il.v CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library BX 8495.B29G87 James W. Bashford, pastor, educator, bish 3 1924 008 776 092 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008776092 OTHER BOOKS BY DR. GROSE RELIGION AND THE MIND THE OUTLOOK FOR RELIGION Lee Brothers f<l47Uu4frr~<- James W. Bashford Pastor, Educator, Bishop By GEORGE RICHMOND GROSE President DePauw University THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN NEW YORK CINCINNATI Copyright, 1922, by GEORGE R. GROSE Printed in the United States of America Krst Edition Printed October, 1922 Reprinted November, 1922 CONTENTS PAGE Pbeface 7 I. Early Years 11 II. The College Student 23 III. The Student of Theology 46 IV. The Preacher of Christ 58 V. The Pastor and the Citizen 69 VI. The College President 90 VII. The Bishop in China Ill VIII. The Author 161 IX. The Man and His Mind 172 X. The Man and His Character 183 XI. The Man and His Friends 211 XII. The Call to Suffering 226 XIII. The Finished Course 235 Biographical Data 247 Index 249 ILLUSTRATIONS J. W. Bashford Frontispiece FACING PAGE John Wesley and James Whitford Bash- ford. Childhood Pictures 17 Bashford in College 26 The Young Preacher 60 Miss Jane M. Field 73 President James W. Bashford 95 Portrait Painted by Arvid Nyholm 110 The Bishop in China 113 Bishop and Mrs. Bashford Laying the Corner Stone of the Woman's Hospi- tal, Peking 120 Bishop Bashford and Dr. Arthur Smith Traveling on House Boat in China. 190 Bishop Bashford Traveling in the Coun- try in China 201 Mrs. and Bishop Bashford. Last Photo- graph 212 PREFACE Shortly after his death I was requested to write the biography of Bishop James Whitford Bashford. This request, coming from Mrs. Bash- ford, endorsed by certain bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church and many others, could not be lightly regarded. Believing that his character was so distinctive and his career so distinguished in its service to humanity as to demand a record of the story of his life, the task was undertaken as a sacred trust and a labor of love. My purpose is to give an interpretation of the man and his work rather than a chronological transcript of his life. In other words, my aim shall be to present such facts and incidents as will be illustrative of his character rather than "mere records of personality." The important question to ask concerning every man's life is: What was his central aim and how closely did he realize it? It is an alluring task to discover the motive that actuated James Whitford Bash- ford; to feel the thrill of the ambitions and the aspirations that stirred him; to measure the energy that was driving him on ceaselessly; to see the visions that were haunting him by day and by night; and to make an appraisal of his 7 8 PREFACE service to his generation. If I can make him live again in the memory of his friends and so por- tray the essential elements in his nature and the outstanding achievements of his career as to make those who did not know him see him in imagination, I shall be satisfied. There is available for this study a great wealth of material. The writer has read and re-read the fifty-four volumes of notebooks written by Bishop Bashford, thousands of pages of corre- spondence both personal and official, all his books and published articles besides many sermons and addresses in manuscript. Scores of interviews with mission workers in the chief centers of Bishop Bashford's work in China, with Chinese officials, native preachers, and foreigners resident in China have been held. Many personal letters have been received which have contributed val- uable information. I wish to make grateful acknowledgment of the valuable and sympathetic help given by Mrs. Jane Field Bashford in putting into my hands personal correspondence and much private matter not otherwise available. I am deeply indebted also to the former private secretaries of Bishop Bashford, particularly to Mr. Harrison S. Elliot, the Rev. James H. Lewis, and Mr. Joseph P. Mac- Millan, for help in transcribing notebooks and veri- fying facts; to the late Mr. 0. A.Wright in making PREFACE 9 possible a trip to China to study Bishop Bash- ford's work in the Orient; to many friends and even strangers who have furnished me with letters and personal incidents; and to Bishop W. F. McDowell for helpful suggestions in the re- vision of the manuscript. George R. Grose. Greencastle, Indiana, June, 1922. CHAPTER I EARLY YEARS James Whitford Bashford was born on May 29, 1849. It was in the period of the great terri- torial expansion of the United States. Pioneers from the Eastern States, indifferent to privation and hardship, pushed into the Middle West, built homes, established schools and churches, and laid the foundations for the future develop- ment of the American nation. The year 1849 marked the beginning of the migration to Cali- fornia in search of gold. In Bashford's early boy- hood he saw his cousin John B. Parkinson, later Professor of Mathematics and Vice-President of the University of Wisconsin, join a company of men with ox teams on their long journey to the Pacific Coast. The conditions which the early pioneers in western Wisconsin faced required souls of stern stuff. There were few comforts and many hard-- ships. Indians were numerous and bears were quite neighborly. The wolf at the door was more than a figure of speech. One day James' mother beat off with a shovel a prowling wolf about to enter the log cabin where her young child lay 11 12 JAMES W. BASHFORD sleeping. But the very rigor of pioneer life in the Middle West was an important factor in young Bashford's early training. His hard work on the farm laid the foundation in physical vigor for his long career of eminent service. The stern conditions of life in a new community, the struggle for self-support, the close contact with the simple- hearted country folks gave him a priceless inherit- ance in energy, initiative, simplicity in taste, ambition to achieve, and sympathetic under- standing of people. It was in Fayette in southwestern Wisconsin that Bashford was born. His home was the first frame building erected in the community, all the others being log cabins. There were two small churches and no schoolhouse. The Bashford home housed the village school until a new church building was erected which provided for the school in the basement. The picture of his early Western home as Bashford recalled it in later life is fascinating. Rugged simplicity, tireless industry, few diversions, a neighborly communism altogether consistent with independence, and an atmosphere that stimulated sober thought and lofty purpose. The Bashford family was of English origin. They came originally from Devonshire and set- tled in the North of Ireland, where they were granted land in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. EARLY YEARS 13 Though the Bashfords came to America from Ireland, they were of English and not Celtic stock. One of Bishop Bashford's ancestors was a soldier in the Revolutionary Army, was captured by the British and imprisoned in the Old Sugar- house prison in New York City. The father of Samuel Morris Bashford, a blacksmith by trade, was impressed as a seaman and brought to the United States. He died suddenly of apoplexy at the age of thirty-eight. Several of the Bashfords in England were graduates of Oxford and Cam- bridge and became ministers, educators, civil and army officers. With plenty of militant blood the whole clan had an intellectual bent and am- bition for high attainment and for public service. Samuel Morris Bashford, the father of James Whitford, was born in Newark, New Jersey, and went to Wisconsin when he was twenty-two years old. In his early manhood he studied medicine and at the same time was employed in the drugstore of a physician. On coming to his Western home he became a farmer. He was licensed at an early age as local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church and devoted much time to holding services and preaching in the schoolhouses and country churches. He was fre- quently called to minister to the sick and always carried medicines with him, but refused to accept any compensation either for preaching or visit- 14 JAMES W. BASHFORD ing the sick. On one occasion he accepted five dollars for his services, but gave the money to a poor family before he reached home. He was utterly unselfish in character and made the spiritual welfare of others his absorbing concern. He died in the pulpit of apoplexy at the age of thirty-six, when his youngest son, James Whit- ford, was only one year old. He was a devout man, much given to introspection, with a mys- tical type of piety; an idealist whose generous impulses outran his practical ability; but every- where revered for his genuine goodness. The Morris family, to which the grandmother of James Whitford Bashford belonged, was prom- inent in the early history of the republic. The grandmother's fine benevolent face, her wide knowledge of current affairs, and deep religious character made upon young Bashford a profound impression. His mother, Mary Ann McKee, was a descendant of the McKees of Illinois, Kentucky, and Virginia, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. The family was noted for men of affairs.