USA > South Dakota > The Baptist history of South Dakota > Part 6
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August 10, 1864, he writes :- "We had intended to build a church in this place, and one in Bon Homme, the ensuing spring, or perhaps earlier. Since the visit of the grasshoppers we have concluded to defer building at Bon Homme for the present, but we need a place, a house of worship, here. We have no place in which to hold our meetings, except once in each month, then we have the capitol building. All other meetings have to be held on ranches or wherever we can get a place. We have no separate Sunday school, which we deem important. We wish, by the grace of God, to do
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our own work in our own way. As the people have had such an afflictive dispensation of Providence in having their food, etc., taken from them this season, they do not object to having us call on Christians, in more favored circumstances, to aid them in the erec- tion of a comfortable and proper house of worship. There is not such a house in the territory for any de- nomination. Our brethren are particularly anxious that I should go on such an errand, to be absent from four to six weeks. Rev. Albert Gore, who I think ought to be preaching, will take care of most of my appointments during my absence, if I go. For the above reasons and to aid in arranging my family for the winter, I should like to leave in September or Oc- tober if the board approves. The proposition is en- dorsed by the governor, surveyor-general and other officials here."
In his report dated November 1, 1864, he says: - "I statedly supply three stations and two out-stations. I have labored thirteen weeks this quarter; preached thirty-seven sermons; delivered one lecture on educa- tion; attended three other religious meetings; visited religiously one hundred and three families; and have traveled in the discharge of my duties six hundred and twenty-two miles. I have received from my people eighty-seven dollars. One of my preaching stations, Bon Homme, has been so far forsaken by its inhabi- tants that for the present I have discontinued appoint- ments there. There are only three or four families left in the place. The people left on account of Indian alarms and the fear of famine during the winter. We have had a preliminary organization of a church, or rather a Baptist missionary association. The object is to secure concert of action, to have our friends ac-
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quainted with each other, and to have all feel the obli- gations of church membership as far as possible. The reason of this preliminary arrangement is that our members live so far apart that hitherto it has not been practicable to have a general meeting, when we could have the church formally and fully organized. The "modus operandi" was to read to each, or have each read the articles of faith and the covenant, and on ob- taining their assent and approval, to put down their names as members of the association. At the earliest day consistent, we intend to have a general meeting and then have our church properly organized. Until then I do not feel at liberty to administer the ordi- nances. We number eighteen members. I have at- tended one funeral since I came to the territory, and that was a case of suicide, a Roman Catholic. There are no Catholic priests here.
"Our people are struggling nobly against the effects of the drought and the grasshopper raid last season. Some have left the territory through fear of want and distress during the winter, but by timely efforts, which we are encouraging all to put forth, we think provisions enough will be secured to prevent any par- ticular suffering from want of food. This was re- garded as an important point, and encouragement has been given to the work by those having the interests of the people at heart. I have taken hold personally, and have done what I consistently could in connection with my other labors. I went once to mill. between forty-five and fifty miles, into the state of Iowa, pur- chased grain, had it ground, returned, and distributed among the families that furnished the means.
"Notwithstanding all the unfavorable circumstances, Yankton has never grown so rapidly as it has the past
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season. It is the capital of the territory and must grow. It seems to me that now is the time to secure the right influence for the Baptist church here and the Baptist cause in the territory. I therefore have con- cluded to avail myself of the kindness of the board in granting me a furlough for three months, to visit our brethren and friends in the east, and secure means to erect for us a good and convenient house of worship. This we propose to build next season. We have a very pleasant outside influence in our favor here. The Hon. W. A. Burleigh, delegate to congress elect, will head the subscription with $250.00. Governor Edmonds will also help, and others, so that we look here for from one to two thousand dollars. Then we wish to raise enough abroad to build us a house that will cost from four to five thousand dollars. Mr. Burleigh, whose mother is a Baptist, and an intelligent one, says he will make efforts in Pennsylvania, and especially in Philadelphia, where he is personally acquainted, and this he will do without expense to us. He expresses the belief that enough can be easily raised to give us a house worth five thousand dollars. I now intend to leave about the middle of December, or before."
Yankton, Dak., February 1, 1865 .- " Report of labor under the appointment of the Home Mission Society for the third quarter, ending January 31st, 1865: I have labored thirteen weeks in this quarter; preached twenty-three sermons ; delivered one lecture ; attended six prayer meetings and other religious meetings : vis- ited sixty-one families and persons religiously, and have traveled in the discharge of my duties one hun- dred and eighty miles. I have received on account of my salary eighty-one dollars. Besides the above I have opened thirty-five meetings of the Legislative
6
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Council with praver, for which service I received sixty dollars, which is included in the amount here acknowl- edged. I am now able to avail myself of the kindness of the board in allowing me to visit my family and arrange matters for their comfort and welfare. Brother Gore will fill my appointments during my absence, and if the board approves, will take the field and devote himself to the work of preaching the glori- ous gospel. He is an intelligent and capable brother, and I have labored to get him into the field somewhere. His family are here, and I am willing to give him my place, though I like the field and the country."
Mr. Judson left Dakota early in February, 1865. His successor was Rev. Albert Gore. In his formal appli- cation for appointment, under date of January 23, 1865, Mr. Gore says : "My postoffice address is Yankton. I am thirty-one years of age. There are in my family, depending on me for support, four. I was educated at Kalamazoo College, Michigan, and was ordained at Watervliet, Michigan." In his letter accompanying his first quarterly report, dated May 1, 1865, he says : "I reside at Brule Creek, Union county, Dakota. My field comprises the settled portions of the Territory of Dakota. I statedly supply four stations. I have received from the field on account of salary during the quarter $11.00. I very much regret the change on this field. I am well satisfied that it would have been far better for the cause to have kept Brother Judson here. He seemed peculiarly adapted to this kind of labor. I am not. Besides, I have been here for nearly three vears attending to secular matters, and most of the time taking an active part in the politics of Dakota. This course of conduct has made me many enemies here, and of course I must now contend against their
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prejudices. Brother Judson came here as a minister. The people received him gladly, and were far better pleased with him than with any minister of whatever denomination that has ever been here before." After stating that he came to Dakota to secure a home for himself and family, he writes: "At Mr. Judson's request I gave up all to engage again in the work of the ministry, which, however, I intended to do next year." He then adds that he does not consider himself well adapted to that field, and that his family was about to return to Michigan, whither he expected to go in the near future.
The last letter from him is dated at Brule Creek, October 31, 1865, saying that he has statedly supplied three stations and two out-stations, and received from the field on account of salary, $25.00. He makes this statement concerning the disturbed condition of things in the new settlements: "During the month of Au- gust the upper Indians came down upon our settlement, and within sight of my door killed one man, and wounded three others, at work cutting their hay. This has caused great excitement and alarm through this portion of the country, and created a general feeling of insecurity among all classes of our citizens. Many left for a time, and many more are kept in constant prep- aration to leave at the first re-appearance of danger. While this feeling prevailed it was almost impossible to get the people together for religious exercises, as every one seemed impressed mainly with thoughts of their own personal safety; consequently we decided it was best to delay completing our organization until those of our number who left return and quiet is again restored among us."
These extracts from letters and reports furnish
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substantially all the information now available con- cerning the nine months of missionary services ren- dered in Dakota by Rev. L. P. Judson, in 1864, and eleven months in 1865 by Rev. Albert Gore. It is unfortunate that Mr. Judson did not return to the field, to accom- plish, if possible, the work begun, and thus perfect the organization of the church at Yankton, and build the contemplated house of worship. From his letters it is evident that he thought that he had left the work in competent hands, but his successor, according to his own statement, was not so well qualified for the field or the work. Each of them labored under conditions that put limitations upon the results that they desired to accomplish. Some of those adverse conditions have already been stated. Mr. Judson came to Dakota in charge of a colony from New York. In supervising the interests of this colony it was necessary to give to it considerable time and attention. Mr. Gore came in 1862 to establish a home, and without intending to de- vote his time to missionary work. It is said, by some of the earliest pioneers, that when he filed his applica- tion on his homestead at Brule Creek it was the first application made by any of the early settlers on gov- ernment lands in that section of the territory. He gave his attention mainly to secular business and politics. He was a member of the territorial legisla- ture in 1863-4. Mr. Judson was elected chaplain by the legislature in 1864.
The facts recorded in this chapter, having been ob- tained so recently, will be entirely new to the Baptists of the present generation, and substantially so even to surviving pioneer missionaries. The latter, who came in 1871 and later, have been able to learn comparatively little of the first missionary movements in the terri-
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tory, previous to their own identification with the work. The few earliest Baptists who knew anything of the feeble beginnings, under the leadership of L. P. Judson and Albert Gore, had been scattered, and they left be- hind them no records of the church organization or any details of missionary work accomplished. With this explanation, the reader will better understand occa- sional references to this period, in the historical remi- niscences given by Rev. J. E. Rockwood and Rev. G. W. Freeman, in Chapters VII and IX.
CHAPTER VII.
REV. J. E. ROCKWOOD.
The statements recorded in the preceding chapter give us all the available information concerning the first Baptist missionary movements in South Dakota. From them we learn that the attempt to establish a Baptist church was not permanently successful. The unsettled condition of things in the new settlements at that time was unfavorable. The first missionary on the field seemed to be interested in his work, but there were limitations on his usefulness. The second mis- sionary was but little interested in either the field or the work. His time and attention were devoted largely to other things. Under these conditions, and others local in their character, no permanent results were ac- complished.
The third missionary whose name is identified with our religious operations in South Dakota was Rev. J. E. Rockwood. His zeal and devotion are deserving of the highest commendation. The services that he rendered were incidental to his work as pastor of the First Baptist church in Sioux City. Ia .. vet they left a permanent impression on the state of South Dakota. From March, 1866, to August, 1869, he made numerous missionary tours up the Missouri river, especially to Yankton, Vermillion and Elk Point. Baptist churches were organized at Yankton and Vermillion. The
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scattered Baptists were gathered together, and were greatly encouraged by the ministrations of the gospel.
In 1868, Rev. G. J. Johnson, D. D., Western Secre- tary of the American Baptist Publication Society. accompanied Mr. Rockwood on one of his regular mis- sionary tours from Sioux City into Dakota Territory. The following extracts are taken from his letters written at Yankton. April 27. 1868, and published in the Central Baptist, at St. Louis, Mo .:
" Beautiful for situation is Yankton, the capital of Dakota. It is on an elevated plain, on the north bank of the Missouri river. It is sixty-five miles in a straight course northwest from Sioux City, and is in the southeast part of the territory. Only ten years ago the first white man settled here, and only eight years ago came the first white women. The only other towns of importance are Vermillion, thirty miles below, along the river, and Elk Point, about fifteen miles below Vermillion. These two towns are county seats, and each has possibly two hundred inhabitants. Sioux Falls on the Sioux river, was the first point at which a settlement was made, in 1856, but at the time of the Indian massacre in 1862, the place was abandoned, and now has a very small white population, beside the soldiers stationed there. Several days of travel and observation through this valley country have prepared us to pronounce it as rich and productive as any land that we have ever seen.
"Of course, in a territory only a few days more than seven years old, and where the population is so small and widely scattered, our denominational organizations must be few and feeble. Rev. J. E. Rockwood, of Sioux City. Iowa, who is Baptist bishop of all the northwestern part of Iowa, is sole bishop also of Dakota. He has traversed the entire settled portion of this territory, looked up the scattered Baptists, and organized three little churches, all there are as vet in Dakota. First, a church of seven members was organ-
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ized in this city. Yankton, February 3, 1867; a second one of five members at Vermillion, February 16, 1868, and a third one yesterday, April 26, at Elk Point. There are about as many more Baptists in the vicinity of these little churches. ready to unite with them as soon as the opportunity is offered. There are prob- ably fifty Baptists in all, scattered through the settle- ments of the territory, but no minister lives among them, and they have no house of worship. Surely this is with them a 'day of small things.'
"But there is a great future coming. There is yet to be a great population in Dakota, and this now wild territory is to become one of the great states of our Union. Then will our little churches become strong ones, and the few Baptists of today will be' numbered by thousands. Notwithstanding, then, the work of Brother Rockwood may now appear so small, it is nevertheless great, not only in its importance to the present population of this territory, but in the fact that it is the foundation work for a great future."
These extracts from the correspondence of Dr. John- son are given here as the testimony of one who in that early day was able to make a personal study of the field, and knew something of the character of the pio- neer work done by Rev. J. E. Rockwood. The follow- ing sketch is a valuable contribution to the early Bap- tist history of South Dakota. It was prepared by Mr. Rockwood in 1892:
EARLY BAPTIST MOVEMENTS IN DAKOTA.
Since your request came for a historical paper, I have been searching such records as I have at my com- mand. I will do the best I can in sketching early Baptist movements in Dakota. What I have to say will be largely autobiographical, for reasons which will be evident further on.
I reached Sioux City, Iowa, October 29, 1864. Breth- ren who knew more of the west than I did, seemed to
REV. J. E. ROCKWOOD.
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shudder at the bravado with which I commenced my stage journey from central Iowa for the frontier at Sioux City, about two hundred miles distant. Mv inquiries at Sioux City concerning the region towards the setting sun, disclosed the fact that a few Baptists were known to be located at Yankton and Vermillion, and that Rev. Albert Gore was on a claim, at Brule Creek, six or seven miles north of Elk Point. He had preached occasionally at Sioux City. I do not think it was known at Sioux City that Rev. L. P. Judson was in the Territory of Dakota. How soon I became ac- quainted with Brother Gore I do not now remember. Probably not until Brother Judson left Dakota, which was on January 24, 1865. As he passed through the
city he called on me, and reported the situation. I think that he had entered the territory with what was known as the New York Colony. He may have been largely instrumental in starting that movement. He certainly gave much of his time and labor to its inter- ests. Some of the Baptists at Yankton must have known of him, but his own statements, and later in- quiries made on the ground, coincide in showing that his evangelistic and missionary efforts are to be placed at a minimum. He left Dakota convinced that his colony was, for the time, a failure. The tension and drain of the civil war made its plans inopportune.
As Mr. Gore's commission dated from February, 1865, and my endorsement was given to the applica- tion, it is possible that he had reported the movements of Mr. Judson, and the possibility of his departure. During the first half of the time that he held his com- mission, I heard but little concerning him or his work. I was then too busy with our church building enter- prise at Sioux City, and with my Iowa explorations, to go spying into a brother's work, especially as a region in Iowa sixty miles east and west, and reaching from the Minnesota line south to Council Bluffs, was the "vicinity" named in my commission. In September, 1865, Mr. Gore supplied my pulpit while I attended the Western Iowa association at Jefferson. As this re-
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quired 320 miles travel with a pony, he came and went during my absence.
On Saturday, November 18, Rev. E. T. Hiscox, D. D .. of New York and Rev. C. A. Bateman, then of Mis- souri, came to Sioux City. On Monday morning I drove to Elk Point and Brule Creek, taking both these brethren with me. The object of Dr. Hiscox's visit was a personal inspection of the home mission stations along what was then the border of the east side of the Rocky Mountains. Brother Gore's field was then the ultima thule, as mine had been earlier, and was later. I had already met Brother Gore at various times, and had sufficient knowledge of his work to have saved that long journey of nearly sixty miles, through a very sparsely settled country. I declined the responsibility of such a report, and insisted upon personal inspection by Dr. Hiscox. Of his interview with Brother Gore, and its results, I know nothing. " I do know that while his commission made Yankton the center of his opera- tions, he spent most of his time on his claim at Brule Creek, forty miles distant, and that he made few ap- pointments for Sabbath services far or near.
Yet a broader view than this is due to Brother Gore and his work. The same conditions which made Brother Judson's movements futile, were still opera- tive. In 1864, the only portions of the territory which were settled, were limited by the valley of the Missouri and in the region of Pembina. The Missouri valley settlements were stretched out one hundred miles westward, along the river. The civil war and the mountain gold fever had reduced the population of Sioux City from two thousand in 1859 to about eight hundred in 1864. The grasshopper raid of 1864 had compelled the temporary abandonment of a considerable proportion of homesteads in Dakota. The Indian scare, while it sent some away, saved that region for the time from utter ruin. It was the government expenditures, rather than the bullets of the soldiers, that protected the settlements. The vain marching and counter- marching of the troops made them in some respects a
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laughing stock. But those who knew laughed for another reason. Still it is true that the troops kept the people there, and kept the Indians away.
Under such conditions missionary work was possible only through the support of the Home Mission Society. The settlers had no money to help. Money was gath- ered only by those who speculated in government supplies, and was lavishly expended by them, but they never made good church deacons, and pastors could not depend on them for advice. No one dared to say that he and his family would report at roll call, after another trial at cropping the newly broken prairies. Brother Gore's latest connection with Baptist work in Dakota was really ended in December, 1865. His fam- ilv had gone east. I think, the year before. He came to Sioux City and remained at our house until January 14, 1866, when he preached the sermon at the dedication of the first house of worship built by the First Baptist church in Sioux City. A day or two later he left us, going southward.
A member of a family living at Brule Creek, Dakota. boarded in my home during the winter of 1865-6. At the request of this family I visited Elk Point and Brule Creek and held services March 25. 1866. Home duties prevented further explorations for a time. January 1. 1867, with the mercury eight degrees below zero. I rode to Vermillion, and stopped with a brother Carpenter. The next day I drove to Yankton. There I found a Dr. Stevens, from below Elk Point. He was attending the territorial legislature. I stopped at the Bradley house with him. Next evening, Thursday) I preached in the Episcopal church. During this visit I made the acquaintance of Judge M. Congleton and wife. J. D. Vanderhule and wife, Mrs. Morrow. Mrs. Savage, and Mrs. Monroe -- all Baptists. I believe. On the 4th I returned to Sioux City, sixty-five miles, reaching home in the evening, during a blizzard. I missed the road once in the darkness, and when I found it I had passed Dr. Stevens' house, my intended stopping place. I preferred the risk of a ten-mile drive with the drifting
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snow storm, then increasing, rather than to face the northwest wind, though I knew that I was only a mile from the desired shelter.
On the first of February I drove again to Vermillion. Here I had to leave my sleigh and take to the saddle for a ride of thirty miles to Yankton. I preached there in the evening. On Sabbath afternoon, February 3. 1867, I organized the First Baptist church at Yankton, at the home of Judge Congleton. Among the constitu- ent members were Judge Congleton and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Vanderhule, Mrs. Savage and Mrs. Morrow. Other preaching tours were made to Yankton and Vermillion and Elk Point, in the months of July, August. September, November and December, 1867, January, February, March, June, July and September, 1868. I preached in and near Yankton twenty-nine times. The latest date is that of two services held there August 1, 1869. The Yankton church reported by letter and delegates to the. Western Iowa Baptist Association. Its name is on the pages of the minutes of that association as a member, I think as early as 1867, but certainly so in 1868. My records show_that, commencing with my first trip to Yankton, in January 1867, down to the organization of the church at Vermil- lion, I had preached in Dakota, west of the Sioux river, thirty-six times, within nine of the fourteen calendar months of this interval, and that sixteen other sermons followed, closing with August 1, 1869.
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