Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 77
William Scarborough, E. K. Cuyler, a famous railroad pioneer; William P. Hunter
and Dr. P. M. Kolloek. For nearly fourteen years the eloquent Dr. Stephen Elliott,
afterwards the first bishop of the diocese of Georgia, was rector of Christ Church.
He died in 1866, lamented by the entire South. The following inscription on the
corner stone gives an epitomized history of this ancient house of worship:
I. H. S. Glory to God. Christ Church.
Pounded in 1743. Destroyed by fire in 1796. Eefounded
on an enlarged plan in 1803. Partially destroyed in the hur
ricane of 1804. Kebuilt in 1810. Taken down in 1838.
Says a well-known writer t: ' 'Dating from .the first Episcopal services held in
Savannah by the Reverend Henry Herbert, one of the voyagers in the galley 'Ann,'
Christ Church constitutes the oldest ecclesiastical organization in Georgia. The
present site was chosen when Oglethorpe planned the town. Until the first build
ing was erected for the congregation, divine worship was held in the tent of Ogle
thorpe, in the open air, and in the Court House. Progress in the work was retarded
for several years on account of hostilities with Spain.
"The successor of Henry Herbert was the Eeverend Samuel Quiney, a member
ef the famous family of Massachusetts; and he in turn was succeeded by John
Wesley and by George Whitefield. It was under the latter that the parish was
first organized in 1843 and the original house of worship erected. During the
rectorship of the Reverend Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, Colonel Barnard, of Augusta,
presented the church with the first organ ever seen in Georgia. In 1774, the
Eeverend Haddou Smith, then rector, gave great offence to the Liberty element
by his pronounced Loyalist views, in consequence of which he was approached by
a committee of the church, who forbade him further to officiate in Georgia. Disre
garding the command, he went to the church as usual to find the doors barred against
him. Later he was published in the Gazette as an enemy to America; and being
apprised of the fact that a mob was approaching the rectory, whose purpose was
to tar and feather him, the unhappy clergyman escaped with Ms family to Tybee,
whence he sailed for Liverpool. In 1815 Bishop O'Hara, of South Carolina, came
to Savannah to consecrate a building, which was then recently erected, and, at the
same time, he held the first confirmation service in Georgia, at which time sixty
persons were presented by the rector, the B'everend Mr. Cranston."
: Adelaide Wilson in "Historic and Picturesque Savannah," Boston, 1889.