This Week in Texas Methodist History June 10
Methodists Respond to Martin Ruter’s Death, June
1838
Martin Ruter died in Washington
on the Brazos between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. on
May 17, attended by physicians Abner Manley and W. P. Smith, both of whom were
local preachers.
Robert Alexander and Abner Manley both wrote the
widowed Ruth Ruter, who was waiting for her husband’s return in New Albany, Indiana. Both letters gave an account of the death and
Alexander’s discussed the disposition of Ruter’s worldly goods. Ruth Ruter was so distressed that she could
not write responses so she asked her daughter Sybil to write for her. A letter to Littleton Fowler from Sybil Ruter
dated June 7 and postmarked Matagorda still exists. In it Sybil Ruter acknowledges that they must
submit to the will of Providence
and regrets only that Martin Ruter died away from his family.
The news of Ruter’s death spread quickly throughout
the denomination. He was one of the
best known Methodists of the era. He was
an author, college president, and from 1820-1828 in charge of the Publishing
House in Cincinnati. He had been a delegate to General Conferences
and had served in prominent cities, Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, New York, and Montreal. He had enjoyed a wide correspondence with Methodists
on both sides of the Appalachians. One finds letters from Raper, Bangs,
Stringfield—names well known to Methodist historians.
Bishop Hedding was in charge of the Texian Mission,
and he quickly told Nathan Bangs to write Littleton Fowler and ask him to assume
the head of the mission until annual conferences convened. At the
Mississippi Conference that met the following December, Texas was attached to the Mississippi
Conference.
Meanwhile, Ruter’s fiends in Texas were busy tending to his temporal
affairs. Robert Alexander took his
horse, saddlebags, etc. so he could sell them and remit the proceeds to Mrs.
Ruter. Martin Ruter had acquired land
warrants for 350 acres of land since his arrival. John Wesley Kenney took them, surveyed two
tracts adjacent to his own league in northern Austin County
and then perfected the titles to the two tracts to the benefit of “Heirs of
Martin Ruter” as the tracts are still known.
When I go south from my house, my road takes me through one of those
tracts 1.5 miles from my residence. Kenney was County Surveyor.
There was no better person to handle the task for Ruth and her children.
William Winans of the Mississippi Conference was
authorized to buy a monumental tombstone in New Orleans
and ship it to Washington. The real monument to Dr. Ruter, though, was
to be a Methodist university. Almost
immediately after the death, Methodists formed a corporation, bought a league
of land in Fayette County, surveyed it into town lots and out lots and
began selling those lots for the establishment of the town of Rutersville and the University of the same name.
Littleton Fowler stepped back from these
activities. He had decided to cast his
lot with Methodists in East Texas rather than
move to Rutersville. In June 1838 he
married the widow Missouri Porter and began the process of acquiring a farm
that would produce income while he was away on church business. The wedding ceremony was performed by a
recent volunteer from Kentucky,
Lewellyn Campbell who had volunteered for the Texian Mission and was helping
with the preaching while waiting for a formal appointment. He
and Sybil Ruter later married.
June, 1838, saw a whirlwind of Methodist activity
in Texas,
much of it due to Martin Ruter’s death.
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