Shiloh

Shiloh, a farming community on Shiloh Road in north central Gregg County just south of the Upshur county line, was established after the Civil War by former slaves of Gideon Christian. Christian, a native of South Carolina, had moved his family to East Texas in the mid-1850s. In 1860 his personal estate was valued at $30,000. Gideon owned thirty-two slaves-eighteen men and fourteen women. In 1870 most of the heads of household in the Shiloh community were Black, and only two heads of household were White. Nine heads of household were property owners, and, according to the oral histories of local families, the Christian family conveyed land titles to a number of emancipated slaves. The Shiloh Baptist Church, founded in 1871, served as the focal point of the community. After World War II the community declined, and in the early 1990s only a church and scattered dwellings remained at the site. At that time descendants of the original settlers still lived in the area.