USA > North Carolina > Sketches of North Carolina, historical and biographical : illustrative of the principles of a portion of her early settlers > Part 47
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When the conflict was going on between the governor and those Regulators that lived in Granville, Orange and Guilford, the people composing this congregation, in the mass, favorable to their fellow- citizens and kinsmen in those counties, were not, nevertheless, united as to the course to be pursued. Not having felt all the provocations and impositions of the people of Orange and Guil- ford, they sympathized deeply, but were not prepared to resist the governor by force of arms. The orders of the governor for the militia of the western counties, to send their proportion of men to march under the command of General Waddel, called out Capt. Adam Alexander, one of the first settlers. How many of his mili- tia company went with him is not known. That he was unwilling to shed the blood of the Regulators, is readily seen by reverting to the course he pursued in persuading Waddel to retreat across the Yadkin, instead of engaging in battle or continuing his march to meet the governor.
But other citizens of Rocky River were more decided in their feelings and course, and openly espoused the cause of the Regula- tors, refusing to serve against them, and acting decisively for them. General Waddel, who was ordered to rendezvous at Salisbury, and
REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON. 481
wait for the militia to meet him on the 2d of May, was at his post with a considerable force, and delayed his march, to join the Gov- ernor, till he should receive the supply of ammunition expected at Charleston, South Carolina.
A convoy of three wagons, loaded principally with powder, was on the way, with a small force for a guard ; passing through Meck- lenburg county unmolested and unsuspecting, they were encamped for the night, on the Salisbury road, about three miles west of where Concord town now stands, Cabarrus being then part of Mecklenburg county, when a plan was suddenly proposed for the destruction of the powder, and as suddenly executed. Nine per- sons from the Rocky River congregation,-James, William, and John White, three brothers, and sons of James White, one of the first settlers on Rocky River ; William White, a cousin of theirs ; Robert Caruthers, Benjamin Cockran, Robert Davis, son of Andrew Davis, one of the first settlers on Reedy Creek ; James Ashmore, and Joshua Hedley, with William Alexander, of Sugar Creek congregation, and perhaps one or two others, bind them- selves with a singular and awful oath, to assist each other in the enterprise on hand, and keep the secret of their participation while there might be danger in the acknowledgment; and then black- ing their faces and hands, and otherwise disfiguring themselves as Indians, about the breaking of day they seized upon the convoy, and permitting the drivers and their teams to go on unharmed with the guard, pouring out the powder upon the ground in one large pile, and laying a train, they set fire. The explosion was felt for many miles. Some thought it thundered; others that the earth quaked.
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This event, with the unwillingness expressed by the militia to kill their countrymen, disheartened Gen. Waddel from forming a junction with the Governor. The secret for a time was well kept, notwithstanding the rewards offered for discovery, and the threats of condign punishment from the Governor and officers of the crown. At last one, under bodily fear, revealed the names of his fellow actors, and put them all to great trouble for a time, and in- flicted lasting sufferings upon himself in his own reflections. The Declaration of Independence relieved them from further appre- hension till the invasion by Cornwallis. The leader of the party was William Alexander, who, to distinguish him from others of the same sirname in the numerous class of Alexanders, was called Black Billy to the day of his death. His bones lie in Sugar Creck grave-yard.
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Adam Alexander was one of the members of the convention that issued the famous declaration of independence, and served as colonel of the militia. During the war he was frequently in ser- vice. Moses Shelby lived upon the farm, and built the house occupied by Rev. Mr. Wilson, while pastor of the congregation. His family, part of them at least, were born in Maryland previous to the emigration to Carolina. John Query, one of the convention at Charlotte, belonged to the bounds of Rocky River. He, Adam Alexander and Moses Shelby, lived in the bounds of what is now Philadelphia, called for a time, Clear Creek. The two former were both elders in the church.
These few facts are mentioned to show the patriotism of the charge to which Dr. Wilson ministered the greater part of his active life. He labored with and for the men who acted in the Revolution, and for their children. And if the men that pitched their tents in this part of Cabarrus were like their descendants that meet at Rocky River and Philadelphia, as members of the church, they were men that loved their Bibles and Catechisms, and feared God.
Mr. Balch preached at Rocky River and Poplar Tent until re- moved by death, after a service of about six or seven years. About the year 1778, Robert Archibald was ordained as pastor, and con- tinued for a number of years to preach at Rocky River and Poplar Tent, and teaching a classical school at Poplar Tent, in which some eminent men were educated.
During a vacancy in the church, after Mr. Archibald ceased to preach, the Rev. James Hall, of Iredell, and Rev. Joseph D. Kil- patrick, were sent by the Presbytery to hold a communion with the church. Those seasons were then preceded and followed by days of preaching to the great congregations that would generally collect ; and were often, as in this case, followed by special bless- ings. Although the church was without a pastor, a precious revi- val accompanied and followed this meeting, which resulted in great accessions to the church ; and was one of the most blessed of the numerous revivals enjoyed by Rocky River church.
Mr. Alexander Caldwell, son of the venerable David Caldwell, was ordained as the pastor of these churches, 1793, and served them with great acceptance, until the year 1797. To superior mental endowments, and great acquirements, he added a fine per- son, portly gait, engaging manners, and eminent Christian charac- ter. But in the inscrutable providence of God, he was afflicted with the greatest of human maladies, and his fine powers and
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superior acquirements all ran to waste under the influence of a disturbed intellect. Archibald, his predecessor, of whom an ac- count will be given in another place, a man of talents, was wrecked on the shoals of false doctrine and ungoverned appetites. For him, the congregation mourned in abasement, as for a fallen star. But they wept for Caldwell, in compassion and amazement, as they beheld the ruins of a powerful intellect, unstained by crime, inoffensive from moral pollution, walking among them like the sun eclipsed, dimmed but unfallen.
The first symptom of the disease was melancholy, and through the remainder of his life, which was protracted to the year 1841, an air of pensive sadness hung upon his features. Studious, philosophic, cheerful, and devotional, he spent his time in adding manuscript to manuscript ; always harmless, and peculiarly at- tentive to the private duties of a Christian, he attracted the atten- tion, and awakened the sympathies of his whole circle of ac- quaintances. His immense collection of manuscripts exhibited reading, investigation, logical discussion ; but a vein of disorganiz- ing madness ran through the whole. One cannot reflect without emotion, upon the happy change that, in all human probability, death must have wrought upon his diseased mind, when his mor- tality was put off, and his immortality put on in the presence of God.
Mr. Wilson, the successor of Mr. Caldwell, after an interval occupied by supplies, received his dismission from Quaker Meadow, and his calls to Rocky River and Philadelphia, at the same Presbytery, Sept., 1801. His ministerial course was worthy of the age in which he was born, and the instructors by whose instrumentality he was fitted for the work of his Lord's vineyard. If there be truth in the proverb that " he is the best fisherman who catches most fish," Wilson was among the best of preachers and pastors. A brother minister, well acquainted with the circum- stances, says-" It is believed that no such country congregation, as Rocky River, can be found south of Pennsylvania ; and Phila- delphia is among the largest in the Presbytery of Concord. Since his death, each church has its pastor, which might have been so long before that event, but for the attachment to him as a man and a minister."
A successor to Mr. Wilson says of him-" I have formed a very high estimate of his learning, piety, and successful labors as a minister of Jesus Christ ; and this estimate I have formed almost exclusively from intercourse with the people of his former charge,
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and the fruits still visible of his long-continued labors among them. To this day his opinions and example are often referred to, as, after the Bible, of paramount authority, and that by almost all classes in the community. It is no doubt owing, in a great mea- sure, to Dr. Wilson's training, that Rocky River congregation is (perhaps I might say) noted for the following particulars, viz. :
" Ist. General, constant, and punctual, as well as respectful at- tendance upon the stated public means of grace. All the families attend church.
" 2d. Their system, union and harmony of action in managing congregational affairs, especially in financial concerns.
" 3d. The very manifest intelligence, especially of the older people, and particularly in religious knowledge.
" 4th. The attention which is universally paid to the Catechisms and other doctrinal instructions of the church."
" It was his custom," says the author of a sketch of his life, " regularly to hold examinations in the various sections of his con- gregations, in which the adults were examined in the doctrines and precepts of the Bible, and the children were catechised in the most condescending and affectionate manner. Such examinations were instrumental in diffusing a spirit of improvement, removing pre- judices against the truth, increasing the amount of scriptural knowledge, and securing steadfastness in the faith of Christians. Hence, perhaps, few congregations can be found where there is more knowledge respecting the doctrines of religion, compared with their attainments on other subjects, than those to which he ministered."
His manner of preaching, free from all harshness, was strikingly characterized by a tenderness that reached the hearts of those for whom it was felt. He never pretended a fervency which he did not feel ; and reverence for God appeared both in the matter and manner of his sermons. He valued men's souls, and feared his God. "He trusted in God to make him faithful and successful in his work. This dependence upon God for success, so far from relaxing his diligence, stimulated him to greater activity in preach- ing the gospel, and was the ground of his encouragement amid all his labors." " His zeal did not rise and sink, as the outward ap- pearances of usefulness were bright or forbidding. But his life presented a uniformity of untiring effort, which seemed to flow from an unshaken confidence in the presence and blessing of God. This strong and humble reliance upon God proved how deep and abiding was the impression of the magnitude and responsibility of
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his ministry. Dr. Wilson earnestly desired and confidently ex- pected success in his work,-and he was not forsaken to the curse of those who do the work of God deceitfully."
" He regarded an unwillingness to submit to the decision of pious, judicious, and disinterested arbitrators, as evidence of a bad cause, or proof of malignity inconsistent with the spirit of true religion. He believed that the members of the church are com- petent to settle their differences by friendly reference to each other, and that they are bound to do so by the laws of the Lord Jesus Christ. So judicious and affectionate were his counsels on this subject, and such the weight of his influence, that it was com- paratively rare for suits to be taken by the members of his churches to the civil courts.
After laboring with his people some eleven years, he yielded to their solicitations to open an academy for the education of young men, particularly as some of the members of his charge wished to educate their sons for the ministry. He opened his academy about a mile from his house, in 1812, and had a flourishing school while he continued to teach, which was about twelve years. Most of his pupils entered public life, and twenty-five became ministers of the gospel. The following is a list :- Rev. Messrs. Jas. Mor- rison, N. R. Morgan, Thomas Alexander, John Silliman, John M. Erwin, Robert King, James B. Stafford, R. H. Morrison, Elam J. Morrison, Hugh Wilson, Samuel L. Watson, Thomas Davis, Cy- rus Johnston, Henry N. Pharr, J. Le Roy Davies, Wm. B. Davies, C. Le Roy Boyd, James Stafford, Alexander E. Wilson, James E. Morrison, Robert Hall, John M. Wilson, Dion C. Pharr, Wm. N. Morrison, A. R. Pharr. In about fifteen years fifteen young men from Rocky River entered the ministry, many of whom could not have received a classical education but for Dr. Wilson's aca- demy. His students loved him, venerated and obeyed him ; and under the discipline of his school felt impelled to efforts after good- ness and excellence.
Punctual in his attendance on the judicatories of the church, in which he was an active and beloved member, his last visits from home were in attendance on the Presbytery in Morganton, in the fall of 1830, and on the Synod, whose sessions were held soon after in Hopewell. From peculiar excitement, he slept little during these meetings, and returned home laboring under a degree of exhaustion from which he never recovered. Dr. Morrison, the author of a short memoir of him that appeared in the Watchman of the South, who had been one of his pupils and had grown up under his ministry,
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says-" It was our privilege to visit him not long before his death. Apparently impressed with the belief that the interview might be the last, he voluntarily and tenderly spoke of his prospects. He stated distinctly, and perhaps repeated it, that in facing death, he had no transporting views or rapturous feelings, but a firm and sustaining hope of heaven, founded solely on the merits of Christ. He alluded to the labors of his life, only to praise God for the tokens of his grace; expressed entire submission to the divine will in reference to his dissolution, and a joyful expectation of spend- ing eternity in the presence and work of the Redeemer. Nothing could be more animating than the confidence he expressed in our Lord Jesus Christ."
His death, confidently expected by himself, came at last some- what unexpectedly to his family, as he himself had intimated that it probably would. The last evening of his life, he sat up till his usual hour, conversing cheerfully with his family, showing no special symptoms of his immediate dissolution, and having walked about that day. About three o'clock in the morning, he called to his son Isaac, complaining of being cold, and uttering a few broken incoherent expressions, became speechless. About nine o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 30th of July, 1831, his spirit passed away from earth to meet his Saviour in paradise.
Dr. Robinson, of Poplar Tent, his long-tried and valued friend, his school-mate at Charlotte, his fellow student of theology, with Dr. Hall, of Iredell, and his near neighbor and co-laborer in the ministry for many years, reached his house on Saturday afternoon, according to a previous appointment, to spend the night and preach at Rocky River on the following Sabbath.
A large part of the Philadelphia congregation assembled with the congregation of Rocky River on Sabbath, and paid the last at- tention to the remains of the beloved pastor. The immense church of Rocky River being too small for the assembly, the corpse was placed in front of the stand or tent, in the beautiful grove occupied by the congregation for sacramental meetings, and the people ga- thered around. In that grove, sacred from recollections of commu- nion services from time immemorial, and now hallowed by the first funeral rites of a pastor, they listened, with emotions unutterable, to the funeral discourse of the venerable man, who had come to visit, not to bury his friend ; and then followed to the grave the remains of the minister under whose instruction the greater part of them had grown up to years of discretion, and many had obtained hopes of acceptance with God.
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Of his nine children, five were sons ; of these, two became minis- ters of the gospel. One, John Wilson, the successor of Dr. Hall, is still living. The other, Alexander E. Wilson, died in Africa. On account of an impediment in his speech, supposing that he could not be useful as a preacher, he had pursued the study and commenced the practice of medicine ; but feeling the desire to spend and be spent in the labors of the gospel ministry increasing upon him, he gave up the very fair prospects by which he was surrounded in the pursuit of his profession, and devoted himself to the cause of missions in Africa, to which country the successor of Dr. Wilson, the Rev. Daniel Lindley, had turned his attention as the field of la- bor for which he would exchange the flourishing congregation of Rocky River. In company with his pastor, Mr. Wilson sailed to Africa. After many difficulties, the mission was established among the Zulu tribes with fair prospects ; but the unhappy war between the natives and the colonists broke up the mission. Mr. Wilson was called by the providence of God to bury with his own hands his beloved wife, who had accompanied him from Rich- mond, Virginia, afflicted yet not dispirited by her death. The devoted woman having cheerfully encountered hardships to which she was unaccustomed, and as it appears unequal, just entered the little cabin built for her residence as a missionary, and found that in the mysterious providence of God, her life must end just when she supposed her missionary usefulness had commenced. Committing all things to the hand of Him whom she served, she was joyful in death, and sent to her relations and friends in America the cheering message that she was glad she had come to Africa, though she was to find so early a grave. After a visit to his native State, Mr. Wil- son returned to Africa, and commenced the work of a missionary, with unabated zeal, on the Western coast. His race was short, be- ing called to his reward on the day of * * *
* *, he laid his bones in the soil of his intended field of labor, the offering from Rocky River, and the earnest of future blessings in that debased land.
" To comprehend how great a work Dr. Wilson performed, we should be able to tell into how many families he bore the words of instruction and consolation, to how many souls he was the in- strument of salvation, to how many minds he was the means of unsealing the fountains of knowledge; and not only how many ambassadors of Christ he was blessed of God in raising up, but how great their influence shall be for good on earth. * No doubt, generations will pass before the witnesses of his useful-
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ness below shall cease to meet him on high, and when the register shall be completed on earth, it will be remembered in Heaven."
" In the new grave-yard north of Rocky River church, to the left of the entrance stands the marble which marks the grave of this great and good man." The inscription upon the grave-stone of the only minister whose ashes repose with the congregation of Rocky River, is : Sacred to the memory of the learned, pious, and venerable minister of the gospel, Rev. John M. Wilson, D.D., who departed this life, July 30th, 1831, aged 62 years, for about 30 years the able, and faithful, and beloved pastor of Rocky River and Philadelphia churches. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.
Dr. Wilson was about the ordinary height in person, of a remark- ably pleasant, cheerful countenance ; with a clear, blue, penetrating eye, and a fine forehead. Calmness, decision, and energy, were clearly indicated by his looks and movements. He was a rare com- bination of decision and force, with benignity and amiability.
Says one who sat long under his ministry, " It was amazing how he would hold the attention of his audience from beginning to the end of his sermon, using so little gesture, often manifesting deep feeling, seldom any excitement."
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FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS.
THE Scotch had a village called Cross Creek about a mile from the Cape Fear River, at head of boat navigation, soon after their settlements became numerous on the river. The name of the village took its origin from the curious fact that the two small streams, Cross Creek and Blunt's Creek, the one coming from the South and the other from the West, met and apparently sepa- rated, and forming an island of some size, again united and flowed on to the river. It was said that the streams, when swelled by rains, would actually cross each other in their rapid course to form a junction. This belief arose from the circumstance that floatwood coming down the stream, would sometimes shoot across the commingling waters in the direction of its previous course, and floating round the island, would fall into the united current. The action of a mill-dam prevents the recurrence of this phe- nomenon. There are persons still living who have witnessed the occurrence.
In the year 1762, by an act of Assembly a town was laid out embracing Cross Creek, and named Campbelton, from a town of that name in Argyleshire, in Scotland, from which and its neigh- borhood many of the emigrants had come. The object of the Legislature was to form a trading town upon the Cape Fear, of which Wilmington should be the seaport, to take the produce from the upper part of the State, particularly the settlements upon the Yadkin, and prevent the traffic being diverted to the seaports of South Carolina.
In 1771 a public road was opened to the Yadkin, and ultimately to Morganton, and various inducements held out to attract the course of trade from the fertile West to Fayetteville and Wil- mington.
In 1784, on the occasion of the visit of the Marquis Lafayette, as a token of respect for his character and admiration for his services, the inhabitants proposed a change of name from Camp- bellton to Fayetteville.
While the town was called by the legislative name of Camp- belton, and the country name of Cross Creek, the noted Flora
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McDonald made her abode here for a short time. The founda- tions of her residence are still seen near the bridge, on the right hand as you pass from the market to the court-house.
During the war of the Revolution, Cross Creek was repeatedly the place of assemblage of the Scotch forces, on whichever side they were engaged. Here General M'Donald raised his standard for the king, and was joined by hundreds of his countrymen ; and here, one tradition says, Flora M'Donald addressed her country- men and clansmen and near kindred, in words of prophetic im- port ; while another, and probably the correct tradition, says that she bid adieu to her husband and relations, in arms, near her resi- dence in the lower part of Anson county, and was not seen in the camp at Cross Creek.
The original settlers, and for a long time, all the inhabitants, were Scotchmen and Presbyterians ; and without disparaging other denominations, a few pages will be devoted to the progress of the Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, as a spiritual body, separate from political or party strife.
There was occasional preaching at Campbellton, by Mr. Camp- bell, while settled near the Bluff; by Mr. McLeod, who lived a short time in the bounds of Barbacue congregation ; by Mr. Craw- ford, who also labored a few years with great acceptance among the Highlanders, soon after the Revolution. The first regular ministrations by a stated minister, were from the Rev. David Kerr, from the Presbytery of Temple Patrick, in Ireland. He was acknowledged by the Synod of the Carolinas, as a minister in good standing, in connection with Orange Presbytery, in the year 1789. We have no information respecting the time of his arrival in North Carolina, or the place of his preaching for the first few years after his arrival. In the year 1791, he took his abode in Fayetteville, and commenced regular preaching in the Court- House on Sabbath, and during the week taught a classical school under the direction of a Board of Trustees. His salary from the school was about $400, and from his congregation about the same, making about $800 in all. The ordinance of the Supper was not administered in Fayetteville during his residence, and it is not known whether the ordinance of Baptism was or not. In the year 1794, he left the place for a situation in the University of North Carolina. In a short time he removed to Lumberton, in Robe- son, and carried on the mercantile business while studying law. After commencing the practice of the law, he removed to Missis-
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