USA > South Carolina > History of the German settlements and of the Lutheran church in North and South Carolina : from the earliest period of the colonization of the Dutch, German, and Swiss settlers to the close of the first half of the present century > Part 10
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" Accordingly, preparations were made for send- ing the Germans to South Carolina. When the news was communicated to them, they rejoiced, not only because they were to go to one of the most fertile and flourishing Provinces on the con- tinent, but also because many of them had friends
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and countrymen there before them. Two ships, of two hundred tons each, were provided for their accommodation, and provisions of all kinds laid in for the voyage. An hundred and fifty stand of arms were ordered from the Tower, and given them by his Majesty for their defence after their arrival in America; all of which deserves to be re- corded for the honor of the British nation, which has at different times set before the world many noble examples of benevolence. Everything being ready for their embarkation, the Palatines broke up their camp in the fields behind White Chapel, and proceeded to the ships, attended by several of their benefactors; of whom they took their leave with songs of praise to God in their mouths, and tears of gratitude in their eyes.
" In the month of April, 1764, they arrived at Charleston, and presented a letter from the Lords- Commissioners for Trade and Plantations to Gov- ernor Boone, acquainting him that his Majesty had been pleased to take the poor Palatines under his royal care and protection, and, as many of them were versed in the culture of silks and vines, had ordered that a settlement be provided for them in Carolina, in a situation most proper for
these purposes. Though this settlement met with some obstruction from a dispute subsisting at that time between the Governor and Assembly, about certain privileges of the house, yet the latter could not help considering themselves as laid under the strongest obligations to make provision for so many useful settlers. Accordingly, in imitation
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of the noble example set before them in London, they voted five hundred pounds sterling to be dis- tributed among the Palatines, according to the di- rections of the Lieutenant-Governor, and their necessities. That they might be settled in a body, one of the two townships, called Londonderry, was allotted for them, and divided in the most equitable manner, into small tracts, for the accom- modation of each family. Captain Calhoun, with a detachment of the Rangers, had orders to meet them by the way, and conduct them to the place where their town was to be built, and all possible assistance was given towards promoting their speedy and comfortable settlement."
In the State Library at Raleigh, North Carolina, to which the writer had access by invitation of the late Governor Ellis, he found an old map of South Carolina, and discovered that Londonderry Town- ship is the exact locality answering to that of Hard Labor Creek in Abbeville County, at which place, as is well known, a settlement of Germans was made, and a Lutheran church and congrega- tion once existed ; so that this fact, in connection with corresponding dates, besides they having been met by Captain Calhoun, which family set- tled and resided in Abbeville District, and various other circumstances, prove beyond a doubt that this interesting account, given by Hewatt, is the story of the colonization of our German Lutheran brethren at Hard Labor Creek.
Dr. Hazelius' history informs us (p. 120) that formerly there existed among them a Lutheran
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church and congregation, as it was incorporated by the legislature, February, 1788, under the name and title of "St. George, on Hard Labor Creek," and a few years ago, whilst on a visit to Abbeville, the writer was informed that the old church edi- fice was still standing.
These settlers had also their own pastor, for at the time when the above-mentioned visit was made there were persons still living who had heard him preach in St. George's Church.
The last account we have of this congregation may be found in the journal of Rev. R. J. Miller's missionary tour, published in the minutes of the Spring Session of the North Carolina Synod, of 1812, an extract of which is here given :
"Saturday, November 9th, 1811. I arrived in the evening, after having crossed Saluda River, at a Mr. Robert Smith's, on Hard Labor Creek, where my appointments were to commence. Sun- · day, the 10th, I preached in a German meeting- house ; here was formerly a Lutheran congrega- tion, but no remains of them (Lutherans) are now to be found; here the Methodists and Baptists have pulled each other out of the pulpit. Every person seemed very attentive. Here is a full proof of the necessity of missionary preaching. Bro- thers Dreher, Meetze, and Fulmar, from the con- gregation on Saluda, met me here."
The period of time when the above reported visit of Rev. R. J. Miller was made, and even be- fore that time, was the trying period of the Lu- theran Church in the South ; the want of ministers
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to feed the flock was felt everywhere; the people lived as sheep without a shepherd, and soon be- came a prey to ravening wolves; and this congre- gation in Abbeville District, being somewhat iso- lated and remote from the present flourishing churches in the central and southern part of the State, and having become vacant, could not be easily visited by the few Lutheran ministers then laboring in South Carolina, they having their hands full and their time occupied in laboring among the other churches committed to their charge, and so the Lutheran congregation on Hard Labor Creek very naturally became extinct, and thus an interesting page in the history of our Lutheran Church in the South is practically lost to us.
Section 15. Other German Settlements, particularly in South Carolina.
It is impossible to give a correct account of all the smaller settlements of Germans in the two Carolinas, inasmuch as no records concerning them have been preserved, either in the colonial annals of these two States, or in the various other published or unpublished historical reports, from which reliable information might be obtained. In North Carolina the German emigrants from Pennsylvania, that scattered themselves over the central and western part of the State, located them- selves in companies wherever they found vacant lands to be occupied, and continued to arrive
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almost every year from 1740 to the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. In addition to these yearly arrivals, the older settlements in the State began likewise to send out new colonies farther westward in this State, and in this manner were new settlements of Germans formed east and west of the Catawba River.
In South Carolina a number of other German settlements were made, which have not yet been noticed; the one in Barnwell County was doubt- less formed by the breaking up of the Dutch col- ony on James Island, the gradual absorption of the unsuccessful German and Swiss colony at Purysburg, and the influx of other German set- tlers from Orangeburg County. In much the same manner were German settlements made along the boundary line of Richland and Fairfield Counties, on Cedar and Dutchman's Creeks. The most of these colonists doubtless came from adjoining older settlements; as the one at Saxe-Gotha Town- ship, Lexington County, was nearest to Richland and Fairfield, it may have supplied the German element residing there. On Cedar Creek there was once a German church, which bore the name of " German Protestant Church of Apii-Forum," and was incorporated by legislative enactment in 1788. From the best accounts that we can gather at this late date, this congregation, having been so long neglected by our Lutheran and German Reformed ministers, became at last absorbed by and into a Methodist congregation in the vicinity. The Newberry County Germans were mostly all de-
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scendants from the original German settlers in Saxe-Gotha Township, with an occasional addi- tion from the German settlements of North Caro- lina and Virginia.
In the southern part of Edgefield County, along the Savannah River, and opposite the city of Au- gusta, Georgia, there was a township laid out at an early date, bearing the name of New Windsor; here a number of German emigrants were located, that were brought over to America by the Rev. Bartholomew Zauberbühler of Orangeburg noto- riety, or came over to South Carolina under his influence; at a later date an addition of German emigrants was made to this new colony, who were brought there by John Jacob Riemensperger, who appears to have been commissioned so to do by the provincial government of South Carolina; it is possible that the German descendants, now re- siding in the central part of Edgefield County, came originally from this settlement and Saxe- Gotha Township. This supposition is strength- ened by the fact that Riemensperger brought col- onists also to Saxe-Gotha, which may have induced both settlements to locate a colony on lands lying about midway between them.
Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg speaks of meeting a cer- tain Philip Eisenman in Charleston during his visit there in 1774; this Eisenman informed him that he was a resident " of Old Indian Swamp, fifty miles in the country, who arranged his barn for public worship, and they (he and his neigh- bors) have accepted as preacher a young man
15
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lately arrived from Germany, and who might answer for a schoolmaster." The Doctor does not mention his name, nor does he speak very highly of his attainments. A church, bearing the name of "The German Protestant Church of St. George on Indian Field Swamp," was incorporated by the legislature in 1788. Taking these facts to- gether, it is proper to conclude that a German settlement was made fifty miles from Charleston, that these Germans had a church of their own, which was doubtless unitedly Lutheran and Re- formed, as it bore the name " German Protestant," but where to locate the church is now a matter of impossibility, as the afore-mentioned swamp is not shown on any of the old or modern maps of South Carolina; it is probable, however, that it had its position in Barnwell County, where there are Lutheran Churches at the present time.
About the year 1750, a German colony from the Palatinate arrived in South Carolina, and "after some delay, settled in" what was then called "Anson County," North Carolina, along the boundary line between the two provinces, on lands that are now located in Union County, North Carolina, and Lancaster and Chesterfield Counties, South Carolina, many of whose descend- ants are still living, and are gathered in Lutheran congregations belonging to the Tennessee Synod.
In company with this colony came the Rev. John Nicholas Martin, one of the first pastors of St. John's Lutheran Church, Charleston, South Carolina, but at that time a layman, and the father
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of a family " with several children." According to Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg's statement, he was a self-taught man, and was said to have been or- dained afterwards by the Lutheran pastors at Ebenezer, Georgia. He did not remain long in Anson County, North Carolina, but, in company " with the larger portion of" his fellow-colonists, removed to the fork of Saluda and Broad Rivers, in South Carolina, where they found permanent homes, and where afterwards they were also served in spiritual things by Rev. Martin, after having been pastor in Charleston from 1763 to 1767, but who finally located himself permanently in that city.
Section 16. Hessian Deserters during the Revolution.
The period of the Revolutionary War was one of sore trial to all the American colonies, and the German settlers underwent an amount of suffering no less than that of other citizens; the thirteen Provinces numbered at that time three millions of inhabitants, and these had established their homes with but few exceptions, east of the Alleghany Mountains. It was a severe trial for them to take up arms and send ablebodied men into the battle- field, when they were needed at home in develop- ing the resources of their country, which had been but partially reclaimed from its primeval condi- tion. Thousands left home and enlisted for the war, who never again returned, but whose bodies filled the honored graves of the patriot soldier; thousands of widows and orphans lamented their
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irreparable loss, and a void was created in the heart and a vacancy at the fireside, which in most cases was never again filled.
England supplied her depleted ranks in the army from the overcrowded population of other European countries, whose military service she procured by large subsidies to the sovereigns of these people, and bounty money to the purchased soldier, thinking to gain thereby a two-fold ad- vantage, that of saving her British subjects, who went reluctantly to fight against their own flesh and blood, for so were the American colonists regarded, and that of preventing desertion to the American army and cause of liberty and indepen- dence. It was confidently supposed that the Ger- man soldiers, mostly Hessians, numbering " a little over seventeen thousand men," ignorant of the English language, generally spoken in America, would be proof against the seductive representa- tions made by the Americans; and to make this fancied security doubly sure, the most incredible stories concerning the character of the Americans were freely circulated among the Hessians.
However, one thing the British government had entirely overlooked, namely, that numbers of the American citizens were Germans and German descendants, still bearing German names, pos- sessed of German characteristics, and speaking the German language. No sooner did the Hes- sian soldiers come in contact with these German- American citizens, than they deserted the ranks of the British army whenever they found a safe
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opportunity for so doing, and fled to the German settlements, to be delivered from the dangers and hardships of a war in which they had no interest.
In these settlements the identity of the Hessian deserters soon became lost to the British, and the German farmers were only too happy to have the Hessians in their midst as laborers ever to betray them to the British, who were their own enemies as well as they were dangerous foes to the Hes- sian deserters. The Hessians discovered that these American-Germans were both civilized and christianized, contrary to the slanderous tales cir- culated by the British leaders; and though they were not originally from the same German prov- ince, yet they spake the German language, and were generally of the same faith with themselves. Besides, they discovered that land was cheap and labor scarce, and that better prospects were before them in America, than they could ever hope to find on their return to Germany after the termina- tion of the war.
In this manner were the German settlements at the North, where the Hessians first landed, sup- plied with a valuable addition to their strength ; and farther south, particularly in the Carolinas, many honest, industrious, and useful German set- tlers came in good time to supply the loss that had been caused by the war. These did not, and of necessity could not, form separate settlements, as that would most certainly have endangered their safety as long as the war continued, but they lo-
-
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cated themselves among the German farmers, who had already been established in this country.
Among these Hessian deserters was one who afterwards became a Lutheran minister in South Carolina, named John Yost Mütze, known better as Rev. J. Y. Meetze, and whose history was ob- tained from one of his sons. He deserted near Charleston at the time the British army was be- sieging that city from the other side of Ashley River; he was pursued some thirty miles, but finally made his escape over Bacon's bridge, where he was safe within the American lines. He located himself in Saxe-Gotha Township, now Lexington County, six miles above the present county-seat, and became the forefather of a large and influen- tial family in that section of the country. The following tablet inscription marks the spot where his remains now repose :
" Sacred to the memory of the Rev. J. Y. Meetze, who departed this life May 7th, 1833, aged 76 years, 5 months, and 5 days."
A
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CHAPTER II.
CONDITION AND HISTORY OF THE GERMAN COLONIES IN THE CAROLINAS TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
Section 1. A Brief Review of the Planting of the differ- ent German Colonies in North and South Carolina.
" THE child is the father of the man;" this is a trite but true saying, and is the key that unlocks many of the peculiar mysteries of habit, manners and customs, as well as the moral, intellectual and religious life of any community. The condi- tion of an infant colony has much to do with its future development; one age of the world suc- ceeds another as naturally, and adjusts itself to the preceding age as appropriately as do the sev- eral pieces of mosaic in making a grand whole-a perfect picture ; and, inasmuch as there can be no effect without a cause, it is always necessary to study the character and condition of the early colonies, if we desire to understand fully their peculiarities of the present time.
It is not to be supposed that the German settle- ments in the Carolinas would form the only excep-
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tion to this general rule. With these truths before us, and kept always in view, the peculiar differ- ences, that still mark the North and South Caro- lina German descendants at the present day, can be easily understood. Local and State govern- ments have had something to do with the forming of these peculiar characteristics, but when we re- fleet that these governments are the creatures of the settlers of each county, then we are again thrown back upon the original condition of the first colonies.
Again, it is not to be supposed that the German forefathers, coming directly from various parts of Germany or from the Province of Pennsylvania, would leave their German peculiarities at home, and be ready to adopt the manners and customs of the settlers who preceded them and among whom they lived, or be moulded into their religious be- lief and peculiar ecclesiastical usages. This doubt- less was the case with those German settlers, who were isolated and cut off from all intercourse with their brethren, and where other elements of colo- nization predominated, but not until after process of time, when a generation or two had passed away.
The Dutch were the first Lutheran settlers in the Carolinas, and history has informed us how strennously they, with others, resisted the en- croachments of the Church of England upon their faith, and how they struggled against the efforts of the Proprietary government of South Carolina to make Episcopalians of them and their children;
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whilst the German and Swiss colony at Newberne, North Carolina, in course of time, submitted to the arrangement of a change of their faith, when made in a more conciliatory spirit and manner. However, as both these colonies became practi- cally lost to the faith of their early founders, it is unnecessary to follow them any farther, as on this wise their original identity was lost; although a number of the Dutch settlers found congenial homes, and preserved their original faith among German settlers in other parts of South Carolina.
Charleston, Purysburg, Barnwell, Orangeburg, Saxe-Gotha, Edgefield and Newberry received their Teutonic element previous to the year 1740, and inasmuch as, with the exception of Purys- burg, the descendants of these settlers are still to be met there, and the Lutheran Church is firmly established among them, it is proper to examine the condition of these early settlements to under- stand their peculiar characteristics manifest at the present day. They received their principal strength from several German nationalities; na- tives of Switzerland, the Palatinate, Austria, Wür- temberg, Holland and the Hessian States, located themselves principally in those parts of South Carolina, and all, of course, brought their peculiar national characteristics with them, and were so far beneficial to each other as to increase their in- tellectual and practical acquirements in almost every department of life, for they could communi- cate to each other the ideas and information which they received in their different mental and religious
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trainings, as well as what was customary and ad- vantageous in the useful arts in their native coun- tries. Besides, the Swiss element largely pre- dominated over any one of the other German na- tionalities, and these Switzers, coming from the land of William Tell, were born and cradled in a republic, lived in an adopted country which had overthrown the Proprietary government in 1719, because of its oppressive rule in that province ;- need any one then be astonished at their love of liberty, and the prompt assertion of their inaliena- ble rights ?
Their peculiar ecclesiastical condition is like- wise the result of their early colonial training; in the interior of South Carolina the Lutherans and German Reformed did not continue long as two separate denominations, owing to the neglect of the German Reformed Church in taking care of their congregations so far south, and failing to supply them with ministers of the gospel after the older ministers there had all died. This, no doubt, the German Reformed Church in America could not avoid, and thus the members of that Church in those settlements soon lost their ecclesiastical identity, many having connected themselves with the Lutheran Church; whilst others, who were again necessarily neglected by the Lutherans, were absorbed by other denominations. In Charleston the ecclesiastical union of Germans extended still farther, and embraced even those who were at- tached to the Roman Catholic faith, of which the Rev. Dr. Velthusen, of Helmstaedt, Germany, re-
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ports in his preface to the North Carolina Cate- chism, as follows: " We have likewise the assur- ance from other parts of America, that our books of instruction are suitable to their wants. Besides, various of these books have been also introduced in Charleston, by the approval and support of the congregation, for the instruction of their youth. This congregation may be looked upon as an ex- ample of Christian harmony, for it is composed of a union of Lutherans, German Reformed and Catholics, all of whom live, according to the testimony of their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Faber, very peaceably together, although they are educated in different principles of religion. They visit the house of God faithfully, and contribute equally for the sup- port of divine worship." Thus were these dif- ferent elements united, communicating to each other their peculiar faith and church usages, re- taining, however, the Lutheran name up to the present time.
The only other extensive settlement of Germans in South Carolina was the one in Abbeville County, on Hard Labor Creek, which remained Lutheran for a number of years, but, owing to neglect on the part of the Lutheran Church in supplying those people with the much-needed means of grace, they became, in course of time, lost to the Lu- theran faith entirely.
In North Carolina there existed an entirely dif- ferent state of things; all the German settlers, with the exception of those who were located at Newberne, came mostly from Pennsylvania during
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a period of twenty-five or thirty years before the Revolutionary War; even the Moravians at Salem and vicinity came originally and mostly from that Province; consequently, one will find Pennsyl- vania ideas, habits, manners and customs pre- vailing among the German descendants in North Carolina, and here and there the Pennsylvania- German dialect still spoken among the aged. In addition to that, the Lutherans, German Reformed and Moravians have always preserved their eccle- siastical identity, and although the Lutherans and Reformed built many joint-churches for them- selves, in which both these denominations wor- shiped alternately, that arrangement has not ma- terially interfered with their respective faith and ecclesiastical usages.
Again, these North Carolina German settle- ments have been mostly made in the country, as those colonists from Pennsylvania were principally farmers, and continued to follow their peaceful and unambitious pursuits for many years, and until recently, they cared to make but little prog- ress in intellectual pursuits beyond that which their forefathers . enjoyed, they continued their German schools and German worship for a long time, and but few of their descendants engaged in mercantile pursuits, or sought distinction and prominence in the arena of political life; and, as a general thing, they also adhered all the more closely to the faith and church usages of their forefathers. Besides, with the exception of the German and Swiss settlers at Newberne, the three
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