Georgia–History–20th century

ATHENS, Ga.–May 30, 2024
Funded by the Digital Library of Georgia’s competitive digitization subgrant program, a compelling collection of records representing the history of this Methodist church community and its role in shaping the city of Suwanee from the 1880s through the 1950s.

These records include vital statistics (marriages, infant baptisms, and dates of death) before the state of Georgia began retaining such information in 1919.

You can view the collection here: https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/sfumc_sfumc-hd

As early as 1873, regular church services were held in a schoolhouse. The church was formally established in 1876 and organized by 34 charter members. Early church records include local names recognized on Suwanee’s streets and parks such as Brogdon and Pierce.

Members represented in church records such as Harris, Baxter, Rhodes, and Born were integral community members who devoted themselves to service. They built their homes and raised their families in close proximity to the church, and celebrated important life events amongst fellow church members, such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths.

“I grew up and now live close to the church, becoming a member in 1977, along with my wife and two sons,” said James M. Burnette, Jr., mayor of Suwanee. “The church has a rich history in the community, and its historic records document marriages, baptisms, deaths, conference records, Sunday school records, United Methodist Women’s meetings, and other pertinent church events and data.”

The availability of these records in the DLG is important to those researching United Methodist Church history, the history of Suwanee and its early settlers, or are seeking vital documents prior to 1919, when Georgia started recording them, or other aspects of Suwanee local history.

About the Suwanee First United Methodist Church (Suwanee, Ga.)

As Suwanee, Georgia’s first church, Suwanee United Methodist Church’s goal has been to glorify God and serve His people since 1873. The current church sanctuary has welcomed the community for prayer and worship since 1910. With different pastors, new programs, and the same message of grace and hope, Suwanee is a church that has stood for many years and is excited about making a difference for years to come.

The Suwanee First United Methodist‘s United Women of Faith worked with the Suwanee Creek Chapter, NSDAR to organize and preserve the contents of this collection. The original documents will be kept in archival storage at the Gwinnett Historical Society.

About the Digital Library of Georgia

The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is Georgia’s statewide cultural heritage digitization initiative. It is a joint project between the University of Georgia Libraries and GALILEO. The DLG collaborates with Georgia’s cultural heritage and educational institutions to provide free online access to historic resources in Georgia. The DLG develops, maintains, and preserves digital collections and online resources and partners to build digitization capacity and technical infrastructure. It acts as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and facilitates cooperative digitization initiatives. The DLG serves as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia’s print journalism preservation project.

Selected images from the collection:

Title: “1955 church newsletter,” 1955

URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/sfumc_sfumc-hd_cn1955

Collection: Suwanee First Methodist Church Historic Documents

Courtesy of the Suwanee First United Methodist Church (Suwanee, Ga.) and the Gwinnett Historical Society

Title: “1890s – Mr. E. S. Brodgon agrees to build the church, photo of church,” 1890/1899

URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/sfumc_sfumc-hd_brogdon1890s

Collection: Suwanee First Methodist Church Historic Documents

Courtesy of the Suwanee First United Methodist Church (Suwanee, Ga.) and the Gwinnett Historical Society

“1890s - Mr. E. S. Brodgon agrees to build the church, photo of church,” 1890/1899 — Mr. E. S. Brodgon agrees to build the Suwanee First Methodist Church in Suwanee, Georgia, photo of the church from the 1890s.

19th and 20th-century issues from the journal of the largest group of Protestant women in the world have just been digitized. Mercer University Special Collections and Archives have partnered with the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) to digitize Mercer’s run of the Mission Messenger from 1895-1921, published monthly by the Woman’s Baptist Missionary Union of Georgia (WBMU), more commonly known today as simply the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU).

The Mission Messenger was digitized and described as part of the DLG’s competitive digitization subgrant program, broadening partner participation amongst nonprofit cultural heritage institutions across the state. The collection was transferred to Mercer directly by the WMU, making it likely the most complete run of the Mission Messenger for the period.

Starting from a handful of women in 1888 as the WBMU, the organization became the largest Protestant group for women in the world, with a membership of approximately 1 million. It was also the first and remains the largest body of organized laity in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Women’s organizations like the WBMU played a significant role in American life during the 19th and early 20th centuries, mobilizing women to raise money for Southern Baptist missions worldwide.

Written contributions to the Mission Messenger came from a broad variety of WBMU members across the state.

One of its most famous contributors was Mary Emily Wright Wilbur, a notable female leader of fin de siècle Georgia and the first member of WBMU leadership, who served as one of the publication’s early editors from 1899-1906.

Although consigned to the private sphere of the home by law and custom, women influenced the public sphere of policy and society through organizations dedicated to causes such as temperance, poverty relief, anti-slavery, and suffrage, among others.

Reports from local church chapters, adult and children’s programming suggestions, letters to the editor, financial reports, fundraising drives, Bible studies, and reports from Southern Baptist missionaries worldwide were regular features of the magazine and described how Georgia women viewed the world and demonstrated Georgia’s influence across the globe.

Issues of the Mission Messenger show how Georgians responded to significant historical events, including:

the Spanish-American War
World War I
the flu pandemic of 1918
the Women’s Suffrage Movement

These issues are also a valued resource for scholars interested in:

19th and early-20th century women’s history
Baptist history
Georgia history
the history of 19th-century international Baptists missions

Genealogists will also find this collection valuable because of the articles and entries documenting individual members and contributors.

Beth Ann Williams, the current executive director of the WMU, emphasizes the importance of the Mission Messenger’s digitization:

“What began as a small number of missionary societies in Georgia Baptist churches has grown into women’s ministries and missions discipleship for all ages for 3,600 churches. A digitized Mission Messenger provides widespread and easy access to state and church women’s leadership. [They] would be able to read first-hand about the successes, struggles, challenges, and accomplishments of the WBMU. What a valuable and interesting source to help highlight the early years of missionary giving and serving that was done by and through Georgia Baptist women.”

About Mercer University Archives and Special Collections

Housed in the Jack Tarver Library on Mercer University’s Macon campus, Special Collections is located on the Library’s 3rd floor and preserves the University’s archives and records from all Baptist traditions. Special Collections staff assist with University faculty, students, and staff as well as patrons from national and international scholarly communities. Visit https://libraries.mercer.edu/research-tools-help/archives for more information.

Selected images from the collection: