Landmark Baptist

An early Texas preacher (not real early, perhaps ordained in Mississippi) was Washington Wiggins Albritton. I have run across him from time to time in Mt. Zion and other East Texas minutes.

Washington Wiggins Albritton (circa 1838- circa 1900) was the son of John F. Albritton and Mary (Polk) Albritton. Mary Polk was a sister of President James K. Polk. John and Mary had nine children; only Washington Wiggins came to Texas. (John F. Albritton and 2 brothers came to the U.S. from England circa 1827)

W. W. Albritton married Mary Ann Theresa Turner in Poplar Springs, Pontotoc County, Mississippi, in 1868. In 1869 they arrived in Texas and purchased 500 acres of land between Nacogdoches and Cushing. He was one of the first preachers at the Redland Baptist Church on Flowery Mountain (Nacogdoches County). First called Brewer's Mountain, Albritton renamed it for the multitude of wildflowers growing there. Washington pastored of Union/Old North Church in Nacogdoches, Mt. Carmel and Valley Grove in Rusk County and many others. W. W. and Mary Ann were the parents of seven children. "As the children became of school age, they moved to Alto and later, to Rusk so that the older children could attend Rusk College. Mr. Albritton was the Baptist district missionary in Rusk and died there in 1900."

Benjamin Jackson Albritton, son of W. W. and Mary Ann Albritton, was a well known educator in Jacksonville (Cherokee County). He was superintendent of public schools for sixteen years. He served as president of Jacksonville College for three terms -- 1903-1905, 1906-1908, and 1918-1937. He also served as a City Judge.

A composite of online information from various sources, including:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gawnewiththewind&id=I17749
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/FF/hrf45.html
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com/2006/10/mt-carmel-church-appendices-b-c.html
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com/2006/12/mt-carmel-and-valley-grove-baptist.html
http://www.tomatocapital.com/publications/centennial.asp