Andrew Jackson McGown

When Rev. Sumner Bacon died in 1844, the Colorado Presbytery named McGown its missionary to the United States. The Handbook of Texas says he spent a year traveling through Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, attending synods and presbyteries and writing appeals for ministers in the Banner of Peace. It cannot fully assess the response but notes Texas went from about ten ministers in 1844 to around seventy in 1852, many from areas he visited. He died on July 31, 1870, at a friend's home in Crockett after a meeting of the Trinity Presbytery.

What the plaque says

Andrew Jackson McGown (1816 -- 1870) Tennessee native Andrew Jackson McGown came to Texas in 1835 to fight with the Texas Army in the war for independence from Mexico. A participant in the Battle of San Jacinto, he later helped establish the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Texas, serving as a pioneer circuit rider until his death. McGown founded "The Texas Presbyterian" and helped establish Andrew Female College in Huntsville. A royal arch mason, he also served as Grand Chaplain of Forest Lodge No. 19. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 27 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• George G. Alford — steps away
• Glenwood Cemetery — steps away
• Samuel Fisher Tenney — steps away
• Judge Elijah Gossett — steps away