Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church

Members formed this church in Crawford County, Illinois, in 1833, before leaving for Texas by wagon train, because, the Baptist Standard reports, Baptist churches were still illegal in Texas. The Briscoe Center's finding aid places the first meeting in January 1834 at Daniel Parker's home in Austin's Colony. The plaques give January 20; the Baptist Standard gives the 25th. Its full name was the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Regular Pilgrim Primitive Baptist Church. The congregation marked its centennial in September 1933.

What the plaque says

Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church Organized in Crawford County, Illinois by Elder Daniel Parker in 1833 with the following charter members: Daniel Parker, Pheby Parker, Patsey Parker, Julious Christy, John Parker, Rachel Christy, Salley Brown. The first Baptist church in Texas. First meeting held in Stephen F. Austin's Colony, January 20, 1834. First log church built in 1839. Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church Organized in Illinois in 1833 by Daniel Parker. Members moved to Texas. First meeting in Stephen F. Austin's Colony, January 20, 1834. Log church built December, 1839. Old graveyard adjoins. Present church fourth on same site. Continuous worship since 1834. Daniel Parker, Pastor 1833 - 1844.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 10 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 26 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

• Old Pilgrim Church — steps away
• Rev. Daniel Parker — steps away
• Miles Bennett — steps away
• Site of the McClean Massacre — 5.3 mi