"Asbury Manual Labor School": by Linda Morgan Clark

Asbury Manual Labor School, North Fork Town, Creek Nation, Indian Territory (1848-1887)

 Three years after the formation of the Indian Mission Conference (IMC), and the division of the church into North and South Churches, in November 1847, while at Annual Conference in Doaksville, IT, the IMC made plans for re-establishing Asbury Manual Labor School in the Creek Nation, IT. Bishop William Capers (who had organized the *school with the same name in Alabama) appointed the Rev. Thomas B. Ruble to select a site and supervise the construction of the school buildings. He secured the help of Colonel Logan, the U.S. Indian Agent for the Creek Nation, and Colonel Rutherford, superintendent of the Western Territory.

The site chosen in 1848 for the school was an 80-acre farm at North Fork Town, near what is now Eufaula, OK. About 30 acres was fenced. Included on the property was a 20 square foot house with porch and kitchen, a stable, chicken house and a few fruit trees. The site and these improvements cost $300.

The first classes were held in the log house on August 8, 1848, with the Reverend W. S. Cobb as teacher. The classes continued in the log house until the new buildings were ready to use in 1850. A stone and brick building 110 feet long, 34 feet wide and three stories high was built with materials shipped by boat from Louisville, via the Arkansas River, then overland to the site by ox-drawn wagons. The cornerstone was laid July 19, 1848. The U.S. Government paid $5,000 from the funds appropriated for the Creeks under a treaty in 1845, and the balance of the total cost of $9,169 was paid by the Board of Missions of the M. E. Church, South. The building contained 21 rooms, large halls and would accommodate 100 students and the faculty. It was the largest school in the IMC. In 1848 the annual report to the IMC records that there were 30 Creek students, one local preacher, 24 white teachers and staff and a small balance of $6.75 on hand. The school continued to be maintained by the Creek’s appropriated funds.

From 1848 to the beginning of hostilities between the North and South, not much of note is recorded in the annuals of Methodism in the Creek Nation. Of course, the white missionaries changed locations, retired, or died. But the work went on primarily through education by separating many Creek children of school age from their families and sending them to Asbury Manual Labor School where they were schooled in subjects designed to “civilize” them, i.e., the boys were to work with different tools and cultivate a farm, while the girls were to learn to cook, knit, spin, sew, and do all sorts of housework.

The Civil War and Reconstruction was devastating to the Indian tribes in IT. Rev. Thomas Bertholf was appointed Superintendent of Asbury school that had been destroyed in the war. Through Creek Chief, Samuel Checote, he secured an appropriation of $6,000 from the U.S. government for the task of rebuilding and reopening the school. Bertholf did not live long enough to accomplish the task. John Harell was then appointed superintendent of the Mission. In 1868 the main building was destroyed by fire. Using his considerable influence with the Creeks and government officials, Rev. Harrell had new buildings built and the school reopened in 1870.

The school burned in 1881 and again for the final time in 1887, never to reopen. Rev. Thomas Bertholf, and Rev. John Harrell, both of whom died during their administrations, were buried on the school grounds. When the present day Lake Eufaula was built the cemetery was relocated to Eufaula’s Greenwood Cemetery and the old school site and cemetery disappeared under the waters of the new lake. A memorial stone structure created from the original hand-hewn stones of the school and saved before the clearing of the land for the lake, was erected in the cemetery. It was designed by the pastor of Eufaula’s First Methodist Church (founded by Rev. Theodore Frelinhuysen Brewer in 1879) and marked with aluminum lettering and a bronze tablet. The memorial stone was dedicated May 30, 1964. 

---Excerpted from a work by Linda Morgan Clark, "Roots and Branches of Muskogee Methodism"


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*  http:/www.gcah.org/research/travelers-guide/asbury-manual-labor-school-and-mission

Early Female Evangelist: Alice Mather, Spencer, IA (UPDATED)

In Oklahoma City in 1904 a woman from the Methodist Episcopal Church preached a revival in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. At this point, both groups were busy building and there was apparently some sharing of resources.  Oklahoma at this time was more open to the idea of the two fractured sections of Methodism working together than the general denominational structures of both. They were also, apparently, open to the idea of a woman preaching a revival as well.

The event was duly reported in the local newspaper, with numerous tidbit or pithy quotes as was the custom, and she was referred to always as "Mrs. Mather."

She was Margaret Alice Moody Mather from Spencer, Iowa. She was born 27 January 1862 in Clayton Co., Iowa. She married in 1883 Luther Pearson Mather (b. 1838, Fenner, NY).   She was mentioned in The Northwest Christian Advocate of March 17, 1897 (pg. 20) as an "evangelist" and that she assisted Pastor A.R. Cuthbert, pastor in a revival that saw many conversions. Her name would emerge in various copies of that journal as well as the Conference journals of Iowa Methodism. The 1900 Iowa census lists her as an "evangelist" and her husband as a day laborer. She was the mother of three children but as of 1900 only two remained: Leo David Mather and Alice Floy Mather.  She died 1947 in Clay Co., Iowa.

Her home conference, Northwest Iowa, had this to say about her in the Christian Advocate, volume 80 (1905)," Mrs. Alice Mather, an evangelist from Spencer, NW Iowa Conference is assisting the pastor, Rev. F.L. Buckwalter. She is a loyal Methodist, a fine preacher, a sweet singer and sympathetic in her preaching. She preaches straight to the hearts of the people, and all are delighted with her...The meetings prove that Methodist preaching and methods, directed by the spirit, will still bring about genuine conviction and conversion. The people have crowded the altar..."

It was clear, Oklahoma received a rare blessing in inviting this woman to come and preach in Oklahoma City. Who knows how many she inspired in the faith or encouraged to follow where they felt they were being led vocationally?

"Methodists Around To New Zeal By A Woman Evangelist's Discourses" "Is a Powerful Speaker", "Interest in Revival's Becoming Intense and Numbers are Nightly Becoming Converts to the Christian Faith." (Oklahoman, April 15, 1904; pg.8); U.S. Federal Census, Iowa; The NW Christian Advocate 1905; NW Iowa Conference Report, 1911; NW Christian Advocate, 1912; Spencer Clay County (IA) News (Dec.2, 1897, p.3); The Perry (IA) Daily (Dec.14,1894, pg.1); The Alton Democrate (IA) (March 14,1896,pg.8); Monmouth Daily Atlas (IL) (March 10, 1916).