James Madison McCloud
Bryson, Jack County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Tennessee native James Madison McCloud (b. 1845) served with an Alabama cavalry unit during the Civil War. In 1881 he moved to Texas with his wife Ruth Elizabeth (Sampley) and children. Shortly after settling in the Bryson vicinity in the spring of that year, he established a church at Cottonwood Springs (3 miles east), which became the Bryson United Methodist Church. A farmer and preacher, McCloud served for fifty-three years as a Methodist circuit rider in Northern Texas and Southern Oklahoma. He died in his home at Bryson in 1934. (1981) Incise on back: Dedicated by the following grandchildren: E. C. McCloud, W. L. McCloud, Grace Reynolds, and O. M. McCloud
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Tennessee-born James Madison McCloud fought with an Alabama cavalry unit in the Civil War before bringing his family to Texas in 1881 and settling near Bryson. There he founded a church at Cottonwood Springs and began a remarkable fifty-three-year career as a Methodist circuit rider across northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. A farmer as well as a preacher, he ministered to scattered frontier congregations until his death in 1934.
Why it matters
McCloud represents the itinerant circuit-riding preachers who carried religion and community to the settling communities of the Texas and Oklahoma frontier.
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Related people
- ¡ James Madison McCloud
- ¡ Ruth Elizabeth Sampley McCloud
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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