Multnomah County OR Archives News.....Wedding In The Army August 5, 1904 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sheron Faynor nitwittwin@hotmail.com August 14, 2008, 7:22 pm Morning Oregonian August 5, 1904 Salvation Army Soldiers To Be Married Tonight Brigadier General Mrs. Stillwell Arrives To Conduct Ceremony And Holds First Rally Brigadier General Mrs. Stillwell, the pioneer officer of the Salvation Army,who opened to work of the organization in Oregon and Washington over 18 years ago,and who is now located at Los Angeles, is in Portland. She comes to perform the impressive ceremony that will unite in the bonds of matrimony Seargent Major Phoebe Mitchell and Treasurer Peter Venderkelen, formerly of Belgium,both of whom are members of Portland Corps N.1,whose barracks are lcoated at 265 Davis street. If there was any apathy in the local corps, if the members had begun to lose interest,they are alert and active now. With her wonderful personal magnetism, Brigadier Stillwell has completely transformed the spirit of the Salvation Army in the few hours she has been in the city.Last night their meetings were more enthusiastic than they have been in the past,and under the able leadership of the Brigadier the members of the corps who appeared at the open air meeting at the corner of Third and Burnside streets conducted themselves with such evident sincerity that the usual crowd was twice its number. Many were there to see the work of the Army in Portland under great difficulties. The meeting at the barracks on Davis street was also well attended. In the crowd that surrounded the Salvationists at their open air meetin gthere was an intoxicated individual with a desire to create confusion. "Hi there,Mrs.Stillwell." her cried. "That is my name, body and soul," quickly replied the Brigadier," and I knew you when you were a lot better man than you are now." She looked at him carefully while he made an attempt to force his way throught the crowd and get away. " Yes,I know you," she said " and if I wanted to do it, I could give this audience your name. Your looks tell me that you have wandered far from the straight and narrow path. There are others in the crowd that I know, too, but I am not going to give them away. You are perhaps now as ashamed of yourselves as you would be were I to point you out. There are several men here before me that were better once upon a time,when I lived in Portland and knew you all." This evening Brigadier Mrs.Stillwell will perform the marriage ceremony of Phoebe Mitchell and Peter Vanderkelen at the barracks at 265 Davis street. The impressive ceremony of the Salvation Army will be used,and before the Brigadier, wrapped with the flags of America and the Army,their hans upon the Bible,the betrothed pair will solemnly swear that they seek the union not all together for themselves, but that they think they can better work in the interests of the Army and advance the work of God. The ceremony will not be abbreviated, but will be conducted by the Brigadier in its entirety. The public will be admitted to the wedding. The experiences of Mrs.Stillwell have been many and varied. "When I first saw the Salvation Army I stood on the outside of the crowd and wondered at it all," she said," I then professed to be a Christian, but when the Army leader asked those in the crowd to testify I was afraid. The Army made me ashamed of myself. I determined to overcome my timidity,and did so, with the result that I entered the Army work and advanced in it,and am in it today,and shall be until the Master calls me away." When Mrs. Stillwell first introduced Army work in Oregon and Washington,over 18 years ago,she was exposed to ridicule and insults, and was even stoned from the streets. Rough characters,of whom there were more in the country then than now, spat upon her as she kneeled praying in the streets; men devoid of manhood even struck her,and she often turned her bruised face toward them and blessed them for their blows, because they strengthened her determination. Such a character won out in the end. The better class began to think there was something foreign to religious fanaticism in such devotion in the face of such odds. The Army gained members, it swelled in numbers, it built homes and barracks,it began its great work in the Pacific Northwest. Mrs. Stillwell went from Portland to Seattle,Tacoma and other cities. There she experiences the same degradations- though she did not call them degradations- that she has received before. In every place she triumphd. She was advanced in rank, and now she is Brigadier,alomst next to rank to Consul,who met death on the cars last year. Of the trials she passed through in those early days, Brigadier Stillwell will not talk now. She converses of the end, not the beginning,and holds the trials and troubles as nothing,since she has conquered. She is now located in Los Angeles,where she is engaged in active Army work. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/newspapers/weddingi93nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.3 Kb