Baker University - Wildcat Yearbook (Baldwin City, KS)

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INDEPENDENCE DISTRICT Presiding Elder, C. S. NUSBAUIVI

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Hutchinson, Wellington, Oswego, Girard, Coffeyville, Pittsburg, Columbus, Eureka and Iola. The following have served as secretaries: S. Holman, two years, A. Sleethl, one, H. J. W'alker, three, H. VV. Chaffee, eight, J. M. Iliff, thirteen, S. L. Chase, four, I. M. Benham, one. The Conference has been represented in the General Conference as follows: D. P. Mitchell, two sessions, A. Buckner, one, B. Kelly, two, S. E. Pendleton, one, C. R. Rice, two, H. W. Chaffee, two, J. A. Hyden, one, H. McBirney, three, J. W. Stewart, one, S. S. Murphy, one, J. E. Brant, one, H. J. Coker, two, J. H. Price, one, C. T. Durboraw, one, A. R. Maclean, one. It has also been represented by the following laymen: E. W. Cun- ningham, three sessions, D. S. Elliott, two, and one each. by W. B. Smith, C. W. DeVVolf, F. R. Crisman, H. C. Mechem, J. N. Ritter, W. H. Stout, J. E. Bowen, J. E. Hair, N. Care, J. J. Hurt, O. G. Markham, E. B. Payne, and Florence L. Snow. Out of the ranks of the Conference, and while connected with it, there have fallen by death forty-five membeis. They passed in, but their works have followed them. A survey of the Minutes brings out the fact that there has been an exceedingly large number of transfers, both into and out of the Conference. Four hundred and sixty-four names have appeared on the roll, of whom one hundred and fifty-three remain. Many have gone to the better land, and others may be found in all parts of the globe. This Conference has ever been loyal to Baker University and demonstrated its loyalty by splendid collections and a fine list of students. Though small territorially, the Confer- ence has had a fine record and has a promising future. Many of its cities are growing rapidly, new ones are springing up and its manufacturing and farming interests are rap- idly developing. Th.e church has kept pace splendidly with it all but will have a strug- gle to overcome the worldliness incident to such rapid development. H. W. CHAFFEE. 21

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THE KANSAS CONFERENCE. By Rev. Edwin Locke, D. D. I-IE beginning of Methodism in Kansas was about 1828, when the Shawnee In- dians came to this territory and a mission was established among them at R Prophetstown, near where the village of Turner is now located, later a Man- ual Labor School was started near Rosedale and the mission was moved to that locality. Vvhen the war of the rebellion came on, this mission was in the hands of southern sympathizers and, although it was located on free soil, they carried it into the Church South. The true genesis of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Kansas soil was in 1844, when the Wyandotte Indians were removed to Kansas from Ohio, and the Rev. James Gurley came with th.em as their missionary. At the same time Mrs. Lucy Bigelow Arm- strong, the daughter ofthe Rev. Russell Bigelow, of the Ohio Conference, who had mar- ried into the tribe, came with them and perhaps exerted more influence for good, lirst among the Indians and afterwards among the early settlers, than any other person. The celebrated Kansas-Nebraska act opened up the territory for settlement and on June 23, 1854, Bishop E. R. Ames appointed the Rev. Wm. H. Goodde, D. D., of the North Indiana Conference, To explore the country-so that it may be known how many minis- ters, if any, should be sent, and at what particular points they should be located. On the fourth of the following month Dr. Goodde arrived at Wyandotte and received a cor- dial welcome from the Indian Methodist and the missionary in charge, the Rev. John M. Chivington, and on the following Sunday, he preached the Iirst sermon ever delivered bv ofhcial appointment to white people in this territory, in the cabin of a settler named Kib bee, at what was then called Hickory Point, but which is now familiarly known as Big Hill , near the present site of Baldwin. The text was: The gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world. The doctor seems to have had some authority other than to explore the country, for he appointed the Rev. Abraham Still, a missionary to the Shawnee Indians, to look after the white settlers along the Wakarusa and a little later, the Rev. Thos. B. Markham of the Missouri Conference to take charge of the white work around Ft. Leavenworth. All the work in both Nebraska and Kansas was attached to either the Missouri or the Iowa Conference, and for one or two yeais the minutes of both conferences carried a Kansas-Nebraska district. In the report which Dr. Goodde made to the bishops, he recommended that two cir- cuits be formed and that a superintendent be appointed with discretionary powers as to future appointments and the sub-division of the work. This report so pleased the au- thorities that they settled upon him as the man to lead in the venture, and the following spring Dr. Goodde was transferred to the Missouri Conference, and was appointed su- perintendent of the work in Kansas and Nebraska, with almost episcopal powers. After 23