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Tlie Ag,my of tlie Cleurcli in Texas, I82I-I836
He then visited the home of a Mr. Kuykendall "... where there were upwards of one hundred persons baptized and four couples mar- ried, all of whom after the marriage ceremony, sat down to an abundant and splendid feast." He returned to Mr. Williams' house, his temporary headquarters. Here another pioneer preacher like the Reverend Walker greeted him, says Muldoon, with the "recital of all his ecclesiastical and missionary denominations, with a long catalogue of some very respectable names, mostly from the northern United States, but yet not qualified to confer a jurisdiction to preach in this colony." 71 What provoked Muldoon most was the hypocrisy of this man who posed as "a preacher of veracity," yet deliberately omitted all reference to his religious beliefs in applying for a league of land. Muldoon concludes with an apparently sincere expression of sym- pathy for the colonists, whom he considered to be in error because of ignorance rather than malice. "They are a people gravely misrepresented," he championed, "who have a voluntary adhesion to the Catholic religion." 79 The reputation of the easygoing and witty cleric spread rapidly through the English-Spanish settlements and dispelled the unfounded fear of religious persecution. In June Thomas Barrett wrote Austin that he had heard of the projected visit of Muldoon to the Fort Settle- ment to marry and baptize. He expressed regrets that illness would prevent him from attending the meeting and asked Austin to extend Father Muldoon an invitation to visit the Barrett home, as he desired to have his marriage legalized and his . children baptized.'° The difficulties at Anahuac in the fall of 1831 found Father Muldoon in the midst of the fray. Political wrangles evidently had a resistless attraction for the Irishman. He hurried to the Trinity to welcome General Teran, who came up from Matamoros to investigate the fracas, and pompously received him, as he says, "in the name of the Curia." His friend David G. Burnet was there and made a liberal speech when Teran arrived on November 9. A dinner was given at John M. Smith's place four days later and a public banquet in Anahuac on November 17, during which many toasts were offered. Muldoon thoroughly enjoyed 71 See letter of Muldoon to the editors of The 1,/erican Citi:en, San Felipe de Austin, May 26 1 1831. His familiarity with names of religious leaders in the North, sectarian mostly, indicate strongly that Muldoon must have resided there before going to Mexico and must have had relations with them. 79 Letter of Father Michael Muldoon in The lt/erica11 Cili:en, San Felipe de Austin, May 26, 1831. • •0 Barrett to Austin, June 15, 1831, Barker, Austi11 Papers, II, 666.
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