Dade County History Book

TRENTON CHURCH OF CHRIST

The second oldest continuing Church of Christ in our area in the Trenton, Georgia congregation. It was established in 1837 when “two men from a town north of Savannah” came to Salem, (which was the name of the town until about 1840), held a gospel meeting, and established the congregation of the church of Christ in Dade County.

Leroy and Elizabeth Sutton were members of the Church of Christ before they moved to Dade County in 1839 or 1939. They located near New England and finding that there was already a congregation at Union, they attended there. George Sutton and his son Leroy, and Silas Wakefield are listed as heads of households in the 1840 census of Dade County, Georgia.

We have records, which record a Gospel Meeting being conducted at Union Church of Christ in August 1859, by preachers, M. Love, T. Witherspoon and A. P. Seitz. Washington Bacon worked with them during this meeting and is supposed to be the preacher for Union at that time. The congregation had reached membership in excess of 100.

The first known meeting house for the Church of Christ was erected in 1840 and was twenty feet by twenty feet. It was of hewn logs and located in an area known as Lot 8, District 18, Section 4. They were protected by an indenture by Larkin Payne, owner of the property at that time. The building was located about two miles southeast of the present Dade County Courthouse. The indenture was between Larkin Payne and “the Trustees of the meeting house known as Union Church.” Those Trustees were identified as Silas B. Wakefield, Andrew Brown and Leroy Sutton.

In 1937 a church building was erected on the south east corner lot across from the Dade County Courthouse, by labor of the brethren. This structure remained until 1975 when a new auditorium was built and three years later the class rooms, fellowship hall, offices, printing rooms were completed.

Among the many fine preachers whose voices have been heard at this congregation are: G. B. Stone, William Howard Sutton, Washington Bacon, J. D. Floyd, John T. Smythson, Porter Ramsey, Lige Martin, Flavil Hall, R. C. Coleman, Max Hamerick, Charles Holder, Hugh Price, R. C. White, Joe Weir Sr., F. H. Green, Andrew Pilgram, James Pilgram, H. C. Greer, Ken Rhodes, Bob Edwards, Gerstle Slatton, I. H. Wheeler, Jr., Sam Owens, Joe Mayhew, Cecil Williams, Milton Parker, Wendell A. Jacobs and Cordell Holloway. These have served as ministers of the congregation in addition to numbers of preachers who have conducted Gospel Meetings here.

We give God the glory for such a wonderful congregation of His people in Trenton, Georgia, while at the same time, we salute all those who worked so hard in the beginning. (Used by permission HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY GEORGIA Retired Senior Volunteer Program, 1981.)