Poetry Methodist Church
Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally called Turners Point, this community was founded in 1845 by Elisha Turner. In 1855 the Methodist congregation paid Zachariah Turner and his wife Martha $20 for the original church site. The Rev. J. W. Fields, a Methodist circuit rider living in Kaufman County, witnessed the deed and may have been the organizer and first minister. After the name of the town changed to Poetry, this site was donated in 1886 by J. H. Tate and his wife Nancy. The circuit rider preached only once a month, yet the membership grew to 119 in those early days.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1845 as Turners Point by Elisha Turner, this Kaufman County community later took the charming name Poetry. Its Methodists bought their first church site from Zachariah Turner in 1855 for twenty dollars, with circuit rider J. W. Fields witnessing the deed. Even though the preacher could come only once a month, the frontier congregation grew to 119 members.
Why it matters
It preserves the world of the Methodist circuit rider, whose monthly rounds knit isolated frontier settlements into a shared religious and civic life.
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Related people
- · Elisha Turner
- · Zachariah Turner
- · J. W. Fields
- · J. H. Tate
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Poetry Baptist Church
Terrell, TX
Organized in 1855 as Salem Baptist Church when the surrounding settlement was still called Turner's Point, this is the oldest Baptist congregation in Kaufman County. It helped found the eleven-church East Fork Baptist Association in 1870 and hosted its conferences, before adopting the evocative name "Poetry Baptist Church" around the turn of the century. The present sanctuary, built in 1912, carries forward a fellowship that took root in frontier Texas.
Dry Creek Cemetery
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This burial ground first served Turner's Point, a settlement founded by Elisha Turner in 1845 on the stage road running between Shreveport, Louisiana, and Dallas. When the town relocated a mile and a half southeast in the 1870s and took the name Poetry, the cemetery remained behind. Its 279 marked graves—the earliest that of Samuel Key, who died in 1871—carry the English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh names of the area's pioneer settlers.
Cartwright House
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This Victorian residence went up in 1883 for Matthew Cartwright (1855–1925), a third-generation Texan who was a rancher, banker, and civic leader, and his wife Mary Cynthia Davenport. One of the first large homes in Terrell, it was enlarged in 1893 to accommodate a household of ten children and a steady stream of visiting artists and statesmen. It reflects the prosperity of a leading family in a growing North Texas town.
Saint John Catholic Church
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Terrell sprang up in 1873 when the Texas & Pacific Railroad reached this point, and this parcel—the oldest church site in town—was acquired by Bishop Claude-Marie Dubuis in 1876. The first church was dedicated that November, joined by an outdoor shrine in 1945 and a remodeling in 1949. The site has anchored Catholic worship in Terrell for well over a century.