Chatham County GaArchives History .....The 1st African Baptist Church, Chapter III 1925
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CHAPTER III.

   After their gentle shepherd took leave of them, this little flock was again
thrown upon their own resources—their faith—and upon a divine Providence. To
them this must have been a season of alarm and misgivings. The cheering presence
of their beloved leader was missing; the consoling gospel that had cheered their
burdened souls and steeled them for their now intensified bondage was no longer
heard. Who would be the next evangel of inspiration and hope to cheer these
wayworn travellers and feed their languishing souls; and how long his appearing
might be delayed was a despairing mystery. But believers in a wonder-working
God, hope against hope, trusting an all wise Providence to make a way out of no
way. Hence they prayed—prayed mightily and persistently for a leader and
consoler. And while they were praying, God was answering them. Not from abroad,
but right there in their midst. He and they were working together in the
development of one of their own number, a companion and fellow-sufferer, to take
up the mantle which George Leile had reluctantly laid down. Nine months after
the departure of Rev. Leile, Andrew Bryan, who, through prayer meetings and
fatherly advice, had held the little flock together, felt the divine call to
preach the gospel and lead this yearning band. Without an available authorizing
council, or even an instructor save the Holy Spirit to point the way on this
untrodden path, Andrew meekly assumed the arduous task.

   Taking up the work of one who had kept it alive under the over-awing hand of
the hostile British, and organizing and teaching a servile class who for more
than three years had been taught to hate and desert the very masters who
continued to hold them in bondage, Andrew Bryan was undertaking a task that was
three-fold more difficult than he imagined. The rapid growth of the body also
was a cause for deep apprehension among the whites. But in the atmosphere of
this reconstruction period following the Revolutionary War, when "liberty of
conscience" and "The land of the free and home of the brave" was not only the
theme of every orator, but also the song of every citizen, this society of
blacks presented a puzzling problem to deal with. Various methods were tried in
order to discourage and stop their congregating; but nothing seemed adequate to
cope with the situation. Opposition grew stronger and stronger. Individuals were
punished by their masters. Some were intimidated and cruelly dealt with by the
militia. They were often waylaid and severely flogged on their way to and from
their humble meetings. But none of these things moved them! Indeed, the severer
the persecution, the more resolutely did these saints rely upon God and stick to
their worship. Finally one day their humble shepherd and about fifty of his
followers were seized in the public square and so severely beaten that their
blood ran down and puddled on the ground about them. But while Andrew, already
inhumanly cut, and his body so lacerated that his clothes were saturated in his
own blood, with uplifted hands cried to his persecutors: "If you would stop me
from preaching, cut off my head! for I am willing not only to be whipped, but
would freely suffer death for the cause of the Lord Jesus." These left him. But
others, determined to de-story this church, accused them of insurrection and
plotting against the whites, locked them up in prison and took their meeting
house from them. Then their good master, Jonathan Bryan, believing them martyrs
to prejudice and wickedness, interceded for them and had them released. He then
gave them privilege of worshipping in his rice barn, which they used for a
meeting house for several years, immortalizing it.

   Their enemies, however, maintained the strictest vigilance about this barn
and kept all their movements under the closest surveillance until one of his
eavesdroppers overheard this pious man of God in his humble cabin praying
fervently for the very men who had so mercilessly whipped him. "Struck with
surprise and conviction, and fear, no doubt, through the spirit of God, he
reported the same which enlisted great sympathy about the country; and
thereafter permission was granted them by Chief Justice Osbourne to continue
their worship any tune between sunrise and sunset." Thus they obtained peace
through peaceful methods and won many friends among the more influential whites
and multitudes were added to their number.

   In 1785, the Rev. Thomas Burton, an aged white Baptist divine, on his
evangelistic rounds, visited this church and, finding fifteen unbaptized
converts, immersed them and fellowshipped them into the body. Thankful to
almighty God for a season of peace and yet realizing their helpless condition,
they learned the value of both public and private prayer; so in their monotonous
round of daily toil, with little of wordly goods or pleasures to distract their
minds, but forced to reliance upon God through much suffering, in their humble
devotions they prayed much for themselves and much for this grand old body
which, through all these years even until now, has been the heir of the
benedictions of the past, and is destined for generations yet unborn to be
directed and protected by divine power in answer to their ancient prayers. For,
thanks be unto Him! what God has blessed, no man can curse!

   News of this exotic expression of heavenly providence among this primitive
people was reported far and wide, for there was no white Baptist church here
till 1800; but God had determined that the first expression of organized life
among this people in America, who must eventually be the salvation of their race
throughout the world, must be a New Testament church, and that church must not
be destroyed! Hence the church continued to flourish and many converts were made
through the fervent prayers and convincing preaching of this spirit-filled
preacher and people. Occasionally evangelists would visit them; or, passing
through, would stop over and commune them and baptize their converts. Finally,
feeling that this little flock, though composed mainly of humble slaves, had so
ingratiated themselves into the tolerance and good-will of the whites as to
insure their permanence, and feeling that their needs could be best served by
the man who was established among them and was already so successfully leading
them, Rev. Jesse Peters, colored, of Augusta, having permission from Mr.
Jonathan Bryan, invited Rev. Abraham Marshall, white, of Kiokee, to assist him;
and on January 20,1788, baptized 45 other converts, ordained Andrew Bryan and
installed him into the pastorate of this church which, through floods of
tribulation and flames of trial, had exhibited unparalleled forbearance,
endurance, patience, and faith for almost six years without an official head.

   This 20th day of January, 1788, was a great day € in the magic history of
Mother Zion. For more than thirteen perilous years she had waged a grim battle
with death; that, too, in the tenderest years of infant life and with only three
years of actual pastoral guidance. But God was schooling her for the various
stubborn battles ahead. Thus, how fitting the selection of Andrew Bryan! He was
of the church, had suffered with her and loved her as blood of his blood and
bone of his bone. Happy on their way, the church flourished now more than ever.

   In 1790, William Bryan, son and heir of Jonathan Bryan, sold Rev. Andrew
Bryan his freedom for the small consideration of 50£ [pounds] sterling,
"acknowledging also the faithful services of my Negro fellow Andrew," "give and
grant the said Negro fellow Andrew his full and absolute manumission." (Chatham
County Record, "Book G, 1789-90.) Then on June 6, 1790, Thomas Gibbons sold to
"Free Andrew" for 27£ [pounds] sterling, one lot of land" on Mill St.,
Oglethorpe Ward, 95 ft. in depth and 100 ft. front, on which their next house of
worship was built (Folio "H" 170). Then again in 1797, June 3rd, Rev. Bryan sold
to the church the site on which the Bryan church now stands for 30£ [pounds]
sterling. These deeds were executed to white Trustees, Thomas Polhill, William
Mathews, David Fox and Josiah Fox, as Negroes en masse were not competent to
hold titles to property. The Bryan location, therefore, is the fourth site and
Franklin Square the fifth on which the First African Baptist Church has stood in
the vicissitudes of these 150 years.

   Feeling herself a regularly organized New Testament church, and desiring the
association of others of the same faith and order, this church
applied with letter for admission into the Georgia Baptist Association at its
session at Brier Creek, Burke County, May 1790, and was accepted. It remained in
this association until in 1794, when at Powell's meeting house, near Powellton,
with 21 other churches it withdrew to form the Lower District Georgia Baptist
Association. The church then reported 381 members. (Hist. Ga. Bapts., p. 34, and
First Bryan Hist., p. 39) The First African Baptist Church united with the
Savannah Baptist Church, white, which was organized in 1800, and the Newington
Church in forming the Savannah Baptist Association, April 5th, 1802. Its
membership then was about 800.

   Because of its rapid growth and the difficulty of housing all comers, and
because of the difficulty of its country members to attend the services, the
First Church concluded to organize new churches from its overflow membership.
Hence December 26th, 1802, the Second African Baptist Church was organized, and
on January 1, 1803, Henry Cunningham was ordained to its pastorate. The next
day, Jan. 2, the Ogeechee African Baptist Church was organized 14 miles south of
the city, and Henry Francis, who had been ordained May 23, 1802, assumed its
pastorate.

   At the sitting of the Savannah Association in Savannah, Jan. 15, 1803, these
two new churches sent letters and were admitted without application. The
membership of the five churches as reported at this session were: Savannah, 67;
New-ington, 16; First Colored, 400; Second Colored, 200; Ogeechee, 250. At this
session seven other churches applied for membership and were accepted, all being
white. The total membership of the Savannah Association at that time was 1298,
850 of them being in the three colored churches.

   Having led Mother Zion through her fiery trials and brought her into a
position of honor and prestige, Father Bryan died October 12, 1812, being about
96 years of age and having pastored the church for 24 years. After purchasing
his freedom, he rapidly accumulated property, owned some slaves to whom he was
very kind, and was worth more than $5,000 at his death. Distinguished white men
delivered beautiful eulogies at his funeral. At its next session, the Savannah
Association adopted the following resolutions:

   "Resolved, That this Association is sensibly affected by the death of the
Rev. Andrew Bryan, a man of color, and pastor of the First Colored Church in
Savannah. This son of Africa, after suffering inexpressible persecution in the
cause of his divine Master, was at length permitted to discharge the duties of
ministry among his colored friends in peace and quiet, hundreds of whom through
his instrumentality, were brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in
Jesus. He closed his extensively useful and amazingly luminous course in the
lively exercise of faith, and the joyful hope of a happy immortality."

   Dr. Henry Holcombe, who was an intimate friend of Father Bryan, gives us this
beautiful pen-picture of the venerable servant of God: "Andrew Bryan not only
honorably obtained liberty but a handsome estate. His fleecy and well-set locks
have been bleached by eighty winters; and dressed like a bishop of London, he
rides, moderately corpulent, in his chair, and, with manly features of jetty
hue, fills any person to whom he gracefully bows with pleasure and veneration,
by displaying in smiles even rows of natural teeth white as ivory, and a pair of
fine black eyes sparkling with intelligence, benevolence, and joy."

   We should not conclude this chapter without special reference to the fact, as
evidenced above, that the First African Baptist Church was not organized at
Brampton's Barn. But that that was at least the third permanent site on which it
worshipped. It clearly appears that they were worshipping in some place during
Rev. Leile's administration. After his departure and during the-early efforts of
Andrew Bryan immediately following, they suffered a period of persecution when
they had to slip around from cabin to cabin and steal about in woods and swamps.
Eventually they gradually grew into favor with their masters and were permitted
to erect a rude house of worship in the suburbs of Savannah. Again evil reports
were circulated on them, and Andrew Bryan and about fifty of his followers were
caught and severely whipped and imprisoned and their meeting house was taken
from them. It was then that Andrew's good master, Mr. Jonathan Bryan, opened his
barn to them out at Brampton. There they were worshipping when Andrew was
ordained, Jan. 20, 1788; and there they remained for several years afterwards
till Rev. Bryan moved back to the city and established them on Bryan Street
during the latter part of 1794.


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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