USA > Nebraska > A history of Nebraska Methodism, first half-century, 1854-1904 > Part 34
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About this time Bishop Bowman visited Lincoln, and when asked as to the eligibility of women for member- ship in the General Conference, seemed to be of the opin- ion, that being eligible to a seat in Quarterly Conferences and Lay Electoral Conferences, nothing could keep them out of the General Conference. if they could get the votes to elect them. This seemed so rational, that they were encouraged to go forward, and broach the matter to the ladies of the Church on the occasion of the dedication re- ferred to. "That was an earnest meeting composed of responsive, intelligent women-a more choice coterie it would be hard to find in any community than were these women of St. Paul's in the prosperous town of Lincoln in the eighties."
These two elect ladies who gave the initiative to the movement were at once joined by such women as Mrs. M. E. Roberts, Mrs. Angie F. Newman, and others, and the result of their agitation was the election at the next session of the Nebraska Conference of Mrs. Angie F. Newman, the first woman ever elected to the General Con- ference.
But by extensive correspondence, these women ex- tended their propaganda to other Conferences, and the result was the election by the great Rock River Confer- ence of that greatest woman of her age, Frances E. Wil- lard, as one of the lay delegates; then Mrs. Mary C. Nind, from the Minnesota Conference, and five others from different sections.
We know the result. When the Methodist Church saw eight such women, some of them the peers of any lay delegate on the floor of the General Conference, and one at least the peer of any bishop, representing two-thirds
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of the membership of the Church, knocking at the door of the General Conference, it was never possible after- ward to convince that Church that there was any suffi- cient reason for shutting them out, and it was impossible to stop the movement till the womanhood of the Church were conceded their rights and triumphantly seated in the General Conference.
Mrs. M. E. Roberts, one of those who took part in the original movement, and who at the Lay Electoral Conference in 1887, nominated Mrs. Newman for the place, was herself elected at the last Nebraska Confer- ence. There is not only a sort of poetic justice in this, but it is an honor well won and worthily bestowed.
CHAPTER XXVII.
FOURTH PERIOD. (1880-1904.)
DURING this last period all but two, Burch and Adri- ance, who bore a conspicuous part in the fifties and six- ties, have gone to their reward.
In 1883, A. G. White, the indomitable leader whom no calamity could daunt, passed away in the prime of life.
In 1884 the pushing, energetic Van Doozer was sunt- moned with startling suddenness, but was found ready, for he had "fought a good fight and finished his course."
In 1890, T. B. Lemon, "like a shock of corn ripe for the garner," is gathered home.
Of these three suitable mention has already been made. It will now be fitting, as we stand at the graves of these two fallen leaders, Maxfield and Davis, to note more fully some phases of their later work, and of the great qualities that made them leaders, as observed by their comrades on the field of battle. Dr. Maxfield was the first of these two to hear the summons.
During the last period the Church has found much in- portant work for this strong man. We find him, at the beginning of the period, in ISSo, in charge of one of the two most important charges in the State, First Church, Omaha. He is again called to district work in 1881, be- coming presiding elder of the Omaha District. Then when the North Nebraska Conference established her in- stitution of learning at Central City, none seemed so well qualified to superintend the organization of this
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school, and through his influence and ability rally the forces to its support, as J. B. Maxfield, and accordingly he was elected president.
But the task involved much excessively hard work, and there was in the nature of such an undertaking much of care, and not a little that would worry and annoy even this usually self-poised man, and many of us who watched him during the three years of incumbency, are not sur- prised that even his seemingly robust frame could not stand the strain, and required him to relinquish the work. But this did not occur till his constitution was shattered. Though he will yet put in twelve years of effective work, serving full terms on the Norfolk and Omaha Districts, the beginning of the end may be traced to his work at' Central City.
John B. Maxfield was spared, and his usefulness con- tinued till he saw the band who constituted the first Ne- braska Conference, which he joined on trial in 1861, in- crease through the years, till there are four Conferences, any one of which is larger than the Conference he joined, and the Church well organized in all parts of the State. It must have been a source of very great satisfaction to him to have contemplated these grand results, and be con- scious that he had borne no small share in bringing all this to pass. He closes his life with a sense of well- rounded completeness, his work all done, when at last the summons came, as it did on the IIth of September, 1900. Mrs. Maxfield, who had ministered to his comfort during his long and painful illness, was at his bedside at Boulder, Colorado, seeking by all possible means to prolong that precious life, writes me that a "beautiful smile came over his face as he died."
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I have already had much to say about Dr. Maxfield in the course of this history, but will add what his brethren of the North Nebraska Conference have to say of their fallen leader. At the memorial service Dr. Hodgetts speaks of his preaching, saying: "I remember well the first time I heard him preach, when I was fresh from the East, where I had lived among the great preachers of the Church. I can say honestly and frankly I thought I never heard the equal of that man as a preacher of Jesus Christ. Some of my friends who came out shortly after- ward and heard him, said about the same. Wherever I went I heard the same story. Everybody conceded he was a prince among preachers."
And his brethren officially place on record the follow- ing estimate of his worth :
"His great intellectual power, which enabled him to see clearly, grasp easily and strongly the fundamental truths of the Gospel, his marvelous command of language which enabled him to give most clear and forceful ex- pression to his thoughts, and his warm and sympathetic nature constituted John B. Maxfield a great pulpit orator, ranking among the best in the entire Church.
"His quick perception of what ought to be done in emergencies, his sound judgment in affairs of public in- terest in Church and State, with his decision of character made him always a leader among inen.
"His genial qualities of heart and his commanding power of intellect made him seem equally at home in the humblest Quarterly Conference on a frontier charge, or on the floor of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. No one has done more, and few have done as much for Methodism in Nebraska as Dr. J. B.
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Maxfield. His Christian character was absolutely free from all cant or mere perfunctoriness, but was always genuine and hearty. He stood out boldly for righteous- ness under all circumstances, and was never known to fear any man."
Instead of being present at the last session of his Con- ference and answering to roll call as he had done at every session since it was organized in 1861, H. T. Davis was, during the session, on September 18, 1903, transferred from the Church militant to the Church triumphant, and will henceforth answer to the roll call of the redeemed. It is his distinguished privilege to have given more years of effective service to the cause of Christ in Nebraska than any other Methodist preacher, remaining in the ef- fective ranks without a break, from June, 1858, to Sep- tember, 1901, when he asked and received a superan- nuated relation. But he continued to do evangelistic work, aiding some of the pastors in revival-meetings dur- ing the following year, and thus it may be said, he gave forty-four years to active work in Nebraska, out of a total of forty-five during which he resided in the State.
And such years, every one crowded with some form of service that made the world richer, and was a benedic- tion to thousands.
Of the great triumvirate, Davis, Lemon, Maxfield, naming them in the order in which they entered this field, he is the first to have entered the service in Nebraska, and was the last to be mustered out.
Much of the biography of each of these great leaders has appeared in preceding pages of this narrative. It could not be otherwise. I have not been able and have not tried to keep the history of the Church and the lives
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of these men separate. The web and woof of this history has been largely what these men, and hundreds of others of like spirit, were, and what they did, the great Head of the Church employing them as His agents in the work.
The following memoir and words spoken by friends at the memorial service, held September 21, 1903, must close this imperfect earthly record of this man of God. The only perfect record of the lives of such men is the . one kept by the recording angel, and may be read in the great hercafter :
"Henry T. Davis was born July 19, 1833, in Spring- field, Ohio. He was 'born again,' 'from above,' March 4, 1853, in South Bend, Indiana, and almost immediately after his conversion came the call to preach. He was licensed as an exhorter when received into full fellow- ship in the Church, and June 23, 1855, received his li- cense to preach from the Greencastle (Indiana ) Quarterly Conference, being then a student at Asbury University. The following October he was received as a probationer into the Northwest Indiana Conference and appointed junior preacher upon Russellville Circuit. On September 17, 1857, Emily McCulloch, of Virgo County, Indiana, became his wife, and after forty-six years of beautiful and loving union, she and their three daughters sit together in hope lighted shadows.
"October 4, 1857, Bishop Waugh ordained Brother Davis a deacon. In 1858 he transferred to the Kansas- Nebraska Conference, and received as his first work in Nebraska, appointment to Bellevue. In the division of the Kansas and Nebraska Conference he identified himself with the Nebraska Conference, at the organization of which, April 4, 1861, he became a charter member. His
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subsequent ministerial activities have been within the bounds of this Conference. The confidence reposed in him by his superiors in authority is indicated by his hav- ing served seven terms as presiding elder, and the es- teem of his brethren in -the Conference by their choice of him to represent them in the General Conference four times. He was also honored by the Nebraska Wesleyan University with the honorary degree of Doctor of Divin- ity. During the session of Conference, which met at Lincoln, his home city, September 18, 1903, he came triumphantly to the end of his earthly sojourn, and his brethren in the ministry laid the precious deserted dust to rest in Wyuka Cemetery, September 21, 1903.
"Brother Davis excelled as a preacher. Much and faithful study of the 'Word' and of such other literature as was really helpful sidelights for its interpretation, il- lustrative for its application, furnished him always with the subject matter for sermons. And his own deep and fervid religious experience always afforded the fire to make those sermons effective with men. A multitude are they-God's seal to his ministry.
"He was also especially acceptable as a pastor. Nat- urally cheerful, genial, loving of disposition, and, with the Master Spirit of Ministries upon him, he was always a welcome comer. And his wise counsels, his tender syn- pathies, his fervent prayers left a sense of benediction when he had gone. He was beloved by well-nigh every one, and his memory will be precious."
Fletcher L. Wharton spoke tenderly : "The impres- sion left upon me in the first short interview I had with Dr. Davis, was deep, and it grew deeper. I had a pro- found conviction that I had met a Christian gentleman.
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He was a gentleman, therefore a good man. He was a Christian man, therefore a strong man. Somehow he put me upon my honor, in the confidence he put in me as a presiding elder, to be a true, faithful man in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the last days his countenance pale and wan, seemed to radiate the great peace of God. He made it easier for the people of this State to be good, to believe in God the Father, and to pray. Everywhere, on the prairie, in the dugout, he had the same message, 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.' The King has gone to his coronation. He stands on the hills in the sunlight eternal." Dr. Wharton closed his address with a fine expression concerning Mrs. Davis and her family.
Hiram Burch, who for so many years stood with Dr. Davis at the head of the Conference roll, spoke next. "I pay my tribute with mingled sorrow and joy. The per- sonal loss of a friend and brother, the greater loss of the Church and society, causes sorrow. There is joy in the recollection of the past, of good actions, of Christian life and labors. Remember that the influence of that life and labors does not cease at the grave-but will go on in ever widening circles as the years go on. I am glad of that. Brother Davis was a great preacher, because he preached the Gospel. There was a Christian character and a blanie- less life, and love, behind his sermons. He excelled as a pastor. His cheery, genial sunshiny disposition made him a welcome visitor in the homes of the people. He was not only an acceptable visitor but a useful visitor. He is gone from us, but his memory remains with us and we shall cherish it as a treasure. We shall miss him in
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the counsels of the Church, in the Conferences, but his record is on high. Knowing his life for more than forty- four years, we are not surprised over his triumphant death."
There are only two who came into work in the fifties who are still living; Hiram Burch and Jacob Adriance. Of the latter I have already spoken quite fully. Of the former, though I have had frequent occasion to mention his work, justice requires a few brief sentences in add :- tion to what has already been said.
Hiram Burch has the distinction of having been con- nected with Nebraska Methodism since 1855, a longer period than any other Methodist preacher, either among the living or dead. While Brother Burch has not always been technically in the effective lists, being compelled to superannuate occasionally, and sustaining that relation now, there has been no time that he has not been active. Even while he was a superannuate he served charges as a supply and preached nearly every Sunday. He preaches occasionally even yet, and is a constant attendant on the means of grace.
Another fact that distinguishes him is that he built the first church ever erected in Nebraska, in 1856, at Ne- braska City, and during those trying periods in the fifties and sixties, it was Burch that built more churches and parsonages than any one else.
Hiram Burch was born in Canada, December II, 1829, and converted when eleven years old, and at twenty-one experienced heart purity, and entered the ministry in 1853, in Iowa, where he had gone from his home in Win- nebago, Illinois, for his health. He was employed. as a supply, being junior preacher on the Dubuque Circuit.
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His health not improving there, he went to Texas in 1854, partly in search of health, but seeing in the Church papers, Dr. Goode's call for young men, he reported to the super- intendent in May, 1855, and was among the first to be assigned a charge by that great leader, being sent to what was called Wolf Creek, in northern Kansas, extending west of St. Joseph, Missouri. That fall he was received on trial in the Iowa Conference and though appointed to Brownville, was, as before noted, changed to Nebraska City, and began that long and useful career in Nebraska, which lacks but a single year of being half a century in duration.
Brother Burch, though not having been advanced to the higher official positions in the Church, has been one of those steady, reliable, efficient workers who have a way of bringing things to pass.
He served York College as financial agent, and at a critical time in the history of Nebraska Wesleyan, ren- dered valuable service in the same relation in turning the York patrons to that institution.
He was united in marriage with Miss Mary Brisbin, October II, 1855. They are living in University Place,. respected and honored by all.
John Gallagher appears in the Minutes for the first time thirty-two years ago, at the Conference of 1872, where he is received on trial and appointed junior preacher on the Mt. Pleasant Circuit. It is to his ad- vantage, that, like J. H. Presson, he has A. L. Folden for the senior preacher.
Brother Gallagher has been a close student from tlie beginning of his ministry, this studiousness not ceasing or even diminishing after he had finished his Conference
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course of study. He soon took up the course for the de- gree of Ph. D., which was conferred on him, after exam- ination. This degree may sometimes represent more of solid learning than the honorary degree of D. D.
But John Gallagher's standing in the Conference and the Church does not depend upon his degree, but upon his real ability as a preacher and his thoroughness as an administrator of the interests committed to him. He has been pastor of a number of important charges, among them Ashland, Weeping Water, Plattsmouth, Falls City, Tecumseh, Falls City a second time, Fairbury, Auburn, Seward, and Aurora, his present charge.
In 1883 he was placed in charge of Hastings District. For several years he was secretary of the Nebraska Con- ference and was reserve delegate to the General Confer- ence in 1900, and delegate in 1904. He has for several years been the efficient secretary of the Nebraska Confer- ence Historical Society, and has aided the writer by the material his diligence has secured. He is now record- ing secretary of the Methodist Historical Society of Ne- braska.
Among those who came into the work in the later sixties was F. M. Esterbrook, who was received on trial in 1869. He has been one of the most useful pastors we have had, usually getting hold of his people so strongly that they very often kept him the full legal term. F. M. Esterbrook belonged to the class who, while doing much of the real work, reporting gains on every pastoral charge served, do not attain to the same prominence that others do who have done no more, or perhaps not as much. But with scarcely a break, this man has moved steadily on in the "even tenor of his way" for over a third of a
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century, cheerfully doing the work assigned him, always successful in some direction and to some extent, and some- times blessed with great revivals. At Peru, his first charge in Nebraska, there were eighty conversions. The next year, 1869, he was received on trial and sent to West Point, where he finds seven members, and after three years' service reports over eighty. He was popular, and everybody believed in Francis M. Esterbrook.
When, after the shameful abuse of their confidence by C. M. Ellinwood, the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan University felt that they must find a man for treasurer whom everybody could trust, selected Esterbrook and no words of mine could more clearly set forth the sterling worth of this man of God than this expression of confi- dence. He was retained in that position for several years, and would probably have been there yet but for the change of plan that took place when Dr. G. W. Isham was elected field secretary, and it was deemed best to combine the two offices in the interests of economy.
The spirit of this man is shown in these words con- tained in a letter to the writer: "Thirty-five years seenis a short time to work for my Master, but they have been filled with much sunshine, for truly the 'darkest cloud has a silver lining.' Do you ask me, have I regrets? Yes, and no. I regret that I have not done more for His cause ; I see where I could have greatly improved if I had known all that I know now, but I have this comfort, that I did the best I could with the light I then had."
Joseph Hile Presson was born in Ohio, and at an early age was taken by his parents to Illinois, where they resided a number of years. He was converted at a meet- ing held by his father, Harrison Presson. He enlisted
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in Company A, Fifty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and gave over three years to the service of his country, holding the responsible position of quartermas- ter's sergeant. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Champion Hills, Black River, Siege of Vicksburg, and Jackson, then marched from Meni- phis to Chattanooga, he was in battles of Missionary Ridge, Altoona, Big Shanta, Kenesaw Mountain, and also the battle around Atlanta. He was mustered out on the 30th day of September, 1864. and on the 23d of De- cember, of the same year, landed in Tecumseh, Nebraska, traveling from St. Joseph in a lumber wagon, a distance of II0 miles.
Joseph H. Presson's ministerial career began in Ne- braska as early as 1867, when he was licensed to preach and recommended for admission into the traveling con- nection. He was, however, closing his first term as county clerk of Johnson County, and had consented to be a candidate for re-election, and felt under obligation to do so, and requested that his name be not presented at that Conference.
At the close of his second term as county clerk he was appointed junior preacher under A. L. Folden. Two years before Folden had received him and the woman who was to become his wife, into the Church on proba- tion, and gave the promising young man license to ex- hort. Now this eminently successful preacher is to give Joseph H. Presson his first lessons in preaching the Gos- pel. They together traveled Tecumseh Circuit. They must travel 135 miles to reach all the eleven following appointments : Tecumseh, Sterling. Adams, Elk Creek, Crab Orchard, Vesta, Upper Spring Creek, Lower Spring
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Creek, Illinois Settlement, Blodgets School-house, and Hooker Creek. To-day there are eleven charges on the same ground. During the winter of that year they re- ceived III probationers. At the next Annual Conference, held in the spring of 1870, he was received on trial and returned for the same work as junior preacher under A. L. Folden. Success attended the work and during that year the first church in Johnson County was built in Tecumseh. Brother Folden being a carpenter, did, with the help of his colleague, most of the work.
For a third of a century, J. H. Presson has efficiently wrought in the Gospel ministry in Nebraska, being blessed at times with great revivals, and in every charge advanc- ing the interest of the Church. He is popular in Church and G. A. R. circles, and was elected chaplain of the House of Representatives of the Nebraska Legislature in 1901, and of the Senate in 1903. He is still in his later prime and on his fourth year as pastor at Milford.
Among the local preachers who have done splendid service were Robert Laing and John Dale.
It was Robert Laing that in 1868 welcomed H. T. Davis to Nebraska, and it was in the Laing cabin in Sarpy County, that Davis preached his first sermon in Nebraska and began a ministry that was to continue forty-four years and be of untold blessing to thousands. Though remaining in the local ranks almost as long, Brother Laing has been serving the Church as local preacher and evangel - ist, and in the thirty-five years or more he has almost constantly given to the work, he estimated that not less than 10,000 souls have been saved.
He was a very forceful preacher, tactful in managing a revival-meeting, could sing or pray or preach as occa- sion required.
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Haynes speaks thus of this successful local preacher : "Many of the protracted-meetings he conducted were continued from two to four weeks, each, and it has been estimated that an average of fifty had been converted each seven days. He claims not that such results were reached by his might or power, but by the Spirit of God. He ascribes as a great means of success his method of Bible reading. One interested person said to him, 'Brother Laing, I wish you would bequeath to me that Bible of yours ; I never heard such a Bible read before.' He in- sists upon the reading of the Word of God attentively, studiously, that there may be cultivated in the heart a deepening desire for a closer walk with God."
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