Zerah Marian McGhee was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee, October 22, 1835. He was reared on the farm till eighteen years old. At that time he entered school in the Academy at Harriman, Tennessee, located a few miles from Chattanooga. He remained there two years. He also attended other schools in the country both before and after that time. During the first part of the Civil War between the States he was a student in Ewing and Jefferson College, near Knoxville, Tenn. Soon after the fall of Fort Donaldson, the school had to close, which resulted in depriving him of completing his course in college. He professed faith in Christ and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1851. He was elected and served as a ruling elder a short time in his congregation, joined the Georgia Presbytery, a candidate for the ministry in 1860, and on the 6th day of April, 1861, he was licensed to preach. In October, 1862, he was ordained to the whole work of the ministry. The Rev. W. W. Estill preached the ordination sermon, and the Rev. Hiram Douglas presided and gave the charge.

On the 6th of November, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Cameron, near Calhoun, Ga. Their golden wedding was celebrated November 6, 1912.

He has devoted his time and his energies almost exclusively to the work of the ministry, laboring on the frontier of his denomination. He has organized many churches and superintended the building of many church-houses; viz, at Sublignia, Adairville, Resaca, Tilton, Dalton, and Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and East Chattanooga, Tennessee, his time being divided between the country and the town churches, often in school-houses and in the private homes of the people, and frequently in the shades of the trees.

He was pastor of one church in Georgia nineteen consecutive years; has been pastor at Charleston and East Chattanooga, Tenn., and at Scottsboro and Stevenson, Ala., in Dalton and Atlanta, Ga. He has filled the office of stated clerk in both the Georgia and Chattanooga Presbyteries. He has answered roll call consecutively two sessions a year in his Presbytery for forty-seven years, ninety-four meetings. He served as moderator of the East Tennessee Synod at Charleston, also of the Tennessee Synod at Fayetteville, Tenn. He has represented his Presbytery in twelve meetings of the General Assembly. He has written a book on "Christian Baptism and Communion," the second edition recently published.

Brother McGhee often preached anniversary sermons, setting forth the Medium System of Theology as taught by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. And when the merger movement was advocated by those men whom we had honored and trusted, he stood heroically through all the contest for the Medium Theology.

Brother McGhee is a true, able, amiable, lovable man.

[Source: Our Senior Soldiers: The Biographies and Autobiographies of Eighty Cumberland Presbyterian Preachers.Compiled by The Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication. The Assistance of Revs. J. L. Price and W. P. Kloster is Greatfully Acknowledged. Nashville, Tenn.: The Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1915, pages 279-281]

Rev. Zerah Marian McGhee was born in Hamilton County, Tenn., October 22, 1835. He was reared on the farm until eighteen years old. At that time he entered school at the Academy at Harrison, Tenn., located a few miles from Chattanooga. He remained there two years. He also attended other schools in the country, both before and after that time.

During the first part of the Civil War between the States he was a student in Ewing and Jefferson College, near Knoxville, Tenn. Soon after the fall of Fort Donaldson, the school had to close, which resulted in depriving him of completing his course in college.

He professed faith in Christ and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1851. He was elected and served as a ruling elder a short time in his congregation. He joined the Georgia Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry in 1860, and April 6, 1861, he was licensed to preach. In October, 1862, he was ordained to the whole work of the ministry. The Rev. W. W. Estill preached the ordination sermon, and the Rev. Hiram Douglas presided and gave the charge.

On November 6, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Cameron, near Calhoun, Gordon County, Ga. Their golden wedding was celebrated November 6, 1912. Four sons and one daughter were born to this union.

Brother McGhee devoted his time and energies almost exclusively to the work of the ministry, laboring on the frontier of his denomination. He organized many churches and superintended the building of many church houses--namely: at Subligna, Adairville, Resaca, Tilton, Dalton, and Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and East Chattanooga, Tenn.

Besides the churches he organized in Georgia, he served the following as pastor: Liberty, Bartow, Casandra, and Sonora. Besides East Chattanooga, he served as pastor, Silverdale, Red Bank, Fairmount, Charleston, Jasper, New Prospect, Clear Springs, and Flint Springs in Tennessee. He also served Scottsboro and Stevenson in North Alabama.

His time was divided between the country and town churches. He preached often in schoolhouses and in the private homes of the people, and frequently in the shade of the trees.

He was pastor of the church at Liberty, Ga., for twenty-five years; Dalton, twenty years; Bartow, twenty years; and Tilton, twenty years.

He has filled the office of Stated Clerk in both the Georgia and Chattanooga Presbyteries. He answered roll call consecutively two sessions a year in his Presbytery for fifty-two years, making one hundred and four meetings in all. A grand record!

He served as Moderator of the East Tennessee Synod, at Charleston, also of the Tennessee Synod, at Fayetteville, Tenn., in 1911. He has represented his Presbytery in twelve meetings of the General Assembly.

He wrote and published a book on "Christian Baptism and Communion," the second edition having been recently published and may be had by addressing The New Cumberland Press, Nashville, Tenn.

Brother McGhee often preached anniversary sermons, in which he set forth the Medium System of Theology as taught by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. And when the merger movement was advocated by those men whom we had honored and trusted, he stood heroically through all the contest for the Medium Theology, and never for once did he falter.

The following clipping from a local paper in East Chattanooga, Tenn., shows how he was esteemed at home:

"One of the princely fathers in Israel has fallen. Not only in all East Chattanooga, but in all East Tennessee, and far away into many distant States will the message of death claiming our fellow citizen, the Rev. Z. M. McGhee, cause sadness and a sigh. Brother McGhee was eighty-four years old, and not until about one year ago did he discontinue his work of the ministry. For about sixty years he preached the gospel in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was a man of mighty convictions, great courage, emphatic expression and strenuous service. It is said that he broke nearly all records in the matter of attending Presbytery. He was a vigorous writer as well as a strong speaker. He was a striking personality. Thousands of men, women, and children who came under the griping power of his preaching will rise up and call him blessed for his part in leading them to Christ. May Brother McGhee's mantle of usefulness to God and man fall upon each of his four sons and his daughter, is our prayer."

The Chattanooga News had the following to say of Brother McGhee's death:

"In the death of Rev. Z. M. McGhee, which occurred Friday evening, January 9, at 5:30 o'clock at his home, 105 Glass Street, East Chattanooga, after an illness of about a year, passed to his reward one of the oldest and best loved Cumberland Presbyterian ministers in East Tennessee and North Georgia.

"Rev. McGhee had been active in the ministry for fifty-eight years. The greater part of his life was spent in serving God and the Church. He found great comfort and joy in pointing travelers along life's way to higher and better things, and as a result of his teachings many lives were turned back to the straight and narrow path. His devotion to duty and his great love of service were an inspiration."

From the Dalton Citizen, Dalton, Ga., we take the following:

"The Rev. Z. M. McGhee, aged eighty-four years, died at 5:30 o'clock last Friday afternoon at his home in Chattanooga, news of his death causing general sorrow in this city where he at one time lived.

"Rev. Mr. McGhee was one of the best-known gentlemen of this section. For years he was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, being a Christian gentleman admired and loved by all who were thrown in contact with him.

"Rev. Mr. McGhee was well known among the older residents of the city, and all who knew him speak of him in the highest terms as a minister and as a man. He devoted almost his entire life to his church and its work, and in his death a genuine loss will be felt."

Brother McGhee's daughter, Miss Lillie May, wrote me as follows, which I take the liberty of quoting:

"About sixteen months ago he had to give up active work. For many months he suffered intensely at times with sciatic rheumatism. Finally a combination of heart and kindred troubles ended his career January 9, 1920. During his long appointed time of suffering he showed that spirit of courage which characterized his whole life. He was ever keenly interested in all things pertaining to the welfare of his church and bravely fought to be restored to his former state of health in order to be able again to serve his church. His sufferings were keen, yet they 'bore the mark of the Kings gold!' And though oft times impatient because of his limitations, we know that his spirit, refined, is at rest."

Sister McGhee has been an invalid for thirteen months. Thus the last year of their long pilgrimage on earth they suffered and sympathized each with the other. Now she is left to finish the journey without him by her side. God is sustaining her wonderfully. Writes the daughter: "His was a honest purpose in life, which was executed with courage, fidelity, and perseverance. For three score years being 'about his Father's business' was his chief concern. A strong faith in his Heavenly Father, whom he learned to know so well, made him a blessing to others."

Brother McGhee is survived by his wife and the following children: Mr. W. C. McGhee, of Dalton, Ga; Miss Lillie May McGhee, Dr. John McGhee; and Messrs Joe and Will McGhee, of Chattanooga.

His funeral service was conducted in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, corner of Oak and Lindsay Streets, on Sunday morning at 10:40 by the pastor, Rev. George W. Burroughs, assisted by Rev. Hugh S. McCord and Rev. A. C. Stribling. After the service the body was taken to Dalton, Ga., for interment in West Hill cemetery, where a brief service was held by Rev. Frank K. Sims, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Dalton. The deceased was a Royal Arch Mason and was buried with Masonic honors.

Farewell, true yoke fellow, until we meet again on that eternal shore. To the heart-stricken family we would say: "Sorrow not even as others who have no hope." Yours is a rich heritage.

"Servant of God, well done:
   Rest from thy loved employ;
The battle fought, the victory won,
   Enter thy Master's joy."

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, February 19, 1920, page 13]

[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1920, page 113]

Zerah Marian McGhee "was a beloved minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for 58 years." In a memoriam to the Rev. McGhee, it was noted that he "...spent his entire life as a preacher in the territory now covered by the Chattanooga and Robert Donnell Presbyteries...The earlier part of his ministry was spent in what was then new territory for our Church. He preached, planted, and defended the 'Who-So-Ever-Will' faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In the Church courts, he was a wise and safe counselor, and knew the law of the Church."

Z. M. McGhee, like Hiram Douglass, S. H. Henry, A. R. T. Hambright, and Allison Templeton, was an active missionary in southeast Tennessee and north Georgia during the nineteenth century, and early part of the twentieth century. Throughout his ministerial career, he preached and supplied almost every one of the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches organized in Georgia. He was responsible directly or indirectly for the organization or founding of many of the early Cumberland Presbyterian Churches of Ocoee, Georgia, and Chattanooga Presbyteries in the late nineteenth century.

The Rev. McGhee was also like the Rev. Hiram Douglass and other Cumberland preachers in Georgia and southeast Tennessee in the late nineteenth century. He placed the success and well being of the Church above everything else--including, at times, his family. He traveled by horse and buggy, horseback, train, and even on foot to meet his appointments. Many times, he found several Cumberland Presbyterian Churches without a pastor and in a disorganized state. He supplied these congregations until a more permanent arrangement could be worked out for sustaining the church organization. It was this kind of devoted service and duty to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which made him such a popular pastor in southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Churches which the Rev. McGhee supplied included the following: Liberty, Cassandra, Fairmount in Tennessee, and Fairmount in Georgia, Clear Springs, Bartow, Pleasant Grove, Dayton, Falling Water, Retro, Tunnel Hill, Oak Grove, Trenton, Dalton, Adairsville, Resaca, Bronco, Atlanta, Tilton, Jasper, Charleston, New Prospect, Silverdale, Flint Springs, Sherman Heights, and Red Bank.

The Rev. McGhee was born on October 22, 1835, in Hamilton County, Tennessee, near Red Clay, Georgia. He was the son of Nehemiah McGhee and Elizabeth Braynt McGhee. He was the fifth of twelve children. His father received a large land grant following the Ocoee Purchase, and later became a wealthy farmer and justice of the peace in Hamilton County.

Z. M. McGhee was reared on his father's farm. He participated in the farm duties and attended the country schools of Hamilton County. In 1853, at the age of 18, he and his brother Jim enrolled in an academy in Harrison, Tennessee, where they studied for the next two years. In 1860, Z. M. entered Ewing and Jefferson College in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here he continued his studies until the fall of Fort Donelson in 1862. The fall of this Confederate fort to the federal army forced the school to close until after the war. The war deprived McGhee of completing a college education.

In 1851, Z. M. McGhee professed Jesus Christ and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. According to the June 5, 1889 issue of the Cumberland Presbyterian, McGhee attended the Ewing Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church before entering the Cumberland Presbyterian ministry.

The spring 1920 minutes of Chattanooga Presbytery indicated that the Rev. McGhee was one of the people who helped organize Georgia Presbytery in 1857 at Sumach Church. Since he was not yet a minister, he attended the organization meeting as a congregational elder or delegate. It is believed that he represented either the Flint Springs Church, the Ewing Grove Church or both congregations.

In 1860, Z. M. McGhee presented himself to Georgia Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry. On April 6, 1861, he was licensed to preach the gospel, and on October 6, 1862, with Georgia Presbytery meeting at the Ooltewah Church, he and the Rev. A. R. T. Hambright were ordained Cumberland Presbyterian ministers. The Rev. W. W. Estill preached the ordination sermon; Rev. Hiram Douglass presided and gave the charge.

On November 6, 1862, the Rev. McGhee married the former Sarah Cameron of Reeves Station, near Calhoun, Georgia. To this marriage was born five sons and two daughters. The Rev. and Mrs. McGhee were married for over fifty years, and celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on November 6, 1912 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

During his career, McGhee's influence and popularity increased among the Cumberland Presbyterian living in southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. For years, he preached from town to rural hamlet in the Georgia and Ocoee Presbyteries. Wherever he preached, whether in a church, store, or under a shade tree, a welcome always awaited him in the home of some grateful Cumberland Presbyterian family. According to Eugenia Coulter Witt, in her history of the Coulter Family of Walker County, Georgia, an example of this gratitude was recorded as follows: "Will and Betty Coulter were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (the Cassandra Church near LaFayette, Georgia). Their home was one that the minister McGhee often attended. Here they served fried chicken, ham and red eye gravy, green beans, cooked for hours, baked sweet potatoes, home made sausage, hot biscuits, corn bread thrown in for good measure, besides the cake and pies, big luscious peach and blackberry cobblers."

The Rev. McGhee organized many congregations and superintended the construction of several church buildings in Chattanooga Presbytery. He organized the Dalton Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Dalton, Georgia in 1869, and supervised the construction of their church building several years later. He served as pastor of the Dalton congregation until 1880.

In 1869, the Rev. McGhee also organized the Tunnel Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church, north of Dalton, Georgia. He also supervised the construction of their church house.

In 1868, the Rev. McGhee succeeded the Rev. Allison Templeton as pastor of the Liberty Church, south of Calhoun, Georgia. He supplied this church for the next forty years, and the congregation enjoyed the golden era of its history.

McGhee also organized Adairsville Church in 1867, Resaca Church in 1868, and Cassandra Church in 1878. For a brief period of time, he also served in Robert Donnell Presbytery in Alabama, where he supplied the Scottsboro, and Stevenson Cumberland Presbyterian Churches. As with most preachers, McGhee had favorite churches he enjoyed serving. These congregations included Liberty, Dalton, Tilton, and Bartow.

The Rev. McGhee was very active in the affairs of Church government. According to the spring 1920 minutes of Chattanooga Presbytery, the Rev. McGhee "filled the office of stated clerk in both Georgia and Chattanooga Presbyteries. He answered the roll call consecutively two sessions a years in his presbytery for over 53 years making a total of 107 meetings, setting a record. He was never absent from a meeting of presbytery until the two meetings prior to his death. His feeble condition prevented him from attending these two sessions. McGhee also served as moderator of the East Tennessee Synod at Charleston and the Tennessee Synod at Fayetteville, Tennessee in 1911. He represented his presbytery in 12 meetings of the General Assembly."

In 1906, the Rev. McGhee opposed the abortive union of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Following the General Assembly's mandate to join with the Northern Presbyterian, McGhee and fellow ministers who had opposed unification of the two Presbyterian bodies continued to function as Cumberland Presbyterians, and to perpetuate the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They held Chattanooga Presbytery together for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

The late Rev. Walter L. Swartz once commented that the Rev. McGhee was an excellent writer, and a good preacher. Swartz also observed, however, that Mr. McGhee's sermons were sometimes very long and that it was not unusual to find him speaking for several hours at one interval. The Rev. McGhee's publications included two editions of Christian Baptism and Communion, Christian Baptism; Its Object, Mode, and Subjects, and biographical sketches of the Rev. Allison Templeton, the Rev. Hiram Douglass, and the Rev. S. H. Henry in the Cumberland Presbyterian. The Rev. McGhee was also a Royal Arch Mason.

Z. M. McGhee lived to the age of 84. In 1919, he retired from the active ranks of the ministry. He died on January 9, 1920, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he had lived for a number of years. The Rev. George W. Burroughs, the Rev. Hugh S. McCord, and the Rev. A. C. Stribling officiated at his funeral. He was buried in the West Hill Cemetery in Dalton, Georgia. At the time of his death, The Chattanooga Times reported that, "For about sixty years, (McGhee) preached the gospel in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was a man of great courage, conviction, emphatic expression, and strenuous service. It is said that he broke nearly all records in the matter of attending presbytery. He was a vigorous writer as well as a strong speaker. He was a striking personality. Thousands of men, women, and children who came under the gripping power of his preaching will rise up and call him blessed for his part in leading them to Christ."

The Rev. Z. M. McGhee was one of the premier ministers in the work of Georgia, Ocoee, and Chattanooga Presbyteries. The Rev. McGhee was a frontier minister who possessed the qualities needed to advance Cumberland Presbyterianism in northwest Georgia and southeast Tennessee.

Z. M. McGhee
A Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Z. M. McGhee. (1920, Feb. 19). The Cumberland Presbyterian, p. 13.

Abbott, Nell Suttles. (1975). Within Our Bounds; A History of Cherokee Presbytery, 1844-1974. Rome, GA: The Cherokee Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.

Chattanooga Presbytery Minutes of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1880-1920. Memphis, TN: Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Z. M. McGhee Passes Away. (1920, January 10). Chattanooga Times, p. 16.

Gregory, Conway. (1977). Sumach on the Hill. Memphis, TN: Frontier Press.

Georgia Presbytery Minutes of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1880-1899. Memphis, TN: Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

History of the Silverdale Cumberland Presbyterian Church. (1969). Silverdale, TN: Unpublished church history.

Linn, Francis. (1969). History of the Bartow Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Fairmount, GA: Unpublished church history.

McGhee, Mary Baker, & Burch, Sarah McGhee. (1969, June 24). Life Sketch of the Rev. Z. M. McGhee. Unpublished manuscript.

Ocoee Presbytery Minutes of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1867-73; 1880-1889. Memphis, TN: Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Old Timer. (1951, December 24 and 27). Liberty Cumberland Presbyterian Church has colorful history. The Calhoun Times, p. 4.

Pitts, Lulie. (1933). History of Gordon County, Georgia. Calhoun, GA: Press of the Calhoun Times.

Shaw, A. F. (1903, Jan. 8). New Prospect Baptist Church. Walker County Messenger, p. 3.

Swaim, Will T. (1900, February 22). Cumberland Presbyterian Church. North Georgia Citizen, p. 7.

Swartz, Walter L. (1976, January ). Personal interview.

Witt, Eugenia Coulter. (1956, September). Coulter Family History. Unpublished family history.

Wooten, John Morgan. (1949). History of Bradley County, Tennessee. Cleveland, TN: Published by American Legion Post Number 81 in cooperation with the Tennessee Historical Society.

[Source: Gregory, Jr., Conway. A Presbytery Called Chattanooga: Tracing the History of Chattanooga Presbytery, Cumberland Presbyterian Church From 1842 to 1989. Alpharetta, GA: WH Wolfe Associates, 1994, pages 619-621 & 747]

McGhee, Rev. Z. M. Christian Baptism its Object, Mode and Subjects. Chattanooga, Tenn., 1902. [1 copy in archives]

McGhee, Rev. Z. M. Christian Baptism its Object, Mode and Subjects: also a chapter on The Communion. Second Edition. East Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1914. [3 copies in archives]