_{Horace Greeley Ogden}

The first page of "James Ogden's tribute to Horace G. Ogden"

During the past few days since he went away from us, I have been thinking of our early lives and how they ran along together. We were born in the same modest little cottage, rocked in the same old-fashioned cradle, slept in the same trundle-bed, went to the same public schools, joined the same church, climbed the same hills and played our boyish games together.

He gave me my name; he performed the ceremony which gave the mother of my childhood her name; and when death twice crossed the threshold of our home, no train was too fleet to bear him immediately from New York State to Indiana to give us comfort in out sorrow.

He broke the news to me when sister was born; he explained to me, then a youth of six, what it meant when father passed away leaving mother and three small children to struggle unaided and alone. I have recalled how mother and we three little ones all huddled together in the same bed the first few nights after we were left alone; and then how he and I for years slept in the same trundle-bed pulled out at night from under the large bed where mother and sister slept; and I recall now how mean I was to him in those years and afterward to pinch him in order to wake him in the night when something frightened me and he would

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from ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM - SHEPARDS OF THE FLOCK

Horace G. Ogden; 1867 - 1921

(At Jamestown: 1907 - 1914)

In 1893, Horace Ogden was graduated from DePauw University with Phi Beta Kappa honors and that same year he married Gertrude Mikels, also a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of DePauw. She was the daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. William R. Mikels of Covington, Indiana. After studying at Boston University, Dr. Ogden began his ministry with charges at Terre Haute, Frankfort, Kewanna and Attica in Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky.

The circumstances leading to the selection of Dr. Ogden for the First Methodist of Jamestown are intriguing. It seems that Mr. William C. Briggs [later to be Gertrude's second husband] on a southern business trip, fell into conversation with Dr. William H. Hickman of the Jamestown Congregational Church and when the latter learned that one of the places on Mr. Brigg's itinerary was Louisville, he said, "You must be sure to go and hear my son preach."

"Why," exclaimed Mr. Briggs, "I did not know that you have a son who is a preacher!."

"O, yes," replied Mr. Hickman. "my son-in-the-gospel, Horace G. Ogden. He is a very warm friend of mine and is preaching in the Methodist Episcopal Church, North. Go and hear him. You'll like him."

Mr. Briggs acted upon this advice and when he returned to Jamestown, he recommended that the members of the Official Board, who at that time were looking for a minister, should extend a call to this preacher. This was done and soon the Ogdens arrived in town.

The antics of their three lively boys at times caused some eyebrow raising among the staid members of the church and community, who believed that minister's children set a bad example and seldom turn out well.

There was the day that Jess was seen, by a dear old lady of the church, coming out of Shea's Theater after a show with a girl friend. Stopping the lad, she promised not to tell his parents, providing he did not repeat the offense! After graduating from Allegheny College, the oldest son specialized in English and dramatics and today is co-partner of a husband-and-wife team, known throughout the country as "Jess and Jean Ogden," professors of Adult Education in the University of Virginia. The second son, Edward M., graduated from Harvard Law School and is the senior member in the Rochester law firm of Spencer, Ogden, Gandy and Gillette. The third Ogden boy, Terrance F., a graduate of DePauw and Boston, is a pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church in Schenectady, New York. All of which goes to prove that "Beliefs" can be so wrong.

The beautiful new parsonage, fitted throughout with new furnishings, awaited the preacher and his family, who were eager to return north and full of zest for their new field of labor. Rarely has a minister poured out his life and energy more prodigally into the community than did Dr. Ogden during his seven years in Jamestown. As a fluent speaker, he was in constant demand for all sorts of civic, social and church occasions. He was especially beloved by the young people of the city and his ability to remember names and faces and to put those with whom he was conversing at their ease, was almost uncanny.

Although Dr. Ogden was not a native of this locality, nor even of New York State, nevertheless he had a lively interest in local history and in keeping green the memory of the pioneers and saints who had given their best to this community and to their beloved church. He began and ended his seven-year pastorate in Jamestown by organizing two outstanding historical commemorations.

The Sunday of December 29, 1907, was devoted to honoring Lyman Crane and Dr. John Peate by a series of five special services during the course of the day. Bishop Joseph F. Berry of Buffalo delivered a deeply impressive sermon to a morning congregation that filled the church. Following this service, the Sunday School gathered in the main auditorium where a large, framed portrait of Lyman Crane was unveiled. This was presented to the church by a grandson of Father Crane, Wilbur B. Wood of this city, who was the last surviving member of that pioneer family, a veteran of the Civil War who had gone to the front with the 112^th New York Volunteer infantry.

Dr. A. C. Ellis of Oil City in an address, "Father Crane's Bequest to Posterity," pointed out to the young people of the church school that while the names of the leading bankers and businessmen of Jamestown of fifty years ago were forgotten and even the names of the Congressmen and prominent men from this section had been consigned to oblivion, the name of Father Crane was a household word and his memory was being honored by a great church assemblage.

The most important service of that day, however, took place in the afternoon, when the bronze tablets to the memory of Lyman Crane and Dr. John Peate were unveiled.

Preceding this ceremony, Dr. T. L. Flood of Meadville, Pennsylvania, delivered an eloquent address on Dr. Peate, whom he knew personally through long and intimate acquaintance. The bronze tablets, placed on easels, had been covered with American flags until the time of the unveiling, when Wilbur B. Wood stepped forward and uncovered the tablet to the memory of his grandfather. Then Miss Katherine Peate of Cleveland, escorted by Edward Appleyard, came to the front of the church and removed the flag from the tablet to the honor of her father. While th congregation united in singing a hymn and while the benediction was being pronounced, Mr. Wood and Miss Peate remained standing by the tablets, Mr. Wood with his head bowed and Miss Peate with tears streaming down her cheeks.

A dramatic climax to the day's celebration occurred at the conclusion of the evening's service, when Wilbur B. Wood stepped before the congregation. He stated that he wished to redeem a promise, made forty years ago to his grandfather on his death bed, that he would become a member of the Methodist Church. During the next few moments, it was Dr. Ogden's extreme pleasure to conduct a brief service of membership and to extend to Father Crane's grandson the right hand of fellowship of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The second year of Dr. Ogden's ministry was memorable for the convening of the Seventy-third session of the Eire Conference in his church. This was the sixth time that the Jamestown church had been host to the Eire Conference, which was considered an honor in the days when the ministers selected only the large, outstanding churches for their conventions. Since it was customary for the clergy and lay delegates to be entertained in the homes of members of the congregation, this placed a responsibility on the host church that only a few could meet. At this Seventy-third session there were 260 ministers, besides a large number of lay delegates, which taxed every hotel room and available private home in the church. Bishop John W. Hamilton presided and three other distinguished bishops attended - M. C. Harris of Korea, W. Warn of South Asia and James W. Thoburn, who had been stationed in India.

Of special interest is the following list of young men who were candidates for various orders in the Eire Conference in 1908: Ivan C. Rossell, W. V. McLean, John E. Roberts, Charles C. Merrill, Lawrence M. Barnard, Emerson Jones, William Earl Davis, Homer B. Davis, Charles T. Greer and John A. Galbraith.

Among the countless gatherings that thronged old First Church during the "Ogden Era" is another type, which like the Eire Conference, no longer circulates among the churches for its annual convocation. Gone are the days when the Commencement exercises of the high school were held in the main auditoriums of the large churches of the city. The graduation of the Class of 1914, of which Edward M. Ogden was a member, is charmingly reported in an article found in the Evening Journal of June 26, 1914:

"The Forty-seventh Annual Commencement was celebrated Thursday evening in the M. E. Church. The church made an incomparably perfect setting for this occasion which marked a significant turn in the lives of 111 boys and girls who have discarded the carefree school days and are now prepared to shoulder the responsibilities of citizenship for which their years of training have equipped them.

"The church was profusely decorated with wild daisy, the class flower, and ferns. Shortly after eight o'clock to the strains of a march played by Prof. Gustav V. Lindgren, organist of the Swedish Methodist Church, the members of the graduating class entered through the front door of the church and marched slowly two abreast down the central isle to take their places. The girls were all clad in dainty white garments and carried bouquets of field daisies and ferns, from which streamed ribbons of tulle. The sweet simplicity of the gowns and the girlish modes of hair dressing made of them a bevy of beautiful young women. The boys followed, dressed in dark suits, each wearing a daisy in the buttonhole of his coat lapel.

"Surely Jamestown has rarely witnessed a more beautiful scene than the one presented on that occasion. The heat was somewhat oppressive, but the beauty of the surroundings, greatly enhanced by the glow of the indirect lights of the church and the air laden with the heavy perfume of ferns, diminished personal discomfort. Principal Milton J. Fletcher presided throughout the evening. The formal program opened with an invocation by the Rev. Walter A. Taylor of the Unitarian Church. Mr. Fletcher introduced in his inimitable fashion the speaker of the evening, Dr. Rush Rhees, President of the University of Rochester, who addressed the audience on the subject, "The Need of More Thoughtful Citizenship." At the conclusion of the address, Prof. Samuel Thorstenberg sang a pleasant baritone solo. Arthur W. Kettle, president of the Board of Education, conferred the diplomas."

The boundless energy of Dr. Ogden made the church move from one grand ceremonial to another. He kept before his people some ambitious enterprise, that tugged at their heart strings, as well as their purse strings. The second notable commemoration in the First Church brought to a close his long pastorate in a brilliant celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the founding of Methodism in the Jamestown area. Elaborate preparations were made to bring the church edifice to a proper setting for such a centennial. Six months before the festivities were scheduled to take place, in a Sunday morning service on November 29, 1913, lasting nearly two hours, over $18,000 was pledged for a church improvement program. Nearly half of this amount was taken by the various organizations of the church and the rest by individual members of the enthusiastic congregation that filled the auditorium and gallery. It ws one thing to obtain these subscriptions and quite another to collect the money, as the finance committee discovered during the ensuing years.

From the first day of December, 1913, until the following Easter, a force of men was kept busy installing new fixtures and renovating the entire building. The auditorium and Sunday School rooms were completely redecorated; new lighting and heating systems were installed; and new electric equipment was added for running the elevator in place of the old water pressure system. Extensive improvements were made in the kitchen equipment and considerable repair work was done in the parsonage.

The preparations were finally completed for the eight-day celebration and the long awaited 24^th of May arrived. The programs of the first two days made front page news in the local papers and complete coverage by the news reporters was given each service of the succeeding days; thoughtful editorials and attractive pictures and portraits gave added publicity to this momentous occasion. The list of speakers who appeared throughout the week included Bishop John W. Hamilton of Boston and Bishop William Burt of Buffalo. Dr. William H. Crawford, President of Allegheny College, and notable preachers from many parts of the country. On Former Pastor's Day, addresses were given by Dr. T. L. Flood of Meadville, Pennsylvania; Dr. and Mrs. Frederick H. Gould of New Brighton, Pennsylvania; and Dr. J. G. Townsend of Jamestown. This was the first time in thirty-four years that Dr. Townsend had returned to speak in his former church, He was deeply touched by Dr. Ogden's invitation and visibly affected by the significance of the occasion.

On a program later in the week, Dr. C. C. Albertson of Brooklyn, New York, spoke. Each of the speakers referred feelingly to their pastorates in the city and related many previously unrecorded incidents. Only a brief résumé of their remarks, bearing historical significance, is possible here.

Dr. Flood, the oldest living former pastor at the Centennial, often referred to as the "Old Warhorse of Methodism," lived up to his reputation as a dramatic speaker. His recollections formed a story of breathless interest as he related the incidents in the laying of the cornerstone and the thrilling climax of the dedication evening when he "ran the collection plates" until the subscriptions reached the $21,000 mark. "But the efforts to do this hurt," he added. "Twenty-eight years ago it almost sapped the life blood of the church to erect this magnificent structure. There were men here in this church who have told me today that they worked ten years to meet the pledge they made on that memorable night." The part of his reminiscences that gripped the audience was the narration of his role in bringing President Grant to Chautauqua, which was made public for the first time that week.

Dr. Ellis who followed Dr. John Peate's pastorate said that he put in five of the hardest years of his life as pastor of this church, at a time when subscription lists were being collected, the debt was heavy and the interest charge great.

"The time will come," said Dr. Ellis, "I hope and pray for this church, when it will be day and night an outpost in the warfare for God and his people against sin. From the commanding position of this church in this city, I would like to see out there on the front of the building every night an illuminated cross blazing out from dark to daylight, so that every man, even the latest home at night might see this emblem of our faith, our work and our hope."

Dr. Bruce Ellis of Eire, Pennsylvania, was one of the few young men from this church to enter the ministry, paid a fine tribute to his old family church. "That was my father and mother's church, the old church across the street and there I was taught my first steps in reverence and attention to the word of God. Then we came into this church and here my deepest memories cling. I remember my days in this Sunday School. It was at this alter that I made my first vows to serve God, as my strength and will would permit. Here I first partook of the blesses sacrament and it was here in this edifice that I received the first glimpse of what was to be my future field of service.

The Mills twins - Ida and Ada - added a refreshing touch to the program. Daughters of Mrs. Cynthia Mills, a prominent member of the First Church, they were deaconesses from the Deaconess School in Jersey City who spent their vacations in Jamestown. They were always in their places at the Sunday services, like little dolls in their quaint deaconess habits. Each of them expressed a glowing tribute to the ministers who had served this church and they expressed gratitude for the barrel of gifts sent to their school each year at Christmas time.

"The twins are just like old John Peate.

They think that Jamestown can't be beat."

The above ditty, by the chairman, brought a round of chuckles from the audience.

Mrs. Fanny O. Bailey and Mrs. Emily H. Fairbank, grand old women, each eight-four years of age, whose Christian experience covered practically three-fourths of a century, were outstanding figures in the week's celebration. Low voiced and bowed with the weight of years, each one gave clear testimony to her strong faith and gratitude to God for his long years of mercy and loving kindness to them. Their heart-warming talks marked the most moving moments of the week-long succession of speeches. Few dry eyes were in the audience when they had finished.

As the curtain was lowered on this never-to-be forgotten celebration, filled with inspiring services and attended by capacity audiences, a tremendous debt of gratitude and unstinted praise went forth to Dr. and Mrs. Ogden. That it was to be the valedictory to their ministry in Jamestown no one had suspected until the news broke on the community that they were planning to leave at the end of the conference year the following September. All efforts to persuade them to change their minds failed.

Dr. Ogden preached his farewell sermon in Jamestown Sunday morning, September 27, 1914. The church would not nearly accommodate the throng of people who wished to hear him and many were turned away. The following Sunday he began his seven years' pastorate in the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Rochester, where he paralleled his success in Jamestown. However he never forgot the city on Chautauqua Lake and by frequent visits he maintained a deep interest in all its affairs and he enjoyed thoroughly every opportunity to get back with his old friends and church people. On two special occasions he was invited to return to address large gatherings - once when he made a gripping farewell speech to a contingent of local boys who were leaving for the front, many of whom had grown to manhood under his instruction; and once to address a Liberty Loan mass meeting. With his own three sons in service, his heart and strength and time were devoted to the cause all during World War I.

In the fall of 1921, Dr. Ogden was transferred from Rochester to the Trinity Methodist Church in Albany, New York, and the following June he finished his earthly career. His sudden death came as the result of an operation. Only four days before, he had preached twice in his own pulpit.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Ogden lived for three years in Rochester with her lawyer son. In 1925, she returned to Jamestown as Mrs. William C. Briggs.