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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
and the thirty-eight reported by Hilton have increased to
four hundred.
Omaha extended rapidly toward the north during
the eighties, and presented an inviting field to Methodism, which
was promptly entered, and in 1887, Trinity Church began its
eventful career. The church is located in the addition known as
Koontz Place, in which no lot was sold to any one that did not
agree to build a house worth $2,000.
T. B. Hilton was the first man to preach in that
vicinity with a view to establishing a Church, but remained but a
short time, when J. R. Ensign, who had something of a reputation
as a financier, was employed to solicit subscriptions. But a
failure to secure a guarantee of $1,200 salary caused him soon to
retire, not being the kind of man needed. A. H. Henry was
transferred from Castellar appointment in the south part of the
city, where there was little promise, to this much more promising
field. Trinity thus had the somewhat novel experience of having
three pastors before there was any Church organized.
But Henry was an energetic, bright young man and
soon found the following persons who were on the 13th of November,
1887, organized into a class and took the name of Trinity Church:
M. M. Hamlin and wife and three children, Ed. A. Parmelee and
wife, Mrs. Norah H. Lemon, C. W. Cain and wife, and Stella Cain;
J. J. McLain and wife, J. J. Toms and wife, L. A. Harmon and wife,
O. T. Smith and wife, H. H. Miller, Mrs. F. B. Brayton, J. H.
Cornes, C. D. Simms and wife, Elizabeth Hamilton, Edward Bell,
wife, and family; Mrs. Willett, Mary Willett; Kittie Snow and Kate
Elsas.
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
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Encouraged by a generous subscription
of $500 from Rev. John P. Roe, the amount deemed needed to make it
safe to do so, was secured, and a good substantial church was
built at a cost of $17,000, and dedicated by Bishop Newman.
Succeeding A. H. Henry was J. W. Robinson, and
he and his successor, W. K. Beans, added to the Church till the
membership had increased to 269. F. H. Sanderson follows W. K.
Beans, and remains five years, reporting at Conference in 1898,
228 members. Thus in its first ten years it grew into a strong
Church numerically, but when Jesse W. Jennings, who had been
appointed to Trinity, reached his field, he found a discouraged
people almost ready to give up the struggle and acknowledge that
they were bankrupt. Trinity was one of those enterprises that had
the misfortune to start out at the wrong end of the boom, and
before they could get their finances in good shape, the boom burst
and made it difficult to collect old subscriptions, or secure new
ones. But Brother Jennings is something of a genius in church
finances, and after a year of determined effort, he, with the
heroic co-operation of the membership and friends, succeeded in
raising the debt and saving the property. After two years he was
placed in charge of the Omaha District, and is followed at Trinity
by H. H. Millard, who after a year became presiding elder of the
Grand Island District, and D. K. Tindal goes to Trinity, and was
followed by J. R. Smith, who is now pastor. The Church has
progressed under these faithful, strong men till now the
membership is 385.
Walnut Hill Church first appeared in the Minutes
in 1891, as "Wesley Chapel," and is left to be supplied. The
27
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Church was organized January 4, 1891. The first members
were Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Cotton, Miss Mattie Mason, Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Johnson, Miss Eunice Standardt, Mr. and Mrs. A. L.
Stonecypher. The charge was temporarily served by John P. Roe,
John Dale, and others, and D. F. Rodabaugh held a revival meting
of two weeks. Fortunately, just at this juncture, T. C. Webster,
who had, as before mentioned, been compelled to relinquish his
work on the Chadron District on account of ill health, was
available, and was appointed to this infant Church in June,
1891.
Happily at this time the Hanscom Park Church,
having outgrown their first building, and were under the necessity
of erecting a larger one, generously donated their old church to
the struggling society, and it was moved and served a second time
as a place in which to shelter and nurse an infant Church into
maturity of power and influence.
T. C. Webster was reappointed at the next
Conference and remained two years. He found seventeen members and
left one hundred and ten. He found not a penny worth of property,
and left a property valued at $6,000. T. C. Clendenning and J. E.
Moore followed in succession, serving one year each, and the
membership increased to 159. C. N. Dawson is next in succession,
and remained five years, and the membership increased to 305. A.
Luce and George H. Main, who is the present pastor, round out the
list of pastors who have made Walnut Hill Church, as it is now
called, one of the most influential in the city. A fine parsonage
has been added to its property, and it is rapidly becoming one of
the most desirable charges in the city and has a fine field for
future growth.
SOME WHO HAVE LED THE HOSTS AS PRESIDING ELDERS.
1. D. W. CRANE. 2. J. E. MOORE. 4. A. C. CALKINS. 9. GEORGE A. SMITH.
6. J. B. LEEDON. 8. W. G. MILLER. 9. S. H. HENDERSON.
415
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
While some of the efforts have been
abortive, as was the case with Castellar Street and Newman Church
on St. Mary's Avenue, others have amply justified their existence
by supplying the religious needs of growing suburbs. Among these
are Leffler Memorial, in South Omaha, with W. D. Stambaugh,
pastor; Southwest Church, with R. M. Henderson pastor; West Omaha
(now McCabe), T. S. Watson, pastor; Monmouth Park is now Hirst
Memorial, named in honor of Rev. A. C. Hirst, former pastor of
First Church. William Esplin is pushing the work here. Benson is
served by the faithful, efficient Englishman, John Crews. The last
three named are full of promise. Hirst Memorial has a new church,
and Benson a new parsonage, and both are facing a more hopeful
future.
Thus the number of churches have multiplied with
the growth of the city. By some law of human nature the needs of
the individual and of society are best served by dividing them
into groups. When our Lord would feed the five thousand he had
them divided into companies, "by hundreds and fifties." (Mark vi,
40.) So it has been found that the average Church in a city can
not reach effectively more than about ten thousand of the
population, or extend its influence much beyond the radius of
one-half mile from the Church. This would require in Omaha ten
Methodist churches to supply efficiently the religious needs of
the city. Methodism has nine, not counting those in South Omaha.
This seems about the right number, and they are all so located as
not to be crowding each other.
The old mother church has sometimes looked on
these new enterprises at the beginning with some misgivings,
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
417 |
fearing it would merely weaken her without strengthening
the general cause of Methodism in the city. The outcome, however,
has proved that her fears were groundless, and that she is
buttressed on all sides by strong, vigorous Churches, and much
more is being done for Christ and His kingdom in the city of Omaha
than could have been done by a single Church. There are now three
other Churches with a larger membership and better property than
she had in 1880, and one other with as many members. In the
meanwhile she herself has increased her membership from 240 in
1880, to 670 in 1903, and the value of her property from $12,000
to $100,000.
This progress has been achieved by a succession
of aggressive and able pastors, beginning with J. B. Maxfield in
1880, who was placed on the Omaha District in 1881. Following
Maxfield were J. W. Stewart, Charles W. Savidge, R. N. McKaig, T.
M. House, P. S. Merrill, Frank Crane, John McQuoid, A. C. Hirst,
and the present pastor, E. Combie Smith.
During this period there has been no time until
recently that nearly all these Churches have not been burdened
with heavy debts, some to the verge of bankruptcy. Now, under the
co-operation of presiding elders, pastors, and laymen, they are
all free from debt, or the debts are amply provided for. It may be
truthfully said that at no time in the last fifty years has Omaha
Methodism stood so high or been so fully equipped and ready to
assume in aggressive attitude as now.
With a total membership, including South Omaha,
of 2,789 (Minutes of 1903), she faces a more hopeful future than
ever before, and will doubtless achieve larger
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
results along spiritual lines, being unhampered by the
burden of debt.
Lincoln Methodism has made even greater progress
than Omaha. The Minutes for I880 gives one church, valued at
$3,500, and parsonage, $2,500, and a membership of 411. But
Trinity Church was even then in its incipiency, in the form of an
appointment in South Lincoln as a part of the Lincoln Circuit. The
city was rapidly extending southward, and when that energetic and
persistent man, A. L. Folden, was appointed to Lincoln Circuit in
1878, the first Quarterly Conference of St. Paul's Church held
that year, voted to request Brother Folden to take up an
appointment in South Lincoln, and appointed a committee to assist
him in finding a suitable place in which to hold services. The
details of his subsequent struggles are given elsewhere, and it
will suffice to say that an organization was effected and in
1880-81 a small frame building was erected at Twelfth and A
Streets, at a cost of $1,260. This marks the beginning of Trinity
Church. The little society continued a part of Lincoln Circuit
until 1883, when it became a separate charge with fifty-three
members. Following Brother Folden were P. S. Mather, two years; J.
Marsh, three years; and C. H. Gilmore, one year. Under these
faithful men the society increased to ninety-four members in 1887.
Then H. T. Davis became pastor and continued three years. At the
commencement of his pastorate the little church building was
donated to what was known as Bethel, a mile west on B Street. We
see the law mentioned in connection with Omaha, asserts itself in
the development of our work in Lincoln, and Trinity is located
about a mile from St. Paul's, and finds plenty of room
SOME OF THE MEMBERS WHO HAVE SERVED AS CONFERENCE SECRETARIES.
1. GEO. P. TRITES. 2. O. W. FIFER. 3. CHAS. H. BURLEIGH. 4, J. B. PRIEST.
5. D. C. WINSHIP. 6. W. G. VESSELLS. 7. Z. S. RHONE.
419