DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just gonna do it justice. Now, most folks who crossed into Texas came lookin' for land, for a fresh start, maybe to outrun whatever was chasin' them back home. But in 1815, one man crossed into that wild country carryin' something a little different — a sermon.
His name was the Reverend William Stevenson. Born October 4th, 1768, a Missourian by origin, and a friend of none other than Stephen F. Austin.
That last detail matters, because in the world of early Texas, knowin' Stephen F. Austin meant you were movin' in serious company. Now here's where it gets interesting.
The place was Pecan Point, right there on the Red River, just north of where this marker stands. And the year was 1815. Texas at that moment was not Texas as we know it — it was part of Catholic New Spain.
Official Catholic New Spain. Which means when Reverend Stevenson stood up and opened his mouth to preach, he wasn't just delivering a Sunday message. According to the records, those were the first Protestant sermons ever given in Texas.
Let that settle for a second. The very first. In a land claimed by a Catholic empire, on a river that marked the edge of the known and the beginning of the unknown, this Missourian preacher stood at Pecan Point and said what he had to say.
Reverend William Stevenson lived a long road — he didn't pass until March 5th, 1857. Long enough to watch the land where he once preached become something altogether new. And he wasn't alone in finding his way in through this corner of the country.
Records note that many settlers entered Texas through Red River County too, followin' roughly the same path, though most of them weren't carryin' a pulpit. Pecan Point. 1815. The first Protestant voice in Texas — and it came from a preacher standin' on a riverbank at the edge of an empire that hadn't yet heard what was comin'.
What the marker says
The Rev. William Stevenson (Oct. 4, 1768 - March 5, 1857), a Missourian, friend of Stephen F. Austin, preached in 1815 at Pecan Point on the Red River, north of here. Records indicate that his were the first Protestant sermons ever given in Texas, then part of Catholic "New Spain." Many settlers also entered Texas through Red River County.