Thirty Years in the Itinerancy by Wesson Gage Miller

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The Juvenile Missionary Society was formed this year, and thereby the
Sunday School became an efficient agency in raising Missionary money.
In our plan, each class in the School constituted a Missionary Society,
taking a distinctive name. The gatherings of the class for a month went
into a common fund, and was reported at the monthly meeting. This
meeting was held on the last Sabbath of each month, and was usually made
an occasion of special interest.

The year now closing had been full of work. Besides my regular labor,
and the responsibilities of the Church enterprise, I had rendered
considerable service in raising regiments for the war, by delivering
addresses in various portions of the State.

From the beginning of the conflict, I greatly desired to go forward with
the brave boys and share with them the burdens and perils of the camp
and field. But it was the view of many of my friends, and especially of
the Central War Committee of the State, that I was doing a better
service for my country at home, in seeking to shape public sentiment,
than I could render by leading a regiment in the field. Accepting their
judgment, I endeavored to fulfil my mission to the best of my ability in
the field to which I seemed to be specially called.

The Conference of 1863 was held Oct. 1st, at Waukesha, and was presided
over by Bishop Scott. The body again adopted a strong report in support
of the Government. At this Conference Delegates to the General
Conference were again elected. They were H. Bannister, S.C. Thomas, C.D.
Pillsbury and M. Himebaugh. At the close of the session I was returned
to Spring Street. My fellow Pastors in the city were Revs. P.B. Pease
and George Fellows.

Brother Pease entered the Wisconsin Conference at its session in Fond du
Lac, Sept. 1st, 1852. His appointments had been Aztalan, Wauwatosa,
Palmyra, Appleton, Kenosha, and Beloit. He remained two years at
Summerfield. His subsequent appointments have been Spring Street,
Appleton District, and Janesville District, where at the present writing
he is doing a good-work.

Brother Pease has a clear head, a sound understanding, and positive
convictions. His pulpit ministrations are impressive and practical, his
administration wise and reliable, and his intercourse with the people
agreeable and spiritual. Wherever he has labored he has left a record of
ability and fidelity.

Brother Fellows entered the Wisconsin Conference in 1852, in the same
class with Brother Pease. He was stationed at Wauwatosa, Grafton,
Hartford, Oconomowoc, Beaver Dam, and Kenosha. He located in 1859, was
re-admitted in 1862, and appointed to Asbury the same year. Here he had
been engaged in the erection of a new Church. During this year the
building was completed, and the old Church changed into a Parsonage. The
Church was dedicated by Rev. Dr. Eddy, assisted by Rev. Dr. Tiffany.

In 1864 Brother Fellows located, and for two years served Madison
Station. He returned to the Conference in 1866, and was appointed to
Oconomowoc. His subsequent fields of labor were Waukesha, Neenah,
Menasha, and Cotton Street, Fond du Lac. In 1872 he accepted a Bible
Agency, and in 1874 was appointed Presiding Elder of Waupaca District.
Brother Fellows is a man of energy, and will doubtless make an efficient
Presiding Elder.

On the Spring Street charge the new year opened auspiciously. The
accessions of the former year, in connection, with the better Church
accommodations, had given to the work a broader basis, and afforded the
promise of wider usefulness. From month to month throughout the year,
the stakes were strengthened and the cords lengthened. And at its close
there was a general feeling of grateful satisfaction.

In 1864 the Conference was held Oct. 5th at Oshkosh, Bishop Scott
presiding. At this session Rev. Samuel Fallows was elected Secretary.
Brother Fallows, after his graduation from the State University, devoted
several years to the profession of teaching, in connection with the
Galesville University, in the Northwestern part of the State. He came to
the Wisconsin Conference in 1861, and was stationed at Oshkosh. Before
the expiration of the year, however, he went out as a Chaplain in the
army, in the service of the Thirty-Second Regiment, and at the
Conference of 1862, he received his appointment to that post. Having
returned from the army his next appointment, in 1863, was Appleton
Station. He was reappointed to the same charge in 1864, but before the
expiration of the year he became interested in raising a regiment of one
hundred days' men, and went out as Lieutenant Colonel. He graduated to
the Colonelcy while in the service, and was brevetted as Brigadier
General on his return home. The war having closed before the expiration
of the Conference year, he returned to the regular work, and received
his appointment in 1865 to the Summerfield Station. After serving three
years at Summerfield, he was appointed in 1868 to Spring Street. Here he
drew to his ministry a large congregation, and had an extensive revival,
thereby hastening the erection of a new Church. The building during the
second year was enclosed, but was not completed until the close of the
following year.

Brother Fallows enjoyed a successful Pastorate at Spring Street, but
before the expiration of his second year, he was appointed by the
Executive of the State to the position of Superintendent of Public
Instruction. He remained in this position until his second term expired,
Jan. 1, 1874, when having been elected President of the Illinois
Wesleyan University, he was transferred to the Illinois Conference.

Brother Fallows was a man whom his brethren delighted to honor. Though
still a young man comparatively, he had served his Conference as
Secretary nine years, and had been sent once as a Delegate to the
General Conference. He is a man of superior culture, pleasant voice, and
entertaining address. His genial spirit is a perpetual sunshine, and his
conversational interviews, the fragrance of summer. In his addresses and
sermons, the beautiful predominates. He was born an orator, and he has
never been able to shake off the enchantment. It is not his fault that
he is generally popular.

At this session the Conference adopted another report of the state of
the country. It was full of patriotism, pledging an unwavering support
to the Government. The chairman of the committee was Rev. R.B. Curtis.

Brother Curtis entered the Maine Conference in 1845, and in that
Conference and the East Maine he filled the following appointments:
Bingham, Corinth, Onoro, Frankfort, Searsport, Brick Chapel, Bangor,
Bangor District, and again Brick Chapel. He was transferred to the
Wisconsin Conference in 1862, and was appointed to Janesville. His next
appointment was Delavan, where he remained three years. While here his
health failed, and at the ensuing Conference he was compelled to take a
superannuated relation. He passed from the earthly to the heavenly home,
in Appleton, May 21st, 1872.

Brother Curtis was a man of rare endowments and sublime piety. In his
mental development, there was an almost absolute equipoise between the
imagination and the logical powers. In his logical dissections of error
and defence of truth, a keener blade has seldom, if ever, leaped from
its scabbard. Under his masterly imagery his audiences were sometimes
chained to their seats, as if held by the toils of an enchantment. With
such extraordinary elements of popular address, it is not surprising
that he held a high rank in the pulpit. Nor was he deficient in his
other qualifications as a Minister of Christ. When Brother Curtis fell
from the walls of Zion, it might have been truly said, "A Prince in
Israel has this day exchanged the earthly for the Heavenly Crown."

During this year Rev. D.H. Muller was Pastor of Asbury Church. Brother
Muller entered the Conference in 1861, coming from the Biblical School
at Evanston. His first appointment was Menasha, and his second Oshkosh.
And from the last named he came to Asbury. He remained two years, was
successful and highly esteemed; but at the close of his term he took a
transfer to the Genesee Conference. He has held leading appointments in
that Conference up to the present, and has also graduated to the dignity
of a Presiding Elder.

Brother Muller is a man of superior talent, genial spirit and fine
conversational powers. His name is fragrant in all the charges he served
in Wisconsin and the Conference regretted his transfer from the State.

I was again returned to Spring Street, and the salary was now placed at
thirteen hundred dollars. With the new Church full of people, with every
department of Church work thoroughly organized and in successful
operation, I was now permitted to devote my labor to the regular
pastoral work. As far as possible, the forenoons were given to my study
and the afternoons to pastoral visiting.

In a city like Milwaukee, this last department of labor is absolutely
indispensable. It is not intended in this form of expression to intimate
that it can be dispensed with in any other field, for it cannot, but
simply to indicate the impossibility of caring rightly for the souls of
men in a great city, if this form of labor shall be neglected.

In a large city, the population is constantly changing, and unless the
Pastor shall be on the alert in looking up the people, members of his
own flock, to say nothing of others, will drop out of sight. Soon they
will feel that the band of union between them and the Church has been
severed, and they have become outcasts. The result of such a state of
things, will be either recklessness of life, or a seeking of other
Church alliances. In either case, the charge itself suffers loss. In
addition to this class of cases that need the eagle eye of the Pastor,
there is a constant influx of population. These coming people, in large
numbers, will fail to find churchly affiliations unless there is some
one who shall seek them out at their new homes, and invite them to
attend the means of grace.

I know it will be said, "Let the members of the Churches do this." I
grant that the open field for this kind of labor is inviting to the
Church members, but suppose they do not enter it, what then? Shall the
work be left undone? Besides, the work can be done effectively only,
through systematic arrangement, and this feature can only be given to it
through the supervision of the Pastor. He only can know the entire
ground, and become the nucleus around which the membership will be
able to rally.

It would greatly aid the Pastor in his work, if all new-comers would
immediately report themselves at the Parsonage or the Church. But as all
such are usually burdened with many cares and perplexities during the
first weeks or months in making a new home, the only way to reach the
desired result seems to be through the vigilant maintenance of
pastoral visiting.

During the winter I held a protracted meeting, which gave an addition of
forty-seven probationers. I felt the fatigue very much, and at the close
of the meeting found it necessary for a time to abridge my labors.

In March following, the Official Board granted me leave of absence to
engage for six weeks in the service of the Christian Commission. I was
assigned to service at City Point, and along the lines of Gen. Grant's
army, before Richmond and Petersburgh. Leaving Milwaukee March 14th, and
passing through Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, I entered the
James River at Fortress Monroe, and reached City Point on the 21st.
After calling at the headquarters of Gen. Grant, and preaching once in
the Chapel at the headquarters of the Christian Commission, I went along
the line of the army, first to the north of Point of Rocks, twenty
miles, and then to the south, twenty miles, as far as Hatch's Run,
making forty miles in all. In these excursions I preached in the several
Chapels as opportunity offered, and rendered such assistance as I was
able, in making the necessary preparations for the forward movement of
the army, which was expected to occur in a few days. But I soon found
that the exposures along the front were too great for my system, in its
enfeebled condition. I contracted a severe cold, which rendered it
necessary to leave the lines. I returned to City Point, and was advised
to leave at once for Washington, where I could obtain the desired
medical treatment. I took the steamboat the very afternoon the army was
put in motion. By the time Gen. Grant had taken Gen. Lee, I had taken
Washington.

The physicians here believed that my lungs were seriously compromised,
and advised me to go to the seashore. I went immediately down to
Brooklyn, and became the guest of my cousin, Col. J.T. Hildreth. My
family and friends at Milwaukee at once became alarmed, and Mrs. Miller
came down. But through skillful treatment, good nursing, and a kind
Providence, the indications soon changed for the better, and at the end
of two months I was able to return to my people. On reaching the city
the friends gave us a reception, and left us over two hundred dollars. I
was able to resume my labors soon after, and the balance of the year
passed pleasantly. I had now completed my full term of three years.
During this time I had received into the Church about two hundred
members, and after allowing for removals and other changes, the net
increase had been about half that number.

Though the people had been greatly taxed in building their new Church,
it was found that the benevolent collections had considerably increased.
The Missionary, collection advanced during the first year from
seventy-five dollars to two hundred and twenty. The second year it was
two hundred and sixty-two, and the third, three hundred and forty.

The Sunday School had now reached an aggregate of four hundred scholars,
and the Library six hundred volumes. Among the accessions of the term,
there were several who gave considerable financial strength to
the charge.

CHAPTER XXII.

Conference of 1805.--The War Closed.--Lay Delegation the Next Question.
Rev. George Chester.--Rev. Romulus O. Kellogg.--Missionary to
China.--Rev. L.N. Wheeler.--Appointed to Fond du Lac District.--Marriage
of our Eldest Daughter.--Removal to Fond du Lac.--Rev. T.O.
Hollister.--State of the District.--Rev. J.T. Woodhead.--Waupun.--Rev.
D.W. Couch.--Lamartine.--Rev. I.S. Eldridge.--Horicon.--Rev. Walter
McFarlane.

The Conference of 1865 was held Oct. 4th in Summerfield Church,
Milwaukee, Bishop Baker presiding, and assisted by Bishop Ames. Rev.
Samuel Fallows was elected Secretary, and Revs. Wm. P. Stowe, E.D.
Farnham and R.W. Bosworth Assistants.

The relentless war that had raged for four years had now closed. The
clouds had lifted from the fields of conflict, and the Conference was
now able to take note of the past and anticipate the future of the
country. The report adopted at this session, presented by the Committee
on the state of the country, was a masterly document. It recognized the
fact that the Wisconsin Conference, since its organization, had
exhibited a bold and manly opposition to American Slavery. That the
recent rebellion, aiming its blows at the Government, bought by the
blood of Revolutionary patriots, was the outgrowth of the institution of
Slavery. And that the Conference, in common with the Laity, and loyal
citizens of the North generally, had acquitted herself nobly, in
standing by the Government in its hour of trial, and, having rendered
this service as a Christian duty, she had nothing to take back. Looking
out upon the future, she also anticipated the coming day when equal
rights should be accorded to all, irrespective of color or nationality.

The question of Slavery and the frightful war it had entailed upon the
country having passed away, the Conference now took up the subject of
Lay Delegation. And since the subject is new to many, it may not be
improper to devote to it a brief examination.

The question has been raised, "How came it to pass that in the
organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Laity were not
associated with the Ministry in the Conferences?" The question is a
legitimate one, and deserves a considerate answer.

It should be remembered that the establishment of the Church was rather
a growth than an organization. This one fact accounts, doubtless, for
the peculiar feature referred to. Had there existed at the outset a
large body of Christians, including Ministers and Laymen, awaiting an
organization, at the time Mr. Wesley began his labors, it is possible
that he might have so combined them in appropriate relations as to
secure a united responsibility. But such was not the state of the case.
In the strict sense of the word, Mr. Wesley had no Church, and no people
out of which to organize one. And it is possible that he began his
labors without an expectation of organizing a Church. His great concern,
overleaping every other consideration, was to save souls. In this work
he was ready to call to his aid such instrumentalities as gave the best
promise of the desired result. It was but natural that, whenever he met
a congenial spirit, there should be an affiliation. In such case a unity
of effort would necessarily follow.

In this manner there grew up around Mr. Wesley a company of men, who
were recognized as his helpers. With the multiplication of these
assistant laborers, it became advisable to reduce the co-operative
effort to a systematic plan. To adopt a plan of labor and give it
efficiency, the organization of Conferences became a necessity. The
first Conferences were composed of Mr. Wesley and his helpers, and could
not embody Laymen, as no Church had been organized. This state of things
continued during the life time of Mr. Wesley in England, and as he gave
the Church in the United States its first organization, the same system
was introduced here.

Subsequently, as the work extended and the Conferences multiplied, it
was but natural that they should all take the same character. Nor would
there have been any special need for a change, perhaps, if there had
been no changes in the character of the work to be done. But with the
erection of Churches, the founding of schools, and the creation of the
Book Concern and Church literature, the Conferences, having these
interests in charge, need the presence and aid of Laymen.

At the General Conference of 1864, action had been taken inviting the
membership to vote on the subject, and also to elect provisional
Delegates to the General Conference of 1868. The action of the Wisconsin
Conference fully endorsed the movement and the body faithfully complied
with its provisions.

At this session the Conference made a record of the death, of three of
its members, Revs. Henry Requa, George Chester and Romulus O. Kellogg.
To the first named, reference has been made in former chapters.

Brother Chester came to this country in 1849, from England, where he had
been converted under the labors of Rev. James Caughey. He was received
into the Wisconsin Conference in 1851, and was appointed to Prairie La
Crosse. His subsequent appointments were Willow River, Madison Circuit,
Waterloo, Columbus, Burnett, Fox Lake, Footville, Evansville, and
Shopiere. At the last named place he was attacked with typhoid fever,
and, after an illness of three weeks, passed away in holy triumph, with
the words, "Glory! Glory! Glory!" upon his lips. Brother Chester was a
true man, and a successful Minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brother Kellogg came with his parents to Milwaukee in 1836. He prepared
for College at Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris, graduated at the
Wesleyan University, Conn., in 1849, and served as Professor of
Languages in the Lawrence University for five years thereafter. He was
received into the Wisconsin Conference in 1862, and was appointed to
Fort Atkinson. He was reappointed the second and third years, but,
during the latter, his nervous system gave way under his devoted and
trying labors, and he passed to the bright beyond. Brother Kellogg was a
man of fine culture, genial spirit, faithful to every trust, and
universally beloved by all who knew him.

The Conference at this session was again called upon to send one of its
members abroad as a Missionary. Rev. L.N. Wheeler was sent to China. He
was presented at the Conference with an album containing the photographs
of the donors as a token of remembrance. The writer was selected to make
the presentation speech, as he had known him from his childhood.

Brother Wheeler, before he engaged in the Ministerial work, devoted
several years to editing and publishing secular papers. He entered the
Conference in 1858, and had been stationed at Two Rivers, Byron, Empire,
Manitowoc, and Sheboygan.

Having been advised with by the Mission Board at New York during the
year, as to his qualifications, I was prepared to expect the
appointment, fully persuaded that it would prove both creditable to the
Conference and profitable to the Mission field. While abroad Brother
Wheeler had charge for some time of the Mission press. He rendered
efficient service in the China Mission during the seven years of his
absence. But, on account of failing health, he was compelled to return
in 1872. He is now stationed again at Manitowoc. He is a man of superior
talent, and is greatly esteemed.

I had now completed my term of three years on the Spring Street Station,
and my next appointment was very much in doubt. I had been solicited to
accept invitations to several stations, and also the Fond du Lac
District, but in each case I assured the good brethren that I deemed it
best to let the Bishop and his Cabinet decide without prejudice, and
assign me work where they believed I could serve the general cause to
the best advantage. Had I allowed myself a preference, it would have
been some quiet station of moderate responsibility, where I could have
rallied my enfeebled health. Besides, I had a doubt whether I ought to
be put on a District so soon again, after having completed two full
terms before I reached my fortieth year. But it is vain to speculate in
advance. At the close of the Conference, I found myself appointed
Presiding Elder of Fond du Lac District.

The appointment was a surprise to both myself and family. But accepting
the situation as a legitimate feature of the Itinerancy, we entered at
once upon the needed preparations for a removal to Fond du Lac. The
removal, however, was to be preceded by an event that, by separating the
family, would render the change exceedingly trying. I refer to the
marriage of our eldest daughter to Capt. Frank P. Lawrence, of Racine,
thereby breaking a link out of the chain that had so long and pleasantly
bound us together in the family circle. But, having previously learned
that life's difficulties are best overcome by turning towards them a
brave bearing, we prepared for the nuptials.

On the morning of the 17th of October a few friends came in at the
breakfast hour, and our daughter passed into the keeping of another.
Though fully satisfied with the arrangement, the occasion imposed upon
me the most difficult duty of my life. The ceremony was performed in
connection with the family devotions, and quite unmanned me. Assembled
in the parlor, I took my usual place to lead the devotions. The
Scriptures were read, and my daughter presided as usual at the piano.
Thus far everything maintained its accustomed order. But when we knelt
in prayer, and I closed my eyes to all visible things, the invisible
came trooping in throngs to my already burdened thought. Then came the
vivid recollection of the many happy years we had spent together as a
family, the many sweet hours we had spent together in that parlor, with
music and song, in which our dear daughter had ever been the central
figure, and the now sad fact of an immediate separation. The chain must
now be broken, and its then brightest link snatched away to gladden
another home, while our own circle must be broken forever.

With these thoughts rushing upon me, it is not a matter of surprise that
I was quite overwhelmed with feeling, and found utterance almost
impossible. How I passed through the prayer and the ceremony that
followed, has never been quite clear to me, but I was told that nothing
was omitted that could be deemed essential to the occasion. The wedding
party was soon after dismissed with our blessing, and we at once began
the preparations for our own trip to the cars, to occur in the afternoon
of the same day.

We reached Fond du Lac at nightfall, and were kindly entertained by Rev.
J.T. Woodhead and his family. The following day we were invited to the
pleasant home of our old friend, C.O. Hurd, who, with his most excellent
family, gave us a kindly greeting and cared for us until the arrival of
our goods.

My predecessor on the District was Rev. Theron O. Hollister, a man "full
of faith and the Holy Ghost." Brother Hollister was received into the
Conference at its session in Baraboo in 1853, and his first charge was
Summit. His subsequent fields of labor were Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills,
Greenbush, Sheboygan Falls, and Fond du Lac, where he succeeded to the
District. At the close of his term on the District he was appointed to
Oconomowoc, next to Waukesha, and the year following to Hart Prairie.
Here his health utterly broke down, and at the following session of the
Conference in 1868, he was compelled to take a superannuated relation.
He now removed to Salem, in Kenosha County, where he died March 13,
1869, aged forty-seven.

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