The Birthplace of Rebekah Baines Johnson

Joseph Wilson Baines (1846-1906), son of minister editor-Baylor University President George W. Baines, settled in Collin county in 1867. He taught school and in 1869 married Ruth Huffman, daughter of a physician of the Peters Colony. Baines read law under ex-governor James W. Throckmorton, began his practice, edited the McKinney "Advocate", and helped organize and build the city's first Baptist church. He and his wife lived at this site when their child Rebekah was born. Baines served 1883 to 1887 as Texas Secretary of State, later practiced law in Blanco and Fredericksburg, and was a legislator in 1903-1904. Rebekah Baines (1881-1958) studied at Baylor College in Belton and became a teacher and journalist. In 1907 she married Sam Early Johnson, Jr. (1877-1937), a rancher and former schoolteacher who also served in the Texas Legislature from 1905 through 1908 and from 1917 through 1923. The couple continued to ranch in the Hill Country, published the Johnson City "Record-Courier", and were parents of five children. Their eldest, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973), after a long career in the national Congress, served as the 36th president of the United States. (1976)

The Birthplace of Rebekah Baines Johnson is a historical marker in McKinney, Collin County, dedicated in 1976. It is one of 193 historical markers documented in Collin County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 345 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 33.1934, -96.6134 near McKinney. The nearest cataloged historic site is Johnson, John, House (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Dulaney, Joseph Field, House, Dulaney House, and Faires, F. C., House.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5085006170. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.