Mt. Zion Churches and Cemetery
Cumby, Hopkins County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church organized here before creation of Hopkins County, 1846. Also at Mt. Zion, 1849, Harmony Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized with 13 members, by the Rev. Anthony Travelstead. After years of worship in oak groves, brush arbors and homes, church edifice was built jointly 1861. Site given by David Findley, Nicholas Harlow. More land given 1904 by J. A. Rains, Chas. E. Brown. In 1901 Harmony Cumberland Presbyterian Church became Mt. Zion Cumberland Presbyterian Church; continues to function. Methodist moved away in 1914.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Faith came early to this corner of northeast Texas: the Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal congregation organized here in 1846, even before Hopkins County existed, and in 1849 the Rev. Anthony Travelstead gathered thirteen members into a Cumberland Presbyterian church. After years of worship in oak groves, brush arbors, and homes, the two congregations jointly built a church in 1861 on land given by local settlers. The Methodists moved away in 1914, but the Presbyterian congregation—and the cemetery—endure.
Why it matters
Mt. Zion shows how pioneer congregations, sometimes sharing a single building, seeded the institutions that turned frontier Texas into settled communities.
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Related people
- · Anthony Travelstead
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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