Chatham County GaArchives History .....The 1st African Baptist Church, Chapter I 1925
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 11, 2004, 6:23 pm

CHAPTER I.

   "No better heritage can a father bequeath to his children than a good name;
nor is there in a family any richer heirloom than the memory of a noble
ancestry."—J. Hamilton.

   God is mysterious, and His providences unfathomable. In the ordinary affairs
of men and nations, we daily scan His handiwork and think His great thoughts
after Him, feeling that we easily follow then* logical sequences and accurately
interpret the reasons for various succeeding events. But now and then, as from
out of the depths, He chooses an Abraham, or calls a Moses, or prompts a
Columbus, or inspires an Edison or a Marconi, or a Carver; and inaugurates new
orders, displays new worlds, and reveals new forces that startle our reason and
frustrate our logic. And for the whence or the wherefore of either the man or
his works, we have no answer but God.

   The First African Baptist Church is verily a child of divine providence. A
simple narrative of its origin, preservation, and progress, devoid of any
rhetoric to embellish it or fabrication to bolster it, is a story more marvelous
than fiction and more gripping than romance.

   In 1750, on a plantation of a Mr. Leile, in the State of Virginia, a little
Negro babe was born and called George. His parents being slaves, a hopeless
prospect lay out before him. In the natural order of things, he should have
lived, worked, and died without our knowledge that such an individual ever
existed. But in early manhood speculators brought him to Georgia and sold him to
a Mr. Henry Sharpe, of Kiokee, in Burke County, who happened to be a deacon of
the Baptist church in that place. Early in 1773, George Leile, as he continued
to call himself, heard a sermon that convicted him of sin. After six months of
deep meditation and prayer, George was happily converted and began at once to
preach the gospel. Kiokee being a white church, George hesitated to unite with
it. But having remarkable success in his ministry to the slaves, Deacon Sharpe
had him connect himself with the church, which he did in the same year and was
baptized by Pastor Matthew Moore. The church then granted him license and Deacon
Sharpe gave him liberty to go from plantation to plantation up and down the
Savannah River, which he traversed by bateau, and carried the gospel to the
slaves. Everywhere George went, he was accepted as a wonder and was heard by
both races with fruitful results. He was ordained May 20, 1775, and enjoyed
absolute freedom.

   During this tune he was making frequent visits to Savannah, preaching in
Yamacraw and Brampton plantation. Contemporaneous with George Leile, there were
two other Negro preachers, David George and Jesse Peters, of Dalphinton, S. C.,
and two whites, the aged Thomas Burton and the powerful Abraham Marshall,
travelling from place to place preaching the Baptist doctrine and baptizing
believers. Many white owners encouraged this work, seeing the good effects of
Christianity upon the slaves.

   Pretty shortly Mr. Sharpe died; and in the adjustment of his estate, his
heirs attempted to reinslave George. The Revolutionary War being in progress at
the time, the British in this section were giving freedom and protection to all
Negroes who would join them. Thousands of Negroes were running away to them from
various quarters. The British having complete control of the port of Savannah
with headquarters at Tybee, George Leile "refugeed" to them, and from the fall
of 1778 to 1782, he remained at Tybee and continued his ministrations to the
saints here, preaching and baptizing. He had at the same time as his associates
both Jesse Peters and David George, and baptized his own wife while here.

   The conclusion of some historians, that the ordination of Andrew Bryan,
January 20, 1788, and his installation into its pastorate on that date marked
the constitution of the church, is manifestly erroneous. The estimate that the
membership of the church at that time was only sixty-seven souls is also without
foundation. For that estimate simply includes four persons—Andrew Bryan, his
wife, Hannah; Kate Hogue and Hagar Simpson—that Leile was said to have baptized
while here and eighteen baptized by Thomas Burton, in 1785, together with the
forty-five that Rev. Marshall baptized the day he ordained Andrew Bryan. 'No
allowance is made for others that Leile baptized while here and evidently left
behind, nor for others likely baptized by other visiting ministers who happened
not to have the good fortune of getting into the record/ for, in addition to the
four mentioned above, as will be seen elsewhere in this volume, he did baptize
his wife and Samson Bryan, and he tells us in his epistles herein recorded that
"Sister Hannah Williams" and "a black preacher named David George" were members
of the church in Savannah.

   No one would dare say that all the records of the early beginnings of the
First African Baptist Church are recorded and available, nor that much* valuable
history is not lost. For the history of many cultured white churches of that day
is now very incomplete. These humble Negroes were making notable history without
even suspecting it. And even had they appreciated their position in the
civilized world, who was there to record and preserve their notable deeds?

   We simply have some of the high points in their history. But thank God we do
have those significant points: and we "shall never cease to thank and praise Him
for the beneficent providence that preserved them to us. Through them, we are
blessed with the story of a movement which, considering its mysterious
background and the peculiar circumstances, in which it developed reveals a
miracle so astounding as to excite our continued admiration and amazement. "What
wonders hath God wrought!"

   For the threads of the early history of this, the Mother Church of all the
Negro Baptists of North America, let us examine carefully the following
quotations culled from various sources:

   "Baptist activities are first noted in Savannah in 1757, when one of Rev.
Whitfield's assistants at the Bethesda Orphan House, named Nicholas Bedgegood,
embraced the faith of the Baptists and was baptized by one Oliver Hart, of
Charleston, soon after. He in turn baptized Mr. Benjamin Stirk and wife, Thomas
Dixon, and one Dupree—all white persons. These, with a few other Baptists
(immigrants from the other country, no doubt), had the Lord's Supper
administered to them at the Orphan House, nine miles south of the city, by Mr.
Bedgegood. But this little society, it seems, soon scattered and no permanent
organization of Baptists came of them, much to the relief of Mr. Whitfield, it
is said, who was much opposed to this Baptist interest growing up in the midst
of his work."—(First Bryan Hist., p. 17; History of Georgia Baptists, p. 11.)
There was also the Enhaw Baptist Church in the Beaufort district, thirty miles
from Savannah.

   Next, the curtain lifts, when, in 1773, George Leile was converted at Kiokee
and began to preach. "It is probable that George Leile did not wait to be
received into the fellowship of the church before going from plantation to
plantation to tell his fellow slaves of the blessings of salvation which he had
received."—(W. H. Brooks, Jour. Neg. His., April, 1922, p. 177.) In 1773, he
united with Matthew Moore's church, and he was developing so much power that
Deacon Henry Sharpe, his master, liberated him that he might preach the gospel.
"Soon discovering that he was endowed with ministerial gifts, the church
approbated the exercising of them, and he began to preach upon the neighboring
plantations along the Savannah River with much success, and sometimes he
preached in the evenings of the Lord's Day to the church (white) to which he
belonged. For about three years he occasionally came down the river as far as
Brampton, a plantation belonging to Jonathan Bryan, Esq., and preached to his
slaves. He being a liberal master, encouraged these visits. He frequently
extended these visits to the city of Savannah, and in Yamacraw, in the western
suburbs."—(First Bryan Hist., p. 15.) He was ordained May 20th, 1775. The
Georgia Baptist, Feb. 14, 1918, says of Leile: "In 1774, he began to preach
along the Savannah River on various plantations as far as Brampton, and,
sometimes preached in Yamacraw."

   How soon the work here was really organized, we are unable definitely to say;
but the following proves that the church actually existed here from 1779 to
1782. "If the Negroes of Savannah had been without a Baptist church from 1779 to
1782, it would be strange indeed, for David George led a company of fifty or
more fugitive slaves from Dalphinton, S. C., into that city at the close of the
year, 1778, and this company, it is reasonable to infer, included a considerable
part, if not nearly all, of the members of the Silver Bluff Church. Devout
Christians, who had enjoyed such privileges as slaves, and that for years, in
South Carolina, would scarcely be satisfied without them in Georgia as free men,
when they had with them three preachers of the Gospel, David George, George
Leile, and Jesse Peters, men of then: own race and denomination, men from the
vicinity of Augusta, who had figured in the planting and growth of the Silver
Bluff Church.

   "We are glad that we have historical data which establishes the fact that
there was a Negro Baptist church in Savannah from 1779 to 1782, and that the
Negro Baptist ministry which had made itself felt at Silver Bluff for centuries
to come, was now embraced in the church at Savannah."—(Jour. Neg. His., pp. 190,
191.)

   In a letter from George Leile, written from Jamaica, in 1791, to Dr. Rippon
hi London (First A. B. History, p. 35), we have this statement: "I cannot tell
what is my age, as I have no account of the time of my birth; but I suppose I am
about 40 years of age. I have a wife and four children. My wife was baptized by
me in Savannah, and I have every satisfaction in" life from her. She is much the
same age as myself." Hence he baptized his wife while pastoring in Savannah
prior to his final departure in 1782.

   Then in the "History of the Negro Church," by Carter G. Woodson, p. 48, is
this added light: "Nine months after the departure of George Leile, Bryan began
to preach to congregations of black and white people at Savannah. He was
therefore permitted to erect on the land of Mr. Edward Davis at Yamacraw, a
rough wooden building of which this group was soon artfully dispossessed. As his
ministrations were opposed by others who did not like this simple faith, unusual
persecution soon followed. Bryan's adherents were not permitted to hold frequent
meetings, and in trying to evade this regulation by assembling hi the swamps,
they ran the risk of rigid discipline. With the aid of his brother, Sampson,
Andrew Bryan, however, gradually held this group together. At first it was
small, but finally sufficiently large to receive the attention of the Rev.
Thomas Burton, in 1785, and that of the Rev. Abraham Marshall, of Kiokee, in
1788. The latter then baptized forty-five additional members of this
congregation, and on January 20, 1788, organized them as a church and ordained
Andrew Bryan as a minister with full authority to preach the Gospel and to
administer the ordinances of the Baptist church." George Leile, in a letter
written from Jamaica to Joseph Cook, in 1790, refers to one of his old members
in the following language: "Also I received accounts from Nova Scotia of a black
Baptist preacher, David George, who was a member of the church in Savannah."
—(Rippon's Manual Baptist Register, 1791, p. 336.)

   Thus it is clearly evident that the First African Baptist Church existed in
Savannah as early as 1773 or 1774; and is established positively that it was in
organized form as early as 1779. But when did it begin? When Andrew Bryan was
ordained into its pastorate in 1788, it was far from its incipiency. Dr. Brooks,
in the Journal of Negro History (April, 1922, pp. 194, 195), is clearer: "It
must be borne in mind that it was a creature of the Revolutionary War, and of
British origin, having been planted when the rightful people of Savannah were
languishing in exile, or heroically struggling with the enemy in other parts of
the country. Bryan and his associates were beaten unmercifully for their
persistence in holding on to the work, but they were prepared to yield their
lives in martyrdom sooner than relinquish what George Leile had instituted. So
it lived—lived amidst the fires of persecution.

   "Jesse Peters, a member of the church under Leile, and, after the
Revolutionary War, a pastor of the church at Silver Bluff, saw what was needed
to end this persecution, and proceeded to change the aspects of things. He was
held in high esteem by the colonists, and Abraham Marshall of Kiokee, Ga., was
his chief admirer and friend. Accordingly he secured the services of Abraham
Marshall in setting things aright. The church was organized anew, the pastor was
ordained to the office of a Baptist minister, and the reestablished church, with
its minister, was brought into membership with the Georgia Baptist Association.
As Abraham Marshall was loved by Georgia Baptists as no other man in the state,
it was enough that this church should have his official approval and
recognition. Referring to this new order of things, instituted on the 20th day
of January, 1788, Marshall, the one associated with Jesse Peters in the
undertaking, recognizes Jesse Peters as taking the initiative, when he says, 'I
assisted in the constitution of the church, and the ordination of the minister’
" But this was not the constitution of the church. It was simply a new lease on
life.

   "Joseph Cook, of Enhaw, Upper Indian Land, S. C., in a letter to Dr. John
Rippon, London, England, dated September 15, 1790, uses the following language:
"A poor Negro, commonly called Brother George, has been so highly favored of
God, as to plant the first Baptist church in Savannah, and another in
Jamaica."—(Rippon's Register, 1791, p. 332.) Cook is corroborated by F. A. Cox,
who, in speaking of George Leile, in the History of the Baptist Missionary
Society of England, states that "He had been pastor of a colored congregation in
America." A paragraph which we take from the History of the Propagation of
Christianity Among the Heathen, is of the same nature. It refers to the church
of which Mr. Cook speaks in this manner, "The first Baptist preacher in Jamaica
was a black man named George Leile, who, though a slave, had been the pastor of
a Baptist church in Georgia. He was brought to Jamaica in 1783." George Leile
refers to one of his Jamaica members in this style:

"Sister Hannah Williams, during the time she was a member of the church at
Savannah, until the 'Evacuation, did walk as faithful, well-behaved Christian/
"—(Journal of Negro History, April, 1822, p. 192.)

Recapitulation.

   According to these numerous corroborating records quoted from the various
historians above the incipiency of the First African Baptist Church dates at
least as far back as 1773 or 1774, when George Leile began making his missionary
visits up and down the Savannah River preaching in various plantations and
villages as far as Savannah, which became his most prominent station. It may be
that George Leile, found this work already in operation, since in none of his
several epistles to different persons he never refers to this work as having its
beginning under him. It appears quite strange that, although he states that
there was a Baptist church here, and that Rev. David George was a member of it,
and that he baptized his own wife into its membership, he makes no reference to
when or by whom it was organized. Had this honor been his, it does seem as
though he would have taken pride in referring to that significant fact. His
absolute silence on such an important event inclines us to the belief that, as
in the case of the Apostle Paul in Macedonia, when George Leile came to
Savannah, he found a nucleus of Christians down by the riverside already engaged
in prayer.

   At any rate, impartial historians will agree that it is no presumption on the
part of the First African Baptist Church, but logical and safe, to declare the
year 1775, in which George Leile, her first pastor, was ordained to the full
work of an evangelist in order that he might be able to administer the ordinance
of baptism to those who were joining his congregations and serve the Lord's
Supper to them, chiefest among which was this same old Mother Zion, as being the
year of her birth, knowing at the same time that her actual beginning antedates
that year.

Adopts May 20th, 1775 as Her Birth Date.

   The First African Baptist Church, on the date of July 20th, 1925, in regular
monthly conference assembled at 8:30 p. m.; Rev. E. G. Thomas, pastor,
presiding, and W. G. Williams, church clerk, unanimously adopted the following
preamble and resolutions:

   "Whereas, with much labor and prayer and painstaking investigation of many
works of eminent authors of national and international reputation, our present
pastor, Rev. Edgar Garfield Thomas, has proven to our entire satisfaction that
our organic existence dates at "least back to the year 1775, in which George
Leile was ordained to administer the ordinances to us on his periodic
evangelistic visits .to us; and

   "Whereas, These irrefutable facts will soon be set forth to an impartial
reading public in a work he is now preparing for the press; and

   "Whereas, We deem it pertinent that the world should know that these
presentments convey our convictions and bear our sanction; therefore, be it

   "Resolved, That we, the First African Baptist Church, do adopt, set forth,
and declare May 20, 1775, as the official date of our birth."

   During the Revolutionary War, many Negroes ran away from their masters and
joined the British. About; 5,000 of them went away with the British to the West
Indies after the victory of the colonists. (History of Georgia Baptists, p. 27.)
From 1778 to 1782, George Leile was stationed at Tybee with the British forces
and during that time pastored the First African Baptist Church exclusively.
Leaving his little flock when Savannah was recaptured by the colonists in 1782,
the young church could but look within and to God.. This was a season of great
affliction; but she was much in prayer. After nine months of earnest and anxious
supplication, the great Head of the Church gave them one of their own number,
Andrew Bryan, to minister to them.


Additional Comments:
From:

THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA

BY REV. EDGAR GARFIELD THOMAS, A. B., B. D.
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Copyright, 1925
By E. G. Thomas, Author.


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