This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: CAPERS, GAINES, STEWART, THOMAS Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Xd.2ADE/1037.1.1 Message Board Post: >From "Images: A Pictorial History of Columbus, Georgia," by F. Clason Kyle (1986), p. 55: "Saint James African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1863. This congregation was originally called 'Old Asbury,' the name given by worshipers shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation. The present church is built on land granted by act of the Georgia Legislature in 1873. It was erected in 1876 under the pastorate of Rev. Wesley J. GAINES at a cost of $20,000. It is of frame construction with exterior walls of solid masonry and handmade bricks. The graceful central tower and flanking turrets were added in 1886 during the ministry of Rev. L. L. THOMAS. The church has been called the finest example of Victorian Gothic Revival in Columbus, and Saint James AME ranks as the second oldest church of the denomination in Georgia. (Photograph from the author's collection.)" An online White Pages listing gives the address of 1002- 6th Avenue in Columbus for St. James AME Ch! u! rch; phone 706-322-8043. According to "Columbus on the Chattahoochee," by Etta Blanchard Worsley (1951), p. 41: In the early 1820's, there was an Indian mission with school called Asbury Mission established by the Methodist Reverend William CAPERS just north of the Ft. Mitchell Military Reservation and west of the bounds of Coweta Town (in Alabama, across the Chattahoochee River from what is now Ft. Benning), named for Bishop Francis ASBURY. I don't gather that this mission had any direct connection to the Asbury Chapel in the query - Asbury seems to have been a popular name for Methodist institutions. Thus far, I've found no reference in my sources specifically to an Asbury Chapel in Columbus, nor to Rev. Mack STEWART. I'll do some more checking. Hope some of this helps, John in TX