Rev. Joseph P. Sneed

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Reverend Joseph P. Sneed, right here in Milam County. Now, some men are born into one life and stay there, comfortable as a fence post.

Joseph P. Sneed was not that kind of man. Born on January the tenth, 1804, he had a long road ahead of him, and he walked nearly every inch of it on purpose.

He got his start in the ministry back in Tennessee, licensed in 1828. That part alone would have been enough for most folks. But Joseph Sneed had a habit of going further.

He took a visit to Texas in 1834, and whatever he saw out here, it got into him. Because four years later, in 1838, he volunteered as a missionary to the Texas Republic. Volunteered.

Nobody made him do it. And once he was here, he got to work. He organized many churches, which sounds simple enough until you reckon with the geography.

This man rode circuit for a seven-county area. Seven counties. On horseback, across ground that did not exactly beg you to cross it quickly or comfortably.

That is not a ministry, that is a calling with saddlesores. And yet, somehow, Sneed also found time to prosper. Not just as a preacher, but as a farmer and a rancher too.

The man wore several coats and filled out every one of them. He kept at it all until November the twenty-first, 1881. A Methodist minister, a circuit rider, a farmer, a rancher.

Milam County remembers him for good reason.

What the marker says

(Jan. 10, 1804 - Nov. 21, 1881) A Methodist minister. Licensed 1828, Tennessee. After a Texas visit in 1834, volunteered as a missionary to Texas Republic in 1838. Organized many churches. Once was circuit rider for 7-county area. Prospered as a farmer, rancher, preacher.