A History of Nebraska Methodism

   IF we pass now to the Omaha District, we will find the same adverse conditions, with even more discouraging reports of the progress of the work, during the exciting war period.
   Beginning with Bellevue, we find this circuit well manned by that sterling Methodist preacher, Martin Pritchard. He follows Jerome Spillman, whose two years' work was on the high pressure order, which, while it was of great value in permanent results, as we have seen, is likely to be followed by some reaction and loss, and Martin Pritchard did splendid service by keeping the high figure of ninety-six with nineteen probationers, though this shows a loss, as compared with the number Spillman left.
   He is followed by that faithful and efficient pastor, David Hart, but he, too, is compelled to report a small loss, the number dropping down to eighty-two, with ten probationers.
   Wm. A. Amsbary, a revivalist after the Spillman order, succeeds Hart, in 1864, and is able to report a gain of fifty during his year's pastorate.
   T. M. Munhall follows Amsbary in 1865, and report a loss of some twenty-five. Passing to the westward and tracing the progress of the work along the Platte Valley, we find Elkhorn Circuit, which appears for the first time,

and probably takes some of both Bellevue and Platte Valley; J. H. Alling is pastor. Of course it is impossible to say whether the sixty-four members and probationers he reports represents gain or loss. He is followed by T. Hoagland in 1862. He reports fifty-one, a loss of thirteen.
   We now come to Platte Valley, that large, indefinite charge which is supposed to extend as far west as Columbus, at least. Theodore Hoagland, the pastor, will only find thirty-six members, and will be compelled to report only nineteen. This is Brother Hoagland's first appointment, he having been received on trial along with T. B. Lemon and J. B. Maxfield, but in sad contrast to these, he only continues for two years and drops out of the work; why, we have no means of knowing.
   Joseph H. Alling, who entered the work in 1860, enters upon his last year in Nebraska as Theodore Hoagland's successor on the Platte Valley work and reports a gain of three members.
   Martin Pritchard gave a year to this mission, yet strong and efficient as he is known to have been, he was only able to report all increase of five or six.
   He is followed in 1865 by that faithful pastor, Jacob Adriance, who also reports only a small gain. All this while Fremont has been a part of this mission, but could not have grown much, for the whole mission had only twenty-four members and five probationers in 1865.
   Ft. Kearney appears for the first time in 1861, with T. M. Munhall as circuit preacher. He remained but three months, being changed to Calhoun, a more productive field. As no one is sent to that far off field to fill out the year, and Ft. Kearney Circuit is dropped the next year, it is probable the presiding elder was justified in

abandoning the field and changing Munhall to Calhoun. It did not appear again till 1864, and was then, as also in 1865, left to be supplied, with no record as to who, if any one, found their way to that hard, distant field. But the Union Pacific is rapidly pushing its way up the Platte, and there will soon be enough people to justify the presence of a pastor, and, there will in a few years be a strong, vigorous Church.
In 1861 Calhoun received David Hart as pastor, but as noted elsewhere, at the end of three months he was changed to Omaha, and T. M. Munhall was changed from Ft. Kearney to fill out the year at Calhoun. This circuit had T. B. Lemon the year before, which accounts for the fact that there are thirty-one probationers with only thirty full members. The revivals then, as now, occurring in the winter, and Conference coming in the spring, probationers could not be received into full connection until the following Conference year, so the number of probationers left was a fair index to the extent of the revival the preceding year. It will be noted that T. B. Lemon usually left some probationers, for he almost invariably had a revival. According to this standard there must have been revivals that year under Munhall's ministry, also, for sixty probationers are left to the care of his successor.
That successor was J. B. Maxfield, the name of the circuit being again changed to De Soto. As noted elsewhere, Maxfield passes on to Decatur the next year, and is followed by the old rough-and-ready pioneer, Isaac Burns, who puts in a year of faithful work. E. T. McLaughlin is received on trial in the Conference of 1864 and succeeds Burns on De Soto Circuit. The Minutes of

1865 record his appointment as a missionary to Montana, but it seems that he did not go but supplied the Decatur work that year and continued two years and dropped out. He leaves twenty-four probationers, which indicates that he had some revivals. There now appears as pastor of this circuit, A. G. White, a name that will become a household word in many parts of Nebraska. Rev. W. A. Wilson writes me that there are still standing and growing, at old Ft. Calhoun, in front of what was then the parsonage which he built while on the circuit, some large trees, which White had planted, typical of the permanence and healthy growth of much of the results of this strong, thorough man's work in after life. He will be heard from again, wisely and triumphantly leading the hosts of King Immanuel. We have already heard of his brave leadership in defense of Pawnee Ranch against 1,000 yelling savage Sioux. We will always find him ready for emergencies and master of the situation, however difficult. During his first year at De Soto the membership, including forty-three probationers, is nearly doubled.
W. A. Amsbary goes to Tekamah in 1861. The circuit included Decatur and the next year the name of the circuit is changed to Decatur and Amsbary returns for the second year. But even this aggressive revivalist, whose success elsewhere in building up the Church through revivals has been phenomenal, reports at the end of his full legal term a loss of ten. He is followed, as before noted in a personal reference, by Dr. Maxfield, who after a short time is called to the Government Training School at Genoa. As good Sister Ashley says, there was "consternation" at the loss of such a man, whose ministry had already taken strong hold of the entire com-

munity, and promised a year of great success. The circuit was supplied the balance of the year by Joel Mason, but hardly rallied that year from the discouragement occasioned by the departure of Maxfield.
   In 1864 Jacob Adriance is sent to Decatur mission and finds a disheartened people almost ready to give up. But by a year of faithful work, such as he always did, he left the charge in good condition for an advance when the change in the tide of affairs, which was soon to come, arrived. He is followed by A. J. Swartz in 1865.
   Dakota Mission has for pastor for two years, beginning with 1861, Z. B. Turman, whose presence is a guarantee of two years of hard, aggressive work, but by some mistake Dakota does not appear in the statistics and we know nothing of the result of his labor.
   He is followed by W. A. Amsbary in 1863. The omission of the statistics of the charge the year before makes a comparative statement impossible, but that the field was a discouraging one is evident from the fact that after three years' faithful service by two such men as Turman and Amsbary, there were only eighteen members. For the next two years Dakota is left to be supplied and we have no means of knowing who, if any one, was secured for this purpose, and as there is no report of statistics, we can not know whether there was gain or loss.
   This ends the detailed statement of each charge during the war period so far as such details can be obtained from meager records, and other inadequate sources of information. Only two churches have been built during the stress and excitement of the war period. One of these was, as noted, bought of the Congregationalists at Brownville, and the other was erected at a country appointment

on the charge, during the pastorate of Hiram Burch, who had already made a reputation as church builder, by the erection of the first Methodist church ever built in Nebraska, at Nebraska City. In 1863, during the pastorate of J. G. Miller at Plattsmouth, a small building that had been used for a saloon was purchased, and made to serve as a place of worship for several years.
   According to the Minutes there were reported in statistics for 1861 four churches, including the one at Brownville, and one at Bellevue, but which is not reported in any succeeding copies of Minutes, and must, like the Florence Church, have been sold to pay debt. In the statistics for 1861 even Nebraska City church building is omitted, because there was no report from that charge, but it ought to be counted. Including all these Nebraska Methodism started out in the war period with five church buildings, and up to 1865, loses one and gains two, making a net gain of one church for the period.
   They do better on parsonages, however. Starting out in 1861 with only one, in 1863 there are two built, one at Pawnee City on Table Rock Charge, by Brother Burch, and one at Falls City by Brother King. In 1864 Brother Lemon reports one at Omaha, and Wm. M. Smith one at Nebraska City. But according to the statistics in the Minutes of 1865 both that at Omaha and the one at Nebraska City drop out, but that of Nebraska City is reported each year afterward. This leaves the net gain for the period of the war, three, including the one purchased at Plattsmouth that year, during the pastorate of W. A. Amsbary.
   Aside from what has been done by those faithful workmen in the direct interest of the Church, great things

have occurred on the wider arena of the national life. The Union has been saved and slavery abolished. Before the war Nebraska and Kansas had been thrown open for the admission of slavery, on equal terms with freedom. Now Nebraska is forever dedicated to freedom, greatly to the gratification of such men as H. T. Clarke and Andrew Cook and hundreds of others who had come in the "fifties" to make Nebraska free, and to the joy of all lovers of their kind.

   There has not been much growth in any direction during these stormy times. Omaha District gains sixty in the four years, and Nebraska District gains, on the face of the statistics, 261. Put the important station of Nebraska City was not reported in 1861. If we add the ninety that were reported for Nebraska City in 1860 to the total reported in 1861, the net gain for the period will be only 171, or a total for the Conference of 231, being an average of fifty-six per year for the entire Conference.
   But under the circumstances that was a great achievement. The Church more than held its own, while the population of the territory has at times decreased. It is well organized and full of holy enthusiasm as it faces the new and more hopeful future.
   That future is bright with promise for Nebraska Methodism. Several causes will operate to bring a large population in the next five years. Among those is the free homestead law which went into operation in 1862, but up to 1865 bad not attracted many to Nebraska. But now the tide sets in strongly. The war being over, many of the old soldiers hasten to Nebraska to find a home.

Tecumseh and many other places are started largely by the old veterans.
The spaces on the open prairie left vacant in the older counties rapidly fill up. The first settlers had taken claims along the streams where there was some timber, many doubting whether people could live at all out on the prairies away from timber. Even as late as 1865, when Rev. P. B. Ruch ventured out some twenty miles on the wild prairie of Richardson County, his friends deemed him reckless. But he and many others bad already demonstrated the richness of these prairie farms and increasing confidence served to fill up the vacant portions of the older counties, so that up to 1870, while the population increased from 28,841 in 1860, to 122,993 in 1870 (nearly all this increase occurring after 1865), the increase found homes in the older counties and the western line of the frontier remained substantially the same as in 1861.
In anticipation of this increase, a new district is formed in 1865, called Brownville District, with that rugged old leader, C. W. Giddings as presiding elder, while J. G. Miller succeeds Davis on the Nebraska City District. This arrangement, however, only continues till 1867, when the number of districts is again reduced to two, with T. B. Lemon on the Omaha District and C. W. Giddings on the Nebraska City District. The number of districts remains the same till 1869, when the number of circuits and stations have increased to thirty-nine, making another district necessary. A. G. White is made presiding elder of the Omaha District, T. B. Lemon of the Nebraska City District, and C. W. Giddings of the Lincoln District.

   We pause a moment to note some facts relating to that forceful personality and efficient preacher, C. W. Giddings.
   C. W. Giddings had given twenty-five years to the ministry before coming to Nebraska in 1858, having joined the old Oneida Conference, New York, in 1833. After many years of toil in the East, his health broke down and he came to Nebraska to recuperate if possible. In a few years he was so far restored that having been transferred to the Nebraska Conference, he re-entered the work as presiding elder of the Brownville District. He afterward served two years on the Lincoln District, but the old infirmities, together with advancing years, made it necessary for him to take the superannuated relation in 1871. He retired to his farm at Table Rock, and there, with his devoted wife, he lived in peace, looking back over a long life well spent, and forward to the life that never ends.
   While not able to give many years to the Nebraska work, they were years of great influence for good. The preachers soon came to recognize him as a superior man, and by their votes sent him as delegate to the General Conference of 1868. His death occurred December 23, 1879. His brethren place on record, in 1880, the following estimate of their fallen comrade: Brother Giddings was a man of more than ordinary ability, and like the most of men of such rank, he had his peculiar characteristics. He was possessed of great will power, and hence of great decision and firmness. He also had great endurance and persistent activity. He was a thorough and devout Arminian Methodist of the old style; jealous for the purity and power and zealous for the success of

the Gospel-elements that made him a true and able minister of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"His sermons evinced deep thought and a comprehensive understanding. He was a workman at his calling. Sin and error suffered mortal thrusts by the scathing shafts of his incisive gospel logic. Finally his devotion to the cause in retirement was evinced by his fidelity to every religious and reformatory interest of society. As Sunday-school superintendent he will be missed and long remembered. And, as might be expected, he died as the good man dies, quoting to his pastor the significant lines:

Not a cloud doth arise to darken the skies,
Or hide for a moment my Lord from my eyes.

"Blessing upon the family, honor to the record, and peace to the memory of one of life's true heroes, Charles W. Giddings."

   THE task of tracing the history of the next five years will be a more pleasant one. The struggle for existence, both for Territory and Church, is over, and it will be our pleasant duty henceforth to note the rapid march of progress in all directions, which, though at times will be retarded, will not cease.
   The era of free homesteads and rapid movement of population westward, enhanced by the large foreign immigration that is coming from Europe, and stimulated by the building of the Union Pacific and other lines of railroads, has set in.
   The era of helpful subordinate institutions in the Church has also set in. The Missionary Society, which had begun its work in 1819, had, up to this time, been the only helpful agency in the field. It was seen what an immense advantage it had been in maintaining a working force in the field, being often the chief reliance of the scantily paid itinerant in his effort to keep the wolf from the door. It was manifest that if this helpful agency was re-enforced by another that would enable the faithful pastor who was rapidly forming classes out of the Methodist settlers who were coming to the West by the thousands and through his revival efforts adding to them young converts by the scores and hundreds, to build churches and thus to house and care for them more effi-

ciently, the results would be larger and more permanent. As usual, when this great need was pressing, God raised up the needed help in the organization of the Church Extension Society in 1865.
This need became acute when the problem of evangelizing the Western prairie country confronted the Church. When the hardy pioneers planted the Church in Ohio and Indiana, they found an abundance of native material, which only needed a small amount of money to enable willing hands to hew it and place it in shape and construct a church that served their purpose very well. But this was not possible in Iowa and Nebraska and other prairie countries. True, rather than go without any shelter, they constructed the rude sod church, which would temporarily serve the purpose, but could not be permanent. Hence it was an event of immense import to Nebraska Methodism when the Church Extension Society was born. However, it was several years before it got its work so well in hand that it could be of much assistance, but it was a beginning full of promise that should be realized in full measure later on.
During the five years, from 1865 to 1870, a number of preachers who had rendered efficient service for a number of years, either passed on to other fields, as did the aggressive Amsbary, who in 1867 went to Colorado, or through failing health were compelled to take a non-effective relation, as did J. T. Cannon, Jesse L. Fort, Hiram Burch, David Hart, J. G. Miller, Isaac Burns, and M. F. Shinn. Besides these, H. H. Skaggs, F. B. Pitzer, A. Williams, located in 1868; and in 1867 A. G. White was appointed chaplain in the army. But others rapidly took their places. During these five years there came in on

trial, in 1866, David Marquette, A. Williams, and A. J. Folden; in 1867, Benjamin C. Golliday, L. F. Britt, Joel Warner, Joseph H. Presson, William A. Presson, H. P. Mann; in 1868, Joel A. Van Anda, T. R. Sweet, R. S. Hawks; in 1869, David Marquette, Francis M. Esterbrook, J. W. Martin.
   Concerning myself it will be noted that I was twice received on trial, which may need explanation concerning my own and other like cases during these earlier times.
   At the close of my first year I felt the need of a better education and determined to go to Garrett Biblical School. There was no provision then, as now, by which those taking such a step, which may be as much involved in the call to the ministry as preaching, could continue their relation and be left without appointment to attend school, but they must be discontinued, and then when they resumed active work, be received on trial again.
   Among these recruits are men who have risen to high distinction for usefulness. It will not be regarded as extravagant praise by those who know the facts to say that A. L. Folden, who, though not entering the Conference till near forty years of age, has made a record in the way of solid achievements that will compare favorably with any of his co-laborers; then there is L. F. Britt, the Pressons, Joel A Van Anda, F. M Esterbrook, and others, who, on various fields, have rendered splendid service.
   Besides these raw recruits, there were some who transferred into this Conference, bringing well-trained minds and consecrated hearts, and most of them devoted themselves to the work in Nebraska the remainder of their lives. Of these we mention a few. just at the close of the war period we saw C. W.

Giddings step into the arena; in 1866, J. J. Roberts, than whom Nebraska has had no abler expounder of the truth, joined our ranks, bringing with him a wife who has also been a power for good as all who know Mrs. M. E. Roberts will readily testify. And who does not know her, whose "name is in all the Churches;" then there were W. S. Blackburn, J. M. Adair, H. C. Westwood, George S. Alexander, Gilbert De La Matyr, S. P. Van Doozer, and George W. Elwood, all of whom wrought faithfully, and some powerfully, for the cause of the Master. Then J. B. Maxfield, who took charge of the Indian Training School in 1863, resumes his place in the pastorate in 1867, greatly strengthening the forces.
   These gains to the working forces so outnumber the losses, that in 1869 we have thirty-five receiving appointment at the hands of Bishop Janes, as compared with eighteen, who were assigned to work by Bishop Scott in 1865.
   With such accessions to the working forces we may expect corresponding growth in the work, and will not be disappointed. The work is already assuming the two-fold form of developing into strength and more perfect organization the older charges, and pushing the work along the frontier, though the frontier features of the work will predominate for some time to come.
   Under such pastors as the saintly Davis and the stirring Alexander, Nebraska City maintains its place in the lead in membership, and is abreast with any in all that makes a strong, aggressive Methodist Church.
   Omaha makes rapid progress toward permanent conditions under Slaughter, Westwood, and De La Matyr. If there was some trouble, it was doubtless because the

Church was crowded forward too rapidly under the aggressive Westwood, whose Eastern ideas did not fit into Western conditions. But there was a decided gain in membership and all other elements of local strength and influence.
   Before passing we should glance at some of the more important places, and note, as far as possible, their progress toward their present commanding positions. Peru has assumed special importance as the seat of the State Normal, which was established there after the refusal of the Conference to accept their offer. The Methodist Church has supplied the positive religious and moral influence needed in an educational center, through a succession of faithful pastors and great revivals. J. J. Roberts, R. C. Johnson, J. W. Taylor, and A. J. Swartz successively served this charge during this period. At Brownville, David Hart, B. C. Golliday, and D. H. May served as pastors. Falls City was mightily stirred and strengthened by revivals and faithful pastoral work under W. A. Presson, followed by Martin Pritchard. Table Rock received the Gospel at the hands of M. Pritchard and L. W. Smith in these years.
   Pawnee stands out by itself as an appointment for the first time in 1868, with W. A. Presson as pastor for two years, during which it is strengthened by a good revival.
   Beatrice is served by H. P. Mann, R. C. Johnson, and George W. Elwood. Tecumseh makes great progress under the labors of A. L. Folden and L. F. Britt, as might well be expected. Over 100 conversions result from the labors of Brother Folden, assisted by Joseph H. Presson.
   Plattsmouth had the misfortune to lose W. A. Amsbary about this time, but rallied under the able ministry

and wise administration of J. J. Roberts. During his three years a substantial church was built.
After one year's pastorate by faithful Adriance, Fremont had the service of Joel A. Van Anda for three years, during which their first church was built, and the charge moved rapidly forward along all lines of growth, and began to take rank as one of the best charges.
These are the principal points, which, with a single exception, Methodism has developed into strength and influence in the community.

Probably to no two families has Fremont Methodism been more indebted for its growth and influence than to the two Rogers families who were members from the first. These were joined in 1867 by the Van Anda families, father and mother and two sons, Joel A. and John A. While J. F. Hansen, N. V. Biles, R. B. Schneider, O. F. Glidden, and many other excellent families came still later, it seems appropriate that the Rogers and Van Andas receive something more than mere mention, they having stood in special relation to the early history of the Church.

The two brothers, E. H. and L. H. Rogers, who were members of the first class formed in Fremont, in 1857, and during their whole lives were pillars in that Church, are worthy of further mention.
E. H. Rogers, the more aggressive of the two, after twenty-five years of great usefulness in all the relations of responsibility to which a layman may be called, such was his high standing as a stanch and influential Methodist, that the ministry, after his death in 1881, in the prime of life, do him the honor of giving him the rare distinction of prominent mention among their honored dead, usually reserved for member of the Conference. In the Minutes of 1881 they place on record this brief account of his life, and appreciation of his worth, which I transcribe and make my own; "Eliphaz Hibbard Rogers was born in Litchfield, New York, January 12, 1830, and died in Vera Cruz, Mexico, August, 1881. He obtained a good academic education, and at the age of sixteen engaged in school teaching, and a few years later in the practice of law, in both of which professions he was successful. Twenty-five years ago he came to Nebraska and located in the valley of the Platte, where now is the city of Fremont. In 1858 he was elected to the legislature. From 1863 to 1867 he was county clerk; and while yet in the office he was elected to the last Territorial Council, and afterward to the first State Senate of Nebraska; and in both bodies he was chosen president, and served with marked ability. At the time of his death he was United States Consul at Vera Cruz, Mexico. In early life he became a Christian and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His experience was clear, constant, and satisfactory. He never compromised prin-

ciple for worldly gain. He brought all his secular interests to the bar of an enlightened judgment, and then acted according to its dictates. His piety found intelligent expression in a system of good works. From the first he devoted one-tenth of his income to religious uses. For awhile after coming to Nebraska that tenth was very small, and there were urgent demands for it in his family and business; but to his mind and conscience it would have been robbery of God to use it, and he never did. In all his Christian experience he proved the truthfulness of Paul's teaching, that godliness is profitable to the life that now is. His life was a practical refutation of the popular slander that the children of clergymen are more reckless and more indifferent to sacred things than other children. He was the son of Rev. L. C. Rogers, who spent all the years of his manhood in the Methodist ministry in the State of New York; and our lamented brother grew to man's estate in the home of an itinerant, sharing all of its privations and self-denial. The Church loved him and trusted him, and he was twice lay delegate to the General Conference, serving with marked ability upon one of its most important committees. He was an accomplished orator, a model class-leader, a faithful friend, a devoted husband and father. In short, he was a Christian in the best meaning of the term, and "the end of that man was peace.
While, as said before, Lucius H. Rogers was less aggressive, he was permitted to give nearly half a century to the Church he loved, filling faithfully the many posts of duty to which the Church called him. He was on the Commission that founded Nebraska Wesleyan, and was for many years an honored member of the Board of Trus-
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tees. His pastor, Rev. F. H. Sanderson, D. D., speaks thus tenderly of this departed saint:
"Lucius Henry Rogers was born in Fayetteville, New York, March 20, 1834, and died in Fremont, Nebraska, September I 1, 1903. He was the son of the late Rev. Lucius Cary Rogers, who labored a lifetime in the Oneida Conference. Brother Rogers imbibed the truths of religion at his mother's knee, from his father's lips, in the modest parsonage of the long ago. He was cradled in the lap of piety. In the dawn of manhood he received the truth, and the emancipating power of that knowledge made him free. Himself and his brother, the late Eliphaz H. Rogers, and three more devout Methodists, organized the first Methodist Episcopal Church of Fremont, Nebraska, forty-six years ago. As a charter member of this noble Church, and an official of the same for forty years, he demonstrated his faith in God and love to the Church. By a well ordered and consistent life and conversation, and by his large and constant contributions to its welfare, he ever said: 'I love Thy Church, 0 God!' In 1888 he was elected a delegate to the General Conference in New York. His spiritual experience was a living reality. His faith in God and his blessed experience of the power of Christ to save and keep, preserved him from all skeptical doubts touching the authority and inspiration of the Bible and the immortality of the soul. His spare moments were not given to folly or to the acquiring of political renown, or even to the achievement of commercial fame. Unostentatious, modest, always 'esteeming others better than himself,' his leisure was devoted to substantial reading and the sublime work of doing good. The Church, the poor, the great ameliorating agencies of our times, were

all objects of his ceaseless regard. His personal assistance, his prayers and sympathies, his purse, were ever at the command of religion, philanthropy, and charity. All the older bishops and many of the senior ministers knew and loved him. His hospitable home was always open to the Methodist itinerant. He was universally beloved and esteemed. Until ill-health prevented, he was ever at his post in the house of God. 'He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.'"
   The two Rogers families were soon joined by another family, the Van Anda's, mother, father, and two sons, Joel A. and John A. Joel A. Van Anda was pastor of the Church at Fremont when the first church was built and Fremont Methodism took a fresh start in its steady march towards its present strength and influence. The year the church was completed, in 1870, the Conference held the first of a long series of sessions in Fremont, at every one of which the hospitality has been most cordial.
   Joel A. remained as pastor the full term, but did not stay long in Nebraska, being summoned to the pastorate of some of the most important Churches in other States. His whole career has been eminently successful.
   Father and Mother Van Anda remained many years as bright and shining lights, and John A. Van Anda remained in active business in Fremont and in faithful service in official relations to the Church until last summer, when after long and intense suffering from rheumatism, he passed to the heavenly country. His devoted wife still tarries among the working forces of the Church. Fremont Methodism owes much to the Van Anda family.
   We find many new charges are formed, yet mostly within the area already partially occupied. In the Omaha

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District we find Wood River and DeWitt Charges in 1866; Fremont in 1867; City Mission, West Point, and North Platte in 1868, and Schuyler in 1869. In some cases, like Fremont, these had been parts of circuits, but had become heads of circuits or stations.
   In Nebraska City District we have Blue River and Helena in 1866, and Lancaster in 1867; Cub Creek, Upper Nemaha, and Lincoln in 1868; and London, Salem, and Blue Springs in 1869.
   Then we have the new Lincoln District, with the new circuits, Ashland, Oak Creek, and Northwest Blue, in 1869.
   Some of these new charges that have their birth during these five years, will become important centers in due time. Among these destined to realize this larger future are Fremont, Schuyler, Wood River, which should have been named Grand Island; Blue Springs, Ashland, and last, but not least, Lincoln. Methodism in this place, the capital of the State, will, under the leadership of H. T. Davis, its first pastor, and his successors, soon forge to the front and ever after maintain its place in the lead. There was one of these new charges, West Point, that has defied the best efforts of faithful men, and has become defunct.
   In 1865 the Minutes report six churches and six parsonages, while in 1869 we have thirteen churches and twelve parsonages. The membership has also nearly doubled, being 2,973, including probationers, in 1869, as compared with 1,564 in 1865.
   It would be most interesting and profitable to trace the history of each of these stations and circuits, and to watch the work of the pastors who achieved these

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splendid results, but this has become impossible for want of space. We only know that such results could only come of the work of consecrated men blessed of God in the salvation of souls, and the building up of the Church along all lines. As we view these splendid achievements, we must say, with the Master, "Well done," and hasten on to survey the labors and struggles and triumphs of the period from 1870 to 1880.