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Rev George Foster Pierce

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Rev George Foster Pierce

Birth
Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia, USA
Death
3 Sep 1884 (aged 73)
Sparta, Hancock County, Georgia, USA
Burial
Sparta, Hancock County, Georgia, USA
Memorial ID
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Bishop George F. Pierce followed his father, Dr. Lovick Pierce, into the Methodist ministry in 1830. In 1845 he helped organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and was elected Bishop in 1854, travelling from coast to coast in support of his conference. He also shared his father's passion for education, and specifically, advancing women's education - after eight years in the ministry he was elected the first President of the Georgia Female College in Macon (now Wesleyan College), the first four-year college in the world chartered to offer undergraduate education exclusively to women. In 1848 he became the President of Emory College (later, University), its first President to have been educated in Georgia. Both schools were founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Pierce served as president of Emory until his election as a Bishop in 1854.

There are two Historical Markers honoring Bishop George F. Pierce.

He was first assigned twenty-two preaching stations on the Oconee Circuit, later he served pastorates in Augusta, Savannah, Charleston, and Columbus. He may have preached ten thousand times. His life with his family on his farm "Sunshine" near Sparta was idyllic.

He was without a peer as an orator. As a Methodist Bishop, he suffered with his people the hardships of the Civil War. He died in 1884 in Sparta and is buried there.

Wesleyan College has named two chapels in his honor. The original Pierce Chapel was an integral part of daily life at Wesleyan's former downtown Macon campus before the college was destroyed in a 1963 fire. In 2015, Wesleyan dedicated a new Pierce Chapel at its present suburban campus.

Pierce Avenue, a major road in Macon and part of Georgia State Route 247, is also named for Bishop George Foster Pierce.
Bishop George F. Pierce followed his father, Dr. Lovick Pierce, into the Methodist ministry in 1830. In 1845 he helped organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and was elected Bishop in 1854, travelling from coast to coast in support of his conference. He also shared his father's passion for education, and specifically, advancing women's education - after eight years in the ministry he was elected the first President of the Georgia Female College in Macon (now Wesleyan College), the first four-year college in the world chartered to offer undergraduate education exclusively to women. In 1848 he became the President of Emory College (later, University), its first President to have been educated in Georgia. Both schools were founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Pierce served as president of Emory until his election as a Bishop in 1854.

There are two Historical Markers honoring Bishop George F. Pierce.

He was first assigned twenty-two preaching stations on the Oconee Circuit, later he served pastorates in Augusta, Savannah, Charleston, and Columbus. He may have preached ten thousand times. His life with his family on his farm "Sunshine" near Sparta was idyllic.

He was without a peer as an orator. As a Methodist Bishop, he suffered with his people the hardships of the Civil War. He died in 1884 in Sparta and is buried there.

Wesleyan College has named two chapels in his honor. The original Pierce Chapel was an integral part of daily life at Wesleyan's former downtown Macon campus before the college was destroyed in a 1963 fire. In 2015, Wesleyan dedicated a new Pierce Chapel at its present suburban campus.

Pierce Avenue, a major road in Macon and part of Georgia State Route 247, is also named for Bishop George Foster Pierce.

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