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Monday, April 19, 2010

Silas Mercer

Lucian Lamar Knight wrote:

"Silas Mercer was of Scotch-Irish lineage—a typical Highlander in his rugged molds, both of speech and of character. He came from North Carolina to Georgia some time before the Revolution, but refugeed with his little family to the mountains of his home State for safety when the tide of war threatened to invade the foot-hills. At the close of hostilities he returned to Georgia, where the remainder of his days were spent, making the rounds of the wilderness on horseback and preaching the Gospel wherever he went. He founded the famous old church at Powelton, a landmark of Baptist history; Sardis and Bethesda were also vines which he planted, and, last but not least, the church at Phillips' Mill, where Jesse Mercer first saw the new light, was another stronghold of faith which he added to the kingdom. Rude temples of worship in numberless places sprang into existence at the call of this good man, blooming like wild flowers along the woodland paths; and, if the notes which he sounded were sometimes harsh and stern, it may also be said of him that he testified for the Master until the whole region of Wilkes breathed of the wayside balms of Galilee.

"He established his home on a plantation seven miles to the south of Washington, where he died in 1796, at the age of fifty-one. The place is today known as the Ficklen plantation, so called after Dr. Fielding Ficklen, a subsequent owner; and here in the Mercer burial ground may still be seen the grave of Silas Mercer—one of the most unique figures in the Baptist annals of America."
-- From Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends, Volume II, Lucian Lamar Knight, Atlanta, GA: Byrd Printing Company, 1914, pp. 173-174

The graves of Silas and Dorcas Mercer were moved from the Mercer plantation to the cemetery of the Phillips' Mill church in 1976.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Undoubtedly, Bro. Mercer was unpaved by the ways of the world when he had the vision to give of himself by starting something anew in this unchartered territory. Today, we have let the ways of the world cover our existence to the point of a diminsished potential.

It has long been assumed by some that the Highlanders created their culture when they first inhabited the region. This is not the case. They simply brought with them their ways and customs from europe.