HomeMy WebLinkAboutReliance Dedication ProgramDedication CeremonyReliance Church CemeteryTexas State Historic MarkerTwelve NoonSunday, October 19, 2008For more information on obtaining an historical marker, please visit the Brazos
County Historical Commission website:www.BrazosCountyHistory.orgFrom Earl Rudder Freeway (SH 6) turn east onto FM 1179.Cross Boonville Road and travel 6.7 miles to the Reliance Baptist
Church and Cemetery.F.M. 1179BOONVILLE ROADSH 6 BY-PASS EARL RUDDER FRWY<----------------6.7 MILES ------------>?N
Welcome and Introduction of GuestsDr. Charles Schultz, ChairmanBrazos County Historical Commission??InvocationRev. Ray MarshallReliance Baptist Church??Reliance Community andCemetery
HistoryDr. Lonnie Jones, Vice-PresidentReliance Cemetery Association??Presentation of MarkerDr. Jimmy Lloyd, PresidentReliance Cemetery Association??BenedictionRev. Ray Marshall??Invitation
to LunchReliance Baptist Church MembersRELIANCE CHURCH CEMETERYTWO BRYAN ATTORNEYS, M. J. BEALE AND B. K. DAVIS, DONATEE FOUR ACRES OF LAND AT THIS SITE IN APRIL, 1874 FOR THE PURPOSE
OF ESTABLISHING THE RELIANCE BAPTIST CHURCH, SCHOOL AND CEMETERY. THE COMMUNITY WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED LITTLE GEORGIA, TAKING ITS NAME FROM THE STATE OF ORIGIN OF AN EARLY 1850’S WAGON
TRAIN OF SETTLERS. MORE FAMILIES FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES ARRIVED IN THE 1870’S ESCAPING ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR BY EMIGRATING TO TEXAS. DAVID LLOYD OF
MISSISSSIPP CHANGED THE COMMUNITY NAME TO RELIANCE IN 1873 WITH THE ORGANIZATION OF THE RELIANCE BAPTIST CHURCH.W. H. (UNCLE BILLY) MORGAN ESTABLISHED A COTTON GIN AND GENERAL STORE
IN 1873 AND ALSO SERVED AS POSTMASTEER IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, RELIANCE INCLUDED A GENERRA STORE, POST OFFICE, GRISTMILL, COTTON GIN, SCHOOL, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTER. AS INTENSIVE
COTTON FARMING ERODED THE SOIL, AREA FARMS TRANSFORMED INTO EXTENSIVE CATTLE RANCHES. BY THE 21ST CENTURY THE CHURCH AND CEMETERY REMAINED HISTORIC FIXTURES IN AN AREA TRANSITIONING
TO RURAL RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT.THE CEMETERY IS SITED AMONG CENTURY OLD POST OAK, ELM AND HACKBERRY TREES. THE EARLIEST MARKED GRAVE DATES TO 1881, ALTHOUGH SEVERAL OLDER UNDATED GRAVES
ARE BELIEVED TO EXIST HERE. COMMUNITY MEMBERS MADE ADDITIOONA DONATIONS OF LAND IN 1951 AND 1995, NEARLY DOUBLLIN THE ORIGINAL SIZE OF THE CHURCH AND CEMETERY PROPERTY. THE CEMETERY
PROPERTY IS HELD JOINTLY BY THE RELIANCE BAPTIST CHURCH AND THE RELIANCE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, WHICH GOVERNS THE OPERATION AND MAINTENAANC OF THE HISTORICAL BURIAL GROUNDS.Inscription
on Reliance Church Cemetery State Historical MarkerDedicated October 19, 2008