Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church
Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established before the Civil War by pioneer area settlers, this congregation first met in a schoolhouse on the property of William Harvey Beeman (1817-1860), a member of the Mercer Colony. Early services were conducted by Methodist circuit riders, including the Rev. J. E. Ferguson, the father of Texas Governor James E. Ferguson. In 1870 the congregation purchased a building site (2 mi. SW) in conjuction with a local Cumberland Presbyterian church. Known as Goshen, the eighteen-acre tract was also used for camp meetings. Usually held after the harvesting of crops, the religious meetings often lasted several weeks. Church trustees acquired property at this site in 1877 from the estate of Jubilee Lafayette McKinney (1810-1872). A grove of oak trees here was the possible inspiration for the congregational name. Services were first conducted in a brush arbor and later in a frame sanctuary, which was replaced by a newer structure in 1905. Membership of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church has included many pioneer area families and leaders of the surrounding area. (1981)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the years before the Civil War, Methodist circuit riders carried their preaching to the scattered farms of the Mercer Colony in Navarro County, gathering pioneer families first in a settler's schoolhouse. By 1870 the congregation had land for weeks-long camp meetings held after harvest, and in 1877 it settled here amid a grove of oaks that likely gave the church its name, raising a frame sanctuary later rebuilt in 1905.
Why it matters
The marker captures how frontier religion and community took root together in antebellum Texas, with itinerant preachers and harvest-season camp meetings knitting isolated settlers into a shared civic life.
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Related people
- · William Harvey Beeman
- · Rev. J. E. Ferguson
- · Jubilee Lafayette McKinney
Related events
- · Mercer Colony settlement
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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