By Marc Smith
Having been assured by some of my own relatives that our family has been members of the church of Christ in Texas for 8 generations, I undertake to tell a brief history of how this came about. Many other Christians can tell similar accounts. I will attempt to rustle up some sources and will relate some history regarding this; which is almost 200 years old.
Born in New Jersey on April 17, 1776, Collin McKinney, son of the patriot Daniel McKinney who participated in the famous Boston Tea Party, was also an avid lover of freedom. He brought his family to just west of what is now Texarkana, Texas on September 15, 1824. He had left the Baptist church in 1821 and was converted to the truth, renouncing the Baptist faith under the teaching of Barton W. Stone in Elkton, Kentucky. This frontiersman was very instrumental in the War for Texas Independence from Mexico. However, before the revolution, it is said that he and his fellow worshippers never worshipped in a church building or organized a congregation of the Lord's people because it was against Mexican law to do so. He respected the law of the land, though it was unfair. McKinney was not a gospel preacher ("History of Texas 1685-1892" p. 14).
The first gospel preacher to arrive in Texas is thought to have been William P. Defee, a physician by profession. Born in North Carolina in 1798 of Hugenot ancestry, he arrived in East Texas in 1833. Just as McKinney had refrained from doing, Defee for fear of the Catholic authorities (and Mexican law) did not organize a congregation of the Lord's people, either, until after the beginning of the Texas War of Independence. Afterwards he preached all over East Texas as scant articles he submitted to religious journals of the day reveal.
Credit is given to Mansil W. Matthews, another physician, teacher, and preacher for getting the first congregation to be established in Texas. From his home country, he recruited a band of "adventurers" in North Alabama to accompany him to "the promised land." Most of these were members of the church of Christ and they set out in 1835 by wagon and on horseback to come to Texas. It is said that Davy Crockett accompanied this same band as far as Memphis, Tennessee. The group conducted worship services each Sunday as they traveled and became known as the "church on horseback and wheels." ("Historical Sketches," XLVIII, April, 1936, pp. 1-2).
On the first Sunday after their arrival at Ft. Clark or Clarksville, Texas, on January 17, 1836, this band of folks met for worship and constituted the first congregation of the Lord's people in Texas. All the Mexican soldiers and Catholic functionaries had withdrawn back to Mexico from North and East Texas since the outbreak of the Revolution. The Mexicans were not there to interfere with the newly organized church and the faithful could worship without fear of any molestation from the Mexican authorities. No other religion but Roman Catholicism was sanctioned under the law of Mexico during this time. The absence of these officials allowed probably caused these people to simply feel that the outcome of the war would be independence for Texas and so religious freedom would be allowed just like it had been in U.S. The first place of worship these hardy Christians utilized was said to be a long, low, and rambling log structure that was actually part of Ft. Clark. As soon as the first winter had passed, they left these dingy accommodations and began meeting under a brush arbor. Matthews went on to serve as a surgeon in the Texas Army, with distinction. (Ibid, p. 4)
These Alabamians were only the first of Christians to come to Texas. Many others came from other areas of the U. S. but a disproportionately large number were from Alabama. This explains why so many of us multi-generational Christians in Texas can often trace the origin of our family lines as well as our faith back to Alabama. 1 Cor 4:15, "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.