Thirty Years in the Itinerancy

by W. G. Miller

The bonnet was not manipulated, and the good sister continued to wear what neither her accuser nor any other person in Green Bay could put into another form.

Before the expiration of his second year, Brother Nicholas gave up the Pastorate of the charge, and his place was supplied by Rev. Stephen P. Keyes. In 1839, Rev. F.A. Chenoweth was appointed to the charge, and Rev. Julius Field was assigned to the District. In 1840 Green Bay was left to be supplied, and Rev. Boyd Phelps was employed as the supply, and the charge was assigned to Platteville District, with Rev. H.W. Reed as Presiding Elder. The following year, 1841, the Green Bay District was formed, with Rev. James R. Goodrich as the Presiding Elder, and his name appears also as Pastor of the charge, but it is probable that Brother Phelps also assisted him in the Pastorate as a supply. In 1842 the appointments remained the same, but in 1843 Rev. G.L.S. Stuff was appointed to the station. Brother Stuff and Brother Keyes are remembered with great pleasure at Green Bay, as men of sterling qualities and marked ability, but as their labors have mostly fallen within the Rock River Conference, their record will doubtless be made in connection with that field. In 1844, Rev. Wm. H. Sampson was appointed to the District, as stated elsewhere, and Rev. C.N. Wager to the station. He was followed in 1845 by Rev. T.P. Bingham, and the year following by Rev. R.P. Lawton.

Brother Lawton entered the Rock River Conference this year, and in this, his first appointment, acquitted himself creditably. As this good brother, who may be set down as one of the pioneers of the Conference, began his labors, so he has continued to the present hour. His appointments after leaving Green Bay, have been Dixon, Ill., Delavan, Mineral Point, Waukesha, Reed Street, Milwaukee, Palmyra, Grafton, Root River, Elkhorn, Delavan, East Troy, Evansville, Rosendale, Wautoma, Plover, New London, Hart Prairie, Utter's Corners, Footville, and Jefferson, where he is located at this writing. Brother Lawton is a good preacher, has a genial spirit, and is devoted to his work. He has passed over the greater portion of the Conference, and has a host of friends wherever he has been stationed.

Rev. A.B. Randall was sent to Green Bay in 1847, and it was during this year that the Church edifice was sold. This Church was dedicated, doubtless, by Rev. John Clark, and had been used for ten years for religious purposes, yet it is surprising to find how much of time and labor it required to purify it after it fell into the hands of the Catholics. I am told that they spent days of labor and nights of vigil, exhausted miniature rivulets of holy water, and pounds of precious "gems, frankincense, and myrrh," exorcising the devils and scattering the Methodist imps of darkness from the holy place.

The balance of the money, after paying the indebtedness, was applied to the purchase of the Second Church, which was still in use at the time of my visit.

On coming to Green Bay I found Rev. Seth W. Ford as Pastor, who was commencing his second year on the charge. He was in the midst of a revival, and the charge appeared to be in a prosperous condition. The Quarterly Meeting passed off very pleasantly, and gave me the opportunity to share the hospitality of Hon. M.L. Martin and his excellent family. I also visited the Fort, and had the pleasure to enjoy the companionship of Col. Ryan and his family.

Brother Ford entered the Conference in 1845, as a classmate of the writer, and passed with him through the course of graduation. I have referred in a former chapter to the seven sessions through which we passed between the upper and nether millstones. Whether the result was flour or bran in the estimation of the Committee would have been forever hidden from us, doubtless, had not the good brethren, after our election to Elder's orders, moved that Brother Ford and myself be a Committee to examine those of the class who had not been before the Committee. With our own experience fresh in our minds, I have no doubt the balance of the class had an easy passage.

Brother Ford's fields of labor had been Hamilton Grove, Macomb, and Oneida Indian Mission. In each he had made a good record, and was now rapidly rising in his Conference. Since he left Green Bay he has continued to hold good appointments, and has served his Conference six times as its Secretary. Though slender in form, and apparently not vigorous in health, he has nevertheless taken his full share of work and is highly respected by his brethren.

The Oneida Indian Mission, lying twelve miles to the northwest of Green Bay, next claimed my attention. Seated in my buggy, I was soon at the Parsonage, where I found Rev. Henry Requa, the Missionary, and his kind family.

The Oneidas came from the State of New York. A few of them came as early as 1821, but through some hitch in the negotiations with the Menomonees for the lands constituting the Reservation, the removal did not become general until 1832. Meantime, a Mission had sprung up among the western branch of the nation. In 1829 a young Mohawk, who had been converted in Canada, began the good work and established meetings. Among the early Missionaries the names of Rev. Mr. Poe and Rev. John Clark are especially fragrant, but I have been unable to find satisfactory data until 1840, when Rev. Henry R. Colman was appointed to the Mission.