Early Fayette County History: St. James’ and the Faison Brothers

St. James’ Episcopal Church and the Record have recently published a book on the role in the history of our county of the iconic church. Here follows an excerpt from the book. It tells the story of distinguished members who were instrumental in building the church.

Peter Faison, brother of Nathaniel Faison (of the Faison House), served as Treasurer on the St. James’ Vestry from 1884 to 86, the period the Shropshire’s lot on Travis Street was exchanged for the adjacent lot upon which the church now stands. Livingston Lindsay, County Judge of Fayette County and member of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1868-69 and father of Georgiana Shropshire, served with Peter Faison on the vestry that oversaw this lot-swap with the Shropshire heirs. This is the timeframe of the building of the church.

Peter was among the leadership of St. James’ and was Junior Warden in 1894.

Peter would do well in real estate, which allowed him and his family to spend extravagantly. But it was not Peter’s initiative that allowed him to prosper; it was his inheriting his deceased brother’s holdings.

Early church member Edward Manton survived the Dawson Massacre and was shackled to Nat Faison––another Massacre survivor––and marched to Perote Prison. After returning to Fayette from his imprisonment in Mexico, Nat made a fortune by buying property from struggling Confederate landowners during the Civil War. Soon after the war ended, he contributed towards the building of institutions bolstering the African-American community: a school, a church, and a cemetery. He would serve as County Court Clerk for nine years.

Nat bought a house from a May Herron in 1866; the Faison House, as it is known, is on S. Jefferson Street near where Jefferson crosses the Colorado River in La Grange. The restored and preserved house, built in the 1840s, is one of the oldest such structures in Texas.

One would assume the childless Nat, who died in 1870, left his home, furnishings, and entire fortune to his brother Peter. But that would be incorrect.

Rather, Nathaniel Faison’s will stipulated that his home, furnishings, buggy, horse, pony, and $3,000 in gold coins be left to his housekeeper, Louisiana Brown. “Lou” Brown was a former enslaved person whom Nat hired to keep house after she was freed and until his death at 52 in June 1870. She would be the first freed person to inherit property in Texas. (Those gold coins would be worth close to $100,000 in the 2020s.)

With the inheritance from his brother, Peter was able to live in a profligate manner. He moved his family to La Grange to take over his brother’s business. In 1872 he persuaded Louisiana Brown–– who had “bought” the Faison house for a token $5––to sell it to him for $3,000. She must have been a shrewd bargainer since Nat paid only $1,800 six years earlier, making for a 67% appreciation. She eventually bought a house at Jefferson and Pearl streets and went by “Lou Faison” for the rest of her life.

When Peter died, his son Jimmy took possession of the house. Jimmy’s wife Julia played the pump organ for St. James’ and died in 1960. Peter Faison and his family had lived in the Faison House for 88 years.

In 1961 the La Grange Garden Club purchased the home for $5,500 borrowed from local citizens. Club members oversaw the complete restoration of house and grounds. At present, the Faison House is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Copies of the book are available via a $20 donation. Contact Cathy Sterman at (979) 968-3910 or Jim Austin at austinjw33@hotmail.com.