Reminiscences of Rev. Jno. H. McLean, A.M., D.D

Dedication

To those nearest and dearest: Mrs. Olivia Mc- Dugald McLean, a model home-keeper, devoted wife, mother and Christian, who has contributed so much to my happiness and comfort ; made possible any humble service I may have rendered to others; and to our dear children, Marvin, Eunice, Margaret, Ann, Olivia, John, William, McDugald, and Mary (though dead, yet living in our hearts and hopes) ; who have ever been obedient and respectful; in childhood were the joy of the home, and in mature life are sympathetic, kind and helpful. To these all with the prayer and hope that we may finally live together in our Father's house above, this volume is affectionately dedicated.

By the Author.

S. M. U., Dallas, Texas.

Contents

Page I. Foreword 1

II. Forebears 7

III. Rudeness of the Times 15

Foreword

At a belated day, nearing my four score, I have enterprised a book of reminiscences, solicitous friends, in part, being responsible for the venture. A claim for such service, at my hands, finds its apology in the circumstance of my being one of the very few remaining links that bind the present generation with the past — 1918 with 1838 — the State with the Republic. This backward look, hyphenating the present and the past, brings a sense of loneliness in the consciousness of missing friends, expressed somewhat by wrestling Jacob in one of Charles Wesley's hymns:

"My company before me is gone, And I am left alone."

Or, as Tom Moore puts it:

"I feel like one who treads alone

Some banquet hall deserted;

Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead,

And all but me departed.'

a

My life in Texas since 1839, dating back to the days of the Republic, and fifty-five of these years having been spent in the active duties of the Itinerant Methodist ministry, has brought me in contact with many of the factors of church and, state that contributed to the development of this great commonwealth along economic, social, civic and religious lines, and it may be of interest to note differences then ,and now — 1839 contrasted with 1918 — with a recital of incidents by the way and review of some of the prominent actors.

At a glance we are confronted with the astounding fact that in the course of a single lifetime — a wilderness wild, the roam and range of beasts and barbarians, has been transformed into a great State, fourth in rank of forty-eight free and independent States, constituting the greatest government the sun has yet shown upon. In noting some of the prime causes contributing to this remarkable development, we are impressed with the broad domain, civil and religious liberty, and sterling citizenship.

The scenes of activity lie within the temperate zone — the theater of the greatest men and achievements that adorn the pages of history. Within this zone man and nature are at their best, and a choice spot of this heaven-favored reservation is Texas — comprising 264,211 square miles of territory, nearly 11 degrees in latitude and more than 13 in longitude — one-third larger than Germany — and compared with sister States, imagine a hinge on the eastern border, say at Texarkana, and revolving the State from west to east, it would cover seven intervening States and submerge El Paso and the western border in the Atlantic Ocean. Great not only in territorial extent, but in variety of soil, climate, productions and pursuits, it affords employment for all classes of citizens, from the manual laborer to the learned professions.

However much natural resources may have con-

Foreword 3

tributed to the rapid growth of Texas, a still greater incentive to permanent progress is found in the civil and religious liberty enjoyed by its citizens. Superiority in these respects may be seen by contrasting the progress and prosperity of Texas with the non-progressive, apathetic condition of Mexico — remembering that eighty-two years ago we were a part of that domain and government. But in 1836, Texas caught a new vision when by the illustrious Houston and his worthy compatriots it was wrested from the tyrannical grasp of Mexico, dominated by Romish hierarchy, and organized into a democracy — a government of the people, for the people and by the people — with equal rights to all, and special privileges to none. Thus supplanting a government by the few and for the few, with one contemplating the greatest good for the greatest number.

On this divine platform of equal rights; for God is no respecter of persons (He made of^me blood all nations) we find the greatest incentive to action and surest foundation for the development of the highest types of political and religious manhood. One of the chief factors in the making of a man is found in the recognition and development of his God-given individuality, and not in treating him as pith made to fit any mold, but as having distinct powers and possibilities.

One other fact that figured no little in the brilliant history of Texas is to be found in the type of its early citizenship. The hazard and hardships attendant upon early times in Texas deterred the faint-hearted from coming, and called out men of dash and daring, no place for reeds shaken by the wind, or men in soft raiment. In those eventful days when the foundation of our social and civil fabric was being laid, if Ahab chanced to appear upon the scene of action, he was confronted by Elijah — Herod by John the Baptist — Greek met Greek in every sphere of life. If I may coin an expression to suit the case — the first comers were an "omnium gatherum" thrown together from different quarters and for different purposes ; some for fortune, some for fame, some for homes and broad domain ; some, alas, left their country for their country's good, to find a safe retreat from the terrors of the law, where they might not be molested or made afraid in the exercise of the widest range of personal liberty These early actors of church and state were men of native and acquired ability, riot a few were college-bred. In the ministry were such men of learning as Martin Ruter, D. D., educator and preacher, and the first to receive the doctorate on this side of the Atlantic; Thomas O. Summers, D. D., of varied learning and a writer of no mean dictinction; Abel Stephens, D. D., distinguished church historian; J. W. P. McKenzie, D. D., and Rufus Burleson, D. D., distinguished educators; Jesse Boring, D. D., great preacher; Orcenith Fisher, D. D., preacher and controversialist; Daniel Baker, D. D., preacher and teacher; Chauncey Richardson, preacher, teacher and editor ; and a great number of strong, well-informed men, like Fowler, Alexander, Thrall, Burks, Fields, DeVilbiss, Whipple, Kinney, Irvine, Tul-

Foreword 5

lis, S. A. Williams, W. K. Wilson, Kennon, and others too numerous to mention. Among the statesmen were also men of scholastic attainment: Rusk, Henderson, Anson Jones, Lamar, Williamson, known as Three-Leg-Willie, Hill, Hemphill, Dr. Ashbell Smith (who entertained Commodore Vanderbilt in early days at his home in South Texas), Wheeler, Roberts — and others of great native and acquired ability, as Houston, Burleson, Reagan, Ochiltree, Burnet and Deaf Smith. In truth those who shaped the early fortunes of Texas were in the main intellectual and physical stalwarts, and I regret to say disparage some of their successors of the present time.

It must be said, however, that the most potent forces of our cherished civilization are to be found, first of all, in the careful home training, in the competent, painstaking school teacher, and faithful, efficient minister of the gospel. These are the educative forces that mould character and develop sentiment and conviction. Lawmakers are the conspicuous factors that mould into statutory enactment the sentiments and convictions furnished to their hands from these original, formative sources; and as all must know, most of our radical legislation of a reformatory character springs primarily from the teachings of the home, the school, and the pulpit; and to these sources of social and civic righteousness, rather than to the lawmaker, are we indebted for wholesome legislation. The legislator is the echo of public sentiment — not the maker. In a democracy, law in the last analysis is but the will of the peopie — written or unwritten. Like the secret force of gravitation governing the natural world, is the silent influence of the home, the school, and the pulpit in social, civil, and religious life, and in noting the sources of our success we cannot overlook these most potent influences, whilst giving due credit to the alert statesman that coins wholesome sentiment into wise legislation. With our splendid patrimony of broad acres, salubrious clime, variety of products and pursuits, sheltered by the broad dome of democracy — descendants and successors of noble sires — we are to be congratulated on our heritage of citizenship in Texas and of the United States.

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land !

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd As home his footsteps he hath turn'd

From wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go mark him well ! For him no minstrel raptures swell ; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim — Despite those titles, power and pelf, The wretch, concentrated all in self, Living shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

>f

II. Forbears

My paternal grandfather, John McLean, came from the Isle of Jura, Scotland, about 1797, being about eighteen years of age, and located first in what was then Cumberland County, North Carolina, where he later met and married Miss Mary Ferguson, about 1799 ; a few years later he moved to Robeson County and settled permanently near what is now Maxton — contraction for Mackstown, or town of the Macks — a preponderance of the citizens being of Scotch descent. He was a school teacher by profession and carried a strap in his pocket — then thought to be an indispensable appendage to the profession — and signed himself "John McLean, S. M." as it appears engraven on the tombstone of his wife, "Here lyeth Mary Mc- Lean, consort of John McLean, S. M." I was puzzled to know what "S. M." meant as I read the inscription on my first visit to the ancestral home in 1906, but upon inquiry learned that it stood for "School Master," and this symbol of pedagogy has attached to members of the family down to this, the fourth generation. On this visit it was gratifying to make the acquaintance of the Congressman representing that district, whose father had been a pupil of my grandfather, and just how much the strap contributed to the outcome of that family, time may never disclose, but the teacher's strap rivals mother's slipper in the following lines:

"Lots of men would have left their foot-prints,

Time's eternal sands to grace, Had they gotten mother's slipper

At the proper time and place."

He was the father of eleven children — Margaret, Catherine, Charles, John, Marion, Allen, Lauchlin, Christian, Daniel, James, and Nancy by a second wife — a Miss McLaughlin. Two of these died before reaching maturity — Marion and Christian. All were reared on the old homestead near Maxton, and in 1906 the house, made of heart pine lumber and after nearly one hundred years of use, was well preserved and tenanted. The sons all bore the maiden name of their mother — Ferguson— as a middle name. My grandfather is buried near Maxton in the old family graveyard with his two wives and some of their descendants.

Four of the sons emigrated to Mississippi, my father, Allen Ferguson McLean, and two brothers, Charles and Daniel, about the year 1833; James the youngest brother came later. My father first located in Gallatin, Copiah County, his brothers in Jefferson County, in a community known as Union Church, where Charles engaged in merchandise and Daniel was a practicing physician. Here I met a number of worthy descendants on my visit in 1906.

My Mother,

MRS. ANN ROSE McLEAN,

As a Bride of Fifteen.

Forebears 9

My father was educated at Princeton University for a Presbyterian preacher, but became a teacher instead. One daughter, Catherine, married a McLean and emigrated to Thomasville, Georgia. The others remained in the old community in and about Maxton. I found them to be staunch Presbyterians, true to their ancestral faith and highly respected. My father engaged in teaching in Gallatin and on January 18, 1835, was wedded to my mother, Miss Ann Rose, daughter of Capt. William Pinkney and Mary Vardaman Rose, and later moved to Hinds County Of this union two sons were born, William Pinkney McLean, August 9, 1836, and John Howell McLean, September 24, 1838. Both were born in Hinds County. My father died December 2, 1838, soon after my birth, and is buried in Hinds County, not far from Crystal Springs.

My maternal great-grandfather, Major John Rose, was a Revolutionary sire, and fought under General Washington. He married Miss Mary Washington, a relative of the General. They had six sons born to them — Washington, John, Granville, William, Pleasants and Howell — and for a time lived in Norfh Carolina, but later moved to Georgia. Major Rose is buried at Eatonton, Ga., as we learn from the war records at Washington. My grandfather, Capt. William Pinkney Rose, was born in Oxford, North Carolina, April 24, 1787, but was reared to young manhood in Georgia. He served in the War of 1812 under General Jackson, and was commander of a comjo Reminiscences

pany in the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. He witnessed during the battle a close consultation between Generals Jackson, Claiborne and the pirate Lafitte, who espoused the cause of the United States.

The year following, 1816, he married my grandmother, Mrs. Mary Vardaman Smith, of Washington Parish, Louisiana. She was a young widow with one child, a son, Vardaman Smith, who died in early manhood. Of this union nine children were born, John Washington, Mary, Ann, Preston, Missouri, Elizabeth, Ripley, Draton and Peninah. Three: Missouri, Draton and Peninah, did not reach their majority. Grandfather moved from Louisiana to Mississippi in 1823, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1832 that framed the second Constitution of Mississippi, and served later as a legislator.

My grandmother Rose was a woman of splendid Christian character, a Methodist, and all her children became members of that communion. One son was saved from skepticism by reason of his great admiration for her uniform Christian character, saying on his deathbed that his mother's life was one argument for the reality of religion that he could never gainsay. Three of her grandnephews became United States Senators — F. M. Cockrell of Missouri, H. M. Money and J. K. Vardaman of Mississippi — another was a Congressman, Jeremiah Vardaman Cockrell of Texas, named for her brother, Jeremiah Varda-

My Grandmother, MRS. MARY VARDAMAN ROSE.

1797-1863.

Forbears 1 1

man. A grandson, W. P. McLean, was also a Congressman. She herself had never gone to school — such was the neglect of woman's education in those days. Methodism has the credit of founding the first college for girls, Wesleyan Female College, Macon, Georgia, in 1836.

CAME TO TEXAS.

In the winter of 1839, my grandfather emigrated to the Republic of Texas. My mother came with him, and they located first in Harrison County, about eight miles east of Marshall, a few months after it had been selected as the county site, Rev. Job M. Baker having assisted in the location, as we are informed in Thrall's History of Methodism. Col. R. W- Millsaps, founder of Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, told me only a few years since, of having met my grandfather and his caravan of wagons as he was starting for Texas. He was a little fellow riding behind his father, who met and engaged Capt. Rose in conversation concerning his emigration to Texas; but what impressed the boy most was that he found in the road a pocket knife that had been lost by the Rose party.

At this early date of the Republic, social conditions were unsettled and chaotic. Law existed scarcely in name — still less in fact — while organized bands of thieves depredated upon the property rights of the early settlers, stealing horses, negroes and other species of property. Should a thief be arrested and committed to the log jail, the clan would liberate him by night and he would resume his depredations. Under this state of things, Capt. Rose was chosen by the citizens to head an organization to rid the country of these lawless clans and characters. The inadequate protection of the law made it necessary for the citizens to organize in their own defense. This was not a mob, visiting summary punishment upon whom it might please, but a well organized company of reputable and responsible citizens, who, in case of an arrest for theft or other offense, gave the accused an impartial hearing, or trial before a competent committee. If found guilty, he would receive the canonical number of stripes — "forty save one" — humanely administered with a hickory switch and the criminal would then be admonished to leave the country within ten days. If caught again and found guilty of like offense then might summary punishment be inflicted, but none were ever hanged — the flogging sufficed and the criminal sought a more congenial clime.

This organization has been improperly known as the "Regulators" — whereas the Regulators properly belonged to an organization in Shelby County. The best of citizens were members of the Rose organization. The writer recalls Rev. James Gill, a local Methodist preacher, as a member, who was a most exemplary man and citizen and died not many years since at Tyler. Two of Capt. Rose's most trustworthy men were killed in the service — Geo. W. Rembert and Isaac Hughes. They lie buried side by side, on a high

Forbears 13

rocky point six miles northeast from Marshall, on the old Dee Baldwin place. Frank Rembert of Longview, a prominent and prosperous citizen of that place, is a nephew of Mr. Rembert. Mr. Hughes has many relatives in the eastern part of the State. His daughter married Capt. Jesse Cook, uncle of Rev. Dr. Bradneld, editor of the Texas Christian Advocate.

Mr. Rembert was drawn into a death trap by two thieves that had been taken prisoners. They told of several of their clan that were in an outhouse, unarmed, and could be easily captured. Rembert and two others were dispatched by Captain Rose to make the arrest, and, riding up in front of the house, commanded the thieves to surrender; they were answered with a volley from the house that mortally wounded Rembert, who returned the fire, dismounted from his horse and died sitting at the root of a pine tree. The marauders made good their escape, but the betrayers fared badly.

Hughes was murdered by a posse of men under the command of an officer, who found him in his shirt sleeves in his field gathering corn, and under some pretext commanded him to surrender. Hughes was near-sighted and inquired as to their number and they responded, "about thirty." To this he replied, either jocularly or defiantly, that he "could whip that number himself," whereupon the officer in charge ordered his men to fire, and Hughes fell mortally wounded — dying instantly. His death was avenged by his brother, Reece

Hughes, who killed the commanding officer at sight, upon meeting him in Port Caddo.

Capt. Rose was much grieved over the killing of these faithful lieutenants, and requested at his death to be buried by their side — which was complied with — but last year under the direction of a granddaughter, Mrs. Pete Youree of Shreveport, his body was disinterred and buried in the old family graveyard at Scottsville, where lie buried his faithful wife, a daughter, Mrs. W. T. Scott ; a son, Ripley Rose, and many descendants. An imposing monument, appropriately inscribed, marks his resting place.

III. Rudeness Of The Times

COL. BOB POTTER.

Col. Potter sought refuge in Texas in 1836 from his flagrant acts committed in North Carolina. He was guilty of emasculating a Methodist preacher and an exhorter in a most dastardly and inhuman manner — by taking them unawares and accomplishing his nefarious purpose; for this he was confined for a time in prison in North Carolina, and upon his release fled to Texas, abandoning his wife and children. His wife repudiated his name and resumed her maiden name, Pellum, for herself and children. His crime, hitherto unknown to the statutes of North Carolina, became the occasion of a special enactment known as "Potterizing" — and punishable with life imprisonment. He took a wife upon coming to Texas and has some descendants in the eastern part of the State. Capt. Rose and Col. Potter became neighbors in Texas, in what is known as Caddo Bend, six or eight miles east of Jefferson. An alienation first arose from an unwillingness on the part of the Rose family to receive attentions from Potter in the capacity of a suitor, and was intensified when Capt. Rose espoused the candidacy of John

i5

B. Denton for Congress in opposition to Potter. Capt. Denton was killed by the Indians from ambush, while pursuing them at the head of a company. Denton left an honored name and family, and has honorable mention as a preacher in Thrall's History of Methodism. Two of his sons served in the Methodist ministry of Texas, J. F. and J. B. Denton, and another son — a physician — as a State official. His widow later married Mr. Abner McKenzie, brother of Dr. McKenzie, and to them was born a daughter, who was educated in McKenzie College and married Prof. Milton Ragsdale. They are elsewhere mentioned among the students of McKenzie College.

TAKING OFF OF COL. POTTER.

Inflamed with prejudice against Capt. Rose, Col. Potter took advantage of his position in Congress to defame and denounce Capt. Rose as an outlaw, because of his organized effort to rid the country of marauders. On one occasion Capt. Rose pursued a thief from Marshall to the Trinity River, and captured him with a stolen negro and horses. The life of the thief was spared, but not his back. While in Congress Potter went so far in his persecution of Rose as to secure a requisition for his arrest — dead or alive — all without the knowledge of Capt. Rose, and whom he could have found any day upon his plantation. Upon the adjournment of Congress at Houston, Potter lost no time in trying to compass the death of Capt. Rose under the guise of a legal arrest, and

Rudeness of the Times 17

upon his return home about the first of July, 1842, he threw a cordon of men, about twenty in number, around the home of Capt. Rose at early dawn. The Captain, being an early riser, had left the house before the appearance of Potter and his men, and was at a nearby woodland clearing. Upon the demand for his surrender his son, Preston Rose, about eighteen years of age, started to resist the arrest of his father, when his mother interposed telling him that his father was not in the house. Meantime Capt. Rose seeing the company of armed men and divining their purpose, responded to the suggestion of a faithful servant by lying prone upon the ground, while Uncle Jerry vigorously piled brush upon his master and effectually concealed him from view. While the men were ransacking the house in search of Capt. Rose, a certain party, Hezekiah George, pried into the bureau drawers, whereupon Mrs. Rose remonstrated by saying, "You cannot hope to find Capt. Rose in a bureau drawer." To this George gave an insulting reply, and secretly filched from the drawer a gold watch belonging to Mrs. Rose. Not finding him in the house, Col. Potter resorted to an ineffectual expedient of discharging a volley of shots in the air, as if murdering Preston Rose or some members of the family, hoping to draw Capt. Rose from his hiding.

Foiled in his purpose and realizing the dangerous predicament in which he had placed himself, Col. Potter changed his tactics and attempted to make fair weather by saying to Preston and the family that he wished to be friendly in the future and promised to be "good," as we now express it. In leaving they rode through the clearing where the negroes were at work, and inquired of them the whereabouts of their master. Uncle Jerry acting as spokesman replied, "Moster done clean gone" — when his master was in earshot of the conversation. At this juncture he came very near being exposed by a rooster that spied him under the brush and began peeping and chuckling — when Uncle Jerry took in the situation and unobserved drove away the treacherous bird. After a few moments of counsel they rode off in the direction of Col. Potter's home. Emerging from his hiding, Capt. Rose dispatched the rooster, and had his son to follow the men at a safe distance and note at the fork of the road how many of them went with Potter — the others went to Smithland. Nine were reported to have gone with Potter. As Potter had acted under the pretext of law, so Capt. Rose obtained a writ for the arrest of Potter for trespass upon his premises, and that night with nine men surrounded Potter's house. Preston Rose was stationed in the corn crib and at a late hour of the night a thief entered the crib to steal corn; and being arrested, he began to plead mightily with Mr. Potter, "for the Lord's sake not to kill him." Assured that it was not Potter that confronted him, he was quieted lest alarm should be given. At daybreak the bodyguard of Col. Potter began to reconnoiter the premises, when Hezekiah George came suddenly

Rudness of the Times 19

upon Capt. Rose and, being commanded to surrender, he turned for flight and gave the alarm. Capt. Rose, remembering George's insult to his wife and the theft of her watch, fired both barrels of his shotgun into the rear of his retreating foe, who later recovered and was ever after known as "Old Rose's lead mine." Potter, taking alarm, sprang from his bed and ran sansculotte about one hundred yards to Caddo Lake — plunged headlong into the water and disappeared from sight for a few moments; but when his head emerged from the water — under the deadly aim of his hot pursuers he sank out of view. John W. Scott, a son-in-law of Rose, was said to have fired the fatal shot. The writer later hunted squirrels with the gun that did the execution. It was later reported that the churning of the water by a passing steamboat a few days afterward caused the body to rise ; and, springing up suddenly beside a canoe in which an old fisherman sat lazily fishing, it so frightened the old fellow that he plunged into the water, floundered to the shore, and gave the alarm in the vicinity that "the devil had riz."

This led to the recovery of the body and the arrest of Capt. .Rose and his party- They were taken under arrest by Sheriff Ned West and carried to Clarksville, to await trial before Judge John T. Mills, but obtained a hearing before Judge Ochiltree of Nacogdoches, and while on their way there, stopped at a house for the night. Scott, unobserved, wrote a letter to Gen. Rusk on the blank page of a blue-back spelling book, requesting him to meet them upon arrival at Nacogdoches, to represent their cause, and prevent, if possible, their commitment to jail. Thte letter was entrusted for prompt delivery to the man of the house, of whom they had made a confidant. Gen. Rusk met them upon arrival, represented their cause before Judge Ochiltree, and secured their release for lack of evidence on the part of the State.

In an attempt to arrest another son-in-law of Capt. Rose by the name of W. T. Scott for this offense, Scott, upon suggestion of his wife, appeared in his wife's dress, babe in arms, and met those seeking his arrest by saying, "Mr. Scott is not in the house." Not satisfied with this statement, they searched the house, but in the meanwhile he discarded his feminine equipment and made good his escape. The place on Caddo Lake where Potter met his fate is known to this day as Potter's Point. In a history of North Carolina, written a few years after the death of Col. Potter, appeared a recital of his iniquitous conduct in that State, a mention of the statute bearing his name, the story of his taking off in Texas, the account closing with these significant lines :

"So the struck eagle lay wounded on the plain, No more through rolling clouds to soar again, Viewed his own feather in the fatal dart, That sped the shaft now quivering in his heart ; Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel, He nursed the pinion that impelled the steel,

Rudness of the Times 21

While the self -same plumage that had warmed his

nest, Now drinks the life blood of his bleeding breast."

About this time Charles Dickens passed through this country, and, seeing an account of the killing in the Caddo Gazette, made mention of the affair in his American Notes.

PIKE HALL.

Pike Hall came to the home of Capt. Rose one night after dark in a drunken condition. It appears that he had camped for the night with his wagon and team near the house and went for a "chunk of fire," but was confronted by the dogs at the yard gate, and, being drunk, engaged in a general melee with them, cursing and denouncing them and their owner in a violent, vociferous manner. Rose appeared, gun in hand, wanting to know "Who is there?" but got no reply save the boisterous conflict between the drunken man and the dogs. When the Captain again called out to know "Who is it and what is wanted?" and received no answer other than the din of confusion and profanity, he replied in language more vigorous than polite : " you, I'll make you talk," and