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1. Origins of a Dry Leader
- University of Notre Dame Press
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| 1 Origins of a Dry Leader Before Edward Shumaker could become the Midwestern embodiment of the dry crusade, he first had to become initiated in the ways of the Progressive Era and the Social Gospel. His upbringing and religious faith, coupled with these twin engines of reform, made him a minister with a mission. These forces also compelled him to seek a stage larger than a single pulpit from which to fight for the establishment of God’s dry kingdom. Shumaker’s story begins in post–Civil War Ohio. His father, David, from Fairfield County, had served in Company A of the Seven teenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.1 After mustering out of the service, he resumed his life as a farmer and in 1866 married Sarah Ann Seitz, sister to two of his former comrades-inarms .2 David and Sarah’s first child, Edward, was born 30 July 1867 in Greenville, Darke County, near Sarah’s family. When Eddie was two, his father bought a 50-acre, swampy farm ten miles outside of town. There, more children followed Eddie into the world.3 While family and farming were now David’s chief concerns, the war remained the central event of his life. He instilled in his children not only a deep love for the Union, but also a sense that God had a special mission for the country. For Eddie, the eldest son, these 10 | “Prohibition Is Here to Stay” convictions never wavered.4 Such patriotic idealism was important to many veterans and their hopes for their families. Having survived the war, Americans of the late nineteenth century welcomed the new world they saw being created around them and its possibilities.5 For the Shumaker family, achieving the American dream meant leaving Ohio. Eddie’s uncle, George Seitz, encouraged his brotherin -law to follow him to Illinois, where David purchased a homestead with an already built house and barn in 1873. The farm sat on 100 acres in Effingham County’s West Township, with an additional 40 acres in neighboring Mason Township. The county was “mostly level prairie” and almost entirely devoted to commercial agriculture, an undertaking that was aided by the Springfield and Ohio Railroad.6 After holding a sale and bidding goodbye to family and friends, David loaded his family and remaining possessions onto a train bound for Illinois. It was here in Effingham County that David thrived, becoming “widely known and universally respected for his many excellent traits of character.” Eddie enjoyed the move and seems to have spent a good deal of time in those first few Illinois days playing and exploring the new farm.7 The Shumakers’ Effingham County neighbors were a cross-section of Midwestern America. Most were primarily farmers, like the newly arrived Ohio transplants. In politics, the county was heavily Democratic, with a smattering of Republicans and even some members of the agricultural/populist-based Grange movement. In religion, though many of the newcomers were German Catholics (settling near the town of Teutopolis), most of the county’s residents were, in the words of one visitor, “Methodists, Baptists, Unitarians, Presbyterians, etc. and some do not know what religion they profess.”8 This variety was to have important consequences for Shumaker’s future. Eli Shumaker, David’s brother, who had helped the family make the move from Ohio, now decided to stay in Illinois as well. An ordained minister in the United Brethren Church, Uncle Eli started a congregation in Effingham County. Meeting at the local schoolhouse , he and his flock soon had the community caught up in a revival . At one meeting, Eddie went forward after the altar call but, as he later remembered, was considered too young to become a church [44.223.42.120] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:41 GMT) Origins of a Dry Leader | 11 member. He was, however, encouraged by the leaders of the meeting , including his mother, who kissed him when it was her turn to extend the hand of welcome. It was a memory that Shumaker cherished for the rest of his life.9 Sarah Shumaker was determined, however, that her son would receive more than just a religious education. When Eddie returned to the schoolhouse, it was for instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic , not the Christian faith. He proved to be a quick learner, but usually attended school only in the winter months for the next eleven years, as he was needed first and foremost on the farm...