Life and Letters of Rev. Aratus Kent Introduction
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“ Alva Day Lisbon “ Nathan Gould Somonauk “ James B. Wilson Shabbony Grove “ George Marsh Scott “ Harvey Bergen Somonauk “ Newton Barret Mendota “ Herman S. Colton Bristol “ Silas Jesup Rockton “ James M. Clark South Ottowa “ Charles H. force “ “ “ L.P. Crawford Sandwich “ Amasa C, Lord Somonauk “ Wm. H. Smith Granville “ A.L. Harrington Tonica Geo. W. Gale Galesburgh John W. Bailey do Solomon S. Miles Knoxville Calvin Waterbury do Wm. J. MIller do Edward Marsh Canton Issac E. Carey Peoria A. Kent Galena H.H. Hayes, D.D. Rock Island E.R. Martin Rantoul John N. Powell Chittenaugo, N.Y. James R. Smith Elizabeth Calvin Gray Fair Haven B.B. Drake Fairburg Chas. L. Bartlett DuPage Rev. Ira Weed Waukegan “ John G. Porter Wilmington “ L.H. Loss Joliet “ H. Curtil D.D. Galesburgh Geo. L. Little Waukegan Royal Reed Joliet C.R. Clark Jefferson, Cook Co. L.G. Gilbert Crete Elihu Barber Naperville J.G. Durnser (German) Dundee James H. Baldwin Lake Forest Milton Waldo Lacon Ira Fern Esq. do Rev. Wells Andrews Washington “ Sam’l. Hall Geneva, Wisconsin “ Alfred Eddy Bloomington, Ill. “ James R. Dunn Wenona “ Issac P. Stryker Urbana “ John M. Brown Mission K. Issac T. Whiteman Pontiac John Kidd Joliet C.C. Breen Hadley C.F. Beech Washinton G. Schlosser Lockport R.B. Bull Aurora E.B. Turner Morris A.J. Drake or Stated Supply Owego John Walker Au Sable M.K. Whittlesey Ottawa J. Kilbourne Sandwich Geo. B. Hubbard Tonica R.M. Pearson Byron S.H. Kellog Roscoe J. Hodges Durand S.W. Phelps Lee Center J. Perkam Rockton C.M. Seldon do P.B. Perry 12 Mile Grove E. Beecher, D.D. Galesburgh C.M. Taylor do S.G. Wright Galva Lathrop Taylor Bloomington S. Penfield Como J. Wilcox Burrit J.D. Baker Cambridge S. Leonard Fulton City M.N. Miles Geneseo Wm. Porter Port Byron A, B. Hitchcock Moline A. Lyman Sheffield E.A. Birge Algonquin W.E. Merriman Batavia F.L. Fuller Crytal Lake R.G. Bristol De Kalb W.E. Holeyoke Polo Rev. L. Benedict Geneva Lot Church Huntley Wm. Gay Lodi S.H. Thompson McHenry Wm. B. Dodge Millburn C.S. F. Savage St. Charles A. Gore Sycamore A.C. Page Udina N.C. Clark Marengo B.S. Baxter or Stated Supply Plano S. Osenga Crete A. L. Rankin Loda L.A. Van Dyke West Urbana H.M. Smith Kankakee G. Goodale El Passo A. Prescott Cordova F. Bascom Dover R. Rudd Wethersfield J. Blanchard Galesburgh Asa Donaldson Dover Marvin Root Eagle Point A. B. Miller Lisbon P. Felch or Stated supply Amboy R. Patch Pana H.G. Pendleton Henry C.H. Pierce Neponset D. Todd Providence Dr. Chapman Elmwood Rev. N. Barret Mendota Rev. Mr Buss Dement Rev. Mr. Parker Franklin Grove Rev. Mr. Swift Lamoille Rev. Mr. Neil Wethersfield Rev. Mr. Waldo Vienna, Grundy Co. Rev. Mr. Richards Coal Valley “ W.W. Wells Lasalle “ James Brewer Ogle Dea. Gridley Ottowa Dea. Whiting Lowell Rev. Mr. Adams Fremont, Lake Co. Rev. Mr. Cooley Granville Rev. Mr. Gould Loda I have rendered a list of those whom I can conveniently supply without expense, and those that are supplied by mail can be furnished for 8 cents from your office and per P. master requires 11 cents each. I would suggest that you only publish the list of life directors once in 5 years which would lessen the bill and expense about 1/3. It has cost considerable labour to make out this list but by being sent by mail they will reach the clergyman much earlier and be proportionately more valued. It is my prayer the Lord will be with and bless your annual meeting. Yours, etc., A. Kent
___ Chicago, May 13, 1859 I visited PLano yesterday and called on Mr. Hume the only trustee in town. He stated that they supported Mr. Baxter last year without aid and raised $300 but they had a severe struggle to pay him up and some of their members had gone away, so that they had not yet circulated their subscription. I replied that was beginning at the wrong end and he proposed to go ahead about it himself and that soon I was placed with the man as also with another who is recently from Dr. Barton’s Concord Ch. He intimated that they had much to contend with growing out of the loose notions of Mr. Baxter, now gone to Iowa. He invited everybody to communion and had encouraged a young man and member of the Ch. to study for the ministry whose application for service was rejected and he sets the church at defiance. He said his wife’s mother a woman well posted in such matters remarked that such views and practice would not be tolerated in Vermont. I mention this that you may be on your guard in relation to him, if he should apply for aid. They both spoke highly of Mr. Cone. I recommend the application be granted. A. Kent
P.S. I asked the Station Agent, Can Mr. Cone live on $400. I think he can. We R.R. men get but 360 and the rent of your house and his garden is equivalent to that rent. _____
Galena, May 26th, 1859 The representations made tom me are fully in accordance with what is here stated, and I should be sorry that little company of German converts should be left without the fostering care of their spiritual father. I am aware that our German people will live on a small stipend but I should not be willing to cut him down lower than 360. I first met Br. Durnser in the cars on his way to his evening appointment at Dundee and was very much interested in his high tome of spirituality and in his account of the converts under his labours. This was before any church was organized and all my information since has confirmed the favorable opinion then formed. A. Kent ____
May 26th I made all my arrangements to attend the Gen. Ass. at Bloomington on the 19th but its postponement until to day conflicts with my appointments that I must give up going to that meeting. A. Kent Besides, I am pretty well tired out. ____ [Hampton/ Port Byron] Galena, June 13, 1859 I was not pleased that Br. Porter should pass by his own committee of Missionaries and get the signatures of men that know nothing of our affairs on this side of the River [Geo. Magoun, Pastor at Davenport]. I wrote to Br. Hitchcock to know why. He said he presumed Br. Porter was attending an installation over the River and it was a matter of convenience to get their names. But that is a poor excuse and had a suspicious look. But Br. Hitchcock says all is right. I recommend that the request be granted to take effect when they have made up the amount which they propose to raise. A. Kent _____
[Calvin Gray to A. Kent] Fair Haven, July 15th/59 Br. Kent, I send you the enclosed which perhaps needs some explanation. Recently my attention has been drawn to the neighborhood from where this has come: formerly it had been entirely destitute of preaching there never having been a sermon preached in the school house and not in the neighborhood (to my knowledge) until I did it. Finding so strong a desire to have regular preaching and seeing much more of an orthodox element developed that I had anticipated in this vicinity I felt it my duty to let them know that aid could perhaps be obtained in procuring the gospel. As to the specific rules relative to a salary owing to the confused and embarrassed state of society on this newly settled prairie I have thought I could do more good to day but little about it, hoping and believing that if missionary labor can be bestowed, it will at least be obeying the command to preach the gospel to every creature and perhaps be attended with such success. If I may be permitted to express my judgement I would say there is a much louder call for the Home Miss. to sustain a missionary on the field for one year than you or I had supposed. I do not think that until such labor is bestowed that more than $25 from the people can be expected. It is probable that by such an effort that from 10 to 20 individuals might in time be brought together in the form of a Presbyterian or Congregational organization. Let me submit the question distinctly through you to the committee. Will they give me a commission to labor in Fair Haven and vicinity for one year from the first of July appropriating $400 to this field: or is it my duty to labor as I have done to great disadvantage to myself and people. If so, the Lord’s will be done. Please let me hear from you soon. Yours truly, Calvin Gray ____ Galena, July 16, 1859 One application was made but not in due form and this has occasioned some delay but I know no reason to hesitate but recommend this request be granted. Fulton City has suffered very much from the fluctuations of business and they will need all they ask, I presume. I have visited then during the year. A. Kent
___ Galena, July 16, 1859 I know no reason to hesitate but would recommend their request be granted. I have visited there [Sandwich] during the year and believe their statements are entirely reliable. A. Kent
____ [n.p., n.d. July ? 1959] I spent a Sabbath some months since with this church [Wenona] and was much gratified with the evidence of progress in the right direction. The Gospel is producing its legitimate effects and the laborour is worthy of his ???? A. Kent
Br. Root is getting old and does not go by the lines and rules in making his application, but I think he labouring faithfully. I visited him in April and I thought I could comfort and aid him by sending some books and overshoes, and I thank God that the little patrimony which my father toiled so hard to gather and which I have husbanded very carefully now affords me the luxury of helping here and there a poor missionary as their peculiar trials come under my immediate observation. But I have wandered and will only add that the church at Eagle Point is very much discouraged by adverse circumstances but they occupy an important position between Polo and the Wysox Churches and may yet rise out of their deep depression. I should not dare to discourage this application. A. Kent _____
July 18, 1859 Br. [C.R.] Clark lives on his farm within the bounds of his parish and close to Brickton and when I visited him in the spring I feared he might be occupied too much with seculars which leads me to enclose his letter and to underscore what he says about giving himself to his work. I recommend the grant of $200. A. Kent ____
Galena, July 21, 1959 I am puzzled to dispose of this application. Br. Gray has not been very successful in past years, and this information is not very definite. The whole is drawn up by the missionary himself and ought to be more specific. The prominent fear is that he does not unit as much as he should in order to succeed in gathering a new fold. But he is poor, has a family and an excellent wife: he is a good deal discouraged and saddened at the world, to the secretaries and to myself as past letters would show. But I am hoping that if commissioned again he will succeed better in his new field. If however you cannot with a good conscience allow the whole sum, how would it do to give him $300 on condition that they raise 100 during the year with a stimulating exhortation to explore and visit and do colporteur work as much as possible. He is improving a new place out in the prairie and can make 400 go further than if he was in a village. I was at great pains and trouble to visit him last summer and do not feel it is my duty to go there again during this very wet weather. I have been out every Sabbath for some five months or more and have walked 10, 20, and even 30 miles exploring new ground: and on the whole choose to stay at home 2 Sabbaths to supply Br. Swanzy’s lack of service while absent for his health. A. Kent
Please act on this application and write him or me as soon as convenient. _____
Galena, July 28, 1859 I am acquainted with Mr. Brewer and with the field in part having preached once for him by exchange and I have encouraged him to make this application in reply to his inquiries. He has a farm and did intend to preach without Home Miss,, aid but begins to find that he cannot do two things at once and promises to move onto his field in the fall. I feel no hesitation in recommending the application. Rev. Mr. Phelps of Lee Centre is well acquainted with him. A. Kent I think they have done well to raise $300 the first year. _____ Galena, Aug. 10, 1859 Dear Doctor B., I returned last evening from a tour in which there are some things to be noted. Spent several hours with Br. Parker of Franklin Grove. He is struggling with poverty in the support of a little family and wants to get out of debt and go to And. Theo. Sem. as his Br. in Kansas, your Missionary advises. I spent a night with Br. Brown at Ogle Station [Ashton]. He will remove on to his field so soon as he can get a place to put his family. I made inquiries at Lane [Rochelle] and there passed on to Dement and advised Br. Buss to go elsewhere and not attempt to gather a church to the prejudice of the Old School Ch. located there, i.e., at Lane. I took diversion to DeKalb, putting myself to some inconvenience to sympathize with your former missionary, Br. Bristol, who still supplies the church there, though he has been totally blind since last Feb. I spent Sab. July 31 and preached at Forreston (where lives the son of Mr. Halsy of Newark) and at another point 5 miles out, making me walk 5 miles on Sat.. and again on Sab. between the services. In the midst of Germans I can gather good congregations. The last Sabbath I spent with Br. Holton at Lawrence, administered the Lord’s supper in the afternoon, preached on infant Bap. and baptized his child and in the evening preached at a rival village (2 miles) Harvard. On Monday rode over to visit Br. Emery and yesterday left McHenry & Boone Cos. dried up for want of rain and reached home at 6. Br. Emery will leave his field (though greatly beloved and his pleasant parsonage which he has created there by his efforts) because they cannot do not pay him. He says he has not received 50 dollars and the good men are all so involved that they cannot pay. And this but a specimen of what exists everywhere and in many instances. It is “as with priests so with the people.” I thank my father that he brought me up to shun being in debt as I would shun a rattle snake. A. Kent ___
Galena, Sept. 1, 1859 A. Kent in Act. with A.H.M.S. Balance due me March 1 $140.50 Ap. 20th Received of 1 Cong Ch Rockford 37.39 May 17 of 2 Cong Ch Rockford 132.77 Sept 16 John Ruth of Freeport 5.00
There is now in hand of the treasurer of the 2 Presb. Ch. of Galena and will probably be paid over to me soon $63 238.26 deduct 140.50 Thre is due to me $300 less 197.76
$102.24
Please report in the next “Home Miss.” the above contributions 4 items and if my account does not agree with that of the treasurer, place the discrepency over against my claim and deduct until the accounts balance and oblige, Yours, etc., A. Kent I must acknowledge myself a poor hand to keep accounts. I discovered in looking over my diary today $30 passed over which I had not creditied to myself on anotehr transaction so that I am 30 dollars richer for this review which has occupied me today ____ Galena, Sept. 16, 1859 This is another feeble church [Wenona] which is likely to remain feeble a good while but if the minister lays himself out to cultivate the surroundings as they promise I can recommend the application. A. Kent
I have written Mr. Munk urging missionary labour in the destitutions around. _____
Galena, Oct. 28, 1859 Rev. Dr. Coe Dear Sir, I think that your views and mine in regard to the exploring work are not in unison. It seems to me that for the want of a better term I must include under that head all that is necessary to prepare the field for the introduction of a missionary which requires the labour of months (or years even in some cases_. I am neither Pope nor Bishop of the Northeast E. Ch. and I can only say “there is an inviting field” but the man listens to what I say and then goes to another field that better suits his notions of comfort and gives better promise of support. I cannot employ him unless he is commissioned for a year, and then not unless the people raise some portion of his support. But this filed may be field may be prospectively important though I cannot map it out before the Com. at N.Y. as it opens to my overview without much labor of description. Let me give you an illustration. Forreston, where I spent the last Sab. and to which I have before visited is a growing village of 5 years old and pop. 500, is in the center of a district 25 by 20 within which there are no Presb. or Cong. Ch. but recently settled by Pennsylvanians and these in the main German Reformed & Lutherans. Br. Johnston of Lena and I have begun to explore it. We have organized one Ch. and we have been invited to organize another which we expected would together employ a missionary. But an Old School Elder (outside) took the alarm and went with a minister and jumped out claim and by underbidding, c.c., promising to do more for them than we had promised. They have consented to connect themselves with that body. Consequently the little church just formed has no other in the vicinity with which to can connect and they could not raise more than 50 or 75 dollars and therefore they must be left destitute unless I go once in 4 weeks and nurse them until in the growth of the village they gather more strength. Having a pass on the Central R.R> I can go there in 4 hours without expense or fatigue. But it may be a year or two before I can obtain a supply for them except my service once in 4 weeks. And even that will but poorly compete with the Methodists and Lutherans who are just now making vigorous exertions. Much more would be achieved probably if we could command for the “Forreston & vicinity” an energetic man at a salary of $500 besides 100 raised on the field (in other words a live missionary). But after all it is difficult to convey to your minds a 1000 miles off and already surfeited with such like specifications and adequate view of the importance of the field. Still I spread out this one case that you may be free to say whether in your judgement I ought to drop them or continue to hold on. With regard to making collections I have never known more embarrassments than now. Every man almost and very many of our churches are in debt. Our crops would be tolerable if we were not all over in debt and obliged to sacrifice everything to pay debts or to pat interest on them. I have done (as I always have) c.c. I have urged the necessity of taking up collections for the A.H.M.S. and signified my readiness to preach on the subject if the Pastor did not prefer to do it himself. I went yesterday with your letter in my mind to the 2nd Ch. in Galena and was told that they had concluded to wait until Jan. 1. In the meantime some are in favor of the American Miss. Ass. and some of Ch. Ex. I am running short of funds to meet family expenses and educate those that are away at School, and yet I presume that there is not a more economical family in the city than we. In respect to with holding contributions by Presb. Churches, I know of none on my field who avow such a purpose. I believe that there is but one opinion, that while they receive aid, they ought to contribute to our Society, though some choose to contribute to Ch. Ex. Com. and yet if I do not misjudge not more largely that the Congregationalists did some years ago to Free Missions when they were antagonistic to the A.H.M.S. One remark surprised me “we are not permitted to reply” through the Pres. newspapers. I shall be curious to know what paper has refused to publish nay article you have sent them. May the Great Head of the Ch. guide you by heavenly wisdom under the perplexities of your present position. Yours, as ever, A. Kent The first Ch. in this city is labouring under embarrassments which prose little aid. their minister is very sick. ___ Galena, Nov. 9, 1859 I have spent some time including several Sabbaths at Nora during the time of their destitution and am pretty well acquainted with their condition. I am also acquainted with Rev. Mr. Cooley and in various ways have laboured to secure their upbuilding and though I hope soon they will support preaching yet I think foreign aid essential now. A. Kent
____ Galena, Nov. 9, 1859 Rev. Dr. Coe, Dear Br., You have administered a very ??? but well merited reproof for delinquency in reporting quarterly, which I should think would not need to be repeated if I had not been so often faulty in that matter. I have been thinking it over and trying to account for so palpable neglect. And it amounts to this, that I occasionally write as incidents occur and then I think it is so vapid and stale to those who sit and read these long winded epistles from day to day that I cannot inflict the pain. Certainly it is not from any unwillingness to keep you informed of my movements. Certainly I believe such erring creatures as we should be held to accountability whether agents or secretaries or Archbishops. Well then as the best atonement, I will give you in brief an account of my Sabbaths as recorded in my journals since the year came in. March 6 preached twice for Br. Goodale (licentiate) at Kappa, Marshall Co., administered the Lord’s supper and received 16 into the church (of 16) and baptized 6, having on the day previous preached a lect. prep and assisted in the Ex. of candidates. During the week I visited El Paso and Minonk and informed myself of their affairs. 10 Rode to Wenona and attended prayer meeting. 13 Preached twice for Br. Dunn and assisted at Communion having received 12 persons and ordained an Elder, and having preached . 20 preached once for Br. Lot Church at Huntley Station, McHenry Co, was very muddy during the week. I called on Br. Clark at Elgin, Br. Fuller at Crystal Lake and visited Virginia Settlement, Dunston and Canfield and their missionaries Kingsley and C.R. Clark. 27 Preached at Marengo, McHenry Co. and at Garden Prairie for Br. N.C. Clark and attended prayer meeting in the evening. Ap. 3 Preached at Forreston & Haldane 5 miles apart, Ogle co. 10 Preached once a very rainy day at Franklin Grove, Lee Co. for Mr. Parker, Licentiate 17 Preached twice at Davis, a new station on the Racine R.R. 24 Preached twice at Minonk, Marshal co and once at McCook School house, administered the Lord’s Supper, visited 2 Sab. Schools & rode 12 miles, having preached lent preparatory on the day previous. |