USA > Nebraska > A history of Nebraska Methodism, first half-century, 1854-1904 > Part 20
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Many were deeply convicted of sin and most of these happily converted to God. One poor sinner had resisted to the last, however, and just as Dr. Maxfield raised his hands to pronounce the final benediction, the poor fellow rushed up to him and on his knees clasped him about the
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feet, and begged piteously that the camp-meeting be not closed till he was saved. The benediction gave place for the time to earnest prayer, during which he was soon soundly converted. The benediction was then pronounced and the great camp-meeting closed.
The writer was appointed to Fairbury in 1872-73, and as was so often the case in those early days, was under the necessity of erecting a small parsonage, in order to have a place in which to live. There were some revivals, and we trust, some growth.
Fairbury made steady progress under the pastor- ate of Rev. E. Wilkinson, a transfer from Michigan Con- ference. He was not a revivalist, but, being a sound doc- trinal preacher, his mission seemed to be to build up char- acter through the truth. He gave twenty years to the work in Nebraska, and after his death, his brethren put in the Minutes this appreciation of his work and worth :
"Edward Wilkinson was born in Northumberland County, England, January 6, 1822. His early life was spent under deep religious influences. In his boyhood he became an enthusiastic Christian. At the age of nine- teen he became a local preacher in the Wesleyan Meth- odist Church. For several years he continued in this work. In April, 1859, at the advice of Bishop Simpson, he came to America, settling for a short time in Pennsyl- vania. In 1860 he moved to Michigan, where he resided until 1873, and labored there in the ministry. He then came to Nebraska, where he continued his successful min- isterial career till about three years before his death, which occurred at the home of his son, at Weeping Water, April 23, 1900. During his residence in Nebraska, he
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filled the following appointments: Fairbury, Weeping Water, Valparaiso, Wahoo, Harvard, Ashland, Steele City, and South Bend. He was a man of superior worth. It is the lot of few men to secure so large a measure of esteem and affection from their brethren in the ministry and their people in the pastorate."
Fairmont has become a part of the Beatrice District, and under the two years' pastorate of J. W. Stewart, who succeeded G. W. Gue, made fine progress.
Crete, in 1865, is still having the same struggle for existence that it had had from the beginning, having been overshadowed at first by the Congregational Church, which had the advantage, owing to the presence of Doane Congregational College. A small church had been built and a few determined laymen, like D. J. F. Reed and his devoted wife, and others, continued to inaintain their ground, and were finally rewarded by the Church attain- ing a commanding and perhaps leading position.
Of the progress of the work on his district during the four years, Dr. Maxfield speaks as follows in his final report :
"The last four years have furnished a history of great interest, demonstrating in many things a remarkable growth. At the beginning of this term there was not a single mile of railway in this district; since then three lines have been completed, running in various directions through the country. Then there was but one Methodist church in the entire district; now there are seven very commodious houses of worship. Then there was not a single parsonage ; now the Church possesses six.
"The growth in population has been large, and the increase of our Church membership has kept proportional
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pace with this rapid growth. Our Sunday-schools have been largely developed, and still exhibit marked pros- perity.
"The preachers, without exception, have obeyed the appointing power at the several Conferences held during this quadrennium, and not a single refusal to go to the allotted work has occurred; neither has an appointment refused to accept the preacher sent. A system producing such fine results with so little friction and no rebellion, must be something more than accidental in its origin, and not seriously defective in its operations.
"Our district of country suffered much in the early part of the season by the ravages of the brood of locusts hatched from the eggs deposited last autumn. The crops of small grain in some localities were entirely destroyed. During the summer, unusual rains flooded the valleys re- peatedly; freshets of such magnitude have not been known in the traditions of 'the oldest inhabitant,' for 'the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.' These floods, in some valleys, swept away all the crops which 'the locusts had not devoured.' "
BEATRICE DISTRICT.
(1875-1879.)
In 1875, George W. Elwood succeeds Dr. Maxfield on the Beatrice District, and continues four years. Two causes make it more difficult to trace the progress of the work during these years. The first is that there are no presiding elder reports printed after 1878 till 1882. The next cause is the form in which Brother Elwood makes his reports, and their exceeding brevity. However, from his first report we glean the fact that little was done on material lines. One church is inclosed, and a subscrip-
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tion of $800 raised for another. Great efforts have been made to remove heavy debts from churches at Crete, Fairmont, Beatrice, and York, with entire success. Old Father Gage succeeds in erecting at Steele City the only parsonage built on the district that year. But according to the following extract from his report they are doing splendidly on spiritual lines.
"The tide of spiritual life rose rapidly during the first three-quarters of the year on nearly all the charges. The present spiritual state of the district, as a whole, is very encouraging. With gratitude to God, we record the year as one of great revival movement. There was the sound of abundance of rain during the first quarter ; tlie second quarter witnessed the great outpouring. The quarterly-meeting were all revival-meetings. All the pastors held protracted services. Most of the local preachers engaged in the work with their might. The membership very generally engaged in the work. In some communities the people seemed to be moved en masse. The revival was the prevailing theme of conver- sation in all circles. One broad sheet of revival flame swept over York, Fairmont, Geneva, Western, Steele City, and Adams Circuits. West Blue, Crete, and Pleas- ant Hill; Wilber and De Witt and Plum Creek Circuit shared largely in the glorious work. Laborious and per- severing efforts were put forth at Beatrice and Blue Springs with good results. The pastors reported about seven hundred conversions, and a goodly number sancti- fied. A very large proportion of the converts continued faithful. In all this great work of God, the pastors proved themselves worthy leaders. Language is too weak to describe their self-sacrificing labors of love. Their record
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is on high, and their reward is sure. All glory to God forever. Amen."
In Elwood's second report we learn of steps being taken toward building churches at several points, but none are actually erected. Two parsonages are built, one by J. S. Orr at Fairmont, and another by E. J. Willis, at York.
Of the men on his district he has this word of com- mendation :
"The toils, trials, and triumphs of these men of God can not be described with words. The pen of the record- ing angel has given them a fitting and enduring record on high and the ages of eternity alone can suffice to reveal the results thereof."
In his third report, in 1878, the dominant note is one of progress in debt-paying and church-building : "It will be seen by the statement in the 'Review of the Churches' that great activity prevails in the line of church- building. Two churches have been dedicated to the wor- ship of God. Three churches have been repaired and old debts have been lifted from four. Eight are now in process of completion, and the Lord helping, all will be in use this winter. The smallest of these churches is twenty- four by thirty-six feet. One parsonage has been erected. The lots and lands acquired are too numerous to be de- scribed in this report."
In comparing the statistics of 1875 with 1879 there has been a gain of 472 members on the district. The growth in the principal charges appears in the fact that in 1875 there were only four with a membership of over one hundred, while in 1878 there are eight.
The number of churches has more than doubled, the
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increase being confined largely to the last two years, the people having begun to recover from the depressions caused by the grasshoppers.
G. W. Elwood retires from the Beatrice District after four years' faithful service, and is succeeded in 1879 by D. F. Rodabaugh.
In 1873, D. F. Rodabaugh came into the Nebraska Conference by transfer. He united with the Rock River Conference in 1859 and came to Nebraska in the prime of his life, with nearly fifteen years' experience in the work. Few men have come to us with greater pulpit ability than D. F. Rodabaugh. He was a hard student, and thoroughly thought out his sermons, which were al- ways interesting and instructive. He never preached any poor sermons, but on special occasions he was a power- ful preacher. The first time the writer ever met Brother Rodabaugh was at a camp-meeting held at Mt. Pleasant in 1876, during my pastorate there. Brother Rodabaugh and Hiram Burch had been sent to represent the presid- ing elder and hold the Mt. Pleasant and Rock Bluffs. quarterly-meetings, the latter charge, with T. A. Hull, pastor, joining with us in the camp-meeting. Brother Rodabaugh impressed me as a preacher of extraordinary power, and while all his sermons were impressive, his Sunday morning sermon was overwhelming. It was a great camp-meeting. There were about ninety conver- sions. This camp-meeting was held within a few miles of where the first camp-meeting in Nebraska was held. It so happened that Mother Davis, who had attended the first, was present. Brother Burch had also attended the first camp-meeting. Mother Davis was taken ill during the meeting, and felt from the first that she would die,
.
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and seemed greatly rejoiced at the prospect of going to heaven from a camp-ground. And the illness did prove fatal, and her funeral took place on the ground, and Brother Burch fittingly preached the funeral sermon. Sister Davis was the mother of Mrs. Spurlock, of the Mothers' Jewels Home, at York.
D. F. Rodabaugh's first charge in Nebraska was Falls City, where he remained three years. Brownville and Nebraska City were his next pastorates, and in all these charges he was a success.
In 1879 he was appointed presiding elder of the Bea- trice District, where he remained the full term, and was popular with preachers and people. Soon after leaving the district he transfers to the West Nebraska Confer- ence, where for fifteen years he serves successive charges, rendering valuable service in developing that new Con- ference to its present strength. But his growing infirmity necessitates his asking for a superannuated relation in 1900, which was granted. He is now residing at Peru.
CHAPTER XVII.
THIRD PERIOD. (1870-1880.)
KEARNEY DISTRICT.
IT was providential that just on the eve of a great calamity, A. G. White was placed in charge of Kearney District. He had already had four years' experience on the Omaha District, which had included that portion of the new district which extended along the Union Pacific Railroad and up the Loup Valleys. Of this district, as constituted by Bishop Andrews in 1873, White gives this description in his first report :
"One year ago Kearney District was instituted, hav- ing no churches or parsonages, and but two or three charges fully organized. Names of a respectable num- ber of circuits were given, and authority to penetrate the incognita of the plains, discover the territory, gather up the people, organize into societies, and supply them with preachers.
"Armed with this roving commission, we entered upon the work with such frontier experience and energy as we could command, willing to fight with wild beasts, if necessary, and often glad to subsist upon them, that we might find and gather up the scattered elements of our Zion.
"This district, as it has been canvassed, only partially developed, for want of men and means, contains more
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territory than the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and it embraces the interior and western part of the State. The Platte River and Union Pacific Railway extend through the district from west to east, dividing it into two parts nearly equal in size. In tlie northern section, the Loup River and the most of its tributaries ; in the southern part, the whole of the Repub- lican River in Nebraska, are within the bounds of this district. The climate is salubrious ; the soil unsurpassed in fertility ; the people are intelligent and enterprising, but generally poor. Here are the elements of great phys- ical and spiritual prosperity to be realized in the near future. Now, there is less pride, less infidelity, and less corruption here than in older settlements, and Christian labor will accomplish much more here than there. The moral elements are plastic now, and easily molded and controlled. And the Church that visits the people in their poverty and loneliness, and brings them the sympathy and instruction of the Gospel, will gain their confidence and affection and retain them for all time.
"At last Conference a presiding elder and five pastors were assigned to this new district, but one of the pastors declined to go to his work, one has since withdrawn from the Church, and one has been partially disabled with in- paired health. This was a small working force for so vast a region, and it has been increased from time to time by the addition of such ministerial help as could be made available. Several preachers-supernumerary, superan- nuated and local-are living within the district on home- steads, and as they had a mind to work in the ministry, they were employed. But as the Church could not in any case give more than half salary, it could not reason-
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ably claim all their time and energies. It was necessary then to so arrange their work that they could cultivate their claims, and thus make the principal part of their support, and cultivate Immanuel's land as they had oppor- tunity. Some of these preachers have labored with great success, and' gathered scores into the Church by conver- sion, and yet their worldly compensation has been scarcely sufficient to defray their traveling expenses."
According to this first report in 1874 there seems to be as yet no organized charge west of Kearney along tlie Union Pacific Railroad. North Platte indeed is men- tioned as having been left to be supplied, and as having remained unsupplied through the year. These towns on the Union Pacific seem slow in developing Methodistic- ally. Some of them were flourishing in 1867 when the Republican Valley was a hunting ground for the Indians, while at this time (1874) there are several flourishing circuits on the Republican, but none west of Kearney.
Four new circuits are formed with an aggregate men- bership of 200.
We can not but wish to know something of the men that A. G. White led out on this picket line, who, in the name of King Immanuel, proceeded to set up their ban- ners and take possession.
A few names appear that are already familiar in Ne- braska Methodism as having done efficient service. Charles L. Smith is assigned the task of organizing thie forces in Hamilton County, and gives a year of faithful, effective service, reporting more than 100 members.
E. J. Willis, frail in body, cultured in mind, brave and devoted in spirit, does the same service in Clay County.
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These two, Smith and Willis, are the only effective elders reporting from this district at the following Con- ference.
We find in the Loup Valley, at St. Paul, Richard Pearson, who has just been received on trial in the Con- ference. But he has been serving in Saunders County as a supply for two years, and has been spoken of by his presiding elder as a "sort of spiritual fire-brand, leaving light and heat and power all over the circuit, every week witnessing an advance." Evidently his work at St. Paul is in the same spirit, and with substantially the same re- sults. A church is built and over 100 added to the mem- bership. Before the year is out he will find cause to be thankful that he brought a good supply of clothing from England, for he will not be able to buy any for some years to come.
Of the supplies, he found and put to work, D. A. Crowel, a supernumerary, who is sent to Kearney Cir- cuit. A church built and nearly one hundred added to the membership, are facts mentioned by the presiding elder, as showing him to be a "workman that needed not to be ashamed." He is soon after transferred to this Conference, but continued ill health limits his career of usefulness in Nebraska to a few years.
A superannuated brother, J. S. Donaldson, of North- west Indiana Conference, though sixty-six years old, does effective work as a supply on the Grand Island Circuit, building a church at Grand Island. The presiding elder reports that notwithstanding this efficient service he is obliged to labor with his hands a portion of the time to secure the necessaries of life.
Among the supplies that came to the assistance of
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Elder White at this trying time was Jepthiah Marsh. He was born in Pennsylvania, February 6, 1825, was con- verted and joined the Church at the age of nineteen, and married to Miss Jerusha Campbell in 1850. He was licensed to preach in 1853 and received on trial in the Erie Conference in 1854. As supply and member of Con- ference he gave eight or nine years to the work of the ministry in that. Conference during which his labors were uniformly successful, his earnest, faithful preaching be- ing always attended with some revival power, and some- times he was blessed with great revivals. At one place a number of Indians were converted, one of whom becanie a preacher of the Gospel.
His health failing, he took a supernumerary relation and came to Nebraska, March, 1873, intending to rest, and refrain from preaching at least a year. But sucli was the urgent need for men he was induced by Elder White to supply Wood River Circuit, beginning this pas- torate in May. Thus began the ministerial career of Jepthah Marsh in Nebraska. He is still on fire with a burning zeal and nearly everywhere he has gone, has kindled a flame of revival power, besides building up the Church in other ways. When he prays he seems to get close up to the throne of Divine power. He was trans- ferred to Nebraska Conference in 1874.
Few have been more useful than has this saintly man during the year of his active ministry, both in Pennsyl- vania and Nebraska, and few crowns will have more stars than will the one our Lord will place on the brow of this humble servant, when he finally says to him, "Well done." He resides at University Place, and together with his faithful companion, is a benediction to all who come
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within the range of their influence. He is an honored superannuate of the Nebraska Conference. May God raise up many more men like Jepthah Marsh.
Perhaps the presiding elder deemed it a misfortune that the man he depended on did not go to Red Cloud, but it turned out otherwise when Charles Reilly, a local preacher, was found and sent in his stead. There had already been good work done in laying the foundations by that skillful and devoted workman, C. W. Wells, and that free lance. George Hummel, a local preacher, who had been holding revival-meetings in all that section, add- ing many to the Church. "Never," reports the presiding elder, "was appointment more fortunate. He found the Methodist elements scattered, but soon gathered then up and engaged in special services with a view to saving sinners. He worked each week as though it was his last. He succeeded marvelously, and for months many souls were saved every week. He has sixteen appoint- ments and has had revivals at nearly all of them." The membership was increased front fifty-six to one hundred and fifty-five. He was admitted on trial at the Confer- ence of 1874, and continued in the work for some years, but was compelled to relinquish his work in 1879 and take a supernumerary relation, and is now a superannuated Inember of Nebraska Conference. He resides in Kearney, and as police judge is administering the law with the same fidelity that he preached the Gospel.
Of M. A. Fairchild, who supplied Clarksville, the presiding elder significantly says, that "he expected but little from the people in the way of salary and was not disappointed." His service, "rendered in fatigue from the physical labors of the work during the week (made
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necessary by the scanty pay), and without previous study, could not be as edifying as the Church needs, or as he could have performed under more favorable circum- stances. And this applies to nearly all the preachers of the district."
Of the marvelous results of this year's work on the
· Kearney District the presiding elder informs us in this extract from his first report :
"At the beginning of the year the membership of the district amounted to four hundred and ninety-two; now, we number fifteen hundred and fifty. As we report six- teen charges, the increase of ten hundred and fifty-eight in the membership may not seem remarkable. But it should be remembered that some of these circuits have recently been organized and most of the pastors have given at least half their time to business to eke out a sup- port which the circuits could not give them, and some of them could give no more than two-sevenths of their tinie to the ministry.
"But the Lord has been with us, and this explains our success.
"There was no Church property reported to last Con- ference from the territory included in this district; now we have property to the value of $10,000.
"This was considered missionary ground, and during the year we have received funds to aid in the work as follows :
From the Board of Missions, . $2,512 50 From the Board of Church Extension (by dona-
tion), . 300 00
Total,
$2,812 50
-
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"And in return for this investment the Church has ac- quired ten hundred and fifty members and property to the value of $10,000. And larger appropriations of mis- sionary and Church Extension funds would have been proportionally profitable to the Church. And the amount received is regarded as a Gospel loan to be repaid with interest in yearly installments ; and we have already cominenced the liquidation of this debt.
"We have explored the country, discovered some of its necessities and possibilities; we have extended our skirmishı line one hundred miles into the interior, and taken up some positions of strength and strategical ini- portance. But how little, comparatively, has been accom- plished towards making the desert glad with the light and civilization of the Gospel! The outposts are to be held and strengthened, and made batteries of Christian power.
"The great battles are yet to be fought, the great ob- stacles to be overcome, and the great armies are yet to be supported in the field. And for this work we need men of mighty faith to lead the forlorn hopes of Chris- tian enterprise,-men of practical wisdom, mighty in word as well as in deed, to inspire confidence, infuse zeal, and organize the forces of the Church.
"There is a little band of laborers engaged in this work who feel that God wills they should remain. The Church can do but little for them and the world will do less. The grasshopper plague has visited every part of the district, and not a field escaped ; the corn crop, which was the main dependence of the frontier settlers, is ruined, and gaunt poverty frowns upon preachers and people, but 'in some way or other the Lord will provide,' or, if not, still we will remain and share in the fortunes
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of the people if the authorities of the Church shall so order."
It will be noted that in his jubilation over the grand achievements he almost forgets the grasshopper scourge, which began in the summer of 1874, merely mention- ing it.
The next three years on this district embraces the period of the grasshopper devastation, and their history is a pathetic story of suffering on the part of the people in the district, and of heroic self-sacrifice on the part of the presiding elder and preachers. But it is also an in- spiring story of splendid generosity on the part of the people in the older parts of Nebraska, and throughout the Church further east, by which these sufferings were greatly alleviated.
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