Kenney preached his first sermon in Texas at the home of Samuel Gates on Jackson Creek in March 1834 and gradually extended his ministry up the Brazos to Gay Hill and down the river to San Felipe, Columbia, and Brazoria. To the west he preached in Colorado, Fayette, and Bastrop counties, all the way to Gonzales, on the Guadalupe River. In the fall of 1834, on Caney Creek in northern Austin County, he held one of the first camp meetings in Texas west of the Trinity River. In early September 1835, after receiving assurances from Col. William B. Travis and James B. Millerqqv that Mexican officials would not intervene, Kenney organized another camp meeting at the same site, attended by Rev. Henry Stephenson, the first Methodist minister officially assigned to the Texas mission. During this meeting, an informal quarterly conference was organized with Alexander Thomson as chairman and David Ayres as secretary. This group requested the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to send missionaries to Texas. In the meantime Kenney was asked to take pastoral charge of Methodism west of the Trinity River. His ministerial labors were soon interrupted by the Texas Revolution. Kenney served in the Texas army from September 11, 1835, until April 21, 1836. He missed the battle of San Jacinto because he took a two-week furlough to assist his family during the Runaway Scrape.
When the Methodist Church sent Robert Alexander, Littleton Fowler,qqv and Martin Ruter as missionaries to Texas in 1837, they used Kenney's home as a base for their first activities in that part of the republic. With the establishment of regular circuits under the care of the missionaries, Kenney limited his preaching to places he could reach on weekends and to one or two camp meetings a year. He was readmitted to the Methodist itinerary in December 1843 and appointed to the Washington circuit, but he had to move again in January 1845 due to his wife's illness. Although Kenney opposed the Civil War, he favored the gradual emancipation and colonization of slaves.
In 1824 he married Maria E. McHenry, daughter of Rev. Barnabas McHenry, a pioneer of Kentucky Methodism. When the Kenneys came to Texas they had two sons and a daughter. After his brother, Thomas Kenney, was murdered at Kenney's Fort near Round Rock in 1838, Kenney adopted and reared Thomas's three children. Kenney's oldest son, Martin McHenry Kenney, served as captain in the Twenty-first Texas Cavalry during the Civil War and practiced law and civil engineering. John Wesley Kenney died on January 9, 1865, at his home in Austin County. The town of Kenney in Austin County is named in his honor.
Norman W. Spellmann, Handbook of Texas Online
Kenney preached his first sermon in Texas at the home of Samuel Gates on Jackson Creek in March 1834 and gradually extended his ministry up the Brazos to Gay Hill and down the river to San Felipe, Columbia, and Brazoria. To the west he preached in Colorado, Fayette, and Bastrop counties, all the way to Gonzales, on the Guadalupe River. In the fall of 1834, on Caney Creek in northern Austin County, he held one of the first camp meetings in Texas west of the Trinity River. In early September 1835, after receiving assurances from Col. William B. Travis and James B. Millerqqv that Mexican officials would not intervene, Kenney organized another camp meeting at the same site, attended by Rev. Henry Stephenson, the first Methodist minister officially assigned to the Texas mission. During this meeting, an informal quarterly conference was organized with Alexander Thomson as chairman and David Ayres as secretary. This group requested the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to send missionaries to Texas. In the meantime Kenney was asked to take pastoral charge of Methodism west of the Trinity River. His ministerial labors were soon interrupted by the Texas Revolution. Kenney served in the Texas army from September 11, 1835, until April 21, 1836. He missed the battle of San Jacinto because he took a two-week furlough to assist his family during the Runaway Scrape.
When the Methodist Church sent Robert Alexander, Littleton Fowler,qqv and Martin Ruter as missionaries to Texas in 1837, they used Kenney's home as a base for their first activities in that part of the republic. With the establishment of regular circuits under the care of the missionaries, Kenney limited his preaching to places he could reach on weekends and to one or two camp meetings a year. He was readmitted to the Methodist itinerary in December 1843 and appointed to the Washington circuit, but he had to move again in January 1845 due to his wife's illness. Although Kenney opposed the Civil War, he favored the gradual emancipation and colonization of slaves.
In 1824 he married Maria E. McHenry, daughter of Rev. Barnabas McHenry, a pioneer of Kentucky Methodism. When the Kenneys came to Texas they had two sons and a daughter. After his brother, Thomas Kenney, was murdered at Kenney's Fort near Round Rock in 1838, Kenney adopted and reared Thomas's three children. Kenney's oldest son, Martin McHenry Kenney, served as captain in the Twenty-first Texas Cavalry during the Civil War and practiced law and civil engineering. John Wesley Kenney died on January 9, 1865, at his home in Austin County. The town of Kenney in Austin County is named in his honor.
Norman W. Spellmann, Handbook of Texas Online
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He was for 47 years a faithful minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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