History of the First Baptist Church, Austin, Texas Page: 10
31 p. illus. 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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many old people that the bell was ordered by Mr. and
Mrs. G. R. Freeman when they went North on their
wedding trip. They were married in June, 1857. On
the bell itself is the legend:
"Cast by G. W. Coffin, Buckeye Bell Foundry, Cincinnati,
Ohio, 1858."
Old inhabitants tell me that this bell was rung for
all sorts of town meetings, notably to give the alarm
of fire. One man said the mayor always gave a dollar
to the first person who rang the Baptist bell in case
of fire. It now has a secure berth in the new church
building, for many loved it too much to allow it to DO
disposed of, but too many of our children have never
heard its tone.
Early Sunday School
Although there was a Union Sunday School held in
Austin in the Methodist (later Christian) Church on
Fourth Street as early as 1848, the Baptists did not
organize a school until about 1857. The first Superintendent
was Mr. D. C. Freeman, and probably the
next, Mr. John B. Hudspeth, who held the office for
twenty-five or thirty years.
Sunday in the Old Church About 1860
I feel it will interest the present members to reconstruct
as far as it is possible a Sunday spent in the
old church between 1857 and 1860. As the sweet notes
of the old bell ring out at nine o'clock, a half hour
before time for Sunday School, we prepare to walk
the length of Congress Avenue, little more than a
trail through the high weeds, to join the worshipers
who are taking their way to the Baptist Church on the
hill. Being strangers we are greeted cordially by Mr.
Freeman, the superintendent, and watch with interest
while the few teachers instruct their classes, using
probably the Bible only as a text-book.
This service over, we go upstairs and join the groups
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Brooks, Mrs. V. L. History of the First Baptist Church, Austin, Texas, book, 1923; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth33019/m1/11/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.