St. Clair County, Illinois - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1928

gelistic seal led him to cross the ocean thirteen times and at last he finished his career on this side at Newburyport, Massachusetts, and his remains now rest under the little Presbyterian church in that city instead of in Westminster Abbey. But the real pioneers of Methodism were Philip Embury, Barbara Heck, and Captain Webb in the north, and Robert Strawbridge and Richard Owen, and others like them in the south. In Baltimore, John King first preached from a blacksmith's block at the corner of Front .ind French streets. He made such a favorable impression on certain influential citizens who heard him that he was invited to preach in the Episcopal church of St. Paul's. He improved this opportunity with such fervor that he received no repetition of the courtesy. But Methodism had now entered the city to stay and five years from the time King preached from the blacksmith's block, it was strong enough in Baltimore to entertain the annual conference. In 1784 in this same city at the Christmas Conference, the church was formerly organized by Dr. Coke who carried instructions and authority from Mr. Wesley. At this same conference occurred the ordination of Francis Asbury as the first real Bishop of the Methodist church in America. Asbury, designated by a recent biographer "The Prophet of the Long Road," postle of American Methodism. He was the 1745 in Staffordwas the real only son of pious parents, born August shire, England, he was converted at fourteen, definitely entered the Wesleyan ministry at twenty-one, and came to America m 177 1 when he was twenty-six. He threw all his energy into the work, travelling and preaching constantly and advising his fellow-workers. His qualities of leadership and good judgmsnt were early recognized by his associates. Tho there was necessarily somewhat of a cessation of the work of Methodism during the Revolutionary War, it was promptly resumed when peace was established and the new government organized. The formal organization of the church was effected m 1784, the next year after the treaty was signed and three years before the Constitution of the United States was signed. After Asbury became bishop, his duties led him into the West where he travelled, preached, and presided m the conferences, continuously. He was an excellent judge of men and therefore skillful in his administration of the con- ferences. He was as much of a student as the circumstances permitted. He spent much of his time in the saddle and his library was in his saddle bags. But yet his biographers insist that he had some knowledge of the original languages of the Bible and the journal which he faithfully kept during the most of his itinerant life, indicates that he was a scholar of no mean attainments. His equestrian statue in the city of Washington, represents him in the role of the Methodist circuit rider. It stands on Sixteenth street in an aristocratic quarter of the city among the residences of the foreign ambassadors. It is said to be the only statue of the many on the streets of our great capital that does not represent a war hero. Asbury was a familiar figure in the middle west for a generation. He was a true Itinerant but at the same time he was the friend of education. He assisted in the founding of several Methodist schools, notably Cokesbury, and in later years several were named for him. More than any other one man he may be regarded as the founder of the Methodist movement in America. He died March 31, 1816. His body lies in Mt. Olivet cemetery in Baltimore. He had many worthy co'laborers who were leaders in the work and without whom it could not have succeeded. A little later we will give sketches of the lives of some of these, especially those who labored in Illinois, in order that the reader may be better acquainted with the conditions prevailing in the period of the founding of McKendree College and have some slight acquaintance with some of the worthies whose labors made possible the results that have been realized in the later days. Methodism in Illinois had its organized beginning about the close of the eighteenth century. In some of the western states the first settlement of the country and the introduction of Methodism were contemporaneous. Scarcely had the settler erected his cabin when the itinerant appeared with his saddle bags containing a Bible, hymn book and Methodist Discipline. But this was not the case in Illinois. The first settlers were French Canadians who were strict Roman Catholics, who brought with them their priests and all necessary appliances for their own forms of worship. There were permanent settlements in Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and perhaps other points for about a century before the first Methodist sermon was preached in the territory of the state. The exact year in which Methodism was brought into Illinois is not positively known. Dr. Leaton thinks that the first Methodist in the state was Captain Joseph Ogle who came to Illinois in 1785 and settled in the American Bottom in what is now Monroe County, and afterward moved to St. Clair County about eight miles north of Belleville, where he died in 1821 at the age of eighty. The first Methodist preacher to come to the state was Rev. Joseph Lillard, then a local preacher of Kentucky. During his visit he gathered the few scattered Methodists into a class and appointed Captain Ogle their leader. This was in 1793. Another preacher to visit the settlements in Illinois was John Clarke. He had been a travelling preacher in South Carolina. After visiting the Illinois settlements and preaching to them he went on to Missouri. It is claimed that he was the first Protestant minister to preach the gospel west of the Mississippi river. But the first Methodist preacher who really lived in Illinois was Hosea Rigg who came from Kentucky in 1796 and settled in the American Bottom in St. Clair County. He reorganized Captain Ogles class and later organized another class in Madison County, in the Goshen settlement near EdwardsviUe.

Another of the early settlers who aided much in the establishment of Methodism was William Scott who came from Kentucky in 1797 and settled at Turkey Hill where he died in 1828. In 1803 the Illinois Mission was formed and recognized as a charge in the Western Conference, which then embraced all the territory west of the Allegheny mountains. The first missionary or pastor appointed officially by the conference to the Illinois circuit was Benjamin Young. At the close of the year he reported a membership of sixty seven. The charge embraced all the settlements from the mouth of the Kaskaskia to Wood River in Madison County. One of the preaching places was the house of Squire Reynolds, father of Governor John Reynolds, a short distance east of Kaskaskia. Another was the New Design settlement, a few miles south of where Waterloo now stands. Also Shiloh and Goshen were included in the circuit. In 1804 Rev. Joseph Oglesby was appointed to the Illinois circuit. Dr. Leaton says of him that no history of Methodism in the Mississippi Valley can be complete which does not speak largely of the labors of Joseph Oglesby. In iSo"; Charles R. Matheny was the preacher on the Illinois circuit. It was in the Cumberland District of which William McKendree was Presiding Elder. It was during this year that the first Methodist meeting house was built in Illinois. It was known as the Bethel Church in the Goshen settlement two and a half miles south of Edwardsville. In 1817 the second session of the Missouri conference was held m it. In 1806 the western conference met in Ebeneser church, Nollichuckie, Tennessee, and Jesse Walker was appointed to the Illinois circuit. During this conference year in April, 1807 the first camp meeting in Illinois was held at Goshen. A little later in the same summer another was held at Three Springs, now known as Shiloh. This resulted in the organization of the Shiloh church, through the efforts of McKendree and Walker, which has been maintained continuously ever since, having celebrated its centennial in 1907 with appropriate observances, and is therefore the oldest existing Methodist church in the state of Illinois. In 1816 Bishop McKendree who had then occupied the episcopal olfice for eight years, organized the Missouri Conference at Shiloh. It included the territory covered by

Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. An armed guard of horsemen escorted the Bishop from Vincennes over the old trail which passed through the place where Lebanon now stands, tho at that time there were only two or three houses on the hill. This was a dozen years before the founding of McKendree but m those twelve years much progress was made in the great task of settling up the country. At the General Conference of 1824 an enabling act was passed providing for the division of the Missouri Conference. This was done in the fall ot the same year. The joint session was held at the residence of William Padfield near Summerfield, beginning October 23, which was on Saturday, and closed the following Thursday. The journal of the session is signed by Bishop Roberts but the records show that Bishops McKendree and Soule were both present also. At th.it time the territory of the Illinois Conference was the whole state of Illinois and also the state of Indiana. In 1832 Indiana was organized into a separate conference leaving the boundaries of the Illinois Conference and the state the same. In 1840 the Rock River Conference was cut off the north end of the state. In 1851 the south end was likewise cut off and the Southern Illinois Conference organized. In 1856 it was again divided and the Central Illinois Conference was organized. Yet after suffering all these divisions the Illinois Conference is still one of the greatest in Methodism. In fact the state of Illinois is divided into four great conferences. But the Southern, tho not equal to her Northern neighbors in numbers and material wealth, is the original field of Methodism and is rich in history and tradition and in this respect will always have the advantage of the other conferences of the state. Perhaps its greatest legacy as well as its most valuable asset is McKendree College which has been the inspiration for much of the success of Methodism not only in IlHnois but in other and far distant states, as we shall attempt to show in later chapters of this narrative.