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CHAPTER 2 1824 URING 1824 while Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, and William H. Crawford, of Georgia, ran a three-cornered race for the presidency, Adams winning, De Kalb County attained a free white population of 3569.1 The town of Decatur could now boast a jail, an academy and about fifty houses and stores.2 George Clifton joined James Hicks in the Georgia house of representatives from De Kalb,3 while Lochlin Johnson succeeded J. McC. Montgomery as State Senator from the county.4 On January 15, the first slate of officers, elected entirely in and for De Kalb County, took office. They were: George Harris, Sheriff; Thomas A. Dobbs, Clerk, Superior Court; Daniel Stone, Clerk, Inferior Court; Willeford Grogan, Coroner, and Bennet Conine, Surveyor. Dobbs was the only holdover from the former regime.5 The Inferior Court, on November 1, authorized Daniel Stone to purchase a county seal,6 thus completing the official organization of the county. That elections were not always conducive to universal public satisfaction, in the early days of De Kalb, or for that matter since, is indicated by the Executive Minutes of Tuesday, April 20, 1824: "The election held on the 19th ultimo for Colonel, Lieut. Colonel and Tax Collector for the County of De Kalb, held under the superintendence of Micajah Harris, Joseph Hubbard and James White having been protested by several persons of said County (among whom are some of the successful candidates ) on the ground that the election was not held in conformity with the public notice, having been advertised for the 20th of March but held on the day preceding, it is therefore, Ordered that unless the fact stated in the protest be disproved, a new election be proceeded to in terms of the law, and a return thereof made to this department." The twin beacons of civilized communities, churches and schools, began to shine modestly in De Kalb during 1824, although the first ray of organized religious life became discernible July 30, 1823, when the Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church, in the southeast portion of the county, was constituted by Rev. Luke Robinson and Rev. Isaiah Parker, at the request of brethren in the vicinity. The first pastor was Rev. Luke Robinson and the first clerk, Israel Hendon, while among the charter members were John Biffle, James Phillips, Joseph Wooten, James R. George, Israel Hendon, and John Stephenson.7 The Constitution and Rules of Conduct provided among other requirements , that no member could absent himself or herself from a conference or congregational meeting without leave of the Moderator or Pastor. Two such absences constituted cause for discipline. Another requirement was that the appellations to be used in all conferences or congregational meetings must be Brother and Sister.8 There is no existing evidence to disprove the fact that Macedonia is the oldest church in De Kalb, including that portion cut off into Fulton in 1853.^ Under the weatherbeaten box tombs, slabs, field stones, and under no tomb stones at all, rests the dust of many of the earliest citizens of De Kalb in D THE EIGHTEEN-TWENTIES 39 the ancient burial ground adjoining the church. It is located on the Stone Mountain-Panola Road in Land Lot No. 44 of the 16th District. Three churches, all still in existence, were organized in De Kalb County in 1824. They were Mount Gilead Methodist, in April,10 Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist, in July11 and Utoy Primitive Baptist in August.12 Mount Gilead was organized by Rev. William J. Parks, in the extreme southwestern part of the county, as the Mount Gilead Society.13 The first sermon was preached on April 24 by Rev. John M. Smith, at his house where he and his neighbors were gathered.14 A camp meeting ground was soon established whereupon foregathered in August of each year members of such pioneer families of the neighborhood as the Smiths, Olivers, Bakers, Barges, Holbrooks, De Foors, Peacocks, Redwines, Cashes and other banner bearers of old-time Methodism.15 Both the church and the camp meeting ground are near Ben Hill in what is now southwestern Fulton County, although prior to 1880 Ben Hill was known as Mount Gilead Cross Roads.16 Nancy Creek was the first of many subsequent churches to be built on Peachtree Road and was organized July 3, 1824. It is located in Cross Keys District between Oglethorpe University and Chamblee where the main line of the Southern Railway to Washington divides its...

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