The city of Clarkesville will dedicate the restored historic Shipman organ at Deas Chapel on Sunday. Historian Evelyn Davis Harmon will be the keynote speaker for the event, which is being held in memory of Henry and Clara Davis and their family.
The historic organ was purchased during the chapel’s early days in the early 20th century.
The restoration dedication is Sunday, April 7, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Deas Chapel, 1547 Washington Street, Clarkesville, adjacent to Pitts Park. The public is invited to attend.
Shipman organ history
The beautifully restored pump organ is the centerpiece of the historic one-room chapel on the edge of Clarkesville. Unfortunately, not much is known about the company that built it.
According to www.pumporganrestorations.com/shipman_organ_company, the Shipman Organ Company was founded in 1905. Its owners were William Gatewood Shipman and H.C. Barckhoff, and the company was located in High Point, NC.
The company made organs under the Shipman name at least through 1924 but also made organs and pianos using other names. According to historical references, the Shipman Organ Company was the only successful organ manufacturer in the South.
One interesting fact is that the company managed to get into the pump organ business at a time when 75% of the county’s pump organ manufacturers had already gone out of business.
Deas Chapel History
According to writer and long-time Clarkesville resident E. Lane Gresham, the single-story wood frame church is an example of an early 20th-century community gathering place.
The chapel originally sat on property north of Clarkesville prior to 1884.
The historical chapel was the worship and community center for the African-American residents of Clarkesville and the home of the African Methodist Episcopalian (A.M.E) congregation.
The chapel’s namesake comes from the property gifted to the church by Amanda Deas in 1884. She and her husband, Charles Deas, married in 1867. She had been enslaved prior to the Civil War, and Charles was a freeman from South Carolina.
The couple lived on the square in Clarkesville, where Charles owned several properties. He worked as the voter registrar during the Reconstruction Era. Charles died in 1873, leaving his estate to Amanda.
In 1884, Amanda transferred the property where the chapel currently sits to the trustees of the “Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.”
The city of Clarkesville purchased the property in 2022. Grace United Methodist Church of Clarkesville currently leases the property from the city.
