The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931 Page: 301
359 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Early Days of the Protestant Episcopal Church
more beautiful than at first-was again opened for the services
of our religion." In March, 1844, Bishop Polk visited Galveston
again and consecrated Trinity Church.20
Meanwhile, a notable forward step had been taken. At the
General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Oc-
tober, 1838, the Reverend Leonidas Polk of Columbia, Tennessee,
had been elected Missionary Bishop of Arkansas and of the Indian
Territory south of the 36th degree North Latitude. On Decem-
ber 9, 1838, he was consecrated Bishop in Christ Church, Cincin-
nati, Ohio, and went forth "to plant the Church of Christ in a
distant portion of the great valley of the Mississippi."2' The
Foreign Committee immediately wrote Bishop Polk, requesting
him "to visit Texas with reference to the missions of the Episco-
pal Church to be established in that country." He replied that
he was starting for Arkansas as soon as he could put his personal
affairs in order, and would extend his journey into Texas. "The
growing importance of this Republic is daily growing more mani-
fest [he wrote] and although the work assigned me within our
own borders is more than enough to occupy my undivided atten-
tion, yet as this case has something peculiar about it, I do not
feel at liberty to decline the invitation. . . . What I can do
consistently with other engagements, the Committee may be as-
sured I will do gladly and willingly."22
The Bishop was as good as his word. Leaving Tennessee on
February 14, 1839, he visited several churches in northern Ala-
bama and Mississippi.23 On March 2, he crossed the Mississippi
River at Helena and then traveled through Arkansas. On March
17, he crossed the Red River near Washington, Hempstead
County, Arkansas, and "passed a day in visiting certain planters
living in the disputed territory between the United States and
20This story of the beginnings of Trinity Parish, Galveston, is based
on a letter from Eaton to Bishop Kemper, August 30, 1844, in the Spirit
of Missions, October, 1844, pp. 368-369. Eaton had been serving under
Bishop Kemper in Wisconsin prior to his appointment to the Texas
mission.
"The Spirit of Missions, January, 1839, p. 28.
22The Spirit of Missions, December, 1838, p. 400. Polk to the Foreign
Committee, January 10, 1839, in Ibid., February, 1839, p. 88.
"Bishop Polk's story of his first visit to Texas was published in The
Spirit of Missions, July, 1839, pp. 198-200, and October, 1839, pp. 333-
335; it was repeated, with minor changes, in his Report to the General
Convention of 1841, Journal of the General Convention of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1841, pp. 157-162.301
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931, periodical, 1931; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101091/m1/323/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.