Sparta through Double Wells to Raytown and Washington, the original place of worship, constructed of hand-hewn logs, was also the first Catholic Church built in Georgia. Father Whelan had offered the first Mass in the home of Thomas G. Semmes in the town of Washington in 1835. At Bishop England's death, Ignatius A. Reynolds was appointed to the position. On a visit to Locust Grove in 1844, he expressed deep satisfaction with the religious proficiency of the children. Two years later another report summed up Whelan's whole pastorate: "In the diocese…there is not a congregation, remote and rural as it is, in which, taking proportionate numbers into the scale, we find the youth are more moral, orderly and better instructed." The Diocese of Savannah In 1850 the new diocese of Savannah, encompassing all of Georgia and part of Florida, was established, and Francis Xavier Gartland became its first bishop. In 1854 Father Gregory Duggan of Augusta became ill during a yellow fever epidemic. Whelan journeyed to Augusta to help handle Duggan's affairs. He was then summoned to Savannah when Bishop Gartland, while ministering to victims of yellow fever, caught the disease himself and died. Father Whelan would be stationed here for the rest of his life. The young diocese was without a bishop until the Reverend John Barry, the interim administrator, was consecrated in August 1857, and Whelan was appointed his vicar general. However, tragedy struck again in November 1859 when Barry died on a trip to France. Soon, Whelan became administrator of the whole diocese. Although he purportedly had been recommended for the Episcopal dignity, Bishop Patrick Lynch of Charleston and the priests of Savannah had to pressure Whelan to accept the office of administrator until a new bishop could be appointed. This duty was unusually difficult for Whelan. In a report of January 25, 1861, to the Propagation of the Faith, he indicated that Barry's sudden death had left the diocese in disarray. Distance between missions, lack of good communications, and a scarcity of priests increased the burden. Debt payments were due on various projects, such as the schools and churches so vitally needed for the poor Irish immigrants. One priest visiting Savannah in 1859 said that he witnessed the bishop, priests, and thirty orphans "huddled together in a shanty through which the wind whistled as through a basket." Relief finally came for Whelan in September 1861, when