DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the story the official marker preserves, out here just outside of Dublin, Erath County, Texas. Now, some stories start with a bang — a battle, a flood, a fortune made overnight. This one starts quieter than that.
A small farming community, Cottonwood, settled on the banks of Cottonwood Creek. No grand proclamation. Just people putting down roots, building a school, and eventually deciding that a school was a fine enough place to hold a church service.
For a good while, that's exactly what they did. And then, in 1908, they made it official. The Cottonwood Missionary Baptist Church was organized, and forty-six people joined at the moment of its founding.
Among them, the family of T.H.P. and Mary Ann Thackerson — a name you're going to want to remember, because it keeps coming back around in this story like a creek that won't stop flowing. Reverend Lee Gilbreath stepped up as the first pastor and served in that role until 1910. Now here's something worth slowing down for.
In those early years, this wasn't a church that kept its doors to itself. The whole community of Cottonwood — Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, Presbyterian — they all met together under the same roof. Each denomination got one Sunday a month to send their minister up to preach.
Four denominations, four Sundays. Neat as you please. That's a kind of neighborliness you don't always hear about, and the marker makes a point of telling it.
But communities don't stay frozen in time. By 1928, the school consolidated with the Dublin public schools, and families began to move away. The church, now going by the name Cottonwood Baptist Church, grew small.
And most folks, the marker says plainly, became too discouraged to continue. Most. Not all.
Six teenaged girls kept showing up every single Sunday. Fannie Stroud, Johnnie Bea Stroud, Merle Stroud, and Bonnie Culver — all of them descendants of T.H.P. and Mary Ann Thackerson — along with their two friends Mary Queen and Dot Smith. Six young women, holding the whole thing together by sheer faithfulness while the adults around them had given up the ghost.
You want your tall tale? There it is. Not a gunfighter, not a cattle baron.
Six teenage girls in Erath County keeping a church alive through the lean years. Eventually, people began to return. The church began to grow again.
And on February 23, 1959, a woman named Mrs. P.E.T. Culver — daughter of the Thackersons, and the last surviving charter member from that original 1908 organization — broke ground on a new church building.
She had been there at the very beginning, and she was there to mark the next chapter. Throughout the next half century, the church ministered to its community and, the marker tells us, continues to serve worldwide. From a schoolhouse on Cottonwood Creek to a congregation reaching the world — and in between, six teenagers who simply refused to let the doors stay shut.
That's the whole story, and it's enough.
What the marker says
Just outside of Dublin, the small farming community of Cottonwood was established on the banks of Cottonwood Creek. The church that first met in the school is now a blooming church serving the community. As the years passed, the community began to grow and, in 1908, they organized the Cottonwood Missionary Baptist Church. Forty-six people joined the church at the time of the organization including T.H.P. and Mary Ann Thackerson's family. Reverend Lee Gilbreath became the first pastor and served until 1910. Throughout the early years of the church, the entire community of Cottonwood met together with each denomination preaching once a month. The Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ and Presbyterian ministers each had a Sunday once a month to give their sermons. By 1928, the school consolidated with the Dublin public schools, and many families moved away. The church, now named Cottonwood Baptist Church, grew small and most became too discouraged to continue. Six teenaged girls: Fannie Stroud, Johnnie Bea Stroud, Merle Stroud, Bonnie Culver, all descendants of T.H.P. and Mary Ann Thackerson, and their two friends Mary Queen and dot smith continued to meet faithfully each Sunday. Eventually, people began to return and the church began to grow again. On February 23, 1959, Mrs. P.E.T. Culver, daughter of the Thackersons and the last surviving charter member, performed the ground breaking ceremony for the new church building. Throughout the next half century, the church ministered to those in their community and continues to serve worldwide.