Normangee United Methodist Church

Several months ago the Historical Committee realized that our church needed to preserve the old records of our church history. These records consist of the minutes of the Quarterly Conferences dating back to 1890. Records of members, baptism of adults and children, marriages etc. Some of these records are very fragile and even limited handling of them would probably result in their disintegration. Yet the information in those books is a vital part of our heritage and needed to be preserved. We also felt that it should be made accessible to anyone interested in it. We decided the best way to serve both purposes was to transcribe these records into computer format. By doing that we can archive a disk copy of the information, as well as print one or more copies whenever we needed them. We are also investigating the possibility of making the information available to genealogist or anyone else via the Internet.
Transcribing the old records has been challenging, fun, fascinating, and frustrating. It was fun and fascinating to read about the trials and tribulations as well as successes of our church over the last 100 years. It has been challenging and frustrating because spelling and grammar was not one of the strong points of some of secretaries who wrote the minutes. For example Gum Springs might be spelled a different way in two different reports on the same page. To complicate matters some of the writing on some pages was so dim it was difficult to read. We tried as best we could to duplicate the spelling in the original records, even when we knew it was wrong. Our goal was to transcribe the records as accurately as we could, not edit them.
The Historical Committee,
Normangee UMC
Spring 1998

(All of the bold text items are links to the pages, description of each appears below them)

Introduction

The Quarterly Conference records of the Methodist Church were among the most significant records in the whole of the denomination. The Presiding Elders over their respective districts within the Annual Conference would make their rounds quarterly, inscribing the business of each church on the Charges under their supervision. This was the most efficient method of gathering information throughout the connection. Unfortunately for the historian of the latter part of the twentieth century, few church leaders had the foresight to keep such records safe and secure for posterity. Many of the clergy assumed that the records belonged to them and when they moved from one appointment to another, the records went with them. As their files became filled with records year after year, those of earlier preaching appointments were discarded or lost. When the historian of today attempts to look for church records from former Presiding Elders, the same facts are true. Each P. E. had a copy for his own file. As he moved from one district to another or perhaps to a local church appointment, his files moved with him only to wind up in a box that may have been kept for many years until the too were discarded. Having served the Conference as research Historian for some twenty years and having browsed in personal libraries of clergy, used bookstores, auction sales, antique and estate sales, I personally have only seen four or five Quarterly Conference Record Books kept by the Presiding Elders that have survived the years. It is for this reason that the publication of the Quarterly Conference Record from the Normangee Charge of the Texas Annual Conference is so remarkable. In it one will find the history spanning 1890 to 1964, plus Membership Records of the various churches that were a part of this Charge. The index at the conclusion of the work will afford easy access to those seeking genealogy records. Through them the historians of tomorrow will find a wealth of information concerning the individuals and families that made such a contribution in leading their communities in faithfulness and service to their Lord an Master, Jesus Christ. I personally commend the editor, Herbert H. McCarter, and the historical committee for this fine work.

Bill B. Hedges, Research Historian
Texas Annual Conference, 1999