Born: Bourbon County, Kentucky, 1813.Died: Yoncolla, Oregon, 1890.
Born: Bourbon County, Kentucky, 1813.
Died: Yoncolla, Oregon, 1890.
Daniel W. Elledge was one of our true pioneer preachers. In 1816 his parents brought him from Bourbon County, Kentucky, to Edgar County, Illinois. They were high Calvinists, and commonly called, in the vernacular of the time, "Hardshell Baptists." They we re ambitious to make a Baptist preacher of this son, and hence gave him unusual attention. The schools of the community were not of a very high grade. Any man who could read, write and teach arithmetic was considered a competent master. But young Elledge hungered for knowledge, was a keen observer and thoughtful.
In later years, on one of his preaching-tours, he met a college-bred minister who, after hearing him preach, said, "Bro. Elledge, where did you receive your education?"
"Down in Edgar County, at the Big Creek Schoolhouse."
"You use good language for one with only a common school education."
Mr. Elledge was a student of the Bible from his boyhood. Shortly after his marriage in 1831, Michael Combs came over from Indiana and held a meeting in the neighborhood. He organized a Christian Church. Mr. Elledge was one of the converts and soon thereaf ter began to preach. At first his efforts were poor, but he improved rapidly.
The earlier years of his ministry were confined mainly to Edgar, Clark and Coles Counties, where he preached in log cabins of the people, in schoolhouses and in groves. He was a logical reasoner and an earnest exhorter. Many were turned to the Lord by his preaching. About the year 1833 he moved to Clark County, and settled on a new tract of land some three miles east of Dalson Prairie. While he improved his farm and from it supported his family, his preaching was steadfastly continued.
About 1836 he organized his home church, six miles west of his residence and three miles west of Dalson Prairie. This he named the Blue Grass Christian Church. Later he helped build their house for public worship. The path of his ministry was marked by co nverts, congregations formed and their houses built.
Not infrequently he was associated with Nathan Wright and Michael Combs, of Indiana, and Thomas Goodman, of Illinois, in what were called "Big Meetings." And they were big in clear-cut teaching of the Bible, big in fellowship and hospitality, big in since rity and simplicity, big in Christian joy and helpfulness, and big in results, for they were the enduring foundation of our civilization. They were big in everything except the financial compensation of the preachers. There was little money in circulation , and frequently these pioneers were squeamish about "taking pay for preaching." But the pioneer sisters knew that a man needed food and clothing, so every now and then they gave Bro. Elledge a pair of home-made woolen socks, and on one occasion they gave him enough of homespun "Blue Jeans" to make him a pair of trousers. As his physical weight had come to be 230 pounds, it is apparent that this was a liberal donation. Many of the early settlers kept a few sheep and raised flax to make their own clothing.
Game was plentiful in southeastern Illinois. At one time Mr. Elledge had seven deer hung up in the woods. On another occasion, having killed one of these fine animals about a mile from his home, he left it on the ground till he could "get the old mare and sled to haul it home." On his return he found that a panther had dragged the carcass to the side of an old log and had covered it up with leaves.
While Mr. Elledge cleared and cultivated his land, he carried a copy of the New Testament in his pocket. When he sat down to rest he would read it. At one time, he was preaching at the home of Robert Downs, father of Dudley Downs, in the southern part of Edgar County. Because of the crowd of people, the preacher stood just inside the entrance door, and, turning around, he saw one of Mr. Downs' three large hounds standing with his front feet on the threshold, stretching his head upward. Quick as lightning the preacher's big fist smote the hound's jaw, knocking him out into the middle of the yard. "My book tells me to beware of dogs," said Mr. Elledge, and went on with his sermon as though nothing had happened.
In 1853 he sold his farm and moved to Putnam County, Missouri. He settled within three miles of the Iowa State line. In that new country he began his work again as a frontier, pioneer farmer and preacher. For a number of years he stood alone in that regio n as an advocate of the New Testament order. According to the customs of the time, the Methodists took pleasure in calling him "the fighting Campbellite preacher." But in one public discussion they learned to respect him. His ministry in northern Missouri was signally fruitful in people turned to the Lord and churches constituted.
In 1865, Mr. Elledge sold his farm and moved to Oregon, where he continued his earnest ministry through the Grand Ronde Valley, at Eugene, at Portland, at Salem three years, and at various places in the State of Washington. When the infirmities of his bod y became such that he could not stand in preaching, he sat and taught the people the word of God. He fought a good fight, he kept the faith, and on his little farm near Yoncolla, Oregon, in his seventy-fourth year, he finished his triumphant course and we nt away to receive his eternal crown.