Ghost Stories: The Temperance Crusade and a chat with a local legend continues

“They went out in faith, not knowing whither they went; not boldly, but modestly; not recklessly, but consciously constrained in the Lord. They never thought about publicity and honor that future years might bring them, but went to meet a present duty.”

– Dr. William Jasper McSurely, speaking of the Hillsboro Temperance Crusaders

Ladies and gentlemen, as we spend some quality time in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and nineteen and continue our chat with Highland County native son Hugh Fullerton, I ask the legendary journalist about one of the driving forces behind the Temperance Crusade in Hillsboro.

“So, Mr. Fullerton, please tell us a little more about Doctor McSurely…”

“Recently, I went to Oxford, Ohio, to visit the spiritual backer of the crusade, Dr. William McSurely, who was the pastor of the crusade church at the time of the uprising of the women and the man who presided over their first meeting,” he recalls. “He is eighty-four years old now, emeritus librarian of Miami University, where sixty-five years ago he attended college. He is the same quiet, modest, humorous man he was when I was a boy in his church. His mind is as keen now as then and his beautiful voice is as strong and sympathetic as ever. I told him of a sermon which he preached in June, 1874, to the women of the crusade, which I recently found printed. In that sermon, he declared that the Temperance Movement would have to enter politics if it was to achieve its purpose.

“His word were, ‘This movement must, more and more, become political. The contest finally will be between American ideals of liberty and right and the German infidel idea of uncontrolled license, not only in regard to temperance, but to all the principles of truth for which our Puritan ancestry braved the terrors of the New England wilderness and which they sealed and established with their blood.”

“Powerful words,” I say.

“The man must have been inspired or gifted with the spirit of prophecy,” Mr. Fullerton replied. “He said to me, ‘No doubt I have said many wise and wonderful things which I have forgotten, but there is a consolation that I also have said many vain and foolish things which also I have forgotten. At first, we had no clear vision. It was two or three weeks after the start of the crusade that the conviction came to me that we were in the beginning of a great movement which would be spoken of in future years like the Reformation. Until then, I, and, I believe, the women, had little thought beyond Hillsboro and our local problem of evil. I never have had any reason to revise this opinion.

“‘That the contest would become political in nature was certain, because the ballot was established to right wrongs. German philosophy has not changed; they have seemed incapable of distinguishing liberty from license. I had the temerity once to express in public the opinion that I was satisfied that, notwithstanding all the moral force behind the Temperance Movement, we were not getting anywhere; not making any progress until the Anti-Saloon League was formed in Oberlin, Ohio in 1892. Until then, our work had not brought effective results.’”

“Sounds like he is quite a servant of the Lord and a real visionary,” I say.

“He had courage as well as vision, this wonderful little man, far beyond his time and community,” Mr. Fullerton replies. “He was broad and kindly; so broad that down there in the hills they say that he isn’t ‘quite sound on Isaiah...’”

As we return from 1919 to the present, we should note that William Jasper McSurely was born in 1834, graduated from Miami University in 1856 and graduated from Oxford United Presbyterian Seminary in 1858. Ordained on May 5, 1859, he pastored churches in Oxford from 1858 to 1866; Kirkwood, Illinois in 1867 and 1868; Loveland, Ohio in 1869; and Hillsboro from 1868 to 1899. He was president of the Miami University Board of Trustees from 1887 to 1900, serving as university president pro tem in 1899. He also served as university librarian from 1899 to 1909.

Dr. William J. McSurely passed away in 1929.

Let’s pause for now and we’ll continue next week.

Steve Roush is a vice president of an international media company and a columnist and contributing writer for The Highland County Press. He can be reached by email at roush_steve@msn.com.