Prologue: Martin Ruter and the Texas Frontier

Henry Matthews
[Diary of Henry Matthews]
1833-1840

Henry Matthews was a Methodist preacher, circuit rider, schoolteacher, and physician from Ohio who settled in Texas in the 1830s. Matthews kept this diary – written over printed finance notes, for which the book was originally printed – and at least four others. In Matthews’ entry on Friday, December 15, 1837, he reflects on a visit from Martin Ruter, the superintendent of the Methodist Texas Mission, and notes his disagreement with Ruter’s optimism about the Republic of Texas. Matthews writes: “I do most deliberately look upon the religious prospects of this country as unpromising, peculiarly so, and I base my opinion upon near one year’s close observation and experience.” In the following entry, Matthews writes of ten men killed nearby in an ambush by Indians. Despite Matthews’ portrayal of Texas as volatile, dangerous, and “unpromising,” Ruter and the Methodist Episcopal Church sought to civilize it through Methodist education. Ruter’s dream of the first chartered college in Texas was realized three years after this diary entry when Rutersville College, named in honor of Martin Ruter, opened its doors in 1840.