The Origins of Union Baptist Church
There is much mystery concerning the beginnings of “The Baptist Church of Christ at Union” as most of the minutes referred to the church in the first years of existing records.
One account [from unknown or undocumented sources] describes the establishment as follows:
Union Baptist Church was established June 13, 1867, as a member of the Lawrenceville Baptist Association when members of two small churches combined 61 charter members. [The church has considered this to be the date of its establishment for an unknown period of time, at least from the 1950s and is the date celebrated in 1967, 1992, and 2017 with special anniversary celebrations.]
The churches were Bald Springs and Stony Point about which nothing is known [See below] according to this account. In 1873 Union transferred to the Chattahoochee Baptist Association. From 1867 through 1937, services were held once a month with conference held on Saturday and worship on Sunday. Sunday School started in 1879 according to this account and services went to twice a month in 1949. It wasn’t until 1958 that full time services began.
This information was extracted from Heritage of Hall County, Georgia 1818-2001 found in the Hall County Public Library and copied by Robert (Bob) Zwald. The source of the information is not given.
This is the same information printed on the back of the program for Union’s Centennial Celebration in 1967. Again no source is given for the information.
Some stories have it that Dorsey Deaton donated the present day church property not for a church but as ‘a place for the dead’. Again no dates or records are available to support or disprove account.
In another account, told to Robert and Harold Zwald by their mother, Maude Deaton Zwald (1888-1960), their great grandfather, William Harrison Deaton (1835-1904), donated one acre of land for a meeting house [meeting house was another term for church] and another acre for a school house. No dates were mentioned in this account. Some people do remember the ruins of a building down on the road that is now a driveway [road closed years ago] on the south side of the church with mention that it used to be a schoolhouse. William Harrison Deaton’s father was John Dorsett Deaton (1806-1879).
However, the church is most likely many years older than previously thought. In a book prepared by the Chattahoochee Baptist Association to mark its sesquicentennial in 1976, Union is found on page 30 as being admitted to the Association in 1852. The names of the delegates to the session of the associational meeting are Thomas Williams and John Haines and they reported Union’s membership as 31 including 5 blacks. Two years later in 1854, Union is recorded as being granted a letter of dismission. It could be assumed that Union transferred to the Lawrenceville Association at that time. Interestingly, on page 28 of this book, Bold Spring (Chestnut Hill) was admitted with 14 members. The delegate is listed as E.Pirtle which could be Pirkle. Back to page 30, Stony Point Church applied for admission to the Chattahoochee Baptist Association in 1846 but was rejected because it was closer to another Association. [Possibly Lawrenceville Association] In 1873 Union Church transferred to the Chattahoochee Baptist Association from the Lawrenceville Association with delegates William Davis, J.S. Benton, and J.B. Warren reporting a membership of 46.
The actual records held by the church begin with minutes dated May 1866 and by their contents, one can assume the church did exist before this date. This is because letters of ‘dismission’ were granted on that date indicating the grantees had been members before that date. This book of records does have a list of the rules of the church in the front which are dated June 13, 1867. These same rules are found copied several more times in other books of records leading one to believe that the date may perhaps just indicate a time when they were recopied. In addition, there is no list of charter members listed in the records and no evidence of where the number of 61 originated.
Services or sessions were held only once a month for a long period. The church would have preaching and conference on Saturday and then preaching again on Sunday. Sometimes there would be three preaching services during a session. Many times service was cancelled due to various reasons, mostly weather related. This arrangement allowed for the pastors of the time to serve more than one church. Union seems to have had the third weekend of the month for theirs. It’s not clear exactly when a ’series’ of meetings [later called revivals] began the third week in August. This third Sunday time frame carried over even until today’s times for the annual Homecoming Service.
In some fashion, the Church of Christ at Union did get started and along the way hundreds of names have been on the church rolls hopefully serving our God in the best way they could. As we celebrate 150 years or even more than that, the important thing for us is to remember that however interesting all this is, nothing that has happened before saves us. We are here in the present and it is how we love God and serve him today, not our traditions from the past, which will seal our future.
Narrative written by Judy Turk Horton, February 2017
Note: The Lawrenceville Association, later the Gwinnett Association, is now the Metro Association. No research into Union’s history with this association has been done but should be.
There is much mystery concerning the beginnings of “The Baptist Church of Christ at Union” as most of the minutes referred to the church in the first years of existing records.
One account [from unknown or undocumented sources] describes the establishment as follows:
Union Baptist Church was established June 13, 1867, as a member of the Lawrenceville Baptist Association when members of two small churches combined 61 charter members. [The church has considered this to be the date of its establishment for an unknown period of time, at least from the 1950s and is the date celebrated in 1967, 1992, and 2017 with special anniversary celebrations.]
The churches were Bald Springs and Stony Point about which nothing is known [See below] according to this account. In 1873 Union transferred to the Chattahoochee Baptist Association. From 1867 through 1937, services were held once a month with conference held on Saturday and worship on Sunday. Sunday School started in 1879 according to this account and services went to twice a month in 1949. It wasn’t until 1958 that full time services began.
This information was extracted from Heritage of Hall County, Georgia 1818-2001 found in the Hall County Public Library and copied by Robert (Bob) Zwald. The source of the information is not given.
This is the same information printed on the back of the program for Union’s Centennial Celebration in 1967. Again no source is given for the information.
Some stories have it that Dorsey Deaton donated the present day church property not for a church but as ‘a place for the dead’. Again no dates or records are available to support or disprove account.
In another account, told to Robert and Harold Zwald by their mother, Maude Deaton Zwald (1888-1960), their great grandfather, William Harrison Deaton (1835-1904), donated one acre of land for a meeting house [meeting house was another term for church] and another acre for a school house. No dates were mentioned in this account. Some people do remember the ruins of a building down on the road that is now a driveway [road closed years ago] on the south side of the church with mention that it used to be a schoolhouse. William Harrison Deaton’s father was John Dorsett Deaton (1806-1879).
However, the church is most likely many years older than previously thought. In a book prepared by the Chattahoochee Baptist Association to mark its sesquicentennial in 1976, Union is found on page 30 as being admitted to the Association in 1852. The names of the delegates to the session of the associational meeting are Thomas Williams and John Haines and they reported Union’s membership as 31 including 5 blacks. Two years later in 1854, Union is recorded as being granted a letter of dismission. It could be assumed that Union transferred to the Lawrenceville Association at that time. Interestingly, on page 28 of this book, Bold Spring (Chestnut Hill) was admitted with 14 members. The delegate is listed as E.Pirtle which could be Pirkle. Back to page 30, Stony Point Church applied for admission to the Chattahoochee Baptist Association in 1846 but was rejected because it was closer to another Association. [Possibly Lawrenceville Association] In 1873 Union Church transferred to the Chattahoochee Baptist Association from the Lawrenceville Association with delegates William Davis, J.S. Benton, and J.B. Warren reporting a membership of 46.
The actual records held by the church begin with minutes dated May 1866 and by their contents, one can assume the church did exist before this date. This is because letters of ‘dismission’ were granted on that date indicating the grantees had been members before that date. This book of records does have a list of the rules of the church in the front which are dated June 13, 1867. These same rules are found copied several more times in other books of records leading one to believe that the date may perhaps just indicate a time when they were recopied. In addition, there is no list of charter members listed in the records and no evidence of where the number of 61 originated.
Services or sessions were held only once a month for a long period. The church would have preaching and conference on Saturday and then preaching again on Sunday. Sometimes there would be three preaching services during a session. Many times service was cancelled due to various reasons, mostly weather related. This arrangement allowed for the pastors of the time to serve more than one church. Union seems to have had the third weekend of the month for theirs. It’s not clear exactly when a ’series’ of meetings [later called revivals] began the third week in August. This third Sunday time frame carried over even until today’s times for the annual Homecoming Service.
In some fashion, the Church of Christ at Union did get started and along the way hundreds of names have been on the church rolls hopefully serving our God in the best way they could. As we celebrate 150 years or even more than that, the important thing for us is to remember that however interesting all this is, nothing that has happened before saves us. We are here in the present and it is how we love God and serve him today, not our traditions from the past, which will seal our future.
Narrative written by Judy Turk Horton, February 2017
Note: The Lawrenceville Association, later the Gwinnett Association, is now the Metro Association. No research into Union’s history with this association has been done but should be.