Reeves Chapel
Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas
Marker Inscription
When a migrant worker died in 1879, there was no cemetery in this community. Counce Reeves, a Civil War veteran who had come from Hamilton County, Georgia, and his wife Selina gave two acres at this site for a church and burial ground. The Rev. D. Dane of Jefferson led in organizing the Reeves Chapel Methodist Church. The congregation erected a brush arbor and in the fall of 1879 constructed a frame meetinghouse. Later Reeves deeded an additional two acres. After the fellowship grew, members initiated efforts to erect a larger building in 1907.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When a migrant worker died in 1879 with no place to be buried, Georgia-born Civil War veteran Counce Reeves and his wife Selina donated two acres for a church and burial ground in this Camp County community. A visiting minister organized the Reeves Chapel Methodist congregation, which first met under a brush arbor before building a frame meetinghouse that same autumn. As the fellowship grew, the family gave still more land and the members set out to raise a larger building.
Why it matters
Small chapels and their cemeteries were often the first permanent institutions in Reconstruction-era rural Texas, founded through the ordinary generosity of settlers making a community from scratch.
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Related people
- · Counce Reeves
- · Selina Reeves
- · Rev. D. Dane
Themes & tags
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