Chapter 9 No.9

Waukesha--Old Prairieville Circuit--Changes--Rev. L.F. Moulthrop--Rev. Hooper Crews--Rev. J.M. Walker--Rev. Washington Wilcox--Upper and Nether Millstones--Our New Field--Revival--Four Sermons--Platform Missionary Meetings--The Orator--Donning the Eldership--The Collection.

The General Conference of 1848 divided the Rock River Conference and formed the Wisconsin. The first session of the new Conference was held at Kenosha July 12th, and I was stationed at Waukesha.

It will be remembered that Prairieville was included in the Watertown charge in 1839, and formed one of the appointments established at that early day by Brother Frink. In the following year, when the Summit charge was formed, Prairieville fell into the new circuit. In 1841 Prairieville took the name of the charge, and henceforth became the mother of circuits in this portion of the Territory. Rev. John G. Whitcomb was appointed to the charge in 1842, and Rev. L.F. Moulthrop in 1843.

Brother Moulthrop entered the Conference in 1840, and was first appointed to the Racine Mission. In 1841 he was stationed at Troy, where he performed a vast amount of labor and gathered many souls for the Master. He remained a second year and had for a colleague Rev. Henry Whitehead, so well known in connection with the Chicago Depository. On coming to Waukesha he had Rev. S. Stover as a colleague.

At the close of his term Brother Moulthrop retired from the work, but was re-admitted to the Conference in 1859, it being conceded that so valiant a veteran should be permitted to spend the balance of his life in connection with the Conference.

Prairieville Circuit at this time extended from the lake towns to Watertown, and into Washington county as far as settlements had penetrated. As stated in a former chapter, Brother Frink had passed over this region in 1839, and had formed classes during the Conference year at several places, but it now remained for his successors to extend the field. In doing this Brother Moulthrop opened an appointment at Wauwatosa and in several other neighborhoods.

At Prairieville, the class formed by Brother Frink consisted of Mr. Owen, Leader, Mrs. Owen, Richard Smart, Truman Wheeler, Mrs. Truman Wheeler, Hiram Wheeler, Mrs. Hiram Wheeler, Theophilus Haylett and Horace Edsell, and to these were soon after added, Mr. and Mrs. Winters, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hadfield, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Henry, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Clark, Sarah Packham, Mr. Blodgett, Mr. and Mrs. John Bromell, John White, and Rev. Jonas Clark. Brother Henry was soon after made the Leader.

The members of the class at Summit were John Merical, Leader, Levi Merical, John Merical, Jr., Philip Scheuler, Mary Scheuler, Maria L. Frink, Sarah Taft, and Sarah Hardell.

Prairieville charge was now in the Chicago District, and Rev. Hooper Crews was the Presiding Elder. During this year he assisted Brother Moulthrop in holding a protracted meeting at Prairieville, and large numbers were converted.

Brother Crews was one of the choicest men in the Conference. He began his ministerial work when what is now the great Northwest was yet in its infancy, and has mingled in the discussion and settlement of all the great questions which have arisen. His appointments have placed him in the front rank of his compeers, and among them all, none have made a better record, or will go from labor to reward leaving a profounder regret among the people.

At the Milwaukee Conference in 1844, Prairieville charge was divided. The northern portion was set off and erected into the Washington Mission, with Rev. J.M. Snow as Pastor, of whom a record will be made in another chapter. Brother Moulthrop remained on the old charge, and was able to take care of what remained without an assistant.

The following year, 1845, the charge again required two men, and Revs. G.W. Cotrell and Miles L. Reed were appointed, and had a year of great prosperity. This year Pewaukee was detached from the Prairieville charge and added to Washington Mission, and as this change drew the latter to the southward, the name of Washington was dropped, and that of Menomonee substituted. Brother Snow remained on the charge.

Brother Reed was a young man of great promise, but his career was of short duration. At the close of his year at Prairieville, his failing health compelled him to leave the work. Remaining, however, in the village, he was greatly useful and highly esteemed as a Local Preacher.

In 1846, the Pastors of Prairieville circuit were Rev. Washington Wilcox and Rev. J.M. Walker. Both of these devoted and earnest men were abundant in labor. Protracted meetings were held at nearly all of the principal appointments, and large numbers were converted. It is affirmed that the junior preacher was engaged seventy five successive days in these meetings. It is not a matter of surprise that a severe illness followed.

Brother Walker entered the Conference, as before stated, in the class or 1845, with the writer. His first circuit was Elkhorn. During the year he had extensive revivals at both Delavan and North Geneva. After leaving Prairieville he was sent to Geneva, where he again had a prosperous year, and also found an excellent wife. His next field was Rock Prairie, to which he was sent in 1848. Here he had over two hundred conversions. The following year he was sent to Union Circuit, with Rev. James Lawson as colleague, and was returned to the same the next year. But in the early part of the year he was removed to Beloit, to supply a vacancy. His next appointment was Whitewater, where he succeeded in completing a Church, and his next field was Beaver Dam. In 1855 he was appointed Presiding Elder of Beaver Dam District, which post he filled with great acceptability. His subsequent appointments have been Spring Street Station, Milwaukee, Chaplain of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment, Beaver Dam, Oshkosh and Green Bay. At the last named, he is at the present writing doing effective service.

In 1847 Prairieville Circuit was changed to a station, under the name of Waukesha. Brother Wilcox was returned, and during the year built up a strong congregation, giving the station a front rank among the first charges of the Conference.

Brother Wilcox entered the traveling connection in the East and came to the Illinois Conference at an early day. He was stationed in Galena in 1839, and before coming to Waukesha he had served Dubuque, Mineral Point, Dixon, Elgin and Sylvania. At the close of his term at Waukesha he was appointed Presiding Elder of Fond du Lac District At the end of three years he was sent to the Madison District, where he remained a full term. His subsequent appointments fell within the bounds of the West Wisconsin Conference, in all of which he acquitted himself creditably. His last field was Baraboo Station, where he passed from labor to reward, leaving to his brethren the record of a spotless life and unswerving devotion to the Master's work.

Brother Wilcox was an able minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man of large intellect and strong convictions. His sermons embodied cardinal truth, and with him mere word painting was a sham. Sometimes he was thought to be severe, but it was the severity of what he conceived to be truth. In debate, on the Conference floor, or in discussion before an audience, he was a giant. At times he would seem to push his antagonist relentlessly, but it was only following his inexorable logic to its findings. The same thoroughness entered into all he did. On a committee it was his habit to go to the bottom of things. Especially was this true in the Conference examinations.

I remember distinctly the examination that was had the year I graduated to Elder's orders. With him as chairman, and another strong man, whom I need not name, as second, we were under the fiery ordeal seven sessions. I have never ceased to wonder that anything was left of us, after having been thus ground between the upper and nether millstones. And yet there was no unkindness, for in his feelings he was as tender as a child. The fact is, this noble man could never do anything by halves. If the faithful discharge of duty, the persistent adherence to the right, and unsparing self-denial, constitute the standard of nobility, then Washington Wilcox. had a right to claim his patent.

At Waukesha, a respectable Church edifice had been erected in 1841 and 1842. At a later period a small Parsonage had been built, and on our arrival it was in readiness to receive us. The public services of the Sabbath were held at half-past ten in the morning and at one in the afternoon. The latter had been so arranged to accommodate families in the country, who desired a second service before returning home. The plan, however, did not fully satisfy the people in the village, as it failed to provide for an evening service. It was suggested that in a village, a certain class of people could be induced to attend an evening service that would not go to any other. To test the matter, I opened an evening service. The arrangement proved satisfactory, and was continued, though it involved the necessity of having three services a day.

The good seed of the kingdom, scattered among the crowds who gathered at the evening service, in due time began to bear fruit, and an extensive revival followed. As the good work in the village increased, and the number of converts was multiplied, the people of the surrounding neighborhoods became also interested, and attended the meeting. Many of these were induced to accept the obligations of a holy life, and as a result, invitations began to multiply, requesting me to open appointments in their respective localities. I now selected five of the most central neighborhoods and established in them week-day evening services. But as the summer drew on, they were discontinued except two, and these, as the most promising, were assigned to the Sabbath, and were filled on alternate days at four o'clock in the afternoon. To meet these appointments, in addition to the regular services in the village, required four sermons each Sabbath. As to the propriety of undertaking this amount of labor, I need say nothing. Some may deem it an evidence of zeal, but others that of folly.

During this year the Milwaukee District established a system of platform missionary meetings on the several charges. To further the object, it was decided to appoint two or three ministers to attend each meeting, and by dividing the labor throughout the district, bring thereby all the preachers upon the platform. On several of these occasions, I found myself associated with a brother who was beginning to attract considerable attention as a speaker. We usually put him on the programme for the closing speech, that he might furnish the "rousements," as Bishop Morris would say, for the collection. And in this particular we were seldom disappointed. The good brother was always ready for what might be called a flaming speech. And though he always ran in much the same channel, his craft, to use a figure, was always full-rigged and under full sail. But, to change the figure, and bring it more fully into harmony with the department of nature, from which the brother had evidently derived his name, I might say his pinions were always full fledged and in full tension for a lofty flight. Unfortunately, however, he could never fold his wings in time to make a graceful descent when he desired to come down to the plane of ordinary mortals. In the descent he would sometimes "swap ends" so many times, that it was a marvel that a broken neck was not the result. But to his own mind these airy flights were always sublime, and especially so when he struck the quotation, which usually closed each missionary speech, that placed the herald of the Gospel on the highest pinnacle of time, and made him "look back over the vista of receding ages" and "forward over the hill-tops of coming time," and "lift up his voice until it should echo from mountain top to mountain top, from valley to valley, from river to river, from ocean to ocean, from isle to isle, and from continent to continent, the whole earth around." Of course the collection always followed this speech, and if it proved to be pretty good, a few additional feathers went into the pinions for the next flight.

On one of these occasions our orator became greatly elated with his success, and rallied me upon the difference between the broad, velvety wing of the miller and the long, sharp pointed wing of his species. The opportunity was too good to be lost. I replied, "Well, my brother, I had a thought last night, when I saw you towering to such dizzy heights in your speech." "What was it?" he enquired, eagerly. "Oh!" I replied, "I would hardly dare to tell you." "Yes, yes," said he, "let us have it." I still hesitated, until the several brethren present joined him in his persistent request. "Well," I answered, "if you insist upon it I will state it. When I saw you making your lofty flights, I thought if you could only have a few feathers plucked from the wings of your imagination and placed in the tail of your judgment, you would make a grand flyer." The next flight was made with greater caution.

The balance of the year at Waukesha was given to the ordinary demands of the work. To the Church there had been large accessions and to the Parsonage a welcome guest, in the person of our eldest daughter.

The Wisconsin Conference for 1849 was held at Platteville. I crossed the State in a buggy and was assigned to Father Mitchell's for entertainment. To enjoy the hospitality of this truly Christian gentleman and veteran patriarch for a week was a privilege that would mark an era at any time in a man's life. At this Conference I was ordained an Elder by Bishop Janes, and received my appointment for a second year at Waukesha. Rev. Elihu Springer was returned to Milwaukee District for the third year.

At my first Quarterly Meeting the Elder insisted on a reconstruction of my work, in which he was joined by the Local Preachers and several other brethren of the charge. The noon-day sermon was dispensed with and the Sabbath afternoon appointments were given mainly to the care of the Local Preachers. These were William Carpenter, Hiram Crane, and Miles L. Reed, a trio of noble and devoted men.

Assisted by these faithful men and a united and earnest church, the work grew upon our hands, and this second year was also blessed with a precious revival. It was in connection with this revival and the garnering of the converts that the controversy arose between us and the Baptist friends on the subject of baptism. As many of our converts had not enjoyed favorable opportunities to become informed on this subject, the Pastor was desired by formal request to preach a sermon on the mode of baptism. This was done, and soon after the official board requested a copy for publication. The writer, supposing it was merely intended to secure a few copies through the columns of the village newspaper for convenient reference, hastily furnished the discourse. Instead, however, of procuring a few slips only, it was published in pamphlet and given a more extensive circulation. In due time it was taken up by the Pastor of the Baptist Church and reviewed at length in his pulpit. On the following Sabbath the reviewer was himself reviewed, and here ended the controversy. It is a question whether such controversies are really beneficial. They usually engender strife and party feeling, and not unfrequently alienate the servants of our common Master. But that such was not the case in this instance is pretty evident from the fact that at the session of our Conference in Waukesha the following year, the writer was requested to fill on the Sabbath the pulpit of his former antagonist.

On this charge also the writer took his first serious lesson in Church trials. The matter in question arose out of a misunderstanding between a man and his wife, growing out of a want of interest, perhaps, on the part of the one, and jealousy on the part of the other. Like other inexperienced administrators whom I have known, in trying to make crooked things straight, I invoked an agency that became a fire and a sword in my hand. Neither the Church nor the individuals concerned derived any advantage in the result, and though the wisdom of the administration was never called in question as far as I knew, yet I could not suppress the conviction that Church trials can only be commended as a last resort. It is much easier to awaken than allay the spirit of strife. Abating this discordant note, which did not long disturb the harmony of the Church, the two years we spent on this charge are freighted with most precious memories. Full of incident, and fragrant with blessing, they form a bright link in the chain of our itinerant life. Happy in our work, with only occasional calls for special services abroad, the years passed swiftly and joyously.

Referring to services abroad reminds me of the Quarterly Meeting I held for the Presiding Elder, on what was then called Howard's Prairie, some twenty miles distant. Seated in my buggy with my wife and child, I started on Friday afternoon for the place. We reached the neighborhood at nightfall. We were directed by the Elder to call on a given family for entertainment, the gentleman being the most wealthy Methodist in the settlement. We halted the buggy at his gate, and I went in to crave his hospitality. As I approached the door and addressed myself to the master of the premises, he put on a frigid expression of countenance, and answered me coldly. I decided at once that I would not make myself known, but try the spirit of the man. I inquired whether there was to be a Quarterly Meeting in his neighborhood. He replied in the affirmative. I then inquired where the Methodist preachers put up when they came into the settlement.

He said, "They usually put up at the second house further on." I concluded the old gentleman was not expecting company until the Presiding Elder should come, and so concluded we had better go on. As I retired the old gentleman looked sharply after me, but doubtless thinking so small and young a man as I then was could not be the Elder, he permitted me to go on my way. We went on to the house indicated, and inquired of the gentleman at the gate whether the Methodist preachers who visited the settlement usually found entertainment with him. He replied, "I am not a Methodist myself, but my old woman is one, I believe, and she sometimes takes in the preachers on her own hook, but she is not at home to-night. Why didn't you stop up at the white house on the hill? He is the loudest Methodist in this neighborhood." I inquired, "Who lives up here in this small house that we have just passed?"

"Oh," said he, "that is my son, the Class-Leader." It was now quite dark. I returned to the buggy and asked my wife how she liked the Presiding Eldership. She laughed heartily, and said, "The fact is, they are all waiting for the Presiding Elder, for no one would ever take you for one."

I concluded she was right, and on returning to the Class-Leader's house I made bold to announce myself in due form. We were most hospitably entertained, and were so pleased with our kind host and hostess that we felt constrained to decline, the next day, urgent invitations from both of the large houses. My wife has often queried since as to what became of the pies and cakes that were intended for the Presiding Elder on that occasion.

The services of the Sabbath were held in a school house. At the close of the morning sermon the Pastor, Rev. Jesse Halstead, volunteered to carry the hat through the congregation, to receive the collection for the Presiding Elder. After performing this service, he requested the good people to sing while he should count the funds. On completing the count, he found a deficiency, and concluded to carry the hat again. He started and moved leisurely along, taking special pains to afford all an opportunity to contribute, until he came to the dear man, whose acquaintance I had made the night before. He now paused, placed the hat on the desk, under the face of the reputed miser, put his hands in his pockets, and looked unconcernedly over the congregation, remarking, "Well, brethren, there is no great hurry about this matter. If you have not got the money with you, we will give you plenty of time to borrow it from your neighbor." This new feature in the programme directed all eyes to the brother in whose custody the hat had been placed. For a moment he was frigid, but under such a concentration of piercing rays as were now turned upon him, he soon began to melt. Turning to his neighbor, he borrowed a contribution, whereupon the hat moved on.

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