The predecessor of this church, the First Disciples of Christ congregation in Texas, was founded during the winter of 1841-1842 at McKinney's Landing in Bowie County near the Texas-Arkansas border. Collin McKinney, pioneer settler and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was the leader of the Bowie County congregation, which had worshipped informally since 1831. Between 1844 and 1846 the group moved to Liberty (later called "Mantua"), three miles southwest of here. In 1846 under McKinney and J.B. Wilmeth, the congregation was reorganized as the "Liberty Church" with eighteen members.

In 1854, the First Mantua Christian Church was built. In this early structure a rail in the center aisle separated men from women. No offering plate was passed; donations were placed on the communion table. Members constructed their own "hymn books," which ...

Worshiped in 1831 at McKinney's Landing, where the McKinney family and a small group of neighbors met together for informal services. During the winter of 1841-1842, a traveling preacher from Illinois, G. Gates, organized the congregation into a church. He later wrote, "I remained with the brethren about a week... gathered scattered sheep and constituted a church of 16 members, with fair prospects for more."

First leader of the group was Collin McKinney (1766-1861), who had come with his family from Kentucky to Texas in 1831, when Mexico governed the state. The worship services he started were in defiance of the laws of Mexico, which demanded the allegiance of each citizen to the Catholic religion. In 1836, he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Collin County and the city of McKinney bear his name.

Between 1844 and 1846, the McKinney families and neighbors moved their congregation to Mantua, near Van Alstyne, where they met in a wooden church with a four-foot wall separating men from women. Five slaves of the family were members of the Mantua group. When the railroad built past Van Alstyne, they moved there and organized the First Christian Church, a direct descendant of the 1831 congregation.

Sites of old Indian trail from Mexico to settlements on Texas frontier. In this region in 1856, Colonel Robert E. Lee, then commanding the famed U.S. Second Cavalry (and later General-in-Chief of the Confederate Army), campaigned against the Indians. County formed from Young and Bexar territories. Created 1876. Settled in 1877. Organized 1886. Named for Samuel Rhoads Fisher (1794-1839), a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Secretary of the Navy in the Republic of Texas, 1836. Roby, county seat, named for landowners.

Samuel Rhoads Fisher (1794-1839), early Texas colonist, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and secretary of the Republic of Texas Navy, had this house built for his family in 1832. His widow, Ann, continued to reside here until 1860. Later owners of the house included planter Elsey Harrison; Samuel W. Fisher, son of the original owner; John T. Sargent, who built a schoolroom onto the house for his children; and rancher Gus L. Gottschalk, whose family retained ownership until 1977. A noted local landmark, the house features two-story open porches and a side gabled roof.

Founded about 1855 as Lane's Chapel by Alabaman settlers, including Texas Declaration of Independence signer William Menefee. Group met in log cabin (about 6 miles NE), then erected church school building (1859) at Pine Springs. Flatonia was founded in 1873. Services at Pine Springs lapsed when church burned 1874; members began to move to town. Worship was held in homes until this church was built in 1879.

Founded by Mexico as a bulwark against Anglo-American immigration, this fort and its nearby city were twice proposed for the capital of Texas. Alarmed by the influx of Anglo settlers into Texas, Mexico in 1830 sought to erect a line of forts to keep out the intruders. The ancient Aztec name for Mexico City (originally pronounced "Tex-ox-teet-lan") was given this site; it means "prickly pear place". So hopeful of the fort's success was the military commandant of the region that he envisioned it as the capital of Texas. But Anglo immigration did not cease. Instead it thrived on the friendship of the local soldiers and incoming pioneers. The colonizer Sterling C. Robertson introduced scores of settlers.

In 1832 the soldiers were withdrawn and the fort finally defaulted to the Anglos. Subsequently it was a supply center and mustering point for expeditions against the Indians. During its brief life many Texas patriots lived here, including 5 signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a martyr of the Alamo siege, and 7 soldiers of the Battle of San Jacinto.

Tenoxtitlan was again suggested for the capital of Texas during the Republic, but Austin won out. In 1841, after many Indian raids, the site was abandoned.

Named for James L. Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, this county was formed out of Bexar County in 1876. Anglo settlement of the area began about 1895, and the county was formally organized in 1905. Seminole was established as the county seat that year, and a courthouse was built in 1906. Ranching and farming were the most prominent and profitable occupations until the mid-1930s, when they were eclipsed by oil production. Gaines County encompasses 1,479 square miles, and Seminole and Seagraves are its two largest cities.

Created August 21, 1876; organized October 24, 1905. Named for James Gaines: born in Virginia in 1779; established a ferry across the Sabine River in 1819; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; member of the Congress of the Republic. Gold lured him to California, where he died. A country of cattle, oil and farming. Seminole, the county seat.

One of the oldest Chambers of Commerce in Texas. Informally organized, spring 1838, during Republic of Texas, by a small group of Galveston's original civic leaders. Formally chartered February 3, 1845. Among founders were men who had, or soon would have, statewide fame: John K. Allen (founder of Houston), Gail Borden (dairy king), Michel B. Menard (a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence), Samuel May Williams (colonizing contractor), and Thomas F. McKinney (versatile businessman).

These men assisted city in establishing a local government and helped Galveston City Co. sell lots for homes and businesses. They aided in organizing Galveston County and instituting mail connections with nearby Brazoria and Harris counties. Waterborne commerce -- basis of island's economy -- was promoted by the group, which also aided growth and prosperity by encouraging settlers to work and reside here.

Over the years this voluntary organization of business leaders has played a role in development of the port, the University of Texas Medical branch, tourist industry, causeways, Maritime Academy, and Galveston Community College, as well as fostering the advance of the city's industry and commerce.

Born into a prominent Nashville, Tennessee, family, George Campbell Childress attended Davidson Academy (later the University of Nashville). He was admitted to the bar in 1828, the same year he married Margaret Vance. She died in 1835, soon after the birth of a son.

Childress first visited Texas in 1834, at the urging of his uncle, empresario Sterling Clark Robertson. He soon returned to Nashville, however, and worked as a newspaper editor. By January 1836, he had returned to Texas and settled in Robertson's Colony. The following month Childress and Robertson were elected delegates to the Convention of 1836, where the Texas Declaration of Independence was adopted on March 2. Childress is considered to be the primary author of that document.

Sent by the Republic of Texas to attain recognition of the new country by the United States, Childress was unsuccessful and returned to Tennessee for a time. While there he married Rebecca Stuart Jennings. By 1841 Childress was in Galveston in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a law practice. Despondent over his financial situation, he committed suicide on Oct. 6 and was buried in an unmarked grave. Thirty-five years later Childress County was named in his honor.