Organized on May 6, 1873, Bethel Baptist Church of Christ was the first Baptist congregation in San Patricio County. Its ten charter members came from the pioneer communities of Sharpsburg, Moore’s Lake Settlement, and Meansville. Under the supervision of Baptist missionary L. D. Young, John Walker Baylor became the first pastor, and Alexander Moore served as the first deacon. Early worship services were held in Moore’s Lake Settlement and in the Methodist Church sanctuary at Meansville. In 1877, trustees purchased land at this site from J. M. Garner for a chapel and burial ground. The cemetery was first used in 1877 for the burial of an unidentified Mexican girl, and its earliest marked grave is that of E. A. Paschal (1857-1878). Also buried there are seven Confederate veterans of the Civil War and many pioneer settlers of the area. For a brief time in the late 1870s, the church merged with the Nuescestown Baptist Fellowship. Although the congregation never officially disbanded, services ended there in 1914 after members began attending the Baptist Church in Odem (2 mi. N).