ISRAEL, TEXAS (Freestone County). Israel, also known as Burleson and Caney, was a church and school community on Farm Road 833 three miles northeast of Kirvin in northwestern Freestone County. The community was named for Israel Traweek, probably an early settler. The Caney Baptist Church was in existence there by 1858, and the community also had two stores, a gin, and a gristmill. The Burleson School was operating in the area by 1891, and by 1893 sixty-five pupils were enrolled. A post office opened in 1897 but closed in 1909. In the 1930s Israel had a church, a school, and a number of scattered dwellings, but by the 1960s only the Caney Church and a few dwellings remained. In the late 1980s the church was still there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978).

Chris Cravens