At the Galena Conference, Green Lake Mission was divided into two four weeks’ circuits, requiring the labor of four men.  In view of my impaired health, I was sent to Watertown, the Cabinet believing that I would here find less labor and exposure.

Watertown, up to the preceding year, had been a part of the old Aztalan circuit, and as this circuit was the mother of charges in this part of the Territory, it is proper that our respects should first be paid to her.

The old Aztalan circuit was organized at the session of the Illinois Conference of 1837, and embraced all the settled portion of the Territory east of Madison and west of the Lake Shore Missions.  The first preachers were Rev. Samuel Pillsbury and Rev. Jesse Halstead, and the year was one of extended travels and great exposure.  During the year appointments were established at Aztalan, Whitewater, Meacham’s Prairie, East Troy, Spring Prairie, Elkhorn, Burlington, Round Prairie, Menomonee, Prairieville, Oconomowoc, and Watertown, and at several of them classes were formed.  Brother Halstead’s horse became disabled, and during a portion of the year this indomitable pioneer, with saddle-bags on his arm, made on foot, the entire round of appointments.  Brother Pillsbury was also a man of sterling qualities, and rendered effective service.

The Quarterly Meetings of this year were held by Rev. Salmon Stebbins, the Presiding Elder, at Aztalan, Meacham’s Prairie, Troy, and Burlington.

At the Conference of 1839, Aztalan circuit was divided.  The eastern part was called Walworth, and Rev. James McKean was appointed its Pastor.  The western part, retaining the Rock River Valley, was now called Watertown, and Rev. H.W.  Frink was appointed the Pastor.  Both charges were now put in the Milwaukee District, with Rev. Julius Field as Presiding Elder.

Brother Frink was now a young man, and this was his third charge.  Leaving the seat of the Conference, he returned to Elgin, his last field of labor, filled his saddle bags with clothes and books, mounted his horse as a true knight of the Itinerancy, and was away for new perils and new conquests.  In his journey to what was then deemed the wilds of Wisconsin, he passed through Elk Grove, Wheeling, Indian Creek, Crystal Lake, Pleasant Prairie, East Troy, Whitewater, Fort Atkinson and Aztalan.  The last named was the head of the Mission, as a class, the only one on the charge, had been formed at this place.

Without much regard to boundaries, it was the work of the Pioneer to find the scattered sheep in the Wilderness.  To do this, he was obliged to undertake long and wearisome journeys, through exposed and almost trackless regions.  Without roads, without bridges, and without shelter, our young Itinerant pushed his way through the forests, swimming the streams, when fords could not be found, and seeking shelter under the overhanging branches of the trees, in the absence of the friendly cabin.  As the result of these extended journeys and herculean labors, Brother Frink, during the year, formed classes at Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Piperville, Oconomowoc, Summit, Baxter’s Prairie, Waukesha, Poplar Creek, Brookfield, Wauwatosa, Granville, Menomonee, Lisbon and North Prairie, but was unable to gather sufficient materials to form one at Watertown.