MONROE COUNTY, GA - CHURCHES Holly Grove Baptist Church Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: BetsyL221@aol.com Jane Newton Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/monroe.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm The Macon (Georgia) Telegraph AROUND THE CIRCLE BY Eugene Anderson May 13, 1940 (Newspaper Column) You'd have to be looking for it, to discover where Holly Grove Church is, that century old, historic building wherein was one of Georgia's first bitter fights over religion and where a few faithful souls stood by it through the trials and tribulations of pioneers. Today it is flat on the ground, and the white shafts in the surrounding grave yard seems deserted. Only one member, Mrs. Lon Taylor, formerly Miss Frances Colbert, remains active in the membership. "The church with only one member" is the way Holly Grove is referred to now; but that member is a granddaughter of the little lady who rode her small gray pony and prayed and worshipped on the steps when the building was closed against all members during the fight about missions and footwashing. She prayed the organization should not destroy itself. The lone member now worships elsewhere, but she says she wants to be buried beside her relatives in Holly Grove. Now 76, she looks much younger. The storms destroyed the roof of the old church, and it was rotting and falling down. The pews and furniture had been loaned to the new little church at Dames Ferry. "What a shame to let that building and that organization be lost," exclaim some who know about it. But it is not to be destroyed. When Dud McCord sought to guy the salvage from Mrs. Taylor, she didn't feel she had any right to sell it, even if she had been for years carrying the weight and had spent money to keep the church. She wanted it perpetuated in some form. Mr. McCord agreed to build her just such pavilion as she wanted for funerals or for other gatherings there, a little building twenty-five or thirty feet wide, is her idea. "It shall be just as you want it," says Mr. McCord, and he was told he could take the remaining lumber and timbers and carry them to his place nearby. So that seems to please the friends of the dead in the scared grounds". A well-kept dirt road fourteen miles long connects Forsythe and Dames Ferry passing Holly Grove, and every foot of it could reveal important history if it had a voice. Wreck and ruin are hinted by the lone chimneys where residences once stood, some of them fine, others not so elegant. About half-way is the church, where you are told the first Georgia row occurred between Missionary and footwashing Primitive Baptist. The missionary crowd was termed the minority, and being locked out of the building, they held a meeting under one of the magnificent oaks in the grove. There deciding to go to law. This was during a session of the Flint River Association, as guest of the Holly Grove Church. The Towaliga Association was formed after the fight. In the suit for the Holly Grove building, Judge Stark of the Flint River circuit ordered equal privileges for each side. They called themselves the minority and majority, and after two years of discord they made a give or take propositions--one side to pay all expenses of the fight and take full control of the house. It has since been a missionary Baptist Church and the official records says the bitterness and confusion of the period should be covered over with "the mantle of oblivion". The "majority" moved away to a schoolhouse, but later became absorbed by other churches, more sympathetic. Some great stories grow out of the tradition, and written history takes note. The minority is recorded as Edward Callaway and wife, Jonathan Collins and wife, Frances Colbert, A.D. Steel, W.M. Clark,J.W.J.Taylor, Gilbert Clark, Mary E. Clark and Harriet Harmon. These called in brethren and sisters from Mt. Zion, Forsyth and other churches, trying to find a way to restore harmony, but the schism here was permanent and was to be repeated in nearly every other Primitive Baptist church in the state. The records are full of them. The footwashing Primitives feel that they have received sanction from as far back as Jesus' visit to earth, and they cannot see eye to eye with the Missionary Baptists nor have they been able to dwell in the same house in peace, though aside from the religious difference they associate on the best of terms as neighbors and friends. It was in 1823, one moth to the day following Christmas, [Jan 25]that Elders Frederick Crowder, James Brooks, John Hambrick and Joshua Callaway organized the following membership into a church in a cabin on the farm house of Edward Callaway and Sister Callaway named it Holly Grove, because of the long rows of holly on each side of the nearby branch---about two miles from the present site. Richard Fletcher and wife, Edward Callaway and wife; Obediah Satterwhite and wife, Jeremiah Dunn and wife, Silas Monk and wife, Robert Middlebrooks and wife, James Monroe and Moses Duma. Elder John Hambrick was chosen pastor after a day of fasting and prayer to avoid a mistake in selecting. Two years later a new site was selected near Rum Creek, on the land of Deacon Callaway. But in a little while the permanent site was chosen. In 1825 Elder John Blackstone was called. Elder A.L. Moncrief was also pastor at a later time. Job Taylor and Eden Taylor appear often in the records and J.E. Taylor, L. B. Thigpen and T. J. Collier served on important committees. "Practically every family in Monroe County is interested in those graves in Holly Grove cemetery," says Mrs. Fannie Colbert Taylor, and I want to be buried there with my son, H.L. Taylor and my husband, F.L. Taylor and my other relatives. I worship at Dames Ferry and am delighted with our minister and congregation there, but Holly Grove is home. On the tombstones are these names: Thomas J. Pritchett Co D 45th Ga Inf J.L.Allen 1818-1902 Lizzie Mae, wife of R.F. Wardell Tate Roquemore Co D 8th GA Inf Three other Roquemors are in the enclosure including: Betty 1854-1924 W.F. Roquemore 1854-1930 Lucy A. Roquemore 1831-1913 Dollie Mae Poole died in 1899 at 6 years Edward D, son of B.F. and M.F. Taylor 1871-1905 Sara J. Johnson, wife of Marcus Simmons 1857-1883 Marcus D. Simmonss, Co. D 45th GA 1834-1881 William Clark, 1817-1787 Gilbert M.L. Clark Co. D 45th GA Ida A. McCord 1875-1920 Sara B., wife of J.W. J. Taylor and dau of William B. George of Jones county, 1879 55 years old. Susie L., wife of J.A. jackson 1889-1908 H.L. Taylor, 1905-1920 R.F. Taylor 1867-1922 Adiel Colbert 1881-1918 L.F. Thigpen 1837-1908 Ida mae, wife of W.T. Wright, 1897 20 years Another, W.T. Wright inscription is illegible. Many graves are unmarked. NOTES: Flint River Association 1828 listed: Holly Grove, Monroe WILLIAM HENDERSON, Edward Callaway 126 membership Lucy Gray" Edward Callaway was the father of my gggrandmother, Caroline Callaway Langley. Edward's wife was buried in the general area of Holly Grove where their home was located. About six years ago I visited her grave and found the stone broken etc. I do not know where Edward was buried. After his wife died he moved to Chambers CO, AL to live with a daughter.