DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Little Mound Baptist Church and Cemetery in Upshur County. Now, before there was ever a church on that steep little hill, there was already a cemetery. Unmarked burials in this ground may have begun in the late 1860s — souls laid to rest before anyone had even organized a congregation to pray over them.
The oldest marked grave belongs to E. Hoggue, who died in 1877. One year.
That's all the head start the dead got before the living caught up with them. Because in 1878, the residents of the thriving pioneer village of Calloway organized Little Mount Baptist Church and began meeting for worship in a structure near that very burial ground. The building they claimed for their own sat on a steep hill called Little Mound — and it had already lived a whole other life before they got there, having previously served as a Union church and schoolhouse.
One-room, utilitarian, perched on land owned by a man named W. C. Bradshaw.
And in 1881, Bradshaw did what generous men sometimes do — he gave the cemetery and the church site outright to the congregation. Now here's where the story gets the particular texture of Texas pioneer practicality. By 1897, that original building had become too small.
So what did they do? They didn't just tear it down and walk away from all that good lumber. They used the wood from the old structure to build a new meetinghouse across the road, on property donated by J.
S. and Sophronia Wallis in 1902. Then that second structure was torn down in 1925 — and once again, every scrap of usable lumber was folded into a brand new church building, erected right back on the site of the original. The same wood, circling home.
Three generations of worship out of one honest pile of timber. But there is one grave in that cemetery that deserves its own moment of stillness. Buried here is Emma Sansom — later known as Mrs.
C. B. Johnson, born 1847, died 1900.
The marker calls her a Confederate heroine, and the reason goes back to a day in Alabama when she was sixteen years old. At that age, she led General N. B.
Forrest's troops across the Black River in her native state to attack Federal forces. Sixteen years old, guiding an army. She later moved to Texas, and she joined this church — this same congregation that met on the little mound, in the building built and rebuilt from the same bones.
Some places carry more history than their size suggests. Little Mound is one of them.
What the marker says
Unmarked burials in this cemetery may have begun in the late 1860s, predating the founding of the church. The oldest marked grave is that of E. Hoggue, who died in 1877. One year later, in 1878, residents of the thriving pioneer village of Calloway organized Little Mount Baptist Church and met for worship in a structure near the burial ground. Situated on a steep hill called "Little Mound," the one-room building had previously served as a Union church and schoolhouse. It stood on land owned by W. C. Bradshaw, who gave the cemetery and church site to the congregation in 1881. By 1897 the original church building had become too small. Lumber from the structure was used to build another meetinghouse across the road on property donated by J. s. and Sophronia Wallis in 1902. The second structure was torn down in 1925 and again all the usable lumber was incorporated in a new church building, erected on the site of the original. Buried in this cemetery is Confederate heroine Emma Sansom (Mrs.C. B.) Johnson (1847-1900), who at age 16 led Gen. N. B. Forrest's troops across the Black River in her native state of Alabama to attack Federal forces. She later moved to Texas and joined this church.