USA > Georgia > Liberty County > History of the Midway Congregational Church, Liberty County, Georgia > Part 19
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The following lines written by one of her sons, who him- self has passed away, and whose remains, at his own re- quest, were brought back from Florida, his recent home, and buried here, will be a fitting close to this notice of this hallowed spot, which I give not for their beauty of rhythm, but loving sentiment. Only those born and reared under the influence of that church can enter into the peculiar emotion excited by its perusal. I have taken the liberty to make a few changes in the language.
OLD MIDWAY.
"Memory fondly, sadly lingers Where time with its corroding fingers Slowly and stealthily writes decay Upon the mouldering stones of old Midway.
"Oh, softly and reverently tread This mausoleum of the dead ! For 'tis holy, consecrated ground Within, without and all around.
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THE GRAVE YARD.
"For the ceaseless prayers and tears, Of more than a hundred years, And the sleeping dust beneath the sod, Consecrate it to Heaven and God.
"Cemetery of the countless dead ! Thy glory's gone, thy beauty's fled, And of the past are left alone, Ashes, and monumental stone.
"Yet, clustering round this sacred shrine, Fond recollections will e'er entwine ; A peculiar consecration to impart, To this dear Mecca of the heart.
"Thy old Druid oak, a sentinel, Will ever stand, and mutely tell To sighing winds the story, Of thy ruin and departed glory.
"Thy ivy covered walls may fall, And oblivion, with its dusky: pall, Shroud in desolation and decay Every monument of old Midway ;
"Still thy deeds, immortal, sublime, Will far outlast the wrecks of time ; Forever and imperishable will be, Thy record upon the tablet of memory."
E. G. WAY,
Z
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
CHAPTER XV.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
One of the most interesting occasions in the history of the church was the Centennial exercises held December 5th, 6th, and 7th, 1852.
At the annual meeting March 10, 1852, the following res- olutions were offered by Mr. W. S. Baker and adopted :
"Whereas, the 5th of December next, will be a century since the settle- ment of this community in this place, therefore,
Resolved, That, in token of respect to the memory of our ancestors and of gratitude to our Preserver, we will celebrate that day with suitable observ- ance ; and further,
Resolved, That a committee shall be appointedby the Chair, consisting of thirteen in number, from the different parts of the community, to make all the necessary arrangements.
The Chair then appointed the following gentlemen as that committee, viz: W. S. Baker, L. J. Mallard, H. H. Jones, T. Q. Cassels, W. G. Martin, John W. Stacy, W. Q. Baker, T. S. Mallard, Thomas Quarterman, Sr., N. Varnedoe, Wil- liam Jones, J. B. Barnard, and Thos. W. Fleming.
As the 5th of December was the Sabbath, the exercises commenced with a sermon appropriate to the occasion, re- viewing the past and offering encouragement for the future, by Rev. I. S. K. Axson, then senior pastor, a native of Charleston, and formerly pastor of the old Dorchester, Car- olina, church for two years before going to Midway. The congregation was large, being gathered from all parts of the county.
The firing of cannon early Monday morning by the Chat- ham Artillery, invited guests for the occasion, announced the festivities of the day. At an early hour the people com-
223
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
menced to gather from all quarters. The roads werecrowd- ed with vehicles, carrying loads of occupants, journeying with unusual interest to the Mecca of their hearts. By ten o'clock a congregation was gathered, which was never be- fore witnessed. From a Liberty pole in front of the church floated the national colors. The procession formed from a point in the Sunbury road, and marched to the church to music furnished by the German brass band of the Artillery company. The venerable Col. William Maxwell, wearing two blue rosettes, was president of the day, assisted by Captains Peter W. Fleming and Abiel Winn, as grand mar- shals. A broad banner bearing the inscriptions: "Our Fathers, St. John's Parish, 1752," and "Our Country, Our Whole Country, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, 1852," was borne by Mr. Thomas Q. Cassels, chair- man of the committee of arrangements, supported by Cap- tain Cyrus Mallard. On entering the church, after prayer and an ode sung, composed for the occasion by the Rev. Samuel J. Cassels, a historical address was delivered by Mr. John B. Mallard, setting forth the incidents and circum- stances connected with the early settlement of the colony; the trials and sufferings of the Revolutionary War, together with present development and growth. After the address and music by the band in the gallery, the congregation re- paired to the spot selected in front of the building for laying the corner stone of a monument proposed to be erected in honor of our forefathers. After prayer by Rev. Dr. C. C. Jones, and an address by the Rev. John Winn, the corner stone of the monument, containing many relics and memo- rials, was laid. After a salute fired by the Artillery, the multitude repaired to a special banquet spread near by, ac- companied with the usual hilarity, drinking of toasts and speech-making, which wound up the festivities of the day. It was on this occasion that Rev. S. J. Cassels, then an in- valid confined to his room in Savannah, had his toast pre- sented and read, which the writer well remembers hearing, being at all the exercises, "Liberty county, the place of my first and second birth, and yet to be the place of my third."
On the next day, Tuesday, the 7th, despite the rain and
224
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
clouds, the firing of cannon at an early hour reminded the people that the festivities were not yet ended. The proces- sion was formed as on the day before, and marched into the church, where they were highly entertained and instructed by an eloquent address by the Hon. William E. Law, one of her most honored sons, though at that time a citizen of Sa- vannah.
I here give two brief extracts from the address now before me :
"Hail, venerated county, in this wide world the most honored spot to me! Place of my nativity, sweet home of my youth, scene of my earliest childhood, endeared by a thousand recollections and associations of early life ! Long a wanderer from the fold, I come up this day to lay my humble offering upon the altar of your honor and your fame, and to commingle my congratulations and rejoicings with you, my fellow citizens, on this happy and auspicious occa- sion."
"Here the patriotic Screven sealed with his blood his de- votion to his country and the cause of liberty. Here the blood of a Baker flowed. Here the youthful, but gallant Stewart, unsheathed a sword, which was never again to find its scabbard until the victorious shout of liberty triumph- ant rung through the land .. Departed spirits! A grateful posterity have immortalized your virtues in the baptism of the counties of Georgia, which have your honored names. Yes, as long as Georgia shall exist, the names of Jones, Screven, John Baker and Daniel Stewart, will be remembered by Georgians."
After the address followed a banquet and festivities simi- lar to those of the preceding day, which brought the exerci- ses to a close.
Thus ended the first Centennial of the old church. The occasion was one long to be remembered. Nothing occurred to mar its pleasures, and every body went away delighted and pleased with all that was said and done; and with pro- founder reverence for their forefathers, and a feeling of con- scious pride at the thought of being the descendants of such worthy sires.
225
HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
CHAPTER XVI.
HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
There have been four houses of worship. The first, a tem- porary structure, built of logs, some three quarters of a mile or more to the east of the present site, near the plan- tation of Mr. Thomas Mallard, and erected in the year 1754, mmediately after the arrival of a goodly number of the families. In this was held their first communion, September 8, 1754.
The second, a frame building, erected towards the close of the year 1756, forty-four by thirty-six feet, with a gallery eighteen feet in the story ; with a pitched roof hipped at one end and a small steeple in the other; the steeple in the west and the pulpit north. It was located on the east side of the Darien road and fronting the Sunbury road. Bartram speaks of it as "standing on the high road opposite the Sunbury road."1 Rev. Archibald Simpson, in his visit in 1761, speaks of it "as a large and well finished meeting house."2 It also had a vestry house near by. The ground upon which it was located was deeded by John Stevens and his wife, Mary, for the sum of four shillings. It contained two acres, bounded on the south by land of Rev. John Os- good, and on all other sides by lands of John Ste- vens, and'conveyed to all who had signed the articles of in- corporation and their heirs and to the Stewarts and Graves', who expected soon to move, some forty in all. The follow- ing are their names :
1. Travels, Page 4. 2. Howe's History, Vol. I, Page 137.
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
NAMES OF THOSE TO WHOM THE DEED WAS MADE.
John Osgood,
Thomas Way,
Samuel Way,
Parmenas Way,
Nathaniel Way,
Joseph Bacon,
William Baker,
John Shaves,
Joseph Winn,
John Quarterman,
Nathaniel Clark,
Richard Spencer, William Dunham,
Josiah Osgood,
Nathan Taylor,
Benjamin Andrew,
Samuel Stevens,
John Mitchell,
Edward Sumner,
James Harley,
Isaac Girardeau,
Edward Way,
John Elliott,
William Graves,
Benjamin Baker,
Audley Maxwell,
John Stewart,
Samuel Bacon,
John Lupton,
John Graves,
Moses Way,
Isaac Lines,
John Stewart,
Richard Baker,
John Winn,
Samuel Baker,
John Quarterman,
Andrew Way,
Joseph Massey.
Thomas Peacock,
-
This house was burned by Lieutenant Colonel Provost and the British Friday morning, November 27, 1778. The reason of this, I presume, was that the building was used as a kind of fortification or barracks, a stockade being built around it, according to Governor Ellis' statement. And for the same reason too, no doubt, the British burned the Dor- chester, South Carolina, meeting house, for it seems to have been similarly fortified and used.
The third was a coarse building, with posts in the ground and filled with poles, and put up in 1784 after the revolu- tion, upon the settlement of Mr. Holmes. As it was inten- ded to be temporary, and to be used during the construc- tion of a more commodious one, it was located on the west side of the Darien road and south of the grave yard.1 . It was enlarged the next year (1785) and a shelter also added at the south side for the accommodation of the negroes. This house was used during the entire six years of Dr. Holmes' ministry.
The present house, a frame building, was erected in 1792, the second year of the ministry of Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve. Dimensions, forty by sixty feet, with twenty feet in the sto- ry, and located very nearly upon the spot where the one burnt by the British stood. It had a high pulpit at the east side, with a quaint old time sounding board overhead, which the writer distinctly remembers seeing when a child,
1. Life of Daniel Baker by his son, page 17.
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HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
with three doors; one in the north end, one in the west, and one in the south end, with seats having doors, facing the pulpit. It also had a gallery with two flights of steps lead- ing to the same from without. There was also a vestry house connected with it as the former had, located west of the road and south of the grave yard, which, as well as the church edifice, was painted red at first. In 1849 the pulpit in the church was removed to the north end ; the gallery ex- tended to three sides opposite, and two of the doors closed, leaving only one entrance at the south that the people, as it was said, might be all forced to come out together and thus be compelled to mix and mingle more together. A side door on the east was, however, opened in later years. All around the house at convenient distances there were erected thirty or more little houses, which, to the stranger, presen- ted quite a singular appearance, to which the different fam- ilies resorted during the intermission between services, and where they partook of their lunch dinners. These were all destroyed during and after Kilpatrick's raid. Not a vestige of any of these is now to be seen. The old building still stands (1899), and considering its age, being now one hundred and seven years old, in a state of remarkable preser- vation, due to the fact of its frequent repairs, but chiefly from the fact that it was in the first instance built. as re- quired by contract, of the "best wood." Time, however, is beginning to do its work, and it will not be long ere this old sanctuary, venerable with years and dear to so many hearts, will become a thing of the past.
RETREATS AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
As the early colonists settled in the swampy region, it was soon found necessary, as already stated, to go out to health- ier localities during the summer months. In addition to Sunbury upon the coast, to which many of the planters re- moved, there were other places farther in the interior to which they resorted.
228
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
WALTHOURVILLE.
As early perhaps as 1795, Mr. Andrew Walthour, having a farm in that part of the district, began to spend the sickly portion of the year at what was then called the Sand Hills, now Walthourville. His example was followed by others, and by the early part of the present century there was quite a little village formed.
Among the early settlers may be mentioned the names of Andrew Walthour, after whom the place was called, John . Bacon, General Daniel Stewart, Thomas Bacon, William I. Way, John Dunwody, Samuel Lewis, William Anderson, Charlton Hines, Captain William Hughes, Dr. Samuel Ax- son, Thomas Quarterman, Joseph Hargroves, Joseph Way, Mrs. John Stewart, William N. Way, Thomas Mallard, and others.
As the population increased it became necessary to have a place of worship. There have been several of these. The first was a Union building erected about 1820, upon a piece of ground donated by Mr. Andrew Walthour. A second Union building was put up in 1830 and dedicated by Drs. Stiles and Jones. This second building was first abandoned by the Presbyterians and afterwards by the Baptists, and was then rolled a short distance for an academy.
The first Presbyterian house erected was built upon a lot given by Mr. W. Q. Baker, about 1845 and dedicated by Dr. Axson. This house was destroyed by fire May 1, 1877.
The second Presbyterian house was built and dedicated in July, 1878, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Dr. Axson. It was erected upon ground purchased from the es- tate of Walthour. This house was destroyed by a storm in August, 1881.
The present building was put up on the same spot in 1884, and dedicated July of the same year. It may be here also added that a small building was erected for the colored peo- ple, during the pastorate of Rev. R. Q. Mallard.
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229
RETREATS AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
FLEMINGTON.
As in the case of Walthourville and following their exam- ple, several of the members commenced settling at Gravel Hill, now Flemington, about 1814. Among the early settlers were William Fleming, after whom the place was named, John Osgood, Oliver Stevens, Peter Farly Winn, Joseph Nor- man, Simon Fraser, Major John Bacon, and Rev. Murdock Murphy, who lived near the place owned by Rev. E. Q. An- drews. The first house built was of logs, erected at Ganey's Hill and used both as a school house and place of worship. Previous to this, the little house used for magistrates' court and for muster ground, was the place for occasional servi- ces. About 1836 a frame house was erected near the log house, which was still continued in use as a school house, and where the writer obtained most of his early education ; the framed school building, located on the opposite side of the road, being one night set on fire by some one and burned. This first church building had a shed around it, and a small belfry at the west end. The ground, some four acres, was given by Mr. Simon Fraser, sr.
The present building was erected about 1851 and upon the same site as the other. The bell in the steeple is the one used at Midway so long, it having fallen to the Flemington people in the distribution of the effects of the old church. Its removal from the old steeple to its present resting place was made quite an event in the history of that people. Very few objects have more sacred associations connected with them than that old church bell.
JONESVILLE.
The people in the lower portion of the district in their search after a healthy location crossed over Bulltown swamp and penetrated the piney woods some three miles, and there located their village. It was named Jonesville af- ter the first settler, Samuel Jones, and was located not far from the ranch of Moses Way, one of the early settlers, who had built a stockade for his cattle somewhere in that local-
230
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
ity, the country there furnishing excellent pasturage for stock, with which the neighborhood abounded, and hence the origin, I suppose, of the primitive, though not very clas- sical name of the swamp near by.
Among the early settlers were Samuel Jones, John Way, Louis LeConte, Nathaniel Varnedoe; and later, W. L. Jones, Moses Jones, Thos. Sheppard, Mr. Deane, Edward Quarter- man, T. W. Fleming, Capt. P. W. Fleming, Joseph Bacon, John B. Barnard, and Dr. J. M. B. Harden. Here Dr. Axson spent the last years of his ministry among this people, he having first lived at Walthourville, until the burning of the parsonage in that place. Until the time of the war it was a delightful village with about eighteen families, but like Sun- bury and some of the other dead towns of Georgia, its glory is gone; its inhabitants scattered ; its houses pulled down, and soon to be a thing of the past, without even a single vestige left to mark the spot. How appropriate and seem- ingly prophetic the subject of one of the addresses which the writer heard, and so well remembers, delivered at a school exhibition in said village in 1850, from the words "sic tran- sit gloria mundi." The eloquent words of the youthful or- ator are still ringing in his ears, but the occasion, the audi- ence, and the very lips that uttered them, are all now buried forever in the silence of the tomb !
DORCHESTER.
This place was settled in 1843. Upon the suggestion of Rev. T. S. Winn, then a private teacher in the family of Dr. C. C. Jones, the propriety of settling upon a high and dry ridge, half way between Midway and Sunbury, was favorably considered and several families soon after began to build. Several owners of houses in Sunbury had them taken down and removed to this newly formed village, which was called Dorchester in commemoration of former places of that name.
Among the early settlers I mention B. A. Busbee, Captain Abiel Winn, Captain Cyrus Mallard, W. S. Baker, Dr. Ed- ward J. Delegal, William Thompson, Dr. Benjamin King, John L. Mallard ; and later, Thomas Mallard, Benjamin Al-
231
RETREATS AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
len, Dr. Troup Maxwell, William Stevens, Henry Jones, and Dr. Raymond Harris. Soon after the settlement of the place, a school house was erected. Being only six miles from Mid- way and a small community of hardly more than a dozen families, the citizens did not feel the necessity for a church building for quite a number of years, as any special service as well as the Sabbath-school exercises, could be held in the academy. A church building, however, was erected in 1854, and still stands. The lot of four acres, upon which it stands, was given by Mr. B. A. Busbee, the date of the deed being June 14, 1852. At first the house was used only for sum- mer services, instead of going to Midway, as their people ·
constituted the larger portion of the white congregation. The cupola contains a precious relic in the form of the old Sunbury bell, which for so many years was used for so many different purposes; for school, market, church and town. Before the pulpit stands a still more precious relic, in the form of a marble font, the gift of Dr. William McWhir, and which formerly stood in the old Midway church, at which so many hundreds (including the writer), both whites and blacks, both adults and children, have been baptized.
232
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
CHAPTER XVII.
SUNBURY.
As Sunbury was a place of great historic interest, and the birthplace and home of so many of the Midway people, it is worthy of more than a mere passing notice.
On the 20th of June, 1758, Captain Mark Carr conveyed in trust to James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliot and John Stevens, most if not all of whom were mem- bers or supporters of Midway church, three hundred acres of land pleasantly situated on Medway river, for the loca- tion of a town to be known as Sunbury. The place, howev- er, seemed to have been so called previous to this, as men- tion is made of it in the church records as early as July 15, 1757 ; and even before the land was deeded to Mark Carr, the date of the grant from George II. to him, being October 4th, which was three months later than the above record.
So in the division of the Province into Parishes by the General Assembly in March, 1758, mention is made of “Mid- way and Sunbury" as forming the Parish of St. John, where- as the town was not laid off till the following June. Who gave the name or why so called, we have no means of de- termining. The probability is that the name was given by Captain Carr himself and after a little town of the same name upon the river Thames about twenty miles from the city of London.
The town thus located was divided into four hundred and ninety-six lots, most of which were soon sold. It also had three public squares respectively named King, Meeting, and Church. On account of its nearness to the Midway church,
233
SUNBURY.
only ten miles distant, it became the abode of quite a num- ber of the members and supporters of that church. It was also settled by people from Charleston and other places, and at one time with quite a number from the island of Bermuda. Hence the origin of the name Bermuda, the former name of the contiguous island which is now known as Colonel's Is- land.1 Having a good harbor and a fair back country to support it, Sunbury soon grew to be a flourishing town. A lucrative trade was also carried on with the West Indies. "About the years 1769 and 1770," says McCall, "it was thought by many, in point of commercial importance, to ri- val Savannah." He also states that seven square rigged vessels have been known to enter the port of Sunbury in one day.2 As early as 1762 it was made by Governor Wright a port of entry. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war, the time of its greatest prosperity, its population, both white and black, has been estimated at nearly a thousand.3
Sunbury has been the home of many noted men, and the theatre of many stirring scenes. Here lived Dr. Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, from whence he carried with him one hundred and sixty bar- rels of rice and sixty pounds sterling, the contribution of the citizens to their suffering compatriots at Boston. Here But- ton Gwinnett, another signer and Governor, though living on St. Catherine Island,4 spent a great deal of his time, offi- cially, being a "Justice of St. John Parish,"5 and socially, be- ing frequently a visitor at the home of Dr. Hall. Here, too,
1. Until 1778 this island was called Bermuda, but after that, Colonel's Island. So called on account of the number of ('olonels having lived upon it, there being, according to tradition, as many as six of these, which was quite remarkable as the island was small, not being more than two or three miles across. Who these Colonels were I have been unable thus far to find out. Col. Alexander Herron had a grant of land there. Cols. Screven, White, Elbert, Baker, Maxwell and McIntosh were all at different times at and about Sunbury, several of them owning plantations upon the island at the close of the war; but whether these are the ones to whom this honor belongs, I am unable to say.
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