August 11 Today in OPC History

On this day in 1936 the Rev. John Davies officially began his ministry among the Menominee and Stockbridge Indians in and around Gresham, Wisconsin. His work was initially supervised by the Rev. Arthur Perkins of Merrill, Wisconsin. In previous years the Indians of that area had attended the John Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) near Gresham. In his book The First Ten Years, Robert Marsden describes the situation: “For many years this flock had been very poorly shepherded, but from 1930 to 1935 the Rev. Arthur F. Perkins and a ruling elder [Harold W. Hillegas] who took care of pastoral duties did intensive evangelistic and pastoral work among them. Many of the Indians were dissatisfied when they witnessed the persecution of Mr. Perkins, fiery evangelist and untiring field worker among home mission fields, and they looked forward to having a minister of the ‘new’ church who held to the ‘old’ faith and the ‘old’ Book.” The trip from Merrill to Gresham was about 70 miles one way, and cars and roads in the early 1930’s were nothing like our modern vehicles and highways. The commitments of Rev. Perkins and Elder Hillegas to make that trip regularly in order to conduct “intensive evangelistic and pastoral work” among the Indians was significant. Their groundwork laid a foundation for a fruitful ministry among the Indians in the years that followed. Marsden reports that under the ministry of Davies, “There are about 200 souls that look to the Old Stockbridge Church for spiritual ministrations, and many more than that of Mohicans, Menominees, Oneidas, Winnebagoes and Chippewas to whom Mr. and Mrs. Davies bring the gospel in one way or another, that ‘by all means we might save some.’”

Picture: Arthur Perkins