Reverend Moses Hampton Denman

Reverend Moses Hampton Denman. Rev. Denman was born in Gumlock Creek, Franklin Co., Georgia on May 8, 1803 and moved to Cherokee County, Texas with his first wife, Elizabeth Randle (1805-1861), in 1849. There he established a large plantation and ran a general store with the help of his two oldest sons, Jackson Harvey and Felix Gilbert. In 1857 the Denman Family moved to adjacent Houston County, where they lived for another decade before moving to Bell County., By the time of her death in 1861, Elizabeth had given birth to twelve children. A few months after her death, Denman married Mary Hall, the 24-year-old daughter of a neighbor. Mary bore him four children, then she too died, in 1867., Moses Denman moved out of Houston County, married a third time, to Laura Ann McMinn, who bore him ten children, and he became a prominent farmer in the Cowhouse Valley of Bell County, where he also founded the Liberty Hill Baptist Church, the first in the valley. This log cabin was built by Denman in Cowhouse Valley and was preserved and moved when Cowhouse Creek was flooded to create Belton Lake. For years the cabin was located in Belton, where it was awarded a Texas Historical Marker and then it was moved to Troy, and finally to the lawn of the Barton House by Moses' great-great grandson, Robert Denman. Finally the cabin was relocated to the Salado Historical Society grounds., Moses H. Denman died Feb. 24, 1885, and was buried in Denman Farm Cemetery at Sparta. At the time of his death he was the pastor of Cedar Grove Baptist Church. His third wife, Laura, was buried at his side. Their graves were moved and reinterred in Resthaven Cemetery near Belton when Sparta was inundated.