Methodism came to Matagorda County as early as 1851. At that time a church was built in the town of Matagorda, on the gulf coast. This building was destroyed by a tornado in 1854.
No doubt that this church planted the seeds of early Methodism in Matagorda County. Many of the pioneers (1840-1900) in this part of Texas formed Methodist societies and Sunday school classes before a church was established.
The Markham United Methodist Church has stayed in its location on the corner of Broadway and Seventh Street, since the building was erected in 1925.
The town of Markham was established in 1903 and was a railroad town.
Markham was established on the Texas and New Orleans railroad in 1914. As the town grew so did the religious community.
A community church building was constructed between 1903 and 1904.
That building was located on the site of the present-day Markham First Baptist Church on the corner of Canal and Avenue J.
The former community church building was demolished in 1951 to make room for a new structure. Community church buildings in the pioneer era were usually built for the use of all protestant denominations in the area.
The Markham Methodists were an intricate part of the social, cultural, and religious development of the town and farming area around Markham, from the time the town was established in the early 1900s to this very day in 2023, the Markham Methodists have been an active part of the community.
In 1904, the Markham Methodist Society was formed. They met in the Markham Community Church Building.
They held services there until the present structure was built in 1924 on the corner of Broadway and Seventh Street. Their first pastor was William H. Nelson (1878-1956).
He was a circuit rider and teacher. His circuit was Palacios, Blessing, Midfield, Carancahua, and Markham.
W. H. Nelson was also a teacher in a military school. He had taught at the Peacock Military Academy in San Antonio, Texas.
He was born in New Orleans and had lived in New York for a time before coming to Matagorda County. He was skeptical about accepting a country circuit.
This was in the days before automobiles and most circuit riders traveled by horseback from post to post.
This literally was the method and way of life for many Methodist preachers from the Wesley’s until the common use of automobiles.
After preaching this circuit for a year, Nelson was sent to Port Lavaca. Markham Methodist Church’s circuit became Midfield, Ashby, and Markham.
The parsonage was in Midfield. It was a poorly furnished structure and was heated like most houses in that day by a pot bellied stove.
When this circuit expired a new preacher was not always appointed to serve the Markham church. Worship went on with lay leadership, temporary pastors, or there would be periods of time that worship would not be held.
The next period of progress in the Markham Methodist Church was when Mary Thompson Barber (Mrs. J. H.) (1876-1945) established a Sunday School Class for local Methodists. She taught this class from 1907 to 1925.
By this time, Brother James Pirtle Chambers (1884-1914) became the minister to the local church, and on June 7, 1911, he performed the Methodist wedding ceremony of Walter F. Jesse (1881-1940) and Nellie Gullet (1887-1968) in the Gullet home in Markham.
Mrs. Nellie Jesse became a major organizer and leader in the Markham Methodist Church.
Sadly, the next year Bro. Chambers was assigned a circuit in San Marcos when he drowned on April 9, 1915 in the river near his home in Lavernia.
According to two newspaper articles, he was fishing.
By 1920, local Methodists had grown to such a number that they needed a church building of their own. The decision was made to build their own church so that they could one day move out of the local community church building and expand their ministry, worship service, and fellowship activities.
A committee of volunteers was appointed to undertake the task of building a Methodist church. The members of the committee were Caroline Fisher (1876-1973), William Allard Furber (1871-1935), Albert Johnson (1881-1947), George Simpson Gideon (1869-1965), Richard Thomas Sirmon (1861-1944), Fred C. Miller (1883-1940), Walter F. Jesse (1881-1940), Harold T. Barber (1897-1967), B.F. Jones, Martin Thompson (1878-1958), and others. Their primary task was to raise money. This took a period of a few years.
The Women’s Missionary Society, organized by Mrs. Fairye Barber (1901-1976) and Mrs. Alice Gullet (1861-1943), started selling plate lunches on Saturdays and sold them for fifty cents a plate.
Mrs. G.T. Doman (1882-1969) brought her three-burner stove in a pickup truck to town and prepared hot meals for the community to buy.
In addition, Mrs. Doman and Mattie Hickey (1890-1971) made quilts by hand that they sold for $5 each. The money was donated to the church fund. They truly believed in letting their hands do the work of the Lord. In May 1920, the Matagorda County Tribune reported that materials to build the new Methodist Church arrived by train.
That same month, the Missionary Society raised $100.25 from a box supper to raise funds for a piano for the new church. In 1924, another church drive was held. The community made many contributions.
Some very large donations were made by Caroline Fisher, Clara Mason (1885-1971), and the Furber family. Finally, they had enough money to start construction. Mr. Thompson, a concrete mason, built the foundation. William A. Wells (1860-1941) accepted the contract to build the church. Most of the labor was done by members of the church and volunteers from the community. W.F. Jesse announced to the congregation that the church was out of debt in the Matagorda County Tribune issue of December 4, 1925.
Many firsts happened in 1925 for the newly erected Methodist Church building. The first christening was held in the new church, in 1925, before it was complete. The rafters were still showing and the pews were 1 X 12” planks placed on top of nail kegs. The baby, Kaleta Jesse Conlee (1924-2013), was none other than the newborn child of Walter F. and Nellie Jesse (1887-1988).
The ceremony was performed by yet another minister, Brother Hudson Leroy Spires (1897-1927). Later that year, the Thompson family donated the first pews. The first wedding was held between Mary Luder (1900-2001) and Lester Mersfelder (1902-1985).
1939 was the next big year for the Markham Methodist Church. Under the supervision of Reverend Emil Frederick Kluck (1891-1952) and Sunday School Superintendent Harold Barber, the church purchased the Buckeye School Building with $300 donated by Mrs. G.T. Doman.
The Buckeye school was dismantled and moved to the Church building. A parsonage was attached to the back of the original building. This task was undertaken by Albert Johnson and Roy A. “Jack” Reeves (1884-1974) along with many volunteers.
The 1926 parsonage was vacated and sold between 1945 and 1948 a final parsonage was built during the pastorate of Reverend Marvin Hindman Keen (1876-1963). In 1954, the Sunday school annex was built.
At the dawn of the 1960s, there were many denominations of Wesleyan theology worldwide. In the United States, work began to bring many of these denominations under one tent.
In 1968, the Methodist church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church united to become one denomination.
Since Markham had always been Methodist, it was incorporated into the United Methodist Church.
The unifying issue was that both denominations were in favor of allowing women to become fully ordained clergy.
Although modern in its approach, it became common for the new United Methodist church to close smaller country churches and combine them with larger churches in the economic centers of the county.
Fortunately, the United Methodist church in Markham has escaped this fate, although it has lost many members to death or larger United Methodist congregations with more programs to offer.
In the 1970s the Midfield Methodist Congregation was relocated to the Markham Church. By this time, the congregation had become smaller as most of the children grew up and moved off to larger towns and cities to find employment. The church held an appreciation day at the Methodist church in October 1975. The circuit changed again and the pastor’s new circuit became El Campo and Markham.
In the 1980s, the Markham church added two beautiful stained glass windows. These windows were handcrafted by the members of that church and are now on the right and left windows in the nave of the building.
These windows stand as memorials to the many members who have passed onto glory. In 1980, The Markham United Methodist Church transferred from the Southwest Texas Conference to the Texas Conference.
Pastors who served Markham Methodist Church included: William H. Nelson, Noah Webster Carter, S. H. Yokey, Harold Septimus Goodenough, Stanley Haver, Oscar William Benold, E. A. Potts, Eli W. Dechert, Corcoran Drake, Robert Paine, Emil Frederick Kluck, Marvin Hindman Keen, Carl Crichett, Jasper Snow, Norman Spellman, Osce Ola Moore, G. C. Cecil, C. A. Cagle, Edward Blair McCulley, Lawrence Moss Greenhaw, W. H. Kincaid, David Parsons, W. F. Hathaway, Jr., N. H. Keen, J. L. Buckley, W. A. Belcher, Alfred Guyon, E. W. Thompson, H. W. Gaston, H. F. Floyd, Hudson L. Spiers, J. L. Crail, W. G. Jones, R. R. Clendenim, L. A. Alkire, T. L. Huffstudtler, I. S. Smith, Roy May Jr., Warren Homung, Donald G. White, William A. Haskell, Kenneth W. Goodell, Bill Jobe, J. D. O’Donnell, Elizabeth Moreau, Tom Morgan, Alfred Dekunder, Charles Storey, Fred Cox, David Dunaway and William Ramsey.
The Markham United Methodist Church continues to serve their congregants and the community. In 2004, the Markham United Methodist Church held their 100th Anniversary of the church. Without the efforts of Caroline Fisher, W.A. Furber, Harold Barber, and more, the Methodist Church may not be where it is today.
The church shares a pastor with the St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Bay City.
Throughout the years the church held and continues to hold Christmas and Easter services, vacation bible school, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and fellowships.
