Elder M. S. Bourland

Melton Stuard “M. S” Bourland Sr. arrived in Texas sometime before 1870, where he and his family are found in the Shelby County census at Buena Vista.[i] His occupation is listed as cabinet maker. He was born about 1828 in Kentucky, believed to be the son of Slaton C. Bourland and Mary Polly Reese.[ii] He was a Baptist preacher, ordained by 1860, who pastored at least one church in Rusk County, but does not appear to have ever lived in the county.

M. S. Bourland married Sarah Ann Vaughan in 1852 in Trigg County, Kentucky/Montgomery County, Tennessee. She was the daughter of Thomas R. and Sarah F. Vaughn/Vaughan.

Census information.

• 1850 Not found
• 1860 Eddyville, Lyon county, Kentucky. Preacher, United Baptist
• 1870 Shelby County, Texas, Buena Vista, Cabinet Maker
• 1880 San Augustine County, Texas, Farmer
• 1900 M. S. died before this census; Sarah is a widow in Coryell County

M. S. and Sarah had at least the following children:

• Baylis Earl Bourland
• Mary Angelia J. Bourland
• Thomas B. Bourland (1860 – 1861; died age 11 months)
• Harriet Olive Bourland
• Marcia Carrie Bourland
• Melton S. Bourland Jr. (aka Charles A. Darnell)[iii]

In 1870, M. S. Bourland is listed in the census as a cabinet maker. The next year, 1871, he obtained a patent on a new and improved tenoning machine.

I have a photocopy of the “Statistical Table” from minutes for the 6th annual session of the Mt. Bethel Baptist Association, held in September 1870. The Mt. Bethel Association was organized circa 1865, probably at the Mt. Bethel Church in Panola County. M. S. Bourland was pastor of three of the six churches in the association – Mount Sinai in Rusk County, Mount Bethel in Panola County, and Walnut Grove in Nacogdoches County.  The “Statistical Table” lists Mount Sinai as in Rusk County. This was probably at or around Caledonia, where a later church is called “New Mt. Sinai.” 

Baptist preachers E. P. Spivey, J. H. Scates, and J. C. Mott also had the Post Office address of Buena Vista in Shelby County.[iv] Other preachers in the association were G. W. Butler and J. S. Milstead. [Note: in the “Statistical Table” Mott’s post office is given as Buena Vista, but the cover, which lists him as the association’s clerk, gives his post office as “Hilliard’s.”] In the 1867 Mt. Zion Baptist Association minutes, he is listed as an ordained minister whose membership was at Union Church near Nacogdoches. He also served as a delegate from that church to the assocaitional meeting.

Sometime after 1880, the Bourlands moved to Coryell County. The 1883 minutes of the Pleasant Grove Association show an “Elder Bouland” at the Mt. Olive Church near Timpson. This is likely to be him, and, if so, suggests he and Sarah did not leave the area until in or after 1883. M. S. Bourland died March 10, 1899 at Levita in Coryell County (The Houston Daily Post, Friday, March 17, 1899, p. 7). Sarah possibly died in 1903, though this may be in error. At the least she was still living in Coryell County in 1900, and does not seem to be found in the 1910 census.[v]

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[i] Son Melton (aka Charles Darnell) was born in Texas in September 1869. Daughter Carrie was born in Kentucky in April 1864. This suggests the family probably headed toward Texas after the Civil War. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth416300/m1/41/zoom/
[ii] Perhaps this Slaton Bourland.
[iii] Annie Vaughan Clary in her book The Pioneer Life writes, “My father, Melton Stuard Bourland, Jr., was the youngest of five children consisting of a brother Earl; and three sisters, Carrie, Gela, and Ollie. Daddy was born in the State of Texas.” She relates a story of her father killing two men in self-defense, a conviction, an escape from jail, and his living thereafter under the alias Charles A. Darnell. Notice that she only knew of the five children who lived to adulthood, and does not mention the child Thomas.
[iv] Could it be possible that the Buena Vista Post Office provided mail for the Caledonia area. A note on the Davis Family Bible information on the Portal to Texas History states “The Davis and Bourland families lived across the river from each other.” Since the Davises were in Rusk County and the Bourlands in Shelby County, it seems likely the river meant is the Attoyac.

[v] A letter from Mrs. S. A. Bourland appears in the Southern Mercury, January 9, 1902.

187 years. Union Church: an influence to Rusk County.

Old North Baptist Church was organized this day 187 years ago, May 6, 1838. “At a meeting at Liberty School House on Sunday, May 6, 1838, the church was officially organized when ministers Isaac Reed and Robert G. Green preached and invited people with church letters who wanted to constitute a church to come forward. John and Betsy Eaton, Charles Whitaker, Sarah Tipps, Mary Crain, Emily Knight, Ruth Anderson, and Anthony and Chancy, the last two slaves, came forward.” It was organized as Union Baptist Church, but eventually became known as Old North. The claim on Handbook of Texas (and Texas Day by Day) that “It was originally called Union Baptist Church because settlers from various religious denominations made up the first congregation” is incorrect at worst and misleading at best. While other denominations may have used the building to worship or attended the services of the Union Baptist Church, the congregation membership itself was made up of Baptists only.

Old North is considered the oldest active missionary Baptist Church in Texas (it may still be part of the Southern Baptist Convention) – but it was not organized as missionary Baptist – both Isaac Reed and R. G. Green, while not as far right as Daniel Parker, were opposed to mission boards and missionary societies.

A Brief History of Union Baptist Church (Old North Church)

Corinth. The Corinth Primitive Baptist Church at Appleby (now reorganized under the name Heritage Primitive Baptist Church) also claims the 1838 organization date of Union Baptist Church. They are an iteration of a minority split of the Union Baptist Church back in the 1850s. Since the people who stayed at Old North were the majority, they kept the name, church book, etc., but in some ways the Corinth church is more like the original church of Reed and Green than the present Missionary Baptist Church. Both churches share the same early history.

Johnson Chapel. According to tradition, the Johnson Chapel Missionary Baptist Church was formed by former slaves who were members of Union/Old North. “In 1873, Erasmus Johnson founded the Johnson Chapel Baptist Church in the North Redland community of Mahl. The congregation worshipped in a house in the community until 1924 when a church building was constructed. Erasmus Johnson, called “Ras”, was born a slave in Georgia in 1820. When he was 13 years old, he was sold to the Johnson family and was brought to Texas. Ras Johnson married Mary Hill in 1867 and they were the parents of twelve children.”

According to Z. N. Morrell in Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness: “Elder Reed, the pastor of this little flock, although full of the mission spirit, was opposed to boards and missionary societies, and the church, called Union, was at first opposed to missions...Reed, and those who acted with him, violently opposed all mission organizations.”