History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

Shinn organized a large four weeks' circuit on Hockhocking in 1803, with some fifteen societies, and
Quinn was there again in 1804. Thence Methodism kept pace with the settlements extending back
on the tributaries of the stream, and to Lake Erie, giving rise to scores of circuits.
Meanwhile, from the home of Roberts, in the Chenango and Erie regions, the itinerants made their
way across the line, and Deerfield, in Portage County, is reported in the Minutes of 1803, with
Shadrach Bostwick as its "missionary." Henry Shewel, a local preacher from Virginia, had preceded
him, as we have recorded, and as early as 1801 a small society had spontaneously organized in
Deerfield. Bostwick was preeminent among the men of that day, a native of Maryland, who joined
the itinerancy in 1791, and after traveling in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York,
entered New England in 1797, and presided over some of its districts with great success down to
1803, when, like Beauchamp in Western Virginia, he surprises us by his sudden appearance here in
the northwest of Ohio. He had thus penetrated the old "Western Reserve," and was the first
Methodist preacher sent into that region, and formed the circuit. It extended among the sparse
villages, and required extraordinary labors and sacrifices. He traveled on the Indian trails and by
marks on the trees. The roads were so bad in winter, and the bridges so few, that he had to desist
from traveling for several months during the worst weather. He formed the first Methodist societies
in that flourishing country, and the results of his labors during this and the following year have
continued to multiply to the present time, "keeping an even pace with the progress of the settlements,
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and the improvement of society." He located, on account of domestic necessities, in 1805, and
resumed the practice of medicine, to which he had been educated. "Shadrach Bostwick," says one
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of his old friends and fellow-laborers, "was a glorious man." He was a remarkable preacher,
famous through all the extensive regions of his labors for the intellectual and evangelical power of
his sermons. His talents would have secured him eminence in any department of public life. His
discourses were systematic, profound, luminous, and frequently overpowering, his piety deep and
pure, h is manners dignified and cordial.
Methodism was then fully on its march into the Northwestern Territory, at nearly every accessible
point, by the close of our present period. It had not only invaded Ohio, but reached hopefully beyond
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it. As early as 1802 Methodist preachers ventured within the present limits of Indiana, which then
had but a few scattered settlers. Its first Methodist was Nathan Robertson, who moved from
Kentucky to Charleston in 1799; three years later a small class was organized at Gassaway, near
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Charleston, in Clark County. The first chapel of the denomination, in the state, still stands about
two miles from Charleston; it was made of hewed logs, and is in a good state of preservation, though
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not used for worship." By 1807 we shall find in the state one circuit, with one preacher. And
sixty-seven members; and by 1810, three circuits, four preachers, and seven hundred and sixty
members, the beginning of that great host, now a hundred thousand strong, led by four hundred
itinerants. Before the close of our period, Benjamin Young, brother of Jacob Young, was dispatched
(1804) as a missionary to Illinois, which had but about two hundred and fifteen inhabitants in 1800
and was not admitted as a state of the Union till fourteen years after Young's appointment. We have
some glimpses of the pioneer's trials in a letter from him, dated Indiana Territory, Randolph County,
June 1, 1804, in which he says: "I am and have been very sickly since I have been here, but I hope
I am on the mend ... As for the state of religion, it is bad. I have formed a circuit, and five classes of
fifty members. In some places there is a revival. About twenty have professed to be converted since
I came, but the bulk of the people are given up to wickedness of every kind. Of all places it is the