In 1856, Rev. A. Hamilton was appointed to Janesville, and Rev. D.O.  Jones to East Janesville.  Brother Hamilton came to the Conference this year by transfer from the Oneida Conference, where he had done effective work for several years.  At the close of the year in Janesville he was made Presiding Elder of Watertown District, where he remained two years.  In 1859, by a reconstruction of the Districts, he was assigned to Beaver Dam District, where he remained the other two years of his term.  For a number of years thereafter he served on circuits and stations.  His health now failed and he took a superannuated relation.  Brother Hamilton was a good and true man, of a metaphysical turn of thought, well versed in theology, and an instructive Preacher.

Brother Jones entered the Conference in 1851, and had been stationed at Elk Grove, Richland City, Muscoday, and Green Bay.  Since he left Janesville, he has taken a respectable class of appointments, filling them creditably to himself and acceptably to the people.  He is genial in spirit and warm in his attachments.  He is still in the enjoyment of good health, and promises years of efficient service.

This brief record brings us to the date of my appointment.  At the recent session of the Conference, the charge on the east side of the river was left to be supplied, and as it had, up to this time, developed but little strength, twenty-six members only, it was deemed best to let it go back to the old charge.

I found the Church edifice in good condition, but without class or prayer-rooms.  The external appearance was decidedly respectable, and the accommodations within, both in respect to size and furnishing, equal or superior to any other Church in the village.

The Parsonage, a small and inferior building, had been recently sold to liquidate in part the indebtedness remaining on the Church, and this involved the necessity of renting a house for my family.

After becoming settled in our new home, the first special work was to complete the payment of the Church debt.  This was soon arranged, and I was at liberty to direct my attention more particularly to the spiritual interests of the charge.  My first labor in this direction, as in all my former charges, was to look well after the people at their homes, and the second, to see that the social means of grace were well arranged and properly sustained.  And I soon found in Janesville, as I have always found, that they are the key to successful labor.  It is possible by corresponding adjustment of pulpit labor to excite the attention of the community, and thereby secure large congregations, but such a result is not a certain index of true success.  In the forum, as on the platform, it may be otherwise, but in the building up of Christ’s kingdom, there must be a spiritual basis; for his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom.  In these days of special clamor for superior pulpit attractions to draw the crowd, there