Rev. Dyer Burgess
In writing a sketch of a person, in order to understand his life fully, it is sometimes well to begin several generations before he was born. Dyer Burgess traced his ancestry to Thomas Burgess, who came from England to Salem, Mass., in 1630, but who settled at Sandwich, in Plymouth Colony. This Thomas Burgess is recorded by Dr. Savage as being a chief among them. In the church organized at Sandwich, Mass., in 1638, he was an original member, and he served the town in every office, humble or honorable, from land surveyor to deputy at the Court at Plymouth. He became a large landholder, and his patriarchial estate was still held by a lineal descendant in the sixth generation, in 1863. Thomas Burgess died February 13, 1665, aged eighty-two years.
His grave was honored by a monumental slab, imported from England. Aaron Otis says that this was the first monument set up for any pilgrim of the first generation. So that while Dyer Burgess' ancestor did not come over in the Mayflower, he was only ten years behind the first settle ment, and of the same stock as the Pilgrim Fathers, and it is easy to see where he got his obstinacy and firmness of purpose.
The genealogy of the Burgess family was published in 1865, by the Rev. Ebenezer Burgess, of Dedham, Mass. From this, it appears that Thomas Burgess, who came from England, had a third son, Jacob. He married a Miss Nye, and had a son, Ebenezer, born October 2, 1673, who married Mary Lombard. Ebenezer had six children, all baptized Sep tember 23, 1711. Among them was a son Samuel, married to Jedidah Gibbs, March 30, 1732, and they had eight children. His wife died March 10, 1732, and he married Deborah Berse, November 7, 1754, and had four children by her. Jabez Burgess, one of the eight children by the first marriage, married Hannah Lathrop, May 3, 1754, and removed to Tolland, Conn., in 1783.
Jabez had nine children, among whom was a son, Nathaniel, born March 4, 1758, and married to Lucretia Scott in 1781. They had six children, of whom the subject of our sketch, Dyer Burgess, was born December 27, 1784, at Springfield, Vermont, to which place his parents had removed in 1781. So that our hero had a long line of fine old Pur itan ancestors, with Scripture names, and all of whom lived godly lives, and died full of years, in the hope of the gospel.
Dyer Burgess completed a scientific course at Dartmouth College, to which he afterwards added a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and medicine. He became interested in religion, and was ordained a minister at Clovernook, Vermont.
At the age of sixteen years, he began to preach as a Methodist minister, but finding his views more in accordance with Congregationalism he joined that church and studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Wines. He came to Ohio in 1816, and was received in the Miami Presbytery from the Nortern Association of Vermont, September 2, 1817. At Piqua, he organized a Presbyterian Church in the latter part of 1816. In the following year, it united with Troy to secure Mr. Burgess' services as a missionary. Presbytery met in Springfield the first Tuesday in September, 1217, and the two churches, Piqua and Troy, wanted the Rev. Dyer Burgess to preach for them, which he agreed to do for six months, at a salary of one hundred dollars. At the end of the six months, the two churches gave him a call as a regular pastor. In his old age, the last journey he took was to attend, at Piqua, the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the church there. From there he went to the Presbyterian Church at West Union, Ohio. While in charge of the church at West Union, during a period of nine years, from 1820 to 1829, he resided across the street from the church in a frame house, directly east of that occupied by J. M. Wells, Esq., and while there, he did his own cooking, except the baking of his bread, which was done by the ladies of his congregation and brought to his house.
In Adams County he was brought into contact with the Rev. Wm. Williamson, with Rev. James Gillilan and Rev. John Rankin; with Mr. Carothers and Mr. Dickey, and with Col. John Means. These gentlemen were born and educated in South Carolina, and most of them had been slaveholders, but having conscientious scruples as to the wrong of slavery, they left their native state and came to Ohio.
In 1823, he organized the Auxiliary Bible Society of Adams County. Rev. Wm. Williamson was its first president, and Mr. Burgess was its corresponding secretary. The society is still in existence.
He was a very earnest man, and not only was he a strong opponent of human slavery, but he was a very great advocate of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors, and opposed to secret societies. He was also opposed to the use of tobacco in any form.
He thought and felt so intensely that his expressions in public speaking and in preaching had a wonderful effect on his hearers. He was a man of much more than ordinary intellect and was an excellent preacher. He first preached for seven years in West Union, Ohio, but it seems that his doctrine was too radical for the people there, and he ceased to be their pastor, and was succeeded by the Rev. John P. Vandyke, after which he preached in Manchester, Ohio.
One of Mr. Burgess' elders was Gen. Joseph Darlinton, the Clerk of the Courts, of Adams County. Darlinton when a young man in Virginia had owned slaves. He had one, Dick, who was a refractory and ugly fellow. He sold him and kept the money. Mr. Burgess got to hear of this, and said at one time, in a sermon that in his congregation was one who had the price of blood in his chest. It was supposed that Mr. Burgess' strictures bore hard on General Darlinton, who was not a pronounced anti-slavery man. Some one asked Mr. Burgess how General Darlinton stood his anti-slavery doctrine. "Oh," said Mr. Burgess, "he stands it like an ox."
About this time the Rev. Burgess formed an attachment for Miss Elizabeth Means, the daughter of Col. John Means. His suit was discouraged by the brothers and the family, as they thought she ought to do better than to marry a poor minister. The matter never came to a proposal, but on the twenty-seventh day of April, 1827, Miss Means married Dr. William M. Voris. This event was entirely unexpected to Mr. Burgess, and struck him like a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky. At a solemn communion service season the Sunday following, he preached from the text: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," and he preached with such pathos and depth of feeling that his hearers could not but believe that his idol had been shattered when Miss Means married Dr. Voris.
On March 19, 1831, he married Miss Isabella Ellison, the daughter of Andrew Ellison. She was a maiden lady of about his own age, and he married her in Cincinnati, where she was making her home with her brother-in-law, Adam McCormick.
The Rev. Burgess was very much opposed to secret societies. On June 5, 1831, he began the publication of a semi-monthly periodical at Cincinnati, Ohio, entitled, "Infidelity Unmasked."
There were twenty-four numbers of it; the last number appeared April 22, 1832. Mr. Burgess was the editor. It does not appear that he wrote any editorials of any consequence, but the periodical is made up chiefly of extracts from other periodicals of like character and from lectures and addresses against Masonry and slavery. The burden of the periodical is against Masonry, with an occasional article against slavery. In his prospectus, the editor states that he does not expect much patron age, that his object is that his work might appear in the Day of Judgment, and bear witness that he has not shunned the whole counsel of God, and that under the influence of the Spirit, he has undertaken to lift up the standard when the enemy comes in as a flood. He also stated in the prospectus, that, firmly believing that Masonry and slavery are identified, and that slavery is practical heresy of a damning character, he has, after deliberately counting the cost, dared to undertake the difficult and responsible duties of editor of a periodical paper, the leading object of which is to clear the sanctuary of both of these abominations. He proceeds to say that he does not charge that all persons are infidels ; but he does say, and will undertake to prove, if God permits him to succeed with the work, that Masonry is infidelity, organized and masked. He further declared that the paper would consist principally of extracts from other works which have been published in Europe and America, in which the principles of Masonry have been fully discovered and exposed.
Short communications on the subject of Masonry and slavery were thankfully invited, and would be inserted. The price of the periodical was $1.00 in advance. $1.25 in six months, and $1.50 at the end of the year. The bound volume consists of 384 pages.
At the close of the work on April 21, 1832, the editor states: "I have now finished what I have steadilv resolved on for more than twenty years. I have published my sentiments against the worst institution that ever subsisted; and I hope God will smile upon my poor labors, and make them a blessing to my acquaintances, and graciously accept of me, for Christ's sake.
"I have written but little for the paper, because I have always found abundantly more material ready prepared, in a style much superior to what I could produce myself. I have published but a small part indeed, of what I intend on the subject of slavery; and shall, if encouraged, continue to issue my paper in West Union, Adams County, Ohio, and to that place, I invite my correspondents to make their future communications." It appears from the periodical, that in April, 1831, the Editor secured the Chillicothe Presbytery to declare that it was unlawful and inexpedient to have its members connected with the Masonic fraternity. By his like influence, in October, 1831, the Synod of Connecticut declared that a connection with Masonry was inconsistent with Christianity.
On page 266, of his "Infidelity Unmasked," Mr. Burgess has a letter of nearly two pages, addressed to Oliver M. Spencer, a prominent Methodist minister of Cincinnati, Ohio, on Masonry. It seems that Mr. Bur gess had attended a Masonic funeral at Cincinnati, at which Mr. Spencer was present as a Mason, and Mr. Spencer's appearance raised the choler of Mr. Burgess.
On page 26, June 26, 1831, he states that the Presbytery of Chillicothe has made Masonry a term of communion, and that one person had argued to him that Jesus Christ was a Mason. He says that Christ declared openly in the Court of Pontus Pilot (so printed in the news paper), "In secret have I said nothing."
On June 1, 1830, Mr. Burgess delivered an address at the court house at West Union, Ohio, on the subject "Solomon's Temple Haunted, or Free Masonry, the Man of Sin in the Temple of God." His lecture was delivered at an anti-Masonic meeting. He took the ground that Masonry was (1) treason against the Government, (2) treason against God. He stated in his address that Washington in his youth took three degrees in Masonry, and then in his farewell address, raised his voice against all secret societies, and went to the Invisible World. He said that on the strength of Washington's Masonry, thousands have been tumbled into the imaginary grave of Hiram Abiff, for the sake of stooping to folly, like Washington. He states that Masonry was first instituted June 24, 1717, and that the Masons filled almost every office in the Republic. He spoke of the Masonic celebration of St. John's Day, as a "Gobbler's Strut." It seems, from this periodical, that on the twenty-eighth of September, 1831, William Wirt, of Maryland, and Amos Ellmaker, of Penn sylvania, were nominated as anti-Masonic candidates for President and Vice President of the United States.
The book is largely filled up with letters from a Rev. Henry Jones, who signs himself a dissented Royal Arch Mason.
This Rev. Jones was expelled from King Hiram's Lodge in Waitsfield, Vermont, on September 24, 1828, for unworthy and unmasonic conduct. On October 8, 1828, his church at Cabot, Vermont, had a meeting and highly approved of his conduct in leaving the Masons, and in their judgment, stated that the oaths and obligations of Masonry were no more binding on its members than the oath of Herod to slay John the Baptist, or that of the forty Jews who banded together to kill Paul. This Rev. Jones furnished no less than ten different papers for Mr. Burgess' periodical.
Rev. Burgess fought Masonry as a greater evil than slavery. He has been dead twenty-two years, and he survived slavery by ten years, but Masonry still exists in a renewed vigor. The Rev. Burgess was mistaken as to Masonry.
He wasted a great deal of superfluous energy on Masonry which had better have been doubled up on slavery and tobacco. On the subject of Masonry, Mr. Burgess was a fanatic; but upon alcoholism, the use of tobacco and slavery, he was simply a thinker years ahead of his time. His favorite text against secret societies was the language of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the eighteenth chapter and twentieth verse of St. John's Gospel in His answer to the High Priest: "I spake openly to the world and in secret I said nothing," and upon this text, he preached a most powerful sermon, which his hearers never forgot.
The Manchester Presbyterian Church took a Mason into full membership. Mr. Burgess remarked to Mrs. A. B. Ellison, that after that, he would never again visit Manchester Church, or commune with it— and he never did.
To illustrate how strongly Mr. Burgess thought and felt on the subject of secret societies - when Abraham Lincoln was first a candidate for President, Mr. Burgess wished to support him, but would not do so until he had written to Mrs. Lincoln and received an answer to the effect that Mr. Lincoln did not belong to any secret society. Then he supported Mr. Lincoln's candidacy most heartily.
Directly after his marriage to Miss Ellison, which entirely revolutionized his finances, as she was wealthy and willing to spend her money for their joint enjoyment, he returned to West Union, and there built the property now occupied and known as the Palace Hotel, and immediately took possession of it. From that time on, until the death of his wife, the Rev. Burgess had no particular charge, but preached when and where he pleased. He and his wife lived in great state in their then elegant home—as, when completed, it was the finest house in the county. They kept two pews in the Presbyterian Church at West Union, and these they had filled every Sunday- They entertained a great many visitors— usually had their house full of visitors, and especially Mrs. Burgess' relations. These she invited from far and wide and entertained them for a long period of time.
While living in this property, Mr. Burgess took it upon him to study Greek, which he had never studied before; and while engaged in that study, he was so intent upon it, as he was upon everything else which he undertook, that he invited every minister far and near to make him a visit; and when the visitor arrived at Dr. Burgess' residence, he found that he was expected to read Greek with him and to instruct him in that language. At one time, when he was preaching in West Union, Rosanna, a colored nurse of Mrs. Ann Wilson's, had one of Mrs. Wilson's children there, as it was customary in those days to take the babies to church. This particular baby began to cry very loudly. Mr. Burgess paused in the midst of his sermon, and said in a commanding voice, "Rosanna, take that child out !" and out it went.
As before stated, he was a frequent visitor in the family of Col. John Means, and there he met, at one time, Maj. Barry, a young gentleman from Mississippi, who was a nephew of Col. Means, and who was making a protracted visit at his uncle's. Maj. Barry's father was an extensive slaveholder, and Mr. Burgess took pains to impress his views upon Maj. Barry, claiming that he was a mild Abolitionist. Maj. Barry was so impressed with Mr. Burgess' arguments, that he was almost willing to adopt the Abolitionist views himself.
Col. Means lived about three miles back of Manchester, and one Sunday, he and his family with Maj. Barry rode to Manchester to attend the Presbyterian Church there, and hear the Rev. Burgess preach. During his sermon, he remarked that a slaveholder was worse than a horse thief. This statement aroused Maj. Barry's ire, as his father, a most estimable man, was a slaveholder, and he arose and left the church. When he was about half-way out, Mr. Burgess thought he would emphasize the statement, and he said that a slaveholder was worse than ten thousand horse theives!
Maj. Barry wrote him a note the next day, and told him that if that was his mild Abolitionism he wanted none of it, and that he would be gratified to see him in purgatory.
The Rev. Burgess took his note, and called upon Mrs. Dr. Willson, Sr., and expressed himself horrified that one human being could wish another in torment, and said to Mrs. Wilson, "He might as well have wished me in hell." Maj. Barry afterwards told Dr. Wilson that he could see Burgess' throat cut from ear to ear and feel gratified at the sight.
Mr. Burgess was a most companionable man, and had a wonderful fund of humor. He had a happy faculty of clothing his thoughts in appropriate language, and his acrimonious denunciations were confined to his lectures and sermons.
When he was about to marry Miss Ellison, Aunt Ann Wilson, at whose house he was very intimate, rallied him about it, and wondered that he had not selected a younger and more handsome lady. Mr. Burgess replied that he loved youth and beauty as well as ever.
His wife died in their home, now the Palace Hotel, in West Union, November 3, 1839. She disposed of her property by last will and testament drawn by Hon. George Collings, father of Judge Henry Collings, of Manchester, Ohio. The will made no provision for Mr. Burgess except to give him two rooms in her house for life, but she had already given him a number of claims which she deemed a suitable provision for him.
In 1830, it was the custom everywhere in Adams County for the farmers to furnish whiskey for their harvest hands, and to distribute it freely among them. In that year, Mr. Burgess made a temperance address at Fenton's schoolhouse, on Gift Ridge, and his speech on that occasion was so powerful that it induced all the farmers on Gift Ridge to abstain from having whiskey in the fields during harvest, and since then it has never been used in harvest in that locality.
On one occasion when Mr. Burgess was going from Manchester to Cincinnati on a steamboat, "The Huntress," accompanied by his wife, a number of Kentuckians were traveling on the boat, and the Rev. Burgess took occasion to air his views on Masonry and slavery.
The Kentuckians, who were both Masons and slaveholders, proposed to hang him right there on the boat, and went so far as to secure a rope for the purpose and suspended it from the pilot house. Charles Stevenson, from Manchester, and John Sparks, of West Union, were on the boat, and the former was a Mason. Both of these and the Hon. John Rowan, of Louisville, interceded with the angry Kentuckians, and the captain of the boat saw that it would ruin his boat if a man were to be hung on it. The Kentuckians asked the price of his boat and wanted to pay it for the privilege of hanging Mr. Burgess. His wife went on her knees and begged for his life. But Mr. Burgess himself asked for no quarter or mercy, and would not apologize a whit, or stop his denunciations. Had he lived in Joshua's time, he would have preferred a position upon Mount Ebal, rather than upon Mount Gerizim, for he was a master-hand at denunciation, when it suited his purpose.
The story is that the Kentuckians were the ones most to blame in the matter, but in truth the ones on the boat, who insisted most strenuously on the hanging of Burgess on that occasion were natives of Connecticut and of Ohio. Hon. John Rowan, himself a slaveholder, told Mr. Burgess on the "Huntress," that if he went below Cincinnati, it would be impossible for him to protect him. This incident occurred late in the thirties in this county. The friends of Mr. Burgess had him get off the boat at Ripley and give up his trip to Cincinnati.
His home in West Union, during the lifetime of his first wife, was called "Anti-Slavery Palace." The Abolitionists from far and wide visited him, and were always made welcome. The Rev. Stephen Riggs, Rev. Caskey and Mr. Longley were often at his home and studied with him.
In 1840, he left Adams County, and went to Washington County. He made his home there, and for a long time preached to the churches in Warren, Belpre and Watertown. In his sermons he always came out strong in his denunciatory parts. He was clear and pointed in his state ments, and at times waxed eloquent. One thing is certain, no one could go to sleep under his preaching.
On August 31, 1842, Mr. Burgess was married to Mrs. Elizabeth W. Voris, widow of Dr. William M. Voris, and the daughter of Col. John Means, and who was Mr. Burgess' first love. They were married at the home of her brother, Hugh Means, the former residence of her father in Adams County, Ohio. She was born in South Carolina in 1799 and came to Ohio in 1819 when her father came to this State to free his slaves. She was a noble Christian woman and lived a long life of sincere piety and good deeds. One of her daughters by her first marriage was the wife of the Hon. Wm. P. Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio. Mrs. Burgess died February 28, 1889, in her ninetieth year, having lived with Mr. Burgess thirty years, and survived him nearly seventeen years.
In person, he was tall, over six feet high, straight as an Indian, with a haughty courage. He was slightly inclined to corpulency. He had a large head, a high forehead, with heavy arched brows, and a square face, with a great deal of determination expressed in it.
He was as fully opposed to the use of liquors and tobacco, as he was to Masonry and slavery.
At the age of eighty-three, in 1868, he had a severe attack of what he considered typhus fever. He was sick twelve weeks, and delirous most of the time. He regarded his recovery as wonderful, and writing to a friend, he said: "I seem a wonder to myself. Under Providence, I ascribe my recovery to Mrs. Burgess. It is astonishing that she did not break down, but is still busy with domestic affairs. South Carolinians who could free their slaves and do their own work are most efficient laborers."
This last sentence refers to her father, Col. John Means, bringing his family and twenty-four slaves from South Carolina, in 1819, when Mrs. Burgess was twenty years old.
He says that the Abolition movement originated in Ohio, and that the two Mr. Dickeys of Tennessee, and himself, were the first projectors of the scheme, which at last succeeded. He also states that Rev. James Gilliland, Rev. Robert G. Wilson, and Rev. Samuel Carothers, were their earliest coadjutors. That they commenced operating in about 1817; that in 1818, he introduced a paper into the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia, which passed that body, and came near destroy ing him. He wrote to his cousin that those who would not speak to him then, would now willingly pass as having been friendly to the measure. In 1857, he addressed an open letter to the Free Presbyterian, when it was proposed that they should return to the old church. He said: "It is proposed that we return to Egypt. Some of us, at least, have no hankering after garlic. We pledged ourselves, in the name of Christ, not only not to sustain human slavery, but also not to sustain secret conspiracies; either the curse-bound Danites of the Mormons or any other conspiracy so bound. We pledged ourselves, also, not to sustain at the Lord's table, self-destroyers ; whether the instrument of destruction was the pistol, alcohol or that specific poison, filthy tobacco. Shall we violate that pledge "
Until the age of eighty-three, his faculties retained their vigor. In 1867, he attended the semi-centennial of the church at Piqua, Ohio, and there he contracted a severe sickness, which affected his mental faculties, but did not affect his general health.
His memory of passing and recent events was gone on his recovery, but he could repeat whole chapters of the Bible, and page after page of favorite old authors. He could give a rational and clear exposition of almost any scriptural passage. His power in prayer was unaffected to the last. Thus while in the last five years of his life, his communications with earth were cut off; his connection with Heaven was clear to the last. He died in 1872 at the age of eighty-eight.
Why have we brought forward anew the memory of this man of God? Because in his time and in his place, he was the First Apostle of Personal and Social Purity. Because when the use of whisky and tobacco were almost universal, he had the courage to preach against them and depict their evils. Because when the national conscience was debauched and demoralized by that great curse of slavery, he had the discernment to see the evil of it, and to be the first to denounce it. Because he was a man of enlightened conscience, and had the courage to preach according to its dictates. Because he lived as he preached, and exemplified his ideas in a long and useful life. Such men should not be forgotten. The record of their good lives should be graven in living characters on the memory of each generation following them, and so long as the record is remembered, our people will seek the right, and try to follow it as Dyer Burgess did in his eighty-four years.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900