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On July 8, 1849, a group of settlers gathered together under a live oak tree at the home of Dr. Robert and Mary C. Trigg Peebles to form the Live Oak Presbyterian Church, the first Presbyterian congregation in De Witt County. Led by the Rev. William Cochran Blair, the church's charter members included Elizabeth Smith Barnhill, Miles Squier Bennet, Mary C. Trigg Peebles, James Norman Smith, and Elizabeth H. Morehead Smith. In 1851 the church was relocated to Clinton (3 miles south), the De Witt county seat. In 1855 the county's second Presbyterian church was organized in Concrete (11 miles north), and in 1878 a third congregation began in the new county seat of Cuero. By 1883 the three churches had merged into one congregation located in Cuero. Eventually, congregations from Indianola and Thomaston also joined the Cuero church. A number of structures have housed the church over the years, and the members have maintained an active involvement in community affairs. The street in front of the church was renamed in honor of the Rev. Dr. William Angus McLeod, who served as minister here from 1919 until his death in 1947. |
