Pioneers of a Great Cause

			     Chapter XVII

I wish it were possible at this late date to give adequately the histories of
our pioneer preachers. But  biographical material  is hard to  find and those
whose  memories reach back  to  the closing years of these  old heroes of the
Cross  are themselves  now  old and memory is  a   most unreliable source  of
information.  Much that  the pioneers  did  and  said was in  out-of-the-way,
back-woods or back-prairie regions, where records were not kept, or have long
since perished,  and now only  fading memories are cherished by  the few that
still linger on the border-land of two worlds.

In the Christian Standard of February 12, 1921, I find an appreciation of our
old-time preachers from the lips  of  President  H.H.  Seerley,  of the State
Teachers' college, Cedar Falls, Iowa.  The occasion was the dedication of the
church building,  Dec.   5,  1920, and the writer  of the article was  Andrew
Scott, himself a good minister of the Gospel, and the pastor of the church at
that time.

President Seerley told the  audience of  his boyhood and young manhood  days,
spent near  South  English, Iowa, and  of having been greatly  influenced and
helped by one of  our pioneer   preachers,  T.Q. Matthews,  who  was  farmer,
shoemaker, postmaster, magistrate,  and who preached  every Lord's  day in  a
large farm house  to the  people who  came from  all the surrounding country.
Folks came for miles  in those days --  in lumber-wagons, on  horse-back,  on
foot. The pioneer preacher was their one  touch with  the outside world. This
was in the years 1854-1865.

T.Q.  Matthews was  not only a man  of   affairs but a  good preacher, deeply
interested in humanity and especially in  young men and  young women, whom he
greatly encouraged to lofty and noble  ideals, both in private and  in public
life.  When a  school house was  built in the  neighborhood he preached there
once a month, the Baptists, Methodists and Dunkards using the house the other
Sundays.   A union Sunday  School was  started  in which he was prominent  as
leader and teacher, and where  he  made his influence  felt to such an extent
that a Christian church was  established.  So great was  the influence of the
good man and pioneer minister that President Seerley testifies that the moral
and  religions life  of the community  was  deepened and  lifted up, until it
became    something  of  an  ideal neighborhood,   in  contrast   with  other
communities.   He encouraged young  Seerley to  go   to college  and  prepare
himself for greater usefulness, and when  later he went  to college and found
himself  in an atmosphere less  warm and friendly  and spiritual, it was  the
recollection of his childhood and youth and the moral and religious teachings
received in the  home  and in  the   Bible  school and  church,  chiefly that
received from  T.Q.  Matthews, that  preserved  the faith  of  his  years and
enabled  him to hold  on his   way with  resolute  purpose and  to accomplish
whatever of good he had in the world.

This is indeed high praise, coming from such a man as the venerable president
of the widely known  Teachers' College of  Iowa, from  whose halls have  gone
forth thousands of the finest young people  into the school-rooms of this and
other states.  Who can measure the influence of this old pioneer preacher, as
it has been multiplied a thousand fold through the life and  labors of such a
man as H.H. Seerley, who literally poured  out the treasures of his  love and
life for forty-two years as the president of the State Teachers' College?

Dr. E.C. Scott, a son of Elisha Scott, and a grandson on his mother's side of
T.Q. Matthews,  furnished  me some facts  concerning the  life of the latter:
Tunstal Quarles  Matthews was born  Sept. 23, 1807,  in Delaska [sic] county,
Ky.  His wife was  born in the same  neighborhood,  May 10, 1807. Her  maiden
name was Jane Cloe Morgan.  Cary E. Morgan, one of the  princely preachers of
the  Church of  Christ in the  Southland, was  of this branch  of the  Morgan
family.   And later the  Morgans,  Frank, Oscar  T. and Lester, of  Iowa, and
Alice Morgan Wickizer, came from this same  branch of the  family -- a family
of gifted  preachers.  The  Morgan family moved  to Fayette county,  Indiana,
while the Matthews moved to Ross county, Ohio, when T.Q. was eight years old,
and when he was twenty they removed to Fayette county, Indiana, and there the
young people were  married,   Dec. 25, 1823.  Grandfather   Matthews  (T.Q.'s
grandfather) was a Baptist preacher and  both families were Baptists.   About
the time of their marriage a preacher named John  P. Thompson, who was of the
strong Calvinistic theology,  made a trip  to  Kentucky  where  he heard John
Smith (Raccoon John) preach, and when he returned  to Indiana he was what was
then called a "Campbellite".  Previous to going he  was  the preacher for the
historic "Flat Rock Church", in Rush county, Indiana, of which T.Q.  Matthews
became a member in 1829, his wife having united with  the people who took the
Bible for their creed some time before. This was about the time  of the final
separation of the  Baptists and  Disciples,  and the "Flat   Rock" church had
become a Church of Christ --- reputed the first in Indiana.  For almost fifty
years, first in Indiana, and then  in  Iowa,  T.Q. Matthews gave himself with
singular  devotion  to the  work  of the church,  preaching,  as  most of the
pioneers, without  compensation and giving  liberally of his substance during
all the years for the advancement of the Cause.  With them "The Cause" held a
large place,  and   they labored,  in  season  and  out   of season, enduring
privations of which we know little  or  nothing,  suffering hardships as good
soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Then the article by Andrew  Scott came into the  hands of Dr. E.C.  Scott, he
asked  President Seerley to give  more  fully his  recollections of the early
days, especially with reference to the ministry of  T.Q.  Matthews, which are
here transcribed: "To try to set down my impressions of the Iowa pioneers has
always been a pleasant task, as the men and women I knew in my childhood were
honorable, religious and  worthy.  The  Thomas Seerley family, of  which I am
the oldest son,   came  to Rodman's Point,  the   present location of   South
English, Iowa, in October, 1854.   After  spending the winter in a  part of a
room in Hugh Rodman's tavern,  father erected a  frame  house of three  rooms
with his own hands, on a site one mile and a quarter south of Rodman's tavern
and made this the  family residence for  many years.  South  English was  the
name given to the post office which was located in a  farm house  west of the
present village and when the county surveyor in 1855 surveyed and platted the
proposed village  it  was located just  east  of Rodman's Point  ---   a site
designated by a half oak trees [sic] were of sufficient size to be observable
for some distance  by travelers crossing  the  unbroken  prairies, being thus
named by the mail-carrier,  who had the  contract to  carry the United States
mail from Iowa City to  Sigourney.   The only other  house besides the tavern
was  the cross-roads country  store, kept  by  a man   named Post,  the snare
drummer as well as the  merchant of the  community.  The  school house of the
village was erected  on a  small elevation  on  the south  side  of the plat.
Thomas  Seerley was a  secretary of  the   township   school   board and  was
responsible for the erection of this very pretentions [sic] building in 1855.

One half-mile east of the new village of South English there was a large farm
house built of logs, with an old-fashioned brick fireplace at each end, large
enough to burn cordwood.  This dwelling consisted of two  large  rooms and on
this account became the center of all activities  of this  pioneer community.
The proprietor was a man past middle age whose name was Moses Hall.  He was a
generous, Christian man and welcomed the people who assembled there each week
for mid-week prayer meetings, Sunday School  and  preaching services.  It was
here that I first learned to know T.Q. Matthews, who was the volunteer pastor
of this flock of Christians, made up  of  all kinds of denominations.  He was
active in the service and was the central figure in organized Christianity in
that community.  He was  a man a little  past middle  age, was independent in
his thinking, liberal in his views and decided in his standards.  The men and
women he met  from  Sunday to Sunday   were all  God-fearing people and  they
cooperated with him in a very cordial manner.   There  was an organization of
those who were members of the Christian church, but all  others were accorded
a  consideration that made them  recognize the effort  and organization  as a
community affair.

The Seerley  family were  evangelical   Lutherans, of  the   united  Lutheran
present-day church, and they held in high esteem this pioneer pastor  and his
estimable family, and while they were never  taken into membership, they were
constantly in attendance at these much appreciated services.

T.Q.  Matthews has  a pleasing personality; he was  a didactic, inspirational
preacher of the Gospel and felt his true  responsibility as a  servant of his
master.  He was of medium stature, very spare in flesh, nervous in temperment
and methodical in management.  His sermons were simple  enough for as a child
to  understand, yet  they  were  of   a progressive kind  and character  that
appealed to the  conscience and the intelligence  of  the  conscience of  the
congregation.  His family that was personally known to me were his daughters,
Permelia and Lucinda, and his son, Alvin, who  had charge of my Sunday School
class, and who  was greatly  admired by  the  boys for  his high ideals,  his
sincere personality  and  his love   for humanity.  He  went  into the United
States service as a soldier in the Civil War, was  taken prisoner and sent to
Libby prison, Richmond, Va., and died later on his way to  be exchanged.  Our
class mourned his  demise as a  great personal loss to our   friendship.  The
daughters  mentioned were school teachers of  first-class reputation and were
young women of marked influence in  the community.  During  the  war Permelia
married  a soldier,  Alfred Shipman,  and Lucinda   married  another soldier,
Samuel Sprague, when they were home for  a short  time on furlough at the end
of their first enlistment.

So far as I know, T.Q. Matthews received no remuneration as a  pastor of this
early congregation,  as the people  were all  beginners in occupation and had
very little  incomes.  He  farmed on a small scale,  followed the  trade of a
shoemaker and made boots for the men and boys of the  community, having quite
a fine patronage for that early day. He was justice of the peace, post-master
and general legal adviser and servant of all the people, drafting their legal
papers, such as deeds, mortgages and contracts as the business  needs  of the
community required.  He was  trusted, appreciated and  honored by  everybody,
because  he believed in  doing  nobly and  ably  every duty that came  as  an
opportunity.

------------------------------------------------------
Pioneers of a Great Cause: History of the Disciples of Christ in Iowa
written in 1931 by Charles Blanchard (1861-1938)
pages 128-132.
The original is a typewritten manuscript housed at Drake University.  The
Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Nashville has a microfilm
copy (which is where I got it from).