CHAPTER XXVIII
The Rock Spring Seminary
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By 1826 the division into counties reached three fourths of the way up the state. Putnam and Henry were the frontier counties, and shared the northern part of the state between them. Galena was a village of one street, and was called Fevre River. A postoffice was established, with a semi-monthly mail, and a traveling printer published the "Miner's Journal." A cabin at the Rock river ferry, and another at Princeville, were the only houses between Galena and Peoria. There were more wagons than houses, for at the Dixon ferry that summer two hundred wagons crossed in three weeks; all headed for the lead mines.
In 1826 Daniel Parker's "Two Seed" pamphlet appeared, in which he took the ground that the saved and the unsaved are two different races of mankind. Only the saved, or the elect, are the descendants of Adam. God will call his own and the devil will have his own; why use effort to preach the gospel to those for whom it never was designed? The advantage of the theory was that it made a philosophical basis for his theory of predestination, and its corollary antimissionism. The publication of the book was a heavy burden on the author, and he hoped that possibly some of his brethren would help him; but they did not. It would have been giving money for the gospel. And he feared to ask them for it was contrary to his own preaching. Furthermore, most of the antimission preachers did not accept the teachings of the book, and thus another cause for division was introduced. The small Okaw and Vermillion Associations in the eastern part of the state are Two Seed bodies, relics of the split in the ranks by the weird fancy of one who at times believed himself inspired.
In the political campaign of 1826 William Kinney ran for Lieutenant Governor and was elected, though the rest of his ticket was defeated. He had become a man of wealth for that day, and a skilful politician; and as one historian observes, "the duties of his holy calling were not a stumbling block in his way." As Lteutenant Governor he was the presiding officer of the state senate, whereupon the chair cast a shadow which modified Illinois Baptist history, as we well see.
One of the deepest desires of John M. Peck was for a training school for preachers of the gospel. He hoped to have secured this in a
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development of his school in Missouri, but the hasty action of the eastern Board, and his removal to Illinois, put an end to that. After coming to Illinois he kept the project alive by discussions, sermons, letters, and articles in the eastern newspapers, until in his judgment the time had come to act. It included a visit to the east, for the outfit for such a school as he had in mind could not be had on the field.
On February 26, 1826, he took leave of his family, turned his horse's head toward Vincennes, and was off for Philadelphia. He reached Cincinnati March 14, after a muddy trip of 350 miles. There he put himself and horse on board a river steamboat, for Wheeling; thence to Washington, making stops and detours along the way. He reached Philadelphia April 16, and spent three weeks there and in New York in attendance on the May Anniversaries. Everywhere he was invited to tell the people about the west. By the end of May he was in Boston; on the way visiting his aged and widowed mother at Litchfield, and at Worcester evolving with Jonathan Going the rudiments of the future Home Mission Society.
The months of June, July and August he spent in going up and down in New England seeking money and materials for the western school. He secured $750, all in small amounts, with promises of $500 more. September 13 he started on his return, taking his mother with him in a carriage. They came by Buffalo and Cincinnati, and on Thursday evening, November 23, he drew up at his own gate, remarking, "This is the place, mother." He had been gone nine months, and had traveled 4400 miles.
Monday, January 1, 1827, an important Conference was held at the Rock Spring residence. The questions to be decided were, First, Shall we have a school? Answered, Yes! Second, What kind of a school shalt it be? Decided that it must have two departments, academical and theological; and that there should be land attached so that students: may have the opportunity of paying their way by manual labor. Third, Where shall it be located? Where land can be obtained, healthy location, easy of access, for the sake of Missouri students it should be near St. Louis. Plainly, Rock Spring was the place. Fourth, means and management. Voted to offer one hundred shares of stock, payable in cash, books, building materials or provisions. A board of ten trustees was chosen, with James Lemen, president, and J. M. Peck, secretary. Other trustees were: Dr. B. F. Edwards, of Edwardsville; Eld. James Pulliam, of Belleville; Eld. Zadok Darrow, of Rock Spring. The latter,
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from New York, had joined Mr. Peck in 1823, and was ordained the following year by the Rock Spring church. He was a hardworking man, supporting his family from his farm, and preaching as he had opportunity. Joshua Bradley, a teacher of Pittsburg, was first choice for principal of the new school. Mr. Peck for teacher in the theological department, and John Messenger in the academical. Messenger was an old settler, a classical scholar, a very genius in mathematics; just the man for the place, except that in his anxiety to put the boys ahead he was apt to get them into Latin and algebra before they had mastered their elementary studies.
Elder Peck was appointed field agent and superintendent of construction, and he went to work and set others to work at once. By the end of summer three buildings were enclosed. Main building, 30 x 40, hard wood frame, filled in with brick and clapboarded; lower floor for schoolroom and upper for sleeping rooms; two one-story wings, one for class room and the other for principal's room and library. Log boarding house; carpenter shop, used as a printing office. The heating was by four open fireplaces; the lighting by candles. Total expenses of a student for a year, $50.
School opened Thursday, November 1, 1827, with a public gathering and twenty-five students. Before the month had passed the number had increased to one hundred. Many of the students came with the impression that they were to be made brilIiant scholars in a very short time. This was a disappointment, and soon operated to reduce the numbers; but the school was a success.
Mr. Peck's next desire was to secure a charter, that the school might be able to receive endowments and hold property. So with his faithful horse he wended his way to Vandalia, and spent some weeks of precious time in the interest of his bill. It was reported favorably by the proper committee, and passed the House. But in the senate it met the opposition of the presiding officer, WilIiam Kinney. He worked against it with alIbis power. As many of the senators were from the south he appealed to race prejudice. "These Yankees," he exclaimed in his button hole interviews, referring to Mr. Peck and other New England men, "are moving into our state very fast, and if we give them a charter for all their monopolies our liberties will soon be gone!" When the final vote was taken there was a tie, the presiding officer gave his vote against the charter, and it was lost. Thus by the influence and act
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of one man, himself a Baptist, "Rock Spring Theological and High School" never obtained its charter; and so, four years thereafter it was easier removed to Alton and became the foundation of Shurtleff College.
This act of his old friend, his associate in the organization of Rock Spring church six years before, was a great discouragement to Mr. Peck. But he had no reproach of conscience; he had done what he could. He returned to his unchartered school and his multifarious duties, believing that the institution had risen by the grace of God and the charter would come when God wanted it. ====================== [Edward P. Brand, Illinois Baptists -- A History, 1930, pp. 93-96. -- jrd]
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