The History of Champlain Conference 18432000

1
The Father of the Wesleyan Methodist
Church of England
The Reverend John Wesley
At Age 63
Born June 17, 1703 at Epworth, England Died
March 2, 1791 at London, England Last Statement
on eve of March 1, 1791 The best of all is,
God is With us
2
In 1729 returning from Epworth to fill his
college duties as a Fellow, Wesley found a small
society formed for study and the cultivation of
religion. Wesley joined this society quickly.
Wesley did not originate the group known as the
Holy Club or Methodists, but it was his skill as
an organizer which made them effective. The
influence of the Holy Club on the religious life
of the University rapidly increased, but the most
important result was seen in the development of
John Wesley himself. John himself referred to it
as as a light into which he himself is slowly
passing. . In our history the effect of
Rules for Holy Living , which the Holy Club
operated under, is Methodisms noblest period.
Top-Lincoln College , Oxford Christs Church
College,
3
Photo to the left and this quote were taken from
the December 1878 issue of Harpers Monthly. I
presently stood before an old oaken pulpit in an
entrance hall at Lincoln College of Oxford. In
that pulpit John Wesley preached his first
sermon. Passing up the stairway, I entered rooms
where resided the first Methodist- some-time
fellow of Lincoln College. Lincoln College was
founded expressly to wage war against the ideas
of Wycliffe. The heart of Wesley took root and
climbed upward at Lincoln. My belief is that
Oxford never had a truer son than Wesleyanisms
founder.
4
The Annual Conference as a unit of organization
arose very early in the history of Methodism. In
1744, five years after the first meeting
society was formed by John Wesley in London, he
invited some of his leading
helpers to meet and confer with him.
(excerpts taken from "One Hundred and
Twenty-Five Years For Christ)
( 1843-1968)
Introduction ( 1
) The history of the Champlain Conference spans
one hundred and fifty-seven years come May
2000AD, more than twice as long as any of us will
live. No one living today was an eye witness to
the beginnings of our church. Is there anyone
living now who knew the founding fathers? Yet
their spirit lives on with us. Because of the
faithfulness of these heroic men and women our
church is here today, well able to serve
the present age. Many changes have come through
the years, each one for the better, we trust, yet
the first generation of Wesleyan Methodists
would feel much at home in the church of this
day.A history book is not needed to glamorize the
past. Our history as a conference deserves to be
known by the contemporary church. Humbly and with
great love we serve in the
5

Introduction (2) church of our choice. We
cannot say that next to Christ we love our
church, for to us, Christ and our church are
inseparable. At her altars we were saved,
sanctified, married, ordained, and there we
baptized our children to whom has been given a
wonderful heritage. It is pleasant to think that
when God calls us to enter into the joy of our
Lord, we will go to the life beyond from the
altar of a Wesleyan Church.
For two years members of the
(1968) Historical Committee have delved into
all of the Annual Minutes of the Conference.
This has been most rewarding. Hardly a debate,
decision, declaration, or action but what
appeals to the researcher as worthy of inclusion
in the printed history. There were many
conversations and much correspondence, from which
the most interesting data was gained. The size
and expense of our historical publication has
ruled out some of this material.
Additional items of
historical interest may be published from time to
time through our Conference Challenger. In the
articles submitted by the pastors on the history
of the churches some small items of information
at hand have been added, or items of but
6
Introduction
(3) local interest or which have been included
elsewhere, have been omitted.
Aldis M. Lamos,
Glen Falls-- March 5. 1968
7
ORANGE SCOTT (1) We have now
the name of Rev. Orange Scott be-fore us, and we
pause to tell in brief the story of his life thus
far. He was born February 13, 1800 in Vermont,
the oldest of a family of eight. His father
worked as a day laborer for farmers and as a
woodsman, was always poor, never a landowner,
moved frequently, and as a result his children
had very meager educational and religious
advantages. Orange Scott and his younger
brothers were put to labor as soon as they were
old enough to labor to any profit, and he
reckoned in later life that his school days only
totaled thirteen months, scattered throughout the
years until he was twenty-one. In his ability to
acquire knowledge from such books as came into
his hands, and in the eagerness and the
perseverance that marked his development as a
Rev Orange Scott The Founder Of
Wesleyan Methodist Connection Born Feb.
13,1800 Died July 31, 1847
8

Orange Scott (2) as a minister and reformer, one
is reminded of Abraham Lincoln who was born in
1809 and lived in the same period of national
life. Orange was powerfully awakened to his need
of salvation on his twenty first birthday as he
was at work in a field. Under the power of this
awakening produced by the Holy Spirit he came, as
he said to the decided and determined
resolution to seek God until I found Him precious
to my soul . This awakening took place in
August 1820 and in the following month he was
converted in a camp meeting held by the
Methodists in Barre , Vermont. He united with the
Methodist Episcopal Church immediately and
entered the work of the itinerant ministry by the
usual process of advancement. His ministry was
very fruitful and his advancement was rapid. In
the twenty two years he was a member of that body
he served effectively as a circuit rider, was a
presiding elder for six years and was elected as
a delegate to three of the General Conferences
of his church. He said Being wholly devoted to
the one idea of saving souls I omitted to
examine, as I should, the condition of the
country in respect to great moral evils. Indeed I
scarcely knew slavery existed at all.
9

Orange Scott (3)
His biographer said later of Orange Scott
He read the burning rebukes of John Wesley
declaring the slave trade the sum of all
villanies, and expressing as his opinion that
all slave-holders were exactly on a level with
men-stealers. He heard the voice of Frances
Asbury in earnest ejaculation, saying Oh Lord,
banish the infernal spirit of slavery from Thy
dear Zion! Orange Scotts spirit was aroused
within him. Over the years he worked hard for
abolition of slavery to the point of ruining his
own health. In 1834 he wrote his first article
against slavery and quickly gained prominence
amongst the abolitionists. On November 8, 1842
Rev. Scott, Rev. Jotham Horton and the Rev. Roy
Sutherland withdrew from from the Methodist
Episcopal Church and shortly after published
their reasons in the first issue of The True
Wesleyan, a periodical published in Boston by
Scott and Horton. This periodical is really the
fore-runner of our Wesleyan Advocate. The
actual organization of Wesleyan Methodist
Connection took place at the Utica Convention
held in Utica, NY on May 31 - June 7, 1843 at
which Scott served as president of that
convention.
The preceding taken History of Wesleyan
Methodist Church--- 1934
10
THE
BEGINNINGS
(1) As the name "Wesleyan"
indicates, this church owes its existence to the
Revival in England under the Wesleys, which began
about May, 1738, around the time of John Wesley's
heart warming experience in Aldersgate Street
Chapel in London. The first Methodist Conference
was called by John Wesley in London on June
25, 1744, to consolidate the societies. The five
points of Methodism were set forth at this
Conference, which were namely Repentance,
Faith, Justification, Sanctification, and the
Witness of the Spirit. The Revival soon took
root in the American Colonies under
the leadership of Francis Asbury. In 1784 at the
famous Christmas Conference in Lovely Lane
Chapel in Baltimore, the societies in America
took the name Methodist Episcopal Church commonly
called the M.E. Church . From this beginning the
new denomination grew rapidly. The issue of
slavery was a vexing issue in the church at the
time. "Leading Ministers, chiefly in New England
at first, pronounced slavery to be a crime in
God's sight, and immediate, unconditional
11
The
Beginnings (2) emancipation a duty, advocating
these views in the pulpits, at camp meetings, in
conventions and through the press." The
slavery subject was introduced into Quarterly and
Annual Conferences, and ultimately became
involved with questions of Conference rights,
Episcopal perogatives, and the rights of the
laity. The General Conference of 1836 passed a
vote of censure upon two of its members who had
attended and spoken at an antislavery meeting in
Cincinnati where the General Conference was
held. The General Conference of 1840 having found
it inexpedient to express any opinion, or to
adopt any measures additional to that already in
the Discipline, so many began to abandon hopes
of seeing the church purged of slavery, and to
regard withdrawal as necessary to free themselves
from the guilt of connection with it. On February
1, 1843 nine ministers and forty-three laymen
gathered in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the
little town of Andover. Massachusetts. The host
pastor was the Reverend Luther Lee. These men
met in Andover in a Wesleyan Anti-slavery
convention to effect the organization of the
Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America.
12
The Beginnings
(3) Others preferred to fight the battle within
the Church. But Orange Scott of Vermont, Jotham
Horton, Luther Lee, and others, felt impelled by
their consciences to withdraw. At a convention
held at Utica, New York, in 1843, they organized
the Wesleyan Methodist Connection. This was
but the beginning of a struggle in which churches
were rent in twain through most of the Northern
states. The organization thus formed numbered at
one period a considerable number of preachers and
members. On May 31, 1843, thirty-five ministers
and one hundred and seventeen laymen from nine
states and Ireland met in Utica, New York. The
opening prayer of the Utica convention was
offered by the president of the Champlain
Conference, the Reverend Cyrus Prindle. The
official call which declared the purpose of the
Utica Convention reads " to form a Wesleyan
Methodist Church...free from episcopacy and
slavery, and embracing a system of itinerancy
under proper limitations and restrictions, with
such disciplinary regulations as are necessary
to preserve and promote experimental and
practical holiness." The presiding officer of the
Convention, elected by that Convention the first
president
13
The Beginnings
(4) of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of
America, was the Reverend Orange Scott. They
organized the Wesleyan Methodist Connection
of America consisting of six conferences New
England, Champlain, New York, Allegheny, Miami
(in the state of Ohio), and Michigan.
A discipline prepared by a committee appointed at
the Andover Convention was adopted . It differed
from the Methodist Episcopal Church Discipline in
the form of government and in its attitudes
toward certain moral questions. Sometime in May,
1843, between the Andover and Utica Conventions,
the Champlain Conference was organized with
the Reverend Cyrus Prindle, then pastor of the
Ferrisburg and Vergennes churches in Vermont,
elected the first president. The first churches
with their pastors names and number of members
were Forrisburg and Vergennes, Vt.
Cyrus Prindle 111 Bridport, Vt. and Crown
Point, N. Y. Calvin Goodwin 30 Hadley, N.
Y.
Salmon Foster 80 Morristown, Albany, Greensboro,
Vt. Jonas Scott 81 Keene and Jay, N. Y.
Henry Stewart 8
14
The
Beginnings (5) Champlain and Chazy, N. Y.
Miles Fisk 18 Pierpoint, N. Y.
William Stericker 80 Rossie,
N. Y. John Thompson
33 Lisbon, N. Y.
Lyndon King 185
Granville, N. Y. Lyman
Prindle 57 Bucksbridge, N.
Y. Edward Gould 40 These
congregations for the most part, did not worship
in church buildings at first because they were
"come outers", and in most cases the church
buildings came some years later. The Morley
church building may be the oldest in continuous
use since the year of its founding, although
it has been remodeled three times. The brick
church in Ferrisburg, Vermont, believed to be the
one pastored by the Reverend Cyrus Prindle in
1843, is in a good state of repair and now (1968)
used by another church group, the Wesleyans long
since having discontinued work there. Hadley
and Lisbon, the two oldest organizations in our
conference, worshiped at the beginning in meeting
houses in the vicinity of the present villages.
15
The
Beginnings (6) The opening sentences in the
first volume of our Champlain Conference Annual
Minutes read "The Champlain Conference of the
Wesleyan Methodist Connection, convened pursuant
to appointment at West Chazy, N. Y., on the 5th
day of October, 1843. Conference was opened in
due form by Cyrus Prindle, President." A
committee was appointed to prepare a roll of
members. A committee was appointed to confer with
the Methodist Protestant brethren present to
consummate a union between them and this
Connection. Incidentally, the Methodist
Protestant Conference in which these churches had
their membership was also called the Champlain
Conference. The churches of the Methodist
Protestant Church joining the Champlain
Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection
at this first session, with their pastors names
and the number of members were
Chateaugay, N. Y. Hiram McKee 50
Weybridge and Middlebury, Vt. John
Crocker 72 Stockholm, N. Y.
John Adams 52 Peru, N. Y.
Nathan Crary 50

16
The
Beginnings (7) West Chazy, N. Y.
John Lowry 120 Beekmantown,
N. Y. Alexander Lamberton 30
Edwards, N. Y. Hiram
Wing 11 The Champlain Conference, at
its first session after organization, included
eighteen churches with one thousand and
fifty-eight members. The growth (to 1968) of the
Conference has been slow. There are many reasons
for this, the main one being insufficient
interest in numerical growth. In the 1844
session of the Champlain Conference the
churches in the Western District withdrew to form
the St. Lawrence Conference. In 1853 the St.
Lawrence Conference dissolved, with the
northern churches rejoining the Champlain
Conference and the southern churches joining the
Syracuse Conference. In 1939 the Methodist
Protestant Church, a split from the M.E. church
in 1828, joined with the Methodist Episcopal
Church to form a single church called the
Methodist Church. On July 3, 1947, a new start
was made by the Wesleyan Methodists in New
England with the organization of the church in
Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where the
Reverend Orange Scott is buried.
17
Champlain
Conference Growth
1843-1999 ( Ten Year Intervals ) Year
Number of Churches Number of
Members
1853 18 1486 1863 18 1196
1873 23 1607 1883 24 1260 1893 24 1
360 1903 26 1152 1913 30 1035 1923 25
770 1933 24 739 1943 27
902 1953 36 1100 1963 43 1119 1967 45
1161 (1967 included because The Source Book
was published in 1968)
18
Champlain
Conference Growth
1843-1999 ( Ten Year Intervals ) Year
Number of Churches
Number of Members
1973
52
1532 1983
50
1788 1993
47
1743 1999
48
1704
Year of Highest Number
of Churches 1973 ( 52 churches )
Year of Lowest Number of Churches
1853 ( 18 churches ) Year of Highest Number
of Members 1983 ( 1788 members )
Year of Lowest Number of Members
1933 ( 739 members )
Average Number of Churches ( 33
churches ) Average Number
of Members ( 1274 members)
19
Conference Presidents(District
Superintendents) (1) Name
Years Served
Cyrus Prindle
1843-1844,1846-1847,1849-1851 Hiram Mckee
and John Crocker (both served) 1845 Asa Hand
1848,1851-1853 Lyman Prindle
1854 S. W. Foster
1854-1857 James Dayon
1858-1859 Dyar Willis
1860,1862 Natham Warner 1861,1873-1874,1897-189
8 S. H Foster 1863,1864 John
Crocker 1865 R. E. Johnson
1866-1869,1883-1887 S. H. Foster
1870 L. C. Partridge
1871-1872 George Ellis 1875 N. E.
Jenkins 1876-1877,1888-1896
20
Conference Presidents(District
Superintendents) (2) Name
Years Served
O. D.
Putnam 1899-1902 E. D.
Carpenter 1902-1920 A. J. Allen
1920-1929,1935-Oct. 5,1936 C. Lawrence Hill
1929-1932 H. N. Robinson 1932-1935 George
D. Jock 1936-1939 L. C Matoon
1939-1942 Price Stark
1942-1946 Charles Dayton 1946-1952,1960(still
serving1968) Reginald Hewitt
1952-1960 Charles Dayton
1960-1976 Everett Elliott
1976-1985 John Lamos
1985-1988 Lloyd
W. Stuart
1998-1993 Daniel A. Berry
1993-present