USA > Nebraska > A history of Nebraska Methodism, first half-century, 1854-1904 > Part 6
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Besides what his brethren have noted above of the facts of Martin Pritchard's life and work, there are a few others which in justice ought to be mentioned. It was he who built the first Methodist parsonage in Ne- braska, this being erected during his pastorate at Peru in 1860. He also built the first church in Pawnee City.
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At the election for the delegates to the General Con- ference of 1876, Martin Pritchard came within one vote of being elected delegate, W. B. Slaughter and H. T. Davis being the successful competitors. He was twice elected reserve delegate and served four years as a mem- ber of the Book Committee, one of the most responsible positions of the Church.
These facts tell of the high esteem in which Martin Pritchard was held by the Nebraska Conference and the Church at large. His wife, and now his widow, is a most noble specimen of beautiful, sanctified, Christian woman- hood, and bore well her part as an itinerant's wife.
After Martin Pritchard's two years expired, Rock Bluffs becomes the head of the circuit, and as the name does not appear separately, Mt. Pleasant doubtless re- mains a part of the Rock Bluffs Circuit till 1862, when it again becomes the head of a circuit. J. T. Cannon is Martin Pritchard's successor, remaining the legal limit of two years. The first year he had (as we have seen) Jacob Adriance as junior preacher, but he was soon sent out to Colorado. The second year Philo Gorton was junior preacher. This being the only circuit that had two men assigned to it, indicates, as do the statistics, that it is the largest and strongest in the Territory. This is in marked and sad contrast with the Rock Bluffs of to-day. where town and Church are extinct.
This will, perhaps, be a suitable place to make fur- ther mention of J. T. Cannon, who was Jacob Adriance's senior preacher on the Rock Bluffs Circuit when the lat- ter was taken away for the Colorado work.
Joseph T. Cannon came to Nebraska among the first, and from 1855 he becomes a member of the little band
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that during the fifties were laying the foundations of Nebraska Methodism. Mt. Pleasant Circuit and other charges mentioned elsewhere were helped by his faithful labors. After his death his brethren give this brief ac- count of his life and death :
"Rev. Joseph T. Cannon was born in Shelby County, Ohio, September 18, 1814, and died of dropsy in Cass County, Nebraska, July 24, 1883, in the seventieth year of his age.
"His grandfather was a native of Tennessee, and a schoolmate of General A. Jackson. Joseph T. Cannon was converted to God at the age of seventeen. Was mar- ried November 7, 1835, to Miss Phoebe Jordon. In 1839 he was licensed to preach, and for fourteen years labored on various circuits in the Missouri Conference as local preacher. In 1851 he joined the Missouri Conference and was ordained deacon by Bishop Waugh, at Hannibal, Missouri. In 1855 he moved to Otoe County, Nebraska, within the bounds of Kansas and Nebraska Conference, and continued in the itinerancy 'three years. I 1860 he was appointed to pioneer work, and stationed at Central City, Colorado. While there, he, with Rev. Brother Wat- son (brother to Richard Watson of Methodist fame), erected the first Methodist church in that country. They built it mostly with their own hands, hewing the logs on the mountain side, and carrying them on their shoulders to the site of the church. His labors there told seriously on his health, and he returned to Nebraska, and settled on his farm in Cass County, near the Union Methodist · Episcopal Church. In 1870 he was elected to the eighth Legislature of Nebraska, and did his work well. In 1871 his wife died, in the blissful hope of heaven, leaving a
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husband and three children to mourn their loss. In 1874 he married Miss Mary S. Daley.
"As a preacher, Brother Cannon was moderate in speech, concise and practical. In the Conference he en- joyed the respect of all, and was highly esteemed by those who knew him best. As a Christian he was quiet, thoughtful, patient, and persevering. He suffered much by disease, which sometimes brought clouds and disap- pointments to his mind, but never did he lose confidence in his God. His end was peaceful and grandly triumphant. He even exulted in the approaching hour, and passed gently away to his reward, leaving a wife and little son, Wallace, and three adult married children. Thus Brother Cannon lived long, labored much, and died triumphantly."
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST PERIOD. (1854-1861.)
AS EARLY as 1856-57 town site companies and other speculative organizations, confidently expecting that a railroad would soon be constructed along the Platte Val- ley, induced people to form settlements and start towns as far west as Hall County. Beginning with Dodge and Platte Counties, we have the towns of North Bend, Fre- mont, and Columbus, started in the order named. In 1857 a large German colony had also settled in Hall County, at the mouth of Wood River, farther west than any other settlement, being about 150 miles west of the Missouri River.
These settlers must have the Gospel, and as early as 1857 North Bend which probably included Columbus and intermediate points, was among the appointments named in the Minutes, but was left to be supplied. About this time another town was platted, east of North Bend, which was destined to become the most important city in the State west of Omaha, and the Methodist Church at that place has ever been and is now, one of the most influen- tial in the State. Of the founding of this town and Church I shall let Mrs. Ida Moe tell the story :
"In the sultry month of August, 1856, there set out from the rough territorial capital called Omaha, a group of young men filled with a very definite purpose.
"Following the grass-walled road which in the past
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had been the trail of the Indian, the explorer, the Mor- mon, and was destined to become in the immediate future the natural highway of the freighter, the emigrant, and the engineer, they halted about forty miles to the west, and with chain, chart, and tripod ran out the lines and set the stakes that outlined the site of a new town. A sea of prairie grasses billowing in the wind, the level valley of the Platte stretched away, four miles to the bluffs on the north, one to the river in the south, to the horizon on the east and the west.
"In June, John C. Fremont had been made the nomi- nee of the Republican party. Being ardent partisans and most of them of that political faith, the founders of the infant burg bestowed upon it the name of the picturesque and popular presidential candidate.
"Among the half-dozen families who were the first settlers was that of a Congregational minister, Rev. Isaac E. Heaton. A good man and a scholar, he was held in deep esteem by his fellow-citizens and his subsequent long and godly life was felt to be a benediction to the community. But those who had been adherents of other forms of faith were early desirous of establishing their own Church organization and soon began to break away from the common fold.
"Two brothers, Eliphus H. and Lucius Henry Rogers, had been reared in a Methodist parsonage and were eager to enjoy the service of God in accordance with their own mode of worship. This desire led to the formation in 1857 of a class consisting of five members : E. H. Rogers, his wife, Lucy J. Rogers. L. H. Rogers, Mrs. Mary A. Flor, a young woman who had come with her husband from Wisconsin, Mrs. Wealthy Beebe, a widow who with
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her four sons had settled upon a claim three miles west of the village.
"E. H. Rogers was the first leader, and except when absent for brief intervals, continued to sustain that rela- tion until his death. The first pastor was Rev. Jerome Spillman, who had been assigned to Fontanelle Mission, of which Fremont constituted one appointment."
This is the first appearance of this flaming evangelist in Nebraska. He was born and converted and educated in Indiana. Indiana Methodism at that time, as it had ever been, was of the most aggressive type, and was led by men who were giants in intellectual stature and full- of the Holy Ghost, mighty in word and deed. Among these Jerome Spillman received his first inspiration, and imbibed his ideals of Methodism "as Christianity in ear- nest." He was pursuing the course of study at old "As- bury," under the great Dr. Cyrus Nutt, who was then president. After a few years of college life, and before graduation, he heard the call for men to plant Methodism in Nebraska, and reported to J. M. Chivington for work. The following letter will explain how Jerome Spillman was initiated into the work, and will illustrate how pre- siding elders supplied these fields as the needs demanded :
"Omaha, June 22, 1857.
"E. H. Rogers, Esq.,-Dear Brother: This will intro- duce to you Rev. Jerome Spillman. I have employed him on the Fontenelle and North Bend Missions. He is a young man, as you will see: still he is full of fire, and will do you good service. He is just now from Indiana Asbury University (of the junior class), is a good scholar and will prosecute his studies until he graduates. Board
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him if you can. I will be out on the eleventh of July. Kind regards to yourself and family. Yours truly,
"J. M. CHIVINGTON."
As stated in Mrs. Moe's account, Brother Spillman soon had a class organized. Meetings were held at the home of E. H. Rogers. Under these humble conditions, with a membership of five, began the history of one of the most prosperous Churches in the State. This Church from the first was blessed with the membership of strong, zealous, and influential laymen. The two Rogers, E. H. and L. H., were from the first marked men in the com- munity, and leaders in every legitimate enterprise that promised to promote the interests of the place and Church. From the first and as long as they lived, they were a tower of strength in the struggling Church. They were the sons of Rev. L. C. Rogers, an honored member of the old Oneida Conference in New York. E. H. Rogers was born in Litchfield, New York, January 12, 1830, and Lucius H. Rogers was born March 20, 1834. These two men will often appear in the story of our Church in Ne- braska, and always in some honorable relation, or some important work.
Fontenelle, on the Elkhorn, some twelve miles north of Fremont, was one of the oldest towns in the State, though now almost entirely defunct. But during those early years it was a place of some importance, with a population of two hundred, and much promise, and un- limited expectations. It appears among the appoint- ments in the Minutes of 1856, and was left to be supplied. J. A. Wilson was employed as a supply, but failed to ap- pear, and the charge was served that Conference year by
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M. M. Haun, who reported fifteen members. Then, as we have seen, Jerome Spillman was sent to supply Fon- tenelle, which it seems, from Chivington's letter, included both Fremont and North Bend. At Fontenelle he had a gracious revival, the first of a series which attended his ministry in Nebraska. There seems not to have been any revival at Fremont or North Bend, probably for lack of suitable places to hold special meetings. Brother Spill- man reported forty-five full members and twenty-eight probationers, where the year before there had been but fifteen. The name of North Bend appears in the Minutes in 1857 as being left "to be supplied," but as seen by Pre- siding Elder Chivington's letter, it was included in Jerome Spillman's field. It was little more than one of the numerous paper towns, though $60,000 worth of lots had been sold, mostly to Eastern purchasers. When Jacob Adriance was appointed to Platte Valley Circuit in 1858, it extended from Fremont to Columbus, and in- cluded North Bend and Buchanan.
The work in Sarpy County began with Bellevue Cir- cuilt, which included Fairview and all the points in the county, and appears for first time in 1857, to be supplied, and was also left to be supplied in 1858, and, as already noted, H. T. Davis was placed in charge at that time. In 1859. Jerome Spillman, that flaming evangelist, whose labors were everywhere attended with great revivals, fresh from his victories at Fontenelle, was assigned to Bellevue. There was a great revival and the member- ship which had been reported at the Conference of 1858 as ten, and in 1859 as nine, was reported at the end of Jerome Spillman's first year to be sixty-two, with eighty- two probationers. It was at this meeting that T. B.
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Lemon, who, after some years of efficient labor in the Baltimore Conference, had come West and gone into the practice of law, was recalled to his duty as a minister of the Gospel. In 1860, Jerome Spillman is returned to Bellevue, with J. H. Alling as junior preacher, and re- ports in 1861 one hundred and eleven members and sixty- four probationers, showing that the revival of the pre- vious year left permanent results.
Of Spillman's preaching, Judge A. N. Ferguson, of Omaha, son of Judge Fenner Ferguson, the first chief justice of the Territory, has this to say : "I was but a boy of sixteen at that time, but I often heard Spillman during that great revival and at other times, and no preacher that I have heard in Nebraska has impressed me more profoundly than did Jerome Spillman." His pow- erful preaching and great revivals were still matters often referred to when the writer came to Nebraska in 1865. He went into the service of his country early in the Civil War, as chaplain, Plattsmouth and Oreapolis being his last charge in Nebraska, to which he was appointed in 1861. After the war he remained in the South.
When in 1856 Isaac Collins was changed from Omaha to Florence, after having served the full term of two ecclesiastical years at Omaha, though not two full cal- endar years, the town was flourishing and still hopeful. There had been a church built at Omaha ; there must be one built at Florence. This Collins undertook during the inflated times pending just then. But before it could · be completed the financial crash of 1857-58 came, and money became scarce. But they felt the building must now be completed, and five hundred dollars were bor- rowed at five per cent a month, the pastor going on the
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note with some others. This rate of interest may seem incredible now, but was common then, as were even higher rates. By the time of the next Conference, 1858, when Hiram Burch was appointed to succeed Collins, the case had become hopeless, the principal and interest on the note already amounting to more than the cost of the building, and the people having lost heavily, there was nothing left but to do that which a Methodist preacher hates to do, acknowledge defeat. They ac- cepted an offer of the creditors to take the building and cancel the note. These afterward sold the building to the school district, and it was still used for religious services.
After a year of discouraging work in a town that was constantly losing ground, Brother Burch was returned; Calhoun, DeSoto, and Cuming City being added to Flor- ence, and the name of the circuit changed to DeSoto. Fort Calhoun, DeSoto, and Cuming City were very simi- lar in their fortunes and history to that of Florence. They flourished for a few years, and then declined. Isaac Collins, while at Omaha, preached at Calhoun once in four weeks, and even went occasionally as far as De- Soto, twenty miles from Omaha. These places had, dur- ing their brief history, the services of some of the ablest and most efficient preachers, such as Isaac Collins, H. Burch, Jerome Spillman, Jacob Adriance, T. B. Lemon, and in the early sixties, J. B. Maxfield and A. G. White. But manifest destiny was stronger than even these strong men, and these places became defunct in a few years. But during the fifties they kept their places in the list of appointments. During Burch's second year there were some gracious revivals and the Church made gratifying
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progress. Brother Burch continued to preach at Flor- ence, though the Baptists and Presbyterians had aban- doned the field. The town continued to run down, and the faithful work of Collins and Burch came to naught. as was often the case in those times of shifting fortunes. While Brother Burch was in a revival-meeting at Cal- houn, the following sad incident occurred, as related by Dr. Goode, who had stopped on his way home to assist :
"We now approach a scene of deep and painful inter- est ; one which, in its results, was greatly to affect my future life and labors. Hitherto, in all my wanderings and toils, I had always had a devoted and willing par- ticipant. Home had been cheered and made a resting- place, with a society and companionship all that I desired. Absence had been relieved by the reflection that the family altar was kept up, the morning and evening sacrifice of- fered, the interests and comfort of dependent ones pro- vided for, and all the details of secular business and do- mestic care guided by a competent and faithful hand. A counselor, too, and friend, had been near me in every hour of impetuosity or of discouragement ; diffident, un- obtrusive, but judicious, constant, gentle, faithful.
"The opinion had seemed to be mutually, though rather silently, entertained that I, though possessing more firmness of physical constitution, should first be called away; and all the arrangements of later years had con- templated this event. For this I had endeavored to have my "house in order." But how vain are all our plans founded upon mere presentiment. 'God's ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.' A cup was prepared for me of which I had never expected to drink. "Upon the morning of the third of February, 1859,
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I started upon the northern portion of my fourth round of quarterly-meetings. The trip would take me to the extreme of the district and occupy several weeks. All at home were well and cheerful. My meeting at De- Soto was attended. On the morning of Thursday, the 9th, iny last day in Tekama, the family scene at home had been as usual. My wife, according to her uniform custom in my absence, had assembled the household at an early hour, read the Holy Scriptures, the portion for that morning being Psalm cxlvi, bowed with her children, and commended them to God in prayer. A few hours passed in household avocations, when, while seated at her needle she was suddenly attacked with violent illness. Medical aid was immediately called, but in vain. The disease baffled medicine. and almost from the first precluded hope. On the morning of the 14th, God released her sanctified spirit and took her to Himself.
"My supposed great distance, and the want of knowl- edge of my route, prevented my being sent for, though in reality I had passed most of the time of her illness within one day's ride of home. Reaching Omaha in the afternoon, where I had expected to pass the night, I heard of her illness, and in ten minutes after of her death. A solitary, but hasty, night ride of twenty-five miles brought me to my home at a late hour. Unknowingly, I passed into a room where my eyes rested upon the pre- cious remains, before I had seen a living being about the house.
"Reason remained unimpaired to the last. Under the most racking torture, perfect patience and resignation were exercised. Not a murmur escaped. Eight children were at her bedside. During the illness she had all ob-
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jects removed out of sight which reminded her of un- finished plans and contemplated domestic arrangements, saying, 'I shall work no more,' calmly gave directions about her household affairs, even the most minute, in- quired kindly after the health of some that were indis- posed, thanked attending friends for their good offices, and expressed a fear that she should be troublesome or grow impatient, gave instructions for preparations for her funeral, addressed personally each of her children present, sent her last words to the absent one, and charged all to meet her in heaven, enjoined them to be 'kind to their father,' left a most tender and consoling message for myself, referring to my expectation that she would sur- vive me, 'Tell him not to grieve-we shall meet soon,' ex- claiming near the last. 'O that I could see Mr. G. once more!' From the first her confidence was firm and re- peatedly expressed. Almost the last words uttered were two lines of a hymn often sung in our family worship :
"'Rock. of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee !'"
It was in the spring of 1857 that there appeared on the field a young man who was destined to play a large part in the planting of Methodismn in Nebraska and Den- ver, Colorado.
Jacob Adriance was born in Cayuga County, New York. October 22, 1835. His parents were members of the Dutch Reformed Church, but afterward joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. When Jacob was ten years of age his parents moved to Niagara County, New York, where he grew up to manhood. He attended the district school and three terms at the Wilson Collegiate Institute.
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He was religiously inclined from childhood, but thought he must wait until grown up before acknowledg- ing it openly, hence did not become a Christian until he was sixteen, when he was converted. Two years later he felt called to preach the gospel, but the call included the additional idea that it should be a long way from home. Though he says he was as conscious of the call as if some person had spoken, he, like Jeremiah, and probably every truly called prophet of God, hesitated from a sense of in- adequacy, saying, "I can't do that, I have no qualifica- tions as to gift of speech, or education for so great a task." After thus resisting the call for more than a year, conscientious Jacob Adriance surrendered and said, "Yes, Lord, I'll go." Having had a license to preach pressed upon him, and armed with a government land warrant for 160 acres of land, the gift of his father, on the seventh of April, 1857, at the age of twenty-two, he turned his face toward the mighty West, that country afar off where it seemed stipulated in his call to the ministry that he should in after years "make full proof of his ministry."
He reached Nebraska City April 26th, a day after the Conference had adjourned. He then walked to Glen- wood to see Dr. Goode, and thence to Omaha to see the presiding elder of the Omaha District. It was charac- teristic of this modest man that his highest ambition up to that time was to assist some pastor, and when offered sole charge of 'DeSoto Mission, he shrank from the re- sponsibility, and only after considerable pressure did he consent to go, and entered upon his work. Instead of entering a quarter section of land with his land warrant, he sold it for $163 that he might have the means to pro- cure a horse and other outfit necessary for an itinerant
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circuit rider in Nebraska. A good brother gave him a pair of saddle-bags. He had less than twenty dollars left after these purchases, and this was soon spent for Sunday-school libraries, as we shall see. The presiding elder had taken a map and showed him nine appoint- ments which were to constitute his circuit, including, be- sides DeSoto, Cuming City, Tekamah, and Decatur, some other towns. He says of the other towns the good elder had shown him on the map, they had either gone into the river or were mere paper towns. Methodism had not as yet a single class organized on this field, much less churches and parsonages, nor was any other Church or- ganized. Nothing had been raised the year before but a little sod corn, but most of the settlers had come too late for even that. There were not to exceed one hundred people in any one of these four towns, though each were hopeful of a great future. Decatur was then confidently expecting a railroad and is still in a receptive mood after nearly fifty years of waiting. Brother Adriance was the first regular pastor of these places, and his first serv- ice was on May third, at DeSoto, in the home of Jacob Carter, a Baptist. He found but two Methodists, T. W. Carter and P. S. Sprague. But he organized a Sunday- school on the 12th of July, 1857, purchasing a library for the same of Rev. Moses F. Shinn, of Omaha, who was then Sunday-school agent of the Iowa Conference. T. W. Carter had organized a Sunday-school as early as 1856, the first in Washington County. but it had gone down. The following winter he held extra services, and there were three conversions. While Isaac Collins was as- sisting in holding these meetings, a rather ludicrous in- cident occurred, which well illustrates the spirit of the
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