USA > Florida > The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 > Part 33
USA > Georgia > The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: From 1785 to 1865 > Part 33
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Dr. Few now came to the church, and seems to have had a prosperous year, for he reported 162 white mem- bers. The new station had tripled its membership in three years.
The town was growing rapidly, and many came to it who had been in the church before, but there was a de- cided religious interest in it, and the church was grow- ing most rapidly.
Jesse Boring was sent on the station in January, 1833, and there was still increase reported at the suc- ceeding conference. The report of the collections indicate that the Church was liberal and able, since Co- lumbus sent up for the conference fund $166.06, much the largest sum reported from any station. Benj. Pope was the successor of Jesse Boring, and 281 mein- bers were reported, an increase of eighty-one dur- ing the year. Although Columbus received a large accession of members from new citizens moving in who were already members of the Church, there is evidence in these minute figures of great religious vitality. Thos. Samford came at the next conference. Dr.
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Pierce had now removed his home to the west of the State, and fixed it in Columbus, and was appointed the station in 1836, and his labors were greatly blessed, for at the end of the second year 416 members were reported. The work was now so considerable that when A. Speer was sent in charge, an assistant was required, who was to be supplied by the presiding elder. S. K. Hodges, the presiding elder, resided in Columbus, and so did Lovick Pierce, who was now Agent of the Wesleyan Female College in Macon. Dur- ing this year there was a most remarkable revival, and over 200 were added to the Church. Speer, Samuel K. Hodges, and Dr. Pierce were all workers in the meeting, and there was such an influence felt as Colum- bus had never known. 1839 was a year of revivals, Macon had been wonderfully blessed all through the circuits, the revival fire had burned, and now Columbus was the recipient of showers of richest refreshing. The revival came when revivals frequently come, after commercial disasters have swept from business men the earnings of a lifetime. 1839 was a year of bankruptcies and of revivals; and while Columbus, in common with every business community, has suffered temporarily, she was blessed spiritually.
The revival influence was tremendous. The city had not perhaps more than 4,000 inhabitants, and it was stirred to its depths.
During the revival Jesse Boring, who had married in Columbus, returned to it on a visit and one night preached. He had not concluded his sermon before so tremendous was the gust of feeling that the whole con- gregation rose to its feet, and the altar was thronged with weeping penitents. The scene was one such as is not
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
often seen, and the impression it made has never been effaced from the memories of the few who now live who were present that night.
The report at the conference was a total membership of 970, of whom 570 were white. Dr. Pierce and G. J. Pearce were sent to the charge the next year. As, alas ! was too common, there was after such an ingathering a decrease in numbers, and only 378 white members are reported for 1840. James B. Payne, whose labors had been crowned with such success elsewhere, was sent to the station with Mathew Raiford, whose early years had been spent in the Asbury Mission, near. Columbus, when Indians were still in the woods. It was a successful year, and 440 members are reported at the next conference. James B. Payne was returned the next year, but what was gained while he was there seems to have been lost during the year 1844. In 1844, Daniel Curry was the preacher in charge. The whole Church was now in a ferment, resulting from the course of the general conference. Mr. Curry was then, as now, a bold and decided man, and his utterances was very offensive to the people, so that by the middle of the year Mr. Curry preferred to leave the South forever. He returned to the North, and his after-his- tory is so well known that it is not needful now to refer to it.
Caleb W. Key, who was in Talbotton, was required by the Bishop to take his place, and entered upon his work under many discouragements, and remained till the close of the year. Jas. E. Evans was appointed to succeed him. He found the congregation sadly ham- pered for want of a new church. They owned a large and inost beautiful lot, and on it there was built a
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church for the colored people, a room for a free school, and the old brick church. The question of building had been agitated, and now, by the persuasion of the preacher, all the old buildings were removed from the lot, and a very handsome church was erected upon a most beautiful spot in the centre of it. During the year there was a gracious revival, and an accession of nearly 200 members. The next year Evans returned, and with him Miller H. White, whose health had to some extent given way, and who was placed in charge of the colored members; at the close of the second year of Evans on the station, 531 whites were reported in the minutes. Dr. Boring was now sent in charge of the work, and the new church, which had been begun the year before, was completed, and was dedicated to the worship of God by its projector, Rev. Jas. E. Evans. The collection on that day amounted to over $3,000, entirely relieving the church from all incuinbrance. Dr. Boring was placed on the district, and Bishop Pierce was sent in charge of the station. He was chosen that summer the President of Emory College, and the next year Samnel Anthony took his place in Columbus. Great success followed his labors, and Columbus again reached the point it had held after the great revival of 1839, and 570 white members were again reported. Samuel Anthony was now placed on the district, and Dr. Lovick Pierce, with Jos. S. Key as his assistant, on the station. Though there was decline, yet the Church never lost again the high place it had reached. Still there were only 475 members reported at the next conference. At this, the Confer- ence of 1851, Samuel Anthony was continued on the dis- trict, and Wm. M. Crumley was now sent upon the
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
station. He began his work under many discourage- ments. A timid man, who had had few early advantages and who had but little confidence in himself, he fol- lowed some of the first preachers in the conference. He began his labors for a revival, and, after six weeks of effort and of daily public prayer, he had no evidence of success. But then the work began, and a gracious revival swept the city; and at the next conference there were 706 members in the Columbus Church. Among the converts were some who became travelling preach- ers in the conference, and many who have been leading laymen in it. Beyond this period we may not pursue the history in detail. A second church became a necessity, although St. Luke's was so large a building, and St. Paul's Church was built in 1858. Over the river was the village of Girard, in Alabama, and a church was built there; then one was built at the Fac- tory, then one on Broad Street. The colored people with the aid of the whites built themselves a large church, and their history is identical with that of the other congregations of the kind in the cities. They left the church which had labored for them in the days of slavery, and united with the African Methodists.
The conference has frequently been held in Colum- bus and has always been kindly cared for. In one of the previous chapters of this history we have already told of the novel generosity of the city in 1836, when they contributed $1,631 one day to the relief of the preachers deficient in their salaries. In 1854 the Gen- eral Conference held its session in Columbus, and for one month the city and the preachers were mutually delighted with each other.
In no place in Georgia is Methodismn relatively
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stronger than in Columbus The membership of the church is large, and has always been noted for its liber- ality of view and for its genuine piety. From the beginning the charch has been blessed with a most valuable body of lav members.
Hon. Walter T. Colquitt died in Columbus. He was for many years a leading public man in Georgia, having been Senator in Congress and Judge of the Superior Coart. He had been converted when a young lawyer and soon felt it his duty to act as a lay preacher. Thronghont all his public life he was a bold defender of Christian truth. He would open his courts with prayer when a Judge, and preach regularly in Washing- ton when a Senator. He was a man of strong convic- tions, was bold in avowing, and earnest in defending them. He, of course, in the high political excitement of the times incurred hostilities, but he bore neither inalice himself, nor was it long felt towards him. He was a man of great power at the bar, on the stump, and in the pulpit. He married twice, and left several chil- dren and an excellent widow. Of his sons, Col. Peyton Colquitt was in his youth a member of the church in Columbus, and was killed while leading his regiment at Chickamauga, and General Alfred H. Colquitt, now Governor of Georgia, a leading layman of the North Georgia Conference, fills well his father's vacant place in the church.
James M. Chambers was for many years a prominent layman in Columbus. He was a successful planter, a man of broad views, genuine piety, and great devotion. to the church's interest. He was for many years the President of the Board of Trustees at Oxford, and in all the benevolent enterprises of the church was always
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
found among the most active workers. He labored every where with great efficiency ; in prayer-meetings, and Sunday-school, as well as on mission and college boards.
Dr. Urquhart, who still lives a useful man, and the last of the old line, Hamilton Smith, who afterwards was a leading member of the church in Mobile, the Flewellers, and many other families among the oldest and truest Methodists in the State, gave to the church their aid in its days of trial as well of prosperity.
In few cities has there been such uninterrupted suc- cess to the church's labors as in Columbus. In 1857 and 1858 Columbus was visited by the most wonderful revival in her history. Alexander M. Wynn was pastor of the Methodist Church and James M. Austin was with him as junior. The meetings were conducted frequently by laymen, and the whole church seemed to be aroused to an activity like to that of the days of the primitive church ; for weeks and months the work went on and hundreds were added to the different churches. There are now in Columbus St. Luke's, St. Paul's, Broad Street, Trinity, Girard, white churches, and the colored congregations, six churches in all, while nearly one-fourth of the population are communicants of the. Methodist church.
ATLANTA.
The terminus selected for the railways which con- nected the West and the Atlantic was fixed at a point in De Kalb County, called at first simply the Terminus, and afterwards 'Marthasville ; in 1846 this name was changed to Atlanta. In a very short time after the location of the town was fixed, large numbers of adven- 21*
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turers and a few solid men were attracted to it. It was then in the bounds of the Decatur Circuit, and the preachers soon had an appointment there. The first preaching was in the depot of the Western and Atlantic Railway. In the early part of 1847, Edwin Payne, who was a decided and zealous Methodist, and who had re- moved to a farin on the then outskirts of the town, gave a lot for a church on which an academy was built. In this all denominations were permited to preach, and not long after another small academy was built on the western side of the city, and in it there was occasional preaching. Atlanta in the early part of 1847 became a regular appointment in the Decatur Circuit, and Anderson Ray and Eustace W. Speer preached there every two weeks at night. In that year a Union Sunday- school was formed, under the superintendency of a good Presbyterian, O. S. Hurston. Through the exer- tions of Edwin Payne and some other brethren, a sub- scription of $700 was raised to build a wooden church. It was begun in the spring of 1847. During that sum- mer, Bishop Andrew, George W. Lane, Dr. Means, and the circuit preachers, held a four days meeting in a warehouse in the city, which was quite successful. By the time the shell of the building was finished and floor- ing and sash put in, the funds were all exhausted, and the church was still without pews or seats of any kind. A number of puncheons were secured and thus seats were provided, while a rude platform with the prescrip- tion table of Dr. Smith, formed the pulpit. John W. Yarbrough and James W. IIinton were now in charge of the circuit. Although the first Baptist church, which was aided by the Home Missionary Society, was the first church completed in Atlanta, in the first Methodist
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
Church there was the earliest religious service of any regular house of worship in the city. There were sev- eral local preachers in Atlanta, who supplied the lack of service on the part of the circuit preachers, and ever and anon a travelling preacher, passing through, filled the pulpit, or laymen gathered the members together and read one of Morris's or Wesley's sermons. The church rapidly grew, and by the beginning of the year 1849 the house was supplied with pews, and was filled every Sunday with an attentive congregation. Lewis Lawshe, of whom we have spoken in the history of the Church in Macon, had now removed to Atlanta. He was a local preacher of great piety and a man of great affability. He was the moving cause in the establish- ment of the first Methodist Sunday-school in the city. This was done in the year 1848. He was the first super- intendent. During the year 1849 under the ministry of Rev. John W. Yarbrough and Alexander M. Wynn, there was a great revival in the city, and at the end of that year there were several hundred in the church.
The next year Atlanta was made a station, and Silas H. Cooper was appointed to it. He was not suited to the work, and remained only a part of the year, and Dr. James L. Pierce succeeded him. He was very much esteemed, and while he was in charge Bishop Pierce, then President of Emory College, assisted him in a pro- tracted meeting, and preached with wonderful power. At the next conference Chas. W. Thomas, a young Eng- lishman, who afterwards joined the Episcopal Church, was in charge. The next year W. H. Evans was ap- pointed to the station. The membership was not large, nor was there a wealthy man in it. There was no par- sonage, and when the preacher came he was forced to
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ocenpy two rooms in the house of another person. He, however, was not the man to be conquered by difficul- ties, and he soon had a parsonage built. He sought out and gathered in the unaffiliated members, and labored earnestly and successfully for a revival of religion. He established a Sunday-school, and afterwards built a chapel in the southwest of the city, and at the end of two years reported to the conference 460 white and 100 colored members. The debt of gratitude due to W. H. Evans by the Methodists of Atlanta is indeed a great one, and the wisdom of the Church in sending a man of ability and experience to this work is evident. During this year Greene B. Haygood, who had been for years a leading layman of the Church in Watkinsville, removed to Atlanta, and seeing the necessity for a church in the central part of the city, secured an eligible lot and had a neat brick church erected. Trinity Church was the first brick church built in Atlanta, and at the conference of 1863 John P. Duncan and James M. Austin were sent in charge. There were now three churches in Atlanta, but they were under one pastoral charge, and Bo continued for several years. Trinity then became a separate charge, and Evans Chapel was a mission sta- tion. The Church continued slowly to advance. The congregation of the first church, known as Wesley Chapel, was sadly hampered by the character of the building, which, in a few years after it was built, was neither large enough nor comely enough for its needs. We are not now to trace the work in detail, but append the list of preachers up to the time of the war. 1854, Saml. Anthony ; 1855, Chas. R. Jewett; 1856, Wesley Chapel, C. W. Key-Trinity, H. J. Adams ; 1857, Wes- Jey Chapel, Caleb W. Key-Trinity, R. B. Lester; 1858,
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
Jas. B. Payne, Trinity-R. B. Lester; 1860, Wesley Chapel, Wm. J. Scott-Trinity, Jno. C. Simmons-City Mission, Jas. B. Payne. There was now 610 members in the two churches, and 130 in the City Mission. At- lanta was the centre of military operations from the beginning of the war, but the work of the Church went on. W. J. Scott was sent in 1861 to Wesley, and Geo. G. N. McDonnell to Trinity ; in 1862, Jas. W. Hinton to Wesley, H. H. Parks to Trinity, and W. H. Evans to the City Mission ; in 1863, Lorenzo D. Huston, to Wes- ley, and H. H. Parks to Trinity. The Federal troops were moving upon Atlanta, and in August of the year 1864, the city fell into their hands ; and shortly after- wards, after having sent all the citizens out of it, Gen. Sherman applied the torch to it, and it was burned to the ground. All the Methodist churches, however, escaped the flames.
The Federal army had not long left Atlanta before the preachers were back at their posts. A. M. Thizpen and Atticus G. Haygood, were sent to gather up the scattered flocks. The exiles returned to their ruined homes, and by the end of the year there was 227 mem- bers in Wesley Chapel, and 250 in Trinity. Atlanta soon more than recovered from her injuries, and the Church grew with the city. Evans Chapel Mission became a third charge, and under the care of Rev. Wm. C. Dunlap, Payne's Chapel was organized. A Sunday-school commenced in the east end of the city resulted in a Mission, and under the care of Rev. Geo. H. Pattillo became a fifth Methodist church. The old Wesley Chapel was torn down, and the foundation of a magnificent brick church was laid, which when com- pleted will be among the handsomest church buildings
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in the city. Trinity Church was sold, and a church was built on Whitehall Street, which is the most ele- gant Methodist church in the State. There are now in 1876, over 1,500 Methodists in the city of Atlanta alone, in addition to the number in the suburban churches, Edgewood and Kirkwood.
Atlanta Methodism owes much to the first laymen of the city. They were most of them plain men who loved the church and of their small means gave much towards it.
Edwin Payne sold his farm on Yellow River and purchased one near the village of Marthasville. This farm is now in the heart of Atlanta. He was a most decided and devoted Methodist, and it was through his instrumentality that the first church was begun. The lot upon which it was located was given by him, and the first contributions to it were secured by himself. He lived to see Atlanta, what in his far-seeing wisdom he had expected it to be, a large and prosperous city, and in his very old age gave a lot for the erection of another church, which when finished was known as Payne's Chapel.
Green B. Haygood was a prominent lawyer of Clarke County, and removed to Atlanta where his services were much needed by the church. He saw the neces- sity for a church in the central part of the city, and through his exertions the first Trinity Church was com- pleted. He superintended the first Sunday-school in the charge, and was one of the most faithful workers in every department of the church. He was a man of remarkable common sense, and of great energy, and as remarkable for his consistent and active piety. His wife, who still lives, was a true helpmeet in the work of building up the church.
-
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
Hubbard W. Cozart, a shrewd, fun-loving, energetic usiness man, possessed of considerable estate, removed rom Gainesville to Atlanta, and was one of the most active of the early meinbers.
Joseph Winship, a Northern man by birth, and a mechanic who had made a large fortune by gin manu- facturing, came to Atlanta and built some large car shops. He was an earnest and a very liberal Metho- dist, and was of great service to the Church.
These are some among the worthy dead. Some of the most useful men of the early Church there, still live and still work, and we are thus precluded from making public mention of their labors.
We have now taken a survey of Methodism in the rural districts, and of Methodism in the cities. We have seen that its success has been alike great in both fields. The flexible machinery of Methodism adapts itself to all varying circumstances and conditions. It is perhaps the leading religious body in every city in the State. Its churches are perhaps not so elegant, its peo- ple are not generally so wealthy, but the numbers in its fold are greater and the masses of the people attend upon its ministrations. Its pews are in nearly all in- stances free, and there is no section of a city, however poor, in which Methodism has not either a mission chapel, or a regular station. It has been a question whether an itinerancy is suited to a growing city ; but if facts are to decide it, the study of the facts recorded in this chapter will answer that it is. The frequent changes in the pastor, while for some reasons it is to be objected to, has more generally proved a blessing than a curse, and those churches in which these changes have been regular, and comparatively frequent, have
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prospered most. The course pursued in the cities, of dividing to conquer, has been eminently judicious and successful. Large churches, elegant and wealthy, with a membership of over 500, may gratify one's church pride, but the study of this history shows that in every case where a church of over 300 members has colonized there has been rapid growth. The adaptation of the buildings to the character of the community, has been another lesson taught. Whenever the church has been old and shabby, and the surroundings fresh and new, there has been stagnation, and a liberal expenditure for a good building has been invariably followed by great advance. The liberal expenditure of missionary money in the cities in developing feeble charges, has been vin- dicated by the results of the work.
There are other cities in the State which deserve notice, but our space is too limited for a full account of the work in them, and their history is too recent to pre- sent many features of general interest.
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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA, 1785-1865.
CHAPTER XIII.
EDUCATION-MISSIONS-BENEVOLENCE, ETC.
As early as the conference of 1789, the second in Georgia, as we have seen, it was decided to establish a school under the control of that body. It was to be called the Wesley and Whitfield School. The plan was to secure a lot of 500 acres of land, and to erect suita- ble buildings upon it. Hope Hull was, in all probabil- ity, the leading spirit in the matter, and he was seconded in his efforts by the wealthy and public-spirited Virgin- jans who had seated in Wilkes. John Crutchfield, Thomas Grant, and David Merriwether were the early friends of the new school. Bishop Asbury, as we have already noted, rode with Hope Hull, who was on the Burke circuit, during the next year, to the forks of the Ogechee, in what was then the lower part of Wilkes County, to select a tract of land for the school. John Crutchfield was at work to secure subscriptions. They were to be made in cattle, rice, tobacco or land. Success does not seem to have attended the efforts made, but Hope Hull, after his location, received a deed to some land from David Merriwether, for the school, and the Succoth Academy was established in Wilkes Co. Lewis Myers, who attended it, says the building was of logs, and the school was under the rectorship of a Mr. Brown, a Presbyterian minister, who was afterward a prominent worker in the great revival in Kentucky in 1799. Mr. Hull was not a classical scholar, and while
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he had charge of the school he employed competent teachers for the more advanced studies. Some of the most distinguished men in Georgia here received their educational training. This academy was located about three miles from Washington. This was one of the first classical schools in upper Georgia. We can get no further view of it after the one given by Lewis Myers. This sturdy young German came on foot from South Carolina to attend its sessions as early as 1796. When Lorenzo Dow visited Hope Hull in 1802, he found him farming and teaching at this place.
There were no further efforts to establish a church school for nearly thirty years. In Salem, Clarke Co., one was established by some Methodists, and in 1820, application was made to the South Carolina Conference, to take the school under its patronage. This request, says Dunwody, met with considerable opposition from some of the preachers, who feared it was the entering- wedge to a requirement for ministerial education, and from a fear that the church would become involved in financial difficulties by the endorsement of it. These fears being removed, the school was adopted by the conference as a church institutian. The Bethel school, in Abbeville, of which Stephen Olin was rector, was already prosperous, and the Salem school was designed to meet a like want in the Georgia territory. It does not seem to have made much progress, or to have se- cured extensive patronage. Wm. J. Parks went to it to study Grammar, and while he was there he was licensed to preach. Immediately after the division of the South Carolina Conference, and the formation of the Georgia, the question of church education was agi- tated all over the Church. The General Conference of
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