I received an email today inquiring about the Utoy Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. I'd had checking out that old and overgrown cemetery,which is the final resting place of at least two revolutionary war soldiers, on my todo list for quite some time. Below are some facts about the church I pulled from Atlanta and Environs, Volume I, by the late Franklin Garrett (who's buried about two miles from me in Oakland Cemetery).
Utoy Primitive Baptist Church was founded in 1824, making it the third church built on the land which until 1821 had been Creek Indian land. It was originally about a half mile west of the site of the cemetery, and was moved in 1828. The first elders were John Landers and James Hale.
Like many nineteenth century churches, the discipline was often harsh by today's standards, and members were expelled for a variety of offenses. According to Franklin Garrett one member was excluded for "moving into the Indian country" (which wasn't difficult since the church was near the Chattahoochee, and the west side of that river was still Cherokee territory).
One of the more notable residents of the cemetery is Dr. Joshua Gilbert, the first physician in the future city of Atlanta.
The plaque at the site reads as follows:
HISTORIC UTOY CHURCH Utoy Primitive Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist Church in present Fulton County, was constituted August 15, 1824, in a log house just west of here. The church was moved to its present location in the summer of 1828. In 1864 the church was used as a Confederate hospital. July 22, Col. James S. Boynton, 30th Georgia, was wounded and brought to Utoy Church for medical care. Boynton later became President of the Georgia Senate and on March 5, 1883, the day after the death of Governor Alexander H. Stephens, he became of Governor of Georgia, to serve until a special election could be held. In the cemetery at Utoy Church lies buried Dr. Joshua Gilbert, Atlanta's first doctor. Born in 1815 in South Carolina, Dr. Gilbert was graduated from old Augusta Medical College in 1845 and came to Atlanta. At that time Atlanta was called Marthasville and was located in DeKalb County. Here he practiced medicine until his death in 1889. 060-192 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1961
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