Back when Brown County was the frontier, a group of Methodist preachers rode the circuit out to the area, staying in log cabins erected by settlers, dodging Indian attacks and, apparently, hunting bears. The Methodists were the earliest missionaries to Brown County, establishing the first church in the county north of Thrifty.

The Reverend Hugh Martin Childress, born in Tennessee in the year 1800, and known locally as the ‘Bear Hunting Preacher’, was no stranger to the violent struggle for survival that was fought on the outer edges of civilization. Childress came from a military background, serving as a first lieutenant in the Volunteer Company of the Texas Militia. In 1826 it is recorded he served in the Ranger Corps of the Mounted Riflemen, and participated in the Battle of the Salado, although accounts differ. There seems to be some mixup between Hugh Sr and several of his sons, along with another Texas pioneer called Hugh Martin Childress, creating a bit of discord in the historical documents. A History of the First United Methodist Church Brownwood, Texas, by Frank Hilton, names Hugh Martin Childress’s record as I described. Methodists keep good histories, so I’m going with them. This preacher sure could handle a rifle, that we know.

Hilton wrote, “Further research in ‘Two Texas Pioneers Called Hugh Martin Childress’ showed that Childress had been a soldier in the war with Mexico in the Battle of San Jacinto. He also had a son who was in the same war, and was with Crockett and Bowie at the Alamo. The son was accidentally killed by one of the guards before the siege began. Grief at his son’s death caused Mr. Childress to enter the ministry at the close of the war. As a Methodist circuit rider he did much to hearten and encourage the first settlers on the Texas frontier.”

Early Brown County historian FM Cross relates a description of Reverend Childress in his book, The Promised Land: “Just after the close of the war (Civil War) I went with him on the whole round of his circuit. As the Indians were often passing through the country and everybody had to carry guns, the old preacher carried a shotgun always, and a six shooter. I saw him often go late into a house where he was to preach on Sunday and set his gun against the wall, lay his six shooter on the table, get out his Bible and go to preaching. It did not seem to embarrass him in any way.”

According to Hilton, Childress was not the only gun toting preacher out on this range. “Rev. Peter W. Gravis, another circuit preacher in Brown County, wrote that ‘I have often preached with my two pistols or revolvers belted around me, and my gun in arm’s length.’”

William Slaughter Sr. published a letter described in the SA Archives of 1924, The History of the Old Frontier Schoolhouse of Brown Co.Tx that said, “My family has a picture of Grandpa Childers [Childress] on his big gray horse “Jack,” with his Henry rifle, 18 shots, and six shooter and was always prepared ‘to fight or run.’” I’m not sure, but I think you would not have wanted to tangle with this particular man of the cloth.

Times have changed, and no pastors I know of are still packing heat on Sundays in Brownwood, although a good case might be made for them to take up the practice once again. The pastors of our frontier did what they had to do to survive. Reverend Childress passed away in 1886, and is buried in the Atoka Cemetery in Novice.

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Diane Adams is a local journalist whose columns and articles appear periodically on BrownwoodNews.com