Meier Settlement United Methodist Church and Cemetery - McLennan County, TX
N 31° 30.584 W 096° 54.838
14R E 698098 N 3487979
The Meier Settlement United Methodist Church and Cemetery are about three miles northeast of Riesel at 146 Meier Settlement Rd in rural McLennan County, TX. Sunday services are at 9 AM.
Waymark Code: WM14H4M
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/08/2021
Views: 2
The website on the church sign is no longer valid, but they do have a fairly active presence on
Facebook. A 1991 Texas Historical Marker in front of the sanctuary provides some history:
Founded in 1887 by members of the Methodist Congregation in nearby Perry, this church first was known as the Zion Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Construction of a sanctuary began on March 5, 1887. With a membership made up of German immigrants, the congregation conducted all worship services in German until 1922. The church building was used as a public schoolhouse for a time, with the pastors serving as teachers. In 1915 the name was changed to Meier Settlement Methodist Church. It continues to serve the community.
The adjacent Meier Settlement Cemetery is worth a look for cemetery walkers, and if you're lucky, you'll see a few horses in the pasture behind the cemetery. It's an active cemetery with nearly two hundred burials, well-maintained. There are some Meier family members buried here -- perhaps the ones who gave the settlement its name -- and there are also a few headstones with German inscriptions. For those who keep up with their oddball Texas history, there is a community by the name of "Zipperlandville" in Falls County, the county just south of this one. The name is a corruption of the Zipperlen family name, and there are a few Zipperlen family members to be found here as well.
One of the German headstones belongs to the Reverend Henry Albert Scharlach, who was presumably a minister here at some point. The headstone is modern, made of gray granite, and the family initial is on the top center, flanked by calla lilies. The inscription reads:
Unser Vater
Rev. H. Scharlach
Geboren 18 Jan. 1843
Gestorben 16 Jani 1910
"Ich sehne mich daheim zu sein
bei dem der fuer mich starb,
dess blut mich wusch von suenden rein,
der mir das heil erwarb."