Early, Texas - History (part 9 of 11)

In the East Texas Conference appointments for 1855 we have a Dallas district for the first time, John B. Tullis, presiding elder. We have already given an ac- count of the first Methodist families and first preaching and organization in Dallas County. Methodist preaching in the town of Dallas is reported in 1853. "One of the first accounts of service in Dallas, then a village of 100 or 200 people," says Dr. J. H. McLean, in his "Reminiscences" was in the summer of 1853, when, as related by Uncle Buck Hughes, the Rev. James A. Smith, a local preacher of the Cochran neighborhood, preached in a small room 14 by 14 feet, on the southwest corner of the courthouse square, to an audience not exceeding one dozen. He mentions the following names as constituting the Methodists of town at that time: J. A. Crutchfield and family, Mrs. Sarah Cockrell, Mrs. Browder, Ed Browder, Dr. Eice, Marlin Thompson, Andrew Moore, and their families, and adds that we had no church house in Dallas until 1868, and that preaching was held in the lower room of the Masonic Hall, and in the courthouse." Dallas appears in the minutes almost continuously from 1846, and it has been shown that a class existed in Dallas in 1850, and it is a bit singular that we hear of no Methodist preaching there until 1853. The spot was first settled in 1841, and a village had sprung up here by 1846, when the county was organized. Dallas became the county seat in 1850. The town was incorporated in 1855.

A Gainesville appointment appears in 1855, revealing the westward trend of things; but Gainesville was dropped after one year, and this extreme territory of the conference was embraced in a ' 'Border Mission. ' ' An old Gainesville class-book of 1855 contains thirty names, one colored; and on the mission there are three or four preaching places listed, without any lists of classes.

We have noticed the introduction of Methodism into Denton County in an earlier day by preachers from the Texas Conference. Preachers on Bed Oak mission, in Ellis County, continued to visit Denton County, and in 1852 John W. Chalk, the preacher on that mission, or- ganized a church, at Alton, the first settled county seat. In 1853 an Alton mission was created, and in 1854 this charge was transferred to the East Texas Conference. The Alton church was disbanded in 1857, when the county seat was moved to Denton, and a church was organized at the latter place. A pioneer preacher of Denton County and the country west was WHI. E. Bates, who moved from Kentucky and settled in Denton County in 1851. He was admitted into the East Texas Conference in 1854, and placed on the Alton mission, and in 1855 he was on the Gainesville mission. We are told * that he organized the churches at Denton, Gainesville, Montague, Jacksboro, and other frontier points. "On his last circuit," says this account, "he rode from Denton up Clear Creek to Chisum's ranch, thence to Decatur and Big Sandy; thence to Montague, thence to Jacksboro and Weatherford and back through Tarrant County via Birdsville, to Lewisville, and then home to the eastern part of Denton county.' 1 On this round he had thirty-one appointments. ( In 1857 a Tarrant mission is named in the minutes, East Texas Conference, but it does not include the village or post of Fort Worth, as that point was now included in the Texas Conference appointments. The Cedar Mountain and Fort Worth missions appear in the appointments of 1854, with Lewis J. Wright in charge of the Cedar Mountain work, and Fort Worth was "to be supplied." During the same year F. P. Eay was on the Lexington mission. Lexington was in Hill County, first organized in 1853, and was for awhile the county seat and the most important settlement in the county. In September, 1853, the new town of Hillsboro was laid out, and the county seat located there, although, as the minutes show, the circuit covering Hill County bore the name of Lexington the following year. But in 1855 Lexington is dropped and Hillsboro circuit appears, "to be supplied." Fort Worth does not appear by name in the appointi Bates, History of Denton. County, p. 44.

ments of 1855, but in 1856 the Fort Worth district was created, James Gr. Johnson, P. E., and F. P. Bay was on Forth Worth mission. The same year appears a " Brazos Station Indian Mission," to be supplied. We have noted the gathering of certain Indian tribes in a reservation on the upper Brazos. Major E. S. Neighbors was 'in charge of this reservation. Major Neighbors was a Methodist, and encouraged by him some efforts were made to establish a mission among the Indians. Rev. Pleasant M. Tackett, who was on Clear Creek mission in 1856, and on Fort Belknap mission in 1857, preached a few times to the Indians. But we are told that trouble arose between the whites on the frontier settlements and the Indians, and that ' ' a company of about one thousand men collected and drove the Indians out of Texas," and that Major Neighbors was killed. Following this the Indian remnants remaining in Texas became troublesome, and "within a year after they were driven out at least one hundred persons fell victims to savage barbarity." The frontier preacher, Tackett himself, and one of his sons were on one occasion badly wounded by the Indians.

In none of the cities of the state is the history of Methodist beginnings so scant as in the case of Fort Worth. Aside from the references made in the preceding paragraph, gathered from the minutes, we have been able to find nothing except the following somewhat indefinite items : 2

Rev. John W. Chalk, the father-in-law of Dr. J. W. Hill (Gulliver), of the North Texas Conference, claims to have been the first Methodist preacher to preach a sermon in Fort Worth. He was here probably as early as 1855. Rev. Walter South, father-in-law of Bishop Ward, also preached here about that time and says that he knew Fort Worth as a part of the Grapevine mission.

The Walter South mentioned was admitted into the Texas Conference in December, 1856, and appointed to Corsicana; in the fall of 1857 he was appointed to Fort Worth mission, which is probably as early as he preached there. Chalk was on the Alton mission, then included in the Texas Conference, in 1854. In December, 1854, Chalk transferred to the East Texas Conference and was appointed to Bonham; in 1855 he was appointed to Eed River mission. So that it was in 1854 that his work lay next to Fort Worth, and it was probably during that year that he preached there. A circumstance which makes it more probable is, that we find him in 1854 assisting in a meeting at Elm Grove, eight miles east of Weatherford, in Parker County. 3 "At about the same time," we are told, "Rev. P. Tackett established a church in a grove on Walnut Creek (Parker County)," later called Goshen. The church at Weatherford, according to the same account, was organized by Tackett in April, 1857, with eleven members.

We have seen the statement that a class was organized in Waco in 1850, consisting of fifteen members, but beyond that bare fact nothing appears. Waco appears in the minutes in 1851, Pleasant M. Yell preacher. At the end of that year 54 white and 3 colored members are reported. In 1852 Geo. W. Tittle was appointed to the work, and in 1853 James H. Addison. At the end of that year the reports show 249 white members and five colored. The Waco district was created in 1855, Josiah W. Whipple presiding elder. By 1857 the place had attained sufficient importance to entertain the Texas Annual Conference. Waco Female College was chartered in 1854, but it did not open its doors until September, 1857, in charge of F. C. Wilkes, local pastor. Wm. McK. Lamb- 'den was then elected president, and the institution moved to the front rapidly. In October, 1857, F. C. Wilkes, pastor at Waco, reports in the Advocate the progress of a great revival meeting. It had been running for two weeks in the Baptist church, protracted from a Baptist association, and then moved to the Methodist church, where it was still in progress. Sixty-one members had been added to the Methodist church, and forty-two to the Baptist church.

From the voluminous and somewhat racy correspondence of James H. Addison and concerning the latter feature be it remembered that his letters were not written for the public eye, but for the perusal of his brothers only, and one of these a much younger brother who might be expected to appreciate the strain in which the missives were written from these letters we may gather many interesting items relating to Waco and vicinity, including Marlin, during the years 1854-55. Without indicating exactly their date or circumstances the following extracts are from letters written in 1854 :

I suppose you would like to have an account of my trip up to this country, well I will gratify you in part by detailing a little of my ups and downs since we parted. On Thursday morning I jog'd on my way towards Bastrop. I went on till the Norther struck me, when I began to repent of starting, but by dint of perseverence I reached Bastrop late at night, and almost froze stoped at the house of Doct Rector, where I remained till Saturday. ... On Wednesday, though a stiff Norther was blowing, I took up the line of march for Webberville Eeached there that night, and remained till friday went to Austin on friday, and on Saturday I reached Eound Eock on Brushey. ... On Sunday afternoon I rode to bro Windsor's. Here my horse hurt his back with a fence rail, and I remained till Thursday morning. Got to Belton on friday morning and here a severe norther met me. . . . Here I remained till Monday when I rode fifteen miles on the road to Waco and stoped at the house of Bob Childres alias Tonchucha Bob, who is increasing in this worlds goods amazingly Next day, after a diligent ride reached Brother John M Stephens the first point on the Circuit that I was able to reach. I knocked about til Sunday (yesterday) and had the pleasure of holding forth to quite a fine audience of Brazos, Bosque and surrounding country, in a little bit of a stick and dirt school house about ten miles above the capitol of McLennan Co. to wit "Waco. ... I am at present at the house of Brother Gurley, in the town of Waco, where I shall remain a day or two, then I have to go out in the country and marry a couple on thursday night, then Back to the City and fire upon them on Sabbath as hard as I can.

You want to know if there is any religion up here. If you had been with me a few weeks ago, at the town of Marlin, and seen the way the folks joined the church, you might have concluded there was a little religion up here.

We are in the midst of the highest state of excitement perhaps you ever saw. I know that I never saw greater stirs among the "Sovereigns" than now. I will give you a short account of the origin and extent of the difficulty If you get no other news but this you must be content, as this at the present seems to swallow up every other consideration. Last year there was a company of men stationed at Fort Graham (which is in the bounds of this work) under the command of Major Arnold. During the time they were there, the surgeon of the army, Doct Steiner, and Leiutenent Bingham got into a quarrel, and carried the matter so high that Arnold had them both arrested, and confined to their quarters. The next morning Doct Steiner left his quarters and marched up to Arnold's quarters, armed Arnold asked him if he wasn't under arrest, he answered Yes : and asked why he was arrested? Arnold ordered him back to his quarters, when the Doctor refused to go. Arnold then shot at him and missed him when Steiner shot five balls into him, killing him immediately. The military then arrested Steiner to try him by a Court Martial, but by a writ of habeas Corpus, he was arrested from the military to be tried by the Civil law. The District Court came on, but the case was put off, and it was very evident that the object of the Lawyers of Steiner was to put it off from court to court till the military were worn out, then bring it on in the District Court and clear him of the charge. Things continued in this condition till a Court Martial was ordered at Austin to try Steiner, and a Leiutenent and company of men were dispatched to arrest Steiner who was living at Fort Graham, nominally under arrest, but in reality as free as I am. It will be proper also to state that the troops had all left Fort Graham and' the place was filled up with citizens. "When the Leutenent came to Graham, the Sheriff refused to give up Steiner, and the Officer returned without him. Subsequently General Harney [or Harvey] sent him back with orders to arrest the Doctor and bring him back to Austin, unless he was under corporeal arrest at Graham. The officer got there in the night, and early in the morning arrested the Doctor. He was at home in his own house, without a guard or under any restraint at all. The Doctor submitted with such good grace that the Officer Leutenent Anderson who had him in custody was thrown off his guard, and the Doctor easily persuaded him to go with him by the way of "Waco. Now commenced the grand excitement the plea for which was, that it was time to put a stop to the encroachments of the Military, and that as Steiner was under Civil arrest for murder, the Military had no right to claim him out of the hands of the civil authorities to try him for mutiny and insubordination, which is true enough, but the true reason was that Steiner was a f elow of like kidney with themselves, and they determined to clear him, right or wrong. While the officer was proceeding deliberately to Waco with the prisoner, the Ft Graham folks were riding all over the country, trying to muster men to arrest the officer. The company from Graham got into Waco, and had everything prepared for the reception of Anderson when he should come. Accordingly when he made his appearance, about eight oclock the next morning, they managed it so that they induced the Officer to cross the River with Steiner, and but three of his men, the balance of the sixteen dragons were left on the other side. So soon as the Officer got over they got him into a house, and the sheriff served a civil process upon him and attempted to arrest him. He immediately drew his revolver and declared he would submit to no civil arrest, at the same time calling his three guards around him. The passion of the bloodthirsty rabble could no longer be restrained, but from both doors protruded guns enough to have shot the Leutenent into a thousand pieces, and even when the Officer understood the nature of the writ and had submitted it was with the greatest difficulty that some of the rabble could be restrained from taking the life of Anderson. Altogether it was one of the most shameful scenes that has ever occurred in all this country, and will bring some of the perpetrators of it I hope with deserved ignominy. After the shameful proceedings narrated above, they released a murderer and retained Anderson, intending to try him for obeying the orders of his superior, or in other words for abducting a prisoner from the hands of the civil authority. No man can remain neutral here, he must either be a Steiner man or against him, and those who are against him are fearfully in the minority. 4

You complain about the hardness of your folks at Brownsville, but really I am inclined to think that our little town of Waco can equal if not surpass it. Here wickedness forms the rule and refraining from it the exception. Gambling is practised by nearly all, not only the doggery set but the "highminded and honorable" the "top-of-the-pot" those who walk about the streets with puritanical faces, attend church on Sunday and then set up all night Sunday night betting on Cards or Pharo Bank. Indeed it is hard to distinguish the moral from the immoral. Men that you would suppose would be above such vices can be found night after night in the little "Halls" around, staking their all upon the turn of a card.

I think by cutting my cards right I will have a revival here. . . . "We have had some fine revivals with us and about seventy or eighty have united with the church since I have been here. We had a very fine camp meeting near Waco. We had quite a number of tents, and but few preachers. The meeting continued a week. There were forty two joined the church. . . . Methodism received a fresh impetus, and I think it is well established that nothing can move it now. The combined powers of the Baptists and the Devil will be unavailing towards shaking the fabric thus reared.

[1855] There has been such an influx of immigration to this place the past six months, and there has been such great demand for house room that every little shanty has been crowded to their utmost extension. The case is being altered now, however, as the good folks are building rapidly all over town, and I do not think I would miss it, were I to say that fifty houses

* The fact that this was a celebrated case in its day, stirring up the country round about, is our excuse for inserting this account of it here in the midst of church affairs.

have been put up this year in Waco. . . . We had a two-days meeting at Gatesville the county seat of Coryeel county, at which there were about 8 professed religion and fourteen joined the church. . . . Our 2d Q M has just closed, and as you are disposed to grumble at your receipts I will have to inform you of mine to keep you in countenance. Stewards report, almost nothing. P E put up a pitiful mouth about money, gave it all to him by my consent. Publick collection $12.30. I kept eight quarters and three dimes, gave the rest to Yell. Claim of your humble servant $150.00 receipt $5.30. This is the total amount that your worthy brother has received for the present year.

The Waco charge, as we see, embraces Marlin and Gatesville, and all the Bosque country between, including also Fort Graham. In 1856-57 Benjamen A. Kemp was on the Gatesville mission, and he organized the work in Coryell, Bosque and Erath counties. In 1857-58 he organized the Fort Graham mission, in Hill and adjoining counties. The work in Bosque County took the name of Meridian in 1856, John E. White preacher. In 1857-58 Weatherford mission appears as the frontier work on the northwestern border of the Texas Conference, with J. M. Jones and W. G. Veal in charge. In 1856 Wesley Smith who was a brother of the James A. Smith who pioneered in Dallas County organized the San Saba mission, on the western side of the Colorado above Austin. Hamilton mission the place was later called Burnet makes its appearance in 1854, in the Austin district, John W. Cope in charge.

A few scattering notes from along this firing line one may glean from the Advocate of that day. A note from B. A. Kemp in October, 1857, states that he had just closed a camp-meeting at Fort Gates, and that 29 had joined the church, making 71 since conference. J. L. Crabb reports from Hillsboro a camp-meeting at Eock Spring, near the village of Peoria, with thirty conversions and as many accessions. A note from Eobert Alexander, Bible Agent, from Veal's Station, Parker County, is of interest, as it describes the progress of the mails in those days. Says he: "I have been pleased to see with what promptness the readers of the Advocate get their papers. At Waxahachie I read the Advocate five days after date ; at Fort Worth ten days after date, in Parker County it came to hand after fourteen days." The Advocate it will be remembered, was published in Galveston. Alexander adds: "Fort Worth is now a nice village and improving in a very substantial way."

All along this western frontier the local preacher contributed a large part in establishing the Church, and in many sections he was the pioneer and the first preacher in a settlement. A few examples of these outpost guards, many of whom never got their names in the conference minutes or in the papers, may here be cited. In 1856 Rev. Francis Marion Caldwell moved from Washington County, Ark., and settled in Parker County, Texas, near Springtown. For the next ten years, so long as he lived in that country, he preached regularly in Parker, Wise, Tarrant and other northwestern counties. He also taught school in Parker and Wise counties. In 1858 he supplied the Keechi mission. A camp ground was established at Springtown, and one also at Goshen. 5

"My father (Eev. M. 0. Coker) came overland from Tunnell Hill, Ga., to Texas in 1854," writes Eev. J. W. Coker, of Oklahoma. "He located in Bell county and made one crop. In the spring of '55 he was licensed to preach by Dr. Homer S. Thrall. In the fall of '55 my father moved to Comanche county, and there spent the remainder of his life. His family was the eighth family to settle in the county. He preached the first Methodist sermon in the county, and assisted in organizing the first two Methodist churches in the county. Some time in the late spring of 1856 our Church sent a missionary to preach to us in the person of Rev. Benjamen Kemp. He left his family at Gatesville, Coryell county, that being considered then the outpost of civilization. . . . Rev. Elisha Guilders preached the first Methodist sermon ever preached in Brown, Coleman and Runnels counties."

Rev. Sam C. Vaughan, a superannuate member of the Northwest Texas Conference, in recalling early days in Burnet County, writes as follows: "My father came from Osage county, Missouri, and settled in Burnet county, Texas, in 1852. It was a thinly settled and Indian-infested country, full of unmolested nature. . . . In 1856 Rev. C. C. Arnett moved to Burnet County, and settled six miles north of us. Two years later Rev. Sam W. Moreland came from Tennessee and settled one mile west of Arnett. He was born and licensed to preach in Tennessee, and travelled as pastor for some years. He was a matter-of-fact, sober-minded, Christian gentleman. He and Brother Arnett were of great use as local Methodist preachers. Bro. Moreland had some negroes, one old man so large he had to have shoes made for him, his feet too big for bought shoes. Ed Whitlock, a negro preacher, was holding a meeting there. He said, 'Let us pray; Brudder Sam, lead us in prayer.' Sam replied, 'Skuse me, Bruder Ed; I'm not a good hand at it.' " In the same narrative we have the following :

The Comanche Indians were giving us much trouble by stealing our horses and killing our people. They would come down the Colorado Mountains in day time and then come out through the settlement at night and get a bunch of horses and lead to the Brakes by daylight. The Methodists were holding a big camp meeting on Bear Creek, and the Campbellites a camp meeting on the Gabriel, three miles apart. A runner came to report the Indians coming, but the Indians beat the messenger to the Campbellite camp and got a big lot of fine horses. But the messenger beat them to the Methodist camp and the campers jumped up and struck lights and rounded in their horses. The Indians had got within a half mile of camp, but when they saw the lights they turned abruptly west and went right through

Arnett 's and Moreland 's horse range. The trailers that were after the Indians came back and said to Brother Moreland: "They got all your horses." Bro. Moreland was sitting in his tent. He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands and sat thus a moment, then rose up and said: "I can't believe they got my big bunch of horses." Some one said "Why?" He said, "When my wagons were loaded and all started to the camp ground, I went back in my house and on my knees I told God I was going down to worship and asked him to care of all my affairs ; I believe he has done it. " So he ordered a. negro to saddle his horse and he rode away home and returned and said, "Not a horse gone."

D. N. Arnett, one of the best known ranchmen of West Texas, now living at Colorado City, and his wife, Ophelia Moreland, are children of these Burnet county preachers, Arnett and Moreland, and both uphold the best traditions of their families in their Christian character and in church life.

Wesley Smith says that he made a trip to San Saba valley in 1854 to look at the county, and that there was not a house in the valley. 6 He was admitted on trial into the Texas Conference in 1855, and appointed to San Saba mission, with nothing to go to. The Mission Board had appropriated $500 for his support, and of this he expended $125 for a horse and $50 for a revolver. He made a round, visiting the Fowler settlement, in Burnet County, thence to Harrington's, and to Dancer's (a local preacher, to meet his death later by Indians), thence to Honey Creek, and into Llano county. After returning home he accompanied J. W. Whipple to a quarterly conference at Hamilton (Burnet) for the Hamilton mission, and at the same time and place a San Saba mission quarterly conference was held. Smith held camp-meetings this year at Burnham's Springs, Burnet County, and at Simpson's Creek. During the year he moved into San

Saba valley. He was returned to the same work the following year, and records that he preached higher up on the Colorado than any one had gone before.

On the southwestern frontier the missions of Cibolo, Medina and Blanco appear in 1855, and in 1856 Kerrville and "Uvalde and Live Oaks." For this latter charge the appointment stands, ' ' one to be supplied, and James M. Stringfield." But we often learn that the minutes are not a safe guide as to what really occurred. This new charge was the western outpost of the conference, in the Victoria district, Oscar M. Addison, presiding elder. We learn from Addison 's correspondence that early in the year the charges were separated, Thomas Myers being placed in charge of the Uvalde mission, Stringfield was released, and the Live Oak mission was supplied for the year jointly by 0. A. Fisher, of Corpus Christi, and "Win. C. Eees, of Eefugio mission. A report from Thomas Myers, under date of April 2, 1857, and published in the Texas Christian Advocate, gives an account of his first appointment and the organization of the first church in Uvalde:

Having passed over the fertile high table lands of the Sabinal and Bio Frio, I reached Uvalde in good time to fill my appointment at that place. This town is situated at the head of the Leona river. This river rises in a beautiful valley country and has a bold, rapid current, which is sufficient to drive any machinery, even in low water, and at little expense, without the danger of overflow. On my arrival in town, I found the citizens engaged in fitting up a large upper room of a rock building, for an accommodation, in which to hold our meetings. The services commenced at early candlelight, with a respectable congregation in attendance. Though much fatigued by a heavy drive, yet I felt refreshed and nerved for the occasion ; there was an unusual seriousness pervading the congregation when I entered the room and commenced religious exercises ; my own heart fealt unusually solemn, knowing that we were about to plant the Christian standard, and unfurl the banner of the Cross within fifty miles of the banks of the Rio Grande, and sixty miles farther out than the gospel had ever gone before in our regular itinerant work. "I felt how important it is for us to begin the work right, according to our cherished institutions, around which cluster the hopes of the church in time to corne. ' ' We had a solemn weeping blessed time. In closing our meeting on Sunday night, I found the Lord had given me some seals to my ministry. We organized a small society of seven members, and, under God, we expect to add many more before the close of the present Conference year.

The "rim" of the occupied territory was thus expanded during this period to embrace Gainesville, Port Worth, Weatherford, the San Saba country, Kerrville and Uvalde, giving a tremendously wide sweep to the frontiers of the Church in Texas. But this, it will be seen, occupies but about one half of the state, leaving the settlement and conquest of the other half to be witnessed by the next fifty years or more.

Referring to certain conditions affecting the ministry during this period, we refer to Thrall, who was one of those who passed through all these scenes. "As yet," he says, "very inadequate provision had been made for the support of itinerant ministers. A few inferior buildings had been secured for parsonages, but the great mass of married preachers had to provide homes for their families. The pay was inadequate to the necessities of pastors who had families to provide for and children to educate. Stern necessity drove many men, men of large experience and eminent qualifications for the work, to location." Continuing, he says:

Preachers were scarce, and some were received on trial who had but inferior qualifications for the great work they undertook. At that time the course of study was limited, and in many instances examinations were superficial, and many were received who soon gave up the itinerant work. It seems incredible, but the Minutes show that during these ten years (1846-

1855) thirty-two were located in the East Texas Conference, and twenty-nine in the Texas Conference; and not a few who were admitted on trial were discontinued before being received into membership. But not a few of these locations were temporary, and after a short period, in which their families were provided for, we find the same preachers again in the itinerant ranks. The want of parsonages, with the difficulty experienced in getting suitable houses in which to live, was one great reason for these locations. . . . Eev. Dr. Alexander, who labored so long in the itinerant work, had homes at different times in Butersville, Cottage Hill, Austin County, Galveston, Bell County, Harris County, and Chappell Hill, where he finally died. The present writer, during the fifty years that he has been in the active itinerant work, has lived in parsonages twelve years, in the following places: Galveston, Lavacca, Brenham, Chappell Hill, Corpus Christi, San Marcos and Seguin . . . but has lived in rented houses, or houses which he was compelled to buy or build, while presiding elder on the Galveston, Ruterville, Austin, Victoria, Columbus, and San Antonio Districts, and on some circuits. At this present writing (1887) there is but one district parsonage in the West Texas Conference, and only a few in Texas.

Apropos of these observations, an extract from a letter from R. Alexander during Ms residence more properly an " encampment " in Bell County during 1857 is given. From all reports that was a year of great drouth and financial stress. The letter was dated "Howard, August 29th, 1857," and was addressed to 0. M. Addison, presiding elder on the Victoria district :

It has been my intention to give up the agency [for American Bible Society] this winter, but I am in a very unsettled condition and it is more than probable that I will continue in it until I get to some place that is more like home than my present camp arrangement. I did think I would settle in this county but I can only take it on trial for the present for if we do not starve for bread it appears that we might perish for water. "We are in a poor fix up here health we enjoy but bread and water are necessary for its continuance. . . . You astonish me by intimating that you are ready to leave the high position assigned you as P. E. upon so short an experience. And yet again that your finances should be so low as to straiten you. What cannot one large district support one Bachellor Presiding Elder of your dimentions how is this What will the brethren do who have wives & children I fear our preachers who have wives and children will starve out during this awful calamitous drouth.

And where and when did the proverb originate that " times of drouth are times of revival?" It is sufficient to say that it did not originate in 1857. Says Alexander in this letter: " Religion seems to be at a quiet if not at a low ebb pretty much all over our land. We are dull enough in these parts hope for better times for Bread water and religion." And the minutes of the conferences for 1857 show a decrease in " probationers" received the class drawn largely from new converts.

A sketch of church affairs in Houston for 1856 may be given to illustrate how matters were going in a " city church" in that day. The pastor was Charles H. Brooks. The writer is Mrs. Blandin, before quoted as the historian of Shearn Church. "The stewards," we are informed, "were Charles Shearn, Jas. F. Dumble, Alex. McGowen, Vanbibber and Dr. Bryan. Jas. F. Dumble was superintendent of the Sunday school and "Charles Shearn was class leader. The singing was congregational, not even a melodeon had been introduced at that time, and Mr. Brooks says it was good." Continuing, she says:

The system of renting pews had been adopted during Mr. Summers 's pastorate, at his suggestion, and was still the plan for raising church revenue. These pews were of the old English style, with doors fastened by locks; all expenses were paid by the rent. When Mr. Brooks took charge of the church he found the roll of members had either been lost or destroyed; he made a new one ; reorganized the church and found he had seventy less members than had been reported at the last conference. In the early spring he held a protracted meeting for four weeks and the church was crowded day and night with eager workers and penitents. More than 100 professed conversion. One incident will serve to show the interest taken in the day services of the meeting. One day there was quite a commotion in the back part of the church, but the altar and the aisles were so crowded that the pastor could not reach the place. After the congregation was dismissed he found a German who had been so powerfully convicted that he could neither wall? nor stand for some time. All services were well attended, the Sunday School was in the first rank of Sunday Schools for that day, the class meetings and love-feasts were times of refreshing from the Lord.

An inkling of the kind of "sowing" that was done prior to the revival mentioned above is found in a letter from Brooks, written March 10, 1856. Says he: "My prospects for doing good in Houston are increasing. I preached to a large congregation on sabbath, on the depravity of the human heart, which I illustrated 1st from the bible 2dly from the City of Houston. Sabath night the house was crowded. I preached an hour & a half from Hbrs llth & 7th. I am laboring night and day for a revival of religion, without it Houston is gon. pray for us."

Some of the bishops who visited Texas gave to the church press full accounts of their journeyings and observations. The correspondence of Bishop Pierce is preserved in a book entitled, "Incidents of Western Travel," and from this we take certain incidents occurring on his first Texas tour in 1855: "After inquiring the way to Marshall," he records, his point of departure being Shreveport, "we drove through and as we had been told to follow the telegraphic wires, we found no difficulty in sticking to the right track. The posts and wires seemed like old acquaintances, after our long sojourn among the prairies and woods ; and they indicated, too, that we had returned to the highways of a progressive people. But this is a new country; and although the citizens have availed themselves of the electric news-carrier, yonder comes a relic of the past a primitive medium of transportation a cotton wagon drawn by oxen. For forty miles we were rarely out of sight of these clumsy vehicles and their slow-moving teams. But their days are numbered: one more season of toil, and the patient ox will rarely travel beyond his owner 's broad acres, and the cumbrous wagon will stand still in its shed. There upon the right is an embankment, and just ahead an excavation. These foot-prints of the engineers are the forerunner of an iron track, the iron horse his speed and his burden. When once the steam whistle wakes the echoes of these woods and vales, and the country commands all the facilities of a well-managed railroad, emigration from the East will receive a new impetus, and capital and intelligence will work new wonders in the West/'

The East Texas Conference over, of which the Bishop gives only brief mention, but in the highest terms, he sets out on a leisurely journey for Galveston, with many preaching appointments on the way. Following his narrative we find:

Brother Gillespie was our travelling companion, and on the way we picked up Brother Angell. . . . We reached Eusk, the county seat of Cherokee, in a storm of wind, rain and hail. The Methodists, contrary to their usual custom of building on the outskirts, had located their church in the center of the town. Despite the wind and weather, the house was lighted ; the people assembled, and I tried to preach. Here Brother Hobbes met us with horse and buggy to take us to another stage of our journey. A two days' meeting had been given out at Shiloh, about twenty miles distant, and on Saturday morning (the next day) we set out quite a troop Gillespie, Angell, Hobbes, Shanks, and Lovick and I. "We left the highway, and if I were to say, took the woods, it would be no exaggeration. We reached the place a little behind time, but the people were waiting, and I preached once more, and made an appointment for Brother Gillespie at night. Next day, Sunday, I preached again, and for variety's sake must say a little about the singing. After prayer I gave out a short metre hymn. A brother who had been leading the singing raised a common-metre tune. Thinking to relieve him, I announced the metre again. He tried the second time, and failed. Seeing that he was embarrassed, I remarked, "We will omit singing," and commenced giving out my text. When I had stated book, chapter and verse, another brother, apparently resolved upon a song, tried his voice upon a tune. He missed badly. Supposing that he had not heard me, I said a little louder, ' ' We will omit singing, ' ' and again was telling where my text might be found, when, to everybody's amusement, and nearly to the overthrow of my gravity, a third man lifted his voice, and the sound "sprangled" among notes generally, without specifying any. The privilege of laughing would have been a relief, but that would have been a rare preface to a sermon, and so, holding my muscles to the right place by a stern will, I proceeded with the text and the discourse. It was a good time. . . . During the next day ... we reached Sumter, a little straggling, piney woods town, before night, and stopped to preach. We had to use the Campbellite Church, the only one in the place. . . . Service over, we dispersed; all for awhile going the same direction. The night was very dark, and conversation was free. One fellow, who seemed to have his preconceived notions wonderfully upset, spoke out as though he were soliloquizing : ' ' Well, that is a Bishop : I have often heerd of 'em, but never seed one before. Why, he is nothing but a man, after all. He talks like other people; in fact he preaches like considered a tolerable exhorter, but about the poorest preacher in Texas. . . . Brother Gillespie, on going from Galveston to Marshall had a series of appointments, where he preached and presented the claims of the Texas Advocate. On his return with me, he concluded every service with a brief speech, and opened his books for patronage. Going and coming he obtained four hundred subscribers. This plan is wise; the policy is good in more respects than one. I recommend it to all the brethren. Two or three months every year spent in visiting the people, would largely promote our publishing interests. Let the editors come into personal contact with the people; represent the interest they manage; diffuse their ministry a little; show the Church that they can preach, and do preach as well as they write; and by labor, sympathy, and service, identify themselves and their paper more directly with the masses, and the effect will be a quadrupled circulation. Neither the preachers nor the people ever see these editorial knights of the quill until they come down to Conference to settle up. Show yourselves, brethren.

We have but a brief report in Bishop Kavanaugh's "Life" of his visit to Texas in 1857, and this confined to an account of his sermon at the East Texas Conference at Eusk. The occasion was Thanksgiving Day. The text was from Psalms 65 : 9-11. J. M. Binldey, who was attending his first conference and who had seen his first bishop, writes: "This was the most powerful and overwhelming sermon I ever heard. He carried all with him; nor have I ever on any other occasion witnessed such an effect as was at that time produced. The audience were completely overcome by a power that was more than human. Some laughed, others shouted or wept, while many rose to their feet, and some fell as dead men fall in battle. I was watching my presiding elder, who was a strong man every way. For some time he was calm, and seemed resolved not to yield to the tide that was sweeping over the assembly ; but unable to hold out longer he, too, yielded, and praised God aloud. Twentyseven years have come and gone since then, but never have I heard that sermon surpassed for its grand thoughts, its unction, and its power. "

It is now time we were turning attention to our educational work during this period to the rise of new institutions and the progress of the old ones. It is during this period also that we bid a sad farewell to Butersville College, whose decline had set in some years before, as we have noticed.

In 1856 a memorial was presented to the State Legislature by the trustees of Eutersville College, headed by Capt. W. J. Eussell, requesting that the right conferred upon the Texas Conference of appointing trustees for the institution be withdrawn, and at the same time application was made for the consolidation of Eutersville College with a certain military school in Galveston. The action of the trustees excited much unfavorable comment among the preachers, and some steps were taken to forestall the action requested. Rev. J. M. Wesson, of Washington, went to Austin, and in conference with J. W. Phillips, presiding elder of the Austin district, decided that nothing could be done. A letter from Wesson, dated Austin, July 15, 1856, explains the situation :

Bro. Phillips readily consented to unite with me in endeavoring to procure at best postponement of Legislative action. We could not appear as representatives of the Conference, but simply as members of that body. Senator Bryan kindly spoke to me before presenting the memorial, assuring me that he would not present it, if I had evidence that the Conference was opposed to it. When the matter was discussed before the Senatorial Educational Committee Col. Caldwell strongly urged objections to it. But the Committee unanimously resolved to report favorably upon the memorial. After the report was presented Mr. Bryan promised to procure its recommitment if Br. Phillips and I would draw up, in behalf of the Conference, a statement showing why the prayer of the Memorialists should not be granted. We sat down to do so, and gave the subject hours of thoughtful attention; but we could draw up no statement satisfactory to ourselves, and that we believed would influence the members of the Legislature. We had access to no documents, and were in possession of no information calculated to give force to our remonstrance. We therefore informed our friends that we should take no further action in the premises. Had we had solid ground to stand upon we would have contested it inch by inch, but as the matter stands resistance was useless. It is true we might have used our influence among our acquaintances in both houses, and by log rolling secured its defeat. Indeed Br. Webb said that he knew we could defeat it if we tried. But if we could not accomplish our purpose by fair and honorable means, we neither felt disposed to employ any other.

The fact is, so far as we can ascertain the Conference has had no vested right in the property of the institution. Br. Wilson gave it to me as his opinion that such is the case. The property is vested in the trustees, and they have the entire control of it. The amendment of the Charter simply confers upon the Conference the power to appoint trustees. That power can be taken away at any time by the body that conferred it; and though it may be discourteous, it is not illegal. . . . The truth is, the great curse of that institution, to my mind, has been the State grant of four leagues of land. This prevented it from becoming legally a denominational institution. If we attempt to claim it as a Methodist institution we are met by the charge of fraud against the State. I am disposed to think that perhaps after all it will be a benefit to the Church. We must see that the foundation is right at Chappel Hill, and then work in good earnest to build upon it.

The necessary legislative action was taken, and in October, 1856 the "Texas Monumental and Military Institute," under the superintendency of Col. Caleb G. Forshey, opened its first session in the halls of Eutersville College.

We have noted the preliminary steps taken at the Texas Conference in 1854 toward the creation of Soule University, at Chappell Hill. That institution came into actual being in 1856. The first Board of Trustees, appointed at the Conference of 1855, was composed of the following: Thomas B. White, J. D. Giddings, J. H. Davidson, J. W. Whipple, Eichard Crawford, James Mc- Leod, Eobert Alexander, H. Yoakum, Gabriel Felder, C. P. Barton, W. S. Day, H. S. Thrall, L. D. Bragg, William Chappell, J. C. Wilson, and W. C. Webb. The trustees held the first meeting at Chapell Hill on January 18, 1856, when T. B. White was chosen president of the Board, Eev. James M. Follansbee, A. M., M. D., was elected president of the University, and John N. Kirby, principal of the Preparatory Department. The Preparatory Department of the University was opened on Feb- ruary 1, 1856, in one of the buildings of the former Chappell Hill College. A charter was secured from the Legislature, which was approved February 22, 1856. "This charter declared nowhere that Soule University was the property of the Methodist church, or that the Board of Trustees held the property in trust, for this church, but were a 'body corporate under the name and style of the Board of Trustees of Soule University, and by that name shall have succession for a term of ninety years.' However, the charter was very definite in its second section as to the control of the institution, for it says: * Soule University shall be under the control and supervision of the Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Board of Trustees shall be re-elected from time to time under the direction of the said Texas Conference, and when elected shall have power to fill all vacancies that may occur therein, subject to ratification by the succeeding conference. ' " 5 Another section of the charter required the Board of Trustees to make an annual written report to the conference, showing the exact condition of the institution and of the work done, and the conference was given authority to change the conduct of affairs, and to transmit to the Board of Trustees such instruction as the conference deemed necessary for the welfare of the institution.

Rev. R. W. Kennon had been appointed financial agent of Soule University. He went before the East Texas Conference at its session in 1856 and solicited the cooperation of that body in building the enterprise, and offered them the privilege of naming ten of the twentyfive trustees required by the charter. The conference acceded, and named the following trustees: Rev. John Powell, Rev. W. D. Ratcliffe, Rev. A. J. Shanks, Rev. R. Wyche, L. V. Greer, M.D., J. H. Griffin, Esq., J. J. Hall, A. S. Kyle, Alexander McClure, and Henry Ware. "It does not, however, appear that any change of the charter was ever made which gave the East Texas Conference, or the trustees appointed by them, any legal rights whatever in the premises. "

"At the close of the first session/' says Dr. Cody, "the commencement address was delivered by Col. H. Yoakum, and at this time, June 23, 1856, William Halsey, A. M., former president of Eutersville College, was elected president of Soule University. He at once entered upon the duties of his office and the next year ninety-five students were enrolled, most of whom were in the preparatory grade. The following year Eev. W. G-. Foote, A. M., was elected Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. The chair was then endowed by a gift of $25,000 from Col. Jared Kirby and called the Kirby Professorship. The Chair of Languages was at the same time endowed by Hon. Gabriel Felder for the same amount and called the Felder Professorship. At the following commencement, June 30, 1858, the annual address was delivered by Eev. W. H. Seat. The number enrolled for this year was one hundred and fifteen."

The University building was erected on a tract of land containing ten acres, given to the trustees for the University site by Dr. E. J. Swearingen. The corner-stone of this building was laid November 2, 1858, on which occasion addresses were made by E. Felder and Eev. J. W. Kenney. The building was of stone, 56 feet front and 84 feet deep, three stories high, a very commodious and imposing structure for that day, having cost, when completed, not less than $40,000.

Soule University did not allow co-education. No woman was connected with the institution, either as teacher or pupil. The old Chappell Hill Female College continued to function as a separate institution. Soule University had simply absorbed the Male Department of this original school. A written pledge, we are told, was demanded of all pupils in Soule University, promising obedience, punctuality, and application to study, and closing with the following : "And I hereby certify that I have delivered to the President all my concealed weapons."

The trustees of Soule University in 1857 authorized the establishment of a Law Department, to be located in Houston, and a Medical Department, to be located in Galveston, and faculties were elected for these branches, but no serious efforts were made to organize these departments until after the Civil War.

McKenzie Institute, located near Clarksville, was seeing its palmiest days during the period now under review. The Institute now occupied four large three-story frame buildings, one as a dormitory for young ladies, two for boys, and one for chapel and recitation purposes. The two boarding halls for boys were called respectively the Duke and Graft houses, named in honor of the builders. The third floor of the recitation building was devoted to the two debating societies the Philologian and the Dialectic. The student body published a college paper, called the "The School Monthly."

An advertisment of the school, appearing in 1856, names the following faculty: Eev. J. W. P. McKenzie, principal; Smith Eagsdale, B. F. Fuller, J. T. Kennedy, J. N. B. Henslee. Teachers in Female Department : Rev. J. W. P. McKenzie, Smith Eagsdale, Martha E. Eagsdale. Vocal and Instrumental Music, D. Danforth. The rates for a term of ten months, including "board, washing, room rent, and tuition in English Department, if paid at close of session," are given at $110. "Those entering the Institute are required to furnish lights, stationery, and text-books." The "lights," provided by the Institute, but charged on the bill of the student, were tallow candles.

"In 1854 when the writer entered," says Dr. J. H. McLean in his "Eeminiscences," referring to the McKenzie school, "there were nine professors and tutors, over three hundred pupils and, with very few exceptions, all boarded in the institution. I can never forget my first night at the college, when, at a most inopportune hour 4 a. m. the college bell pealed out on the stillness of the night, calling us to the chapel for morning prayer. This exercise consisted of a scripture lesson, lecture, song and prayer. It was then in the dead of winter, crisp and cold, and yet 'Old Master' was seen, candle in hand, wending his way to the chapel in his shirt sleeves and slippers, while the girls and boys were wrapped in shawls and blankets. His plea for this practice was that it was a health measure, a morning air bath. . . . Chapel service over, four successive tables were then served for breakfast by candle light. Similar chapel services were held at 8 a. m. and in the evening. On Sunday we had Sunday school led by the president, preaching at 1 1 a. m., class meeting at 3 p. m., and preaching or prayer meeting at night. There was also prayer meeting on Thursday nights. In addition to these stated religious exercises, the environment was kept free from all contaminating influences, so much so, that the writer during a stay of nearly six years never heard an oath nor saw a bottle of whisky or a deck of cards. As a result of all this spiritual painstaking and the annual revivals of religion, it was not unusual that during the session more than ninety per cent of the student body became professed Christians, and the records show that out of an aggregate of 3,300 pupils, 2,250 were converted while attending school."

The same writer says that Dr. McKenzie received no financial aid from any source, but built up the institution and maintained it out of the income from his patronage. "It is also true that no boy or girl, however poor, was ever turned away from his school. The writer well remembers when the Eev. E. A. Bailey, who became one of the most honored and useful members of the Northwest Texas Conference, came afoot with a bundle of clothes on his back from Greenwood, Louisiana, to McKenzie College, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and was warmly greeted, notwithstanding his impecunious condition, and for several years shared freely .the benefits of the institution. Another such student was John Burke, who * footed it' from Jefferson to McKenzie College, a distance of 100 miles, and later became a brilliant lawyer, partner and brother-in-law of Gov. Murrah, of Marshall."

The contribution of McKenzie Institute to the ministry, the bar, the teaching profession, and to almost every field of usefulness in Texas is beyond estimation. Many of the earlier graduates of this school rose to distinction and fell in the Civil War. Among those students who afterwards became well known in the Methodist ministry in Texas may be mentioned the following : Andrew Davis, whose romantic early career and entrance at McKenzie we have recounted; E. A. Bailey, John H. McLean, J. Fred Cox (whose wife was also a McKenzie student), Milton H. Porter (who also married a McKenzie student), John Adams, M. H. Neely, E. C. Armstrong, L. M. Fowler, J. T. L. Annis, W. J. Joyce, John F. Neal, H. B. Phillips. Of lawyers and statesmen, W. S. Herndon, Geo. N. Aldredge, W. J. Swain, W. E. Collard, W. . L. Crawford and many others who graced the courts and legislative halls of this and other states. Judge B. F. Fuller, a Baptist, and author of " History of the Baptist Church in Texas," was a McKenzie student. Milton Bagsdale, brother of Smith Eagsdale, long one of the teachers at McKenzie, was one of the first graduates of McKenzie Institute. He engaged for many years in the teaching profession. His wife was the daughter of Abner McKenzie, and her mother was the widow of John B. Denton. Both Professor and Mrs. Eagsdale are still living in Dallas.

numerous other small schools which arose in the 'fifties some to endure but for a day, and others to continue a struggling existence for many years. The Starrville Female High School, with Milton H. Porter as principal, appears in the minutes of the East Texas Conference in 1855. The Murray Institute, located west of Jefferson, in Upshur County, was started as a private academy in 1856 or 1857 by Eev. J. J. Clark, a Methodist preacher from Tennessee, and father of Eev. I. "W. Clark. The school flourished for many years, and did a splendid work. Andrew Female College, at Huntsville, and Paine Female College, at Goliad, we have noticed in a former connection. In 1856 and 1857 Thomas H. Ball. father of a better known Thomas H. Ball of our day was president of the school at Huntsville. The Paine Institute at Goliad reported fifty-three students in 1857. The Waco Female Institute, mention of which has been made before, had its origin in 1857, when Franklin C. Wilkes was appointed agent, in connection with Waco station. The Seguin Male and Female College, with J. W. Phillips president, appears the same year. The Bastrop Academy, whose rise has been noted, was divided in 1857, the female department being known thereafter as Bastrop Female Academy, and the male department being organized into the Bastrop Military Institute, with Eev. Col. E. T. P. Allen, A. M., a distinguished educator from Kentucky, as superintendent. The Institute was continued under the patronage of the Texas Conference, and for many years Col. Allen and his school wielded a powerful influence for good throughout that section. The catalogue of 1858 shows an enrollment of ninety-two students, listed in order of merit in their respective departments; and standing next to the head of the list is the name of Joseph D. Sayers, afterwards governor of Texas. The Fairfield Female Institute, Eev. H. V. Philpott principal, is advertised in the Texas Christian Advocate in

1856. The Southern Methodist Almanac for 1855 reports, in addition to the schools already mentioned, the "Methodist Female Institute, at Tyler," with about 30 pupils, and the "Cedar Mountain Academy, Dallas County, about 75."

At the risk of extending this chapter beyond due limits, and also of incurring the charge of introducing too much matter from one source, or from one family, we append a few more items from the "literary remains" of 0. M. Addison. Our object is not to draw attention to a name, but simply to convey a reflection of the times, as faithful and complete as possible; and this must be done from those sources only which have come into our hands. The Addisons wrote much, and gathered together much which others had written ; and all of this collection is in our possession. But even at that it is no easy task to select from the scrap pile, composed of a miscellaneous and unorganized mass of things, like leaves which the winds of fifty years have blown together, that which is real history and piece it together in an orderly and readable fashion. It is a task which should have more insight, time and patience expended upon it than this writer possesses. But so much as he has he will continue to employ until the story is finished.

We have at hand the journal of the presiding elder of the Victoria district for 1857, which, however, is largely routine and personal. A few extracts from this will suffice. Beginning with a trip to Live Oak County we have :

March 5. At the distance of 18 miles we reached Mr. Cook's, where we turned our horses to grass and obtained dinner. The country is newly settled, and the people live in primitive style. The house of our entertainer was constructed of poles with a dirt floor. A couple of rough scaffolds for bedsteads, 2 old trunks & as many chairs constituted the furniture. Shortly after sunset we reached bro. Francis' and received a genuine welcome from a true hearted brother. Here we met with bro. Myers & lady, obtained corn for our horses & fared sumptuously.

March 6. In company with bro. Myers & wife rode to Oakville distant 10 miles. We drove to the only hotel in the place and were kindly welcomed by the landlord, who was sick in bed. At night I preached in the dining room of the hotel. After preaching the sheriff of the county invited me home with him. I went but was sorry. His establishment consisted of a single log house, through the open cracks of which the cold north wind entered as if pursued by the furies. We entered by the landlord removing the door bodily and & depositing it at a convenient distance, for it was not supplied with hinges or lock. Two beds and divers chairs and trunks crowded together left but little space on the dirt floor.

March 7. This morning on returning to the tavern I found M. (Myers) & S. (Stringfield). Our landlord's library consisted of two volumes of the recent acts of the legislature, one spelling book, the (life) of P. B. Barnum and a novel, "A Tale of Circumstantial Evidence." The latter, S., had selected for his morning reading, in which he was pretty well engaged until the time of preaching. In the afternoon our Conf met in the other room of the tavern, and as there were no members but the preachers we elected bro. John Francis & Jas Green stewards. Three hundred dollars were appropriated for the support of the work (Live Oak and Uvalde Mission), a small amt had been raised on the Miss out of which the stewards paid me my first qr claim $3.25. Up to the present time neither of the preachers had been to Uvalde country, an intervening distance of more than one hundred miles separating the two portions of the work. Bro M. was in favor of having Uvalde assigned to him separately, leaving Live Oak to S. I finally concluded to send M. to Uvalde to explore the country

Friday, 17. In company with bro. C. (Cooley) drove to Judge Wofford's and spent the night. Soon after our arrival learned the overseer had that day whipped one of the most valuable negroes to death. C. and I, at the invitation of the judge's father, started to the quarter to see the corpse, but meeting the judge on the way he turned us back, saying "it was of no use." As C. knew him better than myself I advised him to induce Wofford to have an inquest held on the body of the servt and place the overseer under arrest.

Saturday 18. A stiff cold norther sprang up this morning making blankets and overcoats necessary. Had a conversation with Wofford, who declined taking any steps to have the murder investigated, fearing, as he stated, by so doing to frighten off his overseer, by which he would lose the value of his negro. The overseer had a growing crop which W. thought might be made available if action were delayed a few months. I told him he by silence was liable to be brought in as accessory after the fact, and left, disgusted at the meanness of such a calculating wretch.

Monday, August 10 In company with bro. F. M. Box an exhorter set out for Uvalde Miss. Drove 12 miles to Yorktown & dined with bro. King's. Late in the afternoon resumed the road intending to travel at night, but a threatening rain storm coming up we were glad to seek refuge at a house 5 miles from our noon stopping place.

Tuesday 11 It rained but little after all & before daylight we were under way. Beached Dr. Sutherland's at Sulphor Springs 35 miles, having crossed the Ecleto & Cibolo. The rain of the night before had extended a few miles, but the greater part of the road was quite dry. The dry weather having killed the crops the farmers had taken advantage of a recent rain on the Cibolo & planted corn. I saw some just coming up.

Wednesday 12 The Dr returning from San Antonio in the stage before breakfast & recognizing me would have no pay for our entertainment. Our own corn we had hauled from Yorktown, for which we paid $1.75 per bushel. Dined at Shaw's 18 miles and at sundown drove into San Antonio 12 miles. Hunted up bro. Belvin with whom I put up and accompanied him to the presbyterian prayer meeting and spent the night with the pastor Bunting.

Thursday, 13 Before sunrise enjoyed a fine bath in the San Antonio river, breakfasted at Mrs. Van Vleet's with Bunting and after dinner drove 25 miles to Castrovile and put up at a very decent hotel kept by a Frenchman named Tarde. . . . The whole country in the vicinity of San Antonio is parched up & grass all gone. The prospect changes near Castroville, as it is evident they had recent rains.

The Years 1854-1857 413

we crossed the Verd at another village called New Fountain. The country is settled with French & Dutch. Four miles brought to bro Harpers on the Hondo where we were expected, & found a cordial welcome. Dined and spent the afternoon.

Saturday 15 Supplied with a mule we left our horses to rest and at 8 o'clock reached the Sabinal the place of the qr. m. having driven about 30 miles. Preached in the afternoon from the Prodigal son & at night Behold now is the accepted time 2 converts

Sunday 16 Felt unwell, bro. Myers preached a funeral sermon at 11. Preached at 3 and after a short lecture on the ordinance baptized seventeen children, at night I made a talk on the communion & administered the ordinance mourners were then invited six were converted closed the meeting 16 having joined the church

Some details of the conference at Waco in 1857, held by Bishop Kavanaugh, we have from journal of Addison, who came up from his year on the Victoria district :

Tuesday, Dec. 8 Boad very bad. . . . Reached Waco about 4 o'clock and found a home at Capt. Barrow's, an old Texian. Horses very tired. 25 miles. At night Thrall preached to a large audience from He that goeth forth weeping &c.

Wednesday, Dec. 9 Conference met this morning and was opened by Bp Kavanaugh, a stout homely man. . . . There were but few absentees among the preachers, & the morning session was very harmonious. In the afternoon I met for the first time in council with the bishop & presiding elders. The plan of each district was first written out by the bishop at the suggestion of the elder after which the preachers were stationed, each elder taking a man by turn. At night bro Phillips preached the Conference sermon, from Ezekiel 33: "6 son of man I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel," &c. This was a plain, pointed and powerful discourse.

ye then be risen with Christ &c." The early part of the discourse was a masterly exposition of the context. After speaking half hour he became warm & wound up a sermon of over an hour with an overwhelming burst of eloquence.

Friday Dec. 11 A busy day in conference. The council met afternoon & night. Our session bids fair to be a protracted one. There are 35 applications for admission on trial and not quite that number of vacancies.

Saturday 12 Business progressing finely. The bishop dispensed with the council this afternoon at which time the conference had its session at night J. C. Wilson & the Bishop made missionary speeches 500 acres of land & $1500 were subscribed.

Sunday 13 Heard the bishop preach at 11 from Now then we are ambassadors from God. In the afternoon Eev. R. W. P. Allen from "Without controversy great is the mystery &c at night Gillespie from "And Jesus suffered him not, but said go to thy friends & show &c

Monday 14 My good friend bro Shapard has been writing to some of the preachers against my being sent back to the Victoria Dis. His wife's condition does not allow him to leave her & he is trying to have bro Carl put in my place. Progressed with business rapidly today.

Tuesday 15 In the council the P B were appointed Complaints were urged against Thrall & reasons assigned for his removal from the Disttrict. He plead his cause & stated if he were removed he saw nothing else to do but ask a transfer. When he retired no one voted for him & he was removed. Seat was then put in his stead M Yell having served his 4 years on the Springfield Dis. his place became vacant, he was assigned to the Waco circuit & Aff. Miss. I was consulted as to my willingness to take the Springfield Dis. and agreed so to do & was appointed. . . . Thrall getting out of the notion of transferring was placed on Austin Dis. & J. W. Shipman put on Victoria Dis.

Wednesday 16 Today the appointments were finished late in the evening. The winding up was the most difficult part many of the previous appointments had to be changed. The Mission Com. met after supper, but being limited by an appropriation of only $4000 we had great difficulty in dividing it among the needy districts. Finding we were not likely to settle the matter in the short time alotted us we adjourned & proceeded to the church to have the appointments read. Found the Conf in session and some of the preachers speaking against time until the bishop could come. The bp. made a good talk, announced the stations of the preachers & adjourned amid the confusion usually attending such occasions.

Thursday 17 A heavy rain last night left the streets in a sad plight this morning. The horses came in early and everything was astir. My ponys looks like starvation they had been to a place scarce of corn, & every thing else. From the complaints I was not alone in this misfortune. Nothing was to be seen in the early part of the day but preachers dressed in travelling togery and getting ready for a departure home.

Chapter Xxiii The Years 1858-1859

THE fourth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was held at Nashville, Tenn., in May, 1858. The delegates from the conferences in Texas were as follows: East Texas Conference C. C. Gillespie, J. W. Fields, S. A. Williams, J. B. Tullis, N. W. Burkes; reserves, Jefferson Shook, J. T. P. Irvine. Texas Conference R. Alexander, J. W. Phillips, J. W. Whipple, W. H. Seat, E. W. Kennon, M. Yell, W. C. Lewis ; reserves, Daniel Morse, Daniel Carl, Asbury Davidson.

Among the important actions of general church interest taken at this conference was the following resolution, adopted by a majority of one hundred and forty-one to seven :

Resolved, By the delegates of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in General Conference assembled, that the rule forbidding "the buying and selling of men, women, and children with an intention to enslave them," be expunged from the General Rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Resolved, that in adopting the foregoing resolutions, this Conference express no opinion in regard to the African slavetrade, to which the rule in question has been understood to refer.

The new publishing house at Nashville, provided for and located by the last General Conference, had been completed and was in operation. The conference in session at Nashville elected John B. McFerrin as the head of this institution. Thomas 0. Summers was elected edi- tor of the Quarterly Review, and Holland N. McTyeire was elected editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate. There were no bishops elected at the conference of 1858.

The "Bio Grande Mission Conference" was authorized at this General Conference. Its territory was denned as "including all that part of the State of Texas west of the Texas Conference, including Fredericksburg." The Guadaloupe river was the lower boundary line between the conferences; the upper boundary line was largely "guessed off," giving all that portion of the state west of the 100th meridian to the new conference. The division did not become effective until the appointments were made in the fall of 1858.

The East Texas Conference was held at Tyler, November 10-16, 1858, Bishop Pierce presiding, John W. Fields, secretary. The following were admitted on trial . William J. Popham, Sims K. Stovall, William H. Me- Phail, Jesse H. Walker, James M. Hall, Alfred B. Manion, William C. Collins, Charles D. Chandler, William B. Hill. The following were re-admitted : Archibald C. Mc- Dougald, John W. P. McKenzie, Jesse M. Boyd, Thomas W. Eogers, William W. Colder, Alexander E. Dixon, and James Graham.

The Discipline contains a new conference question Who are received by transfer from other conferences? But in the answer to this question we are left in the dark as to where the transfers come from. EzeMel Couch, James B. Eabb, Eichard Lane, John Patillo, William T. Melugin, William Patillo, E. W. Thompson, and Alfred D. Parks were received by transfer at the East Texas Conference. From other sources we learn that Melugin came from the Tennessee Conference, and that Eabb and the Patillos came from the Alabama Conference. In addition to the list given, J. E. Carnes transferred from the Louisville Conference this year, and was appointed editor of the Texas Christian Advocate.

William P. Sansom was born in Tennessee in March, 1812. Married in 1835. Emigrated to Texas in 1837 ; licensed to preach in 1842, and in 1846 joined the East Texas Conference, of which he remained a useful and zealous member up to the time of his death.

Bennett Elkins was born in March, 1800, in South Carolina. Was married to Miss Frances Owen in 1820, and after her death was married to Miss Ann Forman, in 1833. Converted in his fourteenth year. Served about twenty-five years as a local preach. Admitted to the East Texas Conference in 1857, and appointed to Shock's Bluff Mission, on which he was serving with great acceptability when stricken with his last illness. On being asked if he was ready to die he replied, "I have made the necessary preparations for that long ago."

The statistics of the various charges of the conference are given at the beginning of this new quadrennium. But as formerly they are confined to membership figures not a word about church property, finances or other items of church progress.

The following are the appointments made in 1858, from which it will be seen that the Greenville and the Rusk districts appear, and a preacher is thrust as far west as the "Decatur Mission." The reader will discover other new places mounting into the list of appointments.

San Augustine Disteict Marshall Disteict

Marshall, Richard Lane Harrison and Colored Mission, William B. Hill, Alfred B. Manion. Dangerfield, John Patillo. Coffeeville, James B. Eabb. Gilmer, James A. Sruggs. Linden, Charles L. Hamill. Elysian Fields, John C. Woolam. Jefferson, John Adams. Macedonia, to be supplied.

Woodville Distbict

The following were admitted on trial: Francis E. Wilkinson, Isaac J. Wright, John M. Whipple, John Pruenzing, Solomon Fehr, Marcus L. Tunnell, Eghert H. Osborne, W. R. D. Stockton, H. G. Horton, Eli Y. Seale, August Tampke. Readmitted: John Carpenter, Thomas G. Gilmore, Robert H. Belvin, David Coulson. Transfers received: Samuel C. Littlepage, Wm. E. George, Jesse Boring, John J. Pittman, H. G. Horton, George W. Harwell. Littlepage was from the Missouri Conference ; Boring and Horton were from the Georgia Conference. In the case of Horton we have another instance, according to the minutes, of the transfer of a man and of his admission on trial into the conference to which he was transferred the same year. Perhaps Brother Horton, who is still living, can explain this.

The conference had lost one member by death during the year Wm. F. Hubert. He was born in Madison County, Miss., September 26, 1826. In 1839 his father, the Rev. Robert L. Hubert, a local preacher, removed to Texas and settled in Washington County. He gave two sons to the traveling ministry within the bounds of the Texas Conference. William F. was admitted on trial in 1849 at Seguin. He served first as junior preacher on the Eichmond circuit, then was successively in charge of San Jacinto mission, Mill Creek circuit, Eichmond, Waxahachie, Springfield circuits, and Corpus Christi station. In 1857 he was returned to the Springfield circuit, and for the year 1858 appointed to the Port Lavacca and Indianola charge, but during the year he fell a victim to a terrible scourge of yellow fever. He was stricken while out on his circuit, and died at the home of Col. Ben j amen F. Hill. In all his ministerial career he deported himself as a man of God, and had the confidence and esteem of the people and of his brethren, who deeply mourned his untimely death. He was buried near the place of his death, in Calhoun County.

New Bratjnfels Mission District

The appointments made for the Texas Conference, and the first list of appointments made for the Eio Grande Mission Conference made and announced at the same time and place are given below :

The Yeaes 1858-1859

Post Oak Island, to be supplied. Georgetown, Hiram M. Burrows. Florence Mission, John Carpenter. Hamilton, Isaac H. Wright. American Bible Society, Bobert Alexander, Agent.

San Antonio District

While a large portion of the territory of the Eio Grande Conference had already been pioneered, it remained for the forces of this new conference to more completely survey and occupy the ground to. kill out or drive out the Indians, and to establish the landmarks for a future great conference the West Texas. At least two newcomers to this field may properly receive special notice here Jesse Boring and Hamilton G. Horton as the first returned to his native conference after ten years, and died there; the second still living and writing his historical notes. Dr. Boring (he was both a D.D. and an M.D.) had risen to prominence in Georgia Methodism before he was sent to California in 1849 as superintendent of the new Methodist mission there. After a few years he returned to Georgia. In the fall of 1858 he and Horton, the latter just ready to enter conference, came to Texas. Their appointments had already been made, Boring to San Antonio and Horton to Uvalde mission. The two traveled together by boat and stage over the long journey to San Antonio. "Here Dr. Boring and I parted company," says Horton. "I mounted a mustang, putting on a pair of spurs, buckleing a big six-shooter around my waist and starting west for another hundred miles. Arriving on my work in December, I found every western cabin a fortification and the Comanche Indians raiding the country on nearly every light of the moon. . . . Most of the men were then out in pursuit of the Indians, who had just raided through the country. Soon I was used to everything, and found the people brave and hospitable. Sunday following was our appointment eight miles down the country on the Sabinal in a log school house with dirt floor. At the hour of service everybody in the community was there, the men all with rifles and six-shooters, they stacking the rifles in one corner of the house, but keeping the pistols around their waists, for they might be called into play at a moment's notice. My dragoon pistol was placed on the wooden stand by the side of the Bible. ' '

In August we held a camp-meeting on the Sabinal just below where the Southern Pacific railroad now crosses that stream (the farthest west at that time of any camp-meeting in the State) assisted by the presiding elder and one other missionary. In the midst of the meeting just at the close of a late night service, a scout dashed into camp shouting Indians. ... A large band of Indians had passed down within a few miles of the campmeeting and stole a herd of horses six miles below us. Eations were prepared quickly, and most of the men were on horseback and off like a flash. They followed the Indians for several days, recaptured many of the horses and killed several of the raiders. The women, children and old men were hustled off at daylight to a rock house and forted up. ... In the fall of that year (1859) my last appointment before starting for Conference was in the school-house where I first preached on the mission. The night after services (full light of the moon) the men could not sleep, the dogs barked, some of them howled, and now and then some one would step to the window with rifle in hand and look out. Most of us had tied our ponies near the front doors to cedar posts, put there for the purpose to keep them from being stolen by Indians. Next morning the Comanches were in sight, and after a daylight breakfast old Mr. Bowles and myself started out, I mounted and on my way to strike the San Antonio road eight miles up the country on my way to Conference, and Mr. Bowles afoot with bridle in hand to catch his pony, which he supposed was grazing a half mile off behind a large dense thicket. We parted just before we reached the woods, he to the right and I to the left. ... A half mile beyond the woods I espied a company of men hurriedly driving a herd of horses directly toward me. Soon two of them separated from the rest and came in a gallop my way. I saw in a, moment they were Indians armed with bows and arrows. ... I soon distanced them and swept into the upper country. Mr. Bowles had entered the skirt of timber, ran into a band of Indians, and being old and afoot, he was instantly killed, his body being found afterwards. The two straggling Indians rejoined their comrades, and the band passed a few miles west of where I stopped, killed a man driving a pair of oxen, and then sped to the mountains.

Referring to the upper portion of his mission the writer says: "Over those mountains in 1859 Newman Patterson, as sheriff, and I as preacher, passed, both armed with pistols and rifles, he to collect taxes and I to call sinners to repentance. . . Six or seven men were killed by the Indians that year in the bounds of my work. That year Bishop George F. Pierce passed through my work on his way to California. At Uvalde he preached for us during a two hours' stay, I loaning him my pistol until he could secure one at Fort Clark, when he returned it. In the Sabinal Canyon my home was at Mrs. Kincheloe's log castle." Of this noted frontier Methodist woman we have the following account :

Mrs. Kincheloe was a famous hostess and the most devout Methodist in that valley. From early childhood she was given to prayer and holy living. She was born in Texas in 1838, now Montgomery county, and her whole life of nearly eighty years was spent on the frontiers. I have just received notice of her death, which occurred December 31, 1917. Like all tho pioneer settlers of that section, Mrs. Kincheloe endured privations and hardships and in constant danger from the Indians. During the early part of the Confederate "War, when her four elder children were quite small, Mr. Kincheloe left his family at home in company with a neighbor, Mrs. Bolen and two children, while he went to mill. During the several hours of his absence a band of Indians came to his home. The two frightened women hid the children the best they could and Mrs. Kincheloe made a brave demonstration with a rifle. The Indians attacked them, killing Mrs. Bolen and leaving Mrs. Kincheloe bleeding from fourteen arrow wounds and supposedly dead. After robbing the house and stealing the stock the Indians hurriedly departed. The two Bolen children escaped to the brush and made their way to a neighbor's, who summoned aid and went to the rescue. Mrs. Kincheloe recovered and died fifty-five years afterward.

At San Antonio the noteworthy feature of Dr. Boring's work was the founding of the San Antonio Female College. This began as a small school taught in the basement of the church. Dr. Boring induced Mrs. Jane T. H. Cross, a brilliant literary woman, and her husband, Dr. Joseph Cross, to come out from Tennessee and take charge of the work. The plan contemplated the founding of two schools a female school to cost $30,000, and a male school of like cost. The first $30,000 was raised in San Antonio, and it was expected to raise the remainder in the States, but the threats of war suspended the enterprise.

We have had mention of Bishop Pierce's overland journey to California in 1859. The stage road from San Antonio through Uvalde and El Paso was laid out by United States army engineers in 1849 under Col. Joseph E. Johnston, and Jose Policarpo Eodriguez, afterwards a famous Mexican Methodist preacher, was one of the guides. Bishop Pierce tells us that he found the road a well-defined, beaten highway, "worn smooth and seem- ingly as much used as though it led to a commercial city close at hand. The explanation is found in the fact of the trade from New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Sonora to San Antonio; the passage of government trains between the forts, and the heavy emigration along the southern route to California. ... At this place (Uvalde)" he says, "I met Brother Horton, a young man whom I transferred from Georgia last Conference, and appointed to this outside circuit. I found him in fine health, pleased with his work ; he is loved by the people, and likely to report a well-organized circuit at his Conference this fall. I preached for him at night in the Court-house, and on coming out he told me that in all my wanderings I had preached at last on the outskirts of civilization. From this point to Fort Clark is fifty miles, and I think there are only two settlements one at Turkeyville, twenty miles distant, and the other at Alum Springs, still twenty miles further. The last settler I found to be a Methodist, holding on to his religion and waiting for the Gospel. I promised to embrace him and his family in the circuit next year."

The brethren assembled for the first session of the Eio Grande Conference at Goliad on November 9, 1859. Bishop Pierce had engaged to return from California and hold all the Texas conferences again that year. But he had not arrived at Goliad, and Dr. Jesse Boring was elected president, and John "W. DeVilbiss was elected secretary. The business proceeded, and on the last day of the session the bishop hove in sight, more dead than alive. The bishop relates that he had arrived in San Antonio late, and sick from his interminable hardships and exposure. "I left at midnight, in another 'norther,' being the third I had faced on the trip, ' ' he writes. l ' The driver, to protect himself, got down into the boot under his seat, and trusting to the mules to keep the road, went to sleep. By and by, finding the motion of the stage very peculiar, and hearing the wheels crashing along among the bushes, I called out to know what was the matter. There were three of us all buttoned up inside, and by a united effort we at last waked up our driver, and found ourselves nobody knew where. "We were lost. The team had left the road, but whether they had gone to the right or the left, backward or forward, nobody could tell. We were in a fix, and no mistake. After all, I was to be disappointed in reaching the Conference. I had perilled life, endured more than I shall ever tell, to get there before adjournment, and now to be so utterly defeated by a sleepy-headed coachman it was too bad. . . . That night was one to be marked. We were freezing, and could not stand still. So we journeyed north, east, west and south, around and across and about. Just before day we reached a creek, with steep, sandy, broken banks, which we must cross. My fellow-passengers gat out to walk. Too sick to stand, much less to climb, I sat still, but soon found that to turn over was inevitable. I got out and left the driver to his doom. Presently here he came, sailing in the air, and the mules and the stage after him, over and over such a pile. This was the consummation of trouble. We helped to set up the stage and left the driver to get the mules out of the creek as best he could, while we returned a little way to a house we had seen in search of fire. Finally all was ready, and we reached Goliad the following night. I was present at one session of the Conference."

The Eio Grande Conference received Thomas F. Kainey, James M. Stringfield, Thomas Myers, and John J. F. Brunow on trial, and received Joseph Cross and John J. F. Brunow by transfer so the minutes state. The membership statistics showed a total of 1257 white members, 377 probationers, 138 colored members, with 58 probationers, and 23 local preachers. Of this total the Brownsville district had 8 members and 1 probationer, perhaps the smallest membership of any district in the entire Church.

The Texas Conference for 1859 was held at Lagrange, November 16-23, Bishop Pierce president, J. W. Shipman secretary. The following were received on trial : Edwin P. Angel, Thomas W. Blake, Wm. C. Campbell, Peter W. Gravis, George W. Fleming, Alexander A. Smithwick. The following were received by transfer: Preston Phillips, John S. McGee, William Shegog. Jesse Hord, a superannuate, and Alexander A. Smithwick transferred to the Rio Grande Conference.

The East Texas Conference was held at Palestine, November 30-December 6, 1859, Bishop Pierce in charge, J. W. Fields secretary. The following were admitted on trial : William K. Hasten, John R. Cox, Frederick C. Dowdy, William P. Petty, Samuel 0. Kaempfer. Wm. H. Hughes, William G. Williams, and Jedidah B. Landreth were readmitted, and William Witcher, Thomas B. Ruble, William H. Gilliam, and Valerious C. Canon were received by transfer. Milton H. Porter was transferred to the Texas Conference, and Thomas B. Ruble to the Pacific Conference.