USA > Texas > Harrison County > Marshall > History Of Marshall Texas > Part 9
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Lamar Smith was elected as director of the Training Union in the year of 1944-1945. Mrs. M. V. Runnels was recommended by the Board of Deacons to be the first president of the W. M. U., and she was accepted by the W. M. U. and the church. On December 10, 1943,
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THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MARSHALL
twenty-two women met at the church for a supper. Two circles were formed at the meeting. The first regular meeting was held the first Monday in January 1944. The W. M. U. the first year gave $1,496.18 in gifts. The Cen- tral Baptist Church grew rapidly, and soon had to meet in buildings outside of the church. Mrs. R. D. Maxwell of Park Place Church of Houston, Texas came to the church as the Young People's Secretary and Financial Secretary. ..
On July 11, 1945, the committee came up with a pro- posal for a permanent new home to be constructed. A lot was bought on the corner of South Washington and East Fannin Streets through to the South Bolivar Street. It was one-half a city block and was bought from L. W. Kariel for $16,000. Mr. Edmund Key, who owned the other half of the block, would not sell his property to the church, saying, however, that if he ever should decide to sell, he- would sell to the church. On September 5, 1945, Miss Bertha Fogle resigned as the church secretary. At the close of the second year the Sunday School had an enroll- ment of five hundred and eighty-six and the Training Union two hundred and ninety-nine. The W. M. U. had four circles and a membership of fifty-six. On September 16 to 30, 1945, the church held a full revival with Rev. O. F. Dingler preaching the sermons and E. Frank Stinson directing the singing. Two more choirs were organized that year under Miss Lucille Williams. In October 1945, the membership was six hundred and twelve, three hun- dred and twenty-three additions for the year, seventy-four baptisms, two hundred and forty-two by letter, and seven by statement. Gifts totaled $35,226.81.
On November 11, 1945, Dingler called a meeting of deacons and told them he was resigning to resume his studies at Baylor University. The church accepted it on November 14, 1945, and it became effective on December 1, 1945. At the meeting, a pulpit committee was appointed and composed of C. M. Turlington, Chairman; John Bryant, Richard Porter, Mrs. Mack V. Runnels, and Mrs. W. H. Wilson. The Pulpit Supply Committee composed of Joe McGilvray, Chairman; Guy Stokes, and Lamar Smith. Dr .. T. C. Gardner, who is the State Baptist Training Director at Dallas, suggested Dr. Ira C. Cole of Charleston, South Carolina, who was in Texas at that time. On February 10, 1946, Dr. Cole preached both services at the church. He remained to preach again on the night of February 13, 1946, and was asked to come to the church at Marshall. He accepted that night and said he would get back as quickly as the Charleston Heights Baptist Church could
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THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MARSHALL
relieve him. He was given a salary of $5,000. His church was the third largest in the number of baptisms in. the Southern Baptist Convention the previous year. Mrs. G. R. Stokes became the new church secretary after the resignation of Mrs. R. D. Maxwell. Most of the Sunday School departments now had to be divided into two sections: The fall revival was under the direction of Rev. R. O. Cauker, pastor of the Highland Baptist Church, Shreveport, Louisiana, with Bill Cox, East Texas Baptist College stu- dent, the leader in singing. Many students had enlisted in the church. A permanent building committee was ap- pointed and composed of Frank Banta, Chairman; C. M. Turlington, M. V. Runnels, Dr. C. A. Wyatt, John Bryant, Joe McGilvray, G. R. Stokes, W. H. Wilson, Cecil Hill, Hugh Hollis, and Richard Porter. Architect Preston Geren was asked and agreed to undertake plans for the new church plant.
During 1946, all indebtedness of the church property was liquidated. At the end of the third year the enrollment of the Sunday School numbered six hundred and seventy- one. G. R. Stokes was elected for 1947 as Sunday School Superintendent by the church. The Training Union had a membership of three hundred and sixty-four at the end of the third year. The W. M. U. had fifty-six in member- ship. The church elected Mrs. P. N. Pender as President of W. M. U. for the year of 1947. At the end of the associa- tional year of 1946 the church membership was seven hundred and forty-four, eighty-eight baptisms, two hundred and twenty-five by letter, and six by statement. The total of the offering was $37,839.72. In a three year period the membership was seven hundred and sixty-two; two hundred and seven by baptisms, and a total collection of $103,410.97.35
Such an intensive, if brief, glance at the history, development and growth of the churches of Marshall, provides an adequate record of the city's own growth in citizenship, in community spirit, and in acceptance of responsibility.
The churches, by co-operating with each other, no matter what faith or creed they may endorse, have, through the years, proved of inestimable worth to the city's prog- ress in business, in education, and in all phases of life.
35 History of the Central Baptist Church, Marshall, Texas, 1943-1946.
Chapter VIII Marshallites Who Have Gained Fame Elsewhere
The City of Marshall has been - and still is - well represented by people from this city who have held high positions in state and national affairs.
On Marshall's roll call of those who achieved fame else- where, there is, to begin with, James and Emily Scott Cel- lum. This couple came to Marshall from the state of Virginia in the year of 1838, and settled, nine miles east of Marshall, on a land grant of 160 acres, given them by President Anson Jones. The couple erected a one room log cabin, without windows, on their homestead, and kept a sharp lookout for Indians. There were few neighbors in those days.
Marshall points to them with pride today for James Cellum was one of those who fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, and whose portrait may be found in the famed painting of the surrender of Santa Anna to Houston - Cellum, in the painting stands slightly to the left of Gen- eral Houston. 1
Harrison County also possessed a famous duelist, one that ranked, in fact with General Albert Sidney Johnston, Felix Houston, Governor Lubbock, Colonel Thomas William Ward, and Sam Houston. His name was Louis Trezevant Wigfall,, and he hailed from South Carolina. He came to Marshall in 1845 to open a partnership law firm, Ochiltree, Jennings, and Wigfall. There are two stories of duels which are connected with him. Before he came to Texas he had run for office against a man named Preston Brooks. Both of them had been prominent residents of Edgefield, South Carolina, at that time, (1839-1840). The story goes that a newspaper had printed a political card, which gave Wigfall much offense. Whitfield Brooks, father of Preston Brooks, the publisher and owner of the newspaper, had been challenged by Louis T. Wigfall to a duel, but no atten- tion had been paid it. Wigfall had tacked a notice on the court-house door calling Brooks a coward. Chancellor Carroll, who was a friend of both, went to the door and had started to pull the notice off, when Wigfall called out that if he did pull it off he would shoot. He challenged Carroll to a duel, which was arranged for the next morning. Tom
1Marshall News Messenger, August 23, .1936.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
Byrd, a young lawyer, went to the door and pulled the paper; Wigfall shot him through the heart, killing him instantly. 'His last words were that he guessed two could play that game. Next morning, Wigfall and Carroll lined up for the duel, ten paces apart. The two fired pistols at the same time and both of them missed. Afterward the two got into a wagon carriage together and started toward Hamburg. On the way they met Preston Brooks who was in a furious mood, feeling that Wigfall had insulted his family. He wanted to face Wigfall in a duel. Wigfall and Carroll turned around and went back to the location where the first duel had been' staged. Wigfall and Brooks lined up with pistols for the duel; both of them fired at the same time, and both hit each other. Both were wounded so badly that neither one could fire a second shot. But after the fiery duelist migrated to Texas, his troubles seemed to end. While Wigfall lived at Marshall he had no personal difficulties. He was elected to the State Senate from Harrison County in 1857, and was chosen to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate in 1858. When the Southern States seceded from the Union, he escaped to Cuba and made his way to London, England. He came back to the United States a few years later and died on February 15, 1874, at Galveston, Texas, where he is buried.
Peter Whetstone is another person of whom Marshall is justly proud. He was one of the city's earliest and best citizens. He gave the land to the commission which Mar- shall stands on today; he gave a plot of ten acres of land to Marshall University and Marshall Senior and Junior High School stands on that today. He was one of the char- ter members of Harrison County at the time of its birth in 1839. He gave a lot to the First Methodist Church in order that they might erect a church. He was one of the leaders of the Moderator Movement in the city in 1841 and 1844. Peter Whetstone was killed by a political enemy, William T. Boulware. 2
Thomas Jefferson Rusk, a native of South Carolina, was another Marshall lawyer who was famous for his out- standing work.3 He was Chief Justice of the Republic of Texas Supreme Court; he was the first Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas, and he served in the second Congress. He was a General under Sam Houston, and was later made Brigadier General of the Republic of Texas
2Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present. 3Armstrong, J. C., History of Harrison County, Texas, (1839-1880).
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MARSHALLITES WHO HAVE GAINED FAME
Militia in 1843.4 Once when the Caddo Indians threatened to make trouble in Nacogdoches County, General T. J. Rusk, commanding, his army, chased the Indians across into Harrison County, and on into Louisiana. The people of Shreveport alarmed at the thought of the horde of fleeing Indians in their midst, demanded protection from the Fed- eral troops, and General Rusk was finally stopped, by an order from the Government. He told the Indians that he would punish them next time, and keep on after them, no matter where it was. This was the last Indian raid, or fear of it, in Harrison County.5 Rusk was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1836. He served at the Texas Annexation service of 1845. He was appointed to the United States Senate and was elected President pro tem of the United States Senate in 1857.6
Robert Potter, who lived on the shores of Caddo Lake, was one of the first settlers in Harrison County. There is a place on Caddo Lake today called Potter's Point in his honor.7. He was a member of the committee that drafted a constitution before the Declaration of Independence of 1836 was written. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He served in the Senate of the Republic of Texas, it being the fifth Congress in 1840, and was the first Secretary of Navy of the Republic of Texas. He was a courageous person and an orator. His, or so it is rumored, was the only tongue Sam Houston feared in his latter days.8
Isaac Van Zandt was another great lawyer from the City of Marshall. He is credited for naming the town after John Marshall.9 He won several races to the Congress of the Republic of Texas. In 1842, Sam Houston appointed him as minister to the United States from Texas. He had conferences with John C. Calhoun. J. Pinckney Henderson helped him or was his coadjutor. In 1844, he was still minister and was present, with President John Tyler, when Upsher and Gilmer, who were members of the cabinet, were killed by the bursting of a gun. The President's cabinet was meeting at the time the incident occurred. Van Zandt
4White and Richardson, East Texas, Its History and Its Makers, vol. 2, p. 576.
5 Armstrong, J. C., History of Harrison County, Texas, (1839-1880). 6White and Richardson, East Texas, Its History and Its Makers, vol. 2, p. 576.
"Shreveport Times, March 9, 1947, p. 39.
8White and Richardson, East Texas, Its. History and Its Makers, vol. 1, pp. 72, 74, 126.
9Armstrong, J. C., History of Harrison County, Texas, (1839-1880).
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was also leader of the "Homestead Clause," that was given to the people of Texas in the Constitution of 1845.10
George B. Adkins was the first Chief Justice of Harri- son County, Texas. President Mirabeau B. Lamar ap- pointed him to the position upon the creation of the county. Adkins constructed, owned, and operated the Capitol Hotel, known as the largest hotel in the Southwest. It was, indeed, the largest hotel between New Orleans and San Francisco. Adkins constructed, as well, the First Methodist Church building, the Marshall University building, and the Mar- shall Masonic Female Institute building, which the Masonic Lodge met in for many years. The Harrison County Bar Association held one of its first banquets in 1859, in the Capitol Hotel. Afterwards many of the men became famous as Governors, Senators, and Congressmen. Adkins, in his day, was well-known for being a progressive thinker and a prominent citizen.
Dr. James Starr of Marshall was Secretary of Trea- sury under the administration of President Mirabeau B. Lamar. He was a sales agent for the states west of the Mississippi River for the Post Office Department of the Confederate States. It was he who bought the lot the Trinity Episcopal Church was to be constructed on, when the church was badly in debt, and was forced to sell it. Dr. Starr deeded the lot back to the Trinity Episcopal Church.11
Not all Marshall's "first Citizens" of the past were men. Lucy Holcombe, originally of Tennessee made a name for herself in the city during and after the Civil War.
Lucy Holcombe was born in LaGrange, Tennessee, on June 11, 1832, and moved with her parent, Col. B. L. Hol- combe, to the Republic of Texas, settling near Marshall. Their house erected where Bishop College now stands, was constructed in 1850, and was one of the first brick struc- tures built in Marshall by slaves. The home was named Wyalucing which, in Indian tongue, means home of the friendless. The negroes who lived among the pines looked upon Lucy Holcombe as a goddess. She had two brothers and a sister. At the age of twenty-six she married Colonel Francis Wilkerson Pickens, who had just been appointed minister to Russia, and who was to be Governor of South Carolina from 1860 to 1862. She was wealthy, brilliant, and a beauty of the aristocratic South. The wedding was held out in the open at the Holcombe home. It was, without
10 White and Richardson, East Texas, Its History and Its Makers, vol. 3, pp. 1290-1291.
11Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
MARSHALLITES WHO HAVE GAINED FAME
exception, the largest wedding ever held in Marshall. Con- gressmen and Senators came from everywhere.
When the Pickens arrived in Russia, Lucy became an outstanding favorite of the Czar, Alexander the Second, and Czarina Catherine the Second of Russia. At the Im- perial Palace Alexander had two large ballrooms. The smaller was used when the Czar and Czarina gave balls for favorites. In the other one they gave balls for less royal guest favorites. Lucy was always among the honored and often danced as the dancing partner of Czar, Alexander the Second. Her child was born in the Imperial Palace, which was very unusual. When Lucy approached mother- hood she was removed to the Imperial, Palace by orders of the Czar and Czarina of Russia. The Czarina appointed herself as godmother. Arrangements were made for the ini- tial reception and christening of the child. The Imperial Pal- ace procedure followed. When the child was born a salute was given by the firing of the palace guns and the Imperial band played in celebration of the event. The christening was performed in the Imperial Chapel after the questioning of the dignities as to the child to be named. The Majestic Grandmother (Czarina) named her Duschka. In English it means darling or little soul. As the Russian custom was to attach more than one name to the child she was given several more. She was christened Duschka Oliva Nevia Virginia Dorothea Pickens. She was called by her first name. Colonel Pickens was called home when the Civil War was about to begin, and was immediately made War- time Governor of South Carolina. He found the nation on the eve of a bloody war. The Federal Government wanted him to come home to try to keep South Carolina from seceding from the Union. In the Confederate Army there was a legion named after Mrs. Pickens. The Holcombe Legion was partly financed by Mrs. Pickens. At the close of his administration as Governor of South Carolina, Pickens retired to private life at his home near Edgefield, South Carolina. Lucy was the only woman to have her picture placed on Confederate money. The picture was on the $1 and $100 bills.12 Lucy was Regent for the State of South Carolina in the Mount Vernon Association, and was the originator and president of the Monument Association of Edgefield County, South Carolina, which erected a monu- ment in honor of the Confederate dead.13 The Queen of the Confederacy, Lucy, died there in 1900, five years after the death of her Russian born daughter, who in 1880
12Miss Anna Smith.
18 Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present.
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had become the bride of Dr. George Dugas of Augusta, Georgia. 14
Another prominent Marshallite during the Civil War was General Walter P. Lane, born in Cork County, Ireland, in 1817. He and his parents came to America in 1821 and made a home at Fairview, Guernsey County, Ohio. Later they moved to Wheeling, West Virginia. There were nine children in the family. In 1835 Walter P. Lane came to Texas. On his way he stopped at Louisville, Kentucky, where his brother Wade Lane lived. He stayed there for a few months, seeing General Stephen F. Austin and Dr. Branch T. Archer from Texas. He found out much about Texas from these men. Lane went to New Orleans by way of the Red River, and stayed there for a while, then went to Natchitoches, Louisiana, from whence he went on foot to San Augustine, Texas. A company was being organized there to keep Texas independent, and he joined it in the place of a man who did not wish to join. At Nacogdoches he experienced various encounters with Indians and Mexicans. He participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. After it on April 21, 1836, he was given an honorary discharge. He went back to Nacogdoches, where he received much military glory, and then he went home at Wheeling, West Virginia, and visited his parents. He returned to Texas on a schooner and settled at Houston. Out on the seas, for six months, he had thrilling adventures with Mexicans and mutineers. He went from Houston to San Augustine, teaching school there for a while, but he soon went to work as a surveyor. He had many fights with the Indians during this year.
Finally Lane went into business with a merchant at Hamilton, up the Sabine River. In 1843, he sold out and went to San Antonio still looking for adventure. The Mexican War broke out and he joined General Zachary Taylor's forces. He fought in several battles, and remained in the army until peace was declared. When the Mexican War was over he returned once again to his home at Wheel- ing, West Virginia, and visited his parents. In 1849, the gold rush took him all the way to California. At Sacra- mento, California, he was rich one day and was flat broke the next. In one year he made $8,000 and hoped to make a success in a provision store, but the American River over- flowed and he lost everything. He went to Nevada and into the mining industry. After eight months in it he went to San Francisco and sailed for Callao, Peru, the port entry of Lima, Peru. He stayed for several months and then came back to Texas. He came to Marshall, Texas
14Miss Anna Smith.
MARSHALLITES WHO HAVE GAINED FAME
this time, where George Lane, his brother, lived. He took a company with him to Arizona to look for gold but it was a failure. They suffered numerous raids from the Apache Indians. Lane came back to Marshall and entered the merchandising business, until in 1861, he joined Captain Winston's Company of Harrison County. He, later on went to Dallas and was mustered into the Third Texas Cavalry. He fought in nearly all of the major and minor battles west of the Mississippi River. His experience with the Indians gave him an advantage. The last battle he fought in, which was of any importance, was the Battle of Mansfield, Louis- iana. After the Civil War, in 1865, he returned to Mar- shall where he stayed until he died in 1892. He was buried in Marshall. The whole city and state mourned for his death. He is the Marshal Ney of Texas.15 1
Edward Clark was one of the two men from Marshall who served as Governor of the State of Texas. Edward Clark is the grandfather of O. H. Clark, a prominent busi- ness man of the City of Marshall at the First National Bank. Clark came to Marshall in 1843 when he was twenty-six years of age. He lived the remainder of his life at Marshall with the exception of the eight years he served in the State Legislature and as Governor of Texas. He had one daughter, Nannie Clark Wallace, and two sons, John E. and Thomas Clark. John E. was the father of O. H. Clark. He lived about one mile northeast of Marshall, where there is an addition named in his honor. Edward Clark was a native of Georgia and came to Texas in early life. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1845, and was an outstanding Texas statesman. The first time he was elected to the State Legislature he was the secretary of the House of Representatives; later he became Senator. He was Secretary of State during the administration of E. M. Pease, 1853 to 1857. He was elected Lieutenant- Governor in 1858, along with Governor Sam Houston. In March 1861, Clark was sworn in as Governor when Houston refused to give allegiance to the Confederacy or to secede with the South. On June 8, 1861, Clark called for enlist- ment of volunteers in the army. The 2,500 United States soldiers in Texas were made to surrender arms and there- after were given parole. By November 1861, there were fifteen thousand recruits of the Confederate Army from Texas. After Clark left the Governor's office, he formed a regiment and fought in Randle's Brigade and Walker's Division. After General Randle was killed, Colonel Clark commanded the regiment and was wounded at Pleasant
15Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present.
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Hill, Louisiana. Clark was a logical reasoner, an able clear-headed executive, and a direct speaker. Some of the important provisions of the State Constitution of 1845'were a result of his leadership. He retired, and died a few years later at Marshall.
Pendleton Murrah was another one from Marshall who served as Governor of Texas. He was a native of South Carolina, a lawyer by profession, and he believed in state's rights. He at one time ran for, Congress from this district on the Know Nothing ticket and was badly defeated. In 1857, he was elected to the State Legislature to represent this county. He was elected Governor on the Democratic ticket in 1863. Murrah won the election over T. J. Cham- bers by a vote of 17,511 to 12,455, 1,070 other votes being scattered. During sixteen months of his administration Texas was still in the Confederacy.
Murrah was suffering from consumption when, in 1865, after the Confederacy fell, he went to Mexico. He died at Monterey in July 1866. His period as Governor was over the trying period of the State of Texas as ammunition along with war articles were manufactured in Texas:16
Dr. E. M. Marvin is known and remembered as one of Marshall's great ministers. He was pastor of the First Methodist Church when on April 24, 1866, he was elected as a Bishop at the ,General Conference on the first ballot. He was invited by Rev. Prottsman. He was ordained at the Conference held in New Orleans. He was not a mem- ber of the body that actually elected him.17
Another prominent citizen during the Civil War was Mr. W. W. Heartsill, who was a well known merchant of the city. He enlisted in the Confederate Army after he came to Marshall. He kept a diary as the days passed, telling what occurred each day. He probably kept the best diary of the Civil War of anyone in East Texas. He came back to Marshall and had the diary published. One thou- sand copies were sold in this section.
Homer M. Price is well known and well-loved through, out East Texas as well as at Marshall.18 He was a dean of Texas Journalists, a nationally known columnist,19 and one of the early owners of the Marshall Messenger. He operated and owned the Sentinel that backed the Prohibition
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