Mt. Zion
MT. ZION METHODIST CHURCH
Mt. Zion Church is located on Rogers Bridge Road near Duluth, Georgia. It was founded in 1828. In so far as is known, it was first located on what is now Bell Road directly across the road from the Louvenia Bell home which was at that time in Indian territory.
Due to changes in the status of area, the church has been situated in Indian territory and in four counties: Gwinnett, Forsyth, Milton and now Fulton.
It was relocated to the present site in 1892. Land on which the church is situated was given, for a very small sum of money presumable to satisfy legal requirements, by Robert N. Rogers and Anderson S. Bell. The deed was made on October 24, 1885 to A. L. Rogers, Jasper Boles, George Lowe, Washington Little and Robert N. Rogers.
John Rogers was one of the principal founders of Mt. Zion Church; regrettably, no information on any others who may have been involved in the early founding of the church. Mr. Rogers came to this area from Bulloch County, Georgia, probably in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He married Sarah Cordury, and they settled in a home one mile south of Suwanee Creek on an elevation overlooking the Chattahoochee River.
John Rogers was the son of an Englishman who was an American Colonel in the Revolutionary War. He volunteered in the Army and served under General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. General Jackson later spoke of him with great commendation as “the brave John Rogers”.
Sarah Cordury was the daughter of Thomas Cordury whose people belonged to the French nobility but for political reasons made their home in England. The Cordury family came to America perhaps in the seventeenth century. When they landed in St. Augustine, Florida, the Spanish were in control, and the guillotine was in plain view. Thomas Cordury married a Cherokee Indian girl, and this Sarah Cordury was part Cherokee Indian.
John and Sarah C. Rogers lived at their home on the Chattachoochee and reared a large family. In the early 1820’s, Rev. William J. Parks conducted a wonderful revival of the religion in the western part of Gwinnett County. John Rogers and his entire family were converted to the Christian faith and joined the Methodist Church. From inspiration of this revival, the Rogers family and other pioneer families established Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church.
Rev. W. T. Land (1878) wrote that, meantime, John Rogers had become a very wealthy man and had done so because of “energy, industry and good judgment.” He also said John Rogers used his good fortune for “the education of his children, for the relief of the poor and needy, and for the advancement of religion.”
In 1843, Mt. Zion Church belonged to the Marietta Circuit (Circuit Riding Days) which was part of the Cherokee District. The District included most all of North Georgia. Rev. Robert J. Cowart was senior preacher in charge of the Marietta Circuit with one assistant. This Circuit had twenty-five or thirty churches. H. P. Bell described Rev. Cowart as “powerful, eloquent, and charming preacher.” Col. William Rogers and Col. H. P. Bell served as local preachers at Mt. Zion during those early years.
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Copyright 2007-2009 by Betty Turner