First Baptist Church of Henderson
Henderson, Rusk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Begun in 1845 by the Rev. Lemuel Herrin (d. 1852), pioneer missionary Baptist minister from Tennessee, this church was reorganized in 1850 by Elders John B. Renfro and J. O. Walker, and the Rev. Jesse Witt, who served as the first pastor. Total membership in 1850 was 21. In its early years, the fellowship shared a meeting place with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The present church building was dedicated April 25, 1954. At least three other congregations have been sponsored by this one. The membership has grown steadily in recent years to the current (1976) total of over 1800.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun in 1845 by a pioneer missionary Baptist minister from Tennessee and reorganized in 1850 with just 21 members, this Henderson congregation shared its earliest meeting space with local Presbyterians. From those frontier beginnings it grew steadily over more than a century into one of the town's largest churches. Its founding coincides with the years when the Republic of Texas was joining the United States.
Why it matters
The church's 1840s origins root it in the era when Anglo-American settlement and its institutions were spreading across newly annexed Texas.
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Related people
- · Lemuel Herrin
- · Jesse Witt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Rev. William Craig
Henderson, TX
Born in South Carolina in 1785, the Rev. William Craig entered the Methodist ministry at eighteen and, about 1841, brought his family to San Augustine, Texas, settling in Rusk County's Oakland community by 1849. A circuit rider in the truest sense, he rode his mule Tobe as far as 300 miles on a single circuit, preaching across East Texas and holding services in Nacogdoches's Old Stone Fort. He organized the Henderson circuit and served as chaplain of the Texas Senate.
Henderson
Henderson, TX
Founded in 1843 as the seat of newly created Rusk County, Henderson took its name from Republic of Texas statesman James Pinckney Henderson, later the state's first governor. Land was donated by W. B. Ochiltree and General James Smith, the "Father of Henderson," with lots set aside for churches and schools. A devastating 1860 fire, postwar railroads, and above all the 1930 discovery of the vast East Texas oil field — which swelled the population from 2,000 to 10,000 in months — shaped the town.
Judge William Wright Morris
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Born in North Carolina in 1805, William Wright Morris taught school, studied law, and won election as a judge in Alabama before bringing his family — including his widowed sister and her children — to Henderson, Texas, in 1847. He built a fine plantation home, was elected district judge in 1854, served in the Texas legislature, and helped promote the first railroad in East Texas. In 1875 Morris County was named in his honor.
East Texas Musical Convention
Henderson, TX
Sacred Harp, or "fasola," singing is a distinctly American folk tradition—unaccompanied, shape-note hymnody sung in dispersed harmony from special songbooks, its minor-keyed sound carrying deep emotional weight. Southern settlers migrating west carried the practice into East Texas, where it took firm root among transplanted Southern families. Tradition dates the East Texas Sacred Harp Singing Society, forerunner of the East Texas Musical Convention, to 1855; briefly suspended during the Civil War, its annual gatherings across six counties have endured ever since.