164-year congregation proud of pioneer past

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  • Black Oak Baptist Church shines after 111 years standing at its location off FM 69 near Como. The congregation has existed for 164 years. Staff photo by Taylor Nye
    Black Oak Baptist Church shines after 111 years standing at its location off FM 69 near Como. The congregation has existed for 164 years. Staff photo by Taylor Nye
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From indigenous encampment to historic church, Black Oak still stands

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COMO—The black oak tree has special properties. It grows in cool, moist soils and can show the layman where land is elevated and well-drained. Perhaps this is why the early Nadaco tribe of the Caddo Indians made their seasonal home here, in a grove of black oaks in what today is on Farm Road 69, 6 miles south of Como.

Prior to the 1830s, the Nadaco constructed thatched roof homes, a grain mill and corn shelter, which they used during the winter portions of the year they spent in future East Texas, according to Yale historian Peter Kastor.

Yet after the establishment of the Republic of Texas and the resettlement of the Caddo people, white settlers arrived and also decided the black oak grove would be a perfect place to put down roots.

In 1837, the first white settler, David Attaway, was believed to have arrived in the southeast portion of future Hopkins County. He first settled along a creek he named Caney Creek, due to its large overgrowth of cane. He then passed along to an area he named Black Oak due to the shade of its trees.

More settlers followed Attaway, mainly from Georgia and South Carolina, where he had family. They received letters, according to Hopkins County historian RayNell Earhart Frost, telling them of the rich treasures the county promised and the freedom of living on the land.

On May 1, 1856, the fledgling community of Black Oak met in the one-room schoolhouse at Caney to discuss starting a church. At that meeting, they gathered 14 members and decided on a location. The first church was made from logs hewn from the dense forest, which was time consuming, as they needed to be cut, hauled by oxen and hoisted into place. A mixture of mud and grass was daubed into the cracks to keep out snakes, insects and the cold. Although windows were trimmed, there were no glass panes to go in them. The floor was earth and the lighting was kerosene lamps the parishioners brought from home.

Many events took place in the first Black Oak Baptist Church. Godfrey Earhart and his son, Warren, taught school there, until Warren was called away to serve in the Civil War for the South. Warren wrote in his letters back home that he read the Bible and wished nothing more than to be back home at Black Oak, teaching school and singing hymns in the log church. He never made it home, however, dying in Georgia during the war. After the Civil War,

After the Civil War, the church’s membership exploded, and it was necessary to construct a new building to hold them all. In 1887, the new building was constructed of split logs rather than roughhewn ones, and wood floors and glass windows were added. But with the installation of a cotton gin and the Cotton Plant School nearby in 1890, the largest rural school in the county, the community needed a larger church still.

In 1909, the church constructed the building that still stands to this day on Black Oak Road. The cost was $662.80, according to church records, and the congregation by that time had swelled to around 300 members. Built in the conventional Gothic style popular at the time, the tall bell tower, clapboard siding and tin roof were meticulously cared for, and still are.

Church life at that time was the center of rural life. Some would walk 2 or 3 miles to attend services, and many without shoes walked barefoot. Often, a young man would signal his foray into adulthood by riding the family’s horse alongside the procession instead of walking with other members of the family. As transportation improved, buggies with buggy whips and fancy harnesses began to appear.

Another important feature to the Black Oak community was old-fashioned revivals during the summer. The reunions fulfilled both spiritual and social needs, and relatives and friends traveled from all over to spend time at Black Oak. After days of cooking, cleaning and putting on their best dress, congregants were especially proud when their charismatic leaders managed to convert visitors to their church. In 1920, Frost noted that one pastor conducted a revival that netted the church 35 new members.

Yet the days of Black Oak as the center of the crosstie, dairy and cotton industries grew to a close. Como was once a larger town than Sulphur Springs, but population demographics shifted. When Black Oak Baptist Church received its historical marker in 1983, the church had just 35 members—as many as joined during the 1920 revival.

Still, the congregation lifts their voices up to God, frequently holding singing services to celebrate their pioneer past. And in fact, descendants of the founding members are still proudly on the church roster to this day, 164 years later. Black Oak Church still stands out majestically amongst the landscape of grazing cattle, and the only thing that towers over it are its namesake oaks.