Early, Texas - History (part 11 of 11)

Dr. Marvin had left the chief pulpit in St. Louis in the spring of 1862 and set out on horseback to make his way through the lines to the General Conference at New Orleans. The conference was postponed, but Dr. Marvin, whose sympathies were strongly with the South, preferred to remain within the Southern lines during the war; and this he did, ministering to the Confederate armies and occasionally to the civil population as opportunities came. Besides the meeting which he held at Jefferson in 1864 he preached often at Marshall during the same year. In February, 1865, the pastor at Marshall, C. L. Hamill, died, and at the request of the church the presiding elder appointed Dr. Marvin pastor to fill out the year. In the fall of that year he attended the East Texas Conference at Paris, and also the Texas Conference at Waco ; after which he returned to Louisiana. In the spring of 1866 he took a boat on Eed River for the General Conference at New Orleans, although he was not a delegate. He arrived in New Orleans to find that he had been elected bishop the day before, and had arrived just in time for ordination, although after four years of roughing it in the Confederate armies and "in Texas," as was said, his personal appearance was not considered suitable for gracing the episcopal office. Says Bishop Paine: "On his first appearance in the Conference room after his arrival I saw him come in and take a seat on the rear bench in the corner of the church. His attire was common and worn, and his hair was untrimmed, and his beard long and covering his face. I called Bro. Doty to me at the platform and told him to take Bishop Marvin to the barber-shop and clothing store, and have him in order for the ordination next day. Mr. Doty reported as follows : On his arrival in the city he (Marvin) put up at a boarding house. He was very poorly clad, and I took him down into the city and dressed him in a bishop's suit at a cost of sixty-five dollars. I then proposed that we go to the barber-shop, as Bishop Paine had suggested. This he pleasantly declined." At any rate Bishop Marvin was duly ordained next day, and ?n the assignment of bishops he was designated to hold the Texas conferences in the fall of 1866.

The Fifth General Conference met in the city of New Orleans on April 4, 1866, and its sessions continued until May 3, all of them crowded with business. No General Conference had been held since 1858, and the ravages of war had left all the interests of the Church in a sadly dilapitated state, while the opening of a new era called

The Years 1860-1866 485

This General Conference had work to do. The Publishing House at Nashville was in ruins, and all the publishing interests demoralized. The Mission Board was $60,000 in debt, and with practically no income to maintain existing work. Most of the educational institutions of the Church had been closed, except a few for girls. The war had ground up the "seed corn" the young men of military age. The colored membership of the Church was practically adrift. Of the 207,766 colored members in 1860, there remained at the close of the war only 48,742. The distracted condition of the country had prevented anything like general episcopal supervision of the interests of the Church, and besides three of the five bishops Soule, Andrew and Early were worn out, and ready for retirement, which they were granted at this General Conference. But if the problems of reconstruction were gigantic, there were gigantic men in those days to cope with them. One finds such figures as the following composing the General Conference at New Orleans: Leroy M. Lee, David S. Doggett, James A. Duncan, John C. Granberry, Paul Whitehead, Charles F. Deems, Lovick Pierce, Joseph S. Key, Simon Peter Eichardson, Holland N. McTyeire, Thomas O. Summers, William M. Wightman, E. K. Hargrove, John C. Keener, Linus Parker, John B. McFerrin, John W. Hanner, A. L. P. Green, Robert A. Young, Andrew Hunter, and 0. P. Fitzgerald to say nothing of the delegations from Texas. The Texas representatives who sat in this conference were the following: East Texas W. H. Hughes, J. B. Tullis, Levi E. Dennis, J. M. Binkley, J. W. P. McKenzie and W. A. Shook. From the Texas Conference : Eobert Alexander, Wm. McK. Lambden, Thomas Stanford. W. G. Veal, Asbury Davidson, I. G. John, J. W. Whipple, J. W. Phillips. From the Eio Grande Conference: Jesse Boring and John W. DeVilbiss.

A situation immediately following the close of the war increased the problems confronting our Church. Hundreds of churches had been burned or dismantled, or converted to other uses, as hospitals or storehouses. This wreckage was soon repaired; but when the war closed and military rule was established throughout the South, many southern preachers, who were regarded as " disloyal," were ousted from their pulpits, and their places filled by preachers from the North. Bishop Ames, of the Northern Methodist Church, came into the South bearing an order from the Secretary of War authorizing him to fill Southern Methodist pulpits with preachers from his own Church, and the military powers were instructed to enforce these appointments wherever necessary. The Carondelet Street Church in New Orleans, our leading church in that city, had been filled in this way, and the intruder had vacated his place only a short time before the assembling of our General Conference in that church. In Texas there were a few instances of Northern intrusion in Southern churches under Federal protection, as at Galveston. 4

A summary of the work done by the General Conference at New Orleans, much of which was of far-reaching importance in the history of our Church, may be given in few words. Class-meeting attendance was made voluntary, and ceased to be compulsory, as it had been before ; and from that time class-meetings began to decline.

* Extracts from letter from E. W. Kennon, P. B., to O. M. Addison, dated at Houston, June 4, 1865: "I drop you a line upon the subject of saving our church at Galveston. Baldwin, the appointee of the Conference, has not returned from his trip after Bibles. The Federals will take possession of the city in about a week there will be Yankee Methodist preachers perhaps with the first expedition, and if we have no preacher in charge of the church he will walk into it. Now what I want is for you to go down to Galveston take charge of the church be the pastor there when the Yankees come. I will write from here down to the stewards on the subject. We may or may not unite with the Northern Methodists, but I think we ought to protect our interests until the time comes. You had better go down at once. I will furnish you with a certificate of your appointment to that charge."

The Years 1860-1866 487

The six months' probation period for membership in the Church was abolished. The pastoral term was increased from two to four years. The District Conference was recommended, but not provided for by legal enactment until four years later ; but dating from 1866 the District Conference came into very general use, and became one of the popular meetings in our Church. Perhaps the most important single action taken at New Orleans was the inauguration of the movement admitting lay representation in the councils of the Church. The question was passed up to the annual conferences, where it found overwhelming approval. It is interesting to note that the delegation from the Texas Conference voted in favor of the adoption of lay representation, while the East Texas delegates voted with the opposition. In the elections of bishops, William M. Wightman and Enoch M. Marvin were elected on the first ballot; David S. Doggett and Holland N. McTyeire were elected on the third ballot. A. H. Bedford was put in charge of the publishing interests; to John B. McFerrin was assigned the task of rehabilitating the missionary work. The mission debt of $60,000 was distributed among the various annual conferences, $4000 of the amount being allotted to the Texas Conference, and $1500 to the East Texas. Thomas 0. Summers was elected " General Editor," which included the Christian Advocate at Nashville, and editors were elected for the conference organs. I. G-. John was elected editor of the Texas Christian Advocate. In laying out new conferences Texas was given a new one the Northwest Texas and another was made possible by the division of the East Texas Conference, which occurred the following year, the northern portion taking the name of the Trinity Conference. This later took the name of North Texas Conference. The name of the Rio Grande Conference was changed to West Texas Conference. So the field of Texas Methodism was plotted very

( This brings us to the concluding stage of our work the "round" of the annual conferences in the fall of 1866^ The first one to be held was the Northwest Texas, which met in Waxahachie on September 26, Bishop Marvin in charge, Fountain P. Ray secretary. The building in which this conference was held was erected in 1856, and was dedicated the same year by Bishop Paine. It was used as a place of worship for forty-seven years. It stands to-day, on its original location, on East Franklin Street, one of the "oldest inhabitants," no longer used as a church, but has been converted into a boarding house. The writer happens to possess the minutes of the first session of the Northwest Texas Conference, which bound together with the proceedings of the next three sessions, make all told a pamphlet of sixteen pages, including four pages of advertising. Evidently this was before the day of the typewriter and of long-winded reports from an endless number of boards and committees. It was indeed a " reconstructive" era, but the few conference committees did not dream that they were called upon to outline a policy for the " reconstruction of the world," further than the simple process of giving it the gospel.

Theodore M. Price, John F. Neal and Milton Jones were admitted on trial. J. P. Mussett was admitted into full connection. And of the original members of that conference, or of those admitted on trial, the last survivor, John F. Neal, died early in 1924. J. P. Mussett, the last survivor of the original full members, died in 1921. Jerome B. Annis, 0. M. Addison, Henry W. South, Thomas Marshall, James Eice and John E. White were received by transfer. The following are the membership statistics of the districts composing the conference:

The Years 1860-1866

And then come the appointments, in which it will be noted that the Fort Worth district is dropped and the Waxahachie district takes its place.

Waco Disteigt Lampasas Distbict

Lampasas Circuit, to be supplied. San Saba, Theodore M. Price. Palo Pinto Mission, Milton Jones. Sulphur Springs, William Monk. Stephenville Mission, to be supplied. Meridian Mission, Peter W. Gravis. Bosqueville, George W. Graves.

Waxahachie Disteict Speingfield Disteict

The East Texas Conference met at Marshall on October 10, Bishop Marvin president, William P. Petty secretary. M. M. Sample, James E. Middleton, J. O. B. Eichardson, Milton Gr. McAlister, J. C. Smith, Madison Thompson, and Samuel Weaver were admitted on trial. John N. Hamill, T. W. Mitchell, Daniel S. Watkins, and W. C. Young were received by transfer.

In answer to the question, "What preachers have died during the year?" we have, "Samuel A. Williams. No memoir." For more than a quarter of a century Samuel A. Williams had served the Church in this section, on circuits, stations and districts; he had many times been chosen president of the conference, in the absence of the bishop, and more than once he had sat in General

Conference ; and yet he is allowed to pass from the ranks of his brethren without a word of praise or farewell. Williams belongs in the same company with Alexander, Fowler, Hord, Sneed and a few others who laid the foundations of Methodism in Texas. He was born in North Carolina in 1810. The family moved to Tennessee when he was a boy, and here he was converted and went into the Church. He entered the Tennessee Conference in 1834. In 1838 he responded to the call for missionaries in Texas, and in December of that year we find him present in the little council with Fowler, Hord and Strickland, held at San Augustine, when the work in Texas was apportioned among the few who had arrived, or were soon to come. Williams was assigned to San Augustine, which included Nacogdoches and Shelbyville. He received appointments regularly thereafter, all in the eastern portion of Texas, until 1863, when he took the superannuate relation. Williams was described by one who knew him 5 as smooth in temperament, affable and genial in manners, and always beloved by old and young alike wherever he was known. He was a strong and eloquent preacher, at times overwhelming in power. As an exhorter he is said to have been without an equal in his day, and few could excel him in singing. "On one occasion," we are told, "he was preaching at a campmeeting near Cook's Fort, in Cherokee County. It was Sabbath at 11 o 'clock, and his text was Heb. xi : 16, on looking for a better country. He described the journeys people were making, from Tennessee to Texas, and on to California, looking for a better country. He was dwelling upon the beauties of California, as they had been described to him, when a stentorian voice was raised in the congregation which asked: 'Is thar any beavers over thar if thar is I want to go with you. ' The congregation was shocked and the preacher thrown off his balance. He faltered and failed, and the service was closed. The voice was that of a half -demented man who spent his time in trapping beaver." No man was held in higher esteem among his brethren, though his quiet disposition kept him from being so widely known as some of them. If he ever wrote anything for publication this writer has been unable to find it. He died in 1866, and was buried at San Augustine.

The minutes of the East Texas Conference for 1866 give no detailed membership statistics, only the totals. These are : White members, 5955 ; colored members, 1120 ; local preachers, 75, besides 11 colored. The appointments were as follows :

Palestine Disteict

JOHN ADAMS, P. E. Palestine and Mound Prairie Station, F. J. Patillo. Palestine Circuit, to be supplied. Busk Station, Jefferson Shook. Busk Circuit, Samuel Lynch. Jacksonville, to be supplied. Tyler Station, William Witcher. Athens Circuit, M. C. Simpson. Kickapoo, to be supplied.

Crockett District

Sumter, to be supplied. Livingston, James H. Neeley. Liberty, Edward P. Bogers. Orange, Madison Thompson. Wood-voile, to be supplied. Homer, M. M. Sample.

The Texas Conference met at Galveston on October 24, Bishop Marvin presiding and Daniel Morse secretary. No one was admitted on trial and no one received by transfer. The minutes take note of the death of J. H. D. Moore, a member of the conference since 1852; of Thomas F. Windsor, a member since 1853; and George Little, an error in name, evidently meant for George Tittle, whom we have known a few years back as a pioneer on the northwestern frontier of the conference. He soon dropped out of sight, and we learn from his brief memoir that in 1855 he became disordered in mind. During the war he partially recovered, and entered the Confederate army, but died toward the close of the war in a Confederate hospital.

Caldwell District

Caldwell Circuit, G. W. Fleming. Millican, M. H. Porter. Lexington, to be supplied. Post Oak Island, to be supplied. Union Hill, W. G. Nelms. Rutersville, to be supplied. Brazos, to be supplied.

Austin District

The West Texas Conference convened at Seguin on November 7, Bishop Marvin in the chair, E. H. Belvin secretary. Curran M. Eogers was admitted on trial. Lucius M. McGehee, E. M. Kirby, J. G. Walker, Homer

S. Thrall and Robert M. Leaton were received by transfer. In answer to the question, "Who have located this year," we have the names of Jesse Boring, James E. Ferguson, and Thomas F. Cooke. Dr. Boring, as we have noted elsewhere, assumed charge of the medical department of Soule University. The medical school was located at Galveston, but its life as a department of Soule University was short. In 1868 Dr. Boring returned to Georgia.

In answer to the question, "What preachers have died during the year," the answer given is, "Nicholas H. Boring," and then comes the monotonous refrain, "No memoir." Nicholas H. Boring was a son of Dr. Jesse Boring, and in May, 1866, while the elder Boring was in attendance at General Conference at New Orleans, the son was killed in a railroad accident at Chappell Hill, and in the cemetery there he lies buried. So, on the whole, the sojourn in Texas of the distinguished Georgian, Dr. Jesse Boring, was largely shadowed with tragedy. His school enterprise in San Antonio was suspended on account of the war, and his home there was lost from the same cause. A home in Galveston was lost through defective title, and three of his children had found their graves in Texas a daughter at Galveston, the son at Chappell Hill, and another at Luling.

James E. Ferguson had just finished one year as presiding elder on the Victoria district, but for some cause he located in 1866. He moved to Bell County, where he lived until his death in 1876. Ferguson was married in 1854 to Miss Fannie Fitzpatrick, of Houston, who survived him until very recent years. Five children, four sons and one daughter, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, one of the sons, James E. Ferguson, we need not be told, made his way to the governorship of Texas.

Gonzales District

Charge, Buckner Harris. Thompsonville Circuit, R. M. Kirby. Moulton, John L. Harper. Hallettsville, A. A. Killough. Prairie Point, A. B. Duvall.

Corpus Christi District

Comparing the membership statistics of all the Texas conferences as returned in 1866, the year following the close of the war, with those of 1860, the year "before the

6 In the printed minutes of all the conferences the names of charges and preachers are often mis-spelled; but, except in cases where errors are typographical, the orthography of the minutes is followed.

war began, we find a great slump in numbers, although it was certainly not so great as the figures show, as the reports of 1866 were manifestly very incomplete. In 1860 there were reported 30,681 white members and probationers; 7451 colored members and probationers, and 461 local preachers. In 1866 the reports account for only 15,519 white members (the probationary feature having been abolished by the General Conference) ; 3269 colored members, and 256 local preachers a reduction in all classes of about one-half. The membership of the entire Church was still further reduced by the setting off of the colored people into a separate organization. In the work of retrieving her heavy losses and in reforming her lines for new conquests it required another quadrennium for Southern Methodism to hit her stride. In Texas, where the damage of war was less, and to which state thousands now began to turn from the older states, to repair their broken fortunes and to start life anew, the Church went forward with a rapid and a steady growth, and within the next generation the Methodism of Texas is to outstrip that of any other state in the South. To trace the course of this progress for the next fifty years is a task worthy of a more brilliant pen than that which has so laboriously endeavored to portray the first half-century of our history. And it is to be hoped that someone will be moved to take up the story and carry it forward. In which case the wish is here expressed that such "future historian of Texas Methodism" may find among his brethren a wider interest in the subject and a larger co-operation in his labors than the present writer has enjoyed.

Index

NOTE. All the preachers shown in the minutes of the conferences as having labored in Texas during the period covered by this volume are listed in this index, with indications as to how they entered the work ; viz., by admission on trial, abbreviated adm., or by transfer, abbreviated tr. Biographical or obituary notices are referred to by abbreviation biog.

Andrew, Bishop J. O., quoted on conditions in Texas, 170, 315; holds conference, 219; connection with slavery, 224; action of General Conference on, 226.

Austin's Colony, first preaching in, 33; first church organization, 43; first quarterly conference, 45 ; first camp meeting, 42 ; attitude of officials, 46, 47.

Fowler, Littleton, appointed missionary to Texas, 45 ; enters Texas, 74, 75; extract from journal, 75, 76; in Houston, 76; chaplain Texas Senate, 76; marriage, 96; death and biog., 255 ff.

Hord, Jesse, enters Texas, 105; extracts from journal, 105 ff. ; in Houston, 106 ; trip to conference with Sneed, 120 ff . ; organizes first ckurch in Houston, 195 ; account ; of trip with Alexander, 134.

Eichardson, Chauncey, elected president Eutersville College, 129; biog., 131; letter of, 131; elected editor Texas Wesleyan Banner, 293; death of, 344.

Euter, Martin; volunteers for Texas, 70 ; appointed superintendent Texas Mission, 71; enters Texas, 77; account of journey, 77ff.; preaches at San Augustine/ 78; Nacogdoehes, 78; Houston, 80; first plan for Texas, 81; extracts from journal and letters, 83 ff.; last sickness and death, 86, 87; biog., 87; burial place, 90; account of Church in Texas, 92 ; remains reinterred, 353; children of, 358.

Eutersville College, beginnings, 129 ; opened, 130; report of, 198; conference relations to, 236; decline of, 331 ff.; passes from church control, 400.

Sneed, Joseph P., arrival and first work in Texas, 116; biog., 116; work in S. W. Texas, 194; account of first preaching in E. Texas, 25; account of first church in E. Texas, 29 ; account of first preaching in Austin's Colony, 33.

Stephenson, Henry, first preaching in ' Texas, 15, 19; biog., 22; organizes i first church in E. Texas, 29; in- ( terest in Texas, 32 ; removes into j Texas, 32 ; assists in camp meeting in Austin's Colony, 42; closing' days and death, 67, 68; burial place, 69. ;

103 ; reports from, 124. Texas Missionary Society, organizazation of, 74 ; meeting of, 150. Texas, population of, 5, 171, 458. Texas Wesleyan Banner, adopted by

Washington, founding of, 41; first church completed, 93; account of meeting at, 99; account of Alexander's preaching at, 101; importance of in Texas and Methodist history, 100; present state of, 102.