First Baptist Church of Ladonia

Duane's take

Now, I'm gonna tell this one the way the marker tells it, so you know exactly where these words come from. Pull up a log, because we're going back a good ways on this one. Back to 1859, when a preacher by the name of the Reverend Robert Cooke Buckner started making the ride from Paris, Texas all the way out to Ladonia, once a month, to preach.

No building waiting on him. No congregation with a deed in hand. Just a man, a road, and a calling.

He kept at it, and on January 8, 1860, that scattered gathering of believers did something official. They organized as the First Baptist Church of Ladonia. And the Reverend A.

J. Moffat stepped in as their first pastor. Now, here's the thing about that congregation in those early years.

They didn't have a church building. Not yet. So they worshiped in a combination church and schoolhouse, and for their pews, they had split logs.

Split logs, friend. You want to talk about keeping a sermon honest, try sitting on a split log for an hour and see how quickly you're ready for the benediction. They did that for several years, until 1877, when they finally built their first proper church building.

But even without the building, this congregation was not sitting still. In 1867, Ladonia hosted the Baptist convention of eastern Texas. Now, attendance was somewhat low that year, and the marker tells us why.

A yellow fever outbreak. That's the kind of detail that lands with gravity, and it should. Yellow fever was no small thing.

Still, Ladonia showed up. And the very next year, they kept right on hosting Baptist events and participating in local, county, and regional association meetings. By 1869, women's groups were already active in local missionary programs.

Active. Not just present, active. And as the congregation rolled into the turn of the century, the whole church got behind supporting a nearby orphanage and foreign missions both.

That is a congregation that was not content to look only inward. From a monthly preacher riding in from Paris, to split-log pews, to hosting a convention in the shadow of a fever outbreak, to foreign missions. The First Baptist Church of Ladonia built something that outlasted every hardship the marker names.

And that, right there, is the whole point.

What the marker says

Ladonia's Baptists trace their history to 1859, when the Rev. Robert Cooke Buckner began traveling from Paris, Texas to Ladonia to preach monthly services. On January 8, 1860 the congregation formally organized as the First Baptist Church. The Rev. A. J. Moffat became the first pastor. Before the congregation built its first church building in 1877, services were held in a combination church/schoolhouse, where worshipers used split logs for seats for several years. The congregation became actively involved in both Baptist affairs and missionary endeavors early in its development. In 1867, Ladonia was the site of the Baptist convention of eastern Texas, though attendance was somewhat low due to a yellow fever outbreak. However, the next year Ladonia continued hosting other Baptist events and participating in local, county, and regional association meetings. As early as 1869, women's groups were active in local missionary programs, and at the turn of the century the congregation as a whole began to support a nearby orphanage as well as foreign missions. Throughout its history, the First Baptist Church of Ladonia has played an important role in the religious life of this community.