USA > Texas > History of Methodism in Texas > Part 2
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
SECTION III.
In Austin's Colony-An Improvised Camp-Meeting-Henry Steven- son-John W. Kinney : his Early Life and First Labors in Texas.
To Stephen F. Austin, more than to any other man, is Texas indebted for its early settlement and rapid devel- opment. Colonel Austin's influence with the Mexican Government secured most advantageous terms for the establishment of colonies in the best portions of the coun- try, and, by his energy and good management, he succeeded in introducing, under various colonial grants, about one thousand families of immigrants. The first of these colonies that entered Texas by land crossed the Brazos River on New Year's Eve, 1821, and camped on the bank of a stream which they named New Year's Creek.
Mrs. Holly (Colonel Austin's sister)* says :
" General Austin relates of individuals among the first immigrants he took to Texas, that they strayed from the camp then surrounded by Indians. After some days, they were found deeply absorbed in religious emotions, and giving vent to their feelings in the wildest expressions of enthusiasm, or remaining prostrate for hours in fervent devotion and grateful joys, and, in most cases, the character was radically changed, especially when it had been notoriously bad."
As Mrs. Holly was a Unitarian, we excuse her charge of " wild enthusiasnı," but surely people who, in a wilderness surrounded by hostile savages, could so far forget their perils, were not bad material to form the nuclei of Chris- tian neighborhoods. We do not know how many of them were Methodists, but we know that Mr. Ran Foster (the hunter of the party, who still lives in Fort Bend County) has been a life-long member of the church. Horatio
* Texas, 1836, page 75.
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. III.]
Chrisman, the surveyor, joined the church in 1838, and the Walkers, Hopes, Whitesides, Gateses, Whites, and others joined the church at the first opportunity, when visited by preachers.
Henry Stevenson visited Austin's Colony as early as 1824, and preached at Mr. Gates's, near Washington ; James Cummings', on Cummings' Creek; Andrew Jackson's, on Peach Creek; Nathaniel Moore's, on the Colorado ; Samuel Carter's, near Columbus; and at Castleman's and John Rabb's, near San Felipe.
Mr. Stevenson also paid these settlements a visit in 1828, and another in 1830.
In 1830, Alexander Thomson, Esq., brought a company from Tennessee intended for Robertson's Colony; but finding it difficult to obtain land in that colony, they set- tled on the Yegua Creek, in Austin's Colony. Mr. Thomson had been for many years a class-leader and steward in Ten- nessee, and, soon after arriving in Texas, he commenced assembling a small company, including his own family and his sister's, Mrs. Kerr's, and some others, on Sunday morn- ing, and holding a prayer-meeting or reading one of Wes- ley's sermons. This he continued until Texas was visited by regular ministers. The first preachers who visited the Kerr settlement were William Medford, formerly of the Missouri Conference, and B. Babbitt, who had once travelled in Kentucky. The next deserves a more formal introduc- tion.
John Wesley Kinney was born in the last year of the last century. In 1820 he commenced his course as an itinerant preacher in Ohio. After travelling eight years, filling important stations in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, he located. In the meantime he had married a
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
daughter of the celebrated Rev. Barnabas McHenry, of Kentucky. After locating, Mr. Kinney moved to Illinois. Soon after he reached that territory the Black Hawk war broke out. Mr. Kinney, as captain, raised a company of soldiers for the campaign. It is well known that General Scott's army suffered more from the cholera than any other enemy. In the terrible epidemic Mr. Kinney made him- self very useful, visiting and comforting the sick and dying. After the capture of Black Hawk and the other principal chiefs, in 1832, the volunteers were disbanded. Soon after, this Mr. Kinney made up his mind to become a citizen of Texas. He and his family, including his sister-in-law, Miss Lydia A. McHenry, crossed the Brazos River and entered the town of Washington on Christmas Eve, 1833. Mr. Kinney was then in the prime of life. His intellect was far above mediocrity-a good scholar, well read in theology, and warmly attached to the doctrinal and economic system of Methodism. Possessing a robust physical constitution and indomitable energy, he was the very man for Texas. He preached his first Texas sermon at the house of Mr. Samuel Gates, near Washington, in March, 1834. The next month he held a two days' meeting at James Stevenson's on New Year's Creek. He gradually extended his labors up the river to Gay Hill and the Kerr settlement, and down to San Felipe, Columbia, and Brazoria. Westward he preached in Colorado, Fayette, and Bastrop Counties, and at Gon- zales on the Guadalupe River. Mr. Kinney was negligent, even careless, in his dress. With unkempt hair, homespun or buckskin suit, his shirt-collar open, his appearance was anything but clerical. Many anecdotes are told of the surprise experienced on first hearing him. A Methodist lady of intelligence and refinement, living near Bastrop,
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. III.]
heard one Sunday morning that there would be preaching in town, and, ordering her carriage, rode in. Soon after enter- ing the room, in which seats had been extemporized for the occasion, Mr. Kinney came sauntering in and took the seat at a table prepared for the speaker. He was just in from a surveying expedition, with buckskin hunting-shirt and breeches and red cowhide boots. If possible, he looked worse than common. As the lady saw the preacher, her heart sank within her. " Is it possible," said she to her- self, "that I have come to Texas to hear such a looking human as that preach !" Her first impulse was to leave the house, but she finally concluded to remain, and endure the mortification as well as she could. Scarcely had the preacher commenced his sermon before he poured forth one of those sudden bursts of eloquence with which he was accustomed to electrify his audiences. From that time to the close the preacher had the undivided attention of his hearers, interrupted only by tears and sighs. It is given to few public speakers to exercise such power over a multitude as John W. Kinney. When in his prime, he could stir the hearts of men as the leaves of the forest are swayed to and fro by a passing tornado.
The first time we saw Mr. Kinney was in the winter. He had on an old blue coat, a relic of his army-life. We believe every time we saw him in winter he wore that same old blue coat, and it always reminded us of old Grimes's, " all buttoned down before." But oh, how often have the eyes of people and preachers been gladdened at seeing that same old, long-tailed, blue coat come swinging up the aisle. We were then sure of an intellectual and spiritual treat. Mr. Kinney was always ready and willing to preach, and the people more than willing to hear him.
2
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
SECTION IV.
East Texas, 1834, 1835-James P. Stevenson-Wm. C. Crawford-A Metamorphosis-First Class in Shelbyville-Local Preachers-Job M. Baker.
WE have seen that Henry Stevenson had the appoint- ment of missionary to Texas for 1835, but his health was feeble, and he was unable vigorously to prosecute his work. James P. Stevenson, then in the Natchitoches circuit, held a meeting at George Teel's, which resulted in much good. William Stevenson assisted at this meeting. At the close of the year, James P. Stevenson and Henry Stevenson both located and settled in Texas. In 1836 James P. Stevenson paid a visit to Shelby County, and baptized the child of William C. Crawford.
William C. Crawford was admitted on trial in the Georgia Conference, 1831. After travelling two years, he was trans- ferred to the Alabama Conference, and stationed at Pensa- cola, Florida. At the close of the year, in delicate health, he located and started for Texas. He crossed the Sabine in January, 1835, and settled in a canebrake near where the town of Shelbyville now stands. An event occurred soon afterward which metamorphosed the preacher first into a lawyer, and then into a statesman, and affixed his name to the declaration of Texas independence. It hap- pened on this wise. He had an appointment to preach in a vacant house erected for a blacksmith-shop. On Sun- day he took his wife on the horse behind him and rode to the place. He found the body of a murdered man in the house, and a crowd of people with a man in chains, whom Judge Lynch was about to dispose of, though, as yet, he had not been tried for the murder. Mr. Crawford exhorted the
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. IV.]
criminal to prepare for his impending doom. It was de- cided that the alleged criminal should have a trial. The murdered man belonged to an influential family that had exercised a controlling influence in the county. They had secured the services of the only lawyer in reach. Both the man charged with murder and his friends insisted that Mr. Crawford should conduct the defence, in the absence of a lawyer. He did not save his client from the gallows, but he managed the case with such ability, that the citi- zens agreed to run him for the Convention soon to meet in Washington. His opponent was a brother of the mur- dered man. Mr. Crawford was elected. The Convention met in March, 1836. It was fortunate that Mr. Crawford was in it. The course of the Romish priesthood in Mexico was strongly condemned in Texas, and a prejudice excited against all ministers of religion. A section was introduced into the Constitution disfranchising all preachers, and for- ever prohibiting them from occupying any office of profit or trust in the republic. Mr. Crawford succeeded in get- ting this so modified as only to exclude preachers from seats in Congress and holding executive offices. In this shape it passed, and a similar provision was engrafted in our State Constitution in 1846. No such clause is found in our present Constitution. However unclerical it may be for ministers to seek political preferment, it is manifestly unjust to proscribe them like common felons.
Mr. Crawford gives this account of the organization of a church in Shelbyville in 1838. Three Methodists, who were fond of singing, concluded to meet in a house in the outskirts of the village once a week for singing. After a few meetings they joined prayer with praise. People flocked to the house, and they were compelled to find a
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METHODISM IN TEXAS. [CHAP I.
larger and more convenient room. One night there was a large company, including Messrs. Crawford, English, and Martin, local preachers. Mr. Martin gave an exhortation, and, becoming unusually engaged, called for mourners. A number came forward, and were happily converted. At the series of meetings following in different neighborhoods, there were some two hundred added to the church.
It is something of an anomaly to speak of a man as a local preacher, who travelled scores and even hundreds of miles, and remained away from home for several consecu- tive weeks, filling appointments. The local preachers ! God bless them ! we find them everywhere performing the office of a Baptist, preparing the way for the regular min- isters. And they are always on hand to help in protracted and camp-meetings. Texas is indebted beyond computa- tion to the efficient labors of the local ministry.
Job M. Baker appears on this theatre as a local preacher. We find his name in the Ohio Conference in 1818, in Indiana in 1822, in Mississippi in 1832. In 1838 he is in Texas, acting as medical director of the counties of Shelby, Harrison, and Sabine. Of course, Messrs. Crawford and English were delighted to receive such an accession to their ranks. The first class organized in Shelby County consisted of the families of Job M. Baker, William C. Crawford, John English, E. L. Martin, Dial, Watkins, and Munroe.
#
29
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. V.]
SECTION V.
First Church organized in West Texas - Call of a Preacher - Battle of San Jacinto - Third Meeting at the Kinney Camp- Ground-Appeal for Missionaries.
IN the summer of 1834 Henry Stevenson made another tour through Western Texas, and visited Mr. Kinney. Upon consultation the two resolved to hold a camp-meeting on Caney Creek, near Mr. Kinney's residence. The meet- ing commenced on the third of September. Besides Messrs. Stevenson and Kinney there were present Messrs. Babbitt and Medford of the M. E. Church, and Rev. Henry Fullenwider of the Presbyterian Church. On Saturday, at 11 o'clock, after concluding his sermon, Mr. Stevenson exclaimed: " All ye who desire to lead a new life and to flee from the wrath to come, advance and give me your hand and God your heart." Almost instantly John Rabb had the preacher's hand. Two months before this, while at secret prayer in a grove on a bank of the Colorado River, Mr. Rabb had experienced religion. There were some conversions during the camp-meeting, and on Sunday night the Holy Communion was adminis- tered for the first time in the bounds of Austin's Colony. On Monday, after a thrilling exhortation, Mr. Kinney opened the door of the church and received twenty-eight names, a number of whom had been church members before coming to Texas .*
* The original class-paper, in Mr. Kinney's handwriting, lies before us, dated September 8th, 1834, and contains the following names : John W. Kinney, Mariah L. Kinney, Lydia A. McHenry, John Rabb, James Walker, Catherine Walker, Wm. Medford, Elizabeth Medford, John Ingram, John Crownover, Amelia Stephenson, B.
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
An Indian raid into the Kerr settlement, just before the camp-meeting, prevented many from going to the meeting. Still, it was a marked success.
As the country continued to fill up and enjoyed com- parative peace, another meeting was appointed at the same place for the first week in September, 1835. The preachers at this second camp-meeting were Messrs. Kinney, Fullen- wider, Sumner Bacon, and Dr. Wm. P. Smith. The campers were Messrs. Kinney, Walker, Stephenson, Bell, Thomson, Mitchell, Ayers, and Mrs. Kerr and Mrs. Scott. David Ayers was then carrying on a mercantile business in Washington. Asa Mitchell then lived in the Kerr settlement. He sub- sequently removed to San Antonio. During this meeting all who had formerly been official members of the M. E. Church met and organized an informal Quarterly Confer- ence,-Alexander Thomson chairman, and David Ayres secretary. To this movement Dr. W. P. Smith, formerly a Protestant Methodist, cordially assented, and, to the close of his life, remained a useful local minister. His only son is a local preacher, and one of his daughters married a travelling preacher. Dr. Smith died in 1870, universally respected.
As it was deemed absolutely necessary to have a pastor to collect the church members scattered throughout the country, Mr. Thomson drew up a subscription-paper to secure means to employ Mr. Kinney in the pastoral work .*
Babbitt, Dudley J. White, Henry Whitesides, Laura J. Whitesides, Rachel Dever, Eliza Alford, Elizabeth Scott, Malinda Bargely, Catherine Bargely, Demaris Stephenson, Priscilla Chandler, Mary Huff, Thomas Bell, Abigail Day, Bethel White.
* As this was the first effort to raise money for a Protestant minis- ter in Texas, we copy it. It was written by Mr. Thomson, sitting
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. V.]
As all this proceeding was in violation of Mexican laws, which only tolerated Catholic worship, Mr. Thomson had some misgivings as to the light in which it would be viewed by the civil authorities. He, therefore, at his earliest convenience, consulted Dr. James B. Miller, who, during Colonel Austin's absence in Mexico, was political chief of the department. So far from interposing any objections, Dr. Miller cordially approved the step, and subscribed twenty dollars toward Mr. Kinney's support.
The flattering prospect which thus dawned upon the church in this western wilderness was suddenly dimmed by the rising clouds of war, whose distant thunderings were already heard. Santa Anna having extinguished civil liberty in Mexico, and established himself as dictator, was massing an army for the expulsion of all American colo-
at the foot of a live-oak tree on the camp-ground. " We whose names are hereunto annexed, viewing the great necessity of the preaching of the gospel in this part of the province, and believing that we have obtained the consent of such an one who is willing to devote his time and talents wholly to the work, provided a suitable maintenance should be afforded his famlly; we, therefore, promise to pay to the stewards already recognized by the church in the de- partment of the Brazos, for the support of the minister's family for one year, the several sums by us subscribed, to be given at the several quarterly meetings of said department." Mr. Thomson subscribed $50, W. B. Travis (hero of the Alamo) $25, Asa Mitchell $20, John Rabb $15, D. Ayers, J. E. Scott, A. T. Kerr, Moses Townsend, Wm. P. Smith, $10 each. The following parties subscribed smaller amounts : M. H. Winburn, Lucy Kerr, W. P. Kerr, Philip B. Scott, J. B. Chaunce, James Stephenson, James Bell, Thomas Bell, A. Caruthers, H. O. Campbell, Thomas Polk, John H. Alcorn, E. Rob- bins, Wm. Robbins, R. Stephenson, W. Alford, A. Brown, Euclid M. Cox, Myra-McElroy, S. Y. Kearny, John Atkinson, John Crown- over. The whole amounted to $300.
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. 1.
nists from Texas. Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mitchell were elected members of the Executive Council at San Felipe, which for the time administered the government. Dr. Smith hastened west to join the army. At Gonzales he met Colonel Austin, who had just made his escape from a Mexican prison. Colonel Austin appointed Dr. Smith surgeon of the army, which position he held until after the battle of San Jacinto. Throughout the country young men were securing arms and hurrying to the west to meet the invaders, while older ones were providing for the safety of families. At such a time all religious services were neces- sarily suspended. The decisive battle of San Jacinto took place April 21st, 1836. General Houston, commanding the Texans, had 783 men. Santa Anna had on the battle-field 1,500 men, and two other divisions, comprising as many more, in the country. At the first onset the Texans charged right over the Mexican breastworks, and the Mexicans were completely whipped and demoralized. The Texans lost eight killed and about twenty slightly wounded. The Mexicans lost 630 killed, 208 wounded, and 730 prisoners, including Santa Anna and his principal officers.
When the people returned to their homes and accus- tomed avocations, after the expulsion of the Mexicans from Texas, Mr. Kinney resumed his ministerial labors. Owing to the war he had derived no material benefit from the subscrip- tion made for his support. He was poor, and the people, generally, greatly impoverished by the invasion. Still, he kept up his appointments, sometimes walking ten or fifteen miles when unable to procure a horse. Mr. Thomson still kept up his prayer-meetings in the Kerr settlement. Dr. Smith kept up meetings in Washington. Mr. Ayers had brought out some of the publications of the Bible Society
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. VI.]
and S. S. Union. A Sunday-school was organized, and destitute families supplied with Bibles and Testaments.
In the Fall of 1836 another meeting was held at the Kin- ney camp-ground. Besides the people from the neighbor- hood, Andrew, John, and Thomas Rabb, from Fayette County, and Nathaniel Moore and James Gilleland, from Bastrop County, were present and camped. Mr. Gilleland was an exhorter, and the only ministerial help Mr. Kinney had at this meeting. Mr. Gilleland came from Tennessee to Texas in 1828. In 1832 he married the daughter of Nathaniel Moore, and settled on Gilleland Creek, Travis County, which was then an extreme frontier settlement. These families travelled eighty miles to attend this camp- meeting.
Mr. Ayers, Miss McHenry, and others, now opened a correspondence with the Methodist Missionary Secretary in New York, and sent communications to various northern papers, urging the importance of having regular mission- aries sent to Texas. The appeal was responded to.
SECTION VI.
On the Navidad-Immigrants from North Alabama-A Prayer in Camp-Notes of some of these Immigrants, etc.
IN the Fall and winter of 1830-1, about twenty families, most of whom had been Methodists, immigrated from North Alabama to the Navidad River, in Jackson County, Texas. Six of these families, including the Heards, Meni- fees, Sutherlands, and Thomas J. Reed's, came across the country by land. This company camped one night on the bank of the Sabine River, in Louisiana. It so happened that Rev. John C. Burruss, of the Mississippi Conference,
2*
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
camped with them. According to the custom of itinerants of the olden time, Mr. Burruss had all the company assem- bled at Major Sutherland's tent for prayer. There were times when John C. Burruss seemed to pray as though he was especially inspired for the exercise. He has been known to pray a full hour at the opening of worship, and during the prayer the whole congregation would be bathed in tears, while sinners were convicted, mourners were con- verted, and Christians made unspeakably happy. This was one of the times in which he prayed. The company around him were about entering a foreign land where Protestant- ism was not tolerated, and he felt keenly for them. In his prayer he alluded to Jacob's flight from his brother and his vision at Bethel; to Abraham journeying into a strange land; and he interceded with the God of Jacob and of Abraham for this company, that God would direct these pilgrims to their new homes, and bless them, and multiply them, and furnish them with pastors and the regular means of grace. To the day of their death some of these immi- grants retained a most vivid recollection of that prayer ; and during the long months and years in which they were without regular preaching, they cherished the hope that the fervent petition offered at their camp-fire would be answered. And it was.
As early as 1833, a preacher passing through the county preached to them, and Mr. Kinney visited them in 1834.
It would be impossible to estimate the influence which these North Alabama colonists have exerted upon the des- tiny of Texas. They have occupied distinguished positions at the bar and on the bench, in conventions and legislative assemblies, in the pulpit and on the battle-field. They have especially exerted a wholesome moral and religious
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. VI.]
influence, not only where they first settled, but wherever they have been dispersed over the country. A traveller, visiting Texas just after the revolution, entered Texana one Sunday morning. He says : * 1827211
"There was preaching here by a Methodist clergyman (probably Mr. Kinney), which drew together the whole neighborhood, and made the little village appear quite religious-like. These Methodists are pioneers in the moral wilderness of this world."
Though we anticipate a little, we may state that the class organized by Dr. Ruter, in Egypt, in December, 1837, all belonged to this company. They were Mrs. Jemima Heard, who died in 1859; Agnes Menifee, died the same year; Martha Read, living at Marlin ; Martha Stanback, died 1845; Nancy Kellett, died 1868; Frances Borden, died 1841; Sarah Armstrong (afterward Jones), died 1858; America Heard, died 1855; Jemima Heard (afterward Mrs. Elijah Mercer), died 1871.
Of those who joined the church at its organization in Texana, Aunt Polly White died 1857; Thomas Menifee, Sr., died 1858 (he had just paid $500 toward the Texas Christian Advocate and Depository building in Galveston) ; Dr. John Sutherland died at Sutherland Springs, 1868. (His son Alexander is an itinerant in the West Texas Conference.) Samuel Rogers, a local preacher, Francis M. and John White, George and John S. Menifee, Mrs. Frances Sutherland, and some others, still live in Jack- son County.
Soon after the company arrived in Texas, Joseph Rector, who had been a useful class-leader, was instantly killed by lightning. His father, Morgan Rector, and family, removed
* Prairiedom, page 146.
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METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
to Brazoria County, and formed the nucleus of the first church organized at Columbia. Subsequently the family removed to the neighborhood of Seguin, and became mem- bers of the first church organized on the upper Guadalupe River. Morgan Rector died October 11, 1866. He was found dead in his bed, his Bible open at the 23d Psalm, which he had evidently just been reading : "Yea, though I walk through the valley and the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they com- fort me."
John Caldwell settled on the west side of the Colorado River, in Bastrop County, where his house became a home for the itinerant ministers, and his family formed the nucleus of a church in that neighborhood. After having been in several conventions, in the Congress of the Republic of Texas, and the State Legislature, Brother Caldwell died in 1870.
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