Thirty Years in the Itinerancy

by W. G. Miller

It will be observed that the Wisconsin Conference preferred the wording of her own proposed Rule, yet such was her anxiety to secure action by the General Conference, that she was willing to adopt any other form of words, if the same sentiment should be explicitly incorporated. And by concurring in those sent from the Providence and Erie Conferences, and at the same time re-affirming her own, which was going the circuit of the other Conferences, she hoped to see some one of them reach the approaching General Conference, with the recommendation of a sufficient number of the Annual Conferences, to make it a law at once on the action of that body. With this intense interest thrown around the subject, it is not a matter of surprise that the votes of the candidates, on the adoption of the report, were carefully watched.

But in some cases even a fair and unequivocal vote was not enough. Committees were self-constituted, or perhaps caucus-constituted to interview candidates, much after the modern style, to see whether they were sound on the main question. And as I had now become sufficiently advanced in years to be considered a candidate, I was waited on by such an inquisitorial body. I told the good brethren that I was not a little surprised to find any one in doubt as to my position. "Oh," said they, "we are not really in doubt as to your position, but we would like to understand how strong your convictions are, as you have not attended our meetings." "Yes," said I, "and perhaps you will say that by neglecting your meetings, I have shown a want of zeal for the cause. If so, I wish to state my position. In the first place, I have never felt it to be my duty to make a great show of valor, as long as the enemy is out of reach. And in the second place, I am in a different position from many of our present abolitionists, and should bear myself accordingly. They are young converts, and having just come into the kingdom, they must get up a tremendous shout, so as to satisfy their new associates that their conversion is genuine. But as to myself, I was always an abolitionist. I have never uttered a word, written a sentence, or cast a vote that did not look in that direction. Why, then, should I go into a spasm on the eve of an election?" Whether my little speech had anything to do with the result of the ballot which placed me at the head of the delegation or not, it is impossible to divine. But of one thing I felt assured. I had "freed my mind," as the old lady said, and felt better. The balance of the delegation were I.M. Leihy, S. C. Thomas, E. Cooke, and P. S. Bennett. At this Conference, I was also appointed the Chairman of a Committee "To Collect Historical Facts." Thus early did the Conference indicate a desire that the record of her devoted and pioneer men should not be lost.

Whitewater, the seat of the Conference, was a thriving village of two or three thousand inhabitants, and gave the Conference a most hospitable entertainment. This place was settled April 1st, 1837, by Mr. William Barren, who was joined by Mr. Calvin Prince in the middle of the same month.

The first sermon was preached in the fall of the same year by Rev. Jesse Halstead. Whitewater became a separate charge in 1843, with Rev. Alpha Warren as Pastor. During this year a class was formed. The members were: J.K. Wood, Leader; Mrs. J.K. Wood, Henry Johnson, A.R. Eaton, Mrs. A.R. Eaton, Mrs. Dr. Clark, Mrs. J.J. Stearin, Roxana Hamilton, and Miss Whitcomb. The meetings were held in private houses until the new brick school house was built. They were then held in the school house until the Church was erected. The first Church was commenced under the Pastorate of Rev. J. Harrington in 1849, and was completed under that of Rev. J.M. Walker in 1852. It was dedicated by the last named, Feb. 5th, 1852. The Church was enlarged under the Pastorate of Rev. A.C. Huntley.

Whitewater Station erected a new brick Church, one of the finest in the interior, under the Pastorate of Rev. C.N. Stowers, which was dedicated by Bishop Merrill Oct. 19th, 1873. At this writing, Whitewater ranks among the leading stations of the Conference, having a good congregation and a most enterprising Society.

At the close of this Conference I was returned to the Milwaukee District. There were only a few changes made in the appointments of the Preachers. At this Conference the name of Rev. Henry Bannister, D.D., Professor in Garrett Biblical Institute, was transferred from the Racine to the Milwaukee District, and he was made a member of the Summerfield Quarterly Conference.

Dr. Bannister entered the Oneida Conference in 1842, and for two years served as Professor of Languages in the Oneida Conference Seminary. At the Conference of 1844, he was appointed Principal, and held that position with distinguished honor until he was elected to a Professorship in the Garrett Biblical Institute. At the present writing he is still at the Institute, doing efficient work. Nearly a third of a century he has devoted to teaching, dividing his time almost equally between the Seminary and the Institute.

Dr. Bannister is one of Nature's noblemen, and his membership in any Conference is an honor to the body. The Wisconsin Conference has recognized his worth, and has sent him three times as one of her delegates to the General Conference, and on one occasion was pleased to put him at the head of the list. But he is not the property of a Conference; he belongs to the whole Church, and is the peer of his brethren in any convocation she may assemble.

The General Conference met in Buffalo, N.Y., in May, 1860. The agitation known as the Nazarite movement was then raging through Western New York, and it was understood that several cases would come before the General Conference on appeal from the expelled members of the Genesee Conference. I was requested to go down to the troubled District and look the ground over before the opening of the Conference. I did so, but found the movement too far advanced to avoid a rupture of the Societies in many of the charges. Several of the men who had taken an appeal had stultified themselves and vitiated their appeals, by forming Societies on the basis of the new movement; and though they disclaimed all intention to establish another Church, the formation of these Societies, it was held, could be interpreted in no other way. Having thus become members of another Church their appeals, which contemplated their restoration to the former Church, could not be entertained.

But the great question before the body was the new Rule on Slavery. At the beginning, the subject was given to one of the large Committees, of which the writer was a member. The late Bishop Kingsley was the Chairman, and the Committee met almost daily for three weeks. The report to the General Conference was made to cover the whole ground, and accepted the basis which had been advocated so long by the Wisconsin Conference. On its presentation a long discussion followed, and it was believed that the requisite two-thirds vote would be obtained. But judge of our surprise when, on taking the vote, we found the measure had been lost by a few votes, and these had been mostly given by the delegation of the troubled District in Western New York.