Journal of the Central Texas Conference, First Annual Session, Methodist Episcopal Church South Page: 28
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CENTRAL TEXAS CONFERENCE JOURNAL.
where they lived until the Civil War. Brother Mills joined the Confederate
Army in 1861 and served the entire four years as a brave and faithful soldier
of his country. After the war he again settled in Erath County and lived
in Hood County at the time of its organization. In 1867 he moved to Mc-
Lennan County, where he was married in November, 1868, to Miss Sarah
Ann Herring. He was converted under the ministry of Rev. W. T. Melugin
on the second ;Sunday in July, 1871, and joined the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, on the Monday following. He was licensed to exhort by the
Quarterly Conference of the Bosqueville Circuit, Northwest Texas Con-
ference, May 10, 1873, W. R. D. Stockton, presiding elder. Bro. Mills, feel-
ing the great call to the ministry, was licensed to preach November 8, 1873,
by tihe same Quarterly Conference and Presiding Elder who gave him license
to exhort. He was admitted on trial into the Northwest Texas Conference at
Corsicara in the fall of 1875. He was ordained deacon at Waco in 1877 by
Bishop VWightrnaa and received in full connection into the Annual Confer-
once. In 1879 he was ordained elder by Bishop McTyeire at Fort Y Worth.
Brother Mills served the following charges: Jonesboro Circuit, two years;
Centerville Circuit, one year; Glenrose Circuit, one year; Paluxy Circuit, two
years; Eastland Mission, three years; Palo Pinto Circuit, one year; Acton
Circuit, two years; Oenaville Circuit, two years; Killeen Circuit, two years;
Jonesboro Circuit, one year; Copperas Cove Circuit, one year; Lometa Cir-
cuit, two years: Mullin Circuit, one year; Ballinger Mission, two years; Mor-
gan Mission, one year. These dates and places tell the story of twenty-four
years of labor by one of the most faithful and devoted servants of God.
Uncomplainingly he went at the command of the church he loved so well.
No matter hobw hard the work was, he wnas never known to murmur about
his lot. This list of appointmelts will show that he labored always on
meager salaries. But his fervent love for the church, his Christ-like passion
for the souls of men and his zeal for the Master buoyed him up under all
difficulties. Brother Mills was an humble, timid man. I never remember
hearing him speak on the Conference floor other than to make his report.
He said: "I have never missed an Annual Conference, but two District Con-
ferences and two Quarterly Conferences, and but very few appointments."
Just before his death he manifested great interest in his home church. In
1899, at the Conference held at Cleburne he was granted the superannuate
relation. He then moved with his family to Copperas Cove, where he lived
till September 8, 1910, when God said: "It is enough," and took him to
heaven. His faithful and devoted wife still lives there, but is in very feeble
health. For her and the children we ask the prayers of the church. Brother
Mills left eight children living, and three preceded him to the better world.
The children were all with him when he died, except Mrs. E. P. Newsom,
wife of Rev. E. P. Newsom, Chaplain in the U. S. Navy, at New York.
Before he died Brother Mills told his pastor, Rev. J. W. Bowden, to tell the
brethren at conference how it was with him at Jordan's brink. Having
lived the allotted three-score-years-and-ten, he passed away in great peace,
just as those of us who knew him expected that he would do. The God who
had given him grace to endure the hardships of thirty-six years in the gospel
ministry gave also his rod and his staff to comfort him as he passed
through the valley of the shadow of death, and he was made to fear no evil.
The funeral service was conducted by the writer, assisted by Rev. J. W.
Bowden, his pastor; Rev. B. A. Evans, of Killeen Station; and Rev. S. P.
Gilmour, of Copperas Cove Mission. ,S. J. VAUGHAN.28
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Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Journal of the Central Texas Conference, First Annual Session, Methodist Episcopal Church South, periodical, November 1910; Waco, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth49824/m1/28/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Archives of the Central Texas Conference United Methodist Church.