PD Commons University of Chicago Hub varies PD Books PD Commons PD Books PD Commons THE EXPANSION OF METHODISM IN TEXAS MACUM PHELAN PD Books PD Commons A HISTORY of THE EXPANSION OF METHODISM IN TEXAS 18671902 Being a continuation of the History of Early Methodism in Texas, by the same Author. BY MACUM PHELAN MATHIS, VAN NORT & CO., BOOK PUBLISHERS DALLAS TEXAS Copyright, 1937 By M. PHELAN ' Printed in the United States of America. M PD Books PD Commons 140271.0 To My Brother CHARLES T. PHELAN PD Books PD Commons PREFACE THIS second volume is projected very much along the lines of the first volume, published in 1924, and is intended to be a continuation of that narrative and a companion volume. The author has endeavored to credit, in the text or in footnotes, all sources used in the making of the work. His thanks are due to all contributors quoted herein, and in addition he wishes to thank Mr. L. W. Blaylock for granting access to the old files of the Texas Christian Advocate, and to the Library of the Theological Department of Southern Methodist University, for valuable assistance in completing his records of the conference minutes. Due to an eye affection which developed after the manuscript was completed, the author has been un- able to personally read the proofs of the work, or to prepare the Index himself. He is indebted to his wife and to his son, Charles, and to his daughter, Char- lotte, for the performance of this arduous task. If errors have crept in, or remained undiscovered, it is due to their inexperience, and not to the want of dili- gence or devotion to their work. M. PHELAN. September 1, 1937. PD Books PD Commons CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE YEARS 1867-1868 CHAPTER II THE YEAR 1869 20 CHAPTER III THE YEAR 1870 38 CHAPTER IV THE YEARS 1871-1872 66 CHAPTER V THE YEARS 1873-1874 84 CHAPTER VI THE YEARS 1874-1875 98 CHAPTER VII THE YEARS 1876-1877 116 CHAPTER VIII THE YEARS 1878-1879 135 CHAPTER IX SOME PERSONAL AND EDUCATIONAL HISTORY 155 CHAPTER X THE YEARS 1880-1882 176 CHAPTER XI THE YEARS 1880-1882 (Continued) 197 CHAPTER XII THE YEARS 1883-1884 216 CHAPTER XIII THE YEARS 1885-1886-1887 239 CHAPTER XIV THE YEARS 1885-1886-1887 (Continued) 255 CHAPTER XV THE YEARS 1888-1889-1890 276 CHAPTER XVI THE YEARS 1888-1889-1890 (Continued) 297 CHAPTER XVII THE YEARS 1891-1892 317 CHAPTER XVIII THE YEARS 1893-1894 339 CHAPTER XIX THE YEARS 1893-1894 (Concluded) 358 CHAPTER XX THE YEARS 1895-1896-1897 - - - - - - 38S CHAPTER XXI THE YEARS 1895-1896-1897 (Concluded) 400 CHAPTER XXII THE YEARS 1898-1902 421 CHAPTER XXIII - - - THE YEARS 1898-1902 (Continued) . 441 CHAPTER XXIV - - - - 463 THE YEARS 1898-1902 (Concluded) INDEX 503 PD Books PD Commons PD Books PD Commons A HISTORY OF THE EXPANSION OF METHODISM IN TEXAS CHAPTER I THE YEARS 1867-1868 THE General Conference of 1866 created one new conference in Texas, the Northwest Texas, and con- ferred upon another, the East Texas, the power to divide itself at will. This option was exercised at its first session following the grant, thus creating an- other new conference, called for a few years the Trinity, but later the North Texas. We have then five conferences to take account of in our history the Texas, East Texas, West Texas, North Texas, and the Northwest Texas and, of course, a much wider field to cover than before the War. Notice must be taken later, also, of other bodies coming into existence: as the missions to the Germans and the Mexicans, conferences of the Methodist Episcopal and the Methodist Protestant churches; and the work among the colored people. Conference boundary lines, as defined by the General Conference of 1866, may be worth noting, as they exhibit in at least one instance a complete ignorance of the geography of the western part of (i) 2 HISTORY OF THE EXPANSION OF METHODISM the state. The dividing line between the Texas and East Texas Conferences was Galveston Bay and the Trinity River. The line between the Texas and the West Texas Conferences followed the east lines of Jackson, Lavaca, Gonzales, Caldwell, and Hays Counties. The division between the Texas and Northwest Texas Conferences, omitting some minor details, followed the south lines of Williamson, Milam, Robertson, and Leon Counties. Between the Northwest Texas and the Rio Grande Conferences the boundary is described as following "the road from San Antonio to Fort Mason; thence due north to the Colorado River; thence up that river to the Big Spring; thence due north to the state line". The Big Spring was not on the Colorado River, but forty miles west of it (the spring having long since gone dry). But a line drawn from it, or from the river forty miles east, due north to the state line would have divided the Panhandle-Plains country into about equal parts, throwing half into the West Texas (or Rio Grande) conference, and the other half into the Northwest Texas. It may have been intended to divide that part of the state in such way, but it is hardly probable. Of course there was nobody in that country in those days to contend about boundary lines, and in the course of time a good many adjust- ments had to be made, there and elsewhere, in ac- cordance with a better geographical knowledge and in order to more nearly equalize matters among the various conferences. The Texas and the East Texas Conferences, after the division of the latter, were now confined to the older sections of the state, and there was but little pioneering work to be done within their borders. The pioneering of the future is to be found in connec- tion with the other conferences, the West Texas and PD Books PD Commons THE YEARS 1867-1868 3 the Northwest Texas doing the larger part, and the latter bearing the largest share of all, due to its vast expanse of unsettled territory. It is to be a pioneering different in some respects from that of the past. We shall have less of rainfall and fewer swollen streams, and more of drouth, sandstorms and northers; less of the forest and more of the prairie and open country. At the same time we shall be coming more and more into the railroad building era; the rise of towns and cities; the erection of churches and the founding of more and larger schools. On the whole, an almost imperceptible but a certain movement from country to town, a trans- fer of interest from circuit to station, and other at- tendant changes, characterize the modern period. But taking up the thread of our history in the late 1860's we are still in a primitive age, similar in many respects to the years which went before. Looking over the appointments of all the confer- ences of 1866 we find many of the same men who first appeared in the earliest days of our history still in active service. A few of these familiar names are: Joseph P. Sneed, who helped to organize the first church in Texas in 1834; Robert Alexander, the first of that trio of regular missionaries to enter Texas in 1838; Henderson D. Palmer, reputed to be the first man licensed to preach here; and quite a list of "old timers" whose ministry in Texas goes back into the 40's, among them being Homer S. Thrall, John W. DeVilbiss, J. W. Whipple, John C. Daniel 0. Woolam, Morse , M. Addison, Jefferson Shook, N. W. Burkes, F. M. Stovall, Thomas F. Cook, Wm. K. Wilson, R. W. Kennon, J. M. Wesson, Milton H. Jones, C. A. Grote, R. H. Belvin, C. W. Thomas, I. G. John, J. W. Fields, James Graham, and J. W. P. McKenzie. Other connecting links with the last dec- 4 HISTORY OF THE EXPANSION OF METHODISM ade before the War include Lewis B. Whipple, Wil- liam Monk, James M. Johnson, S. C. Littlepage, As- bury Davidson, Buckner Harris, John L. Harper, D. W. Fly, John T. Gillett, H. V. Philpott, James T. P. Irvine, Wesley Smith, F. C. Wilkes, W. H. Seat, John S. McGee, H. g. Lafferty, 0. A. Fisher, L. R. Dennis, John S. Mathis, J. R. Bellamy, Richard Lane, John N. Hamill, M. H. Neely, J. M. Binkley, W. H. Hughes, Wni. E. Bates, John Adams, F. Vordenbaumen, John A. Schaper, Milton H. Porter, Quinn M. Menifee, John B. Tullis, Neill Brown, R. S. Finley, John W. Chalk, W. J. Joyce, and Fountain P. Ray. Some who were admitted, or transferred to us, just prior to or during the War, were to make them a name after that conflict, such as John H. McLean, J. Fred Cox, W. R. D. Stockton, A. J. Potter, P. W. Gravis, Ros- well and James T. Gillett, Jerome B. Annis, and G. W. Graves. From this list it will be seen that the predominating numbers in all the conferences were seasoned veterans of the ante-bellum era. Some of them are to go along for two or three decades yet, but we shall find their ranks beginning to thin out the first year, and more rapidly as we move along through the years. The death toll among preachers and people alike was very heavy in 1867, due to the most dreadful scourge of yellow fever which had ever visited Texas. The first victim in the ranks of the ministry was Thomas F. Cook, who died at his home in Tex- ana on July 24, 1867, after an illness of four days.