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MELVIN,
TEXASMcCulloch
County, Texas
Hill Country
Farm Road 2087
A short distance S of Hwy 87
15 miles West of Brady
Population: 155 (2000)
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History
in a Pecan Shell
Named for W. H. Melvin, who settled in the area in 1874, a townsite was platted
in 1904. The town was granted a post office in 1906 and the Gulf, Colorado and
Santa Fe Railway arrived in 1912. By 1914 the town had seventy-five Melvinites
residing there and the next year they got their own newspaper, with a second paper
arriving in 1923.
By 1931 the population was 650 and it reached it's zenith
of 925 in 1949. From that point, the town has been in a decline. In the early
1950s, it had already decreased to just under 700. The railroad stopped service
in the early 1970s and it has since declined to only 155 residents. |
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Historical
Marker TextSwedish
Free Mission ChurchSwedes
began settling in the western part of McCulloch County in 1907. A Sunday school
was begun that year, and the families met for worship in homes. A church congregation
was formally organized in 1910 with fifteen charter members. A Ladies Aid Society
was formed in 1911. By 1913 a church building had been completed. Worship services
were conducted in the Swedish language until the 1940s. The congregation's name
was changed to the Evangelical Free Church in the 1940s. From its beginnings the
congregation has supported missionary activities.
(1988) |
Melvin
Cemetery
Photo courtesy Martha Davenport, October 2010 |
Subject: Melvin
Cemetery
Recently,
my sister and I have been researching our ancestry. I believe our great great
grandparents, Anna E. Carlson and Carl Alfred Nelson, both born in Sweden and
died in Texas, were possibly some of the original Melvinites and helped found
the swedish free mission church. Anna's parents, Carl Carlson and Sarah Carlson
were also born in Sweden, both in 1828, and he died in Iowa. Census records show
they immigrated to Iowa with Anna, but moved to Texas around the time she married
Carl Nelson. We've also been looking into the Johnson's, since my grandma used
to tell us Lyndon B. Johnson was a distant cousin. We haven't found much about
that either, though.
We recently took a trip out to the old Melvin cemetery
to see their headstone. We found several other Carlson headstones, who I believe
may be relatives. I've attached a few pictures, as I didn't see any mention of
the Melvin cemetery on your site. The family plots were really something, as were
the higher-ranking officials that died in WWI
and WWII. There was even
a confederate soldier out there. We also stopped at the old swedish free mission
church and were told that Nelson was a big family name in that area and were some
of the original founders of the church.
- Marsha Davenport, October 19,
2010 |
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Carl
Alfred Nelson and Anna Nelson Tombstones
Photo courtesy Martha Davenport, October
2010 |
To
Melvin Cemetery
Photo courtesy Martha Davenport, October 2010 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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