Conference of 1805.--The War Closed.--Lay Delegation the Next Question.
Rev. George Chester.--Rev. Romulus O. Kellogg.--Missionary to
China.--Rev. L.N. Wheeler.--Appointed to Fond du Lac District.--Marriage
of our Eldest Daughter.--Removal to Fond du Lac.--Rev. T.O.
Hollister.--State of the District.--Rev. J.T. Woodhead.--Waupun.--Rev.
D.W. Couch.--Lamartine.--Rev. I.S. Eldridge.--Horicon.--Rev. Walter
McFarlane.
The Conference of 1865 was held Oct. 4th in Summerfield Church,
Milwaukee, Bishop Baker presiding, and assisted by Bishop Ames. Rev.
Samuel Fallows was elected Secretary, and Revs. Wm. P. Stowe, E.D.
Farnham and R.W. Bosworth Assistants.
The relentless war that had raged for four years had now closed. The
clouds had lifted from the fields of conflict, and the Conference was
now able to take note of the past and anticipate the future of the
country. The report adopted at this session, presented by the Committee
on the state of the country, was a masterly document. It recognized the
fact that the Wisconsin Conference, since its organization, had
exhibited a bold and manly opposition to American Slavery. That the
recent rebellion, aiming its blows at the Government, bought by the
blood of Revolutionary patriots, was the outgrowth of the institution of
Slavery. And that the Conference, in common with the Laity, and loyal
citizens of the North generally, had acquitted herself nobly, in
standing by the Government in its hour of trial, and, having rendered
this service as a Christian duty, she had nothing to take back. Looking
out upon the future, she also anticipated the coming day when equal
rights should be accorded to all, irrespective of color or nationality.
The question of Slavery and the frightful war it had entailed upon the
country having passed away, the Conference now took up the subject of
Lay Delegation. And since the subject is new to many, it may not be
improper to devote to it a brief examination.
The question has been raised, "How came it to pass that in the
organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Laity were not
associated with the Ministry in the Conferences?" The question is a
legitimate one, and deserves a considerate answer.
It should be remembered that the establishment of the Church was rather
a growth than an organization. This one fact accounts, doubtless, for
the peculiar feature referred to. Had there existed at the outset a
large body of Christians, including Ministers and Laymen, awaiting an
organization, at the time Mr. Wesley began his labors, it is possible
that he might have so combined them in appropriate relations as to
secure a united responsibility. But such was not the state of the case.
In the strict sense of the word, Mr. Wesley had no Church, and no people
out of which to organize one. And it is possible that he began his
labors without an expectation of organizing a Church. His great concern,
overleaping every other consideration, was to save souls. In this work
he was ready to call to his aid such instrumentalities as gave the best
promise of the desired result. It was but natural that, whenever he met
a congenial spirit, there should be an affiliation. In such case a unity
of effort would necessarily follow.
In this manner there grew up around Mr. Wesley a company of men, who
were recognized as his helpers. With the multiplication of these
assistant laborers, it became advisable to reduce the co-operative
effort to a systematic plan. To adopt a plan of labor and give it
efficiency, the organization of Conferences became a necessity. The
first Conferences were composed of Mr. Wesley and his helpers, and could
not embody Laymen, as no Church had been organized. This state of things
continued during the life time of Mr. Wesley in England, and as he gave
the Church in the United States its first organization, the same system
was introduced here.
Subsequently, as the work extended and the Conferences multiplied, it
was but natural that they should all take the same character. Nor would
there have been any special need for a change, perhaps, if there had
been no changes in the character of the work to be done. But with the
erection of Churches, the founding of schools, and the creation of the
Book Concern and Church literature, the Conferences, having these
interests in charge, need the presence and aid of Laymen.
At the General Conference of 1864, action had been taken inviting the
membership to vote on the subject, and also to elect provisional
Delegates to the General Conference of 1868. The action of the Wisconsin
Conference fully endorsed the movement and the body faithfully complied
with its provisions.
At this session the Conference made a record of the death, of three of
its members, Revs. Henry Requa, George Chester and Romulus O. Kellogg.
To the first named, reference has been made in former chapters.
Brother Chester came to this country in 1849, from England, where he had
been converted under the labors of Rev. James Caughey. He was received
into the Wisconsin Conference in 1851, and was appointed to Prairie La
Crosse. His subsequent appointments were Willow River, Madison Circuit,
Waterloo, Columbus, Burnett, Fox Lake, Footville, Evansville, and
Shopiere. At the last named place he was attacked with typhoid fever,
and, after an illness of three weeks, passed away in holy triumph, with
the words, "Glory! Glory! Glory!" upon his lips. Brother Chester was a
true man, and a successful Minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother Kellogg came with his parents to Milwaukee in 1836. He prepared
for College at Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris, graduated at the
Wesleyan University, Conn., in 1849, and served as Professor of
Languages in the Lawrence University for five years thereafter. He was
received into the Wisconsin Conference in 1862, and was appointed to
Fort Atkinson. He was reappointed the second and third years, but,
during the latter, his nervous system gave way under his devoted and
trying labors, and he passed to the bright beyond. Brother Kellogg was a
man of fine culture, genial spirit, faithful to every trust, and
universally beloved by all who knew him.
The Conference at this session was again called upon to send one of its
members abroad as a Missionary. Rev. L.N. Wheeler was sent to China. He
was presented at the Conference with an album containing the photographs
of the donors as a token of remembrance. The writer was selected to make
the presentation speech, as he had known him from his childhood.
Brother Wheeler, before he engaged in the Ministerial work, devoted
several years to editing and publishing secular papers. He entered the
Conference in 1858, and had been stationed at Two Rivers, Byron, Empire,
Manitowoc, and Sheboygan.
Having been advised with by the Mission Board at New York during the
year, as to his qualifications, I was prepared to expect the
appointment, fully persuaded that it would prove both creditable to the
Conference and profitable to the Mission field. While abroad Brother
Wheeler had charge for some time of the Mission press. He rendered
efficient service in the China Mission during the seven years of his
absence. But, on account of failing health, he was compelled to return
in 1872. He is now stationed again at Manitowoc. He is a man of superior
talent, and is greatly esteemed.
I had now completed my term of three years on the Spring Street Station,
and my next appointment was very much in doubt. I had been solicited to
accept invitations to several stations, and also the Fond du Lac
District, but in each case I assured the good brethren that I deemed it
best to let the Bishop and his Cabinet decide without prejudice, and
assign me work where they believed I could serve the general cause to
the best advantage. Had I allowed myself a preference, it would have
been some quiet station of moderate responsibility, where I could have
rallied my enfeebled health. Besides, I had a doubt whether I ought to
be put on a District so soon again, after having completed two full
terms before I reached my fortieth year. But it is vain to speculate in
advance. At the close of the Conference, I found myself appointed
Presiding Elder of Fond du Lac District.
The appointment was a surprise to both myself and family. But accepting
the situation as a legitimate feature of the Itinerancy, we entered at
once upon the needed preparations for a removal to Fond du Lac. The
removal, however, was to be preceded by an event that, by separating the
family, would render the change exceedingly trying. I refer to the
marriage of our eldest daughter to Capt. Frank P. Lawrence, of Racine,
thereby breaking a link out of the chain that had so long and pleasantly
bound us together in the family circle. But, having previously learned
that life's difficulties are best overcome by turning towards them a
brave bearing, we prepared for the nuptials.
On the morning of the 17th of October a few friends came in at the
breakfast hour, and our daughter passed into the keeping of another.
Though fully satisfied with the arrangement, the occasion imposed upon
me the most difficult duty of my life. The ceremony was performed in
connection with the family devotions, and quite unmanned me. Assembled
in the parlor, I took my usual place to lead the devotions. The
Scriptures were read, and my daughter presided as usual at the piano.
Thus far everything maintained its accustomed order. But when we knelt
in prayer, and I closed my eyes to all visible things, the invisible
came trooping in throngs to my already burdened thought. Then came the
vivid recollection of the many happy years we had spent together as a
family, the many sweet hours we had spent together in that parlor, with
music and song, in which our dear daughter had ever been the central
figure, and the now sad fact of an immediate separation. The chain must
now be broken, and its then brightest link snatched away to gladden
another home, while our own circle must be broken forever.
With these thoughts rushing upon me, it is not a matter of surprise that
I was quite overwhelmed with feeling, and found utterance almost
impossible. How I passed through the prayer and the ceremony that
followed, has never been quite clear to me, but I was told that nothing
was omitted that could be deemed essential to the occasion. The wedding
party was soon after dismissed with our blessing, and we at once began
the preparations for our own trip to the cars, to occur in the afternoon
of the same day.
We reached Fond du Lac at nightfall, and were kindly entertained by Rev.
J.T. Woodhead and his family. The following day we were invited to the
pleasant home of our old friend, C.O. Hurd, who, with his most excellent
family, gave us a kindly greeting and cared for us until the arrival of
our goods.
My predecessor on the District was Rev. Theron O. Hollister, a man "full
of faith and the Holy Ghost." Brother Hollister was received into the
Conference at its session in Baraboo in 1853, and his first charge was
Summit. His subsequent fields of labor were Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills,
Greenbush, Sheboygan Falls, and Fond du Lac, where he succeeded to the
District. At the close of his term on the District he was appointed to
Oconomowoc, next to Waukesha, and the year following to Hart Prairie.
Here his health utterly broke down, and at the following session of the
Conference in 1868, he was compelled to take a superannuated relation.
He now removed to Salem, in Kenosha County, where he died March 13,
1869, aged forty-seven.
Brother Hollister was a man of robust frame, and, generally, good
health. He was an earnest man, and whatever he did was done with all his
strength, of both mind and body. With limited early opportunities, and
too intensely occupied in after years with the practical labor of the
Ministry, to retrieve the loss he had sustained, he did not aspire to a
knowledge of books. But in all the active labor of leading souls to
Christ, he was a workman who needed not to be ashamed.
He swept over the District like a storm, "instant in season and out of
season," laying his strong hand on every part of the work, and pushing
it forward. And no doubt it was the work that he did on the District
that laid the foundation of the disease which terminated his useful
life. An overtaxed brain fell a prey to mental disability, and our good
brother went to his reward.
Fond du Lac was under the pastoral care of Rev. J.T. Woodhead. This
excellent brother entered the Conference in 1858, and before coming to
Fond du Lac, had been stationed at Greenbush, Berlin and Ripon. He was
now on his third year in his present field.
Brother Woodhead's early opportunities were limited, but with great
devotion to his calling, he had carefully improved his time after
entering the Ministry. He was accepted by his people as a man of rare
excellences, happily blending in beautiful harmony both Faith and Works.
In the pulpit, his manner is not always graceful, but it is never
disagreeable. His discourses abound with Evangelical truth, set off
usually in fine delineations of Scriptural scenes and characters. He has
extraordinary dramatic talent, and only needs the culture of the
schools, in addition to his present gifts and graces, to place him in
the front rank as a speaker. Brother Woodhead is one of the best Pastors
I have ever known.
The Fond du Lac District at this time numbered twenty charges. To visit
each quarterly on the Sabbath was impossible, unless I chose to hold two
on adjacent charges, the same day. And this plan I did not deem
advisable, believing that it tends to break down Quarterly Meetings
altogether, by dividing the interest. I chose rather to visit each
charge regularly semi-annually, and the feebler ones more frequently, if
possible. The intervening Quarterly Meetings were held by the Pastors,
except they chose to procure supplies.
My first Quarterly Meeting, held at Fond du Lac, was an occasion of rare
interest. Having been granted license to preach, and sent into the
Itinerancy by these brethren, they were disposed to assert a special
interest in the Presiding Elder. Besides, the Society, under the
ministrations of Brother Woodhead, was in a happy spiritual condition, a
satisfactory pledge of a good meeting.
As it is my purpose to write up more particularly, as far as space will
permit, the charges and Ministers of the Conference, than my own labors,
I shall not undertake to follow in order my visits to the several
charges. During the present year, as well as the three following, I
shall simply refer to such items as will further this object, well
knowing that the adoption of any other plan would involve the issue of
several volumes instead of one.
Waupun came early on the list. Many changes had occurred at Waupun
during the twenty years which had intervened since my Pastorate in 1845.
I found a small frame Church and one of the best Parsonages in the
Conference. The Society had become strong both financially and in
numbers. I was happy indeed to meet old friends with whom I had labored
in other years, and especially the converts of the early times, now
grown to be pillars in the Church. But with our rejoicing there also
came the shadows of sadness. Many had gone over the river. And since my
visit, others still have gone, and among them, Brother and Sister
William McElroy. But they were ready.
Rev. D.W. Couch was the Pastor at Waupun. He entered the Conference in
1857, and before coming to Waupun had been stationed at Bristol,
Pleasant Prairie, Geneva, and had also served as Agent of the
Northwestern Seaman's Friend Society. After leaving Waupun his
appointments have been Janesville in the Wisconsin Conference, and
Mineral Point in the West Wisconsin. At the last Conference he was
appointed Presiding Elder of the Madison District, where he is rendering
effective service.
Brother Couch is a very useful man, having unusual ability to adjust
himself to such work as requires special adaptations. He has a great
fund of anecdote, and is able to make a draft on this reserve whenever
needed. He has special control of the purses of the people, and hence is
in great requisition wherever there is a call for funds, and especially
at Church dedications. He is a pronounced success.
At Lamartine my Quarterly Meeting also revived old recollections. The
charge now embraced Rock River, where I formed a class in 1845, and also
the Society that held their services, at an early day, in Brother
Stowe's Chapel. A Church had now been built at Lamartine, the centre of
the charge, and also a Parsonage. The charge was now in a flame of
revival. With the praying band at Rock River at one end of the Circuit,
and Brother Humiston and his devoted laborers at the other, an almost
continuous revival was but the normal condition. But in addition, I now
found the circuit under the charge of Rev. I.S. Eldridge, one of my old
co-laborers at Janesville.
Brother Eldridge entered the Conference in April, 1859, and before
coming to Lamartine had been stationed at Utter's Corners, Palmyra,
Wauwatosa, and Byron. He was now on his second year, the charge having
enjoyed during the former one great prosperity. After leaving Lamartine,
Brother Eldridge's appointments have been Horicon and Juneau, Fox Lake,
Brandon, Sheboygan Falls, Burnett, and Eagle.
Brother Eldridge is yet in the vigor of his strength, and gives promise
of many years of usefulness. While his great forte is revival work, he
has mental and spiritual force enough to amply sustain every other
department of a Minister's obligation. During the earlier portion of his
work, his incessant labor in protracted meetings greatly abridged his
opportunities for study, but I presume in later years he has endeavored
to retrieve the loss sustained. At this writing he is again at Eagle,
where his accessions are already climbing the second hundred.
At Horicon I found Rev. Walter McFarlane, Pastor of the Horicon and
Juneau charge. This dear brother and his most estimable lady gave me a
hearty welcome, and made me feel at home in a few moments. I found the
charge in a prosperous condition, and the Pastor in high esteem among
the people.
Brother McFarlane is a Scotchman by birth. He entered the Conference in
1856, and was stationed at Cascade. His following appointments were
Oconto, Vinland, Two Rivers, and Empire. He was now on his second year
in his present charge. After leaving Horicon, he was stationed at Byron.
While on this charge he and his good lady took great interest in fitting
up the Camp-Meeting grounds of the Fond du Lac District. A fine
Preacher's stand was erected, comfortable seats were provided, and many
permanent tents were built. The meetings during this period became
far-famed and highly profitable. The great burden of looking after all
local matters was sustained by this good Brother, as the Pastor of the
charge, and the administration was always highly acceptable. After
leaving Byron, his appointments were Winneconne, Bristol, Sylvania, and
Granville. In this last named charge, he is at this writing doing
effective work.
Brother McFarlane is well versed in Theology and Biblical criticism. He
has a large fund of information on all subjects of general interest, and
is able to make himself an interesting companion among the people. He
has an intense dislike to the superficial, and is never satisfied with
the examination of any subject until he can feel the firm foundation
beneath him. In his sermons he seeks to give reliable information on
specific subjects rather than spin glittering generalities. Firm as the
Highlands of his native home, and balmy as her valleys, he is none other
than a highly esteemed brother.