Hugh Wilson

Hugh Wilson (1794–1868) was an American Presbyterian missionary and minister. He founded some of the first Presbyterian churches in Texas. Biography Early life Hugh Wilson was born on March 16, 1794, in North Carolina. He graduated from Princeton University and received a Master's degree from the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. He later received a Doctor of Divinity from Austin College in Huntsville, Texas. Career From 1822 to 1832, he served as a Presbyterian missionary to the Chickasaws. He then served as a Presbyterian minister in Tennessee from 1832 to 1837. In the summer of 1837, he visited Texas for the first time. Shortly after, in the spring of 1838, he moved to San Augustine, Texas. On June 2, 1838, he founded Bethel Presbyterian Church, four miles west of San Augustine. It is now known as the Memorial Presbyterian Church and has been relocated to San Augustine. From 1838 to 1840, he taught and served as an administrator at Independence Female Academy, a women's college in Independence, Texas.