ELDER S. A. RAINS SEES MANY CHANGES

STEPHEN ANDERSON RAINS

Elder S. A. Rains was born in Alabama, September, 1869, and moved to Coryell county, Texas, in 1892. He was licensed to preach March, 1894 and was ordained in June, 1896. He then moved to Fairy in Hamilton county in 1897 where he was elected missionary of the Hamilton county association in 1898. He then moved to the town of Hamilton to be more centrally located in his work. He served two years in his missionary work.

Elder Rains has preached in every Baptist church and school house in Hamilton County. His salary was $40 a month--most of it being paid in county produce He had to furnish his own conveyance. He held revival meetings, visited the sick, and carried the Gospel message into homes where no preacher had ever been. He is the best known preacher in the county and is known as the "marrying parson." He has married as many as 40 couples in one year.

Elder Rains has buried people in every grave yard in the county and many out of the county. To explain some of his hardships he related this incident: He was called to where the town of Ireland is now to attend a funeral. He was living in Hamilton at this time. He started from there at daylight and reached his destination at noon. He then started back to Blue Ridge with the funeral procession and reached there in time to bury the body before dark. Only 14 miles from Hamilton but it had taken all day to make the trip.

He has held revivals and preached in 40 counties in Texas; having served as pastor of some of the churches in and out of the county as long as 20 and 25 years.

When he first came to Hamilton there were 14 rock and 1 brick buildings around the square, the rest were wooden shacks. The town had one bank, two drug stores, one school, and four churches. He has seen the old town in its pioneer days. On the south side of the square were two little shacks used as law offices. The east side had 3 business houses and part of it was either unoccupied or had little plank houses on it. The north side, at this time was known as "Rat Row," as it was noted for its 3 saloons and fine hotel which was above one of the saloons. The west side was the attractive place for dry goods, grocery, hardware, and drug store. Hamilton’s first hotel was located on the southwest corner of the square. One can hardly realize the changes that have been made in 36 years--buggies to automobiles; kerosene lamps to electricity; muddy roads to paved highways. The north side of the square was noted for its peculiar surroundings and a lady was never seen on that side of the square, unless she was a total stranger and did not know conditions. After the saloons were voted out and "rat row" was cleaned up and became a respectable place a funny thing happened about this time. A lady put in a barber shop, which was at that time, the talk of the town and county. An old lady came into town and she wanted to see the lady barber. She was taken to the shop but would not go in but put on her glasses and peeped through the large glass window. Turning to her old man she said....... [hole in he newspaper]

Many funny as well as serious incidents have occurred during his ministry but space will not permit the telling of them.

In his early day travels from one appointment to another either horseback or in a buggy, it would take all day to go from one destination to another. Many time he as traveled all night after preaching to get to his next appointment. He recalls at one time after preaching at night, a cloud came up and it rained until midnight. He decided to go home after the rain abated a bit as it was only 8 miles. The roads were so muddy that the wheels soon became solid with mud and the horse could not pull the buggy until the mud was scrapped from the wheels. He walked and drove his horse punching the gummy mud from the wheels every few minutes. He finally arrived at home up in the morning.

Preacher Rains has spent 40 years in the ministry in these regions. The hardships and tribulations just related were just a beginning of what the pioneer minister had to experience. He is the oldest minister in the country, not in years, but in service.

The Hamilton County News, Vol. IV, Number 11

Historical and Trading Expansion Issue

W. F. Billingslea, Editor-Publisher

Subscription Price ONE YEAR ..$1.00

June 29, 1934