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Like racing fans are drawn to Daytona and cats to
catnip, I am drawn to the old Moultrie Observers! I’ve only lived here
for 22 years, but I still run across names and photographs of people and
places I know. In just the time I’ve lived here things have changed
mightily.
What had been in the 1880s a vast pine forest in
Colquitt County, a major change had been wrought in July of 1902.
A census of agriculture showed that Colquitt County
already had 1,269 farms and there were 216,650 acres given to these
farms. Of those farms, 41,060 acres were listed as “improved.”
Land and improvements, excluding buildings, were
valued at $722,830 or a little more than $3 an acre.
Buildings on the farms were valued at $183,950.
Implements and machinery were valued at $55,100 and livestock valued at
$251,264.
Gross income in 1899 from Colquitt County farms was
set at $452,973. The amount paid for labor was $17,290 and $25,110 was
spent on fertilizer.
Does anyone have comparable figures for today?
Doerun opened its first school under the new public
law in January of 1902.
Professor D. R.
Gammage was employed as a principal and Miss Rossie Barbett of Newton,
Georgia as first assistant. The school was drawing support from the
Doerun city treasury.
A bill permitting the establishment of a public
school program in Doerun had been adopted only a matter of days earlier.
Moultrie’s Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church has
been serving since 1880. The deed to Wesley
Chapel United Methodist Church was made in 1880 and in 1976 had 108
members. The church is a part of the Berlin charge and is located in Pavo.
The church building was remodeled in 1953 and three
Sunday School rooms were added. The Rev. W.A. Sedgwick was pastor in
1953. Twelve years later, under the pastorate of the Rev. James Harris,
additional work was done on the building when rest room facilities, a
kitchen and a new roof and siding were added.
In the mid 1970s, three more Sunday School rooms
were added in the attic of the building and new carpeting and new pews
installed in the sanctuary.
Two of the church’s members (as of 1976) had gone
into the ministry. They are Claud Croft and Heyward Hiers.
In 1976 stewards at the church were P.J. Herndon,
Hubert Crosby, Roy Hiers, Bobby Alderman, Harold Hiers, Vernon Crosby and
Adline Hart. Trustees in 1976 were Max Herndon, Charlie Dell and Harold
Hiers.
Pastors of Wesley Chapel through the years include
R.B. Bryan, 1880-1883; J. W. Wells, 1884-1886; John Hendry, 1887-1888; C.H.
McCord, 1889; F. M. Watts, 1890; John Taylo9r, 1891; Aaron Kelly, 1892;
R.S. McCord, 1893; J.A. Weathers, 1894; C.A. Jackson, 1895; A. H. Bazemore,
1896; and J.M. Blitch, 1897.
Also serving have been P.C. Harris, 1898; W. A.
King, 1899; J.W. Wells, 1900-1903; J. F. Yancey, 1904; C.J. Mallett, 1905;
G.P. Hendry, 1906-1907; Moses Register, 1908; G.P. Hendry, 1909; E. L.
Ladrick, 1910; R.P. Fain, 1911; R.B. Bass, 1912; J. Lytle Jones,
1913-1915; J. H. Wlson, 1916-1918; J. T. Ford, 1918-1921; E.R. Coward,
1923-1925 and H.L. Roberts, 1925-1927.
We’ll explore some more old Moultrie Observer’s next
time! |
