CHAPTER XXII.

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.