CHAPTER XXVII.

FOURTH PERIOD. (1880-1904.)

   DURING this last period all but two, Burch and Adriance, who bore a conspicuous part in the fifties and sixties, have gone to their reward.
   In 1883, A. G. White, the indomitable leader whom no calamity could daunt, passed away in the prime of life.
   In 1884 the pushing, energetic Van Doozer was summoned with startling suddenness, but was found ready, for he had "fought a good fight and finished his course."
   In 1890, T. B. Lemon, "like a shock of corn ripe for the garner," is gathered home.
   Of these three suitable mention has already been made. It will now be fitting, as we stand at the graves of these two fallen leaders, Maxfield and Davis, to note more fully some phases of their later work, and of the great qualities that made them leaders, as observed by their comrades on the field of battle. Dr. Maxfield was the first of these two to hear the summons.
   During the last period the Church has found much important work for this strong man. We find him, at the beginning of the period, in 1880, in charge of one of the two most important charges in the State, First Church, Omaha. He is again called to district work in 1881, becoming presiding elder of the Omaha District. Then when the North Nebraska Conference established her institution of learning at Central City, none seemed so well qualified to superintend the organization of this

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school, and through his influence and ability rally the forces to its support, as J. B. Maxfield, and accordingly he was elected president.
   But the task involved much excessively hard work, and there was in the nature of such an undertaking much of care, and not a little that would worry and annoy even this usually self-poised man, and many of us who watched him during the three years of incumbency, are not surprised that even his seemingly robust frame could not stand the strain, and required him to relinquish the work. But this did not occur till his constitution was shattered. Though he will yet put in twelve years of effective work, serving full terms on the Norfolk and Omaha Districts, the beginning of the end may be traced to his work at Central City.
   John B. Maxfield was spared, and his usefulness continued till he saw the band who constituted the first Nebraska Conference, which he joined on trial in 1861, increase through the years, till there are four Conferences, any one of which is larger than the Conference he joined, and the Church well organized in all parts of the State. It must have been a source of very great satisfaction to him to have contemplated these grand results, and be conscious that he had borne no small share in bringing all this to pass. He closes his life with a sense of well-rounded completeness, his work all done, when at last the summons came, as it did on the 11th of September, 1900. Mrs. Maxfield, who had ministered to his comfort during his long and painful illness, was at his bedside at Boulder, Colorado, seeking by all possible means to prolong that precious life, writes me that a "beautiful smile came over his face as he died."

   I have already had much to say about Dr. Maxfield in the course of this history, but will add what his brethren of the North Nebraska Conference have to say of their fallen leader. At the memorial service Dr. Hodgetts speaks of his preaching, saying: "I remember well the first time I heard him preach, when I was fresh from the East, where I had lived among the great preachers of the Church. I can say honestly and frankly I thought I never heard the equal of that man as a preacher of Jesus Christ. Some of my friends who came out shortly afterward and heard him, said about the same. Wherever I went I heard the same story. Everybody conceded he was a prince among preachers."
   And his brethren officially place on record the following estimate of his worth:
   "His great intellectual power, which enabled him to see clearly. grasp easily and strongly the fundamental truths of the Gospel, his marvelous command of language which enabled him to give most clear and forceful expression to his thoughts, and his warm and sympathetic nature constituted John B. Maxfield a great pulpit orator, ranking among the best in the entire Church.
   "His quick perception of what ought to be done in emergencies, his sound judgment in affairs of public interest in Church and State, with his decision of character made him always a leader among men.
   "His genial qualities of heart and his commanding power of intellect made him seem equally at home in the humblest Quarterly Conference on a frontier charge, or on the floor of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. No one has done more, and few have done as much for Methodism in Nebraska as Dr. J. B.

Maxfield. His Christian character was absolutely free from all cant or mere perfunctoriness, but was always genuine and hearty. He stood out boldly for righteousness under all circumstances, and was never known to fear any man."
   Instead of being present at the last session of his Conference and answering to roll call as he had done at every session since it was organized in 1861, H. T. Davis was, during the session, on September 18, 1903, transferred from the Church militant to the Church triumphant, and will henceforth answer to the roll call of the redeemed. It is his distinguished privilege to have given more years of effective service to the cause of Christ in Nebraska than any other Methodist preacher, remaining in the effective ranks without a break, from June, 1858, to September, 1901, when he asked and received a superannuated relation. But he continued to do evangelistic work, aiding some of the pastors in revival-meetings during the following year, and thus it may be said, he gave forty-four years to active work in Nebraska, out of a total of forty-five during which he resided in the State.
   And such years, every one crowded with some form of service that made the world richer, and was a benediction to thousands.
   Of the great triumvirate, Davis, Lemon, Maxfield, naming them in the order in which they entered this field, he is the first to have entered the service in Nebraska, and was the last to be mustered out.
   Much of the biography of each of these great leaders has appeared in preceding pages of this narrative. It could not be otherwise. I have not been able and have not tried to keep the history of the Church and the lives

of these men separate. The web and woof of this history has been largely what these men, and hundreds of others of like spirit, were, and what they did, the great Head of the Church employing them as His agents in the work.
   The following memoir and words spoken by friends at the memorial service, held September 21, 1903, must close this imperfect earthly record of this man of God. The only perfect record of the lives of such men is the one kept by the recording angel, and may be read in the great hereafter:
   "Henry T. Davis was born July 19, 1833, in Springfield, Ohio. He was 'born again,' 'from above,' March 4, 1853, in South Bend, Indiana, and almost immediately after his conversion came the call to preach. He was licensed as an exhorter when received into full fellowship in the Church, and June 23, 1855, received his license to preach from the Greencastle (Indiana) Quarterly Conference, being then a student at Asbury University. The following October he was received as a probationer into the Northwest Indiana Conference and appointed junior preacher upon Russellville Circuit. On September 17, 1857, Emily McCulloch, of Virgo County, Indiana, became his wife, and after forty-six years of beautiful and loving union, she and their three daughters sit together in hope lighted shadows.
   "October 4, 1857, Bishop Waugh ordained Brother Davis a deacon. In 1858 he transferred to the Kansas-Nebraska Conference, and received as his first work in Nebraska, appointment to Bellevue. In the division of the Kansas and Nebraska Conference he identified himself with the Nebraska Conference, at the organization of which, April 4, 1861, he became a charter member. His

subsequent ministerial activities have been within the bounds of this Conference. The confidence reposed in him by his superiors in authority is indicated by his having served seven terms as presiding elder, and the esteem of his brethren in the Conference by their choice of him to represent them in the General Conference four times. He was also honored by the Nebraska Wesleyan University with the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. During the session of Conference, which met at Lincoln, his home city, September 18, 1903, he came triumphantly to the end of his earthly sojourn, and his brethren in the ministry laid the precious deserted dust to rest in Wyuka Cemetery, September 21, 1903.
   "Brother Davis excelled as a preacher. Much and faithful study of the 'Word' and of such other literature as was really helpful sidelights for its interpretation, illustrative for its application, furnished him always with the subject matter for sermons. And his own deep and fervid religious experience always afforded the fire to make those sermons effective with men. A multitude are they - God's seal to his ministry.
   "He was also especially acceptable as a pastor. Naturally cheerful, genial, loving of disposition, and, with the Master Spirit of Ministries upon him, he was always a welcome comer. And his wise counsels, his tender sympathies, his fervent prayers left a sense of benediction when he had gone. He was beloved by well-nigh every one, and his memory will be precious."
   Fletcher L. Wharton spoke tenderly: "The impression left upon me in the first short interview I had with Dr. Davis, was deep, and it grew deeper. I had a profound conviction that I had met a Christian gentleman.

   He was a gentleman, therefore a good man. He was a Christian man, therefore a strong man. Somehow he put me upon my honor, in the confidence he put in me as a presiding elder, to be a true, faithful man in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the last days his countenance pale and wan, seemed to radiate the great peace of God. He made it easy for the people of this State to be good, to believe in God the Father, and to pray. Everywhere, on the prairie, in the dugout, he had the same message, 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.' The King has gone to his coronation. He stands on the hills in the sunlight eternal." Dr. Wharton closed his address with a fine expression concerning Mrs. Davis and her family. Hiram Burch, who for so many years stood with Dr. Davis at the head of the Conference roll, spoke next. "I pay my tribute with mingled sorrow and joy. The personal loss of a friend and brother, the greater loss of the Church and society, causes sorrow. There is joy in the recollection of the past, of good actions, of Christian life and labors. Remember that the influence of that life and labors does not cease at the grave - but will go on in ever widening circles as the years go on. I am glad of that. Brother Davis was a great preacher, because he preached the Gospel. There was a Christian character and a blameless life, and love, behind his sermons. He excelled as a pastor. His cheery, genial sunshiny disposition made him a welcome visitor in the homes of the people. He was not only an acceptable visitor but a useful visitor. He is gone from us, but his memory remains with us and we shall cherish it as a treasure. We shall miss him in

the counsels of the Church, in the Conferences, but his record is on high. Knowing his life for more than forty-four years, we are not surprised over his triumphant death."
   There are only two who came into work in the fifties who are still living; Hiram Burch and Jacob Adriance. Of the latter I have already spoken quite fully. Of the former, though I have had frequent occasion to mention his work, justice requires a few brief sentences in addition to what has already been said.
   Hiram Burch has the distinction of having been connected with Nebraska Methodism since 1855, a longer period than any other Methodist preacher, either among the living or dead. While Brother Burch has not always been technically in the effective lists, being compelled to superannuate occasionally, and sustaining that relation now, there has been no time that he has not been active. Even while he was a superannuate he served charges as a supply and preached nearly every Sunday. He preaches occasionally even yet, and is a constant attendant on the means of grace.
   Another fact that distinguishes him is that he built the first church ever erected in Nebraska, in 1856, at Nebraska City, and during those trying periods in the fifties and sixties, it was Burch that built more churches and parsonages than any one else.
   Hiram Burch was born in Canada, December 11, 1829, and converted when eleven years old, and at twenty-one experienced heart purity, and entered the ministry in 1853, in Iowa, where he had gone from his home in Winnebago, Illinois, for his health. He was employed as a supply, being junior preacher on the Dubuque Circuit,
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   His health not improving there, he went to Texas in 1854, partly in search of health, but seeing in the Church papers, Dr. Goode's call for young men, he reported to the superintendent in May, 1855, and was among the first to be assigned a charge by that great leader, being sent to what was called Wolf Creek, in northern Kansas, extending west of St. Joseph, Missouri. That fall he was received on trial in the Iowa Conference and though appointed to Brownville, was, as before noted, changed to Nebraska City, and began that long and useful career in Nebraska, which lacks but a single year of being half a century in duration.
   Brother Burch, though not having been advanced to the higher official positions in the Church, has been one of those steady, reliable, efficient workers who have a way of bringing things to pass.
   He served York College as financial agent, and at a critical time in the history of Nebraska Wesleyan, rendered valuable service in the same relation in turning the York patrons to that institution.
   He was united in marriage with Miss Mary Brisbin, October 11, 1855. They are living in University Place, respected and honored by all.
   John Gallagher appears in the Minutes for the first time thirty-two years ago, at the Conference of 1872, where he is received on trial and appointed junior preacher on the Mt. Pleasant Circuit. It is to his advantage, that, like J. H. Presson, he has A. L. Folden for the senior preacher.
   Brother Gallagher has been a close student from the beginning of his ministry, this studiousness not ceasing or even diminishing after he had finished his Conference

course of study. He soon took up the course for the degree of Ph. D., which was conferred on him, after examination. This degree may sometimes represent more of solid learning than the honorary degree of D. D.
   But John Gallagher's standing in the Conference and the Church does not depend upon his degree, but upon his real ability as a preacher and his thoroughness as an administrator of the interests committed to him. He has been pastor of a number of important charges, among them Ashland, Weeping Water, Platsmouth, Falls City, Tecumseh, Falls City a second time, Fairbury, Auburn. Seward, and Aurora, his present charge.
   In 1883 he was placed in charge of Hastings District. For several years he was secretary of the Nebraska Conference and was reserve delegate to the General Conference in 1900, and delegate in 1904. He has for several years been the efficient secretary of the Nebraska Conference Historical Society, and has aided the writer by the material his diligence has secured. He is now recording secretary of the Methodist Historical Society of Nebraska.
   Among those who came into the work in the later sixties was F. M. Esterbrook, who was received on trial in 1869. He has been one of the most useful pastors we have had, usually getting hold of his people so strongly that they rarely failed to keep him the full legal term. F. M. Esterbrook belonged to the class who, while doing much of the real work, reporting gains on every pastoral charge served, do not attain to the same prominence that others do who have done no more, or perhaps not as much. But with scarcely a break, this man has moved steadily on in the "even tenor of his way" for over a third of a

century, cheerfully doing the work assigned him, always successful in some direction and to some extent, and sometimes blessed with great revivals. At Peru, his first charge in Nebraska, there were eighty conversions. The next year, 1869, he was received on trial and sent to West Point, where he finds seven members, and after three years' service reports over eighty. He was popular, and everybody believed in Francis M. Esterbrook.
   When, after the shameful abuse of their confidence by C. M. Ellinwood, the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan University felt that they must find a man for treasurer whom everybody could trust, selected Esterbrook and no words of mine could more clearly set forth the sterling worth of this man of God than this expression of confidence. He was retained in that position for several years, and would probably have been there yet but for the change of plan that took place when Dr. G. W. Isham was elected field secretary, and it was deemed best to combine the two offices in the interests of economy.
   The spirit of this man is shown in these words contained in a letter to the writer: "Thirty-five years seems a short time to work for my Master, but they have been filled with much sunshine, for truly the 'darkest cloud has a silver lining.' Do you ask me, have I regrets? Yes, and no. I regret that I have not done more for His cause; I see where I could have greatly improved if I had known all that I know now, but I have this comfort, that I did the best I could with the light I then had."
   Joseph Hile Presson was born in Ohio, and at an early age was taken by his parents to Illinois, where they resided a number of years. He was converted at a meeting held by his father, Harrison Presson. He enlisted

in Company A, Fifty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and gave over three years to the service of his country, holding the responsible position of quartermaster's sergeant. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Champion Hills, Black River, Siege of Vicksburg, and Jackson, then marched from Memphis to Chattanooga, he was in battles of Missionary Ridge, Altoona, Big Shanta, Kenesaw Mountain, and also the battle around Atlanta. He was mustered out on the 30th day of September, 1864, and on the 23d of December, of the same year, landed in Tecumseh, Nebraska, traveling from St. Joseph in a lumber wagon, a distance of 110 miles.
   Joseph H. Presson's ministerial career began in Nebraska as early as 1867, when he was licensed to preach and recommended for admission into the traveling connection. He was, however, closing his first term as county clerk of Johnson County, and had consented to be a candidate for reelection, and felt under obligation to do so, and requested that his name be not presented at that Conference.
   At the close of his second term as county clerk he was appointed junior preacher under A. L. Folden. Two years before Folden had received him and the woman who was to become his wife, into the Church on probation, and gave the promising young man license to exhort. Now this eminently successful preacher is to give Joseph H. Presson his first lessons in preaching the Gospel. They together traveled Tecumseh Circuit. They must travel 135 miles to reach all the eleven following appointments: Tecumseh, Sterling, Adams, Elk Creek, Crab Orchard, Vesta, Upper Spring Creek, Lower Spring

Creek, Illinois Settlement, Blodgets School-house, and Hooker Creek. To-day there are eleven charges on the same ground. During the winter of that year they received 111 probationers. At the next Annual Conference, held in the spring of 1870, he was received on trial and returned for the same work as junior preacher under A. L. Folden. Success attended the work and during that year the first church in Johnson County was built in Tecumseh. Brother Folden being a carpenter, did, with the help of his colleague, most of the work.
   For a third of a century, J. H. Presson has efficiently wrought in the Gospel ministry in Nebraska, being blessed at times with great revivals, and in every charge advancing the interest of the Church. He is popular in Church and G. A. R. circles, and was elected chaplain of the House of Representatives of the Nebraska Legislature in 1901, and of the Senate in 1903. He is still in his later prime and on his fourth year as pastor at Milford.
   Among the local preachers who have done splendid service were Robert Laing and John Dale.
   It was Robert Laing that in 1868 welcomed H. T. Davis to Nebraska, and it was in the Laing cabin in Sarpy County, that Davis preached his first sermon in Nebraska and began a ministry that was to continue forty-four years and be of untold blessing to thousands. Though remaining in the local ranks almost as long, Brother Laing has been serving the Church as local preacher and evangelist, and in the thirty-five years or more he has almost constantly given to the work, he estimated that not less than 10,000 souls have been saved.
   He was a very forceful preacher, tactful in managing a revival-meeting, could sing or pray or preach as occasion required.

   Haynes speaks thus of this successful local preacher: "Many of the protracted-meetings he conducted were continued from two to four weeks, each, and it has been estimated that in average of fifty had been converted each seven days. He claims not that such results were reached by his might or power, but by the Spirit of God. He ascribes as a great means of success his method of Bible reading. One interested person said to, him, 'Brother Laing, I wish you would bequeath to me that Bible of yours; I never heard such a Bible read before.' He insists upon the reading of the Word of God attentively, studiously, that there may be cultivated in the heart a deepening desire for a closer walk with God."
   Though not a member of the Conference, his brethren in regular work, many of whom he has helped, express their appreciation in the following memoir: "Rev. Robert Laing, a deacon in our local ranks, did efficient service in our Church for about forty years in this State, he being one of the earliest settlers in Nebraska. He departed this life full of faith in the saving power of God to the uttermost, aged sixty-nine years. He was a revivalist of great power; many pastors can testify to his valuable evangelistic services in their pastoral charges."
   Sister Laing, to whom Robert Laing was married in 1854, and her father, have the distinction of being the first two persons who brought Church letters to Council Bluffs in 1852. They became members of the first Church formed in that place, by William Simpson.
   John Dale, another helpful local preacher, though a man of business, finds time, or takes time, to do the Lord's work. We have seen the prominent part he took in the founding and development of Hanscom Park Church.

But he has been very helpful in many ways, in connection with the hospital and other enterprises, and every struggling Church has had a sympathetic, helpful friend in John Dale, and Omaha Methodism in general is in debt to him for years of efficient service.
   I have already in the course of this narrative spoken at some length of many others of our local brethren, gratefully recognizing their valuable services to the Church. All honor to the class of workers to which they belong, a class that has done much to make the history that I have been trying to record.