Rev. Nelson T. Denson and Marlin Missionary Baptist Church

Denson told parts of his own life in a 1937 Federal Writers' Project interview that the Falls County genealogy site posts under his full name, Nelson Taylor Denson. In it he gives December 22, 1847, as his birth date, near Hamburg, Arkansas, and 1854 as the year his enslaver, Jim Densen, brought the family to Texas. The family was later sold to Felix Grundy over a debt, and Denson served as Grundy's bodyguard in the war. He credited his parents, who had been taught to read and write, for his own ability to become a minister.

What the plaque says

Rev. Nelson T. Denson and Marlin Missionary Baptist Church Born into slavery in Arkansas, Nelson Taylor Denson (1845-1938) was brought to Falls County in 1856 at the age of eleven. After accompanying his master in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he returned to Marlin where he was a pioneer educator and Baptist circuit preacher. Educated by his master and inspired by the noted Texas statesman Sam Houston, he became a prominent leader among the area Freedmen. On Nov. 8, 1868, the Rev. Denson started Marlin Missionary Baptist Church, the earliest black congregation in the county. Assisting him in the organization meeting was the pioneer Baptist preacher, the Rev. Z. N. Morrell. Rev. Denson was active in the establishment of several black schools, including one sponsored by the Marlin Missionary Baptist Church in 1877. Through his efforts, the opportunity for a formal education became a reality for area blacks by the mid-1880s. In 1882 the Rev. Denson became the first elected black official in the county when he was chosen commissioner of precinct one. Trusted and respected by all races, he continued to play a significant role in the community until his death at the age of 93. Today the church he founded in 1868 carries on the tradition of his enthusiasm and his service for others. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Armstrong Browning Library — 21 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 22 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 22 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 23 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.

More markers nearby

• Hilton Hotel, Early — 0.4 mi
• Hot Mineral Water — 0.5 mi
• Marlin — 0.5 mi
• Captain Henry Gray Carter — 0.7 mi