USA > South Dakota > The Baptist history of South Dakota > Part 7
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The Baptist church at Vermillion was organized February 16, 1868, in the old "log school house, at the foot of the ravine, near where the town was formerly located. I have an indistinct recollection of statements connecting that building or its erection with the move- ment of troops sent to guard the settlements from Indian depredations. I had left home the day before. and found extremely muddy roads. I reached Vermil- lion late, but preached before sleeping. On the 15th I preached in the log school house twice, carried through the work of organization, and then preached in the school house about three miles north. The four ser-
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vices, besides the extra work, fell within twenty-four hours. At the close I bade them drive with me where they pleased, and I dropped upon the straw in the wagon box to rest my bursting head. In less than thirty days from this I was lying on my bed at home, unconscious, nerveless, paralyzed. For five years mine was a fight with the imminence of death. I am thank- ful to believe that at the end of that time, I had so far recovered as to be no more liable to paralytic troubles than if I had never so suffered. The constituent mem- bers of the church at Vermillion were T. K. Hovey, Mrs. Electa B. Hovey, Sanford A. Ufford, Mrs. Wm. Shriner and Miss Rachael M. Ross | Mrs. H. J. Austin. On June 22 I baptized Sister Thompson in the Vermil- lion river, and in the evening she and her husband were received into the church. This church was also re- ceived into membership by the Western Iowa Baptist Association, September 4, 1868, and was represented by delegates T. K. Hovey and wife, and Rachael M. Ross.
The organization of the church at Elk Point occurred April 26, 1868. Rev. G. J. Johnson, D. D., district secretary of the Publication Society. was with me. He preached at Vermillion April 23, at Yankton on the 24th, and at Elk Point on the 25th and 26th. Deacon Weston and wife and two others responded to the call for organization. Nothing more was done at that time. I preached at Elk Point only once more, July 21. We had expected a larger membership. As matters turned out, the organization at Elk Point was merely nominal. As to officers, I think that only a clerk was chosen. The other churches, at Yankton and Vermillion, were fully officered and performed regular church work. Dr. Johnson took up collections for the Publication Society. I had at different times taken collections for the Home Mission Society. Through Dr. Johnson I received an appointment as a colporteur, and did some of that kind of work in the territory. I had expected to continue longer in the pastoral oversight of the three churches that were organized in Dakota, but my fight
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for life was not vet over. For a considerable time I could do but little pulpit work. I suppose that after a time the churches ceased regular work until Rev. G. W. Freeman came.
I may add some statements showing under what diffi- culties I was laboring. The distance from Sioux City to Yankton was sixty-five miles. The nearest Baptist pastors in Iowa were at Dennison and Council Bluffs. Calls for work were incessant, east, north and south of Sioux City. All of this travel, and that to the associa- tions and conventions, and into Dakota, had to be done by my own team. The services rendered in Dakota began March 25, 1865, and ended August 1, 1869. When I settled in Sioux City, in October. 1864, I had to go by stage from Boonesboro, Iowa, a distance of about two hundred miles. Since then, while engaged in this bor- der warfare of nearly thirty years' duration, I have learned to face the storms of nature and of man, to suffer and to wait. The end will come by and by. As I look over the State Annuals, I see the growth of our churches since I gave myself to frontier work. All of the churches in the two Dakotas, and all in Nebraska except three, are later than my first work in what are now three states.
One of your inquiries remains unanswered. It is concerning the visit to Dakota of Rev. E. E. L. Taylor. D. D., who was then one of the corresponding secre- taries of the Home Mission Society. He spent a few days in Dakota during the last week of July, 1866, visiting the Yankton Indian agency. His chief or only business while in Dakota was concerning a proposition of the government to furnish some of the Indian agencies with teachers appointed by the Home Mission Society, and paid by the government. His investiga- tions led to an adverse report, and so far as Baptists were concerned, the matter passed out of sight.
When I left Sioux City and Dakota in 1869, the tide of immigration had but fairly reached us. I think that Sioux City doubled in population in 1869 and again in 1870. Dakota gained in like proportion. The uplands
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began to be chosen for tillage as well as for grazing. Railroad communication was opened to Sioux City in 1868. My conveniences for travel were by stage coach, by pony express, and sometimes by ferries propelled by my own arms. As my avoirdupois never exceeded one hundred and twenty-five pounds, that brawn was never excessive. The roads between towns were lined with grass often ten feet high. To avoid the mud in summer I was accustomed, in going up the Missouri, to skirt the bluffs until they turned up the James river, and then go for miles through the grass when it was higher than my head when standing up in my carriage. My compass was sighting a point on the river when entering the grass, and a straight trail afterward. Dry matches in my pocket were my fire guard in the spring and autumn months.
I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to do what I did in the early days of Dakota. I would be glad to greet once more the friends I then knew. Some time, perhaps, I may see Dakota again-but my Dakota, of the '60's, is gone forever.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPLAIN GEORGE D. CROCKER.
Among the earliest pioneers in Dakota Territory was Rev. George D. Crocker. Having served as chaplain of a New York regiment during the civil war, he was appointed chaplain in the regular army in 1867. and was at once assigned to duty at Fort Wadsworth, Da- kota, in what afterwards became known as the Sisseton Reservation. In 1870, his post of duty was changed to Fort Sully, where he remained until 1885. His term of service in Dakota covered a period of eighteen years. Those under his immediate care as chaplain were the officers and soldiers at the military posts where he was stationed. To them he was conscientiously faithful, seeking to promote their moral and spiritual condition. As the result of his labors conversions were frequent. The Standard, in May 1875, gives an account of a re- vival at Fort Sully. By the kind co-operation of the post commandant and the post quartermaster, a con- venient baptistry was constructed at the fort, and three soldiers were then baptized. Others were baptized afterwards. The writer has interviewed several offi- cers of the regular army, who were stationed at these military posts, and all have spoken in the highest terms of the gentlemanly bearing and Christian fidelity of Chaplain Crocker.
But faithful services rendered to those who were specially under his religious oversight did not fill up
CHAPLAIN GEORGE D. CROCKER.
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the measure of his usefulness. He sought to help others, at first the Indians to whom he could tell the good news of the gospel in their own language, and afterwards it was his delight to cheer and comfort the incoming settlers, who were scattered as sheep having no shepherd. Through the Standard, and other relig- ious newspapers, he occasionally gave notice to the early settlers. of the fact of his being stationed at Fort Sully, and his readiness to respond to any calls for re- ligious services, or assistance and comfort in cases of sickness or death.
As a military officer, he could not engage in distinc- tively denominational work, vet through frequent visits and sermons preached, he was mainly instrumental in the organization of the Baptist churches at Pierre and Blunt. Among the homes in Pierre where he was always a welcome guest was that of Hon. D. C. Mead. In answer to a request for reminiscences concerning Chaplain Crocker, Mrs. Mead describes the zeal and interest shown by him in the matter of a church organ- ization, his deep spirituality. his gentleness, and his earnest desire to do good to others, and says, "My thought of him is that of a pure. white soul, doing the kindest thing in the kindest way. " One of the tributes to his life and character, published after his death, in 1888, by one who knew him best says, "The Christian character of this departed saint was one of strength and beauty. His daily walk and conversation exempli- fied, to a remarkable degree, the doctrines of the gospel which it was his delight to preach. A peculiar tender- ness and sweetness of disposition, and a spirit of love and charity towards all, were most happily united with a firm unwavering adherence to his views of duty and doctrine."
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At the request of the writer, who felt that the ser- vices rendered by Chaplain Crocker entitled him to an honored record among the faithful pioneers in the Baptist history of South Dakota, the following sketch of his life and work has been prepared by one of his daughters, Miss Mary G. Crocker, of Denver, Col .:
George Dauchy Crocker was born at Ridgefield. Conn., December 25, 1822. He was of Huguenot ances- try, being descended on the maternal side from one Jacques D'Auchy, the story of whose martyrdom is detailed in Benedict's "History of the Baptists." His father was a useful local preacher of the Methodist church at Ridgefield. He was converted at the age of 16 vears, in Detroit, Mich., and was baptized at Dan- bury, Conn., by Rev. Addison Parker. In 1843 he was licensed to preach by the Second Baptist church of Danbury. He received his education at the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution now Colgate University).
In 1845 Mr. Crocker was ordained by a council called by the Baptist church of Cross River, N. Y. He was afterward pastor at Cross River and Ithaca, N. Y., South Groton, Newburyport and Edgerton, Mass., and Phoenix, R. I., and for some years was city missionary at Paterson, N. J. In 1852 he married Miss Lydia Allen, of Providence, R. I., who survives him, with a son and two daughters.
In 1861 he received an appointment as chaplain of the Sixth New York Volunteer Cavalry, and rendered faithful service throughout the war. Having been thus identified with the army for that long and trying term, it was but natural that his interest in the army, and his missionary zeal for his Master, should prompt him to seek an appointment in the regular army. From the date of that appointment, in 1867, until 1885, he was stationed at two garrisons in Dakota Territory-Fort Wadsworth (afterwards Fort Sisseton, and Fort Sully --- both now abandoned.
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It was during these riper years of his ministry, and on pioneer ground, that the most efficient and telling work of his life was done. Although his mission as an army chaplain was chiefly to those connected with the military posts at which he was stationed, and these army duties were not neglected, yet he considered it his duty, and made it his privilege, to preach and min- ister, wherever opportunity offered, to the Sioux Indians, whose language he learned, and who looked reverently upon him as their friend, when by most of the whites they were regarded with suspicion, or even disgust. Many a time in a smoky "teepee" or a stifling log hut, he gathered a little audience of dusky listeners, and, with his Dakota Indian Bible in hand, gave them the word of eternal life. And many a time in his journevings with his family over prairie and along river bottom, he would stop a traveling party of Indians, or one lone individual, and after preliminary courtesies, give them the good news in their own tongue. His quarters at Fort Sully were the goal of any poor red man in distress of any kind, and many of these heard the gospel there for the first time in their lives. The seed was sown beside all waters, and only One knows what prospered, this or that.
When, however, the lands in Dakota were surveyed and thrown open by the government to settlement, and little claim shanties and primitive hamlets began to spring up here and there, the chaplain considered his field enlarged, and his call to service in the "regions beyond" was gladly answered. Then it was his delight to drive out from Fort Sully, get acquainted with the people, and, when his duties at the garrison would allow, hold a gospel service with those whose only opportunity it was to hear the gospel preached. In the kindly offered homes of the settlers, and later in school houses, or in the open air, these simple services were held, followed by the brotherly hand-grasp with those in whose welfare he was genuinely interested, and who learned to look upon the chaplain's face, with its crown of snowy hair, and with peace and good-will
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beaming from it, as the face of their tried and true friend.
This work, as well as that at the fort, was of neces- sity, not upon a distinctively denominational basis. It was when a little company of Baptists was found among the new comers to the new settlement, since well known as Pierre, that his most fervid interest was awakened and centered. Recognizing the importance of the geo- graphical location of the town. and delighting in the fellowship of brother Baptists, from which he had been almost entirely cut off. he made frequent jour- nevs with his family, driving through bitter cold, or burning heat, from his station, a distance of thirty miles, that he might meet with and encourage these pioneers of the Baptist brotherhood of Pierre. since become a goodly band. When an organization was effected, and a place of meeting secured, his satisfac- tion and gratitude were great. The wilderness blos- somed as the rose. To have a part, however small, in the fulfilling of that blessed prophecy, and in the com- ing of the kingdom among men, is no small thing. Al- though very much of Chaplain Crocker's work was most quietly done, and in his retiring spirit he took no honor or credit to himself, even though from much of his work there was no apparent result, yet it is not too much to say that the seed of the kingdom, sown thus upon the virgin soil of the frontier, has in these later days, borne some fruit in the religious history of . South Dakota.
In 1885, Chaplain Crocker was appointed Superin- tendent of Education in the army, and stationed at St. Louis, where he remained until retired, according to army regulation, at the age of 64, in 1886. Some time was then spent in Detroit, Mich., where he expected to make the home of his declining years, and where the ministry of the beloved Dr. Z. Grenell was a source of great delight to him. Later, as health failed, he was taken to the seashore, in the hope of recovery, but after a long and distressing mental and physical illness, the faithful servant went from the home of his son, at Kan- "akee. Ill., to his eternal home, April 21, 1888.
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Chaplain Crocker's devotion to his Master, to duty, and to doctrine, were his strongest characteristics, and his delight in the prosperity of his beloved denomina- tion, was among his chief joys. The record of such a life is written above, and in the hearts of many, dusky of face, as well as white, who loved him, and to whom he pointed the way of life, in South Dakota.
CHAPTER IX.
REV. GEORGE W. FREEMAN.
The most conspicuous figure in the group of early pioneer laborers in South Dakota is Rev. George W. Freeman. He was born in Stockbridge, N. Y., August 10, 1819. After completing his education he came to Wisconsin in 1851, and became pastor at Whitewater. Other pastorates in Wisconsin were at Horicon. Lake City, New Lisbon, and Kilbourn City. For several vears he had charge of a young ladies' seminary at Fox Lake, Wisconsin. During the progress of the work of building the Union Pacific and Central Pacific rail- roads, he was employed by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to lead in pioneer missionary work at various important points along the lines of these trans- continental roads between Omaha and the Pacific coast. Several churches were organized and houses of wor- ship built under his superintendence.
After a preliminary visit to Dakota in 1870, he was appointed general missionary for the territory. He entered on the duties of this office March 1. 1871, and served two years and a half. During that time ten new churches were organized and several houses of worship were built. Nearly all of the white population of Dakota were then living in scattered settlements in a few of the southern counties of the territory. Though alone at first, except Chaplain G. D. Crocker, of the
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regular army, who was stationed at Fort Sully, and Rev. P. A. Ring, pastor of the Swedish Baptist church at Big Springs, other pioneer ministers soon came to serve as pastors of newly organized churches.
Reference is made elsewhere to the services ren- dered by Mr. Freeman, and a fuller account is given in the accompanying historical paper, furnished by him. For some years after he ceased to be general missionary, he was pastor at Elk Point, and here he made his home from 1871 until he was taken to his heavenly home. During the last nine or ten years of his life, while not serving anywhere as pastor, he ren- dered excellent service as supply on various pastorless fields. He did not want to be idle, but desired to be useful while he lived, and this desire was gratified. Though always a warm and generous friend of Sioux Falls University, and actively identified with it from its beginning, he was able during the last few months of his life to render specially helpful service as its financial agent, in active measures for removing its indebtedness and increasing its endowment. He died suddenly, of heart failure, at his home in Elk Point. March 13, 1895. A life that had always been active and useful came, almost without warning, to its honor- able ending. His death is mourned by those who remember him during the period of his pioneer work, and by many who knew him after he had reached a ripe old age. After impressive funeral services at the Baptist church, his remains were taken for burial to Lake City, Minnesota.
The following condensed historical sketch was pre- pared by Mr. Freeman in September, 1874. This early date will explain references to preliminary missionary work on one or two fields where now there are flourish-
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ing Baptist churches. In explanation of the reference to the organization of churches at Yankton in 1867, and at Vermillion and Elk Point in 1868, the reader is re- ferred to the historical paper furnished by Mr. Rock- wood, and published in Chapter VII. For information concerning the services rendered in 1864 and 1865 by Rev. L. P. Judson and Rev. Albert Gore, see Chapter VI.
The American Baptist Home Mission Society, in its report for 1873, has the following item: "Our first mis- sionary to Dakota was Rev. L. P. Judson, who went there in 1864." As the result of diligent inquiry one Baptist was found in Yankton who had seen and heard him. For a short time he was there engaged in secular business, and in connection therewith, preached two or three discourses.
In 1867 Rev. J. E. Rockwood, missionary pastor at Sioux City, Iowa. make some visits up the Missouri river, preaching at Elk Point, Vermillion and Yankton. On February 3, 1867, he organized a Baptist church at Yankton. In connection with this movement at Yank- ton, preliminary organizations were effected at Elk Point and Vermillion. The date of the organization at Vermillion was February 16, 1868. On account of fail- ing health he resigned his charge at Sioux City (August. 1869), and these interests were left with no one to care for them. It would be unjust to Bro. Rockwood not to make honorable mention of his zeal and devotion to this work, the self-denial and sacrifices necessary in order to visit this wild country. and preach the gospel to the Lord's poor in these regions lving beyond his regular field.
The Big Springs Swedish Baptist church was organ- ized in July, 1869, Rev. P. A. Ring, pastor.
In November, 1870, while engaged in general mission- ary work on the Union and Central Pacific railroads, I felt moved in spirit to visit Dakota, and learn the wants
REV. GEORGE W. FREEMAN.
1871-1595. FIRST GENERAL MISSIONARY, 1571-1874.
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of the people. I came to Elk Point December 12. 1870. and the same week visited Vermillion and Yankton. On Tuesday evening, December 20, met at the resi- dence of M. D. Thompson and there organized fre- organized the First Baptist church of Vermillion. At that meeting plans were adopted and subscriptions begun for a house of worship.
I reported to the Home Mission Society my impres- sions of the field and its pressing needs, and was appointed general missionary for the Territory of Dakota. On the first day of March, 1871, I came to Dakota for aggressive work, beginning at Elk Point. On March 11. I organized there a Baptist church. At that time the nearest English-speaking Baptist minis- ter was at Council Bluffs and Omaha, nearly 150 miles south. [Chaplain G. D. Crocker, of the regular army. was then stationed at Fort Sully. T. M. S.] On the 25th of the same month I organized a Baptist church at Sioux Valley, called afterward Leroy, later Port- landville, now Akron. These churches were all sup- plied by the general missionary until October following. when Rey. J. H. Young became pastor of the Elk Point and Sioux Valley churches. His ordination, which
occurred at Elk Point, January 17, 1872, was the first in the territory. He soon after became pastor at Yankton, and having proved unworthy of his trust, he was deposed from the ministry November 12, 1872. Rev. E. H. Hurlbutt became pastor at Vermillion, September 1. 1871, and served one year and a half. Rev. T. H. Judson settled as pastor at Elk Point, Octo- ber 3, 1872, and after a year of service there, was called to Vermillion. The Swedish church at Bloom- ingdale was organized by Rev. P. A. Ring, October 15, 1871. Brother J. Peterson was soon after ordained and became its first pastor.
In the spring of 1873, the house of worship at Elk Point was begun, and finished a few months later. Rev. J. P. Coffman, became pastor there January 9, 1874. The Lodi church was organized by the general missionary July 13, 1871. In the following November
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Rev. J. L. Coppoc became pastor. The following
winter was one of unusual severity. Roads became blockaded, and the people could not attend appoint- ments for preaching. Brother Coppoc was environed by many difficulties of so serious a character as to have driven a man of weaker faith from the field. On the first of October, 1872, he became pastor of the Sioux Valley church, and served it until February, 1874. Rev. F. Bower became pastor at Yankton, February 1. 1874 but remained only a few months.
The church at Canton was organized March 18, 1872. In October, 1871, Rev. J. J. McIntire came to the terri- tory and established a home on the Vermillion river, near Hurley. In connection with other points he served the church at Canton. These visits and the services rendered were attended with good results. The scattered sheep of the Baptist fold were gathered in, and the field was held for the coming settled pastor. At first Brother McIntire traversed a wild and sparsely settled country to reach his appointments, with no roads except the faint trails made by himself and others in going to their new homes. These visits meant toil, hardship, exposure, and often peril. Rev. V. B. Conklin settled at Canton in October, 1873, and became missionary for Lincoln county. The Danish Baptists organized the Baptist church at Lodi, March 25, 1872. This soon increased to over forty members, many of the members living nearly twenty miles dis- tant. This led the following year to a friendly divis- ion, and resulted in the organization, December 31, 1873, of the Danish church at Daneville.
In the fall of 1871 the general missionary visited and held services in Dell Rapids. Helpful and encouraging visits were made by Prof. A. Bush of Osage, Iowa, who, on the 21st of July, 1872, organized a Baptist church, which was recognized by the general mission- ary on the 28th of the same month. On the first of June, 1872, Rev. William Hill became the first pastor of the church. This was then the most northern church or mission in Dakota, except the Indian mission
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