The Free Methodist work appears to have penetrated into Southeastern Nebraska from the Kansas Conference in the early eighties, and at about the same time to have extended from Iowa into the northern and northeastern part of the State. Soon after the formation of the Kansas and Missouri Conference tidings of the new sect and its advocacy of primitive religion were borne across the border into the southern and southeastern parts of Nebraska, and some here and there who had previously been brought into contact with Free Methodism in States farther east, and who were in sympathy with the doctrines they preached and the principles they advocated, began to call for Free Methodist preachers to be sent to them.  In response to these calls appointments were gradually established in those parts. Finally, in 1884, the Kansas Conference formed a Nebraska district in Southeastern Nebraska.

About this time Sidney Mills, a local preacher, moved from Iowa to Wood Lake, Cherry County, Nebraska, and began preaching in that region as his way was providentially opened. He appears to have done more than any other person toward Opening the way for the establishment of Free Methodism in that part of the State. The same year, 1884, the Iowa Conference made the following appointment in Nebraska:  "Omaha, North Kennard and Fletcher, T. H. Allen, F. A. Smith." The next year the West Iowa Conference was organized, and the work in Northeast Nebraska was embraced within its territory.

In 1888, according to Sidney Mills's account, W. M. Adams, then a District Chairman in the Kansas Conference, held a Quarterly Meeting at Pine Lake, seven miles from Ainsworth, Nebraska, and formed three families into a Free Methodist society, and appointed Mr. Mills as pastoral supply.  That fall the Kansas Conference took charge of this work, formed the Elkhorn and Lincoln districts, and elected W. W. Harris as District Chairman over both districts. Mr. Mills was continued as supply on Wood Lake circuit. During the year Mr. Harris organized some new work within his districts. His labors were abundant, and, according to the Conference traditions, he must have endured many and grievous hardships in pioneering the work, particularly in the Elkhorn district.

In 1889, just a year before the organization of the Nebraska Conference, the Omaha district of the West Iowa Conference reported an aggregate of ninety-nine members from its four circuits; and for the same year that part of the Nebraska work embraced within the Kansas Conference reported one hundred forty-five members.

Matters had been shaping themselves toward the formation of a Nebraska Conference for some time, and accordingly on August 14, 1890, at Yutan, Nebraska, the new Conference of that name was organized. Superintendent G. W. Coleman presided. The following named preachers were enrolled at the beginning: W. W. Harris, Anson Steadwell, R. W. Scott, J. M. Scott, W. E. Stewart, E. Ballenger, P. H. Arlington, B. F. Summers, H. Montgomery. B. F. Summers was chosen secretary.  The statistics showed a lay membership within the Conference of 210, but this did not include the report from Omaha district, which was reported to the West Iowa Conference that year, and was not reported at all the next year. The statistics for 1892 show a total of sixteen preachers, nine in full connection, and seven on probation; and also a total of 355 lay members and probationers within the Conference bounds.

At the time of its organization the territory of the Nebraska Conference was made to embrace '-that part of the Kansas Conference in Nebraska, and such other parts of the State of Nebraska as are not included in other Conferences;" but the General Conference held in the fall of 1890, shortly after the formation of the Nebraska Conference, gave the Nebraska Conference that territory within the State which had been embraced within the West Iowa Conference.

About the year 1878, while the Kansas and Missouri Conference embraced the States of Kansas and Missouri, certain preachers from that Conference had begun to open up appointments in Southwestern and Western Nebraska. The first society formed is said to have been at a place called Methodist Creek, in the south central part of the State. Other appointments were soon opened, and in 1885 the Alma district was formed, comprising five circuits, all of which were supplied with preachers. The work, though remote from the other parts of the Conference, gradually grew, until, in 1890, a membership of 200 was reported, and still the work was extending toward the north and west. In 1893 this work formed two districts, which reported about 300 members and probationers. The development of the work seeming to require it, and the Executive Committee having duly authorized it, the Platte River Conference was finally organized at Ravenna, Nebraska, August 20, 1896, by General Superintendent Coleman. There were thirteen preachers enrolled in full connection, and five on probation; and a total of 460 lay members and probationers was reported.

The following named preachers became members of the Conference at its organization:  C. H. Sawyer, D. D. Dodge, S. T. Robinson, W. R. Todd, J. W. Thomas, J. L. Dodge, J. M. Cook, Charles Wheeler, B. F. Closson, R. H. Rhamy, B. F. Taylor, Kersey Thomas. Those on probation were, A. H. Kennedy, G. W. Hayes, M. V. Hawk, G. W. Johnston, and G. W. Woogerd.

The Platte River Conference has about held its own until the present time, the minutes for 1914 showing a total lay membership of 441, with twenty-one ministers in full connection, and six on probation.  The work in this region began and continued under all those adverse conditions incident to frontier prairie country, and God alone knows all the things endured and suffered by the faithful in this region in order to the maintenance and propagation of pure and undefiled religion. It has been a long battle against poverty, drouths, failing crops, and disappointed hopes, as well as "against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

J. L. Dodge, who had been District Chairman (Elder) over that part of the Conference which formerly belonged to the West Kansas Conference for a period of four years, became the first and sole District Elder at the organization of this Conference. The next year Kersey Thomas was also made District Elder, and for three years following these two men gave general direction to the work, and were also abundant and effective in evangelistic efforts for pushing the work into new territory. They have had much to do from the beginning with the making of Free Methodism in the Platte River Conference.

C. E. Anderson, A. Newman, Frank Robertson, W. R. Mattox, J. H. Anderson, F. N. Carpenter and Mary Carpenter were some of the more prominent and effective laymen in helping to build up the work in this frontier country. Rosetta Bond, later Mrs. Ekberg, an evangelist, is said to have been the most successful revivalist the Conference has had, she having raised up more new work than any other person in that section of the country.

The Platte River Conference has always regarded the work of women in the ministry with favor, and has given them ample opportunity to exercise their gifts in that direction. It appears to have worked well, since it is said that "more than half of the new work, or work in new territory, was raised up by women pastors; and in general they have been as acceptable and successful as the men."

The Platte River Conference is distinguished as the seat of one of the schools of the denomination - Orleans Seminary (formally Orleans College), located at Orleans, Nebraska. A sketch of it appears in the chapter on "Educational Institutions," and a passing mention of it here must suffice.

The Kansas Conference has been the mother of Conferences.  Not only did it give birth to the Colorado, the West Kansas, the Nebraska, and the Platte River Conferences, but from within its bounds the work spread into Oklahoma as well, and as a result the Oklahoma Conference was ultimately formed.  The first appointments made by the Kansas Conference in Oklahoma were in 1889, when the minutes show that an Oklahoma District was included in the list of appointments, that district embracing Guthrie, Kingfisher, Oklahoma City, Reno City, and Lincoln Town charges. MacGeary's "Outline History of the Free Methodist Church" informs us that an appointment was made by the Kansas Conference in Oklahoma as early as 1887, but the minutes fail to record such appointment.  Still it is possible and even probable that some of the Kansas Conference preachers near the border passed over the line and established preaching appointments in Oklahoma prior to the time when the Oklahoma District appears in the minutes of the Kansas Conference.

No statistics were reported from the Oklahoma District until 1892, when seven members were reported from Guthrie. The next year from four circuits forty-four members and six probationers were reported.  Only partial and occasional reports were given after this until 1898, when four districts are reported from Oklahoma, embracing eleven circuits, with 183 members and twenty-eight probationers.

The Kansas Conference requested the General Conference of 1898 to form a new Conference out of its districts embraced in the Territory of Oklahoma. The General Conference declined to grant the request, but authorized the General Superintendents to do so whenever in their judgment it should be deemed advisable.  Accordingly, the Oklahoma Conference was formed at Emporia, Kansas, October 21, 1899. C. E. Harroun, Sr., C. E. Harroun, Jr., J. L. Brown, and A. J. Donaldson were the preachers in full connection, and Melvin Wright, C. W. VanTreese, and Slade Freer were the probationers.  Statistics for that year were not given. The minutes of the following session show a total lay membership of 218.

This Conference has been characterized by healthful growth from the beginning. C. E. Harroun, Jr., was the chief pioneer of the Oklahoma work at first, and the story of his travels and adventures, labors and sacrifices, disappointed hopes and fulfilled anticipations in this (then) new and wild region of country, if given in detail and by a skilful narrator, would read quite like a romance. Later T. H. Allen transferred from the West Iowa to the Oklahoma Conference, when he also gave himself to the work of pioneering, and that with earnest zeal and a goodly measure of success. He was a Free Methodist of the original type, and his thorough and uncompromising way of preaching the truth did not always win popular applause, but sometimes the reverse for a season, though it generally bore good fruit in the end. These two men, backed by a goodly number of consecrated and self-sacrificing but less experienced preachers, pushed the work with much aggressiveness; and, though the work was widely scattered, necessitating a vast amount of travel through heat, and cold, and storm, and mud, and over bridgeless rivers and amid serious exposures, they faithfully plodded on for years, until they began to see of the travail of their souls with some measure of satisfaction.

The work in Oklahoma was also reinforced by numerous immigrations of Free Methodist people from other parts of the country, particularly from the colder northern and eastern sections. Nor has the work in this region been as subject to serious interferences from natural causes as it has been in some of the frontier Conferences. Quite a percentage of the people also are well-to-do, and liberal in the support of religious enterprises; and this is an invaluable factor of success in the work of God anywhere. This Conference reported for 1914 an aggregate of 962 members and probationers, with thirty-two circuits, and thirty preachers, besides several supplies.

Some time In the latter part of the year 1877, or early in 1878, G. R. Harvey, an elder in the New York Conference, removed to Texas. There being no Free Methodists in that State, and having formerly been a preacher in the Methodist Protestant Church, he united with the East Texas Conference of that Church and was appointed to a charge. As he began to preach entire sanctification as a second work of grace and separation from the world as a necessary fruit of salvation, opposition developed and he was, at the request of the people, removed from his pastorate. He immediately wrote to B. T. Roberts requesting the restoration of his membership In the New York Conference, and at the same time asking for a transfer to the Kansas and Missouri Conference and appointment as missionary to Texas. At the next session of that Conference, September, 1878, he was received and appointed to Texas. His first work was in Lawrence, Kauffman County, where a society was organized and a small chapel erected. This work, however, did not become permanent. Some time later a society was organized In Ennis, Ellis County, and a Church building erected. This society was the foundation of our work in Texas. Some of the members of this society were: J. A. McKinney, J. C. McKinney and wife, F. Glasacock and wife, Cyrus T. Hogan and wife, Mary McCullough, a Mr. Snow and wife and a Mr. Alnsworth. This society was organized in 1879."[1]

About this time Mr. Harvey moved his family to Ennis, from which point he itinerated quite extensively in his evangelistic labors throughout the central part of the State. A number of new societies were formed, several preachers were raised up, and all in all, Mr. Harvey's work was generally successful, considering the prejudices of the people at that time against Northern people, and also against some features of the Free Methodist Discipline.

As early as 1878 the minutes of the Kansas and Missouri Conference show that that body recognized Mr. Harvey's work as under its supervision. The first Conference appointment in Texas appears among its list of appointments for that year, and reads as follows: "Texas District - G. R. Harvey, Chairman." The district appears to have been limited only by the State boundaries, and also to have been all one circuit. The following year, however, the Texas District again appears, with G. R. Harvey, Chairman, but having seven circuits, as follows:  Lawrence and Terrill; Ennis; Honest Ridge and Egypt; Colby County; Novorill; Johnson County; Dallas. N.E. Parks and G. A. Loomis were the only regularly appointed preachers, except the District Chairman. J. A. McKinney and Hugh Wilson were appointed as supplies, and three circuits were left to be supplied. In 1880 sixty-two members, including sixteen probationers, were reported from the Texas District.

The Texas Conference was finally organized July 10, 1881, at Corsicana, Texas, General Superintendent Roberts presiding. There were but two preachers in full connection-G. R. Harvey and Phillip Allen; but Warren Parker, John A. McKinney, H. V. Haslam, Harry A. Hanson, and Samuel Hurlock were received on trial. The Conference was divided into three districts,-the Texas, Terrell, and Louisiana respectively; and G. R. Harvey was elected Chairman of the first two, and Phillip Allen of the other. No statistics were reported. The minutes for 1882 show an aggregate lay membership of 166. They also show that the ministerial force of the Conference had been increased by the reception of E. A. Kimball, formerly a member of the Illinois Conference, A. J. McKeithen, and David Day of Louisiana. The minutes for 1884 show ho members and probationers, with nine preachers in full connection and one on trial, all within the State of Texas, the Louisiana work having in the meantime been formed into a separate Conference.

The Texas Conference has encountered many embarrassments in seeking to promote the work of God as represented by the Free Methodist Church, a chief one being the difficulty experienced in finding a sufficient number of southern men of the right stamina and caliber for its ministry, while too often there has been a failure of northern men employed to adapt themselves to the social and temperamental conditions of the southland.

In 1883 a Scotchman named George McCulloch was admitted to the Conference in full connection, however, who was ever a tower of strength to the Texas work, until compelled by advancing years and his enfeebled physical condition to superannuate a few years since; and in 1886 R. A. Thompson, an able southern man, was received on trial, and in due time into full connection, who has also been a leading character in shaping and developing the Conference, and is still one of its most influential men. For many years these two men served as District Chairmen or Elders, and that with great efficiency; and many of the younger men of the Conference were brought into the work through their instrumentality, and regard them as true fathers in Israel. They have also at various times represented their Annual Conference as delegates to the General Conference.

The Conference has had a somewhat steady growth, notwithstanding the embarrassments and difficulties under which it has labored, until now (1915) it has a membership of twenty-eight preachers in full connection, and six on probation, with a lay membership of 654, all but thirty. four of whom are in full connection. It also has a goodly number of well-built Church buildings and parsonages, and one school-Campbell Seminary-located at Campbell, Texas.

The territory now embraced in the Louisiana Conference was originally a part of the Texas Conference.

Philip Allen, an ordained Elder in the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, having been led into the experience of entire sanctification, began to preach the doctrine and testify to the experience on his fields of labor. Others were led into the experience, among them two preachers, J. A. Biggs and J. P. Byars. The latter two meeting with much opposition withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and organized the Union Methodist Church. At the session of his Conference held in 1880, Mr. Allen was located. Having heard of the Free Methodists, he, in the summer of 1551, went to meet with them. Returning to Louisiana with him, Mr. Harvey organized the first Free Methodist society in Louisiana at Welcome Home, Caldwell Parish, in the early summer of that year. Those who had been members of the Union Methodist Church largely came into the society, including Rev. J. A. Biggs and Rev. J. P. Byars. The latter were received into the Conference at its next session.[2]

On account of its great distance from the Free Methodist work in Texas, and the difficulty and expense of operating the field at so great a distance, it soon became apparent that the work in Louisiana would have to be separated from that in Texas by the formation of a Louisiana Conference.  Accordingly, proper authorization having been given, General Superintendent Roberts organized the Conference at Welcome Home, November 13, 1884. J. A. Biggs, J. D. Byars, and A. J. McKeithen were declared transferred from the Texas to the Louisiana Conference, by the president, and David Day was admitted into full connection and elected to Deacon's orders, thus making four preachers in full connection. Later C. W. Roberts, J. C. Pierce, and R. M. Walker were received on trial, making the entire ministerial force to number seven. Subsequently the work was introduced in quite a number of towns in Louisiana, and extended somewhat into Mississippi. The Conference has always remained small, however, largely because of its remoteness from the work of the denomination in other Conferences, the poverty of much of the population amid which it operates, and the consequent lack of financial support. Territorially it is a large Conference, embracing the States of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Amid all the changes that have come to this weak Conference through opposition from without and through lack of stability on the part of some ministers within, there is one man, David Day, who from the beginning has stood by the principles of Free Methodism "like an iron pillar strong," and who by his ability, uprightness, purity of character, and unswerving devotion to the cause of truth and holiness has commended those principles to the general public. There are others who are equally as good and devoted men, and who have been equally loyal to truth and duty, but particular mention is made of Mr. Day because of his having been a chief pillar in the Louisiana Conference from its beginning.

The last Conference to he considered in the group belonging to the Middle west and Southwest is the Arkansas and Southern Missouri, which was organized by General Superintendent Jones, at Fairplay, Missouri, September 4, 1895, and which was made to embrace the entire State of Arkansas and the southern portion of the State of Missouri. Its organization was rendered well-nigh necessary because of the widely extended character of the work in the Missouri Conference. The Conference included the whole State, which is large in extent, and the work had developed chiefly in the northern and southern portions, thus making it difficult and expensive to operate it all under one administration.  Besides the work was beginning to penetrate into Arkansas, which increased the embarrassment.

The Conference was organized with C. Mattenly, W. D. Vaughn, N. T. Holcomb, T. C. Beauchamp, W. W. Hulet, as preachers in full connection, and by the reception of J. Roberson and A. Maxfield into the same relation. L. W. Steele, William Bynum, J. W. Worthington, and Edward Sams were received on probation, and Joseph Sizelove was continued in a probationary relation, making twelve preachers in all. The lay membership within the Conference numbered 156 in full connection, and thirty-seven on probation.

Most if not all of the preachers who belonged to this Conference in full connection at the time of its organization have passed away. One of the truest, noblest and best beloved was N. T. Holcomb, who lingered until the autumn of 1913, being for some years a great sufferer from cancer, which finally terminated his earthly career. He left to succeed him in the ministry of the Conference, however, a son of much ability and promise. The names of C. Mattenly, J. Roberson, and W. W. Hulet will long be as ointment poured forth because of their exemplary piety and their self-sacrificing devotion to the pioneer work of the Conference. Others of the early day and of succeeding years were equally devoted and useful, but lack of space forbids particular mention of them here. After all its years of adversity and struggle the Conference reported for 1914 six preachers in full connection, eight circuits, 128 lay members in full connection, and twenty-two on probation.