11/19/1854: Houston joins church
On this day in 1854, Texas hero Sam Houston joined Independence Baptist Church and was baptized in nearby Little Rocky Creek by Rufus C. Burleson.
Houston joined at the urging of his wife, Margaret Moffette Lea Houston, and her mother, Nancy Moffette Lea. A deeply religious woman, Margaret Houston worked hard to restrain Houston's drinking and to lead him to a more settled and devout life. The church, located in Independence, Washington County, was organized in 1839 by Rev. Thomas Spraggins and a small group of fellow Baptists. The devout Mrs. Lea, who had moved to Independence in 1852, sold her silverware and gave the money to the church for a bell. Though the current building dates only to 1872, the pew in which Sam Houston sat has been preserved and is marked so that visitors can see it.
11/19/1845: Mormons arrive in Texas
On this day in 1845, the first group of Mormon settlers to come to Texas, led by Lyman Wight, arrived in Grayson County.
After wintering in an abandoned fort at Preston, this group of dissident Mormons pressed on to Austin in June 1846. They remained in the capital until 1847, when they established the community of Zodiac near Fredericksburg. This hamlet, where Wight implemented an idiosyncratic form of communitarianism he called the "common stock principle," became a mecca for Mormon dissenters. After a visit by missionaries Preston Thomas and William Martindale in 1848-49, Wight was excommunicated by the Mormons in Utah for his insubordination and doctrinal irregularities. Zodiac was destroyed by a flood in 1851. After living at several other sites Wight died in 1858. Thereafter, his colony dispersed.
Topic: 11/19/22 A Two Fer! (Read 26 times)