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MSBC Media PlayerMedia Center
MSBCOC | In Remembrance
Reverend George Jacob Garnett
1883 - 1949
George Jacob
Garnett was born July 1, 1883 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. His father died
when George was very small and his mother did not live long after that. Thus
George, the grandson of slaves, was raised in poor circumstances, inopportunity,
handicap and hardship. However, this did not deter him from excelling as he had
a great mind, spirit and soul created by a great God. George attended the public
school in Spotsylvania County but left Virginia at the age of sixteen to rely
upon his own resources for support.
For about two years, George worked as a laborer for a contractor in Baltimore,
Maryland. He then worked another two years in a coke field in Pennsylvania's
mining district and subsequently entered the Pullman service, where he remained
for twelve years. During this period George had the opportunity to travel around
the country and make friends with people in every walk of life. In 1905, he
married Dorothy J. Ellis, also of Spotsylvania County, in Baltimore, Maryland.
They had one daughter, Dorothy.
Although Reverend Garnett is said to have begun preaching as soon as he started talking, he yielded to the urge to formally accept his true calling as a preacher (at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.) while still working in the Pullman service. He began his training for the ministry at the Clayton Williams University in Baltimore, Maryland (1912-1914). After completing his work there, he graduated from the Lee and Hayes University, also in Baltimore, with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. Reverend Garnett was ordained, at the Mount Joy Baptist Church, in 1916; pastored St. Paul's Baptist Church from 1920 until 1921 and Union Baptist Church in Sparrows Point from 1921 until 1924.
On the first Sunday in October 1924, Reverend Garnett accepted the call to pastor Morning Star Baptist Church. At that time the main sanctuary, in the 900 block of Saratoga Street, would seat only 300 persons. Thus, on March 29, 1925, the church purchased its current edifice at 1063 West Fayette Street. In the years following the move, membership increased; four choirs and twenty-eight organizations were established; a full-time assistant pastor was installed and a modern church office and facilities for religious educational work were created. The church donated $3000.00 a year for benevolence; contributed to Virginia Seminary, Jones Williams University Christian Center, Lott Carey Convention and the New England Convention. Reverend Garnett was active in every civic, educational and religious interest in the community. He was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on the Selective Service System's local board and was an official in the State and National Baptist Conventions.
After twenty-five years of dedicated service and leadership, Reverend Garnett died suddenly in 1949.
Reverend Garnett moved the mission, as established by Morning Star's founding pastor, to the next level and it is appropriate that we honor his memory.
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