The life of Rev. George C. Haddock

Front matter

THE LIFE

OF

REV. GEORGE C. HADDOCK,

Chapter I

Samuel Haddock, the " Learned Blacksmith"— A: Hundred Years of Methodism— Abolition Sentiments — Father and Sons in the War — Temperance Proclivities — The Daughter of "Preacher Barnes" — Anecdotes — Early Education — Dedicated to the Ministry 27

Chapter II

A Trio of Editors— The Minister's Wife — Wandering — Anecdotes — Evil Men — Milwaukee — Newspaper Ventures — Sunday Frolics — Father and Son — Conversion — Exhorting 44

Chapter III

Washington, Ohio — Doctrinal Difficulties — Reason and Theology — Liberalism — Personal Beliefs — Creeds — Eesignation of a Pastorate — Again Wandering — A "Supply" — Anecdotes — Joins the Wisconsin Conference — Port Washington — War Sermons — A Literary Paper 63

CHAPTEE IV.

Few Events — Waukesha — A Trait — Verses — Not a Wire-puller — Methodism — A "Powerful Man" — A Fast-Day Discourse — Florence Bishop Haddock 87 xii CONTENTS.

A Presiding Elder— A Temperance Wave — "The Blessings of Whiskey "—Conference Troubles— "Father, Thy Hand"— Assaulted— A Judicial Farce — The ' ' Iconoclast " 227

CONTENTS. xiii

Chapter XII. Page

The Law — The Alcoholic Ring — Remark of Logan — Racine — Death of Florence — " Up the Stairs" — Appleton — Lawrence University — "Work and Play" — An Apostolic Watch — Politics— A Debate — Shot at — Extracts from Sermon — Third-Party Preachers — Conference Sermon 254

Chapter XXII

Sioux City — The Iowa Law — Petition in Favor of Saloons — Licenses — The Pastor — Reasons for Entering the Work to Sustain the Law — Incidents — A Martyr's Words — His Faith and Courage — The Conspiracy — Assassinated 456

CHAPTER XXIV. Words Spoken of Him 521

BY MRS. MARY A. P. STANSBURY.

INTKODTJCTIOK

GEOKGE C. HADDOCK.

BY REV. GEORGE M. STEELE, D.D. , PRINCIPAL OF WESLEYAN

ACADEMY.

My acquaintance with Mr. Haddock began during his pastorate at Oshkosh, in 1865. I do not now remember his age at that time, nor how long he had been in the ministry ; but he had not yet reached the acme of his power and effectiveness. He was regarded as a strong man, a growing man, with unusual ability as a public speaker, and with much promise for the future.

After this, for two different terms, he was pastor of the church at Appleton, where I lived, so that, with my general acquaintance with him as a member of the Conference, I came to know him quite intimately, and to have a pretty thorough understanding of his character. He had unusually good natural endowments, and was especially qualified to be a public speaker. Physically he was about the medium size, well-proportioned, compact, vigorous, solid, and strong — a man that a bully or rowdy would not care to meet on equal terms, though I am not aware that this muscular

18 INTRODUCTION.

Christianity was ever allowed to be called into exercise during any part of our friend's ministerial career. The " physical basis" was, at least, nearly all that could be desired for effective oratory.

He did not have in his early life the opportunity for extensive and protracted mental training, nor were his habits particularly scholarly ; but he had a somewhat extraordinary faculty of developing in his mind, out of a few* general principles of which he had laid hold with a clear comprehension and a firm grasp, a great variety of valuable, fresh, and interesting thought. He was not a man of wide reading, and this fact made it the more remarkable that he should be able to give so large a range and variety to his discourses and to so seldom repeat himself. He probably did not often manifest the highest power of an orator, but he never fell below a high level of pulpit and platform ability. 1 have seldom known a man — and never one who owed so little to artificial training — who would preach so many good sermons and so few poor ones in the regular and ordinary work of the ministry. He did not indulge in theological speculation to any noticeable extent ; indeed, my impression is that he knew comparatively little about technical theology, and cared less. He laid hold of the fundamental doctrines everywhere prominent in the Scriptures, and from them developed whatever he deemed necessary as a doctrinal basis ; and this, too, without putting any great stress upon it as a system. He attacked sin as such, and trained all his

INTBOD TJQTION. 1 9

batteries to bear upon it wherever he could find it, and he did, regardless of individual fear or favor.

He had an excellent command of language, and he knew how to handle it in a most effective manner. He was seldom at fault in the structure of his sentences, and his phraseology was remarkably apt. He had at times a powerful, impetuous eloquence which was exceedingly effective. Of course it could hardly be otherwise than that, with such a temperament and with such convictions as characterized him, he should not have been at times extravagant, and that his hyperbole should not have been somewhat beyond the limits of even rhetorical license.

As a platform speaker he was possibly better than in the pulpit. As a debater he was not easily equalled, and he had scarcely more than a single drawback. Sometimes in a discussion where he was opposing a moral wrong against which his personal indignation was stirred, he would so unmercifully flay his opponent that sheer pity for the latter would excite sympathy in his behalf and cause a damaging reaction. Some time about 1869-70 he had a series of discussions on the subject of spiritualism with several of its prominent supporters. As a matter of course, in all such public debates there are few whose sympathies are not too far enlisted on one side or the other to be candid judges of the relative merits of the respective champions ; but in all of these cases to which I have alluded, whatever may have been the verdict as to the comparative ability, there could

20 INTRODUCTION.

be none as to the actual power displayed by Mr. Haddock. To one of these debates, continued through several nights, I listened almost against my will. 1 had little faith in the value of such discussions, feeling that most who listened to them would be of no other opinion at the close than at the beginning ; and I even remonstrated with my friend on his determination to enter the lists. It was hardly a fair match, so far as the speakers were concerned, as Mr. Haddock was in every way the superior of his antagonist, and was able to handle him nearly at his will, and with such facility as to make one almost forget the question at issue in admiration of the skill displayed in meeting all objections and carrying the war into the enemy' s camp. On two or three occasions the retort to what had evidently been intended as a crushing and almost annihilating argument was such as to fairly convulse the audience and utterly confound the opposite party. The result, too, of the discussion, in this instance, was far otherwise than 1 had anticipated, and produced a most wholesome effect in the community .

From the beginning of his career he was a powerful antagonist of the liquor business. Never for a moment disposed to compromise, and scarcely to conciliate, he struck the hardest blows wherever and whenever he could get them in. His fiery, sweeping eloquence, sometimes bearing down all before it, found here its most effective field. No political exigency, no disposition to be tender toward prominent men who, for a purpose, discouraged harsh measures or were

INTRODUCTION. 21

conciliatory toward the liquor traffic, no appeals to charity toward these evil-doers, affected him. All coalitions and concessions by any party were by him denounced as "a covenant with death and agreement with hell." Brave even to rashness, his was not the courage that was valiant in safe places, nor that exhausted itself in words. It is no wonder that many bad men hated him, and his tragical taking off, though it came with stunning effect to those who knew him best, and inexpressibly shocked them, yet was not altogether surprising. This kind of Satanic agency goes not forth even by prayer and fasting j there must be " resistance unto blood, striving against sin," and this blood, we well know, becomes the seed of great moral harvests. We do not altogether deplore the death of our brother. Formerly men sometimes almost wantonly sought martyrdom for the sake of its rewards ; in this they were terribly wrong. No man need voluntarily throw away his life ; but there are times when the path of duty leads in the way of the sacrifice of life, and blessed is he who has the grand courage that shrinks not from this ordeal. In this case, more conspicuously than in most instances where men for the Truth's sake have not counted their lives dear unto them, we may see the outcome ; and we risk little in declaring that this witness for the truth, like Samson of old, has slain many more in his death than in his life.

It is not to be inferred from what has been said that Mr. Haddock was merely a combative and belligerent character.

22 INTRODUCTION.

He was tender-hearted at times, and gentle as a woman. Many of us have found him a genial, a companionable associate, generous, public-spirited, and ready to aid in any good thing. He hated shams and humbug and affectation, and all pretentious "goodiness." Possibly his aversion to such dispositions carried him to the opposite extreme, and made him appear indifferent to the amenities of life ; but we believe him to have been one who loved his fellow-men, and was most loyal to Jesus Christ, and did his utmost to bring all men under His Kingdom and Government.

PKOHIBITION SONG.

BY KEV. GEORGE C. HADDOCK.

Lo, the curse of God doth rest On the drunkard-making band,

And the woe of Heaven falls On the biblers of our land ;

While the cup that brims with death Is forbid by His command, Whose word goes marching on.

Shall we sanctify by law

That which God hath said is wrong i Shall we license men of blood,

And the reign of sin prolong ?

Nay ! by all in story grand,

And by all that's sweet in song — For God goes marching on.

Then arouse, ye friends of Eight !

In one mighty host combine ; Prohibition is the word —

Pass it all along the line.

With our praying, and our votes,

We will crush the fiend of wine, For Truth goes marching on.

While the Mighty Father reigns- While the heavens stand secure —

While the angels live and love — ■ While the words of Christ endure—

While Eternal Truth remains, And the Promises are sure, Our cause must still march on.

'Midst the rabble's scorn and hate ;

With the blessings of the few ; 'Gainst the wrath of all the base —

With the prayers of all the true ; Spite of raging fiends of Night—

Spite of all that men can do, Our cause is marching on.

SIDE YIEW OF HOUSE WHERE GEORGE C. HADDOCK WAS BORN, SULPHUR SPRINGS, N. T.

THE LIFE OF

REV. GEORGE C. HADDOCK.

Chapter I

Samuel Haddock, the ' ' Learned Blacksmith' ' — A Hundred Years of Methodism — Abolition Sentiments — Father and Sons in the War — Temperance Proclivities — The Daughter of "Preacher Barnes" — Anecdotes — Early Education — Dedicated to the Ministry.

i^EORGE CHAINING HADDOCK was born at ^J~ Watertown, 1ST. T., January 23d, 1832. His life and character were the natural results of his parentage and education. His mother was the daughter of " Preacher Barnes,'' of Little Falls, New York State, who was descended from the eccentric but devoted Lorenzo Dow, well known throughout that commonwealth as a most eloquent and successful " travelling preacher. " The Rev. Enoch Barnes, long a Presiding Elder in the Black River (N. Y.) Conference, was his uncle. There has been no time within the past one hundred years when some representative of the Barnes' stock has not occupied a pulpit in the Methodist-Episcopal Church. My father's parents were active members of that denomination for more than fifty years.

28 THE LIFE OF BEY. GEORGE C. HADDOCK.

Samuel Haddock, at one time Sheriff of Herkimer County, K Y., was the father of Samuel Haddock, " the learned blacksmith," who will be remembered among the pioneers in Watertown fifty years ago. Before his twentieth year he had married Sabrina Barnes, and from this marriage came a family of six children, one of whom died at an early age, two of whom served with distinction in the War of the Kebellion, and were life-long journalists ; the remaining son, the youngest of the family, is the subject of these pages.

The learned blacksmith was born, in 1804, in the county of which his father was sheriff. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to his trade, and with an energy characteristic throughout his entire life, he so applied himself that,, in the legends of the place, he soon became an expert workman. About the year 1822 he removed from Herkimer County to what was called the Black River country, locating in Watertown for the better education of his children, where he resided till the gold fever of '49. It was while here he acquired the sobriquet above alluded to. He gained a thorough familiarity, as the expression may go outside of technical scholarship, with the Greek and Latin languages, between the heats of his forge, and was an omnivorous reader besides. When his sons were pursuing classical studies he was their ablest assistant. He was always known as a laborious, fearless, and intelligently conscientious man, and no one among his neighbors was more thoroughly respected, whether as friend, citizen, or Christian. He was a splendid type of the ideal American wage-worker, who

" Looks the whole world in the face,"

and by that look assures the perpetuity of American government. His day's work consisted of fourteen hours, yet his home was always comfortable, and his children received the best education the region afforded. During this period he had but one employer for seventeen years.

The earliest recollections of his children were of the weekly prayer-meetings held at his home, there being no public place for such a purpose in the neighborhood. It was always a house of God, and it was widely understood among those devoted men to whom the Methodist itinerancy was a travelling dispensation in earnest, that the home of Samuel Haddock was ever open to ministers of all denominations. This hospitality was freely offered and freely accepted. The " gude wife" was ever ready, the guests were many. A wealthy farmer, at whose stable this sanctified laborer was in the habit of hiring the care of the preachers' horses, once said of him, " Well, Sam Haddock is bound to ruin himself keeping so many ministers." Yet no man ever earned a more evenly and finely successful life than he. His ruin came in the shape of a family of intelligent Christian children, and a signal independence and breadth of character universally recognized in the entertainer.

At this humble home were frequently gathered ministers of various beliefs. The host was a well-read and thoughtful man, and occasionally, when curious accident brought Calvinists and Arminians together, the conversation led to theological discussions both skilful and vigorous. At such times my father, then a mere boy, with a favorite sister, now Mrs. Elizabeth "Wilkins, residing at Lemars, Iowa, would listen and learn with the eagerness of pioneer children, and, after the senior battle, retreat to some favorable spot and rehearse the debates, pro and con, each laboring for a doctrine, but both finally coming to an amicable conclusion, which was invariably the brother's original position. This was partly the boy's supremacy, but it was nature as well. Children are agreed on the truth.

The half century preceding the .Rebellion was a memorable period to nearly every settled locality in the North. Samuel Haddock was too noble in every way not to see clearly the moral and political sin of slavery. There were no fetters about his brains or his heart. "While he was a peaceable and law-abiding citizen, he had the honor of being an abolitionist. Legal and moral casuistry could not becloud his reason. Law, however, was to him a sacred thing ; it must be obeyed till abrogated by the will of an enlightened people. This was his creed, especially because he was a man of Christian faith and would see

" Each fetter broken, but in God's own time."

TEE LIFE OF BEV. GEORGE 0. HADDOCK. 31

Tet no doubt tins rendezvous of ministers and Christian people was the scene of many a denunciation of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law ; for clergymen who could sanction either, it is certain Whittier's indignation was fully shared by all the members of the family —

" What, preach and kidnap men ?"

The youngest son and his favorite sister devised many plans for liberating the slave, Watertown, in their childish scheme of philanthropy, being a " station" on the "Underground Railway," at which the fleeing black was in fancy fed and encouraged. It is not strange that a man thus inspired by religious influences, with the profound hatred for wrong and oppression and the high sense of right and duty which actuated both parents in this home, should, in after life, so antagonize the evils of his day as to gain an emphatic reputation for fearlessness. My father seemed always irresistibly impelled to duty. He sometimes shrank, but in the end obeyed. His career speaks in a double sense, " It is the Lord w.ho leads me."

A deep sense of hostility to wrong was a prominent trait of this freeman of the North. He was naturally sympathetic, but his emotional nature was ruled by flxed principles. The son, while differing from him in many respects, was markedly possessed of these two elements of character ; it was " in the blood " to see in philanthropy the highest duty of man to man. Both were capable of the keenest indignation at injustice. The latter could burn with withering anger. At such times there was that in his look guilty men could seldom withstand. It was not impulsiveness. It was the unalterable setting of his life against whatever was inequitable. To some, lacking perhaps in large sympathies, this rather tended to obscure his true character. Yet few men are more susceptible to the tender influences of human life than he was, and before these influences the obverse side of that righteous indignation which often gave his words a white heat appeared freely and generously. Neither phase was a new outcrop of heredity, but the immediate reflection of his parents.

An incident which occurred in the life of his father will show this. It has been noted that the latter remained in Watertown until the gold fever of '49. That fever induced him to hazard the long voyage by water to the Pacific coast, where for some time he worked in the mines. The trip around Cape Horn was made in five months. The ship Panama, in which he sailed, was for a long time a Bethel ship in San Francisco Harbor, and nearly every Sabbath during the passage religious services were held on board, at which the " learned blacksmith" officiated in the reading of Scripture and prayer. Landing on Long Wharf, in the latter city, he overheard a traveller from the South exclaim, as a black laborer passed, " I wish I had about forty of these fellows; I'd soon make a fortune here." Instantly the abolitionist of the North thundered his gratitude that the free State of California would never contain a slave within her borders. The would-be extender of slavery retorted with angry words, whereupon the muscular free-soiler quietly took off his coat and invited the impending contest. The invitation was declined.

Later, when Sherman M. Booth, in Wisconsin, was defying the Fugitive Slave Law, and the United States Marshal, in defence of a negro hunted down with all the power an unpopular law could command, the son was happy enough to realize something of his childish dream for the liberation of human chattels by passing this fugitive over his head to others in a crowd of determined men at Milwaukee.

"When the war broke out Samuel Haddock was naturally ready, although fifty-six years of age. He served two years with the Thirty-fifth New York Volunteers. He was armorer for the regiment. The man who had forged axes could forge the sword. It was a fearful use of his trade, yet he must have felt of this weapon, when

" Upon the freeman's thigh 'tis bound, "While for his altar and his hearth, While for the land that gave him birth, The war drums roll, the trumpets sound — How sacred is it then !"

Two sons, John and William, also enlisted. The youngest, George, was then a clergyman, and while stationed at Clinton Junction, Wis., strongly desired to enter the service himself ; but lie was prevailed upon by my mother to remain at home. It was not in his lines. The Christian, in view of his life and death, will say that the God who rules every yielding life guided him in this matter for a more useful because solitary sacrifice. He never ceased to regret, however, that he had not joined his brothers. John Haddock was advanced in the ranks from first lieutenant to captain and major. He, with his father, was engaged in Second Fredericksburg, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Second Bull Kun, Antietam, and many small fights and skirmishes. William Haddock was originally captain in an Iowa infantry regiment, and took part in the engagements of Fort Donelson and Pittsburg Landing, where, on the morning of the first day's fight, he was taken prisoner and sent to Andersonville. On his release the rank of major in an Iowa cavalry regiment was given him, and he was in all the famous engagements of Sherman in his historic march to the sea.

The father of this family was a thorough advocate of temperance. Drunkenness on the Mohawk in New York had made him an enemy of drink. No man would have sacrificed more to the cause of legislative prohibition of the liquor trade than he, had his day and location demanded. After his marriage he never tasted intoxicating drinks ; and this example was followed by his sons. George Haddock had one experience, which caused sickness, and during all his early life, while following his trade, he avoided this.

bane of the printing-office, although temptations were daily and iierce. On one occasion, at Milwaukee, he was invited to drink a glass of beer, but refused ; at which " insult" he was set upon by a small mob and showered with stones from East Water Street up Oneida for several blocks ; but he was never a man to be bullied. He never could be induced to acknowledge what he called a pope either in doctrine or the habits of his life, and any pontifical authority of wrong was doubly offensive. That independence which insists upon the supremacy of conscience which was his, even as a boy, to a marked degree, is a rarer thing as against the ordinary evils of society than as against creeds and ecclesiastical dictation ; revolt against religion is common enough ; revolt against evil is rarer among those who insist most on liberty. And the history of the temperance movement shows that revolt against the tyranny of an overshadowing curse in society and in politics is significantly infrequent. As the subject of these pages often said, " It makes a big difference whose ox is gored."

Both parents were strong characters. Sabrina Haddock, the devoted wife and mother in this family, was a woman of marked individuality, always noted, where known, for her energy, good sense, and piety. The veneration which her children felt for her seemed a constant realization of Solomon's words, " Her children arise up and call her blessed." The religious power of her life was remarkable. This was, perhaps, somewhat shadowed by severe doctrinal ideas, but her sympathies were large and responsive, and her activity in the social and devotional work of the church was generous and unceasing. She was a good woman. With her, goodness involved action, and action was a necessity and a reward. Her life was the outcome of her religion. She seemed to be immersed in Scripture ; it revealed itself everywhere in her character and words. Because the words of eternal life were in her heart, they were also daily, almost hourly, upon her lips. Yet her faith was of a practical kind. She was fond of pious phrases and pious missions ; but her charity was not as sounding brass. She was a severe woman in her relations to the right, but she was gentle in the midst of distress. There were no frivolities about her home, but her children loved her. Subjectively, religion signified a personal attitude toward God. God was her friend. Christ was her Saviour, but also her glorious King. She abided in Christ. This inner life led her into active labors in all her church connections. No woman in Northern New York is more affectionately remembered for her Christian efforts and selfdenying devotion than " Sister Haddock."

At camp-meetings— institutions which, fifty years ago, were akin to nature in simplicity and power, lacking in modern luxuries, but mighty in genuine enthusiasm — she was always ready and -effective. Her presence in the prayer- meeting was inspiring; and with all this she neglected no home duty. Her children were always neatly dressed, their education watched, their morals cultivated. While she was emphatically a strong-minded woman, possessed of talents of a high order, she was wholly unsympathetic toward that class of woman suffragists who have distorted the rights of her sex and retarded its best advancement by zeal without judgment. She was vigorously opposed to what her youngest son called "long-haired men and short-haired women." Her home was, therefore, her kingdom, and to her energy and unceasing care, as well as to the unremitting labor and splendid example of her husband, was due the comfort of that home and the education of her children. The "learned blacksmith" could not fail in the duty of giving them the best education his means and the locality afforded. The mother, whose father and brother were preachers, could not but second these endeavors. To this end she bent all her energies. She was a woman of singular self-reliance and determination ; what she desired she accomplished. It was her ambition to see her children intelligent and useful Christians, and this ambition was realized.

One or two incidents in her history, unimportant in themselves, but significant as showing the causes at work in my father's character, are always remembered when she is spoken of by her family. She had the misfortune once to break her leg. No surgeon was within immediate reach, but she performed the greater part of the operation of resetting the bones and bandaging the limb herself, independent and self-reliant. It always caused her to laugh at the recollection of the perplexity and amazement of those who were with her at that time.

On another occasion her husband held a position as foreman in a large blacksmith-shop ; the family were then on a small farm six miles distant from the shop, and the father returned home only Saturday nights for the Sunday rest. Her children were young, and she was, therefore, compelled to rely upon her own resources in her household needs. One of these needs was a baking-oven, for cooking-stoves with ovens were unknown in that region ; but Sabrina Haddock cared little for ordinary difficulties, and gathering stones from road and farm she built an oven that proved so durable that it furnished bread-baking for all the neighborhood during many years.

This spirit dominated her entire life. She had one fall succeeded, with the aid of her children, in raising a considerable crop of buckwheat, upon which many winter hopes were based ; but the farm had no barn, and, when gathered, the crop was still unthreshed. With accustomed energy she removed every article of furniture from the front room of the house — there was no carpet — and, assisted by her boys, threshed out the wheat, fanned it on a sheet in a strong wind, and stored it for use.

Life with her was always serious. As has been said, her religion was a personal communion with God. She was given to audible exclamations of a pious nature in her later years, and seemed constantly to be worshipping. In 1875 she visited my father at Racine, and was with him during the session of the Wisconsin Conference there. Among the guests of the parsonage was Dr. Huntley, shortly afterward President of Lawrence University, a Methodist college located at Appleton. The doctor was not given to pious phrases, although a thoroughly Christian man, but was very eccentric, and frequently used the most striking language at hand. Passing through the room where " Sister Haddock" was sitting, some remark was made which he approved with the words, " You bet your bottom dollar !" "Brother Huntley," she exclaimed, "do you think St. Paul ever said, ' You bet your bottom dollar ' ? " " No, auntie, I don't," said the doctor; but within an hour, passing through the same room, he found her at work upon a very elaborate bedquilt. " Auntie," said he, "do you think Jesus ever cared for a quilt like that V ' A burst of laughter was his answer, but she immediately added, with a sigh, " No ; ' the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.' "