USA > Texas > History of Methodism in Texas > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
Among those North Alabamians here, William Menifee still lives in Fayette County, Captain W. J. E. Heard in Chappell Hill, and Thomas J. Read in Marlin; and others in different parts of our great State.
SECTION VII.
Personal Sketches : Henry Stevenson-Sumner Bacon-Ellis P. Bean.
ALTHOUGH Henry Stevenson lived several years after the revolution, he ceased to be prominent; and it is proper that we should, in this chapter, pay a brief tribute to his memory. He was of Presbyterian parentage, born in 1772. His parents were poor, and he enjoyed the privilege of going to school only three months in his life. The first year of the present century his family emigrated to Ken-
37
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. VII.]
tucky, and a few years after to Missouri, and settled near St. Charles. In 1804 he was converted and joined the M. E. Church. After a severe struggle with himself, he consented to enter the gospel ministry, and was licensed to preach. He received his license from Jesse Walker, presiding elder of Illinois district, Tennessee Conference. Jesse Hale was on the Missouri circuit. In 1817 Mr. Stevenson, with his growing family, settled in Hempstead County, Arkansas, and was useful as a local preacher. In 1820 he took work under the presiding elder. He was admitted on trial in the travelling connection, but his pov- erty and the cares of a large family made him unwilling to be received into full connection. He removed into Clai- borne Parish, Louisiana, in 1828, and was placed in charge of that circuit. Having charge of Rapides circuit in 1831, he moved his family to that parish, and in 1835 to Jasper County in Texas.
In 1837 he paid his last visit to the Rabbs and Moores on the Colorado River. His horse giving out, he entered the settlement around Moore's Fort on foot. He was greatly rejoiced at the arrival of regular missionaries, and exclaimed, in the language of good old Simeon, "Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
Having been a pioneer all his life, he continued to hunt up destitute neighborhoods. As late as 1840 no preacher had visited Jefferson County, on the Sabine River. Mr. Stevenson went there and preached several sermons, creating quite an interest, especially in the Cornstreet neighborhood, near Beaumont, where he organized a church.
At this period he was afflicted with the asthma, which
38
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
gradually grew worse. In 1841 he attended a camp-meet- ing near Jasper. Such was the difficulty of his breathing that he could scarcely get his breath while lying down, and had frequently, during the night, to rise. The meet- ing was a good one, and the old gentleman had the satis- faction of seeing his youngest son and youngest daughter, the last of ten children, converted. He expected to re- turn home Monday morning, but learning that the Lord's Supper would be administered, said he would remain and take it for the last time. He died Nov. 20, 1841.
Mr. Stevenson's mental endowments were not extra- ordinary; his education was very limited. He married young, and raised a large family. His whole life was spent upon the frontier, amid its perils and privations, and yet he accomplished an immense amount of good. He preached along the whole western boundary of settlements from the Missouri River to the Colorado, and left a name which is as ointment poured forth through all this vast region. It is hard to fathom the secret of his success. He was neither learned nor eloquent, in the ordinary acceptation of the terms; but he was a good man, and cherished a single purpose to glorify God and do all the good in his power. He was of a meek and quiet spirit, winning friends by his gentle manners. In one respect nature had favored him. He possessed a most musical voice,-a voice which, ring- ing out upon a camp-ground, charmed into silent and attentive listeners all classes of people.
We have occasionally mentioned the name of Sumner Bacon as laboring with our preachers. Mr. Bacon had been a soldier in the United States army. He came to Texas in 1828, a zealous member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian church. Later in life he became an ordained
39
SEC. VII.]
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
minister. In 1832 he was employed as colporteur by the Presbyterian Tract Society of Natchez. In this capacity he travelled extensively through Texas, distributing Bibles and religious books, and holding religious meetings. On one of these trips he heard that a stranger was sick at Mr. Townsend's, on Cummings' Creek. He visited the sick man, and found him rapidly sinking into the grave, and in a backslidden state. The sick man was reclaimed, and died happy. His name was Capers, and after his death it was discovered that he was a brother of the late bishop of the same name, and that he had parchments as local elder, and a regular diploma as an M. D.
While Mr. Bacon was engaged in his work in the neigh- borhood of Nacogdoches, Gomez Gaines preferred a charge against him before Col. Bean, the Mexican commander of the department .*
* The general reader would, perhaps, like to have a brief notice of Ellis P. Bean, whose life was so full of strange incidents. He was a native of Tennessee, and while yet in his teens, at his request his father furnished him a flat-boat load of produce, to take down the Mississippi on a trading expedition. His boat was capsized in the Cumberland River, and young Bean escaped with only the clothes on his back. Getting on another boat, he continued his course to Natchez, where he fell in with Philip Nolan, who was getting up an expedi tion to catch mustangs in Texas. After various adventures the com- pany reached the high prairies between the Trinity and Brazos Rivers, and built pens, and commenced operations. They had not been here long before they were attacked by a large number of Mexi- cans. Nolan was killed, and the balance of the company taken prisoners. This was in March, 1801. The prisoners were sent to Mex- ico, and for twelve years Bean was kept in custody, and frequently moved from one prison to another. Bean resorted to mechanical labor to get money, and was always successful. At one place he carried on the hatting business, at another he engaged in shoe-
40
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. I.
Col. Bean, instead of arresting Bacon, told him he was doing a good work, and to scatter the precious book broad- cast over Texas. Bacon died in San Augustine County in 1846.
Commencing at the time when the first English-speak- ing settlers sought a home in Texas, we have passed over the whole period of our colonial history, giving brief notices of the worthy men who introduced the institutions peculiar to Methodism into our great State. Heretofore
making, and again in quarrying rock. At one point the wife of a wealthy but churlish old Spaniard proposed to take horses and run away with him. This Bean declined. After having made an attempt to escape he was thrown into solitary confinement. He endured all with an undaunted spirit. Finally the revolution broke out against the Spanish Viceroy. Bean made his escape and joined the revolu- tionists. His activity, his coolness, and courage, and his fertility in resources, soon elevated him to important commands. The revolu- tionary party, wishing to enlist the sympathies of the Americans, sent Bean on a mission to the United States. At Acapulco he found one of Lafitte's vessels, and sailed for Baratraria. Here he first heard of the war with Great Britain. From Baratraria Bean and Lafitte threaded their way through the swamps to New Orleans, where General Jackson gave the pirate a naval cominand and put Colonel Bean in charge of a battery.
After the battle of New Orleans, finding the times unpropitious for carrying on negotiations with the Washington Government, Bean returned to Mexico and resumed command of his regiment. During this time a wealthy family named Gortha, who had been driven from their estate, were under Bean's protection. A beautiful lady, Señorita Anna Gortha, conceived a romantic attachment for Bean, and he married her. For some time the Republican cause in Mexico did not succeed, and Bean again visited the United States. Finally, Republicanism completely triumphed in 1824. A few years later Bean was sent to Texas as commander of the department of Nacog- doches and Indian agent. He was here in that capacity in 1836,
41
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. VII.]
all these movements have been contrary to the letter of the civil law, and by ministers acting somewhat irregu- larly. We now approach a period in which, under the new and liberal constitution of the youngest-born of Amer- ican republics, perfect freedom of the press and of speech and of religion is guaranteed,-a period in which the Missionary Society, the Board of Bishops, and other lead- ing ministers of the M. E. Church, determined to adopt systematic and efficient measures for the evangelization of Texas.
and though he did not openly espouse the Texas cause, there is no doubt but he exerted himself to keep the Indians in the east quiet during the Mexican invasion. For some cause not very well under- stood, General Houston had Bean placed under arrest. After the battle of San Jacinto, Bean was released, and returned to Mexico. He found the Gortha family restored to their estates, and himself the possessor of a most tender and devoted wife and a splendid hacienda. Here the close of his life was spent as peacefully and quietly as its early years had been turbulent and checkered.
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE ARRIVAL OF THE MISSIONARIES IN 1837, TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXAS CONFERENCE, DE- CEMBER, 1840.
SECTION I.
Arrival of Mr. Alexander-Camp-Meeting at McMahan's-At Sem- pronius-Mr. Fowler, Chaplain to the Senate-A Class-Meeting in a Corn-crib.
IN April, 1837, the bishops, in conjunction with the missionary board in New York, resolved upon a vigorous prosecution of the missionary work in Texas. Soon after- ward Bishop Hedding wrote to Rev. Martin Ruter, D.D., notifying him of his appointment as Superintendent of the Texas Mission, and that Littleton Fowler and Robert Alexander were appointed his assistants. All these gen- tlemen had previously sent their names as volunteers for that field.
Mr. Alexander was the first to reach Texas. He had then been six years in the itinerancy, having been admitted on trial in the Tennessee Conference in the Fall of 1830.
His appointments were, for 1831, Bedford circuit; 1832, Fountain Head ; 1833, Murfreesborough ; 1834, Mill Creek; 1835, Chickasaw district in Mississippi; 1836 and 1837,. Natchez station. As soon as he received his appointment he started for his new field of labor, and crossed the Sabine River at Gaines' Ferry in August, 1837. Having a broad
.
43
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. I.]
commission, " Missionary to Texas," he commenced work immediately. A large congregation assembled at the house of Mr. Walker. He preached and conducted regu- lar services, and dismissed them. . Being fatigued, he retired to a private room to rest. After resting for an hour, Mr. Walker came to Mr. Alexander and informed him that the people were unwilling to leave until they had heard another sermon. The missionary arose and preached. to them again. A few days after, Mr. Alexander held a camp-meeting at the McMahan camp-ground, on the Poly- goch. He was assisted at this meeting by Messrs. W. H. Crawford, James P. Stevenson, English, and Johnson. A regular circuit was organized, and a Quarterly Confer- ence held. On Sunday, during the sermon, a considerable shower of rain fell, and the congregation, though entirely unprotected, remained quietly seated, listening to the preacher.
After spending a month in the Redlands, Mr. Alexander proceeded westward to Washington, where he was cordially greeted by the little band of Methodists, who had been praying for a preacher.
A camp-meeting was appointed for the neighborhood of Sempronius, in Austin County. Mr. Alexander assisted with his own hands in clearing the grounds and preparing seats and a stand. The meeting was a most interesting and profitable one,-Ministers present being Mr. Alexan- der, Mr. Kinney, L. P. Rucker, Protestant Methodist, and A. J. McGowan and Amos Roark of the C. P. Church. A missionary society was organized, the members pledging annual contributions to the cause. David Ayers and Jos. B. Crosby subscribed $100 each; John Rabb $50; J. W. Kinney, B. F. Reavill, Thomas Bell, Mrs. N. Chance,
44
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHLAP. II.
James H. Scott, and Thomas M. Penick, $20 each, and others pledged smaller sums, making a total of $1,000.
Littleton Fowler entered the itinerancy in Kentucky in 1826. Thomas A. Morris was his first presiding elder. He filled various appointments in Kentucky until 1832, when he was transferred to the Tennessee Conference, and appointed agent of the La Grange College, of which Robt. Paine was president. In the summer of 1837 he was ap- pointed missionary to Texas. He entered the Republic via Red River, travelling in company with John B. Den- ton. Coming on South, he preached in Nacogdoches, and then came on to Washington, where he met Mr. Alexan- der, just after the close of the camp-meeting mentioned above.
Not long after this Mr. Alexander started for the Missis- sippi Conference, which met at Natchez, Dec. 6, 1837. Mr. Fowler remained in the West, travelling as far down the country as Brazoria County, where he organized a small church, receiving as members Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Caldwell and others. Being in Houston about the time Congress assembled, he was elected chaplain of the Senate. During the time he was in Houston, he received from Messrs. Allen, proprietors of the city, a title to a half-block of ground, upon which the church and parsonage in that city now stand. It was some time during this winter the fol- lowing incident occurred. Daniel Carl was a native of New York, but while yet a child his parents removed to Tennessee. Daniel professed religion at the age of twelve years, and, soon after, became impressed that it was his duty to prepare himself for the gospel ministry. To this he felt an indescribable reluctance. Wandering about with a restless disposition, he came to Texas and engaged in
45
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. II. ]
teaching. Providentially he was thrown into the family of Wm. Kesee at Chappell Hill. Here he was found by Mr. Fowler, who soon drew from him the confession that he felt called to the work of the ministry. Genial, affable, and deeply sympathizing with such a state of mind, Mr. Fowler was the very man for Mr. Carl to meet. It was a dark, drizzly day, and young Carl's feelings corresponded with the weather. To him the past was unsatisfactory and the future unpromising. To have a private interview the two went out to a corn-crib. Here they prayed and held a class-meeting together, mutually exchanging expe- riences. When the two walked back again to the house, to one of them life presented a wonderfully changed aspect. He saw that happiness was to be found in the path of duty, and then and there he pledged himself to pursue that path. With what fidelity he adhered to this purpose to the close of life, the records of the church militant and doubtless of the church triumphant will show. Fortunate is the theological seminary that can point to its students who fulfilled as faithfully and successfully the obligations of the Christian ministry as the one that Littleton Fowler grad- uated from Billy Kesee's corn-crib.
SECTION II.
Dr. Ruter's Early Life-Labors in Texas-Sickness and Death-His Family.
MARTIN RUTER entered the itinerancy in New York in 1801, when but sixteen years of age. In 1808 he was stationed in Boston. He was in the General Conferences · which met in 1808, 1816, 1820, 1836. From 1822 to 1826 he was agent of the Cincinnati Book Concern. He was
46
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. II.
then elected president of Augusta College in Kentucky, and remained there until 1834, when he was transferred to Alleghany College in Pennsylvania.
So soon as Dr. Ruter received his appointment to Texas, he commenced making preparations for the trip. Dr. Abel Stevens says, the Ohio being unusually low, Dr. Ruter put his family in a small boat and paddled it himself from Pittsburg to Marietta. As it was impracticable to bring his family to Texas until he had made some preparations, he determined to leave them at New Albany, Indiana, among his relations.
The Indiana Conference was in session in New Albany, and the Doctor had interviews with both Bishops Roberts and Soule concerning the work in Texas. Dr. Ruter and Mr. David Ayers started for Texas, taking a steamboat crowded with passengers. A passenger having died, Dr. Ruter was called upon to read the burial-service. His character thus became known to the passengers, who, on Sunday, requested him to preach, and he did so morning and evening.
Landing at Rodney, the Doctor started on horseback for Gaines' Ferry, on the Sabine. Here, on the 21st of Novem- ber, he met Mr. Alexander on his way to the Mississippi Conference. The two spent most of the night in conver- sation and maturing plans for future operations. The next day the Doctor proceeded on to San Augustine, and preached that night in a school-house. This was Friday. He spent the ensuing Sabbath at Nacogdoches, preaching morning and night to crowded congregations. Contin- uing his course across the Trinity, he stayed all night at the house of James Mitchell .*
* All the preachers who have travelled the Madisonville circuit
47
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. II.]
Mrs. Mitchell remarked that she had not heard a ser- mon since she came to Texas. Dr. Ruter told her to collect her family after supper. She did so, and he preached them a regular sermon. He arrived at Wash- ington on Friday, and preached that night and again on Saturday; on Sunday morning Rev. Z. N. Morrill (Bap- tist) preached. Dr. Ruter preached at night, receiving one into the church. On Monday he proceeded down the country, calling at Mr. Foster's, Ayers', and Kinney's. Mr. Kinney accompanied him to San Felipe, and thence across the country to Egypt, on the Colorado. The Doctor preached at the house of Captain W. J. E. Heard on Sat- urday night and again on Sunday morning. At three o'clock he preached to the blacks. At night Mr. Kinney preached, and Dr. Ruter held a class and organized a church of nine members.
The next week Captain Heard accompanied the Doctor across the country to Houston. A severe norther spring- ing up, the Captain suggested the propriety of stopping until it should abate.
Dr. Ruter replied that the King's business required haste, and pushed forward across the bleak prairie, facing the fierce tempest. It was by such exposures in his Mas- ter's work that the Doctor laid the foundation of the dis- ease which was so soon, alas! to close his course. The Doctor rode a large horse, and travelled wherever he went in a sweeping trot. While he made great speed, it must have been at the expense of bodily comfort. Arriving in
remember Mr. Mitchell. His house was a preachers' home, and he was a good Christian and generous supporter of the church and its institutions. He lived to a good old age, dying in peace in 1870.
48
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. II.
Houston, Dr. Ruter met Mr. Fowler. The Doctor's preach- ing before. Congress and the officers of the Government produced a fine impression. Consulting with leading men, he laid plans for the establishment of a literary institution. Returning to the interior, Dr. Ruter, about the last week in January, 1838, held a quarterly meeting at Centre Hill.
At this Conference A. P. Manley and D. N. V. Sullivan presented their credentials and were received as local preachers. From this meeting the Doctor visited Wash- ington, Independence, Gay Hill, and the Kerr settlement, and proceeded across the country by the Gochee trace to Bastrop, where he preached and organized a church of fifteen members. He visited the extreme upper settle- ment on the Colorado, and preached at Mr. Gilleland's house at Moore's Fort. This was in February, 1838. Dr. Ruter had taken the names of some three hundred persons who had been Methodists before coming to Texas. He had traversed a large portion of the settled part of the republic. He decided that he needed twelve additional missionaries to supply the work. He had determined, after traversing East Texas, to revisit New York, and be present at the Spring meeting of the Bishops and Mission- ary Board, and make arrangements to prosecute the mis- sion on a scale commensurate with the wants of this great country. He crossed the Brazos and started east, when, feeling unusually bad, he returned to Washington for med- ical attention. Drs. Smith and Manley were unremitting in their attentions, but he grew worse, and, in spite of the prayers of the church, died on the 16th of May, 1838. Among the hundreds of ministers who have labored in Texas since that time, not one has exceeded Martin
49
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. III.]
Ruter in learning, zeal, unwearied labor, and unflinching fidelity to duty .*
SECTION III.
Scenes in Washington - Preachers threatened with a ducking-Ad- ministrator on the Devil's Estate - Smoking out a Preacher- Churches in 1838-Additional Laborers.
AFTER the death of Dr. Ruter, Mr. Fowler continued his labors in eastern Texas, while Mr. Alexander took charge of the work in the west. At Washington Mr. Alexander preached in a billiard-room, not always to the most quiet and orderly congregations. The people of Texas generally received the preachers cordially and treated them kindly. But there were occasional instances of rudeness.
While Mr. Alexander and Mr. Roark were holding a meeting in Washington, a few men, under the excitement of liquor, created some disturbance. A crowd collected on the street and followed the preachers as they went to their lodgings. The excited men talked of ducking the preach- ers in the river. Mr. Alexander had no very dangerous weapons about him, but he was perfectly cool and appeared ready for the fray. He was in the prime of life, standing
* Perhaps our readers would like to know something of the Doc- tor's family. Mrs. Ruter died in 1868, at the residence of her son- in-law, Rev. H. Gillman, in Indiana. Rev. L. Campbell, who mar- ried Miss Sybil Ruter, died at Bayou Sara, Louisiana, in 1860; Mrs. C. still lives. Anna Bell (Mrs. Peel) lives in California. Charlotte (Mrs. Winn) lives in Houston, Texas. Mariah (Mrs. Cuthbertson) lives in New Orleans. Mrs. De Free is also living. Marcellas is a travelling preacher in Indiana. Philander S., then president of Chappell Hill College, died in Houston in 1857. Augustus W. spent most of his life teaching in Texas, and died at Lampassas Springs in 1869.
3
50
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
[CHAP. II.
6 feet 5 inches, and strong in proportion ; his complexion a little florid and his hair slightly sandy; his eye was piercing, and those who have seen him when anything oc- curs to rouse his indignation, say the manner in which he knits his brow is anything but lamb-like. The leaders of the mob, after surveying the situation, became satisfied that if any personal violence was offered to the preachers somebody might get hurt, and the idea of ducking them was wisely abandoned.
The pranks of the Washington boys sometimes bordered upon the ludicrous. Mr. C-, a Universalist, visited the place. In his sermon he announced, in a very formal manner, that " the Devil was dead." After the congregation had been dismissed, and before the preacher had left, a public meeting was called, and resolutions of condolence and sympathy tendered to the speaker on the death of his venerable father. After this had passed, another was pro- posed, appointing Wash. Secrest administrator on the devil's estate. This went by acclamation .*
* Wash. Secrest was one of those brave, generous, and reckless men frequently met with on the frontiers of a country. He was a noted fighter, and commanded a spy company at the Battle of San Jacinto. Before the battle, through some misunderstanding of General Houston's orders, Captain Mosley Baker had ordered the burning of the town of San Felipe, when the Texans retreated across the Brazos. As the goods were to be burnt, any soldier was permitted to carry off what he wanted. Among the goods in Huff's store were some Bibles left there by Sumner Bacon. To the aston- ishment of his friends, Secrest selected a small pocket Bible. This Bible was his companion through the campaign. He preserved it carefully and read it attentively. Many years after, at a camp- meeting near Rutersville, Wash. Secrest presented himself for the prayers of the church and professed religion. At an experience meeting held on the grounds, he stated that a sudden and unac-
51
METHODISM IN TEXAS.
SEC. III.]
The end of another of the Washington boys was not so hopeful. Late one evening he saddled his horse to ride over to the new county-seat, Mount Vernon. His friends remonstrated, when, it is reported, he said he would be in Mount Vernon or hell before he slept. On the way his horse became frightened and threw him, and he fell against a stump and was instantly killed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.