Bishop George Foster Wells Pierce

  General Notes:

Posted by MANYTOES@AOL.COM on November 30, 1997 at 22:26:46:

PIERCE, George Foster b 2/3/1811 Greene Cty, GA d 9/3/1884 Sparta, Hancock Cty, GA ---Born to Methodist Preacher PIERCE, Lovick & wife FOSTER, Ann. On 2/4/1834 George married /WALDRON, Ann Maria Waldron - they had 7 children. In 1831, he was ordained in the Methodist ministry and preached from Savannah to Charleston. Five years later he was named elder of Augusuta District. Was President of GA Female College of Macon, From 1838 unti his resignation in 1840, when he edited Southern Lady's Book. He was involved in pastoral work in GA from 1842 to 1848. in 1845, he helped to organize the meth-epis church south, a pro-slavery, pro-southern branch of the church. From 1848 to 1854 he served as [the third] president of Emory College at Oxford, GA. In 1854, he was named a bishop of GA, a position which he held throughout the Civil War. He supported GA's succession. During the war he raised food supplies for the Confederacy and preached to the troops

p. 170, Pierces and their Posterity: married Feb 2, 1834 in Savannah, Georgia
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http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/columnists/ed_grisamore/8279684.htm:
Macon is probably the only city on the planet with part of a street named after Pope Pius IX (Pio Nono Avenue), and the other portion (Pierce Avenue) after George Pierce, a Methodist bishop and the first president of Wesleyan College. Even more amusing is at the corner of this intersection is a Baptist church - Vineville Baptist.
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http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/gahistmarkers/bishoppiercehistmarker.htm"
Bishop Pierce Historical Marker
Located on Ga. 15 one block west of downtown Greensboro, Ga.
(Text)
BISHOP GEORGE FOSTER PIERCE
(1811-1884)
Born February 3 in 1811 near Greensboro, George Foster Pierce was converted while at the University in Athens; in 1830 he followed his father, Dr. Lovick Pierce, into the Methodist ministry. He was first assigned twenty-two preaching stations on the Oconee Circuit, later he served pastorates in Augusta, Savannah, Charleston, and Columbus. He may have preached ten thousand times. His life with his family on his farm "Sunshine" near Sparta was idyllic.
He was in 18343 the first president of Wesleyan College, also editor of the "Southern Ladies' Book", then president of Emory (1848-1854). In 1844 at the New York Conference he defended Bishop Andrew as a slaveholder; and in 1845 at Louisville, Kentucky he helped organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Elected Bishop in Columbus, Georgia, 1854.
He was without a peer as an orator. As a Methodist Bishop, he suffered with his people the hardships of the Civil War. He died in 1884 in Sparta and is buried there.
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http://www.rootsweb.com/~gachatha/68asis2.htm:
TRINITY CHURCH, a large and commodious brick edifice, and one of the handsomest churches in the city, is located on the west side of St. James square. It was commenced in 1848, during the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Alfred T. Mann, and completed in 1850, under the pastorate of Rev. J.E. Evans, and the following year was dedicated by Rev. Dr. Mann. The present membership numbers four hundred and twenty-six, Rev. G. G. N. McDonell, pastor.
The ANDREW CHAPEL was built for the colored people in 1845, through the energetic and persevering efforts of G. F. Pearce. For twenty years it was supplied with pastors Georgia Annual Conference, and had a large and flourishing membership. After the occupation of Savannah by General Sherman's army the great mass of the members united with the African M.E. Church South, and a few of the old members continue faithful to their former church relations.
The trustees, who hold all property belonging to the M.E. Church South in Savannah, are: Robert D. Walker, E. Heidt, C.A. Magill, J.R. Saussy, Robert McIntire, Benjamin Gammon, C.D. Rogers, John Houston.
The names of all of the Methodist ministers ever stationed in Savannah are appended, many having been appointed here two or more times: Revs. Beverly Allen, Thomas Humphries, John Major, John Crawford, Phillip Mathews, Hope Hull, Hezekiah Arnold, Wheeler Grisson, John Bonner, Jonathan Jackson, John Garvin, Samuel Dunwoody, Jones H. Mallard, John McVean, Irving Cooper, James H. Kogler, Whitman C. Hill, James Russell, Henry Ross, Solomon Bryan, Wm. Capers (afterward Bishop), John Howard, James O. Andrew (afterward Bishop), George White, E.T. Fitzgerald, Thomas L. Wynn, George Hill, Charles Hardy, Elijah Sinclair, Benjamin Pope, Ignatius A. Few, George F. Pierce, Ward Bishop, Alexander Speer, James R. Evans, James Sewell, Miller H. White, James B. Jackson, Daniel Currie, Joseph Lewis, Caleb W. Key, A.T. Mann, W.R. Branham, Robert Connor, Lovick Pierce, Wm. M. Crumley, Joshua S. Payne, Charles F. Cooper, Thomas H. Jordan, G.G.N. Macdonnell, Joseph S. Key, James M. Dickie, D.T. Holmes, Lewis B. Payne, W.H. Potter, L.G.R. Wiggings, W.P. Pledger, H. James, R.F. Breedlove, E.W. Speer, J.T. Norris, J.R. Caldwell, W.S. Baker, Walter Knox, Alexander M. Wynn, John W. Turner, John F. Ellerson, A.J. Corley, and D.D. Cox.
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INFORMATION FROM:
"HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY GEORGIA
By Rice & Williams

HEADRIGHTS GRANTED TO CITIZENS OF GREENE COUNTY
Page 42

Pierce, John 203 Acress (no location given) 1800
Pierce, Lovick 36 Acres (no location given) 1822


Page 107
Liberty Chapel (Methodist)

"Most of the great men of early Methodism were identified with this church.
Bishop Francis Asbury preached here several times and, in 1808 when the South
Carolina Conference met here, he and Bishop William McKendree attended. At
Liberty Chapel Rev. Lovick Pierce was ordained an elder and Bishop William
Capers was admitted as a preacher on trial."

Page 298
BISHOP GEORGE FOSTER PIERCE
(Note: You may want to purchase "History of Greene County Georgia" by Rice &
Williams as it contains a picture of Bishop George Foster Pierce.)

"In February, 1811, George Foster Pierce was born in Greene County, Georgia
three miles from Greensboro. He was he son of Reverend Lovick Pierce, born
March 24, 1785, in Halifax County, N.C. In 1804 Lovick and his brother
Reddick were admitted on trial as itinerant Methodist preachers in
Charleston, SC. Rev. Lovick Pierce was first on the Great Pedee Circuit in
Eastern SC next to Apalachee Circuit in GA. On this circuit he met and
married Ann Foster, Sept 1809.

George Pierce was nicknamed "Bulger" and was a frolicsome, likable lad. He
liked to ride, and was a good shot, fisherman and sport. He entered the
freshman class at Franklin College, now the U. of GA., when he was fifteen
years old and was a member of the Phi Kappa Society and a champion debater.
After three and one half years in August 1829 he graduated with an A.B.
degree before he was nineteen. He was licensed to preach in 1830 and preached
his first sermon at Monticello, GA. The text was "They seemed to him as one
that mocked." The Quarterly Conference that licensed him was held in
Eatonton, GA and presided over by Rev. William Arnold. In 1832 he preached in
Augusta, then his first station was in Savannah where he met and married Ann
Marie Waldron, and had children: Ella, Lovick, Jr., Claudia, Mary, Ann, and
Sarah, died.

He was made Pres. Of Georgia Female College in Macon now Wesleyan in 1839 and
was personally very popular, with his winning smile, joyous manner, hearty
laugh and friendliness. He would never compromise with evil and believed the
Gospel which he preached.

At the age of 43 he was made a Bishop and his Conference carried him from
coast to coast. He never seemed to tire and never spared himself. The Gen.
Conference held in Louisiana in 1874 had among its members three
distinguished members of the same family, Dr. Lovick Pierce, Bishop, George
F. Pierce and Lovick Pierce, Jr., a son of the Bishop. He served the
Conference for over fifty years and died at the home of this son in Sparta,
GA. Feb. 1884 and was buried there.

He was always interested in education of young women, which in that day was
considered very radical. He was editor of "The Southern Ladies Book." While
in Macon he lived in Vineville near his sister Julia who had married Rev.
Alfred T. Mann. He loved his family and although his duties took him away, he
always hurried home. In 1840 Transylvania College conferred the Doctor of
Divinity on Pierce. His fame became national in 1844 when he headed a
delegation to the Gen. Conference composed of William J. Parks, Lovick
Pierce, James E. Evans and Augustus B. Longstreet. In the great debate that
led to the separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church into separate parts
he made a speech on the Southern side that was electric in its immediate
effects and whose echos are still in the air. He was the most popular man at
the Petersburg, VA Conference in May 1846. While he was at Columbus in 1847
he was elected Pres. Of Emory College at Oxford. Even at that time he was
advocating the admission of women into the college.

There were three distinguished members of the family: Lovick Pierce, Bishop
George F. Pierce and Lovick Pierce, Jr. a son of the Bishop."
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http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/county/fulton/jefferson/jeffersoncounty_part2.pdf
from "History of Jefferson County"
Mt. Moriah Methodist, in extreme northern part of the county, is noted for its camp meetings held every summer, including the third Sunday in August, where thousands assemble to hear the greatest pulpit orators in the Methodist church. Here Bishop Pierce and his father used to preach, and here friends and old acquaintenances met to renew friendships and memories of other days.
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George Foster Pierce (1811-1884)
George Foster Pierce, a Methodist bishop, preacher, and educator, was renowned for his preaching skills and his efforts to maintain early Methodist practices. At the General Conference of 1844 Pierce, a slaveowner himself, defended the ownership of slaves by Bishop James Osgood Andrew, which was an issue that divided the church. He also helped to organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and was elected a bishop in 1854.
Pierce was born on February 3, 1811, in Greene County to Ann Foster and Lovick Pierce, a Methodist minister. He was educated in Greensboro and at the University of Georgia, where he earned an A.B. degree in 1829. In 1827, while a student in Athens, he was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was ordained a deacon in 1831 in the newly formed Georgia Conference and became an elder two years later. In 1834 he married Ann Maria Waldron of Savannah, with whom he had seven children.
Pierce's reputation as an orator contributed to his election as president (1838-40) of Georgia Female College (later Wesleyan College). The trustees of Emory College selected him as president in 1848, and he remained in this post for six years, until the General Conference of 1854 elected him bishop and assigned him to the Arkansas-Missouri area. Published in 1859, Pierce's Incidents of Western Travel was his appeal for the western expansion of the church. During the Civil War (1861-65) he was a firm supporter of the Confederacy, and by 1870 he was the most influential bishop of the denomination.
An aggressive but conservative bishop, Pierce championed retention of "class meetings" for religious instruction, probationary membership, and two-year ministerial appointments. He opposed admitting laymen to conferences, establishing a theological seminary, and reuniting with Northern Methodists. Pierce returned to Georgia in late 1883 and died at Sunshine Plantation, his home near Sparta, on September 3, 1884.

Suggested Reading

Zachariah C. Hayes, "An Estimate of George F. Pierce as a Preacher and as a Man" (B.D. thesis, Emory University, 1927).
George G. Smith, The Life and Times of George Foster Pierce (Sparta, Ga.: Hancock, 1888).
Frederick V. Mills Sr., LaGrange College
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First Emory President Educated in Georgia
George Foster Pierce
1811-1884
President 1848-54


Possessed of as keen and ready a wit as A. B. Longstreet's, George Foster Pierce carried forward the work of building Emory after 1848 by relying on the same kind of appealing personality that had marked the administration of Longstreet. Henry Morton Bullock recounts, in his history of Emory, the story of an encounter between Pierce and a presumptuous young man. Trying on the hat of Pierce—who by then had been elected a bishop—the young man said, "Bishop our heads are the same size." "Yes," Pierce is said to have replied—"on the outside."
A graduate of Franklin College of the University of Georgia, Pierce was the first Emory president educated in Georgia. From the first, he appeared to be a progressive and forward-thinking man among less enlightened souls. He joined the Georgia Conference as a minister in 1831, the only college graduate member at the time. Eight years later, he was elected president of the Georgia Female College in Macon—now Wesleyan College—the first four-year college in the world chartered to offer undergraduate education exclusively to women. Elected, along with Longstreet, to attend the New York City General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844, he tried in vain to be a moderating influence in the debate over slavery; in the end, however, he reluctantly helped to organize the Southern church in Louisville the next year.
Viewing Emory as not just Methodist but Christian in character, Pierce advocated the church's strong participation in educational institutions. Espousing the nineteenth-century progressive's view of the enlightenment of the age, he urged the church to occupy the realm of education, "where opinions are formed and character molded." Otherwise, he feared, the church would "grow imbecile, effete, and disreputable. . . . Bigoted, ignorant, superstitious, such a Church would deserve her doom."
Coming to Emory in the chair of English literature, Pierce himself needed a good mathematician or accountant, for he found the college burdened by debt and inadequate facilities. Pledges to the endowment in the early years of the college—for professorships honoring Few, the city of Columbus, and Bishop Andrew—either were never paid or had been cannibalized for construction budgets. Times were so tough that in 1850-51, Pierce received only $1,231 of his $1,600 salary, and the full-time faculty received only 77 percent of their $1,100 salaries. Pierce quickly set about campaigning throughout the state for endowment and operating funds, and by July 17, 1853, the cornerstone could be laid for Emory's first large, stone building, which contained the library, classrooms, an auditorium, and science demonstration halls. The cost was $15,000.
Although Pierce could report to the trustees that year that the endowment stood at $12,000, the college was also several thousand dollars in debt. Nevertheless, enrollment grew steadily, and in 1854 Emory could boast a hundred sixty students in the college and fifty-five in the preparatory school.
Resistant to secession and, in 1863, courageous enough (or realistic enough) to advocate repeal of the slave laws in Georgia, Pierce nevertheless was widely popular throughout Southern Methodism, owing largely to his irenic spirit, his skill with people, and his achievements in education. He was elected a bishop in 1854 and resigned Emory's presidency. Still, he continued his close affiliation with Emory, serving in later years as a trustee and raising capital funds for the school.

Source: A Legacy of Heart and MInd: Emory Since 1836. Gary S. Hauk, PhD

  Noted events in his life were:

• Birth Location: At the home of his maternal grandfather, Col. George Wells Foster, Feb 3, 1811, Greensboro, Greene Co., GA.

• Fact 1: Fact 1, 1831. Ordained in the Methodist ministry, preached from Savannah to Charleston

• Fact 2: Fact 2, 1836. named elder of Augusuta District

• Fact 3: Fact 3, Between 1838 and 1840. President of GA Female College of Macon

• Fact 4: Fact 4, 1840. edited Southern Lady's Book

• Fact 5: Fact 5, Between 1842 and 1848. involved in pastoral work in GA

• Fact 6: Fact 6, 1845. helped organize the meth-epis church south, a pro-slavery and pro-southern brnch

• Fact 7: Fact 7, Between 1848 and 1854. president of Emory College at Oxford, GA

• Fact 8: Fact 8, 1854. named a bishop of GA

• Land: Sold Sunshine, early 1870. ¹⁶⁷¹

• Land: Sold Brightside, returned to Sunshine, After Mar 13, 1871. ¹⁶⁷²

George married Ann Maria Waldron, daughter of John Waldron and Margaret, Feb 4, 1834 in Chatham Co., GA. (Ann Maria Waldron was born Jun 15, 1811,¹⁶⁷³ died Jun 28, 1889 in Sparta, Hancock Co., GA and was buried in Sparta, Hancock Co., GA.)