CHAPTER XII.. Conference of 1851.--Presiding Elder.--Presentation.--Give and

Conference of 1851.--Presiding Elder.--Presentation.--Give and Take.--Fond du Lac District--Quarterly Meeting--Rev. J.S. Prescott.--Footman vs. Buggies--Fond du Lac.--Two Churches.--Greenbush Quarterly Meeting--Rev. David Lewis--Pioneer Self-Sacrifice.--Finds a Help-Meet.--Sheboygan Falls.--Rev. Matthias Himebaugh.--Oshkosh--First Class.--Church Enterprises.

The Conference for 1851 was held June 25th, at Waukesha. The Sessions were deeply spiritual, and were characterized by general harmony among the preachers. At this Conference the Committee on Periodicals, of which I was a member, reported in favor of the establishment of a North Western Christian Advocate, and the report was unanimously adopted.

In the arrangement of appointments I was assigned to the Fond du Lac District. The appointment was a great surprise to myself, and doubtless to others. Besides, it was not in harmony with my judgment or wishes. It seemed to me to be an unwise measure to take so young a man, only twenty-nine, from the companionship of books and the details of the Pastoral office, and place him on a District where both of the Departments of labor, so essential to success in the Ministry, must necessarily be abridged. And in the next place, it appeared to me that, since there were so many other men in the Conference, who were better qualified than I for the position, my appointment was but doing violence to the work. But I soon came to the conclusion that when an appointment has been made there is no further need to debate the question. In such a case, the sooner both the Ministers and people adjust their views to the new order of things, the better for all concerned. Accepting this view, I hastened to conform to the situation with as good grace as possible. And to aid me perhaps a little, several of the preachers surprised me by the presentation of a cane.

I had heard it remarked that when a man used a cane, it was an evidence that he had a weak place somewhere between the crown of the head and the sole of the foot. I was now puzzled to know what the cane meant. There was doubtless a weak spot somewhere, in the opinion of the brethren. It must of course be either in the District or the incumbent. But my query as to which was soon answered. Dr. Bowman, my father-in-law, was traveling soon after in company with a good brother, when the conversation turned upon the appointments of the recent Conference. It had not proceeded far when the brother remarked, in referring to my appointment, "The Conference must have been hard up for material when it appointed that young stripling Presiding Elder." The mystery of the cane was now explained. The good brethren of the Conference doubtless thought the matter could be helped out by the use of a cane.

But a sharper joke than that was passed upon the people of Fond du Lac. Only six years before they had given me license to preach, and sent me to the Conference, and now, in sending me back so soon, the Conference seemed to say, "Brethren, we return you as good as you gave." I have heard it said that sometimes Quarterly Conferences grant licenses with the implied understanding that the recipients are not expected to serve the home Church, but are good enough to preach to less highly favored people abroad. If this course had been adopted by these Fond du Lac brethren as their policy, certainly it was a cruel joke to return the labor of their hands on such short notice.

But fortunately I was not supposed to know anything about this matter, and hence, on the principle that "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," I had nothing to do but to gather up my family and hasten to my new field of labor.

Fond du Lac District at this time embraced that portion of the State lying North and East of the city of Fond du Lac, and included thirteen charges. A few of the charges could be reached by steamers on the Fox and Wolf Rivers and Lake Winnebago, but the balance could only be visited by the stage or private conveyance. I chose to adopt the latter. Having provided board for my wife and child with Rev. M.L. Noble, and secured a horse and buggy, I was ready to enter upon my work.

The First Quarterly Meeting was held at Fond du Lac. The Church edifice was unfinished, and the celebrated school house having been burned, as stated in a former chapter, the Meeting was held in the Court House. At that time the building, though now so dingy, was new, and aspired to be the most respectable edifice in the village. To prepare the Court House especially for the Quarterly Meeting, the floors were newly carpeted with sawdust, even then a famous product of the village, and the seats well broomed. The place was crowded with people, and the occasion one of rare interest. The Gospel was dispensed from the "Seat of Justice," the Sacrament was administered within the "Bar," now vacated by the lawyers, and the people knelt outside to receive the sacred emblems. Several of the Members present had attended the Quarterly Meeting in the school house six years before, and among them were a few who had known me from my boyhood. It afforded me great pleasure to meet them and receive their friendly greetings.

Rev. J.S. Prescott, the Pastor at Fond du Lac, had been bred to the legal profession in the State of Ohio. He came to Wisconsin as a Local Preacher, and joined the Conference in 1846. He had been stationed at Sheboygan, Waupun, and Green Bay. He was a man of sharp, decisive movements, sometimes angular in his opinions and measures, but full of energy and not afraid of hard work. He kept no horse, even when on the largest circuits, as he could not afford to wait for so laggard a conveyance. In this particular he became notorious, and marvelous stories are related of his pedestrian abilities. It is affirmed that, on one occasion, in going to the Conference, he walked from Waupun to Platteville, and reached his destination in advance of the long line of ministerial buggies that were headed in that direction. Carrying the same energy into every Department of his work, he always left his "footprint" behind him. But his most devoted friends would sometimes question the wisdom of his measures. Even in the small village of Fond du Lac, he had now two churches in process of erection. But such was his skill in raising funds at home and abroad that one of them was dedicated by Bishop Ames at the close of the year and the other by the writer in the year following.

Subsequently he served for several years as Agent of Lawrence University, and then entered upon the project of founding an Institution of learning at Point Bluff. The selection of a location, however, was unfortunate, and his expectations were only partially realized. After this disaster he addressed himself to business pursuits.

The Fond du Lac charge had now gained an influential position in the Conference. Among her membership she had several leading business men. And in addition, this place had now become the home of Rev. H.R. Colman and Rev. M.L. Noble, the last two Pastors of the charge.

My next Meeting was held on Greenbush Circuit. This charge was midway between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, and had been established only two years. Its Eastern portion had been opened from Sheboygan, and its Western from Fond du Lac. It had neither Church nor Parsonage, and the Minister lived in a shanty.

The Quarterly Meeting was held in Mr. Tunis Burhite's barn, about nine miles east of Fond du Lac. I found the Pastor, Rev. David Lewis, at his post. As was his wont, he had made every needed preparation, and had brought out nearly the entire strength of his charge. The barn was filled with people, and the neighborhood taxed to its utmost to entertain the visitors. Nor was it surprising that, with such a preparation, the Meeting was an occasion of rare interest. For months and even years after, it was referred to with great satisfaction. At the time the opinions of people were found to differ. One good sister said in my hearing, "I think it is better to have old men like Elder Wilcox for Presiding Elders, rather than such young men, because they can keep a meeting steady and not let the people get so excited." But at the close of the services a veteran Local Preacher said, "The old Elder gave us a straight talk this morning." Both remarks were suggestive, and I resolved to bear myself with becoming dignity.

Brother Lewis entered the Rock River Conference August 24th, 1842, and was sent as Junior Preacher to Indian Creek, Ill., a four weeks' circuit, the labor of which greatly taxed his strength. His next appointment was Manitowoc, the charge extending from Port Washington to Two Rivers, and requiring one hundred and fifty miles of travel to each round of appointments. Through these dense forests, as I have had occasion to remark in a former chapter, the roads were almost impassable, with long distances intervening between residences, and involving great fatigue and exposure. Like the good Brother Frink, who preceded him in this field, he was compelled to swim rivers, suffer hunger and endure fatigue, that would appall a man of less nerve. During the winter his horse became disabled and he made the entire round on foot, carrying his provisions in a knapsack. Such were the trials and exposures of the pioneers who planted the standard of the Cross in the "Sheboygan Woods," as this region was called. They were indeed heroic men.

There were a few scattered sheep in the wilderness, and these were gathered into the fold. At Manitowoc, Brother Lewis formed a class.

In 1844 Brother Lewis was sent to Pewaukee, where he had eleven appointments. Though at the beginning of the year there was no class on the charge, at its close Brother Lewis, was able to report sixty-five members. It was during this year that our sturdy pioneer took to himself a worthy helpmeet, in the person of Miss Adelia Morley, who, as an inmate of the Presiding Elder's family, spread the table for the writer's first meal as an Itinerant. Brother Lewis was next appointed successively to Root River, Kankakee, and Brothertown, in which charges he enjoyed his usual share of hard work and spiritual prosperity.

In 1849 he was appointed to Sheboygan Falls. The circuit was very large, taking the entire tract of country between the Lake and Fond du Lac, but the year was one of marked success. Finding the Parsonage under a mortgage that imperiled the safety of the property, Brother Lewis stepped forward and offered his horse, saddle, and a dollar and a half, all the money he had, in liquidation of the indebtedness. They were accepted, and as a result, the dear brother traveled his circuits on foot for two years before he was able to procure another horse. Such is the sterling material out of which the early Itinerants were made. With such men in the field, it is not a matter of surprise that, under the Divine blessing, the "Wilderness and solitary place" were made to rejoice.

At the close of his labors on this circuit, Brother Lewis was again sent to Manitowoc for one year, when, the Greenbush charge having been created, principally out of the west part of his former work, he was appointed to it, as before stated. After leaving Greenbush he was stationed at West Bend, Columbus and Fall River, Oneida Indian Mission, New London, Markesan, Caldwell's Prairie, and New Berlin. At the Janesville Conference in 1870, Brother Lewis, having served the church nearly thirty years with great devotion, took a superannuated relation. At this writing he is residing in Fond du Lac, maintains a happy frame of mind, and is still doing what he can for the cause. He certainly deserves well of his Conference.

Sheboygan Mission, the next point visited, appears on the Minutes, as stated in a former chapter, in 1837, with Rev. H.W. Frink as Pastor. During this year Brother Frink formed a class at Sheboygan, consisting of the following members: Mr. and Mrs. Morris Farmin, Uriel Farmin, Benjamin Farmin, Mr. and Mrs. Elder Farmin, and Mr. and Mrs. McCreedy.

At the close of this year Sheboygan disappears from the list of appointments, but in 1843 the Manitowoc mission appears with Rev. D. Lewis as Pastor, and Sheboygan, it will be recollected, is named as one of the appointments. In 1845, however, the name re-appears, and Rev. Joseph T. Lewis was sent to the charge. From this time until 1849 the strength of the circuit consisted largely in the outlying appointments. But at this date Sheboygan Falls was erected into a separate charge, taking from Sheboygan its several interior appointments.

Rev. Daniel Stansbury, the Pastor, had commenced his labors in 1849, and was now on his second year. The Membership numbered only thirty-three, but Brother Stansbury had achieved a great work in the erection of a large and convenient Church edifice. I had visited the village the preceding year, as before stated, to dedicate the German Church, and had formed a very agreeable acquaintance with this truly noble man and his most estimable family.

Brother Stansbury was from Baltimore, and brought with him to Wisconsin a goodly portion of the warm and cheerful type of Baltimore Methodism. He was received on trial by the Wisconsin Conference in 1849, and hence Sheboygan was his first appointment. His subsequent appointments were Janesville, Union, Portage City, Beaver Dam, Berlin and Janesville District. In July of his second year on the District, and while preaching at his Quarterly Meeting on Cambridge circuit, he was stricken down by paralysis. He was taken to his home in Janesville, where he lingered in extreme feebleness until Oct. 28, when he died in great peace.

Brother Stansbury was a man of warm impulses, practical mind, and abundant labors. In the protracted meeting, his rare gifts of prayer and exhortation, made his labors a grand success, and, in the bright world beyond, it will be found that his comparatively short ministry gathered a large harvest of souls.

I next visited Sheboygan Falls. The charge first appears on the Minutes in 1849, it having been created out of the interior portions of the Sheboygan circuit. Its first Pastor, as we have seen, was Rev. David Lewis. In 1850, the following year, Rev. Matthias Himebaugh was appointed to the work. At this time the field embraced fifteen appointments, and required the travel of two hundred miles each month. Like his predecessors, Revs. J.S. Prescott and D. Lewis, Brother Himebaugh traveled this circuit on foot. The Society in the village consisted of thirteen members, and included the names of Mr. and Mrs. L. Cheeseman, Mr. and Mrs. Parrish, Mr. and Mrs. Goodell, Mr. and Mrs. Sully, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Waite, and others.

The public meetings were held in a school house outside of the village, and the prayer meetings in private houses. A lot had been purchased for a Church and Parsonage, and the latter had been partly built. On the arrival of Brother Himebaugh a hall was obtained in the village for the meetings, and soon after he commenced a subscription for a Church.

A revival occurred during the winter, and there were a goodly number of accessions, but they did not bring very much financial strength. The Society, though small and in moderate circumstances, were very enterprising and generous in their effort to erect a Church, subscribing towards the building one-fifth of their entire property. Having secured pledges, amounting to twelve hundred dollars, the Pastor now led a strong force of volunteer laborers in the manual labor of the undertaking. Felling the first tree for the timber in the woods with his own hands, Brother Himebaugh gave the keynote to the movement. Nor did he stay his hand until he had expended sixty days of labor.

After accomplishing what he could at home, he visited Milwaukee, Chicago, and several towns and cities in the Erie, Pittsburgh and Genesee Conferences, to obtain aid to complete the enterprise. The edifice, forty by sixty, with a basement, was so far completed that the lecture-room was ready for dedication in December, 1851. With this good work accomplished, our Quarterly Meeting at Sheboygan Falls was an occasion of great rejoicing.

Brother Himebaugh entered the Erie Conference in 1839, then twenty years of age. His first circuit was Red Bank, on the Alleghany Mountains. At the end of eleven years he was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference, and Sheboygan Falls was his first charge. After leaving this work, he was stationed in the North Ward charge in Fond du Lac. Here he also did a good work towards completing the Church edifice, which had been begun by Brother Prescott. He also had a good revival during the year.

In 1853, Brother Himebaugh was stationed at Oshkosh, where he performed prodigies of labor, preaching during a portion of the first year, on every other Sabbath, four sermons, and walking fourteen miles. He also gathered large accessions, which rendered the charge self-sustaining thereafter.

His subsequent appointments have been: Madison, Madison District, Appleton, Appleton District, Agent of Lawrence University, and Assistant Superintendent of the Western Seaman's Friend Society. At the present writing, he still holds the last named position, and represents the Bethel interests in this city. He is yet strong physically and intellectually, and bids fair to give to the good cause many additional years.

Oshkosh was the next place visited. Instead of finding, as in 1845, a few small cabins, I now found a respectable village and a flourishing Church.

The first Methodist sermon delivered in Oshkosh was preached by the veteran pioneer, Rev. Jesse Halstead, at the residence of Mr. Webster Stanley, in 1841. The place was now taken into the list of his appointments, and was supplied by Brother Halstead with considerable regularity.

At a subsequent visit he was accompanied by his Presiding Elder, Rev. James R. Goodrich. The services were again held in the residence of Mr. Stanley, and at this meeting, which was held in the fall of 1841, the first class was formed. The members were: Ira Aikin, Mrs. Aikin, his mother, Rachel Aikin, his sister, Mrs. Chester Ford, Miss Ann Brooks, and Mrs. Electa Wright. Brother Aikin was the first Leader, but soon after Brother William W. Wright and his wife becoming members, the Leadership passed over to Brother Wright. Before other provision was made, the meetings were held at the residences of Mr. Stanley, Mrs. Electa Wright and William W. Wright, but subsequently they passed to the school house and ultimately to the Court House.

In 1842, Rev. John P. Gallup was appointed to the Winnebago Lake Mission. His plan of labor gave to Oshkosh every fourth Sabbath, and the intervening time was filled by Rev. Clark Dickinson, a highly esteemed Local Preacher, and others. A revival occurred this year that brought into the Church the larger portion of the people living in Oshkosh and vicinity.

Rev. Harvey S. Bronson was the Pastor in 1843, and was succeeded the following year by Rev. Joseph H. Hurlbut. The first Church edifice was erected under the Pastorate of Rev. Robert Everdell in 1851. Being the Presiding Elder of the District at that time, the writer performed the dedicatory service. The building was enlarged in 1856 and again in 1861. Under the Pastorate of Rev. Wm. P. Stowe there were large accessions, and he found it necessary to enlarge again, when in 1870 the writer was called to preach the re-opening sermon.

The mother charge at this writing ranks among the leading stations of the Conference, and rejoices in the companionship of two promising daughters. The first is located on the South Side, where a lot was purchased and the contract for a building let, under the Pastorate of Rev. J.M. Walker, in 1868. The charge was organized the following year, and under the successive Pastorates of Revs. C.W. Brewer and Joseph Anderson, the Church was completed and the station assigned an honorable place in the Conference. The other, located in the Western part of the city, was erected into a separate charge at the last Conference session, a Chapel having been previously built.