Union Primitive Baptist Church

Duane's take

Now, the marker's the authority here, and I'm just the one bringin' it to life. Pull over a spell and let me tell you about the Union Primitive Baptist Church out in Comanche County. The year was 1892, and somebody had the conviction to get something lasting built, not out of timber and stone right away, but out of will and covenant.

The organizing was done by Elders A. P. Koen, W.

G. Green, and W. C.

Burks, alongside Deacons F. W. Bryan and J.

H. Caudle. That's five men who showed up ready to start something.

But a church isn't just its leaders, and the charter members tell you a lot about who this community was. There was Deacon A. B.

Neal. There were Messrs. J.

C. Clayton, J. W.

Hamilton, G. R. Hamilton, John Manning, and J.

A. Stevens, who served as Clerk. And the women, the marker names them too, Mmes.

M. J. Hamilton, L.

J. Stevens, P. Neal, and H.

D. Clayton. Fourteen names on the founding roll, and every one of them mattered.

The early pastors were Elders W. G. Green, A.

P. Koen, and J. R.

Sims. Familiar names, some of them. The founders stepping right up to shepherd what they'd just helped build.

Then came Elder Len Dalton, who took up the pastorship in 1915, and here's where the story gets quiet and deep. Except for one leave, he had been pastor ever since. That's the kind of steadiness that doesn't make headlines but holds a congregation together through decades of Texas heat and hardship and ordinary Sundays.

Serving alongside him were Assistant Pastors, Elders G. Dalton and C. T.

Venable. And the first Deacons ordained by the church were M. C.

Morris and J. A. Stevens.

That second name ought to ring a bell. J. A.

Stevens, who'd signed on as Charter Clerk back in 1892. And when you get to the clerk's role later in the church's history, it was his son, F. C.

Stevens, who stepped into it. Father and son, same church, same commitment, different generations. In Comanche County, that's not just history.

That's a family keeping a promise.

What the marker says

Organized 1892 by Elders A. P. Koen, W. G. Green, W. C. Burks, and Deacons F. W. Bryan, J. H. Caudle. Charter members were Deacon A. B. Neal, Messrs. J. C. Clayton, J. W. Hamilton, G. R. Hamilton, John Manning, and J. A. Stevens, Clerk; also Mmes. M. J. Hamilton, L. J. Stevens, P. Neal, and H. D. Clayton. Early pastors were elders W. G. Green, A. P. Koen, and J. R. Sims. Except for one leave, Elder Len Dalton has been pastor since 1915. Assistant Pastors: Elders G. Dalton and C. T. Venable. First Deacons ordained: M. C. Morris and J. A. Stevens, whose son F. C. Stevens succeeded him as Clerk. (1968)