Soules Chapel Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight. Way out in Upshur County, there's a little Methodist church with a name that goes all the way back to a bishop who passed through East Texas in 1846. The Rev.

Joshua Soule, born 1781, died 1867, was the original bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He made his way into East Texas that year, and the settlers out here took notice. They were worshiping as early as the 1850s, gathering in a log cabin right across the road from where the church stands today.

And they gave their congregation his name. Soules Chapel. The cemetery beside it was already in use by 1856, so this land had been holding memories for a good while before anybody made anything official.

Then came December 21, 1871. L. E.

Harkey and M. T. L.

Williams signed a deed, and just like that, about six acres of land at this site passed to the Soules Chapel trustees, four men named James Bryce, Oran Hinson, Peter Hogan, and Nathan H. Morris. The community had roots now, real ones, written down and witnessed.

Now, here's where the story takes a hard turn. Fire came. A destructive fire in 1977, and it took the sanctuary.

But these were Methodist folks in East Texas, and they built again. The present sanctuary rose right here after those flames. A congregation that started in a log cabin, named for a traveling bishop, had survived long enough to be tested by fire and come out standing.

That's Soules Chapel, and it's still here to prove it.

What the marker says

The Rev. Joshua Soule (1781-1867), original bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, visited East Texas in 1846. Worshiping in a log cabin across the road from this site as early as the 1850s, settlers gave his name to their church. The cemetery here was in use by 1856. L. E. Harkey and M. T. L. Williams on Dec. 21, 1871, deeded to Soules Chapel trustees James Bryce, Oran Hinson, Peter Hogan and Nathan H. Morris about six acres of land at this site. The present sanctuary was built after a destructive fire in 1977.