USA > Georgia > Liberty County > History of the Midway Congregational Church, Liberty County, Georgia > Part 2
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a. Pub. Rec. P. 114.
b. Note. It was customary for the early Congregational churches to have Elders as well as Deacons. See Miller on Ruling Elders.
c. Howe's His. P. 134.
d. Stevens' His., Vol. I, P. 377.
11
PASTORS.
PASTORS.
Their first pastor was Rev. Joseph Lord, who came out with the colony from New England. He was of Charleston, Mass .; born June 30, 1672; graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1691, and was teaching school in Dorchester, and studying Theology under Rev. John Danforth, at the time of his ordination, October 22, 1695. He remained with this people, as pastor, over twenty years, after which he returned to Massachusetts, and on the 15th day of June, 1720, he was installed pastor of the church in Chatham, where he died June 6, 1748, after preaching to that people twenty- eight years.
Mr. Lord was succeeded by Rev. Hugh Fisher, a Presby- terian minister, a member of the old Presbytery of South Carolina. Of him we know very little, except that in the controversy that existed about that time concerning sub- scription to the confession of Faith, he published a sermon in reply to Rev. Josiah Smith, and taking side in favor of said subscription. The time between the removal of Mr. Lord, 1720, and the settlement of Mr. Osgood, 1735, was fifteen years. How much of this time was occupied by Mr. Fisher, we are unable to say ; doubtless the greater portion. Mr. Fisher died at Dorchester, October 6th or 7th, 1734. Dr. Hewatt, in his history, speaks of him as a minister of the church of Scotland. A son of his, James Fisher, was living in Charleston in 1817.a
Mr. Fisher was succeeded by Mr. John Osgood, who was born in Dorchester, S. C., 1710. Received a greater part of his education under Mr. Fisher ;b graduated at Harvard, 1733, he being one of the four mentioned by Ramsay, who were the only ones, native born, that had received a degree from a college, for the first ninety years which followed the settlement of South Carolina;e ordained at Dorchester, March 24, 1735, and continued pastor until the removal of the colony to Liberty county, and for nineteen years after- wards, he having removed with them in 1754.
a. Howe's His. P. 205.
b. Midway Records.
c. Ramsay's His., Vol. II, P. 273.
12
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
For a few years after the removal to Carolina the church must have worshiped in a temporary structure, of which, however, we know nothing. About the year 1700, they erected a small but substantial brick structure, about thirty feet square. It was erected on the north side of the wagon road from Charleston, and about one mile outside of the town of Dorchester, on its western side, and perhaps a half mile from the river and not far from Bacon's Bridge. It was located about fifty yards from the road, with entrance facing it, and pulpit in the opposite end, with three doors, and the floor of the aisles laid with clay tiling. It continued to be used as a place of worship after the removal of the colony, by the few families left, as well as by those who came in to occupy the places and homes of those who had emigrated. During the war of the Revolution Dorchester fell into the hands of the British and was occupied as one of their posts. Here Cornwallis had his headquarters while passing. After the battle of Eutaw the British encamped here, but retired before the advance of Gen. Greene. Before leav- ing, they burned the interior of the church. The walls, however, were left standing. These were refilled in 1794, at which time the organization became Presbyterian,ª and the building occupied by that denomination till a few years past, when the membership removed to Summerville, on the rail- road near by, and the building abandoned. Being neglected, the roof fell in, and the earthquake in 1886 threw down the greater portion of the walls, the sounding board, hinges of the pulpit, and the tiling on the floor, having been previous- ly removed to the manse at Summerville and incorporated in that structure, the sounding board being converted into canopies over the parlor doors, the hinges of the pulpit into hooks for the tongs, and the tiling used to adorn the hearth and jams of the chimney.
a. Howe's His. P. 567.
OLD WHITE MEETING-HOUSE, DORCHESTER, SOUTH CAROLINA.
-
13
PRESENT CONDITION.
PRESENT CONDITION.
The writer visited this hallowed, as well historic place in January, 1894, but failed to find absolutely a trace of this once flourishing town. I have seen it stated that Dorches- ter, with the immediate neighborhood around, comprised a population of 1,800, of which 500 were white. If, by Dor- chester, we mean the whole district, we might admit the truth of the statement ; but, if confined to the town alone, I am satisfied the estimate is entirely overdrawn. Oldmixon, in his British Empire, speaks of it as a "small town, con- taining about 350 souls."ª Hewatt, in his history, speaking of the towns in Carolina in 1735, says: "None of them, ex- cept one (Charleston). merits the smallest notice. Beaufort, Parisburg, Jacksonburg, Dorchester, Camden, and George- town, are all inconsiderable villages, having in each twenty, thirty, or at most, forty dwelling houses."b After the re- moval of the colony to Georgia, and the ravages of the rev- olution, the town began to decline. As early as 1788, we find the following in Bishop Asbury's Journal: "March 5, 1788, I passed Dorchester, where there are remains of what appears to have been once a considerable town. There are the ruins of an elegant church, and the vestiges of several well built houses,"e and even these vestiges, with the excep- tion of the tower of the former, are now all gone. On the upper or northwest side, and just across a low swamp, may be seen the remains of the old Dorchester church, familiarly . known as the "Old White Meeting House," because when' rebuilt it was plastered white on the outside. These remains still stand in a thicket of trees, some fifty yards from the road which it faces. A ditch well filled up, surrounds what appears to have been the old cemetery, though there are graves of more recent date around among the trees, in the rear and on the other side of the building. The only tomb stone to be seen of older date than 1700 is that of Dr. Sam- uel Stevens and wife, in an enclosed wall of brick, with mon-
a. Oldmixon, P. 513.
b. Hewatt Vol. II P. 289.
c. Howe's His. P. 463.
14
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
uments of slate, similar to the earlier ones in the Old Mid- way Cemetery. The former died April 9, 1760, and the lat- ter, January 12, 1761.
About one mile further down, and on the lower limits of the town, stands the tower of the old Episcopal church al- luded to above, and all that is left of it, and itself rapidly going to decay, and bearing date of 1751. The body of the church was erected in 1719-20 and enlarged 1734. This is one of the most beautiful ruins in this country, and reminds one of some of the old Abbey ruins in England. To blunder sud- denly upon such a picturesque object in a scope of woods in an old field produces quite a singular impression upon . the mind of the beholder.
About two hundred yards off, and with the Ashley still further in the rear, as a background, may be seen the walls of the old Fort, so historic in its memories, and the scene of the military powers of Cornwallis, Marion, Tarlton, Mc- Intosh, and Greene. It was made of concrete one hundred feet long, with walls eight to ten feet high, three feet thick, with two sally ports, the lower commanding the river, and with a magazine in the interior now in ruins. It was built not later than 1719 and repaired in 1778. The walls, built of oyster shells and lime, still remain intact. What mnemo- ries crowd into the mind of the pilgrim to these sacred shrines !. What historic scenes here enacted ! But the actors are all gone, and gone forever.
BEECH HILL.
Although we have no distinct statement of the fact, it seems the Dorchester people were not all settled at the same place, but a considerable portion were at a place eight miles distant. When they first commenced occupying this point, we have no means of determining. It seems from the men- tion of the place in connection with the persons sent to search the land, and the mention of the emigrants to Geor- gia being from both places, that no small part of the colony lived there, and that it formed a very important part of Mr. Osgood's charge, he preaching there in connection with
15
REASONS FOR REMOVAL.
Dorchester. Though we have no account of any church or- ganization at that place, still there was a house of worship there, and also a glebe at both places of ninety-five acres each. In 1793 the Presbyterians, after they came into pos- session had a church edifice there, but no separate organi- zation, as appears from the chartered nåme, which was "The United Church and Congregation of Dorchester and Beech Hill," they having gathered up the remnants at both places and constituting a united church, the minister preach- ing alternately at the one place and then at the other.a
CHAPTER II.
THE REMOVAL.
After a residence at Dorchester of fifty-six years, the colo- ny commenced debating the question of removal. The place was found to be sickly, on account of the low, marshy lands surrounding it ; besides, being mostly an agricultural people, they become too much crowded as the population increased, and fearing dispersion, they concluded best to remove. Their reasons for this course are fully stated in their records, which we here quote :
"REASONS FOR REMOVAL."
"Our ancestors, having a greater regard to a compact Settlement and re- ligious Society than future temporal advantages, took up but small tracts of land, many of which, after their decease, being divided amongst their chil- dren, reduced them still to smaller, in consequence of which our lands were generally soon worn out. Few had sufficient for the convenient support and Maintenance of their families, and some none at all, nor likely to get any among us. Young people, as they grew up and settled for themselves, were obliged, for want of lands, to move out from us. Dorchester and Beech Hill, the places where we settled, being also a very sickly part of the country, several persons among us, chiefly for these reasons, seemed very anxious to move out from us, and had several times searched for some other place in
a. Howe's His. P. 569
1
16
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
Carolina, but could find none capacious and convenient enough for that pur- pose ; notwithstanding which, the same disposition to remove continuing with several, occasioned some serious reflection on the state and circumstances of this Church, and it was thought probable, that unless some tract of land, suitable for the convenient and compact settlement and support of a congre- gation, could be found to which we might remove, and settle in a body, the Society would, in a few years at most, be dispersed, so as not to be capable of supporting the Gospel amoung us, especially if we should lose our present pastor, and (which in that case seems not unlikely) be any considerable time without the administration of Gospel ordinances amoung us -the only circum- stances which at present detains many, otherwise quite inclined to remove from us. Upon these considerations, a removal of the whole Society seemed advisable ; and having heard a good character of the lands in Georgia, 'twas thought proper that some should take a journey to that Colony, and search out some place there conveniently for our purpose, which was accordingly performed at several inquisitions, and issued at length in a tolerable satis- faction as to the capacity of the place, and a remove thereupon was more generally concluded on."
FIRST SEARCH.
In accordance with the above determination,
"On Monday, ye 11th of May, anno 1752, three persons of our Society sett off from Beech Hill for Georgia, to view the lands there; and on Thursday, the 16th, arrived at Medway, the place proposed. After a few days' stay, haveing viewed Medway swamp, and approving of it, and heard of large Quantitys of good Lands adjoining, they returned home, with an account of what they had heard and seen. Upon which a disposition to remove seemed to encrease among us, tho' opposed by several, and a further search was determined. A petition was also drawn up, and signed by many, to be pre- sented to the Council of Georgia, for a Reserve of a Quantity of Land for us, if approved by the Searchers."
SECOND SEARCH.
"On Monday, ye 15th of June, 1752, five of the said Society sett off for Medway, where they arrived on Thursday, the 25th, and continued their searches till the third of July, and got as good a satisfaction for the time as could be expected, and returned from thence to Savannah with their Peti- tion, and got a Grant of 22,400 acres of land, to be reserved for us eighteen months. From thence they returned home on the fourteenth of July, when people were differently affected with the relation of what they had discov- ered, and how far they had proceeded. Several used their Endeavours to frustrate the Scheme, notwithstanding which, an Inclination to remove seemed considerably in the Ascendent. Several Persons not included in the former grant were now desirous of joining with us, and a new Petition was
17
GRANTS OF LAND.
drawn up, to which were affixed the names of thirty persons more, and it was determined that another journey should be made to the place, in order to survey the lands already granted, to petition for more, and to make a fur- ther search."
FIRST ATTEMPT AT SETTLEMENT.
"About the beginning of August, 1752, six persons sett off by Land, and on the Ioth of the same month, Seven more by water, to survey the Lands, and begin Settlements. Those by land carryed in the petition, and got a grant of nine thousand five hundred and fifty acres more of land, and took a further prospect of the place ; but, being disappointed in the coming of the Schooner, which was to have met them at the place, on board of which was most of their provisions and their Negroes, they were obliged to return without effecting much there. On the 12th of September, in the evening, they got on board, in order to return, and on the 14th got down to St. Cath- erine's Island, from whence they intended to have proceeded the next day to Sea ; but Providence, happily for them, ordered them a Disappointment, which kept them some days from their purpose, for on the (15th), while they lay in the harbour, there arose a Hurricane, which was in Carolina the most violent that ever was known since the Settlement of the English there, which in many places left not one tree in twenty standing, and threw down many Buildings. On the 16th, they attempted to put out to sea, but could not, and therefore went within land to Tibi, where, meeting with high winds, they sailed up to Savannah, where several, leaving the vessel, went home by land; the rest, who remained in her, had a tedious, long passage, and were met by a second hurricane before they got home, but were then also in a safe Har- bour. In their passage to Georgia, one negro fell overboard, and was drowned, and those who went up by land had two of their horses drowned in their return. These adverse Providences were very discouraging to most, and brought the affaire of our removing to a very considerable stand."
GRANTS OF LAND.
The following are the persons included in the land grants alluded to above:'
FIRST GRANT, JULY 11, 1752.
John Stevens, Sr., 500 Acres,
Barock Norman, 500 Acres,
Benjamin Baker,
66
Daniel Slade, 66 66
Parmenas Way, 66
66
John Winn, 66
John Lupton, 66 66
Samuel Bacon, 66
Rev. John Osgood, 66 66
Edward Sumner, 66 66
Samuel Stevens, 66
Andrew Way, 66
1 See White's His. Col. P. 34.
18
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
Richard Spencer,
500 Acres,
Joseph Way,
500 Acres,
William Baker,
66
William Graves,
6.
Sarah Osgood,
66
Joseph Norman
.6
66
Richard Girardeau,
66
66
John Stewart,
..
66
James Way,
64
Robert Glass,
6.
60
Edward Way,
66
66
Jno. Quarterman,
66
66
Jonathan Bacon,
66
David Russ,
66
66
John Norman,
William Lupton,
66
Nathaniel Way,
Jno. Stevens, Jr.,
66
John Mitchell,
Joseph Oswald,
66
6.
Sarah Mitchell,
Jacob Weston,
John Edwards,
.6
Joshua Clark,
300
66
John Elliott,
66
For a Glebe,
400
Total,
21,700 Acres.
SECOND GRANT, AUGUST 6, 1752.
Daniel Dunnom,
500 Acres.
James Baker,
300 Acres, ..
Isaac Dunnom,
66
66
Rebecca Quarterman "
John Graves,
..
66
Joseph Stevens,
250
Palmer Goulding,
66
Thomas Stevens
..
Joseph Massey,
66
Joseph Bacon, Jr., 66
Thos. Stephens, Jr.,
..
Jno. Wheeler.
200
66
Isaac Bradwell,
Joseph Baker,
66
66
N. Bradwell,
..
Thomas Way, Jr., John Shave,
66
.
Hugh Dowse,
66
Moses Way,
.6
Peter Goulding,
400
66
Daniel Cannon,
66
Elizabeth Baker.
6.
Joseph Winn,
..
William Chapman, 300
John Gorton,
100
Total,
9.650 Acres.1
THE FIRST SETTLEMENT.
On the sixth of December, 1752, Mr. Benjamin Baker and family and Mr. Samuel Bacon and family arrived and com- menced a settlement. Mrs. Baker died the day after their arrival, which must have cast quite a gloom over the enter- prise.
1 31,950 acres in all. The church records say 32,550. . Not having the colonial records before me, I am unable to point out the source of the discrepancy.
66
Samuel Burnley,
66
Samuel James,
66
66
Robert Echols,
Joseph Bacon,
..
Richard Baker,
Richard Woodcraft,
66
66
James Christie,
"
John Churchell,
Elizabeth Simmons,
19
THOSE WHO FOLLOWED.
THOSE WHO FOLLOWED.
On March 24th, of the following year, Mr. Parmenas Way and family arrived, and from the records appears to be the only family that arrived that year. During the next year (1754), seventeen families, including that of the pastor, and two single men. The two single men were John Quarter- man, Jr., and Moses Way. Those having families were John Stevens, Richard Spencer, Richard Baker, Josiah Osgood, Samuel Way, John Elliott, John Quarterman, Rev. John Os- good, Sarah Mitchell, John Mitchell, Samuel Burnley, Ed- ward Way, Edward Sumner, William Baker, John Shave, Nathaniel Way, Benjamin Andrew. Three of these families, viz., that of John and Sarah Mitchell and Benjamin Andrew, were from Pon Pon.1 In 1755, six families and two single men arrived. The families were John Gorton, John Winn, John Lupton, Joseph Bacon, Andrew Way, Isaac Girardeau. The two single men were Thomas Peacock, of Charleston, and Joseph Massey, of Pon Pon. Five families in 1756; those of William Graves, John Stewart, Sr., John Stewart, Jr., John Graves, and Daniel Dunnom. The next year, 1757, but one family came, Richard Girardeau. In 1758, Samuel Jeans and family, James Andrew and family, and (Mrs.) Lydia Saunders. In 1771, the three families of Jonathan Bacon, William Norman, and Isham Andrews, making in all, as given in the church book, a total of thirty-eight fam- ilies and five single persons. The Colonial Records, on the other hand, show that there were seventy-one applications and allotments of land under the different dates of July 11, and August 6, 1752;2 and this, too, agreeing with the state- ment of Mr. James Habersham, in his letter to Mr. Martyn, secretary of the trustees, in which he states that application had been made and lands granted already to forty-three families, of whom two hundred and three were whites, and three hundred and seventy-eight blacks ; and that a second application had just been made for twenty-eight more fami- lies, of whom seventy-seven were whites, and two hundred
1 Pon Pon is the Indian name for the lower portion of the Edisto river.
2 White's His. Col. P, 34.
20
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
and eighty blacks, making a total of seventy-one families, with two hundred and eighty whites, and five hundred and thirty-six blacks; eight hundred and sixteen in all.1 Why the church records fail to mention so many of these-wheth- er they declined to remove, or whether an omission simply on the part of the clerk, or for the reason that they were not sufficiently identified with the church and society, we are unable to say.
In addition to the above, other settlers came, from time to time, from Dorchester and other places, as their names afterwards appear on the records. There were also a few families who had already located here and there in the dis- trict. For the town of Savannah had been laid off some twenty years before by Oglethorpe, in 1733. The land be- tween the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, with the islands from Tybee to St. Simons, with the exception of St. Catha- rine, Ossabaw, and Sapelo, had been ceded by Tomochichi. A road opened by Oglethorpe, from Savannah to Darien, under the direction of Captain Hugh Mackay, assisted by Tomochichi's Indian guides, and a fort named Argyle, after the Duke of Argyle, built and garrisoned soon after the es- tablishment of the colony, upon the Ogeechee river, only sixteen miles distant; and ten families located there to till the soil. It is therefore natural to infer that there would be found here and there a few adventurers, at least, who had settled in different parts of the district, especially on the water courses, before the arrival of the Midway people. Hence we find that the Midway district was represented by Audley Maxwell in the Colonial Assembly, which met at Savannah in 1751, the year before the arrival of any of the Dorchester people. It has been estimated that after the full establishment of the colony, there were as many as three hundred and fifty whites and one thousand five hundred ne- groes, strictly connected and thoroughly identified with the Midway people.2
1 White's His. Col. P. 516.
2 .Jones' His. Vol. I P. 493.
21
STATE OF THE PROVINCE.
STATE OF THE PROVINCE.
This removal into Georgia commenced just twenty years after the settlement of Oglethorpe. It was the sixth and last colony of any size that entered the Province.
The first colony was that under Oglethorpe, which landed February 1, 1733.
The second was that of the Salzburgers under the leader- ship of Rev. Messrs. Bolzius and Gronau, who came March 12, 1734, and settled first at Old Ebenezer, about twenty miles above Savannah.
The third was a colony of Moravians, under the leader- ship of Rev. Gottleib Spangenburg, who settled between Savannah and the Salzsburgers in the early spring of 1735. These remained till the breaking out of the Spanish war, when the most of them removed to Pennsylvania, not be- living in war.
The fourth was that of the Scottish Highlanders with John McIntosh Mohr as leader of the clan, with the Dun. bars, Baillies, Cuthberts, and others, who settled at New Inverness, now Darien, on the Altamaha river, Jan. 1736, bringing with them the Rev. John McLeod as their minister, who remained as pastor till the fall of 1741, when he re- moved to Edisto, South Carolina.
The fifth colony was the second band of Salzburgers and Moravians, known as the "great embarkation," coming over and landing at Savannah February 8, 1736, and bring- ing with them the Wesleys, John and Charles, Oglethorpe also accompanying them.
The sixth and last colony moving in, and not until eighteen years after the others, was the Dorchester people, who occupied the middle country between Savannah and Darien.
For quite a number of years before their coming the af- fairs of the Province were in a deplorable condition. George II had granted in 1732 a charter, placing the government in the hands of twenty-one trustees residing in London. At an early day they forbade the introduction of rum and negro slaves. They also sought to engraft upon the Prov-
22
HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
ince some of the old entailment laws of England, confining the title to land to the male issue, and throwing so many restrictions around its tenure and alienation as to make it in many instances reversionary to the crown. These re- strictions excited a great deal of opposition, as appears from the many published pamphlets of the times, and no- tably one by Pat Tailfer, Douglass and others, in which they held that these things were the cause of the decline, and in which they demanded a change in the law regulating the tenure of land, and also the abolition of the laws forbidding rum and slaves, as they said that every one knew that the water on the coast needed "qualifying" to render it fit for use, and further that the prohibition of slaves placed the people of the Province under great disadvantage, as it was impossible for them to compete with the slave labor of Car- olina. Yielding to the pressure, the trustees in 1742 allowed the selling of rum, and in 1749 the introduction of slaves ; in the meanwhile also changing the mode of conveyance and tenure of land, making the title absolute in fee simple.
These alleged barriers being out of the way, especially the last, the spirit of immigration revived, and settlers again be- gan coming in from the older states, and the population which had remained stationary, if not actually diminished, com- menced to grow; the settlements extending from Savannah along the coast as far south as Frederica, and up the Sa- vannah river as far as Augusta, which had been laid off as a town as early as 1735, it having been for some time be- fore, a trading post with the Cherokee Indians, by the peo- ple of Carolina.
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