CHAPTER IV.

FIRST PERIOD. (1854-1861.)

   AS EARLY as 1856-57 town site companies and other speculative organizations, confidently expecting that a railroad would soon be constructed along the Platte Valley, induced people to form settlements and start towns as far west as Hall County. Beginning with Dodge and Platte Counties, we have the towns of North Bend, Fremont, and Columbus, started in the order named. In 1857 a large German colony had also settled in Hall County, at the mouth of Wood River, farther west than any other settlement, being about 150 miles west of the Missouri River.
   These settlers must have the Gospel, and as early as 1857 North Bend which probably included Columbus and intermediate points, was among the appointments named in the Minutes, but was left to be supplied. About this time another town was platted, east of North Bend, which was destined to become the most important city in the State west of Omaha, and the Methodist Church at that place has ever been and is now, one of the most influential in the State. Of the founding of this town and Church I shall let Mrs. Ida Moe tell the story:
   "In the sultry month of August, 1856, there set out from the rough territorial capital called Omaha, a group of young men filled with a very definite purpose.
   Following the grass-walled road which in the past

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had been the trail of the Indian, the explorer, the Mormon, and was destined to become in the immediate future the natural highway of the freighter, the emigrant, and the engineer, they halted about forty miles to the west, and with chain, chart, and tripod ran out the lines and set the stakes that outlined the site of a new town. A sea of prairie grasses billowing in the wind, the level valley of the Platte stretched away, four miles to the bluffs on the north, one to the river in the south, to the horizon on the east and the west.
   In June, John C. Fremont had been made the nominee of the Republican party. Being ardent partisans and most of them of that political faith, the founders of the infant burg bestowed upon it the name of the picturesque and popular presidential candidate.
   "Among the half-dozen families who were the first settlers was that of a Congregational minister, Rev. Isaac E. Heaton. A good man and a scholar, he was held in deep esteem by his fellow-citizens and his subsequent long and godly life was felt to be a benediction to the community. But those who had been adherents of other forms of faith were early desirous of establishing their own Church organization and soon began to break away from the common fold.
   "Two brothers, Eliphus H. and Lucius Henry Rogers, had been reared in a Methodist parsonage and were eager to enjoy the service of God in accordance with their own mode of worship. This desire led to the formation in 1857 of a class consisting of five members: E. H. Rogers, his wife, Lucy J. Rogers, L. H. Rogers, Mrs. Mary A. Flor, a young woman who had come with her husband from Wisconsin, Mrs. Wealthy Beebe, a widow who with

her four sons had settled upon a claim three miles west of the village.
   "E. H. Rogers was the first leader, and except when absent for brief intervals, continued to sustain that relation until his death. The first pastor was Rev. Jerome Spillman, who had been assigned to Fontanelle Mission, of which Fremont constituted one appointment."
   This is the first appearance of this flaming evangelist in Nebraska. He was born and converted and educated in Indiana. Indiana Methodism at that time, as it had ever been, was of the most aggressive type, and was led by men who were giants in intellectual stature and full of the Holy Ghost, mighty in word and deed. Among these Jerome Spillman received his first inspiration, and imbibed his ideals of Methodism "as Christianity in earnest." He was pursuing the course of study at old "Asbury," under the great Dr. Cyrus Nutt, who was then president. After a few years of college life, and before graduation, he heard the call for men to plant Methodism in Nebraska, and reported to J. M. Chivington for work. The following letter will explain how Jerome Spillman was initiated into the work, and will illustrate how presiding elders supplied these fields as the needs demanded:

"Omaha, June 22, 1857.

   "E. H. Rogers, Esq.,--Dear Brother: This will introduce to you Rev. Jerome Spillman. I have employed him on the Fontenelle and North Bend Missions. He is a young man, as you will see; still he is full of fire, and will do you good service. He is just now from Indiana Asbury University (of the junior class), is a good scholar and will prosecute his studies until he graduates. Board

him if you can. I will be out on the eleventh of July. Kind regards to yourself and family. Yours truly,

"J. M. CHIVINGTON."

   As stated in Mrs. Moe's account, Brother Spillman soon had a class organized. Meetings were held at the home of E. H. Rogers. Under these humble conditions, with a membership of five, began the history of one of the most prosperous Churches in the State. This Church from the first was blessed with the membership of strong, zealous, and influential laymen. The two Rogers, E. H. and L. H., were from the first marked men in the community, and leaders in every legitimate enterprise that promised to promote the interests of the place and Church. From the first and as long as they lived, they were a tower of strength in the struggling Church. They were the sons of Rev. L. C. Rogers, an honored member of the old Oneida Conference in New York. E. H. Rogers was born in Litchfield, New York, January 12, 1830, and Lucius H. Rogers was born March 20, 1834. These two men will often appear in the story of our Church in Nebraska, and always in some honorable relation, or some important work.
   Fontenelle, on the Elkhorn, some twelve miles north of Fremont, was one of the oldest towns in the State, though now almost entirely defunct. But during those early years it was a place of some importance, with a population of two hundred, and much promise, and unlimited expectations. It appears among the appointments in the Minutes of 1856, and was left to be supplied. J. A. Wilson was employed as a supply, but failed to appear, and the charge was served that Conference year by

M. M. Haun, who reported fifteen members. Then, as we have seen, Jerome Spillman was sent to supply Fontenelle, which it seems, from Chivington's letter, included both Fremont and North Bend. At Fontenelle he had a gracious revival, the first of a series which attended his ministry in Nebraska. There seems not to have been any revival at Fremont or North Bend, probably for lack of suitable places to hold special meetings. Brother Spillman reported forty-five full members and twenty-eight probationers, where the year before there had been but fifteen. The name of North Bend appears in the Minutes in 1857 as being left "to be supplied," but as seen by Presiding Elder Chivington's letter, it was included in Jerome Spillman's field. It was little more than one of the numerous paper towns, though $60,000 worth of lots had been sold, mostly to Eastern purchasers. When Jacob Adriance was appointed to Platte Valley Circuit in 1858, it extended from Fremont to Columbus, and included North Bend and Buchanan.
   The work in Sarpy County began with Bellevue Circuit, which included Fairview and all the points in the county, and appears for first time in 1857, to be supplied, and was also left to be supplied in 1858, and, as already noted, H. T. Davis was placed in charge at that time. In 1859, Jerome Spillman, that flaming evangelist, whose labors were everywhere attended with great revivals, fresh from his victories at Fontenelle, was assigned to Bellevue. There was a great revival and the membership which had been reported at the Conference of 1858 as ten, and in 1859 as nine, was reported at the end of Jerome Spillman's first year to be sixty-two, with eighty-two probationers. It was at this meeting that T. B.

Lemon, who, after some years of efficient labor in the Baltimore Conference, had come West and gone into the practice of law, was recalled to his duty as a minister of the Gospel. In 1860, Jerome Spillman is returned to Bellevue, with J. H. Alling as junior preacher, and reports in 1861 one hundred and eleven members and sixty-four probationers, showing that the revival of the previous year left permanent results.
   Of Spillman's preaching, Judge A. N. Ferguson, of Omaha, son of Judge Fenner Ferguson, the first chief justice of the Territory, has this to say: "I was but a boy of sixteen at that time, but I often heard Spillman during that great revival and at other times, and no preacher that I have heard in Nebraska has impressed me more profoundly than did Jerome Spillman." His powerful preaching and great revivals were still matters often referred to when the writer came to Nebraska in 1865. He went into the service of his country early in the Civil War, as chaplain, Plattsmouth and Oreapolis being his last charge in Nebraska, to which he was appointed in 1861. After the war he remained in the South.
   When in 1856 Isaac Collins was changed from Omaha to Florence, after having served the full term of two ecclesiastical years at Omaha, though not two full calendar years, the town was flourishing and still hopeful. There had been a church built at Omaha; there must be one built at Florence. This Collins undertook during the inflated times pending just then. But before it could be completed the financial crash of 1857-58 came, and money became scarce. But they felt the building must now be completed, and five hundred dollars were borrowed at five per cent a month, the pastor going on the

note with some others. This rate of interest may seem incredible now, but was common then, as were even higher rates. By the time of the next Conference, 1858, when Hiram Burch was appointed to succeed Collins, the case had become hopeless, the principal and interest on the note already amounting to more than the cost of the building, and the people having lost heavily, there was nothing left but to do that which a Methodist preacher hates to do, acknowledge defeat. They accepted an offer of the creditors to take the building and cancel the note. These afterward sold the building to the school district, and it was still used for religious services.
   After a year of discouraging work in a town that was constantly losing ground, Brother Burch was returned; Calhoun, DeSoto, and Cuming City being added to Florence, and the name of the circuit changed to DeSoto. Fort Calhoun, DeSoto, and Cuming City were very similar in their fortunes and history to that of Florence. They flourished for a few years, and then declined. Isaac Collins, while at Omaha preached at Calhoun once in four weeks, and even went occasionally as far as DeSoto, twenty miles from Omaha. These places had, during their brief history, the services of some of the ablest and most efficient preachers, such as Isaac Collins, H. Burch, Jerome Spillman, Jacob Adriance, T. B. Lemon, and in the early sixties, J. B. Maxfield and A. G. White. But manifest destiny was stronger than even these strong men, and these places became defunct in a few years. But during the fifties they kept their places in the list of appointments. During Burch's second year there were some gracious revivals and the Church made gratifying

progress. Brother Burch continued to preach at Florence, though the Baptists and Presbyterians had abandoned the field. The town continued to run down, and the faithful work of Collins and Burch came to naught, as was often the case in those times of shifting fortunes. While Brother Burch was in a revival-meeting at Calhoun, the following sad incident occurred, as related by Dr. Goode, who had stopped on his way home to assist:
   "We now approach a scene of deep and painful interest; one which, in its results, was greatly to affect my future life and labors. Hitherto, in all my wanderings and toils, I had always had a devoted and willing participant. Home had been cheered and made a resting place, with a society and companionship all that I desired. Absence had been relieved by the reflection that the family altar was kept up, the morning and evening sacrifice offered, the interests and comfort of dependent ones provided for, and all the details of secular business and domestic care guided by a competent and faithful hand. A counselor, too, and friend, had been near me in every hour of impetuosity or of discouragement; diffident, unobtrusive, but judicious, constant, gentle, faithful.
   "The opinion had seemed to be mutually, though rather silently, entertained that I, though possessing more firmness of physical constitution, should first be called away; and all the arrangements of later years had contemplated this event. For this I had endeavored to have my "house in order." But how vain are all our plans founded upon mere presentiment. 'God's ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.' A cup was prepared for me of which I had never expected to drink.
   "Upon the morning of the third of February, 1859,

I started upon the northern portion of my fourth round of quarterly-meetings. The trip would take me to the extreme of the district and occupy several weeks. All at home were well and cheerful. My meeting at DeSoto was attended. On the morning of Thursday, the 9th, my last day in Tekama, the family scene at home had been as usual. My wife, according to her uniform custom in my absence, had assembled the household at all early hour, read the Holy Scriptures, the portion for that morning being Psalm cxlvi, bowed with her children, and commended them to God in prayer. A few hours passed in household avocations, when, while seated at her needle she was suddenly attacked with violent illness. Medical aid was immediately called, but in vain. The disease baffled medicine, and almost from the first precluded hope. On the morning of the 14th, God released her sanctified spirit and took her to Himself.
   "My supposed great distance, and the want of knowledge of my route, prevented my being sent for, though in reality I had passed most of the time of her illness within one day's ride of home. Reaching Omaha in the afternoon, where I had expected to pass the night, I heard of her illness, and in ten minutes after of her death. A solitary, but hasty, night ride of twenty-five miles brought me to my home at a late hour. Unknowingly, I passed into a room where my eyes rested upon the precious remains, before I had seen a living being about the house.
   "Reason remained unimpaired to the last. Under the most racking torture, perfect patience and resignation were exercised. Not a murmur escaped. Eight children were at her bedside. During the illness she had all ob-

jects removed out of sight which reminded her of unfinished plans and contemplated domestic arrangements, saying, 'I shall work no more,' calmly gave directions about her household affairs, even the most minute, inquired kindly after the health of some that were indisposed, thanked attending friends for their good offices, and expressed a fear that she should be troublesome or grow impatient, gave instructions for preparations for her funeral, addressed personally each of her children present, sent her last words to the absent one, and charged all to meet her in heaven, enjoined them to be 'kind to their father,' left a most tender and consoling message for myself, referring to my expectation that she would survive me, 'Tell him not to grieve-we shall meet soon,' exclaiming near the last. 'O that I could see Mr. G. once more!' From the first her confidence was firm and repeatedly expressed. Almost the last words uttered were two lines of a hymn often sting in our family worship: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
 Let me hide myself in Thee!"

   It was in the spring of 1857 that there appeared on the field a young man who was destined to play a large part in the planting of Methodism in Nebraska and Denver, Colorado.
   Jacob Adriance was born in Cayuga County, New York, October 22, 1835. His parents were members of the Dutch Reformed Church, but afterward joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. When Jacob was ten years of age his parents moved to Niagara County, New York, where he grew up to manhood. He attended the district school and three terms at the Wilson Collegiate Institute.
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   He was religiously inclined from childhood, but thought he must wait until grown up before acknowledging it openly, hence did not become a Christian until he was sixteen, when he was converted. Two years later he felt called to preach the gospel, but the call included the additional idea that it should be a long way from home. Though he says he was as conscious of the call as if some person had spoken, he, like Jeremiah, and probably every truly called prophet of God, hesitated from a sense of inadequacy, saying, "I can't do that, I have no qualifications as to gift of speech, or education for so great a task." After thus resisting the call for more than a year, conscientious Jacob Adriance surrendered and said, "Yes, Lord, I'll go." Having had a license to preach pressed upon him, and armed with a government land warrant for 160 acres of land, the gift of his father, on the seventh of April, 1857, at the age of twenty-two, he turned his face toward the mighty West, that country afar off where it seemed stipulated in his call to the ministry that he should in after years "make full proof of his ministry."
   He reached Nebraska City April 26th, a day after the Conference had adjourned. He then walked to Glenwood to see Dr. Goode, and thence to Omaha to see the presiding elder of the Omaha District. It was characteristic of this modest man that his highest ambition up to that time was to assist some pastor, and when offered sole charge of DeSoto Mission, he shrank from the responsibility, and only after considerable pressure did be consent to go, and entered upon his work. Instead of entering a quarter section of land with his land warrant, he sold it for $163 that he might have the means to procure a horse and other outfit necessary for an itinerant

circuit rider in Nebraska. A good brother gave him a pair of saddle-bags. He had less than twenty dollars left after these purchases, and this was soon spent for Sunday-school libraries, as we shall see. The presiding elder had taken a map and showed him nine appointments which were to constitute his circuit, including, besides DeSoto, Cuming City, Tekamah, and Decatur, some other towns. He says of the other towns the good elder had shown him on the map, they had either gone into the river or were mere paper towns. Methodism had not as yet a single class organized on this field, much less churches and parsonages, nor was any other Church organized. Nothing had been raised the year before but a little sod corn, but most of the settlers had come too late for even that. There were not to exceed one hundred people in any one of these four towns, though each were hopeful of a great future. Decatur was then confidently expecting a railroad and is still in a receptive mood after nearly fifty years of waiting. Brother Adriance was the first regular pastor of these places, and his first service was on May third, at DeSoto, in the home of Jacob Carter, a Baptist. He found but two Methodists, T. W. Carter and P. S. Sprague. But he organized a Sunday-school on the 12th of July, 1857, purchasing a library for the same of Rev. Moses F. Shinn, of Omaha, who was then Sunday-school agent of the Iowa Conference. T. W. Carter had organized a Sunday-school as early as 1856, the first in Washington County, but it had gone down. The following winter he held extra services, and there were three conversions. While Isaac Collins was assisting in holding these meetings, a rather ludicrous incident occurred, which well illustrates the spirit of the

times. Perhaps the form of amusement the Methodist preachers most frequently came in conflict with in all those earlier clays, was the dance, usually so prevalent in newly settled countries. The meetings were producing a profound impression on the community and threatened to break up the dancing business entirely. Some of the leaders in that amusement determined to take vengeance on the preachers, and if possible, break up the meeting. Finding a small, dead dog, these hoodlums slipped up to the house, and while Brother Collins was preaching, hurled the dead carcass through an open window, striking him in the back. The dead canine was removed, and except a ripple of excitement, the meeting went on as usual, the sermon was finished, and victory was on Israel's side.
   With the two Methodists which Jacob Adriance found at DeSoto and those converted at the meeting, and some others who came in later, he, by the close of the Conference year, organized a class of twenty-two with a Brother Harney as leader. This was the first class organized at this place.
   On the same Sabbath that Jacob Adriance opened his mission in Nebraska at DeSoto, on the morning of the 3d of May, 1857, he preached at Cuming City in the evening, in a log cabin without any door. A local preacher from Iowa, by the name of L. V. Stringfield, had been over in the fall of 1856 and preached a few times, but no organization had been effected. Finding seven Methodists, Adriance organized a class, appointing H. Benner class-leader. This is the first class he ever organized, but it was not the last. On the 17th of May he organized a Sunday-school and again purchased a li-

brary of M. F. Shinn, packing the same on his pony from Omaha to Cuming City, a distance of over thirty miles.
   At Tekamah, in Burt County, he found that that zealous local preacher, L. F. Stringfield, had preceded him, preaching a few times in the fall of 1856. A general history of Nebraska states that in 1854 the first sermon ever preached in Tekamah was by a Methodist preacher, but gives no name. In 1855, Rev. Wm. Bates, a local preacher who lived near Tekamah, preached a few times. His brother, Rufus Bates, was an enthusiastic and efficient choir leader, and for many years rendered valuable service along that line. This same history states that Springfield organized the Methodist Church in 1856, but Adriance found no trace of the organization. He says that he found eleven members, and organized the first class ever formed there. This is probably correct, or if there was a class formed in 1856, it had been allowed to lapse, as was sometimes the case. Wm. Bates, a local elder, was appointed class-leader. Brother Adriance's first service was at the house of Benjamin Folsom, whose wife was a stanch Methodist and deeply pious Christian. The other members of this historic class, the only one of those formed by this faithful pastor on this circuit that has remained permanent till this day, was Michael Ohlinger and wife, Adam Ohlinger, and John Oaks, afterward the founder of Oakland. Here he also organized a Sunday-school May 24th, purchasing a library and packing it up from Omaha on his pony. The class doubled in numbers during the year. At Decatur Brother Adriance found a population of about fifty, but at that time no Methodists, and though he preached there regularly, could

effect no organization. His first service was on a week night, May 7, 1857, at the hotel, with ten persons present.
   In reviewing the year's work, he says: "I held no extra services, except at DeSoto, for want of a place; there were no public rooms available, and dwellings were small and full. The year with me was one of many severe trials, both of body and soul, but of many experiences that were helpful to me in after years. I found twenty-two members; I left forty-six." He found not a single organization of Church or Sunday-school. He left a fairly well organized circuit, out of which has since grown several strong charges, among them Blair and Tekamah. Like Paul, he laid the foundations which others have built upon. His last Quarterly Conference renewed his license, and recommended him for admission on trial into the traveling connection, which was done at the Conference in 1858 at Topeka.
   Jacob Adriance is one of those unassuming men that rarely pass for all they are worth. But all soon came to respect and believe in him as a pure-minded, sincere Christian man. His preaching had little of the arts of oratory or embellishments of fine rhetoric, but possessed that element of genuineness and sincerity that all orators must have if they would be permanently successful. His messages of truth came straight from a warm, sympathetic heart, and his hearers felt that he was seeking them, not theirs. His preaching was effective chiefly in building up believers in the faith, but his ministry was also attended with many precious revivals and he will have many stars in his crown. Besides, he was gifted with a wonderful power of song, that added greatly to his usefulness. He was in demand at camp-meetings,

where his singing was deeply impressive. Brother Burch tells of his being at the camp-meeting at Carrolls Grove, in Cass County, in 1857, where among other songs which he rendered in a most impressive manner was one entitled, "The Prodigal Son," during which the congregation was a good deal stirred. Thus Jacob Adriance has been permitted to sing the gospel as well as preach it, and only eternity will reveal the number that have been saved or helped through his twofold ministry.
   Adriance was followed on the DeSoto Mission by Jerome Spillman. The circuit presumably included the same points as the year before, though we have no means of knowing certainly about this, circuits being subject to change in their boundaries at any time, as the exigencies of the work demanded. Knowing what we do of Jerome Spillman we can hardly conceive of his spending a year on a circuit without a revival at one or more of his appointments, yet the Minutes show no gain on DeSoto Circuit during that year. The following year, as we have seen, DeSoto was served by Hiram Burch, and Tekamah, which probably included Decatur and other points, appears in the list as a separate circuit "to be supplied." There is no means of knowing who, if any one, was found to supply it, and the statistics for that year show no growth in membership.
   The following year, 1860, Z. B. Turman, whom we have already found at the front in other places doing valiant service, is sent to Tekamah, and as might be expected, the membership is more than doubled. The next year after Brother Burch's pastorate, on the DeSoto Circuit, the name of the circuit is again changed, and it appears in the Minutes of 1860 as "Calhoun, to be supplied."

   The man found to supply this hard field was no less a personage than T. B. Lemon, who now appears for the first time in the work in Nebraska and is destined to fill a large place in the next twenty-five years. During this, his first pastorate, a great revival takes place at old DeSoto, transforming the whole neighborhood.
   John E. West, now a resident of Crawford, Nebraska, was then living at DeSoto. He sometimes accompanied Brother Lemon, and told the writer the following characteristic incident that occurred when visiting one of the appointments of the circuit at a schoolhouse a little south of Fort Calhoun. The weather was cold, there was no stove up and they had to go two miles to find pipe with which to put one up. Only two besides themselves came to the service, but Brother Lemon preached with all the unction and power that characterized his preaching when large audiences listened to him.
   Omadi, or what is now Dakotah City, at that time being off by itself to the north of the Omaha Indian Reservation, appears on the list from 1856 to 1867, when it drops out till 1869. The first two years it is left to be supplied. As there is no report of any kind at the Conference of 1857, it was probably not supplied in 1856, but at the Conference in 1858, nine members and three probationers are reported, and $382 out of a claim of $800 is reported paid, by William M. Smith. But the place being isolated, there are no other points within reach to combine with it and make a circuit. This would make it difficult to supply it. The first regular pastor sent from the Conference was A. J. Dorsey, who had just been admitted on trial in the Conference. Of his work we know little, except that he found twelve members and proba-

tioners and reported twenty-eight; was promised $100 and reports all paid. He is discontinued at his own request at the next Conference. A. J. Dorsey is followed by T. M. Munhall, who reports in 1860 seventeen members and probationers, and $213 received out of the $300 promised. There appears on this field, now Dakotah City, one who has just been received on trial, W. A. Amsbary, this being probably his first charge. He reports fourteen members and sixteen probationers, which indicate some revivals, and it would be strange if there were none with W. A. Amsbary pastor.
   The first quarterly-meeting was held on this distant field by J. M. Chivington in 1857, and during the summer of 1858 W. H. Goode made the trip and in his book gives an account of it, which is well worth quoting. It will be seen what it meant to be a presiding elder in those days, and especially what a trip to Dakotah City meant. He says:
   "My first trip to this upper region occupied a portion of May and June. Most of the bridges had already gone; the direct road had to be abandoned and a way sought over the bluffs. About one hundred miles up, among the Black Bird Hills, is the Omaha Reserve, fronting some thirty miles up the river, through which we must pass to the upper settlements. In the forks of the Black Bird Creek is the Omaha village, heretofore described. The two bridges were gone, and both streams were swollen steep-banked, miry, and dangerous to pass. Arrived at the first I found a group of lazy, lounging Indians sunning themselves on the opposite shore, and awaiting the approach of some luckless traveler. By signs and words I inquired where I should cross. The wily savages

pointed me to a place into which they tried to induce me to drive; expecting probably to see some sport and to realize a fee for helping me out of my difficulty. Being a little suspicious, I waited for a time. At length an honest-looking fellow came along, and pointed me the way to a place of less difficulty, thereby depriving them of the sport and profit, and saving me from difficulty and danger. It being late in the afternoon when I got over these streams, I sought a lodging at the Government Farm and agency, but was denied. In vain did I present my vocation and object; I could not obtain the privilege even of sleeping upon the floor, and finding my own provisions, but was directed to an Indian tavern some miles off. Not relishing this, I drove off, planning for a night in the woods by my own campfire. Soon I found that my trail entered a vast tract covered with water of unknown depth, perhaps for miles. I endeavored to pass around, but was hemmed in and had to 'take water.' In I drove, committing myself to the floods. It proved of fordable depth, though of long and tedious continuance. Emerging from the floods, I espied through the forest, the stately stone mansion of the Presbyterian Station. Approaching and giving my name and position, I was kindly met by the superintendent, Rev. Dr. Sturgiss, and his excellent lady, recognized as a missionary and a brother, formed an interesting acquaintance, and ever after had a welcome and pleasant home among them. Thanks to the churl that turned me off an hour before."*
   Jacob Adriance attended his first Conference at Topeka, making a journey of over one hundred and fifty miles to reach the seat of Conference. He was received on trial and appointed to Platte Valley Mission. Of how

he gets from Tekamah to his new circuit and his experiences and description of the work he does, except that of Fremont, which is described elsewhere, I will let Brother Adriance himself tell the story:
   "I was appointed at the Conference of 1858 to the Platte Valley Mission, embracing Fremont and the settlements west, including Monroe on the Loup Fork, fifty-eight miles distant from Fremont. Fremont had a population of one hundred. My first service, May 2, 1858. The following week I moved my two trunks from Tekamah, with my pony and a one-horse wagon. At Bell Creek ford, as the water would come into my wagon-bed, I made a bridge with it and a tree, and packed my trunks over. One day, as I had no bucket, I carried water to my pony in my hat.
   "North Bend had six families in the vicinity; it was a paper town, from which, it was said, $60,000 worth of lots had been sold. The town site was afterward turned into a farm, and later the present town laid out. My first service here was June 6, 1858. George Turton and Harriet, his wife, were the only Methodists here.
   "Buchanan was also a paper town located on the old military road at Shell Creek; six families in this vicinity, mostly strong Universalists. My first service was on June 6th. They were intelligent, kind people, but objected to me having family prayer, yet wished me to have public services in their houses.
   "Skinners was a settlement of five families. Mr. Skinner and wife were Methodists, living ten miles east of Columbus. My first service here was on June 20th, at 7 P. M., and as one family did not arrive until services closed, they having come four miles with their ox

team, I held another service, making four sermons and twenty-two miles ride in the hot suit for the day.
   "Columbus had a population of about one hundred, mostly Germans, no Methodists; first service May 16th, with twenty-four persons present.
   "Monroe. Here there were two families and ten or twelve single men keeping 'bach.' First service May 16th, with fifteen persons present. At one service here, all were away but two men. I stopped with them for the night and preached to them in the morning as best I could, having come fifty-eight miles to do it. I think these were the first religious exercises held at the five places named. I kept up the appointments regularly during the year and organized the North Bend class, with George Turton leader; six members, including, a Sister Stephens living three miles above Columbus. Thus the class was thirty-six miles long.
   "Jalapa, on Maple Creek, eight miles north of Fremont, was my sixth appointment, and a settlement of four families. O. A. Himebaugh was the proprietor of the townsite, a Methodist, and later the first settler in Hooper, where he was active in building up Methodism. He died September, 1902.
   "The Fontenelle work was left to be supplied; June 29th Brother Goode put me in charge of it, in addition to present work. A church had been built the preceding winter, 1858, with native material, except the flooring and siding, which was hauled by wagon from St. Joe, Missouri, costing $100 per thousand. In later years it was taken down and rebuilt at Arlington. The leading Methodist families were those of S. Terances, Keeys, Hancock, and Van Horn.

   "As early as possible the settlements on the Elkhorn were visited. (From my diary.) October 19th, preached at Mr. Todds, at Logan Ford; seven persons present; entire settlement. October 20th, at DeWitt, thirty-eight miles from Fontenelle; nine present, of whom Amzi Babitt was a Methodist. There were two Wesleyans, one Presbyterian, and one Baptist; entire settlement out; failed to organize. The 21st, at West Point; one family and six men in the settlement; five present. Twenty second at Hunters, Cuming Creek ford, five present, the entire settlement. No services at fords since I left. At West Point Methodism has never succeeded, and last Conference ordered our property there to be sold. On December 6, 1858, I found a settlement of three families, eight grown persons and two children, all in one cabin, twenty-five miles from Fontenelle on Logan Creek, where Oakland is now located. February 21, 1859, four of them joined on probation, and March 21st, one more, so a class of five was organized, with the mother of the four daughters class-leader. Sister Arlington had been a Presbyterian in Philadelphia, but made a good leader and kept up their Sabbath prayer-meetings for over two years. No settlers coming in and being so isolated from society, they finally abandoned their claims with the improvements, and re-located in Burt County, six miles south of Decatur, where Sister Arlington died a few months ago, upwards of eighty years old. I did not attempt to hold special meetings, but kept up the appointments, thirteen in number, and at different times traveling over three hundred miles in one round in four weeks; often without a trail; by the sun and by my watch; at times in storms keeping the pony's neck straight and sighting between his

ears to objects a little in advance. Dangerous risks were avoided, yet at one time Logan ford was crossed by sitting on my feet on the top of the saddle, with saddlebags over my shoulders, and the water running over the pony's back. It was to cross or go back ten miles."
   At the Conference of 1859 he is appointed junior pastor on Rock Bluff Circuit, with the old veteran, J. T. Cannon, as senior preacher. This was the strongest charge numerically in the territory, having a membership of 143, being the only one that had over one hundred members. Doubtless the arrangement of being the junior preacher was much to the liking of this modest young man, but it was not to last long. He was soon summoned, along with Dr. Goode, to a far distant, and as subsequent events proved, a far harder and more important field, referred to elsewhere. Of the work of Jacob Adriance in Deliver, it being in another field, little can be said in a volume treating of Nebraska Methodism, still I can not forbear a few quotations from that excellent history of our Church in Colorado, by Isaac H. Beardsley, D. D., entitled "Mountain and Plain," as showing the nature of the work, the character of the man, and the high regard in which he is deservedly held by Denver and Colorado Methodists. Of their arrival at Denver and the first service, Dr. ]Beardsley says:
   "Brother Goode drove his four-mule team into Deliver at half-past two P. M., on Tuesday, June 28, 1859; Brother Adriance following on his pony. They had six months' provisions for two. Their trip had been one of great fatigue and exposure during the twenty-eight days en route. After putting up notices for preaching on the

following Sabbath, they drove four miles up the Platte to get feed for their animals.
   "Allen Wiley's motto was theirs, 'Methodist preachers are in a pushing world, and they must push also.' Experience soon taught them that the best way to get a crowd was to sing it up. Their first service was held July 3, 1859, in Pollock's Hotel. This was a frame building, one of the three or four only in the two towns of Auraria, now West Denver, and Denver City. This house stood on the east side of Eleventh Street, between Wazee and Market Streets. Brother Goode preached at eleven A. M., and Brother Adriance at three P. M. The congregations were small, the people not caring for these things."
   And of his marriage we find this: Again I quote from Brother Adriance's letter to the writer and others: "How glad I was to meet the brethren, and have some ministerial society. It was like an oasis in the desert. I was nearly overcome with joy. After Conference I went back to New York to visit my parents and friends. There I found a girl willing to become a missionary's wife." (There is a slight touch of romance and heroism about this match. She was Miss Fanny A., daughter of L. C. Rogers, of the Central New York Conference. just seventeen days after their first meeting they were married and started for the "Pike's Peak" country.) "On our return we crossed the plains at the rate of twenty-eight to thirty miles a day, reaching Golden about the first of July, and began housekeeping in a little cabin, twelve by fourteen feet, with no floor, one door, half a window on each side, slab roof, eaves about five feet high, three stools, and a little sheet-iron stove. Kept house three months without a chair."

   "When Presiding Elder Chivington came to stop over night he had a much better bed than I had a number of times, the year before, in the same place, for I had previously, with a pick and sledge-hammer, broken off, pounded down, or dug up some of the stones, among which I had wriggled myself down so that I could rest a little and sleep. Further, I had covered the ground with sawdust, then with hay, upon which we had put a carpet of gunny-sacks, tacked down with wooden pegs driven into the ground. So, with a few blankets, a pair of nice, white cotton or linen sheets, and a big featherbed, we made him quite comfortable. But wife had to wait in the morning until he got up before breakfast could be started. A wedding party of four came to stop over night. We bunked on the ground with a part of them, giving the newly-married pair the bedstead with one leg, of my own make.
   "When wife and I visited on the circuit, she rode the pony and I took it afoot. I carried my revolver and knife in my belt. On the whole, we had a good year; some souls converted."
   And this concerning his work on Central City Circuit in 1861: "I traveled this work on foot, as it was too expensive to keep a pony, with corn at twelve cents per pound and hay at six cents. When potatoes and squashes came down to four and five cents per pound we thought we could afford the luxury. Here wife had to foot it as I did, when she went with me. Sometimes she would walk as much as six miles in half a day over the mountains."
   John M. Chivington, who has also gone to Colorado

and is again Jacob Adriance's presiding elder, is quoted by Dr. Beardsley as expressing this high approbation:
   "Gladly and with willing hearts did he and his noble wife go forward on their mission of love, foregoing a thousand and more comforts that they might have enjoyed. He was a good singer, powerful in prayer, thoroughly Methodistic in all his ways, and strong in faith, giving glory to God. He was preeminently 'a man of one work.' The writer of these lines recollects the day this faithful servant of God and the Church came to his 'hired house' at Omaha, in April, 1857, seeking a place to work for the Master. Have known him ever since and can not now remember an act, or indiscretion that could be censured, except this, his leaving Colorado. I have purposely said more about Mr. Adriance than others, because he may fairly be said to be the founder of Methodism in Colorado. Dr. Goode simply came on a reconnoitering expedition, and that accomplished, his work here ended; while Mr. Adriance remained, formed a mission circuit, organized societies, appointed class-leaders, held Quarterly Conferences, and started the first Sunday-school ever organized in Colorado. He is, indeed, the father of Methodism in Colorado."