Floyds' Hill Church - Cemetery
Linden, Cass County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On Oct. 9, 1854, Killis S. Floyd donated a four-acre tract to three trustees of the Missionary Baptist Church, afterwards known as Floyds' Hill Church. The Rev. John Massey and the Rev. C. G. Stephens organized the congregation on Dec. 10, 1854, with 15 charter members. Worship services were held at the Frifogle house, former home of a pioneer family, until a log church was completed in 1855. About 1858 the log building was replaced by a one-room frame structure, erected with the help of slave labor. Blacks worshiped here until Floyd gave land for a separate black church. The adjacent Floyds' Hill Cemetery, which contains about 200 known graves, served the pioneer families who migrated to this locality from Alabama and Georgia in the 1850s. The oldest stone marks the grave of Mary Bryan (1850-1858). The farming community of Floyds' Hill declined after World War I, and regular church services ended in 1926. When a storm damaged the church building in 1932, volunteers erected a new frame structure on the original foundation. Floyds' Hill Church - Cemetery Association, established in 1948, sponsors an annual homecoming for descendants of early settlers.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1854 Killis S. Floyd donated four acres for a Missionary Baptist congregation, and the Floyds' Hill Church was organized that December with fifteen charter members. Services first met in a pioneer family's home, then in a log church of 1855 and a frame building raised about 1858 with the help of enslaved labor; Black members worshiped here until Floyd gave land for a separate church. The adjoining cemetery, with some 200 known graves, holds the settlers who came from Alabama and Georgia in the 1850s, and though regular services ended in 1926, descendants still gather each year.
Why it matters
The church and its graveyard record both the pioneer migration into East Texas and the entwined, then divided, worship of white and enslaved Black congregants in the antebellum South.
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Related people
- · Killis S. Floyd
- · John Massey
- · C. G. Stephens
- · Mary Bryan
Themes & tags
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