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Note: Type written "The Presson Family"
preacher in Methodist Episcopal Church South
From The Presson Family in the South Pg 97-98
In young manhood, James Jarrett Presson turned to the church whichhad been the mainstay of his family's spiritual life for so many yeaars,and he was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1862.More correctly, in the terminology of that day, it would be said thathe was licensed to "exhort," for when our country was younger, therewere few seminarians on the frontier. In consequence many denominationstook their ministers from the laymen among them who had the specialgifts which suited them to the ministry even though they lacked theformal training for that important task. In the Methodist Church of theold days there were two classes of ministers of this sort. First, therewere the "exhorters" - they were the preaching elders[ the men who werein the fullest sense the "savers of souls." The second group ofministers who were not seminary trained were called Deacons; theirprincipal task was to administer the sacraments of the church - theycould marry, christen, bury and serve the communion. For civilpurposes, of course, the first of these functions was the mostimportant, and ordained Deacons were ministers of the Gospel in the eyesof the law as well as of the church with full power to perform legalmarriages.
Four years after becoming a licensed preacher (that is, in 1866)James Jarrett Presson was ordained a Deacon in the Methodist EpiscopalChurch by Bishop Payne in Jackson, Tennessee. Immediately thereafterhis name begins to appear in the marriage books of Benton County as anofficiant at weddings; his first marriage of record was on 11 February1866. He continued to perform these ceremonies through 24 July 1873when his name is seen for the last time in that capacity in the courtrecords of Benton County.
The reason for this cessation was that in the fall of 1873, he witha party of kinsmen, moved to Mississippi County, Missouri. He settlednear the town of Bertrand and continued as a minister of the MethodistEpiscopal Church until 0887 at which time he joined the CongregationalMethodist Church and . . . .
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