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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