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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COLLEGE BY HON. JOHN C. PATTERSON, 1883
Deacon William Smith, of Spring Arbor, though not a member of the denomination, rendered great service to the cause, and was one of the most useful friends the school possessed. Had it not been for his able support and timely aid, in an early crisis, the enterprise would doubtless have failed,
ORGANIZED ACTION
The Michigan yearly meeting of the denomination was to convene for its fourth annual conference after its organization, at Franklin, Lenawee county, in June, 1844. This conference was composed of delegates elected by the . several quarterly meetings then existing in the State. The Calhoun quarterly meeting, consisting of churches, situated in Calhoun, Jackson, and adjacent counties, had been the source from which the agitation of the educational movement in this State had originated. This quarterly meeting appointed its delegates to the annual conference at Franklin some weeks before the conference was to convene. Among these delegates Were Elder Samuel Whitcomb, Elder Elijah Cook, Deacon Joseph S. Blaisdell, Deacon Heman Cowles, and Thomas Dunton.
This delegation conferred together, and agreed that the time had arrived in Michigan to take organized action on the educational question, and determined to bring the subject of establishing a denominational school before the yearly conference.
At that time, Elder David Marks, of Oberlin, Ohio, was one of the leading ministers, and perhaps the most influential man in the denomination. David Marks held a position with the Free-will Baptists similar to that of John Wesley with the Methodists. Having entered the ministry a mere boy. and with a limited education, he had preached as an evangelist for twenty years with great success. Many churches had been organized, and many members had united with the denomination under his ministrations. He was a zealous leader in the educational movement in the denomination, had been instrumental in establishing Geauga Seminary, at Chester, Ohio, and had extricated other denominational schools from difficulties.
EARLY MICHIGAN
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