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PREFACE.

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HAVE written this book because I thought I ought to write it. Some of the facts contained in it

were known only to me. Many that were known

only to me, and a few of my early associates in Texas, who are still living, would be lost when we are dead, and our time is very short.

For the past fifteen years I have often been urged to write by those who were anxious to have some of the facts and incidents connected with the early society and the rise of religion in Texas preserved. Last October I was requested to write by the Baptist State Convention of Texas.

These friends and brethren did not ask me to write a book; but the work has grown upon me, as I toiled on, until it has assumed this form.

I have written under great personal affliction and physical suffering. Had I been able to go on with ministerial duties, the work would never have

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appeared.

nothing else.

Hence I have written when I could do

The work is written in a narrative style, because I could write in no other way. My memory served me

better in this train.

My personal history in Texas, by following this plan, is interwoven with the state of society and the rise and progress of civilization and religion. If any imagine that I have intentionally made myself the hero of the book, through a spirit of selfishness and pride, let them remember that I am in my seventieth year, and conscious of the fact that "the silver cord" and "the golden bowl" will very soon be broken. My personal history is merely incidental, the remembrance of it serving to bring up the train of facts and incidents that I wished to record.

Some of the facts and anecdotes may appear silly and ludicrous; but the thoughtful reader will see that they are all illustrative of the state of things surrounding at the time.

If a humorous spirit is manifest, sometimes inducing a smile, be it remembered, that the sentiment expressed by Mr. Spurgeon, the great London preacher, in his preface to "John Ploughman," is in perfect

accordance with my view, "that there is no particular virtue in being seriously unreadable."

My indebtedness is hereby acknowledged to Elder J. W. D. Creath, who has kindly allowed me the use of a large amount of material, which he has been years collecting, relative to the rise and progress of religion in Texas.

I am under special obligation to Elder M. V. Smith, for encouragement and assistance in many ways. Most of this work has been done under his roof. The offices of kindness shown me by this family have been many. He has aided me much in collecting statistics, arranging and revising. Without the assistance of brethren Creath and Smith I could not have succeeded.

Some may suppose that more statistics relative to the state of the country, men, and organizations, ought to have been given. The limits of the book * would not admit of it. My purpose has simply been to lay the foundation for the historian. If I have succeeded in this, I have accomplished my most sanguine expectations.

Among some of the published documents in my possession are positive contradictions. In such cases

I have adopted that which I believed to be correct. If important mistakes occur in the book, and proper testimony is privately given me, I will have corrections made in future editions.

I have not been able to get a single complete file of minutes.

If the reader of this humble volume shall have gained any useful information, or shall have been impressed with the power of the Christian religion in developing good society, and in furnishing rest and peace at the end of life, I shall be more than gratified.

Trusting in God, I send the little message forth, and ask a patient and thorough examination.

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Reasons for Coming to Texas-Texas in 1834-Removal to
Mississippi - Sam. Houston and the Cherokee Indians
The Secret Meet Tennesseans - New Association - Elder
Frank Baker - The Contest - Heretics and Associational
Authority-Anti-Missionaries Start for Texas 1835

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CHAPTER II.

THE DECISION—1836.

A still small Voice - Reach Texas - An Anecdote - The Refugee-First Night in Texas - Battle at San Antonio-Nacogdoches - Aspirants Elder Daniel Parker-Texas Grievances - Our Tom-Grades of Society - The Soldiers-Outgeneralled The First Prairie "Green from the States " David Crockett-Jesse Webb - Sleepless Night - Brazos Buffalo Chase-Forty Tennesseans - First Sermon in Texas -Deacon Cartmell — Determine to Move the Family - 1836. 29

CHAPTER III.

THE WILDERNESS SHALL BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE

1836.

Homeward Bound - Change in the Climate - Nacogdoches

The Election on Sunday - A Sermon - Wm. Whitaker
Safe Return - 1836

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