USA > South Dakota > The Baptist history of South Dakota > Part 9
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THE BAPTIST HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
In the fall of 1873 Rev. V. B. Conklin, another tried and reliable spiritual helper, came to aid us. He set- tled in Lincoln county, with headquarters first at Can- ton, and afterwards at Lincoln Center. The writer having been chosen as superintendent of public instruction for the Territory of Dakota, Brother Conk- lin was for a time left alone in carrying forward the work in that county. He, like all the others who have been mentioned, came to join the pioneer band under the supervision of our general missionary. With them he sacrificed and toiled, and with some of them he still lives, to rejoice over the success which has been achieved by those who have worked all along the line from that time down to the present. In 1874 Rev. A. W. Hilton entered the Dakota field. He at once began work with a zeal that proved his devotion to the cause, and endeared him to those in whose labors he came to share. He did much missionary work in Turner and Minnehaha counties, and in southern Minnesota. After about eight years of excellent service he was released from earthly toil.
During the years 1876 and 1877 comparatively few new missionaries came, and but little was accomplished. Immigration had been checked by grasshoppers. In 1879 and 1880 many homeseekers came to the territory, and with them were several Baptist ministers. New churches were organized. From that time to the pres- ent our cause has been prospering. Today we have great reason for lifting our hearts to God in thanksgiv- ing for what He has enabled us to accomplish.
On the 5th of June, 1872, the first association of Bap- tists in the territory was held at Vermillion, in the only Baptist house of worship in Dakota. It was com- posed of delegates from nine churches. The earnest- ness and faith there manifested gave promise of the future. The hopes and expectations of that day, some of the brethren have lived to see realized. The prayers that were offered for the spread of the truth have in large measure been answered. The weak, by the help of God and faithful workmen, have been made strong.
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"The little one has become a thousand." Behold the contrast! Then there were nine churches with about 130 members. Now (1896 there are 103 churches in South Dakota alone, with a membership of nearly 6,000. Our work, however, is not completed. May God help us to labor on until still larger results are accom- plished.
CHAPTER XII.
REV. WILLIAM T. HILL.
Soon after the beginning of Baptist missionary work in Dakota, along the valley of the Missouri, other workers came to the field, and began their labors among the new settlements further north, along the Sioux. Vermillion and James rivers. Rev. William T. Hill was at first, and for a long time, the only Baptist missionary in Minnehaha county. He became the first pastor of the church in Dell Rapids, and served as such for five years. In a ripe old age he is still living on the home that he established in 1873. He has fur- nished the following sketch of his labors and experi- ences :
The First Baptist church of Dell Rapids was organ- ized July 21, 1872, by Professor Alvah Bush, of Cedar Valley Seminary, Osage, Iowa. There were seventeen constituent members. A majority of these had been members of the Baptist church in Osage. The new church was recognized as a regular Baptist church September 1, 1872, by Rev. G. W. Freeman, then gen- eral missionary. The first pastor was Rev. William T. Hill, who came from Waterloo, Wis. He arrived at Dell Rapids June 7, 1873, in a lumber wagon, after a journey of nearly 500 miles. The season was a very wet one, and he was more than five weeks on the way. No sooner had he arrived than he had to go back, over rivers and sloughs, to Worthington, Minn., the nearest railroad station, sixty miles distant, to procure provis-
REV. WILLIAM T. HILL,
IS72-1899.
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ions for himself and wife, feed for his team, and lum- ber for a shelter. Many times he made this journey while his wife stayed on the prairie, her only compan- ion and guardian being a faithful New Foundland dog.
The early settlers were a church going people. There was only one congregation and one Sunday school in the town. The people for the time being for- got their differences, and worshiped and worked har- moniously together. The meetings were held in various private houses. In a small room would be gathered from forty to sixty people of all ages. In order to make room for the congregation, the beds and other furniture would be put out of doors, boards resting on boxes would be the seats, and a sewing machine served as a pulpit. There was great rejoicing when a school house was built in 1876. The pioneer preacher often had three appointments on the same day, some of them twenty miles apart. He preached in three counties, and organized Sunday schools wherever practicable. Sometimes the meetings were held in sod houses, and when the house was crowded the preacher had to stand in or outside of the doorway. During the grasshopper visitation, while scarcely knowing how he was going to live through the winter, he had to inspire the people with hope and courage. His labor was largely a labor of love.
The early settlers had all that they could do to sup- port their own families. Some years they could not pay the minister anything. He had hard work to make a respectable appearance among them. At one time he froze his feet attending a funeral, standing in the snow, having a hole in his boot and no overshoes. Sometimes he was given a donation in money. provisions or labor, but his total receipts from the field for a year never amounted to one hundred dollars. The church treas- urer's report for one year in the seventies was brief and suggestive. "No money received, and none paid out." No auditing committee was appointed. The minister was called upon to preach a funeral sermon, twenty miles away, near Lake Madison. He started
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before daylight and did not reach home until after dark, and had nothing to eat after leaving home until his return. On another occasion the minister and his wife were invited to a wedding. After the ceremony the happy bridegroom took the minister aside and told him confidentially that he would have to wait for his fee until after harvest.
In July, 1873, the Dell Rapids pastor had an appoint- ment to preach at Sioux Falls. He had a large and attentive audience in Allen's hall. By request he left an appointment to preach in two weeks from that date. in the same hall. When the time came he was there. but found no congregation. The hall was not opened and lighted for the meeting. The good brother who had made the necessary preparations for the previous meeting, had gone to a distant city to buy lumber, and the brother to whom he had left the work of advertising the meeting and lighting up the hall, had done nothing because "he had a stitch in his back." When the min- ister reached home on Monday night, after his fruitless drive of forty miles in a lumber wagon, he too had a stitch in his back. Such was the outcome of what might have been an earlier start of the Baptist cause in Sioux Falls.
Influential Baptists, living at Madison, attended the association at Dell Rapids. In compliance with their urgent request, he preached the following Sabbath at Madison, and a month later. October 26, 1878. he met with the Baptist brethren and sisters there, and organ- ized them into a regular Baptist church. All present presented their letters, the usual articles of faith were adopted, and officers were chosen. On the following day a sermon was preached, the hand of fellowship was given, and the ordinance of the Lord's supper was ob- served. Everything was done " decently and in order." but to please one brother who was not present at the organization of the church, though cordially invited, all was gone over again a year or so later. On a bitter cold and windy day, the minister had an appointment twelve miles west. to perform a marriage ceremony.
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He had no covered carriage, no top buggy, but now owned a light spring wagon, which he proceeded to con- vert into a covered vehicle, by using a large dry goods box, with the open end towards the horses. Inside of this box he could sit and be well protected on all sides except in front. This was used many times in going to his appointments. Some of the unsanctified suggested that he was getting aristocratic, and putting on too much style. In the great October storm of 1880, the preacher and his wife had to get into bed to keep from freezing. During the storm the stove pipe was crushed in and bent over, and the roof was a mass of ice, thus rendering it impossible to light a fire or make repairs.
In 1880, the Baptists at Dell Rapids built a neat and cozy chapel. The first service was held in it July 18, 1880. The pastor preached, and believing the gospel of Christ to be the only hope of the world, and wishing to give a keynote for future meetings in that house, he took for his text. "This is a faithful saving and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." A Baptist Sunday school was organ- ized August 1, 1880, with sixty scholars enrolled. Peter Morse was the first superintendent. Preceding the organization a sermon appropriate to the occasion was preached from the text: "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners." From this time the Baptists sustained their own weekly meetings and Bible school. Their old pastor continued to preach for them until the close of 1880, though Rev. Walter Ross served as supply early in 1879, and Rev. J. F. Merriam for one year from May, 1879, supplied the church every alternate Sunday, in connection with the church at Luverne, Minn.
The pioneer pastor declined to preach any longer in Dell Rapids, being convinced that the work of the pio- neer was ended, and that a settled pastor was now needed, who could devote all his time and energy to the work, and rightfully demand an adequate support from the church. He continued, however, in the service, and filled regular appointments at Trent, Roscoe (now
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Egan), Flandreau, Lookout, and other points. Early in 1881 Rev. J, Edminster was called as pastor, but being necessarily absent from his family, who were liv- ing near Parker, after six months of faithful service he resigned. In February, 1882, Rev. S. G. Adams was called to the pastorate, in which he served with great success for five years. It was largely through his earnest efforts that the present large and comfortable house of worship was built. The pastors succeeding Mr. Adams have been I. S. Kneeland, J. P. Coffman, H. E. Norton, D. L. Parker, and E. F. Rice.
CHAPTER XIII.
REV. V. B. CONKLIN.
The coming of Rev. V. B. Conklin to Dakota followed very soon after the arrival of William T. Hill. Both entered on their new fields in 1873. While actively identified with all the pioneer missionary movements of those early days, the particular field of Mr. Conk- lin's labors was Lincoln county. After many years of self-sacrificing service, he has been living, since 1891, at Lake City, Minn. In the following sketch he has given an outline of services rendered, and some of the hardships endured:
It is with some embarrassment that I undertake to prepare a statement concerning my early labors in Dakota, and my relation to other laborers on the field, since my diary concerning the labors and events of those years is lost. At the earnest request of Rev. G. W. Freeman, then general missionary for Dakota Ter- ritory, I visited the field in the summer of 1873. He went with me to Canton, and there was presented to my vision the opening opportunity for service.
Canton was the center of operations. Baptist and Congregational churches were already established there. Rev. J. J. McIntire was then pastor of the Bap- tist church, serving one-half of the time there and the balance elsewhere. From the large congregations and general interest manifested, it was evident that his relation to that field was one that betokened success. As his home was thirty miles distant, and constant travel across the prairies subjected him to much
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exposure in cold and stormy weather, he gladly with- drew from the field at Canton, in order to be able to serve in other opening fields nearer home.
Arrangements being made for my settlement at Can- ton, I came to that place with my family in October, 1873. For thirteen years, at Canton and elsewhere in Lincoln county, I served by appointment of the Ameri- can Baptist Home Mission Society, and under the superintendence of Rev. G. W. Freeman and Rev. Edward Ellis, general missionaries. and Rev. J. N. Webb, D. D., district secretary. I desire to bear tes- timony to their brotherly kindness and patient forbear- ance. On my introduction to this field I found that a diversity of work was needed. The appropriations for missionary aid were necessarily very small. The early settlers had come empty handed, or with very limited means, to avail themselves of the opportunity to secure government land for their future homes. The question of ministerial support was therefore a serious one. With the knowledge and approval of the Board of the Home Mission Society, the missionaries were granted unusual liberty in helping to supply our needs by engaging, part of the time, in other avocations beside our special work. I taught the public school in Canton during the first winter after our arrival there. This arrangement proved helpful rather than detrimental. It led to my election as county superintendent of schools for Lincoln county. This, without absorbing much of my time, aided in the extension of my acquaintance and influence among the people, and opened many opportunities for missionary work.
Like most of my brethren during that period, sus- taining similar relation to the Board of the Home Mis- sion Society, I availed myself of the opportunity to secure a homestead. This was located at Lincoln Cen- ter. There we planted a mission station: The first service held there was in a private house of three rooms. Eighty people were there, many of them coming long distances. The interest manifested was inspiring, and as we lifted up our eyes and looked on the fields, we
REV. V. B. CONKLIN. t S72-1891.
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saw that they were already ripe for the harvest. It was not long before we were gathering in the sheaves. This was in the summer of 1874. From that time onward regular appointments were maintained there, and later a church was organized. The following winter, on a cold and very stormy day, Dr. Webb was there. He ex- pressed some doubts as to a meeting. But the people came through the storm, and we had a successful meeting. Being filled with the Spirit, he preached with much power. On making his customary appeal for a contribution for home missions, the subscriptions from those poor home-steaders amounted to sixty dollars, and all of them were promptly paid.
At this time immigration had become so rapid that every quarter-section of land in Lincoln and adjoining townships had been taken. Business activity was everywhere manifest. While all were building homes and improving their land, school houses became a recog- nized necessity. One was built at Lincoln Center, and others in different directions. All of these were used as preaching stations during my ministry in Lin- coln county. In the early '80's I labored for a time at Lennox, where I found some German Baptists. As it was necessary for each one taking a homestead to live for a time on his claim, the number of members in the church at Canton was greatly reduced, and after a time it became practically extinct. As many of them lived in homesteads west of Canton, is gradually came to be known as the Lincoln Church, where services were regularly maintained. Early in the '80's, services were resumed at Canton. I removed there with my family, and the church was reorganized March, 15, 1885. Ser- vices were held in the court house and school house until 1887. During that year when Rev. E. M. Heyburn, my successor, was pastor, the present house of worship was built. It was dedicated December 7, 1887. I re- mained there about three years, preaching most of the time at out-stations, so that my full term of services rendered in Lincoln county covered about seventeen vears, thirteen years of this period as a missionary pastor.
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These years of service in Dakota included many try- ing experiences, such as were common to all those who labored on other fields. Among the things most de- structive were grasshoppers and prairie fires. Having no experience the early settlers did not know how to guard against them, as they learned to do in later years. Frequently the bright prospect of an abundant crop would be swept away by fire or destroyed by a grass- hopper raid. During the years that the latter plague was so common and so destructive, the services of mis- sionary pastors were required to visit and encourage the destitute, and distribute supplies sent from the east. It was my lot to serve as chairman of a distrib- uting committee, and much was done to relieve the suffering. We did what we could to aid in material things, at the same time seeking to leave with the peo- ple a portion of the "hidden manna." During the memorable winter of 1880, diptheria became epidemic, public funerals were prohibited, and the missionary had to minister privately to the sorrow of the bereaved, and often accompany them to the grave in the solitude of the midnight hour.
I desire to bear tribute to the faithful brethren and sisters, some of whom have gone before and others vet remain, who with us bore the heat and burden of pioneer service, in endeavoring to plant the standard of the cross on the prairies of Dakota. I remember with gratitude the workers on other fields. While I was for about fourteen years the only Baptist minister living in Lincoln county, yet other laborers to some extent shared the burden with me. One of these was Rev. J. P. Coffman, who frequently came to my assistance in revival meetings, and for a time supplied two sta- tions in the county. During one winter Rev. E. H. Hurlbutt taught school at another station, and preached regularly to the people. Rev. J. J. McIntire was also a faithful helper in times of need. All of us endeav- ored to scatter the seed of the gospel, and we rejoice in the late harvests that have brought joy and gladness to many hearts.
CHAPTER XIV.
REV. J. P. COFFMAN.
Of the early pioneer missionaries, the two who remained longest on the field, and are therefore best known to the present generation of Baptists, are Rev. J. J. McIntire, who came in October, 1871, and Rev. J. P. Coffman, who settled at Elk Point in January, 1874. In the following historical sketch, furnished by Mr. Coffman, the principal events in many years of active service are recorded, up to his settlement in Akron in February, 1886. After a successful pastorate of three vears there, he became pastor at Dell Rapids. January 1, 1889. While at Dell Rapids, a large and trouble- some debt on the church property. was paid. In 1891 he removed to Sioux Falls, and served as supply for neighboring churches, while his children were in attendance at Sioux Falls University. In 1894 he became pastor at Cherokee, Ia. He is now settled at Perry, Ia.
In October, 1873, I received a call to become pastor of the Baptist church at Elk Point. The call was accepted, and I reached Elk Point with my family Jan- uary 7, 1874. The house of worship there had just been completed, but it was without furniture. There was no pulpit, organ or carpet. The temporary seats were made of cottonwood boards, some of them arranged with backs, so that the building seemed quite comfortable. There were about thirty members, some of them non-residents.
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Here we began our work in Dakota Territory. The railroad from Sioux City to Yankton was the only one in all of what is now South Dakota, and the fare was six cents a mile. The Northern Pacific railroad was in operation from Fargo to Bismarck. On this great field, at that time, churches were few and far apart, and pastors were very few indeed. Rev. J. J. McIntire was at Finlay, near where Parker now is; Rev. T. H. Judson was at Vermillion; Rev. E. H. Hurlbutt was at Gavville; Rev. Wm. T. Hill was at Dell Rapids; Rev. V. B. Conklin was at Canton: Rev. G. W. Freeman's home was at Elk Point: Rev. P. A. Ring was pastor of the Swedish church at Big Springs. There were also three or four Scandinavian ministers whom I did not know. These composed the Baptist ministry of Dakota Territory when I began my work as pastor at Elk Point, in January, 1874. Noble men of God; how, in the midst of trying circumstances, did most of them stand true to the cause!
Soon after coming to Elk Point, special meetings were held. As a whole, the spiritual life of the church was at a low ebb, but there were some as good mem- bers as are to be found anywhere. Sickness in our family hindered the meetings, but the church was helped. On March 30, of this year, I was called to attend a funeral in the Roman Catholic settlement at Jefferson, southeast of Elk Point. A long delay, after I had supposed all were ready to start to the burial ground, was caused by the company taking "refresh- ments." These consisted of a full supply of whiskey and beer. On reaching home I found Rev. T. H. Jud- son and Brother Ufford waiting for me to go with them to Vermillion to assist in special meetings. I preached there through the week in the church build- ing that then stood down at the mouth of the ravine. I well remember the interest felt by Brother Martin J. Lewis and the pastor for the conversion of Mr. M. D. Thompson. That evening, when an expression was taken, six stood up, and of this number he was the leader.
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The third annual meeting of the Southern Dakota Association was held at Elk Point, beginning June 10, 1874. Very heavy rains had been falling, and these continued up to the opening of the meetings. The attendance was therefore small. It was not a very harmonious gathering. This lack of harmony for some years hindered the work in the territory. It was at this meeting that Rev. A. W. Hilton, then pastor at Cherokee, Ia., first visited Dakota. Having a large family, and an inadequate support in the pastorate, he looked to Dakota, where opportunities were offered for securing a home, by filing a homestead on government land.
After the association adjourned, in company with Rev. A. W. Hilton and Rev. T. H. Judson, we started by team from Vermillion up the Vermillion river to Finlay, the home of Rev. J. J. McIntire. In fact his home was Finlav. His house served the purpose of hotel, meeting house and post office. For a week or more we looked over the great stretch of country to the north and west, nearly all of which was then govern- ment land. During this trip we visited Sioux Falls, then a small village. While there Mr. Hilton filed on the piece of land that was his home during all of his ministry in Dakota. Mr. Judson filed on his homestead which is now a part of the townsite of Hurley. I also filed on a claim, and this was the Coffman home from 1878 to 1886. On Sunday, June 21, the church at Finlay gathered for their regular service at their usual place of meeting, Mr. McIntire's house, and there were four Baptist preachers present. In the claims selected for homes during that trip, and the results that fol- lowed, the future life-work of some of God's servants was fixed. We were also able to get some idea of the great missionary field that was then opening up, and calling for laborers.
There could not be a better prospect for a bountiful harvest than was seen all over the country. This continued until nearly harvest time. Many important interests depended on this crop. Churches expected
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to be able to build meeting houses. Many of the new communities expected to tax themselves to build school houses. Many families hoped to be able to move out of sod houses into better ones, which they expected to be able to build from the proceeds of the crop. But how quickly are our hopes often dashed to the ground! On Friday afternoon July 17, 1874, grasshoppers began to descend upon us. There were millions of them. The harvest prospect was gone. But, however thick they were on Friday, on the following Sunday they came all day long, literally in clouds, as plain to see as ever clouds of smoke were seen rising from burning prairies. Every vestige of a crop was destroyed. One who has never seen a "grasshopper raid" can have no just conception of the total destruction of vegetation that results from such a visit. At the semi-annual meeting of the association held at Canton, in Sep- tember, a committee consisting of J. P. Coffman, T. H. Judson and J. J. McIntire, was appointed to make an appeal, through the denominational papers for aid for our destitute Baptist families. Liberal responses were made to this appeal. Out of this movement grew a call for a public meeting which resulted in the organ- ization of a relief association for the assistance of all classes of needy people in the territory.
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