William Fletcher Walch, the sixth child of Stephen Walch and Elizabeth Charnock, was born on November 8, 1857 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was named in honor of John William Fletcher, an early Methodist theologian, whose early writings on piety were popular among Methodist at that time.
William's early years were spent in Hasting. Around 1878 at the age of 20, he went to Kansas either at the same time as his sister Elizabeth's family or shortly after. And like his brother James, he would have ridden the train to Wichita and then walked the 60 miles to Caldwell. He may have gone to help the Drews build their new home in Caldwell or possibly to work in his brother-in-law's fledging construction business. Whatever his reasons for going he didn't stay in Caldwell long. In 1880 William moved further west to neighboring Harper County.
The Rev. W. F. Walch of Harper, Kansas
The Methodists were among the first denominations in Kansas. Their method for expansion called for established churches to raise missionary funds to support young Methodist circuit riders who rode from settlement to settlement, through the nearly unbroken wilderness to organize congregations. For a brief period in 1880, William Walch served in that capacity.
The city of Harper is Harper County's oldest city and is located in the north-central part of the county. It is 29 miles northwest of Caldwell. Harper’s growth was typical of many other towns in central and western Kansas during that period: a group of people, in this case Iowans, formed the Harper City Town Company at a meeting in Reno County, Kansas, on April 1, 1877. On April 2nd, the company struck out south and engaged the services of a county surveyor in Kingman County. On April 3rd, they ran a survey line from the government cornerstone two miles south of Kingman, south into Harper County. They camped at the future site of the city on April 5th. The following day they ran a line east to another governmental marker. Three surveys were made before the town was finally located on April 14th. On April 16th the building of the first house commenced. The first frame house was completed on April 19th. In May, the first blacksmith shop opened. On July 1st the first postmistress was commissioned. In July, the first grocery store opened, the first child was born, the first lawyer arrived, and the last wild buffalo was killed. In October, a Presbyterian minister preached the first sermon and a physician opened a practice.
"During 1878, the settlement of the town was so rapid as to preclude all specific mention of the settlers who stood not on the order of their coming, but went to work on the boom, which has known no cession for four years," according to William Cutler's History of the State of Kansas of 1883. However, Cutler did mention by name some of the people who arrive after 1878, including Rev. Walsh: “The Methodist church was organized in 1878 with a membership of seven, under the care of Rev. J. W. Anderson. Rev. Messrs. Walsh and Rose held the pulpit in 1880-81. Cutler also noted that earlier services were held in private homes and the schoolhouse. The church was built two years after William’s ministry there.
In Danville, which is located a little over 7 miles east of Harper, Cutler noted that the “Rev. Mr. Walsh” served as the Methodist society’s first pastor and that he “lived in Harper and came down to perform services.”
W. O. Graham, a local Harper historian writing in 1886, also mentioned William and correctly spelled his surname: "Rev. W. F. Walch arrived March 19, 1880, but did not remain the entire year, Rev. J. L. Rose filling out the last quarter and the following year.” The membership had grown to about 80 by 1886. Incidentally, the circuit riders throughout Kansas were so effective that by 1900 Methodists were the largest denomination, representing twenty-six percent of all churchgoers in Kansas.
. . .
This was indeed a brief ministry -five months at best. But, we shall learn in the next blog that the 22-year-old Rev. Walch had new obligations to meet and that he would turn to drugs to fulfill them.
The photo of William Walch is courtesy of Anne Haskin of Lansing, Michigan, a great granddaughter of W. F. Walch. (Click on photo to enlarge)
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