USA > Nebraska > A history of Nebraska Methodism, first half-century, 1854-1904 > Part 11
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
In 1866 a circuit called Helena appears in the Minutes for the first time. This has special interest to the writer as being his first charge to which he went in fear and
159
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
trembling, and a year on which convinced him that he needed a far better preparation than he had, for which reason, at the Conference of 1867, he asked to be dis- continued to attend school. I may be pardoned, however, if in passing, in the interest of historical completeness, some note be made of the year's experiences. Two of the five appointments, Syracuse and Palmyra, were in Otoe County, and three, Rockford, Helena, and the Illinois set- tlement, were in Johnson and Nemeha Counties.
We lived in an old cottonwood shanty that had been a ranch, and besides this house with but one finished room, was an old hay-covered stable, which had been left, with a vast army of rats, and they were very hungry. Happily the house stood near to that royal family, Jacob Sollenberger's. Brother Sollenberger had rented that claim that year, in order that the preacher might have a home. In addition to that and many neighborly and Christian acts of kindness, he paid over eighty dol- lars on the salary that year, and said he never paid his portion of the salary more easily. Yet he was a poor man and he, with other Nebraska farmers, had the first touch of grasshoppers that year. However, they came so late that they only partially destroyed the corn crops.
The following incident was of serious import. We started one evening about sundown from a friend's, where we had been visiting, to visit a family living in a dug- out about two miles distant. There was six inches of snow, and the country rough, and our sleigh broke down, one runner bending inward and letting the sled tip at an angle of thirty-five degrees. It held together. however. so my wife could ride and hold our wraps on, while I walked and led the horse. By the time we got to the
160
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
stream on which the dug-out was located, it was dark, and we missed the crossing. After an hour or two of vain search for a place to cross, I became so tired that I must rest. Unhitching our horse, we tied him to a tree and went down into the bed of the creek out of the wind to rest. After a little breathing spell we went back to get the horse and resume our journey, but he was gone. It was now nine o'clock at night, and already we began to fear we would have to stay out all night, which, with the thermometer at six below zero, was an unpleasant and even perilous prospect. I had little concern for myself, but feared that my wife, whose health was frail, would not be able to take exercise enough to keep from freezing. But committing ourselves to the care of the Heavenly Father, we took our shawl and buffalo robe, and started out to find some house, if we could, or to make a brave struggle for life through the long, bitter cold night, if we must. We failed to find any house, and remained out all night, walking till tired out, and then, wrapping our- selves up as well as we could, would rest till we began to get cold, then up and on again. It was New Year's eve, and the moon was bright enough to see my watch and note the time. By the side of an old oak we watched the old year out and the new year in, and again committing ourselves to the Lord, we determined, if possible, to keep alive till morning. About four in the morning it became very dark, and my wife was so exhausted she felt she must rest, and even sleep. But we both knew this would be fatal and resisted the almost irresistible impulse to give up. Just at that darkest moment we were within a few rods of the dug-out we were looking for, but unconscious of the fact that deliverance was so near. After resting a
16I
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
while, we nerved ourselves for a final effort, being en- couraged thereto by the first faint streaks of the dawn. Seeing a dark object across the creek, we went over and found it to be a haystack with some cattle near by. Find- ing a path through the snow, we pursued it a little way and soon found ourselves standing in front of the long- sought dug-out. The people were up and had a fire, and promptly answered our rap, and were surprised to re- ceive a New Year's call from their pastor and wife so early in the morning. Explanations followed, a warm breakfast was served, and we were, we trust, duly thank- ful to God that we had come through that bitter cold night without freezing any part of our person. This personal reference may be pardoned as furnishing an illustra- tion of the perils to which the itinerant was exposed.
Saltillo drops out of the list in 1861, and does not ap- pear again till 1864, and is then left to be supplied, but as there is no report of salary, there was probably no one secured. In 1865, H. H. Skaggs, who had the year before been received on trial, is appointed to this charge. He. finds ten members and reports nineteen, with thirty-six probationers, which indicates some gracious revivals. Though small, this charge has special interest as being partly on the ground now occupied by Lincoln.
Philo Gorton is placed in charge of the still strong cir- cuit of Rock Bluffs, as it is called this year. He finds 138 members and thirty probationers, and leaves 107 mem- bers and sixty-five probationers, which seems to indicate that while the members decrease by removals, the proba- tioners have increased by revivals, leaving the strength of the charge unimpaired. Philo Gorton asks for a loca- tion at the end of this year and disappears from our ranks.
162
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. .
He has given four years to the work in Nebraska, was the first to preach and organize societies in a number of places, and did faithful service.
Plattsmouth and Oreapolis Circuit is favored with the appointment of Jerome Spillman in 1861, and doubt- less had he remained he would have stirred things there by the blessing of the Lord, as he had done elsewhere dur- ing his successful ministry. But early in the year he accepted what seemed to be the call of duty in another direction, and entered the service of his country as chap- lain of the Curtis Iowa Cavalry, as mentioned elsewhere. In 1862 this charge is left to be supplied, and H. R. Tricket is employed by the presiding elder, with the re- sult of a speedy rupture on account of the expression of disloyal sentiments, as recorded on another page. The remainder of the year is filled out by J. G. Miller, who had come to Nebraska from the old Genesee Conference, New York. He had become interested in the Oreapolis Seminary, and put in his first few years in Nebraska in a vain effort to save that institution, being appointed agent in 1862, and in 1863 both principal and agent.
J. G. Miller was one of our most forceful personalities, a good preacher, with good executive ability, and was a shrewd business manager. He might have been one of our most useful men, had he not got involved in various business enterprises and landed investments which re- quired so much of his attention that as a rule his minis- terial function became merely a co-ordinate branch of his life's activity, and after a few years as pastor at Platts- mouth and Oreapolis, and as presiding elder of Nebraska City District, to which he was appointed in 1865, he took a supernumerary relation in 1868. He always took great
163
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
interest in the local Church where he lived, was a liberal supporter, and remained to the last an influential men- ber of the Conference. His brethren honored him with an election to the General Conference in 1864. Perhaps his greatest usefulness was in his aggressive advocacy of temperance and his relentless warfare on the "rummies," as he called the saloon-keepers and their supporters. He was several times the temperance candidate for governor, and other offices, and the vigor of his campaign speeches drew large audiences. He spent the later years of his life in California, where he passed to his reward.
In 1864 David Hart comes to Plattsmouth. The mem- bership has dropped from 102, including probationers, in 1861, to forty, but David Hart's labors are blessed to such an extent that he is able to report seventy-eight mem- bers and twenty-three probationers.
The next year, 1865, Plattsmouth received as its pas- tor, W. A. Amsbary, and under his energetic ministry is destined to make a large advance. Here, as elsewhere, his ministry was to be attended by great revivals, both at Plattsmouth and the country appointment, Eight Mile Grove, and the membership increased the first year to one hundred and forty-four, with seventy-four probationers.
Peru Circuit had already become one of the strongest circuits when, in 1861, Jesse L. Fort was appointed pas- tor. He remains two years, and the charge about holds its own. He is followed by R. C. Johnson, who remains one year and reports a substantial increase in membership. He is followed in 1864 by that old veteran, Hiram Burch, who is able, at the next Conference, to report still fur- ther gains in membership. He is returned the second year, and inaugurates a movement looking toward the es-
164
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
tablishment of a Methodist College at that point. The details of this movement are treated under another head, and it need only be said that owing to the arduous work involved in the enterprise during his third year (the time limit having been extended), his health became so impaired that he was compelled to ask to be relieved of his pastoral duties, and at the Conference of 1867 he . was under the necessity of asking and receiving a super- annuated relation. After this he was able occasionally to resume the effective relation and serve the Church in Nebraska. Of the above named pastors, Jesse L. Fort tarried with us until 1902.
The following account of his life, written soon after his death, will perhaps do partial justice to the worth of this saint and faithful ambassador of Christ :
"Jesse Lofton Fort, the youngest son of Frederick and Lucy Fort, was born in Warren County, Kentucky, May 1, 1816. He was converted at the age of fourteen years, and his parents being Baptists, he united with that Church. At the age of seventeen, while learning the tan- ner's trade, he made his home with a stanch Methodist, and becoming better acquainted with the doctrines and spirit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he transferred his membership to this Church. About 1836 he emi- grated to Illinois, and settled near Monmouth. Here he was made a class-leader. In 1837 he was licensed to ex- hort. In 1847 he was licensed as a local preacher. This license was renewed for four successive years by the fa- mous Peter Cartwright, who, with Richard Haney and others of like spirit, gave Jesse L. Fort his first lessons in the Gospel ministry. In 1851 he was received into the Missouri Conference. Missouri and Kansas were at this
165
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
time the storm center of that fierce conflict between free- dom and slavery, which was to determine whether Kansas was to be a free or slave State, and which culminated a few years later in the great Civil War in which slavery was overthrown. In the midst of this storm of hate and bitter persecution, Jesse L. Fort stood firm, though at times he and his brother preachers did so at the peril of their lives. In 1859 he came to Nebraska and was sent to Falls City. Being unable to obtain a house for his family, he went to Nebraska City, and supplied that charge part of the year. In 1860 he was sent to Platts- mouth. It was his privilege to be one of that historic group that constituted the first Nebraska Conference which was organized at Nebraska City, April 4, 1861, by Bishop Morris. At this Conference he was sent to Peru. where he remained the full legal term. In 1863 his health failed and he was compelled to take a superannuated rela- tion. In 1864-66 he served the American Bible Society, being superintendent for Nebraska and Colorado. In 1867 he was honored with the chaplaincy of the Nebraska Senate. In 1869 he again served as agent of the Amer- ican Bible Society, this time in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. In 1871 he was made effective and stationed at Palmyra, and 1872, on the Upper Nemaha. In 1873 he was made a supernumerary on account of failing health and went to Missouri, where he served different charges as a supply until 1885. On his return to Nebraska, he took a superannuated relation, which he retained up to the time of his death. He was thrice married. On Au- gust 20, 1840, to Miss Martha McChesney; on May 19, 1859, to Miss Mary A. Gates ; and to Miss Mary H. Free- man, May 15, 1872, who has walked by his side for thirty
I66
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
years, caring for him through his long illness, and who survives him. Though, as this brief and imperfect sketch discloses, he has been for most of his life handi- capped by poor health, he has been permitted to give nearly three-quarters of a century to the Christian life, and over half a century to the Christian ministry. Brother Fort's last illness was long, and at times very painful, but patiently borne. He passed to his eternal reward at three o'clock, Thursday morning, May 22, 1902, aged eighty- six years and twenty-two days."
CHAPTER IX.
SECOND PERIOD. (1861-1870.)
THE period covered by this history coincides with the beginning of that modern movement marked by the tend- ency of people toward the great centers, building up these relatively much more rapidly than the rural dis- tricts. Historic proportion will require us to give special attention to the development of the Church in these cen- ters, by reason of the relative measure of influence these must exert on the general situation and their consequent greater relative importance. Yet, while Methodism, as is her wont, will adjust her administration so as to meet the new conditions and give special attention to these cen- ters, she will not do so at the expense of the smaller vil- lages and rural districts; a feature of the evangelistic work to which she has always given due care and which the peculiarities of her system, and the spirit of her min- istry, have fitted her to do, and in which she has been pre-eminently successful. The justice of this claim will be amply shown in the pages of this history.
It may be said in a general way that no department of our Church work in these first periods was more care- fully looked after and utilized than the Sunday-school. We have seen John Hamlin at the head of one in Ne- braska City, and good Sister McCoy effecting an organi- zation of a Sunday-school among the first things in Omaha. We have seen that one of the first things Jacob Adriance thought of was to organize Sunday-schools,
167
I68
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
supplying libraries. In many places the first movement of a public religious character was to organize a Sunday- school. This sometimes took the form of a Union Sun- day-school before there were enough of any one denomi- nation to carry it on. Though these Union schools some- times persisted in holding the ground long after the Meth- odists became strong enough to have one of their own and made us some trouble when the effort to do so was finally made, our preachers rightly held that, the Sunday- school being an integral part of the Church, as soon as possible it was better for each Church to have one of its own, and would proceed to organize a Methodist Sunday- school.
It should be explained in passing, that I have felt jus- tified in assuming that the Sunday-school department has been well cared for, and to economize space I have omitted the Sunday-school statistics, except in a few exceptional cases. The reason for this is that I have found that as a rule, the number of officers, teachers, and scholars usually about equal the number of Church members. Thus the total membership in the Church, as given by the last Year-book, was 3,029,500, and the officers, teachers, and scholars in the Sunday-schools were 3,123,297. This rule holds in Nebraska, with occasional exceptions both ways, some of which will be noted as we pass.
The two centers that still claim our attention and which it will be our duty to trace through this second period, are Nebraska City and Omaha.
Nebraska City received as its pastor in 1861, T. B. Lemon. It is very strange, but there is no report from this important charge in 1861. L. D. Price had been ap- pointed in 1860, but had evidently not gone to his charge,
169
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
and though one of the most important charges, it seems at the close of the Conference year not to have had a pas- tor and no report is made. But the year before the mem- bership had been reported ninety, including probationers. Assuming that the number in 1861 was the same, this is the number that greeted T. B. Lemon when he entered upon this important pastorate. He found the member- ship discouraged. The Church was in debt and was about to be sold. One of the members told him he did not see how he could live there with four children. But the Lord most wonderfully blessed his labors with a great revival, and he came to Conference in 1862 rejoicing over a great increase in membership, being able to report 235, a net increase of 137. The Church debt was also paid.
Dr. Lemon, during this first year, had won the affec- tions of the Church and of the community, and was very popular with all classes and was returned for the second year.
At the end of this year he reported 225 full members and sixty-four probationers, another gain of over fifty, showing the permanency of the work the year before, and the success of the second year.
The legal limit still being two years, Dr. Lemon, though he had won the hearts of all, must needs go to another field, and is sent to Omaha, while Wm. M. Smith is stationed at Nebraska City. He remains two years, and at the end of this term reports 191 members and two probationers. This is a loss of about sixty, as compared with Dr. Lemon's last report, though it still leaves Ne- braska City by far the strongest charge in the Conference.
This strong man seems to have been unable to either hold what he found, or build up the Church anywhere,
170
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
owing to his want of tact in the expression of his political views. However, this loss may be accounted for in part by the reaction that often follows times of great revival, such as attended Dr. Lemon's pastorate, or by the general adverse conditions that prevailed during the Civil War. As noted elsewhere, the entire Conference did little more than hold its own during the first three or four years of this period.
At the Conference of 1861, Bishop Morris appointed H. T. Davis, who, we have seen, had just closed a very successful pastorate at Omaha, presiding elder of the Nebraska City District. Though thrust into this high office at the early age of twenty-seven, his administration of the district was very acceptable and we may be sure that the residence of himself and wife contributed in no small measure to the success of the work in Nebraska City.
At the Conference of 1865, his time being out on the district, he is appointed pastor at Nebraska City, again following Wm. M. Smith, as he had done in Omaha in 1859. The time limit having been extended to three years, H. T. Davis, as was always the case with him, staid the full time.
The first time the writer ever heard Dr. Davis preach was during this pastorate. I was on my way to my first charge, Helena, in 1866. Two appointments on this cir- cuit lay directly west, the nearest, Syracuse, near where we lived, being sixteen miles from Nebraska City. I reached Nebraska City late in the day and remained over night. Brother Davis was engaged in revival meetings that had been continuing for several weeks. I expected to hear a powerful revival sermon, but heard only a short
I7I
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
talk of not to exceed twenty minutes, when the invita- tion for penitents was given. Will any one respond to so tame an affair as that? I said to myself. But to my astonishment quite a number responded. Of course many were already under conviction and had been at the altar before. But the incident convinced me that much of the power of H. T. Davis's preaching was the result of the man back of the sermon.
Brother Davis's pastorate at Nebraska City was a suc- cess throughout and at its close he was set to the task of laying, at the new capital at Lincoln, the foundations of another great center, which was in after years to be- come the strongest in the State.
Nebraska City, in 1868, is left to be supplied, and George S. Alexander appears for the first time in Ne- braska Methodism, being transferred from the Providence Conference, and filling out the year, is returned in 1869 and again in 1870 to the pastorate at Nebraska City.
With the exception of five years spent in Illinois, dur- ing which he filled important places, he was connected with the work in Nebraska twenty-six years, when death closed his career in 1894. His brethren place on record the following as a tender memorial of his life and work :
"George Sherman Alexander was born in Cumber- land County, Rhode Island, July 10, 1832. He was kept in school until he was fourteen years of age. During this time he laid the foundation of his future life work. Leaving school he worked in a cotton mill, then in a woollen mill, where he became a weaver. While work- ing in the mill he was also broadening his education by careful study. At the age of twenty-one he abandoned his loom and followed teaching for a short period. In
I72
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
1854, under deep conviction that he was called to preach the blessed Gospel, he entered the Methodist ministry, preaching his first sermon April 30, 1854. For several years he served prominent charges in Massachusetts and Connecticut. March 11, 1856, he was united in marriage to Miss Abby G. Smith, at Eastham, Mass. In October, 1867, he moved to Iowa, and from thence, in April, 1868, he was transferred to the Nebraska Conference and served Nebraska City, Peru, and Lincoln. He was then ap- pointed chaplain of the State penitentiary. During this time his wife was called to the Father's house above, leav- ing six children. These were separated until September 20, 1877, when he was married to Miss Susan M. God- ding at Philo, Illinois. For the next five years he served Homer and Monticello as pastor, and then, from failing health, returned to Syracuse, Nebraska, taking charge of the Syracuse Journal and preaching for the Church in this place for one year. He could not cease preaching, and while editing his paper he became pastor of the Church at Turlington, which he served until a few months before his death. He patiently waited for the summons to call him from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant, until May 2, 1894, when he was called from pain and suf- fering to his glorious and eternal rest."
The coming of George S. Alexander brought into our Western work an infusion of New England blood. In the best sense of the word he may be said to have been a live Yankee translated into the vim and push of the great West. He seemed at home from the first. His physique was slight, his weight rarely exceeding one hundred pounds, and sometimes it was not as much. The story is told that meeting a friend in a grocery store his friend
173
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
proposed to weigh him over against a sack of flour, and if the sack weighed more than his pastor his pastor was to have it. His pastor got it.
But though his body was always slight and for many years he was the victim of a cancer, that body was the dwelling place of a restless, determined spirit, always tax- ing the body with plans and schemes of life beyond its frail powers.
It will be seen that Nebraska City during this entire period has had a succession of able men for pastors, and closes the period with 237 members and sixty-three pro- bationers, about the same as reported at the close of Dr. Lemon's two years of phenomenal success. There have been some fluctuations, but it is greatly to her credit and to the credit of these able, faithful men, that through this most difficult period there has been no permanent loss, and she retains her place as numerically and perhaps otherwise the strongest charge in the Conference.
If we now turn to Omaha we find that it starts out in this period with only fifty members and thirty-one pro- bationers. It is left to be supplied and at the end of three months David Hart, who has been sent to Calhoun, is transferred to Omaha. He remains the second year and reports fifty-five members and sixteen probationers, which indicates that he had some revival, yet he is not able to increase the membership. There were at that time many removals and the city itself was losing population. Cer- tainly the situation was discouraging in the extreme. These were the times that try men's souls, and to zealous, ambitious preachers like David Hart, supply the severest test of loyalty. It is much easier to work in a place where everything is prospering and things move forward, than
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.