ON THE RIVER AT 801 SOPHIA STREET IN DOWNTOWN FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA
Photograph
Front of our sanctuary in 1914
This photo was taken shortly after the river side of our building was expanded to include a choir loft and two small meeting rooms at the front of the sanctuary.
Web content copyright © 2015 by Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site), 801 Sophia Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401
Above:
On a summer Sunday afternoon in 1914 or perhaps a few years later, Pastor John C. Diamond and his wife Theresa, still holding their church fans, visit in homes of Shiloh Old Site members.
Above:
This is Waverly Alsop, who served as church clerk for many years, including in 1914.
Deacons in 1914
Cato Frazier
John Harris
Austin Johnson
Dallas M. Kay
Spencer Lewis
George Walker (clerk of the deacon board)
J. Thomas Walker
Elmo Washington (senior deacon)
Trustees in 1914
Benjamin Bumbray
Cato Frazier
John T. Lucas
Evans Wormley
Other Officers in 1914
Waverly Alsop (church clerk)
Evie Gray (organist)
Dallas M. Kay (choir leader)
Stuart M. Tate (chorister)
George Walker (church treasurer and superintendent of the Sunday school)
Above:
This is Dr. Stuart M. Tate, who served as Shiloh Old Site's chief chorister in 1914.
1914 :::
A Moment in Time
In 1914, our pastor at the time, the Rev. John C. Diamond, produced a small booklet to commemorate the church's anniversary. The booklet was entitled "Jubilee Jottings," and it commemorated the sixty years that the congregation had been meeting separately for worship (since 1854) and the fifty years since it had been formally recognized in 1864 (after the Civil War) as Shiloh Baptist Church of Fredericksburg.
The booklet contained a few photos and the names of many leaders and past officers of the church as well as a brief summary of some of the church's history.
The only known copy is kept in the church's archive files, but you can example a a copy of the booklet's various pages by clicking either here on on the image at left.
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Pastor John C. Diamond, 1914
John Carter Diamond served as pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, from 1911 through 1920. He had been born July 22, 1877, in Hampton, Virginia, and was a graduate of both Hampton Institute and the Howard University School of Theology.
Shiloh Old Site was the first church he pastored after obtaining his seminary degree. By 1914, his salary at Shiloh Old Site had risen to $600 a year.
The Rev. J. C. Diamond was passionate in addressing from a Christian perspective the social, economic, and racial issues that troubled the lives of many during his tenure as pastor. He was also known as a fine singer.
During just his first four years at Shiloh, he baptized 150 people and added 286 people to the membership. By late 1914, the congregation had 600 members, 524 of whom were active members. He died in March 1971 in Atlanta, Georgia.