Beulah Congregational Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Now, some stories take a lifetime to find their shape. This one took longer than that.

Allen Squyres was the son of Beaulah pioneers, which means this story had roots in the ground before Allen ever drew his first breath. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845, and you might have figured that was that. A man joins a church, he belongs to a church.

Simple enough. But Allen Squyres was not a simple story. He was licensed to preach in 1868, after his return from the Civil War.

Whatever that road home looked like, he came back and he answered a calling. That much the marker makes clear. Now, meanwhile, out in Beaulah, the local Methodists had been sharing a church with the Baptists.

Two congregations, one roof. In 1883, the area Methodists decided it was time to have a place of their own, and they left to form a Methodist Episcopal Church. You can imagine there was some history behind that decision, but the marker doesn't dwell on it, and neither will I.

Here's where things get interesting. The Reverend Squyres, the very man who had come home from war and taken up the ministry, left the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1889 and became a Congregational Methodist. Then in 1892, that Methodist Episcopal congregation, the one that had formed back in 1883, moved to Beulah and joined the Congregational Methodist Conference.

And who did they name as their first pastor? Allen Squyres. The son of Beaulah pioneers, the man who had been moving toward this moment across decades of change, standing at the front of the very congregation that had followed the same road he had already walked.

By 1998, the Beulah Congregational Methodist Church was still there, thirty-four members strong, still providing worship services and community outreach to Beaulah and Angelina County. Some stories end. This one just kept going.

What the marker says

Allen Squyres, son of Beaulah pioneers, joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845. He was licensed to preach in 1868 after his return from the Civil War. In 1883, area Methodists left the church they shared with local Baptists to form a Methodist Episcopal Church. The Rev. Mr. Squyres left the Methodist Episcopal Church and became a Congregational Methodist in 1889; in 1892, the Methodist Episcopal congregation moved to Beulah and joined the Congregational Methodist Conference with the Rev. Allen Squyres as their first pastor. With 34 members in 1998, the Beulah Congregational MEthodist Church continued to provide worship services and community outreach to Beaulah and Angelina County. (1998)