Boswell Baptist Church
New Waverly, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On Nov. 26, 1881, nine residents of the rural Boswell community met in a log schoolhouse (.25 mi. S) to organize this Baptist church. The Rev. T.E. King served as the first pastor and services were held in the schoolhouse until 1883. That year a frame chapel was built here on land donated by Phillip J. Ellisor. The Boswell Baptist Church was the center of community activity for many years, but declined after World War II. Although the congregation disbanded in 1950, the site is still used for an annual homecoming. Many prominent preachers and church leaders served here. (1981)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On November 26, 1881, nine residents of the rural Boswell community met in a log schoolhouse to organize this Baptist church, with the Rev. T. E. King as its first pastor. A frame chapel followed in 1883 on land given by Phillip J. Ellisor, and for decades the church was the center of community life. It declined after World War II and the congregation disbanded in 1950, though the site still hosts an annual homecoming.
Why it matters
The church's rise and quiet dissolution traces the life of a rural Southern community — gathered around faith in the settlement years and scattered by the great mid-century migration to towns and cities.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · T. E. King
- · Phillip J. Ellisor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
James and Rhoda Creel Beall Winters
New Waverly, TX
James and Rhoda Winters led their large family from Tennessee to this land between the forks of the San Jacinto River in 1834, following the good report of two elder sons who had come ahead. When war with Mexico broke out, the family gave heavily to the cause: sons and sons-in-law fought in the 1836 Texas Revolution, and one son, James W. Winters, lived to help mark the San Jacinto battlefield in 1901, 65 years after fighting there. Family members went on to help settle half a dozen more Texas counties.
Pine Valley Cemetery and Missionary Baptist Church
Coldspring, TX
Pine Valley's congregation first gathered around 1868 in David Pursley's smokehouse, then built a log sanctuary with the Rev. Lewin Adams as its first pastor. The adjoining burial ground served the area's pioneer families, and its oldest marked grave belongs to a Mississippi visitor who died here in 1878. An early member of the Tryon Baptist Association, the church still holds its homecoming each May.
Elijah Collard
New Waverly, TX
Born in Virginia in 1778, Elijah Collard lived the westering life of his generation, settling successively on the Kentucky and Missouri frontiers and fighting in the War of 1812 before migrating to Texas in 1833. He threw in with the Texas independence movement, winning election to the 1835 Consultation at San Felipe and serving on the General Council, then helped organize Montgomery County as one of its first commissioners in 1837. He moved to Walker County in 1840 and died there in 1847, leaving a large family with his wife Mary.
Waverly Cemetery
New Waverly, TX
Set on land purchased in 1853, this cemetery holds the pioneer settlers of Waverly, including men who died of cholera on the journey from Alabama and were later reinterred here by their families. The nearby Waverly Institute set aside acreage for burials, and before the Civil War the town was a thriving cultural and educational center. When the railroad bypassed it in the 1880s and New Waverly rose instead, the old town faded—but its cemetery endures.