sioux Indians; in our language the Six rivers, being drained by six streams and their tributaries.
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This may be illustrated by speading wide apart the fingers of one hand imagining a fifth finger between the fourth and thumb all leading to the wrist joint just as the streams converge and form Grand river. As the country settled gradually these rivers were named Cowskin or Elk river which flows west and drains some Akansas territory, Shoal creek, Center creek, Spring river, North Fork and Neosho river." Where Springfield now stands was then known as Kickapoo Prairie. From here the road to the Six Bulls country was a dim trail. Young Ritchey and his emigrating party followed this trail for three days and came to the house of Squire John Williams about three miles northeast of the present site of Mt. Vernon. From here they journeyed to the valley of Shoal creek. In the Judge's own language: "De- lighted with the scene we rolled on down the vale, though the trail was difficult of discovery until we drove into a large timber- ed bottom one mile west of the site where the village of Ritchey has since then grown up in Newton county. Making our way through the forest we came upon a high cliff out of which gushed a large spring of bright, clear water, rolling, tumbling, leaping, singing down to the vale beneath. This looked attractive to youngsters from the prairies of Illinois. Nearby was a log house, just built without chinked cracks, ,a floor or shuttered door. In front of it stood a man of whom we inquired how the road led out. By this time a woman moved the quilt which covered the aperture for a door, and surrounded by a swarm of children came out of the cabin to do the talking. That was natural if not reas- onable and was rather an indication that she habitually wore the-the-the-well, never mind it indicated, taken with what followed. that she wore them. She said: "There is no 'road further west; if you want to travel a road you must turn around and go back the way you came." I replied: "We wish to go west as far as we can without going out of the settlement and make improvements." Here the old man broke in and said: "'Ill sell my improvements." Mr. - asked "What will you take?" "I'll take less than the work is worth." Mr. - asked: "Will yon take that yearling colt?" pointing to a colt running with ns. In plumped the old lady: "Take it Jim, I want to get away from here." The trade was made, and in a few weeks M. H. Ritchey went east a mile and built a cabin for himself and mother on the site of the village of Ritchey. This house was 12x14 feet, yet he had to go ten miles to get men to help him "raise" it. The Judge's description of pioneer conditions is so interesting that it is hard to keep from transcribing it. Honey sold at one cent a pound in the comb and was so plentiful that it was used for wagon grease. Hogs were scarce and pork was
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hard to get, but wild game abundant. When they got a puncheon floor and two rude bed steads it began to look like civilization. Most of the meal was obtained by beating the corn in mortors, the finest was used for bread and the coarsest for hominy. Greene county was taken from Crawford, Barry from Greene and New- ton from Barry so that . . Ritchey lived in four counties with- out moving. After residing on this farm nineteen years he went to Oliver's prairie to raise stock. Here on his farm was founded the town of Newtonia. After the Atlantic and Pacific railroad was built through the county (now the "Frisco) " he re- turned to the farm he had first settled. Though with but meager education Judge Ritchey's native gift of mind and heart soon brought him to the front as a leader of men in this section of the state where he lived for nearly 57 years. In 1835 he married Miss Mary King and to them were born ten sons and daughters. His wife died in 1855 and he subsequently married Mrs. Mary E. Clark, by this second marriage he had three children. He was clected constable in 1836 his jurisdiction extending over an area of 30 square miles. Then he was elected county judge and filled that position for several terms. He served in both branches of the state legislature, was captain of the militia, and a delegate to the state convention called to decide whether not Missouri should ' secede. Here his firm stand for the Union aroused much oppo- sition among his intimate friends. During the war he was pay- master with the rank of Major. In 1854 he laid out and built Newtonia and took an active part in the establishment of Newton college. In 1871 he laid out the town which bears his name. But his record in the realm of morals and religion is brighter even than that in civic affairs. He united with the Cumberland Presbyterian church at Neosho in 1840 and was a ruling elder for many years. Presbytery met in his home in December 1841. His connection with Spring River Academy is referred to else- where. It was his special delight to help young men secure an education for the ministry and his counsels were eagerly sought in his presbytery which sent him to the General Assembly several times. Next to his church he evidently placed the great cause of temperance in the defense of which he weilded a strong and facile pen. But his interest did not stop here. "On the 1st of January 1884 he sent Mrs. Clara Hoffman a check of $100 for the work of W. C. T. U. and the interesting correspondence rela- tive to this gift leads me to infer that it was by no means the first or the last gift to the cause of temperance. Judge Ritchey died on the 18th of August 1889. His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to the number of 44 survived him. I am told that he was superintendent of the Sunday School in Neosho
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for thirty-five years. Among the treasured volumes in my library is an old Cumberland confession of Faith that he had owned. In the early seventies my father was a member of the firm of M. H. Ritchey and Co. in the little town on the banks of Shoal creek. When I to manhood grown revisited these scenes of childhood in company with my father I was given this book. That was some years before the reunion but if its original possessor looks over the betterments of the glory world on the doings of us mortals here below I know he approved, for while here his was that broad and castrolie spirit that while firmly loyal to his own branch of the church had a place in his heart of love for all the redeemed children of God.
GEORGE W. RINKER.
"I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." In a frontier country where educational advantages were meager and where physical strength seemed requisite, George W. Rinker at thirteen years of age was stricken with white swelling and became a permanent cripple. Nothing daunted his career in civic or religious circles, has entitled him to an enduring place in the annals of his section of the coun- try. He was born of German parents in Carroll county, Indiana, Sept. 20, 1837. His father's side of the house was of the Lutheran faith-and his mother's Presbyterian. In 1840 the family moved to Missouri and purchased a preemptors right to the farm on which G. W. Rinker still lives. That part of the country had not yet been surveyed but was embraced in Barry county. It is now in Lawrence county.
In 1859 Mr. Rinker was elected county clerk of Lawrence county and served in this capacity until 1864 when he was elected to the state legislature. To this latter position he was re-elected in 1866 and 1876. In 1870 he was elected Judge and probate and common pleas court. To a political career of unquestioned in- tegrity he has added a religious career that has made him one of the most useful men in Southwest Missouri for more than the span of a generation. Converted at 20 years of age he united with the Cumberland Presbyterian church and was ordained ruling elder in the Mt. Vernon congregation in 1860. Subsequently he served as a member of the session in the Zion church and afterwards in the Aurora church. He was a member of the First Sunday School west of Springfield in Southwest Missouri and in 1860 was elect- ed superintendent-a position he held in this and other Sunday Schools for forty-five years. The year after the organization
AURORA CHURCH
G. W. RINKER
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of the Lawrence county Sunday School Association Judge Rinker was elected president and for seventeen years he retained this office. During his incumbency and with L. L. Allen of Peirce City as secretary, Lawrence county became the banner Sunday School county in the state and its famous map made by Allen has been exhibited in many states and in Rome and Jerusalem. The Presbytery elected Judge Rinker moderator three times and sent him as a commissioner to the General Assembly a like number of times. In addition to this his great interest in the work of the church has led him to attend two assemblies as a visitor. In his Presbytery he made the second speech in favor of the reunion and he says that he is now enjoying the blessings of the united church. It would probably be easier to enumerate the Cumberland churches in his section of the state that he has not helped to build than those that were the recipients of his ben- efactions. Nor has his generous hand failed to pour out its benison on the efforts of churches of other denominations. His tender heart has ever felt another's woes and many are the poor that will rise up and call him blessed. With all his interest in civil and religious institutions in his midst probably the cause that has been nearest and dearest is the work of fulfilling our Savior's great commission and thus is verified the saying "The light that shines the fartherest, shines brightest nearest home."
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