First Presbyterian Church of Marlin
Lott, Falls County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Presbyterian faith was preached in the Falls County Courthouse in Marlin in 1852, from a pulpit that was drawn up into the rafters when not in use. Presbyterians organized a church in 1853 in Carolina community (10 mi SE) and held missionary services here. On May 2, 1874, the Rev. Levi Tenney and the Rev. Hilary Mosely, commissioned by Central Presbytery, Synod of Texas, organized this church. Mrs. S. K. Bartlett, A. M. Chatam, William McPherson, W. L. Patillo, K. Sewall, and Dr. and Mrs. E. S. Weisiger were charter members. Agnes Patillo Clark, W. S. Clark, and Mrs. H. Singer soon joined. Ruling elders were Patillo and Dr. Weisiger. After years of worship in borrowed quarters, this congregation erected its first building in 1893, at corner of Fortune and Perry streets. Motte Martin, a youth who joined this church in 1894, became in 1902 one of the earliest missionaries to the Congo. Present edifice completed in March, 1918, was site of the city's service of Thanksgiving on Nov. 22, 1918, at end of World War I. Synod of Texas met here 1922. The educational building was erected in 1954; present manse, 1966. Since 1972, Marlin has been in Presbytery of the Covenant, in the Synod of Red River.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Presbyterian preaching reached the Falls County Courthouse in Marlin as early as 1852, from a pulpit hoisted into the rafters when idle. The church was formally organized in 1874 by the Rev. Levi Tenney and the Rev. Hilary Mosely, worshiping in borrowed quarters until its first building rose in 1893. Its present edifice, completed in 1918, hosted the city's Thanksgiving service marking the end of World War I; a young member, Motte Martin, became one of the earliest missionaries to the Congo.
Why it matters
It follows a frontier congregation from a courthouse pulpit to a settled town church, one of the institutions that turned rough Texas settlements into communities.
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Related people
- · Rev. Levi Tenney
- · Rev. Hilary Mosely
- · Motte Martin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Falls County Courthouse
Marlin, TX
Falls County was created in 1850, and its seat at Marlin has seen a remarkable succession of courthouses — a log cabin, a white-cedar building that burned, and several more lost to fire and storm. The present fifth courthouse, begun in 1938 with a Public Works Administration grant, was designed in the Art Moderne style by Dallas architect Arthur E. Thomas. Faced in Austin shellstone with pink granite steps and a soaring central entry tower, it was completed in 1939.
Falls of the Brazos River
Marlin, TX
The falls of the Brazos, where the river once dropped about ten feet over a rocky ledge, long served Native peoples and settlers as a landmark, meeting point, and campsite. In 1834 colonizer Sterling C. Robertson founded Sarahville de Viesca here, abandoned in 1836; later came Fort Milam and the town of Bucksnort. As the only hard-bottom crossing for 200 miles and the head of steamboat navigation, the falls gave Falls County its name in 1850 before the river shifted course in 1866.
Old Settlers and Veterans Association of Falls County
Lott, TX
Organized on July 4, 1908, about 75 years after pioneers first opened the region, the Old Settlers Association of Falls County soon merged with the Willis L. Lang Camp of Confederate veterans, chartering a joint body in 1911 to honor pioneers and preserve Southern history. In 1912 it acquired a 17.9-acre reunion ground, and in 1936 relocated a historic log cabin there for pioneer memorabilia. A 1946 charter renamed it the Old Settlers and Veterans Association, opening its ranks to soldiers of later wars.
Powell-Tull Cemetery
Chilton, TX
When John Powell was buried here in 1889, his family set the land aside as a burial ground shared among a cluster of pioneer families who had settled this part of Falls County. Among those laid to rest is Thomas Marion Tull, a Confederate veteran who had served in the Arkansas legislature and as a justice of the peace before coming to Texas. Descendants still tend the site, which reads as a record of the families who put down roots here.