Charles Betts Galloway Jr. (September 1, 1849 – May 12, 1909) was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, elected in 1886. In his day, he was "the best-known and most influential personality in the Methodist world." He was also instrumental in the formation of Millsaps College.
Early life
Galloway was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. His parents were Elizabeth Adelaide (née Dinkins) and Charles Betts Galloway, a successful doctor. He was their second child and oldest son. Galloway was eleven when the Civil War began; he recalled watching the soldiers leaving and made a bayonet from his knife as he was "determined to carve in pieces any Yankee who dared invade the soil of Mississippi."
When he was fourteen, the family moved to Canton, Mississippi because it provided better opportunities for his father's medical practice. He attended public school before going to the University of Mississippi on January 3, 1866. Sixteen-year-old Galloway enrolled directly into the sophomore class was probably the youngest student; more than half of his 24 classmates had fought in the Civil War. One of his classmates recalled, "Galloway was in the front rank of his class…" He also joined the social and literary Fraternity of Delta Psi (St. Anthony Hall).
His first semester, Galloway attended a prayer meeting held in a classmate's room that significantly changed his perspective on religion. When at home In Canton, Galloway talked to his pastor at the Methodist Church and decided to become a minister. He continued his studies, graduating in June 1868.
Career
Immediately after graduation in June, Galloway was licensed to preach with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. However, the next session when he could be ordained was not until December, so he accepted a position at Sharon College, teaching young men in preparatory department and overseeing the pastoral.
At the church's Mississippi Annual Conference December 8-15, 1868, Galloway became a deacon of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The church assigned him to its Black Hawk Circuit of the Yazoo District. One newspaper wrote, "Although only 18 years of age, his powers as an orator and preacher made him instantly famous." In 1871, he was ordained an elder and appointed to South Warren in the Vicksburg District. However, Galloway ended up getting sent to Canton to fill an emergency vacancy, returning to South Warren at the end of the year. He was officially assigned to Canton from 1872 to 1873. At the Conference in December 1873, he was appointed to the church in Jackson where he remained for four years. In 1877, he was assigned to the Crawford Street Methodist Church in Vicksburg, also for four years. While in Vicksburg, Galloway became an advocate of the temperance movement.
In 1881, Galloway returned to the church in Jackson. At the church's General Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in May 1882, he was elected editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate, a weekly newspaper sponsored by Methodist conferences in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This editorial work was in addition to his job with the church in Jackson. In 1884, he was given a "lighter" assignment with the church in Brookhaven which was also closer to the newspaper's headquarters in New Orleans, reducing his time traveling . This allowed Galloway to focus more of the Advocate, bringing his unique analysis of "questions which involved the moral and religious life in the country…." He not only wrote about church affairs, but also about politics, religion, travel, and State affairs. During this time, he also wrote two books: The Prohibition Handbook and a biography of Bishop Linus Parker. He also was invited to speak before the Mississippi Press Association on May 15, 1884.
Galloway served as editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate from June 1882 to May 1886. When he was 36 years old in May 1886, Galloway was elected to be a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In that capacity, he convened an Indian Mission Conference in the Eufaula, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on October 20-25, 1886; in December of that year he also held annual conferences in Arkansas and Texas. He returned to Indian Territory in June 1887 for an International Indian Council that included representatives from eighteen tribes. Galloways wrote warmly and respectfully of the tribes, and was impressed with their government. He noted, "The speech by 'Poor Buffalo,' a Kiowa chief, impressed me as no other appeal I ever heard in my life."