The last Unitarian minister of our church before the Civil
War was the Rev. John Pierpont Jr., (1819-1879) a native
of Boston and son of the noted Abolitionist minister and
social reformer the Rev. John Pierpont. John Jr.'s brother,
James Lord Pierpont, (1822-1893) was the organist, and also
gave organ and singing lessons at the church.
The famous winter song "One Horse Open Sleigh" was
copyrighted in 1857 while James was living here, and re-titled
two years later as "Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open
Sleigh." James was also the uncle of financier J. Pierpont
Morgan.
When the Civil War came, John Pierpont Jr. went home north
and his brother, James, remained here in Savannah. After
the death of his first wife, Millicent Cowee of Troy, NY,
he married Eliza Jane Purse, daughter of Thomas Purse, a
Civil War mayor of Savannah. James also served with the First
Georgia Cavalry (later part of the Fifth Georgia Cavalry)
and wrote music for the Confederacy. He died in Winter Haven,
Fla., and is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah.
A "Jingle Bells" marker honoring him was dedicated
at this church in June of 1985, and the James Lord Pierpont
Music Scholarship Fund was established at Armstrong Atlantic
State University in 1997. The 1837 chamber organ played by
James in this church, has been restored and is now owned
by Florida State University in Tallahassee. |