Sickness and death
In
1913 another tragedy visited the Stewart home. Angus Stewart had an unlikely
and seemingly insignificant accident. He stepped on a tack, which punctured
into his foot. The puncture apparently and outwardly healed, but became
inwardly infected. Blood poisoning set in and eventually doctors determined to
amputate part of his leg to save the patient. All of this was to no avail. At 9
o’clock a.m. on Wednesday, September 13 “his body gave up the struggle and his
great, noble soul leaped from its earthly tenement to meet its Creator.” His
funeral was described as “possibly the largest gathering of people ever
assembled in the Christian Church.”[i]
By
the time the Texas Free Will Baptist Association met in October 1913, Angus
McAllister Stewart had gone to his long sought home. “Rev. D. R. Jimerson being
the oldest minister present assumed the Chair as Moderator on account of the
death of the former Moderator…”[ii]
To the memory of the organizer
and promoter of the Freewill Baptist
church in Texas:
Inasmuch
as our Heavenly Father in his wisdom has seen fit to
remove
from our midst our Leader and Co-work, Rev. A. M. Stewart,
And
whereas, he was organizer of our church in Texas, and always
a
promoter of anything for its interest and welfare, not only among people
of his
own church, but always lending a hand to all Christianity,
And
whereas, another one of God’s Noblemen has gone, his presence
will be
missed in our ranks, but the members of the Ministers’ Association
in the
town where he lived, one after another, stood at the funeral and
expressed
the keen sense of their loss, it is needless to say that his family is
heartbroken.
Yet he is better off, far, than we, and soon those, who follow
his
Christ, may enter the same joys.
Therefore,
be it resolved; first, that our association extend to the
family
our sympathy and our prayers.
Second, that
we commend our church to his God and advise that
our people
follow Him in the same earnest spirit, which our brother manifested.
Third, that
a copy of these resolutions be spread on our minutes and
a copy
furnished the family.
Done by
order of the association in session, this 3rd day of October,
1913.
E. S. Jameson,
Chairman Committee.
A.
M. Stewart’s remains were laid to rest at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Carthage,
Panola County, Texas. Friends in Bryan, Texas described him as “a man of sound
intellect, a forceful speaker, an energetic worker, and happiest when ministering
to the wants of the sick and needy.”[iii]
In a little over 60 years Angus
McAllister Stewart became preacher, pastor, organizer, business man, educator, evangelist,
and the “Founding Father” of the Free Will Baptist Church in Texas.
[i] “Rev.
A. M. Stewart Passes Away,” The Panola
Watchman. Vol. 41, No. 7, Wednesday, September 24, 1913, p. 8
[ii] Minutes of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Session
of the Texas Free Will Baptist Association, October 3-5, 1913, p. 1
[iii]
“Death of Rev. A. M. Stewart,” The Eagle,
Wednesday, September 17, 1913, p. 5
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