DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell you this one straight from the official marker — Freestone County's own tribute to a man who packed about five lives into one. The marker calls him a noted Texas religious leader, and friend, that is not an overstatement. George Washington Baines was born in 1809, came into this world a North Carolinian, and by his own admission arrived without much formal schooling to speak of.
But here's the thing about this man — at twenty-one years old, he went out and cut timber, rafted it himself, and used that money to pay for his own education. Whatever the University of Alabama handed him when they gave him his A.M. Degree, he had earned it with his back before he ever earned it with his mind.
From Alabama he moved to Arkansas. Founded seven churches there. Served in the Arkansas Legislature, 1843 and 1844.
Then down to Louisiana, where he lived and preached from 1845 to 1849. The man was not one for staying still. By 1850 he had made his way to Texas, and that year he became pastor to General and Mrs.
Sam Houston. Let that land for a second. Sam Houston.
In 1855, Baines founded the first Baptist paper in the state of Texas. First one. And if you think he was slowing down — well, then came the Civil War.
Those years, the marker says plainly, were difficult. And in the middle of all that difficulty, George Washington Baines served as president of Baylor University from 1861 to 1863. Then pastor of the First Baptist Church right here in Fairfield from 1864 to 1866.
He and other ministers led their congregations in prayer days, soldier relief work, aid to families, distribution of Bibles. They inspired conversions. They held people together when holding together was the hardest thing there was to do.
And in those wartime years, his wife, Melissa Ann — born a Butler — died here. Right here in Fairfield. And George Washington Baines, this man who had rafted timber and founded churches and led a university and pastored Sam Houston, made her coffin with his own hands.
That detail will stay with you if you let it. He had ten children. He went on to serve as agent for the Baptist State Convention and its education commission.
He died in 1882. Now, the marker saves one last thing for the end, and it is a thing worth saving. One of his and Melissa Ann's great-grandsons grew up to become the thirty-sixth President of the United States — Lyndon Baines Johnson, the first Texan to receive that high honor.
A man who made his own education out of raw timber and river work, who built churches from Arkansas to Texas, who kept the faith alive through a war, and who made his wife's coffin by hand — that's the roots Lyndon Johnson came from. And Freestone County wants you to know it.
What the marker says
(1809-1882) Noted Texas religious leader. Pastor, 1850, to Gen. and Mrs. Sam Houston. Founded first Baptist paper in state, 1855. In difficult Civil War years, served as president of Baylor University, 1861-63, and pastor of the First Baptist Church in Fairfield, 1864-66. A North Carolinian. Uneducated, at 21 he cut and rafted timber to pay for schooling. Received A.M. Degree, University of Alabama. Moved to Arkansas. Founded 7 churches. Served in Arkansas Legislature, 1843-44. Lived and preached in Louisiana, 1845-49. He had 10 children. His wife, Melissa Ann (Butler), died here in wartime. He made her coffin with his own hands. One of their great-grandsons, Lyndon Baines Johnson, became 36th President of the United States, the first Texan to receive this high honor. Churches were vital to military and civilian morale in Confederate Texas. Rev. Baines and other ministers led their congregations in prayer days, soldier relief work, aid to families, distribution of Bibles. They also inspired numerous conversions. Later Rev. Baines served as agent for the Baptist State Convention and its education commission. (1965)