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| 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. |
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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. |
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McMahan
Chapel by Bob Bowman
The news that San Augustine businessman Jack
Maund has contributed $100,000 for a museum and events center at McMahan Chapel
Methodist Church has focused new attention on one of East Texas’ most historic
churches... |
All
Things Historical
July 21-27, 2002 column
A syndicated column in over 70 East Texas newspapers
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
Related Article:
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) |
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