Visit Ebenezer LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION
CELEBRATES ITS 275th YEAR
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION
CELEBRATES ITS 275th YEAR
The German Lutheran Church in Savannah
(today, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension)
was founded by Salzburger and other German-speaking
immigrants to Georgia in 1741.
The congregation has been located on Wright Square,
the northeast "Trust Lot" of Percival Ward since 1771.
The congregation relied on the pairs of Lutheran pastors
with the Salzburgers of Effingham County, at Ebenezer,
to minister to them in Savannah as well.
From 1734 through the beginning of the Revolutionary War,
there were five men who occupied these two positions,
Pastors Boltzius, Gronau, Lemke, Rabenhorst and Triebner.
After the Revolutionary War, as the burden of restoring
the devastated congregation in Ebenezer continued,
the lone pastor (Pastor Bergmann had arrived in 1785,
and continued conducting services only in German),
could render little help to the Savannah flock,
and he relinquished that charge in 1804.
Finally, in 1824 a Lutheran pastor was assigned to
the 35 families of the Savannah congregation
(Rev. Mealy from Charleston, who, until his
departure in 1839, conducted services in English).
The Ascension congregation's records of baptisms,
marriages and interments date from that period.
Its use as a hospital during the Civil War and other
damages were repaired through extensive renovation:
The present building was erected in 1875-1878,
a Norman/Gothic blend built onto its 1843 Greek Revival walls.
The stained glass window
(1878, honoring war-time mayor Thomas Purse)
above the altar represents the Ascension of our Lord,
and gives the congregation its modern name.
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[Earliest Records - those of 1824 - abstracted, annotated]
REVEREND A. S. MEALY'S MINISTRY
[Stephen Albion Mealy Sr. 1802-1855, Pastor from 1824 to 1839]
• William Bird - born 5 September 1823, baptized 25 December 1824, parents William & Maria [Barthelmess] Bird of Effingham County
• Joseph[ine] Almira Felt - born 30 October 1824, baptized 25 December 1824, [daughter of] parents Joseph & Ann Maria Felt of Savannah [originally of Massachusetts]
• Caroline [A. E. "Carrie"] Palin - born 12 February 1824, baptized 7 August 1824, parents James & Ann Palin of Savannah [originally of England & Georgia]
• Mr. Thomas [Pilkington] Purse [Sr.] & Miss Eliza [Jane Small of Goose Creek, South Carolina, adopted by] Gugel - both of Savannah [licensed in Effingham County 13 November 1824] married 14 November 1824
No interments listed for 1824 (none until 1829) ... See more