Thirty Years in the Itinerancy

by W. G. Miller

Brother Lewis entered the Rock River Conference August 24th, 1842, and was sent as Junior Preacher to Indian Creek, Ill., a four weeks' circuit, the labor of which greatly taxed his strength. His next appointment was Manitowoc, the charge extending from Port Washington to Two Rivers, and requiring one hundred and fifty miles of travel to each round of appointments. Through these dense forests, as I have had occasion to remark in a former chapter, the roads were almost impassable, with long distances intervening between residences, and involving great fatigue and exposure. Like the good Brother Frink, who preceded him in this field, he was compelled to swim rivers, suffer hunger and endure fatigue, that would appall a man of less nerve. During the winter his horse became disabled and he made the entire round on foot, carrying his provisions in a knapsack. Such were the trials and exposures of the pioneers who planted the standard of the Cross in the "Sheboygan Woods," as this region was called. They were indeed heroic men.

There were a few scattered sheep in the wilderness, and these were gathered into the fold. At Manitowoc, Brother Lewis formed a class.

In 1844 Brother Lewis was sent to Pewaukee, where he had eleven appointments. Though at the beginning of the year there was no class on the charge, at its close Brother Lewis, was able to report sixty-five members. It was during this year that our sturdy pioneer took to himself a worthy helpmeet, in the person of Miss Adelia Morley, who, as an inmate of the Presiding Elder's family, spread the table for the writer's first meal as an Itinerant. Brother Lewis was next appointed successively to Root River, Kankakee, and Brothertown, in which charges he enjoyed his usual share of hard work and spiritual prosperity.

In 1849 he was appointed to Sheboygan Falls. The circuit was very large, taking the entire tract of country between the Lake and Fond du Lac, but the year was one of marked success. Finding the Parsonage under a mortgage that imperiled the safety of the property, Brother Lewis stepped forward and offered his horse, saddle, and a dollar and a half, all the money he had, in liquidation of the indebtedness. They were accepted, and as a result, the dear brother traveled his circuits on foot for two years before he was able to procure another horse. Such is the sterling material out of which the early Itinerants were made. With such men in the field, it is not a matter of surprise that, under the Divine blessing, the "Wilderness and solitary place" were made to rejoice.

At the close of his labors on this circuit, Brother Lewis was again sent to Manitowoc for one year, when, the Greenbush charge having been created, principally out of the west part of his former work, he was appointed to it, as before stated. After leaving Greenbush he was stationed at West Bend, Columbus and Fall River, Oneida Indian Mission, New London, Markesan, Caldwell's Prairie, and New Berlin. At the Janesville Conference in 1870, Brother Lewis, having served the church nearly thirty years with great devotion, took a superannuated relation. At this writing he is residing in Fond du Lac, maintains a happy frame of mind, and is still doing what he can for the cause. He certainly deserves well of his Conference.

Sheboygan Mission, the next point visited, appears on the Minutes, as stated in a former chapter, in 1837, with Rev. H.W. Frink as Pastor. During this year Brother Frink formed a class at Sheboygan, consisting of the following members: Mr. and Mrs. Morris Farmin, Uriel Farmin, Benjamin Farmin, Mr. and Mrs. Elder Farmin, and Mr. and Mrs. McCreedy.

At the close of this year Sheboygan disappears from the list of appointments, but in 1843 the Manitowoc mission appears with Rev. D. Lewis as Pastor, and Sheboygan, it will be recollected, is named as one of the appointments. In 1845, however, the name re-appears, and Rev. Joseph T. Lewis was sent to the charge. From this time until 1849 the strength of the circuit consisted largely in the outlying appointments. But at this date Sheboygan Falls was erected into a separate charge, taking from Sheboygan its several interior appointments.

Rev. Daniel Stansbury, the Pastor, had commenced his labors in 1849, and was now on his second year. The Membership numbered only thirty-three, but Brother Stansbury had achieved a great work in the erection of a large and convenient Church edifice. I had visited the village the preceding year, as before stated, to dedicate the German Church, and had formed a very agreeable acquaintance with this truly noble man and his most estimable family.

Brother Stansbury was from Baltimore, and brought with him to Wisconsin a goodly portion of the warm and cheerful type of Baltimore Methodism. He was received on trial by the Wisconsin Conference in 1849, and hence Sheboygan was his first appointment. His subsequent appointments were Janesville, Union, Portage City, Beaver Dam, Berlin and Janesville District. In July of his second year on the District, and while preaching at his Quarterly Meeting on Cambridge circuit, he was stricken down by paralysis. He was taken to his home in Janesville, where he lingered in extreme feebleness until Oct. 28, when he died in great peace.

Brother Stansbury was a man of warm impulses, practical mind, and abundant labors. In the protracted meeting, his rare gifts of prayer and exhortation, made his labors a grand success, and, in the bright world beyond, it will be found that his comparatively short ministry gathered a large harvest of souls.