Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Hackaliah Vredenburg: Brick Wall Ancestor



I've decided to finally undertake my grandmother's biggest Brick Wall, my 4th great grandfather the Reverend Hackaliah Vredenburg. Here is all I have found so far:

 Memoirs. Rev. Hackaliah Vredenburg. 

 "Rev. Hackaliah Vredenburgh was born in Westchester county, N. Y., May 10, 1790, and died at the residence of his son-in-law, Rev. Rowley, in Wisconsin, January 23, 1869.

 In 1817 he settled at Terre Haute, Ind. In 1830 he united with the Missouri Conference. His first appointment was Okaw Circuit. In 1821 the Illinois Conference was formed, Bro. Vredenburg being one of the original thirty-two members, of who two only are now left, the venerable Peter Cartwright, of Illinois, and Aaron Wood, of Indiana. He was returned the second year to Vermillion: in 1825 his appointment was Crawfordsville, and the next fall he was granted a location. In 1831 he was re-admitted into the Illinois Conference and appointed to Logansport mission. The next year the Indiana Conference was formed, and his field of labor being within its bounds, he became a member of it, and continued identified with the conferences of Indiana until his death. In 1832 he was appointed to Washington Circuit, 1833 to Lafayette, 1834 and 5, to Pine Creek, 1836 to Monticello Mission, 1837 to Dayton, 1838 and 9 to Greencastle. In 1840 he received a superannuated relation, which he retained until death with the exception of one year, 1851, when he traveled in Prairieville Circuit.

 Most of Bro. Vredenburg’s itinerant life was spent in the Valley of the Wabash. From its mouth almost to its source he preached, organizing new societies and circuits, carrying the Gospel messages to the scattering settlements, and enduring all the exposures and privations of pioneer life. In one of his charges no house could be had to shelter his wife and children while he traveled his circuit of three or four hundred miles round. Rather than leave his work, he took possession of a deserted log stable, and fitting it up with his own hands made that the parsonage for the year. At other times he was compelled on his rest days to cultivate a small piece of ground to supply his family with food, the pittance received from the people being barely sufficient to furnish them with clothing. But amid all these privations and dangers this faithful minister was always at his post, rarely missing an appointment and never deserting his trust.

 He was much attached to Vermillion county. One of the first, if not the very first to carry the Gospel there, for he preached at Butler’s Point as early as 1823, when failing health hoping there to spend the remainder of his days. But as age and increasing infirmities came upon him he was compelled to break up housekeeping and spend his time with his children. His sight had become dim and his body exceedingly feeble, yet his mind was clear and strong, and the memory of the incidents and labors of his itinerant life unimpaired. On the day before he died he was attacked with a severe pain in the chest which continued about thirty-six hours, when death released him from his sufferings. When told by his physician that he could live but a little while and that he had better prepare to die, he replied. “I have been doing so all my life.” His aged companion, who shared with him the privations and toils of the itinerancy for near fifty years, still survives."

 Source: Memoirs. Rev. Hackaliah Vredenburg. Methodist Episcopal Church. Minutes. North Western Indiana Conference. 1869. 18th. P. 32.

 This should be an interesting ride!


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Friday, September 12, 2014