He remained on this Mission five years and was then appointed to Brothertown as my successor.  At the expiration of two years he was appointed to Fond du Lac, as above stated, where he contracted a severe cold, but thinking to remove it without difficulty, continued his labors.  It was a fatal step.  Bronchitis set in and he lost his voice.  He was granted a superannuated relation at the session of the Wisconsin Conference, held at Beloit, July 27, 1849.  From this attack he has never sufficiently recovered to resume his labors.

The loss of Brother Colman from the work in the Conference was severely felt.  Of solid endowments, respectable attainments, large practicable knowledge and excellent administrative abilities, his services seemed almost necessary to the success of the work.  We can only refer such difficult problems to the Great Head of the church for solution.

During the nine years of Brother Colman’s service in Wisconsin, he was abundant in labor.  He was emphatically a man of one work.  His salary, like that of his co-laborers, was small, making an average of only two hundred and fifty dollars a year.  Certainly this was a small provision for himself, wife and five children.  By a judicious investment at an early day, however, he is placed beyond the reach of want.  He still lives in the affections of his brethren, and, after a superannuation of twenty-five years, his visits to the sessions of the Conference always assure him a hearty greeting from his old friends.

CHAPTER V.

Green Lake Mission.—­Waupun.—­First Class.—­Meetings held at Dr. Bowmans.—­Revival.—­Two Local Preachers.—­Short Cut to Cereseo.—­Boxing the Compass.—­Wisconsin Phalanx.—­First Society.—­Dining Hall Chapel.  Discussions.—­Antiquated Views.—­Green Lake.—­Shadrach Burdicks.—­Visit to Dartford.—­Little Green Lake.—­The New Chorister.—­Markasan.  Lake Maria.—­Revival.

The Rock River Conference, for the year 1845, held its session at Peoria on the 20th day of August.  At this Conference I was received on trial and appointed to Green Lake Mission.  The class admitted this year numbered twenty-three, and among them were Wesley Lattin, Seth W. Ford and Joseph M. Walker.

Green Lake Mission, somewhat undefined in its geographical boundaries, was intended to include the large tract of beautiful prairie and opening country lying west and southwest of Fond du Lac.  It took its name from a lake on what was believed to be its northern boundary, five miles west of Ripon.  As I did not attend the Conference, I awaited the return of the Presiding Elder at Waupun.  Being informed of my appointment, I enquired after its boundaries.  The Elder facetiously replied, “Fix a point in the centre of Winnebago Marsh,” since called Lake Horicon, “and draw a line to the north pole, and another due west to the Rocky Mountains, and you will have your eastern and southern boundaries.  As to the other lines you need not be particular, as you will find no Dr. Marsh in your way to circumscribe your ambition.”  At the date of which we write, a few small settlements only had been formed within the limits of the Mission, but emigration was moving rapidly in that direction, and it was believed that an ample field would soon be found.