(I found this information in a booklet published in 1947 to celebrate the Church's first 100 years. I'll add other parts of our history in future months.)

THE METHODIST CHURCH IN SAN MARCOS

A Methodist Church was organized in San Marcos on August 5, 1847, with nine members. The group met in the home of General John D. Pitts. which was located near the present site of the post office.*  The preacher in charge of the meeting, the Rev. A. B. F. Kerr of Seguin, came at the invitation of his friend, General Pitts.  

An update from Jane Moss. July, 2003

Del Brown used the Church History from the website in the Crusaders Class this past Sunday, and a couple of us (Al and I) noticed a little problem with it.  I see that Frank got it from the 1947 church history, which, I'm sure,  was accurate at the time it was written.  But it could be confusing to folks now!  It says that the church was organized in John D. Pitts cabin "where the post office is now."  (or words to that effect).  However, post office used to be where Frost Bank is now!  (Those palm trees in front of Frost Bank were put there when the Post Office was in that location!)  So the place where the church was organized was where Frost Bank is; not where the Post Office presently is.  (There's a historical marker out near Guadalupe Street, in front of the bank parking lot.)  Al Lowman said recently, after studying old deed records, that the Pitts cabin was "about over where Clovis Barker parks his car."  Unfortunately, I'm not sure where Clovis parks ---  I guess the point is that the Pitts cabin wasn't actually on the corner where the bank is now, but a little farther over.  (Don't know if the streets were lined up then as they are now, anyway.)

For the first two years services were held in the Pitts home. Then the growing congregation began to worship in a frame school building which stood first at the present location of the Southwest Texas State College and was later moved to the lot on Union Street which is now the site of the Tom Lee home. The move was occasioned by the feeling of danger from wild animals and hostile Indians. In its new location the building served as a school, county court house and community meeting place.

The nine charter members were General and Mrs. John Drayton Pitts, Miss Eliza Pope Pitts, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gilmer McGehee, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Pitts, Edward Hines Pitts and Michael Sessom (Sessum). This was the first church established in San Marcos. The group became a part of the Texas Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which had been organized at Rutersville in 1840 under the presidency of Bishop Beverly Waugh.

General Pitts gave the land where the church now stands, Three buildings have stood on this site. The first, a two-story frame house built in 1855 facing the Fredericksburg Road, was destroyed by fire in 1868. Various church groups had used it for services and the Masons, who had laid the corner stone, had used the second floor for meetings of the Cushney Lodge No. 128. All records seem to have been lost in the fire.

For four years thereafter, the Methodist congregation met in the chapel of Coronal Institute. In 1872, under the pastorate of the Rev. 0. A. Fisher, a red brick church was built on the fireswept lot, facing Hutchison Street. In 1891 this building had to be wrecked because of cracking walls. Again the people worshipped in the chapel of Coronal Institute, which institution in 1875 had become the property of the local Methodist church.

During the ministry of the Rev. J. M. Alexander, in 1893, the present sanctuary was dedicated to the glory of God. The parsonage, which is adjacent to the sanctuary and is now in use as an educational building, was remolded to its present form in the term of the Rev. New Harris, 1905. A church bell, which was given in 1872 by a Captain Lawshe for use in the red brick church, later was hung in the tower of the new building. Following several periods of disuse, the Board of Stewards under the chairmanship of Dr. Marvin Combs, in 1934 arranged for the bell to be used again.

A group of boys and girls organized by Mrs. G. H. Talmadge into the Society of Willing Workers, raised money to buy the pulpit, a chandelier and the walnut altar rail.

For more than fifty years this congregation was served by those sturdy empire builders known as circuit riders. With Bibles in their saddle bags and hearts aflame with courage, these established churches all along the frontiers of young Texas. In spite of the stress of war and reconstruction days, the church grew. In 1870 San Marcos became a station with a pastor of its own. Later it became the headquarters of the San Marcos District, a distinction enjoyed until the realignment of the district in 1927.

In the pastorate of the Rev. F. L. Meadow, 1939, the interior of the sanctuary was redecorated. A fund established from the proceeds of the sale of the Coronal Institute property was of great assistance in this project. A part of the balcony, which had been added during the ministry of the Rev. Cullom Booth, was removed. Twenty stained glass windows were given as memorials to deceased loved ones. A bronze tablet bearing the names of the charter members was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies.

This church has had an honorable part in the history of Methodism in this section of the Southwest. Numerous sessions of the annual conference have been held here. The Coronal Institute sent many young men and women into the pulpits, homes and communities of Texas Methodism, trained and endowed with a love for the Church.

Because San Marcos is a school town, this congregation has had the privilege of fellowship with a procession of students and faculty from the Southwest Texas State College and the San Marcos Academy.

In the one hundred years since the founding of our church, the little band of nine has grown by the grace of God through the faith of men into a congregation of more than nine hundred.

In keeping with the title, "A Century of Growth," one focus of attention in this centennial year is the plan for a new educational plant of two units. This, we trust, will be but the first phase of a continuous growth to meet an increasing opportunity in an enlarging community.

THE MEMORIAL WINDOWS

On the ninety-first anniversary of the organization of this church, memorial windows were placed in the sanctuary and foyer by individuals and families in loving memory of faithful departed members. Two windows are in appreciation of Coronal Institute and The Church School.

The names and inscriptions are:

West Side	East Side	In Foyer
Coronal Institute, 1869-1918	George Walter Donalson Virginia Carmony Donalson John Buckhout Syers	Gideon Gabriel Johnson Sarah Nance Johnson
Thomas Gilmer McGehee Minerva Hunt McGehee	In Memoriam John Edward Pritchet	James Henry Combs Frances Dailey Combs
Samuel Reid Kone  Rebecca Pitts Kone	Daniel McKie Laura Malone McKie	Thomas Chambless Johnson   Lucy Connally Johnson
Isaac Henry Harrison	James L. Malone Eliza Pope Malone
Sterling Fisher Martha Hancock Fisher	I.B.Rylander Glen Malone Rylander
Henry Ward Davis Lucinda Malone Davis	James Jackson Waldrip  Mary Parlea Walrdip
Clara Rylander Wren 1892-1934	Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Garrett Friendship Class
The Church School  1938	Dora Tadlock Saunders
	1881 Missionary Society 1938

THE CHARTER MEMBERS

GENERAL AND MRS. JOHN DRAYTON PITTS

John Drayton Pitts, born August 26, 1798, on the Atlantic Ocean, was one month old when his parents landed in Charleston, South Carolina. Eliza Permelia Daves, born January 1, 1802, in Georgia, married John D. Pitts, April 1, 1819. They had eleven children.

Mr. Pitts served Georgia Legislature as Representative in 1841. He moved his family to the Republic of Texas in 1842, settling in Austin County, later in Grimes. He was Engrossing Clerk in the first and second Legislature, riding horseback from Grimes County to Austin, Texas.

The family moved to San Marcos in 1847. The Methodist Church was organized in their home, with nine charter members, four from his household. Services were held monthly in this home for two years. Mr. and Mrs. Pitts gave all the land where the present church stands, contributing to the first building, a two-story structure; the lower floor was used for church and the Masons used the second floor. The corner stone was laid by the Masons, June 23, 1855. This building burned in 1868, all records were lost. In 1854 Mr. Pitts, with five other citizens, organized Cushney Lodge No. 128.

John D. Pitts, appointed Adjutant General under George T. Wood, second Governor of Texas, served two years. In 1850 he bought General Edward Burleson's San Jacinto land grant 41/2 miles west of San Marcos. General and Mrs. Pitts built the first house in Stringtown, they erected on their land a log house for a school and church.

Eliza P. Pitts, the first person to be buried in Stringtown, died May 12, 1851. John D. Pitts died February 5, 1861, and is buried beside her.

ELIZA POPE PITTS

Eliza Pope Pitts, born in Macon, Georgia, March 28, 1832, at the age of ten moved with her parents to Texas.

She and her cousin, Sarah Pitts, made the first Texas flag to fly over San Marcos, July 4, 1847. When the Methodist Church was organized in her parents' home, she was one of the charter members. She remained faithful and contributed to it seventy-six years

Eliza P. Pitts married James L. Malone, March 14, 1850. Sixteen children were born to them. She contributed tireless efforts in spinning, sewing and knitting for soldiers through three wars-Civil, Spanish and World War I.

She had descendents in all three.

She passed away February 6, 1923, aged ninety-one years, and is buried in City Cemetery, San Marcos, Texas.

THOMAS GILMER McGEHEE

Thomas Gilmer McGehee was born in Madison County, Alabama, September 27, 1810. He was married to Miss Minerva Hunt, October 9, 1832, and moved with his family to Bastrop, Texas in 1835. He joined the Texas Army and was in command of a Company of Scouts between the San Marcos and Guadalupe rivers when the Alamo fell. He with his wife helped to organize and became charter members of the first Methodist church, organized by Dr. Ruter in Bastrop in 1840. In 1846 he moved with his family to his head right league of land on the San Marcos and Blanco rivers, and put into cultivation the first farm in what is now Hays County.

In 1847 he and his wife helped to organize the first Methodist church in Hays County at San Marcos and became charter members of this church. He was also a charter member of the Cushney Lodge No. 128, Free Masons. He died in San Marcos November 13, 1890 and is buried here. Members of his family have been through the years and still are intimately connected with this Church.

MRS. MINERVA HUNT McGEHEE

Mrs. Minerva Hunt McGehee, wife of Thomas Gilmer McGeheee, was Miss Minerva Hunt of Alabama and it was for her father that the town of Huntsville, Alabama was named. She came with her husband to Bastrop Texas in 1835, and shared with him all the privations and perils of this extreme frontier. They reared a family of nine children. She, with her husband, helped to form the first Methodist Church in Bastrop and were active members of this church until they moved to San Marcos where they again were active in organizing the first Methodist Church in this community. She also helped to form the first Methodist Woman's Society and Temperance Lodge in Hays County. She was active in all good works and her home was a resting place for the toil worn itinerant preacher. She was one of those noble women of whom the Wise Man said, "Her children rise up and call her blessed." She died July 9, 1877 and is buried in San Marcos.

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM CURTIS PITTS

William Curtis Pitts, born in Sumter County, South Carolina, February 12, 1803. Moved to Washington County, Georgia when about ten years old. Professed religion October 22, 1823 and united with the Methodist Church. Mrs. Ann C. Armstrong Pitts, born December 12, 1809, in Georgia. Married William Curtis Pitts, October 19, 1828. They moved to Alabama in 1840; to Grimes County, Texas, in 1846. On April 9, 1847, they with John D. Pitts, William Bagley and their families forded the San Marcos River where the bridge stands above Riverside Park. Mr. and Mrs. William C. Pitts had seven children, six of whom lived to establish families in this and neighboring communities.

According to records William C. Pitts had an active part in building the new settlement. He and his wife exerted a strong religious influence in the community. He was a noted class leader and served the church in other capacities. After living to be almost 85 years old, both Mr. and Mrs. Pitts died here in the home of their son-in-law and daughter, Major and Mrs. J. H. Bishop. Mr. Pitts died July 18, 1887, and Mrs. Pitts May 14, 1894. They are buried in the City Cemetery, San Marcos, Texas.

EDWARD HINES PITTS

Edward Hines Pitts, born in Georgia January 23, 1813, came to Texas in 1842. A bachelor, he lived in his brother's home and was the fourth member of the household to become a charter member of the Methodist Church organized in the Pitts home. Joining the Meir Expedition in 1842, Edward was taken prisoner and was one of the fortunate persons to draw the white bean. Cruel treatment and slave labor imposed on the prisoners broke his health. After many weary weeks, Edward returned to his brother's home where he died January 1854. He is buried in the Pitts Cemetery, Stringtown, San Marcos, Texas.

MICHAEL SESSOM (SESSUM)

Our earliest records (1845) show Michael and Elizabeth Sessom as having built one of the two first log cabins in San Marcos. By trade he was a blacksmith-an important business in those days when horses and oxen were our only means of transportation. Many deeds and land transfers indicate his efforts were successful.

The school rolls for 1849 list David, Julia, John, Mary and Amanda Sessom, indicating that their father was ambitious for his children. The fact that he pioneered on dangerous frontiers and helped build a church in a wilderness community indicates that he was a man of religion and of courage.

In spite of a diligent search by the Committee on History, no further data could be found regarding this charter member.