Georgia Towns with Universalist Preachers 1859 - 1862

One of the interesting thing about trying to get a good feeling for where Universalists were in a period of time, is trying to find out exactly where some of these towns were!  Some have changed their names, and some just no longer exist.    Here's  where Universalist preachers in Georgia were living in 1859 - 1862,> I've divided Georgia into 4 pieces,. East and West of 1-75, and North and South of  I-20. Not perfect , as I-75 starts about the center of the state in the South, but instead of heading north toward Milledgeville, it heads to Atlanta and ends up almost at the western border.  Oh well.


NE: Rev Strain, Rhyne  (2)
Waleska (Spaulding County) The town was founded in 1854, and known as Walesca, Misspelled as Waheskie, Wahluskie, etc. 

NW: Rev Frick, Parks (2 - they moved around)
Eagle Cliff (Walker County) - is the name of the cliff off Lookout Mountain, with town below. Chattanaooga
    Valley. 
Frick's Gap (Walker County) If you're on the Lookout mountain Scenic Highway heading east, when you come
    to the edge of the mountain, if you could look straight down, you would see  Frick's Gap. In the                    Chattanooga  Valley
LaFayette -- (Walker County), now part of the Chattanooga metro area. 
Rossville -- (Walker County)  Just south of Chattanooga and the Tennessee line.  In between the civil war battlefields  and Lookout Mountain. 

SE:   Rev Money (1)
Griffin's Mills - Now known as the Flat Creek Mills area (Berrien County). Just north of Nashville, Ga on US  129 (not too far from I-75)

SW: Rev Harper, Kendrick,  Lewis,  Pickett, Smith, Fambro (6)
Americaus (Sumter County) a few miles away from Plains.
Griffin (Spaulding County)
Gum Creek, also known as Cony or Coney Station (Crisp County). Just west of Cordele.
Plains of Dura - moved a couple of miles and renamed Plains (Sumter County)  3 Universalist ministers living here in the early 1860s.
Rutherwood - no longer a town (Carroll Coumty). between Carrollton and Newman; a little southeast of
           Whitesburg on Georgia 5.


Now if we had looked ten years earlier of twenty years later, we would have seen vastly different areas. 
But at the start of the Civil War, most of the Universalist ministers in Georgia were in the Southwest, and half of those in Plains.   The capital of Georgia during these years was in Milledgeville (in the southeast area).   No Universalist Churches in the Atlanta area during this time.  But that will change.

11 preachers, 11 towns

Universalist Convocations 2012

 

UPCOMING 2012 UNIVERSALIST CONVOCATIONS  

MARK REVITALIZATION OF KEY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT

IN AMERICA TODAY

Historic Site to Host National Gathering
of Universalist Religious Leaders



 
(Lanoka Harbor, NJ) May 8, 2012 - This month, the 2012 Universalist Convocations will gather at the historic site where Universalism was launched as a leading American religious movement more than two centuries ago, at the Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center. Because of revived popular interest in Universalism today, the Convocations have begun to fill overflow capacity beyond Murray Grove, as people nationwide travel to hear leading Universalist figures speak from a wide range of faith traditions. In this contemporary religiously pluralistic landscape, Universalism has come for many believers to signify a distinct change in the tide and tone of interfaith dialogue, in particular.


Located in the Pine Barrens of coastal New Jersey, Murray Grove marks the spot where a shipwrecked Universalist preacher stumbled ashore in 1770. From there, he began spreading the radical religious message of a loving spirit that included each and every soul in the reach of a saving grace, traveling throughout the American colonies and establishing churches. Universalism had achieved considerable religious prominence by the mid-nineteenth century before receding from view in the twentieth. Its visibility is once again changing, however.


Recently and rather rapidly, Universalism has gained ground across the country, with a few of the most famous preachers in the country identifying themselves with this latent American religious tradition, even in the face of heated public controversy and charges of heresy. Bestselling books such as Love Wins and If Grace is True have made explicit the Universalist truth claims that were quite often implicit in mainline Christianity in America. They have started to articulate a unique vision for religion in the twenty-first century.


Revitalized as an ecumenical and interfaith movement, Universalism is now crossing customary religious divides and connecting strands of religious thought among clergy from varied faith traditions. During this annual convention, a Jewish Universalist, a Hindu Universalist, a Buddhist Universalist, a Quaker Universalist, and a Unitarian Universalist will all serve as panelists in the keynote presentation at the 2012 Universalist Convocations. 


This re-emerging theological trend continues to expand its influence year after year, with this year's annual convention representing a new high-water mark in the widespread national appeal of Universalism. In response to increased demand, a follow-up event at Murray Grove is already in planning stages for fall 2012.


Media Contacts:
Ministers for Murray Grove

The Reverend Carol S. Haag
RevCarolH@verizon.net
609-915-1111

The Reverend Dr. Kelly Murphy Mason
Rev.KMMason@Gmail.com
347-497-3741  





Presenters will be available for interview on site.

Presentations will be available on podcasts and MP3 files.

A follow-up event is in the planning stages for next fall, 2012.



For further information on the event:  www.murraygrove.org

Americus, Georgia Universalist Church

  Church of the Redeemer, Universalist Church, Americus, Georgia

There had been Universalist Churches in Ellaville (14 miles from Americus),  Plains (10 miles), and Gum Creek (about 20+ miles, near the current GA Veteran Memorial State Park, west of Cordele).
The Plains church died during the civil war, and never re-started.

Rev Dr. L.F. W. Andrews lived in Americus  in the 1870s.

Items from the Americus Ga papers from the late 19th Century to early 20th Century.

ATR   = Americus Time-Recorder
WSR - Weekly Sumter Rebulican

1870 two Universalist Churches in area (Ellaville and Gum Creek)
1870 September 9  WSR LFW Andrews to hold three day meeting in Senoia, Georgia
1871 September 22 WSR LFW Andrews new paper from Columbus, Georgia:  the Christian Crucible, attracting notice.
1874 June 19 WSR LFW Andrews demands correction from Rev Fackler, who in Americus, called
Universalists thieves, gamblers, and drunkards.
1875 July 31  WSR  the ladies of the Universalist Church are having the same "eating station" as last year.
The paper admits they don't know what an eating station is. 
1884 June -August WSR    M.B. Pickett does a series of articles about education in the 1840s in Plains of Dura Schools, some of which were founded by Universalists.

1899 March 31 ATR Rev QH Shinn to preach here this week for three days.  Mrs. A. K. Schumpert and Miss A. L. Pickett correspondents
1899 May 26 ATR  Rev QH Shinn will preach at City Hall on Friday, on his way to preach at two services
at Ellaville on Sunday.
1900 January 5 ATR  Service scheduled this Sunday at Opera House.
1900 January 12 ATR  Well attended meeting at the Opera House, Q. H. Shinn, preacher.  Organization and building planned.
1900 January 26 ATR Rev Shinn will talk on the Orgins of Evil
1900 February 9 ATR Dr Shinn leaves Americus, scheduled  to return in May. Building to start in 3-4 weeks.
1900 March 2 ATR Shinn to preach March 4
1900 June 8 ATR Thomas Chapman to preach twice this week at City Hall.
1900 June 22  ATR  The foundation of the Universalist Church Building is complete.  Building is to start construction.
1900 July 20 ATR  Mrs. A. K. Schumpert goes to the Universalist Convention in Atlanta.
1900 Nov 3 ATR Church building to be dedicated December 7 - 9. Present will be Shinn, Chapman, and Rev D.B. Clayton of Columbia.
1901 March 22  ATR Thomas Chapman, Georgia Superintendent from Atlanta,  is to preach monthly on the 4th Sunday.
1902 May 23 ATR Rev Athalia Johnson Irwin was called to serve the Church of the Redeemer. She declines as she accepts an offer from the Universalist Church in Pensacola, Florida
1902 October 10 ATR  Mr. C.S. S. Horne attends Georgia Universalist Convention
1905 June 16 ATR Stanley Manning starts his new position as minister of the Church of the Redeemer.
He is to preach twice monthly, and also at Pinehurst, Pelham, and Senoia. He is currently staying with
Col. and Mrs. W. A. Dodson.
1905 December 15 ATR Dr Shinn will assist in the ordination of the pastor, Stanley R. Manning.
1906 November 2 ATR  Rev Manning officiates at the wedding of Bessie King and Emmett Cook in Preston, Georgia
1907 October 11 Rev Manning with attend the NC Universalist Convention and the General Conference in Philadelphia, he will return in early November.
1917 August 9  WTR Stanley R. Manning is to preach on "A Constructive Religion for the World's Crisis" on Thursday at the Universalist Church.  He was minister in Americus for two years, and is staying with the
Dodsons.

***********
they shared the building with the Christian Scientists in the 1910s
1916-1917 Americus City Directory  112 Taylor occupied by both Christian Scientists and Universalists.
1921 Americus City Directory 112 Taylor occupied by both Christian Scientints and Universalists.
1923 Americus City Directory 112 Taylor occupied by both the Christian Church and the Universalist Church.

************
    the building was sold to the Christian Church in the late 1920s.

1930  Rev Manning preached again in Americus 
April 1932 Rev Thomas Chapman visits Mrs Shumpert, Miss Pickett, and Mrs Hightower, all still strong
     Universalists. 

Building sold in the 2000s by the Christian Church to the United Methodists, who in July 2011 were having Spanish language services there.  


Mrs. A.K. Schumpert  would be Sara K. Pickett Schumpert. (1842-1933)   her husband was 30 years older and a successful farmer and "capitalist"  She is his second wife.   He was from Newberry and Prosperity, SC; and she was born in Feasterville SC, the daughter of M.B. Pickett, who moved to Plains (then Plains of Dura), Georgia when she was about 2. 

A.  L. Pickett is her sister Amy Lizzie  (1862 - 1949)

C. S. S. Horne   is Cullen S. S. Horne (1845 - 1929)  His farm covered the land that had been Danville, Georgia, Sumter County, north-west of Gum Creek.

Col W. A. Dodson (1864 - 1923) and Mattie Dodson (1868 -1933),
Lived at 615 Lee Street in Americus. He was a lawyer, politician, and President of the Georgia Senate for one session. In 1917, he and his wife both attended  the Episcopal Church. His wife's family were associated with the Universalist Church in Gum Creek.

updated July 21, 2012, updated August 28, 2012

Debate annoucment from 1886

(Athens Georgia) " Weekly Banner Watchman " for Tuesday June 1886 (date 15th)

A THEOLOGICAL DEBATE

      A debate between Rev D. B. Clayton, of the Universalist Church,  and Elder S. S. Landrum, of the Church of Christ, will be held in the Academy, Jug Tavern, Ga., July 7, 1886.
     Proposition For Discussion:
     1st.   The Scriptures teach the final holiness and happiness of all mankind.
     Clayton affirms;  Landrum denies.
     2d. The Scriptures teach that those who die in willful disobedience, of the Gospel, will suffer endless punishment.
     Landrum affirms;  Clayton denies. 


2012 editorial comment: 
    Jug Tavern is now the city of Winder. It was known as Jug from 1793 to c1803, Jug Tavern starting in c1803. It was incorporated in 1884, and became the city of Winder in 1893. 
   The Academy was created in 1880, and at some point, apparently around 1887, it became a public school, and continued at the same site until 1938. A historic marker is all that remains of the school.
    It is less than three miles from the Mulberry Grove Universalist Church.

   S. S. Landrum was a preacher for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).     He is known to have preached at the Antioch Christian Church near Watkinsville, Georgia during the years of 1886 - 1907, as well as founding the Christian Church in Winder in 1881.  Living in Tampa. Florida in 1907, and  then moved to Texas.  Preaching in Missouri in 1905, he was called a "Southern Evangelist".  
    So therefore likely a fine debate between him and D. B. Clayton, the Universalist Southern Evangelist.

Recent newspaper article on George DeBenneville

This is a link to a 23 Feb 2012 article in the Reading, Pennsylvania  newspaper about Dr. George DeBenneville
 I suspect that probably in the next 3-9 months that the article will no longer be gone.
I even suggest you look at the comments. (or at least how they were when i wrote the recommendation)

 http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=366772




His connection with southern Universalism is two
1) his friendship with Ellahanan Winchester (admittedly after EW had left the south)
2) his connection with the German  Baptist universalist community near him, that did indeed 
move south to the Carolinas and then west and midwest.