NSGS Ancestree

Author: Velma Cooper, Decatur, NE

BEGINNINGS OF THE METHODIST CHURCH IN NEBRASKA

The actual formal start of Methodism in NE took place in the following manner: On June 3, 1854 Bishop E. R. AMES wrote to the Rev. W. H. GOODE, D.D., who was the presiding elder of the South Bend district in Indiana, asking him to go from Indiana to NE to ascertain the need for Methodist ministers in NE, and where they were needed. Thus, four days after the Kansas-NE bill and four months before organization of the Territorial government, the Methodist Church had appointed one of her best men to go in person to NE.

At that time, Dr. GOODE was age 50 or over. Five days later, on June 8 he left Richmond, Indiana, by team and wagon and in four weeks arrived in Kansas which was to be his headquarters because there were more settlers there. Dr. GOODE reached NE late in July. He had been ill in Kansas and was very severely ill for nine days on his way to NE. Because he was not strong enough to handle his carriage and horses, he sold them, disposed of his equipment, and returned to St. Joseph, Missouri where he took passage on the stage for Council Bluffs.

Dr. GOODE left the stage at Oregon (a settlement in Missouri), obtained a horse in order to ride west to the Missouri River. He arrived at the cabin of Colonel ARCHER, a Tennessee Methodist, who took Dr. GOODE across the Missouri River the following day. They went up the Nemaha a little way, and he was in NE Territory for the first time on July 29, 1854. There were no settlers there, so Dr. GOODE went back across the Missouri with Colonel ARCHER. Dr. GOODE again rode the stage going to a point across the river from Old Fort Kearney (Nebraska City), where he left the stage and again crossed the Missouri into NE.

The site of Old Fort Kearney had been a military post until the troops were moved 200 miles up the Platte River. There was a substantial blockhouse, one old log dwelling, the remains of a set of "rude, temporary barracks." There was a single frame shanty there with a few goods, and a single settler and his family in the old fort cabin--Major DOWNS. Major DOWNS was interested in Dr. GOODE's mission. He took down his city plat and marked off some lots which he donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dr. GOODE recrossed the Missouri, returned to Sidney, Iowa, and again took the stage reaching Council Bluffs the next day. There he rested for a day before crossing the Missouri to the village of Omaha which was being laid out at that time. Rev. GOODE went on down the river to spend Sunday, August 6 with Rev. Wm. HAMILTON of the Presbyterian Church at Bellevue. Rev. GOODE preached his first sermon in NE that day.

The next week he returned to Council Bluffs and returned to his home in Indiana, going by stage to Rock Island and from there he traveled by train.

After this preliminary survey and his report, Rev. GOODE was commissioned to be superintendent of missions in Kansas and NE. By December of 1854 he had been in Kansas again for a month. In early December he was on his way to NE, traveling on horseback, his usual means of travel in wintertime. Because it was often difficult to find food for him and/or his horse, he carried some corn and provisions. His first horse became lame. Dr. Goode obtained a second horse which became so sick that he had to get a third horse.

There was so much ice in the river that the regular ferry had been abandoned, so Dr. GOODE crossed the river in a skiff in order to get to Nebraska City where he planned to preach on the Sabbath.

Major DOWNS' hotel was so crowded that Dr. GOODE went to the cabin of the pastor, W. G. GAGE which was in the brush some distance from the hotel. Since it was after dark, Dr. GOODE had great difficulty getting to the cabin parsonage.

The first quarterly meeting in NE Territory was held the next day, Sunday, in one of the rooms of the hotel (December 1854). No class had been organized; the pastor was absent; hotel guests who were not interested in church services caused much confusion. But it was the first quarterly meeting of the Methodist Church in NE Territory.

Dr. GOODE had planned to go to Omaha too because there was no pastor there. However, his problems with finding horses caused him to decide against going on to Omaha and, instead, to return home.

In that winter of 1854 there were few actual settlers, but many men had been in NE to look around and to stake off their claims. These men had returned to their homes, planning to bring their families with them when they returned in the Spring.

Dr. GOODE published a call in the Advocate for Methodist pastors to come to NE. W. D. GAGE was assigned to Nebraska City in 1854, and was the only one in the Territory. There were enough volunteers answering the call to supply the needs. Dr. GOODE, being from Indiana, apparently obtained many ministers from his home state. He had pastors in NE at all the

Beginnings of the Methodist Church in Nebraska (continued)

strategic places before there were organized groups for churches.

Later, in 1859, Dr. GOODE left home on February 3, 1859 to do the northern portion of his fourth round of quarterly meetings. Thursday, February 9, was his last day at Takamah. At home, his wife became ill that day and died before he arrived back home on about February 15.

EARLY METHODIST MINISTERS

William D. Gage

William D. GAGE was born in 1803 in Pennsylvania. He was orphaned at age 6, learned the shoemaking trade, worked at that trade until age 21, then became a Methodist minister, serving as a minister till 1856. He had served for 26 years in the ministry in New York, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas, before being appointed, at age 50, to the Nebraska City Mission. He settled at Old Fort Kearney (Nebraska City) in 1853, becoming the first Methodist pastor in NE.

W. D. GAGE married Miss Sarah SCHOONMAKER at Flatbush, New York January 1, 1832, and they had seven children, all girls. Mrs. Gage died in 1862 leaving three daughters--the other four daughters had died earlier.

The Nebraska City Mission included all the settlements extending north along the river as far as Rock Bluffs. The first Methodist class in NE was formed as early as March 1855 in the Morris neighborhood. The first Sunday school organized a month or two later. That settlement was distinctively Methodist, with ten Methodist heads of families who were there as early as 1853, bringing their families in 1854. Thomas ASHLEY was also a part of this group, and he was converted at the second camp meeting held in NE, in that neighborhood, in August 1857, two or three miles southwest of Rock Bluffs.

William D. GAGE was chaplain of the first NE legislature, was treasurer of Otoe County in 1855-56, and was a county commissioner in Cass County in 1857. He died at the home of a daughter, Mrs. BAILEY, at Weeping Water, NE, November 20, 1885. Another daughter, Mrs. J. W. BARNES, lived at Tecumseh.

The home of Thomas B. ASHLEY was the place in which the first sermon ever delivered in Cass County was heard; this was in October 1854. The preacher was a local preacher, Abram (or Abraham) TOWNER. This group of people at Rock Bluffs were earnest Methodists and immediately started having prayer and class meetings, with an occasional preaching service. These were in the cabins of the settlers.

The first Methodist Church building constructed in NE Territory was dedicated November 1856 at Nebraska City.

John B. Maxfield

NE Conference was held April 4, 1861 at Nebraska City, the first in which Kansas and NE held separate conferences. In 1856 there had been 197 Methodists in NE. In 1861 NE Methodists had two districts, with 19 charges, and 1,344 members and probationers.

At the 1861 conference, John B. MAXFIELD was received "on trial." Rev. John B. MAXFIELD, D.D., was born in Syracuse, New York, February 24, 1833. He was converted at a revivial meeting in Knox County Ohio in February 1856. In 1857 he went to Kansas and soon came to NE. He was severely ill for nearly a year then decided to become a minister. He joined the NE Conference on trial in 1861. He was first a junior preacher on the Beatrice circuit with Rev. Joel MASON as senior preacher.

Maxfield's next charge was the De Soto circuit in 1862. In 1863 MAXFIELD was received into the conference, ordained a deacon, and appointed to the Decatur charge. He had made only one round on this circuit when he was appointed superintendent of the Pawnee Indian manual labor school at Genoa, NE, where he remained for four years.

Mrs. Robert ASHLEY, a faithful member at Decatur, wrote, "In 1863, Rev. J. B. MAXFIELD was sent to be our pastor. He made his home with us. After staying less than three months, he was transferred to Pawnee Reservation, and we were left without a pastor. Brother MAXFIELD was appreciated in Decatur; he was a powerful preacher. We held services in a small schoolhouse, and every one attended. There was a warm feeling for him in the entire community, and his removal caused great consternation." The circuit was supplied by Joel MASON for the rest of that year.

Dr. MAXFIELD was described in Morton's History of Nebraska as being a preacher who "has had few equals and no superiors in the history of Nebraska Methodism." MAXFIELD was also described as a "masterful personality," a "born leader of man," and he had executive ability.

Early Methodist Ministers (continued)

He was the first president of Nebraska Central College, was a member of the first board of regents, and helped organize the University of NE, and was a member of the commission that organized Nebraska Wesleyan University. Dr. MAXFIELD held many important church positions in NE, having been presiding elder of these districts: Beatrice, North NE, Norfolk, and Omaha.

Dr. MAXFIELD had served the church at Bellevue, Mount Pleasant, and Plattsmouth. In 1871 he was presiding elder of the Beatrice district; in 1875 presiding elder of North NE district. In 1870 he served First Church in Omaha, then became presiding elder of Omaha district. Next he became the first president of NE Central College, at Central City, where he was for two years, resigning because of ill health.

Dr. MAXFIELD had attended every NE conference for nearly forty years; a severe stroke forced him to retire, and he died September 11, 1900 after a third stroke. Somehow he had managed to complete the work to earn his Doctor of Divinity degree from Hedding College, Abington, Illinois in 1882.

Jerome Spillman

Jerome SPILLMAN was the first pastor at Fremont which was laid out (platted) by a group of families in 1857. SPILLMAN had been assigned to Fontanelle Mission; Fremont was a part of that circuit. SPILLMAN is described by David MARQUETTE as being a "flaming evangelist." He was born and educated in Indiana, where Methodism was "of the most aggressive type and was led by men who were giants in intellectual stature and full of the Holy Ghost, mighty in word and deed."

Jerome SPILLMAN was studying at old Asbury College, learned of the call for ministers in NE, and before his graduation, he reported to J. M. CHIVINGTON, presiding elder, for work. E. H. ROGERS was the first leader of the Methodists at Fremont. CHIVINGTON's letter to him follows: "Omaha, June 22, 1857 E. H. Rogers, Esq. -- Dear Brother: This will intruduce to you Rev. Jerome SPILLMAN. I have employed him on the Fontenelle and North Bend Missions. He is a young man, as you will see; still he is full of fire, and will do you good service. He is just now from Indiana Asbury University (of the junior class), is a good scholar and will prosecute his studies until he graduates. Board him if you can. I will be out on the eleventh of July. Kind regards to yourself and family. Yours truly, J. M. CHIVINGTON"

Fontenelle was one of the oldest towns in NE and Jerome SPILLMAN soon reported 45 full members and 28 probationers there, where a year earlier there had been only 15. SPILLMAN was also supplying Fremont and North Bend, and probably other locations. In 1859 SPILLMAN was assigned to Bellevue, and there was a great revival there; in 1859 there were 9 Methodists, and at the end of SPILLMAN's first year there, he reported 62 members and 82 probationers. SPILLMAN continued at Bellevue in 1860, with J. H. ALLING as junior preacher. In 1861 there were 111 members and 64 probationers there.

Judge A. N. FERGUSON of Omaha, son of the first Chief Justice of NE Territory (Fenner FERGUSON), said this about Jerome SPILLMAN--"I was but a boy of sixteen at that time, but I often heard SPILLMAN during that great revival and at other times, and no preacher that I have heard in NE has impressed me more profoundly than did Jerome SPILLMAN"

The Florence Circuit, later called the De Soto Circuit. included Florence, De Soto, Fort Calhoun, and Cuming City. Jerome SPILLMAN and Jacob ADRIANCE were listed among the early preachers on that circuit.

Jerome SPILLMAN's last charge in NE was at Plattsmouth and Oreapolis in 1861. Early in the Civil War, he went into service as a chaplain. After the war, SPILLMAN remained in the South.

Isaac F Collins

In March 1855 Isaac F. COLLINS arrived at Omaha, long before there were enough Methodists there to form a class. At Omaha, as at many other places in NE, the religious "firsts" were Methodist -- first sermon preached, first religious official, first pastor assigned and at that location, first church organization, first Protestant church building constructed (on corner of Douglas and Thirteenth Streets)

COLLINS came to the Amsbury home at Omaha; this was actually near Florence. Unmarried when he came to Omaha, Isaac COLLINS later married a daughter of the Amsbury family; her brother, Rev. W. A. AMSBURY, is listed among our early Methodist preachers.

At Omaha, Isaac COLLINS organized a Methodist class of six people in September 1855. The Methodists built a church and dedicated it in December 1856.

Early Methodist Ministers (continued)

Jacob Adriance

Jacob ADRIANCE was born in Cayoga County, New York, October 22, 1835. His parents had belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, later joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. They moved to Niagara County, N.Y. when Jacob was ten years old. He grew up there attending the district school and spending three terms at the Wilson Collegiate Institute. His parents, Thomas and Margaret ADRIANCE, were natives of New York.

Jacob ADRIANCE was religious-minded, even in childhood, but thought he should be grown up before stating his beliefs, so he was sixteen when he became a Christian. At age eighteen he felt called to preach the gospel, and felt that it should be at a great distance from home, but he resisted that idea for more than a year. At age 22, Adriance was licensed to preach and started West on April 7, 1857. His father had given him a government land warrant for 160 acres of land.

He reached Nebraska City on April 26, but the Conference had adjourned on the previous day. So Jacob ADRIANCE walked to Glenwood to see Dr. GOODE, then to Omaha to see the presiding elder there. Jacob ADRIANCE was a modest man who thought he would be an assistant to a pastor. Instead, he was put in charge of De Soto Mission. He then sold his 160 acre land warrant for $163, so that he could buy a horse and the outfit needed for riding his circuit. A good brother gave him a pair of saddle-bags. The remainder of his money, less than twenty dollars, was soon spent for Sunday school libraries purchased from Rev. Moses SHINN of Omaha.

Using a map, the presiding elder showed ADRIANCE the nine appointments on his circuit which included De Soto, Cuming City, Takamah, and Decatur. The other towns on the map were either paper towns or towns that had gone into the river. The entire circuit had no church, no parsonage, not even a Methodist class. It did have an inexperienced young minister, 22 years old, to travel the circuit and to develop and encourage Methodist beliefs.

In the previous year, the settlers had raised a little sod corn, but most of them had arrived too late in the year for such planting. Not one of the four towns had one hundred people. Decatur at that time expected a railroad, a hope which was repeatedly built up, then frustrated, at various times through the years.

Jacob ADRIANCE was the first regular pastor at those places. His first service was May 3, 1857, at De Soto in the home of a Baptist named Jacob CARTER. There were two Methodists there. (By the close of the year, there was a class of 22 Methodists at De Soto.) That same evening (May 3, 1857) ADRIANCE preached at Cuming City in a log cabin which lacked a door. A local Iowa preacher, L. F. STRINGFIELD, had been there in the fall of 1856 a few times, but did not organize. ADRIANCE organized his first Methodist class at Cuming City, seven people. On May 17, he organized a Sunday school there, again purchasing books from Rev. M. F. SHINN at Omaha and hauling them out on his pony.

At Takamah (sic), Adriance found that L. F. STRINGFIELD had been there a few times in the fall of 1856. A general history of NE states that the first sermon ever preached in Takamah was in 1854 by a Methodist minister, but gives no name. In 1855 a local preacher who lived near Takamah (sic), Rev. Wm. BATES, preached a few times. A brother of this man, Rufus BATES, was an excellent and enthusiastic choir leader in the church for many years. STRINGFIELD supposedly organized the Methodist Church in 1856, but ADRIANCE found no trace of the organization. ADRIANCE stated that he organized the first Methodist class at Tekamah.

Brother ADRIANCE's first service was at the Benjamin FOLSOM home. Mrs. Folsom was a staunch Methodist; other members of this class were Michael OLINGER and his wife, Adam OLINGER, and John OAKS who later was the founder of Oakland. (Benjamin FOLSOM had been the leader of the party which founded Tekamah.) ADRIANCE organized a Sunday school at Takamah (sic) on May 24, again purchasing a library and hauling it from Omaha on his pony. ADRIANCE made his home at Tekamah while he served the De Soto circuit in 1857 and early 1858.

There were about ten people at Decatur, but no Methodists. ADRIANCE preached there regularly but was unable to organize a class. His first service at Decatur was on a week night, May 7, 1857 at the hotel with 10 persons present.

JACOB ADRIANCE wrote that, except for De Soto, there were no public rooms available for meetings, and settlers' homes were small and full.

Jacob ADRIANCE was an unassuming man, one who spoke plainly, genuinely, and sincerely. He was a man of warmth and sympathy, "gifted with a wonderful power of song." His singing was especially impressive at camp meetings.

Traveling over 150 miles to attend his first conference, which was at Topeka in 1858, Jacob ADRIANCE was appointed to the Platte Valley Mission, which was Fremont and some settlements west. He was followed on the De Soto Mission by Jerome SPILLMAN. The following year

Early Methodists Ministers (continued)

Tekamah and Decatur were not included in the De Soto Mission and were listed as "to be supplied."

The first week in May 1858, ADRIANCE moved his two trunks from Takamah (going to the Fremont area) with his pony and a one-horse wagon. At the Bell Creek ford, he found that the water would come into the wagon bed so he made a bridge with the wagon and a tree so that he could carry his trunks over without getting them dunked in Bell Creek. One day, lacking a bucket, he carried water to his pony in his hat.

The Platte Valley Circuit extended from Fremont to Columbus, with twelve or thirteen appointments, which included North Bend and Buchanan. His circuit was over 300 miles.

ADRIANCE visited the settlements on the Elkhorn as early as possible. He wrote, "on December 6, 1858, I found a settlement of three families, eight grown persons and two children all in one cabin, twenty-five miles from Fontenelle on Logan Creek, where Oakland is now located. February 21, 1859, four of them joined on probation, and March 21st, one more, so a class of five was organized, with the mother of the four daughters class-leader. Sister ARLINGTON had been a Presbyterian in Philadelphia, but made a good leader and kept up their Sabbath prayer meetings for over two years. No settlers coming and being so isolated from society, they finally abandoned their claims with the improvements, and relocated in Burt County, six miles south of Decatur, where Sister ARLINGTON died a few months ago, upwards of eighty years old." (Her death was probably in 1903)

In 1859, Jacob ADRIANCE was appointed to the Rock Bluff Circuit as junior pastor to J. T. CANNON, but was not there long, as he was soon sent to Colorado with Dr. GOODE. He served in the Denver and Pike's Peak area, being the first resident minister in Colorado Territory, and organized the first Methodist church in Denver. He was the chaplain of the lower house of the Colorado Territorial Legislature. J. M. CHIVINGTON was the only other Methodist minister in Colorado in 1859.

After Conference in 1860, Jacob ADRIANCE went back to New York to visit his parents and friends. While there, he met, and seventeen days later, married Miss Fanny A. ROGERS. They arrived at Golden, Colorado about July 1, and began housekeeping in a little 12 by 14 foot cabin which had "no floor, one door, half a window on each side, slab roof, eaves about five feet high, three stools, and a little sheet-iron stove."

In 1861 Rev. ADRIANCE was at Central City, Colorado. Then ADRIANCE visisted (sic) Cayuga County, New York for 18 months. In 1862 he secured a farm in Dodge County, Maple Township, using a land warrant given to him by his father. His patent was signed by President Lincoln.

In 1864 Jacob ADRIANCE was sent to Decatur Mission where the disheartened Methodists were about ready to give up. By putting in a year of his good work, ADRIANCE had the charge in better condition. After that he was sent to Fremont, Ft. Calhoun, Fontenelle, North Bend, and Wahoo. Later he was appointed in Douglas and Sarpy counties.

After long service as a Methodist minister, Rev. ADRIANCE had failing health and failing hearing. He was placed on the "superannuated list," retired to his farm (320 acres near Jamestown in Dodge County), and lived there until May 1905 when he and his wife moved to Fremont. The ADRIANCES had four children--Lillie E., Myrtle E., Emory R., and Effie L. The fact that his wife, Fannie A. ROGERS, was the daughter of a minister, Rev. Lucius C. ROGERS, may have been good preparation for the rigors of the life in our pioneer days in NE.

EARLY METHODIST SERMONS IN NEBRASKA

Rev. HARRISON PRESSON preached the first Methodist sermon in NE on April 21, 1850, on the present site of Omaha. He was with a large group on their way to the Pacific Coast, and they camped over the Sabbath at that place. Rev. PRESSON used Isaiah 35:1 as the text of his sermon. The place was at about the location of the Douglas House in 1906. There was an audience of about four hundred with the white emigrants grouped in the center and the Indians, wrapped in their blankets, around the outer edge.

This Rev. Harrison PRESSON served in the Civil War, went to Minnesota, and moved to NE in 1871, apparently remaining in the Methodist ministry. He was born in Maine in 1816. He addressed the annual conference in Beatrice in 1904 when he must have been about 88 years old.

A Methodist preacher named Wm. SIMPSON preached on the site of Omaha as early as 1851.

At Nebraska City there was also one of the earliest sermons as Rev. W. D. GAGE preached a sermon at Old Fort Kearney in January 1853. He was formally appointed to Nebraska City in 1854. Rev. GAGE was chaplain of the first Nebraska Territorial Legislature, and his name is honored in the name given to Gage County.

Early Methodist Sermons in NE (continued)

In 1857 Z. B. TURMAN, Methodist minister, preached the first sermon ever preached in Lancaster County, in the home of James EATHERTON. In 1857, Rev. TURMAN also preached the first sermon ever preached on the present site of Lincoln.

***********************************************************************************************

Submitted by Mrs. Kathryn Kaufman, Lexington, NE

BORDEAUX EMBARKATION CAMP GENICART, BORDEAU, FRANCE

1 Feb. 1919 Headquarters 33rd Artillery Brigade (CAC)

Complied by Pvt. W. J. Donovan

***********************************************************************************************

Submitted by Eldon Meisinger, Plattsmouth, NE

DIRECTORY OF LEADING FARMERS OF CASS COUNTY, NE - 1905 PLAT BOOK

Directory of Leading Farmers of Cass County, NE, continued.

Directory of Leading Farmers of Cass County, NE, continued

CENTER PRECINCT

***********************************************************************************************

Submitted by Mrs. Georgene Morris Sones, Omaha, NE
Source: Material found in Archives (NE Military, RB18, Box 3, File 10) at NE State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE

FONTENELLE GUARDS, Washington County, N.T.

Fontenelle, June 26, 1861. At a meeting of the "Fontenelle Guards' held May 3rd, 1861, the Company elected officers and the entire Muster Roll to be filled out. Nevin McCANDLISH, 2nd Liet. & acting Orderly Sergt.

Muster Roll of the "Fontenelle Guards' of Washington County, NE Territory, 23 August 1862

Fontenelle Guards Muster Roll continued.

***********************************************************************************************

Submitted by Mrs. Georgene Morris Sones, Omaha, NE
From: The Omaha Bee, Douglas Co., Ne Jan 3, 1911

THE OMAHA BEE'S JUNIOR BIRTHDAY BOOK

***********************************************************************************************

pages 132-134

TREE STUMPS! (omitted)

INDEX for Volume 4

AREA REPRESENTATIVES AND ALTERNATES (inside back cover - omitted)

© 2004 for NSGS & NEGenWeb Project