DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Navarro County. Now settle in, because this one goes back — way back — before the cannons of the Civil War had even finished echoing across Texas. Pioneer settlers in this part of Navarro County were already gathering together, already building something.
And they started the way a lot of things started out here: modest, practical, borrowed. Their first meetings were held in a schoolhouse on the property of one William Harvey Beeman — born 1817, died 1860 — a member of the Mercer Colony. No grand church house, no steeple catching the morning light.
Just a schoolhouse and folks who showed up anyway. The early services were led by Methodist circuit riders, those preachers who rode from community to community carrying the Word on horseback. One of those riders was a Reverend J.
E. Ferguson. Now here's where the marker drops a name worth sitting with — the Reverend Ferguson was the father of Texas Governor James E.
Ferguson. A circuit rider's son, a governor. That's a thread worth following.
By 1870, this congregation had grown enough to do something together. They pooled their intentions with a local Cumberland Presbyterian church and purchased a building site about two miles to the southwest. That tract — eighteen acres, known as Goshen — became more than just a place to worship on Sunday mornings.
It was used for camp meetings. And these weren't quick affairs. Usually held after the harvesting of crops, those religious meetings often stretched on for several weeks.
Weeks. You'd bring your family, your neighbors, your weariness from the season, and you'd stay a while. Then in 1877, the church trustees acquired property right here — this very site — from the estate of Jubilee Lafayette McKinney, who had been born in 1810 and died in 1872.
And what did they find here? A grove of oak trees. The marker notes that grove as the possible inspiration for the name Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church.
Possible, mind you — but you look at a stand of old oaks and tell me you wouldn't name something after it. They held their first services here under a brush arbor — sky for a ceiling, trees for walls. Eventually a frame sanctuary went up.
And that frame sanctuary gave way to a newer structure in 1905. Generation after generation, pioneer families and leaders of the surrounding area have counted themselves among its membership. A schoolhouse.
A borrowed piece of land called Goshen. A grove of oaks. That's what this church was built from — and it's still standing.
What the marker says
Established before the Civil War by pioneer area settlers, this congregation first met in a schoolhouse on the property of William Harvey Beeman (1817-1860), a member of the Mercer Colony. Early services were conducted by Methodist circuit riders, including the Rev. J. E. Ferguson, the father of Texas Governor James E. Ferguson. In 1870 the congregation purchased a building site (2 mi. SW) in conjuction with a local Cumberland Presbyterian church. Known as Goshen, the eighteen-acre tract was also used for camp meetings. Usually held after the harvesting of crops, the religious meetings often lasted several weeks. Church trustees acquired property at this site in 1877 from the estate of Jubilee Lafayette McKinney (1810-1872). A grove of oak trees here was the possible inspiration for the congregational name. Services were first conducted in a brush arbor and later in a frame sanctuary, which was replaced by a newer structure in 1905. Membership of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church has included many pioneer area families and leaders of the surrounding area. (1981)