USA > Texas > Harrison County > Marshall > History Of Marshall Texas > Part 7
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32Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
33Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present. 34Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
85Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present. 36 Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
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ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
a larger circulation than that of the Texas Republican. It, too, was a weekly newspaper. In contrast with the Texas Republican, a Democratic paper, it had no affiliation, with any political party.
The Marshall Weekly, with William Windwestock as editor, began in 1860. It supported the Republican Party, and attempted to aid Lincoln's election, but Lincoln did not get a vote in the whole county. In the election of 1860 for President of the United States, Breckenridge carried the county by a 295 vote majority. The people of the county did not want Lincoln or Douglas. There were eleven hundred votes polled that day. After the election the newspaper was suspended. 37
The East Texas Bulletin was published by Howard Hamments and Eugene Sloan from 1865 to 1870.38 It lost prestige in competition with the Marshall Reporter which was published by Mr. Kennedy.39 The Marshall Reporter later went out of existence. 40
Mr. Hamments and Mr. Sloan began publishing the Tri-Weekly on April 20, 1875. The first editor of the newspaper was Col. R. W. Loughery. The newspaper had four, six-column pages and was published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The subscription price was $5 annually and $1 per month for special issues and telegraphic news. The Tri-Weekly was located in a building ,on the northwest corner of the public square. Sloan sold his share in the paper to Hamments on July 31, 1877. Ham- ments published it alone until A. P. Martin came into co- ownership of the paper on June 1, 1878. Martin sold his part on March 4, 1879, on account of ill health. Loughery retired as editor on August 12, 1880, and T. P. Hawley succeeded him. J. J. Jennings purchased the paper from" Hamments on October 19, 1886, and Loughery replaced T. P. Hawley as editor as he retired. When Jennings re- tired on January 14, 1888, Hobart K. Pope and E. H. Loughery became. proprietors. R. W. Loughery still con- tinued as editor. On June 5, 1888, Hamments became sole proprietor of the paper again with R. W. Loughery remain- ing as editor. In the issue of October 23, 1888, Howard Hamments announced that that would be the last publica- tion, for he could not do all of the work on the paper, and care for the printing shop he owned in the same building.41
37 Armstrong, J. C., History of Harrison County, Texas, (1839-1880). 38Sketches Drawn From Marshall and. Vicinity, Past and Present. 89Marshall News Messenger, February 9, 1947. 40 Armstrong, J. C., History of Harrison County, Texas, (1839-1880). 41 Marshall News Messenger, February 9, 1947.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
E. M. Ragland began the Marshall Messenger one June morning in 1877. He was from Longview and was a tall sandy-haired fellow. The Jennings Brothers, who owned. one of the largest print shops in the Southwest, bought the Marshall Messenger from E. M. Ragland in 1878. The print shop of the Marshall Messenger was located on the west side of the square in the 100 block of North Wellington Street. They later moved it to a two-story building at 208 North Bolivar. This building still stands today, In 1883, Mr. Homer. M. Price bought the Marshall Messenger from the Jennings Brothers for $500. At that time it was a weekly newspaper. The outside pages of the paper were printed in St. Louis and the inside pages were printed at Marshall. On January 25, 1884, W. A. Adair and W. T. S. Keller bought the Marshall Messenger from Homer M. Price for $500, paying only $200 of it in ยท cash. Miss Beulah Keller, sister of W. T. S. Keller, introduced the first typesetting machine into the Messenger office, located at 213 East Austin Street. She is the only woman printer in the history of the Marshall Mes- senger. W. A. Adair bought the interest of W. T. S. Keller 1885. W. A. Adair remained publisher and editor of the Marshall Messenger from 1884 to 1925, with the exception of the period from 1896 to 1898, when he was in the eastern part of the United States. During this period, W. C: Whitney was in charge of the Marshall Messenger. In 1890 the paper became a daily.42 In 1918, the favorite expression of the Marshall Messenger was "It pays to advertise."
In the meantime Mr. R. L. Jennings started The Morn- ing Star, which lasted but a few years. Mr. W. D. Allen published The Era, Mr. W. E. Blocker published the Enter- prise, and Mr. W. C. Whitney published the News, but none of these papers were successful. The Sentinel, beginning in 1907, was published by Homer M. Price. Mr. Price began it in an effort to aid the movement for Prohibition. Many Marshall business men would not advertise in it, since it so. boldly advocated Prohibition. But the Sentinel ac- complished its purpose, even though it almost went bank- rupt.
The Prohibition forces won.
After the fanfare of the election had quieted down, however, Homer Price did not, as everyone expected, stop the publication of his paper. He continued, and this time with success.
42 Marshall News Messenger, October 26, 1941.
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ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
The Noonday Sentinel was first published by Mr. Price in 1912. It was a great help in city, county and war work. The Labor Voice was published by Mr. Weaver, but was unsuccessful. 43
On September 2, 1919, Homer Price, together with Bryan Blalock, organized the Marshall Morning News. The first edition made 4,200 copies. Printing paper went from three cents per pound to seventeen cents per pound. The" amount of paper for each issue for a long time cost $46.00.
Mr. Price fought the Ku Klux Klan by supporting Mrs. Miriam A. Ferguson for Governor. He took issues on many controversial matters during these years, and did not always choose the popular one. Consequently he was warned often by the Texas Rangers to forego walking about town at night, unless accompanied by a guard.44
Joe Herrin and Jean Herrin Winsboro bought the Mar- shall Messenger, owned by Adair, and the Marshall Morning News, owned by Homer Price, both at the same time, in 1925. Adair and Price remained as editors. For a while the two newspapers remained under the old names. The plant in 1925 was located at 309 North Washington Avenue. Adair had moved the Marshall Messenger from Austin Street, north of the Marshall National Bank, to the east side of Washington. The Marshall News Messenger in 1929 saw a period of expansion; branch offices were placed in Longview and in Jefferson. At that time the Marshall News Messenger office at Marshall was located in the Harris building. The Herrins sold the Marshall News Messenger on June 12, 1936, to the Marshall Publishing Company, the present owners.45 Up till August 23, 1936, the Marshall News Messenger had been printed 5,304 days, had an average circulation of 5,000, and a total of 26,520,000 copies had been printed.46 The Marshall Even- ing Messenger and the Marshall Morning News were com- bined into one newspaper on the evening of June 9, 1937, when the sixtieth anniversary of the Marshall Messenger was celebrated. The new newspaper was called the Mar- shall News Messenger in order to preserve their identity in one name. The Marshall News Messenger maintains the . traditional policy of farsighted planning, for better facili- ties to give the people the best news coverage possible, and to give the town the quality of leadership which Marshall and its vicinity has come to expect of its daily paper.
43Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present. 44 Marshall News Messenger, February 9, 1947.
45 Marshall News Messenger, October 26, 1941.
46 Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
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47 Marshall News Messenger, October 26, 1941.
CHART OF CHURCHES
CHURCHES
ORGANIZED
REFERENCE OF THE CHURCH
First Methodist
February 4, 1845
Original property donated by Peter Whetstone
First Baptist
May 1845
Present property donated by James McCown
Cumberland Presbyterian
April 11, 1848
Rev. T. B. Wilson was first pastor
First Presbyterian
May 30, 1850
First started by Col. B. L. Holcombe family
Trinity Episcopal
December 25, 1850 1874
Property given by Dr. James Starr
Catholic
Father Thomas Loughery was first pastor
Summit Street Methodist
1885 or 1886
Present property given by James Turner
Moses Montefiore Congregation Adath Israel
1887
First Rabbi was Rev. H. Saft
First Christian
1888
Founded by T. B. Elwood
Church of Christ, Scientists
1889
Building was erected in 1904
Second Baptist
September 4, 1904 First sermon given by Rev. M. E. Weaver
Church of Christ
1915
First sermon given by A. E. Findley
Nazarene
July 1932
First Pastor was Rev. J. A. Russell
Memorial Baptist
About 1937
At first it was a mission
Central Baptist
1943
First pastor was Rev. O. F. Dingler
Today Marshall renders a great service to East Texas as an industrial center. It is, in fact, one of the most highly industrialized towns in the Southwest.
Texas. 47
In 1941, the Marshall News Messenger moved into a newly constructed plant which cost $50,000, located at 505 North Washington Avenue. The Messenger started the recording of the history of Marshall in paper files and the Marshall News Messenger today still records the history. Today the Marshall News Messenger assists tremendously in the progress of Marshall, and of this section of. East
HISTORY OF MARSHALL
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Chapter VII
The Religious Development of Marshall
In the religious history of Marshall can be seen, better, perhaps, than in any other phase of its development, the sturdy faith, courage, and integrity that has been respon- sible for the city's growth.
As early as 1839, three years before the actual founding of the town, Marshall was a part of a regular Methodist circuit. Littleton Fowler, a Methodist, had been the first to volunteer for mission work in Texas,1 and, in the latter- part of 1839 he, at that time presiding elder of the district, appointed Dr. Job M. Baker to the Marshall pastorate. Dr. Baker, a missionary from Mississippi, was one of the com- mittee members who selected the county seat of Harrison County.2
By 1842 the Methodists of the town, as well as the Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterians were all well estab-' lished in the city, with churches and pastors.3 Before 1851, however, all the denominations met together in the Tarleton Schoolhouse.
In 1845, Marshall became a full-time station of the Methodists, with S. A. Williams and F. M. Stovall as the first pastors. On February 4, 1845, the East Texas Con- ference held its session at Marshall with Bishop Joshua Soule presiding. In the conference there were thirty pastors, forty-eight local preachers, and 3,625 members. The East Texas Conference was not merged into the Texas Conference until it met at Crockett, Texas on December 3, 1902, with Bishop E. R. Hendrix presiding. On December 25, 1840, the original Texas Conference was organized at Rutersville, with Bishop Beverly Waugh presiding. The Methodists and Masons had part in organizing' Harrison County, selecting Marshall the county seat, and gaining Statehood for the Republic of Texas. William T. Scott who was an outstanding citizen of the City of Marshall in its' early days and who had served several terms in the State Legislature, was a member of the First Methodist Church.
In the north end of the auditorium of the First Metho- dist Church a gallery was constructed by slave labor where the slaves might sit and thus attend the services. It was torn away many years ago.
It is not known definitely whether or not there was a
1Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
2First Methodist Church, Marshall, Texas, 1845-1945.
3Armstrong, J. C., History of Harrison County, Texas, (1839-1880).
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
Methodist Church ,building in Marshall before the present one was constructed in 1861. This building was begun after Peter Whetstone donated a lot to the First Methodist Church. The original lot, however, was not in a suitable location, and the site was abandoned, the lot sold, another, in a better location, was purchased.
On July 6, 1860, the contract for construction of the church was signed, and, on March 10 of that same year a conference was called for the purpose of electing a Board of Trustees. Those elected were M. J. Hall, W. P. Hill, Job Taylor, J. H. Johnson, B. Smalley, C. A. Frazier, J. M. Henderson, A. Pope, and Abner A. Cook. These men drew up a contract. with Alexander Pope and Billington Smalley, and actual construction was soon under way.
But the contractors had their problems, too. When the brick and foundation were all laid and the four walls nearly completed, the west wall suddenly, without warning, crumpled to the ground.
In spite of difficulties, however, the work.forged ahead. The Board voted to award $822.00 extra to the contractors, and by 1861 the church was completed. The contractors signed' the subscribers' notes in settlement for the work and for the material, which had been secured by deed of trust. But the Civil War had begun in that year, and the contractors found the subscribers' pledges to be worthless. They remained unpaid until after the war. Then, in June 1868, the District Court of Harrison County ruled in favor of the unpaid contractors, $6,942.80, and announced that otherwise the church must be sold. The church was bad in debt, but it managed to pay the con- tractors in full by 1869.
The nine men who made up the Board of Trustees were among the best citizens in the city during their day. Hall, Hill, Frazier, and Pope were able lawyers. Where the post office now stands Job Taylor owned and operated a hotel. It was located at 102 East Houston. J. H. Johnson was a dentist, Billington Smalley was a successful farmer, Abner A. Cook lived on a farm southwest of Marshall, and J. M. Henderson was for many years a County Court Clerk.
The bells of all churches were taken down by the Federal Government during the Civil War to be made into cannon. After the war was over, W. W. Heartsill and W. M. Johnson went and got the bell that had been taken from the First Methodist Church. It was kept and used again until World War One, when it was sold for $90.
Dr. E. M. Marvin first preached at Marshall in May
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THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MARSHALL
1864, as assistant to Rev. C. L. Hamill. Rev. Hamill died in 1865 and Dr. Marvin was pastor of the First Methodist Church in Marshall, he was appointed Bishop of the Metho- dist Church. Dr. Marvin had been a chaplain in the Con- federate Army during the Civil War. During the war for' three long years he and his family had been separated. They finally reunited at Marshall in the spring of 1865. Dr. Marvin is known and remembered as a great minister ; even the children could understand what he said because he told it in such a simple way. On April 24, 1866, he was elected as a Bishop on the first ballot at the General Con- ference. He had been invited by Rev. Prottsman, since he was not a member of the body that elected him. Today' at the front of the First Methodist Church there is a memo- rial window that honors him.
Through the leadership of Judge George Lane the First Methodist Church had cleared all of its indebtedness in 1869. The church was dedicated following a sermon by Dr. R. S. Finley.
During 1901 to 1902, while Dr. J. B. K. Spain was pastor of the church, the stained glass windows were set in. Three of them are memorial windows, one in honor of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Johnson, one in honor of John R. Heartsill, and, the last in honor of Dr. Thomas Marks. The window given by Rafe Ramsey commemorates the life and work of Bishop E. M. "Marvin. There are other windows given by the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Church, the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, the Epworth League; and the Sunday School. Two circular windows were given by Dr. J. A. Moore in honor of "A Friend" and the other one by, Dr. J. B. K. Spain, pastor. Construction of a three-story Educational Building was completed while Rev. W. T. Renfro was pastor. It has six assembly rooms, twenty-five class rooms, a kitchen and dining hall, five store rooms and lavatories, three offices, printing room, 'and paper room. At the same time the church was remodeled inside and out, new pews were added and carpets were laid. A new parsonage was constructed at a cost of $9,000. The indebtedness thus encountered was closed in 1929, while Rev. F. E. Few and Rev. W. R. Swain were ministers at Marshall. In January 1938, two great folding doors made of walnut were contributed to the church by Mr. and Mrs. T: P. Smith. In March 1938, the great pulpit Bible was given to the church by Mrs. S. P. Jones in honor of her mother Mrs. M. J. Burress. Jerry and Nancy Smitherman gave to the church the walnut Communion Table in honor of Mrs. Geraldine M. Hoss. Mrs. S. E. Wood, Jr., gave the
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
Baptismal Font in memory of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Paul G. Whaley. The A. E. Grimes family gave the walnut pulpit and its surroundings in memory of A. E. Grimes, on November 5, 1939. While Guy F. Jones was minister in 1941, gifts were given which amounted to $40,000, such as the Organ and Grilles given by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Davis in August 1941. The Chancel, Communion Rail, Choir seating, Doors and Paneling were given in August 1941 by Judge and Mrs. P. O. Beard, Mr. 'and Mrs. Richard Blalock, in memory of their loved ones, and the children of Mrs. R. E. J. Hopkins, in memory of their mother, a member of this church for seventy-five years. The altar and organ which were taken from the First Methodist Church are now in- stalled in the Summit Street Methodist Church of Marshall.
During World War One Adolphus Smiley and Robert Herman Cross sacrificed their lives in the fighting; many other Methodists served. In World War Two one hundred and ninety-three members of the First Methodist Church donned uniforms, four of the number losing their lives. The four who sacrificed their lives were Billy Burks Wil- more, Blake McDaniel, Robert F. Woodley, and Charles W. Palmer. In 1945 a service flag was placed inside the church with one hundred and eighty-nine blue stars and four gold ones, representing those who served in the armed forces.
The membership in the First Methodist Church in 1945 was seventeen hundred and fifty-three, with an enrollment of seven hundred and ninety-nine in Sunday School. In 1945, $50,000 was raised by the First Methodist Church, in honor of their forefathers, for the purpose of supporting a Reconstruction .Program. In 1945, the Board of Trustees consisted of P. O. Beard, Chairman; Frank Moos, Marvin Turney, R. M. Williams, George Berglund, William Lane, and W. T. Twyman. The officers of the church who were also members of the Board of Stewards were Williard Coker, Chairman; R. M. Williams, vice-chairman; Oscar Berglund, treasurer; and Mrs. M. F. Cook, secretary. Oscar B. Jones was the lay leader. Mr. L. Bryan Williams was General Superintendent; Mrs. C. G. Kirkpatrick was president of Woman's Society of Christian Service; Mrs. J. C. Ros- borough was collector and assistant organist; Mrs. W. H. Rickles was organist; Mrs. Rex Brown was choir director; J. B. McMahon was Secretary of Sunday School; and Mrs. G. E. Byrne was Children's Division Superintendent. The officers of the Methodist Youth Fellowship were Norma Jean Wood, President; Ann Howell, Vice-President; Janie Rosborough, Secretary; Bill Berglund, Treasurer; Isabel
THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MARSHALL
Ellis; Worship Chairman; and Donald Coker, Recreation Chairman.
The pastors of the First Methodist Church from 1845 till 1947 have been the following: S. A. Williams and F. M. Stovall, N. W. Banks, R. B. Wells, J. N. Hamill, L. R. Dennis, J. W. Talley, Richard Lane, W. H. Hughes, J. B. Tullis, J. M. Binkley, William Witcher, C. L. Hamill, E. M. Marvin, James H. Johnson, T. W. Rogers, J. R. Peoples, R. W. Thompson, U. B. Phillips, E. F. Boone, J. R. Wages, Joel T. Davis, James Campbell, H. G. Scuddy, J. S. Mathis, J. T. Smith, D. F. C. Timmons, A. J. Weeks, T. P. Smith, A. S. Whitehurst, J. B. K. Spain, J. L. Massey, W. F. Pack- ard, L. B. Elrod, John W. Bergin, E. W. Solomon, C. T. Tally, I. J. Betts, W: T. Renfro, J. Sam Barcus, Guy H. Wilson, P. T. Ramsey, F. E. Few, C. W. Hearon, W. R. Swain, M. C. Majors, Guy F. Jones, and S. Stephen McKen- ney.4 In January 1947, Dr. S. Stephen McKenney is still pastor of the church.5
The Northside Methodist Church was established at Marshall in 1885 or 1886. Before this there had been a mission, established across from the railroad tracks, called the Marvin Mission. The last pastor sent to this church by the Methodist Church, South, was Schonfield. J. T. Browning was the first pastor sent to the Northside Metho- dist Church. When Browning was appointed, James Turner offered to give any lot to the church where the building could be erected. The church in 1947 still stands at the location the trustees chose in 1886. Watts, the fourth pastor sent to the church, had a parsonage erected next to the church.6 The church in 1947 is called the Summit Street Methodist Church. Today Rev. E. O. Dubberly is pastor of the church. 7
The First Baptist Church was also organized during the early days of Marshall's history. When the Southern Baptist Convention met at Augusta, Georgia, in 1845 they appointed Dr. John Bryce to be the Missionary to Arkansas, Louisiana, and Eastern Texas. He came to Marshall and organized the First Baptist Church in May 1845. There were twelve charter members. The first congregation met in a log house on a lot which is now the 200 block of West Burleson Street. James McCown donated the land to the First Baptist Church where the church now stands. Men soon constructed under huge oak trees a tent known as a
+First Methodist Church, Marshall, Texas, 1845-1945.
5Marshall News Messenger, January 3, 1947.
6Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
7Marshall News Messenger, January 3, 1947.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
Brush Arbor. In it all denomination's held their services in the summer but had to meet in some other building in the winter and in the summer, also, when the weather was bad. George Tucker was called to the First Baptist Church in 1849, when the church erected a house to hold services in the center of the block: All other denominations were asked or invited to hold their services in the building as they had done before, until their own houses of worship could be constructed. Mrs. C. B. King was the first person to be baptized and receive the ordinance after the church was constructed. Oil lamps were used for lighting pur- poses and the choir used a reed organ. There were school commencements, sacred concerts, and lectures held in the church building, as there was no other place to hold such a large audience. Every Wednesday prayer meetings were held in the church.
While the Battle of Mansfield was in progress, a prayer meeting was called, which lasted the entire day, the people praying for GOD to guard their soldiers on the battle field. A bell was used to summon the congregation to church. Negro slaves were allowed to go to the church before, during, and after the Civil War, until they were able to have houses of worship of their own. Seats were reserved in the back.
While Dr. J. M. C. Breaker was pastor of the First Baptist Church at Marshall in 1890, a plan was made to move the church building, which stood in the middle of the lot, in order that a new building could be constructed to house more people at church services. The pastor's son, who was an architect living in Houston, came and'made the plans and specifications for the church. He charged only for clerical help. The work of evacuation was first begun in September 1892. The first spadeful of soil was thrown by Mrs. J. R. Stinson; she was also the one who put the last brick in the wall, and her husband was the first to take ordinance of baptism in the new church building. Dr. Breaker resigned as pastor of the First Baptist Church in March 1893, before the building was completed, because of ill health. The first sermon was given by Rev. John Holland, who succeeded Dr. J. M. C. Breaker. The structure was Gothic in design, with a spire on top which pointed heavenward. New pews were added, and memorial win- dows were given by members of the church. A memorial window on the west was given in honor of Endymion B. Gregg and Virginia Gregg. The east window was given in the honor of Ralph Harris Hargrove. The large window on the east side was given in honor of the Hills, and the
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THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MARSHALL
large window in the south end of the building was given in honor of Ruth Carter Hamill, T. J. Whaley, and Virginia A. Carter. In the pulpit there is a plate on which is in- scribed : "In memoriam - Sallie Calloway Stinson." There were many gifts. Mrs. Paul Granbery year after year gave flowers to put in the vases on the table at the altar.
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