DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about The Nancy Lea Bell — and friend, this one rings out something special. Now picture 1856. A woman named Mrs.
Nancy Moffette Lea has something on her heart she wants to commemorate, something she is genuinely grateful for. And what she does about it is give a gift to Independence Baptist Church — a bell. Not just any bell, mind you, but one cast in copper and tin, blended just so for a soft tone, by the Meneely Foundry up in New York.
But here's the part that makes this bell more than just a bell. Mrs. Nancy Moffette Lea gave it in thanks.
Thanks for the conversion of her son-in-law. And her son-in-law was Sam Houston — first president of the Republic of Texas. Let that settle over you for a moment.
The man who stood at the very founding of a republic, and a mother-in-law who was so moved by what happened to his soul that she went and ordered a bell cast in New York and sent it all the way to Independence Baptist Church in Washington County, Texas. Copper and tin. Soft tone.
A gift of gratitude that hung in that belfry and rang out over the years, carrying with it the whole weight of what it meant to the woman who gave it. And then — 1969. The bell fell from the belfry.
And it broke. After more than a hundred years of that soft copper-and-tin voice, silence. Mrs.
Nancy Moffette Lea's gift to Independence Baptist Church, given in thanks for Sam Houston, lying broken. Some things you just have to let stand on their own.
What the marker says
Given to Independence Baptist Church in 1856 by Mrs. Nancy Moffette Lea, in thanks for conversion of her son-in-law, Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas. Cast in copper and tin, for soft tone, by Meneely Foundry, New York. Broken in fall from belfry, 1969.