From the Annals of the Methodists –  In 1837, Robert Alexander crossed the Sabine River and began preaching his way westward – the start of a ministry of forty-five years in Texas.  Alexander quickly formed the San Augustine circuit and by mid-October formed the first Methodist missionary society in Texas during a camp meeting held at Caney Creek.  The mission was later organized into the Texas Conference.  Alexander served as first presiding elder of the several districts including  Galveston, Huntsville, and Chappell Hill. His pastoral appointments included Belton, Chappell Hill, Galveston, and Waco.  When the Methodists split over slavery in 1844, Alexander’s colleagues elected him delegate to the Louisville Convention that organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1845. They subsequently elected him to nine succeeding General Conferences.