CHAPTER VIII.

SECOND PERIOD. (1861-1870.)

   ALL but two of the preachers will go to circuits, Nebraska City and Omaha being the only appointments that have reached the dignity of stations. And this will continue to be the case through nearly all of this first part of this period. But while Nebraska City station leads in number, there are several circuits with a larger membership than Omaha. Nor will those who go to the stations find the work much easier than on the circuits, except perhaps in the matter of travel and exposure. All will find confronting them peculiar difficulties growing out of the war that is soon to break in fury upon the country, and some will meet what seem almost insurmountable obstacles to the successful prosecution of the Lord's work.
   It may be said that many will do well if they "hold the fort" during these trying times. There will be no accessions through immigration, for this will cease, almost entirely, with the exception that there will be many Missouri refugees. But neither the Church nor the country will derive any benefit from this class. That State was fought over by both parties, and these refugees were largely sympathizers with the rebellion, without the courage and manliness to fight for their principles. They did little but breed dissension in the local communities and churches along the river. It had come about in Nebraska as in all the North, that after the leaders of the Southern

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rebellion had become traitors, the loyal portion of the people were not quite satisfied with a non-committal attitude, but insisted on outspoken and unmistakable loyalty to the Government and approval of the Government in its effort to suppress rebellion and save the Union. Failure to do so sometimes brought on bitter conflicts in the locality and even in the Church. We have already seen how one otherwise pious and strong preacher, Wm. M. Smith, was shorn of his power to do good by refusing to come out decidedly as a Union man. If the failure to come out decisively for the Union cause made trouble, it fared still worse for any who were indiscreet enough to express disloyal sentiments. S. R. Tricket, who came from Missouri in 1862, well recommended, and was employed by the presiding elder, H. T. Davis, to fill out the unexpired term of Jerome Spillman at Plattsmouth, learned this to his sorrow. He managed to keep his real sentiments concealed for a little while, but, being something of an orator, he was invited to deliver the oration on the Fourth of July, and declined with the remark that "the Fourth of July was played out." The indignant Church officials, being all loyal, locked the door against him, and instead of the Fourth of July being "played out," Mr. Tricket found himself shut out of his pulpit, and was soon run out of the town by an incensed community.
   On the other hand there were Southern sympathizers, especially among those refugees who became so numerous in some places as to feel that they could assert themselves, and these resented any statements in the pulpit by any of our preachers, adverse to the "institution" of slavery. P. B. Ruch tells of some of these at Rulo, who

became offended at some remarks made in the pulpit on a quarterly-meeting occasion, by Presiding Elder C. W. Giddings, against slavery, and they indignantly demanded of him why he, as pastor, should allow such a man as Giddings in his pulpit.
   These are but a few examples of what took place in nearly every community during the war, and greatly retarded the progress of the Church.
   Another cause that affected the growth of the Churches was that, while immigration ceased almost entirely, up to 1865, many who were here went into the service of their country. It is probable that not less than 2,500 went from Nebraska, including those in Curtis's Cavalry, of Iowa. This was about nine per cent of the total population, which was, according to United States census of 1860, 28,000.
   Besides the distractions incident to the Civil War, there were frequent Indian troubles on the frontier, and even more frequent Indian "scares." Besides the men sent to the front to fight rebels, militia companies were formed to repel the bloodthirsty Sioux, who were then on the warpath, attacking freighting trains on the plains, and sometimes swooping down on defenseless settlers on the frontier.
   William Mudge, still living with his family in Beatrice, and all worthy members of our Church from the first, was an early settler in Gage County, locating a claim on Cicely Creek. He informs me that about this time they lived in daily peril from the Indians, and the Cheyennes did drive away all his stock. They were then on the warpath in the southern portion of the Territory, the range of their operations extending from Cottonwood on

the Platte, to Little Blue and Big Sandy, in Gage County. He soon after, with other settlers, joins the militia that at that time made a campaign against the Indians. Of one incident in this campaign he tells me this story:
   At Pawnee Ranch on the Little Blue, on August 13 to 15, 1864, 1,000 Sioux surrounded a little band of one hundred white settlers with but few arms. But they had for their commander that indomitable leader, Rev. A. G. White (afterward a presiding elder), who had led a company from Pawnee County, and under his leadership this little handful of brave, determined frontiersmen put up such a vigorous defense, shooting with such terrible effect, that even these mighty Sioux gave up the contest and retired on the third day.
   Andrew Cook, in his reminiscences of these times, tells of the panic-stricken settlers who occasionally rushed in to the older frontiersmen for protection and supplies to take the place of their all, which had been taken or destroyed by those bands of Indians. In the general history of Nebraska, published about 1880, is a letter from General O. P. Hurford, then of Oakdale, giving an account of these Indian troubles north of the Platte.
   The following brief extract will tell of these troubles, and explain the immediate causes of these outbreaks of savage cruelty.
   "During the rebellion the animus of the Indians on the plains seemed to change as the fortunes of the Union forces varied, and when it became necessary for the Government to pay them their annuities in greenbacks instead of gold and silver, they became restless and impudent. Frequent depredations were committed by them upon freighters and the graders and tie-cutters of the Union

Pacific Railroad. This state of things was a constant source of anxiety to the settlers along the Elkhorn and Platte Rivers. In addition to this, Governor Saunders was frequently in receipt of anonymous letters from Kansas and Missouri, warning him that the rebel Quantrell was planning a raid on Omaha, to sack the town and rob the banks. These letters were brought to my attention by the governor, with instructions to adopt such means as I had at my command to meet the danger, should it arrive. While the public mind was thus agitated, we awoke one morning in July, 1864, to find some of the streets of Omaha full of refugees from the Elkhorn, who brought with them the dire report that the Indians were down upon them in force. Whole settlements packed up what movables they could in a hurry, and rushed into Omaha for protection. The thing looked serious. Word was sent to Bellevue, in Sarpy County, where the good people rallied and hastened to the scene of the reported danger. At Omaha, we rushed to arms; horses enough for two companies of cavalry were pressed into service, mounted by willing volunteers, and sent to the front. I remember well the high character of some of the volunteers. Side by side in the ranks appeared Hons. P. W. Hitchcock and A. S. Paddock, both of whom served afterward with distinction in the Senate of the United States, and Mr. Hitchcock also as delegate in Congress from the Territory of Nebraska."
   Here we have a combination of causes, any one of which would supply obstruction to the growth, both of the Church and Territory. But combined as they were, and operating at the same time and on the same area, did actually result not only in hindering the growth of the

Territory, but without doubt diminished the population, any growth would have prevented and perhaps depleted the membership of the Church, but for the faithfulness and efficiency of pastors and laymen, and the gracious revivals with which they were blessed, whereby there was some, growth during every year of this dark period.
   Only the pastor who goes to Peru in 1861, will find a parsonage, and only three outside of Omaha and Nebraska City will find churches to preach in, these being at Bellevue, Elkhorn, and Brownville.
   They start out with two districts and this will remain the number till 1865. These are manned by H. T. Davis on the Nebraska City District, and Wm. M. Smith on the Omaha District till 1863, when Isaac Burns fills the place for two years.
   There are besides the districts only nineteen appointments, and in 1863 and 1864 even this small number will be reduced to seventeen. Let us, as far as possible, follow the several members of this devoted band as they bravely battle with these difficulties during these exciting and eventful years.
   If we start in on the southern tier of counties where the settlements have already extended as far as Beatrice on the Big Blue, we will find J. W. Taylor, he who was among the first to report for duty as early as 1856, at Falls City, and the old hero, Isaac Burns, at Table Rock, both in Richardson County. These are busy through the year building on the foundations laid by David Hart in 1855. The following year J. W. Taylor asks and receives a local relation along with Philo Gorton, and Isaac Burns is sent to Mt. Pleasant, and the next year is pro-

moted to the responsible place of presiding elder of the Omaha District, where he remains two years.
   In 1862 we find T. M. Munhall and L. W. Smith on the Falls City Circuit. They found one hundred and six members, including six probationers, and report at the next Conference 242, including sixty-four probationers. This was a gain of 136. This increase may be in part accounted for by change of boundaries, but was doubtless mostly the result of revival effort, the increase in probationers being fifty-eight.
   On account of ill-health, L. W. Smith asks and receives a location at the next Conference. T. M. Munhall goes the next year, 1863, to St. Stephen Circuit, which appears for the first time at this Conference, and was probably before a part of Falls City Charge, the phenomenal increase of the year before making a division necessary. The next year Brother Munhall is located at his own request, but reappears in 1865. There is nothing in the Minutes to show that he was re-admitted except the fact that he appears on the examining committee and receives appointment at that Conference and at several succeeding Conferences.
   The Minutes during all this period up to 1867, are defective in that there is no mention of those coming into the Conference by transfer or by re-admission on certificate of location. The journal of the proceedings not being printed, it was deemed sufficient to print the usual Disciplinary questions and answers, but these did not include a number of items of this kind.
   W. King, a local preacher, becomes pastor of the Falls City Circuit in 1863. The number he reports drops down to 115, including probationers, but this is owing, in part

at least, to division of the circuit. During Brother King's pastorate a small parsonage is built at a cost of three hundred dollars.
   R. C. Johnson follows King at Falls City and continues two years, reporting in 1865, eighty members, including twenty probationers.
   Hiram Burch goes from Brownville to Table Rock in 1862, but resides in Pawnee City, one of the appointments on the circuit, the other of the three organized points being South Fork.
   They can secure nothing better than a log cabin, with one room and a garret in which to live. But he soon had a subscription of $500 in cash and labor, and by doing much of the hard work himself, quarrying stone, making shingles, mixing mortar and doing carpenter work, they, in due time, had a parsonage of four rooms, a cellar and pantry, into which they moved in December and had a comfortable house the balance of the pastorate of two years. This is the way parsonages were built in those days.
   Hiram Burch is followed on the Table Rock Circuit in 1804 by A. G. White, but like Brother Burch, he lived in the new parsonage built at so large a cost of personal toil by his predecessor. Here also his labors are rewarded by a small increase. This pastorate was distinguished by the raising of a militia company, which, as previously noted, he commanded in the memorable and victorious contest with the Sioux at Pawnee Ranch on the Little Blue. At the close of his single year on this circuit he reports a slight gain, both in members and probationers.
   In 1865 Martin Pritchard becomes pastor of Table Rock Circuit, and is able to report a substantial gain of sixty-nine members and probationers.

   To Beatrice Circuit, the one farthest west on the frontier, and the one with as few attractions as any charge in the Conference, John B. Maxfield is sent. He will find no parsonage, no church, and only forty-seven members, and these scattered over a wide range of territory. But nothing daunted, this stalwart young Methodist preacher will be seen on his little white pony, riding up and down the Blue, from Blue Springs on the south to points near where Lincoln now stands, on the north.
   After a year of hard work on the Beatrice Circuit, Maxfield goes to DeSoto Circuit, then to Decatur, but the Government calls him to take charge of the Industrial School for the Pawnee Indians, located at Genoa, where he remains three years. Of his brief stay at Decatur, Mrs. Robert Ashley, one of our most intelligent and faithful members at Decatur, has this to say in an interesting sketch of the history of Decatur:
   "In 1863, Rev. J. B. Maxfield was sent to be our pastor. He made his home with us. After staying less than three months, he was transferred to Pawnee Reservation, and we were left without a pastor. Brother Maxfield was appreciated in Decatur; he was a powerful preacher. We held services in a small schoolhouse and every one attended. There was a warm feeling for him in the entire community, and his removal caused great consternation."
   Rulo, while one of the oldest towns in the State, did not seem at first to present conditions favorable for the planting of a Methodist Church. This was finally accomplished by Rev. P. B. Ruch, in the spring of 1865. He had given a number of years of faithful and efficient work in the old Baltimore Conference, until failing health compelled him to give up the work, and he sought a home

in Nebraska, coming to the Territory in 1864, and locating at Rulo. He found only three Methodists when he came to Rulo, but soon began to preach as opportunity offered. He taught the first public school in that place, which was attended by both white children and those of the half-breed Indians living on the half-breed tract, on which Rulo was located, near the month of the Great Nemaha.
   The first members of this class which P. B. Ruch was finally able to organize, were D. W. Searles and Jacob Shaff and their wives; Mrs. Scott, the mother of W. D. Scott and of Mrs. Shaff; Mrs. W. D. Scott, Mrs. May, Mrs. Parsons, and Rev. P. B. Ruch and wife. D. W. Searles was the first class-leader. A little later, Rev. C. W. Giddings appointed Brother Ruch preacher in charge.
   Brother Ruch says he thinks be was the first Methodist to preach the Gospel in Rulo, at least no one there seemed to have any knowledge of any sermon at an earlier date. This is accounted for by the mixed character of the population up to that time, consisting, as he informs me, of half-breed Indians, Frenchmen, political refugees from Missouri, and some white people, mostly from Ohio. But there were not enough of these last and the other classes were poor material for a Methodist Church. It was not until the latter came in sufficient numbers that a class could be formed.
   At the Conference of 1861, H. Burch was returned to the Brownville Circuit the second year. A small church was built at a country appointment and one purchased at Brownville. It seems that T. W. Tipton, afterwards chaplain in the army, and one of the first United States Senators from Nebraska, had been a Methodist preacher

in Ohio, but came to Brownville as a Congregationalist and organized a society and built a church. The society soon run down and the church was sold to our people for $700. A part of this Brother Burch raised in Brownville, but the balance was raised in 1861-62 among some Churches in Illinois, where he was acquainted. This sending pastors back to the East to solicit help was sometimes a necessity in those days, before the great Church Extension Society became the medium by which the benevolent contributions of the East reached the needy Churches of the West, and as we shall see, greatly facilitated church-building.
   Brother Burch succeeded, though during his absence one of his children died. The child was sick only two or three days. Of this sad incident, he says:
   "It was two weeks before tidings could reach rue by letter, and even then I felt 1 could not return home until money enough was raised to save the Church, and so wired my wife to know if the rest were well, and continued my work."
   The circuit had four appointments: Brownville, Nemaha City, London, and Fairview. His pastorate is blessed with two gracious revivals at Brownville, and one at each of the other appointments, besides two successful camp-meetings near by. But he says with some degree of sadness, referring to the times succeeding the organization of the Nebraska Conference: "We were few in numbers, and during the troublous war times our growth was comparatively slow."
   In 1863 A. G. White is appointed to Brownville. As this strong, cultured man will be met with in responsible places as one of the most successful leaders in Nebraska,

it will be well to take some note of him before passing. He came to Nebraska in 1862, and was principal of the Oreapolis Seminary until the Conference of 1863, when he was received on trial. He is one of the most aggressive and thorough men, looking after all the details and ready to make any sacrifice for the cause so dear to him. He seems not to have known what fear meant, if we are to judge from the heroic defense which he made with one hundred men under his command, against 1,000 howling Sioux savages, as previously noted. We will meet him again in most trying situations, but always the dauntless A. G. White.
   His pastorate in Brownville occurred in the darkest portion of this dark period of the war time, yet he was able to report a substantial increase, both of members and probationers.
   In 1864 Brownville is supplied by Isaac Chivington. The next year Brownville becomes a station and is served by David Hart. The fact that it has become a station is proof that the work in Brownville itself has been well looked after by these successive pastors, and that substantial progress has been made.
   Tecumseh Circuit starts out with eighteen members and forty-six probationers, and in 1865 reports thirty-nine members and fifty probationers. The Minutes record that W. H. Kendall was pastor in 1861, that it was left to be supplied in 1862, with no information as to who was secured. J. T. Cannon was appointed in 1863 and it was again left to be supplied in 1864 by F. B. Pitzer, who is received on trial in the Conference and returned in 1865. He is able to report large gain in membership. He is a plain, simple-hearted preacher of the Gospel, whom God

honored with gracious revivals, and who often succeeded in building up the Church where others failed. He located at the Conference of 1868. In 1867 Tecumseh received as pastor L. F. Britt, of whom Andrew Cook has this to say:
   "L. F. Britt is a Tennesseean by birth, enlisted in the Union army when of age and went through the war without visible injury; he came to Tecumseh in 1867, under Presiding Elder C. W. Giddings. Over a quarter of a century ago this young Methodist Episcopal preacher rode over this country, holding meetings among the sparsely settled neighborhoods, preaching in rude school houses, dugouts, and private dwellings, to a poor but anxious people. He rode a white horse, which, I have thought at times, was proud of his master, and of his calling. He was rather an aristocratic horse, carrying his head high in the air, and with much dignity. There were several causes for this; the horse heard his master's sermons before the congregations did, even, when the sermon was in embryo, he heard it, also the hymns were sung long before they reached the meeting-house. It was Brother Britt's custom to preach three times on Sabbath and many times through the week. His circuit seemed to have neither metes or bounds, and the young man was in constant demand over a large area of country. It is well that he was put up as he was, for what was crushing troubles to many of us, was just food for amusement to him; he not only carried his own troubles, but the troubles of others. It was only a young, vigorous mind and body that could stand the constant drain upon his cheery, happy nature. To how many weak and discouraged ones has he been their talisman, more especially in the early days
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of our Church history; he had wept with those who weep and rejoiced with those who rejoice. Dr. Britt has filled some of the best appointments in the State and was never known as a "yearling," or one year man. He filled his appointments and staid his full time. He is now filling his third term as presiding elder. The Doctor's forte is his native ability. God endowed him with a good, practical mind; his perception is good, his executive ability also. He has a good knowledge of men and things, and his long years in the ministry has given him wisdom and experience which is of great value to him as a presiding elder. He owes nothing to books or college. It were better that he did, for these advantages would certainly add much to his general usefulness."
   Of the extent, results, and present outcome of his work on that circuit he further says: "New church buildings have been erected at Talmage, Brock, Elk Creek, Mt. Zion, Sterling, Douglas, Burr, Mt. Hope, Cook, Spring Creek, Vesta, Smartville, Maple Grove, Crab Orchard, Lewiston, Tecumseh, Plum Grove, Adams, and Glendale. These churches have all been on the territory included in his early circuit. Here he sowed the seed of the kingdom, and laid the foundations for others to build upon."
   He was elected a delegate to the General Conference in 1864. Dr. Britt received his honorary degree of D. D. from York College. After over twenty-five years of service he asked for a certificate of location at the Conference in 1895, and took up his residence in Omaha, where he died.
   In 1866 a circuit called Helena appears in the Minutes for the first time. This has special interest to the writer as being his first charge to which he went in fear and

trembling, and a year on which convinced him that he needed a far better preparation than he had, for which reason, at the Conference of 1867, he asked to be discontinued to attend school. I may be pardoned, however, if in passing, in the interest of historical completeness, some note be made of the year's experiences. Two of the five appointments, Syracuse and Palmyra, were in Otoe County, and three, Rockford, Helena, and the Illinois settlement, were in Johnson and Nemeha (sic) Counties.
   We lived in an old cottonwood shanty that had been a ranch, and besides this house with but one finished room, was an old hay-covered stable, which had been left, with a vast army of rats, and they were very hungry. Happily the house stood near to that royal family, Jacob Sollenberger's. Brother Sollenberger had rented that claim that year, in order that the preacher might have a home. In addition to that and many neighborly and Christian acts of kindness, he paid over eighty dollars on the salary that year, and said he never paid his portion of the salary more easily. Yet he was a poor man and he, with other Nebraska farmers, had the first touch of grasshoppers that year. However, they came so late that they only partially destroyed the corn crops.
   The following incident was of serious import. We started one evening about sundown from a friend's, where we had been visiting, to visit a family living in a dugout about two miles distant. There was six inches of snow, and the country rough, and our sleigh broke down, one runner bending inward and letting the sled up at an agle (sic) of thirty-five degrees. It held together, however, so my wife could ride and hold our wraps on, while I walked and led the horse. By the time we got to the

. stream on which the dug-out was located, it was dark, and we missed the crossing. After an hour or two of vain search for a place to cross, I became so tired that I must rest. Unhitching our horse, we tied him to a tree and went down into the bed of the creek out of the wind to rest. After a little breathing spell we went back to get the horse and resume our journey, but he was gone. It was now nine o'clock at night, and already we began to fear we would have to stay out all night, which, with the thermometer at six below zero, was an unpleasant and even perilous prospect. I had little concern for myself, but feared that my wife, whose health was frail, would not be able to take exercise enough to keep from freezing. Put committing ourselves to the care of the Heavenly Father, we took our shawl and buffalo robe, and started out to find some house, if we could, or to make a brave struggle for life through the long, bitter cold night, if we must. We failed to find any house, and remained out all night, walking till tired out, and then, wrapping our selves up as well as we could, would rest till we began to get cold, then up and on again. It was New Year's eve, and the moon was bright enough to see my watch and note the time. By the side of an old oak we watched the old year out and the new year in, and again committing ourselves to the Lord, we determined, if possible, to keep alive till morning. About four in the morning it became very dark, and my wife was so exhausted she felt she must rest, and even sleep. But we both knew this would be fatal and resisted the almost irresistible impulse to give up. Just at that darkest moment we were within a few rods of the dug-out we were looking for, but unconscious of the fact that deliverance was so near. After resting a

while, we nerved ourselves for a final effort, being encouraged thereto by the first faint streaks of the dawn. Seeing a dark object across the creek, we went over and found it to be a haystack with some cattle near by. Finding a path through the snow, we pursued it a little way and soon found ourselves standing in front of the long-sought dug-out. The people were up and had a fire, and promptly answered our rap, and were surprised to receive a New Year's call from their pastor and wife so early in the morning. Explanations followed, a warm breakfast was served, and we were, we trust, duly thankful to God that we had come through that bitter cold night without freezing any part of our person. This personal reference may be pardoned as furnishing an illustration of the perils to which the itinerant was exposed.
   Saltillo drops out of the list in 1861, and does not appear again till 1864, and is then left to be supplied, but as there is no report of salary, there was probably no one secured. In 1865, H. H. Skaggs, who had the year before been received on trial, is appointed to this charge. He finds ten members and reports nineteen, with thirty-six probationers, which indicates some gracious revivals. Though small, this charge has special interest as being partly on the ground now occupied by Lincoln.
   Philo Gorton is placed in charge of the still strong circuit of Rock Bluffs, as it is called this year. He finds 138 members and thirty probationers, and leaves 107 members and sixty-five probationers, which seems to indicate that while the members decrease by removals, the probationers have increased by revivals, leaving the strength of the charge unimpaired. Philo Gorton asks for a location at the end of this year and disappears from our ranks.

   He has given four years to the work in Nebraska, was the first to preach and organize societies in a number of places, and did faithful service.
   Plattsmouth and Oreapolis Circuit is favored with the appointment of Jerome Spillman in 1861, and doubtless had he remained he would have stirred things there by the blessing of the Lord, as he had done elsewhere during his successful ministry. But early in the year he accepted what seemed to be the call of duty in another direction, and entered the service of his country as chaplain of the Curtis Iowa Cavalry, as mentioned elsewhere. In 1862 this charge is left to be supplied, and H. R. Tricket is employed by the presiding elder, with the result of a speedy rupture on account of the expression of disloyal sentiments, as recorded on another page. The remainder of the year is filled out by J. G. Miller, who had come to Nebraska from the old Genesee Conference, New York. He had become interested in the Oreapolis Seminary, and put in his first few years in Nebraska in a vain effort to save that institution, being appointed agent in 1862, and in 1863 both principal and agent.
   J. G. Miller was one of our most forceful personalities, good preacher, with good executive ability, and was a shrewd business manager. He might have been one of our most useful men, had he not got involved in various business enterprises and landed investments which required so much of his attention that as a rule his ministerial function became merely a co-ordinate branch of his life's activity, and after a few years as pastor at Plattsmouth and Oreapolis, and as presiding elder of Nebraska City District, to which he was appointed in 1865, he took a supernumerary relation in 1868. He always took great

interest in the local Church where he lived, was a liberal supporter, and remained to the last an influential member of the Conference. His brethren honored him with an election to the General Conference in 1864. Perhaps his greatest usefulness was in his aggressive advocacy of temperance and his relentless warfare on the "rummies," as he called the saloonkeepers and their supporters. He was several times the temperance candidate for governor, and other offices, and the vigor of his campaign speeches drew large audiences. He spent the later years of his life in California, where he passed to his reward.
   In 1864 David Hart comes to Plattsmouth. The membership has dropped from 102, including probationers, in 1861, to forty, but David Hart's labors are blessed to such an extent that he is able to report seventy-eight members and twenty-three probationers.
   The next year, 1865, Plattsmouth received as its pastor, W. A. Amsbary, and under his energetic ministry is destined to make a large advance. Here, as elsewhere, his ministry was to be attended by great revivals, both at Plattsmouth and the country appointment, Eight Mile Grove, and the membership increased the first year to one hundred and forty-four, with seventy-four probationers.
   Peru Circuit had already become one of the strongest circuits when, in 1861, Jesse L. Fort was appointed pastor. He remains two years, and the charge about holds its own. He is followed by R. C. Johnson, who remains one year and reports a substantial increase in membership. He is followed in 1864 by that old veteran, Hiram Burch, who is able, at the next Conference, to report still further gains in membership. He is returned the second year, and inaugurates a movement looking toward the es-

tablishment of a Methodist College at that point. The details of this movement are treated under another head, and it need only be said that owing to the arduous work involved in the enterprise during his third year (the time limit having been extended), his health became so impaired that he was compelled to ask to be relieved of his pastoral duties, and at the Conference of 1867 he was under the necessity of asking and receiving a superannuated relation. After this he was able occasionally to resume the effective relation and serve the Church in Nebraska. Of the above named pastors, Jesse L. Fort tarried with us until 1902.
   The following account of his life, written soon after his death, will perhaps do partial justice to the worth of this saint and faithful ambassador of Christ.
   "Jesse Lofton Fort, the youngest son of Frederick and Lucy Fort, was born in Warren County, Kentucky, May 1, 1816. He was converted at the age of fourteen years, and his parents being Baptists, he united with that Church. At the age of seventeen, while learning the tanner's trade, he made his home with a stanch Methodist, and becoming better acquainted with the doctrines and spirit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he transferred his membership to this Church. About 1836 he emigrated to Illinois, and settled near Monmouth. Here he was made a class-leader. In 1837 he was licensed to exhort. In 1847 he was licensed as a local preacher. This license was renewed for four successive years by the famous Peter Cartwright, who, with Richard Haney and others of like spirit, gave Jesse L. Fort his first lessons in the Gospel ministry. In 1851 he was received into the Missouri Conference. Missouri and Kansas were at this

time the storm center of that fierce conflict between Freedom and slavery, which was to determine whether Kansas was to be a free or slave State, and which culminated a few years later in the great Civil War in which slavery was overthrown. In the midst of this storm of hate and bitter persecution, Jesse L. Fort stood firm, though at times he and his brother preachers did so at the peril of their lives. In 1859 he came to Nebraska and was sent to Falls City. Being unable to obtain a house for his family, he went to Nebraska City, and supplied that charge part of the year. In 1860 he was sent to Plattsmouth. It was his privilege to be one of that historic group that constituted the first Nebraska Conference which was organized at Nebraska City, April 4, 1861, by Bishop Morris. At this Conference he was sent to Peru, where he remained the full legal term. In 1863 his health failed and he was compelled to take a superannuated relation. In 1864-66 he served the American Bible Society, being superintendent for Nebraska and Colorado. In 1867 he was honored with the chaplaincy of the Nebraska Senate. In 1869 he again served as agent of the American Bible Society, this time in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. In 1871 he was made effective and stationed at Palmyra, and 1872, on the Upper Nemaha. In 1873 he was made a supernumerary on account of failing health and went to Missouri, where he served different charges as a supply until 1885. On his return to Nebraska, he took a superannuated relation, which he retained up to the time of his death. He was thrice married. On August 20, 1840, to Miss Martha McChesney; on May 19, 1859, to Miss Mary A. Gates; and to Miss Mary H. Freeman, May 15, 1872, who has walked by his side for thirty

years, caring for him through his long illness, and who survives him. Though, as this brief and imperfect sketch discloses, he has been for most of his life handicapped by poor health, he has been permitted to give nearly three-quarters of a century to the Christian life, and over half a century to the Christian ministry. Brother Fort's last illness was long, and at times very painful, but patiently borne. He passed to his eternal reward at three o'clock, Thursday morning, May 22, 1902, aged eighty-six years and twenty-two days."