The Historical Society met on October 27th. Joshua Williams started the meeting with announcements. He noted the society has obtained a journal of the Civil War soldiers from Hempstead County. The journals are $30 each. Williams also announced the Civil War weekend is the first weekend of November. He also noted there were Christmas movie options, such as A Christmas Carol and Christmas In Connecticut.
Kicking off the body of the meeting, Williams talked about how Methodist churches evangelized to slaves. The Methodists were one of the first religious groups who evangelized to the slaves in Arkansas. The Methodist church pushed for abolishing slavery. Jesse Hale, who was a Methodist ordained minister, would not allow Methodist ministers to have slaves. He kicked out a minister for selling one of his wife’s slaves.
The Washington Methodist church set up a church mission that lasted to the end of the Civil War. Williams said there was a Methodist mission in each county of southwest Arkansas.
The floor was opened for questions. Keenan Williams gave more information about the history of the Methodists. The meeting was then adjourned.