Chapter 6 No.6

Green Lake Mission Continued.--Quarterly Meeting at Oshkosh.--Rev. G. N. Hanson.--Lake Apuckaway.--Lost and Found.--Salt and Potatoes.--Mill Creek.--Rock River.--Rev. J.M.S. Maxson.--Oakfield.--Cold Bath.--Fox Lake.--Gospel vs. Whiskey.--On Time.--Badger Hill.--S.A.L. Davis.--Miller's Mill.--G. W. Sexmith.--Burnett.--William Willard.--Grand River.--David Wood.

It had been arranged at the Conference that Green Lake and Winnebago Lake Missions should hold their Quarterly Meetings together. The first was now to be held at Oshkosh. In going, I took the trail leading from Ceresco to Oshkosh, and traveled the whole distance without finding a house. But at the intersection of the Fond du Lac and Ceresco trails I met Brother Sampson, the Presiding Elder.

On our arrival at Oshkosh we found it had been arranged to hold the services on Saturday in a private house on the south side of the river. The Elder preached, and at the close of the service, the Quarterly Conference was convened under a tree, thereby giving the house to the needed preparations for dinner.

Rev. G.N. Hanson was the Pastor at Oshkosh. He was a single man, several years my senior, of a kind and gentle spirit, given to books and a fair Preacher. I had known him in the State of New York, where we were both Exhorters, and, also, both engaged in teaching. Brother Hanson entered the Rock River Conference in 1844, and his first charge was Manitowoc. He had been stationed on the Winnebago Lake Mission at the recent Conference and was doing a good work. After leaving this charge he rendered effective service in other fields until 1852, when, having almost lost the use of his voice, he took a superannuated relation. But as soon thereafter as his health would permit, he entered the service of the Bible Cause and for three years proved an efficient Agent. In this work his field of labor lay mostly in the new and sparsely settled regions of the Chippewa Valley, and along the frontiers of Minnesota. But here he evinced the same perseverance and self-denial which had characterized his whole life. Leaving his most estimable companion, he took the Word of God, and though he could no longer give it a living voice, he bore it joyfully to the families of the land, through the forest and marshes of those new counties, often throwing his shadow upon the coming footsteps of the Itinerant himself. But at last he was compelled to yield to the hand of disease which had long rested upon him. He passed over the river in holy triumph in 1857.

On Sabbath the meeting was held in a frame building, the first in the place, that had been erected for a store. It had been roofed and enclosed, but there were no doors or windows. Rude seats had been arranged and the accommodations were ample. The Elder preached in the morning and the writer, as the visiting Pastor, in the afternoon. The meeting was well attended and greatly enjoyed by all. The people, of course, were mostly strangers to each other, and, coming from different parts of the world, were accustomed to various modes of worship. But they seemed to forget their differences, and recognize Christ only as their common Savior.

At this time Oshkosh was but little more than a mere trading post. The few families there were mostly on farms or claims in the vicinity of the river or lake. During my stay I was entertained by Brother William W. Wright, whose house, for many years thereafter, was a home for the Itinerant ministers.

The Quarterly Meeting passed off very pleasantly, and at its close I returned to my work of exploration on the Green Lake Mission.

Flushed with the achievements of the previous few weeks, and still sighing for conquests, I now resolved to make a sally in the direction of Lake Apuckaway, lying to the northwest of Lake Maria. I found, on the southern shore, a few families, and made arrangements for an appointment in connection with my next round. I then started to return, but had not gone far, when I found I had lost my reckoning. I looked for my compass as eagerly as Christian for his roll, but I could not find it. This was a double misfortune, to lose both the way and the guide at the same time. I resorted to the device of the backwoodsman, and tried to determine my course by the moss on the trees, but I found this to be a great perplexity and abandoned it. I traveled in divers directions and devious ways until nearly overcome with fatigue and hunger, when I suddenly came upon a newly erected log cabin. The logs had been rolled up to form the body, a roof of "shakes" had been hastily put on, there was no chinking between the logs, there were no windows, and the only door was a blanket. The floor was made of earth, and the fireplace was merely a pile of stones in one corner, from which the smoke ascended through an opening in the roof, at one corner of the building.

I knocked for admittance, and was kindly received. The good man and his wife had but recently come into the country. He had succeeded in erecting his cabin and putting it in its present condition, but had been taken ill with the ague and compelled to suspend operations. He had now been so long confined at home that provisions had become scarce. It was meal time. A few potatoes were taken from the embers and placed on a chest, as a substitute for a table. I was invited to join them in their repast, using a trunk as a seat. Grace was said, under a special sense of the Divine favor. A little salt was added, and the meal was one of the most relishable I had ever eaten. Several years after, I heard the good brother relate the circumstance in a Love Feast, when he took occasion to say the visit was the most refreshing he had ever experienced. It was certainly such to me. The village of Kingston has since sprang up in the vicinity, and has become the head of a circuit.

Returning again to Waupun, I now decided to look over the territory in the more immediate vicinity. Going to the south of the village five miles, I found Mill Creek, where a small settlement had been made. The most central house of the neighborhood was the residence of Brother David Moul, who kindly offered it for a temporary chapel. An appointment was established, and on the 16th day of November a class was formed. Brother Moul was appointed Leader. The class at the first, consisted of the Leader and wife, David Boynton and wife, and two others, but in the revival that soon followed, the number was increased to twenty-two.

Brother Moul was an earnest worker in the Master's vineyard, generous in his contributions to support the Gospel, and eminently faithful to every trust committed to his keeping. At the end of twenty years, I made a visit to Mill Creek. I found Brother Moul had erected a fine house and was living in manifest comfort; but he retained a vivid recollection of the early days and their sacrifices. Two relics remained, both in a fair state of preservation, which he took great pleasure in showing to me. The first was the old class book that I had given him at the time of the organization of the class. It was a single sheet of foolscap paper, folded together in book form, and stitched. The names upon it were mostly in my own handwriting, and the Leader had carefully made his weekly entries of present and absent, until the pages were filled. The other object of interest was the old house, in which the first meetings were held. Here we had seen remarkable displays of Divine power. And as I now looked upon the old structure, the early scenes seemed to return. I could again see the wide room, filled with rude seats, Brother Moul at the door as usher, the crowds of people that thronged the place, the groups of seekers at the mourners' bench, and the lines of happy faces that were aglow with hallowed expressions of delight. I could again hear the songs of praise as they rang out in the olden time, full and sweet, filling the place with rarest melody. Nay, as I held communion with the past, I seemed to feel the hallowed influences, that pervaded the early worshippers, breathing through all my being, as of old, and even fancy myself young again, and standing before the multitude as an ambassador of the Master.

But the scene, like the visions of the night, soon disappeared, and I turned sadly away, half regretting that I was no longer a pioneer, and permitted to feed the hungry sheep in the wilderness.

Brother David Boynton, at this writing, remains on the old farm, which has been growing with the passing decades, until the paternal acres have become a large estate. Situated on a prominent highway, his house, until the days of railroads, was the stopping place of all the preachers who needed entertainment at either noon or night. Brother Boynton, in the person of his son, Rev. J.T. Boynton, of the Wisconsin Conference, has given to the Itinerant work, an efficient laborer.

Leaving Mill Creek, I next visited Rock River, a settlement on the Fond du Lac road, six miles east of Waupun. My father had visited this place during the preceding year, and had already established an appointment. Brother W.J.C. Robertson, a gentleman whom we had known in the East, had tendered the use of his house, and here the meetings were now being held. My first visit occurred on the 18th day of November, 1845, In the evening, I held a service and formed a class. The members were W.J.C. Robertson, Martha Robertson, Mary Maxson, Mary Keyes, James Patterson, Charles Drake, Abigail Drake, and Elizabeth Winslow. The last named subsequently became the wife of Rev. J.M.S. Maxson. The first Leader was Brother Robertson. Both the congregation and class grew rapidly in this neighborhood, and the appointment soon took a leading position on the charge. During the ensuing winter a revival occurred, and gave an accession of twenty-five. From the first, this Society has been blessed with a devoted and spiritual membership, and its prayer meetings have been a living power in the land. As a result, revivals have been frequent, and the number saved a host. Passing from private houses, the meetings were held in a school house, but in course of time the school house became too small, and a larger one was built, with a special view to a provision for religious meetings.

In later years I have held Quarterly meetings in this building, when it was thronged with people. On such occasions, after filling the building to its utmost capacity, the good brethren would fill the court around it with wagons, carriages and buggies, loaded with people. It was at one of these gatherings that the little girl said, "Why, Ma, only see how full the school house is on the outside." During the past year a fine Church has been erected.

Rock River was the home of the lamented Rev. James M.S. Maxson, before he entered the Itinerant work. It was here that he was led to Christ, licensed to preach, and sent out into the vineyard, and certainly the church has had no occasion to deplore her share of the responsibility. Brother Maxson entered the Conference in 1850, and filled with great credit, Omro, Fall River, Grove street Milwaukee, Oconomowoc, Rosendale and Ripon charges. At the last named place, he closed his labors June 19, 1858. He was a man of great force of character, a good preacher, and was thoroughly devoted to his work. He was greatly beloved in his fields of labor, and his death was deeply regretted.

Having organized the class at Rock River, and arranged the plan of appointments to take it into the circuit, I passed on to visit an appointment at the Wilkinson Settlement, which had recently been attached to my charge from the Fond du Lac Circuit. It was situated on the south side of the marsh, nine miles from Fond du Lac and twelve from Waupun. The school house, in which the meetings were held, was located within the limits of the present village of Oakfield.

The class at this place had been formed during the early part of 1844, by Rev H.S. Bronson, when he was pastor of Lake Winnebago Mission, and consisted of Russell Wilkinson, Leader, and Alma, his wife, Robert Wilkinson, and Almira, his wife, Eliza Botsford and Sarah Bull.

To reach the settlement, it was necessary to follow the military road towards Fond du Lac for some distance, and then cross the marsh. At times, the stream in the middle was swollen, and the traveler was compelled to leave his horse and cross on foot. This was especially true when the ice was not sufficiently strong to bear up the horse, and such was the condition in which I found it on this occasion. So, leaving my horse, I hastened to cross the marsh, but when I had reached the middle of the stream, the treacherous ice gave way, and I plunged into the water up to my armpits. I clambered out, but as the day was intensely cold, I was soon a walking pillar of ice. I was now on the school house side of the stream, and there seemed to be no alternative but to go on. I would gladly have found a shelter and a fire elsewhere, but it was out of the question. So, putting on a bold face, I hastened forward, and found the people in waiting for the minister. As I entered the school house, with the ice rattling at every movement, my appearance was ridiculous in the extreme. But not more so than that of the audience. The faces of that crowd would certainly have been the delight of a painter. Some of them were agape with surprise and amazement; others were agonized with sympathy for the poor minister; and others still were full of mirth, and would have laughed outright if they had not been in a religious meeting. As to myself, the whole matter took a mirthful turn. I had been in church before, when by some queer or grotesque conjunction of affairs, the whole audience lost self control. I had witnessed mistakes, blunders and accidents that would make even solemnity herself laugh, and remained serenely grave. But to see myself in the presence of that polite audience, standing at that stove, and turning from side to side, to thaw the icicles from the skirts of my coat, was too much for me. I confess it was utterly impossible to keep my face in harmony with the character of the pending services.

At Fox Lake, the next point visited, an appointment had been established by my father during the previous year. The services were now held on Sabbath afternoon in the tavern. The log house, thus used for the double purpose of a chapel and a tavern, was built with two parts, and might have been called a double house. The one end was occupied as a sitting-room and the other as a bar-room. The meetings were held, of course, in the former. But it was bringing the two kingdoms into close proximity to dispense the Gospel in one end of the house and whisky in the other. In a short time, a better place was provided, and the meetings were removed to it.

With the better provision for religious services, came also the ministers of other denominations. We all labored together in harmony, except in one instance, where a conflict of appointments caused a momentary ripple. My appointment had long been established, and, to the surprise of the people, another appointment was announced by a young store-keeper of the village for the same hour. The word reached me of this attempt to displace the Methodists, when ten miles distant from the place.

I took my dinner and rode forward, without "wrath" or "gainsaying." I reached the place at the hour, went in and began the services. While the congregation were singing, the young man and his minister came in. Finding me in the desk, the minister quietly took a seat and listened very attentively to the sermon. But not so the discomfited young man. Being placed under the eye of the congregation, his condition was pitiable in the extreme. But finding after awhile that I was master of the ceremonies, and that no one in the congregation seemed vexed enough to fight for him, he subsided into a deferential attitude. And, thereafter, there were no further attempts to override my appointments. The minister, or perhaps I should say clergyman, took no offense, but became in after years a highly valued friend and companion.

At this time Mrs. Green was the only member of the Methodist church in the village. In process of time, however, a strong society was established. Then came the erection of a commodious Church and a very pleasant Parsonage. Fox Lake has been furnished with a line of able ministers, and has at the present writing a large and cultivated congregation.

Passing down the stream the following week, I found several families in the vicinity of Badger Hill. I immediately arranged an appointment for a week-day evening at the residence of a brother by the name of Morgan. At the first service held December 7, 1845, I formed a class of six. Brother Morgan was appointed Leader, and at the Quarterly Meeting following Brother Drinkwater was made steward. Some time after, the class was removed to Fox Lake, it being only three miles distant.

I now returned again to Waupun to spend the Sabbath. The Class Leader at this time was S.A.L. Davis, who came to the place during the preceding year. Brother Davis was an old neighbor from the East, a noble and true man, and, withal, had been my first Leader. He was specially adapted to the position; a man of great faith and ardent impulses. Under his Leadership, the class was in a most flourishing condition. The late revival had, however, so swelled the numbers that a division became necessary. An appointment had already been established at Miller's Mill, and it was now deemed best to so divide the class as to establish the meetings of one of them at this point. The change was accordingly made. The class was formed December 12th, 1845, and George W. Sexmith was appointed Leader.

Brother Sexmith was also an old neighbor, who had come West and taken a farm in the vicinity of Miller's Mill. Under his care, the class grew rapidly, and became an efficient company of laborers. Several years after he removed to Fond du Lac, and greatly prospered in business. In 1852 I had the pleasure to present him with a Local Preacher's license. He was employed one year as Pastor of Liberty Prairie circuit, but his health proved unequal to the Itinerancy, and he was compelled to resume his relation as a Local Preacher, in which position he still holds an honored place among his brethren.

The next place visited was Burnett. The services were held in the residence of Mr. McDonald, and a class was formed December 14th, 1845. The members of the first organization were William Willard, Leader, Huldah Ann Willard, Samuel C. Grant, Ruth M. Grant, and Elizabeth Benedict. The class grew rapidly, and the appointment took a leading rank on the charge. Burnett has since become a charge, has a good Church edifice and a strong congregation. Brother Willard became a member of the Conference, of whom mention will be made in another chapter.

Having organized the work at Burnett, I next visited Grand River. I had passed through this place in the early part of Autumn. At that time I found Brother David Wood and his son engaged in making preparations for a home. Finding they intended to have their cabin completed and the family in it before winter, I engaged to visit them and establish an appointment. On reaching the place to fulfil this agreement, I found that besides this family several others had also settled in the vicinity. At the first meeting, appointed before there was a family in the neighborhood, we had a congregation of fifteen persons. The class was formed December 19th, 1845, with David Wood as Leader. The Alto Church, which gives the name to a charge, has been erected in the vicinity, and there is at the present writing a strong society. Father Wood, as he is now called, still survives, and takes special delight in referring to this visit of the 'boy preacher.'

The watch-night meeting was held at Waupun, and was an occasion of great interest, several persons being converted.

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