USA > Georgia > Liberty County > History of the Midway Congregational Church, Liberty County, Georgia > Part 7
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FLEMINGTON CHURCH.
The disasters of the war soon brought about a second dis- memberment of the old church. The same reasons impelled the Flemington people as those of Walthourville, only in a greater degree, to seek a church organization of their own. They were so reduced and poverty stricken that no other alternative was left them. It was either that or no church privileges, for even if the church services should be kept up at Midway, not one in ten could possibly attend. In view, therefore, of the situation, though reluctantly, a second ap- plication for dismemberment was made, resulting in the with- drawal of the Flemington people. In accordance with the request seventy persons living in and around Flemington were dismissed from Midway for the purpose of a separate organization. Following theexample of Walthourville, they adopted the Presbyterian form of government and were, on application to the Presbytery of Georgia, duly elected into
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THE FLEMINGTON CHURCH.
a Presbyterian church by that body at a called meeting held at Flemington April 6, 1866.
Members of the Presbytery present :
MINISTERS .- R. Q. Way, D. H. Porter, James C. Cosby, D). L. Buttolph. RULING ELDERS .- F. M. McRae, from Mt. Vernon church.
VISITING BRETHREN .- Rev. C. B. King of Hopewell Presbytery, Rev. Edward Q. Andrews of the M. E. church, Elder J. B. Mallard from Wal- thourville, and licentiate N. P. Quarterman, who was at the same time or- dained Evangelist.
The following are the members who entered into the or- ganization :
MEMBERS.
Ezra Stacy,
Elizabeth A. Clark, Wm. Harrison,
Mrs. Maria Stacy,
Mrs. Marion Sheppard, Mrs. Sarah Harrison,
Sarah A. Stacy,
Dr. Alexander Fraser, Mrs. W. G. Martin,
Thos. Q. Cassels,
John E. Mann,
Mrs. Mary Jane Way,
Mrs. Mary A. Cassels,
Mrs. Elizabeth G. Mann, Laura A. Martin, Eugenia Mann,
Robert Q. Cassels,
Harriet Mann.
S. E. Martin, J. B. Martin,
Walter O. Cassels.
Mrs. Josephine Palmer, John E. Martin,
Simon A. Fraser,
Rosa Norman,
Mrs. Sarah A. Rahn,
Mrs. Mary W. Fraser,
Mary A. Norman,
John S. Norman,
Flora E. Fraser,
C. V. Winn,
Mrs. Susan W. Norman, Mrs. Laura J. Norman,
Sarah Ann Way,
Mary S. Norman,
W. W. Winn,
Florence B. Way, Graves Way, Mrs. Mary Way,
Wm. John Way,
Mrs. Ann Ladson.
Mrs. Ann Smith,
Mrs. Jane Way,
W. B. Trask, Mrs. Jane Trask,
Mrs. Eliza Q. Way,
Mrs. Mary E. Quarterm'n Leonora Trask, Catharine Trask,
Mrs. Sarah Fraser,
Mrs. Isabella Bradwell,
W. E. W. Quarterman, Thos. G. Stacy, Mrs. Lydia Quarterman, Joseph H. Norman,
Margaret M. Fraser,
Mary J. Bradwell,
Mrs. Harriet Theiss,
Mrs. Caroline A. Stacy, J. Calvin Norman,
The following were the officers chosen :
RULING ELDERS.
W. E. W. Quarterman. Thos. Q. Cassels, Ezra Stacy, James Laing.
DEACONS.
S. A. Fraser, L. M. Cassels.
PASTORS.
The church thus organized at Flemington was continued to be supplied by Rev. D. L. Buttolph, pastor of Midway
Mrs. Ann Irene Way,
Mrs. Claudia Winn,
Elizabeth S. Way,
Eleanora Winn.
John Girardeau,
Robert T. Quarterman,
John W. Stacy,
James Laing,
L. M. Cassels,
Irwin Rahn,
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
church, being assisted in his work by Rev. R. Q. Andrews, Methodist minister employed as missionary to the negroes, by the executors of Lamberts' estate.
At the end of 1867, the country being so impoverished and the people so reduced as to be unable to support a pastor, Mr. Buttolph reluctantly severed his connection with the Midway and Flemington people and removed to Marietta, Georgia, to which place he had been called as pastor.
REV. D. L. BUTTOLPH, D. D.
Rev. David Lyman Buttolph was born at Norwich, N. Y., December 24, 1822. He was the son of David Buttolph, a lawyer. His mother was a Miss Lyman, a close relative of Dr. Lyman Beecher. He graduated at Williams College in 1845 and Columbia Seminary in 1852 in the class with the writer, was licensed the same year by Charleston Presbytery at Beech Island, and soon afterwards ordained to the full work of the ministry and for two years was assistant to Dr. Thomas Smyth, then pastor of the Second Presbyterian church, Charleston, S. C., whence he removed to Mid- way. On the tenth of June, 1856, he was united in marriage to Miss Laura E. Maxwell, the great granddaughter of Col. James Maxwell, one of the early settlers of the county. In 1879 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the University of Georgia. When Gen. Hood re- treated from before Gen. Kilpatrick and crossed the Alta- maha river, Dr. Buttolph, who was with the army, hearing of the burning of the station house at McIntosh, and also that they had possession of Flemington, left the army, and after making a long circuitous detour, reached his home on Sunday night, which he approached with the greatest cau- tion, having employed the services of a colored man as a guide, who went before him with the understanding that should he meet a picket, he would fall upon the ground and thus signal the fact to him. He was permitted to remain unmolested after being arrested and examined, and after be- ing robbed of his gold watch by one of the Federal soldiers.
After a pleasant and successful pastorate at Midway of
REV. DAVID L. BUTTOLPH, D.D.
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DORCHESTER CHURCH.
thirteen years, greatly beloved and respected by all, he re- moved as above indicated to Marietta, in the fall of 1867, and where he labored as pastor till April, 1888, when from failing health he felt constrained to tender his resignation, which was accepted. Upon returning health Dr. Buttolph accepted the charge of a group of churches around Marietta, still making that place his home, and which he has sup- plied with the greatest acceptance.
After the retirement of Dr. Buttolph December, 1867, the Flemington church was supplied for two years and more, from January, 1868, to April, 1870, by Rev. N. P. Quarter- man and afterwards by Rev. J. W. Montgomery for twenty years, from November, 1870, to the spring of 1891, when he removed to Texas, where he is still laboring as pastor of the church at Giddings.
In 1893 Mr. C. C. Carson, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Holston and a native of Tennessee, was ordained and in- stalled pastor of the two associated churches of Flemington and Blackshear, which field he still fills.
The present membership of Flemington church (1898) is fifty-eight.
DORCHESTER CHURCH.
On account of the withdrawal of the Walthourville and Flemington people, and abandonment of so many of the winter homes and farms, and the general dispersion and impoverishment of the inhabitants, caused by the war, the few families, some fifteen or twenty in all, composing the village of Dorchester, were about all that was left of the white membership of the old church ; the village of Jonesville the last of the summer retreats being hopelessly broken up, with the wreck of the farms, its location rendering it unfit for a place of permanent residence. In their isolated condi- tion nothing was left the Dorchester people but to seek an organization of their own. In imitation of Walthourville and Flemington, having a house of their own built several years before, and after a year's supply by Rev. N. P. Quar- terman, who was also minister to the other two places,
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
they applied to Savannah Presbytery for an organization and accordingly were organized January 6, 1871, into a church of fourteen members, with one ruling elder, by a com- mittee consisting of Rev. N. P. Quarterman, Rev. C. B. King and Elder Ezra Stacy ; Elder E. J. Harden, the other member of the committee, being absent.
NAMES OF INCORPORATING MEMBERS.
L. J. Mallard, Mrs. Jennette Martin,
Mrs. Rebecca E. Bacon,
Mrs. Sarah S. Mallard, Mrs. Lizzie O. Stevens, Mrs. Sarah L. Mallard, Miss Mary S. Mell, Miss Annie Delegal, Miss Mary Alice Mallard Mrs. Carrie McIver.
Mrs. Harriet N. Bacon,
Miss Julia Winn,
Mrs. Louisa V. Winn, Mrs. Mary E. Busby, -14
RULING ELDER.
L. J. Mallard was chosen Ruling Elder.
PASTORS.
The church was supplied by Rev. J. W. Montgomery, who also preached at Flemington and Walthourville churches from 1871 to 1881, by Rev. R. Q. Baker from 1881 to 1882, then again by Rev. J. W. Montgomery from 1882 to 1893, and Rev. E. W. Way from spring 1893 to 1895, and Rev. L. T. Way, from January 1, 1896, to the present. Present membership (1898) forty-nine.
FINAL DISSOLUTION.
From the organization of the Dorchester church, 1871, may be reckoned the final dissolution of the Midway Congre- gational church, though virtually extinct even as early as the removal of Dr. Buttolph in the fall of 1867. The church was never formally dissolved, but simply exhausted itself by removals and repeated colonization. After the removal of Dr. Buttolph, the building was left in the hands of the col- ored members, who continued to use it and who were the next year, 1868, organized into a separate Presbyterian church, with 600 members, by Rev. Joe Williams, a minister of their own color, the last annual meeting of the society be- ing December, 1865, and the last record in the Session Book being October, 1867.
75
CHARACTERISTICS.
Thus, after one hundred and thirteen years, this old church, venerable with years and abundant in fruit, yielding to the stern demand of an imperious necessity, laid aside her ar_ mor and drawing around her the drapery of her couch, laid herself down to rest.
CHAPTER VII.
CHARACTERISTICS.
Having thus taken a general and rapid survey of this peo- ple, I desire more particularly to give some sketches of their inner and home life-some of their noble deeds, and some of their great men. This was truly a wonderful people if you consider their fewness in number in connection with the work they have done, and the influence they have ex- erted over the country and the world. The colony was not a large one by any means at first, and for a long time not more than three hundred and fifty whites all told, with an average church membership of not exceeding one hundred and fifty during the greater period of its existence, and yet in the end we will see what have been their achievements. The governors, signers of the Declaration of Independence, the number of counties named, the number of ministers and ministers' wives, missionaries, presidents and professors of institutions of learning, scientists, teachers, and men and women of influence, furnished by this little colony, are truly marvelous.
Before enumerating some of these, I wish to emphasize a few of the leading characteristics of this people.
Though engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits, they were unusually intelligent and refined. Bartram tells of his going in company with "several of its polite inhabitants" from Sunbury, to attend a meeting at Medway. Of the home of
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
Hon. Benjamin Andrews, one of them, he speaks as the "seat of virtue, where hospitality, piety and philosophy formed the happy family."1 So Rev. Archibald Simpson, when on a visit to the church, speaks of the congregation as "large and genteel."2 These people have always been the friends and patrons of education as the long list of ministers, pro- fessors, teachers, scientists and prominent citizens going out from them abundantly attest. Their interest in this cause manifested itself even in Carolina in the formation of the Dorchester and Beech Hill Alphabet Society, not later per- haps than 1740, and which was perpetuated in what was known as the Midway and Newport Library Society, and thus continuing for over one hundred years. This Society at one time had a library of about five hundred volumes.3
Their interest in education further appears from the fact that at an early day, as early as 1788, a school of high classical character was established at Sunbury, and attained great celebrity under the management of Dr. Wm. McWhir.+ The beneficial results of this institution to the state were incalculable, as students came from different parts of the country, especially up and down the coast; the same also appears from the number of prominent ministers and men going out from its walls.
In 1798, in addition to the Board of Commissioners which had been appointed some time before, consisting of James Dunwoody, Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve, Peter Winn, Daniel Stewart, and Thos. Stevens, a committee was appointed consisting of James Powell, Benjamin Law, Henry Wood, John Stacy, John Warren, Simon Fraser, James Cochran, Thos. Bradwell, and Rev. Mr. Cloud, a Methodist minister, "to determine on some proper mode to establish an acade- my for the county." At a subsequent meeting John Elliott and John Jones were added to this committee, in the room of James Powell and Rev. Mr. Cloud. A school was soon afterwards established at Newport, mention being made of an appropriation of "glass to glaze the windows," but
1. Travels, P. 4. 2. Howe's His. P. 318. 3. Mallard's account. 4. Sunbury.
Rees. Cy. Art.
REV. WILLIAM McWHIR, D.D.
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CHARACTERISTICS.
whether this was the one contemplated in the above action I am not able to say.
In addition to these, other schools were soon established first at Midway and afterwards at Walthourville, Fleming- ton and Jonesville, and later on at Dorchester, to say noth- ing about those started in other parts of the county, under the influence and stimulus of these, as at Riceboro, Hines- ville, Connouchee Bluff, and Taylor's Creek. Major John Winn taught for awhile at Midway, and Mr. Edward Pyn- cheon for a long time had a flourishing academy, male and female, at Walthourville, so Mr. John B. Mallard later on at the same place ; Mr. Samuel Varnedoe, at Jonesville; Mr. Samuel Mallard and others, at Flemington, and Col. James S. Bradwell, at Hinesville. Hon. A. H. Stephens also at one time taught for awhile in the family of Mr. Louis LeConte's, near Jonesville. These schools were all first-class in every particular, the teachers being graduates. As the result, the children were all well taught and had every facility for ac- quiring a first-class education without ever leaving home.
They were also a patriotic people. In attestation of this I need only point to the illustrious name which the county bears, and which was conferred by the unanimous voice of the state. When the parishes were changed into counties by the constitutional convention which met in Savannah in 1777, all the other counties were named in hon- or of distinguished Englishmen, friends of America. Thus, . Chatham was named in honor of the elder Pitt, the Earl of Chatham and friend of American liberty. Richmond, after the Duke of Richmond, another friend, who so nobly advocated the cause of American freedom in the House of Lords. Ef- fingham, after Lord Effingham, who refused to employ his sword against America. Burke, after the great Commoner and Statesman. Camden, after the distinguished Lord Chancellor of England and firm friend of the colonies. Glynn, after the eminent counsellor of that name. Wilkes, embra- cing all the ceded lands north of the Ogeechee, after John Wilkes, the avowed friend of American Independence. But this one was named in honor of her own self and in com- memoration of her own heroic deeds. It was on account of
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
the great zeal of this people in the cause of Independence, that the name of the parish of St. John, in connection with those of St. Andrews and St. James, was changed by the legislature to the county of Liberty; and if any people ever deserved to have patriotic devotion to their country's cause embalmed in their county's name, it was this. They were the first to assert their independence and the last to surrender to British supremacy, Sunbury being the last mil- itary post upon whose ramparts floated the colonial flag when the province was overrun in 1778. While the rest of the parishes were parleying and dallying, she resolved to act, "the irresolution of fear," as Dr. Stevens expressed it, "having no place in her decided councils." Withdrawing from the provincial congress on account of their halting and dalliance, she sought connection with the Charleston asso- ciation through a petition sent by a committee ap- pointed at Midway February 9, 1775, and consisting of Daniel Roberts, Samuel Stevens, and Joseph Wood. Being refused admission into the Carolina association, she resolved to act for herself, and in advance of the rest of the province, sent her own representative, Dr. Lyman Hall, to the conti- nental congress at Philadelphia in 1775, and who, it is said, went all the way on horseback.1 No wonder Governor Wright, in his letter to Secretary Germain, speaks of the in- habitants of St. John's Parish as a "nest of Oliverians, most of whom would go back again as soon as their crops would be reaped in Carolina.2 Dr. Stevens did not overdraw the picture, when he said in his eloquent address before the Georgia Historical Society :
"Alone she stood. a Pharos of Liberty in England's most loyal Province. renouncing every fellowship that savored not of freedom. and refusing ev- ery luxury which contributed to ministerial coffers. With a halter around her neck and the gallows before her eyes. she severed herself from sur- rounding associations and cast her lot. while as yet all was gloom and dark- ness. with the fortunes of her country. to live with her rights, or die in their defense. Proud spot of Georgia soil! Well does it deserve the appellation
1. Dr. Hall was elected by this Parish March 21, 1775, and received May 13th of the same year, as "a delegate from the Parish of St. John's of the Province of Georgia,' and allowed to deliberate, but not to vote when the vote was taken by Provinces. as he represented only a Parish. He was regularly chosen July ith as the representative of the whole Province, and in company with Button Gwinnett, another representative. and from the same Parish, signed the Declaration of Independence.
2. Ga. His. Coll. Vol. III P. 310. Oliverians named after Oliver Cromwell.
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CHARACTERISTICS.
which a grateful state conferred upon it, and truly may we say of its sons in the remembrance of their patriotic sacrifices: 'Nothing was wanting to their glory ; they were wanting to ours.'"1
She had her full share of representatives on the committee drafting the resolutions for adoption at the famous meeting at Tondees' Tavern in Savannah August 10, 1774, and which has been styled the "birthplace of freedom in Georgia." She gave of her sons, furnishing her full quota of officers and men, sending at an early day two volunteer companies, the "St. John's Rangers" and the "St. John's Riflemen." She was the first to offer upon the altar of her country in the cause of freedom, a commissioned officer of any prominence (Gen. Screven). The Midway people were the only commu- nity that sent a letter of congratulation to General Wash- ington on his visit to Georgia in 1791. She still exhibits the same military spirit in the maintenance of two cavalry com- panies, one of which, "The Independent Troop," has been perpetuated since just after the war of the Revolution, be- ing the oldest cavalry and the second oldest military com- pany in the state, the Chatham artillery outranking them by a few years, they being organized in 1786, while the Troop were not organized till 1791 or 1792.2 The other company, the "Liberty Guards," was organized in the upper portion of the county in 1845, commanded by Captain Enoch Daniel, and kept up ever since. These companies have never failed to offer their services, when demanded by their country, or ever failed to win laurels on every knighted field. In the state tournaments the Liberty Troop have usually borne off if not all, at least their full share of the offered prizes. The interest and enthusiasm on the part of the members are kept up, in a large measure, by the interest manifested by the people. These companies have always occupied prominent positions on Fourth of July celebrations and other public occasions. Their drills and parades have always awakened enthusiasm among the citizens, which no doubt have largely contributed to their perpetuation. I know of no other county, purely agricultural, in this or any
1. Ga. His. Coll. Vol. II P. 24. 2. See Dr. Jones' Address P. 18.
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
other state that maintains two military companies of vol- unteers.
They also possessed and exhibited in a very pleasing de- gree all the noble elements of social life. They were neigh- borly and friendly. In a great degree shut out from the rest of the world, they married and intermarried to such an ex- tent that almost everybody became related to everybody else, and became as one large family, with associations of the greatest neighborly freedom and confidence. They were hospitable and kind. There were few houses, if any, where the worthy traveler could not spend the night without the payment of a single cent. Unable to live upon the farms on account of health, and therefore with a good deal of gentle- manly leisure, and in some instances of means, though of no great wealth, they indulged a good deal in hunting and outside sports in the day time and devoting much of the evening to family reunions and to rehearsing the events of the day, or repeating incidents of former times. The writer remembers well with what interest he would listen to the marvelous stories and legends, of military prowess and exploits, told by the older people, concerning "Bob" Sal- lett and other remarkable characters of the revolution; and for the same reason, any "good joke" upon any one would surely be carefully treasured up as "stock in trade," and in due time was certain to receive proper ventilation. They were a temperate people. Though living in a malarial country, and where they might easily offer the modern plea of health for the use of alcoholic liquors, in accordance too with the common idea of the early settlers of the province, "that everybody knew the water," according to Tailfer, "needed qualifying," yet they were remarkably abstemious. Liberty county has ever been ranked with the prohibition counties, and has always, and ahead of all others, had local legislation on the subject. The writer remembers being at a gathering of young people one Christmas, when a proposi- tion for an eggnog was made ; upon the suggestion of one of the young ladies, cologne was substituted for whiskey, there being no spirits to be had in the whole country. So I find very few cases of church discipline in the records for this
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CHARACTERISTICS.
sin. In later years liquor was allowed to be sold by the quart, but the moral sentiment was always such that a man who would engage in the traffic even under this re- striction, always felt that the avocation placed him consid- erably below par in the estimation of the people.
They were a public spirited people, looking after the gen- eral interest, as appears from the statement of Rev. Mr. Simpson in his visit in 1761, concerning the fine church edi- fice, and the good public roads, which seven years before were impenetrable swamps.
They were a liberal people. The employment of two min- isters, with a salary of $1,000 each, too clearly shows that the contributions to all the benevolent causes were in like proportion. As an instance of this we need only mention the one item of $1,292 given to the Columbia Seminary at different times ; the special legacy of Maj. Maybank of $5,- 396.20,1 besides the annual contributions to the Bible cause, Foreign Missions, and different societies.
They were also a musical people. Paid choristers were appointed, and formed part of every year's election. Seats in the church were specially set apart for the singers, and different parts carried; fugue pieces, such as Sherburne and Easter Anthem, being in the earlier periods special fa- vorites. The interest in church song has been kept up even to the present, a large proportion of the young people being able to sing by note; the interest being kept up by weekly meetings at some central house in each neighborhood du- ring some night in the week for practice.
But it was especially in their religious life and conduct that their character shone most conspicuously. They were emphatically a godly people, as appears from the fre- quent fast days and seasons of special prayer and thanks- giving, with which their earlier records abound. Scarcely had the first settlers landed before they commenced the erec- tion of a house of worship, and their zeal and devotion only increased with the flight of years.
It was customary and also expected that everybody in
1, Howe's His. Vol. II P. 452.
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
the community, outsiders as well as church members, should attend those services, public sentiment demanding such at- tendance. To stay away was to sink in the scale of re- spectability. The writer remembers but one man in his day who left off going to the house of the Lord, and with what holy horror he was looked upon, very much in the light of a heathen and publican. It was their custom to have two services every Sabbath, though in the country, a thing quite unusual in the early settlement of a new country, and irre- spective of the weather, though they had no means of warm- ing the house. In the absence of the minister these services were conducted by one or more of the deacons. The prac- tice which commenced at an early day and afterwards ob- tained in all the retreats and kept up in some of them to this day, of having services conducted by the deacons in the absence of the minister, is worthy of note. After the settle- ment of the retreats, there being five places of worship and only two ministers, and Midway claiming the service of one every Sabbath through the winter months, there could hardly be an average of two Sabbaths in the month for preaching. I give it as my own experience that I have in my rearing heard fully as many sermons read by laymen as preached by ministers. Where do you find the parallel to this in the annals of any other church? On account of the distance of so many of the families from the church, cold lunches were served for dinner, the different families resort- ing to the various little houses built around the church for their comfortable resting during the intermission, each fam- ily having its own, or as sometimes the case, two or more, when related.1
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