Christ Episcopal Church History

PEW SEATING
View a list of members and their pew seat payments, 1857-1860. Particular pew seats were reserved for families who paid for their pew.

History on some families of pew holders and other church members can be found in the Handbook of Texas. Read about them:

VAN DORN, ISAAC (ca. 1801-1860).

BRAMAN, DON EGBERT ERASTUS (1814-1897).

IVES, CALEB SMITH (1798-1849).

FISHER, SAMUEL RHOADS (1794-1839).

HODGES, GALEN (1813-1884). &
MATAGORDA GAZETTE

WARREN, WILLIAM G. (ca. 1805-?).

SELKIRK, JAMES HENRY

BURKHART, GEORGE

HORTON, GOV. A. C.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

AUSTIN, TEXAS & (Matagorda County).

Christ Church, Matagorda, is the oldest Episcopal Church in Texas. It is also the first foreign parochial mission of the Episcopal Church. The Reverend Caleb S. Ives landed at Matagorda in 1838 when Texas was a Republic. The arrival of Caleb Ives signaled the beginning of the Episcopal Church in Texas.

On Christmas day, 1838, he celebrated the Holy Eucharist according to the Anglican rite. About a month later the parish of Christ Church was formally organized. The services were held in the Masonic hall. The Episcopalians in Texas were placed under the jurisdiction of the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk, the Missionary Bishop of the Southwest. The building was completed and open for services on Easter Day, April 11, 1841.

After the Rev. Caleb Ives became the first minister in 1839, there was a great need for a church building in which to conduct services. A church lot was donated by Albert C. Horton and Abner Lee Clements. The Rev. Ives made a trip to New York to secure funds to build a church. Finally a precut church was bought and shipped to Matagorda. It arrived in July of 1840, but there was no money in the congregation for erecting it. The lumber lay on the ground until it was feared that it might rot. Then Albert Horton donated 600 acres to be sold and the remaining money was sent from New York.

The hurricane of 1854 blew down the church building. The congregation moved to a site 400 yards west, and erected the present building in 1856. Much of the original 1841 church was salvaged and used in the rebuilding, such as pews, the font, the communion rail, the altar cross, *sedilia, the supporting pillars, timbers, flooring and most of the siding. The original communion silver was also salvaged. After a new bell was obtained, things were back to normal.

On January 3, 1849, a convention met at Christ Church, Matagorda, to constitute the diocese of Texas. In 1859, the Right Reverend Alexander Gregg was made bishop of Texas and presided over the diocesan council of 1860, which appropriately was held at Christ Church, Matagorda.

The history of Christ Episcopal Church is intertwined with hurricanes, (even Claudette in 2003) storms, epidemics, wars and in spite of all, she has continued her presence and witness through the decades.
There can never be a present without a past.

(Use your browser back arrow to return) Rectors in Charger 1838-2003
Caleb S. Ives	1838-1849	John U. Graf	1895-1896	Billy C. Grisson	1961-
S. D. Denison	1850-1850	J. H. Birckhead	1898-1900	W. E. Campbell	1962-
D. D. Flowers	1851-1852	Services carried on by John Sloan & Dean Bowers	1900-1904	Das K. Barnett	1962-1964
H. N. Pierce	1852-1854	George L. Gordon	1904-1905	John R. Fisher	1965-1966
Stephen H. Wright	1855-1857	John Sloan	(Bay City	James E. Scott, Jr.	1967-1970
C. H. Albert	1857-1860	Joseph Carden	1915-1916	James Abernathey	1970-1974
John Owen	1861-1867	John Mervin Pettit	1919-1922	Robert M. Tarbet, Jr.	1974-1976
J. T. Hutcheson	1872-1873	William W. Daup	1923-1924	Doug S. Cadwallader	1977-1981
Edwin Wickens	1873-1874	Ray A. Reese, Layman	1924-1926	Jack Stephen Lowrey	1981-1985
Innes O. Adams	1876-1879	Paul E. Engle	1926-1942	Herbert W. Wilkee	1985-1992
J. Cooper Waddell	1881-1883	E. L. Malone, Jr.	1942-1942	Karl M. Choate	1992-1997
L. Holmes	1889-1889	Nathaniel C. Croft	1941-1944	Harley S. Savage	1998-
John Sloan	1890-1892	Aubrey C. Maxted	1944-1958
J. E. Hammond	1892-1894	Ralph L. Masters	1958-1961

The following picture of our church are thumbnails (for faster loading). Please click on each picture to see larger views of our historic church.

© All church photos and history from church archives by courtesy of Christ Episcopal Church and Zia Miller (Mrs. Jackson O., Jr.)
Historical profiles are from The Handbook of Texas Online