Texas Historical Marker #12344
Falvey Memorial United Methodist Church. In the late 1860s or early 1870s, Republic of Texas Army veteran James H. Bowman offered one hundred acres of land to the Rev. W. D. Lewis, Sr., of nearby Barsola, on the condition that he move to the Mt. Hope community for the purpose of establishing a Methodist church. The Rev. Mr. Lewis accepted the offer, and the Mt. Hope Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized by 1875. The Wells community was established in 1885 as the Kansas and Gulf Short Line Railroad was built through the area to the south of Mt. Hope. It was named for Major. E. H. Wells, a railroad engineer. Dr. J. C. Falvey and his wife, Matilda Falvey, settled in Wells that year. They joined the Mt. Hope Methodist congregation after it relocated to Wells in 1888. The congregation soon built a parsonage behind the new church. The church was a focal point for area Methodist pioneers. This congregation prospered for the remainder of the 19th century and well into the 20th. From 1948 to 1950 a new church building was constructed on this site in honor of Dr. J. C. and Mrs. Matilda Falvey by their son. The Falvey Memorial Methodist Church was dedicated in 1951. Active in the Mt. Hope and Wells communities from its earliest days, Falvey Memorial United Methodist Church continues to serve the area with programs of worship and service. These include ecumenical gatherings, such as a Bible reading marathon and Easter sunrise services at Mt. Hope Cemetery tabernacle, as well as community outreach. Falvey Memorial United Methodist Church continues in the traditions of its founders. (2000) #12344
?, Wells, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #11807
Mt. Hope Cemetery. James H. Bowman, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence from Mexico, offered 100 acres of land to the Rev. W. D. Lewis to come to the Mt. Hope community and establish a Methodist church and cemetery. The Rev. Mr. Lewis agreed, and the congregation began in 1875. In November of that year Margaret (Ruby) Hicks was the first person to be buried in the adjacent cemetery. Though the church congregation moved to nearby Wells after the arrival of the railroad in 1886, the cemetery continued to be a place of importance to the Mt. Hope and Wells communities. Among the more than 1800 people of Wells, Mt. Hope and other Cherokee County communities interred here, there are more than 200 military veterans, including eight Confederate soldiers. The cemetery is a chronicle of the history of Cherokee County. (2000) #11807
?, Wells, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #11806
Mt. Hope Cemetery. Joseph and Mary Bowman were married in Tennessee in the early 1800s. They moved their family to Missouri, then Mississippi and finally came to Texas with Stephen F. Austin's colony. Joseph, John J. (1807-1890) and James H. (1820-1886) Bowman fought in the Texas War for Independence from Mexico. James H. Bowman never married. In 1875 he offered one hundred acres of land to the Rev. W. D. Lewis (1819-1898) of the Barsola community to come to Mt. Hope community and establish a Methodist church at that location. Bowman gave adjacent land for a cemetery. The Rev. Mr. Lewis accepted his proposal. In November 1875, Mrs. Margaret (Ruby) Hicks, the wife of farmer Jasper Hicks and mother of Jess Hicks, died and was the first person to be interred on this site. The church was moved to nearby Wells after the railroad came through in 1886, the year that James H. Bowman was interred in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Among the early settlers buried here are members of the Bailey, Beasley, Bowman, Chapmon, Creekmore, Chandler, Cravens, Dubose, Doyle, Humphrey, Falvey, Hillencamp, Hicks, Lees, Lockhart, Luce, Lewis, Ruby, Spinks, Shamess, Stokes, Sneed, Sessions and Tyra families. Those interred here include area farmers and ranchers, teachers, doctors, business and civic leaders, and elected officials including former mayors, county commissioners and state legislators. Of the more than 1800 people interred on 13.2 acres at the dawn of the 21st century, more than two hundred were veterans of major wars and military conflicts, including eight Confederate veterans. The cemetery is a memorial to the pioneers of this area. (2000) #11806
?, Wells, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #06973
Primitive Baptist Church of Wells. Alabama native Francis Marion Sessions is credited with the organization of the Primitive Baptist Church of Wells. Prior to his 1890 arrival in the town, Primitive Baptists traveled to Angelina County to worship in the Old Sand Hill Primitive Baptist Church. Although a formal organization date for the Wells church is unrecorded, Sessions and others began meeting in their homes and in the public schoolhouse and in 1918 purchased this school building and property for use as a permanent place of worship. Early leaders in the church included members of the Childers, Wilson and McAdams families. Often in attendance at the monthly services were residents of Angelina, Nacogdoches and Trinity counties. Hymns were sung in special arrangements without the accompaniment of musical instruments, a tradition in rural America known as sacred harp singing. The Old School Primitive Baptist Church, as it came to be known, often served as a gathering place for area harp singers. Sessions' death in 1930 was followed by that of other older members of the church, and the congregation eventually ceased to meet. Although the Primitive Baptist Church no longer exists in Wells, the church building still stands as a reminder of its history. #6973
?, Wells, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #06617
John Joseph Bowman. (Aug. 15, 1807-Mar. 30, 1890) Tennessee native John Joseph Bowman came to Texas with his family in 1822 and settled in Stephen F. Austin's colony on the Colorado. He later resided in Matagorda County, where, in 1835, he enlisted in the Texian Army, and served in the Texas War for Independence with his father, Joseph, and his brother James, who also is buried here. After the war, Bowman lived in Nacogdoches County before making a permanent home in Cherokee County. #6617
?, Wells, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #06616
James H. Bowman. A soldier in the Army of Republic of Texas, 1836. Born in 1820. Died in February 1886. #6616
?, Wells, TX, United States