| |
McMAHAN'S
CHAPEL by
Archie P. McDonald, PhD | |
Samuel
Doak McMahan moved his family from Tennessee and settled in the municipality of
San Augustine about
eleven miles south of the nascent town in 1831. Other family members, including
William Friend McMahan, established homesteads in Newton County. All the McMahan's
made contributions to the Anglicization of East Texas, but Samuel's experience
was exemplary: he affixed the family name to the first organized Protestant and
Methodist congregation in Texas.
Here is how it happened. The Rev. James
P. Stevenson, a representative of the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist
Church, was posted to the Louisiana Circuit in 1832. Stevenson headquartered near
the Sabine River just a few miles from McMahan's farm. In 1833, Stevenson accepted
an invitation to cross the river into Texas to preach to settlers who wanted to
hear the "old time religion." These services were proscribed by Mexican law, which
established Roman Catholicism as the official religion of Mexico. Assured of protection
from authorities, Stevenson held a two-day meeting in a home in Milam, a small
community near the Sabine River. McMahan attended the services, liked what he
heard, and asked Stevenson to hold additional services in his home. Stevenson
did so and returned several times during the year to a religious field anxious
for his ministry.
In September, the group organized a "religious society,"
euphony for a church, to skirt Mexican legal prohibition of formal Protestant
worship. Actually, this was a good-will gesture. There is little evidence of government
attempts to interfere with Texas settler's worship practices or to supply them
with Catholic churches or priests east of San Antonio. The "society" had 48 members
when it was organized, and McMahan served as "class leader." The Rev. Henry Stephenson,
Stevenson's successor in the Louisiana Circuit, reorganized the society in McMahan's
home, which became known as McMahan's Chapel.
Protestant
religious activity increased in Texas after the successful Texas Revolution. In
1838, the Mississippi Conference created the Texas Mission District and assigned
the Rev. Littleton Fowler to lead it. Fowler lived near McMahan's Chapel and took
special interest in its development. In 1839 he helped build a log structure for
the church, which was the first of three wooden predecessors of the small brick
chapel erected in 1956. Fowler, McMahan, and other pioneers of Methodism are buried
in the church cemetery.
In 1970, the general conference of the Methodist
Church named McMahan's Chapel as one of three official United Methodist landmarks.
It serves yet as a house of worship, and may be visited for that purpose by driving
east from San Augustine on Highway 21 and turning onto Spur 35.
All
Things Historical
July
21-27, 2002 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
Published with permission
Forum:
My husband and I are caretakers for McMahan Chapel near San Augustine and as a
writer myself, I was delighted to find Mr. McDonald's article on the chapel included
in your website. There are a couple of inaccuracies, though, that I feel need
to be corrected.
The first is that Rev. Littleton Fowler is not buried
in the cemetery at McMahan Chapel as the article states. Instead, he was buried
at own request under the pulpit inside the chapel and has remained there since
his death despite the construction of several buildings that replaced the original.
The second error is on the brick building which was actually dedicated in 1949,
not 1959 as the article states.
I enjoyed Mr. McDonald's stories very
much and just wanted to take a moment to correct these errors. Sincerely, Patti
Murr, August 28, 2004
See Also:
Man with a Method by
Archie P. McDonald
"Long before winning fame and martyrdom at the
Alamo, William Barret Travis wrote to tell Methodist leaders in the United States
how badly Texas needed their attention. Samuel Doak McMahon held the first meeting
of Methodists in Texas in his home, located ten or so miles east of San Augustine,
in 1832, but the arrival of Littleton Fowler in 1837 was the first authorized
Methodist activity there..."
(Archie
McDonald is author of Pioneers, Poke Sallet and Politics with Bob Bowman. It is
available through the East Texas Historical Association, Nacogdoches) |
|
|
