Strange are the providences by which the fires of Free Methodism have often been kindled in new places. One of these providences was connected with the opening up of the work in Dakota, and which finally led to the organization of the Dakota (now South Dakota) Conference. A man named Norman D. Baldwin, of Olivet (now), South Dakota, went to visit friends in Michigan in the spring of 1877. While there lie had his first introduction to Free Methodism, in a meeting held by J. W. Sharpe, now of Southern Oregon. The meeting was held near Galion, Michigan. He was so much taken with the type of religion this people represented that about two weeks before his return to Dakota he united with the Free Methodist Church. In August of the same year Mr. Sharpe, who was in poor health, was advised by his physician that a change of climate would be necessary to save his life. Accordingly he resigned his work in Michigan, and, with his family, removed to Olivet, Dakota. As was quite common in that early day the family traveled this long distance by team and covered wagon, probably as a matter of financial economy, and possibly also for the greater benefit to Mr. Sharpe's health. On their way they attended the session of the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference; and, Mr. Sharpe uniting with that body, was appointed to Olivet, Dakota. Reaching their destination October 11, 1877, on the fifteenth of the same month Mr. Sharpe preached his first sermon in that Territory in the Olivet schoolhouse, from the words, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15. Thus J. W. Sharpe providentially became the firebrand to kindle the fires of Free Methodism in that part of Dakota Territory which is now the State of South Dakota.

While far from being a well man for many years, yet Mr. Sharpe always had a reputation for doing with his might what his hands found to do. Accordingly from the beginning of his work in this new field he put the Gospel plow down deep; and, notwithstanding bitter opposition from certain preachers of the sort who place undue emphasis upon water as a means of salvation, a gracious revival followed. On the 4th of February, 1878, he organized the first Free Methodist society in that region of country. The following were charter members in full connection: Norman D. Baldwin, Mary Baldwin, E. J. Sharpe, Alexander Hambright, Mary Taylor, Anna S. Smith, Sophia Taylor. Nine were also received on probation. This society was the germ from which was developed Free Methodism in South Dakota. Another society was also organized at Scotland, a town seven miles from Olivet, a little later.

Camp-meetings have always been an effective means of extending the influence of Free Methodism into new territory, and so in June of this year Mr. Sharpe planned for a camp-meeting on Lone Tree Creek, about one mile south of Olivet. He was the only preacher present until the meeting was about half over. Then G. C. Coffee, District Chairman from Iowa, came to his aid, accompanied by D. W. Cook, who had recently come among the Free Methodists from the Methodist Episcopal Church. The meeting was small as compared with such meetings in the older portions of the work, there being but seven tents; but God was pleased to pour out His Spirit graciously upon the few who were there to labor for Him, and to show forth His power unto salvation. It was a profitable meeting, and helped to advertise and advance the work. Soon after its close another society was organized in what has been called "the Michigan settlement," six miles west of Olivet. At the Conference session that fall Mr. Sharpe was able to report forty-one members and probationers from the Dakota work.

The first Free Methodist Church edifice was built in December of that year. It was a sod structure, 17x35 feet, and was built in haste in order to have it ready for watch-meeting December 31. The watch-meeting was held, and protracted meetings followed, in which many were awakened and saved. The following summer the District Court held its session in the sod Church, and the pastor was made foreman of the grand jury, both being very unusual occurrences. At the session of the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference in the fall of 1879 five preachers received appointments to circuits on the Dakota district. G. C. Coffee was appointed Chairman of the district. "The country was new, settlements were sparse, and accommodations were primitive. Roads were only winding trails over the prairies. In times of flood it was often necessary for preachers and Chairmen to travel long distances on foot to reach appointments, following railroad tracks sometimes and crossing swollen streams on ties and rails holding together where bridges had been swept away, or paddling across in watering-troughs when a row-boat could not be had. Travel was largely by ox team, people frequently going one hundred miles thus to a camp-meeting. But much of God's presence and blessings were given and souls were saved."[1]

Surely the Gospel ministry under such circumstances is no snug and easy nest for dilettante preachers, no profitable sinecure for those who have an eye to "the recompense of the reward" in the present life, no place of honor and exaltation in the eyes of worldly-minded men. It is a calling, however, demanding men of brain and brawn, men of muscle and daring, men of moral stamina, men who confer not with flesh and blood, but who, touched with the love of Christ and with compassion for the lost, are ready to make sacrifices, brave dangers, toil hard, be misunderstood and so misrepresented, and suffer on uncomplainingly, only so they may make full proof of their ministry, and gather men and women into the kingdom of God. Such were the men who entered the open door to this great prairie frontier, prepared the soil, and sowed the seed for a harvest that should soon become a Free Methodist Annual Conference.

The first Free Methodist service held in the Territory was the one held by J. W. Sharpe, at Olivet, October 11, 1877; but the work in that region developed until, at Providence, Dakota, September 19, 1883, the Dakota Annual Conference was organized, with eight preachers in full connection, and with a lay membership within the Conference territory of 107 members including probationers. General Superintendent Roberts presided over the session. The following are the names of the preacher' who were received as charter members: G. C. Coffee, J. W. Sharpe, David Fear, D. W. Cook, J. S. Phillips, George Windust, E. N. Sumner, and F. W. Moon, who had been on probation, but was received into full connection and elected to Deacon's Orders. Several of them are still living (1915) and connected with the Free Methodist Church, though now belonging to other Conferences. As the providence of God has led them on to other fields new men have been raised up to take their places, and so the work of God has gone on triumphantly to the present time. Under the earnest and faithful labors of such men as J. B. Freeland, H. L. Torsey, O. A. Harpel, J. K. Freeland, T. Donoghue, Wilbur N. Coffee, J. W. Whiteside, W. D. McMullen, and others of the same spirit and purpose, most of whom have been more recently received, this Conference has ever remained true to the traditions of Free Methodism, and has raised up and sent out some noble men and women into other parts of the work, both to the home and foreign fields.

In 1885 J. B. Freeland, on the advice of Superintendent Roberts and others, took a transfer from the Genesee to the Dakota Conference. His son, J. K. Freeland, then a bright and energetic young man, was already a member of the Conference, and the coming of the father and his family added greatly to the strength of the work, the more so because of the fact that Mrs. Freeland, a lady of rare devotion as well as of culture and refinement, was also a preacher of acceptability, and ardently devoted to the cause of Christian education.

Through the influence of Mrs. Freeland and Miss Densie Slocum (now Mrs. Gaddis), who frequently talked together concerning the needs of an institution for the training of the young people of the Church in that frontier region, the subject of a Conference school was finally brought up at a camp-meeting, in June, 1886, where measures were adopted with a view to getting the matter before the Annual Conference which was to meet in the fall. The Conference received the proposition with enthusiasm, and steps were at once taken toward the establishment of a school within its bounds. The ultimate result of this action was the establishment of Wessington Springs Seminary, at Wessington Springs, Jerauld County, South Dakota. For many years the Freelands were closely identified with the work of this institution, the son as Principal, his wife as Preceptress, and the father as Trustee, and also as Financial Agent and Treasurer. A historical sketch of this worthy institution appears in the chapter on "Educational Institutions."

J. B. Freeland is one of the fathers of Free Methodism. He was reared on a farm in Western New York, about twenty miles from the author's early home. He was converted and sanctified in early manhood, and in answer to what he believed to be a divine call gave himself to the work of God. In the very early period of its history he connected himself with the Genesee Conference of the Free Methodist Church, and has steered a straight course and acquitted himself with great faithfulness ever since. He has helped to make Free Methodism in four Conferences, his labors extending nearly from ocean to ocean. After a number of years in the Genesee Conference he transferred to the Susquehanna, where he labored with much effectiveness for years as pastor and as District Chairman. Then he returned to Genesee, where he served for a short time, being soon called to take work in Dakota, where he became a charter member of the Dakota (now South Dakota) Conference. His labors in this part of the work which extended over nineteen years, were decidedly effective, and have been referred to in the foregoing part of this chapter. As age began to leave its impress upon him and his excellent wife they felt the need of a milder climate, and so went to Southern California. There he cast in his lot with the Southern California Conference, and, though he has been much of the time on the superannuate list since reaching that land of sunshine and of flowers, he has done much preaching not only within but beyond the limits of the Conference territory, making occasional trips to the California, Oregon, and Washington Conferences. His noble and devoted wife passed to the great beyond August 29, 1912.

The children of "Father and Mother Freeland" are following in the path their parents trod, and all but one are honored and useful members of the Free Methodist Church.

Hitherto the work in Minnesota had been chiefly confined to the southern portion of the State. In the fall of 1878, however, in answer to repeated calls which had come from certain members of the Free Methodist Church who had settled in that section, E. L. Smith, then a local preacher on the Owatonna and Havana circuit, of the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference, was appointed to Frazee City and Sauk Center, as supply. Mr. Smith was then a young man, but one who knew the Lord, who felt the divine call to preach the Gospel, and was ready to brave difficulties and make sacrifices in order that he might acquit himself as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Accordingly he took his family and started for the circuit to which he had been assigned. It was a journey of three hundred miles to their destination, which was made by team and wagon. They settled in a place called Leaf Valley, about equidistant from the two points comprising their circuit. Here they found six Free Methodists, who had been organized into a class before moving to that section of country. They were, David Covel, Elizabeth Covel, Henry Covel, Marcia Covel, George Knapp and Adelia Knapp. This formed a nucleus from which the North Minnesota, and later the North Dakota, Conference was formed. From Leaf Valley as a central point Mr. Smith pushed outward in various directions in endeavoring to build up the work. At Grove Lake, forty. two miles from his home, he organized another society the following April. He also was on the lookout for new places in need of preaching, and where the work could be established. At the Annual Conference the next fall he reported seventeen members. He was returned to the same field, and three others, W. P. Cook, S. H. Greenup, and A. Wolcott, were assigned fields in the same section. With these four preachers in the field the work began to move with much vigor, and within a few years spread over much of the northern portion of the State.

As the work grew it became inconvenient to provide for it from the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference, and the desirability of forming it into a Conference by itself became generally apparent. Hence the North Minnesota Conference was organized by General Superintendent Coleman, September 14, 1887. The work in this part of the State had been raised up through the aggressiveness of the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference, and quite a number of its ministers had become sufficiently interested in the northern work so that when it was organized into a separate Conference they were inclined to transfer their membership thereto. Hence we find that at the organization of the North Minnesota Conference S. P. LaDue, J. S. Bradley, A. Tice, A. H. Reed, S. H. Greenup, J. G. Norris, E. L. Smith, M. F. Childs, C. E. McReynolds, and Walter Barham, all of whom had transferred from the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference, constituted the list of preachers. The statistical reports showed about 250 lay members, including probationers, within the new Conference.

It was a noble band of preachers that composed the ministerial membership of the North Minnesota Conference at its organization. They gave themselves without reserve to the duties of their calling, seeking not ease, pleasure, gain, honor, nor popularity, but only to spread Scriptural holiness abroad and advance the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom among men. Some of them have finished their labors and gone to their reward; but a goodly number of them are still living (1915), J. S. Bradley on the superannuate list of the Columbia River Conference, E. L. Smith on the superannuate list of the Oregon Conference, M. F. Childs laboring as evangelist in the Southern Oregon Conference, C. E. McReynolds pastor at Sunnyside, in the Washington Conference, and Walter Barham still in the North Minnesota Conference, but now (1915) in a superannuate relation.

Among the laymen worthy of special mention as having helped to make Free Methodism in Northern Minnesota were such men as D. Wellman, H. P. Cook, J. W. Peck, H. A. Wolcott, Elizabeth Smith, Neal Trolson, R. Sipes, and Jesse Randall, "whose praise is in all the churches," and the memory of whose self-sacrificing devotion to God's cause is as ointment poured forth.

The first Free Methodist society in what is now the North Dakota Conference was organized at Larimore, in 1881. T. W. Lane and wife with several others had moved from Iowa to Larimore during the year, and W. R. Cusick, who at that time was Chairman of the Minnesota district, Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference, in looking after the scattered sheep visited them, and it is supposed formed them into a Free Methodist society. The Larimore society formed a nucleus about which other societies were later formed, until at length a Conference was raised up. The first appointment to this region was made by the Minnesota and Northern Iowa Conference in 1883, and read, "Larimore and Jerusalem, A. Tice." During that year new work was raised up, and at the following Conference session Devil's Lake and Tracy circuit was added to the list of appointments.

The work continued to develop, and after the organization of the North Minnesota Conference was included in its territory and supplied by the appointment of ministers from its list. In 1897, however, it was thought that, owing to the extreme distance between the remote ends of the Conference, and the expense and inconvenience of traveling so far, it would be better to divide the Conference; and so, in accordance with the request of the Conference, the division was made.

The organization of the North Dakota Conference occurred at Larimore, September 29, 1897. Burton R. Jones, who had been elected to the General Superintendency by the General Conference of 1894, presided at the session. The preachers enrolled at this first session were: Grant Greenup, Z. Newell, H. A. Spicer, O. E. McCracken, W. A. Greenup, and A. G. Parks, formerly of the South Dakota Conference, and A. McCracken and W. H. Lawson, formerly of the Central Illinois Conference. The lay members, including probationers, were 225.

The work in Minnesota and the Dakotas has been of a good type generally, but of late years has suffered considerable declension numerically, owing chiefly to the large influx of foreign population and the emigration of American residents to Oregon, Washington, and the northern provinces of Canada. At the present time the four Conferences considered in this chapter have a Church membership of 1,255, including probationers, fifty-six ministers, and Church and parsonage property valued at $93,200. Probably as hard and faithful work has been expended in this territory as in any section of the country, but much precious fruit of this labor has been gathered in heaven, and of that which remains on earth a large amount is to be found scattered through the more western and northern Conferences. God's word has not returned unto Him void, but has accomplished that which He pleased, and has prospered in the thing whereto He sent it.[2]

[1] "Outline History of Free Methodism," pp. 88, 89.
[2] Isa. 55: 11.