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 1746 - 1819 (73 years)
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| Name |
Abraham Marshall |
| Birth |
1746 |
Windsor, Hartford, CT  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
15 Aug 1819 |
Columbia Co, GA |
| Person ID |
I249 |
Georgia Revolutionary War Graves |
| Last Modified |
17 Dec 2015 |
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| Notes |
- Abraham Marshall was a worthy successor to his illustrious father, Patriot Reverend Daniel Marshall. The elder Marshall and Shubal Stearns were the founders of the Separate Baptist movement in the South. Abraham was born in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1748. He was converted at the age of 19 at Stephen?s Creek Baptist Church in South Carolina and was baptized by his father in the Savannah River. Immediately after his conversion, Abraham began his preaching ministry. The first 20 years was devoted almost exclusively to itinerant preaching. Upon the death of his father in 1784, he assumed the pastorate of the Kiokee Baptist Church, a church he would serve for the next 35 years. But he would never desert his first love, the itinerant ministry. His extensive ?labors were not confined to a single city or town, to any one county or state, still less to a single church.? Abraham possessed a gift not afforded to most of his contemporaries ? the ability to clothe his messages in eloquence. A biographer wrote, ?His voice was one of great power, melody and flexibility. In nothing, perhaps was he more remarkable than the power of description. He would portray the glories of heaven with such matchless force and breadth, that his hearers could scarcely remain upon their seats; and he would depict the miseries of the lost in such terrible, burning language, as almost to make the hair stand erect upon your head.? No man founded more churches in Georgia than Abraham Marshall. One of the churches he founded was First Baptist Church of Augusta, which he organized in 1817 and pastored until May 1819. Marion Symms, historian of the First Baptist Church of Augusta, describes ?Marshall riding down the streets of Augusta on his old white horse, his saddle bags packed with New Testaments and tracts which he freely distributed, at the same time inviting all to come and hear the Gospel preached at the Court House. Often, merry groups of young people would go expecting amusement, but they left us their testimony that having heard Abraham Marshall they stayed to pray.? One of the most remarkable events in Abraham Marshall?s ministry began on May 10, 1786, when he left Kiokee on a trip to Connecticut, which ended six months later on November 17. He had ridden horseback approximately 3000 miles through 11 states preaching a minimum of 197 times. Conversions on the trip were counted in the hundreds. But the numbers who heard him were astonishing. In New England, he spoke time after time to hundreds and on one occasion to 3,500 eager listeners. Not since the days of Whitfield had such large and enthusiastic crowds gathered to hear the gospel preached and never by a Baptist preacher. Benedict, the historian, states that, ?Crowded assemblies followed him wherever he went.? It is calculated that Abraham Marshall preached to between 40,000 and 50,000 on his journey to and from New England. One of his greatest personal triumphs while in New England was the winning of his cousin, Eliakim Marshall, to Baptist principles. Eliakim had been a much respected and highly esteemed pedo-baptist minister for 30 years. After several discussions with Abraham, Eliakim became convinced that infant baptism was unscriptural, and in spite of family opposition, he and Abraham Marshall went to a nearby river where Abraham preached a sermon on baptism and immersed Eliakim in the presence of hundreds who had never witnessed a baptism according to the biblical pattern. On the following day, Abraham had the privilege of delivering the sermon at Eliakim?s ordination, who was faithful to his decision and embarked late in life on a new ministry in the Baptist denomination. The next day, Abraham left on his return trip to Georgia. For the next 33 years he labored faithfully and consistently until his death on the evening of August 15, 1819, at the age of 71.
Sources:
1. "Georgia Revolutionary Soldiers & Sailors, Patriots & Pioneers", p. 169-170 with additional sources listed at end of entry.
2. "Georgia's First Continuing Baptist Church" by Waldo P. Harris III and James D. Mosteller, Appling, Ga.: Kiokee Baptist Church, 1997.
3. "Abraham Marshall: The Eloquent Baptist Pioneer" written by Thomas Ray, Baptist Bible Tribune located at http://www.tribune.org/?p=185
- Wife Ann Waller born 1761 in Spotsylvania County, VA. Married on 13 Apr 1792. Died 14 Nov 1815 in Columbia County, GA.
- Abraham Marshall is DAR ancestor A073696 and SAR ancestor P-241763. During the Revolutionary War, Abraham served as a Chaplain in Colonel John Stewart's Regiment of the Georgia Minutemen from Richmond County. He fought at the Siege of Augusta, Brown's Fort, and at the Battle of Burke County Jail. He was taken prisoner during his service. After the war, he received 747.5 acres of bounty land along Town Creek in Washington County for his services. He was a minister for 53 years, a delegate to the Georgia Constitutional Convention, and was a Trustee of the University of Georgia.
Source: "Georgia Revolutionary Soldiers & Sailors, Patriots & Pioneers", p. 169-170 with additional sources listed at end of entry.
- Grave marked 03 Oct 2015 by William Few Chapter GA SAR
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