CHAP. IX.]

MISSION TO OMAHA.

357

these passengers and freight over the State, or to bear them onward through the State to their destination West or East, North or South.

The American Home Missionary Society from the very first appreciated the importance of Nebraska as a missionary field; and "its messengers were the first standard-bearers of that peaceful army that claimed, and by the grace of God will hold, the virgin soil of Kansas and Nebraska for truth and freedom."*

Early in the year 1855-a few months only after the country was erected into a Territory, and when there were but a few hundred Whites in the whole country the attention of the committee of the society was specially called to "Omaha City," which had then been laid out but a few months, and had only five hundred inhabitants. Yet, its ultimate growth and importance, at the head of the valley of the Platte, along which was the highway of the nations, was clearly foreseen by the committee, and their first messenger was commissioned for Omaha; "a mission," they said, "of much promise . . . at the portal of this great Territory, . . . a large portion of which presents unrivalled attractions to the agriculturist, and which must soon be occupied by tens of thousands for whose spiritual welfare the charities and prayers of God's people will be invoked."

*Thirtieth Report American Home Missionary Society, pp. 86, 87, 92.

This messenger, and the first Congregational minister to enter Nebraska for the purpose of making his home there, was the Rev. Reuben Gaylord, seventeen years a missionary in Iowa. In the autumn of 1855, while on a journey West, he crossed from Council Bluffs to Omaha, simply, it would seem, to see the new Territory, which was just then attracting much public attention. Being known as a clergyman, he was invited to preach to the people on the Sabbath. After the service a Congregational gentleman who had emigrated from Vermont, and had been lieutenantgovernor of Michigan, a Mr. Richardson, invited Mr. Gaylord to remain at Omaha and become his minister. To this Mr. Gaylord was not prepared to give an immediate answer. But the suggestion was like a seed dropped in good ground; and on his way home it germinated in the mind of the missionary, and took such root that, after consulting with his family and his ministerial friends in Iowa, he decided to retrace his steps to Omaha, and begin anew his pioneer missionary work, impressed with the deep conviction that Omaha was a point of great prospective importance.

Mr. Gaylord went to this new field of labor entirely on his own responsibility; but he informed the American Home Missionary Society of his movements, and asked for a new commission. To this they promptly responded by a commission dated November 15th, 1855, and a pledge of six hundred dollars towards his support - about half

CHAP. IX.]

REV. REUBEN GAYLORD.

359

what it cost in those hard times to support a family in that new country.

Mr. Gaylord went to work with a will, and with the discretion which his long missionary experience had taught him; and was eminently successful, gathering such a congregation around him as soon required the building of a meeting-house. But so rapid was the growth of his society that it was found necessary to enlarge the house even before it was finished. This was the first meetinghouse erected in Nebraska. And while this work was going on, the good people of the place were greatly cheered and strengthened by the manifestations of the Divine Presence among them; and on the 4th of May, 1856, a Congregational church of nine members was formed -the first in the Territory.

A week after this, on the 11th of May, 1856, Mr. Gaylord organized another Congregational church at Fontanelle, a beautiful village on the Elkhorn, some thirty-five miles northwest of Omaha. This place had been selected in 1855, by a colony of intelligent Christian people from Illinois, who furnished twenty-four members for the second Congregational church in Nebraska.

From Omaha and Fontanelle, Mr. Gaylord extended his labors to Bellevue, a thriving village fifteen miles below Omaha. He went also to Florence and Fort Calhoun, fifteen and twentyone miles above Omaha, on the Missouri, and there organized Congregational churches in 1856. The

next year, "Father Gaylord "for he was verily the father of Congregationalism in Nebraska made his way sixty miles up the river, and organized a church at Decatur. Next we find him at Brownville, seventy-five miles south, where he organized another Congregational church.

Mr. Gaylord's great success in Nebraska encouraged the Home Missionary Society to appoint a second missionary, the Rev. Thomas Waller, in July, 1856. Everything then indicated a rapid increase of population and a corresponding increase of churches. In the course of 1856 the population increased from five thousand to twenty thousand; and it was expected to reach fifty thousand before the close of 1857.

In 1856 the Rev. Isaac E. Heaton, apparently self-moved, as was Mr. Gaylord or rather, specially directed by the hand of God - went to Nebraska, and, after reconnoitering for awhile, located at the village of Fremont, some thirty miles northwest of Omaha, on the Platte, and there organized a Congregational church sometime in 1857. Thence he extended his labors to Albion and Franklin also. In 1858 there appear to have been Congregational churches formed at Plattford and at Nemaha City. In 1858-59, Rev. T. W. Tipton and Rev. E. B. Hurlbut were added to the Congregational ministers of Nebraska.*

*For most of the particulars about the first Congregational movements in Nebraska, I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. Gaylord's manuscript letters. See, also, "Reminiscences of Early Mission

CHAP. IX.)

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT.

361

Thus it appears that in three years the Congregational churches in Nebraska increased to eight, their ministers to four, and their church members from nine to one hundred and forty-four. But now, suddenly, every enterprise, secular as well as religious, was brought to a stand. Immigration stopped; the development of the country was arrested; few or no new churches were formed; old ones were broken up, or weakened and discouraged by the removal of members, and, in many instances, by the return to the East of members who had become impoverished and ruined in their struggle with hard times. And from this time onward for nine or ten yearsfrom about 1858 to 1868- Congregationalism made but very moderate progress in Nebraska. In 1863 a little light was let in upon the darkness by the beginning of the Union Pacific Railroad and its progress across the Territory. This enterprise brought in immigrants, encouraged the old settlers, and gave a breath of new, fresh life to all. One church - that at Nebraska City-was organized this year. In 1864 another was organized, at Salt Creek; and in 1865, still another, at Avoca. With the close of the secession war, in April, 1865, prosperity began most manifestly to shine upon Nebraska again. In 1866, a large increase of population was witnessed in connection.

ary Experiences," published in the Minutes of the 22d meeting of the General Association of Nebraska, 1878.