Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938 Page: 34 of 264
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PAGE TEN-SECTION A
AMARILLO SUNDAY NEWS AND GLOBE. AMARILLO, TEXAS.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY EDITION. 1P38.
I
Protestant Church History
By HERBERT & CAROLYN
TIMMONS
Before churches In Texas came
the pioneer ministers, devout, brave
men of every denomination. The
best testimony to their faith and
good works are the surprisingly
early dates of church organizations
in Texas.
Which denomination came first?
That is an insignificant question.
These men saw more than lines of
creed and doctrines; they labored
together.
M. E. M. Davis in "Under Six
Flags," writes that a Methodist
minister. Henry Stephenson, preach-
ed under an elm tree in Nacog-
doches in 1812. It Is known that ft
"Methodist Society" was organized
In 1817 with a Mr. Tidwell as lead-
er. The first Methodist church was
organized in Sabine County by Rev.
James P. Stephenson In 1833. San
Augustine had the second Methodist
church, organized by Rev. Henry j founded. It Is now the oldest mis-
Stephenson in 1834. The Texas j sionary church in existence in the
Conference of the Methodist Eplsco- state.
pal Church. South, was organized j The first Baptist a.ssociation was
Dec. 25, 1840. at Rutersville, Pay- formed In Austin County on the 8th
ette County, Texas. J day of October, 1840, with messen-
Rev. Sumner Bacon and Rev. A. ! gers present from Independence,
organized at Matagroda Jan.
1849.
Rev. Freeman Smalley was the
first Baptist known to hire
preached in Texas. Coming up the
Red River on foot for 500 miles,
Reverend Smalley preached in the
home of William Newman, probably
in 1822.
The next name among early Bap-
tist ministers is Rev. Joseph Bay*,
who preached in the home of Moses
Shipman, near San Felipe, In 1825.
The first Baptist church organ-
ized was the Providence Primitive
Church of Colorado River, founded
in 1834, 15 miles below the present
town of Bastrop, with Rev. Abner
Smith in charge.
The ilrst Missionary Baptist
church was organized with eight
members at Washington on the
Brazos by the Rev. Z. N. Morrell in
1837. The next year Old North
Church, near Nacogdoches, was
J. McGown were laboring in
Texas In 1835 for their loved Cum-
berland Presbyterian Church. The
Travis and La Grange.
The first known date of Sunday
school organization in Texas Is 1829,
Texas Presbyterian was formed at j when Thomas G. Pilgrim, a Baptist
Rev. Bacon's home Nov. 27, 1837. deacon at. San Felipe, formed a Sun-
Thls Presbyterian was in all prob- day school with 32 enrolled. This
ability the first religious judicial organization was disbanded by the
organization in Texas. Ministers impresario in a short time, but in
forming it were Reverend Bacon,
from the Louisiana Presbytery, Rev.
Mitchell Smith from the Talladega
Presbytery and Rev. Amos Roark
from the Hatcher Presbytery. The
first Protestant minister ordained
in Texas, Rev. Richard Overton
Watkins was ordained by the Texas
Presbytery In 1840. The
Synod, composed of the
1839 Mr. Pilgrim moved to Gon
zales where he organized a Sunday
school and served as its superin-
tendent for more than 30 eyars.
When the first prayer meeting
was held in Texas can never be
known, for it is certain that when
the deeply religious pioneers who
Texas ! founded Texas visited in each oth-
Texas | er's homes and when they were
Presbytery, the Red River Presby- | gathered together to withstand In-
terv and the Colorado (river) Pres-J dian attacks, they knelt around a
bytery. held its opening session on | crude hearth or on the ground to
Thursday before the first Sabbath ask God's blessing.
In March, 1843, at the camp ground First known regular prayer meet-
near the town of Nacogdoches, Re- [ ing services were conducted by Mrs.
public of Texas. i Mossle Millard about 1833. Gath-
The Presbyterian Church, distinct cred with a few neighbor women and
from the Cumberland Presbyterian children under a clump of trees
Church, organized its first church entirely surrounded by underbrush,
in Texas in 1838 at San Augustine, near Nacogdoches, the group was
with Rev. Hugh Wilson as minister. ' hiding out from Indian attack while
Churches at Galveston and Hous- i their husbands and fathers chased
ton were organized by Rev, John the raiders. The women prayed,
McCullough and Rev. W. Y. Allen with Mrs. Millard leading. From
at about, the same date. The Brazos I this prayer service, regular prayer
Presbytery was formed on April 3, j meeting attended by both men and
1840. women followed. As the grove was
As the Christian Chruch had no i well hidden, it was chosen as a
general organization and preserved meeting place until the organization
no records in its early days, it is j of Old North Church.
difficult to trace the beginnings of ...
its existence in Texas. It is known j The first, revival meeting, or pro-
however, that ministers of the Chris- j tracted meeting as they were called
tian denomination were in Texas in i then, was conducted by ministers
1840-41. Among the earliest of I of the Methodist, Baptist and Cum-
these were Rev. Giles, on the Colo- berland Presbyterian churches and
rado River, Rev. Mansel Matthews, > was held at Washington on the
in North Texas, and Reverend Mc- i Brazos in 1338. The ministers were
Clusky in Bowie County. , Rev. Robert, Alexander, Methodist:
* * * I Reverend Morrell, Baptist; Reverend
Rev. Caleb S. Ives, an Episcopal Smith, of the Protestant Methodist,
minister, came from Mobile, Ala , in Church; and Rev. Amos Roark and
1838 to found ft school and estab-j Rev. Andrew J McGown of the
lish the Episcopal Church at, Mat.a- 'Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
gorda. The Episcopal diocese was I Reverend Morrpll has written an
interesting account of the beginning
of these meetings, which were held
in a vacant billiard room. There
was organized opposition to the
meetings, so Reverened Morrell was
not surprised to see a man stand-
ing near the door holding a chicken
by the head. Rev. Morrell also saw
a tipey negro just outside a window.
He knew something was up, so decid-
ed he needed air close by a window,
but he kept his eye on the man with
the chicken. As the service opened
and Reverend Alexander lined out
the hymn all was quiet. But when
the congregation arose to sing, a dls-
rordant squawk from the old hen
disrupted the singing. Then the
negro stuck his head through the
window and shouted, "Glory to
God!" while the riffraff outside an-
swered "Amen, Amen," Reverend
Alexander, a man who stood almost
7 feet, straightened his shoulders but
gave no notice as he lined the next
verse. Reverend Morrell, who always
carried a hickory walking stick with
a buckhorn handle, stood quietly by
the window. When the negro's head
appeared he used the walking stick
quite effectively. Then striding up
to the man with the chicken, he
said, "Please tell your friends out-
side that we preachers have even
more dangerous weapons than hick-
ory sticks, and we are going to hold
services." The account continues to
say Rev. Amos Roark preached a
powerful sermon that night and
there was no more disturbance
throughout the meeting.
Unswerving in their zeal for their
holy railing, pioneer preachers met
the situation as it came, often in an
amusing manner. Once, Rev. John
Adams, a Methodist preacher, was
kneeling with a family around the
hearth of their home, where the
cooking was done at. the fireplace.
A plate of fried chicken was sit-
ting on the hearth to keep warm.
As Reverened Adams prayed, the
family dog crept stealthily toward
the chicken. Reverend Adams
watched as well as prayed,
however, so he Just reached
out and caught, the dog bv the
tail, holding him firmly until the
Pi ay er came to its long end.
Tradition tells how Reverend Ba-
con met, the situation when he had
Triple Service
The only triple service eating
house in the Southwest and one of
the very few in the United States,
is the claim made for the Silver
Grill by Dewey Ashcroft, its owner
and manager.
The Silver Grill offers table and
booth service, counter service and
cafeteria service, besides Individual
dining rooms and banquet room.
"There are numerous places giving
two services," says Mr. Ashcroft,
"but there are very few that offer
the eating public its choice of three
services."
The Silver Grill, located at 400
Polk Street, has a personnel of 56
persons and gives 24-hour service
every day in the year. It has ft 100-
foot frontage and 140-foot, depth,
with enormous basement, and second
floor space. It is capable of serv-
ing 345 persons at a single sitting
no wine for sacrament. There were
pokeberrles near, so the minister
crushed them and used them to
color water. Perhaps he did not
really turn water into wine, but he
met, the situation.
These stories are amusing, but no
one takes lightly the work of the
pioneer ministers of every denom-
ination in Texas. They labored
well, and each church of today has
a. noble heritage, a challenge to the
highest and best in every heart to
hold high the standard they so
worthily bore.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Texas Methodist Centennial
Year Book." compiled by Rev.
Olin N. Nail, Methodist Publish-
ing Company, Dallas.
"History of Methodism In Tex-
as'' Phelan, Cokesbury Press.
"Centennial Story of Texas Bap-
tists," Executive Baptist Conven-
tion, Dallas.
"Fuller's History of Texas Bap-
tists" giving early history of oth-
er denominations.
"Early Cumberland History In
Texas" pamphlet by Reverend
Templeton.
Interview with Bishop E. Cecil
Seaman.
and often Is taxed to capacity. The
entire building Is electrically cooled
by washed air, the air being com-
pletely changed every three min-
utes.
Besides Its enormous kitchen, the
plant houses its own bake shop,
where breads, pies and cakes are
made; an electrlo refrigerator ca-
pable of storing six whole beeves
at one time, and an immense store
room carrying from 500 to 700 cases
of fruits and vegetables.
The plant is electrically equipped
throughout, with electric refrigera-
tion, electric potato peelers, meat
slicers, bread sllcers, bread miners,
bread warmers, toasters, and electric
dish washing machines using hot
water and steam, assuring speed
and absolute sanitation.
The kitchen help numbers 25
persons. All vegetables are pre-
pared by women cooks. The food
served in the dining rooms, coffee
shop and cafeteria is prepared by
the same people.
Mr. Ashcroft entered the restau-
rant business in Amarillo in Novem-
ber, 1926, when he purchased
Crean's Cafeteria, at 112 East Third
Avenue, and changed the name to
Silver Grill. At. that time he em-
ployed 20 people.
Four years later, Mr. Ashcroft
moved his business to 318 Polk
Street, where he was able to treble
his floor spare and operate both a
cafeteria and coffee shop. Here
he employed about 50 people. His
air conditioning system at that lo-
cation was the first In Amarillo.
In November, 1935, the Silver
Grill was moved to its present lo-
cation, and floor space was In-
creased by 25.000 square feet.
Mr. Ashcroft's mother, Mrs, Donla
Ovrton, is associated with him in
the business. He started in the
cafeteria business with her in Colo-
rado Springs, Colo, when he re-
turned home at the close of the
World Whr.
Waller Dyer: "I once paid $20 for
a quart, of whiskey. That was at
Rock House ... I rode in a race for j
a $5 pair of boots, broke my arm and
| it, cast me $2,000 before I got i
through with It."
They Killed Us
By EDNA KAHLBAU
The old man who was saved from the buffalo bull by the tree
was again spinning yarns to credulous listeners. On this occasion
he was telling of Indian fights he had been through. He said that
once he was in a fight In which the whites, few in- number against
an overwhelming army of redskins, were fighting valiantly, as usual.
They were surrounded, trapped in a canyon, out of water, food and
almost out of ammunition. Indians peeked from behind every rock.
Things were becoming so tense, and the old man was prolonging the
torture so expertly, that one of the ladies asked in an awed voice:
"What happened?"
"They killed us all!" he shouted fiercely.
Flow
ers
Mrs. C. C. Cunningham, owner of
the Cunningham Floral Company,
came to Amarillo with her husband
36 years ago from Comanche, and
engaged in the nursery stock busi-
ness for n number of years before
opening their first greenhouse In
1917.
It was located at 1909 Van Buren
Street until 1922, then moved to its
present location, 2511 West Sixth
Avenue.
Upward of 12,500 square feet Is
covered by the present greenhouse,
or more than double the original
plant, and seven persons are em-
ployed now as compared to only
two at the beginning.
The Cunningham Floral Com-
pany has several claims to distinc-
tion. Among them was the honor
of making the largest bouquet in
the world, which was presented to
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Mother-
In-Law day. Also, It was Bill
Beechler, manager, who a few years
ago developed seedless tomatoes,
with experiments extending over a
period of four and a half years.
These were introduced about three
years ago, and seedless tomato
plants ate now grown from cuttings
and sold for garden use. This
achievement gained notice in Rip-
ley's Bclieve-It-or-Not cartoon, re-
sulting in a flood of letter* from
all parts of the world.
The company serves th« entira
Panhandl# area with direct ahip-
ments and specializes in distant
deliveries. Mrs. Cunningham claim*
her business Is the oldest floral
business here In point of continuous
operation. Unable to supply their
trade from the greenhouse here, the
firm ships In great quantities of
flowers from Fort Worth, Denver
and California, and wholesales to
florists over a three-state area.
Beechler, with the Cunningham
Floral Company since 1922, when
he came here from CrawfordfivllJe,
Ind., is active in civic affairs, hav-
ing been vice president, official
greeter. and chairman of the re-
ception ' committee of the Trl-State
Fair for nine years. He also has
been a director of the Chamber of
Commerce and Its good will am-
bassador for several years. He is
past president of the San Jacinto
Kiwanls Club, and was Its first
president and one of Its organizers.
Mrs. Cunningham is active In the
Amarillo Mothcr-in-Law Club, of
which she was secretary for two
years, and is a member of the
board of directors now. She also
is a member of the Business Pro-
fessional Women's Club, the D. A.
R., the U. D. C„ and holds life
membership in the Society of
American Florists and Ornamental
Horticulturists of America.
Representatives of the firm at-
tend and take part, in all state and
national florists' conventions.
Mr. Cunningham's death occurred
in 1924, t.wo years after the new
greenhouse was constructed and
occupied.
W, T. Twynman: "Frank Lowrev
rame from Louisiana to the ranch
and told Walsh that he was a
j broncho rider. Walsh suspected that
| Frank couldn't ride, so he gave him
Cricket, who was gentle. Lowrel
spurred Cricket until he pitched him
| six times in one round-up . . .
Frank got to a be good cowman."
PALEONTOLOGY
(Continued From Page 6)
life forms into oblivion far faster
than old Mother Nature ever did.
There may be such a thing a3 na-
tural balance and man yet be the
cause of hts own destruction.
It remains to be seen what he will 'â–
do with the game life of a country
that a hundred years ago stood sec- i
(8) Principles of Geology, Jules
Grabeau, McMillan Co., New York.
(9i Osteology of Reptiles, by C.
Willston, McMillan Co.
(10) Introduction to Fossils, by
H. W. Shiner, McMillan Co.
(11) Floyd Studer, personal In-
terview.
(12) The Fresh Water Tertiary
of Northwestern Texas, by J. W.
• 'V
ELEPHANTS, weird-looking horses and giant rhinocer-
oses roamed the plains country, too. Left to right, ele-
phant tooth, horse tooth in matrix, and rhinoceros tooth.
These specimens were found in Hemphill County.
ond only to Africa in the amount i
and variety of animal life.
(1). A Great Permian Delta and
its Vertebrate Life by Dr. E. C.
Case Reprinted from the. Popular
Science Monthly, December, 1908.
12). Floyd V. Studer, personal
interview.
(3) Principles of Stratigraphy,
by Jules Grabeau, Charles Scrlb-
ners.
(4) Same as (1).
<5) Indications of a Cotylosaur
and of a New Form of Fish From i
the Tralssic of Texas, by E. C.
Case, U. of Michigan Series, Vol.
Ill, No. 2.
(6) Same as (1).
(7) Ibid.
Gidley Amer. Museum of Nat.
History, Vol. XIII, Art. XIII.
(13) .Same as (1).
(14) Same as (12).
(15) Equidae From the Pliocene
of Texas, by R. A. Stirton, U. of
Cal. Bulletin No. 26.
(161 A New Glyptodont From
the Pliocene of Texas, by F. H.
Osburn, Bulletin Amer. Museum
Nat. Hist. Vol. XIX, Art. XVII.
(17) Organ Evolution, by R. S.
Lull, McMillan Co.
(18) Same as (17).
(19) A New Specie of Pleis-
tocene Horse From the Staked
Plains of Texas, J. W. Gidley, 1900,
Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. XIX,
Art. XXVI.
MARTIN
PRINTING COMPANY
ALL KINDS
COMMERCIAL
PRINTING
510-A
North Fillmora
2-1916
PHONE
H. B. MARTIN, Mgr.
39 Year* in Amarillo
55 Yearj in West Texai
• WHERE AMARILLO
Air'Conditione
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Coffee Shop—Cafeteria
400 POLK STREET
Dewey B. Ashcroft, Manager
Top, left to right: I,ena Anthony, treasurer; Cora life Greeley,
head waitress; Florence Randolph, cafeteria supervisor and heart
of Mind department,
Bottom, left to right; Benny Pate, head baker; Jack Phillips,
head chef.
• " •; • ■" .
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Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938, newspaper, August 14, 1938; Amarillo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299921/m1/34/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Library, Borger Branch.