DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell you this one the way the marker tells it — straight from the record of Dallas County's first Methodist society. Settle in, because this story starts before Texas was even a state. Isaac Blackman Webb was a man who knew what he was leaving behind and went anyway.
Born in 1802, he packed up his family and moved them clear from Missouri to the Peters Colony in the winter of 1843 to 1844. That is not a gentle season to be uprooting your life, but here he was, out on the Texas frontier, and the first thing on his mind once he got there wasn't land or livestock. It was faith.
He appealed for a visit from a missionary. And on March 19, 1844, somebody answered. The Reverend Thomas J.
Brown — the first known Methodist minister to visit the Colony — rode out and held a worship service. Now, they didn't have a proper church. They gathered in the log cabin of Webb's brother-in-law, a man named William M.
Cochran. That's where it began. In a borrowed cabin, on a cold-country frontier, in the Republic of Texas — not yet the state, mind you, the Republic.
But one visit isn't a society. What happened next took another year. On May 5, 1845, the Reverend Daniel Shook rode the circuit out to Webb's own cabin and began regular services.
And right there, a society was formed. The charter members were a tight-knit group — Nancy Jane Hughes Cochran, wife of William M., said to have been the first professing Methodist in the Colony. M.
Franklin and Margaret Fortner. And Isaac and Mary Hughes Webb themselves, the man who started it all and his wife, right there at the founding. Now they had a society.
What they needed next was a building. In the springtime of 1846, they put one up — a hewn-log cabin, eighteen feet by eighteen feet, built right on Webb's land. The Colony's first church.
And because frontier communities don't have the luxury of single-purpose buildings, that little cabin pulled triple duty as a schoolhouse, a public meeting hall, and a post office. The Reverend Joab H. Biggs served as its first pastor, from 1847 to 1848.
Communities grow, and with growth comes a little creative geography. In the 1850s, some local Methodists and their neighbors at Cedar Springs met each other halfway — literally — and built a place called Cochran Chapel, five point three miles to the southeast. The others, meanwhile, eventually built a frame church in 1877 at the site now marked by Webb Chapel Cemetery, one point eight miles southeast.
That frame building gave way to another in 1903. And that 1903 building held on until 1955, when the congregation put up the present sanctuary. By then they were carrying something remarkable with them into that new building: a record of continuous services stretching all the way back to May 5, 1845.
A hundred and ten years of unbroken worship — started in a borrowed cabin by a man from Missouri who simply asked if someone could come out and preach. Turns out, on the Texas frontier, that was enough to build a church on.
What the marker says
(Webb Chapel United Methodist Church) Founded in Republic of Texas. Isaac Blackman Webb (1802 - 80), after moving his family from Missouri to the Peters Colony in 1843-44 winter, appealed for a visit by a missionary. On March 19, 1844, in log cabin of his brother-in-law, William M. Cochran, a worship service was held by the Rev. Thomas J. Brown, the first known Methodist minister to visit the Colony. On May 5, 1845, circuit services were begun by the Rev. Daniel Shook in Webb's Cabin, and a society was formed. The charter members: Nancy Jane Hughes Cochran (Mrs. William M., said to have been first professing Methodist in the Colony), M. Franklin and Margaret Fortner, and Isaac and Mary Hughes Webb. An 18' x 18' log cabin was built on Webb's land in springtime 1846, as the Colony's first church. The Rev. Joab H. Biggs was first (1847-48) pastor. The hewn-log cabin also served as schoolhouse, public meeting hall, and post office for community. Some local Methodists in 1850s met Cedar Springs members halfway, and built Cochran Chapel (5.3 mi. SE). Webb Chapel Cemetery (1.8 mi. SE) marks site where the others built a frame church in 1877. A second frame building of 1903 was used until present sanctuary was erected in 1955 to house this church body with a record of continuous services since 1845.