MADISON COUNTY, GEORGIA

MINUTES OF LYSTRA PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH

Lystra Primitive Baptist Church was originally formed as Scull Shoal Primitive Baptist Church. It is located in eastern Madison County very near to the intersection of GMDs 204, 205, 438 and 1616. The name Lystra comes from the Biblical era village. It is located in present day Turkey and goes by the name of Klistra.

The information herein comes from a limited research project by the author, ca 1980. This project was to prove that Isaac David who has a grave marker at Lystra was not in fact buried there. Most of what was abstracted at the times were names and dates of members coming and going prior to the May 6, 1826 roster of members. Nothing was proofread at the time.

The marker for Isaac David grave site at the Lystra cemetery is quite erroneous. Isaac lived in the far eastern tip of Madison County. (See David H. Robertson, Original Land Grants, Deeds and Early History of Fork District, Madison County, Georgia.) His land extended across the North and South Broad River into Oglethorpe and Elbert Counties. He served in the Revolution in Virginia and not in Georgia. Minutes of Lystra Primitive Baptist Church are available on microfilm. No member of the David family was a member of Lystra until well after Isaac’s death in 1840. Isaac David was a long standing and prominent member on Millstone Baptist Church in Oglethorpe County and his obituary appears in the church minutes there.

There are a lot of additional details in the minutes that are not abstracted herein which are available on microfilm.

Some observations of the Author are as follows:

1.          Much of the minutes are faded and very hard to read. There are apparent omissions from the minutes.

2.          Members were often “expelled” for what we today would consider minor infractions (along with a few major infractions). Those that repented were sometimes “restored” to membership.

3.          Slaves that joined Lystra initially attended church along with their masters. In 1821, the congregation decided to build an addition to the church for slaves.

4.          The Church property was deeded by Mark Manning to Jacob New, as Trustee in August/September, 1820. Although the deed may have been recorded later, the deed was not contemporaneously recorded in Madison County Deed Book BDE. From deed and land grant research by the Author, Mark Manning’s land grant appears to lie to the west of the Lystra Church. This presents the possibility that this was a prior location and church was relocated to the east to its final location. More research is warranted.

5.          The church membership was small until about 1824 when many new members joined mostly “received by experience” (found Christ).

Abbreviation Key

R/E       Received by Experience. (Found Christ)

R/L       Received by Letter. (Transferred from another church)

Rstd     Restored. (Readmitted after having been expelled)

D/L       Dismissed by Letter. (Transferred to another church)

Ex        Expelled. (Expelled from membership)

Dec’d   Deceased

Charter Members

Lystra was formed on January 15, 1803 by the following 12 charter members:

1.          Timothy Carrington (pastor)

2.          Winifred Carrington

3.          Solomon Strickland

4.          Amy Strickland

5.          David Robertson [of no relation to the Author]

6.          Amelia Sorrells

7.          William Davis

8.          John Mearon? (Deacon)

9.          Mary Mearon?

10.        Penny Willeford

11.        Nancy Willeford

12.        Juda Willeford