September 1981
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Dolt~ Conference Methodist Archives THE DETROIT CONF3RENCE HISTORICAL MESSENGER Published by the "Friends of the Archives" Ronald A. Brunger, Editor Vol. IX, No. 4 September 1981 TABLE OF CONTENTS OUR FALL MEETING Here a..'ld THere Page 1 The fall meeting of the Confe ~ · Emce Commis Our Pall Meetin5 1 sion on Ar chives & History \-Till be held in the A Conference Concern in 1881 1 St. Clair Church on Oct. 29. Members of local A New Conference Sxhibition 2 church History Committees and all interested Accessions to our Archives 2&4 persons are invited to come and participate. Being a Friend 2 Coffee Hour at 9:30 a.m. The meeting starts The Great Fire of 1881 ••• 3-4 at 10:00 a.m. Bishop Thomas Nicholson 5-6 Several historical papers will be pre sented. Mrs. Al (Vera) Hartoog will bring a HERE A!\TD THERE paper on "The History of the Romeo Campmeet ing'! Rev. John Rozeboom, one of our re Papers will be presented on the histories of tirees in Ju.'le, had a notable care er in our river churches in St. Clair,_MarJsville, our Conf~renoe, -f'eat-ured particularly Marine City, and Algonac. We will eat lunch by 22 years on the Conference Staff as at the Voyageurs Inn on the St. Clair River, Educational Consultant. In this period where we can watch the great lakes ships he preached or spoke in 210 Churches pas sine; upbound a,nd down bound t of our Conference. This is more than We invite you to join us for an interest half of our Churches, a record unequal ing and significant day on Oct. 29. Reserva led in modern times by anyone except tions are desired. Contact Rev. Douglas Tre Bishop Marshall Reed. bilcock, 905 N. Sixth St., St. Clair, MI 48079 Another retiree, Lewis Redmond, retired after 28 years as a minister in AN ANNUAL CO TIJ F7::RENCE CONCERN 100 YEARS AGO inner city work at Case Avenue. ~fuat a record he has made1 This is one of the The Detroit Annual Conference 100 years longest pastorates in our history, sus ago met in Port Huron, Sept. 14-19, 1881. On tained in a difficult situRtion. We the fifth day of Conference, Monday Sept. 19, remember his coming out to Fowlerville, part of the J(.inutes ree.d: "A bu, let in from the to speak on a Sunday evening to this physicians of President Garfielc~ Nas read to village Church. He came early. He the Co nference, eliciting profound sympathy in stopped dolmtown, walked around, and view of its discouraging aspect concerning the talked to the youth who were lounging on President's recovery." the street. Then he announced to the Let us recall that Garfield t•Ja.s our second good people later, that there were prob President to be assassinated. James A. Garfielc l ems in Fo•,!lerville as well as in Det who had just t aken office on March 4, 1881, roit. He was a true spokesman and seemingly ranked ~ell a~ one our ~residents in worker for God. ability, education, and experience. He ha d beer The annual meeting of the Commission one of the ablest orr~. tors in Congress and in on Archives & Hi~tory , held at AdriA.n wide demand as a speaker; as ~ devout member College just prior to the opening of our of the Church of Christ; he was active as a t"' t~s Annut'l.l Conference, W:'\El outstanding. The lay preacher. Ho from Ohio (l.nd he.d been p'1pers pr esented were excellent; the born in a log cabin. Also he had ~erved in devotiona l l eaders insniring. A few the Civil friar. visitors joined us to enjoy the sessions. The spoils sys tem then prevailed. The Our Conference ~ms well repre ~ ented overwhelmine inrush of office-hungry Republi at the North Central Jurisdintion Commis cans brought anguish and tension to the new sion on Archives & History in Louisville, president. The country was shocked t-Then on Ky., July 7-9. Our delegation included July 2, 1881, he was shot by a disappointed Rev. Bruce Brown, Rev. & Jllfrs. Ronald A. office seeker n~med . Guiteau. He lingered in Brunger, Rev. & Mrs. Allan Gray, Mrs. Mar agony for eleven we eks. Our Conference as one t in(Sharon) Scott of Clinton, Mr. & Mrs. of its first actions had prayed for him. He Frank Crissman of Troy,and Mrs. Barbara died on Sept. 19, the day our Conference beca.me Brown Ka.tsurada 9f Otat J&.~<J.n l-Ti th her alarmed over his condition. He died a martyr's daughters Amanda~5) and Re~t2}. This was death, t'l,nd it shocked our nation into taking a joint meeting with the Southeastern action to correct some of the flagrant ' abuses (To next page) of the spoils system. -2- Here and There (Cont.) BEING A FRIEND Jurisdiction, and >·ras held on the Ohio Recently we had the pleasure of work River boundary of the two Jurisdictions. ing in the Bentley Historical Library, the He enjoyed excellent programs highli~hted Michigan Historical Collections of the Uni by fine pA,pera, and trips to the historio versity of Miohig~n. An attractively print Y~vanaugh Campmeeting grounds, Wesley ed lenflet with several historical pictures Community Houae(in downtown Louisville), and one of the library, invited me to become and the Stephen Foster outdoor pageant a Friend of th<l Bentley Historical Library. at Bardstown, Kentucky. The minimum membership is $25.00! The pam phlet states that "to meet the demands for A NEW CONFERENCE EXHIBITION continued growth and maintenance of high "Treasure of our Heritage" standards of Excellence, the Library must Rev. Perry Thomas of our Ypsilanti rely on outside gifts. You oan help by Church, arranged a unique exhibition at becomine a. Friend." the Annual Conference this year. He was Dear Reader, ~..-e invite you to become fof;tering the idea thr' t churches should one of the "Friends of the Archives", if collect treasures, create treasures, con you have not done this. Our membership is serve and cherish what they have. only 13.00 a year. Of course you may give Among the treasures displayed ~rere the more. A Contributing Membership is $10; a original charter of Central Church, Det Sustaining Memberahip(5 years) is $25; a roit, and pewter from the "Ora Labora", Life Membership is $100. a German Methociist community near the The Commission has purchased ~uite a site of Pigeon in the 1860's. Also found number of books this year; we ~.ve acquired were prints, and beautiful pulpit and photostated materials, and bound some mater lectern accessories from the Grosse Point ials. We plan to hire a student to help us Church. Valuable pieces of Wesleyana achieve more complete catalogin~ of our Lib \•rere loaned by William Quick and Perry rary. We are on the way to overrunning the Thomas. Philip Miles loaned a crocheted budget allotted by the Conference. Lord's Prayer; Donald Strobe loaned some So, the Friends enter the scene. We old ~1ethodist hymnbooks. have a $14 bill for a book on the life of ~nus the Exhibition contained samples Frances E. Willard; another for a new book of historic and artistic treasures from on "Ministerial Education in the American churches and individuals. It broue;ht Methodist Movement." ;~".l anticipate that interest and a st 5.mulus to one's thought. the Friends tdll order and pay for the micro Are our churches careful to keep their filming of several years more of the ~·lestern treasures? Christian Advocate, in the near future . The purpose of/ the Friends of the Ar ACCESSIONS TO OUR ARCHIVES chives is to help nurture and build up the Our Conference Historical Library and conference archives at Adrian College, to Archives at Adrian is gro\ving and steadily promote the use of our fine historical lib improving. Since your eo.i tor became the rary, to inform people of our Methodist archivist on Oct. 1, 1980, we have re heritage in Michigan, to encourage pertinent corded some 123 accessions. historical research and publications, and The majority are gifts by interested to mark historic Met hodist sites in Michigan! individuals, and we are most grateful to We had quite a number of renewals of all these peo~le. For instance, we re m0mbership at Annual Conference time. All oeiven a large envelope from Mrs. Alice our annual memberships now become due at Lewis, d;:~.uchter of the late Rev. Arthur Conference time. Some of our old members Thqmp~on. It contained 1848 and 1860 have not renewed as yet, but we hope they ~.E. isciplines, items on the 80th an want to. We invite you to become a Friend nivers:lry o l' tho .titudy Church, Lennon of the Archives. Send y our me mbership to Church--50th Anniversary, ..Uundee Church Rev. Allen Gray, 404 Seminole Dr ., Tecum:1eh, --lOOth 1~niversary, a.nd Redodicn.tion .:>er MI. 49286. vices for ~habbona. 1t h~d a booklet - - - - - "-"'avorite ~uotationa Compiled by the.,L.A.S. • A notable ad.dit ion thi s yee.r l-ras a. Hymnal of ~sbury .~. Church, uetroit,,l906 , an Gollection from t he astute of the late Dr. Advoc:•tc article on Bishoo Wade s tenure W. Scott liesterman Sr. of Ann Arbor. •~e ~lso in 111ichigan, a picture of ··SEith Reed, music received materials from the library of the by George Bennard. A lot of items that late Dr. Frank L.