Friendship Baptist Church and Corine Cemetery
Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The church and cemetery nearby have served the rural Corine area for more than a century. Founded in 1872, the church held early worship services in a log building, which also housed the community school. Early baptisms were held in nearby Neches River or in Carey Lake. The church met in three locations through the years. The cemetery, which bears the name of the community, marks its origin with the burial of John Mixon in 1866. Veterans of several wars are buried here. The church and the cemetery continue to serve this part of Cherokee County.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1872, Friendship Baptist Church began in a humble log building that doubled as the community schoolhouse — a common arrangement in the postwar rural South, where one structure often served both faith and learning. Early converts were baptized in the Neches River and Carey Lake, and the congregation moved three times over its long life. The neighboring Corine Cemetery is older still, dating its origin to the 1866 burial of John Mixon.
Why it matters
Church-and-school combinations like this show how frontier communities in Reconstruction-era Texas built their civic life from scratch, with a single building anchoring both worship and education.
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Related people
- · John Mixon
Themes & tags
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