Hiram Jones gave the land for this church along Fifteen Mile Creek in 1875. It remains a very active congregation.
Rosemary Primitive Baptist Church, 1875, Candler County
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My maternal grandmother, Mamie Brantley Pope, was a member of this church when she was married to Mr. William (Willie) Olliff. She lost her husband to thyphoid fever, I believe, and he is buried across the road in the Olliff Cemetery. Their two little boys, Willie and Lonnie both died very young. Her only daughter, Mary Alice, lived to adulthood, although she had scarlet fever as a young girl. Mamie came to Vidalia with Mary Alice in 1915, and she worked as a long distance telephone operator in the old Darby Bank Bldg upstairs. Church documents at the Old Line Primitive Baptist Church in Vidalia (original site was on North Street) show that she had transferred her membership there from Rosemary Church and was a charter member at the Old Line. I remember when I was a just a little girl, she would take me with her to the church and afterwords, “dinner on the grounds.” It was such a wonderful experience!