The Presbyterian Church in Iowa, 1837-1900

388 Pages·2010·18.03 MB·English

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
IN IOWA
1837-1900
HISTORY
Prepared by Committee of Synod of Iowa
JOSEPH W. HUBBARD, D. D.
CHAIRMAN
JONES C& WELLS
THE SUPERIOR PRESS
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
1 J* 9 J)* A* 7
JOSEPH WELTOM
HUBBARD, D. D.
INTRODUCTION
It is customary when a new book is born into the world for its "Next Friend" to indulge in a few words ex-
planatory—an effort to excuse if he cannot justify its appearance. This is my present task. This book had its
being on this wise: Just on his way to the hospital in August, 1901, the author was notified by our beloved and
nowlamented Dr. McClintock that he was chairman of a committee of ten to report to the coming Synod on a matter
of Presbyterian History. Lying on his back, bedewing his piUow with tears while our martyr McKinley was dymg,
the chairman penciled a report which was unanimously approved by the committee, presented to Synod, and adopted.
By it a committee consisting of the Stated Clerk and a minister and elder from each Presbytery were to secure and
utUize the material for our work in the state from the earliest time till 1900. The theory was that the
Stated Clerks would jump at the chance of pouring theu- well selected materials into the hands of the chairman,
who would send out a book full of information and edification. Rev. J. W. Hubbard was made chairman.
Scores of geniuses have invented the perpetual motion—in each instance faultless in every respect but one,
it would not go. Such was our machine-made history. One Stated Clerk, Brother Nicholas of Iowa, sent me
valuable material. Two others sent me interesting items. Weary of trying to make "bricks without straw,"
we turned to the General Assembly Minutes of 1837 to 1900 for light. AU material facts were before us. Then
came a vision of hard work. What plan should we adopt best to serve the church? To have selected a hundred
of our best churches and most successful ministers might have insured a readable book. The story of the 200
churches dead, and of their worn out pastors would not have been cheerful reading. We determined to tell briefly
the story of all. We found enroUed, between 1837 and 1900, 750 churches and 1200 ministers. The 750 churches
had shrunk to 416 by 1900. The 334 were not aU dead. Many had changed names.
Having been chosen to write "The History of the Presbyterian Church in Iowa, from 1837 to 1900," we
have attempted to tell briefly the story of every work and worker. We found, after sifting, twelve hundred ministers
who had rendered service. Our plan was formed deliberately, with the purpose of giving the most information in
the most convenient form about every interest or person.
We have attempted a dictionary of our Churches and our ministers, in order that the reader could in a few
glances see what each of the 750 churches, living or dead, had accomplished; and as readily see what each of the
1200 ministers who have toiled and triumphed or toiled and fallen had tried to do for the cause. As The New
School record for a time was presented only once in three years, full credit is not done their churches or ministers.
Again we are unable to give full credit to many brethren who labored without the bounds of their Presbyteries,
and appear merely as unknown Stated Supplies.
Our Statistical tables tell the story of every church, living or dead, of its every addition and every
dollar raised; and largely what the ministers liave done.
Our Historical section will give enough to show what each church in its place did for the Master; and in con-
nection with its pastorates rekindle the memories of vanished years.
Our Biographical section will trace a minister from the school to his life work—often from the craiUe to the
grave. Between lines the reader will often see the man he knew and admired and loved.
Our Colleges will present themselves to the eyes of parents and children who will consider, and weigh and
choose.
Our Picture Gallery of 112 pages will have a greeting for old and young alike. It will not lose its value
as the years go by.
We have treated the most wonderful 63 years in history. An age of miracles in the physical world, it has
been no less an age of miracles in the religious world.
Our territory starting with a few hundred has passed the two million mark.
Our one little church had grown to 416 with 42,977 members.
Let us glance at the Religious Statistics of the state in 1905.
Denomination Churches Members
Baptist 312 35,197
Brethren—Dunkard 9 695
Catholic 395 143,639
Christian 216 37,443
Christian Science 18 1,520
Congregational 238 33,739
Episcopal 45 6,813
Free Baptists 20 1,357
Free Methodists 30 828
Friends ,• • 64 8,604
German Baptist—Dunkard 46 2,586
Jewish - 8 746
Latter Day Saints 50 7,544
Lutheran 419 83,536
Methodist 1139 . ^ 149,682
Presbyterian 433 44,365
Cumberland Presbyterian ' 10 846
Salvation Army 8 1,924
Unitarian 10 1,881
United Brethren 155 11,133
United Church of God 3 241
United Presbvterian 68 8,442
The Cumberland flock has already been folded with ours. All interested parties are hoping and expecting
the United Presbyterians to be with us soon.
It seems wonderful that 682,799 of our 2,200,000 should be reckoned as church members. Thi< is exjilained
by the fact that the Catholic and some other churches count all their baptized children. We have about one-fifteenth
of the entire membership in our church, and presumably about one hundred and fifty-five thousand in our con-
gregations.
We fear that in distribution of space some brethren may feel themselves not fairly dealt with. In a book
covering so wide a range with 750 churches and 1200 ministers space is precious. Yet some may feel surprised to
see how small they look in so large a crowd. It does seem strange for one of the masters to settle down and hold
a church 20, 30, 40, years, and fill only a few lines, while another sheds light on half a dozen states and a half
score of churches, and fills a half page. But remember, dear Brother in thy feathered nest, thou hast had thy
good things in this life. Let the wandering stars shine.
A few words about our task. It was a sin of ignorance that took us into it. Early words of encourage-
ment led us on. Then it became a labor of love. Apparent indifference discouraged and delayed the work. We
never received a hundred subscriptions. Ill health at one time led us to get the pledge of a valued friend to take
up the work if it fell from our hands. Finally we determined to publish even if we had to bear one-half the expense
ourselves. We ought to pay for our luxuries.
We trust that among our 377 ministers, 1468 elders, and 45426 members there there may be found interest
enough, and means enough, to take a considerable portion of an edition of 800. You will believe me when I say
that this book has cost four thousand hours of labor. Not infrequently, with aid of the gray head and nimble
fingers across the study table, have twenty hours of labor been crowded into a day. It is a family secret that the
gray head and nimble fingers have made the work possible.
Possibly, some may find that we have omitted their well-earned titles. If so, we beg pardon. Will try
to do better in the next edition. With varying names we have -wTestled hard now antl then to keep some man
from becoming two. How many times we have condensed two into one we cannot tell. Dates will get mixed:
figures will sometimes lie.
In looking back, we find that we commenced our task with two qualifications: 1. leisure. 2. Love for the
church and the men whose story we were to recount. Thanks to the friends who have waited so patiently.
We trust they will find the Work a convenient book of reference, long after the hand that wrote has lost its cunning.
Had we known at the outset the seriousness of the task offered the Synod would have been looking elsewhere
for its History. But the pleasures of walking and talking with two generations of Christian workers, entering into
their sorrows and their joys, their defeats and their victories, of seeing our church grow from the handful to the 44,000;
and then the hope of enabling the church that is and the church that is to be to see more clearly the things we saw^
these have paid for the years of strenuous labor. And could I have known years ago what a privilege this was
to be, and had I been permitted to choose the final labor in which I should serve the church for which I began
pulpit service on my 29th birthday, I woidd have asked the jjrivUege of writing The History of the Presbyterian
Church in Iowa, and subscribing its Introduction.
Yours for the Cause,
'
Mount Vernon, Iowa, May 11, 1907. JOSEPH WELTON HUBBARD-
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IOWA
Part I. Its Founding, its Presbyteries and Synods.
Ill our early geographies "The Great American Desert" In 177G a new-born Nation astonished the world. Three
was as real as "The Sahara." If memory serves aright, millions of freemen stood before the world, at the close of a
that desert commenced between the great rivers and reached long and bitter struggle, as a Nation with a right to be.
well out toward the Rocky Mountains. It is a fact at But, with independence achieved, their prospects were not
least, that the impression of early settlers was that a con- bright. Small in numbers, nationally and personally bank-
siderable strip along the Mississippi was fertile and that rupt, geographically with narrow boundaries, what could
beyond that the land was worthless. be expected? Canada, lately wrested by the Mother
the mTuhlitsi-isvotwheldeeds,ertthethaRtedotMhanb'lsoshsomeasanthde hriossel.egacIyo,wai,s gwCreoesuatnt;trDtiyhsecforvFoermreenFrcrhaa,nncdeb,yCoslhroiungtihztuesr,ofibnoduiosncdoetvhdeeruysnoarnnthdt;heoScspcoauiptnah,nactnyhd,e
the land of our story. held the entire upper Mississippi Valley, the wonders
of
This Geographical Jewel, three hundred miles by two which were to astound the centuries.
hundred miles in extent, set between the two great rivers, Those little states had before them the question that
its western border nearly midway between Portland, Maine, has troubled many in our day—the question of expansion.
and Portland, Orgeon, was the hunting ground of the savage It became a burning cjuestion, a necessity and a duty. Our
till the coming of a sturdier race. Our God had kept the Church, whose birth as a completed organization bears the
land for the "sifted seed" that should develop into a Na- same date as the completed nation, had forced upon it the
tion of power and freedom, and a Church of intelligence and duty of expansion. And Nation and Church have moved
spiritual power. forward in the discharge of the duty. Both have expa nd
The Spaniard faded out from Florida. Napoleon had part of the Church, and inaugurated the lamentable breach
bought the Lower Mississippi region from Spain. In good which took thirty-three years to heal. For a generation
time the Mississippi Valley was bought from Napoleon at a the unbrotherly struggle between brethren of the same
ridiculously small price. It was a good bargain for both name and faith went on. It is at the outset of this bitter
parties. The territory was everything to us. The money struggle that our history begins.
was worth more than the land to the Meteor of Sovereigns, Settlers from the older states, seeking broader farms,
the Majestic Prisoner of St. Helena. had moved westward, and brought the Church with them.
Later on, "That man of blood and iron, Marcus Whit- Iowa was especially favored in the character of its pioneers.
man," saved for us our own Oregon, at a time when a United Dubuque had been a French Post, and the Roman Catholic
States Senator publicly declared, " I would not give a pinch Church was there, of course. As a rule, people seeking new
of snuff for all that lies beyond the Rocky Mountains." homes follow isothermal lines. So our early settlers came
He evidently placed a high value on his snuff. from New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with a sprinkling
Then came our trouble with Mexico; and, by a liberal from Virginia and Kentucky. And through these states
purchase, we completed our broad belt to the Pacific. had flowed the tides from abroad. Either directly or in-
Later we bought Alaska for about the price of a season's directly the Scotch and the Irish had come. Among them
catch of salmon—not to speak of seals and gold. And so not a few of those who had the misfortune to be born out
we made a field for Sheldon Jackson and his lieutenants to of their native country, and were, therefore, called Scotch-
plant the gospel of civilization and of Christianity under Irish. That mixture leavened the early population. The
the midnight sun. Presbyterian Church for them was a necessity. In 1834
Our Church has worthily kept pace with the Country; it was first made lawful for white men to settle in our terri-
and gospel privileges have traveled with the hardy pioneers. tory. The liberty was eagerly used; and by hundreds the
In 1837 our General Assembly, after years of strife, pioneers began to stake their claims and build their cabins.
not creditable to either party, " excluded" a considerable They naturally first entered along our southern border.