Thomas J. Pilgrim

Thomas Jefferson Pilgrim (December 14, 1804 – October 30, 1877) started the first school in Texas.

[1] Thomas attended the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institute at Colgate University.

[12] Pilgrim married Lucy M. Ives in 1839, and they lived in present-day Gonzales, Texas.

At or about 1847, Pilgrim organized the Gonzales Baptist Church Sunday school that lasted for about thirty years.

Later, during the 1850s–1860s, Pilgrim served as Chairman of the Committee on Sunday Schools for the Baptist state conventions.

Pilgrim was also an active Democrat and served as county treasurer and as Justice of the Peace.