DUANE
Duane's take
Well, the marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. August 1858. San Saba County.
A group of settlers decided it was time to hold a campmeeting — and they came ready for whatever the frontier had to offer. Armed. Every one of them.
Now picture the preacher — that would be a circuit rider named Reverend Tunnell — hanging his gun in a tree before he opened his Bible. Within reach. Just in case.
While he preached, a guard stood posted around the congregation's horses to keep the Indians from making off with them. No attack was ever reported here, not once. But that caution wasn't born out of nothing — many terrible Indian depredations had already occurred nearby.
So you kept your gun close. Even on Sunday. The Jim Clark family came ten miles to that first campmeeting.
Ten miles, in an ox-drawn farm sled. You think about what that means — the ruts, the heat, the slow pull of those oxen — and you understand how badly people wanted to be there. And they came from all directions.
The charter members read like a roll call of the whole county: families of Ezekiel Boyett, Fielding Dawson, Nay Gorman, John and Joab Harrell Senior, Charles Harris, S. A. Houston, Dave Hillin, George Keeney, Dick Kolb, Milton Low, Bart Lucas, McCrea, David Matsler, Jim Means, W.
W. Millican, Henry Ripple, Harmon Smelser, Tom Smith, Tom and Yancy Tate, and Jim Ware. That's not a congregation — that's a community deciding to become one.
The timing was deliberate. Campmeeting fell between the summer farm and ranch work and the autumn harvest. A window carved right out of the hard calendar of frontier life — set aside for spiritual refreshment and something just as necessary: each other's company.
And more than a few romances kindled in that clearing. The marker notes, with what I'd call a knowing understatement, that many marriages followed courtships that began right here. The land itself was given.
Mrs. David Matsler donated the original campsite. Mrs.
E. E. West and R.
H. Walton gave additional acreage later on. And families held their lots — some of those same families, holding those same lots, for six generations.
For years, the shelter overhead was nothing but brush arbors — cut, built, and renewed year after year by those same settlers. The tabernacle standing there now is a replacement for all that seasonal labor. But the meeting itself?
That kept right on going. Started with a preacher's gun hanging in a tree in August of 1858. Held together by families who came armed, and stayed devoted.
Some things out here, once they take root, they just don't let go.
What the marker says
Established in August 1858 by settlers who came armed against possible Indian attack. Preacher hung gun in tree, within reach; guard was posted around congregation's horses to prevent theft by Indians. However, no attack was ever reported here, though many terrible Indian depredations occurred nearby. Preacher in 1858 was a circuit rider, Rev. Tunnell. Jim Clark family came 10 miles in ox-drawn farm sled to first campmeeting. Charter members included families of Ezekiel Boyett, Fielding Dawson, Nay Gorman, John and Joab Harrell, Sr., Charles Harris, S. A. Houston, Dave Hillin, George Keeney, Dick Kolb, Milton Low, Bart Lucas, McCrea, David Matsler, Jim Means, W. W. Millican, Henry Ripple, Harmon Smelser, Tom Smith, Tom and Yancy Tate and Jim Ware. Coming between summer farm and ranch work and the autumn harvest, campmeeting was yearly season for spiritual and social enjoyment. Many marriages followed courtships that began here. Mrs. David Matsler donated original campsite. Mrs. E. E. West and R. H. Walton gave additional acreage. Lots were held by families--some for 6 generations. Present tabernacle is replacement for arbors made of brush and renewed year after year by settlers. (1966)