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Jefferson County
Alabama
Genealogy Trails
A part of the
Genealogy
Trails History
Group |
Church of the Advent
Transcribed by C. Anthony
from various sections of Church of the Advent, Its History and
Traditions, Mittie Owen McDavid, 1943 |
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The
fathers of the new industrial town of Birmingham, Alabama, built
well; for, along with material interests and civic pride they
retained a balance of spiritual values.
As Major
Barker in 1871 laid out his wide avenues and streets in perfect
design, Col. Powell and his directores marked in the plan the corner
sites designated for churches of five denominations, via: Episcopal,
Presbyterian, Methocist, Baptist, and Roman Catholic.
Major
Willis J. Milner, an officer of the Elyton Land Co., accompanied by
Major William P. Barker, the Companys engineer, the Rev. James H.
Fitts, Rector of St. Johns, Elyton, selected the lot for the
Episcopal church.
One year later the deed was
filed:
DEED
ELYTON LAND CO.
TO
THE PROTESTANT
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
In The Diocese of Alabama
The State of
Alabama, County of Jefferson
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Known
all men by these presents that the Elyton Land Company, a
corporation incorporated under teh General Laws of the State
of Alabama by its President, James R. Powell, who is duly
authorized to execute this deed and affix thereto the Common
Seal of said corporation, for and in consideration of the sum
of five dollars to said Company paid by the said Protestant
Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Alabama, the receipt
whereof is herby acknowledged, as well as for the further
consideration hereinafter set forth, does, by these presents,
grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Protestant
Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Alabama, six certain lots
or parcels of land situated in the town of Birmingham in said
county and state, and knows and designated in the plan of said
town, as lots number one hundred and one (101), one hundred
and two (102), one hundred and three (103), and one hundred
and four (104) on the south sied of Sixth Avenue North; and
lots number eleven (11) and twelve (12) on the East side of
Twentieth Street, together forming a parallelogram fronting
(200) two hundred feet on said Sixth Avenue, and running back
on said Twentieth Street one hundred and ninety feet (190) to
an alley; to have and to hold the above described and granted
lots of land with all the appurtenances thereunto appertaining
unto the said Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of
Alabama, and its assigns forever, for the purpose of
establishing and maintaining said church, with Rectory, and
school house in the said town of Birmingham and with the
express provision and understanding that in case of the sale
of the lots above described and granted, that the proceeds
thereof shall be devoted to the purpose aforesaid. And the
Elyton Land Company does covenant and agree with the said
Protestant Episcopal Church and its assignme that the said
Elyton Land Company is lawfully seized of the above granted
premises, and has a good right to sell and convey the same to
the said Protestant Episcopal Church, that said premises are
free from all incumbrances, and that the said Elyton Land
Company will forever warrant and defend the title to the said
premises to the said Protestant Episcopal Church in the
Diocese of Alabama and its assigns forever against the lawful
demands or claims of all persons whatsoever.
In
testimony whereof the said Elyton Land Company has hereunto
set its signature and affixed the Common Seal of said
corporation by its President, the said James R. Powell,
this the 27th day of February, 1872.
Signed, sealed and
delivered in the
presence of
W. J.
Milner {
Geo. J. Cox {
The State of
Alabama, Jefferson County.
I, W. W. Moore, an
acting Justice of the Peace in and for said county, hereby
certify that W. J. Milner, a subscribing witness to the
foregoing conveyance, known to me, appeared before me this
day, and being sworn, stated that J. R. Powell, President of
"Elyton Land Company," the grantor in the conveyance
voluntarily executed the same in his presence and in the
presence of the other subscribing witness on the day of the
same bears date; that he attested the same in the presence of
the grantor and the other witness, and that such other witness
subscribed his name as a witness in his
presence.
Given under my hand this
27th day of February, 1872.
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W. W. MOORE,
Justice of the
Peace.
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Filed for record in my office on the 29th day of March, 1872,
and on the same day duly recorded in Deed Book Volume 17,
Pages 506 and 507.
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JOHN C. MORROW,
Judge of
Probate.
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Rev. Philip Augustus Fitts, D. D.
Born April 19th, 1839, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the son
of Judge John Fitts and Virginia Wilmonia Aylett.
On
April 10th, 1861, he was married to Sophia Holland Cochrane, member
of an old and cultured family of Tuscaloosa, daughter of the
well-known attorney, William Cochrane, and Sophia L. (Perkins)
Cochrane. In the fall of 1861, Mr. Fitts was confirmed in the
Episcopal faith.
In October, 1870, he was sent to take charge
of St. John's mission, at Elyton, Jefferson County, Alabama, now in
Birmingham.
On April 6th , 1871, the Sunday before Easter,
the Rev. Mr. Fitts was ordained to Priesthood at St. John's Church
in Montgomery, by Bishop Wilmer. He was returned by the Bishop
to St. John's at Elyton, 1871 through 1872 as Missionary Rector, his
district including the congregation in the mineral village of
Irondale, and another which he organized in the new industrial town
of Birmingham. This church was name the "Church of the Advent," and
when it was admitted into union with the Diocese in 1873, he became
its first Rector, and remained until October 1875, when he resigned
to take charge at Trinity Church, Clarksville,
Tennessee. |
Rev. Aaron Kinney Hall
The Rev.
Aaron Kinney Hall was born at Portsmouth, Ohio, May 1st, 1845, the
son of William Hall and Margaret Kinney.
He was called to
the Church of the Advent, Birmingham, Alabama, as Deacon in charge
from 1876 until October, 1877, when he was transferred to St.
James, Livingston, and St. Albans, Gainesville,
Alabama. |
Rev. James Alexander Vanhoose
The
Rev. James Alexander Vanhoose was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, May
15th, 1852; the son of James M. Vanhoose, and Susan Alexander, she
of Campbell Court House, Virginia.
Accordng to the report of
Bishop Wilmer of May 10th, 1876: "The Rev. James A. Vanhoose
(Deacon) has been assigned to duty at the Church of the Advent,
Birmingham; St. Paul's Church, Decatur, Athens and Trinity
Stations." May 11, 1876 Mr. Vanhoose is also listed as Rector of St.
John's Church, Elyton.
He served three terms as Deacon of the
Church of the Advent, three different intervals when the church was
without a Rector, and assisted in the founding of nearly every
mission in the Birmingham area. He was the founder of St. Mark's
mission, church and school for Negroes in Birmingham. He was also an
organizer of Sunday Schools and later became Mayor of Birmingham in
1894. |
Rev. Charles Morris
The Rev.
Charles Morris was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, June 1st, 1848, the
son of Dr. Sylvanus Morris, a prominent physician of Lynchburg, and
Page Waller. His maternal grandfather, Col. Waller, lived in old
Williamsburg.
He was ordered Deacon June 23, 1876, by Bishop
Francis McNeece Whittle, of Virginia. Soon after this he was married
to Mrs. Southgate Lea, of Lynchburg, who was Susan Withers
Lemon.
Early in 1878, he was sent to the Church of the
Advent, Birmingham, Alabama, where he served nearly one
year. |
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