Dunagan Chapel

In eastern Hall County, Georgia, sits a church whose origin dates back to 1889, and earlier. Ezekiel Jackson Dunagan, my 4th great grandfather, settled in this area around 1796 and later through his son, James Reid Dunagan, and his grandson, Ezekiel Parks Dunagan, helped to establish what is now the Dunagan Chapel Church. In the beginning the people met in a brush arbor and then later held their services in a Masonic Temple which was about a quarter of a mile from where the church was later built and stands today. That's me, above, with my lovely sisters presenting the original deed and portrait of Ezekiel Parks Dunagan to the current pastor of the church(2007).

James Reid Dunagan, who is actually credited with building the church, was the son of Ezekiel Jackson Dunagan and brother of my 3rd great grandfather, Joseph Ellis Dunagan. James Reid was born March 2, 1821, and around 1850 staked out a large farm on the banks of the Oconee River about eight miles east of Gainesville, GA. He married Mary Aveline Buffington on January 27, 1848. They had twelve children -- Margaret, Ezekiel Parks, Jack, John, Benjamin, Parilee, Sarah, Andrew, Mary, Doster, Joseph, and Lydia.

In the mid-1800's a dark cloud appeared on the religious sky of the Methodist Church. In 1844 the question of slavery split the national church and a Plan was adopted which established the Methodist Episcopal Church, North and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The whole nation and the church suffered through the war, which followed. James Reid Dunagan did not believe in slavery. His strong religious convictions would not let him fight on the side of the South to hold people as slaves. He did not want to fight against the South, because it was his home, so he went into the woods and dug a cave for himself and covered it with leaves and went into hiding for the duration of the war, avoiding being conscripted into the Confederate army. When the Civil War ended with Lee's surrender and Georgia was invited back into the United States, James Reid Dunagan walked to Atlanta to rejoin the Union. He was harshly criticized for his actions, but he was not harmed physically, to my knowledge.

When James Reid Dunagan married Mary Aveline Buffington, he received three slaves from her father as part of her dowry. He could not hold them in slavery because of his religious convictions, so he set them free. They chose to stay with his family and to live on his property as freed men. With their help he cleared the land to plant corn on the rich bottom land along the Oconee river, repaired the farm buildings, and began re-establishing the Methodist Church. His first act was to invite people from far and near and preachers from all areas to attend summer revivals in front of the old home place under the oak trees which still stand on Dunagan Road. These old trees served as canopies from the sun by day and cover as they slept at night. When there was no more room under the trees, people slept in the barn and on the porches--they were anxious to hear the Word of God proclaimed and to see the conversions of the participants.

In September 1889, Ezekiel Parks Dunagan, James Reid's son, donated a tract of land where Dunagan School was and where the present church stands today. They established the church as Dunagan Methodist Episcopal Church, North. The first trustees were: Ezekiel Parks Dunagan, James Reid Dunagan, W. W. Thomas, James Jackson Dunagan, and M. C. Cranford. The deed was recorded in the Hall County Courthouse in January, 1890. The name Dunagan was used because the original leaders were of that name. The congregation remained a northern church until unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South on November 23, 1939 when they both reunited and became the United Methodist Church.