First United Methodist Church and Cemetery of Mont Belvieu

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I read it out on the road. Way back in 1849, Amos and Ann Barber settled in the vicinity of what would come to be known as Barbers Hill. And when a community starts taking shape around a family's name, you know that family was doing more than just farming.

Early preaching services were held right there in the Barbers' home. No steeple, no pews, just neighbors and the word. Then along came Captain Robert S.

Dingham, a seaman, of all things, out here on the Texas coastal plain. He began a Sunday School and preached in the area. A man who knew the sea finding his calling on dry land.

That's not a detail you forget. Come 1877, things got official. Barbers Chapel was formally organized as a Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

The Barber family gave four acres for a church house and school building, and the following year, 1878, the seventeen charter members rolled up their sleeves and erected a schoolhouse that did triple duty, a place to learn, a place to worship, and a gathering spot for the whole community. The Reverend P. E.

Nicholson took on the role of first pastor, and Captain Dingham was officially licensed to preach. Now in 1895, the original church site was traded for this very location. A thirty by forty foot church house was completed in 1897, and because the Fisher family made the largest contribution toward that new structure, the church went by another name for a time, Fisher's Chapel.

But here is where the story takes a turn toward something quieter and heavier. While that church house was still being built, a family needed a burial site for a child. And so the cemetery was opened.

Not with a ribbon cutting, but with grief. Today that cemetery holds 495 gravesites, with 245 interments. Each one a name, a story, a life lived somewhere in the shadow of these same walls.

The congregation kept building. In 1932 this sanctuary was erected by adding onto the existing structure. The fellowship hall came in 1945, and the education wing followed in 1957.

From a family's parlor in 1849 to a full campus of faith, a cemetery, a fellowship hall, a sanctuary, all of it grown from four acres and seventeen determined souls.

What the marker says

After Amos and Ann Barber settled in the vicinity in 1849, the village became known as Barbers Hill. Early preaching services were held in the Barbers' home. Captain Robert S. Dingham, a seaman, began a Sunday School and preached in the area. In 1877"Barbers Chapel" was officially organized as a Methodist Episcopal Church, south. The Barbers gave four acres for a church house and school building. In 1878 the 17 charter members erected the schoolhouse which also served for worship and as a community center. The Rev. P. E. Nicholson was the first pastor and Captain Dingham was officially licensed to preach. The original church site was traded for this location n 1895. A 30' x 40' church house was completed in 1897. Because the Fisher family made the largest contribution toward the new structure, the church was known for a time as "Fisher's Chapel." While the church house was being built, a family needed a burial site for a child and the cemetery was opened. There are 495 gravesites with 245 interments. This sanctuary was erected in 1932 by adding onto the existing structure. The fellowship hall was built in 1945 and the education wing in 1957.