Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery

The following is from an article written by Mrs. Naomi Corley Holland and Hubert G. Holland in September 1992 from data furnished by the Georgia Department of Archives and History, National Archives and other sources.

Bethany Baptist Church was founded many years prior to 1903 and the church records back of 1903 are missing. As per the records of the Georgia Department of Archives and History and other sources, the Bethany Baptist Church was founded in about 1840 which was the next year after the conclusion of the tragic Trail of Tears in 1839. The Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery contains about 320 graves and most of them are marked with uninscribed, simple field stones. The Indian and Slave Section of the cemetery is located in the west part of it. A large amount of the west part is covered with beautiful oak and pine trees and the area once contained several (oval shaped piles of stones and soil) graves of Indians of the Mississippian Culture or earlier cultures. It is interesting to note that some of these ancient Indians placed objects in the graves of their dead because they believed in the "concept of life after death" as early as 1000 BC and possibly sooner. Many treasure hunters were aware of this fact and unfortunately, culprits robbed these old Indian graves prior to 1945 as none of these oval shaped burial sites have been visible there since that time.

Young Deer was born in 1790 in a cabin beside a creek in an area now located in Forsyth County. This lovely creek was named in his honor and is still known as Young Deer Creek. His parents were Cherokee Indians. At a young age, this famous Cherokee Indian boy could see, hear and run fast like a deer and due to these characteristics, he became known as Young Deer. He had a beautiful sister name Susannah who married William Hendericks. Young Deer married Winnie Tidwell, daughter of John and Celia Tidwell and had a son named John Youngdeer Tidwell a.k.a. Indian John Tidwell through which many can trace their ancestry.

Down the slope of the Red Top Mountain below the Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery there was a lovely spring whose crystal clear water was used by the Cherokees.

Mr. Benjamin Parks was hunting for deer on Finley Ridge near Dahlonega and "stumped his toe and out rolled a lump of gold which was as big as a large hen egg!" The news about the discovery of gold spread very rapidly and in 1828 about 5,000 people illegally entered the Cherokee Indian Nation in search of gold. Many of the Cherokee were robbed and killed. According to Mrs. Susannah Hendricks, sister of Young Deer, he failed to return home one night in 1828. While searching for him the next morning, they found his body beside the lovely spring. Dead from gun shot wounds.