1st Presbyterian Pastor Rev. Milton L. Cook – Volunteer @ Fort Fizzle
Rev. Milton L. Cook – Missoula’s first Presbyterian Pastor
When did the Presbyterian Church first come to Montana? Who founded Missoula’s Presbyterian Church?
The answers can be found in an interesting little book furnished by the Presbyterian Church titled “The Pioneer Work of the Presbyterian Church in Montana,” edited by Rev. George Edwards, printed in 1907, and reprinted from Volume VI., of the Montana State Historical Society.
It is a document that has a broader historical appeal than one might think. The accounts presented in the book focus primarily on the religious aspects of early Montana life, but many of these encompass much more than that. Several are lively tales written with wry humor that give us vivid portraits of Montana’s pioneer life.
We find frontier ministers tending to the citizens in every walk of early Montana life – preaching the funeral of one of the west’s most famous gunmen, Jack Slade, after he had been hanged by the Vigilantes in Virginia City – traveling 500 miles to Helena by stage with little sleep and stopping at Sandhole for dinner, where, for one dollar, they had “sage brush tea, as black as your hat, butter, stronger than Samson, bread, heavy, sour and uneatable, a big bowl of grease with a few bits of pork swimming in it, and prunes;” – or, fending off the Chinaman who proposed a loan from Helena’s minister so that he could start a “little lottery business in Chinatown.”
The chronology begins in 1857 when a Presbyterian minister was known to have arrived at Fort Benton traveling with his wife, but little is known about him. According to Montana pioneer Jacob Schmidt of Browning, who arrived at Fort Benton along with this minister, their steamship also transported several well-known Montana personalities, including the renowned Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet.
Unfortunately, this man’s stay was of a short duration, lasting only a few weeks, and his name has been forgotten. “He did not stay long, only about ten days, and his wife got homesick, so they sold the furniture they had, and went back by Walla Walla, Oregon, as they did not want to take any chances by going back on the Missouri, as the Indians were very treacherous.”
The next mention of Protestant ministry occurred in 1863, when Mrs. W. F. Sanders recalled a Methodist “exhorter” preaching from an “octagonal blockhouse” in Bannack, but again, no name is given.
By 1864 four more Protestant ministers visited the Montana mining camps, and they are well remembered.
One account was written by Charles H. Blanchard who accompanied his father, Rev. Jonathan Blanchard, on their trip to Virginia City, Montana:
“I was with him on that trip and attended meetings which he held in the rough board court house at Virginia City. . . At the time we were in Virginia City there was no church of any kind and no religious services regularly held. . . We met in the court house and had a little company gathered while the streets were crowded with thousands of men, the gambling shops, saloons, and auctioneers doing their work on every hand. . . We did not remain in Virginia City long, perhaps two or three weeks. . . We then left by wagon over the mountains for Salt Lake City.”
Mrs. W. F. Sanders recalled another Virginia City minister who also resided there in 1864; Rev. A. M. Torbet (Baptist), who “preached the funeral sermon of Jim Slade, at the request of his wife, when he was hung by the Vigilantes of Virginia City.”
Two other Protestant ministers in Montana at that time were Rev. A. M. Hough, a Methodist minister, and Rev. George Grantham Smith, a Presbyterian minister originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who had attended Princeton College and Auburn Theological Seminary.
An account of Rev. George Grantham Smith was written by Rev. Thomas V. Moore of Helena, Mt., in 1897, after receiving letters from Smith. Moore credits Rev. Smith as the man whose work “marks the real beginning of Presbyterian Missions in Montana.”
The following passages from Rev. Smith are taken from Moore’s “Sketch”. They reveal an unusual man who wrote a laconic tale of life in early Montana:
“I reached Bannack in June, 1864. My work in Montana was confined to Bannack, Virginia City and adjoining camps and ranches. There was no Presbytery, no church, no Sabbath when I entered Montana. It was hard ‘prospecting’ in those days. . .
“On my arrival at Montana I soon learned that my $1200 legal tender would secure me but twelve weeks’ board instead of twelve months.’ I was a young man, an entire stranger, no letters of introduction to a living soul. I created a storm of applause (or something else) by unloading an umbrella. It never rained in that country in those days, and ‘tenderfoot!’ and ‘pilgrim!’ were shouted in all directions; and above all, I had on a ‘biled’ shirt, and everything to correspond. I was assigned to private apartments at the leading hotel in Bannack City, in the office, with bar, gambling table, gamblers, and highwaymen, every man clothed in buckskin and adorned with a pair of navy revolvers and bowie knife in the bootleg and Mexican spurs and dangles on the heel. My bed was the boardless floor of this public office, and bed clothing my blankets. This was the introduction to a life of strange vicissitudes and marvelous experiences. In some respects I was the most unfitted man in the world for such a life. I had seen little of the world, was simple-hearted and true and believed everybody the same; had a very poor opinion of myself and unbounded confidence in everybody else. . .
“One day I said to one of the ‘vigilantes,’ as I supposed, ‘Are you not afraid of hanging some one unjustly by hanging men so unceremoniously, without judge or jury.’ His answer was: ‘Do you suppose it is possible to hang any man unjustly in this country?’ They even suspected me of being a highwayman – a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I was told that a detective was at my heels day and night for six months; and had I done anything derogatory to the character of a Presbyterian clergyman, I would have been strung up.”
Despite Rev. Smith’s efforts, no permanent Presbytery remained in Montana until 1869, when Rev. Sheldon Jackson arrived in Helena and started what became Montana’s first Presbyterian Church. There was not another one within a thousand miles. Parishioners included 11 women and one man, J. E. Witherspoon.
By the summer of 1872 seven more Presbyterian churches were organized in Montana. While Missoula appeared on this seminal list, the book then states that the ‘present church at Missoula was organized on April 12, 1876, by Rev. James R. Russell, with ten members, and Mr. Ferd Kennett was ordained as elder.” Rev. Russell also stated that by 1872 the Methodists had a foothold in Missoula and were already constructing a building.
Missoula’s first resident Presbyterian pastor, Rev. Milton L. Cook, arrived there in May of 1877. Rev. Cook was born in Rome, Pa., graduated from Lafayette College, and Princeton Seminary in 1877. Below is his story “Recollections of Montana”[1] from “The Pioneer Work of the Presbyterian Church in Montana:”
“In May, 1877, I took the stage at Franklin, Idaho, then the terminus of the Utah and Northern R.R. After a ride of five days I arrived in Helena. Three days more brought me to Missoula, Thursday, May 24, just before sunset.
“After the long ride and close shut-in canons, the valley opening out in the glow of the setting sun seemed wonderfully beautiful to me. I went at once to Kennedy’s Hotel and that was my home for some time. My first sermon in Missoula was, “Christ is the light of the world,” on May 27th.
“At Deer Lodge, I met David Carson and family, coming from the east to superintend the Hope Mine at Philipsburg. The family were earnest Christians of the Presbyterian faith. Having no services, they asked me to come and preach for them, which I did once each month during my first year in Missoula. We established a Sabbath-school there with Dr. Bowie for Superintendent. I saw some wild times there. One Sabbath while we were holding services Ben Denginhash shot and killed Bronco Sam. It was in Philipsburg that we heard of the battle of the Big Hole and knew of the death of Captain Logan, Lieutenant English and others.
“June 2, 1877 we organized a Sunday-school at Missoula with Ferd Kennett as superintendent, and thirty-three were present.
“For a time Mrs. Thomas Andrews and D. F. Simons were the principal singers in our choir on Sunday.
“June 19, the officers and men to establish Fort Missoula came into town.
“Dr. R. A. Wells and wife came to the Bitter Root Valley in July, 1877. Their family was a help to our church.
“In July the Nez Perces Indians came through the valley and the whole region was terrorized, and the citizens of Bitter Root Valley were nearly all gathered into three forts. Fort Owen and sod forts at Corvallis and Skalkaho. I went to the camp called Fort Fizzle, in the Lo Lo Canyon to meet the Indians and was on guard one morning when we expected the Indians, July the 25th and also the 26th.
“In August we began weekly singing at the house of Ferd Kennett with Moody and Sanky ‘Gospel Hymns.’ This was continued for some time.
“August 3rd we had our first preparatory service with eight present. Communion on the fifth, at which time Mr. Kennett was ordained as elder. There were present only six communicants.
“The first meeting of Presbytery I attended was at Helena, October 5th. Rev. Lyman Crittenden preached the opening sermon. I was received at that meeting into the Presbytery of Montana. I think there were only three ministers of the Presbytery present to receive us at that time.
“November 4th, we had our next Communion. At that time we had our first baptism, the infant son of our elder Kennett.
“On February, 1878, elder Kennett and I went on horseback to Deer Lodge, to attend a meeting of Presbytery. I was chosen Moderator at that time.
“The first person received into the Missoula church on profession of faith was James Wood, aged nearly 70 years. My first wedding was at Philipsburg at the home of Mr. John Caplice. William Bradshaw and Margaret Sullivan were the happy couple.
“After the first year I preached in the Bitter Root Valley once a month at Carlton, Stevensville, Corvallis, Skalkaho, Etna, Victor and occasionally at other points.
“May 9, 1880, I organized the Presbyterian church at Stevensville, and ordained N. B. Liter, elder.
“December 8, 1881, we organized the Presbyterian church at Skalkaho, now Grantsdale, C. T. Lathrop, elder.
“In February, I went to Welksville, then a wild town, and preached and looked over the ground; found a town of 300 men and only one woman, five saloons. There met with W. H. Durdorff, the only Christian in the camp, and even he had no Bible. He afterwards became a minister. He had but recently given himself to God when I was there and his life wonderfully helped the preaching of the word. In a number of places I was permitted to preach the first sermon ever heard in the place.
“In 1878, I was chosen commissioner to the General Assembly at Pittsburg, Pa., and on the way was delegate to the Synod of Colorado, meeting in Denver. In 1882, was commissioner to the General Assembly at Springfield, Illinois.
“I spent five years at the beginning of my ministry in Montana and they were happy years and full of work.
“(In the above recollections, Brother Cook seems to have forgotten his going to Presbytery in 1879, but as his own account is embalmed in Dr. Jackson’s Scrap Book, it does not much matter. He wrote, ‘I have just been to Presbytery! And had a long tedious trip in a severe snow-storm. Was eight hours going ten miles in the coach. Lost our way many times in the blinding storm, without road, fences or trees to guide us. One thinks very fast when wandering several hours in the mountains without seeing any familiar object, knowing that we were lost, without food or fire, and the team worn out, and one horse down, and refusing a long time to rise. We tried it on this trip and know.
“When Presbytery costs us $50 and days of weariness, we appreciate it. We feel that it is good to take a brother minister by the hand at least once a year. We studied and reasoned together about our plans of work – how the little handful could reach the most men and do the most good. We sent Brother Russel to Butte; made Hewitt Prebyterial Missionary; elected Hewitt Commissioner to the General Assembly. We asked the Board to help pay the expenses of the man who should supply the pulpit at Helena and advised the church to make the next man they chose ‘pastor.’ For we own with sorrow that we have no ‘installed pastors; in Montana. In 1878, he wrote: ‘One evening I was called upon to visit a man supposed to be dying. He was raised in Texas, and has been on the frontier all his life. Just before his sickness he had bought a Testament, and found that he was a sinner, but that He was merciful. He told me his life of sin. Before leaving we prayed together. I think that if anyone could have heard that prayer they must have believed that the man had faith. The language was equal to any of Bret Harte’s, or Mark Twain’s, as he asked in the strong western way for pardon and peace, for stronger faith and more light. Tears came to my eyes, and I came home through the frosty night feeling that it was good to walk a mile to see, such faith, and hear such a prayer.’)
Another mention of Reverend Cook is found in the section titled ‘The Sabbath School Missionary in Montana’:
“Rev. M. L. Cook, the first pastor of the Missoula church, arrived in May, 1877. In August he reports a good Sabbath school of 45 members, Mrs. Ferd Kennett making herself very helpful by drilling the children in the gospel hymns. This summer, Mr. Cook took his gun, joined the home guards and went out to withstand the Nez Perces raid under Chief Joseph. In January, 1878, he made a house to house visitation at Philipsurg, 80 miles distant, and established both a Sunday-shool and a regular preaching station. In April he went 66 miles to New Chicago and organized their first Sunday-school with 40 members. We glean these facts from Dr. Sheldon Jackson’s ‘Montana Scrap Book’ by whom it was kindly loaned to the editor.”
Succeeding Rev. Cook, George M. Fisher came to Missoula in December of 1882 and stayed until December of 1887, when he moved to the Flathead.
Rev. Cook’s daughter, Dr. Alice H. Cook was a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia. She practiced medicine in China where she met and married Dr. Otto Willner in 1922.
Biographical information about Rev. Cook can be found at the website below:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=87675797