USA > Nebraska > A history of Nebraska Methodism, first half-century, 1854-1904 > Part 7
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times. Perhaps the form of amusement the Methodist preachers most frequently came in conflict with in all those earlier days, was the dance, usually so prevalent in newly settled countries. The meetings were producing a profound impression on the community and threatened to break up the dancing business entirely. Some of the leaders in that amusement determined to take vengeance on the preachers, and if possible, break up the meeting. Finding a small, dead dog, these hoodlums slipped up to the house, and while Brother Collins was preaching, hurled the dead carcass through an open window, strik- ing him in the back. The dead canine was removed, and except a ripple of excitement, the meeting went on as usual, the sermon was finished, and victory was on Is- rael's side.
With the two Methodists which Jacob Adriance found at DeSoto and those converted at the meeting, and some others who came in later, he, by the close of the Con- ference year, organized a class of twenty-two with a Brother Harney as leader. This was the first class or- ganized at this place.
On the same Sabbath that Jacob Adriance opened his mission in Nebraska at DeSoto, on the morning of the 3d of May, 1857, he preached at Cuming City in the evening, in a log cabin without any door. A local preacher from Iowa, by the name of L. F. Stringfield, had been over in the fall of 1856 and preached a few times, but no organization had been effected. Finding seven Methodists, Adriance organized a class, appoint- ing H. Benner class-leader. This is the first class he ever organized, but it was not the last. On the 17th of May he organized a Sunday-school and again purchased a li-
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brary of M. F. Shinn, packing the same on his pony from Omaha to Cuming City, a distance of over thirty miles.
At Tekamah, in Burt County, he found that that zeal- ous local preacher, L. F. Stringfield, had preceded him, preaching a few times in the fall of 1856. A general history of Nebraska states that in 1854 the first sermon ever preached in Tekamah was by a Methodist preacher, but gives no name .* In 1855, Rev. Wm. Bates, a local preacher who lived near Tekamah, preached a few times. His brother, Rufus Bates, was an enthusiastic and effi- cient choir leader, and for many years rendered valuable service along that line. This same history states that Springfield organized the Methodist Church in 1856, but Adriance found no trace of the organization. He says that he found eleven members, and organized the first class ever formed there. This is probably correct, or if there was a class formed in 1856, it had been allowed to lapse, as was sometimes the case. Wm. Bates, a local elder, was appointed class-leader. Brother Adriance's first service was at the house of Benjamin Folsom, whose wife was a stanch Methodist and deeply pious Christian. The other members of this historic class, the only one of those formed by this faithful pastor on this circuit that has remained permanent till this day, was Michael Oh- linger and wife, Adam Ohlinger, and John Oaks, after- ward the founder of Oakland. Here he also organized a Sunday-school May 24th, purchasing a library and pack- ing it up from Omaha on his pony. The class doubled in numbers during the year. At Decatur Brother Adriance found a population of about fifty, but at that time no Methodists, and though he preached there regularly, could
* This was probably W. D. Gage.
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effect no organization. His first service was on a week night, May 7, 1857, at the hotel, with ten persons present.
In reviewing the year's work, he says: "I held no extra services, except at DeSoto, for want of a place ; there were no public rooms available, and dwellings were small and full. The year with me was one of many severe trials, both of body and soul, but of many expe- riences that were helpful to me in after years. I found twenty-two members; I left forty-six." He found not a single organization of Church or Sunday-school. He left a fairly well organized circuit, out of which has since grown several strong charges, among them Blair and Tekamah. Like Paul, he laid the foundations which others have built upon. His last Quarterly Conference renewed his license, and recommended him for admission on trial into the traveling connection, which was done at the Conference in 1858 at Topeka.
Jacob Adriance is one of those unassuming men that rarely pass for all they are worth. But all soon came to respect and believe in him as a pure-minded, sincere Christian man. His preaching had little of the arts of oratory or embellishments of fine rhetoric, but possessed that element of genuineness and sincerity that all orators must have if they would be permanently successful. His messages of truth came straight from a warm, sym- pathetic heart, and his hearers felt that he was seeking them, not theirs. His preaching was effective chiefly in building up believers in the faith, but his ministry was also attended with many precious revivals and he will have many stars in his crown. Besides, he was gifted with a wonderful power of song, that added greatly to his usefulness. He was in demand at camp-meetings,
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where his singing was deeply impressive. Brother Burch tells of his being at the camp-meeting at Carrolls Grove, in Cass County, in 1857, where among other songs which he rendered in a most impressive manner was one entitled, "The Prodigal Son," during which the congre- gation was a good deal stirred. Thus Jacob Adriance has been permitted to sing the gospel as well as preach it, and only eternity will reveal the number that have been saved or helped through his twofold ministry.
Adriance was followed on the DeSoto Mission by Jerome Spillman. The circuit presumably included the same points as the year before, though we have no means of knowing certainly about this, circuits being subject to change in their boundaries at any time, as the exigencies of the work demanded. Knowing what we do of Jerome Spillman we can hardly conceive of his spending a year on a circuit without a revival at one or more of his ap- pointments, yet the Minutes show no gain on DeSoto Cir- cuit during that year. The following year, as we have seen, DeSoto was served by Hiram Burch, and Tekamah, which probably included Decatur and other points, ap- pears in the list as a separate circuit "to be supplied." There is no means of knowing who, if any one, was found to supply it, and the statistics for that year show no growth in membership.
The following year, 1860, Z. B. Turman, whom we have already found at the front in other places doing valiant service, is sent to Tekamah, and as might be ex- pected, the membership is more than doubled. The next year after Brother Burch's pastorate, on the DeSoto Cir- cuit, the name of the circuit is again changed, and it ap- pears in the Minutes of 1860 as "Calhoun, to be supplied."
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The man found to supply this hard field was no less a per- sonage than T. B. Lemon, who now appears for the first time in the work in Nebraska and is destined to fill a large place in the next twenty-five years. During this, his first pastorate, a great revival takes place at old DeSoto, trans- forming the whole neighborhood.
John E. West, now a resident of Crawford, Nebraska, was then living at DeSoto. He sometimes accompanied Brother Lemon, and told the writer the following charac- teristic incident that occurred when visiting one of the appointments of the circuit at a school-house a little south of Fort Calhoun. The weather was cold, there was no stove up and they had to go two miles to find pipe with which to put one up. Only two besides themselves came to the service, but Brother Lemon preached with all the unction and power that characterized his preaching when large audiences listened to him.
Omadi, or what is now Dakotah City, at that time be- ing off by itself to the north of the Omaha Indian Reser- vation, appears on the list from 1856 to 1867, when it drops out till 1869. The first two years it is left to be supplied. As there is no report of any kind at the Con- ference of 1857, it was probably not supplied in 1856, but at the Conference in 1858, nine members and three pro- bationers are reported, and $382 out of a claim of $800 is reported paid, by William M. Smith. But the place being isolated, there are no other points within reach to combine with it and make a circuit. This would make it difficult to supply it. The first regular pastor sent from the Conference was A. J. Dorsey, who had just been ad- mitted on trial in the Conference. Of his work we know little, except that he found twelve members and proba-
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tioners and reported twenty-eight; was promised $100 and reports all paid. He is discontinued at his own re- quest at the next Conference. A. J. Dorsey is followed by T. M. Munhall, who reports in 1860 seventeen ment- bers and probationers, and $213 received out of the $300 promised. There appears on this field, now Dakotah City, one who has just been received on trial, W. A. Amsbary, this being probably his first charge. He re- ports fourteen members and sixteen probationers, which indicate some revivals, and it would be strange if there were none with W. A. Amsbary pastor.
The first quarterly-meeting was held on this distant field by J. M. Chivington in 1857, and during the summer of 1858 W. H. Goode made the trip and in his book gives an account of it, which is well worth quoting. It will be seen what it meant to be a presiding elder in those days, and especially what a trip to Dakotah City meant. He says :
"My first trip to this upper region occupied a portion of May and June. Most of the bridges had already gone ; the direct road had to be abandoned and a way sought over the bluffs. About one hundred miles up, among the Black Bird Hills, is the Omaha Reserve, fronting some thirty miles up the river, through which we must pass to the upper settlements. In the forks of the Black Bird Creek is the Omaha village, heretofore described. The two bridges were gone, and both streams were swollen steep-banked, miry, and dangerous to pass. Arrived at the first I found a group of lazy, lounging Indians sun- ning themselves on the opposite shore, and awaiting the approach of some luckless traveler. By signs and words I inquired where I should cross. The wily savages
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pointed me to a place into which they tried to induce me to drive; expecting probably, to see some sport and to realize a fee for helping me out of my difficulty. Being a little suspicious, I waited for a time. At length an honest- looking fellow came along, and pointed me the way to a place of less difficulty, thereby depriving them of the sport and profit, and saving me from difficulty and dan- ger. It being late in the afternoon when I got over these streams, I sought a lodging at the Government Farm and agency, but was denied. In vain did I present my voca- tion and object; I could not obtain the privilege even of sleeping upon the floor, and finding my own provisions, but was directed to an Indian tavern some miles off. Not relishing this, I drove off, planning for a night in the woods by my own campfire. Soon I found that my trail entered a vast tract covered with water of unknown depth, perhaps for miles. I endeavored to pass around, but was hemmed in and had to 'take water.' In I drove, com- mitting myself to the floods. It proved of fordable deptlı, though of long and tedious continuance. Emerging from the floods, I espied through the forest, the stately stone mansion of the Presbyterian Station. Approaching and giving my name and position, I was kindly met by the superintendent, Rev. Dr. Sturgiss, and his excellent lady, recognized as a missionary and a brother, formed an in- teresting acquaintance, and ever after had a welcome and pleasant home among them. Thanks to the churl that turned me off an hour before."*
Jacob Adriance attended his first Conference at To- peka, making a journey of over one hundred and fifty miles to reach the seat of Conference. He was received on trial and appointed to Platte Valley Mission. Of how
* Outposts of Zion.
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he gets from Tekamah to his new circuit and his expe- riences and description of the work he does, except that of Fremont, which is described elsewhere, I will let Brother Adriance himself tell the story :
"I was appointed at the Conference of 1858 to the Platte Valley Mission, embracing Fremont and the set- tlements west, including Monroe on the Loup Fork, fifty- eight miles distant from Fremont. Fremont had a popu- lation of one hundred. My first service, May 2, 1858. The following week I moved my two trunks from Teka- mah, with my pony and a one-horse wagon. At Bell Creek ford, as the water would come into my wagon-bed, I made a bridge with it and a tree, and packed my trunks over. One day, as I had no bucket, I carried water to my pony in my hat.
"North Bend had six families in the vicinity; it was a paper town. from which, it was said, $60,000 worth of lots had been sold. The town site was afterward turned into a farm, and later the present town laid out. My first service here was June 6, 1858. George Turton and Harriet, his wife, were the only Methodists here.
"Buchanan was also a paper town located on the old military road at Shell Creek ; six families in this vicinity, mostly strong Universalists. My first service was on June 6th. They were intelligent, kind people, but ob- jected to me having family prayer, yet wished me to have public services in their houses.
"Skinners was a settlement of five families. Mr. Skinner and wife were Methodists, living ten miles east of Columbus. My first service here was on June 20th, at 7 P. M., and as one family did not arrive until serv- ices closed, they having come four miles with their ox-
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team, I held another service, making four sermons and twenty-two miles ride in the hot sun for the day.
"Columbus had a population of about one hundred, mostly Germans, no Methodists ; first service May 16th, with twenty-four persons present.
"Monroe. Here there were two families and ten or twelve single men keeping 'bach.' First service May 16th, with fifteen persons present. At one service here, all were away but two men. I stopped with them for the night and preached to them in the morning as best I could, having come fifty-eight miles to do it. I think these were the first religious exercises held at the five places named. I kept up the appointments regularly during the year and organized the North Bend class, with George Turton leader; six members, including a Sister Stephens living three miles above Columbus. Thus the class was thirty-six miles long.
"Jalapa, on Maple Creek, eight miles north of Fre- mont, was my sixth appointment, and a settlement of four families. O. A. Himebaugh was the proprietor of the townsite, a Methodist, and later the first settler in Hooper, where he was active in building up Methodism. He died September, 1902.
"The Fontenelle work was left to be supplied; June 29th Brother Goode put me in charge of it, in addition to present work. A church had been built the preceding winter, 1858, with native material, except the flooring and siding, which was hauled by wagon from St. Joe, Mis- souri, costing $100 per thousand. In later years it was taken down and rebuilt at Arlington. The leading Meth- odist families were those of S. Terances, Keeys, Han- cock, and Van Horn.
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"As early as possible the settlements on the Elkhorn were visited. (From my diary.) October 19th, preached at Mr. Todds, at Logan Ford ; seven persons present ; en- tire settlement. October 20th, at DeWitt, thirty-eight miles from Fontenelle; nine present, of whom Amzi Babitt was a Methodist. There were two Wesleyans, one Presbyterian, and one Baptist; entire settlement out ; failed to organize. The 21st, at West Point; one family and six men in the settlement; five present. Twenty- second at Hunters, Cuming Creek ford, five present, the entire settlement. No services at fords since I left. At West Point Methodism has never succeeded, and last . Conference ordered our property there to be sold. On December 6, 1858, I found a settlement of three families, eight grown persons and two children, all in one cabin, twenty-five miles from Fontenelle on Logan Creek, where Oakland is now located. February 21, 1859, four of them joined on probation, and March 2Ist, one more, so a class of five was organized, with the mother of the four daughters class-leader. Sister Arlington had been a Pres- byterian in Philadelphia, but made a good leader and kept up their Sabbath prayer-meetings for over two years. No settlers coming in and being so isolated from society, they finally abandoned their claims with the improve- ments, and re-located in Burt County, six miles south of Decatur, where Sister Arlington died a few months ago, upwards of ninety years old. I did not attempt to hold special meetings, but kept up the appointments, thirteen in number, and at different times traveling over three hundred miles in one round in four weeks ; often without a trail; by the sun and by my watch ; at times in storms keeping the pony's neck straight and sighting between his
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ears to objects a little in advance. Dangerous risks were avoided, yet at one time Logan ford was crossed by sit- ting on my feet on the top of the saddle, with saddle- bags over my shoulders, and the water running over the pony's back. It was to cross or go back ten miles."
At the Conference of 1859 he is appointed junior pas- tor on Rock Bluff Circuit, with the old veteran, J. T. Cannon, as senior preacher. This was the strongest charge numerically in the territory, having a membership of 143, being the only one that had over one hundred members. Doubtless the arrangement of being the junior preacher was much to the liking of this modest young man, but it was not to last long. He was soon summoned, along with Dr. Goode, to a far distant, and as subsequent events proved, a far harder and more important field, re- ferred to elsewhere. Of the work of Jacob Adriance in Denver, it being in another field, little can be said in a volume treating of Nebraska Methodism, still I can not forbear a few. quotations from that excellent history of our Church in Colorado, by Isaac H. Beardsley, D. D., entitled "Mountain and Plain," as showing the nature of the work, the character of the man, and the high re- gard in which he is deservedly held by Denver and Colo- rado Methodists. Of their arrival at Denver and the first service, Dr. Beardsley says :
"Brother Goode drove his four-mule team into Den- ver at half-past two P. M., on Tuesday, June 28, 1859; Brother Adriance following on his pony. They had six months' provisions for two. Their trip had been one of great fatigue and exposure during the twenty-eight days en route. After putting up notices for preaching on the
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following Sabbath, they drove four miles up the Platte . to get feed for their animals.
"Allen Wiley's motto was theirs, 'Methodist preachers are in a pushing world, and they must push also.' Expe- rience soon taught them that the best way to get a crowd was to sing it up. Their first service was held July 3, 1859, in Pollock's Hotel. This was a frame building, one of the three or four only in the two towns of Auraria, now West Denver, and Denver City. This house stood on the east side of Eleventh Street, between Wazee and Market Streets. Brother Goode preached at eleven A. M., and Brother Adriance at three P. M. The congregations were small, the people not caring for these things."
And of his marriage we find this : Again I quote from Brother Adriance's letter to the writer and others: "How glad I was to meet the brethren, and have some minis- terial society. It was like an oasis in the desert. I was nearly overcome with joy. After Conference I went back to New York to visit my parents and friends. There I found a girl willing to become a missionary's wife." (There is a slight touch of romance and heroism about this match. She was Miss Fanny A., daughter of L. C. Rogers, of the Central New York Conference. Just sev- enteen days after their first meeting they were married and started for the "Pike's Peak" country.) "On our re- turn we crossed the plains at the rate of twenty-eight to thirty miles a day, reaching Golden about the first of July, and began housekeeping in a little cabin, twelve by four- teen feet, with no floor, one door, half a window on each side, slab roof, eaves about five feet high, three stools, and a little sheet-iron stove. Kept house three months without a chair."
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"When Presiding Elder Chivington came to stop over. night he had a much better bed than I had a number of times, the year before, in the same place, for I had pre- viously, with a pick and sledge-hammer, broken off. pounded down, or dug up some of the stones, among which I had wriggled myself down so that I could rest a little and sleep. Further, I had covered the ground with sawdust, then with hay, upon which we had put a carpet of gunny-sacks, tacked down with wooden pegs driven into the ground. So, with a few blankets, a pair of nice, white cotton or linen sheets, and a big feather- bed, we made him quite comfortable. But wife had to wait in the morning until he got up before breakfast could be started. A wedding party of four came to stop over night. We bunked on the ground with a part of them, giving the newly-married pair the bedstead with one leg, of my own make.
"When wife and I visited on the circuit, she rode the pony and I took it afoot. I carried my revolver and knife in my belt. On the whole, we had a good year ; some souls converted."
And this concerning his work on Central City Circuit in 1861: "I traveled this work on foot, as it was too ex- pensive to keep a pony, with corn at twelve cents per pound and hay at six cents: When potatoes and squashes came down to four and five cents per pound we thought we could afford the luxury. Here wife had to foot it as I did, when she went with me. Sometimes she would walk as much as six miles in half a day over the moun- tains."
John M. Chivington, who has also gone to Colorado
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and is again Jacob Adriance's presiding elder, is quoted by Dr. Beardsley as expressing this high approbation :
"Gladly and with willing hearts did he and his noble wife go forward on their mission of love, foregoing a thousand and more comforts that they might have en- joyed. He was a good singer, powerful in prayer, thor- oughly Methodistic in all his ways, and strong in faith, giving glory to God. He was pre-eminently 'a man of one work.' The writer of these lines recollects the day this faithful servant of God and the Church came to his 'hired house' at Omaha, in April, 1857, seeking a place to work for the Master. Have known him ever since and can not now remember an act, or indiscretion that could be censured, except this, his leaving Colorado. I have purposely said more about Mr. Adriance than others, because he may fairly be said to be the founder of Methodism in Colorado. Dr. Goode simply came on a reconnoitering expedition, and that accomplished, his work here ended; while Mr. Adriance remained, formed a mission circuit, organized societies, appointed class- leaders, held Quarterly Conferences, and started the first Sunday-school ever organized in Colorado. He is, in- deed, the father of Methodism in Colorado."
CHAPTER V. FIRST PERIOD. (1854-1861.)
CAMP-MEETINGS.
AT the close of this period there were only four church buildings reported, and as yet there were few school- houses. We find many of the pastors, like Brother Adri- ance on the DeSoto Circuit, saying they were not able to hold extra revival services at many places because there were no public buildings suitable for such pur- poses, and the private dwellings utilized, perforce, for the regular, but occasional, Sabbath or week-night serv- ice every two to four weeks, were unavailable for revival meetings. As might be expected under these circum- stances, they began early to avail themselves of "God's first Temples," the native groves, and hold old-fashioned Methodist camp-meetings.
The first of these to be held in the territory was very appropriately at John Carroll's grove in the Morris set- tlement in Cass County, where the first society was or- ganized. It occurred in August, 1856. While Dr. Goode had charge of the camp-meeting, he barely mentions it in his book except to say it was "largely attended and re- sulted in much good." Hiram Burch, then pastor at Ne- braska City, also attended, and writes more fully, say- ing: "During the summer I attended my first camp- meeting. It was held in John Carroll's grove, three miles southwest of Rock Bluffs. It was in charge of the pre- siding elder, Dr. W. H. Goode, and was of great inter-
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