Antioch Primitive Baptist Church
Buna, Jasper County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized 1841 in the home of John and Mary Richardson. Nancy Laird, James and John Richardson, and Elders Levi A. Durham, Edward Parsons, and Josiah Wheat acted as Presbytery. Charter members: Elijah Allen, Mary Bolin, Martha Crockett, Jeremiah Day, Hilliard and Sarah Durdin, Olive Hart, Joseph and Nancy Laird; Benjamin, Eliza, James, John, Mary (1), Mary (2), Rebecca and Robert Richardson. Services have been held here regularly since first house of worship (made of logs) was built at this site in 1842. Antioch Cemetery was established 1850. (1972)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1841, while Texas was still an independent republic, a handful of frontier families gathered in John and Mary Richardson's home to organize this Primitive Baptist congregation. A log meetinghouse rose on the spot the next year, and worship has continued here ever since, with a cemetery added in 1850. The long roll of charter members — Aliens, Richardsons, Lairds, Durdins — reads like a census of the pioneers who settled this corner of the Piney Woods.
Why it matters
Early churches like this were the social and moral anchors of raw frontier settlements, binding scattered families into communities that outlasted the log walls they first met in.
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Related people
- · John Richardson
- · Mary Richardson
- · Levi A. Durham
- · Josiah Wheat
Themes & tags
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