Mount Carmel Blog: George Albert Grammer – Not now a well-known Baptist Preacher.

Probably few will recognize this name when they see it, but George Albert Grammer was a well-known name in the old Southwest in his day. He pastored at least two churches in Rusk County. He is listed in The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches in the United States of America, by George William Lasher (1831-1920), editor (Oxford, OH: Ministerial Directory Company, 1899). The Lord knoweth them that are his, regardless of who knew Grammer then, and who remembers him now.

When George Lasher gathered his data, George Albert Grammer was living at 143 W. Orleans Street in Jackson, Tennessee. He was born, in Canton, Mississippi in 1844 (possibly the son of Elijah and Margaret Grammer). He attended Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi and Judson University in Judsonia, Arkansas, obtaining an M. A. degree in 1884. He was licensed to preach in 1859 (perhaps at Vicksburg) and was ordained April 14, 1867 at the Baptist Church in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He pastored churches in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. In Rusk County he pastored the First Baptist Church of Henderson, Texas, 1871-72, and taught English and Mathematics while there. He was a missionary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention in 1880-82. He preached at Troup and Overton in this area of East Texas in the mid-to-late 1890s.

Grammer lost his right arm between the time of his liberation to preach and his ordination, while serving during the Civil War. He lost his first wife Ella Smith Grammer and some children while living in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His (probably oldest) son Gordan E. Grammer was born in 1872, while he was in Texas. In 1885 he married Mary E. Frazer, and they had two children. George, Mary, and daughter Mina Leone are buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis Tennessee. At least one child and his first wife are buried at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg, and Gordan is possibly buried there as well. It is unknown what happened to any other children he had.

George Albert Grammer died June 27, 1902 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 57 years old. At the time of his death he was pastor of the Baptist Church in Hernando, Mississippi.