This Week in Texas Methodist History January 28

Orceneth Fisher Asks Holland McTyeire for Help Against "Shavers"  1851

Did you ever wonder how Methodists supported their missions?  There was no national banking system.  There were no peer-to-peer apps on cell phones.   Checking Accounts?  Still not in common use.    Money usually consisted as coin--including British and Spanish coin.  Many Texans relied on a system of barter and IOU's, Methodists were often quite generous in supporting missionaries, but how to get the money from the donor to the missionary was always a problem.  One should remember that until annexation, donations to Texas Missions meant an international transaction. 

The usual solution was to send a draft to the missionary.  The draft would say something like "this draft may be presented in New York and redeemed for $100.  Imagine yourself as a merchant in some small Texas city like Liberty or San Augustine.  A man you don't know walks into your store and asks for provisions and offers to pay you with a draft payable in New York countersigned by a bishop who lived in Ohio Naturally you would be suspicious--and rightly so.  Even if you sold the goods, you would certainly not accept the draft at face value.  You would demand a discount.   The Texas merchant would then send the draft to his "factor" in New Orleans.  The factor acted in the business interests on behalf to the merchant, and he would also demand a discount from the face value.  

In 1851 Orceneth Fisher, Presiding Elder of the San Austine District of the East Texas Conference of the MECS wrote Holland McTyeire of New Orleans asking him to find merchants in New Orleans who would accept the drafts at face value.  (called "par").   He reported being under considerable embarrassment because of the shaving of the drafts by New Orleans merchants.  He complained about the 1% discount he had to endure.  His arguments to McTyeire were that the Missionary Society had never repudiated its debt.  Its drafts were as good as currency.  (Fisher didn't say it but Missionary Society drafts were actually better than most bank drafts of the era.)  He also appealed to the spirit of Christian charity that at least a few New Orleans factors should embrace. 

Fisher also complained about the poverty of the preachers in his district which ran from Jefferson to Beaumont.   The harvests had been bad.  The preachers were always paid last, and if a preacher complained about not getting his salary he was criticized as being "mercenary".  

Both Fisher and McTyeire went on to greater prominence.  Fisher became one of the pioneer preachers of Pacific Coast.  McTyeire was elected bishop in1866.  His wife was the cousin of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt.  That was the connection that sparked the donation that created Vanderbilt University.  McTyeire charied the Board of Trustees.  

 This Week in Texas Methodist History  January 21

Texas Methodists Mourn Passing of Beloved Pastor and Bishop Hiram M. DuBose, January 1941

A bishop who had served some of the most prominent churches of the Texas Conference died at his home in Nashville in January 1941.  There was an outpouring of fond memories of the time DuBose served in the Texas Conference.

Hiram DuBose was born in Alabama in 1858.  His father was a local preacher, but not fully ordained.  The family then moved to Mississippi where Dubose grew up.  His only formal education was at Waynesboro Academy.  He joined the Mississippi Conference at age 19 and served there three years.  He then transferred to the Texas Conference of the MECS and served Galveston, Huntsville, Shearn (later First Houston), and Tyler (later Marvin).  Each of those appointments was two years---that's the way Methodism used to operate--short tenures and frequent moves.  

He then transferred again--this time to Trinity in Los Angles.  After two years there, he became editor of the Pacific Christian Advocate.  In 1894 he came back to Tyler and after two years returned to his home conference to serve Jackson, Mississippi.  After two years there he moved to Nashville to become Executive Director of the Epworth League and editor of its newspaper, the Epworth Era.  He held that position for 12 years and then moved to the pastorage of St. John's in Augusta, Georgia.  After 2 years there, he moved to First Methodist Atlanta, Georgia.  

In 1915 he went back to Nashville to serve as the book editor and editor of the Methodist Review.  He was elected bishop at the General Conference of 1918.  

The life and career of Hiram DuBose is illustrative of several bishops of his era.  There were three paths to being elected bishop: 

 1.  Serving prominent churches in several annual conferences, thereby building relationships in multiple areas of the country.  Those relationships resulted in votes at General Conference.

2.  Serving in a denominational post, especially editor of one of the church publications.  That job required traveling throughout the denomination and forming friendships with annual conference. leaders.  

3.  Serving as an administrator in a denominational college.  

Note that DuBose ticked two of the three boxes.  

His career also shows that formal education was not really one of the requirements for high church office.  Voters in the episcopal elections at General Conference recognize the limited opportunities for higher education that impacted the generation that came to maturity during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  As noted above, DuBose had no university education but became editor of the Methodist Review.  That was the most scholarly publication of the MECS of the era.

Upon his election, DuBose was assigned to the Pacific Coast for 8 years and then to Kentucky/Tennessee for 8 years.  He retired in 1934.  

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 This Week in Texas Methodist History January 14

Stamford District Votes to Raise Funds for a Stamford Memorial Building at McMurry, January 1944

In January 1944 the Stamford District Conference of the Northwest Texas Conference voted to participate in the fund-raising effort under way at McMurry College in Abilene.   Although World War II had resulted in decreased enrollments in Methodist colleges, McMurry was trying to raise $1,750,000 for new buildings and endowment.  About $700,000 had already been raised in pledges and cash.  

Members of the District Conference joined the effort with the expectation that one of the new buildings would be designated Stamford Memorial to honor the memory of Stamford College which had existed from 1907 to 1918.  Founding schools had been a major priority of the Northwest Texas Conference.  It should be remembered that before 1910 the Conference boundaries included what later became the Northwest Texas Conference.  They had already founded schools in Clarendon, Blooming Grove, Belle Plain, Granbury, Fort Worth, and Weatherford.  

Stamford College had begun with an appropriation of $67,000 from the conference and a donation of 20 acres from the city of Stamford.  The school usually had between 200 and 300 students, but drought and World War I caused the enrollment to drop to about 100.  The administration building burned in 1918, and that was the last straw.  Its remaining assets were divided between the city and St. John's Methodist in Stamford.  

Unlike most closed colleges, Stamford had a new life.  The last president of the college was James Winfred Hunt.  He presented a plan to open a new school in Abilene.  The conference accepted the plan and in 1923 McMurry opened with Hunt as president.  He remained in that position until his death in 1934.

In 1949 Stamford graduates were recognized as alumni of McMurry.  Although Stamford College existed for only two decades, several of its former students became missionaries and preachers.  Among them were J. O. Quattlebaum, Ira C. Kiker, Joe Boyd, and Rev. and Mrs. J. Caperton Pace.

 

This Week in Texas Methodist History January 7

San Augustine Methodists Celebrate Centennial of Cornerstone Laying, January 7, 1938

The first recorded cornerstone laying ceremony of a Methodist Church building in Texas that can be documented occurred in San Augustine on January 7, 1838.   Littleton Fowler recorded in his Journal that about 800 people were in attendance for that event.  He was one of the main speakers.  General (later Senator) Thomas J. Rusk was the other.  The ceremony followed the ritual of the Masonic Order.  Fowler had spent most of the winter previous to January 7 in Houston, and while there, had been named as chaplain for the Grand Lodge of Texas.  His letters reveal that he and Rusk travelled from Houston to San Augustine together, and you probably know that the following June Fowler married Mrs. Missouir Porter of San Augustine and established his farm in the vicinity.

One hundred years later a centennial of that event occurred.  Judge J. N. Combs of Beaumont was the principal speaker at 10:00 a.m.  and highlighted the contributions of Masonry to Texas History.  He was followed at 11:00 by the worship service.  The sermon was delivered by Rev. Fred Few of First Methodist Longview.  That afternoon featured a program provided by students from the Methodist Home in Waco.  Frank Dent was the pastor.  

There is an interesting connection between the preacher and the Methodist Home.  The Methodist Home in Waco traditionally made its fund raising effort as a Christmas offering.  The Home published the contributions.  There was some competition among the churches to lead the list.  The previous Christmas of 1937 had seen First Longview win the competition with $3100 contributed.  Marvin Tyler had come in second with $3030.   Few therefore had some bragging rights when he came to San Augustine.