This Week in Texas Methodist History February 15

Henderson Palmer Dies February 17, 1869


On February 17, 1869 the Rev. Henderson Palmer (b. 1812), the first known Methodist preacher to be licensed in Texas died. (See entry for July 2, 2006) Palmer had come to the Republic of Texas from Alabama and taught school. On July 7, 1838, Littleton Fowler licensed him to preach at Box’s Fort. He joined the Mississippi Conference in 1839 and continued in the itinerant ministry until his superannuation in 1866. His career took him over much of East Texas. Methodists in both Rusk and Huntsville honor him as the founding pastor of their churches.