Sneed Memorial Methodist Church

The plaque lists Seth Ward among early pastors; the Handbook follows the rest of his road. Born in a log cabin near Bryan in 1858 and taught at home, he was ordained in 1881 and married Margaret South at Bryan in January 1886, during his Calvert years. After the 1900 hurricane he united two Galveston churches as First Methodist. Elected bishop at Birmingham, Alabama, in 1906, he twice presided over missionary conferences in Japan, China and Korea, and died at Kobe, Japan, on September 20, 1909, on his second trip. He is buried in Houston.

What the plaque says

Sneed Memorial Methodist Church This congregation, organized in 1869 as the Calvert Methodist Church, built its first sanctuary on this site in 1872. Among the early pastors were (1885-86) the Rev. Seth Ward, later first native Texan to be named a Methodist bishop; and (1895-99) the Rev. Dr. James Kilgore, a founder of Southern Methodist University. In 1923 when the present church building was erected, the name was changed in memory of the Rev. Joseph P. Sneed (1804-81), a circuit rider who came to Texas in 1838, then served for many years in Robertson and Milam county churches. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calvert — 0.2 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 20 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Calvert — steps away
• Casimir Drugstore — steps away
• Town of Calvert — steps away
• Home Area of Chinese Farmers — 0.2 mi