This Week in Texas Methodist History   August 27

Sumner Bacon Organizes American Bible Society Chapter in San Augustine  September 1834

In September, 1834, Sumner Bacon organized the first chapter of the American Bible Society in Mexican Texas.   The ABS was founded in 1816 and is still a major distributor of scriptures in many languages. 

Bacon was born in 1790 in Massachusetts.   His early plans for education and a legal career were ended with the death of his father.  He moved west, down the Ohio River and eventually ended in the U S Army in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  He was converted at a camp meeting and became a Cumberland Presbyterian.  He lived in Arkansas after leaving the army.  He sought ordination but his lack of education meant that he did not meet the requirements.  In 1829 he moved to Texas as an itinerant evangelist. 

He continued to seek ordination in the Arkansas Presbytery, but was unsuccessful.  A meeting with the Rev. Benjamin Chase led to his appointment as the first Texian representative of the American Bible Society.  In 1834/35 he distributed about 2000 English and Spanish Bibles.  Also in 1835 he presented himself for ordination to the Louisiana Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  He was still only semi-literate at best, but Presbytery recognized his zeal and ordained him anyway.    After all “he scattered the Word of Life from San Antonio to the Sabine with an industrious hand."

After service as a courier in the Texas Revolution he attended the session of the Mississippi Presbytery in the fall of 1836.  While there he received authorization to form a Texas Presbytery when he could assemble three Cumberland Presbyterian preachers.  In 1837 he was able to find the requisite two other preachers and organized the Presbytery about 5 miles east of San Augustine. 

Readers of this column will note how close the organization was to McMahan’s Chapel—also east of San Augustine and also the coincidence of the ABS organization being about the same time as the first Caney Creek Camp Meeting.

The 1837 organization of the Texas Presbytery preceded other Protestant organization.  The Regular Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists all organized their judicatories within a few months of each other in 1840.    He died at San Augustine in January 1844.