DUANE
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Duane's take
The official marker for Grayson County tells it this way, and I'm just the man passin' it along. Now, some folks leave a mark on a place by building something tall. Others leave a mark by shaping the people who build those things.
Jacob Monroe Binkley, born February 26, 1833, was very much the second kind. He came to Texas from Tennessee in 1852, and Texas, it turns out, had no idea what was walking through the door. Before he was ever licensed to preach, back in 1855, Binkley was already out there making noise.
Effective noise. The cause of temperance had itself an orator, and by all accounts he was good at it. That's the thing about a man who can move a crowd before the church even hands him a title.
You know he's going to be something when the titles start coming. And they did. In 1859, he organized what would later be known as the First United Methodist Church of Sherman.
He didn't just join it, didn't just attend it. He organized it, and he stood as its first pastor. Then came 1865, and here's where the story settles into something long and steady.
From that year until his death, the Reverend Mister Binkley served as a Methodist Presiding Elder, all the while keeping his residence right there in Sherman. That is not a short chapter. That is a life committed to one place and one purpose.
And if preaching and presiding weren't enough, Binkley believed hard in education. He served as Board Chairman at Southwestern University and at Kidd-Key College. The man who was moving crowds for temperance before he even had a license ended up shaping institutions that would outlast him by generations.
Jacob Monroe Binkley died January 13, 1916. Sherman was his home, and Sherman, it seems fair to say, knew it.
What the marker says
(February 26, 1833 - January 13, 1916) Jacob Monroe Binkley came to Texas from Tennessee in 1852. Before being licensed to preach in 1855 he was an effective orator for the cause of temperance. In 1859 he organized and was first pastor of the church later known as First United Methodist Church of Sherman. From 1865 until is death, the Rev. Mr. Binkley was a Methodist Presiding Elder, retaining his Sherman residence. A strong supporter of education, he was Board Chairman at Southwestern University and Kidd - Key College.