Life and Letters of Rev. Aratus Kent Introduction

It is a hardship incident to missionary life on the frontiers that he is dependent upon a class of people who do not appreciate his worth, who give grudgingly what they pay for his support and who are so faithless to their promises as prevents him from paying debts which he has contracted on the faith of their pledges.

It is a hardship that he is obliged to preach in several different places and those so far distant and that to do this he is often times unable to procure a horse and is compelled to go on foot, crossing untrodden prairies, encountering violent storms and fording swollen streams, leaving his family unprotected and but poorly provided for, and anxious for him from the uncertainty whether he will be able to surmount the obstacles on his return.

It is one of the trials of faith and patience of the missionary that having reached the place of meeting , it is uncertain whether the people have not forgotten the time of his appointment or whether there is any fire or light until he prepares them or indeed whether the school house is not pre-occupied by other denominations before he arrives.

This and nameless others are no fancy stretches but incidents of common occurrence of which this hard winter has furnished pertinent illustrations.

But these excellent men however well disposed and well affected to brave these trials cannot devote themselves wholly to their missionary work to the neglect of providing for their families which is itself a first duty, except they can receive assurances of support which your society happily affords them. This encouraged to expect that their own want will be met they are prepared to meet and to perform a service which but for men of their self-denying spirit would never be performed, and if the common laborer is worthy of his time, so are the excellent men whose lives and energies are consecrated to Christ and his church. Will not every man contribute his quota toward furnishing these needful supplies and do it with cheerfulness.

A. Kent

There are in the field which I am called to supervise 39 Home Missionaries and 62 churches and missionary districts. There have been 7 churhes organized, 5 churches have assummed the support of their minsiters.

march 2nd add 289.86

648.85

Many of the larger churches take up Col. which do not pass through my hands. And many of the missionaries keep and do not pay over to me what is collected among thier people.

All below Nov. 25.

A. Kent in account with A.H.M.Society

Dr. to moneys received of

March 10 1st Ch. at Rockford $3.00

May 4 1st Pres. Ch at Freeport 66.72

Aug 5 Mrs. Mitchell, Cook Co. 1.00

23 John Ruth 10.00

Oct. Mrs. Hannah Ware 200.00

Nov. 25 Greenville Presb. Ch. 10.00

30 Canton Cong. Ch. 26.00

Dec. 18 Dunton Presb. Ch. 19.00

Elk Grove Cong. Ch. 23.25

358.97

Rockford 1st Cong. Ch. 33.34

Rockford 2nd Cong Ch. payable in May 231.52

Miss Mary A. White 5.00

Rockford Sabbath School of 2nd Cong. 20.00

648.83

Rockford March 5

I have been detained 2 Sabbaths by sickness in my family whiuch brings my report in late. I have spent several days here and I trust not without good results. I am preaching every evening for the 2nd ch. - Br. Emerson. There is more than ordinary religious interest in Rockford and in the Female Seminary . And I have good tidings from Beloit anb from Pecatonica. Br. Willis has requested me to come to his aid which I propose to do on Saturday.

A. Kent

March 2, 1857

[The 1st Cong. Ch. of Fremont, Ill. apply for $250 aid in support of Rev. C.C. Adams, 12 mo.]

After the explanation of the accompanying note I feel quite satisfied that their request should be granted provided thier minister is what he is represented and of that you have the means within your reach of forming a judgement.

A. Kent

Galena , April 7, 1857

I hope to visit them when I am less pressed with duties.

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Galena, March 10, 1857

Dear Sir,

During my stay of 7 days at Rockford I saw a most beautiful letter from that missionary at Nauvoo. Beautiful in its expression and especially in it chirography. And it gratified them becasue it was a thanks offering for a box I had invited them to make up for him. Br. Emerson expressed his regret, and I felt it, that he had been refused a commission. I should not however allude to it again but Br. Rice wrote me to visit him at Freeport, whither he had gone to bury his wife, for he wanted to talk with me about that missionary, for he felt bad that the commission was withheld. I made all my arrangements to meet him at the Depot but when the hour for leaving home arrived my child of 12 was dangerously sick which detained me 2 weeks watching the typhoid fever night and day. Thus I missed the opportunity of hearing his verbal statement. I do not feel disposed to question the correctness of your decision but I thought perhaps I might state how it strikes us. But I cannot well go down there and I have been providentially prevented from seeing Mr. Rice.

I spent the Sabbath with Br. Willis. They are having a blessed work of grace in that Cong. Church. He will report the lat of the month which I assented to in consideration of the prospective report I heard about 25 tell what God had done for them: last Sat. night and became deeply impressed with the wisdom & power of Br. W’s labors. There is extraordinary religious interest at Rockford and Beloit also. One or more in college and very many in the Rockford Female Sem. are hopefully converted.

Also at Granville (until lately a Home Miss. ch.) Br. Lockwood writes me that during a protracted meeting (which they were preparing for when I spent Sab. with him last fall) of 3 weeks some 45 were converted and that 15 had united with their Ch. The Com??? Ch. with which they have had infinite trouble stood aloof but the O.S. and Baptist united and received additions.

Your letter and that of Br.Coe replying, explaining and expounding have been received & have afforded me some light and some new views and will be further pondered as I have leisure from the pressure of duties.

I heartily rejoice in the stand you have taken on the subject of Slavery.

Yours, etc.,

A. Kent

My annual report and financial report were forwarded from Rockford. I shall have received some 48 dollars over six hundred the past year, when the Rockford 2nd. Ch pays 231 in May which with some still behind may go over to the next year.

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I have delayed sending this application (already too long delayed) because I wished to make further inquiries. It appears that 2 of their 9 male members (and they the most efficient) are about leaving Dixon.

Mr. Temple has acknowledged in a letter to me that his dues have been fully paid.

In regard to the amount of salary Mrs. Illshy is a lame man and uses a crutch. He has a wife and 7 children all dependent on him every day. He is obliged to pay %150 for a smaller house than he has been accustomed to use. His wood bill will be at least $75 at the year’s end.

Everything they eat and wear must be paid for at the highedt price and though a convert of Dr. Payson and brought up with New England habit, he says he cannot get along with less than 700.

With these facts I submit the case.

A. Kent

 

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Dupage, Will Co., April 1, 1857

.....

When I preached my missionary sermon & took up the collection for your Society this year, I felt happy in being able to refer to the noble stand, as I regard it, taken by the Executive Comm. in relation to the subject of American Slavery & if I mistake not I was much more successful than I should have been without that resolution- hope therefore your society will adhere firmly to the position they have taken.

C.L. Bartlett

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[The Presb. Ch. of Elizabeth & Plum River, Ill. apply for $200 renewed aid in support of Rev. James R. Smith]

These two churches are feeble and are surrounded and crippled by sectarians but they ought to be sustained and their minister is timid and easily discouraged but is going well and ought to be encouraged and I think he ought to have more than he has asked.

A. Kent

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Washington, Tazewell Co.

Having spent the Sabbath with the Peoria and Knox Presbytery to get the views of the Brethren of the Committee I am prepared to recommend this application. He has resolved to board & spend some time at Kappa until he can build a home and he wishes me to visit Peoria. I mention alias El Paso as one of his stations for preaching.

The application is otherwise imperfect but I am authorized to say that $200 is actually subscribed on the field. Br. Frost says that since his last report the prospects brighten greatly and a church will probably be soon organized at Kappa.

Lots have been secured at K. and they are resolved on building a church.

A. Kent

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Rev. Dr. Badger

Dear Sir,

There seems to be to my mind a mystery in relation to Lawrence. A Commission was forwarded which limited Mr. Waldo’s salary to 500 and that was sent back to Br. Patterson who is reported to have returned it to New York and I supposed that another commission had been made out for 600, but I have learned today from Br. Holmes of Belvidere who comes as a committee of Presbytery to enquire after it, that no such commission has been received. Hence, I conclude that either Br. Patterson’s letter was not received or his explanation was not satisfactory.

I would therefore in view of all the circumstances take it upon myself to request the committee to commission Rev. M. Waldo to labour at Lawrence and vicinity for one year commencing with Oct. last with a salary of 600 of which the society pledge 300 on condition that his people would make up 300 more. In support of this request, I would state that the Belvidere Presbytery have recently met there, have taken measures to disband the Chemung Church and to organize a new church at Lawrence with the entire consent and approbation of the members of the old church. They represent that Br. Waldo is laboring very faithfully and successfully in a very wide field and very promising field and these Brethren of Presbytery express the opinion that he will do two years labor in one and ought by all means to be sustained there in the belief that they will be very soon a self-supporting church and the opinion was expressed in my hearing that they would before long build a church costing $4000.

I hope therefor that prompt action may be had and that either it may pass through my hands or I be informed whether it be granted or refused for I am in danger of meeting with censure for delinquency. I had no means of knowing whether he was commissioned or not.

You will see in due time that some of us at the Wets are prepared fully to sustain the Com. in the stand they have taken on slavery and we prefer that the funds by which Mr. Waldo is sustained shall pass through their treasury as the channel of communication with him.

I must repeat my honest conviction that you seem not to appreciate the change that has come over us in Ill. Every observing man whose opinion you would respect will unite with me in the estimate that 600 will not go any further in support of a salaried man now than 400 did 10 years ago. And I should like to have one of the committee travel over the field with a view to that single point. Our missionaries now are mainly in these R.R. villages where they must pay $150 rent for a decent house and 5 a cord for wood.

I visited a missionary on Wednesday last who was paying $6 a month for one room 12 or 13 square in the 2nd story. There was his study his bedroom, parlor, and kitchen until quite recently they obtained another little chamber about 8 feet square. That Br. preaches at 3 different points and walks sometimes 20 miles on the Sabbath and not a word of complaint droppd from him or his excellent wife who has evidently known the charms of refined society.

I have delayed sometime a reply to yours concerning Br. Wilson. My first duty seemed to be to get the views of Br. Baldwin who is now at Virginia Settlement. About the middle of March I received his answer. I then has such a train of appointments that I could not well visit him until I should meet him at Presbytery, I met Wilson last week on Wednesday, intending to go home with him and spend a Sabbath there. But was surprised to learn form his own lips that he had buried his wife, sent his only child to the east and left Watham, and is now making arrangements to preach at Shabbony center. I presume that they will make application for aid, which I shall regret as those who have watched his movements for several years anticipate little accomplishment. A good orthodox man but having no energy and he wears out in a few weeks entirely. It is still thought that a large and important field opens at Waltham if an energetic and judicious man could be introduced there. I may be able soon to spend a Sabbath there. It is one of those places where to do any thing I need to make regular appointments as at Orangeville.

I enclose a letter from our excellent and judicious Br. Savage. Br. Coe’s letter to me opened my eyes and showed me as I never before understood it how I could meet the difficulties which the present times and allocations have been pressing upon me, c.c., to give men in certain circumstances a number of fields (say 3,4,5, or 6) to which they shall be restricted and in the occupancy of which they shall have some discretionary power in the employment of time. And I wish to say that relieves me of embarrassments under which I have laboured all the while. It is better far than giving them running commissions, for which I contended. Perhaps it was my obtuseness that I did not see it before, but Br. Savage & Clark seem to have been as blind as I.

I thought that when I read what the Evangelist says of you committee’s action on slavery, if I had a gun big enough to be heard in New York, I would make it utter my disapprobation of their attack upon them.

Yours as ever,

A. Kent

[Rev. H. Ilsley, Dixon, Ill. repsecpting his salary]

Galena, AP. 24/57

Dear Br.,

I can do nothing more than turn over this letter to you. I have said all I know except that perhaps they were premature in organizing as they did. Br. Ilsley says his rent & wood will consume half his salary.

And Br. Raymond told me yesterday that his wood this winter had cost him near 100 dollars.

Yours, etc.,

A. Kent

[Rev. J.H. Frost to Rev. Milton Badger]

Kappa, May 3, 1857

Rev. Milton Badger, D.D.

Dear Bro.,

Having been honored, as one of your missionaries, with a circular containing an explanatory statement in relation to the course pursued by the executive committee of the American Home Missionary Society in refusing to aid with the funds of said society those churches which apply for aid, and whose members are slave holders. I desire to say that the course pursued by the committee is that respect has my entire and unqualified approval. And, though the people whom I have had the pleasure of serving in the gospel during the year which ended on the first of March last, were able to contribute only $18, which I had the pleasure to report to you. Yet I think it is certain if they had been informed that the moneys [sic] thus collected, or any part of them were to be appropriated to the support of extension of slavery in any form or manner, I should have appealed to them in vain for any part of the mite which they felt it a pleasure as well as a duty to give.

I can also sate that the voice of our Presbytery (Peoria & Knox) was decidedly in favor of the course pursued by the Executive Committee.

With my most sincere and ardent prayers that, as a society, you may continue to labor and prosper more abundantly in delivering our world and especially our own goodly heritage, from slavery and every foul stain, I remain...

J.H. Frost

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Dear Br. Coe,

There is an amount of confusion and fog in relation to Br. Waldo’s case that I cannot dispel but by requesting that a new commission be issued, giving him $600 on condition that they are pledged to raise 300, and withdrawing the restrictions as you say has been done. The trouble is in part in relation to my own action which I cannot now explain! It appears from my book that I forwarded an application asking for 300 and pledging 300. It appears from Dr. Badger’s letter of Feb. 12 that the Com. “gave all that was asked to Lawrence.” And yet from Br. Home’s letter it appears that but 500 was allowed. The letter of Br. Homes reached me after I left home and as I shall be gone some 10 days I thought I ought to reapply for a new commission without waiting to see the old one which will probably be returned to me from Br. Patterson with whom it has gone to sleep or is lost.

I enclose you a very small part of a long correspondence that you may understand the case. The field which Br. W. occupies is regarded as very important, and another denomination has shown a readiness to seize upon it. The Brethren of the Belvidere Presbytery are determined to hold it and have put Br. W. onto the ground as prominently suited to the place and have pledged him a support. Believing that he will build up a self-supporting church in a very short time I am pledged to see that he shall have 300 from the A.H.M.S. Your letter of Ap. 24 (like Dr. Badger’s) does not name the sum which your com. voted.

You will see from my letter the expedient to which I had recourse to get along while standing between the 2 parties. It is the only instance I have done such a thing, and I do not see how your society can justify a restriction that forbids a Presbytery to say how much they shall give, except by withholding any commissions which they have a right to do, but it will be at the expense of alienating them from the society. This is inter nos. I suppose I shall prove after a while that I am unfit to be an agent. I think I have learned some new lessons during the year past.

I visited this day Garden Plain as requested, Mr. Pine absent, but his elder confirmed my previous impression that he preached well, but aside from that does not visit or show much interest in the spiritual welfare of his people and will probably leave at the year’s end. I judge from what I hear that he has some desire to make investments in wild land.

I have left a recommendation that he should preach at Clyde, a little church that Br. Walker neglected as would seem from reports.

A. Kent

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After Careful consultation with Br. Clark the only member of the Committee who is intimately acquainted with the field and its future prospects we have arrived at the conclusion that it be recommended that Br. Root be commissioned to labour 3/4 of his Sabbaths at Udina and 1/4 at other points in the vicinity at the discretion of the committee of missions and with the confident expectation that they will be able to raise their proportion of the remaining 200.

A. Kent

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Treasurer of the A.H.M.S.

Charge me with the follwoing sums 1857

March 10 Granville Presb. ch. $10.00

May 24 Coll. in the Presb. Ch at Freeport 47.89

27 John Ruth 10.00

John H. Addams 10.00

28 Elk Grove Cong. Church 6.00

$83.89

Mr. Addams say “please forward to the payment of the backstanding debts of the A.H.M.S.” I do not know what he means and whether he is a subscriber to the Home Missionary. PLease give him credit as he wishes if that is the meaning.

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Dear Dr. Badger,

I have just returned this far home (to preach on Home Miss. tomorrow) from attending the Gen. Association at Elgin.

There was a large and pleasant meeting but they had rather an exciting time on Home Miss. Br. Emerson of Rockford moved to memorialize A.H.M.S. on the inadequacy of Home Missionaries’ salaries. Br. Bascom offered a substitute that we organize a society to do this work ourselves and independent of all foreign aid. He attempted to show up our ability. Some one volunteered an amendment that the new society be auxillary to the A.H.M.S. This brought President Blanchard to his feet. He said it made him almost mad, or words to that effect. Brs. Curtis, Emerson and others advocated the other side. Some warmth was elicited and several new comers to the state looked on with surprise and expressed it that such a feeling against the A.H.M.S. should exist. As providence ordered it Br. Bascom anbd I were lodged together. I told him that now the Soceity has come up to the point we had been so long advocating, that it would be more manly to acknowledge it and go along with them and sustain them.

They were about as closely cornered as I should wish to be during that debate and our good Br. Blanchard, as is his wont, found it convenient to make an acknowledgement of undue heat and unguarded word.

I understood from: that Dr. Aikins from Vermont remarked to a Br. afterwards. You are very much afraid of centralizing power here at the West. But you have your hope : or words to that effect.

I have detained for some time applications from Churches of Shabbona, Paw PAw and Harrison waiting for answers to my inquiries.

Yours, Etc.,

A. Kent

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Galena, May 28, 1857

I am familiar with the circumstances of that little church. They have done well in getting hold of a valuable parsonage and are to commended and helped and yet the field is limited and I think they ought to allow their minister to be absent part of the day or if that is not expedient by reasons of the distance of the out posts, I think they ought to have benevolence enough to allow him to missionate every fourth Sabbath in Lake County and I shall so inform them but at all events give them their request.

A. Kent

Galena, June 30, 1857

I recommend that the application from Shabbona (there is another Shabbona in Bureau Co,) be granted. I have retained the application for some time to get fuller information and have received one of Br. Wilson’s prolix explanations which is tolerably satisfactory but I do not sent it because it relates to Waltham in part where I intend to go as soon as the Lord will.

At Shabbona they have subscribed 100, at Johnson’s Grove they have 40 and hope to make it 60 - at Allen’s Grove nothing is done yet but he thinks they are good for 40, so write Br. Wilson.

He is not likely (good man that he is) to stay long at one place for his inefficiency.