On our arrival at Oshkosh we found it had been arranged to hold the services on Saturday in a private house on the south side of the river.  The Elder preached, and at the close of the service, the Quarterly Conference was convened under a tree, thereby giving the house to the needed preparations for dinner.

Rev. G.N.  Hanson was the Pastor at Oshkosh.  He was a single man, several years my senior, of a kind and gentle spirit, given to books and a fair Preacher.  I had known him in the State of New York, where we were both Exhorters, and, also, both engaged in teaching.  Brother Hanson entered the Rock River Conference in 1844, and his first charge was Manitowoc.  He had been stationed on the Winnebago Lake Mission at the recent Conference and was doing a good work.  After leaving this charge he rendered effective service in other fields until 1852, when, having almost lost the use of his voice, he took a superannuated relation.  But as soon thereafter as his health would permit, he entered the service of the Bible Cause and for three years proved an efficient Agent.  In this work his field of labor lay mostly in the new and sparsely settled regions of the Chippewa Valley, and along the frontiers of Minnesota.  But here he evinced the same perseverance and self-denial which had characterized his whole life.  Leaving his most estimable companion, he took the Word of God, and though he could no longer give it a living voice, he bore it joyfully to the families of the land, through the forest and marshes of those new counties, often throwing his shadow upon the coming footsteps of the Itinerant himself.  But at last he was compelled to yield to the hand of disease which had long rested upon him.  He passed over the river in holy triumph in 1857.

On Sabbath the meeting was held in a frame building, the first in the place, that had been erected for a store.  It had been roofed and enclosed, but there were no doors or windows.  Rude seats had been arranged and the accommodations were ample.  The Elder preached in the morning and the writer, as the visiting Pastor, in the afternoon.  The meeting was well attended and greatly enjoyed by all.  The people, of course, were mostly strangers to each other, and, coming from different parts of the world, were accustomed to various modes of worship.  But they seemed to forget their differences, and recognize Christ only as their common Savior.

At this time Oshkosh was but little more than a mere trading post.  The few families there were mostly on farms or claims in the vicinity of the river or lake.  During my stay I was entertained by Brother William W. Wright, whose house, for many years thereafter, was a home for the Itinerant ministers.

The Quarterly Meeting passed off very pleasantly, and at its close I returned to my work of exploration on the Green Lake Mission.