USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 78
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Churches dedicated: Sterling, Sheldon and La Moure. Churches being erected were Emerado, Bottineau, Steele and Hunter. The churches at Lari-
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more, Wheatland and Bathgate provided manses, there being then eighty churches in the Synod, seven self-supporting fields, forty ministers, including licentiates, thirty-seven church buildings, and ten more projected.
In view of the demoralizing influence of the liquor traffic the Synod earnestly called upon its membership to take a stand upon the word of God and faithfully do their duty in uprooting this great evil. It commended the work of the Wom- en's Christian Temperance Union. A popular meeting was held, Rev. Edgar W. Day presiding, addressed by Rev. N. D. Fanning of Jamestown and Mrs. Helen M. Barker of Chamberlain, South Dakota.
A committee was appointed to co-operate with the Women's Missionary Society in the matter of erecting and dedicating a monument at Walhalla to the memory of the martyred Mesdames Spencer and Barnard, consisting of the Revs. J. P. Schell. H. G. Mendenhall, W. H. Hunter, John Scott and E. W. Bay, June, 1888, being the date named.
The Synod met in Bismarck, October II, 1888, Rev. J. C. Quinn, of Minot. preaching. New ministers and elders were enrolled as follows: Revs. R. H. Wallace, Edgar C. Dayton, W. O. Tobey, Granville R. Pike, George Furness, Samuel Andrews, G. H. Hemmingway, B. Lyman, Robert McGoudie. Elder George Fairbanks was also enrolled.
Rev. W. H. Hunter was elected moderator and Rev. J. C. Quinn temporary clerk. Rev. George Klein, of the North Dakota Baptist Association, and Rev. J. B. Hobart, of the Presbytery of Cleveland, Ohio, were invited to sit as corre- sponding members.
The fifth annual meeting of the Synod assembled in Fargo on October 10, 1889, Rev. J. A. Baldridge, of Larimore, preaching the sermon from John 6:63. The following were among the new ministers and elders enrolled: Revs. James M. Anderson, B. W. Coe, Wm. Sangree, J. C. Linton, H. McHenry, W. D. Rees, and Elder J. C. White, of Casselton. Rev. G. Sumner Baskervill was elected moderator and Rev. J. P. Schell temporary clerk. The Revs. V. N. Yergin, of the Congregational Association, W. A. Kingsbury, of the General Council of the Lutheran Church, and Rev. J. S. Boyd, of the Synod of Minnesota, were invited to sit as corresponding members.
A proposition was submitted by Rev. F. W. Iddings for publishing a paper at Grand Forks, in the interest of the Synod which was accepted and an editorial committee consisting of Revs. J. P. Schell, W. T. Parsons, J. T. Killen and J. M. Anderson was appointed, and the North Dakota Presbytery was selected October 8, 1889.
At this meeting a report of the committee commending the work of the Sun- day school missionary, Eben E. Saunders, was adopted.
Rev. Eben E. Saunders, ordained as a Congregationalist, came to North Dakota from Saginaw, Mich., September I. 1888, as Synodical Sabbath school mission- ary. He was the first secretary of the State Sunday School Association, the first secretary of the State Enforcement League, first chairman of the prohibition state committee, and editor of the first prohibition papers, The "Independent" at Grand Forks, and Independent Dakotan, at Jamestown, and later editor and publisher of other publications, always working on uplift lines. He has also been engaged in historical research, contributing a large number of historical
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letters to the press, and to him, the author is very largely indebted for the data from which this chapter was prepared.
THE MARTYRS OF ST. JOSEPH
In 1849, Reverend James Tanner, a son of John Tanner, who had previously served as an interpreter to the missionaries in Minnesota, visited a brother resid- ing at Pembina, and becoming deeply interested in the spiritual condition of the Indians, made a tour of the east in their behalf, visiting Washington and other cities.
He became connected with the Baptist Church, and returned to St. Joe-a trading post in the Pembina mountains, and at an early day a village quite as important as Pembina-in 1852, accompanied by Elijah Terry, for the purpose of opening a mission among the Indians and half-bloods at that point, but before the summer ended Terry was waylaid by the Sioux, shot to death with many arrows and scalped. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery at St. Joe.
June 1, 1853, another small band of missionaries, consisting of the Revs. Alonzo Barnard, David Brainard Spencer, their families, and John Smith, of Ohio, arrived at St. Joe. For ten years they had labored among the Chippewas in Minnesota at Cass Lake and Red Lake, under the auspices of the American Missionary Board.
Mrs. Barnard's health having failed, she was moved to the Selkirk settle- ment, where she died October 25, 1852, her husband being compelled, on account of their isolation, to conduct the funeral service himself. Her remains were removed to St. Joe, where they were interred in the yard of the humble mission cabin.
In 1854, Mr. Barnard went east to find a home for his children, and on the way back met Mr. Spencer with his motherless children, their mother having been murdered by the Indians and her remains buried by the side of his co-work- er's faithful wife.
The story of the second grave is written in blood. It was early in 1854, and hostile Sioux then infested the Pembina region.
Mrs. Spencer, rising in the night to care for her sick babe, heard a noise at the window, and drawing the curtain to discover the cause, received the fire of three Indians who stood there with loaded guns and fired upon being discovered. Three balls took effect, one in her breast and two in her throat. She neither cried out nor fell, but reeling to the bed, with her infant still in her arms, knelt there, where she was soon found by her husband. She lingered several hours before she died.
When the neighbors came in the morning they beheld a most distressing scene. Mr. Spencer sat as if in a dream, holding his dead wife in his arms. The poor babe lay on his rude cradle, his clothes saturated with his mother's blood, the two other children standing by, terrified and weeping.
The friendly half-bloods came in and cared for the children, and prepared the dead mother for burial. A half-blood dug the grave, and nailed together a rude box for a coffin. Then in broken accents, with a bleeding heart, the poor man consigned to the friendly earth the remains of his murdered wife.
Vol. 1-40
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THE MONUMENT
June 21, 1888, one of the most interesting incidents in the history of North Dakota took place at the new Presbyterian cemetery, picturesquely situated on the brow of the mountain overlooking Walhalla, formerly known as St. Joseph or St. Joe.
.It was the day appointed by the Ladies' Synodical Missionary Society, of North Dakota, for the unveiling of the monument which they had erected to the memory of Sarah Philena Barnard and Cordelia Spencer, pioneer missionaries to the Indians of the Pembina region.
The monument is a beautiful and appropriate one, of pure white marble.
The broken pieces of the old stone placed on Mrs. Barnard's grave, long ago scattered and lost, were recovered, cemented together, re-lettered, and placed upon the new grave. The venerable Mr. Barnard, then eighty-three years of age, living at Banzonia, Mich., was present, accompanied by his daughter. Standing upon the grave of his martyred wife and Mrs. Spencer, with tremulous voice and moistened eyes, he gave to the assembled multitude a history of their early missionary toil, in the abodes of savagery. Among those present were the half-blood women who prepared Mrs. Spencer's body for burial and washed the babe after its baptism in his mother's blood.
OTHER DENOMINATIONS
Dr. Jared W. Daniels was the first Episcopal clergyman engaged in Indian work in North Dakota, appointed through the Right Reverend Henry B. Whipple, Bishop of Minnesota. The late Bishop Robert Clarkson, Bishop of Nebraska, assisted by Rev. M. U. Hoyt and Rev. S. D. Hinman, in charge of the Indian agencies, established the church in South Dakota, building in 1865 an edifice at Yankton. Under the charge of Bishop Clarkson the early churches at Bismarck, Fargo, Valley City, Jamestown, Grand Forks and Devils Lake were organized. He was followed by Right Reverend William D. Walker, and he by Bishops Mor- rison, Edsall, Mann and Tyler, each doing excellent work.
Rev. Robert Wainright was the first Episcopal clergyman stationed in North Dakota, and was a resident of Fargo for a number of years with his family. Mr. Wainright came to North Dakota from the lower coast of Labrador, where he had been for some years laboring among the Indians and seal hunters, and was well prepared to endure the hardships of travel in North Dakota during the winter season. All of North Dakota was his parish and Mr. Wainright was expected to visit all parts of his parish at least twice during the summer and once during the winter. There were absolutely no roads outside of the single stage line to Winnipeg, and the United States military trails from one fort to another. The Northern Pacific, after it was built only operated the road during the summer months west of Fargo, and travel during the winter was at the risk of life, and subject to dis- comforts the present residents of our state cannot conceive and could not believe if told. Mr. Wainright in December would start on a trip over 'the snow- covered prairies that before his return to Fargo would necessitate his traveling upwards of one thousand miles, taking in Grand Forks, Fort Pembina, Pem- bina, Fort Totten, Buford, Lincoln, Rice, Seward, Valley City, and other
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small settlements and single houses. He was once heard of after a long absence well up towards the Turtle Mountains, and on his return was asked how he hap- pened to be as far north of the trail from Pembina to Devils Lake. "Oh," says Mr. Wainright, "I heard of a church family up there and thought I would go and bap- tize the babies." At another time between Bismarck and Fort Seward the trail was lost and the party spent two days and one night with no fire, and but little to eat. They at last found the telegraph poles that marked the line of the snowed-up Northern Pacific railroad and followed the line into Jamestown. From that point to Fargo, Captain Patterson, of Fort Seward, furnished an ambulance, four mules, and two soldiers as an escort. The ambulance had a stove in it and enough fuel was carried to keep a little fire going, and with one soldier in the saddle to whack the mules and one to build the fires, Mr. Wainright said he felt as if missionarying in North Dakota was a delightful occupation.
He was a broad-minded, liberal-hearted man and was loved and respected by all classes and denominations. When Custer fell, and the boat load of wounded arrived at Fort Lincoln, Mr. Wainright was one of the first to offer his services as assistant in the hospital, and did valuable service there. He delivered the first series of lectures in the dining room of the old Headquarters Hotel in Fargo, for the benefit of the Fargo Church. The lectures were mostly on Labrador and its people. A dog sledge and a forty-foot whip was used to show how missionaries traveled in Labrador. Mr. Wainright was an expert with the whip and we have seen him stand forty feet from a glass filled with water and, with his forty-foot lash he would flick the water out of the glass without upsetting it.
Rev. Hugh L. Burleson was later stationed at Fargo, and his four brothers were engaged in church work at Grand Forks and other points in the state. Their father was a prominent Episcopal minister residing at Faribault, Minn., some years, and later engaged in church work among the Indians in Wisconsin.
The Congregationalists, through Rev. H. N. Gates, were very early in the field, establishing schools and Sunday schools in 1872 at Wahpeton, Fargo, Grand Forks and at the construction camps on the extension of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The activities of the early Methodists are related in a previous chapter. The work of the Baptists, Lutherans and other denominations can not be given with that degree of accuracy to which they are entitled and must be omitted.
The German Baptists formed colonles which came in by train loads through the activities of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads, locating prin- cipally in Foster, Eddy, Ramsey, Towner, Rolette and Bottineau counties, Max Bass, of the Great Northern Railroad, devoting the best part of his life to the organization and welfare of these colonies in which the late James J. Hill took a special interest, authorizing the construction of branch lines of railroad in the northern part of the state about every fifty miles, as the free lands became occu- pied by them.
All denominations have contributed their strength for the uplift of men, and in making the state one of the strongest and best, particularly from the moral standpoint, in this Great Republic. Of one thing all may be certain ; there are no treason-breeding spots in the church organization of this country.
CHAPTER XLI
ORIGIN OF THE SCHOOL LAND SYSTEM
GENERAL WILLIAM H. H. BEADLE, THE SCHOOL LAND PROTECTOR-A WELL DESERVED TRIBUTE-THE SCHOOL FUNDS-LANDS FOR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS-THE COAL LANDS A PERPETUAL HERITAGE-A LAST WORD- THE NATIONAL UNITY LEAGUE- AN AMERICAN CREED -IMPORTANCE OF PARTY ORGANIZATION-THE FLAG SALUTE -CONCLUSION.
""Tis education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." -Alexander Pope. Moral Essays.
ORIGIN OF THE SCHOOL-LAND SYSTEM
The idea of assigning a constant share of all United States public lands, for the support of free education, wherever the public domain might extend beyond the limits of the original states, was first engrafted upon this nation, by our Revolu- tionary forefathers, in the general ordinance for public surveys, passed by Con- gress May 20, 1785; this great statute devoting section 16 in each township "for the maintenance of public schools within the said township."
This original benefaction for education was doubled for the Dakotas and some other states, by subsequent legislation adding section 36, thus granting one- eighteenth of the lands surveyed; and in the newer states of Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona, Congress granted school selection in certain sections additional to the original two.
It was known, through the unfortunate experience of various new regions, that school sections were the peculiar prey of designing parties who could manipulate legislatures and authorities, thereby securing to other interests the lands which the people supposed to be protected for future education; but which the educator often found to have been squandered for selfish schemes.
BEADLE, THE PROTECTOR
One man, appointed Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction, Gen. William H. H. Beadle, saw his duty in the case and accepted its labors and respon- sibilities. He was fully awake to this constant menace, and he made vigorous campaigns through the territory to reach the people and rouse a determination to protect the common-school fund by a fundamental law in the Constitution, before impending statehood might encourage political magnates to loot the school lands.
In 1889, his hour of triumph came. Though he was not a delegate to the
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Constitutional Convention for South Dakota, he was chosen to write the para- graphs covering his favorite topic, and prohibiting the sale of a single acre of school land for less than ten dollars; with other provisions for securing fair value in each sale, and for guarding the state fund from impairment or loss.
North Dakota adopted the same safeguards, and no part of our Union is more generously supplied with school support. In the other territories, since admitted as states, Congress has taken care to embody the Beadle plan, or some efficient modification thereof.
THE MARBLE STATUE
In 1910, the love of a grateful school population of his state, was proved by a public testimonial, providing by subscriptions and small contributions at "Beadle- day" gatherings, a fund of $10,000 for a marble statue of the protector. This was soon erected and unveiled in the State Capitol at Pierre, S. D., with honors appropriate to his eminent services to his state and his country, and bearing the inscription :
"He Saved the School Lands".
In 1857, young Beadle went from an Indiana farm to Michigan University. From graduation, he promptly went into the Civil War, where years of active service earned his title of brevet brigadier general. For nearly forty years more, he gave his talents to the public interests of Dakota, especially as president of her first Normal School, after first being Surveyor General and Superintendent of Public Instruction. Only one other distinguished American leader of educational progress has been thus honored by a statue while living, namely, Horace Mann, of Boston.
The provision for $10 per acre gave the state over $15,000,000; and none of the lands can be sold for less than that sum. Some have been sold at upwards of fifty dollars per acre, and much of it at more than double the limit fixed. All of the money arising from the sale of school lands must be invested in bonds of school corporations of the state, in bonds of the United States, bonds of the State of North Dakota, or in first mortgage bonds on farm lands in the state, not exceed- ing in amount one-third of the actual value of any subdivisions on which the same may be loaned, such value to be determined by the board of appraisers of school lands.
The fund arising from the sale of school lands must be treated as a permanent fund, and only the income appropriated for the maintenance of the schools. The latter is apportioned to the school corporations of the state in proportion to the attendance in the public schools. The percentum granted to the state from the sale of public lands by the United States; the proceeds of property that shall fall to the state, by escheat ; the proceeds of all gifts that may be donated to the state, not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the gifts or donations; these and all other property otherwise acquired, must remain a part of the permanent school fund, which can never be diminished, and the state is required to make good all losses. If any of the interest remains unexpended during any year, that, too, must go into the permanent school fund.
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Various efforts were made in the early days of statehood, to reduce the price of the lands, especially in the grazing regions of the state, but all failed, thanks to the vigilance of the people; but provision was made for the leasing of lands for hay and grazing, where there was no immediate prospect for sale at the price fixed ; but none of the public school lands were allowed to be cultivated. Where settle- ment was made on unsurveyed school lands, the state was granted lieu lands; and when reservations were opened to settlement the state was allowed first choice of lands so opened, to cover the loss of school lands within such reservations or otherwise.
Other lands were granted to the state for Agricultural College, Normal Schools, an Industrial School, School of Forestry, School of Mines, Capitol, Penitentiary, Hospital for the Insane, schools for the Deaf and Blind, Soldiers' Home, and other purposes, aggregating 750,000 acres. These, too, were guarded by similar pro- vision, proving that the Congress, the Constitutional Convention, the Legislative Assembly, and the people, were on the alert to protect their heritage derived from the General Government.
The coal lands, however, aggregating many thousands of acres in the western part of the state, which fell within the grants to the state, can never be sold ; they can only be leased, and the proceeds arising from such leasing go into the school fund; also all fines for the violation of any state law.
A LAST WORD
In these days of new parties, new patriotic organizations and a world-wide war, the New League for National Unity, organized at Washington October 8, 1917, appeals to the writer of these pages as being timely. Its principles are admirably stated as follows:
"In an hour when our nation is fighting for the principles upon which it was founded, in an hour when free institutions and the hopes of humanity are at stake, we hold it the duty of every American to take his place on the firing line of pub- lic opinion.
"It is not a time for old prejudices or academic discussion as to past differ- ences. Those who are not for America are against America.
"Our cause is just. We took up the sword only when international law and ancient rights were set at naught, and when our forbearance had been exhausted by persistent deception and broken pledges.
"Our aims are explicit, our purposes unspoiled by any selfishness. We defend the sanctities of life, the fundamental decencies of civilization. We fight for a just and durable peace and that the rule of reason shall be restored to the com- munity of nations.
"In this crisis the unity of the American people must not be impaired by the voices of dissension and sedition.
"Agitation for a premature peace is seditious when its object is to weaken the determination of America to see the war through to a conclusive vindication of the principles for which we have taken arms.
"The war we are waging, is a war against war, and its sacrifices must not be nullified by any truce or armistice that means no more than a breathing-spell for the enemy.
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"We believe in the wise purpose of the President not to negotiate a peace with any irresponsible and autocratic dynasty.
APPROVE SENDING TROOPS
"We approve the action of the national government in dispatching an expedi- tionary force to the land of Lafayette and Rochambeau. Either we fight the enemy on foreign soil, shoulder to shoulder with comrades in arms, or we fight on our own soil, backs against our homes-and alone.
"While this war lasts, the cause of the allies is our cause, their defeat our defeat, and concert of action and unity of spirit between them and us is essential to final victory. We, therefore, deprecate the exaggeration of old national preju- dices --- often stimulated by German propaganda-and nothing is more important than the clear understanding that those who in this present crisis attack our allies, attack America.
"We are organized in the interests of a national accord, that rises above any previous division of party, race, creed and circumstances.
"We believe that this is the critical and fateful hour for America and for civili- zation. To lose now is to lose for many generations. The peril is great and requires our highest endeavors. If defeat comes to us through any weakness, Ger- many, whose purpose for world dominion is now revealed, might draw to itself, as a magnet does the filings, the residuum of world power, and this would affect the standing and the independence of America.
PLEDGE SUPPORT TO END
"We not only accept but heartily approve the decision reached by the Presi- dent and Congress of the United States to declare war against the common enemy of the free nations, and, as loyal citizens of the United States, we pledge to the President and the Government our undivided support to the very end."
The following from The Outlook is commended to the liberty-loving people of our country. It is a platform on which all true Americans may stand, broad enough to comprehend all :
AN AMERICAN CREED
I am an American.
I believe in the dignity of labor, the sanctity of the home and the high destiny of democracy.
Courage is my birthright, justice my ideal and faith in humanity my guiding star.
By the sacrifice of those who suffered that I might live, who died that America might endure, I pledge my life to my country and the liberation of mankind.
NECESSITY FOR PARTY ORGANIZATION
While there should be no division in purpose to maintain the principles upon which our Government is founded: "That all men are created equal ; that they
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are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, there is need of "eternal vigilance, the condition upon which God hath given liberty to man," and this can be promoted by party organizations where each shall act as a check upon the other, all having the public good in view.
In 1892, the author said in the Fargo Argus:
"I can conceive of circumstances where it is not only right to scratch, but it may be justifiable to vote for the opposition candidate, but this should be done only when it is necessary to suppress ring politics and teach a lesson which will not soon be forgotten.
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