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PD Commons Cbc U^ of Cbica^o Kiibravies PD Books PD Commons PD Books PD Commons EAELY METHODISM IN TEXAS PD Books PD Commons = A HISTOBI 5 = OF . EARLY METHODISM IN TEXAS ' I = 1 1817-1866 I = i E I I I I BY I MACUM PHELAN I 1 'H I 5 i i i i 5 i E i i = = = E H = _ - - = 1 I COKESBURY PRESS IMPORTERS :: PUBLISHERS NASHVILLE :: RICHMOND DALLAS :: SAN FRANCISCO J4T51 Copyright, 1924, LAMAR & BARTON 1 FEINTED IN THIS UNITED STATES (OB AMERICA PD Books PD Commons TO MY WIFE FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS AN INCONSPICUOUS BUT A COMPLETE AND SYMPATHETIC SHARER OF THE LIFE OF A METHODIST ITINERANT PD Books PD Commons PBEPAC1 THE writer of the following chapters first became interested in the subject of which they treat in 1917, when some sporadic efforts were made to celebrate the cen- tenary of Methodism in Texas. A plan was formulated by a MstoriMl -committee, organised at Dallas, whifch pro- vided that each pastor should collect and have re-corded in his church conference minutes the history of his 'own local church each elder ; presiding should collect and put upon his district conference minutes the history of his district the of conference ; and secretary each annual was requested to collect and place iii Ms records the history of his conference. The plan was an admirable one ; but, lifee all previous plans set on foot for collecting and pre- serving our history, it met with but little response. The writer was then on the Vernon district, Northwest Texas Conference. With no interest whatever in the subject, but recognizing the value *>f the plan, he undertook to follow it out. He discovered that the history of the Vernon district was for many years the history of the whole of Panhandle Methodism, and in tracing it out he became deeply interested in the research. His investiga- tions led him into other sections of Texas, an-d at length he opened up correspondence with some of the older men of the Church, with 'a view of arranging for some con- certed effort toward the preparation of a complete history of Methodism in Texas. He found very little interest in the subject and but little encouragement, further than the general response that "it ought to be done." Vll viii PREFACE Led, then, only by his own growing interest in the subject, the writer set out to make at least a beginning in this field. The present volume is offered as that beginning. The materials covering the early period of our history have been gathered from various sources. In the summer of 1918 the writer came into possession of the collection of books and papers left by Oscar M. Addison, one of our pioneer preachers, and a man of decided literary and antiquarian habits. A voluminous correspondence carried on with the preachers and others of his day, covering a period of fifty years from about 1839, and all of which had been preserved, formed the most valuable part of this collection from a historical viewpoint. A liberal use has been made of these old letters and miscellaneous records in the present volume. All of the old files of the Texas Christian Advocate now in existence have been examined, page by page, and almost item by item, and these have been drawn upon to a very considerable extent. Eeferences are made to this source from time to time in the following pages, and for the sake of brevity usually the initials only of this periodical (T C A) are used. The Eev. E. L. Shettles, of the Texas Conference, a book collector of the widest knowledge and activities, has been the writer's most helpful advisor in the field of literature bearing upon Texas Methodist history, and he has been generous beyond words in supplying much rare material needed in preparing this volume. The writer, and all future writers on Texas Methodist history, must acknowledge a debt to the "History of Methodism in Texas," by Homer S. Thrall, D.D., first published in brief form in 1872, and in a somewhat larger edition in 1889. The greatest fault of this work is its brevity. Thrall lived through most of the early period of our history, and he had peculiar advantages in per- sonally knowing all the important persons and facts of PD Books PD Commons PREFACE ix those days, and he might have collected a vast storehouse of historical material. But in his book he gives us only the outlines of this great period. His collection of materials was evidently far from complete, as he was much given to devoting pages to unimportant details, and para- graphs, or only sentences, to more important events. He was careless, or poorly informed, in the statement of many facts and dates. But let it be said to his everlast- ing credit that he wrote and published much of what he knew of contemporaneous Methodist history, which but few of the makers of our history have done. The present writer gladly acknowledges his debt to this pioneer volume, and due credit is given herein when use is made of it. The selection and arrangement of the materials which he has been able to command has been made according to the writer's own plan. The most painstaking regard for facts and figures, for names and dates, has been exercised, but prominence has been given to the human side of the story; and the purpose has been to make this book something more than a mere transcript of conference minutes. The conditions political, natural and moral under which the Church was planted in Texas, the prob- lems and struggles of our pioneers, stories of their failures and of their triumphs all these are given a large place in this record. So far as possible the author has let the makers of our history speak for themselves and in their own way. This method he has thought adds to the interest of the subject in hand, and besides, he has felt that when our pioneers have written on matters of present historical interest, they are entitled to be heard, rather than some one else who might give only his version of their report. The time and labor involved in sorting and comparing and organizing the materials in hand have been such as only those who have done similar work can appreciate. It looks simple and easy enough after it is finished. X PREFACE The field is a large one, and the present volume by no means pretends to exhaust it. And after all these years of unremitting search for facts, and after all the care exercised in their use, the writer admits it as possible that some future historian, more expert in these matters, may give the present work a "going over" and be able to point out numerous omissions and faults. May 1, 1924. PD Books PD Commons CONTENTS CHAPTER I AMERICAN SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 1 CHAPTER II FIRST METHODIST PREACHING AND ORGANIZATION IN NORTHEASTERN TEXAS 12 CHAPTER III METHODIST BEGINNINGS IN EAST TEXAS 22 CHAPTER IV BEGINNINGS IN THE COLONIES 33 CHAPTER V A CHAPTER OF REMINISCENCES 51 CHAPTER VI FIRST REGULAR MISSIONARIES 70 CHAPTER VII THE YEAR 1838 93 CHAPTER VIII THE YEAR 1839 103 CHAPTER IX THE YEAR 1840 125 xi xii CONTENTS CHAPTER X ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXAS CONFERENCE 147 CHAPTER XI TEXAS IN 1840 156 CHAPTER XII CONTEMPORARY METHODISM IN NORTHEAST TEXAS 172 CHAPTER XIII THE YEAR 1841-1842 194 CHAPTER XIV THE YEAR 1842-1843 206 CHAPTER XV THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AND OTHER EVENTS OF 1844 224 CHAPTER XVI THE YEAR 1845-1846 238 CHAPTER XVII THE YEAR 1846 259 CHAPTER XVIII v "-'"!^ EAST TEXAS CONFERENCE, 1847-1850, AND GENERAL CONFERENCE; 1850 276 CHAPTER XIX TEXAS CONFERENCE, 1847-1850 294 CHAPTER XX THE YEARS 1850-1852 319 PD Books PD Commons CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER XXI THE YEARS 1853-1854 346 CPIAPTER XXII THE YEARS 1854-1857 376 CHAPTER XXIII THE YEARS 1858-1859 416 CHAPTER XXIV THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN TEXAS 440 CHAPTER XXV THE YEARS 1860-1866 459 INDEX 501 PD Books PD Commons A HISTORY OF EARLY METHODISM IN TEXAS CHAPTER I AMERICAN SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS IT was not until after the Louisiana purchase in 1803, whereby the United States suddenly expanded and became the big next-door neighbor of the Spanish territory on the southwest, that the wide domain called Texas began to slowly emerge from its long obscurity. On an old map of North America, published in the United States near the beginning of the last century, the name Texas appears in the neighborhood of the present common- wealth of that name, but the scant features of the country which are shown were evidently filled in by the imagina- tion of the geographer. Before the period of American expansion, and the coming of the first American adven- turers and prospectors, the history of Texas is a long dreary story of neglect and failure on the part of its Spanish claimant. Some efforts had been made by ecclesiastics to subdue and christianize the native |j Spanish Indian Missions were established at an || population. early f| day, and about these had gathered small communities of ft soldiers and settlers. But the first American visitors found but three of these settlements in Texas ;| ; namely, : 1 Nacogdoches in the east, first settled in 1716, restored in i;;|1779 as an outpost against French aggression from in the I I Louisiana; LaBahia (Goliad) southwest, founded 2 A HISTORY OF EARLY METHODISM IN TEXAS in 1749 and ; San Antonio de Bexar, founded in 1718.

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