Sacred Harp Markers, Bethel

The Bethel Church and Cemetery historical marker is located near Frankston in Anderson County, Texas – about 5-1/2 miles south of Frankston off of State Highway 155, 1/2 mile east on County Road 327. The marker was created in 1994.

Some people mentioned on this marker, at Find-a-Grave:
Daniel Cook
Elizabeth Willingham Cook
(Their son is linked to their memorials, though the memorial has the wrong gravestone picture)
Daniel Parker
James Madison McCarty

Marker Text:

BETHEL CHURCH AND CEMETERY

  The Rev. James Madison McCarty (1802-1869) is the first Primitive Baptist minister known to have served in this area. In 1853 Bethel Primitive Baptist Church of Christ was established as a member of the Union Association organized by Daniel Parker.

  Church services were held one weekend a month. Members of the congregation participated in holy services of communion and foot washings during conference meetings. Singing for the services was performed in the non-instrumental sacred harp method. The church was the primary religious and social gathering place for the Sandflat community.

  The oldest documented burial in the Bethel Cemetery is that of the infant child of Daniel and Elizabeth Willingham Cook, who died on August 7, 1855. Among those buried in both marked and unmarked graves in the cemetery are veterans of the Civil War, World War I and World War II.

  After the railroad was built through the county in 1900, bypassing this area in favor of Frankston to the north, the Sandflat community began to decline. Worship services at Bethel Church ceased in the 1940s. The cemetery remains as a reflection of the area’s heritage.

(1994)