This authentic photograph from the 1850's portrays the pool near Little Rocky Creek in Washington County, Texas, where one of my ancestors, Dr. Rufus Columbus Burleson, baptized General Sam Houston (1793-1863), on 19 November 1854. General Houston, the man for whom the city of Houston is named, was the only person in U.S. history to serve as Governor of two different states--Tennessee (1827-1828) and Texas (1859-1861). He was a very good friend of Rufus Burleson, pastor of the Baptist Church in Independence, Texas, who later served as President of Baylor University. Houston was also a close friend of Burleson's predecessor, the Reverend George Washington Baines, the maternal great-grandfather of U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson. George Washington Baines would also later serve as President of Baylor University. This little pond where General Houston was baptized was on the Little Rocky Creek which runs just south of College Station, Texas and the Texas A & M University. There is a ton of Burleson history in that area of the world. After baptizing Sam Houston, Rufus Burleson declared to the General “Your sins are washed away”, to which Houston is said to have replied, “God save the fishes!" My baptismal views are not quite as regenerative in nature as my ancestor's, but I can't help but laugh at the wit and humor of the patriarch of Texas. For more on General Houston, see a short biography of his life. For more on Rufus C. Burleson see here.
In His Grace,
Wade
