Chatfield Baptist Church
Chatfield, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Reportedly the owner of one hundred slaves and 1280 acres of land, Robert Hodge settled in this area in 1849. Hodge allowed his slaves to organize two churches -- a Baptist church and an African Methodist Episcopal Church. They shared a building known as the Colored Community Church of Chatfield with the Rev. Z. T. Pardee as pastor. By 1858 the Baptist congregation formed by Hodge's slaves was part of the Chatfield Baptist Church. In that year the Chatfield Baptist Church joined the Richland Baptist Association. During this time, white pastors preached to both white and black congregations, one in the morning and one in the evening. After emancipation many freed slaves remained in the area. They became both sharecroppers and landowners. One distinguished local family was that of Allen R. Griggs (1850-1922), a Baptist minister dedicated to the education of black Texans. His son, Sutton Elbert Griggs (1872-1933), was born in Chatfield. A minister who was heavily involved in Texas Baptist life, Sutton E. Griggs became a noted African American writer. The Navarro Baptist Association was formed in 1887 and the Chatfield Baptist Church transferred its membership to the new organization. The town of Chatfield reached its peak in the 1890s with a population of 500. The Chatfield Baptist Church congregation continues to uphold the traditions of its founders through worship and service to the community. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Before the Civil War, enslaved people on Robert Hodge's Navarro County plantation organized their own Baptist and A.M.E. congregations, worshipping in a shared building even as white pastors preached to separate Black and white audiences. After emancipation many freedpeople stayed on as sharecroppers and landowners, and the Baptist congregation endured. Among its sons was Sutton E. Griggs, born in Chatfield in 1872, who became a noted African American minister and novelist, following his father Allen R. Griggs, a champion of Black education in Texas.
Why it matters
The church traces an unbroken line of Black religious and educational leadership from slavery through freedom, preserving a community's faith and voice across the hardest chapters of American history.
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Related people
- · Robert Hodge
- · Allen R. Griggs
- · Sutton E. Griggs
- · Rev. Z. T. Pardee
Related events
- · Formation of the Chatfield Baptist Church (1858)
Themes & tags
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