DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old Methodist Churchyard in Montgomery County. Now settle in, because this patch of ground has been holding stories since before Texas was Texas. In January of 1839, the Reverend Isaac Strickland organized a Methodist Church out here.
The members didn't wait long — they built a log meetinghouse right on this very site, on land donated by the founders of the town of Montgomery. A congregation, a log cabin, a piece of donated ground. That's how you plant something meant to last.
The churchyard came into use for burials during the 1840s, and the dead it would receive over the coming decades read like a roll call of American history itself. Veterans of the War of 1812 rest here. Men who fought in the Texas War for Independence.
Soldiers from the Mexican War. Veterans of the Civil War. And woven in among them — pioneers, state and county officials, merchants, ministers, physicians.
Whole lives, whole eras, layered into this one piece of Montgomery County earth. And then there's the stone that commemorates a soldier of the American Revolution — a man who helped settle this very county and died here. Think about that.
A man who had lived through the founding of the United States ended his days in this corner of Texas. But of all the stories held in this ground, one might stop you cold if you hear it right. In 1851, the pastor — G.
W. Rabb — was dying. And as he lay there, he made a request.
He asked to be buried beneath the altar of the frame church that was being built at that very moment to replace the original log cabin. Beneath the altar. His grave and a monument commemorating pioneer circuit riders now mark that original Methodist Church site.
The frame church itself, and the nearby parsonage — said to have been the first Methodist parsonage built in Texas — were both relocated in 1908. A tabernacle that was later erected beside the cemetery has also been demolished. The structures came and went.
But the ground kept its dead. A new cemetery opened in 1868, and folks began burying there too. But this old churchyard, it kept filling.
Kept receiving. It was used until no space remained. And in some of the unmarked graves are travelers — people who died here among strangers, far from wherever home was.
No name on the stone. Maybe no stone at all. Just the earth of Montgomery County, keeping them the same as everyone else.
There's a certain weight to a place that holds that much of the human story — the revolutionary soldier, the dying pastor asking to sleep beneath the altar, the unmarked strangers. This ground didn't just witness Texas history. In a good many ways, it's where some of it ended up.
What the marker says
In Jan. 1839, the Rev. Isaac Strickland organized a Methodist Church whose members soon built a log meetinghouse on this site donated by founders of the town of Montgomery. The churchyard came into use for burials during the 1840s. When Pastor G. W. Rabb was dying in 1851, he requested burial beneath the altar of the frame church then being built to replace the log cabin. His grave and a monument commemorating pioneer circuit riders now (1976) mark the original Methodist Church site. The church and the nearby parsonage, which is said to have been the first Methodist parsonage built in Texas, were relocated in 1908. A tabernacle later erected beside the cemetery has also been demolished. A stone in this cemetery commemorates a soldier of the American Revolution who helped settle this county and died here. Churchyard burials included veterans of the War of 1812, the Texas War for Independence, Mexican War, and Civil War, as well as many other pioneers, state and county officials, merchants, ministers, and physicians. In some of the unmarked graves are travelers who died here among strangers. Although a new cemetery opened in 1868, this one was also used until no space remained.