USA > North Carolina > Mecklenburg County > Charlotte > The history of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church : Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, North Carolina > Part 5
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Other events that affected the congregation and its members during the Reverend Watts' tenure should be recounted before we move to another era. Robert Irwin McDowell, Alexander G. Neal and George W. McDonald were elected elders and ordained by the Reverend Watts August 14, 1842.
On November 30, 1843, John McDowell died, aged sixty-nine. He was born of pious parents. His father emigrated to this state from Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War, and was one among the earliest settlers of Mecklenburg. In early life John McDowell was a subject of converting grace. He served for more than thirty years as an elder. It is said that he was a man of retiring habits, much interested in and strongly devoted to agricultural pursuits. He spent much of his life in active outdoor employ- ments. Though naturally of rather a delicate constitution, he was never confined to his bed a whole day of sickness till the third day before his death.
Elder F. M. Beaty died July 20, 1844, aged fifty-one. James M. Sloan, another elder died at age forty-two on September 29, 1845, and on March 1, 1846, elder Reuben Freeman passed away after a long life; he was seventy-two. All these are buried at Steele Creek.
In 1845 elder Robert J. McDowell moved and was dismissed to join Unity church, Lincoln County, North Carolina, where he also served as an elder. At about the same time others left. Elder Jonathan Reid withdrew because of unrest in Steele Creek and joined the Associate Reformed church. Alexander G. Neal, an elder, took his dismission and changed his membership to Sharon Presbyterian church. Elder G. Washington McDonald, in con- sequence of marrying a sister of his deceased wife, was suspended from membership in the church. After a few years he was restored to the privileges of the church as a private member but not to his office as elder.
Because of deaths and departures the session needed new membership. Thomas B. Price, William B. Brown, and McKnitt A.
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Henderson were elected and ordained as elders on September 14, 1849. Mr. Price had served earlier as an elder at Pleasant Hill church. At the termination of the Reverend Watts service the session consisted of these new members and carryovers: John Hart, William Clark, John Hamilton McDowell, Thomas B. Price, and William P. Brown. McKnitt Henderson's service was short as he died August 24, 1850, at thirty-eight years of age.
Another innovation during the Reverend Watts' ministry was the initiation of a board of deacons to assist in administering church affairs. Those serving as the first deacons were S. Jefferson Berryhill, John L. Jamison, Alexander F. Sadler, William M. Porter, and Robert W. McDowell.
Interim Supply Pastors (1854-1856)
Following the Reverend Watts' departure in 1854, the Rever- end Daniel Baker, D.D., "the great revivalist" as he was called, visited Steele Creek and preached with his accustomed earnest- ness and zeal for a week or more. It is reported that the Reverend Baker was not in the best of health during this meeting. Writing to his wife on August 31, he notes: "I hear the sound of carriage wheels moving toward the church, so I must abruptly close." In a letter to his daughter on September, he writes: "Yesterday with some intermissions I was preaching as usual from ten to four o'clock." This period of revival bore fruit as about forty-eight new members were added, which was more than had been added in a single year before. Although the church was deprived of her head, she was strengthened in membership.
Steele Creek was without a pastor for awhile, though not destitute of preaching and the stated means of grace. From March, 1854, until sometime in 1855, the Reverend Andrew M. Watson, a native of York district, South Carolina, a cousin of former pastor S. L. Watson, served as a supply pastor. He had been a missionary for some years among the Indians of the West and had returned
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home in 1854. He later became pastor of the Portersville church in the Presbytery of Memphis, Tennessee.
From January to November, 1855, the Reverend Samuel Wil- liamson, D.C., a former President of Davidson College and member of Concord Presbytery, served as supply minister. He soon moved to the state of Arkansas where he became pastor of the Washington church.
Sixth Pastor - Reverend George Dickison Parks (1856-1858)
A few months after Dr. Williamson left, Pleasant Hill and Steele Creek joined in an invitation to Dr. G. D. Parks to come and supply them, which he did in 1856.
The Reverend George Dickison Parks was born and reared in Mecklenburg in the bounds of the Providence congregation. He received his primary education at different schools in the neighborhood. He pursued academic and classical studies mainly under the instruction of the Reverend Cyrus Johnson, D.D., who for several years had charge of the academy at Providence church, and supplied their pulpit at that time. He entered Davidson College in 1845 and graduated in 1848. It was during this college course that he made a profession of religion and united with the church. Not long after leaving Davidson, he commenced reading medicine with E. Dallas Williamson, M.D. and attended one course of lectures in Kentucky in 1850. He did not return to receive a diploma for reasons given later. Under a permit, he undertook to practice medicine. His early practice of medicine was in the bounds of Pleasant Hill congregation. In this was he obtained the title of "Doctor". In 1851, he was united in marriage to Margaret Elizabeth Ross, daughter of William Ross, a ruling elder in Sharon church. This union did not last much more than a year as Mrs. Parks was prematurely cut down by death. He was left in widowed solitude to brood over his incurable wound. This heavy blow, so crushing and "grievous to be borne" was tempered
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and overruled by Providence as it proved the starting of a new career, the gospel ministry. He felt it his duty to preach the gospel. He commenced the study of theology preparatory to the ministry. He went to the Theological Seminary at Columbia, South Carolina, in 1853 but remained there only a few months before returning home to pursue his studies privately with such aid as was available to him. While so engaged, he was united in marriage to Amelia Ann Stitt, daughter of Mr. Neel Stitt, a ruling elder in Providence church. Like his former marriage, this union lasted only a few years. He was again bereaved by her early removal by death. He was left with a small daughter too young to realize her loss. He was licensed as a preacher by Concord Presbytery in the spring of 1856. After a trial, his labors proving acceptable and profitable, Pleasant Hill and Steele Creek requested the Reverend Parks serve as their minister. He was ordained as pastor at Steele Creek June 14, 1856. He purchased and settled a place about five miles south of the church - the same plantation on which his predecessor, the Reverend Watts, had lived.
The Reverend Parks' great aim as a minister at Steele Creek was insofar as possible to heal the schism that had existed in the latter years of the Reverend Watts' service. During his first year's labor, he received the signal and encouraging marks of divine favor and blessing. A deep and extensive religious interest was soon pro- duced and continued for months. Membership increased more than during any previous year since the organization of the church, between fifty and sixty members being added. The expansion of memberships served to quiet the troubled waters. Obviously the Reverend Parks was successful in winning the esteem and confi- dence of his congregation. Soon after being installed, he found the labors necessary to be performed too arduous for his physical abilities. As a necessary consequence he resigned in May, 1858.
In 1858, Alexander G. Neel, previously an elder, but who had departed during the troubled times of the Reverend Watts, B. F.
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Brown and S. Jefferson Berryhill were elected elders and ordained on January 24 of that year by the Reverend Parks. John Hart, an elder of Steele Creek church, found it convenient to transfer his membership to Pleasant Hill since he resided near that church. Mr. Hart was elected an elder at Pleasant Hill. He died June 1, 1863, at age seventy-one and was buried at Pleasant Hill. Also, in 1858, Allen H. Brown, Thomas M. Faires, James S. Collins, and Colonel T. P. G. Faires were elected as deacons at Steele Creek and or- dained by the Reverend Parks.
In 1844, he received a call to become the pastor of the united churches of Little Steele Creek and Sardis. He was ordained and installed in November, 1844. He served these two churches until he returned to the Presbyterian church; he came to Steele Creek, then, in 1858.
On April 10, 1854, his wife Nancy M., who had been ill for some time, died, leaving him with three little children. One child had died previously. Both the daughter and Mrs. Watt are buried at Steele Creek. In July following the same year, he was united in marriage to Louisa Angeline Neel, youngest daughter of General William H. Neel, a Steele Creek family. The Reverend Watt purchased and settled a place some three miles east of the church. His ministry in this new and important field did not continue long - not more than two years. He was soon cut down and gathered with the fathers on September 16, 1860, at age forty years. He is buried at Steele Creek. He left a bereaved widow and six children - two sons and a daughter by his former marriage. One son died during the Civil War. The other son and daughter married and moved to Texas.
After the death of the Reverend Watt, his wife and their three sons remained in the home on York Road until they were educated and established in business. One son was a farmer, another a merchant and the third a doctor who moved to Texas. A son of the farmer, James Bell Watt, Jr., a grandson of the Reverend Watt
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owns and occupies the home today.
The Reverend Watt was described by one who knew him long and intimately as tall and slender, a man of much personal dignity, of great suavity of manner, of ardent piety, a good preacher, fluent and impressive, though not boisterous.
As pointed out earlier the women of the congregation had been very active in the church through their Bible society. During the Reverend Watt's tenure, about 1860, they furnished the pulpit with a nice Bible and hymn book costing fifteen dollars and a baptismal bowl about 1862, costing five dollars. The first carpet for the church was bought in 1860, costing sixty dollars.
Eighth Pastor - Reverend Samuel Carothers Alexander (1861- 1865)
In June the year following the Reverend Watt's death (1861), the church invited a young man from the Theological Seminary, Columbia, South Carolina, to come as supply for a day, which he promised to do. For some reason this man was unable to keep his appointment, but he procured as a substitute the services of the Reverend S. C. Alexander, then a licentiate under the care of Charleston Presbytery, South Carolina. This circumstance pre- pared the way for the Reverend Alexander being invited to supply the pulpit. He transferred to the Concord Presbytery: He was ordained and installed as pastor of Steele Creek and Pleasant Hill on December 20, 1861. The following year he was united in marriage with Nancy Rebecca Price, eldest daughter of Thomas B. Price, an elder at Steele Creek.
As in the case for previous ministers, Steele Creek had no manse for a minister, so the Reverend Alexander purchased a place some five miles from the church, about midway between the two churches.
It was not long before a conflict arose between the minister and the congregation. The situation eventually reached the point that
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the church applied to the Presbytery for a dissolution of the pastoral relation. In December, 1865, the Presbytery dissolved the Reverend Alexander's connection with Steele Creek. He did continue service to Pleasant Hill church for awhile longer. The Reverend Alexander did not move immediately from the neighborhood. He preached among the blacks. Although we have no detailed records on the basis of the conflict with the Reverend Alexander, his apparent sympathy toward the slave issue was no doubt a part of the difficulty.
Not long after the Reverend Alexander ceased his service at Steele Creek, he changed his ecclesiastical connections. He and two other ministers of like idiosyncrosies, without the aid, au- thority, or sanction of any Synod, met at Bethany church, six miles southeast of Statesville, North Carolina. They declared themselves "The Catawba Presbytery". Some three weeks before there was a church organized but without membership. In a few years, nearly all the blacks belonging to the adjacent churches were decoyed from them and organized into churches which subsequently fell into or joined the Catawba Presbytery. After laboring a year or two in this irregular and revolutionary way, the Reverend Alexander moved from his country home to Charlotte. There he opened a school under the direction and patronage of the Freedman's Bureau for the education of blacks. This school may be regarded as the beginning of what afterwards resulted in the founding of Biddle Institute, now Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte. The Reverend Alexander was active and diligent in procuring funds for the erection of this institute. He even took one of the large building contracts. After the buildings were completed, he was for a time engaged as one of the teachers in the institute. In 187 1 he left Charlotte; why we are not certain. He returned to his native home in Western Pennsylvania and resumed ministerial work.
Of the Reverend Alexander's antecedents we know little. He
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received his primary education in his native state. Two years of his college course was spent at Danville, Kentucky, and a third year at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, where he graduated. In 1858 or 1859 he came south and entered the Theological Seminary at Columbia, South Carolina. On April 18, 1860, at Adam's Run church, he was licensed by Charleston Presbytery to preach the gospel. During the fall of that year he returned to the Seminarv to complete the regular prescribed course; he did in May. It was a month later that he visited Steele Creek.
During the Reverend Alexander's service there are no records of election of new elders or deacons. It is reported that church membership underwent little change.
There is little in our church records on the activities of members of the congregation during the Civil War period (1861 to 1865); however, as in the case of the Revolutionary struggle, the community was very much involved. When war was declared, 240 men from Steele Creek enlisted in the cause of the Confederacy; IOI of these are buried in our cemetery. Why there is so little recorded of the heroics of this period is unknown. Perhaps the experience was so frustrating that the congregation decided to close ranks and put the unpleasantries behind them as rapidly as possible. No active military campaigns were conducted in Mecklenburg; therefore, serious destruction of property did not occur. Nevertheless, the congregational members bore many hard- ships, as did so many areas during the reconstruction period. History does not record extensive activities by the Klu Klux Klan in the Steele Creek area, indicating the community endeavored to solve its problems in a quiet and peaceful fashion. No doubt our next pastor served well to smooth the troubled waters.
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RECALL
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CHAPTER V Post Civil War Era (1866-1879)
Ninth Pastor - Reverend John Douglas (1866-1879)
Almost simultaneously with the dismissal of the Reverend S. C. Alexander, Steele Creek invited the Reverend John Douglas, then a member of the Charleston Presbytery, South Carolina, to supply their pulpit for one Sabbath. The invitation was readily accepted, but a few weeks elapsed before his first sermon the November 19, 1865. This visit resulted in a request that he supply the pulpit for the remainder of the year. He continued his service during the succeeding year. About the close of 1865, the Reverend Alexander had his connection with Pleasant Hill church dissolved. The two churches united in a request for the Reverend Douglas. In 1866 a call was presented before the Concord Presbytery for the Rever- end Douglas' services. He became a member of the Concord Presbytery on May 3, 1866. The call was made by the two churches during the month of September and presented at the fall session of Presbytery, which was held in Morganton. Reverend Douglas was unable to attend that session, thus his appointment was held over to the next spring meeting. He was installed on Saturday, July 6, 1867. The Reverend Robert B. Anderson preached the sermon from Hebrews 11:1; the Reverend Walter W. Pharr presided and gave the charge to the pastor; and the Reverend G. D. Parks gave the charge to the people.
The Reverend Douglas was a native of South Carolina, born in Chester County on October 10, 1809. He graduated from South
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Carolina University and from the Seminary in Columbia. He was licensed to preach by Bethel Presbytery in April, 1835, ordained by the same Presbytery April 30, 1836, and installed as pastor of Purity (Chester) and Concord churches where he served for twelve years. In May, 1837, he married Miss Frances Marchant of Charleston, South Carolina. He became pastor of James Island church in Charleston Presbytery in 1846 and served this church fifteen years. He was described as a typical southern gentleman, loyal to his native state, and a substantial supporter of her institutions. In his will he directed his large and excellent library of more than thirteen hundred volumes be given to the Seminary in Columbia.
The Reverend Douglas' pastorate on James Island was a happy, long and useful one. It continued until the church was destroyed by fire, his people scattered, and the foundation of his home dug into rifle pits. The first gun fired in the Civil War was within 150 yards of his door. It was a perilous time. He was in hearty sympathy with the leaders of his state and gave to them all the support he could. His pastorate being violently and suddenly destroyed by war, he served under the General Assembly's Com- mittee as a missionary among the troops stationed along the coast from Charleston to Savannah during the war. He was especially fitted for this service, being a warm friend and wise counselor and protector of the black population in those distressing days.
During the first year encouraging results attended the efforts of the Reverend Douglas. In addition to the ordinary pastoral ser- vices, a protracted meeting was held at Steele Creek, commencing on September 28, 1866. The meeting continued through nine days. The Reverend Robert Nall, D.D. of Alabama aided in this meeting. Some fifty members were added to the two churches. Member- ship continued to grow, with 175 additions during the first six years of the Reverend Douglas' ministry. There were 170 baptisms performed, and the Sabbath-school had more than 175 at that time. By 1872, church membership had climbed to about 350.
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Along about 1868, the church switched from "pew charge" to benevolent contributions for its main support. Under the benevo- lent system, each week members were encouraged to "lay by him in store as the Lord has prospered him."
On May 8, 1869, William Henry Clark, John Silas Watts, and Andrew Parks Price were elected deacons. They were ordained at the services on August 1 of that year. In January, 1870, S. Jefferson Berryhill, a ruling elder, took his dismission and moved to Tennes- see. On April 20, 1870, John Hamilton McDowell, another elder, died at age thirty-six and was buried at Steele Creek.
In 1872 the officers of the church were:
Pastor: Reverend John Douglas
Ruling Elders: William Clark, Thomas B. Price, William P. Brown, Alexander G. Neel and Benjamin F. Brown
Deacons: Robert W. McDowell, Alexander F. Sadler, Allen H. Brown, James S. Collins, William H. Clark, John Silas Watts and Andrew Parks Price
Church Members: 350
Number of Families: Approximately 200
Some of the other significant events occurring during the tenure of the Reverend Douglas follow.
Mecklenburg Presbytery was organized by order of the Svnod at a meeting in Morganton, North Carolina, on October 16, 1869. The counties included were Anson, Mecklenburg, Richmond, Stanley and Union. Their first called meeting was held at Steele Creek Church on April 21, 1870. (The Mecklenburg Presbytery celebrated its 50th anniversary at Steele Creek September 18, 1919, the 100th on September 10, 1969, and Steele Creek has extended an invitation to the Presbytery to meet at Steele Creek on the 150th anniversary in the year 2019.)
The Reverend Douglas attended the first meeting of the Mecklenburg Presbytery and reported that Steele Ceek had 338
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members, 150 in Sabbath School and Bible classes, and that $299.00 was given for benevolences and $658.00 for pastor's salary. He also reported that Steele Creek was the largest church in the Presbytery of Mecklenburg and Synod of North Carolina. Not a single year over the past fifteen years had it failed to receive members on profession of faith. The smallest number received on examination was in 1870 when only three were received. The whole number received on examination during these fifteen years was 270, and by certificate 87, making a total of 357 or an annual average of 25. During this same period, there were 66 lost by death and 98 by removal.
The ladies of the church furnished a nice communion service to the church about 1868, at a cost of $35.00. They supplied a silver pitcher and cup around 1876, costing $12.00, and a Bible cushion in 1877 costing $35.00.
Deacon T. P. G. Faires died June 18, 1869. Deaths of other church officers were William Clark, September 18, 1872, at age seventy-two, and deacon A. F. Sadler on September 29, 1873. All three were buried at Steele Creek.
R. D. Collins, M. A. Wilson, R. W. McDowell were elected ruling elders and ordained September 7, 1872. Those elected and ordained to serve as deacons were P. A. Neel and W. J. Thompson on June 15, 1873, and J. B. Swann and T. S. Cooper on June 3, 1877.
The old church building, which was situated between the graveyards, was taken down April 6, 1872. It was rebuilt into a school house which was later burned by accident.
The second carpet for the church sanctuary was bought in 1873, costing $64.00.
The first academy was built in 1872 at a cost of near $300. It was two stories. Unfortunately, this building was partially destroyed by fire. Reconstruction cost approximately $200. The Session House was constructed in 1876 for $265 to serve as a meeting hall for the
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officers of the church, as well as for social gatherings of the congregation.
A furnace was purchased for the church in 1874 for $325. By resolution of the congregation, all the decaved trees in front of the church were removed and replaced by a grove of 129 trees planted in January, 1878, many are still living.
In August, 1879, there was quite a rival in the congregation. For this period of renewal of faith, the Reverend Douglas was assisted by the Reverends J. Lowry Wilson and George A. Trenholm of Bethel Presbytery, South Carolina; also, the Reverend F. L. Leeper. Special services were conducted day and night. The services were well attended and attendance exceeded the capacity of the church. There were twenty-one members received on examination and three on profession of faith.
The Reverend Douglas became an integral part of the commu- nity. Purchasing a small tract of land adjoining the church, he built a home. He made his home beautiful, comfortable and near the church doors for the ease and convenience of his wife and himself on the Lord's davs. His good common sense and good judgment drew people near him and to hear him preach. He was faithful in the pulpit, always prepared for services. He wrote his sermons out and so presented the truth and with such animation and pathos in delivery as to persuade the people that he was a man sent from God. Old animosities were overcome and family difficulties were forgotten. The congregation was brought to work together in Christian fellowship.
In the Presbytery the Reverend Douglas soon came to the front ranks, where his experience and mature judgment exercised a good influence. He was elected trustee of Davidson College and of the General Assembly. He served faithfully in both positions. During his ministry at Steele Creek and Pleasant Hill churches, he baptized 37 2 infants and added 378 members, an average of 28 per annum. It is believed that he added more than 1,000 members to
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the church during his ministry. He served as stated clerk of Charleston Presbytery for many years. Not only was he wise in the ways of a pastor, but he was also familiar with the practical details of our church order.
His influence in the Synod of North Carolina was appreciated. He was elected moderator when it met at the Second Presbyterian church of Charlotte in 1877.
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