486 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
manageable
point, so that at the first opportunity, when a changed
financial condition made it possible, the debt could be
and was paid. |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
487 |
process
of construction a Conservatory of Music to cost, when
completed, $50,000, one wing of which is now completed
and paid for at a cost of $16,000. |
488 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
There was some talk of rebuilding the
"Haish," but as Mr. Haish himself naturally declined to furnish
the money, the pressure of debt and adverse financial conditions
made the project impossible.
But financial and moral confidence have been
seemingly completely restored, and the future of Nebraska Wesleyan
is assured, and her expanding needs in the way of additional
endowments and additional buildings will in due time be met by the
generous men and women who are interested in the cause of
Christian education.
After this somewhat detailed statement of the
financial and material side of this history, which in the nature
of things must always be a very important feature in the early
periods of the existence of such institutions, when income is
small and expenses are great, often involving from a quarter to a
half a century of struggle, seems justified by the unique
conditions through which we have reached the final victory. It is
due, however, to the Board of Trustees to say that at the very
first every precaution possible was taken to start the institution
out on its career free of debt arising from any expense of
building, and the creation of productive endowment through the
sale of lots and pledges from the people such as would amply
provide for the payment of current expenses. That these
expectations and plans were not realized was no fault of the
trustees, but was the result of changes in conditions that no one
but the Omniscient could foresee.
The other phases of Wesleyan's history may be
briefly summed up. Dr. Charles F. Creighton seemed to many, when
the plan was consummated, to be the ideal man to serve as
chancellor, and put the plan in operation.
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
489 |
Accordingly he was elected the first
chancellor, and proceeded with vigor and enthusiasm to inaugurate
the great enterprise. In many respects he was well suited to the
work. He was certainly a great preacher, with no little ability as
an organizer. He had a great opportunity, and realized it, and
seemed determined to make the most of it. But just at that
juncture there was needed at the head of affairs a man, that while
vigorously pushing the inauguration of the new plan should also in
marked degree possess a spirit and tact calculated to bring into
line the doubting ones and conciliate the antagonistic. Neither of
these did Dr. Creighton possess in such measure as to enable him
to meet this demand under the conditions then prevailing. After
several years of strenuous, and in many ways, successful, effort
in behalf of the school, he in June, 1893, resigned, and the
following August Dr. Isaac Crook was elected Chancellor.
Dr. Crook was a dignified, cultured, and
scholarly man, and as such was pre-eminently an educator. He was
well adapted to manage the internal affairs of an institution
already established and endowed, and did introduce a number of
improvements in the methods of work. He also did much to allay the
feeling of bitterness aroused during the preceding years. The work
that was urgently needed at that time was not at all to his taste,
and Dr. Crook gracefully retired after three years of honorable
and efficient service along the lines for which he was adapted,
leaving the institution in much better condition in many ways than
he found it. He was soon called to the honorable position of
president of the Ohio State University.
After an interregnum of two years, during which
490 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
matters went rapidly from bad to worse, the Ellinwood
defalcation being detected about that time, we found right in our
midst the man for the hour, in the person of Dr. D. W. C.
Huntington, who was elected Chancellor. After many years of
distinguished service in the old Genesee Conference, in New York,
which sent him several times as one of her delegates to the
General Conference, he was transferred to Nebraska Conference in
October, 1891, to take charge of the new and promising Trinity
Church enterprise in Lincoln. It is a high compliment to Dr.
Huntington that at a great crisis, when the school needed a wise
man to save it from its financial perils, and restore the
confidence and respect of the public, lost through the
defalcations of its trusted treasurer, O. M. Ellinwood, all turned
spontaneously to him as the one man whose wisdom could guide us
safely through the financial breakers, and whose high moral
character, which had become recognized throughout the entire
State, could reinstate our institution in the confidence of the
people, which must be done if we were to live at all. At a meeting
of the trustees, called for the purpose of electing a chancellor,
immediately after convening, and without waiting for a nomination
by any committee, Dr. Huntington was unanimously elected
chancellor, notwithstanding he himself earnestly protested against
the action.
It is not too much to say that this was a
turning point in the history of the Nebraska Wesleyan University,
and that ever since the tide has moved steadily in the direction
of increasing prosperity, confidence has been not only entirely
regained, but is to-day greater than it has even been.
While it was intended that the other schools
should
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
491 |
keep in the field as subordinate departments of the
University, confining themselves chiefly to preparatory work,
though allowed at their option to carry that work as far as the
sophomore year of the university course, attention and effort were
so largely concentrated on the new enterprise as to operate to the
immediate disadvantage of all the others. Besides, the immediate
patronizing territory of the York College, the oldest and
strongest, coincided with that on which the new institution must
mainly depend. Then there was naturally a feeling of
disappointment that York should not have been made the one
university, but instead, her grade was reduced virtually to that
of a seminary. Added to this wounded pride, and discouragement
incident to defeat, hard times set in and many who had pledged
help or had been in the habit of doing so, refused to pay old
pledges or make new ones, on the score that the conditions had
changed and there was no use trying to keep up the subordinate
schools. The conditions resulted in the closing of both the York
and Central City schools in a few years.
Two preparatory schools were afterward adopted
by the University, one at Douglas, within thirty miles of Lincoln,
and one at Orleans. The first soon died because it ought never to
have been. The one at Orleans supplied a real need for all the
Southwestern part of the State and deserved success. It flourished
a few years under the principalship of Prof. J. L. McBrien, but
succumbed to the adverse financial conditions caused by general
depression, and especially by the drouth.
This left the entire field to the Nebraska
Wesleyan University, and nobly has she done the work. Under the
successive chancellorships of Drs. C. V. Creighton,
492 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Isaac Crook, and D. W. C. Huntington, a steady growth has
been maintained. Beginning with less than one hundred students,
the number has increased to over seven hundred at present.
Allusion has been made to the defalcation of our
treasurer, and as this sad fact has been much misunderstood
historical justice requires a brief statement of the occurrence.
Professor Ellinwood was among the first men elected to our
faculty, he coming to us from Simpson Centenary College, in Iowa,
and taking charge of the department of natural science. He was a
master in his department, and would have succeeded had he not gone
into banking and other business projects, by which he became
involved financially. He was withal an expert accountant, and such
was the implicit confidence all had in his business and moral
integrity, that he was soon made deputy treasurer, and afterward
treasurer. Doubtless this confidence in his honesty and skill as
an accountant made the Board of Trustees less careful in auditing
his accounts, and his confidence in his own ability as an
accountant tempted him to abuse this sacred confidence of his
brethren and to begin and carry on a series of frauds which he
skillfully kept covered up for years, deceiving not only the
trustees, but also the officials of different banks, among which
were the First National of Lincoln, a leading bank in Burlington,
Iowa, and Windom Bank of University Place. He was tried and
expelled from the ministry and membership of the Methodist Church,
but escaped criminal prosecution on the part of the authorities of
the State. While the defalcation was at first about $34,000,
Ellinwood turned over certain properties which reduced the loss to
$27,000, and by equitable ad-
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
493 |
justments made by the trustees with the several banks
involved, the net loss to the University was reduced to about
$7,500, or less than one-fourth of the original amount.
In the meanwhile, through all these changes and
varying experiences, the school was doing most excellent work,
being able to keep in the field an able corps of teachers. The
attendance has steadily increased almost from the first, beginning
with niney (sic)-six the first year, and reaching the present year
over seven hundred. There has been a total of 179 graduates from
the College of Liberal Arts. The normal department has for a
number of years been among the few normal schools that have
measured up to the demands of the State, and received for its
graduates from the State superintendent, State certificates on an
equality with the State Normal school at Peru.
Indeed all the departments have been well manned
from the first, the course of study comparing favorably with that
of our best institutions. Even in the more expensive departments,
as in the chemical laboratory, improvements have constantly been
made and the latest appliances have been procured.
The tract of ground surrounding the campus which
fifteen years ago was farm land, has grown to be a thrifty village
of nearly, or quite, 2,000 inhabitants. While virtually a suburb
of Lincoln, with street car service every fifteen minutes, and a
five-cent fare to any part of the city, they have wisely
maintained their own separate municipal government, rigidly
excluding all places of vice, thus protecting the students from
the degrading influences which prevail in our cities and many of
our villages.
32
494 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Not only in this negative way have the
youth who flock to the Nebraska Wesleyan for instruction been
protected from positive immoral influences, but there has grown up
a strong Methodist Church with over eight hundred members, being
the second largest church in the State. But not only is it strong
numerically, but it is one of the most spiritual Churches in the
Connection. A Church that maintains its spiritual power throughout
the year, where at every testimony meeting two to five are on
their feet at once waiting their turn to speak, and where revivals
are liable to break out spontaneously at any time, and seekers
after salvation present themselves at the altar for prayers. Where
vigorous means of grace for the intelligent culture and
development of Christian experience and character exist in a high
state of efficiency, and all the modern departments of a Methodist
working Church are in operation.
While it is true that the conversion of a youth
in one of our city, village, or rural Churches, may be said to
double the probability of that youth seeking an education at
Wesleyan or elsewhere, so that over fifty per cent of the students
that enter all our institutions of learning, including State
schools, and about eighty per cent of those coming to Wesleyan are
professing Christians when entering these schools, it is also true
that the twenty per cent of unconverted that come to Wesleyan are
three times more likely to be converted there than they would if
they had staid at home. If twenty per cent enter Wesleyan
unconverted, only two per cent of those graduating remain
unconverted.
If Nebraska Methodism was slow about getting at
its educational work, it has finally solved the problem of
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
495 |
Christian education in a most satisfactory way by the
establishment of an ideal school, surrounding it by a highly moral
community, and supplementing the powerful influences of the school
itself by a strong spiritual Church, thus creating well-nigh
perfect conditions under which our youth may secure an
education.
Among the laymen mentioned in connection with
our Wesleyan, and who are worthy of further mention, is J. H.
Mickey. Even before his elevation to the place of Chief Magistrate
of the State, he was one of the best known and highly honored
laymen of the State. This is because John H. Mickey always gave
evidence of a genuine piety, everywhere, and under all
circumstances, "witnessing a good confession," and living a pure
life. And under all circumstances the Church has found in him a
true friend, ready to help up to the extent of his ability. And
though he has been prosperous, both as a farmer and banker, and
later in politics, this prosperity has never diminished his
devotion to Christ and His Church.
After serving his country during the war as a
member of an Iowa Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry, he came to
Nebraska in 1869, settling on a homestead in Polk County, and at
the organization of the county, soon after, he was appointed
county treasurer, to which position he was afterwards elected a
number of terms.
It is characteristic of this devoted layman,
that Father Query, the local preacher who planted Methodism in
Polk County, found a hearty welcome to the home of John H. Mickey,
where he organized the first class in that county, and that Wm.
Worley should report that out of the eleven dollars received on
the West Blue Mission in 1869, J. H. Mickey paid five, and that
during a
496 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
great revival held at Osceola, by J. Q. A. Fleharty, J.
H. Mickey was one of the most earnest and efficient lay workers,
leading his friends and neighbors to Christ.
It may be truthfully said that every Methodist
pastor that has served the Church at Osceola has found in Brother
Mickey a true personal friend, and in some cases that friendship
has continued to the pastor's family, after he has died. The first
time the writer met Governor Mickey to know him was just after the
death of S. P. Van Doozer, who had been his pastor at Osceola, and
he was then busy settling up the estate, endeavoring to save as
much as possible for the widow and fatherless children.
These and other incidents that might be
mentioned, occurring before he came into prominence in Church and
State, best show his true character, and explain in part why he
has come into prominence.
Perhaps the moral and religious sides of his
character are too pronounced and are too rigidly applied to the
affairs of State to suit the average politician, but his upright
principles and downright honesty suit the Methodists, and indeed,
all other decent people who believe in an honest administration of
the affairs of the State. We think all the more of him because he
has not allowed any one to use him, and has never apologized for
being a Christian.
He has twice been elected lay delegate to the
General Conference, and ever since the death of C. C. White, he
has, from year to year, been the unanimous choice of the Trustees
of the Nebraska Wesleyan for President of the Board.
The Board of Trustees of the Nebraska Wesleyan
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
497 |
University has had no more faithful and influential
member than J. M. Stewart, who has been on the Board for many
years. Though a leading lawyer of Lincoln, with a large practice,
he still finds it possible, or makes it possible, to give much
time to the affairs of the university. It was largely due to his
legal services that the institution was able to save so much out
of the loss caused by the Ellinwood defalcation.
It would be safe to say that besides much
generous giving directly, his legal services, the charge for
which, if any, has been merely nominal, have saved the institution
many thousands of dollars.
C. C. White is another one of those strong
laymen who not only rendered valuable service to Nebraska Wesleyan
at the time of its sorest need, but was a tower of strength in the
Church, and indeed, in all the walks of life. Few men have touched
humanity in more varied and helpful ways than C. C. White. But I
feel that another pen will be far more able to do justice to this
unique character, unique, not in the sense of oddity or
eccentricity, but of a rare and well-proportioned combination of
well-nigh all the virtues.
But Dr. Isaac Crook, who came to know him in
their close official relations to Nebraska Wesleyan, shall speak
for me: "The outward story of his life need not be long - true
with all of us. He was born in Sylvania, near Toledo, Ohio,
February 24, 1843, and attended the common schools, also a local
academy, till eighteen years of age. He intended to become a
teacher, but instead enlisted in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, and
for three years had the stern schooling of war - in camp-life and
battle, and for seven months in prison at Libby and Belle Isle.
498 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Exchanged, he returned to his regiment and served out the
term of his enlistment. In 1864 he settled near Raymond, Nebraska,
and engaged in farming to support his widowed mother and sisters.
January 19, 1868, he married a teacher, Miss Olive A. Johnson, of
Valparaiso. In this marriage he found a helper in every excellence
and a large part of his life success.
"His intimate friends, such as saw most of his
real life, are his greatest admirers. Incidental glimpses, when he
could not be on guard, showed him at his best, The real man grows
on one by careful observation. It may indicate how deeply and
widely rooted was his life, when we recall but his official
relations. At home he was class-leader, president of the Church
Board of Trustees, leader of the choir, Sunday-school
superintendent, president of the Young Men's Christian
Association, president of the Board of Education; and he attended
to all of them. He had been president of the State Millers'
Association; was, at the time of his death, president of the
Veterans of the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, member of the Board of the
Central State Sunday-school Convention, president of the Crete
Chautauqua Assembly, and president of the Board of Trustees of the
Nebraska Wesleyan University. He attended to these several duties
cheerfully and systematically, without hurtful neglect of private
business or domestic life. Surely he must have been highly endowed
with executive ability and inspired with great philanthropy.
"He was a Methodist theoretically and
practically; but many of his sweetest, most sacred fellowships
were in Churches differing from his own most radically. His love
was too" large for denominational fences. His cor-
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
499 |
respondence, and the letters of sympathy written after
his death, reveal a widespread feeling of esteem, amounting, as
one says, 'to a sentiment akin to reverence.' These
tribute-bearing letters are from clergymen, educators, lawyers,
physicians, merchants, millers, grain-dealers, pastors of
congregations in and out of his State, from East and West, North
and South. But the most significant of all come from the
unfortunate. Little wonder, when we remember that he once said to
his wife: 'How can I sleep when there is under our roof a broken
heart!' It was the heart-break of a hired girl. Or he would say:
'I must at least go and shake hands with the people in that
prairie schooner and speak an encouraging word.' Or when a
transient hired man would be overcome with drink, he would try the
man again, saying: 'Were I in his place I might have done no
better.' One such man was under his care when he died; and a poor
Bohemian woman, on hearing of his death, sat down in the street,
crying, as she said: 'I've lost the best friend I had in the
world.' One closest to him in his office says, 'There was scarcely
a day without his giving relief privately.'
"His gentleness did not mean weakness. His was
not the pliability of the willow, but of the palm, which bends to
the zephyr, yet withstands the simoon. Men who undertook to
dislodge from a right position by bribes or threats, found cause
for humiliation and shame. That mild, blue eye could flash fire,
and that kind face be set as a helmet of steel. Though generous in
his interpretations of men's motives, he read character
accurately. Like the Master, he condemned and forgave the sins of
weakness for which men were sorry, but his wrath was unsparing
towards hypocrisy.
500 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
"The great honor of being the spiritual
guide of Mr. White and his wife fell to Rev. H. T. Davis, D. D.
First, he was their guest at Raymond, and, like sensible people,
they talked frankly on religion. in a year Davis returned as
presiding elder. Before he came Mr. White said, 'Wife, I fear I
can't hold out much longer against Elder Davis's preaching.' 'I
also feel that way,' she said. After the sermon on the following
Sabbath night, invitation was given for enquirers to go forward
for prayer. His wife said, 'Let us go.' He repied (sic), 'Do you
wish to?' 'Yes.' 'All right.' And to that humble school-house
altar they went, and again were united in a holier bond than ever.
Here, as often, the wife was the leader, while he was a willing
follower and companion. She soon found peace that floweth like a
river. He held resolutely on, going three nights in succession,
when he, too, entered into peace, and said, 'Glory, glory,
hallelujah!' Now, after twenty-three years of service, he is with
the innumerable company whose hallelujahs never end.
"He was elected senator for Saunders County in
1880. During the same year he was honored as delegate to the
General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at
Cincinnati. He moved to Crete, Nebraska, in 1888, where, as an
enterprising leader in the milling business, he prospered and
became a blessing to the city and State. After a brief illness, he
died, September 20, 1895, just as he had come to the riper years
of full maturity."
Mrs. C. C. White, the widow of this true
nobleman, whom he always regarded as his equal and companion, was
in hearty sympathy with her husband in what he was doing for
Wesleyan, and along other benevolent
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
501 |
lines, and finds pleasure in carrying out his wishes as
well as her own, in the generous contribution of $5,000 to pay the
debt. To her, in pursuit of the same purpose, is largely due the
stately new structure, the conservatory of music, one wing of
which is now approaching completion, as well as timely assistance
in other improvements.
A. L. Johnson, the business partner of C. C.
White in the milling business at Crete, is another one of the
true-hearted laymen who have proved to Wesleyan a "friend indeed,"
because a "friend in need," who, besides contributing largely to
the payment of the debt, has generously aided the erection and
furnishing of the new gymnasium, and also of the conservatory. He
is an influential member of the Board of Trustees, and a member of
the Executive Committee, giving much valuable time to the
interests of the university.
Regarding the general subject of education,
Nebraska Methodism, in common with other evangelical
denominations, with the exception of the Roman Catholic, holds
uncompromisingly to these views:
First, that every human being is entitled to the
best education possible, and that no education is complete that
ignores the moral and religious elements in human nature.
Second, that the Church and State, having
different functions, are to be separate.
The first of these requires that the State,
especially in the case of a free Republic, provide through a
public school system, supported by taxation, an opportunity for
every boy and girl to be educated. But the second restricts the
State from exercising the function of the Church in carrying on
and directing the religious feature of this education.
502 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
That is, we say to the State, it is
your duty to educate the people, but in doing so you must leave
out the most important elements.
Few, except the Catholics, question the
practical soundness of these seemingly contradictory positions.
But they give rise to one of the most difficult problems the
American people have to solve.
Hence Nebraska Methodism, in common with all
evangelical denominations, has recognized the fact that her duty
in reference to the work of education was twofold:
First, to help the State in its efforts to
furnish the best education it could, under the before mentioned
restrictions, by supplying as many earnest Christian young men and
women to be teachers in the public schools as possible.
Second, surrounding the State institutions with
an environment of positive moral and religious influences, such as
the State, under her restrictions, can not supply.
But, however much the Church may help the State
in its educational work, the State can never build up a system or
an institution that will impart a complete education, according to
our standard, and must therefore be supplemented by denominational
schools.
How much of the work of education can be safely
entrusted to the State, and how much must be reserved for other
agencies?
How far can the State go in the recognition of
the Bible in the school, and where must it stop in the process of
education?
In regard to these questions, the Methodists of
Nebraska hold that, as this is neither a non-Christian nor
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
503 |
an infidel nation, but essentially a Christian nation,
the State may, in a general, non-sectarian way, allow the Bible to
be read in the schools. But it may not presume to exercise the
function of propagating any form of religion, or interfere in any
manner with the religious life.
While the question of just where the dividing
line is to be drawn, beyond which the State may not go in the
direction of developing and directing the religious nature, is not
yet fully determined, two broad principles are recognized:
First, that the State must, as far as it can
consistently with the second principle, supplement the home, and
private and denominational enterprises in the work of
education.
Second, that this same principle of the
separation of State and Church makes it impossible for the State
to furnish a complete education, according to the first principle,
and it must in turn be supplemented by the Church with her
denominational schools.
We are glad to say that the truth of history
requires us to record that Nebraska Methodism has done creditable
work along both lines.
I am informed by Professor W. R. Jackson,
ex-State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Professor J. L.
McBrien, present deputy, that a large percentage of the public
school teachers are Christian, and a large percentage of these are
Methodist.
Then in the second line of helpfulness we have
rendered good service, as the history of the State University and
the State Normal School will show, when fully written. As
previously stated, the latter was at first intended to be a
Methodist school, and Hiram Burch, one of our
504 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
most faithful Methodist preachers, and Professor McKenzie, gave over two years' hard service to its building up, and after failure to induce the Conference to take it, because of certain conditions deemed impracticable, consented to its being turned over to the State as a Normal. In the chapter on the development of our Church in Lincoln, reference was made to the magnificent services rendered by St. Paul's Church, and especially by a band of "elect ladies," led by Mrs. Roberts, in counteracting the influence of certain infidel professors in the State University, and supplying the requisite moral and religious environment for the students. Along the same line the following extract from Hiram Burch's "Recollections," will show the immense influence Methodism has exerted in shaping and giving a moral and even religious tone to the State Normal, which was located at Peru instead of a Methodist college, as at first designed: "It may seem to the casual observer that the time spent, the labor bestowed, and the sacrifice made in founding that school was nearly or quite thrown away, at least so far as our Church is concerned. But not so. Our beloved brother, Professor J. M. McKenzie, a devout Christian and earnest Methodist, who had charge of the school during its formative period, and without whose labors and sacrifice it seems hardly possible that any degree of success could have been attained, was still at the head of the school after it was given to the State, and gave it that religious trend which it has largely maintained during its entire history. For instance, a Tuesday night students' prayer-meeting was established, which was never interfered with by other exercises, not even during commencement week. In fact, the farewell students' prayer-meet-
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
505 |
ing, at which students took a religious leave of each
other, and of their teachers, was an interesting and inspiring
feature of commencement week, and was kept up as long as I was
personally acquainted with the school, and is still, so far as I
know. And not only did they have their student's prayer-meeting,
but no exercises were held at the Normal on the regular Church
prayer-meeting evening.
It was from the position as principal of the
State Normal that Professor McKenzie was called to be State
Superintendent, which position he held for six years. Thus,
indirectly, the founding of the school gave the State the services
of that godly man and competent and successful educator, who, more
perhaps than any other man, laid the foundations of our
public-school system, and in so doing, emphasized the importance
of the moral and spiritual in education. The seat of the State
Normal school has been the scene of some very gracious revivals,
mainly in connection with the Methodist Church of that place.
Among the most successful of these, which have been of almost
annual occurrence, may be mentioned one during the pastorate of
Rev. L. F. Britt, when there were about one hundred converts; and
of more recent date, under the labors of that successful lay
evangelist, Dr. B. L. Paine, which occurred, I think, during the
pastorate of Rev. G. M. Gates, at which nearly or quite three
hundred were converted. These converts have been mostly students,
and largely from Methodist families. Several of these have entered
the work of the ministry in our own Church and in other Churches.
Some have gone as missionaries to distant fields, some have become
ministers' wives, and many more have gone forth as Christian
506 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
teachers, working in our public schools and institutions
of learning."
J. M. McKenzie was the pioneer Methodist
educator in Nebraska. We meet him first in the early sixties at
Pawnee City, endeavoring to plant an educational institution in
that place, called "Nemaha Valley Seminary and Normal Institute."
But he was soon called to take charge of the institution at Peru,
referred to by Brother Burch, while it was yet expected that it
would be a Methodist school, and remained at the head after it
became a State Normal. While here he was called to the State
superintendency, the second man to serve in that capacity.
Probably few men who have occupied that position, have had as much
to do, or have actually done as much toward organizing the
public-school system of Nebraska, as did J. M. McKenzie during the
six years which he held that important office. His efficiency is
evidenced to some extent by the fact that his was the rare
distinction of serving three terms in succession.
During all these years in which he was serving
the State, first in organizing its Normal school, and afterward
the larger system of public schools, he was a devout Christian,
with a rich religious experience, which gave tone and character to
all his work on educational lines. He afterwards rendered years of
splendid service to the Church at York College, and later went to
California.
Another of the pioneer educators was J. J.
Fleharty. He seemed to feel that his life work lay along
educational lines. Coming to Nebraska in the later seventies and
finding that nothing had been done officially along that line, it
seemed to him that this situation furnished him
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
the opportunity to supply the long recognized need.
Looking over the field he selected Osceola as the most suitable
place and soon had that warm-hearted, stalwart layman, John H.
Mickey, as one of his stanch supporters. He was doing faithful
work in his line, but ere long he was doomed to disappointment,
the Conference soon after choosing York as the seat of its
Conference school. Though disappointed, he was not daunted, and as
we have seen, tried again, selecting Fullerton, in the North
Nebraska Conference. But here also he was again disappointed,
Central City being chosen, and he was again to see his plans
miscarry.
No purer man, or one more unselfishly devoted to
what he deemed the call of God has ever wrought in the Lord's
vineyard in Nebraska. This is none the less true because of these
two defeats, and the consequent bitter disappointment that
followed, which, together with the hard work involved, soon
undermined his constitution. He was in the meanwhile, engaged in
literary pursuits, publishing two books, the "Life of Rev. Asahel
Phelps" and "Social Impurity."
In 1861 be was married to Miss Anna Brace,
and in all his subsequent labors she was a true "helpmeet."
This noble, toilful, sanctified life closed May
2, 1884, at Tampa, Florida, whither they had gone in a vain hope
of prolonging his life.