Conference of 1872.--Rev. A.P. Mead.--Rev. A. Callender.--Rev. Win. P.
Stowe.--Rev. O.B. Thayer.--Rev. S. Reynolds,--Revival under Mrs. Van
Cott.--Conference of 1873.--Rev. Henry Colman.--Rev. A.A. Hoskin.--Rev.
Stephen Smith.--Illness.--Conference of 1874.--Rev. Dr. Carhart.--Rev.
Geo. A. Smith.--Rev. C.N. Stowers.
The Conference of 1872 was held Oct. 9th, at Division Street Church,
Fond du Lac, Bishop Haven presiding. The Woman's Foreign Missionary
Society, having been fully recognized by the General Conference, was
made the subject of a highly appreciative report, in which the
Conference extended to the ladies of the Church a cordial welcome to
this new field of effort, and pledged them a helping hand in the
good work.
At this session Rev. A.P. Mead was appointed Presiding Elder of Waupaca
District. Brother Mead graduated from the Garrett Biblical Institute in
1861, and was the same year admitted into the Conference. His
appointments had been Sharon, Elkhorn, Kenosha, Bay View, and Lyons,
when he was sent to the District. He remained only two years on the
Waupaca District, and was then appointed to the Fond du Lac District.
Brother Mead is a man of genial spirit and large practical sense. His
sermons are replete with Evangelical truth, and produce an abiding
impression. His intercourse with the people and Preachers is
instructive, and his administration cannot fail to prove a blessing to
the District.
At this session of the Conference, the decease of Rev. Aurora
Callender, among others, was announced. Brother Callender entered the
Pittsburg Conference in 1828, and was first stationed at Franklin, a
circuit located on the slope of the Alleghany Mountains, and in the
neighborhood of the Oil Regions. Before coming to Wisconsin, his
appointments were Meadville Circuit, Meadville, Springfield, Cuyahoga
Falls, Chardon and Middleburgh. Coming to Wisconsin, he was stationed,
in 1850, at Sylvania. His subsequent appointments were Geneva and
Elkhorn, Union, Hazel Green, Dodgeville, Mineral Point District,
Norwegian Mission District, Clinton, and Agent of American Colonization
Society, Subsequently he filled several charges as a supply, and
departed this life in the midst of his work at Pickneyville, Ill., Oct.
23d, 1871.
Brother Callender was a veteran pioneer. Capable of great physical
endurance, possessing a vigorous intellect, well skilled in theology and
Methodist law, his labors were abundant and of a substantial character.
In his earlier years, especially, his Ministry led many souls to
the Cross.
At this Conference I was returned to Spring Street Station, and, Brother
Pillsbury's term on the District having expired, Rev. Wm. P. Stowe was
appointed Presiding Elder.
Brother Stowe, it will be remembered, was converted in his boyhood in
his father's chapel. When grown to man's estate, he took up the trowel
and thereby procured funds to secure his education. He graduated from
the Lawrence University as a member of the Second Class, in 1858. He
entered the Conference the same year, and was stationed at Sheboygan.
The following two years he was stationed at Port Washington, but before
the close of the second year his health failed, and he retired from the
work. In 1862 he accepted the Chaplaincy of the Twenty-Seventh Regiment,
but the year following he was re-admitted and stationed at Sharon. His
subsequent appointments were Beloit, Racine, Oshkosh, and Summerfield,
Milwaukee, in all of which charges he has left the fragrance of a good
name and the legacy of substantial fruit. As a Presiding Elder, he is
deservedly popular.
Brother Stowe has a large frame, tends to corpulency, and shows great
physical vigor. With large perception, he reads men and surroundings
aptly. In the pulpit, he puts ideas in logical relations, and aims at an
object. His sermons abound in illustrations, strung on a strong cord of
Evangelical truth.
Rev. O.B. Thayer was stationed at Summerfield Church, having become a
member of the Conference in 1870. He had been stationed at Court Street
Church, Janesville, and at Appleton. In both these charges he had
developed a high standard of pulpit talent. He remained at Summerfield
two years, and was then appointed to Kenosha, where, at the present
writing, he is preaching to fine congregations.
Rev. S. Reynolds, State Agent of the American Bible Society, was also a
member of the Ministerial fraternity of Milwaukee. This good brother
came to the Conference by transfer from Iowa. He has been engaged for
many years in his present work, and has gained a reputation, second to
none, in the management of the laborious and manifold responsibilities
of his position. In his addresses he deals in stubborn facts, and never
fails to interest the audience. He is vigilant in looking after the
details of his trust, but he needs a word of caution as to his health.
His great labor is evidently overtaxing his strength.
My salary was again fixed at two thousand three hundred dollars. A new
system of finance was now adopted, called the "Envelope System." In its
principal features, it was similar to the "Card System," introduced
during my former term, but contained several additional provisions to
render it more effective. The new plan succeeded admirably, giving to
the station, at the end of the first quarter of the year, the
extraordinary record of having fully paid the Pastor's salary, and every
other claim for current expenses, besides liquidating several bills for
improvements on the Church and Parsonage. And it is proper to add that
the current year closed with several hundred dollars in the Treasury.
The regular work of the station opened this year encouragingly. A
general quickening followed, and by mid-winter there had been half a
score of conversions. Mrs. Maggie N. Van Cott, who had been engaged for
a year to assist us, now came to our help. The meeting continued five
weeks, under this most extraordinary laborer, and resulted in the
conversion of near four hundred souls, about two hundred of whom united
with the Spring Street Church.
The Conference of 1873 was held Oct. 15, at Whitewater, Bishop Merrill
presiding. At this session Rev. Henry Colman, who had repeatedly served
as Assistant, was elected Secretary of the Conference.
Brother Colman graduated from the Lawrence University as a member of the
First Class in 1856. He entered the West Wisconsin Conference in 1858,
and filled one appointment in that Conference, when, in 1859, he was
transferred to the Wisconsin Conference and stationed at Columbus. In
1860 he was stationed at Green Bay, and the following year at Asbury,
Milwaukee. In 1863 he was appointed Principal of the Evansville
Seminary, where he remained four years. After leaving the Seminary, he
has held a respectable class of appointments, and is now doing effective
work at Fort Atkinson. He is a man of clear head and honorable,
Christian impulses. Having a thorough knowledge of Biblical criticism,
he has for several years rendered the Sunday Schools of the State a good
service by furnishing in the Christian Statesman a weekly exposition of
the Lesson.
In keeping with the provision of the Discipline, adopted at the recent
session of the General Conference, for the Trial of Appeals, the
Conference elected her quota as follows: W.G. Miller, O.J. Cowles,
Joseph Anderson, J.W. Carhart, P.B. Pease, P.S. Bennett, and W.P. Stowe.
But as there were no cases to be tried, the brethren elected were
compelled to wear empty honors.
At this Conference, the writer again returned to Spring Street, it being
the third year of the third term of my Pastorate among this people, and
the thirtieth Conference year of my itinerent labors. Brother Stowe was
also returned to the District, and Rev. A.A. Hoskin was appointed to
Asbury, and Rev. Stephen Smith to Bay View.
Brother Hoskin entered the Conference in 1867, and before coming to the
city had been stationed at Milton, Shopiere, and Menomonee Falls. He is
a young man of fine culture, genial spirit, and great industry. His
sermons embody the fundamental truths of the Gospel, and their manifold
relations to practical life, and are highly appreciated by the people.
Besides being a good Preacher, he is also a poet of considerable
reputation.
Brother Smith entered the Conference in 1856, and his first appointment
was Sylvania. His subsequent appointments have been Elkhorn, Sharon,
Geneva, Manitowoc, Fort Atkinson, Delavan, First Church, Janesville, and
Bay View. On all these charges he has left the evidences of earnest and
devoted work for the Master. At Bay View, the present year has been one
of extraordinary success. The revival that transpired under his labors
swept through the entire community, and gave an accession of more than
one hundred members, a majority of whom were heads of families.
Brother Smith is a good Preacher, filling his sermons with a clear
exposition of Evangelical truth. And his Ministry has ever been a
benediction to the people of his respective charges.
The year opened in Spring Street Station with unusual promise. The
social meetings were well attended, the congregations were large and
attentive, the Sunday School, the largest in the city, prosperous, the
several societies were doing effective work, and the finances were in an
excellent condition. With this outlook, we were anticipating a glorious
year, but how uncertain are all human expectations!
During the delivery of the morning sermon on Sabbath, April 26th, 1874,
the writer was taken violently ill. The attack proved to be the
prostration of the nervous system, resulting from overworking the brain,
a difficulty that had been foreshadowed by several premonitions during
the preceding year. My condition at the first was perilous, but after
four hours of skillful medical treatment and careful nursing, the crisis
passed. Then followed weary weeks of watching and waiting. Meantime, I
received the earnest sympathy of my people, and the kind assistance of
my brethren in the Ministry, who generously proposed to supply
my pulpit.
The Conference of 1874 was held at Oshkosh, Bishop Foster presiding. I
was able to attend and answer to my name, but could spend but little
time in the Conference room. Whenever present I seemed to myself, as I
must have seemed to others, like a dismantled ship, stranded on the
beach. I was most kindly treated by all the brethren, being relieved of
every burden, and assured of abiding sympathy.
At this Conference Rev. J.W. Carhart, D.D., was stationed, by request of
the people, at Oshkosh. Brother Carhart entered the traveling connection
in the Troy Conference, and came to the Wisconsin Conference by transfer
in 1871, being stationed at Racine. He had just completed a full term,
and hence Oshkosh is his second appointment in the Conference. He is a
man of superior culture, fine preaching ability, and cannot fail to give
character to the pulpit, wherever he may be stationed.
Rev. George A. Smith was stationed at Spring Street as my successor.
Brother Smith entered the Conference in April 1859, his first
appointment being Principal of the Evansville Seminary. His subsequent
appointments were Milton, Emerald Grove, Lyons and Spring Prairie. In
his last field his health failed through intense mental application, and
he was compelled to retire from the work. After five years of rest he
was again able to resume his labors, being stationed first at Pleasant
Prairie, and next at Kenosha.
Brother Smith is in the strength of his manhood, has a vigorous mind, is
a fine thinker, uses clear-cut and well selected language, has a most
amiable spirit, and his Ministry cannot fail to be a grand
success anywhere.
Brother Stowers came to the Conference by transfer in 1867, and first
served as Professor in the Lawrence University. In 1869, having been
elected President of the Upper Iowa University, he was transferred to
the Upper Iowa Conference. He returned, however, to the Wisconsin
Conference the following year, and was stationed at Janesville. His next
charge was Whitewater, where, during his three years' Pastorate, he
achieved great success in the erection of a fine brick Church, and in
securing large accessions to the membership.
Brother Stowers is a man of great energy and decided talent. He has an
excellent voice, a ready utterance, and abundant illustrations, which
render his pulpit labors attractive. He is an able and successful
Minister.
At the adjournment of the Conference, the Preachers hastened to their
new fields of labor, perhaps hardly thinking, in their eagerness to be
at their work, of the tearful eyes that were looking after them, and the
aching hearts of those brethren who, no longer able to go out with them
to the battle, were compelled to languish in hospitals, or linger by
the wayside.
As for myself, I returned to Milwaukee, and retired to the quiet home a
few personal friends in the city and elsewhere had assisted me to build,
and where I now write this, the last line of
THIRTY YEARS IN THE ITINERANCY.