First Presbyterian Church of Maysfield

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Presbyterian Church of Maysfield, up in Milam County. Now settle in, because this little congregation has a story worth hearing. It starts in August of 1873, when the Reverend Levi Tenney, born in 1823 and still going strong, gathered up nine members and organized a church right there in Maysfield.

Nine souls. That's not a crowd, that's a committee. But you build from what you have.

Among those nine, two were named ruling elders, and one of them was a man by the name of T. N. Mayes, born in 1812.

Now Mayes wasn't just a churchman. He was an early settler, and he had donated the very townsite on which this whole enterprise was standing. The town was named for him.

So when T. N. Mayes sat down as a ruling elder in that congregation, he was, in a very real sense, sitting in a building on his own land, in a town bearing his own name.

There's a kind of quiet weight to that. The congregation held together through the years, and in 1883 they erected their first building, a proper house of worship at last. It was dedicated the following year, 1884, by Dr.

S. A. King of Waco.

Then in 1886 came their first resident pastor, the Reverend J. K. P.

Newton, born in 1843. Before that, this church had been making do without one living right among them. And here's where the story opens up a little wider.

This small congregation, born with nine members on the Texas prairie, went on to furnish three ministers to presbyteries in Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas: the Reverend Henry M. Bailey, Dr. C.

Edgar Newton, and the Reverend James W. Newton. Nine people in August of 1873, and from that seed, three ministers fanning out across the South.

That's the kind of arithmetic that doesn't need any explaining.

What the marker says

Organized in August 1873 by the Rev. Levi Tenney (1823-1907), with nine members. One of two original ruling elders was early settler T. N. Mayes (1812-1891), donor of townsite of Maysfield, which was named for him. The congregation erected this building, its first, in 1883; it was dedicated in 1884 by Dr. S. A. King of Waco. The first resident pastor (1886) was the Rev. J. K. P. Newton (1843-1898). This church has furnished three ministers to Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas Presbyteries: The Rev. Henry M. Bailey, Dr. C. Edgar Newton, and the Rev. James W. Newton.