USA > Texas > History of Methodism in Texas > Part 12
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Mr. Wilson in the Fall of 1857, and published in the Advo- cate of Dec. 3. " I am not disposed," says he, "to give any events of my life. The history of my travels for more than fifty years I intend to die with me. I shall have my sons to lay me in a lonely spot, where no stone shall mark the place, and no paper publish my demise. Twenty years I have served the altars of our Church with zeal, in sincer- ity and earnestness of soul. I have taken into her pale more than 4,000 members; 30 of these became ministers, and 4 or 5 presiding elders. I have travelled 150,000 miles, and preached 7,000 sermons, lived hard, and worked hard most of the time, and received small allowance for my sup- port. Nothing was too hard for me if I could glorify God, and induce poor sinners to give their hearts to him. I hardly ever disappointed a congregation. Snow, storm, hail, thunder, heat or cold, rain or fair, in season or out of season, I was at my post. By day and by night I was in the class-room, the love-feast, and the place of prayer. While I write the tears trickle down my furrowed face, at the recollection of the green pastures where my soul feasted." Mr. Wilson goes on to give the result of his labors on the district where he travelled 4,000 miles and preached 200 sermons a year, and often camping out tired and hungry at night. He concludes: "Under the press- ure of this labor my health gave way, the disease of old age was upon me, and I was obliged to retire. After these things, it came to pass that the General Conference con- verted all the means gained from the North for her super- annuated preachers, to other purposes. The journals of the Church became so poor that they required pay in advance, so I havn't had a paper for years. The men with whom I labored, who knew me, have mostly gone home to rest in
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heaven. The young men have got the field, and they only know me by report. In three years, no elder has visited my house. In five years, but one dear brother has inquired about the state of my soul." Subsequently Mr. Wilson removed to Louisiana, where he died in great peace, on the 2d of Oct., 1867, forty-seven years after he joined the Ohio Conference. His prediction in reference to his death was too literally fulfilled ; so far as we know, no paper announced it. His brethren in the Texas Conference did not know it for years. The journal of the East Texas Conference simply recorded the naked fact that he was dead, but no memoir. The printed Minutes which appeared in 1870 contained a notice of his death in twelve lines, half across the page, in which there are at least six mis-statements. If these paragraphs will assist in rescuing his name from oblivion, and stimulating the present generation of ministers to emulate his zealous labors, our object has been accom- plished.
SECTION VI.
Necrology, 1868-1871-A. Davidson-Shanks-Faucett-Crabb-Mul- lins-Felder-Palmer-J. R. Burk-Boyd-J. H. Addison-Luf- ferty-Bridges-Kinnison-J. H. Neely-Manly-W. P. Smith- Irvine-L. B. Whipple-Turrentine-Annis-C. G. Young-Mulkey -T. H. McMahan-Wm. Devers-Browning-Charles Shearn- Mrs. Kerr- Another Lady-In the twilight-The way blazed out.
ASBURY DAVIDSON died in Dec., 1868. He was on his way home from the Conference at Corpus Christi, when he was attacked with pneumonia, and died away from home. Mr. Davidson joined the Tennessee Conference in 1831, and continued in that body until the organization of the Memphis Conference in 1840. In 1841 he was
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stationed at Grenada, M. Yell, P. E. The three next years he travelled the Grenada district; in 1845 was transferred to the Mississippi Conference; in 1847, 1848, and 1849 he presided over the Sharon district (the last year he had on his work three of his brothers-in-law, A. T. M. Fly, D. W. Fly, and W. H. Seat). In 1850 he came to Texas, and after remaining local three years, was readmitted into the Texas Conference at Gonzales in 1855, and appointed to the San Antonio district. Asbury Davidson was a man of unswerving integrity, a profound thinker, an able preacher, a forcible writer, and an excellent administrator of church discipline. He was elected President of the Texas Con- ference at San Marcos, in 1862, and was a member of the Louisville Convention in 1845 and of the General Con- ference in 1866.
Asbury H. Shanks joined the Alabama Conference in 1831. After travelling fourteen years, failing health com- pelled him to locate, when he entered upon the practice of law. In 1849 he came to Texas. He was readmitted into the East Texas Conference in 1858, and died October 20th, 1868. Mr. Shanks was successful both in the pulpit and at the bar. A high-toned Christian gentleman, of incorruptible principles and noble impulses, while he lived he enjoyed the esteem of his fellow-men, and his death was universally regretted.
Felix G. Faucett joined the East Texas Conference in 1847. After travelling several years he was compelled to take a superannuated relation. He removed to West Texas, and for a few years did efficient service in the West Texas Conference. He died in 1868. No memoir.
Jackson L. Crabb entered the Texas Conference in 1856, and died in 1868. He was a rising man in the Northwest
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Texas Conference, and his death was very much regretted. There is no memoir either of Dr. Crabb or of Isaac N. Mullins, who died the same year.
Judge Gabriel Felder died in 1868. He had been a use- ful member of the church for nearly forty years. His influence and wealth were given to the cause of Christ; he was one of the founders of Soule University, and was for many years president of the Board of Trustees.
Henderson D. Palmer died Feb. 17, 1869. Mr. Palmer was a consistent, zealous, and successful minister of the gospel, and, after twenty years spent in the ministry, died in great peace.
John R. Burke, after travelling several years in Missouri, came to Texas in 1860, and closed his earthly career in Shelby County, in Aug., 1869.
Green Boyd had been several years a travelling preacher in Arkansas. He entered the itinerancy in the East Texas Conference in 1865. His peaceful death occurred in Oct., 1870.
James H. Addison, a native of Baltimore, came with his father's family to Texas in 1835 ; was converted at Waugh camp-ground in 1844; joined the Texas Conference in 1848, and died Jan. 21, 1871. His excellent wife soon fol- lowed him to the spirit-world.
For fifty years Henderson S. Lafferty preached the gos- pel in the local or itinerant ranks. He entered the Texas Conference in 1846, and died in De Witt County, June 15, 1870. Father Lafferty had been especially useful in build- ing up the church in Corpus Christi and the surrounding country.
Solomon T. Bridges joined the East Texas Conference in 1854, and died Nov. 13, 1870. His last public labors were
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during a revival in the town of Lockhart. He suffered much during his last illness, but bore all with great patience, and died in peace.
Davis Kinnison, in early life, had been a member of the Baltimore Conference. Locating, he removed to Missouri, and engaged in the practice of medicine. When the war broke out he came to Texas, and settled in Collin County. In 1867 he re-entered the itinerancy, and died peacefully and triumphantly, March 17, 1870.
James H. Neely had been five years an itinerant in the East Texas Conference, and died 1870. No memoir.
Abner P. Manly had been a travelling preacher in South Carolina, and was at one time a colleague of Bishop Capers in the city of Charleston. Dr. Manly came to Texas as a local preacher, but travelled one year in our Conference. He assisted in building the first church erected in Western Texas, in the town of Washington. His life was devoted to the practice of medicine, though he sustained the rela- tion of a local preacher in the Church. He died in 1870. Dr. Wm. P. Smith died the same year. He had been as- sociated with Dr. Manly in building the church in Wash- ington and in founding Rutersville College. From the time Dr. Smith joined the little company who organized the church in 1855 to the close of his life, he continued to preach, and his labors were useful in a large scope of country.
We have seen that J. T. P. Irvine joined the church at the first organization of a class in East Texas in 1834, and entered the Texas Conference in 1842. . He was a laborious (that is the word, laborious) and useful Methodist preacher until his death, which occurred March 29, 1871. His last utterances were, "Mighty Goodness ! Mighty Goodness !
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there is not a shadow between me and my home in heaven."
Lewis B. Whipple was born in Ohio, but in early life his family removed to Illinois, and from there to Texas. He joined the Texas Conference in 1850, and successively and successfully filled a number of the most important stations in Texas, such as San Antonio, Huntsville, Houston, Chap- pell Hill, Galveston, Waco, etc. He fell into the North- west Texas Conference at its organization, and was ap- pointed to the Waco district. He had just completed his constitutional term in the district and received an appoint- ment to Waxahachie station, when he fell a victim to the great destroyer.
For many years Jerome B. Annis was a useful member of the Arkansas Conference. He came to Texas in 1866, and died in Jan., 1871.
C. P. Turrentine was also from Arkansas, where he had gained a wide reputation as a preacher. He died in 1871.
M. Maupin entered the Northwest Texas Conference in 1868, and died in 1871.
Dr. C. G. Young, a local preacher ofpre-eminent abilities, was killed by being thrown from the cars, on the Houston and Great Northern Railroad, August 10th, 1871. He was president of the road, and, with other officers, was on a tour of inspection, when a block of wood on the track threw off some of the cars. He lived a few hours after being hurt. When no longer conscious, he prayed audibly and constantly until the breath left the body. His position in the church and in society, and his great moral worth, made his loss severely felt by the whole community ; a profound sympathy was felt for the widowed mother, and a large family of most interesting children.
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William Mulkey, though a short time a travelling preacher, spent most of his time in the local ranks. He was the author of an improved system of orthoepy. He died peacefully on the cars of the Central Rail Road, between Houston and Groesbeck. He had been on a visit to rela- tives in Tennessee, and was returning to his home in Wax- ahachie. His death took place July 3, 1871.
Among the laymen who died in 1871, we may mention Thompson McMahan, the banker in Galveston who had exerted himself so energetically and contributed so munifi- cently to the erection of the new church in that city ; Wil- liam Devers of Brenham, who had been a member of the church since 1838, and W. W. Browning of Chappell Hill, who was a lay delegate to our late General Conference.
We have scarcely mentioned in our necrology the death of a female. We observe, in the published notice of the death of a mother in Israel, that early in life she joined the Bap- tists. But when she came to have a family she felt it to be her duty to consecrate her children to God in holy baptism, and joined the Methodists. One of her sons is now a presid- ing elder in the Texas Conference, and another preparing for the ministry. Who can doubt that the divine blessing followed this maternal dedication of children to the Church ?
As we are correcting this last section to be sent to the publisher, the bell of Shearn Chapel is tolling for the funeral of the venerable Judge Shearn, of Houston.
Charles Shearn was a native of England, born October 30, 1794, and passed into rest Sunday morning, November 12, 1871, having just entered upon his 78th year. Mr. Shearn immigrated to Western Texas in 1834. In 1835 a declaration favoring Texan independence was promulgated at Goliad, on the 22d of December. Captain Philip Dim-
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itt was in command at that place, and at one time Mr. Shearn was a member of his company .*
In the march of General Urrea from San Patricio to Goliad, a number of small squads of Texans were captured. Mr. Shearn was in one of those companies. In accordance with Mexican custom, Mr. Shearn and a companion named Hardie were led out and tied back to back, while a file of soldiers stood with their arms ready to receive orders to shoot them. Just at this moment, General Urrea observed that young John Shearn (then a mere lad) was clinging to his father's neck. Not willing to see the boy shot, the General stepped up and entered into a conversa- tion, when John, who could speak Spanish, informed him that his father and the other man to whom he was tied were Englishmen. The Mexicans, having a wholesome dread of the British Lion, set the two prisoners at liberty.
The western country being broken up, Mr. Shearn
* At this time Gov. Smith and the Executive Council at San Felipe had quarrelled, and mutually deposed each other. As the result, Gen. Houston had been virtually suspended as com- mander-in-chief, though Dimitt obeyed Houston's orders, and fell back to Victoria. Colonels J. W. Fannin, F. W. Johnson, and Dr. James Grant, had each independent orders to raise an army for the capture of Matamoras. Colonel Fannin fell in the Goliad massacre. Grant was captured near San Patricio, March 2d, and his men shot ; being a doctor, Grant was employed in attending the wounded Mexicans until his services were no longer needed, when he was strongly tied to the hind feet and tail of a wild mustang, and the animal turned loose. On the 4th of July, 1841, Captain Dimitt was captured near Corpus Christi, and taken to Monterey. To escape the horrors of a long imprisonment, he took morphine, which ended his life. Of the four commanders in the west at that time, Colonel F. W. Johnson is the only one now living.
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brought his family east of the Brazos, and when Houston was laid out, in 1837, he became a citizen of this city. Not long after settling here, he entered mercantile business, and was blessed with more than ordinary success.
Mr. Shearn never sought public office, but for six years he held that of Probate Judge of Harris County. Every one felt that the interests of the widow and the orphan were safe in his hands. In times of trouble he was a wise counsellor ; during epidemics his whole time was devoted to the visitation of the sick ; the poor always found in him a faithful friend, and his benefactions were limited only by his means.
When Mr. Summers, our first missionary, reached Hous- ton, Mr. Shearn tendered him a cordial welcome and a home. Mr. Shearn was chairman of the committee ap- pointed in 1842 to take measures for the erection of a Methodist church. He personally superintended the building, his son-in-law, T. W. House, and others, render- ing substantial aid. That church was blown down during the war, and, in 1867, the venerable Judge Shearn deter- mined another and larger house should be erected upon the same site. He was again cordially seconded by Messrs. House, Gregg (since deceased), McGowan, Hardcastle, and others, who had contributed to the first building. A debt of $3,000 remaining on the house in 1869, Mr. Shearn contributed $2,000 toward its liquidation, that he might leave it unencumbered when he died.
From 1852 to 1855 and in 1864 and 1865 Mr. Shearn was the financial agent of the Texas Christian Advocate, giving this business his personal supervision without fee or reward. During these periods the income of the office was sufficient to cover all expenses. For this valuable
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service Mr. Shearn received the unanimous thanks of the Texas Conferences.
Mr. Shearn had been twice married : his body rests be- tween those of his companions. A little less than two years ago his daughter, Mrs. House, died, in great peace. A few weeks since he gave up housekeeping, and moved to the residence of his son, John Shearn, Esq. For many months the venerable saint had constantly expressed a desire to go home. On Sunday morning, November 12, his son discovered that the old gentleman's pulse was sink- ing. He informed his father that he thought the hour of dissolution was approaching. " Glory to God !" exclaimed the dying man. This mysterious Christian word Glory was upon his lips as long as he could speak, and when un- able longer to articulate, he whispered " Glory." For an hour before he breathed his last, his countenance seemed radiant with heavenly lustre, and his eyes sparkled like a most brilliant diamond. Before he ceased to breathe, the old gentleman closed his own eyes and mouth, and liter- ally fell asleep, as there was not the slightest movement of a muscle to indicate the termination of life's struggle. " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."
We have mentioned in these pages the name of Mrs. Lucy Kerr. It was at her house the first religious meetings were regularly held in 1831. She was present at the or- ganization of the church at the Kinney camp-meeting in 1835, and at the first Texas Conference at Rutersville in 1840. This mother in Israel, after a pilgrimage of 70 years, died on Sunday morning, Oct. 1st, 1871, aged 88 years and 6 months. In her last moments she called over the names of her brother ( A. Thomson, Esq.) and her children who
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had preceded her to the spirit-world, and she seemed to be holding converse with them. ( Her youngest daughter, Amanda, died in Galveston, July 11th, 1851. For four years she had shared the toils and labors of the itinerancy with the writer of these pages. Just before her mind began to wander, in her last illness, her husband gave her a drink of ice-water. She expressed her thanks, and then remarked that she would soon drink of the pure water of the river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.)
J. J. Loomis, a local preacher of sweet spirit, died in Galveston on the 1st of October. He had spent most of his life teaching, a profession for which he was well qualified.
" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."
In 1853, James J. Norton died a triumphant and Christian death, in Lagrange. (His father was a member of the South Carolina Conference; his step-father, Dr. A. P. Manly.) A few months after Mr. Norton's death, an interesting little daughter also died. £ As she was on her death-bed, she constantly called her father, and said she saw him, and he looked so happy. A few months afterwards, a cousin of . the former little girl, Miss Bettie Mayo, died. On her death-bed she repeatedly called for her uncle Money (M. McShan, Esq.) to go with her. A few weeks afterward, Bro. McShan did follow the little one to the spirit-world.
A few years since two little children were playing on a gallery, at their home in Grimes County. A little bird of singular plumage lit in a honeysuckle-vine at the edge of the gallery. The little boy said he would kill it. "No," said his little sister, " that bird is going with me to heaven." A
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day or two afterward, the little girl died. While she was lying a corpse in a back room, a little bird, believed to be the same seen in the honeysuckle, flew through the front room, entered the one in which the child was laid out, fluttered a moment over it, and fell dead upon the child's breast. Child and bird were wrapped in the same shroud, and buried in the same coffin. Oct. 20, 1870, the steam- ship Varuna foundered off the coast of Florida. Among the victims, Allen Lewis, of Galveston, perished. A few days after the loss of the Varuna, Mr. Lewis' little daugh- ter, Ida, died in Canada. As she was dying, she told her mother that she saw her " dear papa," and he was in heaven waiting to receive her.
Jacob L. Briggs was another victim of the ill-fated ship. Messrs. Lewis and Briggs, with Thompson McMahan, had been very active in building the new Methodist church in Galveston. That church was dedicated Feb. 12, 1871, having been formally presented to Bishop Marvin, by Mr. McMahan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. One week afterward, Mr. McMahan was taken sick, and died Feb. 27. In his last hours Messrs. Lewis and Briggs seem to have been present around his bed. He told them the church- building had been finished, and all the money secured to pay for it. It had been dedicated, and now he was leaving it for their families to worship in .- The sainted Fowler, awaking out of a fitful slumber just before he died, ex- claimed, "Oh, what a glorious sight! I have seen the angelic hosts, the happy faces of just men made perfect." So it is that the soul, in the twilight of two worlds, and before the senses communicating with this one are en- tirely lost, is furnished with the enlarged vision which brings to view the invisible and spiritual.
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We close these sketches with a characteristic incident. Among the early settlers in Brazoria County, there were few more celebrated for talent and patriotism than the two brothers, Wm. H. and Patrick C. Jack. Their mother was a pious member of the Methodist church, and a woman of such singular grace and dignity, and purity of life, that among the Romans she would have been counted worthy to have associated with Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi. Mrs. Jack wished to come to Texas, to be with her distin- guished sons. One of them wrote to her, dissuading her from such a step. This was in 1836. " Mother," says he, " there are no churches in Texas, no ministers of the gos- pel, no religious associations. The people of Texas are very wicked. You might die here. Mother, I am afraid the way from Texas to Heaven has never been blazed out." Such language cannot now, thank God, be indulged in. The Christian who has read the record of triumphant deaths in our pages, and thinks of the hundreds and thousands upon thousands who have gone up from Texas to swell that great multitude of the redeemed whom no . man can number, has no fears of losing the way.
May the feet of the reader, and the feet of the writer, be firmly planted upon that way that leads to the land of Beulah !
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX A.
THIS is believed to contain a complete list of all the preachers who have been connected with the itinerancy in Texas.
The figures at the left indicate the year they commenced travelling.
Those at the right, the period at which they died, or were located, or ceased to travel, whether they located, or withdrew from the church, or were expelled.
Some transferred to other Conferences; as James M. Follansbee, to the Baltimore Conference, in 1865.
If there are no figures to the right, the preacher is still in one of the Texas Conferences, and his appointment may be found in Appendix D.
LIST OF TEXAS PREACHERS.
Abbreviations. - 1. for located ; d. for died.
A.
Entered.
1837 Alexander, R.
1845 Adams, H. G., 1. 1847
1847 Addison, O. M.
1848 Allen, H. H., 1. 1849
1848 Addison, James H., d. 1870
1849 Aokins, Calvin, 1. 1852
1851 Angell, J. L.
1852 Addison, J. W., d. 1854
1855 Alexander, Isaac, 1. 1858
1857 Adams, John
1857 Armstrong, E. L.
1857 Adams, O. B., d. 1867
Entered.
1857 Allen, John W. B.
1857 Allen, R. T. P., 1. 1866
1859 Angell, E. P., 1. 1860
1860 Allen, William, 1. 1862
1860 Austin, David, 1. 1861
1861 Allen, R. D., 1. 1865
1863 Ahrens, J. B. A., to La. 1867
1863 Allen, J. B., 1. 1865
1866 Annis, Jerome B., d. 1871
1866 Allen, F. L.
1867 Akin, S. D.
1870 Albright, A.
1871 Archer, Philemon W.
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B.
Entered.
1843 Baldridge, J. W., 1. 1845
1845 Berks, N. W.
1845 Booker, W. G., d. 1848
1845 Bragg, L. D., 1. 1849
1845 Bell, David L., d. 1849
1845 Baker, Job M.
1845 Blades, F. H., 1. 1847
1847 Briggs, J. H., 1. 1849
1847 Belvin, R. H., 1. 1871
1847 Barnes, T. L., 1. 1850
1848 Blue, William, 1. 1849
1848 Baucher, Henry, 1. 1857
1848 Brown, Neil
1848 Box, S. C., d. 1870
1851 Bellamy, J. R.
1852 Box, Allen M.
1854 Bates, William E.
1854 Brown, Abner, 1. 1855
1854 Bridges, S. T., d. 1870
1854 Buckingham, T. B.
1854 Brooks, C. H., 1. 1866
1855 Burrows, H. M., 1. 1865
1855 Burrows, G. W., d. 1861
1856 Budd, Jno., 1. 1857
1856 Ball, Thos. H., d. 1858
1857 Blanton, Elisha, 1. 1858 1857 Binkley, J. M.
1857 Bonner, W. N.
1857 Brown, L. V., 1. 1858
1857 Bowers, D. G., 1. 1860
1858 Boyd, Jesse M., d. 1871, Dec. 23
1858 Boring, Jesse, to Ga. 1866 .
1859 Blake, T. W.
1859 Bruno, J. A., to La. 1861
1860 Burke, J. R., d. 1869
1860 Baldridge, J. W., 1. 1862
1860 Boring, N. H., d. 1866
1860 Biel, Chas., 1. 1866
1862 Bailey, A. E., 1. 1865 Butt, W. E.
1864 Baldwin, L. H., to Balti- more, 1868
1864 Blessingame, R., 1. 1868
1865 Bryce, T. Y., 1. 1866
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