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 36
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CHAPTER VII.
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IN SILHOUETTE.
The oral traditions and unsystematized annals of Cumber- land Presbyterianism present in shadowy outline the forms of many worthies who merit an honored place in this book. As the ruins of some ancient cathedral or castle awaken conception of former grandeur even though the imagination is not entirely able to reconstruct the edifice, so my research has impressed me again and again with the conviction that the Cumberland church in Southwest Missouri has numbered in the ranks of its ministry and its laity men who help to bring the eleventh chapter of He- brews down to date and inspire one to faith and fidelity when he
"But remembers, only, Such as these have lived and died."
Though the ontlines remain shadowy and the memories of those he questions fail to make the forms distinct.
For various reasons I have failed to get adequate sketches of some men whose portraits I must be content to present in Sil- houette.
ALFRED MOORE.
The first Cumberland Presbytery in Southwest Missouri was organized in the dwelling house of Alfred Moore in Barry county the fourth Tuesday in March 1837. The hospitable home of Mr. Moore was again opened to the Presbytery April 7, 1840.
ANDREW BUCHANAN.
GREENFIELD BUCHANAN.
The Buchanans left a fragrant memory in Arkansas to which state. their labors were largely confined. The Synod of Arkansas appointed Rev. Andrew Buchanan to preach the opening sermon
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at the organization of Neosho Presbytery (1837) and Rev. Green- field Buchanan to be the first moderator. Andrew Buchanan is described as: "A cool. fearless hero; never excited, never losing self possession, never shrinking from any duty, however hard, he was well fitted for the field in which his lot was cast. Two of his favorite saying are still quoted in Arkansas. One was, 'I take no more trouble on my hands than I can kick off at my heels;' the other, 'I never let .my feeling stick out far enough for people to tramp on them.' "
REV. T. M. JOHNSTON.
According to the biography of Rev. A. A. Young's, Mr. John- ston accompanied Mr. Young from LaFayette county, Mo., to the vicinage of Springfield in February, 1836. After a missionary tour through the Southwest they returned home and were ordained April 23, 1836. The same authority asserts that they were pres- ent at the meeting of the Presbytery in the dwelling house of Alfred Moore but the author mistaken as to the date of that meeting and the records make no mention of Mr. Young until the second meeting, and Mr. Johnston is first mentioned at the third session. However, Mr. Johnston's name is signed to the first minutes as "recording clerk" and he appears either in this capacity or as "stated clerk" until the division of the Presbytery. His field of labor was in the new Presbytery of Springfield, and when he left that Presbytery in 1848 it was "Resolved that this Presbytery deeply lament the loss of the counsel and support of Bro. T. M. Johnston who has been the faith (in Christ) of this Presbytery." Mr. Johnston assisted in the organization of the First Churches of Springfield and served that church as stated supply. He also ministered to the new Providence church.
J. D. MONTGOMERY.
Rev. Jefferson Montgomery came from Tennessee probably in 1839. In April of that year he attended Presbytery at the resi- dence of George M. Gibson and was assigned work in Greene and Polk counties. Under his ministry the name of Shiloh church was changed to Pomme de Terre-(now Pleasant Ilope). The history of Dade county says: "The Cumberland Presbyterian church, now of Greenfield, was organized in 1839 by Rev. J. D. Montgomery. The church was organized in the vicinity of the site of Greenfield before the town had an existence." But in a letter written by Mr. Montgomery for the biography of Rev. A. A. Young Mr. Montgomery says: "I attended Bro.
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Young's camp meetings for a fall or two and saw his great zeal for the Master. He attended my first camp meeting in 1840 near Greenfield.
What Mr. Young was to the Southwest part of the Presbytery Mr. Montgomery was to the Northeast part-especially to Dade county. "His study for many years was on horse back as he went from one appointment to another, or at the plow as he toiled to support his family." He is remembered as an exhorter of unusual powers and as a spiritual general who could mobelize Christian workers and lead them in effectual service for the Master. "His field was Dade county with parts of other counties north and east of Dade. In the last few years of his life his field was contracted to the northeast part of Dade county. During the war Mr. Montgomery was known for his strong union senti- ments, and his great influence made him the object of bitter persecutions by the leaders of the Confederate forces. For over a half a century Mr. Montgomery lived and labored in Southwest Missouri and in 1890 he was called to his reward.
WILLIAM GRIEF PERKINS.
If any man has served in the eldership of a Presbyterian church in Southwest Missouri longer than the subject of this sketch the knowledge of that fact has eluded my grasp. If he had lived one day longer he would have seen the sixty-seventh anniversary of the order of Presbytery for the organization of the Cumberland Union church in which he was elected a charter elder. But length of days in service is not his only claim to eminence. He was born in Kentucky May 31, 1881, and came to Greene county in 1836. Ten years later he was married to Martha Ann Beal (February 14, 1846).That fall they settled on a farm on which they lived together for nearly sixty-two years. To this pions patriarch and his wife were born nine children, seven of them surviving their parents. In the spring of 1841 the Cumberland Union church-later called Brookline-was organ- ized and Mr. Perkins was made a charter elder. "Uncle Grief". as he was called was a noted singer and was sought far and wide as a helper in evengelistic meetings before the professional gospel singers became ubiquitious. He is remembered, too, for his loyal support of the ministry and of the educational interests of his church. On the 9th of March, 1908, old and full of days he was gathered to his father. Less than two months later the com- panion of his young manhood and old age went home to meet him.
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THE DILLARDS.
The unique distinction of having given two sons to the ministry and two to the eldership belongs to Wm. Dillard, Senior. Mr. Dillard came from Tennessee to Greene county, Missouri, in the third decade of the nineteenth century. He set- tled on a farm on Pearson creek and cooperated with the Don- forths in organizing the New Providence church. His sons Stephen and John entered the Cumberland Presbyterian ministry whilst his sons George and Robert became elders-the former in the Home church and the latter in the Pleasant Divide church. An- other son Wm. Junior was a member of the New Providence church and a grandson-James L. is now an elder in that church. The history of Greene county (1883) contains this sketch of George Dillard :
"Mr. Dillard was born in Monroe county, Tennessee, Decem- ber 4, 1826, and is the son of William and Sarah Dillard. When he was eleven years of age his parents emigrated to Greene coun- ty, Mo., and settled upon section 8, township 59 and range 29, where George grew to manhood, and where he has always lived since coming to Missouri with the exception of three year's ser- vice in the army. In 1862 he was commissioned as captain of enrolled militia, and served as such until the war closed. He was engaged most of the time in the defense of Springfield, and keeping the "bushwhackers" out of the country as far as practi- cable. Captain Dillard was married upon the 31st of May, 1849, to Miss Eliza J. daughter of J. H. and Gabella Gibson. Their union has been blessed with nine children, six of whom are now living. Captain Dillard is one of the best farmers and most enterprising gentlemen of this section, and no man is held in higher esteem in the county that he."
DAVID ELLIOTT GIBSON. (Written by G. W. Rinker.)
Born in Giles county. Tennessee, May 29, 1814, David Elliott Gibson moved with his parents to Southwest Missouri in the spring of 1831. This was one of the first families to settle in what is now Lawrence county. David was converted at the first camp meeting held in Southwest Missouri in 1837 (or '38) and was soon afterwards elected elder of the Spring River con- gregation of the C. P. church, which position he held until his death, February 21, 1888, a period of fifty years. He was twice elected judge of the county court, first in 1850 and again in 1871. Judge David E. Gibson was one of Lawrence county's noblest
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men. For integrity, moral worth and active service none stood his peer. I was county clerk when he was judge of the county court, and can say he handled the public money with all the care and painstaking that he used in his own financial matters. He died at his home near Mt. Vernon, February 21, 1888, where he had lived for fifty-two years.
GALLAHUGH MOORE. (Written by ΔΆ. W. Rinker.)
Gallahugh Moore was a pioneer settler of Lawrence county. Missouri. He bought a farm on Honey creek in the forty's, and laid the foundation for a useful life, and established a happy home. He was prosperous as a farmer, and active as a Christian worker. He was chosen an elder in Spring River congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian church which position he filled with honor to himself, attended by great success to the church. He was faithful to his church and family, of ten. He often repre- sented his church in its Presbytery and Synod. He died in the harness, and his mantle has been taken up by his sons.
GENERAL COLLY B. HOLLAND.
On the twenty-fourth of August, 1816, Colly B. Holland was born in Robberson county, Tennessee. In early life he was called to assist his widowed mother in the support of the two younger children, and with the burdens of manhood thrown upon the shoulders of a youth he enjoyed but meager educational advan- tages. But he belonged to that sterling type of men who gain a large fund of practical information from a very few books.
Mr. Holland moved to Springfield, Missouri, in 1841 and in company with his brother John established a tailor shop. He soon became identified with the commercial and progressive enterprises of the town of his adoption, was one of the incorpor- ators of the Springfield Male Academy founded in 1859, one of the organizers of the cotton mill industry and in 1875 opened the Holland Banking House with his sons T. B. and W. C. In the Civil war he was Captain of Company D. of Phelps' regiment, assisted in organizing the 72nd regiment of the Missouri militia, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General. General Holland was " a life long Cumberland Presbtyerian. He was one of the charter elders of the First Cumberland Presbyterian church of Spring- field organized in 1844 and in 1847 he was made clerk of the ses- sion a position he held for years. His liberal benefactions and efficient services were by no means confined to the local church.
GALLAHUGH MOORE
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He was frequently elected a commissioner to the General As- sembly and held a high rank among the laymen in his denomina- tion. Like many of his contemporaries in the eldership of that branch of the church, Mr. Holland was a patron of young men studying for the ministry. He died the fifth of March, 1901.
JOHN G. KNOX.
(Written by Rev. W. C. Hicks).
John G. Knox, one of the most worthy elders of the Cumber- land Presbyterian church, was born in Giles county, Tennessee, in 1838. He came to Missouri shortly after his marriage and settled in Greene county, eight miles northwest of Springfield. Mr. Knox was one of the charter members of the Walnut Springs Cumberland Presbyterian church and was an elder in that church from its organization until his death which occurred in November, 1891. He reared a worthy family of four boys and three girls all of whom are exemplary Christian citizens and owners of well regulated homes. Three of his sons have filled the office of ruling elder in the church. We feel that such a man deserves more than passing notice. He often related his Christian experience when and where he thought it would be helpful to others. He said that when he was a small boy in Giles county, Tenn., his father and mother with others in the church and community were plan- ning for one of the old time camp meetings. All arrived on Friday evening and unloaded their camping equipment, preparatory to pitching their tents near the old spring. A number of tired moth- ers and children went to the spring to quench their thirst ; while resting they entered into conversation as to their purpose in com- ing to the meeting. His mother said that her purpose was that her children might find Jesus Christ as their Saviour, that she hoped and prayed that John might be converted. Her hopes were re- alized and her prayers were answered. As a young Christian John felt that he was called upon to preach the gospel, but he never yielded to the call. In later life he tried to atone for what he regarded as a neglect on his part by helping other young men to enter the ministry. On one occasion a young man wrestling with the conviction that he ought to preach went to Mr. Knox for advice. The young man spoke of his impressions, said that he was willing to enter the ministry but added that he was in debt to the amount of $500, that he was not able to pay it at present and was not willing to offer himself up to the Presbytery as a candidate under these circumstances. Mr. Knox readily replied: "This is my opportunity. if I can not go I can send someone to preach. You answer the call of God and I will assume
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the obligation of the $500 indebtedness." Fortunately for Mr. Knox he never had to pay the debt. It was his constant practice to seek the poor, the unfortunate and the forsaken and to become to them a friend in need. He was truly a good samaritan.
M. A. PRATER
The genial pastor of the Aurora Church needed not to be acclimated to the social atmosphere of Southwest Missouri. At the firesides, on the farms and in the marts of commerce in the - Ozarks he treads his native heath. A Missourian by birth he re- ceived his literary training here and completed his theological course in Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1892. Pastorates averaging something over three years each followed at Springfield, Steelville and Sullivan, Missouri, and Van Buren, Arkansas. His present pastorate at Aurora gives promise of con- tinued usefulness. Mr. Prater is an evangelistie pastor, fre- quently conducts his own meetings with marked success and finds time each year to assist one or more neighboring pastors in evangelistic meetings. He forms and holds strong ties of friend- ship wherever he goes and is dearly loved by old and young for his sympathetic interest, genial disposition and powers of adapt- ation to circumstances as he finds them.
J. M. HUBBERT
The United Church is indebted to Southwest Missouri for its efficient assistant stated clerk of the General Assembly. J. M. Hubbert was a candidate for the ministry under care of the Springfield Presbytery and as such was dismissed from the Pres- bytery March 4th, 1871. For a time he was a student in Ozark College and when he was prepared for a higher course Presby- tery advised him to "Repair as soon as practicable to Camp Black and enter Cumberland University." Dr. Hubbert was Moderator of the Assembly of 1889 and stated clerk of the As- sembly from 1896 to the time of the union.
M. B. DeWITT
When I came to Springfield in 1895 Dr. De Witt filled the pulpit of the First Cumberland church. In scholarly attainments, Christian gentlemanliness, suavity of manner and grace of heart the pulpits of the city have not since had his superior. In the Ministerial Alliance he was accorded merited deference and es- teem. I never think of him without recalling his plea for the
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study of the poets in which with telling effect, he quoted Byron's words as an illustration of the inevitable end of such a life :
"My days are in the yellow leaf, The fruit and flower of love are gone; The worm, the canker, and the grief Are mine alone."
Dr. De Witt was born in Paris, Tenn., in 1835 and died at Nashville in 1901. He graduated from the literary and theologi- cal departments of Cumberland University and was pastor of the church of Fayetteville, Tenn., until the outbreak of the civil war, when he became chaplain in the Confederate army. His subsequent labors were: Pastor at Huntsville, Alabama, 1865- 1872; Book Editor of the Publishing House, Nashville, 1872-1879 ; Pastor M. C. Minnville, Tenn., 1879-1882; P. M. C., Keesport, Pa., 1882-1884; P. Edgefield church, Nashville, 1884-1888; Sun- day School Editor and Superintendent for the denomination. 1888-1894; P. Springfield, Mo., April. 1894, Oct. 1896. Ill health la'd him aside until December, 1898, when he became pastor at Hopkinsville, Ky., his last pastorate which terminated in Decem- ber, 1900.
There are other names that richly deserve more than pass- ing mention, and those who were reared in the Cumberland Pres- byterian church may think that my ideas of "election" are arbi- trary indeed. But could they know the futile efforts I have made to get the necessary information they would deal leniently with my shortcomings.
"Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled, You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will But the scent of the rose will cling to it still."
So I catch the fragrance of their lives in the broken memor- ies of those who have known them-but fail to get characteris- tics and facts enough to give to them a form substantial enough to appear to the reader. Such were
THOMAS KEER, and HARVEY T. MCCUNE of the Old Oakland Church, and ELISHA B. HILLHOUSE of Lawrence County, and WILLIAM P. DYSART.
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for fifty or sixty years an elder in the Mount Comfort church and a power in personal evangelism.
And they are not all dead yet.
WILLIAM MeCANSE
was elected to the eldership in the Mount Vernon church before the civil war, and
A. A. YOUNG
still maintains in Lawrence county the good name inherited from his father. The Rev. A. A. Young of blessed memory. And in that general region of country the heart of the former Cumber- land Presbyterian beats with pride at the mention of the hon- ored names of
GIBSON and WHITE.
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1
CHAPTER VIII
- 4
OTHER PRESBYTERIAN BODIES
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, U. S.
In 1861 the Presbytery of La Fayette embraced twenty- seven counties stretching from the Missouri river to the Arkan- sas line. In this vast domain it had 21 ministers, 34 churches and a communicant roll of 1,478. The counties of La Fayette, Jackson and Cass furnished 1100 of these, leaving only 378 members in twenty-four counties. The territory subsequently occupied by Ozark Presbytery had only 5 churches with 143 members. In April, 1861, the Presbytery met in Longwood. Pettis county. That was its last full meeting prior to the civil war. The three ministers who met in the fall adjourned without ceremony before an armed band of foragers. "In the spring of 1862, three ministers met in Pleasant Hill, but nothing was done, but adjourn, to meet in Hopewell church October 2nd." The pastor of this church was Rev. David Coulter. He had the joy of welcoming to the meeting of Presbytery Revs. J. W. Wallace, R. S. Symington and George Miller. It is described by the latter as "a quiet, pleasant meeting, attended by old people, women and children, and full of sadness, charity and devotion-a sort of spiritual sunset, before a long, dark, bitter and cruel night of three and one-half years duration. * # Our Presbytery met no more until April, 1866, and when it did, it was but the frag- ments of what it was, a wreck in ministers, churches, members and Christian spirit. Of the 21 that met five years ago only five remained. * *
# From 1861 to 1866 one-half of all the churches on our roll became utterly extinct, and in the places of 12 out of 34 no organiaztion has ever been revived. Of the sur- viving organization, eleven are now (1888) in the southern con- nection and six in the northern four in this (Kansas City) and two in Ozark Presbytery .*
*There is evidently a mistake here as Ozark retained Ebernezer, Mount Vernon (i. e. Ozark Prairie) and Calvary Churches.
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In the fall of 1866 the Synod divided. That part of La Fay- ette Presbytery within the purview of this volume had been stricken off the year before to constitute the Presbytery of South- west Missouri. As for the rest, all went into the 'Declaration and Testimony" or Independent Southern Synod except the church of Warrensburg and a very few members in Kansas City and Pleasant Hill, together with one minister-Rev. George Mil- ler. The Presbytery of La Fayette, U. S. retains the succession and the records. Its confines were once more extended to the Arkansas line. Like its predecessor before the disruption the bulk of its strength is in the northern part. The earliest work of this Presbytery in the Ozark region was near the scenes of the old Indian Missions of the New School church. The churches of this section at the disruption of the Presbytery of Osage passed into the hands of the Old School church, "by which after the war many efforts were made to revive the old churches and to estab- lish new ones." The Presbytery of La Fayette entered this same field. On the 8th of September, 1870, it enrolled the churches of Nevada City and Virgil City, both of which were organized by Rev. J. Galbreath, the former with 13 and the latter with 15 men- bers. The Bethany church, organized by Revs. Messrs. Mont- gomery, Milster and Crockett, was enrolled March 13th, 1874. These churches were all in Vernon county, and they have all dis- appeared from the roll of La Fayette Presbytery. Nevada City was doubtless abandoned on account of the work of the Ozark Presbytery U. S. at that place. Virgil City church by formal application was received by the same body. What became of Bethany I am unable to say. Between these efforts and the es- tablishment of the permanent work of the Presbytery in the Ozarks several years elapsed. The churches now on the roll of the Presbytery in this section were either enrolled or organized as follows :
Lamar (Barton county), 1883; Westminster (Springfield), July, 1883, 1885 ( ?); Walker (Vernon county). April 26, 1889; Montrose (Pulaski county). April 15, 1896; Forsythe (Taney county), August 14, 1896; Sparta (Christian county), September 17, 1896; Crocker (Pulaski county), April 12, 1898; Tuscumbia (Miller county), April 16, 1896; Swedenborg (Pulaski county), September, 1906; Branson (Taney county), March 18, 1907. Westminster (Vernon county), date of organization unknown to the writer. At one time the Presbytery had an organization at Mansfield but that has been disbanded ; whilst its church at Burn- ham was transferred to the Presbytery of Ozark, U. S. A. No doubt other organizations have been abandoned but as I have not had access to the records of this Presbytery I am unable to men- tion them even by name. The eleven churches now on the roll
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reported a membership. of 560 in 1908. Of this membership La- mar reported 103 and Westminster of Springfield 102.
The Westminster church has had a succession of gifted pas- tors including Revs. H. B. Boude, D. D., Eugene F. Abbott, A. Y. Beaty, and the present pastor, Rev. G. W. Jurey. Mr. Beaty resigned to manage the founding of The School of the Ozarks. This school under the control of the denomination is located in Forsythe, Taney county, and is modeled in part at least after Park College. Before formulating plans Mr. Beaty was sent to Park and to a number of institutions, among the mountain peo- ple of the south for the purpose of learning the best features of the various schools doing this kind of work. One hundred and twenty acres of land was secured and the first building was com- pleted in the spring of 1907. The school was opened in the fall. It has accommodations for fifty boarders and the Boarding De- partment is kept full. The public school funds of the township are turned over to its trustees and the children of Forsythe are admitted without tuition. A normal course has proven a boon to district school teachers in Taney and the adjoining counties. The school is coeducational. Mr. Beaty was compelled to resign about a year after the opening of the school on account of health con- siderations. Since then the school has been without a President. Forsythe is reached by a hack line from Branson, about ten miles over the mountains. Already the School of the Ozarks has dem- onstrated its right to be.
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