Christ Episcopal Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every good church has a founding story, and Christ Episcopal Church in Smith County has one worth sittin' with for a spell. It starts not with a building, not even with a congregation, but with a bishop on the move.

The Right Reverend Alexander Gregg, first bishop of Texas, came through doing missionary work with this congregation in 1866 and 1867. No church, no rectory, no pews of their own. The earliest worship services were held in borrowed facilities.

Think about that. A community of faith, hat in hand, asking neighbors for a room. That is where this story begins.

Then came 1872, and with it a rector unlike any East Texas had likely seen before. His name alone commands a pause: Emir Bela Gyeita Cardis Hamvasy. Hungarian-born, and the first rector of this congregation.

What roads led him to Smith County, the marker doesn't say, but there he was. Two years later, in 1874, Christ Church Parish was formally organized, and the congregation moved into a small church building. Their own walls at last.

Their own roof. For decades, that was the home of the parish. Then came 1918.

Plans for a larger brick structure were finalized that year, and on October 6th, 1918, the Reverend Chauncey Edgar Snowden led the first services in the new building. A congregation that had once borrowed a room now stood inside solid brick. And here is the part that lands: today, the congregation includes descendants of the earliest parishioners.

The borrowed room, the Hungarian rector, the bishop on a missionary circuit, all of it woven into people who still show up on Sunday morning.

What the marker says

The Rt. Rev. Alexander Gregg, first bishop of Texas, began missionary work with this congregation in 1866-1867. The earliest worship services were held in borrowed facilities. The first rector was Hungarian-born Emir Bela Gyeita Cardis Hamvasy, who arrived in 1872. Christ Church Parish was organized in 1874 and moved into a small church building. Plans for a larger brick structure were finalized in 1918. The Rev. Chauncey Edgar Snowden led the first services in the building on Oct. 6, 1918. Today the congregation includes descendants of the earliest parishioners.