The Illinois Conference is the center from which Free Methodism spread not only eastward into Michigan, but also into the Northwest, Middlewest and Southwest portions of the country.

At its first session, in 1861, according to the minutes, the "Western Convention" made the following appointment outside the State of Illinois in the Southwest: "St. Louis Circuit, Joseph Travis,-one to be supplied." The St. Louis Circuit, together with Lebanon, Illinois, was made a district, and Joseph Travis was appointed District Chairman.

Just what the appointment to this field was for the following year is not known, the minutes of the Illinois Conference for that year not being available. Presumably there was no change. But the minutes for 1863 show that J. G. Terrill was appointed preacher in charge at Lebanon, Illinois, and Chairman of the St. Louis district, with James Miller preacher in charge at St. Louis.

The next year the district remained the same, with J. G. Terrill returned as District Chairman, and with C. H. Underwood pastor at St. Louis. In 1865 the St. Louis district embraced the following appointments: Red field Chapel, St. Louis, J. G. Terrill; First Colored Free Methodist Church, William Austin; Lebanon, Illinois, C. H. Lovejoy; Bunker Hill, J. Miller; Mission to Freedmen, J. C. Washburn. J. G. Terrill was still District Chairman.

In 1866 a number of changes had occurred as indicated by the following list of appointments for this region:

St. Louis District, C. H. Lovejoy, Chairman. Redfield Chapel, St. Louis, Mo., and Kansas, C. H. Lovejoy; First Colored Free Methodist Church, St. Louis, W. Austin; Tipton, Mo., J. C. Washburn; North Missouri Mission, J. McCreery; Lebanon, Ill., Levi Kelly; Cairo, to be supplied.

It will be seen from this list of appointments that the work was not only spreading in Missouri, but also extending into Kansas. Accordingly instead of the St. Louis district appearing in the appointments of 1867, we find the "Missouri and Kansas District" named in its stead. This district covered substantially the same territory as did the St. Louis district, with the addition of Lawrence, Kansas, Alma and Versailles, Illinois, and Southern Illinois. The Conference of 1868 appointed nine preachers to this district, and made provision to employ four supplies. C. H. Lovejoy was still Chairman.

At this Conference provisional action appears to have been taken looking toward the formation of a Kansas and Missouri Conference the following spring or summer. In connection with a camp-meeting which began June 16, such an organization was effected, undoubtedly in good faith, but which was subsequently declared irregular and illegal. The Rev. James Mathews, who was then laboring in Kansas, reported the proceedings in the Free Methodist of July 22, 1869, as follows:

At the fall Conference the matter of forming a Kansas and Missouri Conference was discussed, and left to Brother Lovejoy to decide, so that, if in his judgment it was thought best to form one, it might be done in the spring or summer. The work spread over an extensive territory; calls were multiplying from the West; * * * and it seemed best to organize. Delegates were, therefore, elected in proper form, and came up to the camp-meeting, and on Saturday the preachers and delegates were called to order. In the absence of the General Superintendent, we proceeded according to Discipline, to elect a President. James Mathews was elected.

Eight preachers in full connection gave in their names and were recorded, as follows: C. H. Lovejoy, W. H. Neal, J. C. Washburn, Harry Mathews, W. N. Hanby, N. E. Parks, James Mathews, P. Lynch. An equal number of lay delegates were also admitted on their credentials.  Joseph McCreery was readmitted to the regular ministry, presumably on a Certificate of Location. Four preachers were admitted on trial, making a total of fifteen preachers.  Six were elected and ordained Elders, and one was elected and ordained Deacon. The usual routine business was transacted, and the season was reported as "a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."

The Conference was made to embrace four districts-the St. Louis, tile Northern Kansas and Nebraska, the Southern Kansas and Missouri, and the California.  Joseph McCreery, C. H. Lovejoy, and James Mathews were elected District Chairmen, and the Chairmanship of the California district was left to be supplied.  This latter district had but one appointment-Placerville, which was assigned to W. D. Bishop. Sixteen circuits were embraced in the Conference territory.  Tile Conference adjourned to meet again on the first Wednesday in March, 1870.

The minutes of the Illinois Conference for 1869 contain the following: "It was decided[1] that the organization of the Kansas and Missouri Conference was invalid; and the Conference ordered the appointments to be made so as not to conflict with those made at their June meeting." Then in the list of appointments occurs the following: "Kansas District (as arranged at their June meeting)."

It would seem that the first attempt to organize the Kansas and Missouri Conference lacked the authorization of the General Conference to give it validity. It appears from the records, however, that the Kansas and Missouri Conference proper was formed by vote of the General Conference held at Aurora, Illinois, commencing Wednesday, November 12, 1870.

The Committee on Boundaries reported the following recommendation, which was adopted:

That a new Conference be formed, to be called the Kansas and Missouri Conference, to embrace the States of Kansas, Missouri, and the Territory of Nebraska, and also including the Alma and Lebanon Circuits in the State of Illinois.

General Superintendent B. T. Roberts, C. H. Lovejoy, and James Mathews, Chairmen of the Northern and Southern Kansas Districts of the Illinois Conference, arranged the appointments of the newly formed Conference, which was made to embrace the above named districts and the St. Louis District. The appointments were ratified by the General Conference. The first regular session of the Conference was to be held in March, 1871.

The minutes of the Illinois Conference for 1870 show a total lay membership in Kansas and Missouri of 463, all but three of whom were members in full connection. The records of the Kansas and Missouri Conference do not appear in the published minutes of the Annual Conferences until the year 1877. Then the statistics are very imperfect, being the statistics chiefly for a single district - the Eastern Kansas. The record shows sixteen preachers in full connection, and thirteen on probation, with a lay membership of 367.

The work continued to spread Westward during the next five years over the State of Kansas, into Colorado and Nebraska, and throughout the northern part of the State of Missouri as well. The territory embraced in the Conference finally became so extended as to necessitate great travel and expense in attempting to care for it, and, chiefly on this account, it was determined to divide it and form three Conferences to be known as the Kansas, West Kansas, and Missouri. This division was ordered by the General Conference of 1882, and took place in the fall of 1883. According to the action of the General Conference the territory of these respective Conferences was defined as follows: "The Missouri Conference shall include the State of Missouri;" "the Kansas Conference shall include those parts of Kansas and Nebraska east and south of a line running due north from the Indian Territory along the west line of McPherson County, Kansas, to the southwest corner of Cloud County, thence east to the southeast corner of Cloud County, thence due north to Columbus, Nebraska, and thence due east to the Missouri River;" "a new Conference shall be formed to be known as the West Kansas Conference, which shall include all parts of the State of Kansas and Nebraska lying west of the Kansas Conference, and also the State of Colorado."[2]

At the time of their formation the three Conferences reported respectively the following aggregate number of preachers:  Missouri, 15; Kansas, 29; West Kansas, 10. The lay membership within the respective Conferences was 129, 414, and 382. Total number of ministers, 54; of lay members, 923.

The circuits of the Missouri Conference numbered eight, all in the northern part of the State, and comprised within two districts, the Albany and the Hannibal. The Kansas Conference was divided into the Clay Center, Emporia, and Lawrence districts respectively, which together embraced twenty circuits. The West Kansas Conference comprised the Norton, Salem, and Colorado districts, with an aggregate of sixteen circuits.

Among the names of the preachers in these three Conferences at the time of their formation are found several of men who, for many years, contributed largely, by their zealous and faithful labors, to the upbuilding of Free Methodism in various parts of the country. In the Missouri Conference were C. E. Harroun, Sr., who was sanctified in Doctor Redfield's first meeting in St. Charles, Illinois, in 1858, set about preaching the Gospel very soon afterward in Northern Illinois, and subsequently labored extensively in Wisconsin and Iowa, extended his ministry to Kansas, thence to Missouri, and, in his advanced age removed to Oklahoma, where he rendered valuable assistance for some years to his son, C. E. Harroun, Jr., in building up the work which now forms the Oklahoma Conference; B. F. Smalley, who is now (1915) an honored and effective member of the Washington Conference, and who, after many years of pioneer work in various parts of the country, in which he braved hardships and perils such as few of to-day know anything about, is still vigorously and efficiently pushing the battle for God and holiness in the great Northwest; and the inimitable and irrepressible "Tom Gates," of whom mention has already been made in another place.

The Kansas Conference roll contained the names of William Cooley, who was one of the victims of the excommunication process in the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the early days, as recorded in one of the earlier chapters of this work; C. H. Lovejoy, who had been prominently identified with the Kansas and Missouri work while it was yet under the supervision of the Illinois Conference, continued for years to be a prominent figure in the Kansas Conference, and finally passed away in holy triumph; S. V. Green, a holy man of God, who after many years of faithful service, was placed on the superannuate list, and finished his course triumphantly in 1914; W. M. Adams, who, as a battle-scarred veteran is still in active service in the Nebraska Conference, after having served as pastor and District Elder for many years in various Conferences, and several times as delegate to the General Conference; Ellsworth Leonardson, mentioned in a former chapter, who was also prominently connected with various Conferences, was several times elected delegate to the General Conference, and at the time of his death was State Chairman of the Prohibition party of California; and C. W. Stamp, who located that year, but was subsequently made effective, and who became prominently identified with the Colorado Conference after its organization, where he served for some years as District Elder, and was finally, in 1907, made General Conference Evangelist, in which office he is still efficiently serving.

On the roster of the West Kansas Conference at the time of its organization appear the names of C. M. Damon, who was founder and first President of Orleans College, Orleans, Nebraska, and of whom more adequate mention is elsewhere made, in connection with the development of the work in Minnesota and Northern Iowa, and also in connection with the sketches of the schools of the denomination; and E. E. Miller, who subsequently became prominent in connection with the Platte River Conference, Nebraska, where he was also for some years prominently identified with the development of Orleans College.

These, and many others who can not be mentioned by name here, wrought faithfully and zealously for the promotion of the work of God as represented by Free Methodism, and that amid privations, hardships, exposures and self-sacrifices such as only moral heroes would endure.

The first appointment of a Free Methodist preacher to the State of Colorado was made in 1869 by the Illinois Conference, and read as follows: "Colorado District, D. M. Rose, Chairman; Colorado, D. M. Rose." The next mention of the Colorado work appears in the minutes of the Kansas and Missouri Conference for 1878, where are found the following appointments:  "Colorado District, W. M. Adams, Chairman. Colorado Springs, S. Crouch, supply; San Juan, B. P. Baker, supply; Cold Creek, J. Hodder, supply." There is no statistical report from the Colorado district in the minutes of the next session, but at the session of 1880 Colorado Springs reported seventeen members in full connection, and other circuits on the Colorado district, but which were outside the State, reported a total of forty-eight members. In 1881 twenty-nine members in full connection and ten probationers were reported from the Colorado work.  There is no further report from the Colorado district until 1884, when we find it reported as a part of the West Kansas Conference, which had been organized in the meantime. At that time fifty-one members in full connection and eight probationers were reported from the following circuits:  Denver, Colorado Springs, Fountain, and Silver Cliff. The next year there were sixty-two members and four probationers reported.  The membership remained substantially unchanged the following year.

The Journal of the General Conference of 1886 contains the following provision for the organization of a Colorado Conference:  "The Committee on Conference Boundaries reported in part as follows: 'At the request of the Colorado district of the West Kansas Conference, we recommend the formation of a new Conference to be known as the Colorado Conference, to embrace the entire State of Colorado, and the southern part of Wyoming Territory.' On motion the report was adopted."

The new Conference was organized at Fountain, Colorado, November 5, 1886, by George W. Coleman, who had just been elected the third General Superintendent of the Church at the preceding General Conference. There were six preachers in full connection, as follows: J. F. Garrett, C. W. Stamp, G. A. Loomis, B. F. Todd, T. H. Vipond, and J. B. Roberts. J. I. Council, from the West Kansas Conference, was admitted on trial, and Victor Roth was continued on trial. The Conference embraced but one district, and over that J. F. Garrett was elected Chairman. There were eleven circuits, four of which were left to be supplied by appointment of the District Elder. The lay membership was about eighty.

Colorado has been a difficult field to cultivate, but the growth of the work there has been steady though slow. At present (1915) the Conference has twenty-six preachers in full connection, and six on probation, with a lay membership within its bounds of 546 in full connection and 88 on probation, or 634 in all.  It has been singularly favored with ministers of ability and spirituality. Such men as J. F. Garrett, J. I. Council, C. W. Stamp, T. H. Vipond, J. B. Roberts, H. A. Crouch, G. A. Loomis, and J. W. Glazier, among those who did the pioneer work of the Conference, and W. W. Jellison, J. P. Dowd, W. W. Loomis, and G. H. Behner, among the later accessions, with a number of others who might be mentioned, would be an honor to any Conference. Such men are "workmen that need not to be ashamed, handling aright the Word of Truth." J. F. Garrett has been District Elder almost continuously since the organization of the Conference, as was also J. I. Council until advancing years and growing infirmities compelled his superannuation. Both were repeatedly elected delegates to the General Conference, in which they served with great efficiency. C. W. Stamp also served as District Elder, acquitting himself as an able minister of Jesus Christ.

One of the most unique and interesting characters among the ministers of this Conference was Thomas Harrison Vipond, familiarly known as "Father Vipond." He was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, May 14, 1807, and lived through nearly the whole of the nineteenth century, and a year and a half into the twentieth century. Naturally he was endowed with mental powers both strong and acute, and these had been developed and sharpened by a liberal education, and by long experience with men in numerous and diverse relations in several different countries. He received his education in St. Andrews College, Edinburgh, the leading Presbyterian institution of Scotland, from which he was graduated at an early age.

He was converted in his youth, and united with the Primitive Methodists, among whom he remained until he met the Free Methodist people in Illinois, about two years after the organization of the denomination. Then, as a matter of conviction, he identified himself with them for the advocacy of Scriptural holiness and in defense of all the unpopular principles and issues for which they stood.

Mr. Vipond was licensed to preach when quite young, and, according to a report published several years before his death, he must have been engaged in the work of the Christian ministry for a period of about seventy-four years.  After joining the Free Methodist Church he labored in Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas, and Colorado, but the larger portion of this time in the last named State.

Before reaching his majority he bade farewell to Scotland's charming scenes and sailed for America. He settled at first in Canada, where he continued to live for many years. His home in Canada was at the liberty end of the underground railway, operated for the safe landing of fugitive slaves in the Queen's Dominion, which may have helped to develop his reformatory zeal.

Some time during the fifties he left Canada and became a resident of the United States. At the breaking out of [he Civil War he enlisted in defense of the Union, and took a heroic part in the struggle which was waged for the emancipation of the enslaved Negroes of the Southern States, and for the total abolition of the system of chattel slavery in the United States. He made himself especially useful by serving as a nurse to the sick and wounded soldiers in the federal hospitals.  While thus engaged he contracted blood-poisoning, from which he continued to suffer at times to the close of his life.

It is uncertain just when "Father Vipond" settled in Colorado, but he appears to have been identified with Free Methodism in that State from its very beginning. In previous years he had not devoted himself exclusively to the work of the ministry, although ho]ding and more or less regularly exercising authority to preach the Gospel. During his later years, and especially after uniting with the Free Methodist people, he devoted himself regularly to the work until he was superannuated, in 1895, because of his advanced age. Even after that, so long as he lived, he preached much, and that with unction and acceptability.

"Father Vipond" was a saint whose piety and devotion were of a cheerful and practical type. He seems never to have appeared in other than a cheerful, benignant and happy mood, such as is indicated by the smiling face which appears in his portrait. He had a custom of speaking pleasantly to all whom he met about the welfare of their souls, and he knew also how "to speak a word in season to him that was weary." "Laddie, do ye luve Jesus?" was his oft-repeated question asked of those whom he met for the first time. "Bless the Lord," was the expression an affirmative reply would invariably evoke.

Though he spent three-fourths of his long life this side the Atlantic, he was to the last a typical Scotchman - a Scotchman of the Scots. He retained the dialect of his native country with all its peculiarities of brogue and accent to the last, and also the better qualities of the Scottish mind and heart, without the more undesirable ones. He also abounded in that generous hospitality so characteristic of the race from which he was descended-that trait which Robert Burns was so impressed with when entertained on one occasion in the Scottish Highlands that, with a diamond, he inscribed the following lines on the window-pane of his bed-room:

"When death's dark stream I ferry o'er.

A time that surely shall come,

In heaven itself I'll ask no more

Than just a Highland welcome."

In his extreme age "Father Vipond" was a man of decidedly impressive personal appearance. His head and face indicated a thoroughly well balanced mind, a broad intelligence, a sound judgment, a determined will, a benignant and sunny disposition, and a refinement and gentleness of manner which attracted people of all classes to him. Goodness and love beamed from his very eyes, and were reflected in every feature of his countenance. His venerable and distinguished appearance commanded the attention of all classes. Prominent railway officials would alight from their private car in order to speak with him and introduce to him their friends, on seeing him at the railway station; and, out of respect to his patriarchal appearance and his commanding intelligence and goodness, they favored him frequently with the freedom of their respective roads.

The most fondly cherished hope of this venerable patriarch's life was that he might survive to hail the coming of the Lord. Though mistaken therein he fully believed it had been revealed to him that, like Simeon of old, he should not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ. Instead of having it as he desired, the King, while yet delaying His appearing, summoned him to His presence. But what better fitness for such a summons could any man have than that of readiness for and expectancy of the Lord's personal appearing?

This good man fell asleep in Christ on Sunday, June 1, 1902, aged ninety-five years and seventeen days; and loving Christian friends laid his remains to rest in the cemetery near his home in Hillside, Colorado, where they await the resurrection morn.

[1] Presumably by the Chair.
[2] Journal of General Conference of 1882, pp. 257 and 262, 283.