Martyrdom in Missouri, Volume 1 (of 2)

by W. M. Leftwich

Church in Lagrange.

In 1838 two lots in the town of Lagrange, Lewis county, Mo., were deeded to B. W. Stith, C. S. Skinner, John Lafon, Middleton Smoot and others, trustees, for the use and benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as then constituted. In the following year a small brick house was erected on the lots and used by the Church in an unfinished condition until 1844. It was then finished, and upon the division of the Church passed into the hands and ownership of the M. E. Church, South. The membership in 1845 voted to adhere South, with only three or four dissenting voices, and they acquiesced in the will of the majority and remained in the Southern Church until after the repudiation of the Plan of Separation by the General Conference of 1848. Up to that time the Northern Church attempted no organization in Lagrange. But soon after that event the Church North sent a Rev. Mr. Chivington (the same who made himself notorious a few years ago in the indiscriminate massacre of Indians near Fort Union) to that place. He sought and obtained permission to preach in the church. After sermon he organized a class of seven members, and publicly thanked the members of the M. E. Church, South, for the use of their house.

The members of the Church North recognized the validity of the decisions of the courts in the Maysville, Ky., and New York and Cincinnati church property cases, and set up no claim whatever to the property in Lagrange, or elsewhere in Missouri, until after the beginning of the war.

In 1853 the old church was displaced by a new and a more commodious structure, erected and paid for by the members and friends of the M. E. Church, South, at a cost of over $6,000. In this the M. E. Church, North, took no part, paid no money and claimed no interest. In 1863, ten years thereafter, a Rev. Mr. Stewart was sent to Lagrange by the M. E. Church, North. This man professed great friendship for Southern Methodists, and made himself free and easy in their homes. The church was only occupied two Sabbaths in the month, and Mr. Stewart applied for the use of it when it was unoccupied. To this the owners objected at first. Mr. Stewart was offered the use of the German Methodist Church, but it did not suit his purpose, and he urged his application for the Southern Methodist Church. It was objected to by a large number of the members upon the ground that other churches in the State had been seized and possessed by them, some in one way and some in another, and they feared this might be a ruse de guerre. Mr. Stewart finally pledged his honor as a Christian gentleman and minister to return the key every week to the trustees. This he did regularly until January, 1865, when his quarterly meeting was held in the Church, and the Quarterly Conference appointed a board of trustees and authorized them to hold possession of the property. Upon this action Rev. Mr. Stewart went out in town, purchased a lock, employed a carpenter and had it put on in place of the old one. He could then return both lock and key with impunity.

The trustees thus raised and authorized to act for the M. E. Church served the following notice on the trustees of the M. E. Church, South:

“Lagrange, Lewis County, Mo., Feb. 13, 1865.

“To John Munn, J. C. Goodrich and others, Trustees of M. E. Church, South:

“Gentlemen: Having a just and legal claim to the property of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lagrange, as trustees of said church, we hereby notify you that we intend to hold said property for the use and benefit of the ministers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, according to the Discipline and Rules of said Church, and the provisions of deed recorded in Book C, page 341, Lewis county Records. We have accordingly taken possession of the herein mentioned property.

“Done by order of the Board of Trustees of Lagrange M. E. Church.

W. M. Redding,

“President Board of Trustees.

“W. C. Stewart, Sect’ry pro tem. and Preacher in charge.”

They had either been waiting a suitable opportunity or a new light had suddenly dawned upon them from some Episcopal, military or other throne of light and power, that they had been using, by gracious privilege and courtesy, property to which they had “a just and legal claim,” and they acted accordingly. It may be characterized as at least very cool.

Possession is said to be nine points of the law; and, if the adage is true, the manner of gaining possession will not necessarily raise any curious questions of casuistry. The how will not vitiate the nine points, when a new lock and key with an extra share of loyalty can make up and meet every other point in the legal decalogue. It only remained for them to serve the usual notification, to save the form of the thing, and appoint Col. W. M. Redding President of the Board, and Colonel of a regiment of Lewis county militia—not a member of any church—to hold the property in peaceable possession. This duty he performed faithfully; for which service he received, in the Central Advocate of Dec. 20, 1865, the title of “the faithful guardian of the interests of the M. E. Church in LaGrange, Mo.”

A member of the LaGrange Quarterly Conference, M. E. Church, South, from whom much of the above information was obtained, writes as follows:

“The next step,” after taking possession and serving notice, “was the exhibition of Christian charity (?) to us of the M. E. Church, South, by a polite offer to loan us the use of their (?) house for our religious worship. But we ‘had not so learned Christ.’ How could we be partakers with thieves and robbers? ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.’

“Our house had been solemnly dedicated to the worship of Almighty God by Bishop Marvin when there was no name or membership of the M. E. Church, North, in the place; we say, let that consecration abide, and let God defend the right. We can worship there no more until the law, with the whip of justice, shall drive those who trouble us to their own place.”

A letter in the Central Christian Advocate, of Dec. 20, 1865, from Rev. W. C. Stewart, contains the following paragraph:

“When I was in LaGrange I had the honor to organize a Board of Trustees of the M. E. Church, and by their authority to take possession of the valuable house of worship there, previously in the hands of the Church, South. In this movement Col. W. M. Redding took a most prominent and efficient part. He is still the faithful guardian of our Church property in LaGrange.”

This Col. Redding was once a member of the M. E. Church, South, but withdrew some time before this transaction, declaring when he did so that the time would come when a Southern Methodist could not live in that county. He was a prepared instrument of the M. E. Church, North, and well fitted for their special work, as he had once been a negro trader to the South, and had the price of that human chattel in his pocket. A little power makes good Radical leaders and instruments of such men.

Mr. Stewart exults in “the honor of organizing a Board of Trustees, and by their authority taking possession of the valuable house of worship formerly in the hands of the Church, South.” The said “honor” is now made permanent and transmitted to posterity. Some honors burst like the bubble, others are as enduring as marble. “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they follow after.” This same Stewart went over to the Congregationalists.

The trustees of the M. E. Church, South, brought suit for possession in a civil magistrate’s court. It was appealed to the Circuit Court for Lewis county by defendants, and then by same party, upon a change of venue, taken to Shelby county. When called in the Circuit Court in Shelbyville they were not ready for trial. But they had brought suit in the same court to test or recover the title, to which a demurrer was filed on the ground that they had not kept up a perpetual Board of Trustees from the date of deed in 1838. They had a Board whose history and authority dated back only to January 30, 1865. To prevent a non-suit they asked a continuance, which was granted. Before the session of the Court in November, 1866, they asked the Church, South, to compromise, by referring the whole case to three men for arbitration. When this was agreed to both parties gave bond in the sum of $500 to abide the decision. February 1, 1867, was set for hearing by the arbitrators. When the case was stated by the Church, South, the other party asked leave to withdraw the bond. To this objections were made, and they wrangled over it till four o’clock P. M. The Church, North, asked a continuance till nine o’clock the next morning. This was granted, and at the appointed time they appeared and revoked their bond, saying that they preferred to have the case tried by the Supreme Court of the United States, and would make it a precedent for Missouri. Whether this course was intended only for delay their subsequent declaration—that they did not expect to be ready for trial for ten years—is the best interpretation.

Wearied out of all patience with such miserable tergiversation, the trustees of the M. E. Church, South, headed by their pastor, Rev. T. J. Starr, prepared to bring suit again, believing that their only hope was in the civil courts. As soon as Col. Redding and those who acted with him found that they would have to meet the case in the civil courts they proposed a compromise, which, during the absence of the preacher in charge, was accepted. This compromise gave the M. E. Church, South, a quit-claim deed to less than half the two lots with the new church, and the M. E. Church, North, a similar deed to the old church with the rest of the two lots. The old church was just back of the new, and within a few feet of it. To settle the difficulty and have peace, the rightful owners of the whole property had to quit-claim half of it to their enemies, and pay more than half the costs of suits, for the gracious favor of a quit-claim deed to the other half of their own property, and the peaceful possession of their own house of worship in a greatly damaged condition. But, then, our people have so long been inured to privation, wrong and persecution, that they will purchase peace and the privileges of unmolested worship at almost any price but that of honor and integrity. What are houses and lands and earthly possessions to the integrity and purity of the “Kingdom of Heaven” and its unperverted institutions?

In the statistics of the Missouri and Arkansas Conference of the M. E. Church this Church property at LaGrange is returned as the property of that Church, at an estimated value of $12,000.

The Conference session of 1866 adopted the following:

“Resolved, That the pastor of LaGrange be authorized to go outside the Conference limits to procure funds to meet the expenses of defending the title to the Church property of the Methodist Episcopal Church at LaGrange.

(Signed) “W. C. Stewart.

“T. B. Bratton.

“T. J. Williams.”

Comment is unnecessary.