USA > Ohio > Circuit-rider days along the Ohio; being the journals of the Ohio Conference from its organization in 1812 to 1826 > Part 5
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The Ohio Conference in 1820 contained six districts ; the Ohio District included the Western Reserve and southwestern New York; the Lancaster District covered the south central portion of the State of Ohio, with Lancaster as the center; the Muskingum embraced the southeast corner of the State; the Scioto reached from Chilicothe on the south to Columbus on the north; the Miami District took in the southwest portion of Ohio and the southeastern section of Indiana, while the Lebanon covered all the territory north of the Miami in northwestern Ohio and southern Michigan. The Gen- eral Conference of 1820 had considerably changed Con- ference boundaries. It had taken the Kentucky District from the Ohio and added it to the Kentucky Conference, while it had compensated the Ohio Conference for this loss by the addition of Michigan territory.
The first Protestant work in Detroit was begun by
81 Jacob Young, Autobiography of a Pioneer, pp. 360-364. Concerning the session of the Ohio Conference in 1820 Jacob Young says: "Our conference was much agi- tated by Radical influence. . .. By this time the Radicals had matured their plans, and had acquired considerable numerical strength. They were now trying to annoy us exceedingly" (p. 364).
12 MSS. Journal of the Ohio Conference for 1821.
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Moravian missionaries in 1780. In 1804 the Rev. Daniel Freeman, a Methodist preacher from Canada, preached a few times, while the same year, the Rev. Nathan Bangs, having been appointed to a circuit in Canada by the New York Conference, came to Detroit and preached. The first regular Methodist preaching in Detroit, however, was done by the Rev. William Case, who was sent as a missionary to Detroit by the New York Conference in 1808. Case was followed the next year by the Rev. Nin- nian Holmes, and at the end of his year he reported seven members for Detroit. At that time Detroit had a population of seven hundred and seventy. In the year 1810 three preachers were assigned to Detroit, Ninian Holmes and Silas Hopkins, sent by the Genesee Confer- ence, and William Mitchell by the Western Conference. The following year George W. Densmore was the preacher assigned to Detroit by the Genesee Conference. Detroit does not appear in the Minutes for the years 1812 and 1813, but in 1814 the Genesee Conference again in- cludes an Upper Canada District, containing six circuits, among them being Detroit, with Joseph Hickcox as preacher. Hickcox remained two years and in 1816 was succeeded by Gideon Lanning, who in turn was succeeded by Alpheus Davis, while Lanning in 1818 was followed by Truman Dixon.33 The first Methodist church erected in Michigan was on the River Rouge and was completed in 1818.34 The first preacher sent to Detroit from the Ohio Conference was John P. Kent.
Wherever Methodism is introduced education quickly follows, and Ohio was no exception to this rule. Eight years after the formation of the Ohio Conference the fol- lowing resolution was adopted: "Resolved, that the P.
33 History of Methodism in Detroit, by the Rev. J. M. Arnold (Michigan Historical Collections, vol. iii, pp. 228, 229). Arnold in the above paper, through his failure to understand the discrepancy in the dates in the General Minutes, places the date for the first Methodist preacher assigned to Detroit a year too late.
24 From the Detroit Gazette, April 2, 1818 (Quoted in History of Methodism in De- troit, by Arnold).
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Elder of each District shall take the sentiments of every Q. Conference under his charge, with regard to the es- tablishment of a Seminary within the bounds and under the direction of this Conference and also that they have an eye to a proper cite for its establishment and report to our next conference."35 At the next session the pre- siding elders made their report and a committee was appointed, consisting of John Collins, Martin Ruter, and David Young to consider the report. This committee re- ported at the same session, and advised the establishment of a seminary in or near the State of Ohio. As a site for the institution they suggest Augusta on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river, as the place where there is pros- pect for the "most ample funds"; and since Augusta is within the bounds of the Kentucky Conference, they pro- pose that a seminary located there serve both the Ohio and the Kentucky Conference. They further suggest that a committee from the Ohio Conference confer with a similar committee from the Kentucky Conference looking toward the carrying out of the above suggestion.36
The following year, 1822, Augusta College was estab- lished by joint action of the Ohio and Kentucky Con- ferences, and in 1825 a three-story brick building was completed and the work of the college begun.37 The Rev. John P. Finley was appointed professor of languages in 1822 and later president. On Finley's death in 1825 Martin Ruter became the president, and the same year John P. Durbin took the professorship of languages, while in 1831 Henry B. Bascom was chosen professor of "moral science and belles-letters." In the first faculty was also Joseph S. Tomlinson, professor of mathematics
85 MSS. Journal for 1820.
86 Ibid., for 1821.
The General Conference of 1820 had passed a resolution advising all Annual Con- ferences to establish institutions of learning under their control; the bishops were to use their influence to carry this resolution into effect; and the bishops were to be per- mitted to appoint preachers to be presidents, principals, or teachers in said institu- tions. (The General Conferences, 1792-1896, p. 86.)
37 Barker, History of Ohio Methodism, p. 228.
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and natural philosophy. These five men making up the first faculty of Augusta College were in many ways a re- markable group. The first president, John P. Finley, was a brother of James B. Finley, and received his education through the instruction of his father, who had attended the College of New Jersey; Martin Ruter, the second president, had founded the Western Methodist Book Con- cern at Cincinnati, and was one of the first men in Methodism to receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity ; Henry B. Bascom was one of the most remarkable preach- ers Methodism has produced, while John P. Durbin be- came one of the outstanding leaders of the church.38
The college remained at Augusta until 1844, when it was removed to Lexington, where it proved unsuccessful. Though the life of Augusta college was short, yet its work was by no means fruitless, for it gave to the church such men as Bishop R. S. Foster, Dr. John Miley,39 and Pro- fessor W. G. Williams. The founding of this college gave a great impulse to the cause of education and led to the founding of numerous other institutions under more fav- orable circumstances.
It would be difficult to find a more interesting group of men anywhere than could be found in almost any ses- sion of the Ohio Conference during the first fifteen years of its history. The outstanding figures at the opening session in 1812 were the two Youngs, Jacob and David, James Quinn, John Collins, John Sale, James Ward and William Burke, though there were others of equal ability and devotion. David Young's ministry began in the old Western Conference in 1805 and he remained on the active list until 1849. He was a preacher of outstanding ability and his fame on the frontier was widespread. John Collins was the founder of Cincinnati Methodism. He came west from New Jersey in 1803 and for thirty
38 John A. Roche, The Life of John Price Durbin, pp. 48-51. New York, 1890. 39 Ibid., pp. 52, 53.
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years was active in all the work of the ministry. John Sale, Jacob Young, and James Quinn exercised a large influence as administrators of Western districts and were already ministers of experience at the birth of the Ohio Conference.
Of the younger men in the first fifteen years of Ohio Conference history, James B. Finley, John Strange, Henry B. Bascom, Russell Bigelow, Thomas A. Morris, Allen Wiley, Charles Elliott, LeRoy Swormstedt, John P. Durbin, Alfred Brunson, Aaron Wood, and Adam Poe seem to be the outstanding characters from the stand- point of history. Of this group two became bishops, Thomas A. Morris and Henry B. Bascom; James B. Fin- ley has the distinction of being the first regularly con- stituted missionary of the church; Charles Elliott became one of the outstanding editors, serving the Western Christian Advocate in its early years and later the Cen- tral Christian Advocate. Elliott is likewise distinguished as an author of solid worth and his books on Slavery, Roman Catholicism and the History of the Slavery Schism in the Church are still serviceable. John P. Dur- bin was destined to become one of the greatest of mission- ary secretaries; Brunson lived and worked in the church in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, becoming, perhaps the best-known Methodist in the establishment of mission work among the Indians. Swormstedt and Poe became publishing agents, while Allen Wiley and Aaron Wood were destined for leadership in Indiana Methodism for more than a generation. Russell Bigelow and John Strange were chiefly known as preachers and both deserve a permanent place among the great preach- ers of America.40
40 Brief biographies of the above men will be found scattered through the General Minutes of the Conferences, each appearing the year following his death. Longer biographies of several among the number have appeared, while some have written autobiographies. The files of the Methodist Magazine contain considerable biograph- ical material also.
CHAPTER IV
THE WYANDOT MISSION
THE Wyandots were once a powerful nation inhabit- ing territory on both sides of the Detroit River. They were called Hurons by the French and the English, and among them the early French missionaries had achieved their earliest successes. In the War of the American Revolution the Wyandots, like most of the other Indian tribes, had sided with the English and their first treaty with the American government was signed January 21, 1785.1 With the pushing westward of white settlement successive treaties2 were made with the Wyandots, as with other tribes, and in the early part of the nineteenth century we find them confined to a reservation located in the north central part of the State of Ohio. This reservation contained in 1820 147,840 acres and was nine- teen miles long and some twelve miles wide. Through the reservation ran the Sandusky river and along this stream with its tributaries lived what remained of the once numerous and warlike Hurons.3
The Wyandots had long been living on the borders of white settlement and, like many another tribe, had be- come addicted to all the worst vices of the whites, which when added to their own, brought them to a condition of degradation almost past description.4 Drunkenness, immorality of all kinds, gambling and other vicious prac-
1 Henry R. Schoolcraft, The American Indians, etc., p. 371. Buffalo, 1851.
2 From 1785 to 1836 there were fourteen treaties concluded with the Wyandots. See Treaties between the United States of America and the Several Indian Tribes from 1778 to 1837, etc. Washington, 1837.
' Bangs, History of the Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 48. New York, 1832.
"For the condition of the Indians living on the borders of white settlement see Esarey, History of Indiana, vol. i, pp. 231, 232.
Also James B. Finley, Life Among the Indians, p. 233.
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tices were common among them, while their natural in- dolence, especially on the part of the males of the tribe, had reduced many to hopeless poverty and want.
At the time the Methodists began their work among the Wyandots they were divided into the following tribes with the names of their chiefs. Between-the-Logs was chief of the Bear tribe; John Hicks was chief of the Deer tribe; Cherokee Boy of the Wolf tribe; Peacock of the Beaver tribe; George Punck of the Snake tribe; Ronyan of the Big Mossy Turtle tribe; while Mononcue was chief of the Little Snapping Turtle tribe. Deunquott was head chief, and Rotunda or Warpole was the head war chief. These chiefs made up the great council of the nation, with power over every matter arising both within the tribe and with other tribes.5
The Jesuit missionaries had early found the Hurons most susceptible to the softening influences of Christian- ity,6 and the Catholics had continued their work among them, to some extent, but by the beginning of the nine- teenth century their beneficial influence over the tribe seems to have largely disappeared. It is true, there were still some among the Wyandots who professed Christian- ity, "but it appears, both from their morals and from the declarations of many who professed to be Catholics" that their profession had little effect upon their lives. Such were the people among whom the Methodist Epis- copal Church was destined to establish her first mission.
The medium through whom the Wyandots were brought to the attention of the Ohio Methodists was John Stew- art, a free born mulatto, a native of Virginia. During his youth he became addicted to intemperate habits, but on coming to Marietta, Ohio, he came under the influence of the Methodists, against whom he had previously enter- tained the greatest prejudice, and at a camp meeting near
6 Bangs, History of the Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 48.
" For an account of the work of the French missionaries among the Hurons see Francis Parkman, The Jesuits in North America.
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Marietta conducted by Marcus Lindsey, he was thoroughly converted and united with the Methodist Church. Soon after his reformation he became convinced that he ought to preach, and the call was particularly impressed upon him during a severe attack of sickness and he finally promised himself that he would obey that call. He says that he heard a voice calling him to the Northwest, and finally he started to travel in the direc- tion from whence the voices came. Continuing his course, sometimes in the road and sometimes in the woods, he at last came to a Moravian mission established among the Delawares, and from them he learned of the Indians farther north. Leaving the Moravians, he next journeyed to Pipetown, where a group of Delawares lived, and to them he sang and gave an exhortation, and although they invited him to remain among them, he still felt that he had not yet come to the right place. He took his departure and finally arrived at the home of William Walker, Sr., at Upper Sandusky, the United States Indian Sub-agent.7
The Indian agent, William Walker, suspected that Stewart was a runaway slave, but as Stewart told the story of his conversion and his call to preach, he became convinced of his sincerity. The wife of William Walker was herself a half Wyandot and a woman of intelligence, and she with her whole family became staunch friends of Stewart and remained untiring friends to the mission after it was established.
Stewart was directed by the Walker family to another colored man, Jonathan Pointer, who had lived among the Wyandots since boyhood and who understood the Wyandot tongue like one of the natives. Stewart called upon Pointer and implored him to act as an interpreter.
7 Stewart left a short manuscript account of his experience, which came into the possession of James B. Finley, who has told the story in his Life Among the Indians, pp. 233-282. See also Finley, History of the Wyandot Mission; also Bangs, History of the Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, pp. 48-82.
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But Pointer was very reluctant to do so and tried to dis- suade Stewart from his purpose of preaching to the In- dians. Stewart, however, persisted, and finally Pointer consented to introduce him to the chiefs as "a friend to their souls." Thus was the work of John Stewart begun among the Wyandots. Up to this time his work among the Indians was entirely independent of any church, and he continued his individual work among them through the fall and winter of 1816 and 1817. During the course of the winter there was a great religious awakening among the Indians and among those who professed re- ligion was Jonathan Pointer, the negro interpreter.8
Stewart early in the spring of 1817 returned to Mari- etta, from which place he sent to the Indians, through the agent, Mr. Walker, an address, dated May 25, 1817,9 enjoining those who had accepted Christianity to faith- fulness. On his return to Upper Sandusky in the late spring Stewart found to his sorrow that very few of his converts had remained steadfast. To make things more difficult and discouraging he also had to meet a powerful opposition, led by several of the chiefs, prominent among them being Mononcue and Bloody-Eyes. In spite of these discouragements Stewart continued his work with some success until the year 1818, when he again returned to Marietta, remaining there until the autumn of that year.
On his second return to the Wyandots he was compelled to face a new difficulty. It was learned that he had been acting independently of any church and for that reason he was accused of being an impostor. This determined Stewart to attach himself to the Methodist Episcopal Church at a nearer point than Marietta, where he held an exhorter's license. In the year 1818, while on a visit to some Indians on the Great Miami, he made the ac- quaintance of Robert Armstrong and some other Method-
" I am following here the account as given by Finley, in his History of the Wyandot Mission.
· This address may be found in Finley, Life Among the Indians, pp. 249-255.
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ists living near Bellefontaine. From them he learned that there was to be a Quarterly Meeting of the Belle- fontaine Circuit held near Urbana, and to this meeting he determined to go and seek a local preacher's license. Accordingly, Stewart appeared at Urbana before the quarterly meeting, over which Moses Crume was presiding as the Elder, accompanied by several Indians, and bear- ing recommendations from the converted chiefs that he was a proper person to be licensed as a local preacher. In the account of these proceedings given by Moses Crume he states that Bishop George was present at the Quarterly Meeting and approved the granting of the license to Stewart.10
Stewart now returned to the Indians armed with his local preacher's license and with a promise that he would be assisted in his work by the other local preachers of the circuit. Meanwhile the news of Stewart's work was spreading within the church and had come to the atten- tion of Bishop McKendree. When the Ohio Conference convened in Cincinnati in 1819, the following action in regard to the work among the Indians was taken :
The Conference determined that a Missionary be sent to the northern Indians, and that James Montgomery a Local Preacher be employed. Moved by James Quinn and seconded by J. Collins that the mission be under the direction of the Presiding Elder of the Lebanon District and the Preachers of the Mad River cir- cuit. John Strange, Moses Crume, and John Sale were appointed a committee to wait on Brother Montgomery, to ascertain if he want any assistance to enable him to carry into effect his Mis- sion; and also to open a subscription to raise supplies for that purpose.11
The day following the committee appointed to wait on James Montgomery reported as follows :
The committee appointed yesterday to wait on Brother Mont-
10 For the statement of Moses Crume see Finley, Life Among the Indians, pp. 260, 261.
11 See MSS. Journal for 1819.
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gomery, reported that he is ready and willing to enter on his mission, if he can be furnished with one hundred dollars im- mediately, which shall be deducted from his annual allowances, which is two hundred dollars and his travelling expenses: but is understood that his accounts are to be subject to the investi- gation of the committee appointed to take charge of the mission.
The committee for the Indian mission is authorized to employ John Stewart, a man of colour to cooperate with Brother Mont- gomery on his mission, and they can furnish him with what assistance they think proper.12
Immediately after this committee made their report this entry in the Journal appears :
James Montgomery a local deacon was elected to the office of elder.
There were at this time no missionary funds and in order to make possible the sending of Montgomery to the Wyandots a collection was taken among the preach- ers of the Ohio Conference which amounted to seventy dollars. The two preachers on the Mad River Circuit in the year 1819 were Russell Bigelow and Robert W. Finley, and they with the presiding elder, James B. Finley, were the committee appointed by the Conference to aid the mis- sion and provide for the missionaries.13 Soon after the close of the Conference Colonel Johnson, the Indian agent, requested that James Montgomery be released from his appointment as missionary so that he might serve as a sub-agent to the Senecas. This was accordingly done and the presiding elder employed Moses Henkle to take his place.
The first regular Quarterly Meeting held with the In- dians was appointed for the house of Ebenezar Zane, a half-white man, at Zanesville on the Mad River. There were about sixty Indians present with four chiefs, among
12 This is the first mention made of John Stewart in the Journal of the Ohio Con- ference.
13 James B. Finley, Life Among the Indians, p. 262.
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them being Between-the-Logs, Hicks, Mononcue and Scuteash. At this meeting the chiefs all spoke in the evening, at which a large number of whites had gathered from the surrounding country. Between-the-Logs' speech is especially interesting, for he gave the history of re- ligion among his people, telling of the work of the French Catholics, of the teaching of the great Shawnee prophet, and finally of the coming of Stewart and the Methodists.14
At the end of the year Finley asked the Indians if they desired the work to be continued among them. In reply they stated "we desire the old father to keep coming at least another year when his year is out ; and we want our brother, Armstrong to come to us as often as he can, and our brothers Stewart and Jonathan to stay among us and help us, as they have done : and we hope our good fathers will not give us up because so many of our people are wicked and do wrong," etc.
At the next session of the Ohio Conference held at Chillicothe, in August, 1820, Moses Hinkle was reap- pointed, and the Conference approved the report of the committee on the Indian mission. They further author- · ized the committee to give "John Stewart and Jonathan Pointer, men of colour, who were also employed in the mission what support they think needful."15 The Con- ference also sent an address to the Indians on the subject of religion and ordered that each of its members should circulate a subscription to raise money for the support of the mission.16
While the first Methodist mission was getting under
14 James B. Finley, Life Among the Indians, pp. 269-273. See a letter from Finley, Methodist Magazine, vol. iii, pp. 34-40. 1820. 15 MSS. Journal for 1820.
16 The action in regard to the subscription paper was as follows:
"The Conference ordered that each of its members shall circulate a subscription to raise monies for the support of the Indian mission: and they shall be accountable to the next conference for the performance of this duty: and that the comitee in charge of the mission shall get an address with a subscription connected therewith, printed, and forward to the P. Elders, a copy for each preacher under their respective charges" (MSS. Journal, 1820).
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way in the bounds of the Ohio Conference, a Methodist Missionary Society was being organized in New York. Methodism had always been missionary in character. It was the missionary spirit which brought the first Meth- odist preachers to America, and with this spirit Francis Asbury was imbued to the last breath. While Asbury was active among the Conferences it had been his custom to collect money wherever he could, to supply the wants of necessitous preachers and their families. During the latter years of his life he carried about a subscription book, in which no one was allowed to subscribe more than one dollar. This he called his mite subscription, and the sums thus collected were divided among the Annual Con- ferences to meet the most needy cases in order the more effectively to extend the work of the church among the poor and destitute.17
Soon after the death of Bishop Asbury it was pro- posed to form a Missionary Society under the direct con- trol of the Methodist Episcopal Church to raise funds and to more effectively direct the sending of workers into the needy fields. Of course there were the usual objectors, but these were overruled for the following reasons, as given by Nathan Bangs: First, other denominations had . organized missionary societies and so zealous were they that many Methodist people were contributing to them; second, it was evident that although the Methodist sys- tem is missionary in character yet there were many places, such as new and destitute settlements, which were incapable of supporting the gospel; third, work among the Indians was opening up; fourth it might become the duty of the Methodists to help "others in extending the Redeemer's kingdom in foreign nations"; and finally, it
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