R.A. Baker, The
Blossoming Desert: A Concise History of Texas
Baptists (Waco: Word Books,
1970).
J. M. Carroll, A History of Texas
Baptists: Comprising a Detailed Account of Their Activities, Their Progress and
Their Achievements (Dallas: Baptist Standard Publishing Co., 1923).
Washington
Anderson (January
31, 1817 - April 29, 1894): Born in Pittsylvania County,
Virginia, Washington Anderson was the son
of Dr. Thomas Anderson and son-in-law to R.H. Taliaferro. When he was eighteen
years old, Anderson relocated to
Hornsby’s Bend, Texas,
near Austin in February of 1835. A
farmer by trade, he joined the Army of Texas in 1836, and fought at the Battle
of San Jacinto, where he was wounded. Returning to Hornsby’s Bend
after three months of service, he was driven from his property by Indians in
early 1837, and was forced to relocate to Washington
County where he taught public
school. Returning to Hornsby’s Bend
in November of 1837, Anderson
decided to move to Webberville where he lived for seven years. Anderson
moved to Brushy Creek, Anderson County,
in 1843, where he operated a sawmill and gristmill
until it was destroyed by fire in 1845. Anderson
also helped organize Williamson County
in 1850. After relocating to Webberville in 1845, he was converted in 1848, and
joined the Macedonia Baptist
Church, where he remained until
1850. He was then ordained as a deacon at the Webberville
Baptist Church
by J. H. Stribbling and G. G. Baggerly.
Highly influenced by Baggerly, he moved to Austin
in 1852, and joined his congregation where he served as a deacon. Anderson
was known as an intelligent and humble man who had an excellent grasp of the
Scriptures.
Bibliography:
R.A. Baker, The
Blossoming Desert: A Concise History of Texas
Baptists (Waco: Word Books, 1970).
J.B. Link, Historical and
Biographical Magazine, 2 Vols. (Austin: n. p. 1892).
Matthew Thomas Andrews (April
13, 1869 - July 31, 1939): Born in McComb
City, Mississippi, Andrews
attended Gillsburg Collegiate Institute before
graduating with an A.B. degree from Clinton
College (now Mississippi
College) in 1894. After being
ordained to the gospel ministry by the Old
Missionary Baptist
Church in East Fork, Mississippi,
in 1895, he successively pastored Baptist churches in
Amite City
(1891-1894) and Hammond (1896-1898)
in Louisiana. In Texas,
Andrews pastored First Baptist Marshall (1898), First
Baptist Marlin (1899-1909), First Baptist Denton (1909-1912), First Baptist
Hillsboro (1912-1918), First Baptist
Temple (1919-23), and the First Baptist
Church of Texarkana (1924-1938). Andrews was a frequent member of the Executive
Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas,
a trustee of Southwestern and Southern Seminaries, and a trustee of the Home
Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Andrews was also one of the
principal fundraisers for the Tidwell
Bible Building
at Baylor University.
He authored Growing A Soul, Comrades of the Road,
Adults and the Art of Learning, and Seeing Africa Through Africans. Andrews was
a delegate to the Baptist World Alliance in 1923, 1928, and 1934. He was
awarded an honorary D.D. degree from Howard
Payne University
in 1919, and Baylor
University in 1920.
Bibliography:
Baptist Standard, 21 September 1939.
L. R. Elliott, ed., Centennial
Story of Texas Baptists (Dallas:
Baptist General Convention of Texas, 1936).
New Handbook of
Texas, 6 Vols. (Austin: Texas Historical Association, 1996).
Harry Leon McBeth,
Texas Baptists: A
Sesquicentennial History (Dallas: Baptistway
Press, 1998).
Reddin
Andrews, Jr. (January 18, 1848 - August 16, 1923): Born in
