First Baptist Church of Canton

Duane's take

The way the marker on this one reads, here's how I'd tell it. Canton, Texas, Van Zandt County, and a congregation with roots all the way down to 1871. This is the story of the First Baptist Church of Canton, the first organized church in the city.

Now let that settle for a second. Not just the first Baptist church. The first organized church, full stop, in the whole city of Canton.

That's the kind of founding that earns a marker. It was September 21, 1871, when the Rev. J.

B. McDaniel stepped up as first pastor and led the organizing of this church. And he didn't do it alone.

There were charter members whose names deserve saying out loud: Francis M. and Sue L. Hobbs, Mary King, Montgomery W. and Nancy Knox, Melissa J. and Silphia McCarthy, Elizabeth, Francis, Robert, and Robert McClellen Jr., Allen W. and Martha Riley, Susan Wages, and Martha Jane Willis. Count those names.

That's the whole foundation, right there, every one of them. F. M.

Hobbs served as the first clerk, keeping the records that made a congregation a real institution. The early deacons were W. M.

Knox, D. L. Riley, and W.

N. Hale, the kind of steady hands any young church needs. The Sunday School came along in 1885, another layer of permanence taking root.

Now as for where they worshipped, the congregation first made use of a purchased school building right on this very site. Then in 1906 another church building went up. And if you want to talk about a congregation that keeps building, keeps growing, the present plant was completed in 1959.

Three buildings on one piece of ground, and the first organized church in Canton still standing. Not bad for a group of people who got together on a September afternoon back in 1871.

What the marker says

First organized church in city. Founded under leadership of the Rev. J. B. McDaniel, first pastor, Sept. 21, 1871. Charter members: Francis M. and Sue L. Hobbs; Mary King; Montgomery W. and Nancy Knox; Melissa J. and Silphia McCarthy; Elizabeth, Francis, Robert, and Robert McClellen, Jr.; Allen W. and Martha Riley; Susan Wages; Martha Jane Willis. F. M. Hobbs was first clerk; W. M. Knox, D.L. Riley, W. N. Hale, early deacons. Sunday School was started 1885. A purchased school building at this site was first church; another was built 1906; present plant was completed in 1959. (1971)