First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch. Now settle in, because this story starts the way so many Texas stories do: with a family, a piece of ground, and a grief that consecrated both. Thomas and Sarah Keenan came to Farmers Branch in 1842.

The land was new to them, and they were new to it. Then, the following year, they buried their infant son on this very site. That burial, that heartbreak, became the founding act of a family cemetery.

And in Texas, a cemetery has a way of becoming something more. It draws people. It holds them.

It becomes the center of something lasting. Sure enough, by 1846, Thomas and Sarah were working alongside the Reverend David Myers to organize the Union Baptist Church, meeting in a structure right there on cemetery property. Faith planted beside grief, the way it often is.

Now, that congregation eventually made its way to nearby Carrollton, and for a stretch, Baptist worship went quiet in Farmers Branch. But 1870 brought a reckoning. Twelve members of the Union Baptist Church came back, essentially, and organized the Farmers Branch Missionary Baptist Church, determined to reestablish what had drifted away.

Twelve people. That's it. They held their first services in the Farmers Branch School, probably about two miles east of the cemetery.

Probably, the marker says, and I appreciate that honesty. History doesn't always know exactly where it stood. The first pastor of that new congregation was the Reverend George W.

Good, a man whose own parents had settled in the area many years before. You could say the land already knew his name. By 1877, membership had climbed to ninety-six souls.

The roots were holding. Now here's something the deed records tell us. Ownership of the property on this site was transferred from Thomas Keenan himself to trustees of the Farmers Branch Missionary Baptist Church in 1893.

Thomas Keenan, the man who had buried his son here half a century before, whose grief had drawn a community together, formalizing that gift in ink and law. The congregation kept growing, steady as a creek after a good rain, and the changes started coming faster after 1930. A new church building went up in 1931.

An addition followed in 1944. Then in 1951, the name changed to First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch, the name it carries to this day. An auditorium rose in 1956.

A church library opened in 1959. Two educational buildings went up in 1960 and 1963. And a new sanctuary was erected in 1986.

Each year, each structure, another chapter in a story that began not with celebration but with a burial. The church has supported the Woman's Missionary Union, the brotherhood program, and has carried on domestic and foreign mission work, community service, religious education, and worship. It follows, the marker says, in the traditions of its ancestors.

And when you know that this whole thing traces back to a young couple laying their infant child to rest in 1843, that word, ancestors, carries every bit of the weight it deserves.

What the marker says

Thomas and Sarah Keenan settled in Farmers Branch in 1842. They established a family cemetery when they buried their infant son on this site the following year. With the Rev. David Myers, the Keenans organized the Union Baptist Church in 1846, meeting in a structure on cemetery property. That group of Baptists moved to nearby Carrollton; in 1870, in order to reestablish Baptist worship in Farmers Branch, twelve members of the Union Baptist Church organized the Farmers Branch Missionary Baptist Church. Services were first held in the Farmers Branch School, which was probably located about two miles east of the cemetery. The first pastor was the Rev. George W. Good, whose parents had settled in the area many years before. By 1877, church membership had grown to 96. Deed records indicate that ownership of the property on this site was transferred from Thomas Keenan to trustees of the Farmers Branch Missionary Baptist Church in 1893. The congregation grew steadily, and many changes took place after 1930. In 1931 a new church building was erected, and another addition was made in 1944. The name of the church was changed to First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch in 1951. An auditorium was erected in 1956, and a church library was established in 1959. As membership continued to increase, new structures were erected, such as two educational buildings in 1960 and 1963 and a new sanctuary in 1986. The First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch supports such organizations as the Woman's Missionary Union and the brotherhood program. The church follows in the traditions of its ancestors through domestic and foreign mission work, community service, religious education and worship. (1999)