Thirty Years in the Itinerancy

by W. G. Miller

The service proceeded, and at its close the Quarterly Conference was held. We tarried, and after the opening services, my father arose and addressed the Elder, stating that we had recently settled at Waupun, and supposed we were outside of the boundaries of any charge. Yet such was the flexibility of Methodist institutions, he had no doubt the boundaries of Fond du Lac Circuit could easily be thrown around Waupun. If so, we would like to be recognized as members of the church. We were received on our credentials, my father as an ordained Local Preacher and I as an Exhorter. Before we left the Quarterly Meeting, it was decided that Brother Lewis should establish an appointment and form a class at Waupun. But of this further mention will be made in a subsequent chapter.

Rev. Wm. H. Sampson, the Presiding Elder of the District, had been a member of the Michigan Conference. On invitation, he was transferred to the Rock River in August, 1842. His first appointment was Milwaukee, of which mention will be made in another place. The next year he was sent to Kenosha, then called Southport, to save the church property which had fallen under financial embarrassment. Having accomplished this task, he was, in July, 1844, appointed to the charge of Green Bay District.

A better selection for the position could not well have been made. He was just in the strength of his early manhood, an able preacher, a sound theologian, a wise administrator, and a man of agreeable presence. The country was new, society in a formative state, and the material limited. Under these embarrassments, it required no little skill to lay the foundations wisely and successfully rear the superstructure.

The District extended from Green Bay on the north to Whitewater on the south, and from Sheboygan on the east to Portage City on the west, and included eight charges. To encompass the labor of a single year required the travel of four thousand miles. The roads were almost impassable, especially in the northern and eastern portions of the District. During certain seasons of the year, the buggy and sleigh could be used, but, in the main, these extended journeys were performed on horseback. A wagon road had been cut through the timber from Fond du Lac to Lake Michigan, but only one family, as yet, had found a home between the former place and Sheboygan Falls.

Between Sheboygan and Manitowoc, a distance of twenty-five miles, there was no house. The road, if such it might be called, was an unbroken line of mud of uncertain depth, and any amount of logs, stumps, roots and stones, to give it variety. The northern portion of the district was a wilderness, and the few points that had been invaded by settlements, were almost wholly inaccessable. In the southern portion the roads were better, but even here, and especially through the Rock River woods, they were not inviting.

The position of Presiding Elder on the Green Bay District at this time was no sinecure. The long journeys, the great exposure and the meager accommodations among the people, were trying in the extreme. But it was found that Brother Sampson was equal to every emergency.

At this time there were only three churches on the District, and these were located at Green Bay, Oneida and Brothertown. Brother Sampson remained a full term on the District, and at its close became connected with the Lawrence University, in connection with which a record of his labors will appear. In this work he was engaged until 1851, when his health failed, and he was stationed at Kenosha. He was recalled the year following, and until the year 1856 performed such services as his broken health would permit. He was now made effective and appointed Professor, but in 1861 he again entered the regular work, being stationed at Whitewater. His subsequent appointments have been, Presiding Elder of Milwaukee District, Pastor of Racine, Janesville, Evansville, Sharon, Milton and Waukau, where he is, at the present writing, doing efficient work. Brother Sampson has given to the cause long service, a noble life; and is an honor to the Conference.

The Fourth Quarterly Conference of the year was held at Fond du Lac. It was at this meeting that I was granted license to preach and recommended to the Conference, as before stated. The meeting was held in the school house and convened on the 31st day of May, 1845. The members of the Quarterly Conference were Rev. Wm. H. Sampson, Presiding Elder, Rev. Joseph T. Lewis, Preacher, Rev. Silas Miller, Local Preacher, Francis M. McCarty, Isaac Crofoot, Joseph Stowe, Charles Olmstead, D.C. Brooks, Cornelius Davis, and myself.

The population of Fond du Lac proper, at the time of our first visit, was very small. It contained seven buildings and numbered only five families, including the family of the Presiding Elder. The school house was the only public building, and for years was used for all public meetings known to civilization. Subsequently this public convenience fell a prey to the devouring element. The papers, in announcing the fire, gravely enumerated the losses incurred by the disastrous conflagration in this wise: "The Court House has been burned, every church in the town has been consumed, and even the school house and all the other public buildings have shared the same fate. There is no insurance, and the loss cannot be less than two hundred dollars."

During the year an appointment was established at the residence of Joseph Stowe, Esq., on the old military road, four miles west of Fond du Lac.