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PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO., IND.
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY L 3 1833 02560 6101
Gc 977.1 B24h Barker, John Marshall, 1849- History of Ohio Methodism
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofohiomet00bark 0
NILSON
ELTER. SC
THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN OHIO. (SEE PAGE 117.)
HISTORY OF OHIO METHODISM
A Study in Social Science
JOHN MARSHALL BARKER, PH. D.
INTRODUCTION BY - PRESIDENT JAMES W. BASHFORD, PH. D., D. D.
CINCINNATI: CURTS & JENNINGS NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 1898
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street DO Box 2270 For men; . 45801-2270
364548
PREFACE.
T HERE are points of time in the life of a Church, as well as the individual, when one may look back and feel that something of the past is secured. What- ever has been good or profitable, naturally awakens feelings of gratitude and pleasure. This is emphat- ically true of the Centennial of Ohio Methodism.
The planting and growth of the Church, with its thrilling history, is secured. Her effective methods of work and Scriptural doctrines, formulated to meet all human needs, are secured. The rich heritage of re- ligion and education are bequeathed to us. The noble examples of the pioneer preachers and Church mem- bers, inspired as they were with lofty purposes, true devotion, and unsurpassed heroism, are likewise se- cured. We have entered into the labors of these brave Christian heroes. The gratitude of this generation may be expressed in more earnest efforts to emulate their virtues and to imitate their deeds of valor.
The limits of our work do not permit us to sketch, only in a brief manner, a few of the lives among the great number of gifted preachers and noble laymen. Their self-sacrificing devotion and untiring labors read more like romantic stories than real events in actual life. We hope the Church will not permit their mem- ories to be entombed in the fleeting past.
For nearly a decade the author has had unequaled opportunities to travel throughout Ohio, and observe the general development of the Church, and gather materials of real historic value. It is impossible to
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JAN 12 1939
4
PREFACE.
appropriate at the present more than a fragment of the materials at our command.
The author is indebted to many friends for their valuable assistance. They have rendered great service to the Church in their diligent search for facts and incidents relating to the local Church histories in more than forty cities of Ohio. Special mention is due to Professor Samuel W. Williams for the chapter on Methodist Literature, and for the historic sketch of Methodism in Cincinnati.
No attempt has been made to write the annals of Ohio Methodism, but simply to present a general sur- vey of the work, giving only a sufficient number of incidents and facts to illustrate some fundamental prin- ciple. The aim has been to trace the historic forces that serve to account for the extraordinary success of the Church and the social progress of the State.
Ohio Methodism began a century ago, and num- bered less than one hundred persons. To-day the membership numbers nearly three hundred thousand. The historic interpretation of the living Spirit which operates back of all facts naturally enlists the atten- tion of the thoughtful student. Methodism has been one of the most powerful forces at work through the evolutionary process of modern society. The laws and processes of social development have not been elab- orated, but sufficient emphasis has been given the sub- ject to show that the Christian spirit, as embodied in the character of the Methodist, has produced a more healthful growth of society. The review of our his- toric environment and present condition can not be otherwise than helpful, and we hope will lead the Church to a fuller consecration and a more deter- mined and aggressive warfare against sin.
THE AUTHOR.
OAKWOOD COTTAGE, Delaware, Ohio.
INTRODUCTION.
O HIO is the seventeenth State admitted to the Union. She ranks thirty-fifth in size among her sister States. She is not located at the East, serving as the gateway through which population, wealth, in- telligence, and religion passed from the Old World to the New. She is without a Greater New York, which, as the gateway to the continent, belongs to the whole country rather than to a single Commonwealth. She is without the advantages of two hundred years of intellectual and religious development which con- tribute to the leadership of Massachusetts and Penn- sylvania. How, then, can we account for the fact that Ohio ranks third in population and wealth, and among the first of her sister States in education and religion?
Ohio produced Grant, the greatest general the world has yet known; Sherman, the greatest cam- paigner; Sheridan, the greatest cavalryman; Rose- crans, the tactician; Mitchel, the scholar; and Garfield and Hayes, who later rose to the leadership of the Nation. Ohio has produced a Rockefeller, who has acquired more wealth personally than any other man in history, and Edison, the most fertile inventor in the world. Ohio produced W. H. Bancroft, whose thirty- nine volumes embrace the finest collection of historical materials made by an American writer. Ohio devel- oped McGuffey, whose readers and spellers reached every schoolhouse in the Mississippi Valley, and she fosters the largest publishing-house for school-books upon the globe. A resident of Ohio produced Uncle
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6
INTRODUCTION.
Tom's Cabin, which was planned and largely written in Cincinnati. Ohio has given "Nasby" (to wit, J. R. Locke), Reid, and Halstead, and Edwards to journal- ism; Howells and Harriet Beecher Stowe to literature; J. G. Woolley and Lucy Stone and James G. Birney to reform; McLean and Chase and Waite to the Su- preme Court; Corwin and Ewing to eloquence; Sher- man, Thurman, and Mckinley to statesmanship. Ohio has fostered such educators as Mann and Thom- son, McCabe and Merrick, Payne and Fairchild, Will- iams and Hancock and Harper. Ohio has produced such philanthropists as Lewis Miller, the financial founder of Chautauqua; and Case, of the School of Applied Sciences; and Stone, of Adelbert College: and Rockefeller, of Chicago University. The Under- ground Railroad ran through Ohio, and Calvin Fair- banks and other Buckeyes were heroes in that un- known struggle for the freedom of the slaves. Ohio has given the pulpit Finney and McIlvaine, Gunsaulus and Bigelow, Durbin and Simpson. Ohio has pro- duced, or else trained in political life for the Presi- dency, the two Harrisons, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and McKinley, and is thus supplanting Virginia as the Mother of Presidents. Through the influence of the Ohio Wesleyan University and of Oberlin College, Ohio has sent out more men and women to evangelize the world probably than any other State in the Union. The Scotts and Lowrys, Thomson, Tubbs, LaFetra, Allen, Mansell, Mary Reed, James and Isabella Tho- burn, and a princely host are creating civilizations in Mexico and South America, in Korea and Japan, in India and in China.
How can we account for our goodly heritage? I have not time to mention, much less discuss, all of the forces which have contributed to the greatness of the Commonwealth. I can not enter upon a philosophical discussion of the question raised. A Taine or a Buckle would find rich resources in Ohio for his contention
7
INTRODUCTION.
that our material advantages have produced our in- tellectual and moral prosperity. Upon the other hand, a DeTocqueville or a Bryce would find ample reasons for the view that the material and political pre-emi- nence of Ohio, as of the Nation at large, is chiefly due to the spiritual and intellectual life of her citizens. I can not discuss the question at all. I can only ex- press of my adopted State the conviction that her character accounts for her conquests. Ohio was set- tled by people from New England, Pennsylvania, the Virginias, the Carolinas, and Kentucky. As Europe was sifted to produce the original Colonists, so the Colonies were sifted to produce the Buckeyes. Thus the citizens of Ohio are Americans of the Americans, as Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Puritans, Quakers, Cavaliers, and Huguenots contributed the spiritual and mental vigor, which accounts, in part at least, for the social and material advancement of our Commonwealth. The Ordinance of 1787-second only in its influence upon our continent to the Constitution of 1789 -- saved the State from the moral and material blight of African slavery. Above all, Christian mis- sionaries-Catholic, Quaker, Baptist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist-accompanied and often preceded the pioneers, and the early settlers of the State were molded by religious influences.
Among the religious forces which have contributed to the leadership of Ohio, Methodism has played no inconspicuous part. Indeed, so intense and pervasive has been the influence of this Church, that Methodism is not only the leading denomination in Ohio, but Ohio is the leading Methodist Commonwealth upon the globe. Ohio furnishes one-tenth of the member- ship of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the world, and more than one-tenth of her contributions to Chris- tian charities. Ohio has nurtured the greatest preach- ers of Methodism. She has trained her missionaries and educators. She has given birth to the Missionary
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INTRODUCTION.
Society, to the Woman's Home Missionary Society, to the Freedmen's Aid Society, and to the Epworth League. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the most influential woman's organization upon the globe, was founded in Ohio by Methodist women. Of the bishops of Methodism, Ohio has produced Simpson and Harris, Foster and Merrill, Walden and Joyce, Cranston and McCabe and Thoburn. In addition to these, who were born upon her soil, she has trained for their high responsibilities Hamline and Morris, Ames and Clark, Thomson and Kingsley, Ninde and Hartzell and Wiley. Thus out of the forty-nine men selected during the century to lead the militant hosts of Methodism, Ohio has produced or nurtured eigh- teen.
It is to narrate the history of the Methodist Church in Ohio; it is to trace the influence of religion upon the social and public life of our citizens; it is to ex- plain in some measure the secret of the Common- wealth's greatness, that "Ohio Methodism" is written. The volume is prepared by those having a knowledge of the facts, and a love for all that is noblest in our Commonwealth; it depicts incidents of thrilling inter- est, and presents principles upon which the future growth of our State depends; hence I count it an honor to bid the book Godspeed.
J. W. BASHFORD.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIELD,
PAGE. . 13
CHAPTER II.
MISSION OF METHODISM, . 49
CHAPTER III.
INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM, . 79
CHAPTER IV.
GROWTH OF METHODISM, 105
CHAPTER V.
PIONEER PREACHERS,
. 129
CHAPTER VI.
EXPERIENCES OF ITINERANTS, . . 17I
CHAPTER VII.
ORGANIZATIONS, . 191
CHAPTER VIII.
HIGHER EDUCATION,
. 221
CHAPTER IX.
LITERATURE, .
. 265
9
IO
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
PAGE.
THE OUTLOOK,
. 285
CHAPTER XI.
METHODISM IN CITIES : 30I AKRON,
ALLIANCE, REV. T. W. LANE.
ATHENS,
REV. D. C. THOMAS.
BARNESVILLE,
REV. J. D. TALBOTT.
BELLEFONTAINE, REV. C. R. HAVIGHORST.
BUCYRUS, . . REV. M. J. KEYES.
CANTON, REV. C. E. MANCHESTER.
CAMBRIDGE,
. COL. C. P. B. SARCHET.
CHILLICOTHE
HON. WM. T. MCCLINTICK.
CINCINNATI, .
. S. W. WILLIAMS.
CLEVELAND, MARY BIGELOW INGHAM.
COLUMBUS, . . J. C. JACKSON, JR.
DAYTON, . REV. W. A. ROBINSON.
DELAWARE, .
MISS LINDA DUVALL.
EAST LIVERPOOL,
. REV. J. H. HUSTON.
FINDLAY,
. REV. J. M. AVANN.
GALLIPOLIS,
REV. P. A. BAKER.
HAMILTON,
HENRY MALLORY, M. D.
HILLSBORO,
L. DETWILER.
MANSFIELD,
REV. F. A. GOULD.
MARION, . W. Z. DAVIS.
MARIETTA, .
HIRAM L. SIBLEY.
MASSILLON, . REV. GEO. B. SMITH.
MT. VERNON, . MRS. C. A. AGNEW.
NEWARK, . LUCY M. CONNEL.
NORWALK, .
. E. L. YOUNG.
PAINESVILLE,
REV. R. M. FRESHWATER.
PORTSMOUTH, .
. REV. B. R. MCELROY.
RAVENNA,
. A. B. GRIFFIN.
SANDUSKY,
REV. L. K. WARNER.
SIDNEY, .
MISS KATE KAUFFMAN.
STEUBENVILLE,
REV. G. F. OLIVER.
TOLEDO, .
REV. W. H. LEATHERMAN.
URBANA,
VERNON, . REV. C. W. RISHELL.
JOHN I. KING, M. D.
WARREN, .
. B. J. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON C. H., REV. W. H. LEWIS.
YOUNGSTOWN, REV. A. M. BILLINGSLEY.
ZANESVILLE, HON. JOHN W. KING.
SPRINGFIELD,
ILLUSTRATIONS.
-
PAGE.
THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN OHIO, Frontispiece.
OHIO RIVER, I7
CAMPUS MARTIUS, 23
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, 26
EPWORTH RECTORY,
52
JOHN WESLEY, .
57
CHURCH WHERE THE GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS HELD, 1784, 67
FRANCIS MCCORMICK, 85
MCCORMICK'S GRAVE, NEAR MILFORD, OHIO, 87
R. R. ROBERTS,
97
ALFRED BRUNSON, 99
BISHOP ASBURY, . IIO
CONFERENCE MAP,
. BETWEEN 114, 115
REV. WILLIAM NAST, .
I16
WILLIAM MCKENDREE,
119
HENRY SMITH,
I35
JOHN COLLINS, 138
WILLIAM BURKE, 140
EDWARD TIFFIN,
. 146
JAMES QUINN, .
154
JAMES B. FINLEY,
157
CHARLES ELLIOTT, . 160
THOMAS A. MORRIS, 161
DAVID YOUNG, . 162
JACOB YOUNG, .
163
JOHN P. DURBIN,
. 165
II
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ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
MISS ISABELLA THOBURN, . 197
BISHOP D. W. CLARK, 199
ELIZA J. THOMPSON, 205
LUCY WEBB HAYES, . 208
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, 213
EPWORTH MEMORIAL CHURCH, 215
MOUNT UNION COLLEGE BUILDINGS, 238, 239, 240
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, 243 GRAY CHAPEL AND ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 246
SLOCUM LIBRARY, . 248
MONNETT HALL, . 252
PRESIDENTS OF THE OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, . . 255
WESTERN METHODIST BOOK CONCERN BUILDING, 283
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORWALK, OHIO, . . 409 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, WASHINGTON C. H., OHIO, . 443
Chapter I. The Field. I3
66 HERE must be somewhere a plan in history which shall take account of the near and the far, of the ancient, the modern, and even of peoples yet to be; which shall recognize and regulate the moral forces which build up states, or which work their decay; which shall anticipate tendencies, occasions, men, and take cogni- zance of arts, inventions, knowledges, even before society has reached them, that all may be confederated in systematic interac- tion for a final effect."-R. S. Storrs.
HE history of the Church shows us that out of the organization for religious worship have issued successively all the greater organizations of society, systems of constitutional government, edu- cation, art, the festivals and jubilee of social intercourse. The sys- tem of worship begat them all."-W. H. Fremantle.
66 OCIAL Philosophy may be regarded as concerned with the relations of men to each other, with their relations to the material world, and with the development of individual character in so far as that is affected by these relations."-J. S. Mac Kenzie.
66 UR inquiry is not merely or mainly concerned with the increase of the material satisfaction of life, with enlarged cities, grow- ing populations, expanding commerce, . . . but with the character and sway of ideas. For ideas are real forces. Ideas are our real world; institutions, laws, events, are the changing garments in which that world appears; so that the progress of a city, of a country, or of a generation is to be tested by the comparative strength and domin- ion of true conceptions of the universe and of nature, of life and death, of duty and right, of the individual and of the village, town, city, state, and race in which the individual lives, and moves, and has his being; of institutions like Marriage and Home, School and University, Pulpit and Press, Church and State."-Dr. John Clifford.
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CHAPTER I.
0 HIO presents a splendid field for Christian activ- ity. It is quite true that a Christian's responsibil- ities and sympathies can not be confined by any boun- daries arbitrarily fixed; yet Providence has placed us in this portion of his moral vineyard to cultivate it. If, without forgetting the greater and broader field of the world's parish, we study the peculiar phys- ical and moral conditions under which we are placed, and consider our noble ancestry, and recall the soul- inspiring traditions of the pioneers, we may better serve our day and generation. The inspiration and glory of former days should certainly stimulate our faith and encourage our effort to perpetuate the noble inheritance of our fathers, and fulfill in some degree the wonderful possibilities which a kind Providence lays before us.
The phenomenal growth of the commonwealth of Ohio awakens interest and devout thankfulness in the most casual observer of events. The remarkable prog- ress is brought more closely to our attention since we are about to close our first century, and enter upon the eventful times of the twentieth century. It is four hundred years since Columbus opened up to the Old World the dim vision of the New World and its possibilities. Nearly one century and a fourth afterward, the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. Half a century later La Salle, the first white man, sailed down the beautiful Ohio River, and
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OHIO METHODISM.
brought back glowing reports of what is now the State of Ohio. One hundred and nineteen years after these occurrences, and one hundred and sixty-seven years after the landing of the Mayflower, a colony of immigrants landed at Marietta, and inaugurated a new civilization. More than a century has elapsed; and we see the State making rapid progress toward a fuller and grander civilization and an integral part of a great Nation, ranking third in a Union of forty-eight.
.
The epochs marking the discovery of America and the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers, the successful struggle for independence, the opening of the great Northwest territory, and the founding of the State of Ohio, are among the mountain peaks of our national history, radiant with the new light of hope for the world, and indicating that the drift of history is for- ward and onward to a higher and better life. From the course of these events we may trace the steppings of a Providence that "shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."
Ohio is favorably located between the Ohio River, which forms its southern boundary for four hundred and thirty-six miles, and a chain of lakes on the north, with a shore-line of two hundred and thirty miles. The State has a land area of forty thousand seven hundred and sixty square miles.
The topography of the State reveals a variety of landscapes. The noble forests, flowing rivers, beauti- ful lakes, rolling hills, rich and fertile valleys, combine to form a picture which produces the most pleasant, impressions. A ridge of hills, forming the backbone of the State, extending nearly diagonally, divides the val-
OHIO RIVER.
2
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OHIO METHODISM.
ley of the Ohio from the lakes on the north. These table-lands and hills, furrowed by rich valleys, are drained by numerous streams and rivers. The equable climate and temperature, together with a variety of soil and products, make it one of the most desirable places for residence. "The river, the lake, and the in- land combined to form a country which the red man and the white man alike admired and coveted as a gar- den of delights. No wonder that the savage died rather than yield it; no wonder that the enterprising spirits in the old settlements were eager to enjoy a land, so attractively pictured by all who came back from it."
Great changes have been wrought during the first century of Ohio's history. The lands have been mostly cleared of forests, and drained, and niade ready for ripening fields of grain, luscious fruits, and homes of peace and plenty. The Indian wigwams and villages have retreated before the inventions of civilized men. Farms, factories, churches, and schools have rapidly multiplied until now we enjoy more privileges and better environments than many of the oldest civiliza- tions of the world.
It will repay the time and effort to review briefly some of the leading events in the history of the settle- ments and the present achievements of Ohio, and, if possible, trace the effects back to the underlying causes, and discover the far-reaching results.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Jes- uits, with their subtle and sinister system, were belting the globe with their missions. Through their heroic spirit and self-sacrifice they were gaining new tri-
19
THE FIELD.
umphs on this continent. The missionary enthusiasm of the Jesuits for the Indians deserves praise; but the Christianity which they planted did not strike deep root. The French missionaries and explorers were the first to penetrate the Northwest Territory, embrac- ing the present territorial limits of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- nois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. For more than two hundred years the French held sway through the entire Mississippi Valley, by right, as they claimed, of discovery and settlement. They erected numerous forts from the mouth of the Missis- sippi to Canada, in order to maintain their possessions. The French had established their colonies chiefly for the purpose of trading with the Indians.
The English had claimed the right of possession to the territory lying west of the coast through the right of discovery by Cabot in 1479; and a portion of the Ohio Valley by a treaty with the Indian Con- federacy of Six Nations. The English explorers in the meanwhile were establishing themselves in the great West, which was claimed by the French. Picka- willany, an English trading station, situated on the Great Miami River, at the mouth of Loramies Creek, was built in 1479. It was the first point of English settlement in Ohio. In 1748 the Ohio Land Company, composed of English and Virginian merchants, was formed. Two years later, Christopher Gist conducted an exploring party which followed the Ohio River to its falls. Gist was the first white man of Anglo-Saxon descent to visit, in an official capacity, the country now comprised within the limits of Ohio. Through
:
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OHIO METHODISM.
his favorable report the beauty and richness of the Ohio Valley were brought to the attention of the English.
George Washington's first military exploit was to rescue the Ohio Valley, and to uphold the right of the Colonists to this disputed territory. In 1754 he was sent to Pittsburg, the gateway of Ohio, to hold the fort for the English. Here there was already a small English settlement. The results that followed this action opened up the way for a prolonged conflict of nine years. The scattered French and English colonies, as well as each nation, were jealous of the possessions of this almost boundless domain. The French girded themselves for the supreme struggle against the extension of English power in America. They were finally defeated, and in 1763 ceded to the English all their claims to the Ohio Valley. Thus their sovereignty on this continent was destroyed, and this prepared the way for the English-speaking race and the great epoch of American independence.
"This was a conflict," says W. H. Withrow, "not merely between hostile peoples, but between Democ- racy and Feudalism, between Catholic superstition and Protestant liberty. The issue at stake was whether medieval institutions, the principles of military ab- solutism, and the teachings of Gallican clericalism should dominate, or whether the evolution of civil and religious liberty, of free thought, free speech, a free press, and the universal genius of free institutions should find a field for their development as wide as the continent. The problem was whether, on the banks of the Hudson and the Mississippi, on the shores
2I
THE FIELD.
of the Great Lakes, and amid the vast prairies of the far West should grow up a number of free common- wealths, or whether an intellectual atrophy and re- ligious superstition, such as we behold to-day on either side of the lower St. Lawrence, should characterize also the whole, or greater part, of what is now the American Union and the Canadian Dominion."
The Ohio Valley remained in possession of Great Britain twenty years. After the war for independence all rights were surrendered. The States of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia likewise ceded all their claims to the territory, and so it passed under the complete control of the Federal Govern- ment. Congress in 1787 passed an ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States north- west of the Ohio. This famous ordinance was a masterpiece of statesmanship. It vindicated the prin- ciples of the thirteen Colonies and became a model for all subsequent laws of the States and Territories. It provided that "there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory otherwise than as the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." It also contained the following famous article: "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means for education shall forever be encouraged." These were placed by the ordinance among the fundamental prin- ciples of civil and religious liberty. Daniel Webster, in speaking of the ordinance, said: "We are accus- tomed to praise the learning and efforts of men of ancient times; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon
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