United Methodist Church of Fairy
Fairy, Hamilton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First church organized in Fairy. Chartered as "Martin's Gap Methodist Mission" on July 3, 1886, under the Rev. J. S. Moore. Charter members were Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Steward, Lee Anderson, and Mesdames Hattie Chenault, G. W. Goyne, Lou Harvey, and J. S. Moore. Church building was erected first year, land for it and a parsonage being given by Capt. Battle Fort, local settler. In 1888 membership was 122. In 1920 original building was replaced by present structure. Continuous services have been held here since the church's founding.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The first church organized in Fairy was chartered as the "Martin's Gap Methodist Mission" on July 3, 1886, under the Rev. J. S. Moore, with a handful of charter families. Local settler Capt. Battle Fort donated land for both the church and a parsonage, and a building went up that first year; by 1888 membership had reached 122. The original structure was replaced by the present building in 1920, and services have continued without interruption since the founding.
Why it matters
It documents the founding of a frontier community's first congregation, an anchor of settlement in the Texas hill country.
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Related people
- · Rev. J. S. Moore
- · Capt. Battle Fort
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Martin's Gap
Fairy, TX
This mountain gap on the Central Texas frontier takes its story from Jim Martin, a frontiersman killed here by Indians in the 1860s and buried on the height, when Hamilton County held fewer than five hundred souls. The gap bore Martin's name for two decades. In 1873 Captain Battle Fort, a Confederate veteran and lawyer, settled the area, and a post office opened in 1884 was named Fairy in honor of Fort's young daughter, Mrs. Phelps.
Fairy Cemetery
Fairy, TX
This community was first called Gap, then Martin's Gap after a traveler named Jim Martin was reportedly killed by Indians, before residents chose the name Fairy in 1884 to honor Fairy Fort Phelps, the petite daughter of pioneer settlers. Fairy and her father taught local children in their home, and her family gave land to area churches. The cemetery holds pioneer settlers, dozens of victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic, a Texas Ranger, and veterans reaching from the Civil War through the Korean War.
Brummett Cemetery
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Brummett Cemetery dates to around 1900 and was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2012, a state designation reserved for burial grounds at least fifty years old with demonstrated historical significance. Country cemeteries like this one preserve the memory of the farming families who settled rural Texas at the turn of the twentieth century.
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