USA > Nebraska > A history of Nebraska Methodism, first half-century, 1854-1904 > Part 2
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
How did we escape the clutches of this mighty man? How did he come to be turned from his long cherished . purpose, a thing that so rarely occurred in his life ?
When in 1801, Robert R. Livingston arrived in Paris with $2,000,000 and authority from Jefferson to purchase a small strip of ground which would secure to us the mouth of the Mississippi, and also the right to the navi- gation of the river, Napoleon was nearly ready to con- summate his great scheme of colonization, and as a recent writer puts it: "But for the delay imposed upon the
15
INTRODUCTION.
First Consul, first by Godoy, who would not yield Louis- iana until every condition of its transfer had been ful- filled, and secondly by Toussaint and his followers, who balked the French in San Domingo, General Voctor at this time might have been setting in order a threatening foreign host at New Orleans."
Happily, before they succeeded in this western coun- try, circumstances and events were by the Louisiana Purchase providentially closing this territory forever to the domination of the Catholic religion, and opening it to the best type of Protestantism. While the political exigencies of the Great Napoleon, and the wisdom and statesmanship of the greater Jefferson, made them the immediate human agencies by which this new state of affairs was brought about, subsequent events have made it plain that it had always been the purpose of God that this continent, as a whole, and Nebraska as a part, should be dedicated to a purer and more spiritual type of relig- ion, with a moral and spiritual efficiency capable of build- ing out of a heterogenous multitude that should come from all parts of the world, and from all the races of men, a homogeneous race of Americans.
And it was no accident or mere coincidence that while political events were so shaping as to give ample terri- torial scope, the prime factors that were to mold these elements into the most free, intelligent, moral, and force- ful nation on the earth, were at the same time being brought into existence and raised to an efficiency equal to
16
INTRODUCTION.
the needs of the new country and the new nation. It hardly needs to be stated that the two factors that were to make the largest contribution to this result were that sys- tem of public schools that was to provide free education to the masses, and that Church, that by its spirit, organi- zation, and method, was to proclaim a free gospel to the masses.
Of national greatness Leckey, the historian, says :* "Its foundation is laid in pure domestic life, in commer- cial integrity, in a high standard of moral worth and public spirit, in simple habits, in courage, uprightness and soundness and moderation of judgment." Bancroft, our great American historian, says : "The Methodists were the pioneers of religion. The breath of liberty has wafted their message to the masses of the people; encouraged them to collect white and black in church and green- sward for council in divine love and full assurance of faith, and carried their consolations and songs and prayers to the farthest cabins of the wilderness."f
This recognition on the part of Leckey of those moral ideals for which Methodism has consistently stood as the true elements that constitute national greatness, and the recognition by Bancroft of Methodism as the pre-emi- nently pioneer Church, promoting these qualities in the masses of sturdy emigrants out of which these great States were to be built, is but the expression of that
* Quoted by Kidd, Social Ev., p. 326.
+ Quoted by Moore, Debt of Republic to Methodism.
17
INTRODUCTION.
consensus of opinion held by those most qualified to judge that the vigorous evangelism of the Methodist itinerants did more to conserve the best moral qualities the people brought with them into the great West, and to stimulate into healthy development those finer, stronger traits of character that constituted the vigorous and all conquer- ing manhood of the West.
If then we inquire what were the influences that de- termined the character of the men and women that were to transform the 76,000 square miles of raw prairie that constitutes, territorially, the State of Nebraska into a State characterized by the highest civilization, and as low a percentage of ignorance as any State in the world, we must go back to that beginning of the peaceful conquest of the continent that began immediately after the brave colonists had effected their independence and set out on their national career.
Perhaps no one has set forth more forcefully and clearly the great movement of the population from east to west, which set in immediately after the war of the Revolution, than did President Roosevelt in his address at the Bi-Centennial celebration of the birth of John Wes- ley, in New York, February 26, 1903. The following extract will show his estimate of the movement and the great service which the Methodist pioneer preacher ren- dered during the period :
"For a century after the declaration of independence the greatest work of our people, with the exception only
18
INTRODUCTION.
of the work of self-preservation under Lincoln, was the work of the pioneers as they took possession of this conti- nent. During that century we pushed westward from the Alleghanies to the Pacific, southward to the gulf and the Rio Grande, and also took possession of Alaska. The work of advancing our boundary, of pushing the frontier across forest and desert and mountain chain, was the great typical work of our nation; and the men who did it-the frontiersmen, plainsmen, mountain men-formed a class by themselves. It was an iron task, which none but men of iron soul and iron body could do. The men who carried it to a successful conclusion had characters strong alike for good and for evil. If left to himself, without moral teaching and moral guidance, without any of the -influences that tend towards the uplifting of man and the subduing of the brute within him, sad would have been his, and therefore, our fate. From this fate we have been largely rescued by the fact that together with the rest of the pioneers went the pioneer preachers; and all honor be given to the Methodists for the great proportion of these pioneer preachers whom they furnished.
"These preachers were of the stamp of old Peter Cart- wright-men who suffered and overcame every hardship in common with their flock, and who in addition tamed the wild and fierce spirits of their fellow pioneers. It was not a task that could have been accomplished by men desirous to live in the soft places of the earth and to walk easily on life's journey. They had to possess the
19
INTRODUCTION.
spirit of the martyrs, but not of martyrs who could op- pose only passive endurance to, wrong. The pioneer preachers warred against the forces of spiritual evil with the same fiery zeal and energy that they and their fellows showed in the conquest of the rugged continent. They had in them the heroic spirit that scorns ease if it must be purchased by a failure to do duty, the spirit that courts risk and a life of hard endeavor if the goal to be reached is really worth attaining. Great is our debt to these men and scant the patience we need show toward their critics.
"It is easy for those who stay at home in comfort, who never have to see humanity in the raw, or to strive against the dreadful naked forces which appear clothed, hidden, and subdued in civilized life-it is easy for such to criticise the men who, in rough fashion, and amid grim surroundings, make ready the way for the higher life that is to come afterwards; but let us all remember that the untempted, and the effortless should be cautious in passing too heavy judgment upon their brethren who may show hardness, who may be guilty of shortcomings, but who nevertheless do the great deeds by which man- kind advances.
"These pioneers of Methodism had the strong, mili- tant virtues which go to the accomplishment of such deeds. Now and then they betrayed the shortcomings natural to men of their type, but their shortcomings seem small indeed when we place them beside the magnitude of the work they achieved."
20
INTRODUCTION.
THE PROBLEM.
While Nebraska had been inhabited by no less than 10,000 human beings prior to the settlement which began in 1854, these aboriginal inhabitants may be said to have built up absolutely nothing that was of value to the new comers. The reason for this is found in the fact that these aboriginals belonged to one of those undeveloped and unchristianized races that depend almost entirely on the resources of unaided nature to supply their simple wants. For them to change their location, or to remain in the same place for a century or more made scarcely any change in the general aspects of the country. When they came they brought nothing into the country ; while they staid they did nothing to develop the natural re- sources of the country ; if they went away there was little or nothing they could take with them that would affect the country in one way or another. In the Christian sense of the word, they can hardly be said to have known what a home was, or how to make one. Their wants were so few and simple that scarcely anything that characterizes the Nebraska of to-day was in existence then. It could not be said that they had developed any form of industry or commerce. Hence they had no farms, strictly speak- ing, but only a few stray patches of broken soil where
the squaws raised a little maize or vegetables. There were no industries, unless we would call such establish- ments as that of the "ancient arrow-maker in the land
21
INTRODUCTION.
of the Dakotahs," institutions of industry. There were 10 schools or churches, except such as had been brought in by the white missionaries, and there was only one of these, at. Bellevue. Indeed, it may be affirmed that the Indians turned Nebraska over to the Christianized white race in a state of raw, crude nature, not one whit im- proved, or its wealth and resources developed in all the years and centuries of their possession, and with not a single element of modern Christian civilization in exist- ence. Everything had to be built up from the founda- tion. It is marvelous how quickly these settlers sur- rounded themselves with all these elements of the highest Christian civilization. And the church edifice was felt to be as much of a necessity as the school-house, and would come in due time. And though the money to build school-houses was raised by taxation, while that to build churches must be raised by voluntary contributions, the church was none the less certain to be built. And though the teacher's salary was raised by taxation and he was given legal recourse to collect it at law, while the preach- er's support must come from voluntary offerings, and in the case of our Methodist preacher, he had no legal right to fix the amount of his own salary and no recourse by civil law to collect it, yet the people were just as sure to have a preacher as they were to have teachers for their children, and his work was just as faithfully and effi- ciently done as that of the teacher.
.
22
INTRODUCTION.
THE PERIODS OF THE HISTORY OF NE- BRASKA METHODISM.
WITH the exception of Kansas, the development of which was simultaneous and under like conditions, the development and history of Nebraska Methodism are unique in the character and distinctness of the periods into which it naturally divides itself. The two main periods are the first quarter of a century, during which the pioneer phase of the work predominates, and the sec- ond quarter of a century in which while there was some pioneer work yet to be done, the building of churches and parsonages, the more complete organization of the forces, the founding and development of her educational and benevolent institutions, and the development and strengthening of the older charges, were her chief tasks.
The first quarter of a century may be subdivided into three periods. The first of these extends from 1854 to 1861, and is marked by the first events connected with the beginning of our work, the organization of the Kan- sas-Nebraska Conference, the external conditions under which the work proceeded being characterized by an al- most unprecedented financial disturbance and depression, and an entirely unprecedented political struggle between freedom and slavery in the political arena, causing great excitement and intensity of feeling between the opposing forces; the second of these periods opens with the or- ganization of the Nebraska Conference in 1861, and ex-
23
INTRODUCTION.
tending to 1870, the external circumstances attending the work being the unprecedented Civil War, and the recon- struction period following, and also the inflated currency and consequent high cost of living, without any corre- sponding inflation of the salaries ; the third period, which opened in 1870 and closed in 1880, was characterized by great growth in numbers and rapid extension of our fron- tier line toward the western part of the State, the external conditions being that of a vast tide of immigration which set in in the early part of the period, adding 329,549 to the 122,993 in 1870, bringing great growth and prosperity to the country and Church, to be followed by the unpre- cedented grasshopper scourge, which began in 1874 and continued for several years, not only checking immigra- tion, but causing not a few discouraged settlers to leave the country. The early seventies was also a time of great revivals and spiritual ingatherings.
The last twenty-four years, beginning with 1880, may properly be called the fourth period. This will be char- acterized by the growth and better organization of the individual Churches, the organization of the Conferences, the building of churches, and bringing into the field many subsidiary and helpful agencies.
REV. W. H. GOODE.
The first man appointed to an official position in relation to Nebraska Methodism.
24
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
CHAPTER I.
FIRST PERIOD. (1854-1861.)
THE FIRST WORKERS IN THE FIELD.
REV. W. H. GOODE, D. D., of the Indiana Conference, was the first to be placed by the authority of the Metli- odist Church in official relation to the work in Nebraska, being appointed June 3, 1854. There had been occa- sional sermons preached at earlier dates by Methodist preachers. Rev. Harrison Presson, who is still living, and is an honored superannuated member of the Nebraska Conference, informs me that on April 21, 1850, he, in company with a large colony REV. HARRISON PRESSON, on their way to the Pacific Coast, camped over the Sabbath on what is Who preached the first Methodist sermon in Nebraska, April 21, 1850. now the site of Omaha, and that he preached a sermon that day from the text, Isa. xxxV, I. This was doubtless the first Metil- odist sermon ever preached in Nebraska.
Rev. H. T. Davis, D. D., in his book of personal reminiscences, entitled "Solitary Places Made Glad,"
25
26
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
states that in 1851 a Rev. William Simpson, who had at the Iowa Conference been appointed to the Council Bluffs Mission, learning that there were a few settlers across the river, went over and preached to them.
In a letter from J. W. Barns, he states that his wife, a daughter of Rev. W. D. Gage, had a very distinct recol- lection that in January or February, 1853, her father preached to a few settlers at old Ft. Kearney (now Ne- braska City).
While it is to the credit of these men of God that they seized these first opportunities to preach the Gospel within the bounds of what is now the State of Nebraska, the congregations to which they preached were merely passing emigrants, or transient settlers, and therefore these sermons can hardly be regarded as the beginnings of Methodism in Nebraska, or to sustain any practical relation to the permanent work in the State.
The real beginning of Nebraska Methodism is found in the following communication, which on the third of June, 1854, Bishop E. R. Ames addressed to the Rev. W. H. Goode, D. D .:
"Rev. W. H. Goode :
"Dear Brother,-It is understood that emigration is tending largely to Nebraska (a name then embracing both territories, Kansas and Nebraska). It seems prob- able that the Church ought soon to send some devoted missionaries to that country. But there is not such a knowledge of details respecting the topography and popu- lation of these regions as to enable the Church authorities to act understandingly in the premises. You are there- fore appointed to visit and explore the country as thor-
27
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
oughly as practicable, for the purpose of collecting in- formation on these points. In performing this work yon will be governed by your own judgment, and make full reports, in writing, of your labor and its results, so that it may be known how many ministers, if any, should be sent, and at what particular points they should be located. Yours truly, E. R. AMES.
"Bishop Methodist Episcopal Church."
This communication from the bishop summoning Dr. Goode from a pleasant and prosperous and honorable career in Indiana, where Methodism had already become strong and respected, to a career of hardship on the frontier, illustrates the three principal features of the Methodist economy, which perhaps more than anything else, gave her not only her pre-eminent place as a pioneer Church, but also gave her the unparalleled success as revealed in the history of Christianity in this country. The first of these features is the general superintendency, by which her bishops in the regular course of their work visit personally all parts of the field and come in close touch with all her working forces, and soon become cog- nizant of the needs of each field, and also come to know each of the preachers and their peculiarities, and which of them are equipped for any special service. In the quasi-military power with which the Church has clothed them, by which they can command the service of any man, anywhere, for any work, whatever its character and wherever it may be, may be found the second feature giv- ing efficiency to the Church. While technically this power is absolute, and might be wielded arbitrarily, this is rarely the case. Dr. Goode himself, than whom few have
28
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
been summoned to harder fields by this same episcopal authority, bears witness to the spirit in which this vast power is wielded, in these words, used in connection with his appointment in 1843 to the superintendency of an Indian school in Arkansas: "I was consulted; for au- thoritatively as our bishops are empowered to speak and implicitly as our ministry are wont to obey, for the Gos- pel's sake, I have yet to learn the first instance in which an arbitrary or unreasonable requirement has been made, by which any brother has been transferred to a distant field, irrespective of private considerations and wishes. No man ever takes a foreign field or even a remote field except as a volunteer; a policy at once wise and humane."
The third feature consists in what the military gen- eral would call the esprit de corps, or what in its spiritual aspect would be termed a spirit of devotion to the cause that makes men willing to go anywhere for Christ's sake. It is this last feature which is moral and spiritual in its nature that gives efficiency to the other two which re- late to the polity of the Church. With this spirit all ex- ercise of arbitrary power on the part of the bishops is rendered unnecessary. They only need to convince a man that the Master needs him in a certain field, and he responds, "Here am I, send me." Without this spirit, all exercise of arbitrary authority would be in vain, for success in moral and spiritual fields is impossible unless the workman's heart is in the work.
Happy for Methodism and the cause of Christ and the interests of our country, whenever our general super- intendents have faced some emergency requiring some strong, wise man to meet it, they nearly always knew
29
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
where to find the man, and they usually found the man ready for and equal to the emergency.
The selection of Dr. Goode emphasizes another fact of immense importance in the development of the work in the Western States, and that was the selection of the very best men for leadership on the frontier. In nothing has the far-seeing wisdom of our bishops been more mani- fest than in this feature of their policy. As such men as Paul had been chosen as the foundation builders at the beginning of the Christian movement, so in that great movement of population from east to west that has within a little over a century spread over an entire continent, and built up a strong, free republic, Methodism has al- ways picked some of its strongest men and sent them and kept them at the front. It is greatly to the credit of these strong men that they have been willing to go. And the bishops have found them all the more ready to go be- cause they themselves have always been ready to make the greatest sacrifices for Christ's sake.
It is difficult to conceive how they could have made a better selection than Dr. Goode. He was a recognized leader in Indiana Methodism at a time when such men as E. R. Ames, Matthew Simpson, and Thomas Bowman were at the forefront of the Church in that State. That he ranked along with these is evident from the fact that it is said that when Ames was elected bishop, Dr. Goode himself had a vote large enough to give promise of ulti- mate success had he remained in the field, being only one less than that received by Ames; but desiring, above every thing the election of a Western man, which seemed very important at that time, he magnanimously withdrew in favor of Ames, and secured his election. At the time
3
30
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
he was appointed to his mission to Nebraska and Kansas, he was serving as presiding elder of the South Bend Dis- trict, comfortably situated, and greatly honored among his brethren, many of whom earnestly advised him to re- main, both for his own sake and theirs. The work he was doing was congenial, and having already spent sev- eral years on the frontier as superintendent of our Indian school at Ft. Coffee, in the southwestern portion of Ar- kansas, he well knew the hardships involved in such a mission. At first he was tempted to refuse the appoint- ment, and went so far as to prepare a letter to that affect, informing the bishops that he could not see that it was his duty to go. But retaining the letter some time, and pray- ing over it, it began to assume another aspect, that of duty. Perhaps, after all, the bishops knew what was re- quired, and his fitness for the work to be done, better than he himself did. To Dr. Goode duty was imperative, and in every case took precedence over all considerations of ease and comfort. If they with their superior opportu- nity of knowing what was needed to advance the inter- ests of the Redeemer's kingdom, deemed him to be the man best equipped for that work, then it was plainly his duty to go. He tore up the first letter, and ad- dressed another to the bishops, placing himself at their disposal.
His first commission, it will be seen, was that of a "scout," and was preliminary to the main movement. It was in anticipation of what was yet to be, rather than providing for what was. For this service his previous experience on the frontier among the Indians fitted him, and doubtless this fact, together with his good judgment, in which they reposed implicit confidence, influenced the
31
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM.
bishops in making choice of him for this difficult and important service.
. Thus, four days after the Kansas-Nebraska bill, pro- viding for the organization of these territories, became a law, and twenty-three days prior to the proclamation of the President declaring the Indian title extinguished and the country open for settlement, and four months before the organization of the Territorial government, the Meth- odist Church had made provision for the religious needs of the people yet to come, by the appointment of one of her best equipped men to go in person to the field and as- certain by actual observation what was needed.
It is difficult for us in these days of through railroad lines and palace Pullman cars, that would have brought him to Nebraska in twenty-four hours. with scarcely any discomfort or fatigue, to conceive what it meant for Dr. Goode, at the age of fifty or more, when most men are thinking how they can make life more comfortable, to make the journey of 600 miles to Kansas, and then 200 more to Nebraska by private conveyance or stage. On the 8th day of June, five days after receiving his commis- sion, he started from Richmond, Ind., where he had pur- chased the necessary outfit of team and wagon, and after a long and tedious journey, requiring four weeks, reached his destination in Kansas, which, having more settlers, was to be his first headquarters. It was not till late in July that he reached Nebraska.
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.