Antebellum Jefferson, Texas: Everyday Life in an East Texas Town

31. Religion

429 When Edward Smith traveled throughout northeast Texas in 1849, he noted that “The presbyterians, methodists, baptists, episcopalians and other sects have extensive organizations in this part of Texas. No sect possesses any political advantages not enjoyed by another, but the presbyterians and the methodists appear to be now more influential than other bodies. The Sabbath is much respected, and the inhabitants conscientiously attend their places of worship, which are located within two or three miles of almost every residence. Some of these places are the houses of the settler, and others are chapels exclusively appropriated to religious and educational purposes.” The denominations and attendance are characteristic of Jefferson . House services and meetings at schoolhouses and other publicly accessible places preceded the erection of church buildings. The term “church” generally referred either to a church building or to a congregation that had achieved some sort of formal organization under the auspices of the larger religious body of which it was a part. Although there were some Catholics in Jefferson prior to the war, there was no Catholic church, which operates strictly in terms of sacerdotalism for the ministration of sacraments. Under circumstances in the United States where the Catholic church was not a national church, a priest could not be established in a community until there was a sufficient number of Catholics to support his activities , which are fulltime. 31. ReliGion 430 Antebellum Jefferson, Texas The Social Statistics section of the 1850 census indicates that there were 26 churches in Cass County, including 10 Methodist Episcopal with church property valued at $2,000, six Presbyterian with church property valued at $1,000, four Primitive Baptist with church property valued at $500, four Missionary Baptist with church property valued at $600, and two Christian Baptist. The 1860 census for Marion County lists the following churches: two Methodist accommodating 800 persons and with church property valued at $10,000, one Presbyterian accommodating 200 persons with church property valued at $550, one Baptist accommodating 230 persons with church property valued at $600, one Protestant Episcopal accommodating 430 persons with church property valued at $630, one Methodist accommodating 100 persons with church property valued at $200, one Protestant Episcopal accommodating 130 persons with church property valued at $300, one Cumberland Presbyterian accommodating 300 persons with church property valued at $800, and one Cumberland Presbyterian accommodating 550 persons with church property valued at $800. William Saufley in an article on Marion County in the 1867 Texas Almanac says that there were three church buildings in Jefferson. These would be the Episcopal church built in 1867, the Methodist brick church built in 1860, and the Presbyterian chapel built in 1852. Methodist The Methodist Episcopal Church South was the first organized religious group in Jefferson because the Methodists had a well-developed system of traveling preachers who ministered to isolated settlers. The Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1784. The Methodist Episcopal Church South was formed in 1845 as a result of an 1844 split in the church over the issue of slavery. The Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in 1840, before the split. The East Texas Conference was formed in 1844, the year of the split. Earline Burnett, in her 1954 Stephen F. Austin (Nacogdoches) MS thesis “A History of the First Methodist Church, Jefferson, Texas, 1844– 1854,” cites the “Minutes of the Annual Sessions of the East Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South” to the effect that the following preachers served Jefferson: James Baldridge, 1844–47; 431 Religion Daniel Payne, 1847; Preston Hobbs, 1848; Robert Crawford, 1849; R. B. Wells, 1850; Samuel Lynch, 1851; Job Baker, 1855; L. R. Davis, 1855; and C. Hamill, 1856–58. The December 6, 1849, Texas Republican indicates that the first 1850 quarterly meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church South would be held on January 5 and 6 at Richland (about three miles east of Marshall ) and that Robert Crawford would be the preacher at Jefferson assigned by the East Texas Conference. The December 13, 1851, Texas Republican indicates that Alexander Henkle had been appointed preacher for Marshall and Jefferson at an East Texas Conference recently held in Henderson. The earliest preachers were obviously circuit preachers who served an organized congregation without a church building. Burnett indicates that a brick church was built in 1860 on the lot occupied by the present Methodist Church, but that it was preceded by another church...