USA > North Carolina > Sketches of North Carolina, historical and biographical : illustrative of the principles of a portion of her early settlers > Part 30
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MINUTES OF THE SYNOD.
a mode of expression more consistent with his own ideas, as his proposition and explanation appear to be very different."
" Upon the whole, this Synod, sorry to find that the brethren over the mountains still retain so much of the spirit of warm oppo- sition, DO SOLEMNLY RECOMMEND to Mr. Balch, and those who are opposed to him, to pray for and endeavor to exercise more of that spirit of meekness and brotherly kindness which the gospel so frequently recommends to us, and endeavor to cultivate friendship with each other. And further, the Synod recommend to the Pres- bytery of Abingdon a more strict regard to our standards of doc- trine and discipline, especially in introducing young men to the ministry of the gospel.". "The parties acceded to the judgment."
The Synod passed orders, for the purpose of bringing the sub- ject of missions before all the congregations ; and for obtaining collections from them all for the support of missionaries.
A petition from the congregations of Greenspring and Sinking Spring, with a remonstrance against the proceedings of Abingdon Presbytery, in ordaining Mr. Bovelle pastor of Sinking Spring, in the peculiar case of the congregation, particularly that there was so strong an opposition to him. After much time spent in hearing papers produced by the Presbytery and Mr. Bradley, the represent- ative of the congregation, the Synod judged that the Presbytery " acted incautiously " in ordaining Mr. Bovelle in the circum- *stances ; and after appointing a committee to take the sense of the congregation on the continuance or discontinuance of the connex- ion and to lay the result before the Presbytery, who are to act accordingly, they say-" And further, this Synod do seriously and solemnly, and with all the authority which they possess as a judi- cature of the church of Christ, recommend to the ministers and people beyond the mountains, and especially to the people of Sink- ing Spring and Greenspring congregations, to seek peace and pur- sue it. O brethren, live peaceably among yourselves ! Let brotherly love continue. See that ye fall not out by the way." The Presbytery of Greenville was directed to hold a meeting on the second Tuesday of February, to receive the report of the com- mittee and to determine the case.
The Rev. William Montgomery, of Presbytery of Hopewell, and Mr. John Matthews, a licentiate of Orange Presbytery, were appointed missionaries to the Mississippi Territory, from the 15th of November, to act as long as they shall judge convenient. Thomas Hall, a licentiate of Concord Presbytery, was appointed to itinerate through the Carolinas and Georgia, for the space of eight months.
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SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA.
CHAPTER XXIII.
EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE.
TENNESSEE is the daughter of North Carolina, having been in the chartered bounds of the colony, and also reckoned a part of the independent confederated State, until the year 1791, when she was reckoned one of the territories of the United States ; and having received many of its earliest settlements and strongest reinforce- ments from the old North State, and from the original stock in Ire- land and their descendants in the Middle States. The beautiful fields along the Holston and Clinch, and the charming valleys, al- lured the early emigrants by the same inducements as charmed and captivated the wanderers from Ireland and Pennsylvania, to fix their abodes between the Yadkin and the Catawba.
The phrases-"" western counties "-" mountains "-" mountain men "-" Washington County," as used during the invasion of the Carolinas, by the King's forces, had reference to sections of country now in, or bordering upon the State of Tennessee. Fergu- son was in pursuit of the soldiers of these regions, when he visited Rutherford county, and sent his insulting message; and on the Wataga, the forces began to assemble that gave him the fatal an- swer at King's Mountain.
The troubles and trials of the first settlement we can scarcely glance at, nor in the present connection is it necessary, they being in kind and circumstances altogether similar to those of the pioneers of the western part of the mother State, with this only exception, they were farther removed from market, and from the influence of royal authority either in church or state. The wide ranges for cat- tle and for game, were the first inducements to settle on the Hols- ton ; and the time of the first cabin and the name of the pioneer will probably never be known. Next to this influence, was the policy of giving bounty for military service, in wild lands ; and Carolina gave a value to the forests of her western wilds by re- warding the labors and exposure of her sons, with titles to lands, that might become a home to them or their descendants. So rapid was the influx of enterprising men, particularly about the close of the Revolutionary war, that an effort was made in the years
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1784-5, to form a State by the name of Franklin. This movement was premature rather than uncalled for; and in 1791, a territory was set off, and ultimately a state was organized by the name of Tennessee, the Indian appellation of the principal river. Meck- lenburg, Rowan, Orange and Granville Counties, North Carolina, sent forth crowds of emigrants, and numerous ministers in their train. The family of the Polks, so numerous and so noted in the time of the Revolution, all but one branch, emigrated, and cast their lot in with the bold spirits that sought a home in the great valley of the Mississippi. The old Carolina names are numerous in Tennessee.
To the great crowds from Carolina were joined many families of the Scotch-Irish race from Virginia, and from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These collected families of the same race, but differ- ent parts of the United States, gave a tone to the rising population of the State, which all the influx of other races from other regions has only modified. The Scotch-Irish and their descendants may not. now be a majority in the State ; they may perhaps be a minority ; but the character impressed by their predecessors will remain for ages, perhaps for ever-enterprise, independence, and a desire for improvement. The church, the school-house, and the college, grew up with the log cabins ; and the principles of religion were pro- claimed, and the classics taught where glass windows were unknown, and books were carried in bags upon pack-horses.
The first minister of religion, that is known to have preached in Tennessee, was a Presbyterian by the name of Cummins, from Vir- ginia, who accompanied the expedition from Carolina against the Cherokees in 1776. As he passed through the Holston settlements, he preached in the forts and stations, those places of defence and of instruction, and, for a time, of public worship. Among the Scotch- Irish that settled West Pennsylvania, Carolina, Virginia, and enter- ed the wilderness of Tennessee, and were gathered into forts and stations, so often made the opportunities of dissipation, it was no uncommon thing for those gatherings to be improved for instruct- ing children, and for seasons of religious worship. Mr. Cummins did not remain long in Tennessee, neither did he organize any churches at that time.
The first minister that took his abode in Tennessee, was the Rev. Samuel Doak; and as he is identified with the history and progress of sound learning and religion in North Carolina, west of the Blue Ridge, a few particulars concerning his early training and the la- bors of his maturer years cannot be improper. His parents, Sam- uel Doak and Jane Mitchell, emigrated very young from the North
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of Ireland, and took their abode in Chester county, Pennsylvania. At the time of their marriage, they were both members of the church ; and soon after that event they emigrated to Virginia, and settled in Augusta county, in the bounds of New Providence con- gregation. They were both of that party called the Old Side in dis- tinction from that called the New Side, which two then divided the Presbyterian church. Their son, Samuel, was born August, 1749. He remained with his parents, and worked on the farm till he was sixteen years old. At that time he was admitted member of the church in full communion ; and soon after commenced a course of classical study with Mr. Robert Alexander, who resided about two miles from his father's house. This grammar-school was soon after removed two or three miles further, to about the place where the Seceder meeting-house, called Old Providence, now stands. The school was taught by a Mr. Edmondson, who afterwards studied medicine. About this time the school came more immediately under the charge of the pastor, the Rev. John Brown, who having served the church of New Providence some forty-four years, re- moved to Kentucky, and lies buried near Pisgah church. By Mr. Brown the school was removed to Pleasant Hill, within about a mile of his dwelling, and about the same distance north of the vil- lage of Fairfield. While here, Mr. Ebenezer Smith, the brother of John B. and Samuel Stanhope Smith, was employed as teacher. A Mr. Archibald succeeded Mr. Smith, and William Graham suc- ceeded Mr. Archibald. At this time the Presbytery of Hanover adopted the school. From near Fairfield it was removed to Timber Ridge; and from thence to near Lexington ; and is now Washing- ton College, in Lexington, Virginia.
In Oct., 1773, Samuel Doak entered Princeton College and re- mained two years. Returning to Virginia he was married to Esther Montgomery, sister of the Rev. John Montgomery, whose family belonged to New Providence; and shortly after became tutor in Hampden Sydney College in Prince Edward county. Here, for about two years, he pursued the study of divinity under the direc- tion of the Rev. John B. Smith, the President of the College. Being licensed by the Hanover Presbytery, after preaching in Vir- ginia for a short time, he removed to the Holston settlement, in what is now Sullivan county, Tennessee. Not finding this a suita- ble field for the designs of education he had in view, he removed in the course of a year or two to the settlement on Little Limestone, in Washington county, purchased a farm, and on his own land built a small church, and log college, and founded Salem congregation.
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EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE.
His institution was incorporated by the Legislature of North Caro- lina, in 1788, under the name of " Martin Academy;" and is the first literary institution that was established in the great valley of the Mississippi. In 1795 it was changed into a college, and receiv- ed the name of " Washington." From the incorporation of Martin Academy till 1818, Mr. Doak continued the President of the Insti- tution ; and his elders of Salem congregation formed a part of the Board of Trustees. He procured for his institution a small library in Philadelphia, caused it to be transported in sacks on pack-horses, across the mountains, and thus formed the nucleus of the library at Washington College. The brick buildings overlook the site of the log college; but long must it be before the enlarged institution can equally overshadow the usefulness of the log academy and college that for a time supplied the opportunities for education for ministers, lawyers and doctors, in the early days of Tennessee, and still is sending out its stream.
Having organized a number of churches in the county in which he lived, also Bethel and Timber Ridge in Greene county, about the year 1818 he resigned the Presidency of Washington College in favor of his son, Rev. John M. Doak, M.D., and removed to Bethel. Here he opened an academy to prepare youth for college, and named it Tusculum; and passed the remainder of his days in usefulness and honor. Under his son, Samuel W. Doak, the acade- my has grown into a flourishing college. Says a gentleman who knew him well-" His praise is in all our churches. During the Revolutionary war he was a warm, decided and uniform friend to civil and religious liberty, took part in the defence of his country, was a member of the convention that in 1784-5 gave rise to the insurrectionary state of Franklin ; was upon the committee that re- ported an article of its constitution, making provision for the support of learning ; and to the close of life was still its devoted servant, advocate, and patron. A rigid opposer of innovation in religious tenets ; very old school in all his notions and actions ; uncompro- mising in his love of the truth, and his hostility to error or heresy ; a John Knox in his character, fearless, firm, nearly dogmatical and intolerant ; but no one has been more useful to church or state, except it be Hall or Caldwell in N. C., or Waddell in South Caro- lina and Georgia. A volume would not exhaust the incidents of his life."
About the same time that M. Doak settled in Tennessee, Rev. Samuel Houston, reared in the same congregation, and at the same school, took his residence in Washington county. After a few
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years he returned to Virginia, and lived to a good old age in Rock- bridge county. Having been a soldier in the battle at Guilford Court-house, and ranking among the bravest of the brave, there can be no doubt of his love of American liberty. While living in Tennessee he took an active part in public matters, and was a con- spicuous member of the Franklin convention. A brother and other connexions settled near Houston's station in Blount county ; and his co-emigrants formed Providence church at Maryville. The name of Houston is familiar in Texas.
The Rev. Hezekiah Balch and Rev. Samuel Carrick came to Ten- nessee about the same time; both were members of Hanover Pres- bytery. Mr. Balch from Pennsylvania, Donegal Presbytery, formed one of the original members of Orange, and Mr. Carrick had been ordained by Hanover Presbytery, in whose bounds he labored for a time. These gentlemen met undesignedly in 1789, in the settle- ment where Lebanon church now is. Mr. Carrick had sent an ap- pointment to preach, and on a short notice a great crowd assembled to hear the strange minister. Mr. Balch came that day. The place chosen for preaching was a large Indian mound at the junction of Holston and French Broad. Mr. Carrick courteously yielded the precedency to Mr. Balch as being the older man. After listening to the sermon, he observed " that he had selected the same subject, and as it was not yet, and could not be exhausted, he would still preach upon it." After preaching, the ordinance of Baptism was administered. Mr. Balch assisted in the organization of churches ; under his patronage Greenville College was founded and rose to usefulness. Mr. Carrick organized Lebanon church, and also the church in Knoxville. He was the first President of Blount College in that place, and finished a life of usefulness in 1808, very sud- denly. For want of memoranda little can here be said of these men, whose lives afforded matter of great interest to the Christian public, and must hold a prominent place in a correct history of Ten- nessee. Says a gentleman who knew him-" Rev. Samuel Carrick, equally orthodox, and not less learned or devoted to the service of his master,"-he is running a parallel with Mr. Doak,-" was yet more liberal, tolerant, and refined. He had a great deal of urbanity, much of the suaviter in modo, less of the fortiter in re, dressed neat- ly, behaved courteously, grave, polite, genteel, in short he was a model of an old-fashioned Southern gentleman, and had been evi- dently (as all Presbyterian clergymen of that day were, and ought still to be) well raised."
About the same time a son of the first minister of Sugar Creek,
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EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE.
after preaching for a time in the church of his father, removed to West Tennessee, and settled near where Nashville now is, on the Cumberland river. A man of fine talents and capable of close thought, he did the cause of religion much service. In the lat- ter part of his life he had some difficulties that hindered, for a time, his usefulness, but which served to draw forth the friendly in- fluence and unqualified approbation of General Jackson, who was not unacquainted with Sugar Creek and its recollections. Mr. Craighead lies buried near the Hermitage.
The above short notices are given merely to show the connection of the churches in Tennessee with those in Carolina and Virginia, to the first for the most emigrants, and to the second for most ministers ; and also to say, that there are a variety of incidents con- nected with the first settlements, that must be, if preserved, of ex- ceeding interest to succeeding generations.
Abingdon Presbytery was formed August, 1785, its first meeting being held at Salem. A well written history of that Presbytery, and those formed from it, would comprise a history of the struggles and tempests of the Presbyterian church, which were felt in all their force in Tennessee, before the surface of the ocean was agitated around Philadelphia, as will be seen by a reference to the minutes of the Synod of North Carolina, in the preceding chapter.
We shall close this short chapter, by giving the names of the first trustees of three of the Colleges :-
1st. Washington College :- Rev. Messrs. Samuel Doak, Charles Cummins, Edward Crawford, Robert Henderson and Gideon Black- burn :- Messrs. Jonathan Cottom, Alexander Matthews, John Nelson, Henry Nelson (father of two preachers, Kelso Nelson and David Nelson), John McAllister and John Blois, who were elders of Salem church ; and Messrs. Joseph Anderson, John Sevier, Landon Carter, Daniel Kennedy, Leroy Taylor, John Tipton, Wm. Cooke, Archibald Roane, James Hamilton, John Rhea, Samuel Mitchell, Jesse Payne, James Aiken, Wm. Hott, Wm. Chester, David Deaderick and John Waddell.
2d. Of Blount College :- Rev. Samuel Carrick, President, Messrs. James White, Francis Alexander Ramsey, George McNutt and John Adair, elders in Mr. Carrick's churches ; and Messrs. William Blount, Daniel Smith, David Campbell, Joseph Anderson, John Sevier, Alexander Kelly, Wm. Cooke, Willie Blount, Joseph Hamilton, Archibald Roane, Charles McClung, George Ruolstone and Robert Houston.
3d. Greenville College :- Rev. Messrs. Hezekiah Balch, Samuel
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Doak, James Balch, Samuel Carrick, Robert Henderson and Gideon Blackburn ; and Messrs. A. Roan, Joseph Hamilton, Wm. Cooke, Daniel Kennedy, Landon Carter, Joseph Harden, John Rhea and John Sevier.
The efforts for literature and morals in Tennessee, are not sur- passed in any of the western or southwestern States, and they compare advantageously with any of her older sisters. There is much pure religion and vital goodness in Tennessee.
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REV. JAMES HALL.
CHAPTER XXIV.
REV. JAMES HALL, D.D., AND THE CHURCHES IN IREDELL.
MELCHIZEDEK was a king, and a priest of the Most High God. Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, led, for once at least, a military expedition, and on his return from a complete victory received the blessing of the king of Salem, whom the Apostle set forth as a type of Christ the Lord, the author and finisher of Faith. In the war of the American Revolution there were many young men to be found in the ranks of our armies, and in the prisons of the enemy, who, after hazarding their lives for their country, entered the ministry and spent their days in preaching the everlasting gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,-such as Hunter of Carolina, and Marshall, and Houston, and Lyle of Virginia. There were also many clergy- men that went with the armies to act as chaplains, and displayed in the various dangers and exposures of the camp and a soldier's life, the cool collected bravery of men at peace with themselves and with their God, and engaged in a good cause,-such as McCaule of Cen- tre, afterwards of South Carolina, who was beside General Davidson when he fell at Cowan's Ford ; some of whom were made a sacrifice to their country's safety-as Rosborough of New Jersey. But there is not perhaps another instance of a man, a licensed preacher of the gospel, that took part in military expeditions, and commanded com- panies, and still retained the character and maintained the dignity and office of a minister of the gospel, beside that of James Hall of Iredell, the preacher and the soldier. There were some ministers that laid aside their office for a military command, and never re- sumed it, as Muhlenburg of Pennsylvania, and Thruston of Virginia.
But James Hall performed both offices, a military commander and a preacher of righteousness ; was acceptable in both as a young man, and died at an advanced age a minister of the gospel. Said Dr. Robinson of Poplar Tent, " when a boy at school at Charlotte, I saw James Hall pass through the town, with his three-cornered hat and long sword, the captain at the head of a company, and chaplain of the regiment." An amalgamation of characters and offices justified only by special emergencies, and to be successfully attempted only by few. Born, of Scotch-Irish parentage, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
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August 22d, 1744, and removed by them to North Carolina, when about eight years old, he grew up in the upper part of Rowan, now Iredell, in the bounds of the congregation to which he afterwards was pastor during his whole ministerial life of thirty-eight years.
The first grants of land, in that part of the country, bear date about the time that the family of Dr. Hall emigrated to Carolina, as may be seen from a grant in the possession of Col. Allison, whose tract was perhaps the second that was located. The name of Gran- ville, by his deputy, is affixed. The settlements along Fourth Creek and South Yadkin, from which the congregations of Bethany, Tabor, Fourth Creek or Statesville, and Concord, were ultimately formed, all being called Fourth Creek for a length of time, were of the names of Harris, Alexander, Hill, Luckey, Bone, King, Patterson, Shnipe, Henry, Morrison, Johnson, McKnight, Stevenson, Watts, Hall, Boyd, Milligan, Adams, Scroggs, McLean, Allison, Purviance, Warson, Ireland, Sloan, McLelland, Potts, Snoddy, Murdock, Bell, and Archibald. Coming from Pennsylvania here, these people naturally looked to the Synod of Philadelphia, and the Presbyteries of which it was composed, for their ministers ; and being many of them pious people, their " supplications" for ministerial labor ap- pear very early on the records of the Synod. In the year 1753, the following minute was made, viz. :- " The supplications from Vir- ginia and North Carolina were considered, and the Synod orders Mr. McMordie to supply the vacancies in those parts for ten weeks, or longer if he find it needful, and that he pay a greater regard to the larger societies that have supplicated this Synod from time to time, and at the same time do what he can to promote the benefit of younger settlements, and that he set out the 1st of July next, and that Mr. Donaldson, in like manner, supply the same back parts, and continue there for ten weeks or as much longer as he thinks fit, and that he shall set out the 1st of October. The Synod recom- mends it to Messrs. McMordie and Donaldson to show a special regard to the vacancies of North Carolina, especially betwixt the Atkin (Yadkin) and Catawba Rivers, in giving them a considerable part of the time they spend in those parts." This commission cov- ered not only Fourth Creek, but the neighborhoods that formed the old churches of Concord Presbytery, all of which had been com- menced previous to this date. In 1755, there is the following order-" That Mr. Donaldson supply the back inhabitants of Vir- ginia and North Carolina, at least three months next fall; and that he in particular pay a regard to the supplications that were laid be- fore this Synod by some of these back inhabitants. That Mr. Wil-
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REV. JAMES HALL.
son supply them in like manner for three months next winter ; and Mr. McKennan for three months next spring." Considering the small number of preachers in the Synod, and the great number of vacancies requiring aid in Pennsylvania, as well as south of the Potomac, this supply of nine months was liberal. In 1757 it was ordered, " That Mr. Millar supply the following settlements in order in the fall, each one Sabbath day, viz., Cather's (Thyatira), Osborn's (Centre), Morison's (Rocky River), Jersey's on Atkin, Buffler's, Hawfield's and Baker's settlements. And that Mr. Craig supply the same one Sabbath day in the spring." These Sabbaths, one in the fall and the other in the spring, were great days in the settle- ments, and people gathered from their dispersed homes and followed the preachers, eager to catch something that should be their scrip- tural food for the long abstinence to come.
In the year 1755, we find in the minutes of the Synod of New York, that the brethren composing that energetic body, were not unmindful of the southern vacancies. Beside constituting the Pres- bytery of Hanover, they passed the following order, viz. : " Upon sundry petitions from various parts of North Carolina, setting forth their distressing circumstances for want of a preached gospel among them, and requesting help from this synod, Messrs. John Brainerd and Elihu Spencer are appointed to take a journey thither before winter, and supply the vacant congregations there, and in parts ad- jacent, for six months, or as long as they shall think necessary ; and the appointment for supplies for Mr. Spencer's congregation is referred till to-morrow."
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