USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Ellicott > The early history of the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, N.Y. > Part 24
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
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The choir, composed mostly of some of the best mem- bers of the church, thought he had no right to do it as it had never been done before. The matter was re- ferred to the presiding elder, who decided against the choir; the question of power was referred to the bishop who decided 'that the preacher in charge had full . power over all matters in the church, to appoint its officers, direct the time and manner of worship and singing, and appoint the trustees except in states where the law provided otherwise.' This produced great astonishment and dissatisfaction, as the trustees here were appointed according to law by a vote of the church. The trustees (of which I was chairman) were told to order the instrument out of the choir. I had taken no part in the controversy, and undertook to make peace. The choir agreed to leave out the instru- ment if a vote of the majority of the church decided it. I went to the preacher (Hill) with the proposition, which he utterly rejected. I earnestly urged it, saying if the order was enforced a number of our best mem- bers would leave. He replied ' it was his province to rule, that the stars might fall from heaven but this re- bellion must come down; that if but three members were left he would present to conference a true Meth- odist Episcopal church,' and other positive assertions. In a public address the presiding elder (Steadman) said ' Let them secede and their history will be the history of all past secessions who are now only known as once having been with us; we number sixteen hundred thousand, have gained many thousands last year, etc.' Another preacher at the quarterly conference said, ' Were I preacher here I would take the discipline in my hand, go and smash down the church door and turn out those radicals !' The house had not been
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closed against any one. They held a quarterly con- ference composed of the preacher, his appointees and presiding elder, when it was decided to order me to turn the choir out. The preacher gave it to me (as I was chairman of the board). I begged of him not to enforce it as it would ruin the church which we had built up with so much labor; that to him it was of less consequence as he would soon be gone ; that I could not conscientiously do it, but would resign and let one be appointed who could. The trustees here were ap- pointed under the laws of New York. The next I knew my class leader (Orril Green) came to me and said he had a charge against me for disobedience of orders which the preacher told him to present. I was greatly astonished, for I had labored in the church for over thirty years and never had a shadow come over me before. I told him the whole case, when he in- dignantly said 'it was outrageous and he would return the charge to the minister.' He was put out of office and another class leader appointed. Next I found one morning thrown into my house the charge, citing me to a trial within twenty-four hours. I subsequently learned that at a secret meeting held at A. W. Muzzy's (who lived across the way from the church) it was de- cided to turn me out to strike terror into the rest. A committee was appointed to try me, and a preacher on his way from a circuit over the ridge was to at- tend the trial and give a warning to others by my fate. Dr. Van Rensselaer of Randolph was one of the committee chosen. Coming here he learned the facts of the case, and distinctly told them it would not doto use that power. It would put weapons into the hands of our enemies and ruin the church ; that it had better be settled and take up with my offer of resignation,
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which was done. Matters grew worse and worse, the singers left the gallery, and on the next Sunday, Hill gave out the hymn of which the second verse was :
" Let those refuse to sing, Who never knew our God,
But servants of our Heavenly King May speak their joys abroad."
"It was sung with great glee, and the choir and their sympathizers were spoken of, 'They look mean, feel mean and are mean, etc.' I found that I shared the fate of a man who stepped in to stop a fight who got badly whipped himself.
"I will here pay a compliment to a man who, though not a member, generously stepped in and helped the preacher and has been a great help to the church ever since, for which I did then and do now honor him.
"Matters grew worse and worse, for in those days the anti-slavery feeling was aroused in the church and the withdrawal of some of its most influential mem- bers who had been persecuted for their principles, such as Luther Lee, Edward Smith, Cyrus Prindle, L. C. Matlock and many others who had formed an anti- slavery church; also the temperance question was up in the church. Efforts were made to restore to the discipline Wesley's rule which forbade the manufac- ture and sale of intoxicating drinks. It was alleged that arbitrary and wrong decisions were made against the reformers by the presiding bishops at conference, which prejudiced many against the bishop feature of the church. Those elements of dissatisfaction mingled with the action taken here in regard to church music, and the agitation grew worse. Added to this, the next year Joseph Flower, rash, and firm as he was rash, was stationed here, who took up the difficulty. The
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Wesleyans started a paper. A Mr. Rogers handed one
of the papers to my brother to read. Abram Pier wished to see it. Flower heard of it and preferred a charge against my brother 'for reading and circulat- ing a paper published by Orange Scott called The Wesleyan.' At the trial my brother honestly confes- sed he saw such a paper and did not know as there was any harm in that. He had taken no part in the church difficulty. The committee to get out of the absurd case, decided 'the charge not sustained' al- though it was confessed in the trial. Flower made a flaming speech saying 'but some will say have we not the right to read such papers if we choose? A pretty doctrine this! I have Universalist papers but think it wrong to put them into the hands of those who are not able to detect their fallacies.' Such was the treatment then received by those who were suspected of being recusant members of the church, so that fifteen or twenty asked for letters of dismission which was sneer- ingly refused. All over the country the question of slavery and whiskey agitated the M. E. church; at every conference north, efforts were made to take ac- tion in relation to an alteration of the discipline on those subjects; the movers were treated with great in- dignation as enemies of the church when they only wished to purify it. It was so here, yet I will confess they were honest, and I believe the Wesleyans were forced out on a mission by divine appointment to save and purify the church which worked that in the end as we shall see; and so it has been acknowledged by some of the first men in the church.
"Luther Lee came here, preached, organized a Wesleyan church of 47 members (mostly from the old church.) They hired a house in which to hold their
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services, and finally erected a respectable church edi" fice on the east side of what is now known as Prender- gast avenue and on what is now the Third street ex- tension, had preaching and a Sabbath school which drew off many scholars from the old church. They met with great success as the sympathy of the public was with them. Conversions and additions followed, the old church suffered loss as even many who staid with them felt they could help it better in than out of it. They hardly held their own until they were re- vived by the ministry and by the coming of the Rev. John Peate in '57 and '58. There were men in the Wesleyan church with fertility of ideas, with words to clothe them, power of utterance and magnetic influ- ence to carry them to the hearts of their hearers. The Christian sentiment of the north was with them, and the contest was unequal, for it is justly said 'that he that has his quarrel just is thrice doubly armed.' Many members of the old church said the discipline was wrong and pressed a change, so the good old church was pressed on every side.
The discipline was changed, the old rule against whiskey and slavery was restored, the powers of the bishops and ministers were modified, lay delegation in the law making power conceded, which left the Wes- leyans nothing to complain of, or hinder the M. E. church to march forward triumphantly in their spir- itual conquest. A convention of ministers and lay delegates (of which I was one) was held by the Wes- leyans at Adrian, Michigan, to take action in relation to continuing the seceding church. Luther Lee arose and in his solemn, logical manner said; ' Were I called to-day up to the court of Heaven to render up my ac- count I know of no good reason I could give why I
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should longer be separated from the M. E. church.' Cyrus Prindle in his honest simplicity said: 'I left the church for good reasons and as those reasons are re- moved if I was honest then, the same convictions of duty would require me to return.' Matlock and others hold the same views. What my convictions were are recorded in the published proceedings so I will not re- peat them; but it is enough to say that by almost an unanimous vote it was determined that there no long- er existed a necessity of continuing a separate Metho- dist organization as it had fulfilled its mission. Most of the sterling Methodists stepped into the open door of the old church and received a Christian brotherly welcome. In 1858 John Peate was sent as our preacher. Under his preaching began a great revival, the church arose to its former power and efficiency, slavery and whiskey as before stated were banished from the church and all were free to speak in thunder tones against all sin! I will here do justice to a class of men I have before noticed, moral heroes; who in the church at risk of ostracism, bore testimony against its sin, whose noble daring shielded them until they saw the tri- umph of their cause and the purification of their be- loved church. Such were the Rev. John Peate, J. E. Chapin and others, and even J. J. Steadman regretted his persecution of the Wesleyans and turned his pow- erful intellectual guns against those evils. Many of the Wesleyans had come back and the church in- creased in numbers and power after the return of Peate."
"For many years the church, after its early organ- ization in Ellicott, worshipped in school houses and other places on the circuit, sometimes in barns, but in 1827 and 1828 preparations were made to erect a church at the junction of Second and Chandler streets. It
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was raised in 1829 and in the years 1830 and 1831 it was enelosed with loose boards, with seats on blocks. The church was 40x50, without porch or steeple, fin- ished and dedicated in 1832. In 1836 a gallery was put in on the west end-in 1842 a basement was put under it. The church has since been elarged, and in 1854 an addition was made on the west end with a tower and hall and an ante room above it. In 1865 and 1866 the audience room was lengthened 20 feet on the east end and great improvements made within. In 1884 it became too small to accommodate the con- gregation, and the present beautiful edifice decided upon. The old building was sold, and is now owned and occupied by the Independent Congregationalists.
"I will leave further notice to go back and speak of some of the persons who have been pillars in the church from the beginning. The first was Edward Work, one of the first members. He continued to la- bor for the church for many years after the class at Worksburg was removed to Jamestown, supported it liberally, was considered the "father of the church." He died at his old home, was a humble Christian, died as he had lived in full faith in his beloved Saviour. When he lay dying he asked who was singing so sweetly up stairs? They told him no one. He said with much animation, "Don't you hear it? The sweetest music I ever heard," and left to listen to the still sweeter anthems in heaven of which his spirit had just caught an echo.
To Lyman Crane the church owes much of its prosperity, and it goes without speaking that for many years he seemed to be the soul of its existence. He seemed to live for the church and to have no other bus- in ss but to serve his Lord and Master. Mighty in
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prayer and exhortation he would sway a congregation who would follow him with no discount of feeling, for his life spoke louder in favor of religion than his voice from the stand on Sabbath, by his godly example through the week. Whenever a reviler of religion said that its professors were all hypocrites, they were silenced by pointing to Father Crane. I can in fancy see him now with one of his benevolent smiles which told of a happy heart within. All of his surplus earn- ings was devoted to the church, which owes so much to him. I visited him on his death bed and on my speaking of what he had done he replied, "I have no regrets for what I have done but that I could do no more." * The church for a number of years has in- creased in numbers and influence through the faithful labors of its ministers, and the godly examples of its members, until it stands second in number and spirit- uality to none of its sister churches. I have compiled this history with much care and labor as no public records appear until 1835. In early days the preach- ers kept and carried them in his saddle bags with his library as he ranged the country to gather up the "lost sheep of the house of Israel. In addition to what Mr. Bishop has so kindly said for us we deem it due this church as well as to the village of Jamestown that we speak of Alonzo Kent's relation to it, for what is true of him in this connection, has been and is true of one or two in each of the other churches from their earliest organization, up to the present time. Perhaps the one
* Mr. Bishop has inadvertently omitted the name of one who should always be remembered as one of the most faithful workers in the early days of the Methodist church in Jamestown. In zeal, and as a constant and faithful worker no one stood higher than Anna Cheney, the first wife of Dr. E. T. Foote.
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or two in the other churches have not held their pe- culiar positions quite as long as Mr. Kent has in the Methodist, we therefore choose him as an exemplar of a small class of men in our community, and perhaps to a certain extent in all communities.
About the year 1840, during this great quarrel so justly spoken of by Mr. Bishop, and after the choir had vacated their seats, and the bass viol had been carried out of the church, the preacher found himself placed where prompt action was necessary. It is truly wonderful how great a blaze a little fire can kin- dle, especially in a church and particularly in a church choir. The Methodist preacher was a good leader. He knew that Mr. Kent, who at that time generally at- tended the Presbyterian church, was a good singer, and could, if he would, soon educate a new choir who would prove steadfast supporters of the old church and would not turn kickers when something occurred that did not accord with their notions. He applied to Mr. Kent in a manner to arouse his warmest sympathies, and he went over and organized and drilled a choir and re- mained with them a long time as their leader. When he was willing to go they would not permit it. He re- mained and became strongly attached to his choir and finally to those by whom he had been for so long a time surrounded. He found that he was attached to that society, he sympathized with them in their troubles, and e'er long became a necessary part and parcel of the Methodist church so far as their worldly interests were concerned. He was always a free and liberal giver, and whenever he found them in a finan- cial strait or difficulty he gave freely and on certain occasions most bountifully. It finally came to this, that he virtually said to them, raise all you can, give
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liberally youselves, and I will attend to the balance. This we are informed has been the condition of affairs in that church for nearly fifty years. Their financial motto has been, "We must do all we can,-give liber- ally ourselves,-Kent does the rest." It is not wonder- ful, that that church is attached to Alonzo Kent, or that Alonzo Kent feels that that church is, as it were, the apple of his eye. He is, and as long as he lives will continue to be, one of its fixtures, a part of its furniture, as much so as the grand organ they placed in their beautiful new church a few months ago. And we freely write our belief that the Rev. Dr. W. G. Williams would never have entered upon that surpris- ing church building undertaking without the advice and direct encouragement of Alonzo Kent ;- without it that splendid edifice would never have been built. After that society had seemingly given to their ut- most and Alonzo Kent had aided most liberally, when the day for dedication came, they found themselves in debt over 20,000 dollars. Rev. Dr. Flood with all of his persuasiveness and extra pleading would never have raised that. vast amount if he had not said, "I will give $1000, Mr. Kent will you give still another thousand dollars?" When the reply was "I will," Dr. Flood knew that the fire which was to burn out that debt was kindled. It was a glorious ending of a grand undertaking. We would be proud to possess a photo- graphic group with Dr. Williams as the head and Alonzo Kent as the feet, with the three learned doc- tors, Flood, Vincent and Poate, sandwiched between, as the body of this great Methodistical power in James- town. We know of similar cases in the past history of churches in this town, smaller amounts to be sure, but full as grievous to be borne. And we know to-day
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of another man with good aids, in another church, who is doing a similar work. Such churches will surely prosper, they can never fail as earthly organi- zations at least, for their foundations are granite.
At the last meeting of the Methodist church in their old house, Dr. Peate in closing the service, spoke as follows: " The church has had a good many friends outside of its members, but I never met with as true a friend as Alonzo Kent. I never knew an out- sider so true and constant. I wish we had more like him in the congregation. I make these remarks, be- cause he is not here to-night; and I miss him, for he is always in his place. I like to see him here and I expect to meet him in Heaven." From all parts of the house, came the loud, hearty, feeling Amen! Both the preacher and his congregation held in true estima- tion the man's acts. If this is not the true estimate, if it is not by a man's acts that he is to be finally judged, churches can be of little use to human beings. What- ever views man may entertain of the present and its relations to the future, he has never been able to sep- arate life from religion. The one is as diffusive as the other, worship of a Supreme Being as necessary as the air he breathes. In his most uncultivated thoughts, mortal life suggests immortal being; the finite leads him to the infinite. It is the main spring of exis- tence. It is as easy to believe that the trees and the flowers in the spring time could put forth their leaves and unfold their painted glories without looking up to the sun for his warmth and light, as that man will continue in life and health unaided by a superior, In- telligent Power. Religion is the animating spirit of all man accomplishes here. Whether our reason ad- mits it or denies it, our spirits affirm it. It is as natur-
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al for man to worship as to breathe. As his intelligence increases, the higher is the intelligence he worships. As his greater knowledge teaches him the wonders of mortality, greater becomes his faith in immortality. The gods or the God he worships increase in intelli- gence, knowledge and power with himself until at last he worships the one only Ever-living God-not a God he has created. according to Ingersoll, but a God he sees behind all the wonders his knowledge reveals to him-God his creator. Is it not strange that some of our most learned men, theologians as well as scientists, would have us transfer our worship from this Infinite Being our intelligence and our knowledge points out, to a microscopic mite of jelly, protoplasm they call it, with an unintelligent force, the know not what, in or behind the know not which. Whether we follow the Old Theology, with God a special creator, and man the immediate and especial work of His hand, or the New Theology with God the creator of a clam or something less, and that evolving into that wonderful scientific humbug, the "anthropoid ape," who after thousands of years of "monkey shines," forces himself to stand erect and cast his gaze heavenward-after all, the great gap remains between the known and the un- known, the finite and the infinite, between God and man. Whether our Creator is an evolver or a maker, the Bible alone makes the only pretension or effort to fill the immense gap remaining. We do not know
whether Adam and Eve were evolved out of a monkey or were the immediate handiwork of God, but we do know that the Old Theology, the old churches and the old ministers filled a glorious place in the early his- tory of Jamestown, and we sincerely trust the time is far distant when Materialism and its right hand Evol-
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ution, with its protoplasm and apes, gains a large hearing in the churches of the Pearl City. We think that anyone leaning heavily towards the ape theory of his origin may be thoroughly cured by reading a work entitled, Matter, Life and Mind, by Rev. Dr. Moore, who was formerly a preacher in the old Metho- dist church of Jamestown. We contend we are not over stepping the bounds of truth-of a chain of facts linked one with another-when we broadly state that that wonderful Chautauqua at old Fair Point on the beautiful banks of beautiful Chautauqua lake, would never have existed but for the Methodist Episcopal church of Jamestown. Truth sometimes is far more wonderful than the fairy tales of romance. In 1869 Rev. H. H. Moore, a green young man (in appearance) who had not been quite two years in the preaching business was sent to Jamestown to assist Rev. E. J. L. Baker (the writer's room-mate at college) in his pas- toral duties. During the summer of that year he spent a week or more at a camp meeting at Round lake, studying the situation-having in view the es- tablishment of a similar affair somewhere on Chau- tauqua lake. Returning from Round lake he attend- ed another meeting of a similar kind at Dayton, in Cattaraugus County. At Dayton Moore brought the subject before the presiding elder, Rev. J. Elliott Chapin, which resulted in the appointment of a com- mittee to seek out a proper location on the lake for a permanent Camp Meeting ground. Fair Point was selected and 50 acres purchased for $10,000. Here again Alonzo Kent's purse became very useful and made the purchase possible. One or two camp meet- ings had been held on the grounds when Rev. Dr. Vincent and Mr. Miller came along and wanted the
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beautiful camp meeting grounds of Moore and Chapin and Kent and of the Jamestown Methodist Episcopal church for another but allied purpose. Believing that it would advance the cause for which they were all la- boring they surrendered. The Matter of Fair Point had been thoroughly organized by these Life giving substances, and made ready for the great Mind which was destined to inhabit and rule all-Independent of human organisms, the work of the Almighty-never has Matter, Life and Mind been more happily blend- ed, than in Chautauqua.
THE MORMONS IN JAMESTOWN.
Notwithstanding the length of this chapter, it still devolves upon us to write concerning the Baptists and Episcopalians, and, we are sorry to say, of the Mor- mons. We will perform the disagreeable part of our task first. There are but few now living in this Pearl City aware that many years ago, for a short time only, this was one of the headquarters, a gathering place preparatory to a removal to Kirkland, Ohio, of that re- ligious parasite, Mormonism. At one time there were nearly 200 of them here, although the general belief was that there were less than 100 in all. They were then preparing to occupy their newly discovered land of promise, and their policy was to conceal their num- bers, and not to make a display. The vanguard put in an appearance in May, 1833, and immediately occu- pied a number of indifferent houses on Third street west of Jefferson street. These houses had been rented by their advance agent, William Barker,, early in March. Barker had charge of the Jamestown rendez- vous, although Rigdon himself was frequently here. This Rigdon, who subsequently became one of the high apostles of the concern, was one of the arch devils
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