TRAVELING MISSIONARIES AND CIRCUIT RIDERS

Before there were churches and ministers, and when weather permitted, a traveling missionary would preach to the settlements. People would come in wagons or by foot to hear the message of God. This would also be a time to exchange the news and visit with others. “Brush arbors,” where protracted meetings would be held, were assembled from branches of trees for shade from the hot sun. The meetings would sometimes last for hours and lead to the organization of a permanent church. Later, when funds were available, churches would be built. Revivals would be held in the summer, fall, or spring. At this time many new members were added to the church. The Revivals sometimes lasted for several days.

 

The traveling missionaries, often called “Circuit Riders” would travel on foot or on horseback, stopping at homes as they went.  This was a very strenuous and hard life and many of the circuit riders died in their 30’s or early 40’s.  They were dependent on food and shelter at the homes that welcomed them, and in the early days of Cooper County, homes were few and far between.  They were subject to bad weather, getting lost on the open prairie and had no protection from those who would cause them harm or rob them.

 

In later years, Revivals or Camp Meetings were held in tents, but the goal was always bringing folks back to or into the church. Pilot Grove Township was distinguished in the early years by the number and variety of camp meetings which were held there. The Presbyterians and Methodists were rivals for the honor of conducting the biggest and best camp meeting each year. People attended from great distances, as it was a social event as well as a religious one.

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Methodist Circuit Riders

Methodism became prominent in Missouri in the early 1800’s through “circuit riders” who were lone preachers on horseback who spread the Word of God to rural settlers, and relied on these same settlers for food and shelter. These early preachers had no church or congregation of their own, as all preachers were itinerants. Their circuits were of varied sizes, depending on the number of settlers in their circuit area. In the new Territory of Missouri, on the south side of the Missouri River, their circuits were very large, and it usually took the preacher about six weeks to complete.  The circuits varied from 200 to 600 miles.

 

Circuit Riders were usually young, single men with an agricultural or artisan background. They could read and write, but were normally not well educated. However, when they felt called to preach, they received a course of study in the Bible, the Methodist Hymnal, and were well versed in the theology of John Wesley. They were paid a salary of $80 per year. They had to supply their own horse, saddle and bridle and all their clothing.  Some complained that the food they received was poor and they often had to sleep on the floor of a shed. But, homes at that time were very small and already crowded.

 

In 1816 there were only eight preachers to cover the entire area that was to later become the state of Missouri. They ministered to those who lived on scattered farms or in small villages that would be unable to support a full-time minister.

 

If possible, the circuit rider preached every day in what ever building was large enough – barns, taverns, homes, under trees or in “brush arbors.  They often started as early as 5 AM in the summer so that farmers could get out to the fields to work, or were done in the evening after farming work was done.

 

Wherever there were enough people in an area, the preacher would start a class and appoint a lay person to conduct classes in order to keep the people together until the circuit rider made his rounds and returned. These classes became a basis for a new church to be established. The preacher was not looking for Methodists, he was looking for anyone who wanted to hear the word of God and eventually become a Methodist.

 

Camp meetings and revivals were held at least once each year and often lasted for week. People would come from miles away for these revivals and a for a chance to meet friends they had not seen for a year or more. Many new members to the church would be added at this time,  plus weddings and baptisms performed.

 

“Sermons were practical, moral, and dramatic. Methodist doctrine fit well with the spirit of the frontier. The emphasis of free will, and grace, unlike to the limited grace and predestination preached by the Presbyterians and Baptists appealed to those independent souls who had moved to the frontier and who felt They were in control of their destiny”. (1)

 

Boonville was incorporated into a circuit in 1818 by a local preacher, Justinian Williams, and by 1840 became a station and became the second largest in the state of Missouri. Stops for the early circuit riders included Boonville, Pilot Grove and a German settlement 12 miles south of Boonville.

 

Reference: Circuit Riders to Crusades by John O. Gooch, Ph.D.

1. Circuit Riders to Crusades pages 10, 11

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Baptists

During the first five years of settlement in this area most services were held in homes by a passing missionary or circuit rider. In 1815, Luke Williams, who later preached at Concord and Mt. Nebo, held services at Hannah Cole’s Fort. He was born in Virginia, in 1776, and settled in Cooper County in 1816. The other missionary who preached in the Fort was James Savage. Both of these men were of the Baptist denomination, which was the prevailing one in early Cooper County.

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In early Boonville, Missouri, there was no "German Church" where first- and second-generation immigrants could worship in the custom familiar to the then fewer than forty families who had migrated Westward during the early 1800's.

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In 1849 two German circuit riders, the Reverends Rauschenbach and Kroenke, were in Boonville on a regular but infrequent basis for the Evangelical United Church of Christ. Then, in 1850, the Rev. Hoffmeister, an Evangelical minister serving Moniteau County, agreed to conduct services twice a month at Boonville. His ministry at Boonville was brought about as a result of the amount of $250 annually provided by the Presbyterian Church Mission Board's decision to support a church for their German friends.

 

New Lebanon

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church of New Lebanon established a seminary in that trained young men to become circuit riders and ministers

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EARLY CHURCH DISCIPLINE

The discipline of the early church was strict. Instances of discipline involved: card playing, drinking liquors in excess, fights between members (pulling off their coats in an “affray”), marriage troubles, dishonesty in horse trading, making false statements against the pastor and non-attendance at church. No servant or servants were allowed to sell beer, cakes, cider, melons, or anything of that kind within one mile of the church.

 

Churches were affected by the Civil War. Some churches were destroyed or burned, and congregations had to work together to heal the wounds of war. The healing in most cases came slowly. Black members, who had before worshiped with the white members (blacks were forced to sit in the back of the church building), formed their own churches and cemeteries.

 

Some of the early churches had two entrance doors. Some also had a partition through the center section of the building separating the men and women so there would be no “distractions” during worship.

 

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BAPTISMS

Some of the churches conducted baptismal services at a nearby creek. After the Sunday morning service, the congregation would go to a nearby creek and after a service of prayer and singing at the water’s edge, the pastor immersed the candidate for baptism.

 

An amusing incident was told in connection with an early baptismal service. A crowd of people had gathered on the banks of the stream where the baptism was to take place. Simons climbed up a small sapling which stood on the edge of the creek. John Hutchison, thinking that this would be a fine opportunity to have some fun, took out his pocket knife and began cutting away on the little tree where it was bent over by the viewer’s weight. Lower and lower bent the tree but the victim was so interested in the baptism he did not notice what was happening. At last the tree was cut in two and Simons fell into the water with a loud splash. The crowd laughed so long and loud that the minister almost dismissed the crowd, but finally they became quiet and the service was finished. Although the church was noted for its strictness, this illustration shows the members could also enjoy a good laugh.

 

The grasshopper invasion of 1875 caused much concern. Tuesday, May 18th, of that year was set aside as a day of prayer to God for his blessings upon the local churches and the nation in the removing of the insects that were devastating the land. People from different churches met together on that day to pray.

 

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CHURCH PROGRAMS WERE SUCCESSFUL

Churches began to have Sunday Schools in the early 1900’s. At this time the women of the churches were forming missionary and prayer societies and they began to become active in their churches’ programs.

 

Vacation Bible School started in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Many people in the county reflect with happiness upon their experiences at Bible School. Many of the churches in the County continue to have Bible Schools each summer. Some of the churches have a day each week set aside for church instruction.

 

Three churches in Cooper County have their own church school. A history of these schools can be found in the website section on schools.

 

RESOURCES:

LISTING OF ALL PAST AND PRESENT CHURCHES in Cooper County

Name, location, date established and church information and records:  A list of churches will come up.  Click on the one you wish to read about and watch for a blue arrow in the upper right had corner.  If you do not see the arrow, click again. If you wish to study several churches, close the one you were just looking at and click on a new name.

 

Resources at the CCHS Research Center – (listed in genealogy section of this website)

List of all Cooper County Churches we have information on in our files

list of all church history books at the Center

List of all church Centennial books

“Cooper County Church Sketches” by Florence Chesnutt available at CCHS Research Center for only $9