FORMER Salem Predestinarian Baptist Church - Freestone County, TX
N 31° 34.310 W 096° 15.916
14R E 759548 N 3496222
The former Salem Predestinarian Baptist Church stands in front of the still-active Salem Cemetery in rural Freestone County, about eight miles from Donie and six miles from Teague.
Waymark Code: WM1612X
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/10/2022
Views: 2
A 1967 Texas Historical Marker provides a few sound bytes about the church and the adjacent cemetery:
Among oldest in county. Founded Dec. 3, 1853, by the Lee families, Elders Thomas Dossey and C.T. Echols certifying to constitution of church. Elder Dossey named it. Five-acre site given by W.H. McSwane family. First building of logs was replaced later by frame structure. The present chapel was erected in 1961.
The Handbook of Texas Online has a 1995 article about Salem:
Salem is four miles south of Teague and one mile east of Farm Road 80 in southwest Freestone County. The Salem Predestinarian Baptist Church, one of the oldest churches in the county, was founded in December 1853 by Thomas Dossey, C. T. Echols, and the Lee families. The land for the church and a cemetery was given by the McSwaine family. The log structure first built for the church was later replaced by a frame building. By the 1930s there were only a few dwellings in the area, and by the 1960s only the church, the cemetery, and a couple of dwellings remained. A new chapel was erected in 1961, and in 1967 the church and cemetery received a Texas state historical marker. The earliest grave in the cemetery was found to date from 1861. In the late 1980s the church and cemetery were still in existence.
Since then, there have been some changes. The church no longer appears to be active, although there are some "facilities" at the back of the property. Most likely, the building now serves as a chapel. As to the 1861 burials, Findagrave lists a few before then, but only Joseph and Elizabeth Self have headstones with death years of 1857, and these look to be newer additions.