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:

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.

In 1841, a new building was erected on the shores of Matagorda Bay.  The building had been shipped prefabricated from New York, and the first services were held on Easter Day, April 11, 1841.  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.
 

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