Thank you for visiting my page . Please come back and visit again! Ron Rollins
HARRIS COUNTY INFORMATION
Snip from Link of Harris County information about Hamilton , Georgia and Hamilton Baptist Church.
Harris County 1827 was created from Muscogee amd Troup Counties.
Harris County was named for noted Savannah lawyer and mayor Charles Harris, Harris County was created from Muscogee and Troup counties in 1827 by an act of the General Assembly. Hamilton was incorporated and designated county seat in 1828. Harris County was also home to the ancestors of the Creek Indians
Historic places help keep the Southern culture of Harris County alive. Some of the historic structures are the Harris County Courthouse, Hamilton Baptist Church, Sweet Home Plantation and Callaway Home are among the Harris County buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. All of these historic places help keep Harris County alive with Southern culture . *****************************************************
LIFE OF A PREACHER MAN
Trip to Pontotoc, DeSoto and Tate Counties, Mississippi.
Part One
For those of you who read my story on the 180th birthday of Bethel Baptist church you learned of Rev. Green Berry Waldrop ( 1794-1854). You would have read that he was the great-great grand father of Sandra Doolittle of Columbus, He lived in the Harris County area 1827 till 1840 and constituted Baptist Churches into the Columbus Baptist Association. At the end of 1840 he packed his family and they left Georgia to go west to the newly seceded lands of the Indians in Pontotoc and later Desoto County, Mississippi.
Mrs. Doolittle has spent over 10 years doing the genealogy on G.B.Waldrop but has not gone to Mississippi to finish her research there. I ask why not, she replied to far for her to drive! In the normal Ron fashion I said "Lets Go". So September 1, 2005 , we also are Westward bound on the heels of hurricane Katrina.
September 2,2005-- We are in the city of Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, Mississippi. We go to the library to look in the genealogy section for anything on G.B.Waldrop. Pay dirt! It list his name in reference with the male academy and the First Baptist Church. The hunt ia on! We move to the church first and talk to the head of the history department of the church. She refereed us to Mrs. Cal lie Young , she wrote a book on the Pontotoc First Baptist Church in 1996. When we talked to her and ask about Green Berry Waldrop ; She said read the book and handed Sandra a copy of the book to keep free of charge. As Sandra scanned trough the book she discovers Her great-great- grand father had been on the presbyter with two others to constitute the church in the beginning in 1846. also he taught at the male institute 1841 -1846 in Pontotoc all done from the meeting house on Brooks Street.( Pictures included) What a wonderful day for chasing the Preacher man!
September 3, 2005-- A full tank of gas (hard to find) and off we go 168 miles round trip to Tate County, Cold Water area to Green Berry's next stop in his quest in spreading God's Word.
We arrive around noon ask directions to an unknown cemetery in an area known only as Evenson over100 years ago and not on the maps! The nice lady looks us in the eye and says" Sure you are not far away from it now. Go to the first road to the right and follow it to Peyton road then go 2 miles and turn left; It will be in a cow pasture. Talk to the man at the house." Off we blindly go! To our amazement the directions were perfect; the cemetery was there! The old man was friendly. We go the the grave yard and walk in. as we walk trough Sandra cry's out There He Is!! After all the years of chasing the Preacher on his walk through life Sandra now looks down on his and his wife's graves, Her search is now over, but trough her search she has become closer to him than she probably would have if he was alive. Here lies the Preacher Man.
LIFE OF A PREACHER
Part Two
As we began to look at other graves in the cemetery, we started to notice that several of the family names were the same as some of Green Berry Waldrop friends and cohorts in Harris County Ga. After looking back trough some of the records on the laptop, it seems that there was a pattern here. Out of the group of men that had came to Muscogee County, Ga. in the early 1820 to organize Baptist Churches, most had moved on to north Mississippi.
They moved into seceded Indian Lands and again organized Baptist Churches in this new land. It took three ordained ministers to meet with the church body to constitute it into the Baptist Association or ordain new a Pastor.
They moved around a large area setting up new churches and convened all three men together when the church was large enough to constitute in the Association. They even preached in each church until a Pastor was found or a member wanted to go into preaching to word of God.
After leaving the grave yard and heading back to Cold Water, I decided on a whim to turn and drive to Independence, Mississippi, 7 miles east. We got to a crossroads and spotted a Jersey Jacks hot dog stand parked on the roadside. Being hungry stopped to get a few dogs. While eating I spot on the hill a large cemetery and a steeple across the road, we drove there to find a large Baptist Church, Mt. Zion. We go to the parsonage to ask about the age and history of the church. The pastor had been there only 4 yrs. and didn’t know the history ,but knew it was 175 years old. He sent us down the road to an older couples house, saying if any one knows they will. They didn’t remember much but came up with a history of the church that was done in 1965 for it’s program book on the 120th anniversary It told of a one room building that served as a school five days a week and the church on Sunday. The first page told of Rev. Green Berry Waldrop organizing the church and preaching there 1847 to 1853; tears came to Sandra’s eyes as she told the couple of her search for her Gr Gr Grand Father Grave and learned of his works as a man of God. Sandra ask could she copy the book for her records; the lady said no! She then told Sandra to keep the book as she had another.
It was a fruitful trip on the heals of a devastating hurricane in Mississippi. Sandra met two more relatives, met many new friends, but the hunt is not over as she has learned of Wheatly, Arkansas which like Tate Co., use to be part of Desoto Co. but was taken in when Arkansas became a state; because it was on the other side of the Mississippi River. Rev. Green Berry Waldrop worked there too. There is a string of Hills across these counties call Georgia Ridge, because of all the Georgians that moved there. We are going Home!
*******************************************************
<
HAMILTON BAPTIST CHURCH
This indenture made this twentieth day of July, 1829 between the Justice of the Inferior Court of the County of Harris and the state aforesaid of the first part Clark Blanford and Jabez Johnson, Trustees of the Baptist Church of Christ, Lebanon, in Hamilton and Harris County and the state of Georgia, aforesaid, witness that in obedience of the act and to assist in the organization of the county of Harris with others of the late acquired territory and for laying out of a site for the public buildings of the same in which it is required there shall be lots set apart for churches. Now know ye that we the said Interior Court for the county aforesaid have laid out and do agree to set apart the 1/2 lot 115 in said town of Hamilton, being the western half of said lot, by a center of said lot 115 and by these present do grant alien and convey conform unto the said Clark Blanford, Jr. and Jabez Johnson, Trustees and their successors forever in fee simple, a good and sufficient right and title to the same and we said Justices of said Interior Court, against ourselves and successors of persons shall and will warrant forever defend the same by order of these present.
Thomas Mahone, Littleberry Wright, J.I., John Harper, George Bryan, Henry H. Lowe.
According to the May 20, 1865, minutes of Hamilton Baptist Church, all church records dating from 1829 to 1865 were burned in a Federal raid on April 18, 1865. Consequently, a new book was purchased for $7.00 to record the minutes of the conferences. In these minutes were both the Baptist church and the African American church conferences from 1865 until September 1869. The entry for September 1869 reads: "Appearing that our colored members having attained sufficient members and being favored with a colored ordained minister in their midst. Therefore, be it resolved that a committee of five white members be appointed to meet with them and advise them the propriety of their withdrawing and forming themselves into a separate church."
LINKS ON MY SITE
MAIN PAGE
WHITESVILLE, GEORGIA
CEMETERIES
CHURCHES
AS THE STORIES GO
THINGS OF INTEREST
GENEAOLOGY
AREA EVENTS PAST AND PRESENT
INS AND OUTS OF HARRIS COUNTY
