USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume I > Part 18
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PROVINCE DIVIDED INTO PARISHES
Probably the most important event in the Ellis administration was the division of the province into parishes as provided for in an act of the assembly duly passed and approved March 17, 1758. By this legislation "the Town and District of Savannah extending . up the Savannah river and including the islands therein, as far as the south- east boundary of Goshen, from thenee in a southwest line to the river Great Ogeechee, and from the Town of Savannah eastward as far as the
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mouth of the river Savannah, including the sea islands to the mouth of the river Great Ogeechee, and all the settlements on the north side of the said river to the western boundaries thereof" became Christ Church parish. The other parishes were laid out in such manner as that Abercorn, Goshen and Ebenezer were in Saint Matthew's parish; the distriet, covering the country between the southern boundary of St. adjoining territory were in St. Paul; Hardwicke and other settlements south of the Great Ogeechee and extending to the Midway were placed in Saint Philip's parish ; the lands lying south of the Midway and ex- tending to Newport were in the parish of Saint John; Darien and its district, covering the county between the southern boundary of St. John's and the Altamaha river formed the parish of Saint Andrew ; and "the Town and district of Frederica, including the islands of Great and Little Saint Simon, and the adjacent islands" received the name of the parish of Saint James. The church in Savannah and the burial-płaee used in connection with it were, by the same act, named the Parish Church and Cemetery of Christ Church; and it was enacted that "Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, clerk, the present Minister of Savan- nah, shall be the rector and incumbent of the said Church of Christ Church and he is hereby incorporated and made one body politie and corporate by the name of the reetor of Christ Church in the town of Savannah; and shall be and he is hereby enabled to sue and be sued by such name in all eourts within this province, and shall have the eare of souls within the said parish, and shall be in the actual possession of the said chureh with its cemetery and appurtenances, and shall hold and enjoy the same to his and his successors, together with the glebe land already granted to him, and the message or tenement near to the said church, with all and singular the buildings and appurtenanees there- unto belonging, and also all other lands, tenements and hereditaments as shall or may hereafter be given and granted to the said church or the ineumbent thereof."
Mr. Zouberbuhler was appointed rector of that church in 1745 and he served until 1765. The ministers down to the time of his appointment were Dr. George Herbert, in 1733; Sammel Qniney, 1733-1736; John Wesley, 1736-1737; George Whitefield, at times from 1738 to 1770, dur- ing which time the church was also served by the Rev. Mr. Dyson, chap- lain of Oglethorpe's regiment. Mr. JJames Habersham as reader. and by the Rev. William Norris, D. D., in 1739: Rev. Christopher Orton, 1741-1742, and Rev. Thomas Bosomworth, 1743-1745.
SECOND SAVANNAH CHURCH ( CHRIST CHURCH PARISH)
We are here brought to the consideration of the date of the founding of the second church established in Savannah and the circumstances under which it was founded; and happily the records of the time can be brought forward to prove more on this subject than previous writers have been able to discover. As early as during the presidency of Will- iam Stephens some of the citizens of the province, seemingly dissatisfied with the preaching of clergymen of the Church of England, expressed a desire to have one of a different denomination employed for their editi-
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cation. The Earl of Egmont thus refers to the subject in his journal, under date January 16, 1744: "Mr. John Joachim Zublie with a paper sign'd by several Inhabitants of Vernonburg and the Villages adjacent address to the Trustees dated Savannah 6 Feb., 1742-3, desiring a Minis- ter of Calvinistical principles. and recommending the said Znblie of St. Gall in Swizzerland, son of David Zublie of Purysburg in Carolina for the said purpose, attended," and on the 23d of that month he wrote "Mr. Zublie attended, and being ask'd what he demanded for going Minister to Vernonburg and Acton, he proposed 50€ per annum and his expenses of going thither as well as his eoming from Swizzerland. The Trustees acquainted him they could not agree to his proposals." Those two statements are also found, nearly in the identieal words, in the official journal of the trustees of those two dates, exeept that after demanding of Mr. Zubly what he required and receiving his reply. it is recorded that "then he withdrew. Resolved, That Mr. Zoubli be acquainted that the Trustees eannot Agree to his Proposals."
Again, the journal of the trustees shows that on the 1st of Novem- ber, 1745, a petition was read from Mr. Zouberbuhler, dated October 31, 1745, setting forth that he had gone from his home in St. Gall, Swit- zerland, with his father and other Swiss families to Purysburg, South Carolina, where his father died and the petitioner went to Charleston; that while there, finding several of his countrymen residing near the eity being destitute of a minister, the Rev. Mr. Garden, commissary of the bishop of London, recommended to his lordship that the petitioner be qualified for that service by receiving deacon's and priest's orders; that in journeying to England the petitioner was so long delayed before he eould receive holy orders that his eountrymen in Carolina had decided not to wait longer, but had actually engaged a Mr. Giezen Tanner to officiate among them; that hearing Mr. Bosomworth would not return to Savannah, the petitioner offered himself for the position made vacant by the departure from Georgia of Mr. Bosomworth: and he then "laid before the Trustees the Deeds of his Ordination as Deacon and Priest by the Bishop of London," whereupon it was resolved "That the Rev. Mr. Barth. Zouberbuhler be appointed the Missionary at Savan- nah in the Province of Georgia in the room of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Boson- worth who has quitted the Colony." Accordingly it was recorded in the minutes of November 11, 1745, that the trustees "desire the Society [ for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts] will transfer the allow- ance of fifty Pounds a year from the Rev. Mr. Thomas Bosomworth to the Rev. Mr. Bartholomew Zonberbuhler, who is embarked on board the Ship Judith for the Province of Georgia.'
Again, the German and Swiss settlers at Vernonburg and Acton, in 1745, brought a petition to the trustees renewing their request for a minister, stating "that they were more than two Imindred and forty in Nınmber, Men, Women, and Children," and "all agreeing in the same Protestant Confession according to the Institution of Calvin, and desir- ing that the Rev. Mr. Joachim Zubli might be appointed their Minister." Then we have the record that " The Trustees took the same into consider- ation, and, after reading the Minutes November 1st, 1745. by which the Rev. Mr. Bartholomew Zonberbuhler was appointed Minister at Savan-
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nah, who undertook to offieiate not only in the English Language to the Inhabitants of Savannah, but in the German and French likewise to the a foresaid Inhabitants of Vernonburg and Acton.
"Resolved, That it be recommended to the said Mr. Zouberbuhler to make an Allowance of ten pounds per Ann. to the Rev. Mr. Joachim Zubli, on condition that the said Mr. Zubli officiate for him as an Assistant at the aforesaid places of Vernonburg and Acton, etc., which are at.too great a Distance for the Women and Children especially, to go to Divine Worship; and that the said Allowance to commence from the time that the said Mr. Zouberbuhler shall receive a third Servant to be main- tained for him by the Trust, during his making the said Allowanee.
"Resolved, That it be recommended to the Common Council to maintain a third Servant for Mr. Zouberbuhler, during his making an Allowance of ten pounds per Ann. to the aforesaid Mr. Zubli." Pro- vision was at the same time made for the erection of "a tabernacle for Divine Worship (which might serve likewise for a school)."
After the embarkation of Mr. Zouberbuhler on board the ship Judith, the common eouneil resolved "that the passage of Mr. Barth. Zouber- buhler in the cabin of the ship Judith be defray'd, and that his Clergy- man's Habit, his charges of his Journey to Gosport, and the bedding purchas'd there for him be paid for."
That Mr. Zubly preceded Mr. Zouberbuhler in taking passage for Georgia there seems to be no doubt. although the date of the sailing of the former eannot be definitely ascertained. He must have departed from England before the summer of 1745, as we find that on the 3d of August of that year the president and assistants (Pres. Wm. Stephens, and assistants Henry Parker, Wm. Spencer and Samuel Mareer being present) acted favorably upon a petition of certain inhabitants of Vernonburg, Aeton and Hampstead for material for the building of a tabernacle which should serve also for a school, in which it was stated that the distance was too great for them to attend divine worship in Savannah "where sometimes they have had opportunity of hearing the word of God preached to them by the Reverend Mr. Zubli."
The villages of Aeton and Vernonburg were mentioned by De Brahm as "upon Vernon River." Vernonburg is now White Bluff, although the place has been incorporated by the Georgia legislature by its original name, but the name of White Bluff is the one by which it is, and probably always will be, ealled. Like Thunderbolt, which is by legal enactment the town of Warsaw, the old name elings to it, and the people seem de- termined not to let it pass out of remembrance. And we are here reminded to make the statement that Warsaw is indeed a misnomer, as it is without doubt the name given by the Indians to the neighboring island which they ealled Wassaw. De Brahm further mentions Hamp- stead and Highgate as "upon the Head of Vernon River." The Vernon, like the Midway, is a very short stream, and its head is but a short distance above the village of White Bluff.
On the 16th of Jannary, 1756. a grant, signed by JJ. Reynolds, in the name of George the Second, conveyed to Jonathan Bryan. James Edward Powell, Robert Bolton, James Miller. Joseph Gibbons, William Gibbons. Benjamin Farley, William Wright. David Fox the younger, and John
.
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Fox, as trustees, the lot in Savannah, known by the letter K, in Decker ward, "to the intent and purpose that a Meeting House or place of wor- ship for the service of Almighty God, be thereupon erected and built for the use and benefit of such of our loving subjects now residing, or that may at any time hereafter reside within the Distriet of Savannah, in our said Province of Georgia, as are or shall be professors of the Doctrines of the Church of Scotland. agreeable to the Westminster Confession of Faith" with the proviso that if the meeting house should not be built within three years from the date of the grant. the lot should revert to the erown. At a meeting of the council held the same day, John Reyn- olds, governor, and Couneillors James Habersham, Alex. Kellett, Fran- eis Harris, Jonathan Bryan and James Mackay being present, the governor signed certain grants, among which was the one to the above named, "in trust, a lot in Savannah for a Presbyterian Meeting House, known by letter K in Decker Ward." It will be well to remember while reading what follows that the word independent nowhere oeeurs in the reeords quoted, but that the church named was to be for those who were "professors of the doctrines of the Church of Scotland agreeable to the Westminster Confession of Faith," and that the grant itself was a "lot in Savannah for a Presbyterian Meeting House."
INDEPENDENT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
With the advent of Mr. Zubly we turn naturally to the history of the church known as the Independent Presbyterian, as he appears to have been its first pastor. All writers who have taken up the subject state that its organization was effected previous to the year 1756, beeause that was the date of the grant from the Crown to James Powell, Robert Bolton, James Miller, Joseph Gibbons, William Gibbons, Benjamin Farley, William Wright, David Fox and James Fox of the lot known as a trust lot, bounded by St. Julian, Whitaker, Bryan and Barnard streets, on which to build a church. It is said by those claiming it was always independent, that the church was never in eeelesiastical eonnee- tion with the Presbyterian church, but that its present name is really descriptive of its actual status from its very beginning, that is, that it is an independent church, free from the control of any higher court than that of its own session, but that its confession of faith is really "the doetrine of the Church of Seotland agreeably to the Westminster Con- fession of Faith." It is admitted that Mr. Zubly was its first pastor, though it is not known when he became such nor when he began to per- form his duties, nor where the services were first held. It is not even known when the church was built on the lot granted in 1756. Un- fortunately there was no newspaper printed in the province until April 7, 1763, when the Georgia Gazette was started by James Johnson. The earliest notice we find in that paper of the intention to build a Presby- terian house of worship is one dated April 29, 1769. but appearing in the newspaper of Wednesday, May 3, signed by Lachlan MeGillivray. James Cuthbert. John Jamieson, and William Graeme, and is in these words: "The subscribers to the Presbyterian Meeting-House intended to be built in Savannah are desired to meet on Friday the 5th day of May
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next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the house of Mr. Jonathan Peat, to ehuse Trustees, and take under consideration other matters relative to the said building." Another notice, signed by John Graham, Lach- lan MeGillivray, George Bailie, Lewis Johnson, John Roe, James Cuth- bert, and William Graeme, appeared in the Gazette of Wednesday, July 19, following, addressed and giving information "to subseribers to the Presbyterian Meeting-House that one-fifth of subseription money is innediately wanted. and to be paid into the Hands of Thomas and John Ross, Vendue masters."
The question naturally arises, eould that have been the building erected on the lot in Deeker ward granted for church purposes in 1756 ? Was the population of Savannah at that time large enough to warrant the use of two Presbyterian churches, especially as a large portion of the eitizens worshiped in Christ church and were devoted to the ceremonial rites of the Church of England ? All the province of Georgia, at the end of the administration of Governor Ellis. 1760, did not have more than 9.578 inhabitants, of which number 6,000 were whites, # and many of that race lived on farms outside of the eity. Was it possible, then. that there could have been two congregations in Savan- nah at that time holding serviees according to the Westminster standards of religion ? Stress is laid upon the words of the grant that the church was founded aceording to "the doctrine of the Church of Seotland:" but if it was a different organization from that body engaged in the ereetion of a "Presbyterian Meeting-House," how ean the presenee of so many typieal Scoteh names on the list of members of the latter be aeeounted for ! Every name mentioned in the two notiees which appeared in the Gazette in May and July, 1769. is Seoteh, and it would seem the most reasonable eonelusion from that fact that those persons represented the congregation who so greatly desired to be elassed as allies` of the established church of the country they represented.
We glean some light on this question through a quotation from a letter of Mr. Zubly's to the Rev. Dr. Stiles, at Newport. Rhode Island, dated April 19. 1769, and found in Dr. George Howe's "History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina." Mr. Zubly wrote: "Sinee my last, a Presbyterian meeting is set on foot in this place as the house I preach in is upon so general a plan as to receive the Westminster Confession of Faith. Some think it done out of opposition to me : how- ever, Phil. 1:18." Commenting on that extraet Doctor Howe remarks: "These allusions we do not fully understand. Dr. Zubly was ordained in the German Reformed Church at London, in August, 1744. There was no Presbyterian organization from which an effort of the kind alluded to eould emanate but the Presbytery then in existenee in South Carolina."
Having, down to this point, given the facts cited by persons endeav- oring to prove on the one hand that the church began and has ever continued as an absolutely independent organization, but with form of worship in accord with the Presbyterian system, and by those contrari- wise believing that its origin was under anthority of some court of the
* History of Georgia, by C. C. Jones, Jr., Vol. I, p. 541. .
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Presbyterian church (presumably the Presbytery of South Carolina), we will bring this matter to a conclusion by reproducing the state- ments of an author who has heretofore been entirely overlooked but whose testimony should be sufficient to satisfy even the most ardent opponent of the independence theory and so forever set at rest any doubt upon the subject. De Brahm, writing probably not later than 1771, on the 36th page of his "History of the Province of Georgia," and describing Savannah as it was then, says "The City consists of 400 Houses; a Church (Christ Church), an independent Meeting House, a Council House, a Court-House, and a Filatur." In the plan of the town accompanying the deseription he marks the lot in Decker ward, granted in 1756. as "Indian Meeting," but with the light now before us we know, of course, that Independent was intended. And, lastly, on page 37, he says "The prevailing Religion is, what is cultivated by the Church of England: next to this is the Lutheran & the inde- pendent, then Calvinist, the Jews are ve last." which shows that there was a Presbyterian church in the town besides the Independent; but the former must have had a precarious existence, as we find no evidence of its survival after the incident just mentioned.
LUTHERAN CHURCH ORGANIZED
Three years after the grant was made to the trustees of the Inde- pendent church a Lutheran church was organized in the city, but it was too feeble to support a minister in its infancy. Founded in 1759, it had in 1771, according to the Rev. Samuel Frink, rector of Christ church from 1767 to 1771. 193 in its congregation.
Having witnessed the installation of his successor, Henry Ellis hastened his departure, and two days after the delivery of the great seal of the province to Wright he left the shores of Georgia, not to return again.
A little more than three months after the inauguration of Lieutenant- Governor Wright, the council and citizens generally were ealled upon to do reverence and for the first time to pay respect to the memory of a king, and that king the grantor of the charter under which the colony had been founded. The transaction was of such a solemn character and its im- portance having been attested by the recording of the same in full upon the minute book of the assembly, it seems that a complete account of it deserves a place in this history, especially as it has probably never before been reproduced from the official aceount.
GEORGE III SUCCEEDS GEORGE II
The eonneil met on Thursday, the 5th of February, 1761, when His Honor James Wright. Hentenant-governor, and only three of his asso- ciates (Nobl. Jones. James Edward Powell, and William Clifton) were present. "His Honour acquainted the Board that late last Night he had received a Packet from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and
·* Wornsloe, 1849.
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Plantations inclosing a Notification from the Lords of his Majesty's inost honourable Privy Council of the Death of our late most gracious Sovereign King George the Second of blessed and glorious Memory; with directions for proclaiming his most sacred Majesty King George the Third; Also inclosing other Instructions and Proclamations neces- sary on that Important Event-All which were by his Honour laid before the Board and are as follows, viz :-
"A Letter from the Right Honorable the Lords of his Majesty's Privy Council as follows :-
"'After our Hearty Congratulations-It having pleased Almighty God to take to his Merey out of this troublesome Life our late Sovereign Lord King George the Second of Blessed and Glorious Memory, And therefore his Royal Majesty King George the Third being here pro- claimed, We have thought fit to signify the same unto You. with direc- tions that you do, with the Assistance of the Council and others of the principal Inhabitants and Planters of the Province of Georgia, forth- with proclaim His most sacred Majesty King George the Third, accord- ing to the form here inclosed with the Solemnities and Ceremonies requi- site on the like Occasions .- And you are likewise to publish and proclaim a Proclamation for continuing the Officers in his Majesty's Plantations 'till his Majesty's Pleasure shall be further signified, which Proclamation will be transmitted to you by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations .- And so not doubting of your ready compliance herein We bid you hearty farewell. From the Council Chamber at Leicester House this 31st day of October, 1760.
" 'Signed
GRANVILLE P.
Your Loving Friends, THO. CANT TEMPLE EM DENBIGH, DUNK HALIFAX, GOWER, R. NEUGENT.
"'(Subseription) on his Majesty's Service.
" 'To our Loving Friend, the Governor or Commander in Chief of Georgia.'
"The Proclamation of his Majesty King George the Third as follows :
" 'Whereas it hath pleased Ahnighty God to call to his Mercy our late Sovereign Lord King George the Second of blessed and glorious Memory by whose Decease the Imperial Crown of Great Britain France and Ire- land is also the Supreme Dominion and Sovereign Right of the Province of Georgia and all other his late Majesty's Dominions in America are solely and rightfully come to the high and mighty Prince George Prince of Wales We therefore the Lieutenant Governor and Conneil with Num- bers of the Principal Inhabitants and Planters of this Province do now hereby with one full Voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart pub- lish and Proclaim that the high and mighty Prince George Prince of Wales is now by the Death of our late Sovereign of happy and glorious Memory become our only lawfull and rightful lige Lord George the Third by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland
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Defender of the Faith Supreme Lord of the said Province of Georgia and all other his late Majesty's Territories and Dominions in America to whom we do acknowledge all Faith and constant Obedience with all hearty and humble Affection beseeching God by whom Kings and Queens do Reign to bless the Royal King George the Third with long and happy Years to Reign over us Given .-
".God Save the King.'
"An additional Instruction to his Honour the Governour as follows :- 'George R. An additional Instruction to our Trusty and well beloved James Wright, Esq. our Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of our Province of Georgia in America. And in his Absence to the Com- mander in Chief of the Said Province for the Time being Given at our Court at Leicester House the 31st Day of October 1760 in the first Year of our Reign.
" '[L. S.]
" 'Whereas we have been pleased by our Order in Council of the 27th of October instant, (a copy whereby is hereunto annexed) to declare our Pleasure that in all the Prayers and Litanies and Collects for the Royal Family instead of the Words their Royal Highnesses, George, Prince of Wales, the Princess Dowager of Wales, the Duke and Duchesses and all the Royal Family, there should be inserted Her Royal Highness, the Princess Dowager of Wales and all the Royal Family. Our Will and Pleasure therefore is that in all the Prayers, Litanies and Collects for the Royal Family to be used within our Province of Georgia under your Government instead of the Words their Royal Highnesses, George Prince of Wales, the Princess Dowager of Wales, the Duke, the Princesses and all the Royal Family and for the better Notice thereof in our said Province. It is our further Will and Pleasure that you cause the same to be forthwith published in the several Parish Churches and other Places , of Divine Worship within the said Province, and that you take Care that Obedience be paid thereto accordingly.'
"Copy of the Order of Council as follows-
'A Court at Saville House the twenty-seventh day of October, 1760- " 'Present.
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