An Early Presbyterian Church in Texas
San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized as the Bethel Presbyterian Church at Goodlaw School House by the Rev. Hugh Wilson on June 2, 1838 with the following charter members: James, Isabella, Joseph and Martha Sharp; H. G. Peggy, James and Elam Alexander; John, Synta and Amanda Polk; Robert and Margaret Tibbets; Elizabeth Erwing; Mary McEiver; Polly Nicholson, Elizabeth Dunham, Catherine Dart, Adeline Stodart; Ann McKnight; and Jack and Hanna Sharp (colored). Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded as the Bethel Presbyterian Church at the Goodlaw School House by the Reverend Hugh Wilson on June 2, 1838, this early Republic-era congregation drew together settler families of San Augustine. Its charter roll named more than two dozen members, including the enslaved couple Jack and Hanna Sharp, recorded among the founders.
Why it matters
The congregation's founding roll preserves both the piety of early Texas settlers and, in its listing of enslaved members, the entangled realities of faith and slavery in the antebellum South.
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Related people
- · Hugh Wilson
Themes & tags
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