First Berean Missionary Baptist Church

King Van was born into slavery in Matagorda County to Odo and Fatuma Van, who had been brought from Africa. In 1867 he registered to vote, and in 1871 he registered a cattle brand. The settlement on Buckner's Prairie grew around his land, and mostly Van family members lived there. Vann had a school by 1894, with 22 pupils that year and 34 the next; by 1904 it had 39. The church took its name from Berea, the town in the Book of Acts, and held its first services in the school.

What the plaque says

First Berean Missionary Baptist Church First Berean Missionary Baptist Church The congregation of the First Berean Missionary Baptist Church began formally meeting after emancipation in 1865. Members held worship services in homes, under trees and in a local school before building their first house of worship. The church grew around the community known as Van, African, King Vann and Vann Settlement, located in Buckner's Prairie, which was named for Aylett C. "Strap" Buckner (d. 1832), an old three hundred colonist and Texas folklore hero. Church members also came from the nearby sugar land community on Buckner's Prairie. The congregation built its first sanctuary in 1896 on land sold for five dollars by Odo and Fatuma Van (Vann), both born in Africa before being captured and sold into slavery. The church's first pastor was the Rev. Anthony Martin. At this same time, congregational members named themselves Berean Missionary Baptist Church for a mission site in Greece. After purchasing an acre of land for a new sanctuary in 1951, the Berean Baptist Church, as it was often known, held its first service in the new structure in 1953. The congregation incorporated in 1993 as the First Berean Missionary Baptist Church. For more than 100 years, the church has provided the area with an assembly site, a school and a place for community communications. At the turn of the 20th century, the congregation had new facilities and continued its mission through its outreach, educational programs and music ministries. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 9.7 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 19 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Vine Grove Christian Church — 2.3 mi
• Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church — 3.1 mi
• Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church — 3.7 mi
• Lukefahr School Community — 4.6 mi