Had you been a Methodist --- or merely curious or perhaps just a seeker --- on that late-August Sunday back in 1879, there's a good chance you'd have hitched up the buggy at first light, piled in the family and a picnic basket and headed for a grove in the Pleasant Township hills of northeast Lucas County to partake of the spiritual fare offered by the Rev. John Harned and others during the biggest camp meeting of the year in the region. Several thousand did.
That's the Rev. Mr. Harned above, at right, with two of his brothers --- all three of them licensed preachers in the Iowa Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The others were the Rev. William F. Harned (left) and the Rev. Michael R. Harned.
John Harned, pastor of the Columbia Methodist Church a mile and a half north of the camp grounds, lived to evangelize --- and by all accounts he was very effective. He had been working for many weeks to pull this camp meeting together. Here's the text of the advertisement he commissioned in Chariton newspapers during late July and early August:
Camp Meeting: There will be a camp meeting held 1 and 1/2 miles south of Columbia, Marion county, beginning August 13th at 11 a.m. Good boarding tent will be provided, and board furnished at a reasonable price. No huckstering allowed within one mile of the encampment. We cordially invite all lovers of our Master to join us in the tented field. Come sinner to the gospel feast! We would like to see our ministerial brethren from adjoining charges present. J. Harned, Columbia Circuit.
+++
Pleasant Township became a hotbed for camp meetings during the final quarter of the 19th century, but this was one of the earliest. Most of the later meetings were held at Olmitz (or Fluke) Grove, a mile north of Zion Methodist Church and Cemetery, and were "holiness" oriented, increasingly flavored by pentecostal fire of the Wesleyan Holiness movement as 1900 approached. The Columbia camp meeting would have been more traditionally Methodist, just as the Rev. Mr. Harned was more traditionally Methodist.
Huge amounts of labor and quite a bit of money were involved in organizing a camp meeting. The site generally was a level field with plenty of shade and a generous supply of fresh water. The tabernacle tent, where preaching was held, would have been the largest temporary structure; the boarding tent, where meals were served, next in line. Pit toilets had to be dug and housed. And all around were scattered smaller tents where attendees who came to spend several days would have slept. Horses required feed, water, shade and grazing areas, too.
Sessions generally lasted at least a week and often two. As a rule there was preaching three times a day --- morning, afternoon and evening. Sundays were the big day, but evening services were well attended, too.
The Chariton Leader of Saturday, Aug. 16, was able to report that, "The big camp meeting down near Columbia is progressing. We suppose Chariton will send out a large delegation on Sunday."
+++
That delegation on Sunday included, somewhat surprisingly, Dan Baker, editor of The Chariton Leader --- and that represented something of a coup for the Rev. Mr. Harned. Dan was a Unitarian who consumed alcoholic beverages with relish, smoked cigars and enjoyed taking editorial potshots (some of then good-natured) at Methodist preachers. He does not seem to have recognized the error of his ways at the camp meeting, but did give it a favorable review in his edition of Saturday, Aug. 23, as follows:
"We went to camp meeting out near Columbia last Sunday. The day being fine an immense crowd was there, variously estimated at from four to six thousand. We reached there in time for the morning sermon, and found the preacher waiting our arrival. As soon as they found we were on the ground they ordered services to proceed. We learned that their solicitation was caused by the fact that we had not been to a camp meeting for nineteen years. We enjoyed the meeting and so did everyone else as far as we could learn. The meeting will probably continue all this week."
+++
A few years later, Dan Baker shook the dust of Lucas County off his coat and headed west to California to make his name as a crusading journalist. The Rev. Mr. Harned continued to labor in the fields of southern Iowa, serving many congregations before declining health forced his retirement between 1910 and 1920.
He and his wife, Sarah, retired to Derby, where their daughter and son-in-law, May and Charles Johnson, were living. He died in Derby, age 79, on May 31, 1921, and was buried there. The following obituary was published The Herald-Patriot of June 16:
John Harned was born in Albany, Ind., Dec. 23, 1841, and died in Derby, Iowa, May 31, 1921. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Harned. The family moved to Iowa in 1861 into the neighborhood of Columbia, finally settling a few miles northeast of that village in Marion county. A good share of the large relationship of the family moved by covered wagon route about the same time into the same region.
On Dec. 16, 1866, he was married to Miss Sarah York, who shared with him the trials, labors and triumphs of the itinerant Methodist minister. To Brother and Sister Harned were born five sons and three daughters. One of the former and two of the latter passed away to the better land in early childhood.
For a few years after his marriage, Brother Harned continued on the farm but being pressed in spirit regarding his life work he finally hired a man to take charge of the farm and began preparation for the ministry. In 1875 he was admitted to the Des Moines conference as a probationer and in due time passed through his studies and became a familiar figure in our annual conferences and a beloved yoke-fellow in the ministry in southwestern Iowa.
Brother Harned was evangelistic throughout his whole ministerial career. His direct and earnest appeal both in sermon and song were blessed of God in the salvation of many. Everywhere and always he was respected and loved for his moral worth and the earnestness and persistence with which he carried on his work. An outstanding feature of his ministry is seen in the number of men whom he led into the ministry, among whom was Wm. Williams, familiarly known as "Billy" Williams, who proved to be one of the great revivalists of the territory embraced in our conference. Brother Harned is still living and working through his spiritual sons. The life and purity of the church was always upon his heart and his spirit ever cried out: "I love thy church, O God."
For the church to suffer defeat, its honor to pass into an eclipse and its faith to fail; when it ceased to be fruitful and was without influence in young life in the community, broke his heart. Now and then he "wept as he remembered Zion." Still, he never let go his faith in God nor in the ultimate victory to come.
Whatever of disappointment or of hardship attended his removal from place to place was borne with cheerfulness and holy joy. He was ever loyal to the authority of the church; never forsaking his brethren in the gospel whom he loved and who also fervently loved him. seven years ago he retired from the active work. It seemed the natural, as well as the desirable thing, to make his home in Derby. For several years he had been in a decline, yet always delighted in the house of the Lord and the fellowship of God's people. In the latter part of last winter the decline was more rapid. He calmly awaited the end, speaking clearly of present and of eternal things. To him religion was the most real thing in all the world and his Savior was an ever present friend. Even death was but the gateway to the Paradise of God and the introduction to eternal joy. His memory abides like sweet perfume among those who loved him and his influence will continue for years to come.
The funeral sermon was, by his request, preached by Rev. W.B. Thompson, now stationed at Davis City, and his precious form laid to rest in the cemetery near Derby.
 |
| Find a Grave photo by Larry Storm |
No comments:
Post a Comment