“Notes of Tour to the Mountains”

by John Comer

On Wednesday, May 20th, 1846, Samuel Rouzee, Kentucky doctor and preacher, packed up his saddlebags, got on his horse, and in company with his fellow preacher John Morton, rode to the home of Francis Jackson, who lived “opposite the mouth of Muddy Creek.” This was their first stop in a two-week preaching tour into Indiana.

Samuel and John were preachers in a movement which was then sometimes simply called “this present reformation.” Former Presbyterian preacher Barton W. Stone had sparked a reform movement in Kentucky and preferred that the adherents simply be known as “Christians.” Former Presbyterian preacher Alexander Campbell, of Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia), was leader of a similar movement, and preferred the name “Disciples.” But whatever the name, since the early 1830s the two movements had been effectively merged.

Samuel Rouzee is my wife’s great-great-grandfather, thus part of her genealogical heritage. If you are a member of any of the several branches of the Church of Christ, Christian Church, or Disciples of Christ Churches, such men as Stone, Campbell, and their co-workers are part of your spiritual heritage. Men who went on horseback preaching tours helped make you and the church you attend what you are today.

Samuel gave some details about the trip. They passed “the celebrated White Sulphur Springs,” which this doctor described as “one of the best medical springs in the world.” (This may tell us something about 1846 style medicine as practiced by Samuel.) They climbed what the local people called Mt. Scratchum, and Samuel thought they were “disposed to call things by their proper names, for we experienced no little turning and scratching before we reached its summit!”

Their sermons included “Psalm 119, on the importance of the word of God in the conversion and sanctification of the human family,” and one on “The means of enjoying the blessings of God both in nature and grace.” Then, “On Lord’s Day morning Bro. Morton spoke at the boat shed on reconciliation. Our congregation was large and tolerably attentive.”

Somebody was listening. As a result, such men are not just part of our genealogical past, but of our present and future life.