Located at 115 Marengo County Road 36, Thomaston. 32.13408, -87.62026
Story shared as written by Mrs. Cindy Yeager.
Samuel Henry Sealy the son of James Morris Sealy was born in Bibb Co. Georgia in 1852. He was the second son of ten children. Samuel Sealy told his children of the Civil War his father fought in. Samuel shared stories of “Sherman’s March to the Sea.’ The family later moved to Southeast of Wilcox County and Marengo Counties, Alabama. There he met his wife who was of French Ancestry, Heneritta Surginer.
Samuel and his wife Henrietta Surginer Sealy originally lived in a one room log house. Later they build a bigger four room log house with a porch and two fireplaces. As the family grew they added additional rooms. At some point Samuel moved the one room house to the back of the current home to use as a workshop. He built cabinets, desks for school houses, hoe and ax handles, plow beams and most anything needed for farm tools. Late one afternoon, four Mormon Elders walked up to the shop and announced who they were and that two of them would like to spend the night. Samuel invited all four to spend the night. They explained that they had a message and would rather divide up and stay in two different places. Two Elders were then directed to a neighbor’s house. But they soon returned and said they were rejected. This made Samuel Sealy more hospitable. Their home was opened up for cottage meetings. The Elders made this their headquarters and would stay for days and go out to tract other homes and business places to share their message. At night the Elders would sit by the fire and the family and discuss the gospel. Mrs. Henrietta Sealy, a son and two daughters were the first to be baptized. Others soon followed.
As more and more people joined the church an arbor was built in which to hold the meetings. Later they used the school house. However it was necessary to have members or friends to stand guard with guns as mobs were prevalent.
Samuel Sealy was loved and respected in the Magnolia community. When told that they could no longer hold meeting in the school building, Samuel told them that he helped build the schoolhouse, built all the desks in it and that he had sons who could stand guard and keep order. On some occasions the mobs did strike. On one occasion they shot under the school house where the preacher stood. On another night the mob came to Samuel’s home to get the two Elders who were there. Samuel went out with his shotgun and said, “Men, this is my home, the Elders are my guests and the first move from you, I’ll shoot your heads off. You are masked, but I know some of you!” The men rode away and didn’t attempt to come in.
The above is documented by earlier generations of Sealy’s and has been passed down thru generations.
At some point the Mormon Church was built members remembering joining together for dinner on the ground with big tables built along the side of the church and the road under the big Oak Trees. My memory is attending Church there and sitting on the church pews that were made made with splits in the wood. Of course they were not comfortable. The church had not air conditioning but was not really that hot with the windows open. The services were long to me as a child.
The oldest grave documented in the Mormon Cemetery would be 1920. The cemetery beside the chuch includes family names of: Butler, Cooper, Crocker, Ernest, Findley, Green, Hurst, Jowers, Kelly , Kratzer, Langston, Luker, Martin, McCoy, Morgan, Rollins, Sealy, Smyly, Stockman, Street, Surginer, Tuberville, and Tutt.