Finally, in another pastor was appointed to the area. In that year, John Powell was sent to the Lafourche Mission. Newtown was an old name for New Iberia. Lafourche was now in the Natchez District. Harp's church journal Powell is probably the first Methodist minister to make regular stops in Terrebonne Parish.
Meanwhile, Father Menard was ordained and became the Catholic priest in Thibodaux. He made his way into Houma, conducting services in the courthouse from time to time.
He said that Houma consisted of about twenty homes along the bayou. He noted that the people were "ignorant of the principal truths of religion. That year, both John Powell and Philo M. Goodwyn were appointed to the Lafourche circuit. Goodwyn, who was only twenty-three at the time, would later return to the area in the 's. It is noted in Rev. Harp's journal that funds were being raised towards the building of a church in Thibodaux and probably in Houma as well.
Powell, the elder of the two ministers, was probably the impetus behind the building of the church. In , Henry B. Price and Stephen J. Davies were appointed to the Lafourche Mission, as it was now called. These were probably the preachers who encouraged the Houma Methodists to work on building their own church. Davies came from Cardiganshire, Wales. He was born in and passed away in He was buried in St.
Mary Parish. He had a son, Stephen Davies, Jr. It was said that Rev. Davies was "one of the most eloquent, powerful and successful preachers of modern times. This year also saw the transfer of Charles P. Clark from the New York to the Mississippi Conference. He had learned fluent French so that he could preach to the French population of Louisiana. But, because of the turmoil concerning the separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church into northern and southern factions, he left the denomination and joined the Protestant Episcopal Church.
