Bethel Springs Baptist Church was established at Bethel Springs about two miles south of Crawfordville. At first this was the first Protestant Church in the Taliaferro area and originally was established July 30, 1802 by Rev. Jesse Mercer and Rev. James Matthews with twenty one members. There was no cemetery for this church. In 1827 the Bethel church was moved on land given by William Janes, one of Georgia's largest planters. The first pastor was Rev. James Robertson; first deacons were John Walker and Etheldred Wilder. Known widely for its liberality, this was renamed Crawfordville Baptist Church and granted the use of its building to other denominations while their churches were being organized. Many fiery political speeches have been made in the church building. The present structure was erected in 1889. One pastor at the Crawfordville Baptist Church was Billinston M Sanders. B. M. Sanders was a witness of Salley Edwards Davis will, and Salley could not have had more scholarly or more illustrious man as pastor and friend. Brother Sanders was one of the men that helped establish Mercer Institute, named for Rev. Jesse Mercer. This Institute was established in 1833 in the beautiful Village of Penfield, Green County, Georgia. (Mercer Institute is now known as Mercer University and is located in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia ) Penfield was the cradle of Mercer University. It is seven miles north of Greensboro, and here in this obscure village much of the history of the Baptist church of Georgia has written. Here the famous University of Georgia Baptists was founded and here the great Jesse Mercer sleeps on the old college campus. In Salleys will, there was mention only of slaves and personal property, as sundry bedding clothes, but in the 1849 division of her estate, land in Wilkinson County, Georgia. -------Original Message------- From: Vivian Toole Date: 11/01/05 11:36:52 To: GATALIAF-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Former Name of Crawfordville Baptist Church??? I am curious as the any former name of the Crawfordville Baptist Church and/or if there was a former name??? Taliaferro did not become a county until c. 1827. I was under the impression that Crawfordville did not exist until about that time as well or was it some sort of community there before c. 1827 and what was the name. I published the Minutes of Bethesda Baptist Church c. 1817-1865 in 1990. Bethesda is east of Union Point and north of Hwy 44 to Washington in Greene County. The minutes have the names of lots of the older churches in the area. So I began wondering when I got the posting below what the name of it was previously when it was formed in 1802. There are lots of Taliaferro County names in it. I still have some copies in my closet if anyone is interested. The church also has some copies for sale. See my web page at http://www.inu.net/vcates or e-mail me privately if you are interested in a copy. It is in most major libraries in the South. Vivian Cates, Alto, Texas -----Original Message----- From: terri saturday [mailto:tlsaturday@nu-z.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 7:10 AM To: GATALIAF-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Church Rolls of Crawfordville Baptist Church I am willing to do look ups from the Church Roll I now hold microfilmed by the Georgia Dept. Of Archives and History October 1955. Crawfordville Georgia Baptist Church Roll (1831 - 1900). It is a roster of the membership of the Church. The Church was constituted 1802. This roster had been compiled from the minute books of the Crawfordville Baptist Church dating from 1831 - 1900 by Frances West Reid (Mrs Isaac Henry Reid, Athens Georgia.) My copy is not clear so I am not able to scan and send to anyone wishing a copy of this same roster. This roster does not list Funerals nor burials but does list some of the ladies married and maiden names and at times which church they were transfered from and where they went. I hope this can help some one as well. Terri Saturday A few family names on the rosters are as follows: Agee, Akin, Akins, Ashew, Allen, Anderson, Andrews,Armstrong, Armor Arnold, Asbury, Atchison, Bachelor, Baco, Bagly, Baker Barksdale, Barnett, Battle, Beazley, Bell, Bentley, Bickers, Bievius, Billingslea, Binkam, Bird, Bishop, Blanchard, Boline, Bonner, Boon, Bragg, Brantley Brinkley, Briston, Bristow, Brooks, Broom, Bryan, Burch, Burell, Bynum, Coldwell, Callaway, Camp, Campbell, Cartwright, Carter, Cattlebury, Chapman, Chivers, Colclough, Collins, Cook, Cosher, Coofer, Cosby, Courtney, Cox, Daniel, Darden, Daracott, Doster, Davis, Danbury, Edens, Edge, Edwards, Ellington, Elliott, Ellington, Ellis, Evans, Evans, Falling, Farmer, Felding, Felton, Fitts, Fitzpatrick, Flint, Fluker, Foster, Frank and many more. ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx