DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it straight as I can. Andrew Jackson McGown — born in 1816, out of Tennessee — came to Texas in 1835. Now, he didn't come for the weather.
He came to fight, joining the Texas Army in the war for independence from Mexico. And he was there at San Jacinto. Right there.
Whatever that ground felt like under his boots that day, McGown stood on it. He lived to tell about it. And then — and this is the part that says something about the man — he stayed.
Tennessee was back there somewhere, but Texas was where he planted himself. He turned from soldier to circuit rider, serving as a pioneer preacher for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Texas. That's a life spent on horseback, covering ground that didn't always have roads, carrying a congregation that didn't always have walls.
He helped establish that church here in Texas, and he kept at it until the very end — he died in 1870. But in the years between, McGown founded a publication called The Texas Presbyterian, and helped establish Andrew Female College up in Huntsville. He was also a Royal Arch Mason, serving as Grand Chaplain of Forest Lodge No. 19.
One man — soldier, circuit rider, founder, chaplain, publisher. Texas has a way of asking everything of a person. Andrew Jackson McGown seemed to find that agreeable.
What the marker says
(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.