Georgia Lutheran Church Records &
Histories
"Beginning in 1731, some twenty-two thousand
Protestants were exiled from the Roman Catholic
Archbishopric of Salzburg, which today is part of
German-speaking Austria but then was one of the many
un-unified German States. Most of these Salzburgers took
refuge in Prussia, but a tiny group ended up in England,
where they were persuaded to become part of the beginnings
of the last American colony to be founded by the English --
Georgia. About sixty Salzburgers arrived in Georgia on March
12, 1734. The German presence grew to three hundred people
by 1741, and this group founded Ebenezer, Georgia's second
community after Savannah. The Lutheran congregation founded
by the Salzburgers is still in existence, officially called
Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church. The brick church,
construction of which began in 1767 and completed in 1679,
is Georgia's oldest church building - and sometimes is
called the oldest public building in the state". (German
Life, February/March, 2006, page 64). For more
information on the Salzburgers, contact the Georgia
Salzburger Society, 2980 Ebenezer Road, Rincon, Georgia
31326; Telephone: 912-754-7001; E-mail:
Info@GeorgiaSalzburgers.com; Website:
www.georgiasalzburgers.com.
Church Records
- Jones, George Fenwick and Sheryl Exley. Ebenezer
Record Book, 1754-1781: Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and
Burials of Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Effingham, Georgia, More Commonly Known as Ebenezer
Church. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing
Co., 1991.
- Georgia Department of Archives and History.
[Miscellaneous Church Records]. [S.l.: s.n., 1900s?]
- Records of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension,
Savannah, Georgia: 1823-1926. [Savannah, Georgia:
Daughters of the American Revolution, Lachlan McIntosh
Chapter, 1954.
- Strickland, Virginia Bowe, Helen Bredenberg Smith,
Ellen Stelling Turner, and others. Lutheran Records
in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta, Georgia: V.V.
Strickland; Lutheran Church of the Resurrection
[distributor], 1996.
- Strickland, Virginia Bowe. Parish Registers of
the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Augusta,
Georgia, 1863-1885. Augusta, Georgia: The author,
1996.
- Voigt, A. G. and C. A. Linn. Ebenezer Record Book
Containing Early Records of Jerusalem Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Effingham, Ga., More Commonly Known as
Ebenezer Church. Savannah, Georgia: Edited and
published by C.A. Linn, 1929.
Church Histories
- Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church (Springfield,
Georgia). Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church: 125
Anniversary, 1872-1997. [Springfield? Georgia]: The
Committee, 1997.
- Linn, Charles Adolphus. Two Hundred Years of the
Grade of God: A Sketch of the Life and History of the
Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Savannah, Georgia.
Savannah, Georgia: The Church, 1941.
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