Snook Brethren Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Way back in the nineteenth century, families started leaving Bohemia and Moravia, packing up everything they knew and setting their sights on Texas. And when I say everything they knew, I mean everything.

Their language, their customs, their faith. These were people of the Brethren Church, a tradition rooted in the religious teachings of a reformer named Jan Hus. That belief didn't stay behind in the old country.

It made the crossing with them. In the 1870s, settlers arrived in this part of Burleson County and founded a community they called Sebesta. That community would later be known as Snook.

Now, in those early years there was no church building, no steeple on the horizon. The Czech-Moravian Brethren Church met in private homes, neighbors opening their doors and their hearts. Then in 1886, the Reverend Henry Juren came up from Fayetteville and performed baptisms, marking something real and formal taking root in this community.

By 1891, the Reverend Adolph Chlumsky was conducting regular services. The congregation was finding its footing. And then, in 1913, they did what congregations do when they've decided they're staying.

They built their first sanctuary. A place of their own at last. The Christian Sisters Society was organized by 1928, and the church kept on growing through the years.

The Snook Brethren Church didn't fade into history the way so many small-town institutions do. It remained an important part of the community, which is exactly what those families who carried their faith all the way from Bohemia and Moravia would have wanted to hear.

What the marker says

During the 19th century, many families from Bohemia and Moravia emigrated to Texas. They brought their Czech traditions, including beliefs of the Brethren Church, established on religious teachings of reformer Jan Hus. Settlers to this area founded the community of Sebesta, later known as Snook, in the 1870s. In 1886, the Rev. Henry Juren of Fayetteville performed baptisms for the Czech-Moravian Brethren Church, which met in private homes. The Rev. Adolph Chlumsky conducted regular services in 1891, and members built their first sanctuary in 1913. The Christian Sisters Society was organized by 1928, and the church grew over the years. It remains an important part of the community. (2006)