Elbert County GaArchives Church Records.....Concord Methodist Church Copyright Date August 25, 1936 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Barron Bradford BarronRB@aol.com January 31, 2006, 4:34 pm Church Record - Concord UMC The following article appeared in the August 25, 1936 edition of the Elberton Star newspaper: “CENTENNIAL AT CONCORD DRAWS IMMENSE CROWD” “Church History, Sermon by Native Son, Unveiling Marker, Talk by Norman and Splendid Dinner.” “The Concord church centennial celebration Sunday was attended by more than a thousand people, many of them coming considerable distance to be present. The pastor of Bowman circuit, Rev. W. E. Purcell, was in charge of the program, which was replete with interest and inspiration.” “Mr. T. Jesse Maxwell delivered a cordial welcome address which was responded to by Miss Mary Hansard.” “The church history was given by Prof. Riley B. Carter. The story of the builders of the church and of the community of which it is the center, was told in interesting detail, while cotemporaneous high lights of the church history, and conditions of pioneer days, in method of travel, in agriculture, industry and commerce, were all given with a minuteness that challenged the interest of the vast crowd of listeners.” “The sermon of Rev. Marvin M. Maxwell, pastor of the Griffin First Methodist church, and one of the leading ministers of the conference, was a high light of the occasion. Mr. Maxwell chose as his subject, “The things that are not shaken.” He was born and reared in the community and is one of the many men Concord church has given to the ministry, and the great throng of people had just cause to feel a degree of pride in this particular contribution.” “In the afternoon a huge granite marker to the memory of Elijah B. and Jane Higginbotham Norman was unveiled by Frances and Bill Norman, lineal descendants. The high light of the afternoon session was the talk by W. T. Norman of Louisiana, also a lineal descendant of the old pioneer who gave the land on which the church is located, and who helped to organize the first church a hundred years ago, and whose descendants have made generous support to its forward-going since, as well as to community uplift in general.” “The marker, a five-ton block of fine granite, was presented by John J. McLanahan, it was in the granite shed of O. Minervini, and Horace Eaves did the work.” “The people of Concord community did themselves proud in preparing and serving so expeditiously dinner to at least a thousand people. The diners formed in lines and were served cafeteria style from a number of tables in the shade of on the church grounds.” [Submitted by: Barron Bradford. Barron’s mother, Augusta Norman Bradford, is the sister of Frances and Bill Norman mentioned in the article] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/elbert/churches/concordm98bb.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 3.2 Kb