South Carolina Baptists Leah Townsend
South Carolina Baptists Leah Townsend
South Carolina Baptists Leah Townsend
STATE HISTORIES
1670-1805
BY
Originally Published
Florence, South Carolina
1935
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
MAP
Baptist Churches in South Carolina prior to 1805, with location and date of
construction. Compiled by Leah Townsend, drawn by E. Lamar Holman.
ABBREVIATIONS
CB Church Book
CC Clerk of Court
JC Journal of the Council
JCHA Journal of the Commons House of Assembly
JHR Journal of the House of Representatives
JS Journal of the Senate
PC Probate Court
RMC Register of Mesne Conveyance
SCHGM South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine
YBC Year Book of the City of Charleston
FOREWORD
The manuscript of South Carolina Baptists 1670-1805 was submitted in 1926
to the Department of History of the University of South Carolina and accepted
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy
in American history. The undertaking grew out of the writers intense interest
in religious history and the absence of any general account of the Baptists of
this State; the effort throughout has been to treat Baptist history alone, and to
give only enough political and religious background to present a clear view of
the Baptists themselves. The summaries and deductions are the personal
opinions of a layman; the material, largely from church books and minutes of
associations, includes a mass of biographical data employing the spelling of
names used in the church books without attempt to suggest modern
equivalents.
Professor R. L. Meriwether, head of the Department of History of the
University of South Carolina, supervised the work from its inception and
supplied the inspiration of wide knowledge and insight into social problems
and of a peculiar power to stimulate historical thought. The charming
personality and eager helpfulness of the late Dr. Yates Snowden, in opening up
his library of rare Caroliniana and in bringing such unusual offerings as the
clipping describing the Henry Holcombe pamphlet, often relieved the drudgery
inevitable to the undertaking. The manuscript has had the benefit of historical
inspection by Dr. Anne King Gregorie, Mount Pleasant, S.C., and by Mr. A. S.
Salley, Secretary of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, whose
accurate knowledge of local history and biographical material was of
extraordinary value.
Thanks are due the late Dr. W. J. McGlothlin, President, and Miss Eva
Wrigley, Librarian, Furman University, for their generously permitting the use
of the Baptist Historical Collection; to Miss Ellen M. Fitzsimons, of the
Charleston Library Society; to Rev. Frank G. Lewis, Librarian, Crozer
Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa.; to Mr. Alester G. Furman, Sr., Greenville,
S.C.; and many others, including Mrs. Margaret Babcock Meriwether, of
Columbia, S.C., for her criticisms of style and arrangement, and Miss Flora B.
Surles, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., for her painstaking preparation of the
manuscript for the printer.
LEAH TOWNSEND
Florence, South Carolina
February 14, 1935
ordinance correctly for the first time. From this hostility to infant baptism
came the name Antipedobaptists.
The Peasants Revolt in Germany brought much reproach upon some of the
new sects which were too literal in their interpretation of the Scriptures. A
group called Anabaptists collecting in Munster in Westphalia about 1525
under the fanatical Jan Matthys, who preached the millenium, fell into such
disorder and licentiousness as to bring destruction upon those in the city and
universal horror of their name. As the Roman Catholic Church righted itself in
some sections of Europe, and one or another of the new sects became the
establishment in others, persecution fell upon the Anabaptists in all quarters.
Like those of similar beliefs leaving England during the Separatist movement,
many of them found refuge in America.
Even before the beginning of migration to America, the Baptists were dividing
upon questions of doctrine. In England, from which most of the seventeenthcentury Baptists of America came, they were early described as in two
divisions, General and Particular Baptists. f2 The Particular Baptists, in
addition to their stand on baptism, were in the main Calvinistic, holding to
election and close communion of the elect only and using the congregational
type of church organization. The General Baptists, though resembling the
Particular Baptists in many respects, were more lax in the matters of baptism
and communion, rejected personal and unconditional election and reprobation,
and were Arminian in their beliefs; that is, they admitted the possibility of
universal redemption by repentance and baptism in Christ and of relapsing
from grace, doctrines like those of the Methodists. f3 Both groups sent
immigrants to America where they retained their differences.
Roger Williams is claimed to have been the first Baptist in America. f4 Not as a
Baptist, however, but as a person dangerous to the Puritan theocracy due to his
attacks on the charter and his insistence on freedom of conscience and
complete separation of church and state, incidentally two cardinal Baptist
principles, he was the first of many driven from Massachusetts Bay to found or
to strengthen tolerant colonies. Others were later exiled as Baptists, for the
odium resulting from the Munster debacle attached to all of the sect even after
their migration to the new world. Regarding them as dangerous to government
and religion, Massachusetts Bay in 1644 and Virginia in 1659 and 1662 passed
laws against persons refusing to have infants baptized. f5
After 1670 such persons could find peace in Carolina, where, in matters of
religion, toleration was the attitude of the provincial government toward all
sects (except the Roman Catholic) dissenting from the Anglican Church.
Toleration was made possible by the second charter of the Lords Proprietors of
Carolina, and was continued under the Fundamental Constitutions though they
Charleston. This plantation he may have named Somerton, and it has since
1725 borne the title, but it is more probable that the whole community about
him was known to its members by that name; there was never a town in the
South Carolina sense. The neighboring grants were held by Permanow (or
Permanus) Screven, a son of Rev. William Screven, and by Elizabeth and
Robert Wetherick, Champernoun Elliott, and Humphrey Axtell, all Baptists
and all except the last in some way connected with Rev. William Screven. f17
This group was probably the nucleus of the church which emigrated from
Maine to South Carolina; that there were probably others of the congregation
there appears from letters and reports of Rev. Samuel Thomas, missionary in
South Carolina of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts. In 1702 he found many Anabaptists on the Eastern Branch of the
Cooper, and in 1705 he states more definitely that there were about thirty
Anabaptist families in those parts. He found many Anabaptists also on the
Ashley and on the Stono, probably some of the respectable dissenters who
came with Blake, Axtell, and Cardross. f18 It is said that Mr. Blake was a
favourer of the Baptists, and [his] lady and her mother [Lady Axtell] were of
that persuasion ; however, Blake seems to have had Calvinistic rather than
Baptist sympathies. f19
The traditional date of the founding of the First Baptist Church in Charleston is
1683. This date has been assigned on the assumption usually made that Rev.
William Screven came to South Carolina in 1682 or 1683, but as has already
been shown, such an assumption is untenable. However, if any of Mr.
Screvens congregation at Kittery preceded him to South Carolina, and there,
together with members of the dissenting groups brought over by Blake,
Cardross, and others, organized a church, the care of which Mr. Screven
assumed immediately upon his coming to the province and which later moved
to Charleston, the date 1683 is a possible one, though there is no proof of its
correctness. The Charleston Church also claims 1682 because of its alleged
identity with the Kittery Church. f20
Whatever the facts about a church brought by Mr. Screven to the neighborhood
of his plantation on the Cooper River, by 1693 numbers of Baptists had begun
to collect in Charleston where by 1699 there was a Baptist congregation
including Atwells, Bullines, Elliotts, Bakers, Ravens, Blakes, Barkers, Butlers,
Chapmans, Childs, Caters, Whitakers, Bryants, and others. f21 Their services
are said to have been held for a time in a temporary building or in the home of
William Chapman. f22 On July 18, 1699, William Elliott executed a deed of gift
of lot No. 62 on Church Street in trust,
as well for and in consideration of the brotherly love which he hath for, and
doth bear unto the people of the Church of Christ, baptized on profession of
Mr. Screven for a time and then held the pastorate until his death. f34 He is said
by the Anglican commissary to have been a tallow chandler, a Baptist teacher
towards the Southward, both he and Mr. Screven extremely ignorant, but
this more seemingly modest than the other. f35 Mr. Sanford taught also
among the Edisto Island Baptists at the time. f36 His successor, Mr. William
Peart, from England, a good preacher and a man of real piety, is said to have
served the church about eleven years and to have been active and successful in
church extension, though from the evidence it appears that most of the new
churches were erected during the pastorate of his successor, Rev. Thomas
Simmons, who arrived in Charleston in 1723, shortly after Mr. Pearts death,
and assumed the care of the church March 20, 1725. f37
Mr. Simmons pastorate was a season of contrasts. Meeting houses were
erected near Ashley River, on Edisto Island, and near the Stono sixteen miles
from Charleston. f38 The membership of the Charleston church fell to three, but
later rose to about a hundred communicants. f39 The will of Lady Elizabeth
Blake dated September 30, 1725, devised unto the building of an anabaptist
Parsonage house in Charles Town fifty pounds, and towards the maintenance
of the minister of the People commonly called in way of derition Anabaptists
twenty pounds per annum; f40 Mr. Simmons later had the parsonage and
outhouses built for his use on the church lot. f41 Samuel Screven, planter, of
James Island, in 1731 gave one hundred pounds currency to the Use and
Benefit of the Pedo Baptist Meeting house in Charles-Town. f42
Later, however, a trying period began. The meeting house, it appears, was
blown down sometime in 1731; the Council proposed to aid in repairing it, but
as this was not allowed, the repairs must have been carried out by the
congregation. f43 They could scarcely have recovered from this misfortune
when a worse overtook them.
In the early thirties, Mr. Simmons congregation was badly depleted by the
secession of a group under the leadership of William Elliott, Jr., who professed
Arminian, and seemingly also Arian, sentiments. These, forming a separate
organization about 1735, sent to England for one Mr. Ingram a minister
holding the same tenets, f44 and were thereafter called General Baptists to
distinguish them in faith and practice from the original church whose members
were called Particular Baptists. f45 The General Baptists transferred their
meetings to the building at Stono, and will be discussed under that church.
This secession was not the only doctrinal difference overtaking the Charleston
Church during the ministry of Rev. Mr. Simmons. Mr. Simmons himself, it
appears, was suspended by the majority and his church again split because of
his suspension. Some of the members of his congregation ordered him to
vacate the pulpit, but a party under Mr. Francis Gracia put him back in his
pulpit by force. The majority group strenuously objected to sitting under the
instruction of their former minister, f46 and about August, 1744, several of
them,
in particular James Fowler, William Brisbane, John Sheppard & Alexander
Sheppard, did strike and raze their Names out of the Subscription to the said
Church, and said they would not continue of or have anything more to do with
the said Church. And the said James Fowler did at the same time raze out the
names of John Raven Bedon, Francis Baker, James Mash, Joseph Atwell and
others, and then alledged it was by their express order he did so. And the
said Fowler, Brisbane and others actually sent to Pensilvania for a Pastor
or Minister for themselves. f47
This energetic group speedily set about ousting Mr. Simmons entirely, but with
rather unexpected results.
William Elliott had conveyed, on July 18, 1699, lot No. 62 in trust to William
Sadler, John Raven, Thomas Bulline, Thomas Graves, and John Elliott for the
Protestant Dissenting Anti-paedo Baptists vulgarly called Anabaptists. A
deed of August 4, 1712, confirmed this lot to the use of the Antipedobaptists
but named John Raven, Sr., Richard Butler, Ephraim Mikell, Lawrence
Dennis, John Raven, Jr., and Henry Turner as trustees f48 It appears that the
trust lapsed in 1744 due to the death of the appointees without having renewed
it, and to make their possession of lot No. 62 legal, Sundry Members of the
Antipaedo-Baptist Church in Charlestown, or as later appeared, the seceding
Particular group, then in their opinion without a minister, presented a petition
to the Assembly on January 26, 1745, asking that new trustees be appointed.
The group led by Rev. Mr. Simmons, pastor, and Francis Gracia, deacon, and
supported by the General Baptists meeting at Stono under Mr. Henry
Heywood, immediately presented a counter petition laying claim to the lot in
question in the name of the Antipedobaptist church in Charleston and stating
That how specious soever the said Petitioners pretences may appear these
Petitioners hope they transgress no rule of charity in saying that not so much
the establishing the Premises upon a more solid and lasting foundation is their
view as the obtaining a power to turn the Petitioner Thomas Simmonds out of
possession of the said Lot and Houses and from the pastoral charge is their
design. f49
Both groups were allowed to call in counsel; Charles Barker testified that
William Elliott the elder had been a Calvinistic Antipedobaptist at the time of
the gift of lot No. 62 but had later been suspended from communion,
whereupon he separated from that Congregation intirely, Mr. Barker also
objected to Elisha and William Butler as trustees under the bill because they
adhered to Mr. Heywoods meeting, whose Doctrine is diametrically opposite
in several Material Points to that of those in Charles Town. Thomas Bulline
also declared that his father, one of the original trustees, was a Calvinistic
Baptist, and that Elisha and William Butler were not. Then Mr. Simmons and
Mr. Gracia presented another petition May 1, 1745, praising the wisdom of the
House in providing trustees from both factions and also an indifferent person,
assuring their Honours that William Elliott the elder was an Arminian
Antipedobaptist at the time of the gift and that the church long contained
members of both persuasions who had lived in peace and harmony together
until both began to carry their ideas too far. Counsel for Mr. Simmons and Mr.
Gracia called Mr. Simmons and William Elliott, Jr., as witnesses to the fact
that William Elliott the elder at the time of the gift was a General Baptist and
had always been one. An extract of the minutes of the church was offered in
evidence certified by Rev. Henry Heywood and Dr. Thomas Dale, son-in-law
of Mr. Simmons. f50
An act of May 25, 1745, with provision for perpetual renewal of the trust
vested in William Screven of James Island, John Raven (a minor; his guardian
Branfill Evance to act for him until he should come of age), and Paul Grimball
(Particular Baptists); Elisha and William Butler (General Baptists); Francis
Gracia (of Mr. Simmons group, claiming to be a Particular Baptist); and John
Ladson of Johns Island, probably the indifferent person mentioned, further
declared
for the preventing any disputes that may hereafter arise all the Antipaedo
Baptists, as well those distinguished by the name of General Baptists as those
distinguished by the name of Particular Baptists, are entitled to and shall have
an equal right in the said lot numbered sixty-two, and the appurtenances; and
each of the said sects shall and lawfully may make use of the same for divine
service; f51
The result must have been rather startling and wholly unsatisfactory to the
ultra-Particular group which had brought in the petition for renewal, for if they
continued to use the meeting house on lot No. 62, they had, under the new law,
to allow not only the group of members toward whom they were disaffected to
share it with them, but the General Baptists as well, a thing so much against
their will and conscience that they built a second meeting house fifty-nine by
forty-two feet in 1745, which was later enlarged. f52 In this they met at first
every other Sunday, and used the old church alternately with the General
Baptists, but on October 9, 1758, the two groups agreed that the General
Baptists should have the sole use of the old meeting house and the Particular
Baptists the sole use of the parsonage. f53 The members purchasing the new lot
in trust from Martha Fowler, widow of James Fowler, in 1755,
To and for, the only proper use Benefit & behoof of all and Every the
People, Known by the Name of Antipaedobaptists Owning and
Acknowledging the Doctrines of Personal Election & Final perservance [sic.],
& disowning and denying Arian Arminian and Socinian Principles, included
William Screven, William Brisbane, James Screven, Robert Screven, Thomas
Dixon, William Screven, Jr., Nathaniel Bulline, James Brisbane, David Stoll,
and Samuel Stiilman. f54
These same members are said to have observed a day of fasting and prayer on
June 24, 1745, and to have signed a covenant reaffirming their Calvinistic
principles. f55
At this period (1740-1745) a hot controversy was raging throughout America
with regard to the Rev. George Whitefield and his methods. Each appearance
of Mr. Whitefield renewed the flood of extravagantly admiring letters from his
friends and virulently abusive articles from his enemies published over such
signatures as Arminius, Philaretes, Philalethes, Philanthropos, Zealot,
Publicola, etc. f56 One of Mr. Whitefields earnest followers was Rev. Isaac
Chanler, the Ashley River pastor, who preached on July 30, 1740, the first of a
series of Wednesday evening lectures which Mr. Whitefield had persuaded
various dissenting ministers about Charleston to undertake. f57 During his stay
in Charleston in 1740, Mr. Whitefield preached for Mr. Chanler at Ashley
River and also almost every day to great crowds in the Independent and Baptist
meeting houses. Charleston was the place of his greatest success and of the
greatest opposition. f58 One of the lukewarm, if not actually hostile, was Rev.
Mr. Simmons. An article signed Philaretes, October 3, 1741, uses most
abusive language with regard to Zealot II, whom Philaretes supposes to be
Rev. Isaac Chanler, and speaks of good Mr. Simmonds, whose Humility and
Modesty had been a good Pattern for [Mr. Chanler] to have walked by. f59
Mr. Chanler speedily denied being Zealot II, f60 but the rift in Baptist harmony
due to Mr. Whitefields doctrines and methods indicated in Philaretes writings
is confirmed by the second outbreak of praise and vituperation in 1744-1745.
Though Mr. Whitefield is accused of pretending to be, while begging,
A staunch Churchman in Old England! A thorough Independent in New
England! An Anabaptist mong Anabaptists! A true-blue Kirkman in
Scotland! And a Quaker mong Quakers! becoming all Things to all Men, not
that he might gain some, but make some Gain of all! f61
yet the evidence seems to indicate that he was a sincere and ardent evangelist
whose flaming zeal had an immense but shattering effect on strongly
Calvinistic congregations, as witness the New Light Stir and the Charleston
Baptist Church. Mr. Simmons is reported to have declared to the Commons
House
That the unhappy Difference now subsisting between him and his People
(whom he said he still lovd in sincerity) was owing to his having given a
gentle Reproof to Mr. W-f-d, for recommending very strongly a Book entitled
The Country Parsons Advice to his Parishioners, the Author of which seems
to be as great a Friend to Popery as Archbishop Tillotson was its Enemy
Mr. W-d excusd himself by saying he had not read the Book when he
recommended it. there are many Things in the Writings and Conduct of dear
Mr. W-fi-y [sic], that look very wishfully towards his HOLINESS TOE f62
The factions seem clearly indicated the Particular group led by Rev. Isaac
Chanler, of Ashley River, warmly advocating Whitefields course and
doctrines, the Moderate group led by Rev. Thomas Simmons less enthusiastic,
and the General, Baptists openly opposed to Whitefield. f63 With the carrying of
the question of lot No. 62 into the Assembly, Rev. Thomas Simmons and his
supporters found themselves between the two factions, and having no hope of
compromise with the Particular group, they compounded with the General
Baptists for peaceable possession of the pastorate and premises for the few
remaining years of Mr. Simmons life. Although he was, as he claims, a
Calvinistic Baptist, f64 this seemed to make him of the General Baptist party
and has brought the accusations later made that the second disruption of his
church was caused by his leaning toward the General Baptists. f65
Thus diminished and shattered by doctrinal differences, by secessions, and by
constitution of branches into separate bodies, the Particular group was at one
time dangerously near extinction. f66 Yet Mr. Whitefields coming caused a
revival, and many soon joined them. f67 In 1747 after Mr. Simmons death, f68
Mr. Gracia and those who had followed him were restored to the communion
of the church, and but for their lack of a minister they might have become a
strong congregation. A service every other week by Mr. Chanler from Ashley
River did not keep up the enthusiasm nor the growth of the church. f69 Upon the
death of Mr. Chanler in 1749, Rev. Oliver Hart began his ministry, being
called to the Pastoral Charge of the Baptist Church in Chas: Town Feb. ye
16th, 1749-50. f70 His arrival presaged peace, but trouble was not yet over. In
the violent gale and flood of September 15, 1752, Mr. Harts house was
washed down and the ends of the new meeting house were broken in by the
wind, or by a wind-driven vessel, and the church book destroyed. f71
Mr. Harts diary gives every evidence of great spirituality and complete
absorption in the work of his ministry. On Sunday he preached morning and
afternoon, and then lectured in the evening at Mrs. Bakers or Mr. Stillmans
to the Society (possibly the beginning of the Religious Society), to which he
also spoke often on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, and sometimes on
other nights of the week; he also had a weekly Wednesday afternoon meeting
about which he remarks: there are so few Attends these Wednesday Lectures,
and those few so late before they come; that I am much discouraged in keeping
them up; the Lord knows what is Best; I hope I desire to be guided by his
Will: In 1754 a revival took place among the young people, who often came
Mr. Harts relations with other ministers were most cordial; he went to hear the
rector, Rev. Richard Clarke, preach, and also called on him and was pleased
with his Catholick Spirit, which Mr. Hart thought proved by an occurence of
October 27, 1754:
In the Evening I buried a Child in the Church Burying Ground, and Spoke
Extempore, perhaps the first Instance of this Nature that ever was known in
this Province. the Church Minister was sick and could not attend himself;
therefore gave me free Liberty to speak in my own way: which Discovered an
Catholick Spirit. Ooh that all Bigotry was rooted out of the Earth; then would
there subsist a greater Harmony between persons of all persuasions, than what
does: it is Indeed a pity that our little outward Differences Should cause Such
a Shyness between us.
Rev. Messrs. William Hutson and John Joachim Zubly, of the Independent
Churches in Charleston and Wappetaw. respectively, often preached for Mr.
Hart during this period. and he heartily approved their testimony and that of
the rector against Stage Plays which was the more Seasonable, as there is
now a House building for the Stage players to Act in. In 1757 one William
Mason opened a school in the new Baptist Meeting-house, intending to teach
reading, writing, and arithmetic, vulgar and decimal, and the extraction of
roots, and also to keep books, draw up instruments of writing, etc. This was
apparently entirely a private enterprise. f75
The Charleston Church under Mr. Harts ministry occupied much the position
among the Baptists that the city had in the political, social, and economic life
of the province. Through his efforts, several churches united in 1751 in an
association, which held practically all of its meetings through 1778 with the
Charleston Church, and from this fact received the name Charleston
Association. f76 Mr. Hart went about the State and into Georgia to preach, to
assist in ordinations, and to aid in the constitution of new churches; and
visiting ministers often occupied his pulpit. Rev. John Gano, sent for at Mr.
Harts suggestion to go as a missionary to North Carolina and the back parts of
South Carolina, says of his first sermon in Charleston:
When I arose to speak, the sight of so brilliant an audience, among whom
were twelve ministers, and one of whom was Mr. Whitefield, for a moment
brought the fear of man upon me; f77
Only one serious break occurred in the peaceful course of Mr. Harts long
pastorate of nearly thirty years. This was the attempt about 1763 of Mr.
Nicholas Bedgegood to supplant him in the ministry of the Charleston Church.
His conscientious opposition was by some attributed to envy; and on the
failure of the plan, several of the wealthier members withdrew. f78
The position paid about thirty-four hundred thirty pounds currency per year,
from interest on its funds and the rent of pews and perquisites. f79
Mr. Pilmoor, one of the two first Methodist missionaries sent to America by
Wesley, stopped in Charleston in January, 1773. The kindness and cordiality
with which he was treated by both groups of Baptists give a pleasant picture of
relations among the evangelical denominations in Charleston, and it is
interesting to note the willingness and delight with which Mr. Hart and the two
Baptist congregations listened to this herald of a new denomination.
In the evening I went with two gentlemen to Mr. Tous, a gentleman that has
the care of the General Baptist meeting-house, to make application for the use
of the pulpit, which he readily granted, and we gave it out as much as we
could that there would be preaching there the following night At six in the
evening [Friday, January 22d] I preached my first sermon in Charleston. As
the notice was but short, our congregation was not large but very serious. Two
ministers were present all the time, and behaved very well. The Baptist
minister, Mr. Hart, returned me thanks for my sermon, and invited me to
preach in his pulpit Saturday in the evening the congregation was three
times as large as that we had last night. As the General Baptists have no
minister, and thinking it more blessed to give than to receive, I gladly
consented to preach for them on Sunday morning we had a very full house at
ten oclock. At three oclock I preached for Mr. Hart, to the Particular
Baptists,. and in the evening, notwithstanding the rain, the house was as full
as it could hold, and all behaved as well as the people in Philadelphia. This
was thought very extraordinary, for when I first proposed evening preaching I
was told it would be impracticable on account of the mob, Tuesday I
went to dine with Mr. Patrick, where I met the Rev. Mr. Hart, the Baptist
Minister, who is not only sensible, but truly evangelical, and very devout. At
night the house was as full as it could well hold Charleston bids fair for a
revival of religion. Sunday, 31 At ten oclock I preached in the Old
Meeting, and was favored with the illuminations of grace, and the divine
energy of the Holy Spirit. At two, we had a gracious season at the New
Meeting, and in the evening we had the largest congregation I have seen since
I left Virginia.f80
As the threatenings of trouble with England grew into the reality of the
Revolution, the worth of Mr. Hart and the strength of the Baptists received
recognition in his appointment as a member of a committee to journey through
the back country for the purpose of winning that section to the American
cause. Unfortunately Mr. Hart in his diary only mentions the matter, giving no
account of his trip or its effects. f81
The act of incorporation was passed October 9, 1778, of The Baptist Church
in Charlestown, whereof the Reverend Oliver Hart is now pastor. f82 The
corporation consists indiscriminately of church members and pew-holders, and
manages the secular concerns. Its officers are a President, Treasurer, Secretary,
and two Wardens, chosen annually on the 3d Wednesday in Sept. It is
governed by a system of Bye-Laws enacted in 1791. The spiritual concerns are
managed by those who are strictly members. f83
The congregation must have been badly scattered during these troublous times:
Mr. Hart mentions fleeing with his family on October 6, 1775, to the Euhaws;
and again on February 11, 1780, news of the advance of the British drove him
from Charleston, to which he did not return, going on through Virginia and
Pennsylvania to New Jersey. f84 The Baptist Church in Charleston remained in
correspondence with Mr. Hart, and solicited his return after the war, but he
refused, being then old and in a place of great usefulness. f85
The Charleston Church was active in petitioning the legislature during the
Revolution and after. In 1776 it requested the appointment of trustees to care
for its funds. f86 It must have been about this time that Colonel Thomas Screven
reported fourteen thousand seven hundred pounds currency in the possession
of the church, made up, it appears, of:
(1) Four hundred pounds given by Providence Hutchinson,
(2) five hundred pounds by James Fowler,
(3) six hundred pounds by William Screven (grandson of the first minister),
(4) five hundred pounds by Benjamin DHarriette, Esq.,
(5) five hundred pounds by Martha DHarriette,
(6) one thousand pounds by Elizabeth Gibbes,
Besides these, Rev. Messrs. Joshua Lewis, James Fowler, and Joseph Redding
are said to have been active in the service of the Charleston Church, and Mr.
Furman wrote Mr. Hart in January that there really appears a concern about
Religion in the Minds of several, especially the Negroes, f92 and Mr. Botsford
wrote in March:
I have been here six Lords days, and have to stay two more; have baptized
two, and expect to baptize others before I leave town. There is a pretty good
work begun. I have preached 41 sermons, go from house to house, and
blessed be God, sweet times we have. I have time to write but a few lines;
indeed I have hardly enjoyed an hour to myself since I have been in town.
Numbers of blacks come to see me, and some whites; and many I must go and
see. I doubt not that if there were a minister settled here, there would soon be
a flourishing Church. Who would have thought that your poor son Botsford
would have been owned as an instrument to bring souls to the Charleston
Church? I find the heart is the same in Charleston, as in the country. Crowds
attend public meetings, which are held three times on Lords days, and on
Wednesday evenings; every other evening we have meetings at private
houses, in which I have introduced praying for those poor distressed souls
who ask. f93
The next year, Mr. Furman and Mr. Botsford were again in Charleston and Mr.
Furman described with enthusiasm a considerable Effusion of the Holy
Spirit resulting in about thirty baptisms, among them those of Colonel
Thomas Screven and Captain John Hart f94
The trustees of the Charleston Church petitioned the legislature in 1785 for
power to dispose of certain lands on Edisto Island and Ashley River which
formerly belonged to two Baptist churches, Branches of the said Baptist
Church in Charleston, the Trustees and Members thereof being all extinct, but
nothing came of the request. f95 Also in 1785 organized Methodism began its
work in Charleston, brought by Rev. Francis Asbury and his assistants; who
obtained the use of an old meeting-house belonging to the General Baptists,
in which they had ceased to preach. f96 The implication in Baptist accounts is
that permission to use this old church was given by the Particular Baptists,
who, in 1786 and 1787, petitioned the legislature for repeal of the act of 1745
vesting lot No. 62 and its appurtenances in both the Particular and the General
Baptists, in order that they might take the whole of said property into actual
possession, according to their original and undoubted right, f97 as there is no
Society of the General Baptists now existing in Charleston. f98 In spite of this
direct assertion of their disappearance, the General Baptists presented a
counter petition asking for continuance of the act of 1745 with regard to lot
No. 62. f99 The matter was then taken into court, and settled in favor of the
Particular Baptists in 1787. f100 Ten years later they petitioned the legislature
for part of a certain piece of land near the city of Charleston containing
upwards of sixteen Acres, f101 formerly the property of the General Baptists;
but this had reverted to the heirs-at-law of William Elliott, the donor, when the
General Baptists became extinct in 1791. f102
In the year that gave them full possession of lot No. 62, the Particular Baptists
of Charleston secured the services of perhaps their ablest minister, Rev.
Richard Furman, formerly of High Hills of Santee, and already a leader in the
work of the association. Though the Methodists were soon out of the old
meeting house, the Baptists continued to use the newer building, which they
enlarged. f103 Dr. Furman lived in the parsonage house among the graves on lot
No. 62. f104 There was evidently some idea of moving the church, for Patrick
Hinds, who left fifty pounds for its use, also made provision for renting one of
the largest single pews with a View towards assisting in any Scheme which
may be formed by said Church for erecting a new and Commodious place of
publick Worship in a central or upper situation of the City. f105 This indicated
prosperity and a large membership, in spite of the fact that Bishop Asbury, of
the Methodist Church. who, on January 11, 1795, heard Mr. Furman preach an
death of Alexander Hamilton. f111 Hymns and anthems sung by the choir
accompanied these and other services. f112 It was thus with music and fine
oratory and influential leadership that the First Church of Charleston entered
the new century. f113
Of its early branches or arms, the history of the Ashley River Church is most
intimately connected with that of the Charleston Church. Many of the names
found in the city church early appear along the Ashley River. f114 These
families, it is claimed, for many years either went to Charleston to services, or
had the Charleston minister come out and hold meetings among them. f115 On
November 22, 1725, Richard Butler and his wife Sarah conveyed a lot of six
acres, a part of Tipseeboo or Clear Spring plantation, about fourteen miles
from Charleston on the public road, to the Ashley River Baptists, naming
William Cater, John Bulline, Thomas Inghran, William Elliott Jun, Robert
Booth, John Brown, Saml Screven, John Raven, and Richard Bedon, as
trustees for the Congregation of Antipedo Baptists. f116 They built a meeting
house on this lot in 1727, and a minister of ability, Rev. Isaac Chanler, coming
among them about 1733, the Ashley River congregation withdrew from the
Charleston Church and on May 24, 1736, by special covenant became a
separate organization with about twenty-seven constituents. f117
During the latter years of the pastorate of Rev. Thomas Simmons and until his
own death, Mr. Chanlers connection with the Charleston Church, at least with
the more rigidly Calvinistic group, was that of pastoral leadership. Rev.
George Whitefield spoke of him as that gracious Baptist minister, and
preached at Ashley River for him, while he strongly supported Whitefields
evangelical labors, conducted weekly evening lectures at his suggestion, and
defended his methods and doctrines so spiritedly as to bring forth several
articles of abuse and ridicule referring to a
certain V. D. M. that has so often loaded the Press with his Productions,
[who] assumes too much when he writes so often in the regal style and tells us
what We, or the Publick have a right to demand, when he is known to speak
the Sense of not all, even of his own party. f118
Though Mr. Chanler denied with dignity and good sense that he had written
any articles for the Gazette, f119 yet the accusations of his enemies were to this
extent true, that his attitude had sharpened dissension in the Charleston Church
and possibly in his own. An echo of the hostilities of that day appears in the
will of Richard Baker, who devised May 20, 1752, to a group which probably
comprised the influential members of the Ashley River congregation (Richard
Bedon, Peter May, Thomas Bulline, Sr., and his son John, Charles Barker,
William Maine, John Norman, Josiah Pendarvis, Elihu Baker, James Baker,
and Thomas Cater), two hundred fifty pounds currency in trust
as a Perpetual fund for and towards the support of the Gospel Ministry among
that Christian Congregation of People meeting together to Worship God on
the Northeast side Ashley River who by Profession are Antepedo Baptists
denying Armenyanism and owning the Doctrine of Original Sin Personal
Election and final Preserverance no such Minister shall be entitled to all or
any part thereof unless such Minister hold Profess Preach and Defend the
aforesaid Doctrines.
The trustees were to be disqualified if they changed their views on even one of
these doctrines. f120 Mr. Chanler died in 1749 at the height of his activities for
the Ashley River, Charleston, and surrounding congregations. f121
Rev. John Stephens succeeded Mr. Chanler on June 22, 1750, as pastor of the
Ashley River Church. From the number of bequests to Mr. Stephens and the
church, his work must have been highly satisfactory to his people. f122 The
meeting house built about 1727 was burned on Tuesday, November 9, 1762;
f123
a second meeting house, forty-three by twenty-eight feet, a neat brick
building, accomodated with pews and a vestry, and pleasantly situated, was
built in 1763 on the lot donated by Richard Butler, with an additional acre or
more given by William Brisbane. f124 Other gifts are said to have amounted to a
considerable sum, with most of which were bought some negroes, a tract of
land, and a handsome parsonage about a quarter of a mile from the church. The
negroes were later sold and the land rented, so that the living was worth about
seven hundred pounds currency in 1772. f125
In spite of Rev. Mr. Harts praise of his lectures as having a good degree of
Warmth, and freedom, and in spite of his general usefulness in the
surrounding congregations, Mr. Stephens became too fond of strong drink, it is
claimed, and was dismissed from the Ashley River Church in 1769. f126 In 1772
it had not yet obtained a minister. Baptisms pr Diping, and otherwise, by the
Anglican clergyman in St. Andrews Parish of members of former Baptist
families may indicate one of the ways in which the membership of the Ashley
River Church decreased; at any rate, in 1772 only about forty-six baptized
members of twenty-six widely scattered families, black and white, were in
communion; f127 they then communed on the first Lords day in January, April,
July, and October. The last report sent in to Charleston Association gave fortyfour members for the Ashley River Church; this was sometime before 1775, in
which year and through 1779 there was no report. f128 It is claimed by Baptist
historians that
This Church became extinct in the time of the Revolutionary War. Its
property, consisting of the Lot on which the House of worship was built, a
valuable parsonage, Church plate, several negroes and some hundred pounds
in fund, was seized by an individual, and converted to his own use. f129
In 1785 the Charleston Church petitioned for the lands of the Ashley River
Church, the Trustees and Members thereof being all extinct. f130 The
surrounding plantation was at the time in Mrs. Mary Hyrnes possession; she
was the daughter of Richard Butler, and may have regarded the church
property as having reverted to the estate. f131
serious, lively Baptist minister, f140 and all Baptist historians refer to him as a
pious and useful man. f141
After the death of Mr. Tilly in 1744, the Euhaw Church occasionally received
the services of Rev. Isaac Chanler from Ashley River. He attempted to
introduce the rite of laying on of hands, which caused such uneasiness that it
had to be dropped. The Euhaw Church became a distinct organization on May
5, 1746, when a few of the members entered into a Constitiution of their own
and made Solemn Covenant before God, as Charles Town members had done
just before them, by the United Consent of all parties , but no other formal
act of separation from the Charleston Church appears to have taken place. f142
Thus, visited occasionally by Messrs. Chanler, Stephens, and Hart, the Euhaw
Church continued for some years without a regular minister. Exactly where
services were held, aside from those at the island branches or arms, is not
clear. Mr. Francis Pelot, a Calvinistic Swiss who came to South Carolina in
1734, was called to the ministry at Euhaw Church, together with Mr. William
Elbert, f143 on May 18, 1746. Mr. Elbert quitted the ministry in 1750, but Mr.
Pelot continued to serve as a probationer to January 13, 1752, when he was
finally ordained by Messrs. Hart and Stephens, together with Benjamin
Parmenter, ruling elder, and Archibald Hastings, deacon. Mr. Hart preached
the ordination sermon from <401016>Matthew 10:16. Many attended the Solemnity;
and in general, they were much affected. f144 Mr. Whitefields early
connection with this congregation is borne out by his having celebrated the
marriage of Joseph Sealy, Jr., on June 17, 1754, to Joanna Staples. f145 About
this time they built a meeting house described in 1772 as
36 feet by 30 on a lot of one acre the gift of Rev. Francis Pelot; f146 on the
same lot is a [building serving both for a vestry and a school house] The
situation is pleasant being near the head of a branch of Euhaw creek, and
adjoining the high road leading from Georgia to Charleston. It so happened
that as soon as the place of worship was finished, Mr. Whitefield came this
way, and, as it were, consecrated it by celebrating divine service in it for the
first time, Mar. 5, 1751-2. The character of this church is that of Particularbaptist, whole faith and order are agreeable to the confession of faith and
treatise of discipline adopted by the association of Philadelphia, except the
laying on of hands on baptized believers.
Neither did the church allow ruling elders. Communion was quarterly
beginning on the first Lords day in March. f147
The Euhaw Church was evidently spiritually and materially prosperous under
Mr. Pelot. Rev. Oliver Harts dairy has numerous references to the activity of
Mr. Pelot in the work of his his church, in the ordination of ministers, and in
the constitution of new meetings. f148 The Anglican missionary of the
Purrysburgh section in 1769 said of the people: Some have but Little
Religion, some none at all, the most part are what is called Anabaptists. f149
But in 1772 only forty-one baptized members of forty families were connected
with the congregation. There was an assistant on Hilton Head, Rev. Edmund
Matthews, a convert of Mr. Mulkeys (the minister of Fairforest Church) and a
protege of the Religious Society, who was invited to serve on the island toward
the end of 1767. f150
After Mr. Pelots death in 1774, f151 the Euhaw Church had no regular pastor
for about two years. As Rev. Oliver Hart fled from Charleston to the Euhaws
on October 6, 1775, and remained there for sometime, it is probable he
preached to the congregation for a part of the time, at least. f152
Joseph Cook had come from England as an evangelistic Anglican student from
the Countess of Huntingtons college; he soon turned toward Baptist practices
and principles, and after preaching to a mixed congregation at Dorchester,
chiefly Independents but including some of Rev. Isaac Chanlers former
Ashley River members, he was baptized by Rev. Richard Furman at the High
Hills of Santee in 1776 and shortly after ordained by Messrs. Hart and Furman
at the same place. The Euhaw Church had had his occasional services and they
now called him as pastor. Soon the low-country between Savannah and
Charleston was plundered by the British; Mr. Cook left for the interior, and the
history of the Euhaw congregation is a blank during the period of British
occupation.
Mr. Cook brought severe criticism upon himself by a hasty marriage to his first
wifes sister which he kept secret, but he returned after the end of hostilities,
and they Reestablished that Declind Church at the Euhaw. The Charleston
Church in 1785 petitioned the legislature for a tract of land formerly belonging
to one of its branches on Edisto Island, and in 1786 undertook to rent or sell
the Edisto lands; whereupon the Euhaw Church wrote on May 20 to know
with what Propriety the Trustees of Charleston Claimes the Donations of the
Church of Edisto, Joseph Cook, Charles Bealer, John Rose, William Hogg,
Joseph Hilb, John Screven, John Parmenter, John Goldwire, William Cheyney,
Josiah Hart and Crt Sturgis signing the letter. The Charleston Church
answered that they would willingly give way to the Euhaw claim if the trustees
of that church would agree to relinquish the land in case a Baptist church were
ever established on Edisto Island. This agreement, signed by William Hogg,
William Wells, Derry Gillison, and Charles Bealer as trustees, was sent to the
Charleston Church on June 11, 1787, and the matter thus temporarily adjusted.
f153
The Euhaw Church received incorporation in 1787. f154 In 1797 it petitioned
the legislature to authorize the sale of a certain tract of land on Edisto Island
and to apply the proceeds thereof to the purchase of such other property as
the said members shall think most proper. f155 The lands were disposed of at
that time or later.
A revival took place under Mr. Cooks ministry, which continued for several
years. Mr. Cook wrote Mr. Furman early in 1789 that his church was greatly
persecuted, probably referring to the severe struggle for converts then going on
between Baptists and Methodists of that section. f156 He asked for the Greek
derivation of Persecution to confound Doctor Finley who is as bitter an
Enemy to the baptist as his old Father was, and with whom he had argued the
question at Dr. George Mosses, one of his influential members; f157 he also
asked for treatises on baptism, as The whole Country is in a state of alarm,
some for, and other against us which is the means of inflaming the minds of
the Members with Zeal in the defence of the sacred ordinance, the weakest of
whom is more than a Match for their Neighbours. f158 Mr. Cook wrote to Mr.
Rippon, of London, September, 1790:
My sphere of action is great having two congregations to regard at a
considerable distance from each other, exclusive of this where I reside, as also
friendly visits to pay to sister churches, and societies of other denominations,
who are destitute of ministers, frequently riding under a scorching sun, with a
fever, twenty miles in a morning, and then preach afterwards. Our brethren in
England have scarcely an idea of what hardships we struggle with who travel
to propagate the gospel. f159 One of the distant congregations was that on St.
Helena Island, the other probably a negro congregation at Savannah. f160 Rev.
Mr. Cook died on September 26, 1790. f161
One of the Euhaw members, John Goldwire, was licensed to preach in 1790,
but Rev. Henry Holcombe, of Pipe Creek Church, succeeded Mr. Cook as
Euhaw pastor in February, 1791. A soldier of the Revolution, and a minister
already well known among neighboring churches and in the Charleston
Association, he promised well, except that his health, as well as his familys,
had been poor for sometime. f162 The duties of the Euhaw pastorate were
arduous, as there were members on St. Helena, Port Royal, and Ladies Islands.
One of the members who would have assisted most ably in the work, Deacon
Charles Bealer, died March 13, 1792. f163 On January 21, 1795, Mr. Holcombe
removed to Beaufort, where a small church was built for the branch of Euhaw
existing there. Great success soon attended his ministry in Beaufort, but the
difficulties of reaching the central meeting house at Euhaw were so great that
they sometimes forced him to disappoint that congregation. f164 The church also
felt some dissatisfaction with its associational connection, and in May, 1795,
the Charleston Association met at Euhaw to try the unsuccessful experiment of
two sessions a year, one of which was to be held with the southern churches to
satisfy those petitioning in 1794 for dismissal to form a new association. f165
Mr. Holcombe accepted a call to a church in Savannah, in July, 1799, f166 and
Rev. Joseph B. Cook, son of the former minister, came among the Euhaw
people in the same year as a licentiate, being called to the pastorate in January,
1800. Mr. Cook also resided in Beaufort, and his frail constitution made almost
impossible the task of ministering to the scattered congregations of his charge,
especially after the members at Euhaw, tired of repeated disappointments,
thought it most advisable for their pastor to ride round, by, way of
Coosawhatchie, a distance of thirty four miles. A revival begun under Mr.
Holcombe at Beaufort, continuing and spreading throughout the Euhaw
congregation under Mr. Cook, so increased the membership that it was at
length considered feasible to divide the church. Accordingly a letter of
dismissal signed by John Rose, deacon, and Jonathan Witter, January 8, 1804,
was given to eighteen white members and the negroes on the islands and about
Stony Creek, and all property on Port Royal and St. Helena was renounced in
favor of the church about to be constituted in Beaufort. f167 As Mr. Cook was
among the members dismissed, the Euhaw Church next called as its pastor
Rev. Aaron Tison (1804), under whom the revival continued. f168
The covenant was signed by Joseph B. Cook, pastor, William Norton and
Joseph Bedon, deacons, and David Turner, secretary. f169 The church entered
the recently formed Savannah Association; it was incorporated by act of
December 21, 1804, as The Baptist Church of Beaufort, the corporation to
consist only of white members. f170 The number of negro members must have
been large from the statistics on dismissals from the Euhaw Church.
While Euhaws influence was spreading, Baptists from other sources were
entering the country north of that church, the two groups coalescing to form
the Coosawhatchie Church. Rev. James Smart with others from the Peedee and
Lynches Creek came to the neighborhood early in 1759. He found there two
Baptists, Richard Bagley and Solomon Wood, and soon gathered a Baptist
following. On September 12, nineteen persons, including five from North
Carolina and three baptized by Mr. Pelot, were constituted a church by Messrs.
Oliver Hart and Francis Pelot, with Rev. Mr. Smart as minister, f171 holding
the Doctrines of Absolute Election, particular Redemption Special Vocation
and the final perseverance of the Saints being Baptized on profession of Faith
f172 The church entered the Charleston Association in the same year. f173 The
first building, twenty by sixteen feet, was erected in 1769 at the head of
Coosawhatchie River on an acre lot given by Thomas Collins. f174 In the same
year (1769), John Clayton, a former Seventh Day Baptist preacher, and others,
were expelled as contentious and profligate persons. f175 The meeting house
was soon too small for the congregation, but the members were not rich, and
paid only eighty pounds a year to Mr. Smart. They celebrated communion
quarterly beginning with the first Sunday in January, but did not use laying on
of hands. f176 Mr. Hart states: Lords day Oct ye 9th 1774, At Coosawhatchee
administered the sacrament to Mr. Smarts Church; here I met Messrs:
Botsford and Lewis; We all preachd in our turns, and three women were
baptized. f177 The association pronounced an ordination (possibly that of
Joshua Lewis) carried out at Coosawhatchie about 1775 irregular, yet as the
Essentials of Ordination were used, it is valid. f178 A branch of Coosawhatchie
sought separate constitution in 1775; the name is not given, but it was probably
Edisto or Pipe Creek. f179 In its petition for incorporation in 1785,
Coosawhatchie Church asked for fifty acres of land, to which the House
replied that there could be no incorporation until fifteen persons signed the
articles and that land could not be granted before incorporation. f180 The matter
was then dropped. Mr. Smart ended his pastorate in 1788, f181 Rev. James
Sweat took up the work in 1791, and was succeeded by Rev. Aaron Tison in
1795. f182 James Smart, son of the former minister, in 1796 obtained a grant of
seventyone acres on Beech Branch waters of Coosawhatchie; of this and
possibly other land, he left seven acres for the church and churchyard, and the
remainder for the use of the minister. The Two Sisters Ferry road crossed the
tract between the meeting house and graveyard. The church has continued to
occupy this lot. f183 Coosawhatchie was one of the churches dismissed by
Charleston Association in 1802 to the newly formed Savannah Association. f184
As early as 1763, when Evan Pugh was studying under Rev. Francis Pelot at
Euhaw, there was preaching at Pipe Creek. f185 The church there, however, was
not constituted until March, 1775; it was admitted to the Charleston
Association in 1778 with Rev. Joshua Lewis as pastor, under the name
Savannah River, S.C., Church. f186 It retained this name until 1786, when, under
Rev. Henry Holcombe, it asked to be known as Pipe Creek Church and the act
of incorporation passed March 27, 1787, designates it The Pipe Creek Church
of Regular Baptists. f187 Its first location was on the north side of Pipe Creek
not far from Savannah River. f188
During Mr. Holcombes pastorate, the Methodists were increasing in the lower
Savannah River country, and Mr. Holcombe had bitter theological arguments
with their leaders, especially Mr. Hope Hull and Rev. John Crawford. After the
matter became a question of veracity and character, Pipe Creek, Ogeechee
(Ga.), and Black Swamp Churches sent delegates to hear Mr. Holcombes
defense, which they unanimously approved and advised him to publish. It was
of this period Rev. Joseph Cook said that the whole country around was
excited about religious matters. He also felt that Mr. Holcombes churches did
not appreciate his ability. Although they may not have paid him well, yet they
responded to his preaching with a notable revival and were earnest in his
defense. f189 Probably one of the churches which suggested a new association in
1794, Pipe Creek secured its dismissal from the Charleston Association in
1802 in order to enter the Savannah Association. f190 There was a steady
decline in numbers towards the end of the century, which Rev. Moses Hadleys
short pastorate does not seem to have improved.
Rev. Evan Pugh records a meeting at Black Swamp at which Mr. Pelot
preached on December 25, 1762. f191 The congregation there remained a branch
of Pipe Creek Church until February, 1786, when the Black Swamp Church,
consisting of eight members, was constituted with the assistance of Rev.
Abraham Marshall and Rev. Henry Holcombe. Their only pastor in the early
years was Rev. Alexander Scott, though Rev. John Goldwire, Rev. Moses
Hadley, and a licentiate, William Cone, were with them for a time. f192 The
meeting house was built about 1781 on a lot of two acres probably given by a
member of the Robert family, which was prominent in the church from its
beginning, although descended from Rev. Pierre Robert, an early Huguenot
minister. The lot is situated about three miles north of Robertville on tributary
waters of Black Swamp. f193 In the controversy between Rev. Henry Holcombe
and Mr. Hope Hull, Black Swamp took part in Mr. Holcombes defense, and
some of the great increase in its membership between 1788 and 1790 was
probably due to his preaching. f194 This church was the meeting place of a
convention of seven churches, five in South Carolina, two in Georgia, held in
the summer of 1794 to discuss the formation of a new association. Mr. James
Sweat presented the matter to the Charleston Association, which offered an
alternative plan of having an associational meeting every spring among the
southern churches. This promise contented them for a time, as it was 1802
before Black Swamp and others were dismissed to enter Savannah
Association. f195 In 1800 Mr. Elias Robert was dismissed to the Savannah
Church. f196 A remarkable revival occurred in 1802 under the preaching of Rev.
Alexander Scott and Rev. Moses Hadley, upwards of forty f197 being added in
a short time by baptism.
WASSAMASSAW CHURCH
A church having little connection with other low-country churches was
Wassamassaw, said to have originated from Lynches Creek soon after the
peace of 1783. Upon entering the Charleston Association in 1801, the
congregation was reported to have been constituted about seventeen years,
and a great part of the time had the late Rev. Ralph Bowman for their pastor.
The meeting house stood thirty miles northwest of Charleston. Rev. Matthew
McCullers came to the church in 1804, when a revival was in progress. f198
However, Rev. Mr. Simmons and William Elliott (son of the donor of lot No.
62) testified before the Commons House that William Elliott the elder had
always been a General Baptist, and Mr. Simmonss petition claims that the two
groups had existed together in the same congregation in harmony until too
sharp an insistence on doctrinal differences had caused a split. f201 In fact it is
claimed that Rev. Robert Ingram was a member of the congregation before the
split occurred, and his stirring of the doctrinal waters had brought about the
separation. f202 The General Baptists, however begun, became a separate church
about November 25, 1736. f203 Little is known of Mr. Ingrams ministry, as
most Baptist historians who discuss South Carolina, being Particular Baptists,
give little account of this congregation. During his incumbency, William
Elliott the elder, dying in 1738, left ten thousand pounds currency and fifteen
and three-fourths acres on Charleston Neck, now bounded by King, Radcliff,
Smith, and Morris Streets, to his sons William, Thomas, and Joseph Elliott,
upon a secret trust for the Society of General Baptists. It was some years
before the bequest was secured to their use. f204
After Mr. Ingrams death (in 1738), f205 Rev. Henry Heywood arrived in
Charleston and assumed the pastorate of the church, then meeting only at
Stono, May 3, 1740. An able and well educated man, he took an active part in
the fight for lot No. 62 between the General and Particular Baptists, f206 the
determination of which gave the General Baptists the right to use the old
meeting house and made two of their congregation, Elisha and William Butler,
trustees of lot No. 62 under the new law. f207 As stated under the Charleston
Church, the General Baptists entered into an agreement by which they took
over the old meeting house on lot No. 62, while the Particular Baptists used the
parsonage. A mortgage of November 29, 1746, by Joshua Toomer transfers
land on Stono River (in St. Andrews Parish) with tanyard and buildings, to
Mathurin Guerin, Elisha and William Butler, Trustees for the Baptist Church
at Stono, for the Propper use & Behoof of the said Baptist Church for which
they are Trustees. f208 From articles of the period, it would appear that Mr.
Heywood was not one of Rev. George Whitefields supporters in 1741; Rev.
Isaac Chanler is accused of having assumed a victory before he had won it,
over honest Arminius, whom it seems he has turned into Haywood and Stubble
f209 Mr. Heywood died October 29, 1755. f210
Rev. Daniel Wheeler took over the pastorate on November 25, 1757. He is
mentioned as burying Mrs. Catherine Ferguson and Mrs. Elizabeth Williamson
in 1760, and Mrs. Martha Booth in 1762, members of his congregation. f211 His
death occurred in November, 1767. f212
Rev. Caleb Evans entered upon the care of the church November 4, 1768. In
1772 Mr. Evans had only six families connected with his congregation,
whereof 8 persons are baptized and in communion, which was wont to be
celebrated once in two months. They used psalmody and laying on of hands
in their services. In spite of its small membership, the church had a
considerable estate, including the gifts of William Elliott in money and land,
two thousand pounds currency given by Joseph Elliott, and two hundred
pounds currency by Mrs. Elizabeth Williamson, which made the living worth
about eight hundred pounds currency to Rev. Caleb Evans; this he held only a
short time before his death in April, 1772. f213
As already mentioned, Rev. Mr. Pilmoor preached in the old meeting house
during his visit of 1773, and he states that at that time the General Baptists
were destitute of a pastor. f214 How soon they obtained one is not known, but in
August, 1774, occurred the deaths of Rev. Philip Dobell and Rev. Daniel
Dobell, father and son, both General Baptist preachers living at Ashley Ferry.
f215
The small congregation of 1772 continued to dwindle, and by 1787 the
Particular Baptists were claiming in petitions to the General Assembly that the
General Baptists were extinct. However, in that year a counter petition came in
from
Sundry members and Representatives of deceased Members of the General
Baptists Congregation in Charleston praying that the right of the General
Baptists Congregation to the Parsonage and Lot No. 62 in Charleston may
remain as confirmed by the Act of the General Assembly passed in the year
1745. f216
No record remains of the persons who signed this petition, but a deed of
mortgage of September 7, 1790, of Thomas Tew to the Trustees of the Society
of General Baptists names them as Joseph Creighton, Mathurin Guerin,
Samuel Legare, and David Cruger. f217 The Society was officially recorded as
extinct about January, 1791. f218
GEORGETOWN CHURCH
Rev. William Screvens custom of collecting a church wherever he lived was
probably followed in the Winyah region. His son, Elisha Screven, in laying out
the site of Georgetown, provided that one acre should be reserved for a lot
[No. 228] or place whereon to build a Meeting House for performance of
Divine Worship by those of the Persuasion commonly called Antipedo Baptists
and for a place for Christian burial. f219 Landgrave Thomas Smith also
provided for a possible Baptist congregation in his plan of a town six miles
below Georgetown, f220 but no account of the early development of Baptist
worship in either place has been found.
A Baptist congregation gradually developed in Georgetown after the return of
William Cuttino, one of Rev. Oliver Harts converts baptized in Charleston in
1767. At his request, the ministers of neighboring churches, particularly of
Mr. Furmans labors were so effective as to lead to the constitution of thirtysix members as the Georgetown Church in June, 1794, and to its admission
into the Charleston Association. f223 William Staughton, a licensed preacher but
lately arrived, who assisted Mr. Furman in constituting the church, served as
pastoral supply for a year, after which the congregation was without a regular
pastor. However, John Waldo, who had come to Georgetown from New York
in 1793 as a licentiate and as a teacher in an academy, preached for them until
the arrival of Rev. Edmund Botsford in 1797. There were few additions to the
church during his long pastorate; in fact, for years Mr. Waldo and Mr.
Botsford were the only white male members. f224 This situation must have come
about gradually after 1801, for in that year, the petition for incorporation of the
Antipaedo Baptist Church of Georgetown, was presented by twenty men.
Incorporation under the act of December 19, 1801, was for only a ten-year
term. f225
In what sort of building the church met at first is not known; early in 1804 they
built a handsome and commodious wooden meeting-house about sixty feet
long on lot No. 228, reserved for the purpose so long before but apparently
never used. f226 Bishop Asbury remarked rather sadly on his trip through
Georgetown in January, 1804: The Baptists have built an elegant church,
planned for a steeple and organ; they take the rich; and the commonality and
the slaves fall to us. f227
Our brethren and sisters whose names are here set down, were recommended
unto the care of our christian friends on pedee in South Carolina Daniel
Devonald Thomas James David Harry Philip James David James Abol James
Simon Persons Mary Boulton Catherine Harry Elizabeth James Elizabeth
Jones Elinor James Mary Hugh November 4, 1737.
Our brother John Jones and his wife Ann Jones who were members of our
communion are removed and recommended to our christian friends on Pedee
in South Carolina by a letter March 11, 1738.
Our sisters Ales Thomas and Jane David and Mary Dovenald are
ecommended by letter to our christian friends on Peedee in South Carolina
November 3, 1739.
Our brothron and sisters whos names are as followeth Abel Morgan, son and
Walter Down Elizabeth Jones Lettis Douglas Rachel Alison Rachel Downs
was recommended and dismissed by a letter to our sister church on Pee Dee
river in South Carolina Nov ye 1st, 1741. f229
A leader among them, James James, Esq., was a man of some wealth, with
three sons in the Welsh Neck group. f230
Their meetings in South Carolina were held for a time at the house of John
Jones, whose first survey was made in 1738 on Jamess Neck. Mr. Jones
brought with him a Welsh concordance of the Bible by Abel Morgan which
was probably used in the meetings at his home, showing the congregations
use of their native language after they came to the Peedee. f231 It was in this
period that an Anglican missionary wrote of finding an ignorant set of
Anabaptists in the Cheraws settlement, who, in 1745, were so possessed of
the spirit of enthusiasm that there are about as many ignorant preachers as
there were in Olivers Camp. f232 Several may have preached, but there is
evidence of only one ordination during the time, that of Philip James, f233 which
was carried out on April 4, 1743, by Messrs. Chanler and Simmons, of Ashley
River and Charleston, Mr Chanler preaching the ordination sermon. The first
meeting house was built in 1744. f234
Contemporary with part of the pastorate of Rev. Philip James was that of Rev.
John Brown, whose ordination occurred May 7, 1750, sometime before the
death of Mr. James. Mr. Brown appears to have caused uneasiness in the
church in 1747 because of the opinions he disseminated with regard to such
matters as the first resurrection, the last judgment, and the degrees of glory in
heaven, imaginings which seemed unorthodox to his congregation, and though
he was not publicly condemned, this probably had much to do with the
shortness of his pastorate. f235 Rev. Joshua Edwards, ordained May, 1752, had
the care of the church for about six years. f236 Nothing unusual occurred during
his ministry.
Both Mr. Williams and his wife were repeatedly admonished during the
remainder of 1760, but without effect, for on January 4, 1761, Mr. Williams
and his wife being regardless of the Churchs admonition sent as above the
Church ordered them to be ejected and this was done. f238
However, the church had not waited for Mr. Williams settlement of his
spiritual differences with them, for early in March, 1759, it was decided
As Mr. Williams could not give proper attendance to his office, the Church
unanimously presented a call to the Revd. Mr. Nicholas Bedgegood of
Charleston to minister to them in the word and ordinances of the Gospel, for
the term of one year, which call he accepted.
On March 8th of the next year, The Church gave Mr Bedgegood a call to the
pastoral care of them, which he accepted for the term of time during which
divine Providence may render it his duty to remain among them. A list of
members of the Welsh Neck Church taken March 12, 1759, when this
temporary call was issued to Mr. Bedgegood included about sixty-six names.
f239
During the first year of Mr. Bedgegoods regular pastorate, on August 2,
1760, these members drew up a covenant which is an excellent example of
what the Baptists believe to be their relations to God and to each other. f240
How well they kept to the article of the covenant requiring a jealous
watchfulness over each others conduct is plain from every page of the church
book of this period. June 1, 1760, an inquiry was directed to be made why one
of the female members doth not live with her husband. John Booth,
suspended from the communion of the Church for quarreling with his
neighbour, and using profane language, on August 2, 1760,
made application to be restored to his place, and giving a clear verbal account
of his repentance & as nothing could be laid to his charge since his
suspension, the Church could not fairly reject him; but as some circumstances
gave them occasion to be jealous over him, lest he was deceiving himself,
they informed him of it, and left it to his own conscience to judge for himself
whether it would be best to take his place, or to remain as he is till he has
farther examined his heart. Upon which he concluded to delay for that
purpose.
It was not until April 4, 1761, that John Booth, giving the Church farther
satisfaction as to his repentance, he is to take his place to-morrow, upon a
public acknowledgement of his humiliation for his crimes. April 5, 1760,
James James was suspended for beating his neighbour. One of the ladies,
suspended in 1761 on suspicion of her having been guilty of very abusive
language, but restored upon its being found not so bad as was represented,
was again privately suspended, June 4, 1763, upon an apprehension that she
lives in wilful separation from her husband. Sundry members who had
walked disorderly gave satisfaction; one accused of plundering promised
restitution; Mary Walsh, having entered herself as a scholar in a dancing
school, desired to have her name erased from the church book and was
excommunicated. Murder, adultery, theft, swearing, and drunkenness
constituted grounds for excommunication, according to a decision of 1783, and
the church book shows excommunications for adultery, for immorality and
apostacy, and for marrying a man whose wife was living. One of the most
interesting attempts to control the relations of church members appears in a
decision made in 1787 that agreeably to the world of God it is not right that
one member should sue another. f241 The church records are inadequate for
estimating the effect of this rule.
Mr. Bedgegood, at his own request, was on March 2, 1765, dismissed to the
Charleston Church. Failing to secure the services of Rev. Oliver Hart, the
Welsh Neck congregation was without a pastor until January 4, 1766, when
Rev. Evan Pugh accepted their call. f242 During his pastorate two members were
excommunicated, and the public notice of this action is given as typical of the
procedure in such cases.
1766 Octr. 4th: Whereas Philip Howel & William James have for a long time
past been suspended from the Communion of this Church, they still persisting
in a course of life contrary to the rules of the Gospel, and of this Church,
notwithstanding all necessary and Gospel methods have been made use of to
reclaim them; therefore the Church have thought it proper and necessary to
cut them off from this Body. Pursuant to this conclusion, we now make it
known to all that they are no longer members of this Body. May the Lord
grant that, this ordinance may be the means to bring them to a sense of their
evilways and to a timely repentance-and to stir-up each of us to watch and be
sober lest we enter into temptation. f243
In 1766, the Church having been long in a declining state Brother Abel Wilds
desired the opinion of the Church as to what they thought the cause of such
declension was. Upon consideration, it was the unanimous opinion, that it was
curving to the general dislike of Mr, Pugh. This being the opinion of the
Church, it was then moved, that it might be considered whether it would be
more for the Glory of God for Mr. Pugh to continue our Minister, or to remove
to some other place.
After some days given to the careful consideration of this question, the Church
unanimously decided that it would be most conducive to the Honor of God
and the Welfare of the Church for Mr. Pugh to remove. He accuiesced in their
opinion and received a recommendatory letter. No indication is given as to
the cause of this general dislike of Mr. Pugh. Later events give rise to the
speculation whether it had anything to do with the Regulator movement. f244
Mr. Nicholas Bedgegood, then preaching on James Island, a branch of the
Charleston Church, received a second call to the Welsh Neck Church on
March 7, 1767, and returned to that charge on April 12th of the same year. f245
In 1772 there were eighty families in the neighborhood with some forty
members baptized and in the communion of the Welsh Neck Church. f246 Mr.
Elhanan Winchester, Mr. Bedgegoods successor, wrote in the church book
February 1, 1774 (the year of Mr. Bedgegoods death):
The Revd Mr. Nicholas Bedgegood died near fifteen years after his first call
to this place; and almost seven years after his return, from which time he
ministered here till his death yet he was never very successful,
especially in the latter part of his life; none being baptized after his return. f247
The Welsh Neck Church went cautiously about the choice of a new pastor. Mr.
Winchester preached for them a short while in 1775, then received
appointment for a year on March 8, 1776, before he was permanently accepted.
There was talk of his leaving November 10, 1776, but after discussion of calls
to other ministers, the church was still in Mr. Winchesters charge March 15,
1778, and the call to him was renewed July 3, 1779, with the proviso that he
might depart at any time if he desired. Converts were numbered by the
hundreds during his ministry, in the last year of which he baptized two
hundred and forty persons into the membership of the church. f248 The negroes
he constituted into a separate church. He was repaid full measure for his
criticism of Mr. Bedgegood by his successor, Mr. Edmund Botsford, who
entered a note in the church book to the effect that
A great many of those baptized by Mr. Winchester have been
excommunicated both white and black; but the greater number of blacks.
Many of the latter upon examination appeared to be very ignorant of the
nature of true religion.
Two other churches, the one above and the other below us on the river have
also had additions, indeed the work spreads all around. f254
In the course of this revival thirty were baptized into communion with Welsh
Neck. Negro additions must have been large, for a committee, consisting of
Edmund Botsford, Abel Edwards, John David, Enoch Evans, Sr., Thos. Evans,
Enoch Evans, Jr., and Evander McIver, was appointed to hear the experience
of the negroes and settle any matters among them. f255 In May, 1793, Rev. John
Gano visited the church; in October occurred the death of Deacon Abel
Edwards and a severe illness of the pastor. f256 Mr. Botsford having announced
his intention of leaving June 4, 1796, the church wrote for supplies. Rev.
David Lilly preached several times, as did Rev. Evan Pugh and Rev. David
Cooper. The last agreed to attend Welsh Neck monthly, while on April 21,
1798, Rev. David Lilly consented to take charge of the church for a year. The
church book contains no records from November 2, 1798, to July 2, 1803. In
that time Brother Lilly left, and the church removed its place of worship to
Society Hill, f257 under the care of Rev. Frame Woods.
The deacons appointed by Welsh Neck Church were, in 1775 Colonel George
Hicks and Abel Wilds; in 1777 Abel Edwards; in 1778 William Terrell, Jr.; in
1781 John David, Magnus Cargill, and Thomas Lide; in 1794 Evander McIver;
and in 1804 Samuel Evans. The church chose in 1786 a group of trustees
consisting of Edmund Botsford, Abel Edwards. Josiah Evans, John David,
Enoch Evans, Evander McIver, Thomas Evans, Enoch Evans, Jr., Jesse Evans,
and Abel Goodwin. Upon the death of Josiah Evans, Samuel Evans took his
place, and in 1796 Macky McNatt, Martin Dewitt, and Joseph Jones replaced
deceased trustees. f258 These officers, together with special appointees, carried
out business of many sorts. Abel Wilds and Thomas Evans were sent as
delegates to the meeting to discuss religious liberty held at High Hills of
Santee in April, 1776, and Rev. Mr. Winchester drew up a statement regarding
the subject. f259 The church owned a library, how large it is impossible to judge,
since the result of the cataloguing done by Rev. Edmund Botsford and Deacon
Abel Edwards in 1782 does not appear in the church book. Rev. Joshua Lewis
borrowed some of the books, and it was found difficult to secure their return.
f260
After the formation of the General Committee of the Charleston
Association, Welsh Neck showed commendable zeal in contributions and in
membership. f261 On April 21, 1798, the church Resolved to continue to
subscribe for 18 numbers of the Baptist Register. f262 Members and officers
took keen interest in St. Davids Society and Academy. f263
Welsh Neck in 1772 had no settled income, and paid only four hundred pounds
currency to the minister. f264 Mr. Winchester was allowed to preach at Cheraw
Hill once in three Sundays on condition that the church at the Hill do their
part toward his support. f265 John David and Evander McIver, appointed in
1786 to settle bequests made about 1780, reported that Thomas Jamess legacy
of one hundred pounds currency was worth six shillings nine pence sterling,
and ten thousand pounds currency left by Josiah James amounted to twentyeight pounds sterling. A bond given by Thomas Evans for the latter was made
a fund not to be used for a year. f266 Subscriptions were raised for such purposes
as printing Rev. Henry Holcombes association sermon and for a few useful
pamphlets, to bestow gratuitously to those who have it not in their power to
purchase. An entry giving the following prices: The two front Seats are 3.
Mr. McIntoshs at 6, proves that the church secured part of its revenue from
pew rent in 1792. f267 The church book mentions legacies left by Abel Edwards,
Dr. James p. Wilson, and Josiah Evans; receipt for bond for one hundred
pounds sterling given October 4, 1794, shows the amount of Abel Edwards
legacy but there is no record of the amount of the others. An agreement made
in 1795 to lend Rev. Edmund Botsford one hundred pounds sterling for one
year and to give him the interest due on the churchs funds was not carried out
so far as the loan was concerned, but the gift of interest was apparently made.
Deacon Evander McIver later borrowed one hundred pounds sterling. The
church agreed to raise what they conveniently could by subscription for Rev.
David Coopers attendance on the second Saturday and Sunday of the month,
f268
and board was arranged for Brother Lilly and his family. After 1800, much
charity appears upon the books. f269 Welsh Neck made several changes in its
church building and site. Beside the building of 1744 on the east side of the
river, mentioned as still standing in 1772, a new one, forty-five by thirty feet,
was erected in 1769 on a two-acre lot given by Daniel Devonald. f270 Mrs. Kolb
added two acres to the lot in 1782. There was evidently some delay with regard
to the title and boundaries of the church lands, for Thomas Evans was
requested in 1787 to have the titles of land given by Mr[s?] Kolb proved and
recorded, while on April 1, 1789, Abel Edwards, Abel Goodwin, Enoch Evans,
and Evander McIver were appointed to enquire of Capt. Dewitt the boundary
of the Land on which the Meeting House stands, and to report to the next
meeting. f271 In September, 1791, the church leased a tract of land from
Benjamin Kolb, administrator of the estate of Colonel Abel Kolb, but for what
purpose is not stated. f272 A committee consisting of Abel Edwards, John
David, Macky McNatt, Enoch Evans, and Evander McIver, appointed July 31,
1790, to estimate the expense of repairing the meeting house and inclosing the
graveyard, reported, September 4, 1790, that it was necessary to have
new Sills, and the House raised on pillars of brick; and a new Pulpit. To have
the stairs of the Gallery removed, and a shed the length of the House, for the
use of the negroes and a good board and post fence around the burying
ground.
All of this was to cost one hundred twenty pounds sterling. f273 The repaired
building was evidently used until removal of the church to Society Hill. For
this move subscriptions were solicited in 1798, and it was effected shortly
after. f274 The lot of two acres at Society Hill is said to have been given by
Captain William Dewitt, titles to the property being recorded in 1798 by
Evander McIver.f275 The new meeting house
was a plain, substantial, square building without a porch in front, but with a
large addition on one side the whole length of the building for the use of the
negroes. It was divided from the larger part by a low wall about as high as the
banks of the pews with an aisle extending from their side entrance to an open
door into the main auditorium. The church was nicely furnished inside, with
walls ceiled and neat pews. An aisle in the middle and one on each side led
back to the pulpit and lower platform with its reading desk on one side.
Several of the pews were square with seats on three sides. The pulpit was a
high one with a flight of steps on each side and doors which closed. The seat
could. accommodate two ministers, possibly three. A sounding board
was over the pulpit. f276
The act of incorporation, passed March 17, 1785, names the Baptist Church at
the Welsh-Neck on Peedee River, with no hint, of course, of how far its
influence ranged beyond the Welsh Neck. f282 Its ministers preached or assisted
weak congregations up and down the river; its people left it to aid in forming
other Baptist groups; its descendants covered the Peedee section with such
churches as Catfish, Mars Bluff, Cashaway, Beauty Spot, Lynches Creek,
Cheraw Hill, and many others. f283 These were separated from Welsh Neck to
form new organizations which in turn developed branches in different
directions; other churches of the Peedee were connected with it only by the
slender bonds of tradition or of pastoral aid; while still others were sporadic
growths with no apparent relation to any of the Welsh Neck group.
and half miles east of Bennettsville on the Adamsville road. f296 The early years
showed a steadily mounting membership.
Gapway, at first called Gapway Little Peedee River Church, was constituted in
1776 and admitted to the Charleston Association in 1794, under David Owens
as pastor. f300 The old meeting house was located on the northwest side of Little
Peedee River on the south side of the road leading to Marion and about three
miles south of Mullins. f301 The membership was small and generally declining.
was called upon (February, 1760) to act in a ministerial way until settlement
of the Edwards matter. During his short period of service, a member brought
accusations of false doctrine against him which were not substantiated.
Anthony Pouncey was ordained deacon July 31, 1760. f314 Rev. Hezekiah
Smith, later of Haverhill, Massachusetts, succeeded Mr. Brown for a short
period about 1763. f315
Rev. Evan Pugh preached rather regularly at Cashaway, sometimes as often as
twice a month, during the years 17641766, and took full charge of the church
from February, 1767, until age and illness ended his work, though he preached
also in many churches and private homes of the whole region, among them
Lides, Mount Pleasant, Stony Hill, Muddy Creek, Webbs old house,
Browns, Pearsons, Roblyns Neck, Ayers in Wraggtown, Hitchcock Creek,
Spiveys, Keiths, Black Creek (Teals meeting house and Pine Log meeting),
Darlington Court House, and Welsh Neck. Mr. Pugh held his congregation
together during the disrupting days of the Revolution even after a raiding party
broke up his service of July 2, 1780, by taking the horses. On September 16,
came news of the British at Black Creek, and on the seventeenth Mr. Pugh was
severely plundered; by October 10, the Whigs of the region were retreating.
In 1782 Mr. Pugh preached as often at Lides, or Stony Hill, or Mount
Pleasant, as at Cashaway; but in 1784 he again had every Sunday at Cashaway.
From the beginning of 1785 there were meetings at the school house at Mount
Pleasant, to which Mr. Pugh gave more and more of his time. The scattering of
his congregation made him divide his time in 1786 between Mount Pleasant,
where a new meeting house was under discussion, Black Creek (or Teals
Meeting House), and Pearsons (or Samuel Browns) over the river, with
still an occasional meeting at Cashaway. Thereafter there are few references to
Cashaway and many to Mount Pleasant, where on Sunday, June 12, 1791, Mr.
Pugh preached for the first time in the new meeting house. f316 He and Major
Robert Lide, delegates from Cashaway to the Charleston Association in 1791,
requested that the name of their church be changed to Mount Pleasant. f317 In
spite of the new name, new building, and new location, the membership
steadily declined. A thriving branch near Moses Pearson and Samuel Brown
assumed its independence as Muddy Creek in 1789, another at Teals meeting
house as Black Creek in 1799. f318 Besides continuing his ministrations to all of
these, Mr. Pugh also preached at Darlington Court House (1794-1800). His last
regular service at Mount Pleasant was on August 11, 1799 f319 With the decline
of his powers, the dissolution of the old Cashaway-Mount Pleasant church was
complete. The new Mount Pleasant of 1803 was in some senses a revival of the
former, but as an arm of Black Creek Church. f320
The Cashaway covenant was read quarterly; that of June 20, 1767, probably
drawn up by Rev. Evan Pugh, is an elaborate one of twenty articles of which
The surviving records of the early years of Cashaway are scattered and
incomplete, but they show commendable efforts to conduct church business
in the Best maner to use their own words. If a member fell publicly, he was
to be censured publicly, but some suspensions were to be private or in the
church only; suspended members could not be present during church business,
except upon special application; those who should have been present were to
be cited for non-attendance. Of thirty-three cases requiring discipline 17591771, sixteen, or practically half, were for excessive drinking. Next to drinking
the most frequent offenses were neglecting attendance on church business days
and paying no attention to the admonitions of the church. Punishments other
than suspension ranged from citing to church meeting or sending a Messenger
of Love & Care to offenders, to final excommunication, from which the only
return to membership was by narrowly observed and publicly declared
repentance. The most weighty arraignment condemned a member
for the sin of breaking ye Sabbath, keeping bad Company, breaking a solem
Resolution & Declaration, entered into & made by him, agt. Drinking
Spirituous Liquers excepting ye Ch. h. advised him to drink upon his
making known these Things to ye. Ch. h. all ye Members, strongly advised
Him to keep his Vow sacret, & not meddel with liquor But he broak thro
all neglected his Place in ye House of God & when he was sent to he
refused to come to ye. Church, after having waited with him for several
Months, & ende[avored] to reclaim him, but to no purpose he still
continuing in a bad Way of living Therefore He is this Day Excluded from
being a Member of this Church untill he returns by Repentance. f327
The Cashaway church list of 1767 has an addition showing the later dismissal
of Joseph and Sarah Allison, John Brown, and Sarah Ann McTyre to Muddy
Creek. f331 Peter Bainbridge, a recently licensed minister from the Charleston
Church, was an itinerant at Muddy Creek in 1790 and sometime afterwards,
but soon left for New York. f332 Mr. Pugh again preached there on July 31,
1791, and several times in 1796. f333 When Muddy Creek Church entered the
Charleston Association in 1805, it still had no minister of its own. f334
On the west side of the river, Cashaway was reaching out in the direction of
Black Creek through Mr. Pugh, who preached as early as June, 1769, at
Keiths, and began to hold rather regular meetings over Black Creek at Teals
after March, 1872. One of the homes in which he lodged there in 1783 was
Ben Daviss. There was a meeting house in 1784, where Christopher Teal and
Cornelius Keith were baptized. Mr. Pugh gave one Wednesday a month during
most of 1786-1788 to Teals or Black Creek, these names apparently
designating the same place or same congregation. There Ordery Keith, wife of
Cornelius Keith, was baptized August 4, 1788, and Mr. Pugh preached her
funeral sermon March 22, 1789. f335 At about the same time Cashaway listed
twelve of its members who had Joind over Black Creek, f336 and on April 4,
1789, were begun the Minutes of Church acts in the Branch of Cashway
Church residing on Black Creek. This church insisted as strongly as its
progenitor on members attending on church business days. In preparation for
celebration of the Lords Supper, one was appointed to get wine, each member
to pay him.
Sept. 5th 1789. The Church met & Concluded to build a meeting house in this
place for the worship of God 20 feet Square with hewed Logs & Shingled
roof, a Shelter on each side 8 feet wide. Mr. Christopher Teel, & Mr Moses
Justice to undertake the work, the other members to assist them, and that a
Subscription be Drawn to see what help may be had either in work or
produce.
Mr. Teal gave an acre of land on Black Creek upon which to build the meeting
house. Black Creek requested as many Mount Pleasant members as could to be
present at the October business meeting to consider an important matter,
probably a case of discipline. At that meeting Charles Jenkins was appointed to
buy communion wine for the first Sunday in December, after which
celebration of the Lords Supper was to be quarterly. This early church book
closes after January, 1790, with a confession of faith and covenant. f337 From
May, 1789, to May, 1797, Mr. Pugh generally preached the first Sunday in the
month at Black Creek. f338 Rev. James Coleman, licensed preacher and
messenger of the Cashaway-Mount Pleasant Church to the Charleston
Association in 1795, was meantime working at Black Creek branch which was
constituted a separate body on August 11, 1798, with eighteen members, by
Rev. Messrs. David Cooper and Samuel Bonds. f339
Black Creek immediately asked Mount Pleasant to give James Coleman a
letter of dismissal, and on November 30, 1798, a presbytery consisting of Rev.
Messrs. Samuel Bonds and David Cooper ordained him as pastor of the new
church. Mr. Coleman, together with Charles Williams, secretary of the church,
appeared at the Charleston Association meeting of 1799 and secured
admission. Black Creek Church showed strong effects of revival. In February,
1802, the congregation agreed to permit their pastor to spend part of his time at
other places, but that he should Attend his Church the first Sabbath in Every
Month and the day before which is their Day of Busyness. Meetings were
opened and closed with singing and prayer, two discourses were often
delivered on church business days and on the Sabbath, a door was opened for
experience and baptism followed on that day or the next, after which the
members returned to the church singing, and closed the service with the Lords
Supper. Rev. Messrs. Frame Woods and Benjamin Moseley were often with
them. Rev. Frame Woods preached very affectionate sermons or very
alarming exhortations and wonderful discourses. After setting apart the
Saturday before the first Sabbath in June for fasting and prayer for the
Ordination of two Deacons, the church had Charles Williams and George
King inducted into that office by Rev. Messrs. Woods, Coleman, and Moseley
on June 4, 1803. Brethren Brown, King, Williams, and Kirven were permitted
to make appointments for prayr and Exortation within the Bounds of the
Church, the bounds including a branch on Swift Creek and the Mount
Pleasant congregation, with some connection with Boggy Swamp or Lower
Fork of Lynches Creek. Brother Thomas Kirven on August 4, 1804. inquired
for the minds of the Church concerning the Duty of washing feet. The matter
was laid over and probably taken up at a general conference of all the branches
meeting at Black Creek in October, but the result is not given. In matters of
discipline, drunkenness was the greatest offense, followed closely by
dissension among the members. One members repentance is unusual: After
the church cited him for a crime not stated, a committee sent to him reported
him in a penitential condition a piece of poetry was handed in and Read
setting forth his Distress and Deliverence, and he was restored to fellowship.
A query as to whether women should speak even for their own defense in the
church was answered in the affirmative but with the proviso so as not to use
authority over the man. f340
A large part of Black Creeks growth was due to the constitution of the new
Mount Pleasant branch in the neighborhood of the old Cashaway-Mount
Pleasant congregation. Though its membership was largely new, its intimate
connection with the old body is plain from its use of the same church book.
The entry describing the constitution is as follows:
At a meeting at Mount Pleasant on Saturday before 2nd. Lords day in August
1803 of several of the members of Black Creek Church The meeting was
opened by singing and Prayer, the Brethren whose names are hereto
subscribed, do agree to become a constituted arm or branch of the Black
Creek Church.
In 1804 Black Creek considered affirmatively the question whether the old
Mount Pleasant members were legally members of the new organization. f341
Mount Pleasant continued to open its meetings with singing and prayer; after
baptisms at the creek they often returned to the church singing. A door for
experience was generally opened, and also the inquiry made as to whether the
Church were in Union. A striking difference between these and the old
Cashaway records is this reticence about misconduct. Persons are complained
of and cited, but there is no definite statement of crime. Rev. James Coleman
was one of their members, but was of course the pastor of the whole Black
Creek connection; only two officers are mentioned: Mr. Brockintons Adam
appointed deacon in April, and Mr. Thomas Conn chosen deacon in June,
1804. Business opened with four or five male members present, and male
members were allowed the privilege of Praying publicly if they feel
disposed. Collections taken at the quarterly communion services amounted to
from five dollars to eight dollars. f342
The First Church on Lynches Creek is claimed to have been begun by former
Welsh Neck Church members, who had lived for a time on Black Creek and
had moved in about 1754 nearer Lynches Creek. Rev. Joshua Edwards helped
them to organize their new church September 1, 1755, and it entered the
Charleston Association that year. Rev. Henry Ledbetter was chosen minister,
Rev. James Smart assistant minister, and Edward Boykin and his son Henry
deacons. The original meeting house, built in 1757 and later burned, was
probably on the east side of Lynches Creek but the membership tended to
concentrate in the Flat Creek region where Mr. Ledbetters land was located.
An influx of members, chiefly from Fishing Creek, North Carolina, soon raised
their numbers to thirty, but Mr. Ledbetter, formerly a General Baptist and a
recent convert to Calvinistic principles, attempted to purge the church,
which, together with danger from Indians, caused the membership to dwindle.
Many removed to Coosawhatchie and Euhaw. f343 Mr. Ledbetter himself
returned to North Carolina about 1761. f344 A new meeting house had meantime
been built in the Flat Creek fork, besides three branches, one in 1772 ten miles
above called Buffalo meeting, another in 1771 on land given by Jacob Weisner
ten miles below which later became Flat Creek or Upper Fork of Lynches
Creek, and a third on land given by Thomas Rouse in 1770 twenty-five miles
below the second near Little Lynches Creek, later Lower Fork of Lynches
Creek. f345 The church was without a pastor until 1772, when Rev. Jeptha
Vining took charge, with Rev. Nathaniel Walker. f346 Though one hundred and
fifty families were in the connection, and probably twice that number attended
the four meeting houses, because of their lack of ministers there were then only
twenty-four baptized members. They celebrated communion on the first
Sunday in April and October, used laying on of hands, and had ruling elders.
The congregation owned only a few books given them by Rev. Francis Pelot,
but they might easily have paid a salary of two hundred pounds currency. f347
First Church on Lynches Creek was still reported as under Rev. Jeptha Vining
in 1775, and though it was not represented at the Charleston Association that
year, an old record of twenty-four members was copied for the minutes. The
association reported it extinct in 1777. f348
The same report mentions as existing in 1777 a Second Church on Lynches
Creek on the east side about fifty miles from Georgetown. This and the
churches of Upper and Lower Forks of Lynches Creek and Jeffreys Creek are
said to have originated from High Hills of Santee, and influences from North
Carolina and the back country seem strong, in view of the many branch
meeting houses of Lynches Creek Church. Mr. Pugh journeyed to Lynches
Creek in 1777, where, on July 14th, he ordained Mr. John Cowan at Cowans
meeting. f349 This was apparently Second Church on Lynches Creek, which
joined the Charleston Association in 1778. The 1779 report gives Mr. Cowan
as pastor, but how long he continued is not clear. The church neglected the
association, perhaps due to weakness and decreasing membership. In 1790, the
association particularly recommend to the attention of those adjacent, the
church on Lynches Creek, which is greatly reduced, and has requested
assistance. In 1803 it was reported extinct and investigation revealed at least
dormancy. f350
The meeting about ten miles below the main meeting house in the fork of
Lynches Creek, called variously Fork of Lynches Creek, Upper Fork of
Lynches Creek, Upper Church on Lynches Creek, and Flat Creek Church,
apparently absorbed its progenitor, for Rev. Jeptha Vining was soon found
preaching at this branch, which erected its first building in 1771, and there are
indications that it was the principal meeting place of the Lynches Creek
congregation by 1772. However, the best evidence gives April 10, 1784, as the
date of its separate constitution. It entered the Charleston Association in 1787
under the ministerial care of Rev. Charles Cook. f351 A group of members
(probably Lanes Creek branch) opposed him in 1789, and the church appealed
to the Charleston Association for assistance. After investigation (Mr. Cook
being present at the meeting), the association decided
that the body of members who have stood opposed to their pastor have acted
disorderly; yet as it appears highly probable a great part of those members are
Pious persons and mislead, and as it is not unlikely there may have been some
cause of offence on each side, we recommend union, by such mutual
concessions as the gospel and the reason of things direct.
To further this result, a committee was appointed to write to both parties, and
ministers were sent to try to effect an arrangement. f352 Mr. Charles Cook does
not again appear as Flat Creek pastor, nor was there a regular minister until
Rev. William Denman took the office in 1793. A licensed preacher, Rev. John
Cato, may have served the church in the meantime. f353 In 1793-1794 two other
licentiates or candidates, Charles Pigg and Thomas Miers, the latter an old man
and inactive, were members of the congregation. f354 In spite of the separation
of the branch at Lanes Creek, Flat Creek made rapid gains. The old difficulty
involving Charles Cook, who had gone to Anson County (N. C.) Church, came
up again to vex the association, the Anson congregation and their pastor
thinking his character injured, and his usefulness impeded by Flat Creek and
Lanes Creek members. Again the association recommended mutual
concession and tenderness, but the difficulty continued through 1802. Letters
from Flat Creek and Anson County Churches brought about the reopening in
1801 of the case of Mr. Charles Pigg, who was then a member of Flat Creek.
f355
Under Rev. John Cato as minister the church continued its vigorous growth.
The location of the branch of Flat Creek Church known as Lanes Creek
involves confusing possibilities. The name was evidently taken from Lanes
Creek in North Carolina, which comes close to the boundary between the two
Carolinas where an early Baptist church was located just within the South
Carolina line. f356 Lanes Creeks connection with Anson County Church seems
to have been contentiously intimate. Constituted about 1793 when the
difficulty respecting Rev. Charles Cook was at its worst, its entrance into the
Charleston Association was delayed from 1797 to 1798 to try to clear up the
quarrel with Anson County Church over the same matter, though the original
cause of the difficulty seems to have been Lanes Creeks support of James
Morgan. The association concurred with its investigating committee in 1803 in
unqualified condemnation of Morgans atrocious conduct. Rev. John Cato is
the only pastor of Lanes Creek mentioned through 1804. The church was never
large. f357
Lower Fork of Lynches Creek was probably the branch meeting house built by
First Lynches Creek Church in 1770 on Thomas Rouses land near Little
Lynches Creek. It is said to have been located in Chesterfield District about
sixteen or seventeen miles below Upper Fork of Lynches Creek. f358
Messrs. Evan Pugh and Edmund Botsford helped to constitute the church in
1789 and it united with the Charleston Association in the same year under the
care of Rev. Joshua Palmer. f359 In 1794 the church asked the concurrence of
the association in the ordination of John Cato, their supply, but the result is not
recorded. By 1796 the church had a meeting place called Boggy Swamp where
it gathered most of the time, with occasional meetings in 1797 at
Witheringtons Mill and at Lower Fork of Lynches Creek. Cornelius Keith was
church clerk and David Kelly deacon. On Friday, July 14, 1797, the church
appointed Brethern Belk and Kelly, to conclude upon a plan for the building
the Meeting House on Gum Branch, whether a Man Shall be hired to build it,
or the members build it them Selves. Brought in their report to hire a man.
There is no note of a meeting at Gum Branch until July 13, 1798, but the
records are incomplete for the intervening year. At that time, bitter dissension
had arisen in the church because Brother Samuel Bonds had brought an
accusation of forging an order against the son of one of the members and had
had a warrant made out against him after the charge was apparently disproved.
This many members thought unchristian of their pastor. Brother William
Witherington refused to commune, said he did not consider himself one of the
church, and also declared that if the land had been his over which Rev. Mr.
Bonds had opened a path to the meeting house he would check him with the
law. Fellowship was withdrawn from Mr. Witherington and a presbytery
consisting of James Coleman, John Sanders, Pigg and Waddill justified Mr.
Bonds conduct, but the church was dangerously near extinction due to this
and a later breach. Mr. Bonds soon left. f360 In November, 1802, James
Coleman, George King, and Charles Williams were appointed by Black Creek
a Committy to boggy swamp to consider things to the glory of God and the
good of the Brethern. f361 The Charleston Association appointed a committee
in 1804 to assist them in regulating the affairs of the church. f362 The church
is said to have been kept alive during these years only by the devotion of
David Kelly and his wife. The usual cases of discipline came up in the entries
in the church book. f363
To return from these frontier parts of the Peedee to its Baptist center, Welsh
Neck Church on January 5, 1782, answered the application of those members
residing at and near the Cheraw Hill to be constituted into a distinct Church,
by appointing Rev. Edmund Botsford and Abel Edwards to meet Rev. Joshua
Lewis and his congregation for a conference. The result was the constitution of
the Cheraw Hill Church on January 12, 1782, Messrs. Botsford, Edwards,
Mulkey, and Lewis assisting. In the course of the next few months, Welsh
Neck dismissed thirteen members to the new church. f364 Cheraw Hill entered
the Charleston Association in 1782 with Rev. Joshua Lewis as pastor. f365 The
congregation must have begun meeting in old St. Davids Episcopal Church
building soon after their constitution; in fact, Rev. Evan Pugh mentions
preaching in the parish church as early as December, 1772. f366 In 1785 Colonel
Thomas Lide gave a lot for a meeting house at the Hill between St. Davids
Church and the river, and Philip Pledger gave two acres of land In
Marlborough County on the northeast Side of Peedee River on Naked Creek at
the end of said Philip Pledgers Saw Mill, to the regular Baptist Church at
the Cheraws for the purpose of building a meeting house. Pledgers Saw Mill
Church remained a part of Cheraw Hill Church for many years, and was the
place of meeting on the east of the river. f367 The church was incorporated
March 17, 1785, as the Baptist Church on the Cheraw-Hill, in the Parish of
St. Davids. f368 Rev. Joshua Lewis remained their pastor into the new century;
in 1793 Brian Connor was a licentiate and Wilson Connor a candidate for the
ministry among them. f369 The church made steady gains.
Among these gains was the formation of a branch meeting on Three Creek,
which was constituted as Three Creek Church on October 12, 1793, and
admitted to the Charleston Association in 1800, Very satisfactory accounts of
their faith and good order being obtained. f370 The pastor at that time, Rev.
Robert Thomas, was with them many years. f371
Of the churches of the Peedee whose connection with Welsh Neck was indirect
or not apparent, Ebenezer, Jeffreys Creek, was most interesting and vigorous.
It appears to have had its beginning in what Rev. Evan Pugh called Spiveys
meeting, at which he preached on the third Sunday in the month from July,
1774, to January, 1775. Mr. Spivey came for him on January 11, 1778, and on
Tuesday, January 13, he preached at Spiveys meeting and assisted in
constituting a church. Rev. Richard Furman was his assistant on the occasion;
in fact, it is claimed that the new church had been a branch of High Hills of
Santee Church. f372 Admitted to the Charleston Association in 1778 under the
name Jeffers Creek Church, it was so called until 1789, when the name on
the association minutes became Ebenezer, Jeffers Creek, and so remained.
f373
In 1791 the meeting was incorporated as The Baptist Church, Ebenezer,
Jeffriess Creek, in response to the petition of Benjamin Moseley, Archibald
McBride, Robert Ellison, Joseph Chandler, and others. f374 Ebenezer asked in
1803 for the ordination of Matthew McCullers, and a committee was appointed
by the association to fulfill the request. At the same time the church
recommended Ezra Courtney for assistance in securing ministerial education.
f375
Of the pastors, Rev. Timothy Dargan came to Ebenezer probably in 1778,
though not early enough to be reported to the association as minister; he served
until his death in 1783. f376 Soon after Rev. Benjamin Moseley took the office,
which he resigned for a time to go to Georgia but returned to in 1802, Rev.
David Cooper being pastor during part of the interval. f377 The meeting place,
about twenty-five miles south of Welsh Neck, was spacious, and congregation
numerous. f378 The land on which this meeting house stood was a one acre plat
given by Benjamin Moseley to the church by his deed of October 17, 1807,
though the house had been built sometime before, the tract having formerly
belonged to David Cooper and adjoining land of Timothy Dargan on the
waters of Jeffreys Creek. f379
In its relations with member churches, the association at first dealt individually
with the queries received from them. It recommended occasional use of the
Lords Prayer in public worship, suspension previous to excommunication,
extreme care in the selection of ministers, and avoidance of either
extravagance or neglect in dress; it also advised deacons not to take part with
ministers in laying on of hands for ordination. After the printing of the
Confession of Faith and Discipline, many questions were answered merely by
reference to them. The question of membership of Baptists in Masonic lodges
troubled all the churches after 1791, when the order was incorporated in South
Carolina; the Charles, ton Association answered in 1798 with care and
circumspection that the lodges openly professed good objects and had
Christian members, but that the vow of secrecy would deter serious
Christians from forming the connection; however, persons should be left to
their private judgment in the matter. Two other generally troublesome
questions received negative answers: Is it consistent with Gospel order
(1) for a minister to have the pastoral care of two distinct churches at the same
time? and
(2) for Baptist churches to commune with Pedobaptists who appear to be truly
pious? f390
Year after year the association appointed supplies for vacant churches and
committees to aid in settling difficulties within or friction between churches.
The worst cases of this nature concerned immoral or disorderly ministers, that
of Rev. Charles Pigg taking years (1795-1802) to adjust, and Rev. Gabriel
Geralds denial of the Christian Sabbath (1799) never reaching settlement.
Circular letters written yearly by able ministers encouraged and admonished
the churches and frequently dealt with matters of immediate concern, as the
1777 letter which congratulated the churches on the prospect of religious
liberty and advised them to comply with the terms of the Assembly with regard
to incorporation, and the 1797 letter on the churchs duty to educate its
ministers. f391 The standing committee, first appointed in 1779 to transact
emergency business between sessions of association, had among its objects to
treat with government on behalf of the churches; to detect imposters, and
recommend travelling Ministers of good character. f392 From 1773 regular
statistics of churches and members were kept as part of the minutes. f393
In 1775 the association asked the churches to contribute to the relief of their
brethren in Massachusetts, suffering from restrictions on their religious
liberties. f394 In 1777 four days of humiliation and prayer were set apart on
account of the situation of the country and the churches. November 7, 1782,
was observed as a day of thanksgiving for the interpositions of providence in
favor of America. f395 The circular letter of 1789 mourns: it is with painful
sensations we behold profaneness and infidelity spreading their baneful
influence among most classes of people. In 1792 a day of humiliation, fasting,
and prayer was appointed for our churches in their barren and lifeless state,
and in 1793 the third Wednesday in December was set apart for solemn prayer
for reformation of the people and mercy on the churches, as well as for the
peace and prosperity of the United States and its government. In 1794 and for
several years thereafter, a general concert of prayer by all denominations for a
revival of religion, to be held on the first Tuesday in January, April, July, and
October, was seriously recommended by the association. In 1799 a new day
was set to unite with the Georgia Association in such prayer. f396
The Charleston Association had some little exchange of views with the
Separates of North Carolina and Congaree Association in 1762, 1773, and
1775, but no regular intercourse with any organization was undertaken until
the appearance of Rev. Morgan Edwards, of the Philadelphia Association, in
1772 when correspondence with that body began. Rev. John Gano came as
messenger from the Philadelphia Association to Charleston in 1774, and he,
with Rev. Messrs. Oliver Hart and Francis Pelot, solicited funds from the
Baptist associations of America for Rhode Island College. f397 Correspondence
was opened with the Warren and Ketockton Associations in 1775; with the
Georgia Association in 1785, which sent as representatives Rev. Silas Mercer
and Peter Smith; with the Kent and Sussex Associations in England in 1786
through Rev. Joseph Cook, and with Bethel Association in 1789 when Rev.
James Fowler appeared as messenger. The correspondents in 1803 were the
Philadelphia, Warren, Bethel, Georgia, Hepzibah, Savannah, Neuse, and Sandy
Creek Associations. Usually special appointments were made for this
correspondence but in 1779 a standing committee was established consisting
of Rev. Messrs. Oliver Hart, Evan Pugh, Edmund Botsford, Richard Furman,
and John Cowan, including among its duties correspondence with other
associations. The committee was revived in 1785 with Messrs. Pugh, Botsford,
and Furman as members, and in 1786, Rev. Messrs. Joseph Cook, Joshua
Lewis, and Henry Holcombe were added. A committee of correspondence
appointed in 1803, consisting of Rev. Messrs. Richard Furman, Edmund
Botsford, and John M. Roberts, had the more particular object of aiding the
Philadelphia Association to publish general religious information. The reply of
the Charleston Association to the 1794 proposal of Bethel Association for the
formation of a general committee of Baptist associations of the Southern States
was very similar to its reply to the 1800 proposal of the Philadelphia
Association for a general conference of Baptist associations throughout the
United States, when it was voted:
If a well digested plan should be devised for such a coalition, in which the
proper objects were clearly pointed out with suitable measures to attain them,
and the danger of perversion and abuse well guarded against, and if a general
concurrence in the undertaking should be obtained of the churches in the
United States, this Association are disposed to give it their support. f398
This is probably the successor of the Society to which Rev. Oliver Hart so
frequently refers in 1754 and to which he expounded the doctrines of his
church. It drew up its Constitutional Rules and secured incorporation in
1768 purposing to collect a library and to discuss theology weekly, but chiefly
to further ministerial education. To it is reckoned the honor of being the first
religious partnership among Baptists in America in the interest of ministerial
education. It aided from its beginning Samuel Stillman, Edmund Botsford,
Edmund Mathews, and probably Hezekiah Smith. This phase of its work
gradually passed to the general committee of the association after 1779. f402
With the coming of Rev. Richard Furman to the Charleston Church and to a
recognized position of leadership in the association, the maintenance of a fund
for education of ministers received renewed impetus. His first efforts looked
toward the incorporation of the association, but this failed. He and others
brought the matter up in general session in 1789 and 1790, and the general
committee received a definite status as the General Committee for the
Charleston Baptist Association Fund, which held its first meeting at Welsh
Neck during the annual session of the association in 1791. Under Rev. Richard
Furman as chairman and Rev. Henry Holcombe as clerk, the committee
considered a system of rules and a proposal for incorporation, received
candidates for aid, and chose Mr. William Cuttino treasurer. Incorporation was
secured under rules of November 7, 1792,
(1) adopting the above name;
(2) calling for an annual charity sermon to be preached in each church and the
collections then taken, together with any other donations, to be applied to the
education of pious young men for the ministry and for other religious and
public uses if the churches approved;
(3) limiting the committee membership to one delegate chosen by each of the
member churches of the Charleston Association to meet at the same time as
the association and to be renewed annually;
(4) requiring the annual election of a president, secretary, and two assistants
to transact business between sessions of the General Committee, the president
to arrange for the education of candidates, and an annually elected treasurer to
pay the bills on his order;
(5) fixing the conditions under which candidates might receive aid; and
(6) proposing to take over the property of extinct churches for the benefit of
the fund.
Some of the churches never approved the creation of the committee and fund,
and contributed little or nothing to its maintenance. The collections for 1803
are interesting: Of the ninety-eight pounds eight shillings eight pence turned
in, Charleston Church gave fifty-six pounds seventeen shillings, Euhaw
twenty-six pounds seven shillings four pence, and High Hills seven pounds
nine shillings four pence, with a pound or so from Wassamassaw, Welsh Neck,
Ebenezer, and Wateree Creek. No other churches gave to this fund. The
churches of the Peedee section, aside from Welsh Neck and Ebenezer,
contributed only to the missionary fund, and of the twenty-eight churches then
in the association only twelve gave to either fund. Private donations and
contributions from the Religious Society added to the total, but complaints
began in 1804 of indifference and lack of support. f403
Its early attention to missions and education, its sober success over a long
series of years, and the steadying effects of unity and orthodoxy, made of the
Charleston Association a powerful object lesson for the unstable and
diversified Baptist churches of the back country.
The population of the back country was steadily augmented after 1750, partly
by movement inland from the coast, partly by overland immigration from
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. The new settlers were largely
German, Scotch-Irish, and dissenting English, f405 and it was with these groups
that new sects were introduced. Narrowing the subject to Baptists reveals
(1) German and English Seventh-Day Baptists, who differed in some points,
but agreed in believing that the seventh day should be celebrated as the Lords
Day;
(2) German Baptists or Brethren, generally called Dunkers, Tunkers, or
Tumblers, who, with other peculiarities, held to trine immersion with a
kneeling posture and forward bending of the body in the rite of baptism,
requirements which gave them their suggestive nicknames.
Other pietistic sects, as the Moravians, had some Baptist principles, but were
not important in South Carolina. All these groups based their faith directly on
the New Testament and were plain and simple in their manner of life; some of
them preached non-resistance. f406
Most of these sects came into South Carolina only in small numbers, and by
far the majority of the Baptists entering the back country were at first known
as Separates. One of the effects of the Great Awakening in New England under
Rev. Jonathan Edwards and Rev. George Whitefield was the division of the
Congregational churches into Old Lights and New Lights, the New Lights
claiming that the religion of the Old Lights had grown soulless and formal and
had no more the light of scriptural inspiration. Because they withdrew from the
About May, 1766, Tacitus Gaillard and Moses Thomson (field officers of
militia) wrote to Lieutenant-Governor Bull:
that a number of illeterate people in or about the Congarees on St. Marks
Parish had set up for Preachers and performed other ministerial offices
without Licenses and drew together Multitudes of Weak and deluded people
to whom they propagated the most erroneous pernicious and dangerous
doctrines. f411
Not only the authorities but the Regular Baptist churches regarded the
Separates with suspicion. An idea of the original intensity of this feeling of
distrust may be gained from the attempt of Rev. Shubal Stearns to secure the
aid of a Baptist minister to ordain Mr. Daniel Marshall, another of the zealous
Separate missionaries. The minister of the Welsh Neck Church, probably Rev.
Nicholas Bedgegood, when called on for the purpose, sternly refused,
declaring that he held no fellowship with Stearns party, that he believed them
to be a disorderly set, suffering women to pray in public, and permitting every
ignorant man to preach that chose, and that they encouraged noise & confusion
in their meetings. f412 Gradually the two parties compromised their differences
as their intercourse became more frequent, and it is probable that the
Charleston Association had much to do with this result. Some of the churches
of the Peedee section, particularly those on Lynches Creek, and some in the
lower Savannah River region show the influence of large overland immigration
and back country separateness, but they were in close enough touch with lowcountry churches to be held to Regular standards. Not so the earlier back
country churches. They were either founded by or soon under the spell of the
fiery evangelists of Separatism. One of the most influential of the Separate
preachers coming into South Carolina was Rev. Philip Mulkey, who became a
Baptist in 1756 and was ordained in October, 1757. His influence runs through
the history of many of the early Baptist churches of the back country. f413
Fairforest is of the peculiar interest as the oldest Baptist church in the back
country and as a Separate Baptist group from North Carolina. Its influence
covered a wide area. Besides its central congregation, it had several branches:
One at Lawsons Fork; one at Catawba in North Carolina; one at Thickety; and
one at Enoree, at which branches Joseph Burson, Thacker Vivian, Richard
Kelly, and William Wood assisted. f421 An attempt is made in the following
when it was constituted is not known; it was probably greatly disturbed by the
Revolutionary struggle. Appearing as a member of Bethel Association in 1794,
under the name Goshen, the church was so designated in the minutes through
1800, when it became a constituent member of Broad River Association with
the title Goucher Creek Church. f430 Rev. Thomas Burgess was pastor in 1794
but remained with the church only a short time; it was probably his service that
Cedar Spring congregation desired to share in 1795, but to their request
Gocher Church on Thickety answered: we are crampd in the same place
that you are. Our minister has his appointments laid out so as to fill up every
Saturday in each month and cannot alter his monthly meetins at present f431
William Pool, probably church clerk at the time, later became an elder who
assisted neighboring churches in their work. f432 No minister appears upon the
records through 1800, but sometime after, at least by May, 1803, Rev. Joshua
Richards was serving Goucher Creek Church as pastor. f433
Enoree branch of Fairforest, which claimed 1768 as the year of its beginning,
had a meeting house built in 1771 twenty-five miles to the southeast and in
1772 was about to be constituted under the care of William Wood, Mr.
Mulkeys assistant, who had not yet been ordained. f434 This church retained its
original name and probably approximately its original location for many years.
f435
It emerged from the obscurity of the Revolution in 1790; in 1791 Jacob
King was pastor and continued to serve the church throughout the period under
discussion, with the help of Rev. Jesse Owen after 1794. Enoree Church
entered Bethel Association in 1792, and its reported membership shows
considerable variation. f436
Tyger River Church (Friendship), which is said to have had its first meeting
place about sixteen miles southeast of Spartanburg, and which claims 1765 as
its date of constitution, was so near to Fairforest as to indicate a connection in
their early history. It was probably one of the main meeting places of
Fairforest, and Thacker Vivian or one of the other assistants may have
preached here. f437 Other records give 1777 as the date of constitution. f438
Doubtful traditional accounts state that the church was constituted by Rev.
Jacob Roberts, under whose care it continued until the Revolution, being
known as Jacob Roberts Church, and that Mr. Roberts reconstituted it after
the Revolution ten miles south of Spartanburg Court House near Otts Bridge
on Tyger River, the new name being Tyger River Baptist Church. f439 With the
new name, the history of the church is plainer. Tyger River Church was a
constituent member of Bethel Association in 1789, and appears on the minutes
under the same name through 1800, when it was dismissed to enter Broad
River Association as one of the constituents. f440 Just at this time or somewhat
later it was also known as Flat Rock Church. f441 No pastor is mentioned until
1795, after which John Williams and Augustine Clayton held the position. f442
In June, 1801, Cedar Spring Church after having already warned Rev. John
Williams to handle the doctrine of election more carefully sent messengers to
Tyger River Church to make inquiries with regard to rumors that he had joined
the Freemasons. These reports were found to be true, and Mr. Williams was
suspended and tried for the offense. He chose Rev. James Fowler and Rev.
Joseph Camp to represent him; Tyger River Church chose Rev. Joshua Palmer
and the eldership of Bethlehem Church. The decision at the trial was against
Mr. Williams, but the case was tried again with helps from Upper Duncan
Creek, Boiling Spring, Bethlehem, and Cedar Spring Churches, after which
Mr. Williams was excluded in September, 1801; he was probably the
disorderly minister against whom Broad River Association warned its churches
in 1802. f443 The church then called on Rev. Joshua Palmer for ministerial help,
and in 1802 licensed George Brewton to preach and appoint meetings. Mr.
Brewton was ordained minister in June, 1803, together with John Beard and
Joel Smith, deacons, and Wiley Williford was appointed church clerk in
February, 1804. The church conference of July, 1803, agreed to build a new
meeting house near to Ausburn [Osborne] West, and on August 6, Mr. West
gave two acres from his grant of 1792, on a small branch waters of the
Dutchmans Creek to Flat Rock or Tyger River Church, but the building
committee was not appointed until April, 1804. The work was soon finished
and the keys turned over to George Brewton, who, however, delivered them in
July to James Bennett, previously mentioned as holding a meeting of part of
the church. f444 Soon after agreeing to build, the conference decided to ask for
incorporation as Friendship Church, and the act (1804) names it The
Friendship Baptist Church of Christ, in the District of Spartanburgh. f445 In its
dealings with its members in 18011804, the church called up only eight or ten
for discipline, one (as already mentioned) for joining the Masons, another for
joining the Methodists, one for fraudulent horse trading, and only one for
intemperance. A note of liberality appears in their receiving Mourning Smith
by experience, she having been baptised by the Methodist[s], and in their
decision to have no meeting in July, 1802, on account of the Presbyterian
meeting. Camp meetings and steadily mounting membership testify to the
effects of revival. f446
Several other churches of the back country were either developed from
Fairforest or organized under its aegis. Of these, Little River of Broad Church
grew up in the section where Rev. Philip Mulkey and his followers first settled
in South Carolina, some of his congregation having remained there and united
with others in 1768 to build a meeting house twenty-four by twenty feet on
land given by Jacob Gibson, popularly known as Gibsons Meeting House, and
located about two and a quarter miles below Kincaids Bridge on the west side
of Little River just above the mouth of Neckleys Creek. f447 On February 26,
1770, twelve members were constituted a church, of which Mr. Gibson became
pastor after his ordination in 1771, his connection with the church continuing
at least through 1790. f448 After Mr. Gibsons death in 1793, John Gwin was a
candidate for the ministry at Little River and may have served the church for
sometime, but no other minister is recorded. f449 This church was a constituent
member of Congaree Association; after the break up of that body Mr. Gibson
held aloof from associations and although he visited the Georgia Association
in 1788, and may have considered union with it, Little River did not again
unite with other churches until it entered Bethel Association in 1802. f450
been constituted a church before 1777, the date usually assigned, and had
entered Congaree Association. f456 Like most of the churches of the back
country, Buffalo Church disappears from recorded history during the
Revolution; it emerged in 1789 as a constituent member of Bethel Association.
f457
Rev. Joseph Camp had probably been the pastor during the whole period
and continued to serve at least through 1800 and possibly several years longer.
f458
Buffalo was one of the churches dismissed by the Bethel Association in
1800 to become a constituent member of the Broad River Association. f459
Sandy River Church originated from a group of Virginia and North Carolina
Baptists who settled on Sandy River and invited ministers from Buffalo, Little
River, Fairforest, and Congaree Churches to preach to them. They built Flat
Rock meeting house somewhere near Turkey Creek and had members living
on Pacolet, Turkey Creek, and Sandy River. besides adjacent members of
Fairforest and Little River Churches. This group requested the 1776 meeting of
Congaree Association (at Fairforest) to constitute them a church. Rev. Messrs.
Ralph Jones, Joseph Camp, and Joseph Logan met with them at Flat Rock
meeting house, December 23, 1776, assisted in drawing up the covenant,
constituted the church, and at its request examined and ordained Rev. James
Fowler, Rev. Ralph Jones delivering the sermon and Rev. Joseph Camp the
charge. f460 It is not certain, because of lack of records during the Revolution,
though it is probable, that Mr. Fowler became Sandy Rivers minister at that
time; he held the position in 1790 and continued in it at least through 1800; in
1791-1792 he was assisted by Rev. William Woodward; in 1802-1803 the
church was without a pastor; and was supplied in 1803 by Rev. Messrs.
William Woodward and Samuel McCreary. f461 In 1791 Sandy River joined
Bethel Association and remained a member. The minutes of 1803 refer to it as
Upper Sandy River Church and this name was gradually adopted. f462
during the Revolution have been found. This region was the scene of many
skirmishes, and religious life must have been completely disorganized. f470 The
church reappears in 1790 still under the care of Rev. Joseph Reese and still
with many branches. The assistants then and shortly after were Rev. Ralph
Jones, Rev. Gabriel Rawls, and Mr. John Price, a candidate for the ministry. f471
Congaree with its branches was apparently turning more and more to the
position of the Regular Baptist churches. It had quarterly communion
beginning with the first Lords Day in March, and had no ruling elders nor
laying on of hands. But Mr. Reese was averse to joining an Association, and
it was 1798 before it entered the Charleston Association, whose minutes refer
to it as a church of many years standing formerly under the pastoral care of
the late eminently pious, excellent and usefull, Rev. Joseph Reese f472
Infirm and unable to preach in 1794, Mr. Reese died in 1795, f473 and Congaree
was without a regular pastor until 1802, when Rev. Stephen Nixon took up the
work. f474 In 1799 the church asked the association for supplies and assistance
in regulating their affairs, and Rev. Messrs. John M. Roberts, Lewis Collins,
John Cato, Solomon Thomson, and Edward Pigg were appointed for the
purpose. In 1801, Congaree was again asking help because of criticisms of Mr.
Price, who had been licensed to preach, but whose character was considered
in so unfavourable a light by the other churches, particularly by those in the
Bethel association, that they would not admit him to preach among them. This
peculiarly serious and distressing case engaged the attention of able
committees until 1804, when, In consequence of a letter received from Rev.
Mr. Putman, the association advised Congaree Church to exclude Mr. Price
immediately from their union; and to warn the public against him, as a person
whose preaching should not be encouraged. The unusual fluctuation in
numbers of Congaree members was due in most cases to inclusion or
dismission of branches. f475 The church removed its place of worship, possibly
about the beginning of the century, to a situation some six miles above
Thomsons, or MCords, Ferry, and 22 below Columbia; its former seat was
about 12 miles higher up, in the neighborhood of Beulah Church, one of its
branches organized in 1806. f476
and work among them. The congregation consisted of twenty families with
eighteen baptized members, to whom the ordinances were administered
occasionally by Mr. Reese or Rev. Daniel Marshall, and others who visited
them, for they had no minister of their own. Mine Creek Church entered Sandy
Creek Separate Association in 1770, but withdrew to become a constituent of
Congaree Association in 1771, with seventeen communicants and John Tanner
as delegate. f480 Nothing is known of the Mine Creek group during the
Revolution, but Red Bank Church, continuing or replacing it to some extent,
was, according to tradition,f481 constituted in 1784 under Rev. John or Josiah
Thomas as pastor. The land whereon it stood was granted to the church by
Robert Newport from his survey of September 18, 1784, in 96 District below
the line on a branch of Little Saludy River. f482 Entering Georgia Association
in 1790, the church was probably dismissed in 1794 and became a member of
the Bethel Association in 1795. At that time Rev. John Rowland was pastor,
John or Josiah Thomas, the former preacher, having been excommunicated for
immorality in 1792. After two pastorless years, the church had the services of
Rev. Henry King in 1798, after which the office was vacant for sometime. f483
The act incorporating Red Bank Church in 1802 names Thomas Dozier,
probably a deacon, among those presenting the petition. f484
About 1769 Mr. Jeremiah Dargan visited the present Stateburg section, this
wicked wicked neighborhood, this wild place, to no purpose except
provoking them to outrage. The same year Mr. Reese preached in the same
place to the alarming of many. Several were baptized, and in 1770 the people
of the community erected a meeting house thirty by twenty-four feet about
three miles north of Stateburg on a fouracre lot given by Dr. Joseph Howard
for the use of all denominations, though it almost immediately became a
Baptist church. A revival soon rewarded Mr. Reeses work. Among his
converts were Dr. Joseph Howard and Thomas Neal, a deacon, who kept
together the new Baptist flock by their exhortations; Lewis Collins, long pastor
of Swift Creek Church; and Richard Furman, later the greatest Baptist minister
of South Carolina.
The congregation at the High Hills remained a branch of Congaree Church
until January 4, 1772, when it was organized as an independent church of
about seventy families. f485
Though poor and without a pastor, the membership had so increased with
occasional help from Mr. Reese as to necessitate a large building. Young
Richard Furman, only sixteen at the time of his conversion, exhorted after the
visiting ministers had finished their sermons, and persevering in spite of
ridicule, was called to preach regularly in April, 1772. f486 Rev. Oliver Hart
attended a great meeting at the High Hills in December, 1773, lasting into
1774, at which the young man was one of the preachers. f487 Rev. Messrs. Evan
Pugh and Joseph Reese ordained Richard Furman on May 16. 1774, and in
November he took charge of High Hills Church. f488 His pastorate began in
stirring times, and it was probably his zeal and activity as much as the central
location of the church which led to its choice as the place of meeting in April,
1776, of the churches of the Province to choose delegates to attend the
Continental Association in order to obtain our liberties, and freedom from
religious tyranny and ecclesiastical oppressions. f489 Mr. Furmans activity in
the American cause appears from his having enlisted and marched to
Charleston and from the address he wrote to the disaffected between Broad and
Saluda Rivers who were taking up arms in 1775 against the Continental
Congress. The address struck Colonel Richardson as so stirring and patriotic
an appeal that he had copies of it spread among the people as his army
advanced. This and other efforts and appeals of Richard Furman are said to
have brought him into such prominence as to cause Cornwallis to place a price
upon his head and to force him to flee the State and remain for sometime in
North Carolina and Virginia. f490 Though there was little fighting in the
neighborhood, the High Hills region was in the midst of marches and counter
marches and had the honor to be Greenes summer camp in 1781. f491
The church reappears upon the records with Mr. Furmans return in 1782, and,
under his influence before and after the war, established branches, among them
Upper Fork of Lynches Creek (Flat Creek), Ebenezer (Jeffreys Creek), Second
Lynches Creek, Bethel (Black River), Swift Creek, Camden, and Calvary. f492
In 1787 Mr. Furman accepted a call to Charleston. f493 High Hills Church was
without a regular pastor from 1787 to 1799, though the association appointed
supplies during 1787 and 1788, and two ministers, Gabriel Gerald and Stephen
Nixon, licensed and ordained from the congregation, must have worked among
them. In 1797 Rev. Gabriel Gerald reported High Hills Church to the
association for unfair dealing with him, but the committee appointed to
investigate reported in 1798 that, though the churchs proceedings had not
been entirely regular, yet they had just cause of dissatisfaction both from the
principle and conduct of Mr. Gerald who had printed a pamphlet
disseminating unorthodox ideas with regard to the Sabbath. Rev. Richard
Furman wrote him a long and able letter disapproving especially the publicity
given the matter. but Mr. Gerald refused to be reasoned out of his opinions or
to accept the plan of reconciliation proposed by the committee. His death
ended the difficulty. f494
In 1799, Rev. John M. Roberts, recently returned from Rhode Island College to
conduct an academy, took over the pastorate as the first regular minister of
High Hills since Mr. Furmans departure. Rev. Amos DuBose assisted him, for
not only did High Hills have branches, but there were two or three meeting
houses belonging to the main church. f495 Large and centrally located, High
Hills was always an active and important congregation. It was incorporated
March 26, 1784, as The Baptist Church on the High-Hills of Santee. f496 On
October 6, 1803, General Thomas Sumter granted to Rev. John M. Roberts and
his successors in office a lot of land near Statesburg whereon the old
Meeting house now stands. f497 The lot is just east of the Camden road. f498
Though High Hills as a branch of Congaree Church was for a short time in
1772 a member of the Congaree Association, its growing intercourse with the
Charleston Church through Rev. Oliver Hart after 1773 led inevitably to its
entrance into the Charleston Association in 1778. f499
transactions entered into, at and about the time of the dismission of their late
pastor, Rev. Solomon Thomson, who had been with them many years.
Another petition from the minority, consisting of sundry respectable persons,
who had been excommunicated by said church, who considered themselves
injured, requested assistance from the association in restoring the church to
order. The associations committee did not function but reported Bethel as still
in an irregular state, after which the matter was left to the private labours of
visiting ministers. These were so far successful as to bring about practical
reunion in 1802, though Bethel again asked aid and advice of the association,
and its numbers continued to dwindle. f501
Swift Creek branch was organized about 1783 and entered the Charleston
Association in 1787. f502 Rev. Lewis Collins may have been working in this
section before 1783, since he was one of Rev. Joseph Reeses converts in
1769. f503 In 1803 the church asked the Charleston Association about removing
its meeting place, but was advised not to do so lest it cause uneasiness in a
neighboring congregation. However, the church soon after changed its location
to one eight or ten miles east of Camden nearer Black River. f504 Revival effects
are evident in 1803-1804. Rev. James Jenkins, a Methodist revivalist,
complained in 1804 that old father Collins had taken into his church several
awakened by the Methodists at a meeting on Swift Creek. f505
Edmund Botsford visited the section in 1773 and baptized several members. f509
How the church weathered the Revolutionary years is unknown; it reappears in
1785 as a petitioner for admission to the Charleston Association, and though
its application was approved, there is no evidence that it ever sent messengers
to confirm its membership. By 1788 it had entered the Georgia Association
with Charles Bussey as pastor, f510 who remained in the office at least through
1794. Two candidates, George Delaughter and Elisha Palmer, appeared among
its members in 1790-1792. Dismissed from the Georgia Association in 1801
under the name Big Stephens Creek, the church entered the Bethel Association
in 1802 with George Delaughter as minister. f511
Horns Creek Church, located about five miles south of the town of Edgefield
and said to have been constituted about 1768, was probably a branch of
Stephens Creek Church, though the history of its early years is lost. Rev.
Messrs. Daniel Marshall, Saunders Walker, and Benjamin Harry covered this
region with their missionary labors. Horns Creek Church appears as a member
of the Georgia Association in 1788 with Hezekiah Walker as minister. f512 In
1790 criticism of Mr. Walker came before the Bethel Association, which was
about to proceed against him when a report was made in 1791 that Horns
Creek Church had already acted in such a way as to produce satisfaction
respecting the charges f513 Hezekiah Walker, John Frasier, and Samuel
Walker with several others members did by their petition ask and obtain
incorporation by act of January 20, 1790, naming The Baptist Church on
Hornes Creek in Edgefield County, in the State of South Carolina.f514 John
Bolger, a candidate for the ministry in 1792, soon left them. f515 Horns Creek
asked dismissal from Georgia Association in 1801 to enter the Bethel
Association in the next year. The important men in the congregation in 1802
were Samuel Marsh and John Landrum, both of whom were ministers in 1803.
f516
This was a large and active church. f517
A Second Horns Creek Church appears to have existed in 1790, which may
have been a branch of Horns Creek, though more probably of Stephens Creek.
Nothing is known of its location or history beyond the fact that Benjamin
Harry was minister and the membership varied from twenty to twenty-five
between 1790 and 1794. f518
Samuel Newman settled on the spring branches of Bush River in 1766, and
soon had meetings held in his house by Rev. Daniel Marshall. Mr. Newman
and others were baptized and constituted a church in June, 1771, by Messrs.
Marshall and Mulkey. Their main meeting house, thirty by twenty-four feet,
was built in 1770 on land given by George Goggans, probably from his survey
of June 30, 1770, on Beaverdam Branch of Bush River; another meeting house
was built the same year about three miles off. Soon after their constitution in
August, 1771, Mr. Newman was ordained by Messrs. Marshall and Mulkey,
but died in November, 1771. f519 Thomas Norris, a licentiate of Little Saluda
(Mine Creek) Church, came to live among the Bush River congregation as
their minister, being ordained by Messrs. Marshall and Mulkey in October,
1771, when he took over the pastorate. Mr. Norriss mild, benevolent, and
engaging countenance, graceful gestures, and melodious voice animated
and evangelical pulpit communications, excited general admiration. f520 In
1772, two exhorters, Coleman Brown and John Monk, assisted him. f521 Mr.
Norriss congregation must have been torn asunder by his preaching of nonresistance during the Revolution, and by his death in 1780, but it is claimed
they kept up their meetings throughout the period. One of the members, John
Cole, Sr., giving ardent and warm exhortations, was licensed in 1781 and
ordained in 1783 by Rev. Messrs. Joseph Burson and John Webb of Fairforest,
at which time he was chosen pastor of Bush River Church. f522 He remained in
that office into the new century and from his pastorate the church came to be
known also as Coles Meeting House. f523 During that time, Bush River
licensed and presented for ordination Jesse Brooks and William Cole; Jesse
Brooks left the church shortly after his ordination in 1795, and William Cole
died in March, 1802, the same month in which he was presented. Among the
officers of the church, Joseph Johnson was ordained deacon in April, 1798, to
succeed Robert Leavell, deceased; Michael Landers as church clerk kept the
records from May, 1792, to October, 1804. when his death led to the choice of
Stephen McCraw as clerk. f524
Bush River had quarterly communion and set aside the day before the second
Sunday in each month for church business. It is a striking fact that no member
was brought before the meeting for minor offenses; of the sixteen cases of
discipline from 1792 to 1804, drunkenness, slander, adultery, and rape
constituted the majority; two concerned questions of church doctrine and
policy, Susannah Summers being excluded for embracing and refusing to
renounce the doctrine of universal redemption from hell, and Aaron Burton for
planting tobacco on the Sabbath and justifying his conduct. f525 The church
carefully encouraged any gift of exhortation and put forward Levi Pitts, Joseph
Johnson, James Teague, Charles Crow, John Pitts, Bordiwine Roberts, and
Brother Moses, a man of colour, though several of them were later silenced.
f526
Like Fairforest, Bush River was under the influence of the Sandy Creek
Separates and entered Congaree Association in 1771, in which it probably
remained until that body dissolved. In 1791 it became an active and important
member of the Bethel Association. f527
A group which owed its organized beginning to Rev. Daniel Marshall and
Thomas Norris was that near Raeburns Creek, where a meeting house twentyfour by sixteen feet was erected in 1767 and a church constituted in
September, 1771. Aaron Pinson, not yet ordained but expecting soon to receive
ordination, preached there in 1772 to a congregation which included about
thirty families with fifteen baptized members. f528 No records for the years of
the Revolution appear to exist. Rev. Aaron Pinson was still in charge in 17901794, when Benjamin Williams, an itinerant, and John Baugh, a candidate for
the ministry, made a part of the ten to fifteen members of his church. In 1794
the church was said to be rapidly disintegrating because of its peculiarities. f529
It probably disappeared in the next few years, its membership being absorbed
by such bodies as Bush River, Turkey Creek, Upper Duncans Creek, and
Durbin Creek.
It was in this region that Daniel Marshall, upon first coming into South
Carolina, settled and established a church. f534 It is not known whether there
was a later amalgamation of the two groups, though it is probable, their
differences not being in any wise fundamental. Three present day churches of
the section claim an ancient origin: Beaver Creek, Mobleys Meeting House,
and Rock Creek, all within a radius of a few miles. All may have absorbed
remnants of the old Beaver Creek congregation, but the only one showing any
possibility of recorded continuity is Rock Creek. f535 The scattered membership
must have come together again about 1789 as an organized body first known
as Rocky Creek, or Rocky Creek of Broad River, now Rock Creek Church
located originally between Rock Creek and Beaver Creek, about three miles
east of Broad River. f536 Reports made to the Bethel Association, which it
In 1768 Rev. David Martin went into the region about Clouds Creek, where he
found some English Dunkers and Seventh Day Baptists, to whom he preached
and administered communion. By 1772 there was a congregation of thirty
families with forty-two baptized communicants. They had no meeting house
and no ordained minister, though James Warren preached for them. f538 No
direct connection can be traced between this group and the Regular Baptist
church later organized in this section, but possibly the scattered membership of
the old body formed the nucleus of the new church at Clouds Creek, which
claims to have been constituted in the spring of 1790 by a presbytery
consisting of Rev. Messrs. John Thomas, Hezekiah Walker, and Patrick
Quartemus, the last of whom took over the pastorate. f539 There is evidence for
both 1790 and 1791 as the date of constitution. At that time Rev. John
Langford, an old minister, was in the congregation, but no longer preaching. f540
The church entered the Bethel Association under Rev. Patrick Quartemus in
1793. He remained only through 1794, after which Thomas DeLoach worked
among them as a licentiate until he was ordained (tradition says on June 4,
1800, by Rev. Messrs. Charles Bussey and Henry King), and assumed the
pastorate some time after 1800. He presented the petition resulting in 1802 in
the incorporation of the Baptist Church of Christ on Clouds Creek. f541
Rev. David Martins work extended farther down the Edisto. Here on January
14, 1770, he baptized Elijah Padgett, and others were later added until by 1772
there were sixteen baptized members of eight families of English Dunkers. Mr.
Padgett led their worship but was not ordained. f542 A number of Seventh Day
Baptists from Prince William County, Virginia, becoming discouraged in their
attempt to worship and settle at Tuckaseeking in Georgia, returned to the
Edisto about this time, among them their minister, John Clayton. f543 The whole
group probably scattered, but in 1777 a Regular Baptist church called Edisto
was constituted in approximately the same region and received into the
Charleston Association in 1787, at which time Rev. Nathaniel Walker was
pastor. f544 The church had many licentiates in 1790, but with that year it ceased
to send representatives to the association, which agreed in 1797 to consider it
out of union. Rev. Nathaniel Walker had long been ill and died about
November, 1798. The association, considering that this lack of pastoral
supervision might have caused Edisto Church to be careless, retained the
congregation in the union for that year, but dropped it from the list in 1799. f545
Its history is then obscure; it probably became known as Healing Springs
Church. Traditional accounts say that Rev. James Sweat was the second
minister; there is nothing else to support the claim, but as he spent most of his
life in the neighboring churches, he may well have served this one for a time.
f546
The Baptist Church of Christ, of the Healing Springs, in Barnwell
District, was incorporated on December 21, 1804. f547
CONGAREE ASSOCIATION
Attempts at union among the back-country Baptist churches of South Carolina
before the Revolution were not productive of permanent results. The first arose
from Rev. Shubal Stearns invitation to the Separate Baptist churches of
Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to send delegates to a general
meeting at his church on Sandy Creek, where the Separates formed the Sandy
Creek Separate Association in 1758. f550 Rev. Oliver Hart and Rev. Evan Pugh
were delegates from the Charleston Association to one of the associational
meetings of the Sandy Creek Separates in North Carolina after 1762, to try to
effect a union with them. In that year Rev. Philip Mulkey attended the
Charleston Association meeting with queries from his separate church on
Broad River, probably with a view to composing differences. f551 The Sandy
Creek Separate Association by 1770 had grown inconveniently large and, it is
claimed, officious in its dealings with the member churches. The Virginia and
South Carolina congregations were dimissed, the latter to form the Congaree
Association on December 26, 1771, with the following constituents: Fairforest,
Stephens Creek, Congaree, Bush River, Little River of Broad, Little River of
Saluda, Mine Creek (or Little Saluda), and later for a time High Hills of
Santee, f552 The body took its name from the Congaree Church, the place of its
first meeting. Morgan Edwards visited the churches of South Carolina in 1772,
and with his help the new association began correspondence with the
Philadelphia Association. f553 It also sought to cooperate with the older and
more stable body of the Low-Country. At the 1773 meeting of the Charleston
Association, Rev. Messrs. Daniel Marshall, Joseph Reese, and Samuel
Newman, commissioners appointed by a general Meeting of the Separates
held at the Congaree, came to discuss union, but as the Separates were
tenacious of their peculiarities nothing was accomplished. They were
suspected of Arminian tendencies, and were regarded as unduly exclusive in
refusing communion with those who rejected their peculiarities. f554 In 1775
Rev. Philip Mulkey again appeared at the Charleston meeting with a letter
from a meeting of the Congaree Association at Fairforest containing a proposal
to unite the several Associations in this Province into one. Nothing came of
this new offer. f555 The Congaree Association appears to have met in
September, 1776, at Fairforest Church, with delegates present from Fairforest,
Lynches Creek, Bush River, Little River of Broad, and Buffalo Churches. f556
Shortly after, it got into trouble, as Mr. Edwards asserts, by attempting to do
more in the affairs of the churches, than properly belonged to an Advisory
Council, which threw them into embarrassment, hindered the harmony of their
associational interviews, and ended in the dis-solution of the body. f557 It is
probable that the dissension and general decrease of religious activity due to
the Revolution also had much to do with the breaking up of the Congaree
Association.
inhabitants between the Broad and the Saluda who opposed the measures
recommended by the Continental Congress, was distributed by Colonel
Richardson among the disaffected as his army advanced. So successful was
Richard Furman in his Revolutionary work that he is said to have attracted the
attention of Cornwallis, who exclaimed that he feared the prayers of that godly
youth more than the armies of Sumter and Marion. Cornwallis having put a
price on his head, he fled the State and preached in North Carolina and
Virginia. He was an active member of the American Revolution Society
throughout the remainder of his life. f565
Among the ministers in the army, Rev. Drury Pace served as captain of militia;
Rev. Henry Holcombe saw service as a private after the fall of Charleston; he
tells of being converted during the years he was a captain of the militia, and of
using his efforts to convert his fellows. f566 John Greer, Benjamin Moseley,
William Murphy, Jeremiah Rhame, James Smart, Alexander Scott, Benjamin
Neighbours, Benjamin Nix, James Crowder, Samuel Newman, Jonathan Wise,
John Webb, Thacker Vivian, and William Woodward received pay for varying
periods of militia duty; Joshua Palmer was in Brandons Regiment, David
Golightly in Roebucks Regiment. f567 Of the better known laymen, Abel Kolb,
of Marions Brigade, killed in a Tory foray into the Welsh Neck in 1781, and
George Hicks of the same section, became colonels. f568 Robert Lide and
Tristram Thomas of the Peedee and Francis Boykin of Camden rose to the rank
of major; John Hart of Charleston was an officer of the Continental line; John
Putman was a captain in Brandons Regiment; f569 and others might be
mentioned chiefly from the Low-Country and the Peedee section.
The complete historical blank which these years present for the Baptists of the
back country is probably due to the intensity of the civil war waged in that
section between loyalists and American Revolutionists. Rev. Oliver Hart
unfortunately gives no account of his efforts in the back country in 1775, but
Rev. William Tennent indicates the great uneasiness already pervading the
section. Captain Woodwards Rangers of the western part of Fairfield all
signed the Association, but in the same section about Jacksons Creek a large
number were obstinately fixed against the proceedings of the colony though
proper arguments brought them to sign. Around Rocky Creek Meeting House
the inhabitants signed eagerly, but above them Colonel Thomas Fletchalls
influence was strong and the difficulties increased. Along Kings Creek in
Chester District at a muster of Captain Robert McAfees company, were some
of the most obstinate opposers of the Congress, who, aided by two
gainsaying Baptist preachers all refused to sign the Association but ten.
Farther down toward Bullocks Creek, men signed the Association almost
universally, as they did after a long harangue at a meeting house on Thickety.
At Goudelocks, Mr. Tennent talked with Muchels, probably Rev. Philip
Some of the old Separate Baptist meeting houses were in or near the scene of
many skirmishes. Stephens Creek was only a few miles from Augusta,
Goucher Creek a mile or so from Andersons Fort, where Captain Patrick
Moores loyalists surrendered to the Revolutionists; Cedar Spring had three
engagements in its neighborhood; and in the region above the Enoree,
especially around Fairforest, scarcely a day passed without some fighting. f575
Restive in their changed conditions under the British, those Americans who
had accepted protection began to take up arms, and after Kings Mountain the
Revolutionists gradually regained control. The civil war in the back country
grew more desperate. The British held in contempt the loyal militia man and
did not demand of the American military authorities the same protection for
him as for British prisoners. The loyalists situation was hopeless when he fell
into the hands of the American militia, who looked upon him as a man
who deserved a halter, & therefore treated him with the greatest cruelty. The
kings supporters became dejected & timid while the Americans murdered
every loyalist they found whether in arms or at home. The unfortunate
loyalist on the frontiers found the fury of the whole war let loose upon him, as
the British drew their lines toward Charleston. Driven to extremity, they took
to the swamps, from which they made incursions into Whig sections to plunder
and murder, and from which they were tracked with unrelenting hostility by
the Americans. Each party in the regions it controlled visited upon the other
abuse, indignity, and destruction, moved as much by private vengeance as by
public necessity. f576
With congregations torn asunder by bitterness, the churches must have found it
hard to preserve any of the forms of religion when its spirit was thus
completely overwhelmed. The war made sad havoc of friends and property;
and as for religion, it was almost forgotten. f577 Men who did well the war
work of 1780 and 1781 had to learn again the ways of gentleness and peace,
and only shattered churches were there to teach them and their unregenerate
sons. Many of the older Baptist meetings were apparently reconstituted, new
ones grew and flourished unrecorded, until with all the suddenness of revival,
a teeming religious life is shown covering the back country after 1790, when
the Bethel Association began to keep minutes of its meetings. As connections
between old and new groups is often impossible to establish, the history of
most of the churches is isolated and fragmentary. In addition, settlement was
remarkably fluid, and little congregations emerged only to disappear in a few
years or to reappear under different names. Separate tendencies still lingered,
but regularization was so rapid as associations gathered in the groups that the
names Separate and Regular disappeared and only Baptist remained. f578
Though discipline seems as rigid as before, many a cry went up from the
churches regarding the wickedness of the times and the coldness of religion.
Because of the impossibility of tracing interrelations among them, the churches
of this period are in the main treated under the modern county in which they
are located. However, one group which stands out in its several ramifications
as transcending county lines, is discussed as a typical example of the church
government and polity of the Baptist congregations of the day and of the
growth and separate constitution of arms or branches of the parent body.
Chichester Matthews, also clerk at this time and writer of letters to the
association, was dismissed on August 8, 1789, to go to Kentucky with several
others who received dismissory letters at the same time. David Green did not
satisfy the critical taste of Turkey Creek, and on June 12th
The Church being come together for to consult matters for Gods Glory and
Zion good Br. Green is thought not to have the qualifications as the word
of God points out & we think it most to the glory of God. to stop him.
He later removed to Poplar Spring Church. After these removals, John Nash
agreed to meet with the church to enable them to keep up their services on the
Lords Day, and Brother Sims was asked to preach to the church in order that
they might become acquainted with him. This was probably Drury Sims, who
was received by letter on May 14, 1790. f582 It does not appear that he was ever
formally chosen pastor. John Nash served in many offices besides preaching
occasionally until his death in 1794. In July, 1793, Brother George Tillman,
then pastor of Little River Church, accepted a call for parttime service at
Turkey Creek, so long as it may appear Convenient. The two churches
decided, after consultation and discussion, to purchase a dwelling place for
Brother Tillman convenient to both meetings and to bear an equal part of the
expense. Turkey Creek assigned him business from time to time, and raised a
subscription for him in January, 1798. Although Brother Tillman accepted a
call to Turkey Creek for 1800, the church evidently reported Stephen Gafford
as minister that year at the Bethel Association meeting. f583 Nothing appears
with regard to his preaching, but the church showed confidence in his ability as
moderator, messenger, and committeeman, in spite of his long wrangle with
the Bayleys of Shacklefords Meeting. He was dismissed by Turkey Creek on
December 12, 1795. The church considered Benjamin Northcut ripe for
ordination in 1793, and though he was licensed to preach in 1794, he was not
finally ordained until July, 1796, at Mountain Creek Church. He served Turkey
Creek as moderator, trustee, committeeman, and agent in various ways through
the great revival and after; in 1802 he applied for permission to visit two other
churches on Turkey Creeks meeting day, and on June 9, 1804, Brother Arthur
Williams accepted a call to the church. f584
The second Lords Day in May, 1787, was set apart for the ordination of
elders, but there is no record of the persons ordained and no other reference to
such an event. There were several clerks to do the writing business who kept
a really remarkable record; there were besides clerks to raise singing in public
meetings, deacons to attend to the churchs business affairs, trustees of the
building and funds, and moderators of the business meetings. f585
Turkey Creek undertook active committee work, gave careful handling to
association letters, and watched closely the conduct of its members. Of about
sixty cases requiring discipline, some form of drinking to excess made twenty,
lying six, passion and swearing five, non-attendance on church meetings four,
disrespect to the brethren, gross immorality, and cruelty each three; while
others were sporadic, as dancing, riding with saddle wrong end foremost,
joining the Methodists, attending at the courthouse at publick times when her
business does not call her there. The history of the churchs dealing with one
sister is interesting because of her name. Nancy Hanks and her husband Luke
Hanks were received by letter at Turkey Creek Church February 12, 1785,
after which there is nothing regarding them until May 7, 1787, when the
meeting cut of her priveledge from the church for speaking disrespectful of
the brethren also for disavowing the truth and for busying herself in matters
that she ought not with young people. On August 8, 1787, Nancy was
excluded and disowned for her disorderly walk, but Luke must have
remained a member, as his death is recorded in June, 1789. Little River Church
petitioned Turkey Creek in August, 1794, to send a committee to try to regain
fellowship with Nancy, but nothing indicates whether she was restored.
Strict financial oversight of members was a part of the covenant of Turkey
Creek Church. A dispute about land the meeting settled by requiring the
disputants to bear the expense equally. On August 11, 1786, the brethren
resolvd unanimously that no member of this Church shall sell corn for more
than two shillings per bushel nor wheat for more than Three Shillings per
bushel. Those set forward to exercise their gifts had to pay their share of the
expenses of the church. Unjust dealing, killing a mare by too hard riding,
failure to pay for horses cared for when lost, not giving bond after promise to
do so, were cases which came before the meetings and received righteous
settlement. A member was ordered to pay half the years rent and consider
lifting the notes of another to whom he had been hard; the half years rent
was set at five hundred weight of good tobacco on February 7, 1794.
Lapses from moral conduct were punished by admonition and suspension, and
if persisted in, by final excommunication. The church took care in earlier years
to acquaint the public with the fact of excommunication, but later entries do
not indicate the continuance of the practice. Signs of repentance had to be very
real to be considered adequate to restoration. Members offering experience as
a reason for admission into fellowship were rejected in at least two cases, and
in a third baptism was postponed until the reality of the experience had
received thorough discussion and observation. Several questions indicating
uneasiness about communion and marriage came before the church, and such
queries regarding discipline as:
Shall our children & servants be obliged to attend on the Lords day answer
yes or stay at home & not be runing abroad; whether it was Right for
members with us to Swop horses on any occasion answered it was lawful;
Is it Lawful for a member of society to lend his Gun to his Neighbour to carry
to a Shooting match answered in the negative; Is it commendable for one
of our members to attend places of Reveling without business they Judge not.
The first branch dismissed from Turkey Creek grew up near the present town
of Due West on Hogskin Creek, by which name the meeting was known in
1790. f587 A committee from Turkey Creek met with them on July 15, 1791, to
enquire whether that body was Ripe for constiution. After a favorable report,
thirteen members were dismissed, and another committee went from Turkey
Creek to help constitute them a church on the Saturday before the fourth
Sunday in August, 1791, the ministers present being, according to tradition,
Joseph Redding, Moses Holland, and Edmund Bearden. f588 In the same year
Turkey Creek sent helps to ordain deacons at Little River Church, the name
which Hogskin meeting assumed and kept. f589 The minister from 1793, and
probably before, was Rev. George Tillman, who was ordained at Little River
in 1791 and must immediately have taken charge. f590 Little River shared his
services with Turkey Creek for some years and bore an equal part of the
expense of purchasing a place for him convenient to both churches. f591
According to tradition, he got into difficulties with a party of Little River
members about 1802-1803 and resigned. f592 Although the church licensed
James Crowther in 1794-1796, he appears not to have become pastor, and 1804
found Little River successfully petitioning Big Creek Church for part of Rev.
Moses Hollands ministry. f593 Little River entered the Bethel Association in
1792. f594
At the meeting of Turkey Creek Church in June, 1794, Arthur Durham and
David McGladery asked the privilege of collecting the number of members
about them to see Whether they be Ripe for constitution or not. f595 This group
built a meeting house south of Reedy River near Poplar Springs in Laurens
District. f596 David Greens plat of 1787 whereon there is a meeting house
may show the first meeting place of this church. At their constitution on July
14, 1794, they were known as Durham Church and entered Bethel Association
under that name, but by 1795 they had adopted the title Poplar Spring Church
by which they are still designated. f597 The membership was small, only fifteen
constituents signing the covenant, and they were without a pastor during their
early years, when supplies assigned by the association frequently served them.
f598
Jonathan Deweese, of Mountain Creek Church, who probably preached for
them as a licentiate in 1799, had his ordination carried out at Poplar Spring in
that year. Of two men called upon to exercise their gifts, Benjamin Neighbours
and David Green, the first seems to have gone no further in the work, while
David Green, once put down from preaching in Turkey Creek Church as
lacking the necessary qualifications, became pastor of Poplar Spring in June,
1803, but was dismissed by letter in October, 1804. f599 Arthur Durham, deacon
in 1794, and David McGladery, former clerk to raise tunes at Turkey Creek,
must at first have conducted the Poplar Spring meetings. f600 After Mr. Durham
left, John Williams, Sr., and William Norris were chosen deacons in October,
1797, John Williams (probably Jr.) in 1801, and James Simmons in 1803. The
records, though scanty, are intact from the constitution of the church. Michael
Henderson as clerk kept them until August, 1797, when Thomas Norris took
them over. Poplar Spring, like Turkey Creek, had irregular communion for a
time, but made it quarterly in 1800. The church found it hard to secure
attendance on church business days. The peace of the congregation was badly
torn by a secular dispute between the Gaffords and the Gaineses in 1796, while
in 1797 a motion to elect a delegate and write a letter to the association
brought the objection that the church was not in fellowship, some of the
members being too much attached to the general system. Discipline seems less
rigid than with many other churches; one case of being intoxicated with
spirituous liquors mars the books, which also list John Williams (whether
junior or senior is not stated) as under censure in 1804 for holding the
universalian plan. f601 Poplar Spring was also a member of the Bethel
Association, which it entered in 1794. f602
recorded. f604 Rev. Nathaniel Hall was pastor of both churches, more
particularly of Upper Rocky River. Under the influence of an able Baptist
minister, Rev. Jeremiah Walker, Mr. Hall embraced Arminian sentiments and
persuaded Upper Rocky River to unite in 1790 with three churches in Georgia
to form a General Baptist (or Arminian) Association, holding Universal
Provision, and finally falling from grace. f605 This so disrupted Lower Rocky
River, that, though still accounted a member of the Georgia Association, it
steadily declined and was dissolved in 1792. f606 The death of Jeremiah Walker
led to the rapid dissolution of the General Baptist Association. Probably after
reconstitution, Upper Rocky River in 1795 applied by letter for admission to
the Georgia Association; it was asked to send a delegation before entry would
be considered complete. The delegates attended in 1796, but as the church was
more conveniently located for membership in Bethel Association, it was
dismissed from the Georgia Association in the same year and applied for
admission to the South Carolina body in 1797. f607 Objections were raised
because of its former principles, and the Bethel Association appointed a
committee to investigate. Neither this nor a new committee of 1798 ever
functioned. The association sent a letter to Rocky River in 1799 to inquire into
its principles and practices, but its entrance seems never to have been effected.
f608
Under the name Wilson Creek, and probably as a reorganized body, with
Rev. James Crowther as pastor, this church became a constituent of the Saluda
Association in 1803. f609 The membership was never large, ranging from ten in
1788, through forty in 1792, to twenty in 1803. The first site of the church was
close to the present, in Abbeville County near the Anderson County line about
sixteen miles south of Anderson. f610
Bulltown was the name of a section in the western part of Abbeville County.
The Presbyterian Bulltown meeting house, in which Mr. Tennent preached in
1775, was located several miles above the mouth of Rocky River. The
members of the dissolved Lower Rocky River Church, evidently desiring to be
rid of a name then under suspicion, reconstituted themselves near Wembishs
Mill as Bulltown Church in 1793, shortly after the dissolution of the old body,
and in the same year entered the Bethel Association. Without a pastor through
1796, Bulltown had supplies appointed by the association in 1794 and 1795,
and petitioned Turkey Creek for help to ordain James Crowther in January,
1797. The name Bulltown then disappeared from the association records, and
in its place appeared Ebenezer Church under the ministry of Rev. James
Crowther. Bulltown had apparently changed its name or been absorbed by a
body named Ebenezer. Ebenezer Church asked dismission from the Bethel
Association in 1800 to enter a more convenient union; it became a constituent
of Saluda Association in 1803. f611
The indications are that the connection was close between Wilson Creek and
Ebenezer, the successors to the old Upper and Lower Rocky River Churches,
that they probably shared the pastorate of James Crowther, and that they united
as Rocky River Church in 1810. f612
Enon Church, probably not more than ten miles from Bethesda in Barnwell
District, entered the Charleston Association in 1793 with sixteen members,
John Williams attending as delegate. This church originated from that at
Great Saltcatcher, and was constituted the 7th of May, 1793, Rev. Messrs.
Alexander Scott and James Sweat being present and assisting. Joseph Thomas
attended the association with a second report of sixteen members from Enon in
1794; after that date nothing further is heard of it, and in 1807 it was declared
extinct. f617
In the same region and with some of the same members as Genestie, a new arm
of Shockley Ferry called Mountain Creek, was already in existence or then
began to develop under the influence of Rev. James Chastain. The place of
meeting was about seven miles southwest of Anderson. The first existing
record of Mountain Creek is a decision of October, 1798, that it is Gospel for
the church to do all things touching fellowship by a unanimity. In May, 1799,
they considered having John McCutchen exercise his gift, but for some reason
decided that he should only sing and pray, if he felt moved to do so. Rev.
Cooper Bennett did most of their preaching, and as a branch of Shockley Ferry
they appointed James Burriss and Thomas McGregor in 1800 to meet with four
others to adopt measures for the support of the Gospel, and again in 1801,
when the question came up, they agreed that corn after Christmas and wheat
after harvest should be furnished for Mr. Bennetts support. An interesting
appointment of 1801 was that of a committee to settle all temporal matters.
Mountain Creek remained a branch of Shockley Ferry until February, 1812. f626
Big Creek Church, said to have been organized by Rev. Moses Holland in
1788, was one of the constituent members of the Bethel Association. f627
Originally near Saluda River in Pendleton District, about one and a half miles
southeast of Williamston, the meeting place was later moved a half mile nearer
the town. Rev. Moses Holland served as pastor apparently from the
constitution of the church, and Big Creek generously shared his ministry with
other meetings. One licentiate, George Vandiver, appears on the records of the
church. Two members, John Nicholson at his own request as long as may be
to the Glory of God, and William Stanton believing himself to have
impressions of the spirit, received permission to exercise their gifts within the
bounds of the church, but evidently their efforts did not lead to ordination. A
list of members of 1801 gives James Wilborn as elder and deacon. The
eldership of both Brush Creek and Brushy Creek Churches assisted in
ordaining John Harper and William Harper deacons in April, 1802. As both
were dismissed in November of the same year, the church in July, 1803,
appointed Chanon Breazeale, Joel Holbert, and Thomas Wilson to act on trial
as deacons. f628 The records of the church to September, 1801, are lost or
destroyed; those remaining begin with a concise and comprehensive Rules of
Decorum for church meeting days, and the first entry deals with the fate of
queries put before the church, it being decided that if the body found
themselves unable to answer a query which they had unthoughtedly taken
up, they were to acknowledge their fault to the brother who flung in the
query. A specific case must have prompted the question brought forward in
December, 1803: Is it worthy of dealling with a member for starting to market
with his wagon and team or roling hogshead on the sabeth day to which
the church answered, We disapprobate such conduct. Of fourteen cases of
discipline from September, 1801, to December, 1804, six were for
drunkenness, three for adultery or sin which for decency and good order was
not publicly charged but was left to a committy of sisters; the rest were less
serious, as not paying a note when due, bringing home a stray hound dog not
being his own property, going to a shooting match, and keeping bad
company. On May 12, 1804, The church came together in love & union
haveing no dealings on hand. Revival began in Big Creek in 1799 and
brought such an increase in numbers that two branches sought and obtained
Lower Three Runs Church, said to have been constituted about 1789, was
received into union with the Charleston Association in 1798 upon good reports
of its faith and practice. According to tradition, Rev. Messrs. Nathaniel Walker
and James Sweat preached for them, but the reports sent to association list no
pastor. The Charleston Association dismissed the church in 1802 to enter the
Savannah Association in 1803. f634 It was incorporated in 1804 under the name
Columbian Baptist Church of Christ on the Lower Three Runs, in Barnwell
district. f635
distinct group on Lower or Little Sandy River in 1789; this body received
separate constitution in 1792. Mr. Woodward then became the minister of the
new church and remained in that position until his death. He was assisted for a
time after 1793 by Mr. Vandiver, a candidate for the ministry. f643 The church
tried Amos Layards gift but refused to license him: it extended Brother
Gents license of exhortation to preach any place where a door may be
opened. Brother Simonton was apparently treasurer, but it was later decided
that this function should belong to the deacons office, and Brother Redmond
replaced Mr. Simonton. Cases for discipline brought up in the early years
include two for joining the Masons, and the authority of the church was strong
enough to cause the offending brethren to promise either not to meet with the
Masons or to leave the order entirely. The church insisted upon strict
observance of the Sabbath, James Hand should have started to market on
Monday or Tuesday and thus have avoided traveling and working his horses
and slaves on Sunday, as he was forced to do by starting on Friday; other
members were reprimanded for walking or riding over their farms on Sunday.
A resolution to allow grievances to be laid before the deacons prior to being
submitted to the church was soon rescinded. In an interesting trial of a woman
accused of knowingly marrying a man already married, the womans opinion
that the trial committee was prejudiced caused the church to allow her to
choose the majority of a new committee which reported in her favor. f644 The
membership of Lower Sandy River rose from fifty in 1792 to fifty-five in
1794, but when it entered the Bethel Association in 1803, it numbered thirtytwo. f645 The church is said to have had three buildings, the first on land of Eli
Cornwell on Sandy River. About 1800 it was decided to remove the church to
a more convenient location. A group of trustees consisting of Elder William
Woodward, Richard Evans, James Huey, Daniel Tressels, Henry Carter,
Mason Huey, Jacob Dungan, Nobley Coates, and Neguens Whitted bought on
October 11, 1802, a lot for three hundred dollars upon which a second wooden
building was erected beyond the cemetery in the direction of Chester five
miles from Chester on the Ashford ferry road. f646
The branch of Pacolet on Fishing Creek, which claims to have been organized
in 1792, was so well established in 1793 and 1794 as to have supplies
appointed for it by the Bethel Association. Its separate constitution must have
taken place in 1795, as in that year Pacolet dismissed nineteen members, and a
new church on Fishing Creek called Hopewell entered the Bethel Association.
The new church had no minister until 1801 or 1802, when Rev. Samuel Eccles
took up the work. He probably remained with the church only through 1803,
after which Samuel McCreary, who was at that time a licensed minister, must
have preached for them. Hopewell had few members until stirred by the great
revival. f647
Nothing is known of the origin of Antioch Church beyond its entrance into the
Bethel Association in 1804 and its incorporation by act of December, 1805. f653
It claims earlier constitution. The church still uses the same building it erected
in 1804, not many miles southeast of the town of Edgefield. This is the oldest
Baptist church building in the State. f654
William Kings work presents unusual features. After choosing him clerk in
October, 1800, the Church present [October, 1803] gave their voice for
William King to go forward in discipline; as leader among them during
pleasure ; and in October, 1804, furnished him a letter of
Recommendation to travel. f659 These licentiates and itinerants worked with
the various branches of Head of Enoree. The first entry in the first surviving
church book records the constitution in 1799 of some of the members about
Keowee and Little River as Shoal Church; in May, 1801, they sent help to
Tyger branch; in 1802 and 1803 to Rock Spring meeting house; and in August,
1803, a committee from Head of Enoree assisted in organizing Double Spring
branch. Head of Enoree business meetings, held the first Saturday or the
Saturday before the first Sunday in the month, usually opened with inquiry for
fellowship. Drinking to excess made the largest part of their cases of
discipline, which in addition included such items as holding the Universal
system, the subject of a query put before the association in 1799; owing
money and failing to pay, and selling liquor without a license. The meeting
agreed in 1799 that the Eldership do not Enter into doubtful disputation in the
church. f660 Upon the petition of Rev. Abraham Hargess, Isaiah Stephens, and
Joseph Willis, ministers, and William Thurston, Harden Camp, Benjamin
Bridges, Thomas Cantrell, and John Tubb, officers, the congregation was
incorporated as The Head of Enoree Baptist Society in 1799. f661 During the
revival the church held prayer meetings with extraordinary communions and
took part in circuit meetings after the regular monthly meetings. Head of
Enoree carefully debated joining the new association in 1800, but decided
against it; then in 1801 the church sent delegates to the Bethel Association in
August to ask dismissal and to the Broad River Association in October to
arrange its entry into that body. f662
The last of the group of north Greenville County churches to be formed before
the great revival began as a branch of Concord meeting house Tyger River,
on June 2, 1794, during a visit of the Concord eldership to the Brushy Creek
(Enoree) section. These officials empowered the members received to
proceed to any branch of business when a minister is with them, and to hold
their church meetings monthly and to render an account of their proceedings
every month to the church. A presbytery consisting of Rev. Messrs. John
Williams, Augustine Clayton, and Robert Smith on March 7, 1795, constituted
them a church called Brushy Creek, which entered the Bethel Association the
next year under the ministry of Rev. Lewis Rector. f669 The church records are
blank until July, 1799, when the meeting took Abraham Carney under dealing
for grinding on the sabbath and for contending that there was no gospelsabath. This was a difficult case and required helps from neighboring
churches. While it was being considered, other situations troubled the church
such as finding that the constituents had adopted no confession of faith, and
offending Head of Enoree by accepting its members at a distance from it. The
last they agreed never to do again. As with most of the churches, drunkenness
most frequently came before them for dealing. A member accused of drinking
and extortion admitted the latter but denied the former, on which the meeting
was inclined to exclude him, but agreed to lay the matter over until next
meeting because one of the committee on the case, Captain Horatio Griffin,
rather inclined to wave his being drunk. Solomon Hornbuckle was chosen
moderator on September 17, 1802, and in December of that year the church
decided that it must have two deacons, telling Mr. Hornbuckle and Pleasant
Hudson to take thought on that subject.
Money was collected for the cemetery, and on December 11, 1802, a
committee consisting of Joseph Wilbanks, Solomon Hornbuckle, Archibald
Fowler, Pleasant Hudson, and Jacob Bridewell was appointed to fix or pitch
upon the most advantage place for a meeting house with good waters, at or
near the center of the society as a majority may agree. Brushy Creek attended
carefully to its associational duties, and regularly collected money for printing
the minutes. Remarkable revival effects appeared in 1802, among them special
days of fasting and prayer, prayer meetings, opening a door for experience at
private houses, as Janey Kilgores and Benjamin Butlers, and extra meetings
at Milford meeting house and Head of Long Branch, these probably being
arms of Brushy Creek Church. f670
The group of churches in the south of Greenville County began with Reedy
Fork, which was probably organized sometime previous to 1789 and entered
Bethel Association in that year. It had a membership of twelve in 1790, and of
thirteen in 1791, when John Ford and William Cotton carried the report to the
association. Reedy Fork was extinct as a church in 1792, f671 and part of its
congregation scattered. The remainder entered Horse Creek Church, which
was organized in 1789, probably a constituent of the Bethel Association.
Though without a pastor and with a small membership, Horse Creek appeared
well represented on the association lists until 1799, when Fork Shoal Church
took its place, under which designation Horse Creek must have been renamed
or reconstituted. Fork Shoal likewise had no pastor, though Rev. Jonathan
Deweese was with the church from 1800 to 1802. Severing its connection with
the Bethel Association in 1802, Fork Shoal became a constituent of the Saluda
Association. f672
Little Horse Creek Church was organized in the same region about 1794. It
entered the Bethel Association in that year with Rev. James Chastian as
minister. He continued with the church until it was declared extinct in 1798.
Doubtless it was considering reorganization when it asked the association in
1795 whether five could constitute a church. f673
The Baptists living along what is now Wilsons Creek organized a church under
the old name of the creek, Coronaca, and entered the Bethel Association in
1794. It is probable that it received some of its early membership from the
rapidly disintegrating Raeburns Creek meeting. Not many miles below Turkey
Creek (Saluda), Coronaca had intimate relations with that church, and asked its
help on serious matters. The meeting had no pastor through 1800, though
Arthur Williams was licensed and working among them in 1799. He was
ordained and assumed the pastorate in the year 1801, when the name of the
church was changed to Providence. f676
Overby constituted Siloam Baptist Church on June 29, 1799, for the better
convenience of keeping up the worship and discipline of the church of Christ.
Thirty-two members, among them Rev. John Waller, who was chosen
occasional pastor, composed the new body, which became one of the Bethel
Association churches in the same year. Two lay elders were to be chosen in
December, 1800, but the records, scattered and incomplete, do not name them.
Siloam had at the time a meeting house or an arm at Mt. Gerizim; church
meeting was to be held every other month, the Lords Supper to be
administered once a quarter, and The brethren to find the mind at each place,
in rotation. The deacons in 1803 were impowered to furnish the tables
ddequate for the Lords supper in a decent manner, and to demand the reason
if any member repeatedly refused to commune. The death of Rev. John Waller
in 1802 left the church without pastoral aid until it took Rev. Arthur Williams
as supply in 1803. f677
A church called Big Branch Enoree or Big Branch of Enoree River was
constituted in 1789 and entered the Bethel Association in 1791, having for its
pastor Rev. Drury Sims. His connection with the congregation must have
ended in 1798, as the association appointed supplies for them in that year. The
membership was small and generally decreasing. In 1799 the church
disappeared from the association records, probably combining with Horse
Creek Church to form Fork Shoal, or dismissing its few remaining members to
that church and to Brushy Creek. f681
Organized about 1788, possibly from Durbin Creek, Upper Duncans Creek
Church, or Upper Church on Duncans Creek, was probably a constituent of the
Bethel Association, though it may have entered in 1790. The only minister
they had during the early years was Rev. Joshua Palmer, who came to them in
1793. In November, 1794, Padgetts Creek Church sent Brother Mordecai
Chandler to Upper Duncans Creek to conduct a piece of Business in regard to
Br. Palmers affairs in the Year past. The church occasionally exchanged help
with Friendship. The congregation secured incorporation in 1794 under the
name Upper Baptist Church on Duncans Creek. John Brown is said to have
been a candidate for the ministry in 1790-1792, and Reuben Kelly was a
licentiate in 1803, when tremendous revival effects appeared. f682
Bethabara Church entered the Bethel Association shortly after its constitution
in 1794, by Richard Shackleford, David Lilly, and John Waller, under the
ministry of Rev. John Waller, who remained through 1798. Rev. Henry Hitt,
who was ordained at Bethabara on July 25, 1801, by Rev. Messrs. John Waller
and David Lilly, took over the pastorate and was delegate to association in
1802. The church was located near Spring Grove on headsprings of Banks
Creek of Saluda River probably in the neighborhood of the old Little River of
Saluda Church. The first building was erected by subscription as free to all but
soon became Baptist. f683
On April 21, 1798, Isaiah Blackwell conveyed one acre on Plum Branch to
the church of Reverent Charles Blackwell, the deed having as witnesses
Enoch Breazeale, Jesse Hill, and Joab Blackwell. f685 This reveals an already
existing organization, which may have been called Four-Mile Creek. The
church claims 1795 as the date of its constitution, at which time it may have
entered the Georgia Association where it is listed in 1803 with thirty-nine
members under Rev. Enoch Breazeale. The baptism of eleven members that
year indicates a revival. The Georgia Association dismissed Plum Branch in
1804, and in 1805 it entered the Bethel Association. f686
Report that Brother Denmans Bargain and Brother Carters Bargain to Stand as
they made it.
Brother Denman saying something disrespectful of the church shortly after, the
committee finding him Ripe for Excummunication we give him up to the
mesengir of Satin for the distruction of the flesh that the Sperit may be savd in
the day of the Lord. In considering the case of Brother Josiah Burgess, cited
for selling corn at a dollar a bushel and stating that he also sold wheat at a
dollar and a quarter a bushel, the churchs committee announced that they
could not with consistency fix a price for grain, owing to the Various
Sircumstances which often attend contracts Respecting that article. The
question What is extortion? asked in this connection met the response: To
Reeve more for any artickel than its Rail value. In two other cases serious
financial questions arose. Of the sins dealt with, drunkenness with eighteen
cases stands high in the list. Where the member confessed with sorrow and
promised reform, the church Bares and Sympethis with him. Swearing and
giving way to passion rank second, followed by fighting, striking, attending or
engaging in shooting matches, unlawful pregnancy, adultery, desertion of
family, Gumping with wicked, dancing, fraud in selling land, taking plank
from the meeting house all met admonition or exclusion with the prayer:
And Lord have mercy on his Sole.
Of the officers of the church, Francis Callaway and William Gates were
deacons in 1799, Joseph Chandler and James Jackson in 1803. Besides John
Cleveland, the regular pastor, and Thomas Maxwell (or Maxfield) and Dozier
Thornton, who frequently preached, the church put forward for ordination
Francis Callaway in 1801 and Charles S. Morton in 1803. Elections or
appointments of officers were prepared for as on April 27, 1799, when the
church Left on the Minds of the Breatheran to Look to God for a Decon and
consider his Deuty. The members responded promptly to calls for ministerial
helps.
The church book refers to communion only once, when the ordinance was
postponed from the March quarterly meeting in 1797 to the fourth Lords Day
in June. The meetings not only opened but frequently closed with singing,
prayer, and exhortation, and the texts of the sermons are often listed.
Shoal Creek entered the Sarepta Association in 1796, sending as delegates
from that year through 1804 James Blair, Francis Callaway, John Carter, John
Cleveland, John Doss, William Gates, Thomas Gilbert, and Charles S. Morton.
The 1800 membership of two hundred and twelve was greatly increased by the
revival in the next four years. The center of the congregation had so shifted in
the meantime as to necessitate the removal of the constitution and church book
to South Carolina and the adoption of the name Chauga Church in January,
1811. f692 Chauga is located about halfway between Westminster and Chauga
Creek. f693
At the meeting of Head of Enoree Church the Saturday before the first Sunday
in November, 1799, A Report was made of the Constitution of the Keowe and
little River brethren, named Shoal Church, consisting of thirteen members
chiefly of the Taber and Tubb families. This South Carolina Shoal or Shoal
Creek Church entered the Bethel Association in 1800 with twenty-nine
members, James Courtney and George Tubb being the delegates. In that year,
Isaiah Stephens, later pastor, became a member. The Bethel Association
dismissed the church in 1802 to become a constituent of Saluda Association in
1803. f694
and of these the clerks kept full and careful minutes, spreading upon the
records copies of letters received and sent. Discipline occupied a large part of
the time of the meetings, but avoidance of publicity before excommunication
characterized their dealings, a ruling to that effect being incorporated in the
new constitution and rules of decorum adopted in June, 1802. Adultery among
the negroes and drunkenness among the whites occurred more frequently than
any other offenses. The case of the mother and stepfather of a woman who
came upon the charity of the church long disturbed the congregation. A
committee of visiting ministers decided that, as the daughter was of mature
age, the mother and stepfather did not owe her support, but so bitter was the
feeling against them for their neglect and harshness, that after summoning
them several times, the church refused to allow the man to exercise his gifts
and at last declared both man and wife out of its fellowship. Brethren sent to
John Cook for adopting universal principles reported that they have labourd
and find him in a traveling circumstance after truth and that he is still in a
hopeful case so hopeful that he soon acknowledged his error. Public
questions came up for consideration, the church deciding in March, 1797, that
it would not be dutiful to Elect Deists or Atheists to the State Legislature and
after long hesitation referring to the association in 1799 a query as to wether
or not it is agreeable to the gospel to hold Negroes in Slavery. The association
evidently suppressed this question in committee. The church kept careful
financial records with lists of those subscribing to various objects. In February,
1797, some of the members contributed salt, iron, or money to pay Rev.
Alexander McDougal, and occasional supplies of the kind were collected for
the ministers up to January, 1800, when a regular contribution was fixed. The
rate of pay is not stated, but in May of that year Rev. Mr. McDougal received
$28.50, and Rev. John Williams $15.25. The church supported two persons for
a time before turning them over to the commissioners of the poor, and raised
funds to help Rev. Augustine Clayton after the burning of his home. The first
meeting house was not at Cedar Spring but a mile or two to the south. The
congregation debated moving to the spring in January, 1795, but decided to recover the old building, the nails being specially prepared and the shingles paid
for in corn. In November the brethren and their neighbors built a shed at the
north end and in September, 1796, Charles Smith and David Golightly floored
the galleries and made steps. Quarterly communion beginning in March was
the rule after May, 1796; the deacons regularly purchased wine for the
purpose, and the church concluded in September, 1797, that it was not the duty
of the deacons or ministers to break the bread in little bits for communicants.
The books record one fast day, December 21, 1798. As revival spread, services
increased in number; stated meetings were held at the meeting house on the
second Sunday in the month and the regular meetings often opened with
preaching. Cedar Spring maintained intimate relations with Fairforest,
The largest and probably the most influential Baptist church of the back
country in the quarter century following the Revolution was located on the
ridge between Enoree and Tyger Rivers and was known officially as Jameys
Creek Church until 1798, when the Bethel Association agreed, upon request,
that it be hereafter called Bethel Church. Its neighbors of that period know it
as Shacklefords meeting or Richard Shacklefords church. It may have been
the successor of Little River of Saluda, but was probably a branch of Durbins
Creek for several years. Bethel Church assumed separate existence about
September 16, 1787, the date of the first record in its church books. The
organization had several branches after 1790, which, as the new century
opened, tended to centralize in the one called Woodruffs meeting house.
Joseph Woodruff and Robert Page were the first deacons. Rev. Richard
Shackleford accepted a call to the pastoral care of the church on July 20, 1789,
and he remained to make Bethel the storm center of the great revival. Rev.
Messrs. James Hill, David Lilly, and John Rowland assisted him at different
times. Jameys Creek Church does not appear to have been a constituent of the
Bethel Association, but it entered that body in 1790, and was the associations
meeting place that year and for two-thirds of the time in the next fifteen years.
Its close relations with the Bethel Association in the early years may have
resulted in Jameys Creek changing its name to Bethel Church. The act of
incorporation of 1804 names the Baptist Bethel Church in the district of
Spartanburgh, and under that name Joseph Woodruff conveyed to it on July 9,
1804, twelve and a half acres on a branch of Enoree River including the old
Former Bethel meeting House. The first two buildings were of logs; the third,
built about 1803
was a long, low-frame building, never ceiled, and with a gallery across each
end. The pulpit was situated in the centre of one side. It was a high, squareshaped box, with steps running up at one end, enclosed with a door. The book
board was so high that a minister of small stature might find some difficulty
in making himself seen over it.
The oldest gravestones are those of Anney Alexander who died in 1796 and
William Moon who died in 1798. f704
Mountain Creek Church, some ten miles southeast of Bethel, was probably one
of its branches constituted and admitted to the Bethel Association in 1794,
under Rev. Thomas Whitman as pastor. The pastorate was then vacant until
Bethlehem Church, located some five miles south of Spartanburg, and one of
the arms of Cedar Spring Church until 1800, was in existence sometime prior
to that date, having been the place of meeting of the Bethel Association in
1798 and in 1800. It probably came into being about the time of the gift by
Jeremiah Salmon on July 8, 1797, of an acre lot on the North Fork of Tyger to
members of the Baptist church and other subscribers of other denominations.
The deed was delivered to Rev. Augustine Clayton for the use of all
denominations but preferably Baptists. On June 21, 1800, Bethlehem Church
petitioned the assistance of Cedar Spring Church in adopting a constitution,
and Cedar Spring appointed Brethren Joroyal Barnett, William Lancaster, and
Charles Smith to attend on the third Saturday in July. Again in January, 1801,
and January, 1804, Bethlehem requested help of Cedar Spring for ordination.
The presbytery for the purpose is said to have consisted of Joroyal Barnett,
Joseph Camp, George Brewton, and Augustine Clayton. The constituent
members were James Crook, Sr., Robert and Thomas Foster, John Gideons,
James Ridings, Isaac and Thomas Tinsley, and others. Augustine Clayton
served as pastor until 1803, at which time he also supplied Philadelphia
Church, and then moved West. John Golightly and Robert Foster as officers of
Bethlehem Church attended an ordination at Cedar Spring Church on May 21,
1803, and Isaac Tinsley is mentioned as messenger to the Bethel Association
in 1803. f706
An arm of Bethlehem known as Holly Springs received separate constitution in
1803, and Philadelphia Church, also constituted in 1803, drew many of its
members from Bethlehem, as well as Cedar Spring and Union Churches. Mt.
Zion Church existed as an arm of Bethlehem in 1804. f707
laid in a grief against the Church for wronging him out of the Money for
which he had an Execution to gain. Some of the congregation being
somewhat hurt with a brother for going away in Peoples Debts, the church
agreed to Send a Letter after him. A resolution of 1788 to maintain the
Ministry by a Subscription of writing followed the curt order to Brother
Crowder to settle his own accompt, and it was later agreed that those
exercising their gifts should pay with the rest. On August 7, 1791, the church
Labourd with Wm. Pearson about the principle of falling from Grace & he
held his principle. and is Excommunicated for the same & his hard Spirit
with the Church. There was also a case of joining the Methodist society in
1804. f708 Padgetts Creek maintained cordial relations with Fairforest, Tyger
River, and Upper Duncans Creek Churches. As the revival advanced, Rev.
John Putman formed a branch at the meeting house near him; Rev. Spencer
Bobo was privileged, with as many Members as he thinks fit, to open a Door
for Experience & Receive Members about where he lives, and the church met
frequently at the river, at the bridge, and at Padgetts Creek meeting house. f709
pastor, but with a licensed preacher, Rev. Davis Collins, who became pastor in
1794 and remained in the office throughout the period under discussion. Rev.
John Rooker, of Sugar Creek Church, preached for Catawba occasionally. In
May, 1796, he spoke so searchingly on the duty of a church to its minister as to
cause Brother Bromfield and other Catawba members to complain to his
church, but the matter was amicably adjusted. The relations between the two
churches were close. f710
meeting house and burying ground were laid off in March, 1799, Brother
Rooker drawing the bond. William McKinney took the place of John Dinkins
as deacon on August 2, 1800. The church seldom recorded the crimes for
which members were disciplined, calling them all disobedience to the church
except in one case of immorality and published excommunication. William
Petties was active in committee work and as delegate to association; Bennett
Wood was licensed to preach in February, 1804, and Robert Mursh was
permitted to exercise his gift in 1806. Two churches, Catawba and Hopewell,
maintained close relations with Sugar Creek, while as early as July, 1802, a
branch had developed at Six Mile Creek. In July, 1803, members attended with
Brother Rooker for the reception of converts among the Catawba Indians, and
the mission thus started was long conducted by Rev. John Rooker with the
assistance of the Charleston Association. f711
NEGRO BAPTISTS
All the churches so far discussed had negro members, if the evidence of those
whose church books have been found can be taken for the whole. The slave
code of South Carolina, though stringent, early provided that slaves should not
be made to do any but necessary work on Sunday, and a later law advised
instructing them in the principles of Christianity and having them baptized
with the distinct understanding that becoming Christians did not make them
free. The strict prohibition of their going from plantation to plantation or into
town without carefully regulated tickets prevented their assembling upon their
own initiative, or at all, except on their masters plantations or in the company
of whites. Such assembling was also directly prohibited; the severe law passed
against it in 1800 forbade slaves meeting even in the company of white
persons for instruction or religious worship before sunrise or after sunset. It
was this law which the Charleston Association petitioned against in 1801 and
1802 and which it was probably instrumental in having modified in 1803 to the
Mr. Brockintons Adam deacon in 1804, and in the same year received free
Marcus by experience and baptism. An early church list shows one hundred
and ninety negro members. f718
Among the low-country churches, Charleston had about sixty-three negro
members in 1800. f719 Euhaw must have had over a hundred living on the
islands on and about Stony Creek, who were dismissed to Beaufort Church
in 1804. f720 The members represent only a fraction of the number actually
attending the churches. Ministers baptized whites and blacks together. Thomas
Fuller, one of the Beaufort converts, who felt it impossible to neglect baptism a
moment beyond the time set without some great disaster happening, writes
Sunday, Nov. 6, 1803, I was baptized in the river with several negroes who
had been received the afternoon before. This act has caused some
estrangement between my friends and myself. Nevertheless, I shall ever have
cause to rejoice that the blessed Lord my God led me in the way and plucked
me as a brand from the burning. Let every one act as he has light. We would
do well to attend to what our Lord on his baptism said to John: Suffer it to be
so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. f721
In the back country, where the number of negroes was small and slave
insurrection not the ever-present menace it was on the coast, the dealings of
the churches with their black members have a more personal touch. Serious
thought prompted Buffalo Churchs two queries to the Bethel Association in
1793: May a negro member remarry if forced to leave his wife and brought to
a great distance, and may a master beat a negro church member? The
association answered both in the affirmative, the first with many qualifications.
f722
That increase of slaves troubled the back country churches appears from
Cedar Springs long consideration of the question whether or not it is
agreeable to the gospel to hold negroes in Slavery, first taken up in
September, 1798, and referred to the association in June, 1799. f723 Bush River
Church received Lucy, a woman of colour, by letter on September 7, 1793,
and the eleven negro members of 1793-1804 are generally referred to in this
way, though they are sometimes called servants. The church in October, 1794,
took under consideration brother Moses Gift (a man of colour) and it [was]
thought he had no call to the work of preaching or exhortation but that it was
best for him to be silent. Moses was excluded for refusing to submit to this
decision. f724 Cedar Spring called its twenty negro members black brethren and
referred to them individually as brother or sister. Officers and others of the
church in May, 1804,
Agreed to attend on the morrow evening at Sister Elizabeth Connells to hear
Brother Titus exercise his gift, at an hours sun [In June Titus was] allowed
to sing, pray and exhort in public, and appoint meetings in the vicinity of the
church all his acting to be in Subordination to his master, and that his
master council him in particular cases as his prudence may dictate.
Cited for preaching contrary to the orders of the church, Titus was suspended
in November, 1804. f725
Turkey Creek Church book mentions only seven negro members. On October
7, 1797, Br. Dick an ethiopian offerd was Receivd next day baptised and
took a seat with the brethren, while in November, 1799, the church excluded
a white woman for impiously abusing her servant. f726 Padgetts Creek received
many of its thirty-two negroes during the revival years. Two had permission to
exhort, Birdsongs Tom in 1799 and Pompey in 1802. f727 Head of Enoree
Church generally called its negro members brother, but sometimes by the
masters name, as Batess Dinah. Of the eighteen negroes mentioned before
1804, seven were excluded. f728 Though generally referring to its seven black
members as servants or slaves, Sugar Creek Church sometimes used Brother or
such names as Osburns Cambridge; twice the church heard the experience of a
negroe woman and pronounced it unsatisfactory. f729 Friendship Church had
few negro members; A Black Bro Bill, permitted to hold meetings in the
bounds of the church, had to be cited for disobeying and giving offense in
public talk. f730 In Shoal Creek (Chauga) Church, eleven negroes were received
into fellowship or dealt with for such sins as fighting and not reporting
runaways, being referred to as Brother Tom servant of John Harris, Joseph
Chandlers Lester, etc. f731 Siloam had nine negro members before 1804 called
James Watsons Delilah, Bro. Wallers Jim. f732 Big Creek also had nine negro
members in the same period called Black Peter or Black Dinah, etc., one of
whom was excommunicated for adultery and one for drunkenness. f733 El
Bethel listed its sixteen negro members under the masters names. f734 The chief
sin among the negroes of all the churches was adultery.
A Regular Baptist church called Silver Bluff, composed wholly of negroes,
with a negro pastor named Jesse Galphin (or Jesse Peter), was constituted in
1781 and had two hundred and ten members in 1792. f735 Jesse Galphin
belonged to Mr. Thomas Galphin, whose plantation was about twelve miles
below Augusta in Edgefield District. f736 The church took its name from Silver
Bluff on the Savannah River. George Liele, who began the first negro church
in Savannah, wrote from Jamaica that he had preached during the Revolution
at Jesse Galphins church when there were about sixty members. f737 Rev.
Abraham Marshall said of Jesse in 1793: His countenance is grave, his voice
charming, his delivery good, nor is he a novice in the mysteries of the
kingdom. f738 He preached at three or four places in the country about Augusta
and finally became the pastor of a negro church in that city in 1793. f739 Silver
Bluff Church must have disappeared or have become a branch of the Augusta
Church after Jesse Galphin began to work in Georgia.
The Bethel Association prior to 1804 had not adopted the Philadelphia
Confession, but in general holds to the Calvinistic sentiments. f743
Procedure in 1791 is typical of the whole period, except for the change in 1795
from two days of public devotion to only one, and included the delivery of the
January 1, 1792, was the day set for this important purpose. The
correspondence and exchange of messengers continued harmoniously through
the period under discussion. Bethel was soon in regular correspondence with
associations in Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina, and was exchanging
letters and minutes with associations in other states. In 1795 a standing
committee on correspondence was appointed, and in 1802 a committee
consisting of John Rooker, Richard Shackleford, David Lilly, and Davis
Collins was appointed to correspond with foreign associations. In the minutes
examined, 1800 was a year of exceptional activity in communication with
associations outside of the state. Nothing came of Bethels adoption of a
resolution in 1794 to address the corresponding associations on the subject of
forming a general committee of associations in the Southern States similar to
that of Virginia, though the Charleston Association agreed
that should such a plan be generally adopted by the associations in the states
southward of Virginia, it might be of use; but unless such a scheme should be
very general, and directed to definite and important objects, we think it would
be ineligible. f745
In its relations with its member churches, Bethel observed great firmness and
forbearance. Business suggested in the letters from member churches appears
at first to have been taken up in the general meeting. A committee on queries
was set up in 1794, and in 1800 a committee on church letters and business
was appointed consisting of Richard Shackleford, William Lancaster, John
Rooker, Abraham Hargess, and Joseph Camp. A similar body but with wider
duties, called Committee on Business, consisting of Richard Shackleford,
David Lilly, Davis Collins, John Rooker, and Joshua Palmer, was set up in
1802 and continued its duties in 1803 except for the substitution of Samuel
Eccles for Joshua Palmer. The appointment of supplies to vacant churches was
carefully attended to from the first. The association met requests for help in
settling difficulties within the membership of a church or between two
congregations by the appointment of committees, occasionally by letter.
Queries from the churches covered the whole field of faith and practice. The
duties and conduct of ministers proved disturbing. As early as 1791 the
question had come before the association as to whether restoration to the
privileges of exhortation should be allowed after exommunication for gross
and scandalous crimes, and again in 1793 a church inquiring about the
reinstatment of a minister once guilty of atrocious crime was advised by the
association to proceed with great caution and to call in help in such cases.
Ordination to pastoral charge only and the right of a church or association to
impose restrictions on a licensed ministers going out to preach received
attention in 1791. In addition to the particular answers given, the association
proposed the appointment of a committee on ordination, but the matter was
laid over. The cases of Rev. Jacob Roberts and Rev. Hezekiah Walker had
been taken up in 1790. Roberts was declared out of union in 1791 and the
brethren of the association advised not to attend his ministry; the case of
Walker was dropped. In 1791 the churches were warned against the preaching
of William Bennett, under sentence of excommunication by an orderly church
in North-Carolina, and in 1792 against Joseph Williams, a disorderly
preacher. A report of 1792 on ordination of ministers called for clearest
evidences of real piety and gifts and the calling in of three, or at least two,
reputable ministers to assist. That all the difficulties had not yet been met
appears from a question in 1803 as to a pastors serving more than one church
at a time. The consistent policy and advice of the association standardized
practice in ordination, steadied the conduct of weak ministers, and soon purged
its churches of unworthy or hypo-critical pastors. Rev. James Fowlers circular
letter for 1793 calls attention to the blessedness of ministers and those who are
employed in the things of God, and closes with a fervent plea for support of the
associations policies.
Relations with non-members or members of other denominations gave
considerable trouble. When asked if members should be laid under censure on
the testimony of non-members, the association replied in the affirmative with
qualifications. Fairforest in 1793 asked whether rebaptism should be required
of immersed pedobaptists admitted on faith. The association referred the
question to a special committee, and after long consideration finally disagreed
with the report of the committee advising the churches to admit such members
without rebaptism. Brush Creek Church inquired in 1795 whether it is
disorderly to commune with other denominations; the answer was
emphatically yes. The question in slightly different form recurred in 1797, and
was put before the association by two churches in 1802 when the intermingling
of various denominations at revival meetings was causing uncertainty on the
subject. The position of the association was steadily maintained. Bethel also
declared nonfellowship in 1790 with those members holding universal
salvation. Clouds Creek Church in 1797 brought up a peculiar point by asking
whether a man was eligible to the office of deacon if his wife were a nonprofessor, the association properly replying that a mans position in the church
should depend upon his moral character, not his wifes beliefs.
Miscellaneous questions included two on financial matters, the churches being
advised that a member conveying his property out of his hands to defeat his
creditors was out of fellowship, and that though five might constitute a church,
ability to support such constitution should decide; two on marriage, the
association declaring that a man with two wives must not be admitted to the
church, and that a mans marriage to his deceased wifes sister was by
Scripture inadvisable but not forbidden. The association also decided that
Reverend is a fitting title but Brother is more Scriptural: that a majority is
generally sufficient for decision in church affairs, as unanimity is too difficult
to secure, and that all of the books of the Old and the New Testaments are of
divine revelation.
In 1803 a tentative proposal for the creation of a fund for the education of
pious young men for the ministry was put before the churches, but met with
little support. Turkey Creek Church negatived it in words indicating an opinion
that the time was not ripe for such work. f746
Agitation for the division of the Bethel Association began in 1795, when
Mountain Creek Church offered the suggestion. The committee reported
adversely, but recommended the Enoree as the dividing line if the break should
be made. Again in 1796 a committee reported against division. The next year a
The northern and northwestern churches of the Bethel Association held several
conferences to consider forming a new union-at Greens Creek in North
Carolina in November, 1797; at Sandy Run, North Carolina, in October, 1799,
again at Greens Creek in January, 1800; a final gathering at Sandy Run in
November, 1800, completed the organization of the Broad River Association.
f748
Sixteen churches constituted the body, two new ones, Silver Creek and
Caney River, in North Carolina, and fourteen dismissed from the Bethel
Association, Greens Creek, Sandy Run, Green River, French Broad, Mountain
Creek, Long Creek, and Bills Creek in North Carolina, and Tyger River
(Concord), Boiling Springs, Goucher Creek (Goshen), Cedar Spring, State
Line, Buck Creek, and Buffalo in South Carolina. A product of the great
revival, Broad River showed some of its most notable effects. Among the
prominent ministers of the union were Joseph Camp, Ambrose Carlton,
but how many Baptists there were in South Carolina before 1700 it is
impossible to determine. They had at that time only one organized
congregation, that at Charleston. By 1705-1706, Anglican missionaries and
others were reporting considerable numbers of Anabaptists, as they were
called, in the various parishes. Rev. Samuel Thomas found in Goose Creek two
families of Anabaptists, on the west branch of the Cooper River thirty families
of dissenters, chiefly Anabaptists, on the east branch of the Cooper two
Anabaptist families, on the Ashley River about seventy families of
Presbyterians or Anabaptists, and on the Stono about sixty Presbysterian and
Anabaptist families;
the Dissenters have at present 4 ministers among them besides one Anabaptist
Preacher lately gone into Carolina from Biddiford in the West of England and
I am informed that 3 or 4 more dissenting ministers are going for Carolina in
the Spring. f751
Religion & the Chh. lye bleeding Wounded evry day-overrun with
Sectaries, especially ye New Light Baptists who have broke up evry
Conga I have founded All the whole Back Cty is now lost to ye Church
thro want of Ministers & Churches. the Vestry of this Psh pressd me to
lay aside all thoughts of quitting the Province to wch I consented, on
Acct of ye Number of Baptist Teachers Wch had lately appeared amg them
f756
to be above two-thirds of the people, and the richest and soberest among
them; yet they were not the most influential, as the act establishing the
Anglican Church, first passed in 1704, was again adopted in 1706. f763 As an
inevitable result of establishment, which gave provincial support to the
Anglican churches and placed them and their members in a favored position,
the Anglicans secured a monopoly of public offices. In 1762, some of the
inhabitants of the fork of Broad and Saluda protested against the taxes going to
the Anglican Church, as the back parts were full of Lutherans, Presbyterians,
Quakers, Anabaptists, and others, who paid as much on one hundred acres of
land as the LowCountrymen paid on one slave, whereas the planters of the
coast would not exchange one slave for five hundred to one thousand acres of
back country land. f764 How the dissenters were expected to conduct themselves
appears from an address of the clergy to Governor James Glen on April 4,
1744, giving as a reason for congratulating themselves on his appointment,
Your Excellencys open Patronage and exemplary Practice of GODS true
Religion (the alone sure Foundation of the Peace and Happiness of Society)
and particularly as professed in the Church of England: Which cannot fail of
happy and diffusive Influence, for promoting the Interests of true Religion
and virtue in general, and deriving the Blessing of GOD on Your Person and
Government; & moreover, affording us Grounds to hope for Your favorable
Countenance and Encouragement towards the Church of England and her
Clergy, in particular: so far as may be consistent with full Liberty of
Conscience to Dissenters, in the Enjoyment of which we wish them quite
safe, quiet, and contented. f765
Only one accusation of actual persecution has been brought by the Baptists
against South Carolina provincial authorities that of Joseph Cates, a Baptist
itinerant, taken up and whipped for preaching near Cheraw Hill sometime
before 1772. The community so frowned upon this action that it was justified
or the ground of Cates immorality. f766 Official impatience and suspicion
appear from Lieutenant-Governor William Bulls attitude and from Rev.
Charles Woodmasons gossipy or monstrous tales about the New Lights,
whom he accuses of imposing upon a credulous planter of Little River by
pretending to be able to raise the dead, and of killing a travelling Person and
cutting him into atoms singing Hymns making processions and Prayers and
offering up this inhuman sacrifice to the Deity as an acceptable oblation. f767
Early complaints went to London
against a Practise here of directing Mariage Licenses to Dissenting Teachers,
Presbyterians & Anabaptists, who often take upon ym to marry the People
here. Now as this is not Warranted by any Law of ye Province, is contrary to
ye Usuage in England, a Dishonour to ye Church & an injury to the Clergy, I
am persuaded that a line or two from his Lordship to ye Governour here,
when we have one legally Settled will put a Stop to ye Practice of it. f768
The dissenters, therefore, had been quietly working their way into power. In
spite of the description of the Baptists denominationally as The most zealous
among the Sects, to propagate their notions, & form establishments, f770 there
is no appearance of political activity on their part; in fact, not so much as their
numbers would seem to warrant.
It is probable that the numerous Baptists along the Ashley in 1702-1705 were
instrumental in electing dissenting members to the Commons House of
Assembly from St. Andrews Parish, but this is difficult if not impossible of
proof. In 1744-1745, the controversy over lot No. 62 brought the Charleston
Baptists into brief prominence due to its connection with the WhitefieldGarden case. f771 Rev. George Whitefield had been cited and suspended from
the exercise of his priestly office by Commissary Garden, and the more
strongly Anglican members of the Commons House evidently seized the
chance to embarrass Mr. Whitefields staunch friends, the rigidly Calvinistic
Baptists, by throwing their support to the anti-Whitefeld faction of the
Charleston Baptist Church in their struggle to retain lot No. 62 for Rev. Mr.
Simmons. No other political significance attaches to the Baptists as a group.
Gideon Gibson, a Regulator of Mars Bluff, whose followers had a skirmish on
August 2, 1768, with a constables party, was probably a member of Cashaway
Church. Rev. Evan Pugh attended meetings of the Regulators, one at
Murphees, probably a member of his congregation, during the worst of the
trouble. f772 After this disturbance, courts were opened and affairs improved in
the back country. At the opening of the new circuit court at Long Bluff, on
Monday, November 16, 1772, Rev. Nicholas Bedgegood preached the
Sessions Sermon. Lists of grand juries for Cheraws District show many of
them to have had connections in the Baptist churches of the Peedee between
1772 and 1776. Their presentments of 1774 and 1775 are vigorous indictments
of British policy. f773
Rev. Elhanan Winchester, of Welsh Neck, and Rev. Oliver Hart, of Charleston,
led the Baptists in revolutionary sentiment and in support of the newly
established State. Mr. Winchester was invited by the wardens and vestry of St.
Davids to preach a sermon on June 28, 1777, the anniversary of the happy
deliverance of the State from our cruel and oppressive enemies. f774 His and
Mr. Harts address To the Honorable Henry Laurens, Esquire, Vice-President
of the Province of South Carolina Signed in behalf of the Baptist
Congregations in general, on March 30, 1776, rejoices in the happy form of
government established, and in the beginning of deliverance from tyranny.
Mr. Laurens replied that an honor had been done him which he had no reason
to expect and emphasized the duty of those who bear rule, to promote and
encourage piety and virtue, and to discountenance every degree of vice and
immorality, perhaps a subtle suggestion that that was all that was to be done
for the dissenters. f775
The dissenters, however, had already acted in their own interest. At the Welsh
Neck Church meeting of March 8, 1776, Rev. Elhanan Winchester
proposed by request, that as the Association did not meet in Charleston this
year on account of the troubles there; there might be a meeting of the
Churches in this Province, at the High Hills of Santee on the Wednesday
before the last Sunday in April next. in order to choose delegates to attend the
Continental Association, which he judged very expedient and necessary at
this season, in order to obtain our liberties, and freedom from religious
tyranny or ecclesiastical oppressions; which the Church unanimously agreed
to: and chose two messengers vis brethren Abel Wilds and Thomas Evans to
the provincial Association at the time and place mentioned.
With recognition of their equal rights, the dissenters must have worked with
better heart for the new State.
Examination of revolutionary records reveals that of some fifteen hundred
persons known to be Baptists of military age about six hundred served in the
army or furnished supplies to the State during the Revolution. The only
complete church list for the period 1759-1800, that of Welsh Neck, included
one hundred and fourteen male members, of whom thirty served in arms or
furnished supplies, a fair proportion, and about the same as that for the whole
State. f779
After the Revolution, the Baptists of the Welsh Neck made their strength felt in
politics. Major (later Colonel and General) Tristram Thomas, William Thomas,
William Dewitt, Morgan Brown, and Robert Ellison served in the Senate
between 1783 and 1800; and a fair proportion of the representatives from
Cheraws District and its various counties were connected with Baptist
churches. Rev. Evan Pugh, Benjamin Hicks, Robert Ellison, Morgan Brown
went as delegates to the constitutional convention of 1790. f780
For the rest of the State, only an occasional Baptist name is to be found among
the senators and representatives. Of these, Colonel Arthur Simkins appeared in
the House in 1783 and remained until after 1800; he was also one of the
presidential electors of 1789. f781 Colonel Thomas Screven and Rev. Frame
Woods also served in the House in 1782-3; and John Grimball in 1792 and
David D. Stoll in 1796. f782 It is impossible to pronounce any of the other
House members definitely of the Baptist connection.
Rev. Henry Holcombe went as a delegate to the convention to ratify the United
States constitution in 1788, at which he showed some Federalist leanings. f783
Rev. Richard Furmans friendship for General C. C. Pinckney and his
preaching a sermon on the death of Alexander Hamilton at the request of the
Cincinnati and Revolution Societies indicate a similar trend, as mie-ht the
choice of Rev. Evan Pugh to preach a sermon on Washingtons death at
Darlington Court House in 1799. f784
Of the coveted appointments as justice of the peace or of the quorum, few
appear to have been held by Baptists before the Revolution, but the number
mounted after 1783. f785 There was no Baptist faction in local or State politics;
and the Baptists had more than their share of the general underrepresentation
of their chief stronghold, the back country. f786
The economic status of the Baptists before 1800 can be established more
definitely than their political position. There were few Baptists like William
Elliott, Sr., owner of a great wharf in Charleston, who received grants of
thousands of acres of land and who was able to make large bequests to the
General Baptists in addition to the large property he left his sons. f787 His son
William Elliott, Jr., also receive 1 grants in the thousands of acres. Rev.
Francis Pelot, of Euhaw, had over five thousand acres in grants, Elisha Screven
over four thousand acres. Thomas Rivers and Joseph Sealy the Elder each over
two thousand acres, several of the above grants being of a thousand acres each.
f788
These were all members of low-country churches before the Revolution;
several other low-country Baptists received grants almost as large, but none is
listed with the tremendous acreages granted to the influential men of the
colony. Grants to the Baptists of the Peedee seldom rose above eight hundred
acres, though many of them received a number of small grants. In the back
country single grants to the Baptists were usually fifty to three hundred acres.
and few of then received more than one to four grants. These figures prove the
Baptists consistently men of small means.
Slave ownership in 1790 furnished an economic standard for the period after
the Revolution bearing out fairly the findings from grants. Again there were a
few men of the low-country churches with a large number of slaves, as Charles
Bealer of Euhaw with 179, Charles Pelot of Euhaw with 71, Thomas Fuller of
St. Andrews with 70, Peter Bainbridge of Cheraws with 55, John Rose of
Beaufort District with 49, Malachi Bedgegood of Cheraws with 35. None of
these could be called great slave owners except the first. Of the 661 possible
Baptists found on the 1790 census, 433, or practically two-thirds, owned no
slaves; nearly seven-eighths of these non-slave owners lived in the back
country. Of the 228 slave owners, 21 had over twenty slaves, 207 less than
twenty, 3 of the first group living in the back country, and 135 of the second, a
somewhat disproportionate number of small slave owners for that section.
These figures present as much a view of the general conditions of the State as
of the Baptists, except for the almost entire absence of great wealth among the
latter. Of the 100 preachers or licentiates of 1780-1800 listed in the 1790
census, one had 55 slaves, one 19, one 17, and thirty-seven from one to 11, a
total of 40 slave owners, or two-fifths of the whole. The preachers, therefore,
belonged to the more prosperous group of Baptists. f789
Reports are contradictory regarding the attitude of the early Baptists of the
State toward education. Lieutenant-Governor William Bull was at one with
Rev. James Moir, an Anglican missionary of North Carolina, who reported the
people as being pestered with sermons of Baptist Teachers whom I always
found to be as grossly ignorant as those they pretend to teach. f790 This is
exaggerated, but an educated ministry seems never to have been required, and
however ignorant, to pray and preach who felt called by the Spirit. The
Separates frequently harbored an idea that education and religion were hostile
forces. This they carried over into their more Regular organization after the
Revolution. f801 The advice given by the Bethel Association with regard to
selection of ministers and pastors nowhere mentions education, and its appeal
to the churches to support a fund for the training of young men for the ministry
met slight response before 1800. f802 Their actions prove their concurrence in
the Baptist historian Benedicts opinion that learning was useful to ministers,
but that they could guide men to salvation without it.
Should the period ever arrive in which Baptist churches shall confine the
ministry to college men only, then transmigration will be rapid, and other
churches will be formed from them, as they have been built up from all
others, who have adopted this practice. f803
The best evidence with regard to the intelligence and education of the Baptist
congregations comes from the articles, confessions, covenants, and rules of
decorum drawn up by them for guidance in faith and practice. Written by
outstanding members or committees, they represent the upper level of training
and ability among the churches. As the Baptists claimed to have no other basis
for their beliefs than the Bible, and as each church was the interpreter of the
teachings it found there, the tendency was at first to have many articles or
confessions, as many as there were churches, but certain excellent statements
of principles by important groups were accepted by other bodies or used as
models by churches and associations. This was true, especially in the South, of
the London or Century Confession of 1689, which, due to its adoption by the
Philadelphia Association in 1742, came to be known as the Philadelphia
Confession. f813 Long, theologically abstruse, and strongly Calvinistic, it had
more influence in the older churches of the coast than in the back country
churches of South Carolina. Its adoption by the Charleston Association made it
a standard for the Low-Country and Peedee Baptists. The tendency grew to
have a convenant following a short confession or containing a brief statement
of beliefs as a preamble or integral part. The Welsh Neck covenant of August
2, 1760, is an excellent example of what Baptists believe and desire to
practice. Its eight or nine articles, probably the work of Mr. Bedgegood, called
on the signers to walk in brotherly love, to watch each others conduct and stir
each other up to good works, to pray for one another and for Gods presence
with them, to bear with one another and not to expose each others faults
unnecessarily, to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,
to attend Lords Day and other church meetings, to keep their faith pure and
Scriptural, and to support ministers according to their ability. The style and
English are good, the fifth article reading:
We do promise for ourselves, that if God gives us children to bring up.
whether our own or others, that we will use our utmost endeavours, to bring
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; setting good and
wholesome examples before them, praying with and for them. That we will
keep a strict watch over their conduct and at all convenent seasons, give them
such advice, admonition, and correction, as their cases shall appear to require,
and that we will take due care to have them taught to read, and to learn the
chatechism; and also that we will use our authority to keep them as much as
possible from wicked company and vain pleasures, such as playing at cards
dice and other unlawful games, and from going to dances balls and
sinful assemblies, and horse races &c and as we will not allow our
children, neither will we practice such things ourselves, knowing that a
companion of fools will be destroyed, and that lovers of pleasure, are not
lovers of God. f814
Cashaway adopted more elaborate but less skillfully drawn Articles of Faith
and Church Covenant on June 20, 1767, in the writing of which Mr. Pugh
probably had the chief share. There are twelve articles with Scriptural citations
quite as Calvinistic as the Philadelphia Confession, and eight agreements much
like the Welsh Neck covenant, except that no promise is made to teach
children to read. Article Three runs:
We believe, That before ye world began, God did elect, a certain Number of
Men unto everlasting salvation; whom He did predestinate to ye Adoption of
Children by Jesus Christ, of his own free Grace, & according to ye Good
Pleasure of his Will; & that in Persuance of this gracious Desire, He did
contrive & make a Covenant of Grace & Peace with his son Jesus Christ, on
ye behalf of those Persons; wherein a saviour was appointed, & all spiritual
Blessings provided for them; and as also that their Persons, with all their
Grace & Glory, were put into the Hands of Christ, and made his Care and
Charge. f815
Among the back country churches. Sandy River had Rev. James Fowler before
his ordination in 1776 to declare his principles respecting the doctrines of the
Gospel, the which he did in several particulars in a verbal relation. He gave
five articles, the first three describing the attributes of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost:
Fourth, the communion and preservance of the saints, of the judgment of saint
and sinner at the second coming of Christ, then the dividing of saint and
sinner. Fifth, of the writing of the scriptures as a rule of faith and practice to
the churches of Christ, considered in point of doctrine, worship, and
discipline. f816
With terse brevity, Padgetts Creek in 1784 packed into ten articles all its faith,
practice, and pacifism:
We hold God the Father, the Creator and Maker of all things, and Jesus Christ
the redeemer & preserver The Holy ghost the comforter & the Sanctifier &c.
We hold the old and new testament to be our rule of faith and life &c. We also
hold Believers Baptism the laying on of hands and of the Resurrection of the
Dead & the Eternal Judgment &c We also hold free Electing love thro
Jesus Christ our Lord &C. f817
The next year, Turkey Creek, one of the few back country churches in the
Charleston Association, adopted the Philadelphia Confession and drew up an
exhaustive covenant of fourteen articles. Three of these are unusual:
We do promise to Relieve the Distresses of the Brethren the members of this
Church, that may fall out: in a course of Provedence, by fire or any other
unseen Displeasure. Also we Jointly agree that if any person Received a
member in this Church directly or indirectly and he or she through indolence
let Their family suffer for the Common support of nature he or she for such
offences shall be dealt with as a breach of the Command of God. We farther
agree that no member of this Church shall undertake any matter or thing that
appears to be attended with more than ordinary difficulty without consulting
the members of this Church. f818
The last article of Bush Rivers Abstract of Principles of about 1792 reads:
We believe that no Minister has a right to the administration of the ordinances
only such as has been called of God, regularly Baptized, approved of by the
Church and came under the imposition of hands by the Presbytery. f819
Poplar Spring Church in 1794 gave its articles of faith as a preamble to the
covenant of nine articles, the sixth running:
we do promise to conduct ourselves in the discharge of civil and religious
duties with prudence and caution not to extortion in the sale of any
commodity but follow the stated medium in such a manner as to answer the
dictates of a well informed judgement, and finally comply with the Golden
Rule exhibited in Gods Word; to do to others as we would wish to be done
by in change of circumstances. f820
Fragments left of the Lower Sandy River and Clouds Creek church covenants
show more skillful handling of material suggesting that they have perhaps been
edited. f821 Joroyal Barnett, William Underwood, David Golightly, and William
The style and English of the church books, quotations from which have been
given under the history of the churches, bear out the evidence afforded by the
covenants, confessions, articles, and rules of decorum, that even the leaders
among the Baptists, though often forceful writers, were men of limited
education.
Nothing occurs to indicate the position of the Baptists with regard to the
education of women before 1800, an important subject, as frequently twothirds of the membership of the churches was made up of women. The
seminary at Stateburgh which Rev. Richard Furman helped to organize had a
female department, but nothing is known of its success. Among the Separates a
few women attained the distinction of assisting in the meetings, as Mrs.
Martha Stearns Marshall. In all the churches authority in female discipline was
sometimes delegated to women, but on the whole their share in church
business was passive, and their influence indirect. f826
Instruction of children in the principles of religion does not appear to have
received general attention as distinct from the adult services. Rev. Evan Pugh
mentions catechising the children in 1766 in the Peedee section; the Charleston
Association printed a catechism, but the Bethel Association up to 1800 did not
refer to the subject. f827
Theologically, though technically Calvinistic, the Baptists, due to their nonrequirement of a highly educated clergy, have simplified and modified the
system to the point of appeal to active but untrained minds, and those whether
trained or untrained which are characterized by literalness and definiteness. It
is a faith without symbols and almost without forms. Baptism is not so much a
sign of the death of the old Adam as an actual burial in a watery grave from
which the regenerate subject arises a conscious member of Christ. Their
position on baptism seems demonstrable from the Scriptures if literal
obedience is the desideratum in religion. To those who felt comfortable only in
an atmosphere of simple but rigid theological requirements, the Baptist Church
was an excellent spiritual home. The sect tended to modify its peculiarities in
the older sections of the State, but where conservatism, custom, and law
relaxed their hold, as in the newly settled portions of the back country, the
rigorous definiteness and simplicity of its creed made a strong appeal. It
furnished an invariable standard where other standards shifted. The dramatic
act of immersion publicly proclaimed an intention to proceed as if of the elect;
the tonic sting of discipline held waverers in the right way; the close
communion emphasized separateness from the world and membership in the
aristocracy of heaven. Action, action in which all engaged, caught and kept the
attention of the new settlements. The power of public prayer and exhortation
might descend upon any man, however untrained, and only his own weakness
could prevent its exercise. This was particularly true of the Separates who first
won the back country, and it continued after their turn toward the Regular
position. Church organization being congregational, the business meetings
furnished an outlet for further activity and trained the members to the usages of
direct democracy. Other sects which offered any of these advantages made the
same appeal, but the Baptists appear to have presented a peculiarly attractive
combination of rigid theology and democratic activity.
Business meetings or church conferences were almost invariably held monthly,
usually on Saturday, followed by public service on the Sabbath, as Sunday was
generally called, sometimes on Friday, with public devotion on Saturday and
Sunday; occasionally these conferences opened with singing and prayer and
preaching. For the conduct of church business, the churches usually selected a
moderator or chairman, but the Separates preferred not to use this officer in
either conference or association. The group of baptized believers was in effect
the church; they dealt with matters of doctrine, discipline, and religious policy.
Especially after incorporation, unbaptized persons who attended and supported
the church might vote on secular concerns. A few of the churches chose and
arranged for the ordination of ruling elders, but this office most of them
gradually dropped. The ministering elder or pastor and two deacons carried out
the decisions of the business meetings, the ministers authority covering
ordination and administration of baptism and communion; the deacons any
other matters, as of discipline, finance, and mediation. A clerk kept the minutes
of the business meetings, the only officer besides the occasional moderator not
receiving ordination.
Deacons frequently served on trial for a time before being ordained. The
church either called an ordained minister as pastor or put forward one of its
own members to exercise his gifts as a preacher; if the church decided that he
had the necessary qualifications, he was usually licensed to preach, and after a
year, or even less in some cases, his church, or one desiring to use his services,
arranged for his ordination. Though Welsh Neck stated plainly that ordination
consisted in the churchs choice of a man to office, and needed not the laying
on of hands to make it valid, yet a presbytery to examine the qualifications of
candidates and to lay hands on them to complete their ordination generally
attended. In fact, due to the growing tendency of the associations to pronounce
ordinations illegal where this form was not observed, few churches after 1800
neglected to secure the assistance of at least two or three visiting ministers or
elders on such occasions. Ministers were most frequently called Brother, often
Elder, but sometimes Reverend in later years.
The history of the individual churches shows excessive drinking to have been
the great sin of the times, with neglect of the church and its commands a close
second. Amusement of every kind, but especially shooting matches and
dancing. called forth severe condemnation and excommunication. Harsh or
erratic discipline seldom occurred, and the hearing given to minority groups by
associations or neighboring churches soon obviated the evil or isolated the
erring church. In the main, the disciplinary measures of the churches were only
A little later Mr. Jenkins mentions passing a large Baptist gathering in Union
County while on his way to a Methodist meeting, which he describes as a
good meeting, but for want of some one to nurse our converts, the Baptists
reaped the fruit of our labours. f838 Another general meeting at Nazareth
Church in Spartanburg County called by the Presbyterians for Friday, July 2,
1802, was attended by five or six thousand people and engaged the services of
thirteen Presbyterian ministers and an unknown number of Methodist and
Baptists, one of whom was Rev. Richard Shackleford. Again the Baptists
refused to join in communion with the other denominations. After three days
of intensive religious exercises, those of Sunday evening, which continued
through the night,
progressed as usual, until about dark, when there commenced one of the most
sublime, awfully interesting, and glorious scenes which could possibly be
exhibited on this side of eternity The penetrating sighs and excruciating
struggles of those under exercise, the grateful exultations of those brought to a
sense of their guilty condition, and to a knowledge of the way to salvation;
mingled with the impressions which are naturally excited by the charms of
music and the solemnities of prayer on such occasions; and to all this added
the nature of the scenery, the darkness of the night, and the countenances of
all the spectators, speaking in terms more expressive than language, the
sympathy, the hope and the fear of their hearts: were sufficient to bow the
stubborn neck of infidelity, silence the tongue of profanity, and melt the heart
of cold neglect though hard as adamant Some are more easily and gently
wrought than others, some appear wholly wrapped in solitude while others
cannot refrain from pouring out their whole souls in exhortations to those
standing round;-different stages from mild swoons to convulsive spasms, may
be seen;-The nerves are not unfrequently serverely cramped;-The subjects
generally exhibit appearances, as though their very hearts would burst out of
their mouths;-The lungs are violently agitated and all accompanied with an
elation;-They universally declare, that they feel no bodily pain at the moment
of exercise, although some complain of a sore breast and the effects of the
cramping after the work is over. f839
The most unusual feature of the great revival was the general prevalence of
these bodily exercises.
In some instances, persons who were not before known to be at all religious,
or under any particular concern about it, would suddenly fall to the ground,
and become strangely convulsed with what was called the jerks: the head and
neck, and sometimes the body also, moving backwards and forwards with
spasmodic violence, and so rapidly that the plaited hair of a womans head
might be heard to crack. f840
for this purpose, and the too free intercourse between the sexes in such an
encampment is unfavorable. f842
Two churches, Rocky Creek and Bethel, questioned the Bethel Association in
1802 with regard to communing with other denominations, and the emphatic
negative on the practice braced the members to maintain their position. f843
Baptist ministers apparently did not call general meetings but held frequent
and successful gatherngs in their own congregations. These claim that the
violent exercises seldom appeared among their converts, and that with the
Baptists the revival proceeded in an orderly and truly spiritual manner. f844
In July or August, 1802, Rev. Richard Shackleford held a meeting at Woodruff
church, where many, falling to the ground, cried out: What shall I do to be
saved? and thirtysix were baptized at one time. On this occasion it was
supposed, there were not less than two thousand persons present, a third of
whom at least were in tears at the same moment f845
Friday Decmr 3, 1802 The Members of Black Creek Church Met at Sd
Church two Sermons was Delivered after which a Door was opened to
Receive Members Wright Linch Came forward and was Recd Dismist till
Saturday at 11 oclock Met according to appointment Rvd Fraim Woods
preachd a very affectionate sermon and Revd James Coleman Contd Worship
by Exortation and prayr after which a Door was opened Thomas Coker James
Leear Ameley Lewis Came and they ware Recd Dismist till Sunday at 10
oclock met According to appointment at the water side William Briant Came
forward and was Recd after which the Before Mentioned brethren was
initiated into the Church by Amertion after which we marchd to the Meeting
Hous Singing Bro Woods Led the way and put forth the Hymn finitioned at
the pulpit Door there he preached a wonderfull Discours after which the Lords
supper was Administred by Revd James Coleman and Dismist f846
Rev. Messrs. Moses Holland, of Big Creek Church, Joshua Palmer, of Upper
Duncans Creek, Augustine Clayton, of Bethlehem, and Rev. Thomas Greer, of
Padgetts Creek, also held successful gatherings which large crowds attended.
f847
to many hearts. Numbers were powerfully exercised through the whole night,
and some were thrown to the ground. On Monday the work increased. The
hearts of many were made to melt, and several of the men, noted for their
impiety, were stricken and lay among the prostrate. I must acknowledge it
was a memorable time for my soul: The like I had not felt for several years
before. In general the people were much engaged through the greater part of
Monday night: Before sun-rise on Tuesday morning, the sacred flame began
to burn afresh; Several who had been before unaffected came to the earth. The
Association rose about 3 oclock in the afternoon, and such a degree of
brotherly affection as appeared among the ministers and messengers of the
churches, I scarcely ever saw. It was enough to melt the heart of the greatest
infidel living So very intent were the people to hear, that they petitioned for
preaching, after business was finished; and some of the ministers continued
with them in constant exercise, till midnight. The hearts of sinners melt
before the word of truth, like wax before the sun. Infidelity is almost ashamed
to show its head. Several deists have been constrained, under a sense of their
lost condition, to cry aloud for mercy. A few, even of those who attributed the
effects produced to infernal agency, have been reached and overcome by
an invincible influence, which they now acknowledge to be divine. f849
Although the revival spread over the whole State and continued several years,
the high point in additions to the churches came in the back country in 18021803. During that period, Padgetts Creek added 420 members by baptism,
Bethel 247, Fairforest 216, Bush River 149, and Big Creek 124 (in 1802
alone); several other churches received almost as many, and there were very
few without some promising appearances. f850 Constitution of new churches
and formation of branches or arms followed rapidly upon these increases in
numbers, and in the three years, 1802-1804, thirtyfive churches and branches
came into existence, with a marked concentration in Greenville, Spartanburg,
Laurens, and Union Counties. f851
The Bethel Association, grown unwieldy through inclusion of most of the
churches of the back country, in 1800 dismissed a number to form the Broad
River Association, which entered so enthusiastically into the work of revival as
to double its membership by 1803. f852 In that year, the peak of the revival, the
Saluda Association began its career with seventeen member churches in
western South Carolina, eleven of them dismissed from the Bethel Association.
Reduced to 34 churches and 2690 members by these dismissals, the Bethel
Association added 1411 members by baptism in 1803, raising its membership
to 3518. f853 In the same year, Broad River had 27 churches and 2084 members,
possibly five-ninths in South Carolina, while Saluda had 17 churches and
about 1200 members. f854 The Charleston Association likewise felt the effects
of the great revival, its membership rising to 2516 through 418 baptisms in
1803. f855 It dismissed five churches to the Savannah Association in 1802; f856
the number of South Carolina churches in that body in 1803 was eight with a
membership of about 500. f857 The Baptists of South Carolina had 115
organized churches, approximately 76 ordained ministers and numerous
licentiates and exhorters, and about 10,000 whites and blacks in their
communion at the close of 1803, a gain of eighty per cent in three years. f858
Though some decline due to excommunications followed, most of this gain
was permanent. f859
The Baptists of South Carolina entered the new century with a tremendous
stirring of their spiritual life and with an equally astonishing increase in their
numbers. The denominations forty years in the back country had proved its
powerful appeal to the type which made the new West.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Material listed below was secured from the following: Baptist Historical
Collection. Furman University Library, Greenville, S.C.; Library of Crozer
Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa.; Charleston Library Society, Charleston,
S.C.; Library of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.; Samuel
Colgate Baptist Historical Collection. Library of Colgate University, Hamilton,
N. Y.; Library of Congress; Georgia Baptist Historical Society, Cordele, Ga.;
correspondence with Baptist ministers and church clerks of South Carolina;
private collections of Alester G. Furman, Greenville, S.C., of the late Thomas
E. Richardson (now at University of South Carolina), and of the Misses
Charles, Darlington, S C., also through visits to churches and churchyards.
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
Church Books:
Bethabara Church Book, 1801-. W. S. Atchison, Cross Hill, S.C.
Big Creek Church Book, 1801-. Church clerk, Pelzer, S.C.
Black Creek, Minutes of Church acts in the Branch of Cashway Church
residing on, 1789-1790 Four sheets folded and sewed; Misses Charles.
Black Creek Church Book, 1798-1814. Furman University,
Brushy Creek Church Book, 1789-. Church clerk, Taylors, S.C.
Bush River Church Book, 1792-. M. B. McKittrick, Kinards, S.C.
Cashaway Church Book, 1756-1772. Furman University.
Cedar Spring Church Book, 1794-. W. N. Smith, Route 4, Spartanburg, S.C.
Charleston, Register for the Incorporated Baptist Church in, 1793-1800. Large
sheets folded and sewed with string. Furman University.
Chauga Church Book. See Shoal Creek.
Clear Spring Church Book, 1803-. Church clerk, Simpsonville, S.C. Clouds
Creek. See West Creek Church Book.
Columbia, S.C., A concise Account of the Rise and Constitution of the Baptist
Church in the Town of, in church book 1809-1840. Furman University.
Coosawhatchie Church Book, 1814-1864. Opens with a covenant containing
statement regarding original constitution. W. C. Bryan, Barton, S.C.
Dean Swamp Church Book, 1803, 1805-. J. Friday Fanning, Springfield, S.C.
Edisto Island Church Book, about 1864. The short history of Edisto Island
Church in the front of the book was probably written by Rev. Thomas
Dawson, who was pastor in 1864; names of slaves are listed under their
owners; in the back of the book are several slips written by masters or
mistresses giving slaves permission to join the church. Furman University.
El Bethel Church Book, May 1803-. A. S. Goudelock, R. 5, Gaffney, S.C.
Friendship Church Book. See Tyger River.
Gum Branch Church Book, 1796-1807. J. W. Gardner, Kelleytown, S.C.
Head of Enoree Church Chronicle, 1799-. Rev. F. K. Pool, Greenville, S.C.
Hopewell Church (Chester County), 1811-1833. A collection of papers
including rough notes of letters and minutes from which the church book
was probably written in final form. Furman University. Lower Church on
Lynches Creek. See Gum Branch.
Mispah Church Book (Mars Bluff, S.C.), 1835-1862. Furman University.
Mount Pleasant (Darlington County) Church Book, 1803-. In Cashaway
Church Book. Furman University.
Padgetts Creek Church book, 1784-1832. Furman University.
Poplar Spring Church Book, 1794-. Rev. H. J. Snider, Ware Shoals, S.C.
Red Bank Church Book, 1815-1858. Furman University.
Shoal Creek (Chauga) Church Book, 1796-. Furman University.
Siloam Church Book, 1799-. Church clerk, Ninety Six, S.C.
Sugar Creek (Flint Hill) Church Book, 1792-1836. Small note book excellently
expressed and written. Rev. James F. Boyd, Fort Mill, S.C.
Tyger River (Friendship) Church Book, 1801. Hobson Harris, Pauline, S.C.
Turkey Creek Church Book, 1785. Miss Annie Moore, Donalds, S.C.
Welsh Neck Church Book, 1757-1798, 1802-. The history to 1757 is a
compilation from various miscellaneous papers, the first church book
having been lost. The late Miss Mary Coker, church clerk, and T. S. Lucas,
Society Hill, S.C.
West Creek (Clouds Creek) Church Book. Centenary papers. Church clerk,
Batesburg, S.C.
Diaries:
Hart, Rev. Oliver, August-September, 1754. Six large sheets, evidently a
fragment from the original manuscript, other portions of which were
published in Year Book City of Charleston, 1896. Furman University.
Pugh. Rev. Evan, 1762-1802. MSS in small note books, one or two of which
have been lost; a history of the Baptists of the Peedee section for forty
years. Misses Charles, great-granddaughters of Rev. Evan Pugh.
Edwards, Rev. Morgan:
Materials towards a History of the Baptists in South Carolina, 1772. Autograph
manuscript deposited in Library of Crozer Theological Seminary.
Typewritten copy in University of South Carolina. Edwards, a Baptist
minister of the Philadelphia Association, traveled through the Colonies,
visited churches, met with associations, etc., to collect data for a history of
the Baptists. His work is now practically the only material on back country
churches of South Carolina before the Revolution. For a further description
see Paschal, N. C. Materials, N. C. Hist. Rev. VII.
Materials towards a History of the Baptists in the Province of South Carolina,
1772. An elaborately paged and hand printed revision of the Materials,
evidently made by Rev. Morgan Edwards for Dr. Richard Furman, whose
remarks and annotations, made about 1795, appear throughout the
manuscript and greatly increase its value. The revisions made by Edwards
contain some new material but in the main give the quaintly worded
philosophy of the author. The manuscript of seventy-five pages, now
brown and brittle and fast falling into fragments, is in possession of Alester
G. Furman, Sr., a great-grandson of Dr. Richard Furman.
Materials towards a History of the Baptists in Georgia, 1772. Autograph
manuscript deposited in Library of Crozer Theological Seminary.
Correspondence:
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division:
Letter, Thomas Brandon to Thomas Sumter, Camp near the Mouth of Packlet,
4th Dec. 1780. Sumter Papers, v. 1, No. 1281. Letters, 1720-1771, to the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Fulham MSS,
South Carolina, Nos. 12, 51-60, 253.
Alester G. Furman Collection:
Letters of Richard Furman to Rev. Oliver Hart, Hopewell, N. J., dated
Charleston, January 26, 1785; February 7, 1786.
Unaddressed letter from Richard Furman, dated Charleston, December 11,
1797. Probably original draft, written to convince Rev. Gabriel Gerald of
his error in holding Sabbatarian views. Fortythree sheets.
Letters from Rev. Jonathan Maxcy to Rev. Richard Furman, dated Rhode
Island College, October 20, 1797; November 3, 1800.
Boyce Pearson Collection, Strother, S.C.:
Letters of John Pearson to My dear Son [Philip Pearson], dated Broad River,
March 27, 1764; May 5, 1764.
Letters of Philip Pearson. Four fragments whose contents indicate that they are
answers to letters from John Pearson, Broad River, S.C., about 1764.
Letters, papers and legal documents, both originals and copies, 1752, 1786,
and 1787, with regard to the Baptist church lands on Edisto Island. Furman
University.
Letter of General Andrew Pickens to Colonel Henry Lee, August 28, 1811,
Lyman C. Draper Manuscripts, Sumter Papers, 1 VV107, State Historical
Society, Madison, Wis. Used in Anne King Gregorie, Thomas Sumter,
Columbia, S.C., 1931.
Correspondence with Baptist ministers and church clerks, giving descriptions
and locations of churches, 1926-1935.
Miscellaneous:
Hitts, Durham, Teacher of Psalmody. The Cashaway Psalmody, 1770.
Elaborate copy made by Rev. Evan Pugh for his wife, Martha McGee
Pugh. Misses Charles.
[Furman, Richard]. Address, High Hills of Santee, November, 1775, to those
disaffected coward the Provincial Government and the Continental
Congress. Signed A Loyal Subject. Alester G. Furman. This is
apparently a contemporary copy.
Kershaw, Joseph. Account Book 1775. MS, State Historical Society, Madison,
Wisconsin.
Rhode Island College. List of Subscribers to, March 18, 1775, Welsh Neck
community. MS, Misses Charles.
South Carolina Archives:
Historical Commission of South Carolina (described to 1906 in 1906 Report of
A. S. Salley, Jr., Secretary).
Journals of the Commons House of Assembly, 1745-1766.
Journals of the Council, 1731, 1745, 1754-1775. Memorial Books.
Records of the Province of South Carolina: Sainsbury Transcripts from British
Public Record Office, XXXII (1768-1770), XXXIV (1774).
Journals of the House of Representatives, 1783-1804. Journals of the Senate,
1784-1804.
Revolutionary Accounts Audited.
Index of Revolutionary Accounts Audited, made under the direction of A. S.
Salley, Jr.
PRINTED MATERIAL
Archives:
South Carolina:
Issued by the Historical Commission. Edited and indexed by A. S. Salley, Jr.,
Secretary.
Journal of the Convention of South Carolina which Ratified the Constitution of
the United States, May 23, 1788. Atlanta, 1928.
Journal of the House of Representatives of S.C., Jan. 8, 1782. Feb. 26, 1782.
Columbia, 1916.
Stub Entries to Indents Issued in Payment of Claims againstSouth Carolina
Growing out of the Revolution. Books L-N. Columbia, 1910; O-Q, 1915,
R-T, 1917; U-W, 1918; X, Pts. I. II, 1925, Y-Z, 1927.
Warrants for Land in South Carolina, 1672-1679. Columbia, 1910; 16801692, 1911: 1692-1711, 1915
Journal of the Provincial Congress of 1775, in Peter Force (ed.) American
Archives, in six series. Fourth Series, IV.
Journal of the Provincial Congress of 1776. Reprinted for J. Almon,
London, 1776. University of South Carolina.
Statutes at Large of South Carolina. Edited by Thomas Cooper. vols. I-V; by
David J. McCord, vols VI-X, Columbia, 1837-1840.
North Carolina:
Colonial Records of North Carolina. Edited by William L. Saunders. 10 vols.,
Raleigh, 1886-1890.
State Records of North Carolina. Collected and edited by Walter Clark. 17
vols., Winston, 1895-1907.
Heads of Families at Me First Census of the United States Taken in the year
1790, South Carolina. United States Department of Commerce and Labor,
Bureau of the Census: Washington, Government Printing Office, 1908.
Doctrine:
Chanler, Rev. Isaac, Minister of the Gospel upon Ashley River in South
Carolina The Doctrines of Glorious Grace Unfolded, defended and
practically improved. Boston, 1744. University of South Carolina.
A Confession of Faith, Put Forth by the Elders and Brethren of Many
Congregations of Christians. Baptized upon profession of their Faith in
London and the Country. Adopted by the Baptist Association of
Philadelphia, September 25, 1742. And by the Charleston, in 1767. Second
Charleston Edition. To which is added-an Article on singing Psalms in
Public Worship. Charleston, 1813. A reprint of the Church Discipline
below, and the Baptist Catechism are included in the same volume; a
quarto in Furman University Library. A reprint of the Philadelphia
confession appears in W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith
(Philadelphia, 1911).
Baptist Memorial and Monthly Chronicle. Edited by Rev. Rufus Babcock, Jr.,
and Rev. J. O. Choules. New York, 1842.
Barnett, Rev. M. C. History of the Broad River Association. Yorkville, S.C.,
1871. From minutes and personal knowledge. Furman University.
Benedict, Rev. David. A General History of the Baptist Denomination in
America and Other Parts of the World. 2 vols. Boston, 1813. This history
has contemporary details of South Carolina Baptist churches collected by
Benedict just after 1800; it includes a list of Baptist associations and
churches in the United States in 18111813. University of South Carolina.
A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and Other Parts of
the World. New York, 1848. Continuation and abridgement of two volume
history issued in 1813. Crozer Theological Seminary.
Bernheim, Rev. G. D. History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran
Church in North and South Carolina to 1850. Philadelphia, 1872.
Blake, T. C. The Old Log House: A History and Defense of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. Nashville, 1878.
Burkett, Lemuel, and Jesse Read. A Concise History of the Kehukee Baptist
Association. Halifax, N. C., 1803.
Burts, C. E. Short Sketch of Early History and Traditions of the Edgefield
Baptist Association, in Edgefield Baptist Association Minutes, 1907.
Anderson, S.C., 1907.
Campbell, Jesse H. Georgia Baptists: Historical and Biographical. Macon,
1874.
Classified Digest of the Records of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701-1892. 4. ed. London, 1894.
Cook, Rev. Harvey T. The Baptist Church, in The Century in the
Churches, edited by Rev. John Kershaw in The News and Courier.
Charleston, 1900.
Cook, Richard B. The Early and Later Delaware Baptists; The Story of the
Baptists in all Ages and Countries. Baltimore, 1889.
Dalcho, Frederick. An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in South Carolina, from the first settlement to the War of the Revolution
with some early civil history of Carolina never before published.
Charleston, 1820.
Edwards, Morgan. Materials towards a History of the Baptists in the Province
of North Carolina, edited by G. W. Paschal in The North Carolina
Historical Review, VII (1930), No. 3, pp. 368-399.
Source:
Abstracts of the Records of the Proceedings in the Court of the Ordinary. In
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, IX (1908), XI
(1910), XIV (1913).
Capers, Wm., D. D. Autobiography. In Wightman, William M. Life of William
Capers, D. D. one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South. Nashville, 1858.
Cardross Settlers, Arrival of, In South Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Magazine. XXX (1929), 69-89. Charleston, 1929.
Death Notices in the South Carolina Gazette, 1732-1775. Compiled by A. S.
Salley, Jr., Secretary of the Historical Commission of South Carolina.
Columbia, 1917.
Death Notices from the South Carolina and American General Gazette, and
its Continuation, the Royal Gazette. Compiled by Mabel L. Webber, in
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, XVI (1915).
Georgetown: The Original Plan and the Earliest Settlers. In South Carolina
Historical and Genealogical Magazine, IX (1908).
Some Forgotten Towns in Lower South Carolina. In South Carolina
Historical and Genealogical Magazine, XIV (1913).
The Upper Ashley: And the Mutations of Families. In South Carolina
Historical and Genealogical Magazine, XX (1919).
Thomas, Rev. Samuel, Documents Concerning. 1702-1707. In South
Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, V (1904). Letters of.
In South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. IV (1903).
Webber, Mabel L., editor. Extracts from the Journal of Mrs. Ann Mantgault.
In South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, XX (1919).
Historical Notes. In South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine,
IX (1908), XVI (1915).
Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Records of Pencader Hundred, New Castle
County, Delaware, 1701 to 1828. Pts I, II. Papers of the Historical Society
of Delaware, XLII. Wilmington, 1904. Copy of the original records in the
hands of officials.
Whitefield, Rev. George. The Works of 1734-1770. 6 vols, London, 1771.
Secondary:
Baggott, H. L. A History of the Dean Swamp Baptist Church, 1803-1903.
Saluda, S.C., 1903.
A History of Sardis Baptist Church, 1804-1904. Saluda, S.C. 1904.
Bailey, Rev. J. D. History of Bethesda Church, Broad River Association.
Cowpens, S.C., 1921.
Reverends Philip Mulkey and James Fowler: The Story of the First Baptist
Church Planted in Upper South Carolina. Cowpens, S.C. 1924. This
quotes an account of the constitution of Pacolet Church from Sandy River
Church Book.
[Beaufort Church]. Christian Fellowship: or, the Solemn Covenant of the
Baptist Church of Christ in Beaufort, S.C., With a Summary of Church
Discipline, Rules, and A Brief History of the Origin of Said Church. 4. ed.
revised and improved from 3: Charleston ed: Charleston, 1834.
Bobo. C. B. History of Padgetts Creek Church In Union County Association
Minutes, 1885. Greenville, S.C., 1885.
Botsford, Rev. Edmund, Obituary of. Georgetown, S.C., Dec. 26, 1819.
In The American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer, n. s., 2
(1820), No. 8, p. 310. Furman University.
Boyd, J. F. Flint Hill Church. In The Evening Herald. Rock Hill, S.C.,
November 30, 1922.
Brantley, Rev. William T. The Saints Repose in Death: A Sermon Delivered
on the Death of the Rev. Richard Furman, D. D. Late Pastor of the Baptist
Church, Charleston, S.C. Charleston, 1825.
A Sermon, Delivered in the Baptist Church, St. Helena, S.C., on the Death of
Mr. William Norton, Who Departed this Life March 7th, 1817, in the 71st
Year of his Age. Charleston, 1817. Imperfect copy. Both of above in bound
volume of Sermons in Furman University.
Brunson, W. A. History of Old Ebenezer Church with Genealogy of the
Dargan, Woods, and other families. Bulletin of Pee Dee Historical Society.
Weldon, N. C., 1909.
Burrage, Rev. Henry. Some added Facts Concerning Rev. William
Screven. In Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society.
Portland, 1894.
Burts, R. W. History of Big Creek Church. In Saluda Baptist Association
Minutes, 1884. Greenville, S.C., 1884.
[Charleston]. Historical Sketch of the First Baptist Church. In Year Book,
City of Charleston, 1881.
Cook, Harvey Toliver. A Biography of Richard Furman. Greenville, S.C.
1913.
The Life and Legacy of David Rogerson Williams. New York, 1916.
Education in South Carolina under Baptist Control. Greenville, S.C., 1921.
Rambles in the Pee Dee Basin, South Carolina. Columbia, 1926. Contains
copies of letters to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts.
The Life Work of James Clement Furman. Greenville, S.C., 1927.
Cornwall, Arthur. History of Woodward Baptist Church. In an undated
clipping from Chester, S.C., Reporter.
Cuthbert, Rev. J. H. Life of Richard Fuller, D. D. New York, 1879.
Cuttino, C. L., Jr. High Hills Baptist Church, Statesburg, Topic of Address by
Dr. McGlothlin. In The State, Columbia, S.C., April 5, 1933.
Daniel, J. B. History of Bethlehem Baptist Church. In Spartanburg Baptist
Association Minutes, 1888. Greenville, S.C., 1888.
Dowling, Rev. W. H. Reports on Church History. In Savannah River Baptist
Association Minutes, 1893, 1913, 1918, 1922. Hampton, S.C.
MAPS
Brown, Rev. C. C. A Baptist Map of the State of South Carolina, Showing the
Location of all of the White Baptist Churches in the State, together with the
date of their organization, the number of their members &c. Sumter, S.C.,
1895. In possession of Mrs. C. C. Brown, Sumter. Suggestive for early
churches.
Mills, Robert. Atlas of the State of South Carolina, made under the authority of
the Legislature; prefaced with a geographical, statistical and historical
map of the State. Baltimore, 1825. Indispensable.
Mouzon, Henry et al. An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina With
Their Indian Frontiers. London, Published as the Act directs May 30,
1775. This map gives many of the early names of creeks, branches, etc.,
since renamed.
U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, Map of South
Carolina, edition of 1916, reprinted 1920, scale 1-1,000,000. This outline
was used in making the map for this volume.
MISCELLANEOUS
Adams, Brooks. The Emanicpation of Massachusetts; The Dream and the
Reality. Rev. and enl. ed. Boston and New York, 1919.
Allaire, Lieut. Anthony, of Fergusons Corps, Diary of. Memorandum of
occurrences during the campaign of 1780. In Lyman C. Draper, Kings
Mountain and Its Heroes. Cincinnati, 1881. Appendix.
Archdale, John. A New Description of that Fertile and Pleasant Province of
Carolina. In Historical Collections of South Carolina. Edited by B. R.
Carroll. 2 vols. New York, 1836. II.
Boddie, William W. History of Williamsburg. Columbia, S.C., 1923. Broadus,
John A. Memoir of James Petigru Boyce. New York, 1893.
Miscellaneous:
American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer. See Botsford.
Baptist Courier, Greenville, S.C. See Holcombe, Kemp.
Baptist Historical Record. Published by Walter M. Lee. II, No. 3. September.
1927. Westminister, S.C.
FOOTNOTES.
ft1
ft2
ft6
ft12
ft14
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 18; Furman MS, p. 7; all of these names are
mentioned as those of early settlers along the Ashley and Cooper Rivers or
in Charleston, in various articles by Henry A, M, Smith, particularly in
The Ashley River: its Seats and Settlements, in SCHGM, XX (1919), and
Charleston and Charleston Neck: The Original Grantees and the
Settlements Along the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, in Ibid., XIX (1918);
Warrants, 1672-1679, 1680-1692, have no warrants issued to an Atwell.
Bryant, Child, Elliott, or Whitaker before 1683; John Bulline had warrants
for land in 1677 and 1678 and for a town lot at Oyster Point in 1677 (Ibid.,
1672-1679, pp. 139, 196, 153); Jonathan Barker, a servant, arriving in the
first fleet, had a warrant in 1674 (Ibid., p. 91); Richard Baker on the
Ashley River in 1681 (Ibid., 1680-1792, pp. 45, 93); Thomas Cater on the
Ashley 1682 (Ibid., p. 56); Benjamin Blake and twenty-one persons in
1683 (Ibid., pp. 84, 85); John Ravens, a servant arriving in 1672, had a
warrant in 1684 (Ibid., p. 81); William Chapman was granted lot. No. 78
on Church Street Oct. 5, 1681 (Henry A. M. Smith, CharlestonThe
Original Plan and the Earliest Settlers, in SCHGM, IX (1908), 18 and
map).
ft22
Wood Furman, A History of the Charleston Association of Baptist Churches
in the State of South Carolina (Charleston, 1811), p. 58: The place of
worship first occupied by this church was a temporary building in King
street; First Baptist Church, in YBC, 1881, p. 316: After their removal
to Charleston, they held their services in the house of Wm. Chapman,
while Furman MS, pp. 7, 8, states: They held their worship at the house of
location of the first Baptist worship in the city; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 16,
states: Charlestown became their principal seat of worship where they
also kept a meeting at the house of Wm. Chapman, while Furman MS, pp.
7, 8, states: They held their worship at the house of one William Chapman
in King Street until they built the house before described, but in King
Street is struck out entirely, and as pointed out in note 21, supra, William
Chapman was granted lot No. 78 on Church Street in 1681, while no record
exists of a grant to him of a lot on King Street (Smith, CharlestonThe
Original Plan and the Earliest Settlers, in SCHGM, IX (1908), 18 and
map); lot No. 78 was later granted to Benjamin Schenckingh, in 1688;
Chapman might in the meantime have allowed the Baptists to use it, or he
might have purchased a lot on King Street; lot No. 78 adjoins lot No. 102,
on a portion of which the second Baptist church building, later known as
Seamens or Mariners Chapel, was erected (Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 15,
17; Charleston County Records (MSS, Charleston, S.C.), Register of
Mesne Conveyance (hereinafter cited as RMC), Deeds R-3, p. 362; the
tradition still extant, that the temporary place in which meetings were first
held was on the same lot as Seamens Chapel, is at least next door to being
true if Chapman had a building on lot No. 78 before Schenckingh received
it; this is traditional and inferential.
ft23
1701, the bounds of a lot are stated to be to the northward upon the Baptist
Meeting House; Edwards, Furman MS, p. 6, gives 1700 as the date.
ft24
Ibid., Crozer MS, pp. 15, 16; for the full text and a discussion of the
Philadelphia Confession, see W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of
Faith (Phiadelphia, 1911), p. 296 if; New-an, U. S. Baptists, pp. 224, 225;
A Confession of Faith. (Charleston, 1813).
ft25
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 15; JCHA, Feb. 14, 1744-5; Newman, U. S.
Baptists, p. 55.
ft26
JCHA, Feb. 28, 1699-1700.
ft27
Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, p. 56; the implication is that Rev. William
Screven went to his grant where Georgetown now stands about 1706;
this was not a grant to Mr. Screven, as he in 1710 entered into negotiations
to secure deeds of conveyance to the lands at Winyah; exactly how he
came into possession of the land is not known (Smith Georgetown, in
SCHGM, IX (1908), 87, 88) nor how long he lived there; he also secured a
grant on Charleston Neck in 1700 near the present Navy Yard upon which
he may have lived a time (Ibid., Charleston and Charleston Neck in Ibid.,
XIX (1918), 62 and map.
ft28
Documents. Samuel Thomas, Ibid., V (1904), 35; probably the
Anabaptist preacher mentioned as lately gone into Carolina from
Biddiford, England (1705)
ft29
Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, pp. 55-59.
ft30
Smith, Georgetown, in SCHGM, IX (1908), 87, 88: Mr. Screven may
have died in the locality which subsequently became Georgetown in 1713,
but he could not have died in Georgetown, for no town then existed or had
that name been bestowed; M. L. Webber, Historical Notes: The Burial
Place of Reverend William Screven, in SCHGM, XVI (1915), 93-5 giving
a plat together with a codicil of the will of Elisha Screven, of 1756, setting
aside part of Lott in George Town by the Number 66 for and as a
burying ground, my Father &c being there buried; Edwards, Crozer MS,
p. 18, gives as the children of Rev. William Screven, Samuel, Mercy,
Sarah, Bridget, Elizabeth, Robert, Permanus, Joshua, William, Joseph, and
Elisha; Howard, Cults Genealogy, pp. 16-17, has in place of Permanus,
Patience, and omits Joshuaotherwise the two lists are the same; as
Edwards had his information in 1772 from descendants of William
Screven, it is probable that his list is more nearly correct; Permanus
Screven has already been noted as a neighbor of William Screven at
Somerton in Carolina.
ft31
ft32
ft38
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 2, 28, 22 Edisto Island after 1730, Ashley River
Church 1727, Stono Church 1728, are the churches said to have been
erected under Mr. Peart; Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, p. 94.
ft39
Edwards, Crozer MS. p. 17.
ft40
Charleston County Records (MSS, Charleston, S.C.), Probate Court
(hereinafter cited as PC), Wills 1671-1727, p. 257, will of Lady
Elizabeth Blake, made Sept. 30, 1725, proved July 23, 1726; Ramsay,
History of S.C., II, 164-8; 179: Average value of S, C. currency in sterling
was fixed by law as seven to one; It sank to 5248 to 100 good currency
after the British captured the state.
ft41
JCHA, Feb. 14, 1744-5.
ft42
Charleston County PC, Wills 1731-1733, p. 449, will of Samuel Screven,
made Dec. 3, 1731, proved Oct. 5, 1732.
ft43
ft54
Charleston County RMC, Deeds R-3, pp. 362-6, deed dated Sept. 24, 1755,
of Martha Fowler, widow of James Fowler, to part of lot No. 102 for 500:
the intensity of the doctrinal war raging between these factions is
evidenced by the will of James Fowler, Merchant. made Apr. 27, 1753,
leaving unto William Brisbane, William Screven, James Screven, Robert
Screven, Thomas Dixon and William Screven Junr. five Hundred Pounds
Current money in Trust and the Interest moneys thereby arising I will be
annually applied for the support of the Gospel Ministry in that Christian
Congregation whereof I now stand a Member in full communion in Charles
Town as Aford. Distinguished by the Name of Antipedo-baptist denying
Arminisem ownin [sic] the Doctrine of Personal Election and Final
preserverance; Ibid., PC Wills 1752-1756, pp. 94.5.
ft55
Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, p 96; Newman, U. S. Baptists. pp. 308-9.
ft56
S.C. Gazette, 1741, 1744, 1745, passim.
ft57
Howe, Presbyterian Church, I, 240, note.
ft58
John Gillies, Memoirs of Rev. George Whitefield. Revised and Corrected
(New Haven, 1834), p. 49.
ft59
S. C, Gazette, Sept. 26-Oct. 3, 1741. Postscript.
ft60
Ibid., Oct. 10-17, 1741. Postscript.
ft61
Ibid., June 18-25, 1741. Postcript.
ft62
Ibid., May 6, 1745.
ft63
Ibid., June 18-25, 1741. Postscript.
ft64
JCHA, May 1, 1745.
ft65
Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, p. 95,
ft66
Ibid., pp. 95-6; Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 1-27.
ft67
Ibid., p. 17.
ft68
Ibid., pp. 19-20; JCHA, Feb. 14, 1744-5; Thomas Simmons was born in
England, received an academic education, but left England because his
father bound him to the carpenters trade; was ordained in Philadelphia,
came to S.C. from Pa., in 1723, took charge of the Charleston Church on
Mar, 20, 1724, died Jan. 31, 1747, and was buried at Charleston; his son
Thomas died childless, his daughter Hannah married Dr. Thomas Dale and
had three children who were sent to England after the death of their parents
in 1751; the eldest, Thomas Simmons Dale, became a famous English
physician (Dictionary of National Biography); Thomas Ladson left him
20 currency and Thomas Elliott 50 pounds currency (Charleston County
PC, Wills 1731-1733, p. 41, Mar. 31, 1730; 736-1740, p. 237, Oct. 23,
1738).
ft69
Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, pp. 101-4; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 860.
ft70
Rev. Oliver Hart, Extracts from the Diary of from A. D. 1740 to A. D.
1780, in YBC, 1896, p. 379; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 20.
ft71
Oldmixon, History of Carolina, in Carrolls Collections, II, 474-5; Smith,
Dwelling Houses, p, 57; S.C. Gazette, Sept. 19, 1752; The most violent
and terrible hurricane that ever was felt in this province, happened on
Friday the 15th instant in the morning; and has reduced this Town to a very
melancholy situation The brigt. Two Friends, of and for Falmouth,
Robert Johns Master, beat down some houses, and lies on the west side of
Church-Street alongside of Mr. John Matthewss; the vessel was noted as
still ashore in Ibid., Oct. 9, 1752; [Mrs. Poyas], Our Forefathers, p. 45,
claiming to give the quotation above, inserts after houses and the southwest corner of the new Baptist Church, (now the Mariners); Robert Mills,
Statistics of South Carolina, (Charleston, 1826), p. 445, gives a similar
statement, grounding the vessel on the west side of Meeting Street; an
account by Dr. [John] Moultrie [1702-1771] in a newspaper clipping in the
scrap book of Charles Fraser in the Manuscript Collection of the South
Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, describes the destructive effects of
the storm for John Bedon, Mr. Baker, Mr. Stead, Mr. Matthews, George
Eveleigh, Burnet the carpenter, and Captain Simmons, Mrs. Screvens two
brick tenements near the new Baptist meeting had only the stack of
chimnies standing,. the new meeting had both its ends beat in, the doors
and windows burst and broke to pieces; a new house of Mellichamps
was nearly beat down by a loaded brig which now lies in the yard of the
house where Dick Hill lives, in Church-street; Edwards, Crozer MS, p.
16, is authority for the statement that the church book was destroyed in the
inundation, a detail probably given by Rev. Oliver Hart, who passed
through the storm; Harts Diary, in YBC, 1896, p. 379, by error gives the
date as Sept, 14.
ft72
Rev. Oliver Harts Diary, Aug. Oct., 1754 (MS, Furman University);
Benedict. Baptist History, II, 369-82; Charles D. Mallary, Memoirs of
Elder Edmund Botsford (Charleston 1832), p. 30; Harts Diary, in YBC,
1896, p. 380.
ft73
Harts Diary MS, Oct. 10, 1754.
ft74
The deed has not been found: Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 14, names William
Screven as donor of the lot but the annotations of Rev. Richard Furman in
Furman MS, p. 6, give the statement in the text.
ft75
Harts Diary MS; Dalcho, Episcopal Church, pp. 166-80; Howe,
Presbyterian Church, I, 248-9; 264-7; S.C. Gazette, June 23, 1757.
ft76
ft81
ft82
ft105
Will of Patrick Hinds, made June 30, 1795, proved May 10, 1798, recorded
in Charleston County PC, Wills, C, 1793-1800, p. 470.
ft106
Asburys Journal, II, 212.
ft107
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1775-1804.
ft108
Ibid., 1787-1804; Register of Incorporated Church Charleston, 1793-1800
(MS, Furman University); Thomas Rivers, Ichabod Atwell, Thomas
Screven, Thomas Ross, John Hart, Charles McDonald, Richard Furman,
Benjamin Baker, George Yoer, Samuel Rivers, Charles Screven, Joseph
Johnson, David Adams, Anne Brown, Margaret McCartey, Susanna North,
__________ Rivers, Mary Seymour, __________ Gourlay, Esther Smith,
Ann Hart, Mary Anne McIver, Sarah Johnson, Amarinthe Screvin, Mary
Screvin, Beatrix Thomson, __________ Poyas, Margaret Theadcraft,
Martha Inglesby, __________ Rouse, Elizabeth Gilbert, __________
Langford, Esther Bellamy, __________ Goodwin __________ Lawrence,
Mary Adams, __________ Boucheneau __________ Ross, Elizabeth
Calvert, Henrietta Roberts, Sarah Henning, __________ Henning,
__________ Bonnote, Elizabeth Stuart, Dorothea M. Furman, Eleanor
Beaty, Rachel Furman, Grace Cain, Mehitable Blackwell, Grace Hampton.
Arabella Evanse, Sarah Clarke, Elizabeth Nichols, Ann Rivers, Katherine
Prisgar, Pickton, Hannah McKay (or Ray ), Esther Rivers, Ann Cartwright,
Elizabeth McNair, Charlotte Gibbs, Lidia Conyers __________ Yore,
__________ Porter, Mary McDonald, Frances Conyers, __________
Tripp, James Lawson, __________ Bell, James Alwright, Percival Nichols,
William Rivers, Henry Jones, Henry Inglesby, Jacob Yoer, Joseph B.
Cook, William Inglesby, Isaac Gill.
ft109
continued until his death on Nov. 30, 1749; he married Elizabeth Hunley,
of Uxbridge, Eng.; his will, made May 20, 1749, and proved Jan. 5, 1750,
lists two tracts of 300 acres each at Welsh Tract in Craven County and a
plantation on Ashley River, with several slaves; his wife Elizabeth, his
sons Samuel and Isaac, his daughters Ann and Elizabeth, are named as
legatees especially of a fairly large library of classical and religious works
(Charleston County PC, Wills 1747-1752, p. 210); Edwards lists his last
two children as Mary and Susanna; for Mr. Chanlers publications see
chap. VII, note 43, and the following. New Converts exhorted to cleave to
the Lord, A Sermon on Acts XI, 23, preached July 30. 1740, at a
Wednesday evening weekly lecture in Charlestown, set up at the motion
and at the desire of Mr. Whitefield (Boston, 1740) The State of the Church
of Christ, both Militant and Triumphant, Considerd and Improvd, For the
Consolation Saints and for the Awakening of secure Sinners;; For the
Promoting of a Catholick Love among the godly of every Denomination,
and of Universal Holiness, Being the Substance of two Sermons now
drawn up in one Discourse, from Acts XIV.22, Occasioned by the Death of
the Rev, Mr. William Tilly (advertisement in S.C. Gazette, July 22, 1745);
The will of Elizabeth Chanler was made Oct. 4, 1774 (Charleston County
PC. Wills 1775-1779, p. 374, p. John Filbin in 1742 bequeathed to M:.
Chanler fifty pounds currency (Ibid., Wills 1740-1747, p. 376).
ft122
Will of James Fowler, dated Apr. 27, 1753: to John Stevens Minister,
of the Gospel at Ashley River two hundred pounds Current money; in
Ibid., Wills 1753-1756, p. 94; will of Martha DHarriette, dated May 27,
1758, proved 1760, one hundred pounds currency to Rev. John Stephens
and one hundred pounds to his mother Mrs. Martha Stephens in Ibid., Wills
1757-1760, p. 270; Will of Anne Child, Aug. 15, 1764, proved Nov. 11,
1768, fifty pounds currency to her worthy friend the Reverend Mr. John
Stevens, in Ibid., Wills 17611771, p. 267; will of Richard Bedon, dated
Dec. 19, 1765, proved 1766, one hundred pounds to be paid yearly into
the hands of the Minister for Ten Years of the Antipedo Baptist Meeting
in St. Andrews Parish (Ibid., Wills 1761-1777, p. 135); the burial of
Richard Bedon, at which Mr. Stephens officiated, Is noted in St,
Andrews Parish Register, in SCHGM, XV (1914), 44.
ft123
S.C. Gozette, Nov. 6-13, 1762.
ft124
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 26; Charleston County PC, Wills 1771-1774, p.
53, records the will of William Brisbane made May 11, 1771, proved Nov.
1, 1771, which leaves nothing to the Ashley River Church; however, as
Mr. Brisbane had the plantation including the church lot in his possession
in 1767-1769, the gift may have been made between those dates and the
deed not recorded (Smith, Ashley River, in SCHGM, XX (1919), p. 22).
ft125
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 26: One hundred pounds given by Charles Filbein,
one thousand pounds and twenty acres of land given by Benjamin Child,
two hundred pounds by Susanna Baker, two hundred fifty pounds the gift
of Richard Baker, fifty pounds given by Elizabeth Gibbes; no confirmation
of these gifts has been found, and they do not appear in Furman MS, p. 13;
Edwards states that the slaves were sold for seven hundred eighty-one
pounds which was in the hands of the church in 1772.
ft126
Harts Diary (MS), 1754; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 29; Furman MS, pp. 1516; Furman Charleston Assoc., p. 75; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 126-7;
Harts Diary, in YBC, 1896, p. 379: Rev. John Stephens was born on
Staten Island, ordained in 1747, he settled at Horseneck, Conn., where he
gathered a small church, but removed to Ashley River May 12, 1750; he
married Martha Creaguer, their children being Ann, Eunice, Martha, and
John; he was obliged in 1769 to quit both church and ministry by an
unhappy fondness for strong drink. From this dreadful fall he never
fully recovered, but professed and was believed to be penitent, and was
improperly admitted again to preach. He died suddenly at Black River in
1785, Edwards remarks: But has not a dumb spirit, a deaf spirit, an
unclean spirit &c been cast out and who knows but Jamaica spirit will one
day be exorcised out of this country where it makes such dreadful havock?
Surely if any creature of God were not good, rum would be it.
ft127
Webber (ed.), St. Andrews Parish Register, in SCRGM, XIV (1913), 26,
XV (1914), 42, 46; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 26.
ft128
The report of forty-four members in 1775 was copied from the last report
sent in several years before; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1775-1779.
ft129
Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 61; Benedict, Baptist History, 11, 127,
ft130
JHR, Feb. 19, 1785.
ft131
Smith, Ashley River, in SCHGM, XX (1919), 22-25; as Mrs. Mary Butler
Hyrne died about 1795, the church lands were reabsorbed into the estate
before her death; Hyrne Family, compiled by Mabel L. Webber, in
SCHGM, XXII (1921), 113.
ft132
Warrants, 1680-1692, pp. 174, 155, 53, 187: William ffry arrived Oct.
23, 1684, with Thomas Cleeverall (Sacheverell); Edwards, Crozer MS, p.
3, claims he was ordained; Warrant unto Philemon Parmetor 230 A. due
for Arriveall of himself, wife Judith & three Children Sarah Joseph and
Thomas recorded June 1, 1683, warrant Apr. 10, 1684; Ephraim Mikell
and Joseph Sealy also received warrants (Ibid., 1692-1711); Records of
the Court of Ordinary, in SCHGM, XI, (1910), 54-55: Will of Paul
Grimball, Esq., of Edisto Island, names son Thomas and daughter
Providence; the will was proved Feb. 20, 1696 (Charleston County PC,
Wills 1671-1727, p. 61).
ft133
Howe, Presbyterian Church, I, 145-6; a conveyance of land for the benefit
and behove of a Presbyterian or Independent minister upon Edisto Island,
was made on May 9, 1717, adjoining lands of William Fry, Joseph
Palmerter, etc. (Charleston County RMC, Deeds G, p. 86).
ft134
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 2-3; many names of members of Euhaw Church
are found in St. Helenas Parish Register, In SCHGM, XXIII (1922),
102-151.
ft135
History of Edisto Island Church, in Charleston Assoc. Min., 1829;
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 1-2; the deed has not been found.
ft136
Ibid., the deed to this land has not been found; the trustees are listed in a
sketch of Edisto Island Church, In Edisto Island CB; Edwards claims there
was about a hundred acres in the tract, let in 1772 for twenty pounds per
year.
ft137
Will of Joseph Sealy made Jan. 18, 1732, recorded March 21, 1732, in
Charleston County PC, Wills 1731-1733, p. 173; will of Ephraim Mikell
made Sept. 2, recorded Oct, 15, 1743, in Ibid., 1740-1747, p. 119; will of
Rev. Francis Pelot mentions one thousand pounds currency in his hands as
executor of the will of Joseph Sealy made about Aug. 29, 1760, the interest
of which was to be paid yearly to the minister of Euhaw Church, in Ibid.,
1774-1779. p. 206.
ft138
Ramsay, (History of S.C., II, 560), writing about 1808, states: The site of
their church in which divine service was for the last time performed in
1774, is now in a state of forest. The glebe, consisting of about 70 acres,
partly in a state of nature and partly cultivated, yields a revenue of about 70
dollars yearly. This rent is regularly transmitted to certain persons at the
Euhaws of the baptist persuasion. An act of 1808 (Cooper, (ed.). Statutes,
V, 573) vested two tracts of land, once belonging to a Baptist church on
Edisto Island and given by Rev. Mr. Tilly, altogether about 80 acres, in the
Episcopal Church of Edisto Island, the Baptists apparently having become
extinct by death or removal and the land having escheated; an act of Dec.
18, 1817 (Ibid., VI, 73), repeals the above act, as it had been discovered
that the land on Edisto Island had not escheated but was owned by the
Euhaw Baptist Church, which had received the rents and profits from it
until the passage of the above act. After 1807 Mrs. Hepzibah Jenkins
Townsend began the building up of a Baptist congregation on Edisto
Island, and in 1818 a new church was built on the original lot given by
Ephraim Mikell; the new Edisto Island church continued as a branch of
Charleston Church until 1829 (Charleston Assoc., Min., 1829); it has since
become entirely a negro church; there are no graves of original members;
Mrs. Townsend is buried in the churchyard; the glebe lands were disposed
of by Euhaw Church, and a long suit to recover them for Edisto Island
Church failed (original correspondence and copies of legal papers, in
Furman University).
ft139
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 3-4, Furman MS, p. 26.
ft140
Works of Rev. George Whitefield, 1734-1770 (6 vols., London, 1771), I,
203.
ft141
Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, p. 95; Benedict, Baptist History (1848), p.
703; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 4: Rev. William Tilly came from Salisbury,
Eng., to America in 1721; he was called to the ministry at Charleston and
ordained soon after 1731 at Edisto Island (later Euhaw) Church; by his first
wife he had one son, William, later a member of Charleston Church; Rev.
William Tilly died Apr. 14, 1744, aged forty-six years, and was buried on
Edisto Island, Rev. Isaac Chanler preaching his funeral sermon; his will,
made Apr. 1 and recorded Apr. 21, 1744 (Charleston County PC, Wills
1740-1747, p. 172) mentions son William and brother Joseph of
Warminster, Eng.; his executors, Paul, Isaac, and Joshua Grimball, and
John Jenkins, advertised his estate for sale on Apr. 30, 1744 (S, C.
Gazette); Jane Palmerter (Parmenter?), of Port Royal, Elizabeth Slack of
Edisto Island, and Mrs. Hutchinson, of James Island, devisees, were
probably members of his scattered congregation; Matthew Greece, the
grantor of the glebe, was one of the witnesses.
ft142
ft146
ft147
The will of Rev. Francis Pelot, made June 13, 1773, proved 1774, provides:
I give unto the Church of Christ, Baptized on personal Profession of faith
by Immersion holding the Doctrine of Election, effectual Calling,
Perserverance of the Saints in Grace &c. One Acre of Land for a place of
Publick Worship, where the Euhaw Baptist Meeting house now stands the
Eastern line to run along the high Road, and the Northern line to run three
feet below the spot where the Vestry house now stands, and so to Close
one square Acre; which with the buildings now thereon, or any that may be
raised thereon for Publick Worship, School keeping, or Sheds to put
Horses under during the time of Worship, or buildings for a Minister and
his successors of the Baptist denomination, holding the doctrines aforesaid,
and no other purposes shall belong to said Church forever; with this
Proviso, nevertheless that if any Part of the said Acre of Land be with the
knowledge or allowance of the said Church made use of for a burying
place, which would spoil the useful spring of Water below It, the said
acre of Land shall be forfeited to him or her of My Heirs, who shall own or
have sold the Land adjoining it; but even then the said Church shall have
liberty, within Twelve month time to take away all the buildings that may
be thereon at the time of the said forfeiture. (Charleston County PC, Wills
1774-1779, pp. 205-6).
ft151
ft152
ft155
ft158
VI, 169, VIII, 249; CJ, Nov. 6, 1755, Aug. 1, 1758, Oct. 7, 1737; Plats,
XVII, 511; CJ, Feb. 2, 1756, Mar. 8, 1758, Sept. 1, 1752, Aug. 3, 1756;
Sept. 3. 1754, Mar. 7, 1765; Plats XI, 411; VI, 299; XIV, 326; IX, 357; CJ.
Dec. 5, 1755; Plats, I, 224; VII, 08; XVII, 280; XX, 498; XIX, 188); the
foregoing citations furnish ample evidence of the migration of a group
from Lynches Creek to Coosawhatchie; in addition to the above, surveys
for James Smart, Jr., John Knight, and Thomas Knight, later members,
show concentration of the group about Beech Branch (Ibid., 519; XVII,
510-12).
ft172
Covenant and opening statement in Coosawhatchie CB, 1814-1864.
ft173
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1759.
ft174
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 7, Furman MS, p. 39; Edwards states in the Crozer
manuscript that Thomas Collins gave no deed to the church and that
William Thomas, the owner of the land in 1772, promised to transfer the
lot to the church, but this statement is not repeated in the Furman
manuscript.
ft175
Ibid., Crozer MS, p. 8, Furman MS, p. 39; Edwards states in the Crozer
manuscript that John Clayton and his group went to Tuckaseeking, Ga., but
soon returned to S C. to the Edisto region; see also Morgan Edwards,
Materials towards a History of the Baptists in Georgia (MS, Crozer
Theological Seminary), p. 3.
ft176
Ibid., Crozer MS, p. 7, Furman MS, p. 39.
ft177
Harts Diary, in YBC, 1896, p. 387.
ft178
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1775.
ft179
Ibid,; the branch was probably Savannah River, S.C., Church, later Pipe
Creek, which entered the Charleston Association under Rev. Joshua Lewis
in 1778, in which year Coosawhatchie dismissed 24 members.
ft180
JHR, Sept., 30, Oct. 5, 6, 1785; McCord (ad.), Statutes, VIII, 248; JHR
Dec. 17, 1808: Dec. 20, 1832; the names Coosawhatchie Baptist Church
Society and Beech Branch Baptist Church Society were used
interchangeably in the incorporation petitions, indicating the identity of the
groups.
ft181
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1777-1788; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 56;
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 8, 10, Furman MS, p. 40; Ibid., Materials
towards a History of the Baptists in the Province of North Carolina (1772)
edited by G. W. Paschal, in North Carolina Historical Review, VII (1930),
No. 3, note, p. 375; Plats, VI, 169; VIII, 249; CJ, Nov. 6, 1755: Rev. James
Smart was born on Oct. 13, 1714, in Prince George County, Va.; he
became a General Baptist and was ordained at Fishing Creek General
Baptist Church, Bute County, N. C., on June 28 1750; after his conversion
to Particular Baptist principles, he removed to Lynches Creek in 1755 as
assistant minister, where he secured land and settled until his removal to
Coosawhatchie in 1759 and final settlement; he married Elizabeth
Ledbetter, by whom he had by 1772 Reuben, Henry, Rebecca, Sylvania,
James, Mason, Nathan, and Chloe; he served various churches of the
surrounding region; as he is not mentioned in the records after 1788, it is
probable that his death occurred about that year.
ft182
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1791, 1795.
ft183
The original grant to James Smart, son of Rev. James Smart, of 71 acres
formerly surveyed for Zachariah Knight, dated Mar. 7, 1796, and recorded
in Grants (MSS, Secretary of State, Columbia), E-V, 339, and plats of the
churchyard and of the 71 acre grant from which it was taken, are in the
Coosawhatchie CB, 1814-1864; a note upon one of these plats states that
James Smart devised the tract to the church: there are no gravestones of
original members in the churchyard; the gravestones of this James Smart,
who died Mar. 31, 1818, and of his wife Piety, are still standing on what
was his plantation near the church; he received grants during his life of
over 1600 acres (Grants, XIII, 57, D-V, 23, E-V. 339; K-VI, 395).
ft184
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1802.
ft185
Diary of the Rev. Evan Pugh, 1762-1802 (MS, Misses Charles), May 19,
1763.
ft186
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1778; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 56.
ft187
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1786; McCord (ed), Statutes, VIII, 139.
ft188
W. H. Dowling, Report of Committee on History, in Savannah River
Baptist Assoc. Min., 1893, pp, 19-20.
ft189
Holcombe, Concise Account, as described in Baptist Courier; Pipe Creek
was represented by Robert Tanner, William Causey, Allen Williams, and
James Sweat at the conference to hear Mr. Holcombes defense; Cook to
Furman, Feb. 21, 1789.
ft190
Charleston Asso. Min., 1794, 1802; the church has been moved twice; it is
now at Estill, and is known as the Lawtonville Baptist Church; Its records
prior to 1865 were burned.
ft191
Pughs Diary, Dec. 25, 1762.
ft192
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1786-1802; Wm. Cone had a survey of 100 acres
in 1770 on the southeast side of Peedee on Buck Swamp (Plats, XI, 298).
ft193
W. H. Dowling, The Black Swamp Baptist Church, in Savannah River
Assoc. Min., 1913; copy of resurvey of the church lot May 31, 1855, by
Wm. J. Stafford, made by John H. Robert Mar. 5,1928; the original lot is
Edwards, Crozer MS, p, 22; no deed to the church lot has been found, but a
tract of 961 acres touching Stono River in St. Andrews Parish was left by
Henry Toomer to his sons Joshua and John by will recorded Feb. 13, 1739;
of this Joshua Toomer mortgaged a tract of 152 acres bounding south on
Stono River, northeast on marsh land of Joseph Elliott, and west on
Mathurin Guerin, to the trustees of the General Baptists Nov. 29, 1746; this
tract probably included the lot given to the General Baptists by Henry
Toomer, as it was in the midst of the land of the General Baptist group; see
Charleston County RMC, Deeds DD, pp. 10-11; OO, pp. 586-90.
ft200
JCHA, Apr. 26, 1745.
ft201
Ibid., May 3, 1745.
ft202
Ibid.
ft203
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 21-3; the constituent members were: Rev. Robert
Ingram, William Elliott, Sr., William Elliott, Jr., Thomas Elliott, Henry
Toomer, Richard Butler, Joseph Elliott, Joshua Toomer, George Timmons,
Barnard Elliott, John Clifford, Thomas Tew, Thomas Davis, Dorothy
Jones, Ann Bonneau, Amerinthia Parr, Mary Toomer, Mary Toomer, Jr.,
Ann Chidesy, Francis Elliott, Elizabeth Elliott.
ft204
Charleston County PC, Wills 1736-1740 pp. 246-7: William Elliott in his
will dated June 15, 1733, left to his three sons, William, Thomas, and
Joseph, 10,000 current money of S.C., and a tract of 15 3/4 acres of land
on Charleston Neck. The legacy and devise to his [William Elliotts] sons
was absolute, but as afterward appeared upon a secret trust (Smith,
Baronies, in SCHGM, XV (1914), pp. 158-61); Thomas Elliott by his will
dated Oct. 23, 1738 (Charleston County PC, Wills 1736-1740, p. 327)
bequeathed to his brother Barnard Elliott, 3333.6.8, which was left to me
by my fathers Will, charging him to make that good Use of it for which
he knows it was given me; by will dated Feb. 11, 1739, (Ibid., pp. 659-60)
Joseph Elliott left to ye Society of Christians yt Mr. Henry Heywood is
now minister of & I my Self and two Brothers Woe. Elliott & Barnard
Elliott and my only Sister Ammirentia Far are now members cf: I Say to
tnis Society or to Such persons whom they Shall appoint to Receive itt, I
give the Sum of Fire Thousand Pounds and three hundred thirty three
pounds six Shillings & Eight pence & my Share of y e land on ye town
Neck for ever; A few years later an information was filed by James
Wright attorney General of the Province on the relation of Henry
Haywood Minister of the Society of Christians Called General Baptists and
others against William Elliott and the executors of his brothers Thomas
and Joseph charging that the elder William Elliott had left this donation of
10,000 and 15 3/4 acres to his three sons upon a secret trust for the use of
the said Society of Christians Called General Baptists meeting and
Communing in the worship of God at the Meeting houses of Stono and
Charleston. By agreement the questions in contention under this charge
were referred to William Cattell Junr. John Savage and John Basnett as
arbitrators who made an award in favour of the Society. The 10,000, was
promptly paid and the land seems to have been conveyed to the Society
(Smith, Baronies, in SCHGM, XV (1914), 160).
ft205
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 23, Furman MS, p. 65; Rev. Robert Ingram, a
native of Lincolnshire, came to S.C. from Farnham, Eng., about 1733 and
died there about 1738; he had one daughter who died childless; His
character is that of a good and wise man; Thomas Elliott left him a
bequest of three hundred pounds currency (Charleston County PC, Wills
1736-1740, p. 236).
ft206
JCHA, May 3, 1745.
ft207
McCord (ed.), Statutes, III, 660.
ft208
Charleston County RMC, Deeds DD, pp. 10-11; 00, pp. 586-90.
ft209
S.C. Gazette, Postscript, June 25, 1741.
ft210
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 25, Furman MS, pp. 65-6; Rev. Henry Heywood
came from Farnham. Eng., in 1739 and took over the care of the General
Baptist Church on May 5, 1740; His character is that of a scholar, but an
oddity in person and conduct. Mr. Whitton speaks handsomely of him, but
the late Dr. Gill very indifferently; October 30, 1755. Yesterday died the
Rev. Mr. Henry Heywood, a Baptist Preacher in this Town; who was
esteemed one of the greatest Scholars in America. Death Notices in the
South Carolina Gazette. 1732-1775, compiled by A. S. Salley, Jr.,
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 22-4, Furman MS, pp. 68-7; Hayne Records, in
SCHGM, X (1909), 168; S.C. Gazette, Apr. 23, 1772; Marriage and Death
Notices from the City Gazette, compiled by Mabel L. Webber, in
SCHGM, XXVI (1925), 86: Rev, Caleb Evans, A. M., was born on Mar. 30,
1743, in the Parish of Llanafon-faur, Brechnock, South Wales, brought up
at Aberdeen, ordained at Farnham in 1768, and took charge of the
Charleston General Baptist Church immediately upon his arrival in the
same year; he died Apr. 22, 1772.
ft214
Pilmoors Journal, in Shipp, Methodism, pp. 128-30; S. C, Gazette, Feb.
8, 1773.
ft215
Ibid., Sept. 19, 1774; Hayne Records, in SCHGM, X (1909), 221, the
names are given as Philip Dobell, Jr., and Sr., and the dates of death Aug.
20 and 25.
ft216
JHR, Feb. 20, Mar. 13, Feb. 23, 1787; no record of an amendment of the
act of 1745 has been found; in fact, the act was so worded as to require no
amendment.
ft217
Charleston County RMC, Deeds D-6, pp. 478-82; in the margin of page
480 is a statement that the mortgage escheated to the city and was satisfied
Aug. 24, 1802.
ft218
Ramsay, History of S.C., II, 27; Tupper (ed.), Two Centuries, pp. 94-5;
Smith, Baronies, In SCHGM, XV (1914) 156-61; the land on Charleston
Neck then reverted to the heirs at law of the original donor, William Elliott.
ft219
Ibid., Georgetown, in SCHGM, IX (1908),89-90: McCord (ed.), Statutes,
VIII, 213.
ft220
ft226
being constituted after the removal; Philip James, Daniel Devonald, David
Harry, Thomas Evans (2), Griffith John, David James, and John Jones were
among Welsh inhabitants who in 1743 presented a petition pleading their
poverty and asking that their lands be granted free of all charges for
surveying, etc.; Abel, Daniel, Philip, and David James, Daniel Devonald,
Thomas Evans (2), John Jones, Griffith Jones, David Harry had surveys
before 1743 which they did not take up; the elder James James was a
justice of the peace in Pa.; he is said to have died one year after arrival; a
plat surveyed for Philip Douglas in 1742 mentions lands Pitched on by
Mr, James, and plats of 1738 show that the Welch Neck was called
Jamess Neck at that time, but no plats for James James appear on the plat
books; David James had a survey of 400 acres in 1738 in the Welsh Tract
in Jamess Neck west on the Peedee and north on Daniel Dovenals
(Devonald or Dovenald) land; Abel James 300 acres on the northeast side
of Peedee in the Welsh Tract in Prince George Winyah In 1738; Daniel
James in 1742 350 acres west on Peedee, north on David Harrys land in
the Welsh Tract, Prince George Winyah, and 100 acres west on Peedee and
north on his own land in Prince George Winyah, Thomas Evans 490 acres
in the Welch Tract in Jamess Neck west 1741 and later surveys; David
Harry 400 acres in Queensborough Township in 1738, 125 acres west on
Peedee and north on D. Harrys land in 1742, another 125 acres in 1742
west on Peedee in the Welsh Tract in Prince George Winyah, and 150 acres
in 1745 west on Peedee in the Welsh Tract; the first plat found for John
Harry was of 475 acres in 1762 in Prince George Winyah; Thomas Harry
150 acres in 1738 In Prince George Winyah southwest on Peedee; Griffith
Jones 300 acres in 1738 in Queensborough Township touching lands of
Thomas James; John Jones 250 acres in 1738 on Jamess Nrck west on
Peedee in the Welsh Tract or New Camberarer 100 acres west on Peedee
north on his own land in the Welsh Tract, Prince George Winyah, in 1741,
and 500 acres in the Welsh Tract Prince George Winyah in 1742, and
several later surveys (Plats, IV, 188, 190, 198, 204, 191, 200, 206, 207,
145, 199, 201, 435; VII, 262; IV, 145, 471, 112, 202, 197); no plats before
1770 were found for Daniel Devonald, Samuel Evans or Samuel Wilds.
ft230
ft231
Ibid., Crozer MS, pp. 49, 52, Furman MS, pp. 17, 19, 20; Harvey Toliver
Cook, Life and Legacy of David Rogerson Williams (New York, 1916), p.
31; Abel Morgan, Cyd-gordiad Egwyddorawl or Scrythurau
(Philadelphia, 1730).
ft232
Fordyce to the SPG, Dec. 2, 1742, Oct. 23, 1743, Nov. 4, 1745, quoted in
Harvey Toliver Cook, Rambles in the Pee Dee Basin, South Carolina
(Columbia, 1926), p. 157.
ft233
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 52, Furman MS, pp. 19, 20; Furman, Charleston
Assoc., p. 70: Historical Sketch of the Welsh Neck Baptist Church
(Greenville, S.C., 1889), p. 7, note: Rev. Philip James was born in 1701
near Pennepec, Pa.; he was licensed to preach at the Welsh Tract Church,
but was ordained on Apr. 4, 1743, in S.C., to which he came in 1737, being
made pastor of Peedee or Welsh Neck Church at the time of his ordination;
he was a man of great spirituality, given to heavenly visions after the death
of a beloved child; he married Elizabeth Thomas, and had three sons,
Daniel, James, and Philip, living in 1772; a conveyance of Mar. 1762, of
Daniel James describes him as son & heir of ye Reverend Philip James
deceased of the Welch Tract in ye County of Craven (Charleston County,
RMC, Deeds 1-4, p. 49); Rev. Philip James had two surveys in 1740, the
first southwest on Peedee in the Welsh Tract, Prince George Winyah of
250 acres, the second of 100 acres west on Peedee touching Mr. Thomas
Evans of Spring Garden on the north (Plats IV, 195-259); he also
purchased land in 1751, being designated as Philip James, Minister of the
Gospel; he died on Jan. 31, 1754, and is buried in the old Welsh Neck
graveyard on the east of the river; the following sermon was preached at
his ordination; The Qualifications of a Gospel Minister for and Duty in
studying rightly to divide the Word of Truth. And the Duty of those who
do partake of the Benefit of his Labours towards him, fully, plainly and
impartially represented in Two Sermons on <550215>2 Timothy 2:15. Preached
at the ordination of the Reverend Philip James, at the Welsh Tract, on Pee
Dee River in South Carolina, April 4, 1743. With some illustrations and
enlargements. By Isaac Chanter, Minister of ye Gospel. Published at the
Unanimous and Earnest Request of Both Minister and People. Now at
Crozer Theological Seminary.
ft234
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 53; this date is not given in Furman MS, p. 17.
ft235
Ibid., Crozer MS, pp. 53, 56; Furman MS, p. 21; Furman, Charleston
Assoc., p 70; Hist. Sketch Welsh Neck, p. 7; Gregg, Cheraws, p. 64; W. C.
Allen, History of the Pee Dee Baptist Association (Dillon, S.C., 1924), pp.
88-93; Rev, John Brown was born Aug. 20, 1714, near Burlington, N. J.,
was brought up at Frankfort near Philadelphia; he came to the Welsh Neck
in 1737, where he was baptized and called to the ministry, being ordained
May 7, 1750; he married Sarah Newberry, and left children Mercy, Sarah,
Martha Elizabeth, Samuel, Mary, and Jesse; he preached throughout the
region for many years without a pastorate; Brownsville is said to have been
named in his honor; it was probably he who had a survey of 600 acres on
Welsh Neck CB, pp. 3-10, passim; Gregg, Cheraws, pp. 64, 65; Edwards,
Crozer MS, p. 51; Furman MS, p. 22; Hist. Sketch Welsh Neck, p. 7;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 132; Cook, Williams, p. 44; Memorials VI,
360; Rev. Robert Williams was torn Dec. 20, 1717, at Northhampton, N.
C.; he came to Peedee in 1745, where he was ordained on Sept. 30, 1752,
by Rev. Messrs. Philip James and John Brown; he married Anne Boykin,
by whom he had David, Celta, Jehu, Mary, and Anne; he was strongly
Calvinistic and influential in the bringing of many N. C. Baptists to the
regular position; he died Apr. 8, 1768, a funeral sermon being preached by
Rev. Evan Pugh from John XI: 11, 12; his will was probated In Charleston
in Dec., 1768 (Wills 1765-1769. p. 440); Gov. David Rogerson Williams
was his grandson; Charleston Assoc. later adjusted his differences with
Welsh Neck.
ft238
Welsh Neck CB, pp. 3-20, passim.
ft239
Ibid., pp. 2, 3, 4.
ft240
Ibid., pp. 5, 6.
ft241
Ibid., pp. 5-37, passim.
ft242
Ibid., p. 12.
ft243
Ibid., p. 13.
Ibid., p. 14; Pughs Diary indicates some activity at Regulator meetings a
year or two later; Gregg, Cheraws, pp. 151, note; 102, 45-66, note;
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 56; Furman MS, p. 38; Furman, Charleston
Assoc., pp. 79, 80: Rev. Evan Pugh was born at Matachin, Pa., April. 2,
1729 (Edwards gives 1732), but removed to Winchester, Va., as a boy
where he learned practical surveying under George Washington; though
bred a Quaker, he was converted to Baptist principles while teaching in N.
C., in 1754; removing to S.C. in 1762, he first studied at Welsh Neck, then
was taken under the patronage of the Charleston Association and the
Religious Society, after which he studied with Mr. Hart, Mr. Pelot, and
others he was licensed to preach at Euhaw on June 5, 1763, ordained by
Messrs. Hart, Stephens and Pelot on Nov. 22, 1764; his first call was to
Welsh Neck on Jan. 4, 1766, then on Dec. 26, 1766, he accepted a call to
Cashaway Church, where he served until his death, at the same time
preaching throughout the Peedee section; he had a survey of 300 acres
touching Jacob Kolb, Samuel Burton and Mr. Blake in 1770, and he was
living in Cheraws District with 17 slaves in 1790 (Plats, XI, 436; Census, p
49); he was an active member of the Charleston Association, a member of
the S.C. constitutional convention of 1790; Rhode Island College conferred
on him the A. M. degree; his sermon Ministers, Fellow-Workers with
Christ, preached before the Charleston Association, Nov. 2, 1767, was
published; he also preached a sermon at Darlington C. H. on the death of
Washington from <550307>2 Timothy 3:7, 8; he married Martha McGee, by
whom he had James, Ezra, and Elizabeth; he was buried in Pugh Field,
apparently the old Black Creek churchyard, close to the creek and a few
miles above Darlington; his son Ezra is buried by him; his epitaph is as
follows: Sacred! to the Memory of| Evan Pugh| Born Apr. 2d, 1729,| Died
Dec. 26, 1802.| For forty years an approved,| acceptable Preacher of the|
Gospel of peace.| Of the Baptist denomination,| the first beneficiary of the
Char-|-leston association.| Intelligence, benignity, charity,| benevolence,
hospitality, candor, piety,| all were his.| (verse). The following is a copy
of the certificate of ordination of Rev. Evan Pugh, the original being in
possession of Rev, R. W. Lide, of Greenville, S.C., and a Photostatic copy
at the University of S. C,: These are to Certify, That the Reverend Mr.
Evan Pugh after having given sufficient Proof of his gifts and acquirements
was regularly called by the Church at Euhaw in South Carolina and
ordained to the work of the Ministry by us the Subscribers on Thursday the
Twenty second of November one thousand seven hundred and sixty four.
Francis Pelot V. D. M., O, Hart V. D. M., John Stephens V. D. M.
ft245
Welsh Neck CB, p. 14.
ft244
ft246
ft247
ft248
Welsh Neck CB, pp. 19, 23; Hist. Sketch Welsh Neck, p. 9.
Ibid.; Benedict, Baptist History, I, 275; Rev. Elhanan Winchesters
connection with the churches of S.C., was short; he was a man of
prodigious memory and great talent, who later in Philadelphia preached
universal redemption through a disciplinary purgatory.
ft250
Welsh Neck CB, pp. 28, 29; Mallary, Botsford; Sprague, Annals, VI, 13845; obituaries in Charleston Assoc. Min, and American Baptist Magazine
and Missionary Intelligencer, New Series, 2 (1920), No. 8; letter of
Edmund Botsford, Peedee River, S.C., Apr. 25, Aug. 24, 1790, in Rippons
Reg., 1790-1793, pp. 104-103; Edwards, Ga. Materials (MS); Benedict,
Baptist History, II, p. 151; Newman U, S. Baptists, pp. 311, 316-18;
Harts Diary in YBC, 1896, pp. 385-6; Gregg, Cheraws, p. 88, note;
Furman to Hart, Jan. 26, 1785, Feb. 7, 1786 (MS, Alester O. Furman);
Marriage and Death Notices in SCHGM XVIII (1917), 154: Rev,
ft249
Beasley and wife, John Bennett, Susannah Bingham, Rhoda Booth, Sarah
Booth, Caty Botsford, Sarah Bowdy, John Bridges and wife, Mrs. Anne
Brown, Esther Brown, Grace Brown, Jeremiah Brown, Nancy Brown,
Bibby Bruce, Jemimah Bruce, Eli Burdo and wife Eve, Magnus Cargill,
John Chambliss, Sarah Cherry, William Cherry, Mary Cleary, Mary
Cochran, James Coker, Arnold Colvin Joseph Cook, Mary Cooper, Mary
Cox, Agnes Creek, Owen Darby, Honor Darby, Peggy Darby, Isabel
David, Jenkyn David, John David, Rachel David, Jacob DSurrency,
Martin DeWitt, Philip Douglas, John Downes, Rachel Downes, Sarah
Downes, Walter Downes, John Edmundson, Abel Edwards, Charity
Edwards, Joshua Edwards, Mary Edwards, Sarah Edwards, Thomas
Edwards, Abel Evans, Anne Evans, David Evans, Eleanor Evans, Enoch
Evans, Jr., Elizabeth Evans, Enoch Evans, Sr., Hannah Evans, Jesse Evans,
John Evans, Josiah Evans, Lydia Evans, Margaret Evans, Mary Evans,
Philip Evans, Rachel Evans Sarah Evans, Samuel Evans, Thomas Evans,
Thomas Evans Jr., William Ferrel and Anne his wife, Mary Ann
Fitzgerald, Michael Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Flanagan, Sarah Foster, Shadrach
Fuller, Abel Goodwin, Deborah Greer, Mary Griffiths, Matthew Griffiths,
Rachel Groves, Mary Harper, Eleanor Harry, James Harry, Naoomi Harry,
Sarah Harry, Elizabeth Hewson (Hughson?), William Hewson, Eleanor
Hewstess, James Hewstess, John Hewstess and Agnes his wife, Matthew
Hewstess, Sarah Hewstess. William Hewstess, Betsey Hicks, Elizabeth
Hicks (?), George Hicks, Comfort Hinley, John Hodges, Elizabeth Hodges,
Rebecca Hodges, Robert Hodges, Welcome Hodges, Eleanor
Hollingsworth, Mary Hollingsworth, Volentine Hollingsworth, William
Hollingsworth, Hannah Howell, Lydia Howell, Eleanor Hudson Mary
Hudson, Paul Hudson, Burril Huggins and wife, Mary Huggins, Charity
Hurd, Mahetabel Irby, Mary Ivy, Celia James, Elizabeth James, Howell
James, James James, Josiah James, Sarah James (four of them), Thomas
James, William James, Elizabeth Jarrell, Griffith John, Margaret John,
Anna Jones, Edward Jones, Joseph Jones, Mary Jones, William Jones,
Barbara Judith, John Killingsworth and wife, Hannah Kimbrough, Sarah
Kolb, Abel Kolb, Peter Kolb, Benjamin Kolb, Sarah Lack, Anne Lampley,
Martha Lampley, Sussannah Lampley, Feribe Lang (two), Charles Lide,
Elizabeth Lide, Mary Lide, Col. Thomas Lide, Joseph Lister, and wife,
Anne Lowther, Charles Lowther, Alice Lucas, Celete Luke, Elizabeth Luke
(two), William Luke, Daniel McDaniel, Sarah McDaniel, Joel McNatt,
Macky McNatt, Martha McNatt (two), Charles Mason, Elizabeth Mason,
Joseph Mason, Thomas Mason Elizabeth Medford, Barbary Monochon,
Daniel Monochon, Celete Morgan, Sarah Mumford, John McIntosh,
Catherine McIver, Evander McIver, Gideon Parish, Robert Parsley. Josiah
Pearce and Mary His wife, Martha Pearce, Aaron Pearson: and wife, Moses
Pearson and wife, Sarah Pearson, John Perkins, Elizabeth Pledger, Joseph
Pledger, Phoebe Pledger, Ann Poland, Jane Poland, Elizabeth Powers,
Mary Prothro, Elizabeth Raburn, Sarah Raburn, Samuel Reredon, Anne
Roach, Martha Roach, Anne Roblyn, Martha Rogers, James Rogers,
Catherine Ross, Rebecca Scott, Daniel Sparks, Henry Sparks, Anne
Stevens, John Stevens, Sarah Steward, Eddy Stinson, Sarah Stubbs, John
Sutton and Elizabeth his wife, William Terrell, Jr., Elizabeth Thomas,
Samson Thomas, Tristram Thomas and wife, George Trawicks, Lydia
Trawicks, Penr. Trawicks, Sedona Upthegroove, Mary Vann, Thomas
Vlning, Alexander Walden and wife (Sarah?), Elizabeth Walsh, Mary
Walsh, Zilpah Walsh, Robert White, Abel Wilds, Elizabeth Wilds, John
Wilds, Mary Wilds, Samuel Wilds, John Williams, Nancy Williamson,
Tabitha Williamson, James p. Wilson, Mary Wilson, Martha Wilson.
ft259
Ibid., p. 20.
ft260
Ibid., p. 30.
ft261
Ibid., p. 39; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1790-1804; Botsford supported the
movement to incorporate the General Committee, Mallary, Botsford, p. 63.
ft262
Welsh Neck CB, pp. 29. 37, 41; probably Rippons Beg.
ft263
Gregg, Cheraws, pp. 282-4, 436-8. Records of St. Davids Society, Society
Hill, S.C.; Welsh Neck CB, 1778-1804; Mrs. Furman E. Wilson (Jane Lide
Coker), Memories of Society Hill (Darlington, S.C., 1810), p. 2.
ft264
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 50.
ft265
Welsh Neck CB, p. 20.
ft266
Ibid., pp. 37-8.
ft267
Ibid., pp. 40, 45.
ft268
Ibid., pp. 41-3.
ft269
Ibid., pp. 45-6.
ft270
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 50, gives the dimensions as 46 by 30 feet, Furman
MS, p. 16 as 45 by 20 feet; Pughs Diary, Mar. 22, 1766, states that the
Welsh Neck Church meeting decided to build in 1766; no deed to this lot
has been found.
ft271
Welsh Neck CB, pp. 30, 37, 38; Hist. Sketch Welsh Neck, p. 7.
ft272
Welsh Neck CB, p. 40.
ft273
Ibid., p. 39.
ft274
Ibid., pp. 43-5.
ft275
Ibid., p. 44.
ft276
Mrs. Wilson, Society Hill, p. 8.
ft277
(50 and 150 acres on Jeffreys Creek In 1756, Ibid., VI, 173, 176); general
location of these shows most of members on southwest side of Peedee.
ft286
Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 55; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 54; Furman
MS, p. 31; no survey has been found which might include the church lot.
ft287
Cashaway CB, 1761; Deacon Abel Edwards, in Rippons Reg., 1794-97,
p. 500; Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 55, gives Joshua Edwards as first minister,
but Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 55, does not mention him in connection
with Catfish.
ft288
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 55, 57; Rev. Thomas Blount is given a bad name
by Edwards; he had a survey of 300 acres in 1772 in Kingston Township,
on the northeast side of Little Peedee (Plats XIII, 253).
ft289
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 54 gives sixty pounds; Furman MS, p. 31, eighty
pounds.
ft290
Ibid.; Crozer MS, p. 55; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1775-79, 1785-89, 179295, 1805; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 55; Edwards, N. C. Materials, in
N. C. Hist. Rev., VII (1930), 381; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 147;
Census, p. 56: Rev. Jeremiah Rhame, although Bred a Churchman,
became a General Baptist in 1755, but later as a Regular Baptist he helped
to form a church of that persuasion at Redbanks in Pitt County, N. C., in
1758; he must have come to Catfish late in, or shortly after 1772; he was
afterwards pastor of Little Peedee and also served Casbaway; he married
Elizabeth Bradley, by whom he had Abigail, Jeremiah, Ebenezer, Bradley,
and Benoni; he had a survey of 50 acres on Black Swamp northeast side
Great Peedee, on Francis Davis, Anthony Sweet, and Charles Rice, 1787
(Plats, XIVq, 206); he was living in Prince George Winyah without slaves
in 1790; he died in 1805.
ft291
C., by Rev. Messrs. George Graham and Joshua Herring; by his wife Sarah
Henderson he had Sarah, Charles, Mary, Rebecca, Ann, Shadrach, and
Joel; two plats were surveyed for him of 200 acres each, one in 1771 at the
fork of Beaverdam and at a Place called the Paster Neck, the other on
Three Creek In 1772 on northeast side of Peedee touching lands of William
Pledger and John Ward (Plats, XIX, 67, 73); he was living in Prince
George Winyah with five in family and without slaves in 1790 (Census, p.
55); no date of death has been found; of the two other male constituents of
the church, Nicholas Green petitioned for 250 acres on waters of Peedee in
1763 (JC, Oct. 4, 1763); no survey for Rice Henderson has been found, but
he was living in Prince George Winyah In 1790 with five in family and
without slaves (Census, p. 54).
ft294
Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 56.
ft295
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1795, 1801, 1802; Rev. William Bennett was
living In Cheraws District with two slaves in 1790; he had a survey of 300
acres in 1804 on the northeast side Great Peedee on Crooked Creek, and
died in 1814 (Census, p. 47; Plats XL, 325; Charleston Assoc. Min., 18001814); Peter Bainbridge was living in Cheraws District with 55 slaves in
1790, whence he had come from Charleston where he was licensed to
preach in 1787; he is said to have removed about 1791 to Genesee County,
N, Y. (Census, p. 41; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1786-1790; Asplunds Reg.,
3., 5., and 6. ed.); Rev. Henry Easterling was born May 24, 1733, at Neuse
River, N. C.; bred a churchman, baptized 1760, ordained Mar, 29, 1772,
as minister of Hitchcock Creek Church, N. C.; married Elizabeth Bennett
and had children James, Elizabeth, William, Mary, Martha, Shadrach,
Henry, Bennett, John, Joel in 1772; he had several surveys on the northeast
side of Great Peedee, 640 acres In 1785, 393 acres 1790 and 572 acres
1791; and he was living in Cheraws with two slaves in 1790; his church
connections seem to cease in 1792, although a person of the same name
was surveyed land in the Four-Hole region In 1801 and 1802 (Edwards,
N. C. Materials, in N. C, Hist. Rev., VII (1930), p. 372; Census, p. 46;
Plats, VIq, 398; XXVIIIq, 114, 86; XXXVI, 196. 356; Asplunds Reg., 3,
and 5. ed.; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1786-92);.
ft296
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1794; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 56, 66;
Allen, Pee Dee Assoc., p. 120; McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 250: the act of
incorporation of Dec. 19, 1809, names The Gapway Antipaedo Baptist
Church on Little Pee Dee, and mentions as petitioners William Allen,
Robert Hodges, Thomas Collins, Dempsey Collins, and William Rogers.
Rev. David Owens (Owen) probably came from N. C.; he preached for
Little Peedee River, Terrells Bay, and Gapway churches; he was living in
Cheraws District without slaves in 1790, having had a survey of 100 acres
on Cypress Creek south side of Little Peedee in 1770; he probably was
preaching in 1811 at Brushy Creek Church, Hepzibah Association, Ga.
(Col. Rec. N. C., XVII, 237; Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6, ed.; Charleston
Assoc. Min., 1790-1804; Census, p. 46; Plats, XI, 198; Benedict, Baptist
History, II, 533).
ft301
Marion County CC, Deeds L, p. 163: Deed of Hugh Hodges and others,
Feb. 17, 825, to land opposite the Old Gapway Meeting House.
ft302
ft308
ft309
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 55-6; Furman MS, pp. 36-8; Cashaway CB, Dec.
1756; constituent members of Cashaway were: Rev. John Brown and wife,
who had land about Muddy Creek and Flat Creek (see note 8, supra); John
Goodwin and wife who had at least two tracts surveyed on northeast side
of Peedee, one of 300 acres in 1736, the other of 100 acres in 1762 (Plats,
IV, 12; VIII, 428); Abel James and wife; Benjamin James, a survey of 200
acres in Craven in 1770 (Ibid., XI, 256); Henry Kolb and wife, two surveys
of 150 acres each in 1756 on northeast side of Peedee, the second on
Hilsons Bay (Ibid. VI, 140-1); John Kolb and wife, a survey of 650 acres
in 1742 occupying Causeway Neck on east side of Peedee in Prince
George Winyah (Ibid., IV, 240); Martin Kolb, survey of 100 acres in 1756,
bounded southeast by Peedee and touching John Kolbs land, and another
of 100 acres in 1756 on southwest side of Peedee on Hurricane Creek
(Ibid., VI, 140, 247); Peter Kolb and wife, 250 acres in Prince Frederick,
100 acres in 1757 and 100 acres in 1763 on northwest side Peedee on
Hurricane and Hoskers Branch (Ibid., VI, 49; XVII, 523; VII, 440);
Jeremiah Rowell and wife, 150 acres in Prince Frederick northeast on
Peedee in 1741 and 200 acres on Peedee in 1748 (Ibid., IV, 197; V, 313;
John Brown is listed by Edwards as one of the constituents, making fifteen
instead of fourteen; he and his wife Sarah were not dismissed by Welsh
Neck Church until Apr. 5, 1759, but they had probably already been at
Cashaway for sometime.
ft315
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 56; Benedict, Baptist History, I, 416, II 129; Mr.
Smith was ordained at Cashaway and later became an eminent Baptist
minister of Massachusetts.
ft316
Pughs Diary, 1764-91, passim, shows the close connection or practical
identity of the congregation attending Keiths, Black Creek, Teals meeting
house, and Pine Log; of Stony Hilt, Mount Pleasant, and Lides; of
Browns, Pearsons, Muddy Creek, Webbs old house. Ayers in
Wraggtown; Cornelius Keith is mentioned as on Black Creek, west side
Peedee, bring later a member of Lower Fork of Lynches Creek; John and
Samuel Brown had land on both sides of the River; they came to be
associated with the Muddy Creek region; Aaron Pearson had a survey in
1765 in Rag Town, on northeast side of Peedee River touching Cherry,
Roger Pouncey, John Ascue, and Captain Davis (Memorials IX, 99); Major
Robert Lide had several surveys on the Peedee (Plats, XI, 436; XVI, 347,
XIX, 245); James Webb had 350 acres of land surveyed in 1767 in
Boonsboro (Ibid., XXI, 1767); Christopher Teal, at whose house Rev. Evan
Pugh always lodged when preaching at Black Creek, had a survey of 100
acres in 1767 on High Hill Creek, waters of Great Peedee touching John
Cooper (Ibid., X, 19); Mount Pleasant was about where the present
Mechanicsville is.
ft317
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1791.
ft318
Ibid., 1799; Pughs Diary, Aug. 15, 1789.
ft319
Ibid., 1794-1800.
ft320
Mount Pleasant CB, 1803; the following list of members is compiled from
the Cashaway Church Book, 1759-1772, including the signers of the 1767
covenant: Joseph Allison, Sarah Allison, John Asskue (Ascue), John
Barden (Borden?), Rosanna Barnet, John Bowin, Ann Brown, John Brown,
Rev. John Brown, Rachel Brown, Samuel Brown, Sarah Brown, Ann
Bruce, Jacob Bruce, Major Buckholts, David Burk, John Burk, Mrs. Mary
Burton, Thomas Burton, John Chambliss, Luse Chambliss, Sarah Cherry,
William Cherry, Persilla Coker, Thomas Coker, Mrs. Charity Cothen,
Nathaniel Cothen, Emanuel Cox, Massey Cox, Ruth Davis, Ann Edwards,
Phemy Edwards, Sarah Edwards, Thomas Edwards, Elizabeth Flowers,
Agnes Gibson, Jacob Ham, Precilla Harrod, James Harry, Mary Harry,
Arthur Hart, Anna Heartsfteld, Meomy Heritage, Mary Hodge, Robert
Hodge (Hodges), Abel James, Benjamin James, Jr., Big Benjamin James
(Sr.), Jean James, Sarah James, John Jameson, Sarah Jameson (wife of
John), Charles Jenkins, Zeniah Jenkins, Cornelius Keith, Fanny Keith,
John Keith, John Keith, Sr., Mrs. Keith, Ordery Keith, Hannah Kimbrough,
Mary King, Patience King, Mary Knotts, Benjamin Kolb, Martin Kolb,
Peter Kolb, Sarah Kolb, Mary Lewis, Sarah Lewis, Robert Lide, Sarah
ft330
Pughs Diary, Aug. 15, 16, 1789; J. A. W. Thomas claims there were
eighteen constituents (Allen, Pee Dee Assoc., p. 90).
ft331
Cashaway CB, Junt, 1767.
ft332
Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1787, 1789.
ft333
Pughs Diary.
ft334
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1805, 1829 (note to table of churches states
Brownsville Church was formerly Muddy Creek); Furman, Charleston
Assoc., p. 57; Allen, Pee Dee Assoc. pp. 91-2.
ft335
Pughs Diary, June-Nov., 1796; Mar. 3, 17,32; 1783-84; Aug. 4, 1788;
Mar. 22, 1789.
ft336
Cashaway CB, 1789: Joind over Black Creek: John Carter and Rebecca
his wife, James Coleman, Rachel Coleman, Moses Justice, George King,
Henry King, Mary McInzey, Martha Norwood, Mary Proctor, William
Proctor, John Sanders, Abel Waddle and wife; later additions were: Disha
Waddle (wife of John Waddle), May 3, 1794; Jesse Purcey, May 16, 1796;
Stephen Williams and Joseph Wood, July 16, 1796; the spelling is given as
in the church book, but the order is changed.
ft337
McGuirt, Jesse Pearce, John Carter and wife, George King, John Sanders,
Elias Norwood, Elisabeth Norwood, Richard Williford, Elliner Murphy,
May Rowell, Peter Lee, Rachel Coleman, Jonathan Rowell, William
Harrell, Charlotte Watson, Elisabeth Watson, Jemima Hill, Charles
Jenkins, Mary Harrell Lunia Leear, Elias Watson, Mary Atkisson, Edward
Teal, Mary Coker, Elizabeth Teal, Dolly Jenkins, Christopher Teal, Jr.,
Abigail Thomson, Ellinor Coker, John Pagett, Thomas Coker, Fanny Keith,
Cade Kirven, Thomas Kirven, Henry Fountain, Isaac Redditt, Sarah
Runnels, Sarah Goodson, Sarah King, Elender Dorathy, George Brown,
Gillis Jinkins, David Mason, Jane Wood, John Boothe, Benjamin Lewis,
Elizabeth Lewis, Murdock McLeod, Milly Lizenby, Rachel McGuirt.
Thomas Goodson, Martha Gandy, Sarah Smith, Elijah Wells, Jane Hill,
Elisabeth King, Elizabeth Morgan, Edy King, Batson Morgan, William
Young, Jehu Koib, Shadrach Johnson, Thomas Coker Sr., Jesse Jordan,
Precllla Coker, Sarah Cook, Rebekah Carter, Ann Taylor, Josiah Taylor,
Chambliss Hill, James Young, James McGuirt, Mary Taylor, Edy Oliver,
Mute Martin, Ann Goodwin, Buckner Shelton, Batson Morgan, Wright
Linch, Thomas Coker, James Leear, Ameley Lewis, Wm. Briant, Elisabeth
Lee. Joseph Woods.
ft342
ft343
Ledbetter and wife Edy (see below, note 117); John Ledbetter and wife
Joice a survey of 100 acres in 1756 on Middle Branch of Lynches Creek,
waters of Peedee (Plats, VI. 146); Daniel Richardson, none of whose
surveys appear to be in this region (Ibid., VI, 391; VII, 416); James Smart
and wife Elizabeth, a survey in 1756 on South Prong of Lynches Creek
touching George Coles land (Ibid., VI, 169); Thomas Walker and wife
Ann, a survey of 250 acres in 1750 on Thomsons Creek and 200 acres in
1757 in the fork of Indian and Thomsons Creeks (Ibid., V, 58; VI, 226);
Edwards Furman MS omits Henry Boykin and Thomas Knight and their
wives from the list of constituents; there appears proof from the above plats
of a removal of part of the group from Welsh Neck to the region about the
middle and south prongs of Lynches Creek.
ft344
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 13; Furman MS, pp. 35-6; N.C. Materials, in N,
C. Hist. Rev., VII, (1930), 380; Col. Rec. N.C., V, 1168; IX, 89, 90: Rev,
Henry Ledbetter was born Feb. 25, 1721, in Prince George County, Va.;
bred an Anglican, he became a General Baptist in 1748, was baptized by
Rev. Josiah Hart at Scotland Neck, N.C., ordained June 28, 1750, by
Messrs. William Walker and William Washington; converted to Calvinistic
principles in less than a year, he came to S. C, and settled on Black Creek,
but removed to Lynches Creek, where he had surveys in 1756 on Middle
Branch of Lynches Creek (Plats, VI, 146); he was a constituent member of
the reconstituted Tar River Church in N.C., where he is said to have
remained the rest of his life; he married Edy Clark.
ft345
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 9-13; Furman MS, pp. 32-6; Jacob Weisner had a
survey on north side of Flat Creek on the Camden road in 1772 (Plats,
XXI, 572); Thomas Rouse (or Rous) a survey on a small creek, northeast
side Lynches Creek in 1768 (Ibid., X, 180).
ft346
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1775; Ga. Assoc. Min., 1788; Asplunds Reg., 6
ed.; Jesse Mercer, A History of the Georgia Baptist Association
(Washington, Ga., 1838), pp. 385-6: Rev. Jeptha Vining is described as a
zealous, faithful, and very successful minister of the Gospel and a great
builder of churches; he was born Feb. 15, 1738, at Sutton, Boston
Government, bred a Presbyterian, became a Baptist at Little Catantony,
baptized by Rev. Joseph Parker, 1761; he is said to have been twice
married, first to Amy Miller, by whom he had Mary, Thomas, Ann, Joshua,
Abigail, Uriah, and Matthew; he is several times listed as a customer at
Joseph Kershaws store, Pinetree Hill, now Camden, S. C, (Joseph
Kershaw, Account Book (MS, State Historical Society, Madison, Wis.),
1775, pp. 167, 172, 190, 268); after serving as pastor of Lynches Creek and
Upper Fork of Lynches Creek churches, he removed to Georgia during or
soon after the Revolution, where he founded a church called Providence on
Rocky Comfort Creek and another called Long Creek Church of Ogeechee;
he was a firm Calvinist; he is said to have died in 1787, but he was at
Georgia Association in 1788 and he appears as pastor of Long Creek
Church of Ogeechee in 1792.
ft347
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 9-13; Furman MS, pp. 32-6.
ft348
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1775, 1777; Furman, Charleston Assoc. p. 63.
ft349
Pughs Diary, July 12-14, 1777; a John Cowan had a survey of 150 acres in
Granville County on Savannah River in 1765 (Plats, VI, 128); he was paid
for ferriage of S.C. and Ga. militia in the Revolution (Stub Entries, Books
R-T, p. 141); how and when he came to Lynches Creek is not known; he
preached at High Hills of Santee May 15, 1774 (Pughs Diary); he was a
member of St. Davids Society in 1778 (Gregg, Cheraws, p. 283), and died
sometime before 1785 (Furman to Hart, Jan. 26. 1785 (MS, Alester G.
Furman).
ft350
being in the angle formed by the Camden road, the Battalion road, and the
Meeting House road on North Buffalo Creek (Plats, XL., 125, 149).
ft354
Asplunds Reg. 5. and 6. ed.
ft355
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1797, 1798, 1801, 1802, 1817; Edwards, Crozer
MS, pp. 9-10: Furman MS, pp. 32-3; M. L. Fletcher, Nature Erects
Monument to Founder of Kershaw Church, in News and Courier,
Charleston, Jan. 19, 1930: Tradition says that Rev. George Pope from N.C.
came in 1776 In response to a dream to found Flat Creek Church; from the
records he was pastor later, dying in 1817; this church is still on the same
lot and is still known as Flat Creek; it is 35 miles northeast of Camden;
Rev. Charles Pigg was living in Fairfield County without family or slaves
in 1790 (Census, p. 20).
ft356
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 9-10; Furman MS, pp. 32-3; Mills Atlas, Map of
Chesterfield District: There are two Buffalo Creeks running into Lynches
Creek, one about a mile below the N.C. line in Chesterfield County, the
other about eight miles below Flat Creek on the Kershaw side; but the
location given in the Furman MS of Buffalo Creek meeting house as ten
miles above the main meeting house shows that this was near the N.C. line
and that this might be an early designation of Lanes Creek; Asplunds Reg.,
5. and 6. ed., mentions a Fork Lynches Creek in Chesterfield, constituted in
1781, with 30 to 35 members in 1790-94, but without a minister and nonassociated because of peculiarities; this too, might be Lanes Creek; among
the business papers of General Thomas Sumter (MS, deposited with the
late Judge of Probate Thomas E. Richardson, Sumter), Plat No. 108 (812
A, District of Cheraw, resurvey of land for Thomas Sumter, Jr., certified
Mar. 25, 1795), shows a Baptist meeting house near the head of Hills
Creek almost on the N.C. line this again might be Lanes Creek; Furman,
Charleston Assoc., p. 66, located Lanes Creek as about 18 or 20 miles
north of Upper Fork of Lynches Creek, which tallies with Edwards
description; Lanes Creek Church was dismissed to Moriah Association in
1815; it is listed in Moriah Assoc. Min., 1834, as then in N.C.
ft357
ft360
Gum Branch CB, 1796-1800, 1806; Rev. Samuel Bonds probably came to
S.C. from N.C.; he had a survey in the fork of Sammy Swamp on Pretty
Branch in 1784, but is not listed in S.C. in 1790; nothing is known of him
after he left Lower Fork of Lynches Creek Church (Col. Rec. N.C., IV,
518; Plats, VIIq, 468).
ft361
Black Creek CB, Nov., 1802.
ft362
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1804.
ft363
Historical Sketch of Gum Branch Church, in Gum Branch CB; deed of
John Seegars, Sr., to David Kelly and John Hix, deacons of Fork Lynches
Creek Baptist Church, dated 1830 and recorded Jan. 20, 1830, of four acres
on the run of Gum Branch whereon the meeting house now stands,
apparently on the east side of the branch (Darlington County CC, Deeds K,
p. 435).
ft364
Welsh Neck CB, Jan. 5, 1782; the members dismissed were: James Coker,
Elizabeth Flanagan, Sarah Hewstess, Elizabeth Hicks, George Hicks,
Eleanor Hudson, Hall Hudson, Mahetabel Irby, Thomas Lide, Elizabeth
Medford, Gideon Parrish, Elizabeth Pledger, Joseph Pledger.
ft365
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1782; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 56.
ft366
Gregg, Cheraws, p. 175, note.
ft367
Ibid., p. 78 note; Marlboro County RMC, Deeds A, p. 3; Charleston Assoc.
Min., 1815, 1816; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 63-4: Cheraw Hill, seat
of worship about 10 miles from Cheraw Court-House, but on the east side
of the river [Pledgers Saw Mill]. It has another place of worship at the
Cheraw Hill, on the west side of the river, and five or six miles higher up.
This was built for the Episcopalians, but the Baptists have had
uninterrupted possession of it for about thirty years. It was natural that the
Baptists should take possession of what seems to have been an unused
church building, as Baptist influence was strong in the region; the practical
abandonment of the church by the Episcopalians is indicated by the fact
that the vestry records end on July 9, 1785, and do not begin again until
1819; a tradition of a controversy between the Presbyterians and Baptists
for the building appears in W. R. Godfrey, An Historical Sketch of Old St.
Davids Church, Cheraw, South Carolina, From 1768 to 1916 (Cheraw,
1916), p. 14; Pledgers Saw Mill branch was later constituted as Saw Mill
Church; the members gradually removed to Bennettsville and formed
Thomas Memorial Church (Allen, Pee Dee Assoc., pp. 185-7); Cheraw Hill
had no church building at Cheraw until after 1825 (Charleston Assoc. Min.,
1825).
ft368
ft369
ft370
ft371
Gregg, Cheraws, pp. 93-4; Allen, Pee Dee Assoc., p. 174; Thomas, Salem
Church; J. A. W. Thomas, Robert Thomas, in D. C. McColl (ed.),
Sketches of Old Marlboro (Columbia, 1916); Charleston Assoc. Min.,
1800-1816; Asplunds Reg., 2. and 5. ed.; Census, p. 56; Plats, XVIq, 227,
XIIIq, 162; XXXVIII, 27: Rev. Robert Thomas was born in Md., about
1732, came to N.C. about 1750 and married Mary Sands in 1756; he
obtained surveys of 214 and 247 acres in 1786 on Reedy Creek and Back
Swamp, northwest side of Little Peedee, and another in 1800 on northeast
side of Great Peedee; in 1790 he was living in Prince George Winyah, with
two slaves; he was a Baptist minister of this region for fifty years, first at
Beauty Spot, but chiefly at Three Creek (later Salem) Church; he traveled
extensively on preaching tours, on one of which to Brittons Neck he died
in 1816.
ft372
Pughs Diary, July, 1774-Jan. 1775; Jan. 11-13, 1778; Furman, Charleston
Assoc., p. 62: That Spiveys meeting was the beginning of Ebenezer
Church is assumed from the close approximation of the date of constitution
given in Charleston Assoc. Min., 1778, that is, Jan. 19, 1778, for Ebenezer,
and that given by Pugh, Jan. 13, 1778, for Spiveys meeting, and from the
fact that the first delegate of Ebenezer Church to the Charleston
Association was John Spivey; no further record of Spivey has been found.
ft373
Ibid., 1778-1804.
ft374
McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 164.
ft375
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1803, 1791, 1804, 1817; Asplunds Reg., 2. ed.;
Marriage and Death Notices from the Charleston Courier for 1806, in
SCHGM, XXIX 1928), 258: Rev. Matthew McCullers was probably from
N.C.; he served as a licensed preacher at Pipe Creek 1791-94, and at
Ebenezer 1802; recommended by Rev. Henry Holcombe in 1791, he was
granted assistance to secure ministerial education; he married Jane Reddall
on Jan. 2, 1806; he served Wassamassaw Church in 1804, and was later
pastor of Goose Creek Church, dying in 1817; his son John William
McCullers was later prominent in the parish. Rev. Ezra Courtney served at
Bethel Black River Church in 1790. was a licensed preacher at Ebenezer
Church in 1803, when he received asisstance to secure ministerial training;
Mississippi Association records him as pastor of Ebenezer Church in Miss,
in 1813 (Benedict, Baptist History, II, 548).
ft376
Welsh Neck CB, Dec. 6, 1777; Plats, VI, 132; VII, 276; Furman,
Charleston Assoc., p. 78; Asplunds Reg., 6, ed., Georgia list; Bethel Assoc.
Min., 1800; W. A. Brunson, History of Old Ebenezer Church, Bulletin
of the Pee Dee Historical Society (Weldon, N.C., 1909); Charleston
County RMC, Deeds P-4, p. 546: Rev. Timothy Dargan is said to have
been born in Va.; he came to S.C. while young, after having served in the
French and Indian War; he secured a survey of 100 acres in 1754, being
described as a Liver in Amelia Township, where he had two slaves;
Congaree Church licensed him to preach about 1769, after he had another
survey of 200 acres in 1761 on Shanks Creek, High Hills of Santee, on
Williams Old Field; a deed of 1773 calls him a planter of Craven County;
he preached at the High Hills for a time, being ordained there probably in
1777, and removed thence about Dec. to answer a call to Ebenezer Church,
where he remained until his death in Sept., 1783; he apparently had a wife
in 1754 named Catherine but is said to have married Ann Beasley, by
whom he had Mary, Ann, Timothy, Susanna, Hepzibah, and Phoebe.
ft377
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1786, 1793, 1802-4; Plats LXV, 208; Asplunds
Reg., 6 ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793, 1797, 1800: Rev. Benjamin Moseley
probably came from N.C.; he secured no survey apparently until 1810,
when he had 68 acres laid off In Darlington County; he served as minister
and messenger of Ebenezer Church from 1786 to 1793, after which he
served Hebron Church, Elbert County, Ga., returning in 1802; he is listed
in 1790 with four in family and without slaves (Census, p. 48).; David
Cooper was probably not the person of that name living in Spartanburg
County in 1790 with four in family and one slave (Census, p. 87); when he
came to the Peedee region or what became of him is not known.
ft378
Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 62.
ft379
Darlington County CC, Deeds B, p. 55; Plats, LXIII, 462-3: The plats of
Timothy Dargans land made in 1813 show the road from the meeting
house to Darlington C. H., the meeting house being on the southwest side
of the first run of Jeffreys Creek.
ft380
Welsh Neck CB, May 3, 1794: Robert Parsley received from Deep Creek;
Thomas Vining, probably the son of the former Lynches Creek minister,
left Welsh Neck and went to Deep Creek between 1792 and 1793 (from
lists of delegates in Charleston Assoc. Min., 1792-3); The place of
worship stands near the road leading from Camden to the Cheraw Hill;
about 50 miles from the former and 20 from the latter, near Chesterfield
Court-House [1810] (Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 65).
ft381
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1791-1804, 1817; Furman, Charleston Assoc, p.
56, gives 1790 as date of constitution, but at its entrance into the
Association it gave its date of constitution as twelve years prior to 1791;
Asplunds Reg., 3, ed., gives 1780 as date of constitution, but this is
corrected to 1779 in the fifth edition; it was dismissed to Moriah
Association in 1817, and was listed as in N.C. In 1834 (Moriah Assoc.
Min.); it must have moved its seat of worship in the interim, or the S.C.
Deep Creek Church must have become extinct; Rev. Jeremiah Lewis:
Someone of this name obtained a survey of 250 acres on a very small
branch of Bush Creek of Saluda in 1767 (Plats, XI, 474) and was living in
Union County in 1790 with 10 slaves (Census, p. 92), but this is probably
not Rev. Jeremiah Lewis who was a candidate at Deep Creek in 1790 and
who remained with that church during the whole of the period here
considered (Asplunds Reg., 2. ed.; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1791-1804);
Rev. Frame Woods while at Welsh Neck Church was a teacher in St.
Davids Academy and served in the House of Representatives in 1782-3;
he conveyed 44 acres of land on Cedar Creek to the trustees of Welsh Neck
Church on Dec. 12, 1807, and in this deed he is referred to as of Anson
County, N.C.; he died in 1816 (Gregg, Cheraws, p. 438; JHR, 1782;
ft399
Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 10, 11, 13, 55; Rev. John Gano is said to
have been only a slightly less effective and brilliant evangelist than
whitefield; he traveled throughout the eastern colonies and states, dying
about 1798 (BenedIct, Baptist History, II, 306).
ft400
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1794, 1801, 1802, 1803; Benedict, Baptist History,
II, 146-7.
ft401
The Constitutional Rules of the Religious Society (Charlestown, 1768),
Preface.
ft402
Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 10-12; the preface of Constitutional Rules
of the Religious Society gives Apr., 1755, as date of organization, but
Harts Diary (MS), 1754, frequently mentions The Society; History of
the General Committee, in Charleston Assoc. Min., 1834; Further
Particulars Relating to the General Committee, in Ibid., 1835; Rev.
Oliver Hart, A. M., Hopewell, New Jersey, in Rippons Reg., 1794-97, p.
511; the Religious Society discontinued its meetings after the formation of
the General Committee and agreed to dissolve about 1914, when its funds
passed to Charleston Church.
ft403
Minutes of the General Committee, in Charleston Assoc. Min., 1787-1804.
ft404
Records of the Province of South Carolina; Sainsbury Transcripts from the
British Public Record Office (MSS, Hist. Com. S.C.), XXXII, 370-1.
ft405
Meriwether, Expansion of S. C,; McCrady, Royal Government, map op. p.
120; John H_ Logan, History of the Upper Country of South Carolina
(Charleston, 1859), pp_ 439 ff.
ft406
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 412-22, 430-6; I. Daniel Rupp, An Original
History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United
States (Philadelphia, 1844). pp. 93-7, 111, 73.
ft407
Edwards, N.C. Materials, in N.C. Hist. Rev., VII, 383; Lemuel Burkitt
and Jesse Reed, A Concise History of the Kehukee Baptist Association
(Halifax, 1803), p. 37; Rev. Isaac Backus, Church History of New England
1620 to 1804 (Philadelphia, 1881), p. 37; W. C. Bronson, The History of
Brown University 1764-1914, (Providence, 1914), p 5; Semple, Va.
Baptists, pp. 3-4; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 37-52; Newman, U. S.
Baptists, pp. 292-4.
ft408
Edwards, N.C. Materials. in N.C. Hist. Rev., VII, 383-4; Semple, La.
Baptists, p. 4: Benedict, Baptist History, II, 106-7.
ft409
JCHA, Mar. 6. 1766.
ft410
John Pearson to My dear son, (MS, Boyce Pearson.).
ft411
JC, May 1, 1766.
ft412
Newman, U. S. Baptists, pp. 292-3; Semple, Va. Baptists, p. 5.
ft413
Col. Rec. N.C., IV, 764; JC, June 17, 1763; Nov. 9, 1764; Charleston
Assoc. Min., 1790; Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 39-41; Ibid., Furman MS, pp.
42-9; Ibid., N. C, Materials, in N.C. Hist. Rev., VII, 389; Benedict,
Baptist History, II, 155-6, 535; Ibid., (1848), p. 706; J. D. Bailey,
Reverends Philip Mulkey and James Fowler (Cowpens S.C., 1924), pp. 316: Rev. Philip Mulkey was born May 14, 1732, near Halifax or Roanoke,
N.C. (someone of the name was granted 330 acres in Edgecombe County,
N.C., in 1745); he was bred an Anglican but was baptized by Rev.
Shubal Stearns about Dec. 25, 1756, after a remarkable conversion, called
to the ministry in Stearnss church in February and ordained in October,
1757; he served as pastor of Deep River Church, N.C., until 1759 or 1760,
when he came to Broad River, S.C., then removed to Fairforest in 1762 and
preached throughout the surrounding parts of North and South Carolina;
nothing is known of him during the Revolution except that he was probably
a loyalist or carried non-resistance far; by his wife Ann Ellis he had David,
Jonathan, Sarah, Philip, Martha (or Parry?); the last known ministerial
service performed by him was as one of the presbytery constituting Cheraw
Hill Church in 1732; excommunicated in 1790 and the churches warned
against him for adultery, perfidy and falsehood long continued in, he was
in 1795 still engaged in the Practice of Crimes and Enormities at which
humanity Shudders; nothing further is known of him, but as Jonathan
Mulkey appears in 1809 as a minister of Buffalo Ridge Church of Holston
Association, Tenn., the family may have removed to that State.
ft414
Edwards, N.C. Materials, in N.C. Hist. Rev. VII, 384; Crozer MS, pp.
38-41, Furman MS, pp. 42-3; the Furman manuscript gives 1759, the
Crozer manuscript 1760, as the date of migration and organization of
Broad River Church; of the thirteen members of the group going on to
Fairforest none seemingly obtained a survey or grant on Broad River;
Philip Mulkey had a survey of 400 acres made Dec. 9, 1762, In the fork
between Broad and Saluda Rivers on Fairforest Creek, a branch of Tyger
River (Plats, VII, 364) confirmed to him by grant of June 7, 1763; he later
bought land in the section which came to S.C. by exchange with N.C. in
1772, on the south side of Tyger River which was resurveyed by South
Carolina in 1773 (Memorials, VI, 144; XIII, 456; CJ, Nov. 9, 1764); Joseph
Breed had surveyed July 15, 1765, 100 acres on a branch of Fairforest
Creek on the road to Woffords ford (Plats, VIII, 57); Benjamin Gist 500
acres on Fairforest Creek at the mouth of a branch called Sugar Creek Mar.
5, 1768 (Ibid., IX, 215); Charles Thompson 200 acres on the north side of
Tyger River Oct. 12, 1765 (Ibid., X, 166); Thomas Thompson 150 acres on
the north side of Tyger River touching Charles Thompsons land Oct. 21,
1772 (Ibid., XX, 337); Obediah Howard 450 acres on branches of Fairforest
and Sugar Creek on Feb. 17, 1773 (Ibid., XVII, 113); no plats were found
for Stephen Howard or Rachel Collins, who, together with those above and
the wives of Philip Mulkey, Joseph Breed, Benjamin Gist, Stephen
Howard, and Obediah Howard, made up the thirteen constituents.
ft415
Ibid., XI, 377; land of Benjamin Holcombe touched that of Benjamin Gist
and Nehemiah Howard, the latter a member of Mulkeys church at Deep
River, N, C., who did not come with him to South Carolina but evidently
followed later (Ibid., XVII, 113; Edwards, N.C. Materials, in N.C. Hist.
Rev. VII, 390); Joseph Breed, said to have accompanied Daniel Marshall
on his mission to the Mohawks, had been Shubal Stearnss assistant at
Sandy Creek, N.C., (Ibid., 384, 386-7; Ibid., Crozer MS, p. 46).
ft416
Ibid., pp. 31, 39.
ft417
Ibid.; the date given as that of Fairforests entrance into Bethel Association
is assmued to be correct from the fact that there were sixteen churches in
that association at its constitution and that Fairforest is eighth on the 1791
list of churches; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1789; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791;
Asplunds Reg., 5. ed., lists it in Bethel Association in 1790.
ft418
Isaac Edwards had a survey of 50 acres touching Enoree River on the south
below the Indian boundary (Plats, VIIIq, 92) Oct. 2, 1784; he was living in
Union County in 1790 without slaves and with one female and four male
members of his family (Census, p. 91; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-92; Bailey,
Mulkey and Fowler, p. 23; Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.).
ft419
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1800; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 542; Census,
p. 91; Cathcart (ed.), Baptist Encyclopedia, p. 770; Indents, X, Pt. I, 172:
Rev. Alexander McDougal was born in Dublin about 1738, came to
America at twenty-one, settled at Wilmington, N.C., then removed to what
is now Union County, S.C., where he is said to have been active in the
Revolution and where he owned one slave in 1790 and had eight female
and three male members of his family; he was bred a Presbyterian but was
licensed to preach by the Baptist Church in 1790, being ordained in 1791
and made pastor of Fairforest Church: the last time he attended Bethel
Association was 1800, when he removed to Hardin County, Ky., where he
was pastor of Noun and Severns Valley Churches; he resigned at ninetyfive and died Mar. 3, 1841.
ft420
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793-4; Rippons Rep., 1794-7; p. 193; Bailey, Mulkey
and Fowler, 9. 7: The present church, called Upper Fairforest, is three
miles northwest of Union on the highway and Southern Railway; the
records to 1815 were burned; the claim that Fairforest was at one time
called the Duck Pond Church is borne out by a gift of land by Hezekiah
Palmer on August 18, 1814, to Fairforest Church near the Duck Pond
(Union County CC, Deeds T, p. 101).
ft421
ft425
Willis, Boiling Spring Church, in Spartanburg Assoc. Min., 1887, pp. 12.
ft426
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1800; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 567.
ft427
Spartanburg County RMC, Deeds X, p. 175: Deed Sept. 4, 1809, of
Vincent Bennett to Edmund Fowler, George Lewis, and Samuel Gilbert for
Boiling Spring Church of one acre on the south side of the Boiling Spring,
Joroyal Barnett being one of the witnesses.
ft428
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 38, 39; Bailey, Mulkey and Fowler, pp. 9-10;
Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 566; the location is described as eight miles
southwest of Gaffney on the Seaboard Air Line and 16 miles east of
Spartanburg; Logan suggests 1770, Edwards gives 1772 or just after, as the
date of constitution.
ft429
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 38, 39; Furman MS, p. 41; Richard Kelly had two
surveys, one of 150 acres on Enoree (Collins) River in 1756, the other of
350 acres on Padgetts Creek in 1769 (Plats, IX, 68, XVII, 410); he
probably lived on the latter.
ft430
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-1800; Logan, Broad River Assoc., pp. 566-7;
Cedar Spring CB, June, 1795, names it Gocher Church, but in May,
1803, refers to it as Goucher Creek Church; Bethel Association lists
always give Goshen.
ft431
Ibid., 1794; Asplunds Reg., 6. ed.; Cedar Spring CB, May, 1803.
ft432
Ibid., June, 1795, July, 1802.
ft433
Ibid., May, 1803; Tyger River CB, June, 1803, Feb., 1804; Bethel Assoc.
Min., 1794-1800, 1846; Logan, Broad River Assoc., pp. 18, 273, 504; Rev.
Joshua Richards came to Goucher Creek in 1800 from North Carolina and
was pastor there about 20 years; he had a survey of 365 acres, 1803 on
Quins Fork of Thickety Creek (Plats, XLI, 374); he is said to have made a
considerable fortune dealing in slaves; his style of preaching and singing
was peculiar; he died sometime in 1846.
ft434
William Wood (this may be Richard Wood) had a survey of 250 acres in
1772 in the fork between Broad and Saluda on the northeast side of Enoree
River (Ibid., XX, 499); Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 38-9.
ft435
Ibid.; Bailey, Mulkey and Fowler, pp. 8-9; Bailey makes the suggestion that
Enoree branch of Fairforest was the precursor of Bethel Church on Jameys
Creek, but the location given for Enoree by Edwards does not coincide
with that of Bethel, while it does with that of the later Enoree Church
which existed contemporaneously with Bethel; Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.,
confirms 1768 as the date of organization or beginning of Enoree and calls
it Enoree River Church, as does Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793; Enoree Church,
or its branch Seekwell organized July 19, 1806, which later largely took its
place, was probably the church said to have been located at Littletons
Ferry on the Enoree River on Major Jesse Maybins plantation during the
Revolution and called Littletons Meeting House (John Belton ONeall and
John A. Chapman, Tree Annals of Newberry (Newberry, S.C., 1892), p.
141; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1806-47)
ft436
Ibid., 1792-1803; Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.; ONeall and Chapman, Newberry,
p. 690: Jacob King had a survey of 145 acres in 1785 on a small branch of
Gliders Creek and one of 115 acres in 1792 on Patersons Creek of Enoree
River (Plats IIIq, 354, XXXIq, 30); he was living in 1790 in Newberry
County with three male and four female members of his family and with
six slaves (Census, p. 79); licensed to preach at Lower Duncans Creek
Church in 1790, he was ordained in 1791 and thereafter served as pastor of
Enoree Church; Asplunds Reg., 2., 5., and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794,
Charleston Assos. Min., 1789; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1800; Tyger River
second on the list of churches; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 565.
ft441
History of Friendship Church, in Tyger River CB, 1801-1804; Cedar
Spring CB, April, 1803; Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.; Spartanburg County RMC,
Deeds U. p. 432.
ft442
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1800; this is probably the John Williams living in
Spartanburg County in 1790 with five male and five female members of his
family and without slaves (Census, p. 90); several persons named John
Williams were active in the Baptist churches of this region, and it is
difficult to distinguish them. Augustine Clayton (frequently referred to as
Austin Clayton) had a survey of 200 acres on Cedar shoal Branch of
Enoree and 300 acres on south side of Tyger in 1784, 872 acres on
Beaverdam Creeks of Middle Tyger in 1793, 247 acres on north side of the
South Fork of Tyger in 1799, and 104 acres on branches of waters of South
Pacolet in 1830 (Plats, IVq, 223, 240; XXXI, 327; XXXVII, 399; XLIX,
289); his family consisted of two male and six female members and no
slaves (Census, p. 86); he was an active minister of Bethel Association and
in supply and revival work among the neighboring churches; he later
transferred his activities to Bethlehem Church; he was preaching at
Concord Church, Green River Association, Ky., in 1812 (Benedict, Baptist
History, II, 544).
ft443
Cedar Spring CB, June, 1801; Tyger River CB, June, July, Sept., 1801;
Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 18.
ft444
Tyger River CB, Jan.-Oct., 1802, June, 1803, Feb., 1804. July, 1803, Apr.,
1804, June, July, Mar., 1804; Spartanburg County RMC, Deeds U, p. 432;
George Brewton (or Bruton) had a survey of 250 acres in 1784 on
Fergusons Creek of Tyger River and others totaling 625 acres in the same
region, the last in 1804 (Plats, Iq, 9; VIIIa, 353, IXq, 393; XVIq, 303; XL,
342); he probably came from North Carolina (Col. Rec. N.C., IV, 894); he
was living in Spartanburg County in 1790 with four male and five female
members of his family and six slaves; he was moderator of Broad River
Association in 1812, and died in 1815, the obituary notice describing him
as an humble christian, a pious minister, a nursing father in Zion, a good
citizen, a loving husband, a tender parent, and a friend to the needy
(Census, p. 86; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 273); James Bennett (or
Barnett) was probably living in Spartanburg County in 1790; and it was
probably he who was dismissed from Padgetts Creek Church in 1798,
where his gift had been considered; at Friendship Church he was an active
worker; the church meeting was held at his place on Mar. 18, 1804
(Census, p. 86; Padgetts Creek CB, June 9, 1798; Tyger River CB).
ft445
Ibid., Nov., 1803; McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 224.
ft446
Tyger River CB, June, July, Sept., 1801; Sept., 1804; May, 1801; Nov.,
1803; June, 1802; Sept., 1803. Members mentioned in the church book
from 1801 to 1804; Esther ___________ William Allen, Gustavus Basel,
Abigail Beard, John Beard, Mary Beard, Nancy Beard, __________
Bearden, Benjamin Bearden, Delilah Bearden, Elizabeth Bearden, Isaac
Bearden, John Bearden, Jr. and Sr., Lettice Bearden, Mary Bearden, Rachel
Bearden, Richard Bearden, Sentuis Bearden, James Bennett, Mary Bennett,
Sarah Bennett, Rev. George Brewton, Albert Bright, Francis Bright,
Goodwin Bright, James Bright, John Bright, Mary Bright, robias Bright,
Milley Burrel, Culburt Burton, Drury Burton, Elizabeth Burton, Mary
Burton, Nancy Burton, Nathan Burton, Patsey Burton, Samuel Burton,
Elizabeth Calvert, Riley Calvert, Samuel Cathcart, __________ Clark,
__________ Crow, Isaac Crow, Jonathan Crow, Nancy Crow, Sarah Crow,
Samuel Floyd, Mary Fowler, Mordecai Fowler, William Fowler, Francis
Gentry. Mary Gentry, Henry Golightly, Mary Golightly, Averilla Harmon.
James Harmon, William Hays, David Hembree, Hannah Hembree, Irah
Hembree, Isaiah Hembree, James Hembree, Mary Hembree, Matilda
Hembree, Nancy Hembree, William Hembree, John Hindman, Margaret
Hindman, James Huatte, John Huatte, Richard Huatte, William Huatte and
wife Mary Sister __________ Kelley, Aaron Lancaster, Absalom
Lancaster, Agnes Lancaster, Nancy Lancaster, Nazareth Lancaster, Peter
Lancaster, John Langston, Moses Langston, Tames Lee, Martha
Martindale, Elizabeth Meadows. James Meadows, John Meadows. Joseph
Meadows, Nancy Meadows, Thomas Meadows, Ida Moore, Zachariah
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 43_4; Furman MS, p. 56; Asplunds Reg., 1. and
3. ed.; Millss Atlas, map of Fairfield District, shows that the name
Gibsons Meeting House was stili used in 1825; the church moved its
meeting place to Long Run in 1855, and to Monticello in 1915, which
name it now uses; its building still stands one-fourth mile west of Strother
highway, near Old Brick Meeting House.
ft448
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 43-4; Furman MS, p. 56; the constituent members
of Little River of Broad were: Ann Brunt (James Brunts plat touched
Daniel Elliss on Broad River in 1764, Plats, IX, 144); Henry Crumpton
(bought, May 14, 1771, Alexander Rabbs 1762 plat between Broad and
Little Rivers, Memorials, X, 437); Mary Curry, John Kennedy and wife
(John Kennedy had several surveys between 1761 and 1773; on June 10,
1773, one bounded southeast by Little River and on all other sides by
Jacob Gibsons land, Plats, XVII, 429); Elizabeth McGraw; Solomon
McGraw (survey 1745 on Raifords Creek, in 1752 on the west side of a
branch of Broad River called Little River, Ibid., IV, 299, VI, 56);
Alexander Rabb (survey of 1756 on Little River, of 1762 between Broad
and Little Rivers, Ibid., VII, 207, 233); Gabriel Rawls (also Rollis and
Rolls tract on Crane Creek surveyed 1775, Memorials, II, 468); Peter
Stearns (a plat on Morris Creek and another on Mili Creek in 1771, Plats,
XXI, 88-9; he apparently came from Boston and is listed as a member of
Sandy Creek (N.C.) Church in 1755, Edwards, N.C. Materials, in N.C.
Hist. Rev., VII, 384); William Trapp (surveys in 1765 of 100 acres and in
1772 of 200 acres both on Cedar Creek northeast side Broad River, Plats,
VIII, 9; XX, 390): John Young (survey of 100 acres 1767 on Bees Creek
waters of Broad, and others on Simmonds Creek of Little River, Ibid.,
XVI, 221; XI, 210; XX, 511, etc.); Rev. Jacob Gibson was a native of
X, 186; Memorials, VIII, 504); either he or his son Aaron, both of whom
lived in Laurens County in 1790, had at that time one slave (Census, p. 72);
nothing further than his connection with Raeburns Creek Church in 17901794 is known of him (Asplunds Reg., 2. ed.).
ft455
Tennents Journal, in YBC, 1894, p. 304.
ft456
The account of the early years of Buffalo Church is taken from Bailey,
Mulkey and Fowler, pp. 14-19, which claims to quote from an old
manuscript history of Pacolet (Skull Shoals) Church written in 1787 in its
first record book; as this was eleven years after the events described, it is
probably inaccurate in many details; Logan (Broad River Assoc., pp. 5323) explains how both 1772 and 1777 are possible dates of organization of
Buffalo Church, quoting old minutes and Benedict.
ft457
ft458
ft459
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1800; Logan, Broad River Assoc., pp. 277-8; the
church is so close to the N.C. line that all of Asplunds Registers list it as
in North Carolina, and part of its congregation must have been drawn from
that state; it has had five different buildings on the same grounds; there are
no records extant for the period under discussion; Buffaloe Baptist
Church of York District was incorporated in 1823 (McCord (ed.),
Statutes, VIII, 329).
ft460
Asplunds Reg., 3. ed.; Bailey, Mulkey and Former, pp. 18-22, quoting the
1787 account of Pacolet (Skull Shoals) CB; it is not clear whether the
following is a list of constituents or. a later list: James Fowler, Samuel and
William McBrayer; John, Garret, and Thomas Morris; Russel Rutledge and
wife Elizabeth; John Cole and wife Mary; Samuel Lamb and wife Hannah;
Moses Collins and wife Susannah; Edward Henderson and wife Annie;
Catherine Jenkins, William Roden, Sarah Kennedy, Samarian Taylor, Mary
Allen; of these, William McBrayer had a survey of 150 acres on Turkey
Creek In 1772 (Plats, XVIII, 114), John Morris on Rocky Creek Catawba
in 1772 (Ibid., 347), Thomas Morris on Turkey Creek 200 acres in 1763,
and on Rocky Creek 350 acres in 1771 (Ibid., 549; X, 153); Samuel Lamb
100 acres on Lower Camp Creek in 1765 (Ibid., IX, 236); John Cole on
Camp Creek Catawba 100 acres in 1772 (Ibid., XIV, 137); Edward
Henderson 200 acres on Hunters Branch of Rocky Creek in 1765 (Ibid.,
XV, 391); William Roden surveys on Wateree Creek, Fishing Creek, and
Turkey Creek in 1763 (Ibid., VIII, 287; VII, 342, 394). See N.C. and Va.
records.
ft461
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1803; Bailey, Mulkey and Fowler, pp. 17-26;
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1789, 1794, 1797; Benedict, Baptist History, II,
158; Furman to Hart, Apr. 14. 1792, in Cook, Richard Furman, p. 43; York
County PC, Wills A, p. 90; Rev. James Fowler was born about 1742 in one
of the northern states, it is claimed, though the name occurs in both
Virginia and North Carolina (Col, Rec. N.C., XXIV, 629; Chalkey,
Augusta Records, III, 501); he came to S.C. just before the Revolution (a
James Fowler bought 475 acres on Black River in July, 1770; Memorials,
X. 420); although bred a Presbyterian, he and two Rogers brothers formed
a creed of their own directly from the Bible; this they later found to agree
with Baptist principles; they were baptized and began to hold meetings, in
which James Fowler led, as a branch of Fairforest; he was licensed in 1774
or 1775, ordained and chosen pastor of Sandy River Dec. 23, 1776, and
served Pacolet Church occasionally 1787-1790, and regularly 1790-1801;
he lived in York County without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 30); said to
have been the first moderator of Bethel Association, he was one of its
honored and active members until his death; his relations with Charleston
Association. to which he went as a delegate several times fit the first years
of Bethel Association, were most cordial, and it is thought his influence
had much to do with obviating the difference., between Separates and
Regulars; his literary ability must have been high, as he was so often
chosen to write circular and associational letters and to superintend the
printing of the minutes; his death occurred in February, 1802; his will
dated Dec. 18, 1801, mentions sons Robert, William, and Stephenson, and
grandson James Hinds Fowler, son of Robert; it lists some personal
property including books.
ft462
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1803, 1811; the name Upper Sandy River had
been adopted by 1811 at least.
ft463
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 31; Furman MS, p. 51; Furman, Charleston Assoc.
p. 56, gives about 1765 as date of constitution, Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.,
1767; Rev. Joseph Murphy (Morphy) was a Separate Baptist minister of
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 30-32; Furman MS, pp. 50-52; List of
Constituents: Benjamin Bell, Mary Bell, Jean Curry, Timothy Dargan,
William Dargan, Nathan Ellis, Joseph Ferrill, Hannah Garrison, John Gill,
Martha Goodwin (or Goodwyn), Elizabeth Hamilton, Mary Harvey, Grace
Hirons, Simon Hirons, Patience Kirkland, Agnes Martin, Elizabeth Norris,
Thomas Norris, John Pearson, John Pitman, Mary Pitman, George Powell,
Lewis Powell, Sarah Powell, Isaac Raiford, Joseph Reese, Benjamin Rion,
George Rolloson (Rolleson, probably Rawlinson), Andrew Salisbury,
Catherine Smith, William Tucker, Ebenezer Westcoat; Edwards gives the
number as thirty-three, but the name of John Newton is crossed out,
leaving only thirty-two constituents; of those apparently composing the
main church John Gill had no survey, but Gills Creek testifies to the
presence of persons of that name In the community where it appears as
early as 1749 (Plats, IV, 499); John Pearson was the justice of the peace,
deputy surveyor, and captain of militia In the fork of Broad and Saluda
about 1756 who became bankrupt and returned to the Congarees, after
having preached at Broad River (Ibid., p. 267, 440, surveys in Congarees
section 1742, 1746; took over William Raifords tract in the fork of Broad
and Saluda before 1754, Ibid. p. 410; JC, April 2, 1754; advertisements of
property show bankruptcy, S. C, Gazette, June 9, 1766; a survey of 1772
mentions the heirs of Captain John Persons of Virginia, note 61, supra);
Isaac Raiford had surveys north of the Congaree and on Cabin Creek in
1756 and 1759 (Ibid., VI 210; VII, 41); Joseph Reese between Mill Creek
and Pincushion Swamp in 1767 and on Cedar Creek in 1771 (Ibid., XI, 93;
XX, 63); Benjamin Bell on Gills Creek in 1764 (Ibid., VII, 415); Martha.
Goodwyn between Wateree and Congaree and on Raifords Creek in 1771
(Ibid., XVI, 140-1); Simon Hirons in the fork of Congaree and Wateree in
1750, below Cedar Creek in 1770, and on Back Swamp waters of Congaree
in 1771 (Ibid., V, 43; XVII, 17); William Tucker on Cabin Branch waters
of Congaree in 1768 (Ibid., X, 238); William Dargan north of Congaree
1759 and 1767 (Ibid., VII, 115; IX, 5, 132); Andrew Salisbury on Toms
Creek in 1765 (Ibid., VIII, 72); John Pitman on a branch of Bade Swamp
on the main road from Charleston to the Congarees in 1772 (Ibid., XIX,
192); the name Rollison appears in the fork of Congaree and Wateree in
1770 (Ibid., VIII, 62; XX, 180, 193); and the names Hamilton and Kirkland
are of frequent occurrence in this section at the time of the constitution of
the church (Ibid., Index); the remaining members are listed under the
branches; that there were Baptists in the neighborhood before the
organization of the church appears from an entry in the Welsh Neck CB to
the effect that on July 5, 1760, a letter was to be sent to Mr. Rowel and his
wife living at the Congarees directing them to apply for a letter of
dismission.
ft466
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 150; Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 32-3; Furman
MS, pp. 62-3; Furman to Hart, Apr. 14, 1792, in Cook, Richard Furman, p.
45: Rev. John Newton was born Aug. 7, 1732, at Kent, Pa.; he was
converted to Baptist principles in 1752 and baptized by Rev. Joshua Potts
of Southampton; called to the ministry in N.C. on Mar. 7, 1757, he came to
S.C. in 1765, having two surveys, the first on Halfway Swamp at Horsekin
Creek of 200 acres in 1770, the second on waters of Little River of 150
acres in 1772 (Plats, XVI, 474, 476); he married Kesiah Dorset by whom
he had John, Jemima, Philip, James, Moses, and Phoebe by 1772; ordained
at Congaree in February, 1768. by Oliver Hart and Evan Pugh, he was
silenced by Congaree Church under the direction of Sandy Creek Separate
Association for allowing Regular Baptist ministers to ordain him, and
would never enter fully into ministerial work again; he removed to Georgia
and died there early in 1791; of Richard Bell nothing further is known than
that he obtained surveys of 200 acres in the fork of Wateree and Congaree
in 1767 and of 300 acres on the north side of Congaree in 1770 (Ibid., IX,
53; XI, 291); John Blake had a survey in 1770 on Reedy Fork of Wateree
Creek touching William Rodens land (Ibid., XIII, 247); he lived in
Fairfield County without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 22).
ft470
Anne King Gregorie, Thomas Sumter (Columbia, S.C., 1931), pp. 98, 136,
156-7, 164, 169, 170 ff.
ft471
Rev. Gabriel Rawls, mentioned as an itinerant among the branches of
Congaree Church 1790-1794 (Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.), had surveys
of 244, 472, and 375 acres in 1784, 1786, and 1785, on Cedar Creek, on
Harmons Creek touching John and Philip Pearson, and on Crane Creek
waters of Broad River (Plats, VIIIq, 491; XIIIq, 143; XVIIIq, 207); he
lived in Richland County without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 27); John
Price had a survey on the road from Charleston to Minicks Bridge near the
Congaree (Plats, XIX, 272); he lived in Richland County without slaves in
1790 (Census, p. 27), at which time he was a candidate for the ministry at
Congaree Church (Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.); he died about 1815
(Richland County PC, Box 25, No. 602).
ft472
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 32; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1798.
ft473
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 72-4;
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 32; Furman MS, pp. 52-3; Benedict, Baptist
History, II, 364-6; Cathcart(ed.), Baptist Library, pp. 314-5: Rev. Joseph
Reese (Rees in early records, but signature to his will Reese) was born on
Duck Creek, Kent County, Pa. (now Delaware); he came to Congaree in
1745 (an Evan Reese had a survey of 250 acres on Raifords Creek in 1747,
Plats, IV, 382); a memorial of Joseph Rees signed by Martha Goodwyn
June 2, 1767 (Memorials, IX, 242; XI, 215; XII, 149), asks 100 acres on
the east side of Pee Dee originally granted to Daniel Rees in 1750, and
conveyed to Joseph Rees in 1759; as he was brought up in the Anglican
Church, his conversion by Mr. Mulkey drew much attention; he had little
education; he was ordained by Messrs. Oliver Hart and Evan Pugh
February, 1768; except for some few years at Lawsons Fork during the
Revolution, he was pastor of Congaree Church until his death, Mar. 5,
1795 (Richland County PC, Box 26, pkg. 627; Wills C, 107-9); his will
mentions children Catherine Wells, Mary Arthur, Joseph Reese, Timothy
Reese, Jesse Reese, John Altum Reese, Ann Tucker, and wife Sarah; he
had been previously married to Ann Reynolds; his property included tracts
of land in Congaree, Lawsons Fork pinelands, and Pincushion Swamp;
plantation and house in low grounds of Congaree, books, slaves, etc.; he
mentions particularly Mr. Bunyans writing.
ft474
Anne Hays, and Mary Nettles; he left a plantation, small library, and five
slaves; his piety and humility were said to be extraordinary.
ft475
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1798-1804; in 1801 a branch was included in the
report to the Charleston Association, and in 1803 Wateree Creek Church
was dismissed.
ft476
Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 56, 66, 67; Millss Atlas, map of Richland
District; Beulah CB, 1806.
ft477
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 30, 32; Furman MS, p. 75.
ft478
Ibid.; Millss Atlas, map of Fairfield District; Furman, Charleston Assoc.,
p. 67: William Roden received a survey of 200 cares on Dec. 6, 1763, on
Wateree Creek at its Junction with Beaverdam Creek, from which the
church lot must have been given (Plats, VIII, 287); but the map of Fairfield
District shows Ralph Joness Meeting House as given in the text.
ft479
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1799, 1803: Rev. Ralph Jones was probably not
among the constituents of Congaree, and it is not known how early he
became a member, though probably before 1768, when the Twenty-five
Mile branch was formed; he is listed by Edwards (Furman MS, p. 75) as in
charge of that branch in 1772, and his survey of 1769 was on this creek,
but he later took over the work of the Wateree Creek branch; two earlier
surveys were for 300 acres on the north side of Waxhaws on both sides of
Crane Creek, and 100 acres on the east side Wateree River on Poke Branch
which discharges Into Sanders Creek (Plats, XI, 88; V, 290; VII, 150); in
1790 he was an itinerant of Congaree Church (Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6.
ed.); he lived in Fairfield County and owned ten slaves (Census, p. 21); he
died 1817 (Charleston Assoc. Min.).
ft480
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 34-5; Furman MS, 57-8; the constituents of Mine
Creek Church were: Bailey Cheney, William Cheney and wife (survey of
100 acres in 1772 on Big Creek Branch of Little Saluda River touching
William Marshs land (Plats, XIV, 57); Mrs. Coats (there were Coats in the
Bush River region, Ibid., XIV, 127, 128; XVIII, 551): Drurell (Drury) Fort
and wife (survey of 100 acres in 1783 on Mine Creek of Little Saluda
River, 100 acres in 1769 on waters of Saluda River, 200 acres in 1773 on
Mine Creek of Little Saluda River, Ibid., VIII, 43; XI, 272; XV, 189);
Charles Harris and wife (survey of 250 acres on Wilkinsons Creek of
Broad River in 1752, Ibid., VI, 65); Guttridge (Goodrich) Hughs (Hughes)
survey of 150 acres in 1769 on West Creek waters of Little Saluda River,
Ibid., XI, 226); Mrs. Jefcut (Jeffcoat), John Johnson and wife (survey of
250 acres in 1769 on Clouds Creek, Ibid., XVII, 290), Samuel Marsh (or
Mash) (survey of 250 acres in 1769 on waters of Little Saluda River, 200
acres in 1773 on Chaneys Creek and Big Creek waters of Little Saluda
River Ibid., XI, 281; XVIII, 19), Jethro Norris, Priscilla Sayers (the name
ft484
Richard Furman; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 56, 62; the deed of gift
from Dr. Joseph Howard reads: For and in consideration of the great
Want of an House and Place of Public worship and seeing that sundry of
the Inhabitants have subscribed Sums of Money toward building a Meeting
House for any Protestant religious Preacher to Preach in and for the great
Desire I have and do bear toward so laudable an Undertakings being
Carried on and finished, I do by these Presents give unto John Wheeler,
Thomas Woodward, John Perry, and William Rees, Including myself as
being one of the Managers chosen before by the Subscribers. Your Acres
of Land, at the Place nominated, and on which the House Is Raised. The
said House to be free for any Protestant religious Denomination to Preach
In. Furman (Charleston Assoc., p. 56) gives Jan. 23, Edwards (Crozer
MS, p. 34) Jan. 4, 1772, as the date of constitution; the list of constituents
follows: Thomas Avett (Abbott) and Sarah Avett (Thomas Abbott land on
Dry Swamp and Beech Creek near or touching land of Elias Ward and
Wood Furman in 1762 and 1774, Plats, VII, 256; XXI., 298), Dr. Joseph
Howard (200 acres on Cadoes Lake between Santee and Black Rivers
1759, 250 acres northeast of the South Fork of Black River 1771, 100 acres
on Rocky Creek of Broad River 1772, Ibid., VII, 35; XVII, 111, 112),
George Brown (250 acres south side Wateree below Pinetree, Ibid., V, 51),
Jesse Nettles (100 acres on High Hills of Santee 1770, Ibid., XVI, 480),
Peter Matthews (200 acres on the northeast side of Wateree in the High
Hills of Santee 1770, Ibid., XI, 410), Frederick Jones (250 acres on the
southwest side of Wateree on waters of Santee 1765, Ibid., p. 264), Ann
Freeman (given as Mary in the Crozer MS, but Ann in the Furman MS;
Mary Freeman (?) occurs with 200 acres on Bear Branch of Wateree in
1768, while there was a James Freeman mentioned as on the High Hills of
Santee touching Isaac Knightons plat in 1771 Ibid., IX, 326; XVII,
512), Edward Matthews (an Edmond Mathews had 150 acres on Rocky
Creek of Wateree 1762, Ibid., VIII, 184), Thomas Neal (100 acres on
Jumping Run 1757, 150 acres on Stevens Creek 1763, 150 acres near the
High Hills of Santee on both sides of Long Branch of Black River 1767,
and 150 acres in 1772, Ibid., VII, 178, 483; X, 28, XVI, 467), Mason
Greening and wife (150 acres on the north side of Wateree 1710, 200 acres
on High Hills of Santee 1773, Ibid. XVI, 213), Zachariah Harrell (350
acres on east side Wateree both sides Gum Swamp, Ibid., XV, 309),
Nathaniel Dodd and wife (150 acres on the north side of Wateree touching
Thomas Knighton, Ibid., VIII, 483), Sherwood James (Sherwood James,
Jr., on High Hills of Santee touching Thomas Knightons land is mentioned
in 1757 in Ibid., VII, 18), Mary Pitts (Henry Pitts is mentioned in plat of
Isaac Knight on High Hills of Santee touching Joseph Howard in 1771,
Ibid., XVII, 512), Thomas Lenoir and wife (100 acres on northeast side of
Wateree 1761, 100 acres on Cedar Creek northeast side Broad 1761, Ibid.,
VIII, 562, 470), Lewis Collins and wife (150 acres on Wateree Creek of
Wateree River 1763, 200 acres on High Hills of Santee 1770, Ibid., VIII,
313; XIV, 152), James McCormick and wife (50 acres on High Hills of
Santee 1762, 100 acres on Stevens Creek 1763, 150 acres north side of
Wateree on Joseph Howard 1768, 100 acres on Long Branch waters of
Black River 1770, 150 acres on Pole Bridge branch of Black River on
Frederick Jones, 1772, Ibid. IX, 110; VII, 481; IX, 344; XI, 334; VIII,
161), Peter Robertson (100 acres at head of Gills Creek 1769, Ibid., XI,
60), Tabitha Bates (persons named Bates had land on Rafting Creek in
1761 and on the southeast side Wateree in 1763, Ibid., VII, 233, 299),
James Mills (William Mills in Crozer MS; James Mills had a warrant fore
700 acres on Santee or Savannah, JC, Dec. 5, 1758), Martha Scott (Mary
Scott in Crozer MS; Scotts occur in this section between 1769 and 1773,
Ibid., IX, 326; XIX, 366, 369, 370, 398-400), Milly Hart and widowed
mother (a William Hart appears on Ratfords Creek 1750, Ibid., V, 110),
Joseph Paine (150 acres in Fredericksburg Township between Town Creek
and Swift Creek in 1755, Ibid., VI, 70), Elizabeth Paine, Richard Furman,
Rachel Furman, Elizabeth Westberry (a John Westbury appears with 200
acres in Wateree River Swamp in 1765 and 100 acres on Bush Branch of
Black River on Josiah Furman in 1774, Ibid., VIII, 410; XXI, 396, 399),
John Knighton (Isaac, Moses, and Thomas Knighton appear on High Hills
of Santee in 1771, 1762, and 1757, but no John, Ibid., VII, 18, 244; XVII,
512, 513), Anthony Lee and wife (William Lee in Crozer MS; Anthony
Lee had a survey of 100 acres on waters of Santee adjoining Benjamin
Stone, Ibid., VIII, 495), Hope Ridgeway and wife (500 acres in 1773 on
Beaverdam Branch of Horne Swamp waters of Scape Whore, Ibid., XX,
107), Mary Smith, Milly Spann, John Roberts (150 acres in 1756 on
Halfway Swamp waters of Santee River, Ibid., VI, 261), Elias Ward and
wife and daughters Mary and Sarah (100 acres in 1774 on Beech Creek on
Wood Furman, Thomas Abbott, etc., Ibid., xxr, 298; Richard Furman notes
in the Furman MS that Elias Ward and wife were members of the church of
Rev. David Thomas in Virginia before coming to S.C., Mrs. Ward being an
eminently pious woman), Amy Fletcher, Frederick Briggs, Winifred
Rogers, and Ann Rive (Rice in Crozer MS).
ft486
ft490
Ibid., 1787; Cook, Richard Furman, p, 19; that the Charleston Church had
tried to secure his services earlier than 1787 appears from Furman to Hart,
Jan. 26, 1785 (MS, Alester G. Furman).
ft494
Rev. Gabriel Gerald (or Gerrald) was probably the son of James Gerald
who had surveys in 1756 and 1757 In the low ground of Congaree and
Santee Swamp opposite Amelia Township; nothing is known of him
beyond his church connections; he died in 1798 (Plats VI, 416; VII, 9;
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1787-1798; Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6, ed.;
unaddressed letter from Richard Furman (MS, Alester G. Furman), Dec.
11, 1797, the contents of which identify the addressee; no copy of Mr.
Geralds pamphlet has been found.
ft495
Rev. John Mitchell Roberts was born June 30, 1775; a son of John Roberts
constituent member of High Hills Church in 1770; he applied to the
General Committee of the Charleston Association for aid to be educated as
a minister in 1792; recommended and receiving aid in 1793, he attended
Rhode Island College 1794-1797, having been licensed to preach in the
latter year and having preached several times at the college; Dr. Jonathan
Maxcy said of him that his mind was capable of great improvement but
that his diffidence was excessive; he became pastor of High Hills Church
and remained in that position until his death; he opened his academy near
to association In 1810; Sumter County CC, Deeds GO, 240-41: High Hills
Church conveyed to Bethel Baptist Church in Claremont County on Jan. 5,
1828, for $1.00, 11 3/4 acres conveyed to High Hills by Jesse Nettles Oct.
3, 1823, and 21 1/2 acres conveyed to High Hills by Hezekiah Nettles on
Oct. 4, 1823. Rev. Solomon Thomson had surveys of 200 acres on
Privateers Branch of Black River, 150 acres on a fork of Sammys Swamp
of Black River in 1784, and. 300 acres on Putty and White Oak Branches
of Black River in 1785; he is recorded as in Claremont County in 1790
owning two slaves; in 1796 he released 100 acres on White Oak Branch
and in 1800 sold slave Jack for thirty pounds sterling; his wife Elizabeth
Thomson signed the release by mark; he is mentioned as supply to
Congaree Church in 1799, the last year he was at Bethel; he may have been
the same Solomon Thompson noted as preaching to a congregation at Briar
Creek, Ga., in 1772 (Plats, VIIIq, 56; VIIq, 54; Inq, 171; Census, p. 17;
Sumter County CC, Deeds F, 213-14; A, 66-7; Charleston Assoc. Min.,
1799; Edwards, Ga. Materials, p. 2).
ft502
had Abraham, John, Zaccheus, Levi, Unis, and Samuel; he and his son
Abraham spent most of their efforts in Georgia during the Revolution and
after, with Kioka (Little?) Church as the center; he died Nov. 2, 1784.
ft507
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 45, 46; Furman MS, p. 49; Marshall, Daniel
Marshall, in Ga. An. Rep., 1802, pp. 23-31; Benjamin Harry is not listed
in the Plat Index, though Benjamin Harris who had a survey of 200 acres
on the Long Reaches of Savannah River in 1765 was probably the same
(Plats, VIII, 35); in 1790-95 he is mentioned as minister of Second Horns
Creek Church, probably one of the branches of Big Stephens Creek Church
(Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.); he was living in Edgefield County
without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 63); his will made and signed with mark
on Sept. 8, and proved Sept. 28, 1810, names wife Hannah, sons Benjamin
and Samuel and daughters Elizabeth, Nancy, and Sarah (Edgefield Couty
PC, Wills A, p. 296); Saunders (or Samuel) Walker had land on Stevens
Creek (the name of the church was always spelled Stephens, although the
name of the creek was and is spelled Stevens) touching Rev. Daniel
Marshalls in 1768 (Plats, XVIII, 16); like Mr. Marshall, he spend most of
his efforts in Georgia (Edwards, Ga, Materials, p. 2); John Herndon had a
survey of 150 acres on Chavis Creek of Savannah River in 1768, and 50
acres on waters of Little Saluda 1771 (Plats, IX, 245; XV, 415).
ft508
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 31, 46.
ft509
Mallary, Botsford, p. 45; History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia
(Atlanta, 1881), p. 20.
ft510
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1785; Mercer, Ga, Assoc., p. 22; Ga. Assoc. Min.,
1788, 1790-93; Asplunds Reg., 2. and 5. ed.; Plats, XIII, 454; XLIII, 3456; XLVI, 45; Census, p. 62; Charles Bussey received a survey of 100 acres
on Savannah River In 1773; he is listed In Edgefield District as having 9 in
family and 11 slaves in 1790; he or his son Charles had surveys in the same
region in 1813 and 1821.
ft511
Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.; Ga. Assoc. Min., 1790-93; Mercer, Ga. Assoc., p.
40; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1802-03; George Delaughter (whose name is given
also variously as Gabriel Delater or Delotter) had surveys of 125 acres and
150 acres in 1784, 45 acres and 6 acres in 1787, 316 acres and 7 acres in
1792, all between Savannah River and Stevens Creek (Plats, IVq, 383;
VIq, 7; XXVq, 339; XXVIIq, 41; XXXIq, 165, 164); he is listed in
Edgefield County in 1790 with 5 in family and 3 slaves (Census, p. 62);
Elisha Palmer (also spelled Palmore) appears to have had a survey of 217
acres on waters of Stevens Creek in 1784 (Plats, XVIq, 218); he is listed
without slaves in Edgefield County in 1790 (Census, p. 62).
ft512
Asplunds Req., 5, ed., gives 1768 as date of constitution, and this date is
used by later historians; Horns Creek may have been in Georgia
Association from its beginning in 1784 (Mercer, Ga. Assoc., p. 22); the
church is about four hundred yards from the creek at a crossroad of the
Augusta old stage road; Rev. Hezekiah Walker must have resigned from
the pastorate or have left the church, as he is no further spoken of in
connection with it: he had surveys of several hundred acres in Edgefield
and Ninety Six Districts in 1784, 1796, and 1801; he is listed in Edgefield
County without slaves in 1790 (Flats VIIIq, 43; XXVIIIq, 200; XXXVIII,
399; Census, p. 66).
ft513
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791.
ft514
McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 156-7.
ft515
John Bolger (sometimes Bulger) does not appear upon the surveys nor in
the 1790 census; he later continued his work at Mill Creek from which he
was an active delegate to the Bethel Association, having been a writer of
letters, etc. (Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-1803); Asplunds Reg. (2., 3., and 5.
ed.) lists him as admitted as candidate, spelling the name Bolger;
administration of his estate was granted Oct. 19, 1835 (Edgefield County
PC, pkg. 6-17).
ft516
Will of John Landrum, dated Jan. 13, 1843, proved Dec. 19, 1846,
mentions daughters Rebecca S. Mims, Elizabeth C. Swearingen, Harriet B,
Miles, Lucinda W. Lanton, Mary S. Miles, and sons John I. and B. Franklin
Landrum (Ibid., Wills D, p. 303); Samuel Marsh was probably the son of
Samuel Marsh whose will, made Dec. 2, 1787, and proved Oct. 1769. is
recorded in Ibid., A. p. 11.
ft517
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed: Mercer, Ga. Assoc., p. 40; Bethel Assoc. Min.,
1802-03: Horns Creek is now inactive or extinct.
ft518
The only record mentioning a Second Horns., Creek Church is Asplunds
Req. 5. and 6. ed., which may be one of Asplunds mistakes; it might have
been a predecessor of one of the present churches of what was Edgefield
County in 1790, but no connection has been established.
ft519
Edwards, Crozer ITS, p. 42; Furman Ms., pp. 58-60; the two accounts by
Edwards differ slightly and both differ in some particulars from the
account given in Bush River CB, 1792; the Edwards account is largely
used because Edwards was on the ground in 1772, while the church book
account, probably written by the church clerk, Michael Landers, in 1792, is
taken from the best information twenty years after; Asplunds Reg. 5. ed.,
gives 1769 as the date of constitution; the constituents were: Samuel
Newman and wife, William Crow and wife, and Uriah Gary; Samuel
Newman is reported by Edwards as coming with his wife from Mr.
Aldersons church in Va., and as having been called and baptized in N.C.;
he Is called an excellent man; his children as named by Edwards were
Samuel (m. Castleberry), Uriah (m. Gary), Martha (m. Phegan), Mary (m.
Crow), Jane (m. Johnstone), and John; Samuel Newman had a survey of
450 acres made Sept. 11, 1765, in the fork of Broad and Saluda Rivers on
spring branches of Bush River and another of 150 acres in 1766 adjoining
the first (Plats, VIII, 324; X, 2); no surveys for William Crow or Uriah
Gary have been found, but John Gary petitioned for land already improved
on Bush River in 1753-he came from Va., with a wife and two children and
mentions his father (JC, Sept. 3, 1753); he had a survey on waters of Bush
River in 1768 (Plats, X, 199); the neighboring survey of Robert Levil of
the same date has as boundaries the plats of Charles Crow and John Cole
(Ibid., XVI, 334); George Goggans, donor of the church lot, received a
survey of 250 acres on June 13, 1770, on waters of Bush River on a draft
of a small Branch of it called Beaverdam Branch, to westward of James
Williams (Ibid., p. 127).
ft520
Rev. Thomas Norris was born about 1743 in N.C. (a Thomas Norris is
listed in 1740 as a juryman of Chowan County, Col. Rec. N, C., IV, 517),
became a Baptist at twentyone and moved to the Mine Creek region of
S.C., where he was a constituent member of Congaree Church; removed to
Bush River section where he became minister at twentyfive, married at
twenty-eight; he is said to have refused to fight due to conscientious
objections to war and to have been imprisoned at Ninety-Six during the
Revolution; he died at thirty-eight, leaving a widow and four small
children, and is buried at Bush River Church (Edwards, Furman MS, p. 59;
Rev. Henry Holcombe, A Sketch of the Late Reverend Thomas Norris,
in Ga. An. Rep., 1802, pp. 131-2; ONeall, Newberry, pp. 141-2; early
account in Bush River CB, 1792).
ft521
Coleman Brown had a survey of 400 acres on Little River near Saluda Old
Town in 1768 (Plats, IX, 249; XV, 16); John Monk 150 acres on Cabin
Branch of Little River in 1771, and 300 acres west on Raeburns Creek,
John Cunningham, Ebenezer Stearns, James Williams, Lewis Banton,
Joseph Pinson and Richard Shirley in 1774 (Ibid., XVIII, 476, 481); Mr.
Monk is said to have served a branch church on Chinquapin Creek in 1792
and to have been excommunicated that year for disorder, possibly some
doctrinal difference with the members of the church (Asplunds Reg., 5.
ed.).
ft522
Introductory account in Bush River CB, 1792.
ft523
Ibid., 1792-1804; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1802.
ft524
Bush River CB, June, 1793; Sept., 1795; Aug., 1801; Mar., 1802; Apr.
1798, May, 1792; Oct. 1804.
ft525
Ibid., Introductory account in Bush River CB, 1792; 1792-1804; Nov.-Sept.
1803.
ft526
Ibid., Apr. 1797; June, 1797; May, 1803; June, 1804; July, 1792; Oct.,
1795.
ft527
Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 31, 42; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791; Bush River CE,
1792; List of Bush River members in 1792-1804 (spelling as in church
book): Rhoda Babb, Thomas Barlow, Catherine Bayley, City Beaver,
Jenny Beaver, Rebekah Beaver, Catherine Beeks, Samuel Beeks, Sarah
Beeks, Anne Belton, Elizabeth Belton, Jesse Belton, Susanna Belton,
William Belton, Oliver Black, William Bladen and wife Mary, Dudley
Bonds, Francis Bonds, Jesse Brooks, Aaron Burton, Ann Burton, Gibeon
(Gideon?) Burton, William Burton, Benjamin Butler, Elizaebth Butler,
Henry Butler, Rachel Butler, Eleanor Cannon, Isaac Cannon, John Cannon,
Sarah Cannon, Hannah Case, Issac Case, Job Castles, Polly Castles, Ann
Childen, George Clark, Henry Coat, James Coat, Mary Coat (two),
Rebekah Coat, William Coat, James Cole, John Cole, Tenor Cole, Wm.
Cole, Jacob Croswhite, Charles Crow and wife Sarah, Mary Davenport,
Clement Davis and wife Sarah, Eleanor Davis, Jesse Davis, Thomas Davis,
Van Davis and wife Susanna, John Demoney, Nancy Demoney, Elizabeth
Eastland, Hezekish Eastland, Thomas Eastland, Thomas Evans, Mary
Fells, John Fletcher, Thomas Gafford and wife, Jeremiah Garner, John
Garner, Mary Garner, Robert Garner and wife Jemina, Sarah Garner, John
Garret, Caty Gary (Catharine?), David Gary, Elizabeth Gary, Jesse Gary,
Mary Gary, Rachel Gary, Thomas Gary, John Gladdis, Daniel Goggans,
Elizabeth Goggans, James Goggans, Jeremiah Goggans (mistake for
Jemima?), Naomi Goggans, Rachel Goggans, William Goggans, Foster
Golden, Ruth Goodwin, Garret Gray, Lydia Gray, William Gray, Charles
Griffin, James Griffin, John Griffin, Joseph Griffin, Mary Griffin, Rebekah
Hall, Phoebe Hardin, William Hardin, John Hill, Susanna Holsonback,
Charles Horton, David Johnson, James Johnson, Jane Johnson, Jehu
Johnson Jesse Johnson, John Johnson, Joseph Johnson, Martha Johnson,
Mary Johnson, Rebekah Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Johnston,
William Johnston, Joseph Jones, Laban Jones, Michael Landers, Ezekiel
Lansdwe, Elizabeth Leavell, James Leavell, John Leavell, Peggy Leavell,
Robert Leavell, Sr., Robert Leavell, Jr., and wife Sarah, Alsey Leopard,
John Leopard, Hannah Lewis, Susanna Listenberry, Margaret Loftin,
William Loftin, Mary McAdams, Thomas McAdams, Samuel McGraw,
Stephen McGraw, John Mangum, Lewis Mangum, Ann Mason, David
Mason, Sarah Mattocks, David Motes, Rachel Motes, Ruth Motes, William
Motes, Elizabeth Neal, Milliner Neal, Thomas Neal, Benjamin Neel,
Elizabeth Neel, Mullikin Norward, Mary Padget, Rebekah Pearson, Samuel
Pearson, Sarah Pemberton, Ephraim Perry, Sarah Perry, David Peterson,
William Peterson, Aaron Pitts, Charles Pitts, Eleanor Pitts, Elizabeth Pitts,
Francis Pitts, Isaac Pitts, James Pitts, John Pitts, and wife Hannah, Levi
Pitts, Mary Pitts (three), Nancy Pitts, Ruth Pitts, Thomas Pitts, James Read,
Joshua Reeder Mary Richardson, Bordiwine Roberts, Obed Roberts, John
Ryon, Joseph Ryon, Martha Ryon, Mary Ryan, Peter Ryon, Charles Scott,
Elizabeth Scott, Larken Shepherd, Thomas Smith and wife Kesiah and
daughters Polly and Kesiah, Stephen Sparks, Rebekah Sterling, Susanna
Summers, Abner Teague, Abraham Teague, Isaac Teague, James Teague,
Joshua Teague, Mary Teague, Nancy Teague, Sarah Teague, Susanna
Teague, John Baptist Teer and wife Chloe, Stephen Teer, Joseph W.
Tinsley, Mary Tinsley, Peggy Tinsley, William Tinsley, Abraham
Waldrop, Elizabeth Waldrop, Ezekiel Waldrop, Isaac Waldrop, Mary
Waldrop, Richard Waldrop, Ritter Waldrop, Rebekah Walls, Edward
Weever, Henry Weever (and wife Millinor), Sarah Weever, Abigail
Williams, Catharine Williams, Daniel Williams, Francis Williams, John
Williams and wife Sarah, John Williams, Providence Williams, Sarah
Williams, Stephen Williams, John Wood, Elizabeth Wormelsduff.
ft528
ft529
Asplunds Reg., 5, and 6, ed; John Baugh in 1769 had a survey on waters of
Reedy River and is listed in Laurens County in 1790 without slaves;
Benjamin Williams in 1765 had a survey on Flat Rock Creek and is listed
ft539
Edwards, Crozer MS, p. 37; Furman MS, p. 71; the persons baptized by
David Martin at Edisto were Elijah Padgett and wife and mother and two
negroes; Thomas Taylor, Mrs. Taylor, and son; Elijah Padgett had surveys
of 200 acres in 1767 on waters of Edisto and 200 acres in 1773 on Clouds
Creek of Little Saluda on Michael Watson and Thomas Green (Plats, X,
140; XIX, 29); Thomas Taylor in 1769 had a survey of 200 acres on
northeast side of Edisto near Cattle Creek on David Rumph, John
Milhouse, and Thomas Pinckney; and in 1772 on a branch of northwest
fork of Long Cane (Ibid., XX, 278-80; XI, 250); he is listed in. Edgefield
County without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 64).
ft543
Edwards, Ga. Materials, p. 1.
ft544
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1787; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 56, 65.
ft545
Asplunds Reg., 5. ed.; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1797, 1798, 1799.
ft546
Rev. Lewis H. Shuck, The Barnwell Baptist Association of South Carolina,
Its Churches and their Deceased Ministers (Charleston, 1867), p. 25; the
identity of Edisto and Healing Springs is an inference from location and
from Rev. Nathaniel Walkers connection with both; Rev. Nathaniel
Walker was for a time at Lynches Creek; tradition says he came from
Ireland or England by way of Pa. to S.C.; he removed from Lynches Creek
to the Edisto region where he received numerous grants in 1786, 1787, and
as late as 1795, and where he preached for the remainder of his life,
probably having led Edisto to Join the Charleston Association in 1787; he
was sent by the Charleston Association as messenger to the Georgia
ft562
ft587
Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 124; the minutes for the first 18 years have been
lost; the church was called Hogskin Meeting House in Turkey Creek CE to
Aug., 1791; Asplunds Rep. 3 ed.; Millss Atlas, Map of Abbeville District.
ft588
Turkey Creek CB, July, Aug., 1791: List of members dismissed from
Turkey Creek; Katharine Blades, Joseph Culp, Obediah Fields, Wm. Grant,
John Gresham, Jacob Hackleman, Thomas Jones, Thomas Lacey, Jos.
Parker, Elizabeth Saylor, John Saylor, Philip Saylor, Ahimaas Spencer;
Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 124.
ft589
Turkey Creek CB, Oct., 1791.
ft590
Asplunds Rep., 5, ed., gives George Tillman as a candidate at Little River
Church ordained in 1791: Bethel Assoc. Min., 1792, gives John Tilghman
as Little River minister, probably a mistake for George Tillman; Ibid.,
1793-1804.
ft591
ft594
Poplar Spring CB, June, Oct., 1797, Apr., 1801, Sept., 1803. July, 1794,
Aug., 1797, Oct., 1799, Jan., Mar., Aug., 1795, July, Aug., Oct., 1796,
Aug., 1804.
ft602
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794.
ft603
Ibid., 1791; Turkey Creek CB, July, 1791; the identity of Dirty Creek and
Spur Creek is a guess; neither Henry Mouzon, et al., An Accurate Map of
North and South Carolina with their Indian Frontiers (London, 1775), nor
Millss Atlas shows Dirty Creek; Spur Creek appears on the map of
Abbeville District in the latter.
ft604
ft607
Mercer, Ga. Assoc., pp. 27, 34-5; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1797; Benedict,
Baptist History, II, 388-92; Jeremiah Walker was born in N.C. in 1747,
preached chiefly in Va., and later in Ga.; he died Sept. 20, 1792.
ft608
ft611
ft614
ft622
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1800; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 160, states that
Shockley Ferry at its entrance into Saluda Association had never before
been associated, but this is an error.
ft623
Asplunds Reg., 3. and 5. ed.; the church was located on or near Generostee
Creek; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-4; Genestie or Genestie Creek was
thirteenth on the list.
ft624
Ibid., 1791-7; Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 26;
Census, p. 81; Plats, VIIq, 478, XXIq, 184, XVIII, 114: Rev. James
Chastain was living in Pendleton District without slaves in 1790, he having
obtained three surveys, 125 acres in 1785 on Warrens Branch of South
Fork of Tyger, 547 acres on Reedy Fork of Tyger and 154 acres on Reedy
Fork Creek of South Tyger in 1786; he probably preached at Mountain
Creek branch until his death fn 1820.
ft625
by Asplund, and in Bush River CB, 1794; John Howard had surveys of
several hundred acres in 1775 near waters of Saluda River (Plats, XVII,
107-8) and was living in Greenville County without slaves in 1790
(Census, p. 70), he was ordained at Main Saluda River Church in 1793;
Robert Orr had a survey in 1772 of 100 acres in fork of Broad and Saluda
on Beaverdam Creek of Tyger touching Terrence Carrell (Plats, XIX, 7);
he appears to have come from N.C. (N.C. State Rec., XXII, 4, 37, 709);
James Head was dismissed from Padgetts Creek Church in 1789; he was
living in Spartanburg County with two slaves in 1790 (Padgetts Creek CE,
1787, 1789; Census, p. 86).
ft631
Saluda Assoc. Min., 1811, shows Mount Pisgah occupying the position
formerly occupied by Brush Creek Church; however, identity of the two is
not positive, though the above fact and the location of the two are
indicative; Mount Pisgah was later called Pisgah.
ft632
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1787, 1791-1803; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p.
64, locates Little Salkehatchie as 80 miles north and west of Charleston;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 532. gives 32 members in 1812; many old
records spell the name Saltcatcher.
ft633
Rippons Reg., 1790-1793, pp, 112-3; Charleston Assoc, Min., 1790-1806;
Shuck, Barnwell Assoc., p. 30, gives brethren Halford and Creech as first
deacons; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 64, locates Great Salkehatchie as
80 miles north and west of Charleston; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 532,
lists 22 members in 1812.
ft634
Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 56, gives date of constitution as about
1789, but does not locate the church; Charleston Assoc, Min., 1798-1802;
Shuck, Barnwell Assoc., p. 27, locates Lower Three Runs Church at
Pattersons Mill and gives James Geddings and John Cave as first deacons;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 532, gives 78 members in 1812; the records
were burned in 1823; it is claimed Sherman used the timber of the old
building to bridge Lower Three Runs in 1865.
ft635
McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 222.
ft636
Bailey, Mulkey and Fowler, pp. 23-4, quoting Pacolet records; the list of
constituents there given is Susannah Bailey, John Cole (there were several
John Coles in the early records; the member of Pacolet was probably also
the constituent of Sandy River in 1776 who had a survey of 200 acres in
1784 on waters of Pacolet and who was living in Union District with two
slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 92; Bailey, Mulkey and Fowler, p. 20; Plats, Vq,
176), Mary Cole, Hannah Lamb, Samuel Lamb (survey of 100 acres in
1765 on Lower Camp Creek, Ibid., IX, 236); John Morehead (in Union
County without slaves and with 7 in family in 1790, Census, p. 94); John
Palmer (in Union County with one slave In 1790, Ibid., p. 92); John
regarding membership in the Masonic Lodges raged about 1791 and just
after, it is assmued that some of the entries are prior to 1804; a marble
tablet on the church wall bears this inscription; Sacred| to| the Memory off
Elder William Woodward| Who departed this life in the year of ours Lord
1820, on the 23d day of July: Aged| 57 years, 9 months and 16 days.| This
Tablet| Is erected to his memory by this church,| which was planted by his|
Instrumentality,| Through the indulgence| of a kind Providence| A. D 1789|
He was also the means of planting some| And building up many of| The
neighboring Baptist churches.| In consideration of his manly virtues| This
church has unanimously consented| To be known for the future, by the
name| Of the Woodward Baptist Church of[ Christ. William Woodward
had seven slaves in Fairfield County in 1790; he is said to have been the
son of Thomas Woodward and Jemima Collins his wife; he married Nancy
Barrett in 1781; a physician and a member of Congress, he was always a
leader in the work of Bethel Association (Census, p. 21; Bethel Assoc.
Min., 1791-1820)
ft645
ft649
Ibid., 5. and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-1804, lists the church as
Stephens Creek until Big Stephens Creek also entered the association; what
is thought to be Rev. Henry Kings will dated Jan. 28 probated Feb. 21,
1820, mentions wife Mary and daughter Eleanor Raney, five slaves, 100
acres of land, and a library of books (Edgefield County PC, Wills C, p. 37);
however, it is claimed he went to Alabama (Chapman, Edgefield County, p.
309); William Eddins (or Eddings) lived in Abbeville County with one
slave in 1790 (Census, p. 61); he was later connnected with Oolenoy
Church.
ft650
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-1805.
ft651
McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 215; the name of the minister is spelled Klx in
the act.
ft652
Edgefield County CC, Deeds D, pp. 20, 22.
ft653
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1804-5; JHR, Dec. 19, 1805.
ft654
Letter of Rev. G. C. Seidenspinner, Nov. 10, 1927; a deed of Charles Jones
May 25, 1813, gives to Antioch Church two or more acres on the old line
of the meeting house as the new road runs down to the Hollow
(Edgefield County CC. Deeds HH, p. 327).
ft655
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-7; Rev. Edward
Pigg had a survey of 280 acres in Camden District on a branch of Rafting
Creek in 1784, during which time, or shortly after, he was connected with
Swift Creek Church; he was living in Fairfield County without slaves in
1790 (Plats Vq, 369; Census, p. 20); Arthur Shuffield was living in Chester
County without slaves in 1790 (Ibid., p. 16).
ft656
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed., Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1802; Garrett,
Saluda Assoc., p. 35; Asplund is the only authority for 1773 as the date of
constitution; no modern successor has been found, unless Middle River
Church near Cleveland, S.C., could claim the honor; Rev. John Chastain
was living in Pendleton District without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 84); he
was later connected with Oolenoy Church; Rev. Isaac Lemmons lived in
N.C.; he was later connected with Double Spring, Holly Spring, and
Washington Churches; his life and character were said to be marked by
extraordinary purity; he died about 1843 (N.C. State Rec., XXI, 962; J. G.
Landrum, Historical Sketch of the Tiger River Baptist Association,
circular letter in Tyger River Assoc. Min., 1866 (Furman University); Head
of Enoree Church Chron., 1799, Aug., 1804.
ft657
Head of Enoree Church is seventh on the list of churches in Bethel Assoc.
Min., 1791; there is no deed to the original site; the church claims 1795 as
its date of constitution, but an earlier date is indicated by the records;
Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6, ed., gives no date of constitution.
ft658
ft659
Thomas Musick (Music) is said to have been born Oct. 17, 1756, in N.C.;
he was living without slaves in Greenville County in 1790; converted at
seventeen, he preached for a time in S.C., then removed to Missouri, where
he founded Fee Fee Church at which he was buried in 1842 (Cathcart (ed.),
Baptist Encyclopedia, p. 827; Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Bethel
Assoc. Min., 1791-2; Census, p. 68); Rev. Abraham Hargess (Hargress)
received pay for service in the army in N. C,; he was living in Greenville
County without slaves in 1790; he preached in N.C., after being dismissed
by letter from Head of Enoree in 1803 (N.C. State Rec., XVII, 221;
Census, p. 68; Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 17901800; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 11); David Forester (Forrest) was
living in Greenville County without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 69); Joseph
Logan was probably from N.C.; he is said to have been at the constitution
of Pacolet Church in 1776; in 1790 he was living In Pendleton District
without slaves (Col. Rec. N.C., IX, 89-90; Bailey, Mulkey and Fowler, p.
19; Census, p. 85; Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.); Daniel Flannery was
connected with Head of Enoree Church from about 1793 to 1797; he had a
survey of 101 acres on Brush Creek of Reedy River in 1792 (Ibid.; Plats,
XXXII, 464); William King was living in Spartanburg County without
slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 88); nothing further Is known of Isaiah Stephens
o; Joseph Willis than their connection with Head of Enoree and other
churches; John Bourland was living in Laurens County without slaves in
1790 and was at Flat Creek Church, Red River Association, Tenn., in 1812
(Census, p. 74; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 537).
Fork Shoal meeting house was conveyed in 1850 by John C. Fowler to the
church, being located on Fork Shoal road running from Reedy River to
Saluda River (Codeys Bridge), and on waters of Reedy Fork of Reedy
River, with free access to spring (Greenville County RMC, Deeds W, p.
141).
ft673
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-98; Asplunds Reg., 6. ed.; the location is a guess
based on the name.
ft674
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-1803; Asplunds Reg., 6. ed.; Fellowship Church
of Greenwood County is in approximately the location of Cambridge
Church; Rev. John Waller was born Dec. 23, 1751, in Spottsylvania
County, Va.; his early wickedness and conversion were remarkable; he was
baptized in 1767 and ordained June 20, 1770; he became Arminian and
conducted great camp meetings, later returning to the Regular position and
conducting revivals; he removed to Abbeville County in 1793 to be near
his daughter, Mrs. Abraham Marshall; he was connected with Cambridge,
Bethabara, Cross Road and Siloam Churches, and was an active member of
association; he died July 4, 1802 (Benedict, Baptist History, II, 393-99;
Semple, Virginia Baptists, pp. 403-11; Siloam CB, 1794-1804; Bethel
Assoc. Min., 1794-1800); Rev. David Lilly probably came from N.C.; he
was an active writer and preacher of Bethel Association; his pastorates
were with Jameys Creek, Cambridge and Welsh Neck Churches; he died
about 1809 (Edwards, N, C, Materials, in N.C. Hist. Rev., VII, 387;
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1790-1803; Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed; Benedict,
Baptist History (1848), pp. 712-3.
ft675
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1803; Tyger River CB,
Sept., 1802; Asplund states that Durbin Creek was in a declining situation
on account of peculiarities in 1794.
ft681
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-98.
ft682
Asplunds Reg., 3. and 5. ed.: Asplund gives in 1790 a second Durbin
Creek Church, which, from position and figures, might have been Upper
Duncans Creek, but this might also be merely one of Asplunds numerous
errors; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1803; Padgetts Creek CB, Nov., 1794;
Tyger River CB, Sept., 1801; McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, p. 186; Laurens
County CC, Deeds N, p. 152: a deed by Henry Langston and James G.
Robinson, to 50 acres whereon the house of said church now stands was
made to Upper Duncans Creek in 1836; the church is now known as
Langston; Joshua Palmer emigrated from England, settling first in the
Lower Fork of Lynches Creek region, appearing in the Charleston
Association by 1785; he obtained surveys of 150, 100, and 133 acres in
1785 and 1786 on or near Lynches Creek; he was living in Cheraws
District without slaves in 1790; after serving as minister of Lower Fork of
Lynches Creek and an active delegate to the Charleston Association 178992, he appeared in Bethel Association as minister of Upper Duncans Creek
Church 1793-1808, when he left for Indiana with a large number of his
congregation and was pastor of Dry Fork Church, Whitewater Association,
in 1812, dying before 1835; he was an eloquent but uneducated preacher,
of singular manner and no pride, zealous in performing all associational
functions and in helping such neighboring churches as Padgetts Creek,
ft684
Asplunds Reg., 5, and 6. ed.; Ga. Assoc. Min., 1792, 1793, 1803; Mercer,
Ga. Assoc., p. 28; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1805; the church was seventh on
Georgia Association list 1803; it was located near Parksville; it
disappeared from association minutes in 1883; see Edgefield Assoc. Min.,
1829, 1867, 1883; Samuel Cartledge has only his church and associational
record.
ft685
Edgefield County CC, Deeds 1798, p. 94; Isaiah Blackwell had a survey in
1801 on Hickory Creek and Plum Branch waters of Stevens Creek at the
fork to Augusta; his grant to the church antedates this survey, but the land
must have been in the same general location (Plats, XXXVIII, 526).
ft686
Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; only Asplund mentions Four Mile Creek
Church for which he gives 1787 as date of constitution and Edgefield
County as location; he does not list Plum Branch Church, which claims
1785 as its date of constitution; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1805; Charles
Blackwell is mentioned by Asplund in his earliest editions as an itinerant
preacher at Callahans Mill Church in 1790, but he is not again referred to
by Asplund in his accounts of Callahans Mill, and for this reason it
appears that Charles Blackwell was with Plum Branch and not with
Callahans Mill Church in 1798; he was living in Edgefield County with
three slaves in 1790, having obtained a survey of 100 acres on waters of
Savannah River in 1772 (Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Census, p. 67;
Plats, XIII, 235; Enoch Breazeale is known only through his church and
associational connections; he died in 1826 (Bethel Assoc. Min., 1826).
ft687
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1803; this may
have been Micajah Barnett found in Spartanburg County without slaves in
1790 (Census, p. 87), whose land touched Joroyal Barnett in 1793 (Plats,
XXI, 511); Reuben Rowland was with Lower Duncans Creek through 1795
and is recorded as living in Laurens County with four slaves in 1790
(Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-95; Census, p.
74).
ft688
Shoal Creek (Chauga) CB, 1796-1804, Jan., 1796.
ft689
Ibid., 1796-1804.
ft690
Ibid.
ft691
Ibid.
ft692
Ibid.; John Cleveland preached in 1789 at the Georgia Association meeting,
but In 1790 he was living in Pendleton District with two slaves; in 1792 he
was pastor of Tugaloo River Church of Franklin County, Ga.; in 1794 a
survey was made for him on north side of Tugaloo River in S.C., his
ministry covered a large part of Pendleton District and neighboring parts of
Ga_, he being particularly active as the pastor of Shoal Creek (Ga.) Church
and all Its S.C. branches, besides assisting presbyteries throughout the
surrounding territory and being an active member of the association; about
1818 he fell into error and it is not known when he died (History of the
Baptist Denomination in Georgia, p. 31, quoting from diary of Rev. John
Newton; Census, p. 83; Asplunds Reg., 6. ed.; Shoal Creek (Chauga) CB,
1796-1818; Tugaloo Assoc. Min., 1818); Thomas Maxwell (sometimes
written Maxfield) was living in Greenville County without slaves in 1790
(Census, p. 69). having obtained a survey of 205 acres (Plats, XXII, 185);
Thomas Gilbert had a survey of 100 acres on Tugaloo River in 1787
(Grants, XL, 71, 72); James Jackson was in Abbeville County without
slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 61); James Blair was in Pendleton District
without slaves, Thomas Gilbert in Spartanburg County without slaves in
1790 (Ibid., pp. 88, 89); the other leaders must have lived in Ga. Following
is list of members of Shoal Creek (Chauga) Church, 1796-1804, spelled as
in the church book; Diana Adams, Sasham Allen and wife, Lee Allen,
Thomas Arenton, Anne Area, Nathaniel Ares, Sally Ares, Aaron Arnal,
Wm. Baker, Mary Balding, Wm. Balding, Benjamin Barton, John Barton,
Thomas Barton, James Blare, Edward Bolden, Seleigh Bolden, Charles
John S. Dickson on May 17, 1882, conveyed to Chauga Church one acre
adjoining his own lands and the old Change Church lot in Oconee County
(Oconee County CC, Deeds H, p. 208); Benjamin McGee, a former Shoal
Creek member, on Dec. 18, 1818, conveyed six acres on Beaverdam Creek
waters of Tugaloo River, being part of the land originally granted to James
Duncan, to Hepzibah Church (Ibid., Deeds B, p, 416); three deeds of 1918
and two of 1923 record conveyances to Liberty Baptist Church in Wegener
Township, but do not mention the old church (Ibid., Deeds B-3, pp. 107,
108, 109; S-3, pp. 315, 286).
ft694
Head of Enoree Church Chron., Nov. 1799, July, 1800; Bethel Assoc. Min.,
1800, 1802: List of members dismissed: Anne __________, Anne Reed,
Lyda Shepperd, Mary Taber, Solomon Taber, Susannah Taber, William
Taber, Jr., William Taber, Sr., Elizabeth Tubb, George Tubb, Mary Tubb,
Sarah Tubb, Jacob Watson; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 25; the name was
changed to New Hope in 1818; Isaiah Stephens was connected with Head
of Enoree Church until 1800 when he was dismissed in July to Shoal
Church (Head of Enoree Church Chron.).
ft695
Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 25.
ft696
Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1802; a deed of
1832 conveys one acre where the old Secona Meeting House now stands,
and another of 1857 locates a new lot on the Cedar Rock Road near the old
church road (Pickens County CC, Deeds B-1, p. 186; H-1, p. 410); William
Murphy (sometimes spelled Murphree) was living in Pendleton District
without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 83); Elnathan Davis was born in Md. In
1735 (or 1739) of parents of the Seventh Day Baptist persuasion; removing
to N. C, from Va, in 1757, he was converted and baptized by Shubal
Stearns; ordained by Samuel Harris In 1764, he served as pastor of Haw
River Church, N.C., in 1772, removed to S.C. in 1798, where he was
connected with Secona and Cross Road Churches in Pickens County, and
was an active member of Bethel Association and member and moderator
for two years of Saluda Association, probably dying about 1820 (Benedict,
Baptist History, II, 376, 160; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., pp, 249-250, quoting
Cathcart (ed.), Baptist Encyclopedia; Edwards, N.C. Materials, in N.C.
Hist. Rev., VII, 389. 390; Head of Enoree Church Chron., Aug., 1804).
ft697
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793-1802; Keowee claims 1793 as its date of
constitution, but Asplunds Reg., 5. ed., has it listed in 1791; Pickens
County CC, Deeds C-1, p. 279, undated deed of Daniel Alexander probated
in 1815; Joseph Logan is said to have been present at the constitution of
Pacolet Church in 1776, but this is doubtful, it being probable that he came
from N. C, after that time; he was living in Pendleton District without
slaves in 1790, remaining with Keowee until 1798 (Bailey, Mulkey and
Fowler, p. 19; Col. Rec. N.C., IX, 89; Census, p. 85); James Abbott was
living in Pendleton District without slaves in 1790 (Ibid.).
ft698
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1799-1802; Oolenoy claims 1795 as its date of
constitution, but no evidence for this has been found; Pickens County CC,
Deeds C-2, p. 14; William Eddins was connected with Oolenoy and Little
Stephens Creek Churches.
ft699
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1798-1802; the names and statistics of Cross Road
Church are so confused as not to be worth reproducing as a table; Pickens
County CC, Deeds C-1, p, 363; Head of Enoree Church Chron., Apr.,
1803, May, June, Aug., 1804; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 19; John Bourland
was living in Laurens County without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 74);
William Davis was living in Pendleton District without slaves in 1790
(Ibid., p. 85).
ft700
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1794-1803; Asplunds Reg., 6. ed.; Bush River CB,
Oct., 1801.
ft701
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1800; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 559;
Asplunds Reg., 3., 5., and 6. ed.; Cedar Spring CB, 1794-1804, Jan., 1795,
Aug., 1796; John Hightower received a survey of 150 acres in 1784 on
both sides of Buck Creek (Plats, VIIq, 138). but by 1812 he was at
Kentucky Union Church, Green River Association, Ky. (Benedict, Baptist
History, II, 544); Thomas Burgess was connected with Buck Creek,
Goshen, and Boiling Spring churches, being an active member of
association, and having a survey in Spartanburg County on Pacolet in 1799
(Plats, XXXVII, 352); Isaac Cantrell had surveys in 1798 and 1801 of 128
acres on a ridge near Pacolet River in Spartanburg County and of 174 acres
on Muddy Branch of Caseys Creek of Pacolet; his will dated Aug. 23,
1805, names wife Mary and several children, the inventory of Feb. 10,
1806, showing five slaves (Ibid., 182; XXXVIII, 360; Spartanhurg County
PC, Wills, 1806).
ft702
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1791-1794; Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.
ft703
Cedar Spring CB, Dec., 1794-Dec., 1804; Micajah Barnett is probably the
same as Micajah Bennett of Lower Duncans Creek; Joroyal Barnett was
living in Spartanburg County with one slave in 1790; he had a survey of
156 acres in 1793 on a branch of Fairforest and another in 1806 on Town
Branch waters of Lawsons Fork; he was a very active minister, dying
sometime after 1841, in which year he conveyed an acre lot to Unity
Church (Census, p. 87; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 255; Plats, XXXI,
151; XXXIX, 430; Spartanburg County RMC, Deeds Y, p. 161); David
Golightly was living in Spartanburg County with eleven slaves In 1790, he
being probably the David Golightly, Sr., whose will, recorded in July,
1842, showed considerable property and names wife Frances and daughters
Elizabeth Harris and Polly Martion (Ibid., PC, Wills D, p. 48; Census, p.
89); Catharine Smith conveyed a lot of one acre to James Cooper, William
Underwood, William Lancaster, and the remaining members of Cedar
Springs Church on the south side of the road west of the present old
meeting house touching the branch in 1802 (Spartanburg County RMC,
Deeds R., p. 190); the members of Cedar Spring Church mentioned in the
church book 1794-1804 were: Alexander Autry, Elizabeth Autry, Martha
Autry, James Bagwell, Elijah Barnett, Jean Barnett (2), John Barnett, Jr.
John Barnett, Sr., Joroyal Barnett, Joseph Barnett, Martha Barnett, Micajah
Barnett, Nancy Barnett, Nancy Barnett. Sr., Patsey Barnett. Richard
Barnett, Richard Barnett, Jr., Sarah Barnett, Susannah Barnett, Thomas
Barnett, Sally Blackwell, Allen Bobbitt, William Burton (Bruton?) and
wife, Elizabeth Connell (2), Frances Connell, Giles Connell, Jesse Connell,
John Connell, Nancy Connell, John Cook, Charles Crocker, Fanny Daniel,
Richard Daniel, Stephen Foster, Amy Golightly, Amy Golightly Sr.,
Christopher Golightly, David Golightly, David Golightly, Sr., Elizabeth
Golightly, Jean Gollghtly, John Gollghtly, Joseph Golightly, Mary
Golightly. Ransom Golightly, Shands Golightly, Tabitha Golightly, Wm.
M, Golightly, Elizabeth Griffith, John Gritman, John Hacker, Mary
Hacker, Anne Hammett, William Hammett (2), Thomas Hayes and wife
Sarah, James Hickey, Benjamin Howard and wife Clary, Elizabeth
Howard, Charles James, Elizabeth James, Frances James, Nancy James,
Thomas James, Christi Johnson, Anne Jones, Hannah Jones, Martha Keen,
Absalom Lancaster, Agnes Lancaster, William Lancaster, Elizabeth Land,
Edith Ligon, William Noblett, Marian Oates, Martha Roberts, Patty
Roberts, William Roberts, Charles Rogers, Lewis Shelton, Agnes
Simmons, John Simmons, Abigail Smith, Agatha Smith, Agnes Smith,
Catherine Smith, Charles Smith, Cloe Smith, Cynthia Smith, Diana Smith,
Elijah Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Fleming Smith and wife Prudence, John
Smith, Margaret Smith, Peggy Smith, Susannah __________ Toney, Jean
Underwood, Nancy Underwood, Peggy Underwood, Polly Underwood,
Priscilla Underwood, William Underwood, Thomas Vaughan, Priscilla
Wheeler, William Wheeler, Daniel White, Allen Wigley, Richard Willis,
Patty Wood.
ft704
Church, as Mill Creek (S.C.) Church occupies its usual position on the
same list and was not extinct; Asplunds Reg., 6. ed.; this was possibly the
Mountain Creek Church which requested Turkey Creek to hold the
ordination of Benjamin Northcut with them in July, 1796 (Turkey Creek
CB); Thomas Whitman was living in Greenville County without slaves in
1790 (Census, p. 70).
ft706
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1798-1803; Spartanburg County RMC, Deeds G, p. 53;
Cedar Spring CB, June, 1800, Jan., 1801; J. B. Daniel, History of
Bethlehem Baptist Church, in Spartanburg Assoc. Min., 1888, pp. 22-25;
Griffith, Landrum, p. 288; Rev. Augustine (also Austin) Clayton had
surveys of 200 and 300 acres in 1784 on Cedar Shoal Creek of Enoree and
on the south side of Tyger river, 872 acres in 1793 on Beaverdam Creek of
Middle Tyger, 247 acres in 1799 on the north side of the South Fork of
Tyger, and was living in Spartanburg County in 1790 without slaves; he
left after serving Bethlehem Church five years and in 1812 was pastor of
Concord Church, Green River Association, Ky., (Plats, IVq, 223, 240;
XXXIq, 327; XXXVII, 399; Census, p. 86; Benedict, Baptist History, II,
544).
ft707
Cedar Spring CB, May 21, July, 1803; Daniel, Bethlehem Church, in
Spartanburg Assoc. Min., 1338, pp. 22-25; Griffith, Landrum, p. 287;
Bethel Assoc, Min., 1803.
ft708
Ray, Sr., Joseph Reeder, Mary Reeder, Rev. Jacob Roberts, Ailey
Robinson, Christopher Robinson, Sealy Rogers, Woodson Rountree,
Thomas Scales, Lewis Shelton, Betsey Sibley, Anne Simmons, Carpenter
Simmons. PoIly Simmons, Sarah Simmons, Susanna Simmons wife of
Paton, Samuel Simpson, Sarah Simpson, Caleb Smith, Dicy Smith, James
Smith, John Smith, Jr., Polly Smith, William Smith, Elizabeth Sparks, John
Sparks, Amey Spillers, James Snillers, Joseph Springer and wife, Benjamin
Stone, Anne White. Milley White, Moses White and wife, Polly White,
Robert White, William White, Sarah Whitlock, Susanna Whitlock, Anne
Wilbanks, Avey Wilbanks, Gillam Wilbanks, Hosea Wilbanks, Isaac
Wilbanks, Joseph Wilbanks, Shadrack Wilbanks, Susanna Wilbanks,
William Wilbanks, Jr. and Sr., James Willard and wife Winny, John
Williams, Rachel Williams, David Wimpy, Polly Wise (or Win), Wiot
Wood and wife, Anne Woodson, Betty Woodson, Mary Woodson, Phoebe
Woodson, Polly Woodson. Robert Woodson, Thomas Woodson, Elizabeth
Yarbrough, Lewis Yarbrough, Betty Young, Rebecca Young.
ft709
Frederick Crowder (Crowther) had a survey of 150 acres on the north side
of Tyger River in 1784 in Union County where he was living without
slaves in 1790; he was out of fellowship with Padgetts Creek Church for
more than six years, during which time he was in Ga., but returned, made
confession, and was restored to fellowship in 1796; he served Vans Creek
Church, Elbert County, in 1800, and Mt. Gilead Church, Okmulgee
Association, Ga., in 1810 (Plats, Iq, 206; Census, p. 93; Padgetts Creek
CB, 1788-1796; Sarepta Assoc. Min., 1800; Benedict, Baptist History, II,
535); Rev. John Putman had two surveys, one of 386 acres in 1784 on
Sugar Creek, the other of 84 acres in 1807 on Mitchells Creek waters of
Fairforest; he was living in Union County without slaves in 1790; a very
active minister, he organized a church called Union Brick Meeting House
in the deed by which he conveyed it two acres on the Charleston Road and
Fairforest Creek in 1819; his will dated June 5, 1818, and proved Dec. 20,
1820, mentions wife Salley and implies several children (Plats, XVIIq,
290; XLV, 72; Census, p. 91; Union County CC, Deeds P, p. 319; PC,
Wills B, p. 62); Rev. Spencer Bobo was living in Spartanburg County
Without slaves in 1790 but he owned several at the time of his death; his
will dated and probated in 1816, names wife Jane as chief legatee, but the
remainder of a considerable estate he left to the Baptist Churches of Jesus
Crist known by the name of New Hope Church and head of Seeder Shole
Church of Sd District, and there Successers for ever which I wish tham to
apply discretinally to the following use to feed the hungry to supply the
wants of poor Ministers of Jesus Crist to teach poore children, or any other
use that they deeme Charitable or for the furtherance of the Gospel,
excepting teaching men to preach which I think God knows best who to
call and will provide for there instruction I allso include the Baptist
Church near me by the name of Beathel Church; he had been active in the
service of all the churches named, and organized the first two (Census, p.
86; Spartanburg County PC, Wills A, p. 89); Rev. Thomas Greer or his
father had a grant of 250 acres on north side of Tyger River confirmed to
him in 1772; he was living in Union County with 5 slaves in 1790
(Memorials, X, 375; Census, p. 93); Nathan Langston was living in Union
County without slaves in 1790; his will dated 1832 and proved 1834
mentions a number of religious books, land and slaves (Ibid.; Spartanburg
County PC, Box 17, pkg. 18); Lewis Hunt was living in Union County
without slaves in 1790 (Census, p. 91); Thomas Ray was In Abbeville
County with one slave in 1790-there was a Baptist preacher of the same
name at Cumberland Church, Stocktons Valley Association, Ky., in 1811,
but it is claimed that the Thomas Ray of Padgetts Creek Church died in
Union County where his will was proved in 1862 (Ibid., p. 59; Union
County PC, Wills C, p. 281); Jeremiah Burns in 1819 had a survey of 22
acres on South Fork waters of Duncans Creek and Enoree River (Plats, X,
431; XLVI, 17); Hosea Holcombe remained with Padgetts Creek until his
removal to N.C. In 1812 (Sprague (ed.), American Pulpit, VI, 442).
ft710
Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793-1803; Sugar Creek
(Flint Hill) CB, 1792-1836, May, 1796, June, 1799: Davis (Davies)
Collins, an active minister, was ordained in 1793 and was for a time a
beneficiary of the General Committee of Charleston Association, from
which he retired in 1803 to study in private owing to domestic concerns; he
probably lived in N.C. (Charleston Assoc. Min., 1794, 1803).
ft711
Sugar Creek (Flint Hill) CB, 1792-1804; Asplunds Reg., 5. and 6. ed.;
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793-1803; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1802-4; the
modern name of Sugar Creek is Flint Hill Church; the names of the
members with constituents italicized as found in the church book 17921804 were: Charity Barnes, Nancy Cheek, Edith Coltharp, Mary Cooper
(wife of John), Mary Cooper (wife of William), Samuel Councell, Sarah
Dean, Charity Dickers, Theophilus Dickers, Margaret Dinkins, John
Dinkins, Sr., Joshua Edwards, Celia Fincher, James Fincher, Mildred
Fincher, Mary Forbus, Polly Glover, Nathan Green, John Harris, Mary
Harris, Obedience Harris, Mary Hockaday, Samuel Hockaday, John
Jackson, James Knox, Mary Ann Knox, Richard Lawrence, Sarah Lewis,
William Lewis, Banks Meacham, Charles Morton, Robert Mursh, Sr., and
wife Elizabeth, Robert Mursh, Jr., Jane McCorkle, William McGregor,
William McKinney, Timothy Orr, Cambridge Osburn, Mary Petties,
William Petties (Pettus), Dempsey Reed, Chaplis Riggan, John Rooker, V.
D. M. James Sensing, John Smith, Mary Smith, Thomas B. Smith, Alley
Spears, James Spears, Alice Weathers, Celia Weathers, Edith Weathers,
Polly Williamson, Bennett Wood, and 6 slaves, one of Mr. Harriss being a
constituent; John Rooker, said to have come from Virginia, was with Sugar
Creek Church 44 years, dying in 1840 at the age of 84 and being buried in
Flint Hill churchyard; he was an active mission worker among the Indians
and an outstanding member of association; surveys were made for him of
10. 130, and 165 acres on Mill Creek, Crows Creek, and Crowders Creek
of Catawba River in 1806, the last on the road to the Works (J. F. Boyd,
Flint Hill Church, in The Evening Herald, Rock Hill, S.C., Nov. 30,
1922; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1793 ff; Charleston Assoc. Min., 1802 if; Plats,
XLV, 116. 70).
ft712
Cooper and McCord (ed.), Statutes. II, 69; VIII, 343, 354, 364, 385, 399.
410, 413, 440, 448.
ft713
S.C. Gazette, Mar. 27, 1742.
ft714
Welsh Neck CB, June-Sept., 1779; Apr. 6, 1782; June, Aug., Sept., 1784;
Aug., 1797; Feb., Mar., 1798; Mar. 6, 1791; Dec. 31, 1796.
ft715
Botsford to the editor, Apr. 25-Aug., 1790, in Rippons Reg., 1790-1793, p.
105.
ft716
Welsh Neck CB, 1796.
ft717
Black Creek CB, Aug., Apr., 1802.
ft718
Cashaway CB (Mount Pleasant section), Apr., Sept., 1804.
ft719
Register Charleston Church (MS, Furman University).
ft720
Christian Fellowship, pp. 5, 6, shows 18 white members dismissed from
Euhaw to form Beaufort Church, while Charleston Assoc. Min., 1804,
shows 154 members dismissed.
ft721
Cuthbert, Fuller, p. 20, quoting Thomas Fullers diary.
ft722
Bethel Assoc, Min., 1793, 1795.
ft723
Cedar Spring CB, Sept., 1798-June, 1799.
ft724
Bush River CB, Sept., 1793, Oct., 1794, Oct., 1795, 1802-5.
ft725
Cedar Spring CB, Nov., 1795, 1803; July, 1796, Sept. 1798, Oct., 1799,
Aug., Dec., 1802, Jan., Feb., May, July, Aug., 1803; Feb., Mar., May, June,
Aug., Oct., Nov., 1804.
ft726
Turkey Creek CB, Oct., 1797, Nov., 1799., Nov., 1800, Sept.-Nov., 1801,
Nov., Dec., 1804.
ft727
Padgetts Creek CB, 1799-1804.
ft728
Head of Enoree Church Chron., Dec., 1799, May, Aug., Oct., 1801, Sept.,
1803, May, June, Sept., Dec., 1804.
ft729
Sugar Creek (Flint Hill) CB, 1792-1804.
ft730
ft745
ft748
ft750
ft752
ft767
circular letter for that year (Bethel Assoc, Min.); Mr. Simmons: Some
Queries Concerning the Operation of the Holy Spirit, Answered (not
located); Mr. Chanler: Doctrines of Glorious Grace (see bibliography),
Treatise on Original Sin (see Chap. II, note 6), New Converts, and The
State of the Church of Christ (see Chap. I, note 121); Rev. Richard
Furman: See Chap, I, note 113; Rev. Henry Holcombe: See Chap. I, note
166; other ministers wrote vigorous circular and associational letters;
Benedict, Baptist History. II, 123; Edwards, Crozer MS, pp. 4, 20, 28-9;
Hist. Sketch Welsh Neck, note, p. 7; Rev. Edmund Botsford: see Chap. II,
note 23.
ft793
Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 76-8.
ft794
Death Notices S.C. Gazette, D. 26, Oct, 30, 1755; Edwards, Crozer MS. p.
23; S.C. Gazette, Oct. 23-30, 1749, contains: Just published, Price 10 sh.
And to be sold by the Author next to the Baptist Meeting-house Two
Catechisms by Way of Question and Answer: each divided into Two Parts.
Designod for the Instruction of the Child-on of the Christian Brethren
owning one God, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit; who are
commonly known by the Name of General Baptists. Together with
References to the Texts of Scripture and Testimonies of other Writers,
which may be alleged in Proof or Confirmation of the several Answers.
ft795
Welsh Neck CB, Jan., May. 1782; three books now in possession of the
church belonged to this library: The Dutch Annotations upon the Whole
Bible, translated by Theodore Haak, Esq., 2d vol., (London. 1657); An
Exposition of the Book of Solomons Song Commonly called Canticles, by
John Gill, D. D., 2. ed. with Additions (London, 1751); Bible of 1765,
printed at Oxford with table of the Thirty-nine Articles.
ft796
Harts Diary, in YBC, 1896, p. 388; Benedict, Baptist History (1848), p.
704; Furman, Charleston Assoc., p. 74.
ft797
Pughs Diary, 1762-3; Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 79, 80.
ft798
Ibid., pp. 75-6.
ft799
Rippons Reg., p. 501.
ft800
Cook, Richard Furman, pp. 26, 42-3, quoting Furman to his mother.
ft801
Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 10, 11; Burkitt and Read, Kehukee Baptist
Assoc., p. 37; Semple, Virginia Baptists, pp. 4, 5; Cook, Richard Furman,
p. 15.
ft802
Turkey Creek CB, June, 1804.
ft803
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 463.
ft804
Bronson, Brown University, pp. 7-9: Richard B. Conk. The Early and Later
Delaware Baptists (Baltimore, 1889). p. 372; John A. Broadus, Memoir
of James Petigru Boyce (New York, 1893), p. 33.
ft805
Furman, Charleston Assoc., pp. 14, 15; Charleston Assoc. Min. 1774.
ft806
MS subscription list (Misses Charles).
ft807
Minutes of St. Davids Society; list of members, Welsh Neck CB, 1778;
Gregg, Cheraws, pp. 281-3, 432-9.
ft808
Brunson, Ebenezer Church.
ft809
Cook, Richard Furman, p. 15; advertisement, State Gazette of S.C., Apr.
24, 1786; In compliance with the request of several gentlemen who have
engaged in the design of erecting a SEMINARY OF LEARNING at the High
Hills of Santee, the subscribers take the liberty to inform the public, that a
scheme of education has been formed, and is now opened at Stateborough
under different instructors, where besides the common branches of learning
taught in the English schools, the learned Languages, French, the
Mathematics In all its branches, and (should the design meet with proper
encouragement) the other usual parts of polite and useful Literature, will be
taught, with the utmost care and attention, together with a due regard to the
morals of the youth. The price of education is THREE GUINEAS per year for
an English scholar, and FIVE GUINEAS for one in the Languages. A
Boarding House is provided at the place, where, it is designed, all suitable
accommodations shall be furnished at Eleven Guineas.
The Gentleman who will preside in this Seminary, has produced authentic
vouchers of an uncommon progress in Classical Learning, together with
recommendations from persons of note in the learned world, both in
Europe and America: This circumstance, added to the healthy, pleasant,
and beautiful situation of the Seat of Learning, (in which, perhaps, it is
inferior to none on the Continent) must undoubtedly weigh, with persons
who have the care of youth, in favor of this institution. April 14, 1786
Thomas Sumter, Richard Furman; Southern Patriot and Commercial
Advertiser, Charleston, Jan. 18. 1819.
ft810
Holcombe, First Fruits. p. 52; Cuthbert. Life of Fuller, p. 33, quoting
Holcombe; record (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 189; Yates Snowden, South
Carolina School Books, 1795-1865, to Southern School News (Columbia,
S.C.), Jan., 1910.
ft811
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1800-1806; Autobiography, in Wightman,
Capers, p. 39.
ft812
Furman to Rev. Mr. Pierce, Birmingham, Eng., Charleston, Feb. 12, 1791,
in Cook, Richard Furman, p. 42.
ft813
ft836
Saluda Assoc., p. 149; Big Creek CB, Nov. 13, 1802); (3) Double Springs
(A) Church claims 1803 as its date of constitution, but no evidence for this
has been found except that its position in the 1809 list of churches of
Saluda Association evidences early constitution (Benedict, Baptist History,
II, 531); (4) Neals Creek, a branch of Big Creek, constituted with 84
members, Mar. 19, 1803, a constituent member of Saluda Association in
1803, located 6 miles east of Anderson (Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 142; Big
Creek CB, Mar. 19, June 4, 1803; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 160, 531);
(5) Hopewell, also called Six-and-Twenty, or Twenty-Six Mile, Church, an
arm of Big Creek constituted a separate church, Apr. 23, 1803, with 13
members, a constituent of Saluda Association, 7 miles north of Anderson
(Big Creek CB, Mar., Apr., June, 1803; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., pp. 151-6;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 161, 531);
Bamberg: (6) Springton claims 1803 as its date of constitution, but there is
no direct evidence of this except that it was incorporated by act of Dec. 21,
1804; a secondary account states that it was constituted in 1303 by a
presbytery consisting of Rev, James Sweat and Rev. Nathaniel Walker, the
latter being elected pastor, and Elijah Ford and John Sutton being chosen
deacons (McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 222; Shuck, Barnwell Assoc., p. 31;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 532);
Barnwell: (7) Barnwell Church, said to have been organized as a branch of
Columbian Church in 1802, from which it was dismissed in 1803, was
incorporated in 1804; the church bell, which is claimed to have been in the
first building, gives 1802 as the date of organization; the first church book
entry is of Apr. 4, 1812, but the covenant is apparently older (Shuck,
Barnwell Assoc., p. 27; McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 222; Dr. W, M. Jones,
History of the Barnwell Baptist Church, in The Barnwell (S.C.) People,
May, 1926; list of churches in Georgia Association in 1812, Benedict,
Baptist History, II, 532); (8) Rosemary Church claims 1804 as date of
constitution, and its place on the 1812 list of Edgefield Association
indicates early origin (Benedict, Baptist History, II, 529);
Cherokee: (9) El Bethel minutes begin May, 1803, but they indicate earlier
existence (EI Bethel CB; T. M. Littlejohn, El Bethel, in Broad River
Assoc. Min., 1900, p. 53; Logan, Broad River Assoc., p. 564; Benedict,
Baptist History, II, 531); (10) Providence, about 112 miles north of
Gaffney, was constituted and entered Broad River Association 1803, a
deed of John Copper to John Champion, William Hester, Nathan Byars,
and Vardry Camp, deacons, conveys 4 acres to the church in 1803 (Ibid., p.
572; Spartanburg County RMC, Deeds K, p. 37);
Chester: (11) Starnes (Sterns) Creek Church, Nov. 18, 1804, from Sandy
River Church (Bethel Assoc, Min., 1805; Benedict, Baptist History, II,
530);
Edgefield; (12) Antioch (see Chapter V, notes 96, 97); (13) Bethany at the
Republican Church may have been organized prior to 1805, in which year
it was said to have been constituted the 3 of May last (Bethel Assoc,
Min., 1805);
Greenville: (14) Bethuel Church, 7 miles south of Greenville, was a
constituent of Saluda Association (Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 26; Benedict,
Baptist History, II, 160, 531); (15) Clear Spring Church, a branch of
Brushy Creek, Sept. 1802, under Lewis Rector, was organized by Mar.,
1803 (Clear Spring CB, 1804; William Goldsmith, Clear Spring Baptist
Church: History Prepared for Homecoming Day 1925 (MS, Furman
University), p. 3, quoting deed of 1849; Greenville County RMC, Deeds P,
p. 261); (16) Double Spring, a branch of Head of Enoree from 1799, was
separately constituted prior to 1811 (Head of Enoree Church Chron., Nov.,
1799, Feb., Dec., 1800, Mar., 1802, May, July, Aug., 1803: Benedict,
Baptist History, 11, 531); (17) Milford meeting house, through Col. John
Thomas, Jr., petitioned Brushy Creek to allow Rev. Lewis Rector to preach
to them in 1802, and Padgetts Creek for Joshua Greer to preach in 1804there is a possibility that this may have been the beginning of Double
Spring Church, or it may have become Milford Church, which was
incorporated in 1832 (Brushy Creek CB, June, Oct., 1802; Padgetts Creek
CB, Aug. 1804; McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII, 376; Garrett, Saluda Assoc.,
p. 36); (18) Warriors Creek Church is said to have been an organized
branch of Upper Duncans Creek Church by 1790 or 1791, but the evidence
is not clear; it was admitted to Bethel Association in 1810; Warriors Creek,
Bethany, and Landrum are not counted among the churches in existence
before 1805 (Reedy River Assoc. Min., 1835; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1810)
Greenwood: (19) Mountain Creek, a branch of Little Stephens Creek in
1798, was constituted Nov. 30, 1804, and admitted to Bethel Association in
1805 (Bethel Assoc. Min., 1805); Mrs. Ida R. Kemp and Mrs. W. H. Clegg,
History of Mountain Creek Baptist Church of the Edgefield Association,
in The Baptist Courier, Greenville, S.C., Dec. 29, 1927; Benedict, Baptist
History, II, 529);
Laurens: (20) Beaverdam Church claims 1803 as its date; it was admitted
to Bethel Association between 1805 and 1808 and incorporated in 1813; a
deed of Zachariah Bailey to 3 acres in 1814 mentions a new brick meeting
house belonging to the church (Ibid., 530; McCord (ed.), Statutes, VIII,
266; Reedy River Assoc. Min., 1835); (21) Sion, a branch of Bethel,
dismissed the winter of 1804-5, entered Bethel Association in 1805; It
appears on the 1808 list as Union Church (Bethel Assoc. Min., 1805;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 530);
Oconee: The early origin of (22) Hepsibah, (23) Liberty, and (24)
Beaverdam Churches is discussed under Chauga (or Shoal Creek) Church;
Hepsibah was a member of Sarepta Association in 1805 with George
Vandiver as pastor (Sarepta Assoc. Min., 1805; Beaverdam Baptist
Church at Fair Play, S.C., in Baptist Historical Record, Westminster, S.C.,
Sept., 1927, quoting Beaverdam records; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 24;
Benedict, Baptist History, II, 534);
Orangeburg: (25) Dean Swamp Church, Aug., 1803, applied to Bethel
Association for admission, but its constitution and the ordination of its
minister being pronounced illegal, a committee from the Association
reconstituted it, Nov. 5, 1803, with 31 members; at that time or by 1805,
Rev. Isaac Debosque was pastor and Josias Keadle clerk (Dean Swamp
CB, 1803, 1805; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1803; H. L, Baggott, A History of the
Dean Swamp Baptist Church (Saluda, S.C., 1903);
Saluda: (26) Dry Creek Church, 21 miles northeast of Johnston, and (27)
Good Hope Church, were admitted to Bethel Association in 1804 (Bethel
Assoc, Min., 1805); (28) Sardis Church was admitted to Bethel Association
in 1806, having been constituted from Clouds Creek Church on the 14th
of June last; it claims 1804 as the year (Ibid., 1806; H. L. Baggott, A
History of Sardis Baptist Church, 1804-1904 (Saluda, S.C., 1904);
Spartanburg: (29) Holly Spring branch of Bethlehem Church asked help of
Cedar Spring to ordain officers in May, 1803; it was admitted to Bethel
Association in 1804 (Cedar Spring CB, May, July, 1803; Bethel Assoc.
Min., 1805; Benedict, Baptist History II, 530); (30) Philadelphia Church,
constituted July 31, 1803, of members of Bethlehem, Cedar Spring, and
possibly Friendship and Union brick meeting (Putman), by Christopher,
Thomas, and Elizabeth Johnson, Roland, John and Diana Gennings, Sarah
Giddeon, Lydia Moore, Thomas Reese, Lithy Autry, James Hickey,
Abigail, Catherine, Charles, Diana, Elijah, Elizabeth, and Mary Smith,
William and Priscilla Wheeler, William M. Golightly, was at first situated
on Gibbs Mount, 31/2 miles northwest of Glen Springs and 81/2 miles
nearly southeast of Spartanburg; Augustine Clayton was first pastor and
remained until July, 1805, when Christopher Johnson assumed the office;
he gave a lot of 134 acres in 1808 in the forks of the road leading from
Christopher Johnsons to Major William Smiths and John Woffords, 11/4
miles nearer Glen Springs, to which was added 2.2 acres by William H.
Lancaster in 1831; the church was admitted to Bethel Association in 1803,
with 21 members (Cedar Spring CB, May, 1803; Bethai Assoc. Min., 1803;
W. p. Smith, A Sketch of the Philadelphia Church, in Spartanburg
Assoc. Min., 1890, quoting church book; Spartanburg County RMC, Deeds
M, p. 141; V, p. 94; Griffith, Landrum, p. 208; (31) Landrum Church
claims 1803 as its date, being known then as Wolfs Creek Church; there is
no contemporary evidence of this; (32) Head Cedar Shoal Church, (33)
Green Pond Church and (34) New Hope Church, composed of members of
Padgetts Creek living about Spencer Bobo in Dec., 1802, were admitted to
Bethel Association in 1804 (Ibid.; Bethel Assoc. Min.; Padgetts Creek CB);
Union: (35) Gilead Church was constituted Sept. 27, 1804, from Fairforest
Church and admitted to Bethel Association in 1805 (Bethel Assoc. Min.,
1805; Cedar Spring CE, Sept. 21, 1804); (36) Putman Church, orginally
Fairforest or Union Brick Meeting House, on the Charleston Road and
Fairforest Creek, was a branch of Padgetts Creek in Oct., 1802 (Padgetts
Creek CB, Oct., Dec., 1802, Apr., July 1803; Union County CC, Deeds P,
p. 319); (37) Tinker Creek Church, later Hebron, may have been the body
at first called Fairforest or Union Brick Meeting House; it was an arm of
Padgetts Creek, which had an independent existence by July, 1804, when it
received Avery Howard and wife, Martha Peck, Anne and Rachel Polk,
Humphrey Posey and wife, Lewis Shelton, Jo Springer and wife and three
negroes (Padgetts Creek CB, July, 1804; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 530;
C. B. Bobo, History of Padgetts Creek Church, in Union County Assoc.
Min., 1883; (33) Elias Mitchells meeting, later Unity Church, in existence
Oct. 1804, sued for admission to Bethel Association, but having been
Seventh Day Baptists, they had to give up their peculiarities before
admission 1806 (Cedar Spring CB, Oct., 1804; Bethel Assoc. Min., 1805,
1806).
ft852
ft853
church known as Cathies Creek was excluded from the union in 1809 as
being badly in disorder (Bethel Assoc. Min., 1800, 1802; Benedict,
Baptist History, IX, 160; Garrett, Saluda Assoc., pp. 17, 18, 20).
ft854
Bethel Assoc. Min., 1803.
ft855
Logan, Broad River Assoc., pp. 19-20; the fraction for S.C. is a calculation
based on the 1800 and 1811 lists of churches; in 1800 one-half of the
churches were in S.C.; in 1811 sixteen of twenty-six, or about two-thirds
were in S.C.; the fraction five-ninths represents the approximate number of
S.C. churches in 1803; the proportion of members is about the same,
though probably higher than this in 1803 (Benedict, Baptist History, II,
158, 530-1); membership in Saluda Association in 1806 was 1143-as all
other associations show decreases from 1800 to 1806, it is assmued that
Saluda had at least 1,200 members in 1803 (Garrett, Saluda Assoc., p. 18).
ft856
Charleston Assoc. Min., 1803.
ft857
The Savannah Association was formed in Savannah, Ga., April, 1802, of
three Georgia churches, two in Savannah and one in Newington. In
November, 1802, the Charleston Association dismissed Coosawhatchie,
Black Swamp, Pipe Creek, Bethesda, and Lower Three Runs (Columbian)
Churches with 275 members. These and probably Healing Springs,
Springton, and Barnwell, entered Savannah Association in 1803, or
January, 1804; the two negro churches in Savannah and Great Ogechee
Church had by far the largest proportion of members; the number given for
the S.C. churches is based on their 1802 and 1812 membership; the name
of the association was changed to Savannah River Association in 1806
(Charleston Assoc, Min., 1802; Benedict, Baptist History, II, 187, 532;
account of Savannah River Association by W. H. Brisbane, clerk, in
Triennial Baptist Register, II (1836).
ft858
None of the churches whose date of constitution is uncertain is included in
the 115 here counted; there are ten or twelve of these doubtful ones; the
number of churches listed in the associations was 100 with a total
membership of 8761 or an average of 87 members each; using this average
for the remaining 15 churches gives an additional 1305 members, making
the total membership for the State 10,066 whites and negroes; the ministers
listed in the Charleston and Bethel Associations were 43 serving 60
churches; using the same proportion for 115 churches gives approximately
76 ministers, no licentiates or exhorters included; Dr. Richard Furman
stated that in 1806 there were 130 churches, about 100 ministers, and
10,500 communicants (Charleston Assoc. Min., 1803: Benedict, Baptist
History, 11, 119).
ft859
Ibid., 159.