Parson Charles Montgomery Hoge

DURANGO’S FIRST EPISCOPAL PRIEST

Charles Montgomery Hoge (1832-1904)

John A.K. Boyd, MD, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Historian, Durango, Colorado

updated 06-25-23

According to a family history written by his nephew, Albert J. Hoge, in 1928, Charles Montgomery Hoge left Fayetteville, Arkansas, and headed west in 1857 at the age of 25 in the company of his father, Judge Joseph Montgomery Hoge, his brothers James and Horace, his new bride, Elizabeth Colville, and her brother John. They were looking to start a new life in California following the sad death of Charles’ mother. Having secured places on a wagon train led by Basil Parker, they crossed Texas and Colorado joined to the ill-fated and much larger Fancher wagon train. By the time the Fancher train reached Salt Lake City, the Parker train had lagged 2-3 days behind. The Fancher train, which now included Elizabeth’s brother John, took the southern route across Utah and perished in the Mountain Meadow Massacre when they were attacked by a band of militant Mormons.  Arriving later in Salt Lake City, Parker heard rumors of troubles to the south, and took his wagon train across the northern route, arriving successfully in California where the Hoges settled around Monterey.

In his twenties Charles was not particularly religious. The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast (1860) notes that he “had had his mind poisoned with infidel notions,” and a Durango newspaper article (1907) described his early life as a that of a gambler, “formed by life’s wild western side.” However, while in Monterey County, he was soon “brought under the influence of a gracious revival,” and was “powerfully converted.” Almost immediately he felt a call to preach and was “licensed as soon as his probation expired” as a lay Methodist preacher.  

By late 1860, for some unknown reason (perhaps because of his upbringing or that Methodists were teetotalers), Charles decided to “unite with” the Protestant Episcopal Church.  During the California conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (October 17, 1860) “seven leading members introduced a resolution to the effect that “the Rev. C. M. Hogue [sic], recently a member of this body, in changing his Church relations, leaves us with an unblemished reputation as a Christian minister, and in his new field of labor in the Master's service has our earnest prayers for his usefulness and happiness.” Hoge was ordained as an Episcopal Deacon by the Bishop of California in 1866 and, though he “read privately” rather than attending a seminary, he was ordained as an Episcopal Priest by the Bishop of Arkansas in 1871.

In 1874 Rev. Hoge was sent from California to the Wet Mountain Valley of Colorado where he founded St. Matthew’s Episcopal church in Rosita, a booming mining town. Though they never had children of their own, while in Rosita, Hoge and his wife adopted a beautiful little girl whose mother had died and whose father was unable to care for her. Sadly, she died at the age of ten just before the Hoges left Rosita in the spring of 1877, when they were sent by Bishop Spalding to Ouray, Colorado, becoming part of the San Juan Missionary Circuit. By 1880 “Parson” Hoge had built St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ouray and had moved on to Rico, Colorado, where he held services in a large tent. Later, in the fall of that year, he saw Durango for the first time and decided to establish a ministry there.

By the time Parson Hoge began holding regular services in Durango at the age of 48, he had developed a reputation for being a man “fearful of nothing, not even blustering bullies and manipulating madams.” He was strong, tall and lean with a great white beard and a booming voice. He was also said to have, upon occasion, belted a pistol over his black cassock and “gone hunting for his stray sheep in those rollicking ‘dens of iniquity” that characterized Durango in the early 1880s. His preaching, however, centered on the love of God for sinners, the need for Christians of all denominations “to be in the good work of arousing men to a better life,” and their need to “come together on the basis of the Apostles’ Creed for practical work.”  A poem about Parson Hoge written in 1897 noted that one of his sermons in a gambling hall “didn’t give cant or rhodomontade [boastful or inflated talk or behavior] . . . . Stood pat on heaven, but ‘sluffed on hell’. . . .” and “was short and to the point.” 

Though Hoge held services in an Animas City log cabin just north of Durango as early as 1877, Caroline Romney (editor of the Durango Record and charter member of St. Mark’s) wrote on January 10, 1881, that that Parson Hoge led the first Episcopal Church service in Durango on December 26, 1880, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in the dining room of the Delmonico Hotel. It was probably the second Christian church service of any kind held in Durango (the Baptists were first, holding a service on November 7, 1880). A much larger “congregation” gathered later that evening in the same venue where Parson Hoge made “an earnest plea . . . for unity in the Christian work, . . . thinking not of differences of opinion, but meeting . . . the common ground of the Apostles’ Creed for the building of Christ’s kingdom in our new city.” 

By March of 1881, Parson Hoge, using the labor, lumber and money supplied by community members, had opened a wooden church on Second Street (now East Second Avenue). Caroline Romney, editor of the Durango Record, noted on March 3, 1881, March 3, 1881, that “Rev. C.M. Hoge . . . can have the satisfaction of knowing that he has accomplishing [sic] what has seldom been done in a frontier town before, that is, of completing and opening a church before a theatre was opened in this town.” It was named for St. Mark, writer of the second gospel. During construction, the “good parson” was said to have “carried a great deal of the wood from the lumber yard of C. M. Williams on his back, and with his own hands put the frame up and enclosed it.” That church was “twenty by sixty feet in dimensions,” cost “about $500, and is complete in its way, even to the chandeliers.” It initially had wooden benches, canvas windows, and a sawdust floor (which was replaced by a wooden floor in 1884) – but the building itself was never painted.

On September 8, 1881, the Durango Herald noted the church needed more work: “Carpenters are busily at work on St. Mark’s Church, and that edifice will soon be thoroughly repaired (construction will be completed) and ready for any kind of fall or winter weather. (There were rumors that gambling money was used to complete the project, but what can we expect when the congregation was ‘made up of about as rough an assemblage as ever gathered to hear the Word of God?’).” Indeed, at least one gambling hall was reported to have nailed up a “parson’s box” near its door, where “according as luck behaved that night,” gamblers were expected to place part of their winnings as they left that establishment when the “games all closed for the night.” This is not surprising because Parson Hoge routinely “befriended gamblers, went into dance halls, and other ‘seedy places.’” While in those places, “he would boldly ask, and always receive, permission to hold services for the patrons’ spiritual welfare.”  One of Parson Hoge’s parishioners, Lounette Haggart, when interviewed in 1925, remembered that “. . . everyone liked him. When he needed money, he used to go to the saloons and pass the plate around to the gamblers; ‘Chip in, boys’ he would say. And the gamblers gave generously.” Those gifts and the parson’s box supported both the construction of the church – and the parson’s salary.

Under Parson Hoge’s leadership, St. Mark’s almost immediately became a center of civic and social activity. Before the end of 1881, the first public school was opened in the church building, and Parson Hoge was elected “County Superintendent of Schools by the unanimous voice of the people.” The first Sunday School program was also organized and operated by Parson Hoge in that same year. In addition to spiritual and educational activities, St. Mark’s sponsored dances, children’s celebrations, readings of poetry and other literature, vocal and instrumental musical performances (to include organ solos), a Ladies’ Aid Society (later to become the St. Mark’s Guild), strawberry festivals, pantomimes, charades, “sociables,” card playing and parties. These activities were held in the new church building, the rectory, and a local establishment, Scott’s Hall. According to the Durango Herald December 29, 1881, “There has been no pleasanter party in Durango than the one given by the ladies of St. Mark’s”; and “These parties have more fun in them than a box of monkeys.” St. Mark’s also became the place to meet the “who’s who” of business and civic leaders in the community.

Parson Hoge was, especially for his day, extremely progressive and ecumenical. The Durango Herald  September 15, 1881, quoted an excerpt from one if his “finest sermons”:

“This treasure, this truth of salvation, we had in ‘earthen vessels’ and, thought it was sometimes strongly flavored with the vessel – the church dogmas through which is was received – it was a treasure wherever it was found; whether in the Church of Rome; in her grand old prayers of 1600 years; in the emersion [sic] of the Baptist; at the mourner’s bench of the Methodist; or in the confirmation service and holy communion of the Episcopal Church. All through the sermon the Rector spoke most kindly of sister churches.”

Among Parson Hoge’s friends was “Col. Wilson” of Silverton, Colorado, a self-proclaimed “heathen or . . . infidel.” According to Caroline Romney’s Durango Record March 5, 1881, Wilson was one of the speakers at St. Mark’s opening service in March of 1881, and the Durango Herald July 29, 1882 reported that Hoge preached the sermon at Wilson’s funeral held in the Silverton Congregational Church in July of 1882. 

Despite his success, in the fall of 1882 Parson Hoge “tendered his resignation” to the vestry “owing to a family affliction which has a tendency to distrust his mind from his duties as Rector of St. Mark’s church” (The Southwest, October 14, 1882)  This “family affliction” was probably some form of mental illness suffered by his wife who was later noted in one of Hoge’s obituaries to have been “mildly insane” but “kept at home under his surveillance” since 1870. It also seems that there was “dissatisfaction with some members of Parson Hoge’s congregation, who were trying to create trouble in the church, and reflecting upon his character as a gentleman and minister of the gospel. They went so far as to claim that he was shaking the religious opinion of some of the good people of his church.” The vestry, however, resolved that “we . . . most heartily sympathize with our pastor, and trust that an all-wise Providence may in his goodness, lighten the burden of affliction that rests upon our brother.” The vestry further resolved that “we ask him to withdraw his resignation; and that we hereby grant him one month’s [paid] leave of absence, trusting that he may return to his congregation renewed in health and encouraged to take up his work with a vigor that shall rebound to the benefit of himself and our people.”  It appears that Parson Hoge decided to turn down this generous offer.  The Southwest (a local newspaper) on October 14, 1882, sadly noted:

“Mr. Hoge’s troubles for more than a year have been of very serious nature, which were worse that all other ills that might have been inflicted upon him.  . . . . Parson Hoge is a man of ability and is the possessor of a heart that knows the sunny smile of a happy soul, as well as the down trodden spirit of an unfortunate and despairing mortal. Deep in that heart is a hidden throb, surrounded with regret, but still he meets his fellow creatures with an air that belongs to happier men.” 

Parson Hoge left Durango in 1883 to become the “Missionary to Silverton [Colorado],” and from there extended “his labors to Rico and Mancos [Colorado].” According to Bishop Spalding, Parson Hoge persevered in his difficult ministry to mining towns in the San Juans “until the depths of the snow made it humanly impossible” for him to continue. He did, however, return to Durango in March of 1883 to perform what The Southwest (newspaper) called “A Fashionable Colored Wedding.”

“On last Wednesday evening, Mr. E.C. Miner and Miss Louisa Perkins, were married by Rev. C.M. Hoge. After the ceremonies were over the party proceeded to Scott’s Hall, where dancing was kept up till a late hour. Mr Miner is the most popular porter on the Pullman palace cars between Durango and Denver. A large number of Durango’s citizens were present at the ceremony.”

Later that year, Parson Hoge moved the Diocese of Texas. Around 1887 he was transferred back to California where he was placed in charge of an Episcopal church at Woodland, California. In 1893 he began work in Monterey and San Louis Obispo counties, and at the time of his death in 1904 at age 71, Parson Hoge was the Episcopal Minister in Charge of the King City and Jolon districts of California. During this period, his wife continued to be “mildly insane, and the fear that harm would come to her . . . added to his worry.” Following several “weeks under a peculiarly heavy strain which culminated in the week before his death in a long hard ride over the country to a distant funeral,” Hoge developed severe abdominal pain and was diagnosed with appendicitis. Facing surgery and “brooding over it,” he committed suicide, using a “revolver” to shoot himself in the head on June 24th. It was a sad ending for a unique man of great gifts and accomplishments. He is, I think, despite his own suffering and human frailty, a saint worth remembering and celebrating.

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​References
• B: Burgoon, Charles P. “Early History of St. Mark’s Church,” The Durango Democrat 23 April
1914.
• DH: Durango Herald 1881
• DR: Durango Record 1881
• E: Eckenrode, T.R. “The Eyes of Faith and the Sounds of Time: St. Mark’s Journey with
Durango, 1880-1921 (written in the 1990s and edited by Chandler Jackson; unpublished)
• FWN: Florence Wilson Netherton, “Durango’s First Newspaper,” in Pioneers of the San Juan
Country, vol. 2: 25.
• JCS: Simmons, John Collinsworth. The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast.
California Conference of the M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal Church), Tenth Session;
Sacramento, October 17, 1860
• JFS: Spaulding, James F. “The Bishop’s Annual Address for 1882,” The Missionary District of
Colorado and Wyoming: 9th Annual Convocation 9 (1882): 36-38; and Spaulding. “The
Bishop’s Annual Address for 1883,” The Colorado Council Journal: 1874-1886. 1 (1886): 28-
29.
• PC: The Pacific Churchman 1904
• SFC: The San Francisco Call June 26, 1904
• SW: The Southwest (newspaper) October 14, 1882
• WD: Devere, William. Jim Marshall’s New Pianner and Other Western Stories. New York: M.
Witmark and Sons, 1897