At this time there were only three churches on the District, and these were located at Green Bay, Oneida and Brothertown.  Brother Sampson remained a full term on the District, and at its close became connected with the Lawrence University, in connection with which a record of his labors will appear.  In this work he was engaged until 1851, when his health failed, and he was stationed at Kenosha.  He was recalled the year following, and until the year 1856 performed such services as his broken health would permit.  He was now made effective and appointed Professor, but in 1861 he again entered the regular work, being stationed at Whitewater.  His subsequent appointments have been, Presiding Elder of Milwaukee District, Pastor of Racine, Janesville, Evansville, Sharon, Milton and Waukau, where he is, at the present writing, doing efficient work.  Brother Sampson has given to the cause long service, a noble life; and is an honor to the Conference.

The Fourth Quarterly Conference of the year was held at Fond du Lac.  It was at this meeting that I was granted license to preach and recommended to the Conference, as before stated.  The meeting was held in the school house and convened on the 31st day of May, 1845.  The members of the Quarterly Conference were Rev. Wm. H. Sampson, Presiding Elder, Rev. Joseph T. Lewis, Preacher, Rev. Silas Miller, Local Preacher, Francis M. McCarty, Isaac Crofoot, Joseph Stowe, Charles Olmstead, D.C.  Brooks, Cornelius Davis, and myself.

The population of Fond du Lac proper, at the time of our first visit, was very small.  It contained seven buildings and numbered only five families, including the family of the Presiding Elder.  The school house was the only public building, and for years was used for all public meetings known to civilization.  Subsequently this public convenience fell a prey to the devouring element.  The papers, in announcing the fire, gravely enumerated the losses incurred by the disastrous conflagration in this wise:  “The Court House has been burned, every church in the town has been consumed, and even the school house and all the other public buildings have shared the same fate.  There is no insurance, and the loss cannot be less than two hundred dollars.”

During the year an appointment was established at the residence of Joseph Stowe, Esq., on the old military road, four miles west of Fond du Lac.

To accommodate the settlement, now rapidly increasing in population, Brother Stowe built a hall for public worship.  Two square buildings were erected at a suitable distance from each other, with an open court between.  Over this court, and extending from one building to the other, and including the upper part of one of them, the hall was built, thus furnishing an upper chamber.  The hall was fitted up with seats and formed a Chapel of no mean pretensions for that early period.

Brother Stowe’s Chapel, as the place was sometimes called, soon became a great institution in that region.  A class was formed, and, under the leadership of Isaac Crofoot, greatly flourished.  A few years after, the leadership passed to the hand of Ethiel Humiston.  The members of this class were Joseph Stowe, Priscilla Stowe, Isaac Crofoot, Ethiel Humiston, Almira Humiston, Amos Lewis and Susan Lewis.