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Man
with a Method
Littleton
Fowlerby
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.
Fowler was born in 1803 in Tennessee,
but his family moved to Kentucky three years later. He joined the Methodist Church
in 1819, was licensed to preach in 1826, and remained active in church work in
Kentucky and Tennessee until he volunteered for a missionary trip to Texas in
1837.
Fowler
arrived in Texas in September 1836 via the Red River with John B. Denton. Fowler
and Denton traveled south to Nacogdoches,
then east to San Augustine,
where Fowler began preaching. He obtained lots in San Augustine, Nacogdoches,
and Washington-on-the-Brazos
on which to build churches. He founded the Methodist Church in San Augustine in
March 1838, and the church in Nacogdoches soon afterward.
Fowler was also
active in public affairs. He journeyed to Houston when it hosted the government
of the Republic of Texas and while there served as chaplain of the Texas Senate;
later he was selected Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Texas, Ancient Free
& Accepted Masons. But Fowler's first commitment to spreading the Gospel focused
the majority of his public activities on church work. He became presiding elder
of the San Augustine District in 1840 when the Texas Annual Conference was organized,
and later served as presiding elder of the Lake Soda District.
Religious
education also concerned Fowler. He served as an agent of Rutersville College
in 1841-1842, and helped Francis A. Wilson and Daniel Poe establish Wesleyan College
in San Augustine. He sponsored a resolution at the General Conference in 1844
that provided for additional conferences and supported the movement that established
the United Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Fowler married Mrs. Missouri
Lockwood Porter of Nacogdoches
in 1838, and they had one son. He died on his farm in Sabine County in 1846, and
was entombed under the pulpit at McMahon's Chapel,
located between San Augustine
and Milam, Texas. |
© Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical
February
13, 2006 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
(Distributed by the East Texas Historical Association. Archie P. McDonald is director
of the Association and author of more than 20 books on Texas) |
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