Rev. Lovick Pierce (March 24, 1785 – November 9, 1879) was an American

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, and author. He was nicknamed the “Father of the Methodist Church in west Georgia”, and was the father of George Foster Pierce. Pierce was instrumental in

Wesleyan College Wesleyan College is a Private university, private, Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's Colleges in the Southern United States, women's college in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1836, Wesleyan was the fi ...

’s founding and served on the first Board of Trustees.

Biography

Lovick Pierce was born on March 24, 1785, in Halifax County, North Carolina. He was a Methodist Chaplain for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. In 1836, Lovick joined St. Luke United Methodist Church in Columbus, Georgia. Around 1866, Pierce helped organize what became the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

, originally named Pierce's Chapel. Not to be confused with Pierce Chapel on the Wesleyan College campus, named after his son. A prolific author, Rev. Pierce was an early Southern proponent of the

Holiness movement The Holiness movement is a Christianity, Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakers, Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. Churches aligned with ...

. He died in

Sparta, Georgia Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Georgia, Hancock County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The city's population was 1,357 at the 2020 census. History Sparta was founded in 1795 in the newly formed Hancock ...

, on November 9, 1879.

References

1785 births 1879 deaths American people of the War of 1812 War of 1812 chaplains American military chaplains American Methodist clergy Holiness movement {{US-reli-bio-stub