The Rev. William Stevenson
Clarksville, Red River County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(October 4, 1768 - March 5, 1857) Frontier minister; friend of Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. A circuit rider in Missouri Conference, Methodist Church, Mr. Stevenson in 1815 made a pastoral trip to Pecan Point, home of Claiborne Wright, member of newly-arrived Anglo-American colony on Texas side of the Red River. Records indicate that his preaching to Wright and friends in 1815 constituted the first Protestant sermons ever given in Texas, then part of Catholic "New Spain." He thus established a beachhead for religious freedom in Texas at this point of entry.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A Methodist circuit rider in the Missouri Conference, William Stevenson crossed into the Red River country in 1815 and preached to the Claiborne Wright family and their neighbors — sermons remembered as the first Protestant worship ever held in Texas, then part of Catholic New Spain. A friend of empresario Stephen F. Austin, Stevenson helped plant the seed of religious pluralism on the frontier decades before Texas independence.
Why it matters
His visit marks the quiet arrival of religious freedom in Texas, a foothold for Protestant faith in a land where it was officially forbidden.
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Related people
- · William Stevenson
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Claiborne Wright
Themes & tags
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