Batson Prairie School & Church and Guedry Cemetery

Two schools stood on Batson Prairie in 1897, with 24 and 44 pupils, according to the Handbook of Texas, and the settlers' church doubled as a school. Then oil arrived. Prospectors S. W. Pipkin and W. L. Douglas struck it on October 31, 1903, at 790 feet, and the new town south of the field took the name of pioneer Eli Batson. Production peaked at 10,904,737 barrels in 1904. By 1906 the boomtown had three schools, five teachers and 252 pupils.

What the plaque says

Batson Prairie School & Church and Guedry Cemetery Batson Prairie and the present day town of Batson were named for the pioneer Batson family who settled in this area by the 1840s. Matilda Guedry and her family were among the early settlers on Batson Prairie. Matilda purchased a large tract of land in 1873, and in 1896 her oldest son, Jerisan Guedry, donated one acre of land for a community school. A one-room schoolhouse named Batson School was built and served the area for ten years. In 1897 the Batson Prairie Baptist Church was organized by Pastor Sims Stovall and eight charter members. Early worship services were held in the schoolhouse until 1905, when land adjoining the school was donated by Jersian Guedry for a church building. Later the congregation constructed new facilities that continue to serve the community. Land for a cemetery was donated by Jerisan Guedry and his son-in-law Marion Smith. The first recorded burial was that of Nathaniel Foreman, Guedry's grandson, in 1900. Named Guedry Cemetery, the site is maintained through a perpetual trust and contains more than 2,000 burials including those of descendants of early settlers to the area. The cemetery continues to serve the community. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 12 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.
• Big Thicket National Preserve — 21 mi
  Start at the Kountze visitor center, where rangers sort the preserve's scattered units for you, and learn why Congress made this 1974 string of pearls the country's first national preserve.
• Village Creek State Park — 27 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.

More markers nearby

• Lance Rosier — 6.7 mi
• Ghost Road: The Big Thicket Light — 7.2 mi
• Hugh B. Johnston — 8.6 mi
• Price Daniel — 13 mi