CHAPTER V.

FIRST PERIOD. (1854-1861.)

CAMP-MEETINGS.

   AT the close of this period there were only four church buildings reported, and as yet there were few school houses. We find many of the pastors, like Brother Adriance on the DeSoto Circuit, saying they were not able to hold extra revival services at many places because there were no public dwellings suitable for such purposes, and the private buildings utilized, perforce, for the regular. but occasional, Sabbath or week-night service every two to four weeks, were unavailable for revival meetings. As might be expected under these circumstances, they began early to avail themselves of "God's first Temples," the native groves, and hold old-fashioned Methodist camp-meetings.
   The first of these to be held in the territory was very appropriately at John Carroll's grove in the Morris settlement in Cass County, where the first society was organized. It occurred in August, 1856. While Dr. Goode had charge of the camp-meeting, he barely mentions it in his book except to say it was "largely attended and resulted in much good." Hiram Burch, then pastor at Nebraska City, also attended, and writes more fully, saying: "During the summer I attended my first camp-meeting. It was held in John Carroll's grove, three miles southwest of Rock Bluffs. It was in charge of the presiding elder, Dr. W. H. Goode and was of great inter-

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est and power. Eighteen preachers were present some time during the meeting, and there were just eighteen professed conversion."
   Both Dr. Goode and Brother Burch speak of attending another camp-meeting, held near Nebraska City, the same summer, "of considerable interest, but not so largely attended."
   In the summer of 1857 there were two camp-meetings. Dr. Goode says of these: "The first was in the rear of the Half-breed Reservation, near where Falls City is now located. The rain fell copiously and continuously. The tents had no sufficient covers. I was thoroughly drenched in my bed, having no alternative. I bore it patiently. But there were showers of grace, too. On the Sabbath the sun shone forth; the Word was preached; the power of the Lord attended, and before the close of the meeting a large number, old and young, were brought into the fold of Christ. The second was held as the year previous, near Rock Bluffs. This is one of the most populous and best improved sections of the territory. The attendance was large and the meeting profitable."
   Of this second camp-meeting that year, Hiram Burch, then pastor at Plattsmouth, speaks more in detail, saying: "In August of that year (1857) we had a camp-meeting jointly for the two charges (Plattsmouth and Mount Pleasant). The meeting was one of great power, resulting in the conversion of many souls. Among others I remember Charlotte Spurlock, now Mrs. Sherfy, of Nebraska City, who was joyously converted, and her father, Brother Wesley Spurlock, of precious memory, seemed equally happy, and expressed his joy in shouts of praise. During the fore part of the meeting he spoke of

striking tent and going home because of the excessive rain. In the height of his rejoicing over the conversion of his daughter, he was asked, "Do you feel like going home?" and his prompt reply was, "Yes, to my heavenly home."

CONFERENCES

   At the beginning of the work in these two territories, Dr. Goode, when appointed general superintendent of missions in both Territories, was transferred to the Missouri Conference, with the intention of having both Territories attached to that Conference for administrative purposes. By some misunderstanding, however, the Iowa Conference supposed Nebraska, being contiguous to that on the west, would naturally come under its jurisdiction, and as early as October, 1954, laid out a Council Bluffs District, including Omaha and Nebraska City, and Moses F. Shinn was appointed presiding elder. But there is no record showing that Shinn ever exercised the function of this office on the Nebraska soil, the arrangement being superseded by the prior appointment of Dr. Goode as general superintendent.
   The appointment, however, is significant of the fact that Iowa Methodism was on the lookout for these opportunities of extending its work, and ready to provide for the religious needs of the settlers in Nebraska, unless otherwise provided for.
   In 1855, Dr. Goode attended both Iowa and the Missouri Conferences, and by courtesy the former was allowed to care for the Nebraska portion, and Hiram Burch was received on trial in the Iowa Conference, and appointed to Brownville, Nebraska, but afterwards, as noted elsewhere, was changed to Nebraska City. But the Gen-

eral Conference of 1856 intervening, and passing an enabling act, both these Conferences were relieved of all responsibility in the matter by the organization of the Kansas and Nebraska Conference, which occurred in a tent at Lawrence, Kansas, on the 23d of October, 1856, Bishop Baker presiding. Of Lawrence, where the Conference was held, Dr. Goode has this to say:
   "Lawrence still presented the aspect of war. Demolished buildings, fortifications, the United States troops on the one hand, and the Territorial militia on the other, were the surroundings of the scene. The Conference sessions were to be held in a large cloth tent, which had been occupied for the purpose of religious worship. Bishop Baker was to preside, and due time arrived, having been conducted by land across the State of Missouri by a competent escort. The preachers, too, were on hand in proper season, but when, before, did a Methodist Conference assemble hearing arms! I can not say to what extent. But that some were armed I do know."
   Of this historic Conference, Dr. Goode says:
   "The number of members of Conference was found to be increased by transfers to fifteen. Bishop Baker presided with his usual self-possession. The session was harmonious and pleasant. Brethren felt themselves cemented together by common sufferings and common perils, and rejoiced after the year of unparalleled conflicts to meet again. The religion exercises were attended with divine unction and weeping and rejoicings were mingled together."
   Nebraska District was formed and five preachers were sent to this field. The time of meeting was changed to spring, which made the next Conference year a short one of six months. Nebraska City was fixed as the place

for holding the next Conference. There were reported at this Conference (1856) from the Nebraska portion, two hundred and fifty-five members and forty-two probationers.
   We can not help but wish we could have more knowledge of these Conferences during this period than can be gleaned from the Minutes. These Minutes are very brief indeed. In the Minutes of 1856 we have the Disciplinary questions and answers with which the journals of present Conferences are supplemented and a list of committees and their reports, but only a few lines are given to the proceedings of the Conference proper. There is no mention of any roll call, or names of those present. The record of these Conferences in these pages must therefore be brief. Two of these Conferences were held in Nebraska, and at both the presiding bishop was delayed till after the opening of the Conference by reason of floods in the Missouri. At the Conference which met at Nebraska City, April 16, 1857, Bishop Ames did not reach the seat of Conference till Sabbath afternoon, after the Conference business had been transacted and appointments made. Dr. Goode, who presided, conducted the business with such ability that many said he was as good a bishop as any of them. But the flood that prevented Bishop Ames from reaching Conference till it was nearly over, came well-nigh being fatal to the man who acted in his place. In the trip from his home in Glenwood, Iowa, to Nebraska City, he encountered this flood, and his experience in crossing is well worth relating, and may best be told in his own language:*
   "Two hacks set out from Glenwood filled with passengers eager to cross. So soon as we reached the bluff

and saw the vast expanse of water spread out before us, the old hackman said, 'It is useless to go further.' We urged him on down to the water's brink, but when there, all saw that further progress was impracticable. It was proposed to construct a raft of logs and endeavor to make our way down the current of a bayou which put in near the ferry. Of the ten anxious passengers all declined the hazard save three, two stalwart six-footers and myself. Dismissing our hackman and comrades, we took a wagon through the water to a cabin occupying an elevated spot on the brink of the bayou. Here we purchased two logs and sufficient plank, pinned the logs together at a distance of some four feet, nailed on a deck of plank and launched our craft; took dinner, placed ourselves and baggage on board, and deliberately committed all to the current. It was a distance of about three miles to our desired landing, and all the way a world of water. The two juniors undertook to manage our float, while I was honored with the post of baggage-master. 'Don't drown the old pioneer,' shouted a voice to the boys as we passed.
   "The first half of our voyage was through open prairie. Here we were able to keep our course tolerably well, but on entering the timber we soon encountered logs and heaps of drift-wood. Attempting to pass a huge drift that presented itself broadside in the current, the treacherous craft careened, slid under the mass of logs and disappeared, leaving us afloat and 'no bottom.' The boys sprang upon the drift, I remained in the water till the last article of baggage was handed out, and then they drew me up.
   "But now what was to be done? To retreat was impossible, and half the distance was yet before us. So on

we went, bearing our baggage, now wading, swimming, plunging in the cold water, the ice girdling the trees, through fallen timber or long entangled grass; then, for a time, on a dry elevated spot, where the keen wind pierced through our saturated clothing and chilled us even more than when in the water. Thus passed about two hours, sometimes consulting about trying to return, and then again urging onward. By this time I began to find it difficult to speak from a cramp approaching, I suppose, to lockjaw. Mentioning it to one of the young men, I found him affected in the same way. At length, when almost exhausted, we espied through the forest, the buildings at the ferry. My young companions now left me, and urging their way, sent a man to my assistance, who met me just as I emerged for the last time from the water, so enfeebled that in ascending a gentle slope of some ten feet, I fell twice to the ground.
   "O, how marvelous is the loving kindness of the Almighty! 'His tender mercies are over all His works.' Often I look back upon the perils of the past and wonder that I still live. Deeply have I felt in my own case the force of the remark of Mr. Wesley, 'A special Providence has been over my life, or I should not have been alive to this day.' We were taken to the cabin, supplied with dry clothing, warm drinks, and a good fire, and kindly cared for in all respects. Our clothing, books, papers, bank bills, etc., were dried. The night passed comfortably. In the morning I felt refreshed, crossed the river, hired a conveyance, rode down to Nebraska City, and preached that night, my quarterly-meeting being in progress, and never felt any inconvenience. Word went back that I was drowned, but when it was ascertained that I was

actually alive and on the other shore, the statement was changed, and it was currently reported that I had 'waded Missouri River.'"
   Of this Conference the Minutes are very meager indeed. The entire list of Disciplinary questions and answers is not given, and only four are entered in the Journal as being acted on. Of these, only the minute in relation to question three has special interest to Nebraska Methodists, recording as it does, the fact that Hiram Burch was admitted into full connection. Two districts are formed, the Nebraska City District, with *seven appointments and Dr. Goode as presiding elder, and the Omaha District, with eight appointments and J. M. Chivington presiding elder. Seven of these fifteen appointments receive pastors at Conference, and eight are left to be supplied. Though the Conference year was only six months, and the winter the severest in the history of the State, making the holding of meetings often impossible, it will be seen that the number of districts was doubled, the number of appointments nearly doubled, and the membership, including probationers,. increased from two hundred and ninety-seven to three hundred and seventy-two.
   The Conference of 1858 is held at Topeka, Kansas, April 15th to 19th, Bishop Janes presiding. The Nebraska contingent, consisting of about fifteen, all on horseback (except Colonel Chivington), with Dr. Goode in the lead, all went together. These had from one hundred to one hundred and seventy-five miles to travel, requiring those who went from the north of the Platte one week each way. Adriance says, it rained or snowed each day on the way down.

   That we may know how the preachers went to Conference in those days, I will transcribe the account of this trip which Dr. Goode gives in his book:
   "Early in April we were on our way to the session of our Annual Conference at Topeka, Kansas. The distance from my residence was about one hundred and sixty miles. Our company from Nebraska, numbering about fifteen, concentrated on Saturday, the 10th, at Falls City, near the Kansas line, where I was holding a quarterly-meeting. The two days of religious service passed with much interest. The weather was stormy, and the Great Nemaha was swollen beyond crossing. We had intended to take the 'Lane Route' directly through, but were forced into another course. Fearing a confusion of councils, it was proposed, at our Sabbath afternoon meeting to appoint competent conductors, who should make all arrangements, select a route, give directions, and pilot the company through. Two seniors, acquainted with the country, were selected. Orders were immediately given to all to appear early on Monday morning at a designated point, furnished, each, with one day's provisions.
   "The morning came, cold, snowy, and forbidding, but all were on hand. My buggy was left behind, and my faithful steed again converted into a saddle-horse, in common with my brethren. Passing down the Nemaha near its mouth, we crossed at Roy's Ferry. Thence angling across the country we, on the second day, entered the Lane Road.
   "The appearance of such a company of 'mounted rangers,' in this land of excitements, often led to the question, 'What's up?' To all we were able to return 'an answer of peace.' Rain, high waters, and rough fare

did not depress the spirits nor lessen the appetite. At nightfall we distributed ourselves over sufficient space to find edibles, and in the morning reassembled. The afternoon of the 14th found us on the bank of the Kansas River opposite Topeka. But the river was from bank to bank, the ferry-boat gone, and the bridge was not finished. Putting our horses temporarily in the care of some Indians, by the help of a skiff, and the part-way bridge, we reached the other shore, and delivered our company safely into the hands of the committee of reception."
   An item in the details of that memorable trip not mentioned. in Dr. Goode's account, is supplied by Hiram Burch, who was one of the party:
   "Our hero (Dr. Goode), when in discharge of his duty, disregarded the warning of men and of the elements. In the month of April a band of Nebraska preachers, while on their way to Topeka, Kansas, encountered a swollen stream, and the bridge was gone. Not knowing the depth of the muddy water, there was a momentary pause. But our hero soon solved the problem by dashing into the current on his faithful steed, and the rest of the company followed."
   In the transactions of this Conference we are specially interested in the answer to the question, "Who are admitted on trial?" for we find among the fifteen admitted the names of Jacob Adriance, Jerome Spillman, Martin Pritchard, David Hart, Zenus B. Turman, and Philo Gorton, all men who were destined to play an important part in the development of Nebraska Methodism. The answer to the fourth question, "Who are the deacons?" has interest from the fact that Hiram Burch and D. H. May are elected and ordained deacons.

   The Conference of 1859 was held at Omaha, April 14th to 18th Again Bishop Scott was delayed until the second day and Dr. Goode is elected to preside. We find several items of business which meant much to Nebraska and Colorado. H. T. Davis is admitted by transfer, Jesse L. Fort by readmission on certificate of location, and J. T. Cannon changed from superannuate to effective relation. In the list of appointments was "Pike's Peak and Cherry Valley, to be supplied." This meant that the grand old man who had organized the Church in the two Territories of Kansas and Nebraska should move on five hundred miles farther west and organize the work in Colorado, and that he would choose as the man who should go with him and be the supply at Cherry Creek, that faithful brother, Jacob Adriance. These two, with a mule team, should make the long trip across the plains to Denver, Dr. Goode remaining long enough to get the work well started, and Adriance remaining long enough to lay good and strong the foundations of Denver Methodism. Of his great work there, we speak in another place.
   For the last time Kansas and Nebraska preachers meet together in a single Conference at Leavenworth, Kansas, March 15, 1860. There has been rapid growth along all lines, as shown by the Minutes. Indeed, the Minutes themselves have been growing. The Minutes of 1856 having but nine pages, while those of 1860 have forty pages. The districts have increased from three to eight; the circuits and stations from twenty-one to seventy-six within the two Territories. The members of Conference from fifteen to thirty-eight, and members and probationers from 1,207 to 5,405. The Conference of 1859 having

memoralized the coming General Conference to divide the work into two Conferences on territorial lines, the absence of any action on this subject at this Conference was equivalent to reaffirming it, and it was deemed certain that the General Conference in May following would so divide the Conference, and as a matter of fact such action was taken.
   The Rocky Mountain District appears with six appointments, and only two men in all the vast field, and both of these were from Nebraska, J. M. Chivington, presiding elder, and Jacob Adriance at Golden City and Boulder. W. H. Goode and L. B. Dennis are delegates to the General Conference.
   It may be of interest to know that this Conference, in session in a city that had been the hot-bed of the pro-slavery sentiment, six months after the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry, and less than a year before the secession movement began, passed the following resolutions on the subject of slavery:
   "Resolved, That whereas, God has made of one blood all nations of men, we recognize in every human being the offspring of the same common Father, and admit the universal brotherhood of man.
   "Resolved, That no enactment made by any number of human beings can give one person the right of possession in another person as an article of property."

CHAPTER VI.

FIRST PERIOD. (Concluded.)

   WITH great difficulty, costing years of effort, we have been able to gather up these few scattered facts relating to this important period of the beginnings of our work in Nebraska; and combine them as best we could into a statement that would convey to the reader a just conception of the work and the workers. I have felt justified in tracing in detail, to some extent, the history of each charge, a method that will be impracticable when we conic to deal with later periods, when the charges have multiplied into scores and hundreds in each Conference.
   We have also tried to follow each of these first builders working at the task of laying the foundations of our Methodism during this period, a method which can not be pursued later, when the workers begin to multiply in numbers. But it has been assumed that the reader would be especially anxious to know all about these men who laid the foundation, and how they did the work, and the spirit in which they did it.
   We have seen that in the short space of two years after Dr. Goode was appointed superintendent of Missions in Kansas and Nebraska, in September, 1854, and there had been appointed at the Missouri Conference in October of that year one ]one missionary to Nebraska, the work has sufficiently developed to justify the organization of the Kansas and Nebraska Conference in Oc-

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tober, 1856. In less than four years more the General Conference of May, 1860, authorized the division of this Conference into two, along territorial lilies, and in 1861 they each set out in their independent careers, the Nebraska Conference being organized by Bishop Morris in October, 1861.
   This will constitute the close of the first period and the beginning of the second.
   As we have watched the progress of the work in these years we have seen much of the stress of hard work and sacrifice and uncertainty. During the fifties there were very few of the earlier settlers who thought there was much of Nebraska fit for agricultural purposes. They were unable to disabuse themselves of the false impressions made by the maps in the geographies they had studied, which included nearly all of Nebraska in the "Great American Desert." The writer was about that time taking his first lessons in geography and remembers how distinct the impression was and how it made him think Nebraska was something like the great desert of Sahara. Few thought that settlements would ever extend more than thirty or fifty miles west of the Missouri, except perhaps along the southern portion. Then probably the severest winter Nebraska has ever experienced since it was settled was in 1856-57, and this was followed by one almost as severe the next year. In 1856-57 the snow was three to four feet on the level, and some perished and all suffered. It was next to impossible to get to where provisions could be obtained. This, with the one or two unfavorable seasons for crops, and a financial crash that in many cases rendered worthless what little money they had, completely discouraged many of the settlers, and

they either returned East, or were swept along by the current that about that time set in toward Pike's Peak and the Colorado gold mines. There is no doubt that the population of many sections, if not of the entire territory, decreased during 1858 and 1859.
   But by 1861 the tide had turned and Nebraska was no longer an experiment. The soil was found to be fertile; the climate favorable for crops and healthy for man. The severe winters of 1857-59 had been followed by one or two exceptionally mild ones. The thousands that rushed to the Colorado mining camps must be fed and clothed. These supplies could be brought up the Missouri River to different point in Nebraska, but they were still five hundred miles or more from the camps and must be hauled over the plains by ox or mule teams. This gave rise to the freighting business, which, in the later fifties and earlier sixties, furnished remunerative employment to many, and built up a flourishing trade in outfitting supplies in Nebraska City, Omaha, and other points on the river, bringing much money into the impoverished country.
   Of this period, and the men who did the work, no one is more competent to speak than that grand old hero who had led the hosts during these beginnings, had shared their toils and perils, had asked none to go where he, himself, would not go, nor endure more hardship than he, himself, would cheerfully endure. If Paul fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, so did W. H. Goode fight with the wild beasts of border ruffians in Missouri and Kansas. In doing this he could say as Paul said, "In journeyings often, in perils of waters and in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by
   9

the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness." 2 Cor. xi, 22. In closing his book, "Outposts of Zion," Dr. Goode makes this retrospect of the work during this period:
   "And, now, a closing word with the reader. Near ten years of itinerant life, embracing a portion of my best days, has been spent in the work of frontier missions, a work unsought, undesired by me, till the providence of God, through the constituted authorities of the Church, indicated a path.
   "The fields of labor embraced in my successive appointments, and, to a great extent, actually traveled over and occupied, have covered a large area, including all the region between Texas on the south and the extreme territorial settlement in Nebraska on the north, and reaching from the State lines on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west.
   "The country up Red River has been traversed to a point seven hundred miles from its mouth. The region upon the Arkansas has been explored eight hundred miles up; that upon the Missouri one thousand, while the tributaries, Kansas and Great Platte, have been followed, the one to the junction where its takes its name, and the other to its mountain sources.
   "Nearly every military post has been visited, and almost all of the mission stations of every denomination. The lands of every tribe of Indians on the Western frontier, and many of the tribes beyond, have borne the impress of my feet, and more or less intercourse has been had with them all. The white settlements have been explored in their infancy and watched in their progress; and an acquaintance has been formed with all the phases and circumstances of frontier life.

   "In the course of these labors, the valley of the Mississippi, from the States east, near or remote, to the Territories west, has been crossed twenty-three times, by different routes and modes of travel, besides the amount of traveling in the Territories themselves. The number of miles traveled over in the time is probably not less than sixty thousand in about five thousand of which my family have participated in their necessary removals.
   "The Gospel, meanwhile, has been proclaimed to devoted worshipers in the churches; to delegates in Territorial conventions; to promiscuous crowds in courtrooms and hotels; to soldiers in barracks, and to camps of armed men; to the thoughtless and dissipated in saloons; to emigrants in corrals, and to miners upon the mountain sides; to savages around the council-fires, and to slaves upon the cotton plantations of the South.
   "Great and unanticipated changes have taken place within this period. New communities have been organized, and lands which, when first I passed over them, would not, I supposed, for half a century, if ever, be the abodes of white men, are now teeming with population. The border has been transferred a thousand miles westward. An empire has sprung up and more than a hundred thousand white inhabitants are found where, less than a score of years ago, I preached to Indians only, save the few whites officially tolerated among them.
   "Three entire Conferences west of the State lines have sprung up, and contingent provision is made for a fourth, in the formation of each of which it has been my privilege to bear a part.
   "I have witnessed much of the outbreakings of sin, and have seen some violence and bloodshed. Many of

the contacts of life have been rugged. The scene has often been stormy and the skies sometimes deeply overcast.
   "I have seen and marked the workings of Christianity in its personal effects upon the great and small, the statesman, the military officer, the common soldier, the white settler and his family, the miner, the Indian, the African slave, and the prisoner awaiting his doom under the law. I have seen its power exhibited in living and dying examples.
   "Shall I forbear to add - I have, I humbly trust, realized its supporting power under all life's changes, and often experienced that "God is ever present, ever felt,
In the void waste, as in the city full,
And where He vital breathes there must be joy."

Nor have its Divine consolations been wanting, when, to human appearance, it has seemed that there might be but but (sic) a 'step between me and death.'
   "Neither personal feelings nor sense of duty will allow me to close without a brief tribute to the moral and religious worth of the three young men who successively have, by appointment of the bishops, accompanied me upon my different fields of laborers. Henry C. Benson, James S. Griffing, and Jacob Adriance. More fortunate selections could not have been made. In the very intimate relations necessarily sustained by us, our intercourse has been confidential and our co-operation cordial. We have consulted, labored, prayed, wept, and rejoiced together. Cheerfully have they borne their part, and have often lightened by participation, my own burdens. Never have

I witnessed in any of them the slightest deviation from strict moral integrity or entire devotion."
   Of Dr. Goode, himself, it should be further said: As early as 1837 his standing among his brethren is indicated by the fact that he was elected principal of New Albany Seminary. "The first literary institution of learning under the care of the Indiana Conference, and Wm. H. Goode was our pioneer educator," says Dr. Holliday, in his "History of Indiana Methodism." Had he continued in the career of an educator, he would doubtless have achieved success and attained distinction along that line. But he soon resigned, regarding the pastorate as the field to which he was called. After finishing his great work in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, he spent many years in the work in Indiana. Dr. Holliday, in summing up his career, says: "Few men have made a more valuable or a more enduring impression upon the interests of the Church than Dr. Goode."