Midway Congregational Church in Liberty County, Georgia Note: I often visited this old church. The British destroyed the original church. However, it was rebuilt and stands today. I suggest reading the book “Children of Pride: Letters of Dr. Colcock Jones.” These letters reflect the mood of a period in the history of well-educated and literate farmers. If you have heard the expression “keep up your letters,” the meaning is to stay in contact with relatives and friends and remain educated and well-practiced in the lovely colonial writing of the times. Rev. Moses Allen Moses Allen was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, on September 14, 1748. He graduated from Princeton College and became the church pastor in Midway, Georgia.
The settlement at Midway, Georgia, originated in Massachusetts when Puritans migrated to St. John's Parish from Dorchester, South Carolina, in 1752. The Council of Georgia granted them 31,950 acres of land. They were primarily rice planters and developed a strong agricultural community, which was strengthened by the 1,500 slaves they brought from South Carolina.
When the British came to Midway in 1778, they destroyed the meeting house and most private dwellings.
Mr. Allen, the chaplain of the Georgia brigade, went to Savannah, where he was taken as a prisoner onboard a prison ship in Charleston, South Carolina. The cruelties of the British Army included starvation, beatings, and locking in chains.
Allen attempted an escape by swimming to the shore and was drowned on February 8, 1779.
Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway,_Georgia;
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91429734/moses-allen;
https://www.amazon.com/Children-Pride-Selected-1860-1868-Abridged/dp/0300040539
Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway,_Georgia;
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91429734/moses-allen