The Hard times of a Circuit Rider

The story of Erastus Chalmer Chilson

Serving the Washington Methodist church in 1868

Rev. Erastus Chilson, Alfred Chalmer Chilson, Caroline Fortney Chilson

Circleville, Ks 1870

Erastus Chalmer Chilson was born on February 25, 1840 in Geauga County, Ohio. Erastus was the first child of Alfred and Mehitable Bates Chilson. He grew up on the family farm and he was the oldest of six children. In 1859, Erastus joined the Episcopal Methodist Church; he was nineteen years of age.

When the Civil War started, Erastus enlisted in the United States Army and served with the Nineteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The Nineteenth Regiment was known to be very active in duty and was engaged in many battles.

Erastus’s parent's Alfred and Mehitable in 1862 had by this time, purchased land in Kansas and had moved to Nemaha County , Kansas . On June 17, 1862, Erastus at age twenty two applied for a marriage license in Geauga County in Ohio , to marry Sarah Ann Neill. They were married in Geauga County on June 23, 1862 by the Reverend Moses Hill, a Methodist Minister of the Gospel. The couple lived in Munson , Ohio. Sarah was the daughter of Robert and Jane Neill. Sarah was born in December 1836 in Tompkins, New York .

A baby girl, Sarah Angeline Chilson was born on March 18, 1863 in Munson. Erastus's wife, Sarah died on March 26, 1863 and was buried on March 28, 1863 in Munson. The baby, Sarah was then raised by her maternal grandparents.

Erastus, after the death of his wife, he reenlisted with the army again with the Nineteenth Regiment, the Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1863. During this time, Erastus, felt that he had been called by the Lord and he needed to go and preach the gospel. He then attended and graduated from the Geauga Baptist Seminary in Geauga, Ohio. He came to Kansas and on July 1, 1865 his membership was with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lincoln, Nebraska , which at this time took in the Kansas region. Erastus, that same he was granted a license to preach at the quarterly conference that was held at Seneca, Nemaha County , Kansas .

On March 20, 1866, the Kansas Methodist Conference admitted Erastus as a minister of the gospel and he served under the Reverend J.H. Harley. He was sent to the Junction City circuit including Salina and all points on the Smoky Hill, Solomon and Saline River , Kansas . Reverend Chilson with his buggy, horse, Holy Bible the Methodist Book of Discipline, he was ready to preach. In the fall the circuit was divided, Reverend Chilson taking the Salina part for the rest of the year and for the following year. Reverend Chilson was the first man to minister to the people of Glasco in the Solomon Valley .

In 1868, Reverend Chilson was appointed to the Washington Circuit in Kansas. Here he met Caroline Fortney. Caroline and Erastus were married on November 1, 1868 in her family home in Waterville, Kansas by the Revered R.S. Harford, a Methodist minister.

Erastus in 1869 became a member of the Commission on the Bible Cause and was also on the general conference auditing committee. He was admitted into full connection and was advanced to deacon in the second class in the Methodist Church, ordained by Bishop Janes.

Erastus was then appointed to the Circleville Circuit in 1869 serving for three years. Services of the church were often held in school houses, which were log or slab, sided building with crude benches and the Kansas soil on the floor. Caroline endured the hardships and fortunes of a minister's wife on the frontier.

In 1875 at the Twentieth Session of the Kansas Annual Conference of the Methodist Church , Erastus was transferred to the Rocky Mountain Conference. Missionaries were needed to preach the gospel to the Indians, and Erastus felt the calling to do this.

Before reaching his destination and work assigned to him, Reverend Chilson became ill with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever resulting in a brain fever at Helena, Montana. The doctor attending him was Dr. L.E. Holmes, who treated him and wrote to relatives in Kansas informing them of his condition. Erastus came back to Seneca, as his parents lived there to help care for him. Erastus was brought to Probate Court and tried for insanity on December 8, 1875 and was found to be in an unsound mind and was taken to an asylum at St. Joseph, Missouri for his recovery. His family was left in a helpless state. On a motion, a collection was taken for the family of Reverend Chilson.

In 1876 Erastus returned home to his farm in Nemaha County , Kansas .

In 1887, Erastus owned and farmed one hundred and ten acres of land in Home Township in Nemaha County , near Vermillion, Kansas .

In 1887, he was granted a pension from the Methodist Church , which he in returned gave a generous gift back to the church. Erastus was a man of the Bible and raised his family in a Christian attitude.

After a brief illness, on January 2, 1900 Erastus died, services were conducted by the Reverend A.S. Payne. He was buried in the Dennis Cemetery in Seneca.

(Photos and story provided by Barb &. Leland Chilson of Seneca, Kansas.)

Washington United Methodist Church
400 C Street, Washington, Kansas 66968
Telephone: (785)-325-2158
Email: wumcpastor@nckcn.com

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