Antonio Margil de Jesus was born in Valencia, Spain, on August 18, 1657. As a young boy, Margil expressed his desire to become a Franciscan. On April 22, 1673, he received the order's habit at La Corona de Cristo in Valencia. Then at the age of twenty-five, he received Holy Orders and soon accepted the challenge of missionary work in New Spain. He also spent time as a missionary in Yucatán, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. After a brief illness in early 1716, he traveled to East Texas to set up Franciscan missions. When he arrived in July, Margil supervised the founding of Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores and San Miguel de Los Adaes. Then in February of 1720, he founded at San Antonio, the most successful of all Texas missions, San José y San Miguel de Aguayo. Even though his career in Texas was short, he is one of the most famous missionaries to serve in Texas. [2]

The Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus statue is located on the grounds of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Nacogdoches, Texas (2508 Appleby Sand Road). The statue's dedication was in 1976, and Hispanic artist Antonio Mendoza sculpted the bronze statue. [3]

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George Louis Crocket was born on June 3, 1861, in San Augustine, Texas, to George L. and Louisa Alexander (Sharp) Crocket. Crocket attended the University of the South and the Theological Seminary, Sewanee, Tennessee, and in 1866, he received a Bachelor of Letters and a Bachelor of Divinity. Afterward, he worked in ministry until his retirement in 1929. After his 1866 ordainment as a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church, he served as rector of Christ Church Episcopal, in San Augustine, Texas. He helped found several churches in East Texas including St. Cyprian's Church, in Lufkin. [2]

After his retirement in 1929, Crocket went on to Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College (now Stephen F. Austin State University) as a professor of history emeritus and dean of students. Crocket was a lover of history, and in 1932, he published Two Centuries in East Texas. He also founded the first East Texas Historical Association and the Boy Scouts of America troop in San Augustine. Through his work as a minister and historian, Crockett earned the respect of people from the Nacogdoches and San Augustine communities, which led to him being known as the “Grand Old Man of East Texas.” [2 & 3]

The George Crocket statue is located on the grounds of the Christ Episcopal Church in Nacogdoches (1430 N Mound Street.). Friends of Historic Nacogdoches, Inc. sponsored the bronze statue sculpted by Harry Weber of Bronze Fox Studio in Wright City, Missouri, and the dedication was on August 20, 2016. [3]

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