USA > New York > Tompkins County > Ithaca > History of the First Presbyterian church of Ithaca, New York, during one hundred years : the anniversary exercises, January twenty-first to twenty-fourth, 1904 > Part 5
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on their hunting expeditions. Rumor was received that some grave misfortune had befallen Dr. Satterlee. The previous autumn, 1836, he had accompanied the Grand Pawnees on their hunt toward the southwest, into what is now western Kansas. The exact man-
ner of the death of Dr. Satterlee was never fully known. It was very evident, however, that he was not killed by Indians. ( Several circumstances seem to prove that he was killed by a vagrant trapper bent on robbery. ) During the two yearsensuing, 1837-8, the incursions from the Dako- tas rendered any attempt to establish the Mission permanently at the Pawnee villages extremely perilous. Mr. Allis and Mr. Dunbar arranged, therefore, to visitthe tribe alternately. They had formed many strong personal attachments in the several bands of the tribe. The Pawnees were to them, from the beginning, a very interesting people. They had as yet contracted compara- tively few of the vices of the errant trappers and other vagrants that infested the frontier. They
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had ever been constant friends to the whites. . . They seemed to realize deeply the unsatisfactory nature of their religious system, and were nowise averse to being informed of a better way. Their attitude toward the Mission had been throughout friendly and encouraging To the surprise of all, the Dakotas the following year, 1839, almost entirely ceased their forays into the Pawnee territory. Naturally the Indians and whites indulged hopes of better days. To both, the prospect of an early transfer of the Mission to a permanent site near the villages was now bright. Mr. Allis and Mr. Dunbar, accordingly, . . fixed upon a spot that seemed to them most convenient to the villages, and at the same time best adapted to the farming opera- tions that were to be an essential feature of the Mission work. The site was on Plum Creek, a small tributary of the Loup Fork of the Platte river, near the present city of Columbus. May 17th three temporary buildings were completed, to serve the uses of the Mission till permanent structures could be erected, a small farm was fenced and planted, and several hundred Indians from the four villages moved their lodges and formed a small village near at hand. Regular religious services were now maintained and a school was opened for the Indian children. The next year the farm was much enlarged, suitable buildings were provided for the use of the Mis- sion, and the new village received considerable accessions, among whom were several influential chiefs. The government sent out four farmers, two blacksmiths, eighteen yoke of oxen and a number of other cattle for the use of the Mission. A goodly number of the Indians became so interested in the new enterprise that they no longer went upon the usual hunts, choosing rather to remain and care for the fields that they had planted.
"In the summer of 1843 the flattering prospect was suddenly overclouded. Without forewarn- ing, while the other villages were absent on their usual summer hunt, the Mission village was assailed by 600 fully armed warriors. The surprise was complete. More than seventy men were killed, and nearly as many women and children, and a considerable number of women and children were carried away captive. Nearly all the horses were killed or stolen, and fully half of the lodges were burned. Among the slain were some of the best friends of the Mission. The fol- lowing year, in a series of attacks, more than 400 men were killed, many women and children were killed or carried into captivity, and a great number of horses stolen. Members of the Mis- sion were, at different times, waylaid and fired upon by prowling Dakotas, but fortunately no one was injured. The year 1845 was a period of comparative quiet. The timely arrival of Rev. T. E. Ranney and his wife made it possible to enlarge the religious work among the Indians, and soon there seemed to be ground to hope for better things. This hope, however, too soon proved utterly delusive. Early in 1846, the inroads of the Dakotas were resumed with relentless per- sistency. Scarcely was one blow struck before another was felt. The lives of the Missionaries were constantly in danger ; twice they were notified that they must withdraw, or their lives would not be spared. Finally, at a conference of the Missionaries with the chiefs the decision was reached that it was best that the Mission should, at least for the time, be suspended. Late in July all the members of it, accordingly, removed to Council Bluffs. Intelligence received there from Maj. Daugherty was in the last degree disheartening. The Dakotas, it was under- stood, had formed a league with the Cheyennes against the Pawnees, and were then trying to induce some of the southern tribes to enlist in a war of extermination against them. In the presence of such untoward intelligence, the conviction was at last forced upon the Missionaries that it would be unwise, for the time, to entertain the thought of resuming their work with the tribe. In October following, the Mission was dissolved. Mr. Ranney and his wife soon after joined the Cherokee Mission, in the Indian Territory.
"Mr. Allis settled on a farm at Indian Point, Iowa, a few miles below Council Bluffs. He was a man of fine character, of pleasing manner, and very useful in the work of the Mission. An interesting paper, giving reminiscences of his life among the Pawnees, may be seen in Vol. II of the publications of the Historical Society of Nebraska. He died about fifteen years since.
"Mr. Dunbar, the last one to despair of the Mission, removed during the winter of 1846-7, from Council Bluffs to Oregon, Holt Co., Mo. With his family he lived there upon a small farm ten years, supplying meanwhile, as a home missionary without compensation, three sta-
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tions in the county. From 1852 to 1857 he also served as superintendent of public instruction. Under his care the schools attained a noticeable degree of proficiency. In 1857, he removed to Brown Co., Kansas, and engaged in farming. Letters written by him to the American Board, and published in the Missionary Herald, during the years 1835-43, afford much valuable infor- mation as to the life and character of the Pawnees, and the nature and aim of the work at- tempted for them by the Mission. His death occurred Nov. 3rd, 1857. Mrs. Dunbar died the preceding year, Nov. 4."
Rev. John W. McCullogh was installed as Pastor in January, 1835, and re- mained a little over three years. In March, fifty-three united on confession of faith in Christ, and other large accessions followed. The rupture between the Old and New School bodies of our Church occurred in 1837. This was accomplished by the famous Exscinding Act. By this the Old School party in the Assembly, being in the majority, cut off their brethren residing in this section, for alleged irregularities. The Assembly abrogated the Plan of Union made, in 1801, between it and the General Association of Connecticut, as " utterly unconstitutional, and therefore null and void from the beginning." It also voted that " the Synods of Utica, Geneva and Genesee, which were formed and attached to this body under and in execution of said Plan of Union, be and are hereby declared to be out of the ecclesiastical con- nexion of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America; and that they are not in form, or in fact, an integral portion of said Church."
There was a difference in their systems of moral philosophy, much mis- understanding, and exaggerated reports of alleged irregularities in revivals, etc. This action by the Assembly produced a mighty sensation in Western New York. "It was known that the Old School party in the Church were exceedingly restive under the present posture of affairs, and that many of them were determined upon a division of the Church, if it could be effected ; but it probably never entered the mind of a single individual, that the Assembly could adopt such a measure as that of declaring 500 ministers, and 40,000 communicants, who had been received in accordance with the strict order of the Presbyterian Church, not to have a standing in that Church." Auburn Theological Seminary became a storm center, and its Professors the leaders in the necessary readjustments of all the life and work of the Churches in this region. A convention, held in Auburn in 1837, stated the " 'True Doctrines" of the New School men over against the " Errors " charged on them in the Old School memorial of that year. The conciliatory and mediating position of that document became the virtual basis of reunion a generation later.
Reference has been made to Auburn Theological Seminary. The rela- tionship between that institution and this Church has been most intimate. The Seminary was an outgrowth of the needs of this new region of country.
J. W. McCULLOGH
ALFRED E. CAMPBELL
GERRIT MANDEVILLE
T. DWIGHT HUNT
WVM. NEILL MCHARG
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As the settlements multiplied, there was a demand for ministers; Princeton was about the only source of supply and its graduates were not sufficiently numerous. A ministry must be encouraged to grow and be trained on the field. This was the inevitable and growing conviction of such men as Rev. Dr. Lansing of Auburn and Rev. Dr. Wisner of Ithaca. They were prime movers in the matter before the then Synod of Geneva. The Seminary was founded in 1818, and located at Auburn. Dr. Wisner was a member of its first Board of Trustees. (A portrait of him hangs in the Seminary Library.) Every Pastor of this Church since then has been a memberof one or the other of its two governing Boards, and almost always one or more of our laymen as well. The Seminary Professors have frequently been heard in this pulpit, sometimes continuously for long intervals. During the past thirty years the gifts of this Church to the Seminary aggregate $12,000.
The question of slavery had early and earnest consideration here. The first Pastor, Mr. Mandeville, and many others were much interested in colo- nization schemes and contributed liberally to such ; the Colonization Society of Upper Canada among them. In the early thirties the Abolition senti- ment begins to appear. Elder Harley Lord was one of the first to favor this. In September, 1839, the following resolution presented by Elder Esty for the purpose of its adoption by the Session, on being read, was pro- nounced by the Moderator, Dr. Wisner, to be " not in order " :-
" Resolved, That no very salutary reform is to be expected, so long as the great body of the professing friends of Jesus continue in any way to give encouragement or countenance to the buying, vending, or using as "chattels personal " the bodies and souls of men, women and children."
January 2nd, 1841, a petition on the subject, signed by a dozen representa- tive men, was presented ; of its six specifications only two were adopted,- one to memorialize Presbytery in the matter, and the other in these words :
" Resolved, That no preacher known to be a slaveholder or a justifier of slavery, ought to be invited to preach or perform any ministerial functions among us."
1195448
A year later Benjamin S. Halsey, Salmon Higgins, and Benjamin Taber circulated and presented to the Session a far more radical paper on the sub- ject of slavery, among other things
"Charging the Pastor of this Church (Dr. Wisner) with being partial in the law, conniving at, and apologizing for the sin of slavery, as it exists in the United States ; not rightly dividing the Word, but leaving out what did not suit his interest, convenience, or inclination, or inter- preting it by private regards and affections, etc .; all which, together with other slanderous words contained in the said communication, are false and libellous, and are contrary not only to the laws of the land, but are in direct violation of the laws of God, and the commandment of Christ, and whereas the said Benjamin Taber has removed out of the place and the said B. S. Halsey and Salmon Higgins, though affectionately labored with, refuse to recede from any of the said slanders but persist in asserting them as truths ; therefore, resolved that they be cited
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to appear before the Session, etc." "They admitted that they signed the document re- ferred to in charges preferred, and sent the same to the Session, but deny that said document is slanderous and allege and believe that the facts set forth in the same are true." . " Re- solved, that while the Session are, as they always have been, opposed to slavery in all its forms, and while they consider it one of the great moral and political evils which deeply afflict the Church and the State, and hold themselves in readiness to do anything which they may deem consistent with their duty to God and their country, to bring it to an end, they cannot tolerate the idea that attachment to the cause of human freedom should furnish any apology for slan- dering either the Church or her ministry ; resolved that the said Benjamin and the said Salmon are convicted by their own confession," etc. . .. "the Session do adjudge and determine that they be, and hereby are, severally suspended from the communion of the Church of Christ until further order shall be taken in the premises."
On August 7th, 1843, the suspension was removed from Salmon Higgins, he " having given satisfactory evidence of penitence for the cause of his suspension." December 27th, 1846, the record is: "B. S. Halsey, a sus- pended member of this Church, having given satisfaction to the Session and desiring to return to his duty and the fellowship of the Church, it was re- solved that he be restored."
Regarding these two good men, " the said Benjamin and the said Salmon," it is interesting to know that, besides serving this Church in many other useful ways, Mr. Benjamin S. Halsey was the efficient and painstaking Clerk of the Session for over twenty years, though not then an Elder himself ; later he was chosen an Elder and served this Church as such from 1869 to 1876, again acting as Clerk a part of the time. To his painstaking care and clearly-written, fully-reported minutes we are largely indebted for our knowledge of the earlier history of the Church. Members of his family also rendered long and most valuable service in the music and otherwise. And from the faithful example and sweet Christian influences of the home of Salmon and Maria Higgins went forth their beautiful daughter, Malvina, as one of the first teachers to the Freedmen ; while another daughter, Mary, but recently deceased, was long a faithful teacher here; and a nephew, Wm. A. Niles, during years of preparation for the ministry in which he was to render noble service, also was imbued with its spirit of consecration.
This reference to Miss Malvina Higgins brings to mind another member of our Church who rendered like faithful and efficient service among the Freedmen, in the day when to do so subjected one to opprobrium and indig- nities by the southern people,-Mrs. Harriet Hanford. Not only were these teachers socially ostracised, ladies often crossing the street to avoid meeting them, but some ruffians threatened to burn down her school house and to tar and feather Mrs. Hanford. She sent word to the Governor of the State who telegraphed that if she were further molested to let him know and he would send a regiment to protect her ! Knowledge of this telegram soon spread and had the desired effect ; there was no more interference. Before these
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teachers left their posts a more considerate and kindly attitude was mani- fested toward them.
In April, 1838, the congregation had united with Rev. Mr. McCullogh in requesting the dissolution of the pastoral relation. Upon his resignation, Mr. McCullogh entered the Ministry of the Episcopal Church. He was the Rector of Trinity Church, Wilmington, Del., from 1839 to 1847 ; and, there- after, College Professor and Rector in various southern and western cities until his death, October 14th, 1867.
In 1845, soon after the death of Mrs. McCullogh, he published a small volume entitled : The Dead in Christ; an Inquiry concerning the Inter- mediate State, the Future Blessedness, and the Mutual Recognition of " the dead that die in the Lord." The argument is largely from Scripture, pre- sented with " sweet reasonableness." This is the conclusion reached ; and
"You may cherish, without fear of disappointment, and with the pleasing and consoling hope that, should yon die in the Lord, you will ere long meet, recognize and love them again in a purer, a better and a less changeable world. . The pious dead are not utterly extinct. They are gone ; but not lost. Their bodies rest in the grave, their spirits, in hope. . God will take care of those whom you leave behind ; and as for yourself, if you knew all, you would ' have a desire to depart, and be with Christ which is far better.' "
At the time of Mr. McCullogh's leaving, Rev. Dr. Wisner, who had re- turned to Ithaca, was engaged at a stated supply for a year at a salary of $800, the same that he had formerly received. In April, 1839, he was called by a unanimous vote once more to become Pastor of the Church ; which he did, and entered upon his second term of service here.
At a meeting of the Session, November 15, 1838, it is recorded that
"Brother Ben Johnson brought forward for Session's deliberation a set of resolutions on the subject of extortion or usury, with the view of having Church action upon it, so far as to instruct the Session relative to the course which they ought to pursue in regard to the discipline of mem- bers who are or may be guilty of this sin."
At an appointed time, after a lengthy speech by Ben Johnson in favor of his resolution, the negative were heard ; for the whole of three afternoons brothers Ansel St. John and George Beers argued against the resolution ; and
"Brother St. John wishing to add other remarks to those already offered by himself, the meeting being desirous to have the subject fully elucidated, voted to adjourn for tea and come together again at half-past six in the evening. . Brother Ansel St. John then addressed the meeting at some length, and was again followed by brother Johnson ; and the whole matter being ably summed up by the moderator, (Dr. Wisner), the vote was about to be taken, when a compromise resolution and one to postpone action were offered and both voted down ; the pre- amble and resolutions of brother Ben Johnson being read separately, and the question upon each separately, they were adopted by the Church, nemo contradicente."
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
In 1839 the Ithaca Presbytery was organized, to include all the Presby- terian Churches of Tompkins County. Its first stated meeting was held with this Church in 1840. It was absorbed into the three contiguous Presby- teries in the readjustments under the re-united Assembly of 1870, this Church falling to the Geneva Presbytery, but, by petition, being transferred, by the Synod of Geneva, in 1879, to the Presbytery of Cayuga to which it originally had belonged.
At a meeting of the congregation held April 24th, 1841, a large defi- ciency in the minister's salary and contingent expense account was reported and a resolution was passed in the following words :
"Resolved, That this meeting recommend to the Trustees to call a congregational meeting for the purpose of ascertaining whether the said congregation desires the preaching of the gospel for the coming year, and if so, whether it is able and willing to bear the necessary expense of the same."
A congregational meeting called under above resolution was held April 30th, 1841, and it was formally
" Resolved, That we will sustain the gospel in this house the ensuing year."
" Resolved, That the paper containing a subscription for salary be posted in the vestry of the church for public inspection."
" Resolved, That Charles Humphrey, Wm. R. Collins and H. S. Walbridge be a committee to make out an assessment roll of the amount of tax each member of this congregation should pay in order to raise the sum of $1200."
Dr. Wisner resigned in April, 1849, having wrought in all twenty-six years among this people. He was born April 18, 1782, in Warwick, Orange Coun- ty, New York. Moving with his father, in 1800, to what is now Elmira, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1805. After great mental con- flict he gave up his legal prospects and consecrated his life to the preaching of the gospel of Christ.
Dr. Wisner was called to the Brick Church of Rochester in 1831, but prostration from severe labors and family bereavements induced him, in 1835, to accept the call of the First Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, Mo. Here, however, his health failed entirely and he returned east at the end of two years. He frequently was a delegate to Synod and Assembly and was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly (N. S.) in 1840. After his final resig- nation he lived several years among the citizens whom he had taught as children-a "living epistle," known, read, and honored. He died at the age of eighty-nine, January 7, 1871, and was buried on the hill-side among an entire generation of his children in the gospel. A mural tablet to his mem- ory adorns the church wall. A long time member and efficient worker in our Church sends this tribute :-
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"One of the very small, and rapidly diminishing number of the membership of this Church who were so favored as to be in their youth under the pastorate of the Rev. Wm. Wisner, may be permitted to say a few words regarding the personality of that mighty man of God ; for he was a man of might, both spiritually and intellectually. He wielded the weapons of his time, largely discarded now ; and men whose spirituality, and power, whose wit, and wisdom even, to those who knew Dr. Wisner, show as a ' farthing dip ' beside an arc light, make merry over his antique armament, but it was powerful against evil. The writer has often heard from the lips of those who lived in Ithaca in the days of his first pastorate, the story of his battle against the power of Satan ; (they had not, in those days, resolved the fallen Archangel into a symbol, a myth, a freak of the imagination, a mistranslation, or anything analogous. )
"Dr. Wisner came to Ithaca to take possession for his Master, and he never wavered in the warfare ; insult, and injury, threats and violence, alike fell off from him unnoticed. His little white cottage perched on the site of the Cornell Infirmary, but very much higher in its outlook, as the hill was cut down to make place for the present goodly building ; with very few houses near it, dominated the village at its feet, in every sense. It stood a siege at times, when it was boarded up at night with signs not chosen for their appropriateness ; and hammer and saw must be used before the family could have egress ; but he remained calm and untroubled. At one time he was very ill, and his physician said he must be taken away from the constant din and devilment, or he would surely die. Physician and wife pleaded in vain ; not a step of re- treat would that soldier of Christ take ; and he won.
"As a humorous side, I will repeat the story my mother told me of those early days. She came to visit her husband's mother, and looking in the morning from the window of a house on the corner where Rothschild Bros'. store stands, she saw a tall, dignified, man descend from his horse at the corner diagonally opposite, quietly fasten him, and walk into the store. But that horse ! She had never seen the like of him, a ghastly, peculiar white, with no mane, and the stump of a tail denuded of all hair. She called her mother to see the sight. ' Oh, my child,' my grandmother said, 'that is the Presbyterian minister's horse ; they have shaved and whitewashed him, but it makes no difference to Dr. Wisner ; he rides him as calmly as though he were an Arabian steed.'
"Dr. Wisner rebuked sin and prayed for sinners ; he was stern as justice, he was tender as love. And that is the divine blend that is always effectual. The spirit of the Lord came, and it needs not for me to tell the story, the story of the regeneration of this wicked little hamlet.
"My memory only goes back to his second pastorate. I was a little child when he returned to Ithaca. I did not love him then ; he was too faithful, too searching. His was a cure of souls, and he never neglected it. My own wicked little heart endorsed all that he said,-and hated it. Many a time when I have seen him approaching, my flying heels have sought some place of concealment. One of my dear friends, whose beautiful, useful, generous, Christian life would be recognized if I spoke her name, hopelessly caught one day, scrambled out of the window to evade him. 'Yes,' I think I hear, 'the terrors of the law, instead of the love of Christ.' No, the terrors of the law, with the love of GOD, the love that 'spared not His own Son.' To Dr. Wisner sin was something deeper than indisposition, and the love of Christ something other than a lotion. But when the hopeless struggle with sovereign right was ended, and the man or child looked up into the Father's face of infinite love and knew that there was no other like it, then the faithful Pastor was loved for his faithfulness-he who had carried us daily in his heart as he knelt and talked with that Father, God, of his people and their need.
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