Conn’s Creek Baptist
Cherokee County | Organized in 1847
The history of Conn's Creek Baptist is closely tied to its founder, Samuel Conn, and to the broader story of Georgia’s expansion into Cherokee Nation lands. While details of Conn’s life are uncertain, records show that he and his wife, Elizabeth, acquired land in the early 1830s in what is now Cherokee County, near the community of Ball Ground. Local accounts suggest he had a good relationship with the Cherokee people and may have been part Cherokee himself. One story recalls that Samuel traded a pack of ponies to a Cherokee chief for a tract of land crossed by a creek. There he built a cabin, later a house, and donated part of the property for a school and a church—both of which remain today.
Read more...Life between settlers and the Cherokee in the 1820s and 1830s was uneasy, and the discovery of gold heightened tensions. Sixes Mine, located at present-day Sixes Mill, became one of the first mining operations in the region, producing some of the purest gold in Georgia. Additional mines opened along the Etowah and Little Rivers. The 1835 Treaty of New Echota, signed by a small Cherokee faction and ratified by the U.S. Senate by a single vote, forced the Cherokee to relinquish their land. In 1838, the Georgia Guard and U.S. Army began rounding up Cherokee citizens for removal west, an event remembered as the Trail of Tears.
Samuel Conn first built a one-room log house on a high knoll about two miles from the current site of Conn’s Creek Baptist Church. Over time, he expanded it into a two-story home with twin fireplaces. A community leader and entrepreneur, Samuel farmed the surrounding land, operated a grist mill in Pickens County, and served as a deacon of Conn’s Creek Baptist for 26 years. He and Elizabeth raised thirteen children who lived to adulthood, including six sons who served in the Confederacy.
In 1873, tragedy struck when the loft of Samuel’s barn, filled with corn, collapsed on him. Trapped beneath the grain, he suffocated. His death marked the end of a life deeply woven into the history of Conn’s Creek and the early settlement of Cherokee County.
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15 responses to “Conn’s Creek Baptist”
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Does anyone know how I could get in contact with someone from this church?
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Thank you for sharing this interesting history! I have been there. I have Wood family relatives buried there including my great grandparents who had twelve children, William Flournoy Wood and Minnie Armanda Rebecca Bramblett. Their daughter, my grandmother, Augusta Mae Wood Cash attended school in the still standing one-room school house and attended church in the church building and open air brush arbor pavilion. I have photos of her and her sister as teenagers that may have been taken in front of the school building. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68044844/william_flournoy-wood
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Samuel conn is my great,great,great grandfather.
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Thanks for showcasing this church. I am a descendant of Tilman and Elizabeth Ingram. I’ve read that his familiy is listed in church records. Are these public records or digitized? Thanks for any input.
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This community is mentioned in the book Yesterday in the Hills (Chapter 10) by Floyd and Charles Watkins.
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I am a decent of Samuel Conn and have attended Church there a few years ago. My name is Randy Conn. I am a southern Baptist pastor. I would like to know when the Conn’s gather there.
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I am wondering if there is a listing of the names of the people buried in the cemetery? I am looking for some Ingram and Anderson ancestors that lived in the area in the mid to late 1800’s and early 1900”s….any help is much appreciated!!!
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This Findagrave link should give you what you need https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2134402/memorial-search
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Samuel is my great,great grandfather. My dad’s name is Alfred Dewey Conn.
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Thank you for sharing this information. I would like to receive the newsletter and learn more about this interesting treasure.
Melissa Conn-Tarron.-
8 am also Conn. Samuel was my great,great grandfather. My dad’s name is Alfred Dewey Conn
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my correct email is balexander354@gmail.com
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Thanks Rebecca.
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Samuel Conn was my great great grandfather. His daughter, Lucinda was my grandmother, Dora Farmer Parker, mother. I look forward to visiting the church. I have a framed quilt piece from Samuel Conn.
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Thanks for sharing that Rebecca. Living history.
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