Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church

The plaque ties the first meetings to Abram Ellis, a former slave of Richard Ellis, who the Handbook of Texas says brought more than twenty-five enslaved people to Pecan Point in February 1834. The church began in February 1872, when federal troops had been in the county only since July 1867, never more than twelve at once, and the Freedmen's Bureau agent William G. Kirkman had been murdered. The 1870 census counted 2,249 Black and 2,434 White residents, the first time White residents were a majority. Enslaved people had outnumbered Whites in 1860, 2,651 to 2,401.

What the plaque says

Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church Blacks in the area north of New Boston have been served by this church since its organization in Feb. 1872 by the Rev. Forrest Hooks, the first pastor for the 14 charter members. According to oral histories, the fellowship first met near this site in a log cabin on land belonging to Abram Ellis, former slave of Texas Independence patriot Richard Ellis. The current building was erected in 1912-13, during the pastorate of the Rev. W. M. Sexton, on land acquired from Mr. and Mrs. N. A. Williams, son-in-law and daughter of Richard Ellis. Charter member Bob Tiller donated land for the nearby church cemetery. Records show that a school opened at Pleasant Hill in 1903, probably in the log cabin which first housed Pleasant Hill Church. A school building was erected in 1928 next to this sanctuary, but was moved when the school at Pleasant Hill consolidated with the New Boston School District. Through the years Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church has provided a focal point for the rural community. Membership peaked during the 1920s, but worship services for the small congregation continue to be held on the fourth Sunday of every month as they have been since the church's early days. (1982) Incise on back: Charter Members: Bob Tiller, Henry Sims, Frank ware, Sam Whitfield, Annis Ellis, Sarah Ellis, Patsy Ellis, Charlotte Ellis, Mary Sims, Belle Smith, Louisa Justice, Mary Ware, Charity Singleton, Laura Tiller

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of Regional History — 22 mi
  Texarkana's oldest museum, in an 1879 brick building on State Line Avenue, with Caddo pottery, one of Scott Joplin's pianos and a research library of city directories and photographs.
• Atlanta State Park — 23 mi
  A shoreline park on Wright Patman Lake, leased from the Army in 1954, where Caddo ancestors farmed the Sulphur River and wagon traces such as the Bobo Ferry trace still cross the woods.

More markers nearby

• Site of the Texas Home of Richard Ellis — 1.9 mi
• Harvey C. Sanders, C. S. A. — 1.9 mi
• Bowie County — 4.6 mi
• New Boston — 5.7 mi