Rev. Henry Stephenson
Burkeville, Newton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Preached at Jonesboro in 1817. Organized first permanent Methodist church and was in charge of all work in Texas in 1834. Born in Virginia, 1772. Died November 20, 1841
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Virginia in 1772, the Rev. Henry Stephenson was among the very first Methodist preachers to work in Texas, delivering a sermon at Jonesboro in 1817 when the region still lay under Spanish rule. By 1834 he had organized the first permanent Methodist church in Texas and was overseeing all the denomination's work in the province. He died in 1841, a few years into the life of the Republic he had helped to evangelize.
Why it matters
Stephenson's early circuit-riding planted Methodism in Texas before it was even a republic, part of the frontier religious wave that shaped the moral and social life of Anglo-American settlement.
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Nearby & related markers
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