St. James United Methodist Church of Huntsville
Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation was organized shortly after the Civil War to serve the newly freed slaves of the Huntsville area. The earliest worship services were conducted in 1868 in the Union Church building at this site. The sanctuary, located on land donatd by local French merchant John Courtade, was shared with a Baptist fellowship. Straughter Hume, Joshua Houston, William Baines, W. Fayle, and William Sinclair, the first trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, purchased the Union Church building in the 1870s. Also known as the Freedmen's Church, the original membership included Solomon Jones, Jeff Lockhart, John Clark, Mary Baines, Sarah Smithers, Harriet Hendricks, Eliza Jones, Kizziah Lacy, and others. For many years the structure also served as a schoolhouse. Some of the teachers were Lizzie Stone, Texana Snow, Jacob Cozier, O. A. Todd, and Mollie Flood. A new wooden sanctuary with a belfry was constructed at this site in 1894. Under the leadership of The Rev. Lee of Navasota, the first black presiding elder, the church experienced a period of considerable growth. Since 1868 St. James United Methodist Church has played a significant role in the development of Huntsville.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized just after the Civil War to serve the newly freed people of Huntsville, this congregation—known as the Freedmen's Church—first worshiped in 1868 in a shared Union Church building on land donated by French merchant John Courtade. Its first trustees included Joshua Houston, the formerly enslaved man tied to Sam Houston's household, and the structure long doubled as a schoolhouse for Black children. Under the Rev. Lee, the first Black presiding elder, the church flourished, building a new belfried sanctuary in 1894.
Why it matters
St. James stands among the founding institutions of Black freedom in Texas—a church and school where emancipated people built community, education, and leadership in the first years after slavery.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The Civil War ended in 1865, and word of emancipation reached enslaved Texans that summer. For the first time, hundreds of thousands of Black Texans were free to form their own families, schools, and churches without an enslaver's permission. Walker County, with Huntsville at its center, had been cotton and plantation country with a large enslaved population. When freedom came, that community faced the huge task of building a life from almost nothing.
Churches were at the heart of that work. During slavery, Black worshippers were often made to attend white-controlled services or had to meet in secret. After emancipation, Black congregations organized quickly across the South. They were places of worship, but also schools, meeting halls, and training grounds for community leaders.
Those were the Reconstruction years, a hopeful and dangerous time. Newly freed people sought education, land, and political rights, and they met fierce resistance. Institutions like this church gave people a stable center while the wider world around them kept shifting.
People & events
The congregation formed shortly after the war to serve the newly freed people of the Huntsville area. Its first services were held in 1868 in the Union Church building on this site. The land had been donated by John Courtade, a French merchant in the town. The congregation shared the building with a Baptist fellowship, the kind of practical cooperation that made those early years possible.
In the 1870s, the church's first trustees bought the Union Church building for the Methodist Episcopal Church. They were Straughter Hume, Joshua Houston, William Baines, W. Fayle, and William Sinclair. Joshua Houston is especially well remembered in Huntsville. He had been enslaved in Sam Houston's household and became a respected community leader after emancipation. The marker also lists early members, including Solomon Jones, Jeff Lockhart, John Clark, Mary Baines, Sarah Smithers, Harriet Hendricks, Eliza Jones, and Kizziah Lacy. They were ordinary people doing something extraordinary: building a free community.
The building became known as the Freedmen's Church, and for many years it also served as a schoolhouse. Teachers named on the marker include Lizzie Stone, Texana Snow, Jacob Cozier, O. A. Todd, and Mollie Flood. In 1894 the congregation built a new wooden sanctuary with a belfry on the site. Under the Rev. Lee of Navasota, the first Black presiding elder, the church grew considerably.
Its place in the American story
St. James belongs to one of the most important stories in American history: how freed people built their own institutions after slavery. Across the South, Black churches like this one became the foundation of community life. They produced leaders, raised money, and kept alive the hope of full citizenship long after Reconstruction ended.
Its role as a schoolhouse is just as significant. Enslaved people had largely been denied education, and in many places teaching them to read had been illegal. After the war, freed people sought schooling with remarkable determination, often in church buildings like this one. The teachers named on this marker were part of that effort.
The church's leadership tells a larger story as well. A Black presiding elder guiding the congregation's growth reflects African Americans taking charge of their own religious life. Churches were among the first places where that kind of leadership could grow, and they later became organizing centers in the long struggle for civil rights.
If you visit
This spot has been a place of worship since 1868, so treat it with the respect you'd give any active church. Take a moment with the names on the marker. They're the founders, members, and teachers who built something lasting here in the first years of freedom, and reading them aloud is a small way to honor them.
Huntsville is closely tied to Sam Houston, and many visitors come for that history. Knowing that Joshua Houston, a man once enslaved in the Houston household, helped lead this church adds depth to the town's better-known story. It's a good reminder that Huntsville's history was built by the whole community.
If you're planning a trip through East Texas, St. James fits naturally into a day exploring Huntsville's historic sites. Please be considerate during services and check locally before expecting to go inside.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Joshua Houston
- · John Courtade
- · Straughter Hume
- · William Baines
- · William Sinclair
Themes & tags
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