Oak Island Presbyterian Church and Cemetery
Teague, Freestone County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First church organized in what was to become Freestone County. Started Sept. 11, 1847, by five charter members: Mrs. Mary Archibald, Samuel N. Archibald, Thos. W. Archibald, Eloisa Patton and Mrs. Mary S. Patton, whose husband donated land for church. The Rev. John Limber presided. By 1873 had 102 members and 88 children in Sunday School, but congregation declined after railroad came through Mexia in 1870s, causing many people to move there. Discontinued in 1899. Many area pioneers are buried in church cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized on September 11, 1847, by five charter members on land donated by one of their husbands, Oak Island was the first church in what would become Freestone County. Under the Rev. John Limber it flourished, counting 102 members and 88 Sunday-school children by 1873. But when the railroad bypassed it and drew people toward Mexia, the congregation dwindled and finally disbanded in 1899, leaving its pioneer dead in the church cemetery.
Why it matters
Oak Island's rise and fall traces how the coming of the railroads reshaped rural Texas, breathing life into some towns while quietly emptying the older settlements the rails passed by.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Rev. John Limber
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Ghost Town of Cotton Gin
Teague, TX
Settled before 1848, Cotton Gin took its name from the mule-drawn gin Dr. J. S. Wills built here, and it gained a post office in 1851 as Freestone County organized. Though Wills offered land for a courthouse, voters declined to make it the county seat, and the thriving town — with three churches, a school, a newspaper, and a Masonic Lodge — faded in the 1870s when the Houston & Texas Central Railroad laid its tracks a few miles west. Its businesses drifted toward the rails, leaving Cotton Gin a ghost town.
Shanks Cemetery
Kirvin, TX
Two brothers from Alabama settled here with their families in 1859, and a small farming community grew up around a school built in 1870 on donated land. The adjoining ground became a public burial place known as Shanks Cemetery after the local post office opened in 1896, and a cemetery association has cared for the site since 1935.
First Baptist Church of Mexia
Mexia, TX
Organized in 1872 by the Rev. W. Henry Parks, this congregation drew charter members from the older Springfield church after the Houston and Texas Central Railroad bypassed that town in 1871 and Mexia absorbed it. The church built its first home in 1873 and erected four buildings on this site over the years. It helped found two other churches and sent missionaries to Brazil and Africa.
Town Named for Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia
Mexia, TX
Gen. José Antonio Mexía was a Mexican military officer and promoter of Texas colonization who served in his country's legation to the United States and its senate in the early 1830s. Though he first backed Santa Anna, he turned against the general when he seized dictatorial power, fleeing to Texas in 1834 and leading expeditions against him until he was captured and executed by Santa Anna's order in 1839. His son and daughter later settled the family's Limestone County land and donated the site for the town that bears his name in 1871.