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 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
The new congregations that were formed in North and South Carolina are the following :
1. Bethel Church, Stanly County, N. C., which is more commonly known as "Bear Creek Church," on account of its contiguity to that stream. It was
403
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
at this time a unitedly Lutheran and Reformed congregation, and its Lutheran members mostly belonged previously to St. John's Church, Cabarrus County. About the year 1804 divine worship was held in Christopher Layerle's barn for two or three years, who donated one hundred acres of well-tim- bered land to the newly organized congregation ; the male members then went to work in felling the trees, squaring the logs, and piling them up in true colonial style, until the new church edifice was sufficiently elevated for having the roof placed upon it, and other necessary work done to it. The following extract is a translation from its church- book: "We erected this church on the 19th and 20th of March, 1806, in the western part of Mont- gomery (Stanly) County, which was quickly brought under roof, and was made so far comfortable that on the following 25th of May, Whitsunday, service was held in it for the first time by Rev. George Boger (a German Reformed minister), who was our pastor at that time."
The church was afterwards completed at a cost of about $300, and presented a very respectable and comfortabe appearance. A petition for aid was then drawn up by Theophilus Lotter, their school-teacher, and was sent to the Lutheran con- gregation in Charleston, S. C., who were moved to present this infant enterprise with three boxes of window glass, which was received with thank- fulness, duly recorded with their church-book, and accordingly appropriated for the purpose intended.
This same church building is still standing in
404
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
all its early strength of architecture, and may re- sist the encroachments of time for many years to come.
The congregation was for a long time deprived of the services of a regular Lutheran pastor, but was frequently visited by Revs. Storch and J. W. Meyer; and was received into connection with the Synod in the year 1810.
2. Coldwater Creek Church, Cabarrus County, N. C., now St. James' Church, Concord, N. C. The early records of this congregation have all been destroyed by the ravages of those enemies to an- cient documents, the rats and mice, who have ap- propriated the leaves of the records of this church to their own comfort. Audubon, the ornitholo- gist, was served once in the same manner, when his earliest portfolio leaves were all ruined; how- ever, he could replace what had cost him three years' toil to gather together, by once more shoul- dering his knapsack and gun, and returning to the fields and forests for a renewed supply. But there is no such remedy for the seeker after historical facts; when once the early records are destroyed and lost, no efforts can reproduce them; diligent inquiry and search was made to obtain at least a portion of the records of this church, but all in vain, the work of destruction was done effectually.
Coldwater Church was at one time the oldest German religious organization in Western North Carolina; it had a pastor even before the Rev. A. Nussmann came to America in 1773; this pastor was the Rev. Mr. Suther, a German Reformed
405
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
minister, some of whose descendants are still living in Concord, N. C., and are worthy members of the Lutheran Church there.
In Wheeler's History of North Carolina, vol. ii, p. 11, the following record in Governor Tryon's journal occurs: "Sunday, August 21st, 1768. Heard Mr. Luther, a Dutch minister, preach." This is a very brief record, but it contains much information, when all the circumstances connected with it are considered. Firstly, the place was near Major Phifer's residence, Mecklenburg (now Ca- barrus) County, where Governor Tryon with his suite lodged from the 19th to the 22d of August. Secondly, the church was a German one, called "Dutch " according to the common parlance of that day, and was none other than the Coldwater Church, which was then the nearest German church to Major Phifer's residence. Thirdly, the minister's name was Suther, and not Luther, which is undoubtedly a mistake of the copyist of the Governor's journal, or of the printer, inasmuch as the letter "S," in writing, so nearly resembles the letter "L;" for no minister with the name "Luther" ever resided in that vicinity, and it is known that the Rev. Mr. Suther was the minister . of that church about that time. Fourthly, the time dates the existence of the Coldwater Church as far back as 1768.
Now whether the Lutherans had, at that time, a common right in the property of that church with the German Reformed is not known. Thirty years later a Lutheran minister occasion-
406
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
ally preached there, at least in performing funeral services in that church, as may be seen from the records of St. John's church-book. This minister was the Rev. A. N. Marcard, then the pastor of St. John's Church.
In the minutes of the North Carolina Synod mention is first made of this church in the year 1814, when it was received in connection with the Synod, giving the names of Philip Cress and Michael Winecoff as its church officers, and it is exceedingly probable that its organization as a Lutheran congregation, worshiping with the Ger- man Reformed, dates back only to about that time. In the year 1843, under the pastoral care of Rev. W. G. Harter, the Lutheran congregation with- drew from the Coldwater Church, and erected their own house of worship in the town of Con- cord, adopting the name of St. James' Church, where it continues to exist to the present day.
3. St. Michael's Church, Lexington District, South Carolina .- This congregation is likewise compara- tively a new organization, and its church edifice is better known as "The Blue Church."
The congregation originated in the following manner: A number of members of Bethel Church, on High Hill Creek, were desirous of hearing the Word of God in the English language, which in- novation being met with much opposition, the friends of English preaching withdrew and wor- shiped for a time in a schoolhouse, but afterwards secured a portion of land by gift or otherwise, and erected their own church. A number of members
407
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA,
from old Zion's Church also soon connected them- selves with the new enterprise. The Rev. God- frey Dreher became their first pastor, and their first communion was held in the church on the fifth Sunday in June, 1814. It was admitted into connection with the North Carolina Synod, Octo- ber 18th of the same year. Its elders and deacons at that time were: John Wise, John Dreher, Samuel Wingard, and Thomas Shuler, whose names are mentioned in the minutes of the Synod.
According to a resolution of the North Carolina Synod, a special Conference was held in this church, at which Conference the Revs. Storch, Miller and Shober, from North Carolina, were present. The Lord's day services were held in Bethel Church, April 29th, 1816, "when Rev. Charles A. Stork opened public worship by preach- ing from John 3 : 14, 15, and the Rev. R. J. Miller in the English language from Matt. 21:43. During the first sermon, the Rev. G. Dreher and Candi- date M. Rauch addressed the English visitors out of doors, and during the second, the Rev. G. Shober addressed an assembly of negroes near the church on the subject of Christianity, and afterwards preached a sermon in the church from Matt. 13 : 25, in the German language. It is hoped that among that great concourse of people, who list- ened attentively during the long service, some precious seed fell on good ground. It was then thought advisable that the meeting of Conference should be held at St. Michael's Church at nine o'clock, Monday morning." The above extract
408
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
is taken from the printed minutes of that special Conference, and is herein inserted, because this was the first ecclesiastical meeting of the Lutheran Church held in this State. The conventions of the Corpus Ecclesiasticum preceded it some twenty-nine years, but it was a German Reformed as well as a Lutheran body.
The object of holding this Conference was to adjust certain difficulties, that had arisen and dis- turbed the Lutheran Church in South Carolina, in reference to the baptism of the children of un- worthy church members and of non-professors of religion. The decision arrived at was, that the children of all such members, who were not ex- pelled from the Church, could be presented by their own parents for baptism, and that the chil- dren of all others were likewise to be baptized, provided worthy members of the Church acted as sponsors, and presented them to the altar. Another vexed question had reference to the col- ored population, namely: 1. When should they be baptized and confirmed? 2. Should they after- wards be immediately admitted to the communion or remain awhile in a state of probation? 3. Should they belong to the same church with their masters, or be at liberty to select a church for themselves? 4. Should they bring their own chil- dren to baptism themselves? 5. The marriage relation was recognized and strictly enforced. A resolution was then also passed, requesting Synod to publish in the minutes of every year the list of its authorized and recognized ministers.
409
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
4. St. Michael's Church, Iredell County, North Caro- lina .- The German citizens of Iredell County came originally from Rowan and Cabarrus Counties. All the productive and available lands in these two counties had been preoccupied by their forefathers, whose descendants were, therefore, compelled to go westward, and many of them occupied lands in Iredell that were still vacant, or purchased farms from the original Scotch-Irish settlers.
This influx of a German population occurred about the close of the last or commencement of the present century, and owing to the peculiarities of their settlement here, many of them are inter- married with the original Scotch-Irish colonists, and nearly all are more or less scattered over the whole of that country, and some of them are of necessity located rather remotely from their own house of worship.
The Rev. R. J. Miller was the first Lutheran minister who gathered the German settlers in Ire- dell County into a congregation, A.D. 1815. This fact is ascertained from the church records, as well as from the minutes of the Synod of 1815, when that congregation was admitted under the name of "New Pearth." The church land was donated by Mr. Daniel Walcher, and was given as joint property for the use of both the Lutheran and Episcopal denominations, and was so continued as a union house of worship for several years, when the Episcopalians withdrew and erected their own church a few miles distant from St. Michael's
35
410
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
Church, leaving the Lutheran congregation the sole possessor of that property.
The church edifice has since been considerably enlarged, and is located on a pleasant site near the public road leading from Charlotte to States- ville, and recently the " Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad" has been located very near to this church and its graveyard. Rev. Mr. Miller contin- ued to labor here for six years, when he voluntarily disconnected himself from the Lutheran Church, in 1821. It was in this congregation that the Rev. Simeon W. Harkey, D.D. and his brothers, who are also in the ministry, were born and reared up for enlarged usefulness in the Lutheran Church. Dr. Harkey was for a time President of Illinois State University; many interesting circumstances of his early life are still related by his former schoolmates and early associates. St. Michael's Church has lost heavily by the removal of many of its mem- bers, principally to the State of Illinois.
5. McCobbin's Creek Church, Mecklenburg County, N. C., is also mentioned in the minutes of the North Carolina Synod, as having been received into its connection in 1815. Of its history nothing is known to the writer; it is probable, that this is the present " Morning Star Church" in that county, and now connected with the Tennessee Synod. There are, doubtless, other new Lutheran con- gregations which were organized in other parts of the Carolinas at or before this time, but as they are not mentioned in the minutes of the Synod,
411
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
and no other records are at hand, nothing can be said concerning them.
Section 8. Continued History of several of the older Lutheran Congregations in the Carolinas.
The Lutheran Church in the interior of South Carolina was beginning to present a more hope- ful appearance; much good was accomplished by the labors of its young ministers, who had recently been licensed or ordained by the North Carolina Synod; the Synod itself was also exerting a whole- some influence upon those churches in South Carolina that were connected with it. In New- berry District the Rev. F. J. Wallern was still laboring, but he and his congregations remained isolated and uninfluenced by synodical counsel and authority, consequently no improvement was manifested in their condition; one congregation, however, placed itself under the care of Synod in 1814, whose elders' and deacons' names have been mentioned, yet it is not stated who was its pastor at that time.
Soon after the death of Rev. C. E. Bernhardt, in 1809, the churches in Lexington District, on both sides of the Saluda River, were served by the Rev. Godfrey Dreher, who was licensed by the North Carolina Synod in 1810, and labored there for a number of years, having still the charge of Zion's, St. Peter's, and other more recently organized congregations, as late as 1848, at about which time
412
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
he resigned. The Rev. J. Y. Meetze also resided and preached in this District, serving several con- gregations; and after the year 1814, the Rev. J. P. Franklow, who resigned his charge in Orange- burg District, likewise labored in Lexington, so that the congregations in this District were for the time well supplied with ministerial labor.
The Sandy Run congregation was supplied once a month with the means of grace by Revs. Dreher, Franklow and Rauch, from and after the year 1812; Rev. Franklow, however, soon afterwards resigned; whether Rev. Rauch continued to preach there any length of time is not stated, but Rev. Dreher remained the pastor of that church until the close of the year 1821.
The St. Matthew's charge in Orangeburg Dis- trict was supplied with a pastor in the Rev. J. P. Franklow, who remained in office in that charge until 1814, when he resigned, and Rev. M. Rauch became his successor. By resolution of the North Carolina Synod, he also took the oversight of the two congregations in Barnwell District.
The Lutheran church in Charleston was vacant from the year 1811, but was supplied with the means of grace, six months at a time, by several Episcopal clergymen, until the Rev. John Bachman, from the State of New York, became the pastor in January, 1815. Of his arrival in Charleston and of his pastoral labors more will be stated in the next section.
The various churches in Lincoln County, N. C., were served with the pastoral labors of Revs. R.
413
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
J. Miller, David Henkel and Daniel Moser; the latter became the successor of Rev. Philip Henkel, who had resigned and accepted the call to the Tennessee congregations, made vacant by the death of Rev. C. Z. H. Smith.
The two congregations in Cabarrus County were supplied by the Rev. C. A. G. Storch ; St. John's Church was served as a part of his regular charge, whilst the Coldwater congregation received occa- sional visits from him. The other now existing congregations in this county were not organized at that time.
In Rowan County Rev. Storch was laboring still at Organ Church, in the bounds of which he then resided; it is probable that he also served Savage's or Sewits' Church, now called Lutheran Chapel ; but the Union or Pine Church he had resigned, and the Rev. J. W. Meyer became its pastor.
St. John's Church, in Salisbury, was at this time still vacant; it had become a neglected field, and, according to the provisions in the title granted by Mr. Beard, the Episcopalians occupied the church, since they had no house of worship of their own, and the few remaining Lutherans worshiped with them.
The churches in Davidson County were served faithfully by their pastor, Rev. Lewis Markert, from 1805 to 1816, when he removed to the State of Indiana, where he continued to labor until the Lord called him home, November 22d, 1850. After the removal of Rev. Markert, and at the request of the vacant congregations, the Synod, in
414
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
1816, appointed Rev. G. Shober to supply two of the churches of that charge, whilst the remaining two were placed under the care of Rev. J. W. Meyer. In 1817, Catechet Daniel Walcher was sent by Synod to labor in these vacant churches, where he remained until 1821, when he removed to Pendleton County, Virginia.
In the year 1810, the Rev. Jacob Scherer became the pastor of the churches in Guilford and Orange Counties, which had been vacant about four years, but through the energetic and faithful labors of Rev. Scherer's ministry, this charge became one of the most promising in the State. His catechetical instructions were specially blessed. At one time a certain young man came to him and declared that "he would not for the whole world have been without these instructions, for by means of them he had found what was worth more than the world to him." The Rev. Jacob Grieson was licensed to preach the gospel in 1810, and labored as an assistant pastor with Rev. Scherer, accomplishing much good, and was always willing and prepared to lighten the burdens and labors of the regular pastor in that extensive charge.
The congregations in Forsythe County, near Salem, N. C., were greatly built up by the efficient labors of their first pastor, the Rev. Gottlieb Scho- ber, who commenced his ministry there in 1810, and continued in charge of these churches to the close of his life, June 27th, 1838.
415
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
Section 9. Arrival of Rev. John Bachman as Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Charleston, S. C., and his Report on the State of the Coun- try and of the Condition of the Lutheran Church in America in the year 1815.
At last we have reached that period in the his- tory of the Lutheran Church in the Carolinas which comes within the range of still living wit- nesses, one of whom is the Rev. John Bachman, D.D., LL.D., now in his eighty-third year, and in the fifty-eighth year of his ministry in Charleston, S. C., as pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church ; and though no longer able to preach the gospel, he still manifests the liveliest interest in the wel- fare and prosperity in the Lutheran Church, both in his own Synod and in America; and has but recently (March 28th, 1872) been permitted, in a reclining posture, to participate in the dedication of St. Matthew's German Lutheran Church of Charleston.
It is not designed to give a sketch of Dr. Bach- man's life and ministry in this section of this work, as it would require more than a few pages, and belongs properly to biographical literature; be- sides, it would bring at once the history of Luther- anism in Charleston to its present date, and disar- range the entire plan of this work. Rev. Dr. Bachman's name, life and labors will now accom- pany and be included in the history of the Lu- theran Church in the Carolinas to the present day,
416
THE LUTHERAN CHURCHI
as he is inseparably connected with it as one of its most useful and prominent ministers.
On Sunday, January 10th, 1858, Dr. Bachman preached an anniversary sermon to his congrega- tion, on the occasion of his having then been forty- three years their pastor. This sermon has been published, and furnishes the Church the most in- teresting incidents in his life and ministry, besides embracing a report on the state of the country and of the condition of the Lutheran Church in America in the year 1815. Truly that was the day of small things to the Lutheran Church in this country, when her ministry numbered not quite one hundred, and there were still but three Synods in the United States,-the New York, the Pennsylvania, and the North Carolina Synods.
The following extracts are taken from Dr. Bach- man's anniversary sermon :
" On the 10th of January, 1815, I arrived in this city for the purpose of taking charge of this con- gregation. A meeting of the vestry of the church took place on the 12th, two days afterwards, and the charge of the congregation was, in due form, committed to my trust. This day, then, is the forty-third anniversary of my arrival to engage in the ministry in this city.
" On the 10th, the day of my arrival, I attended the first funeral service, which was performed by another clergyman, who had previously been en- gaged, and on the 16th I performed the first bap- tismal service.
417
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
" My Antecedents.
"I was licensed by the Lutheran Synod of New York in 1813, having previously been elected pas- tor of three congregations in the vicinity of my own neighborhood, in the county of Rensselaer, N. Y., where I would have gladly spent the re- mainder of my days, among the friends and rela- tives of my boyhood and early youth. A hemor- rhage of the lungs, however, of which I had been attacked whilst at college, was making a fearful inroad on my health, and I was advised by my physicians to seek relief in a more southern cli- mate. A call had been sent from this congrega- tion to the President of the Synod of New York, Dr. Quitman, with a request that he should rec- ommend some clergyman who might be adapted to this field of labor. He was the father of the present General Quitman, and was regarded as one of the most learned and eloquent men of his day. He and my ever faithful friend, Dr. Mayer, of Philadelphia, proposed my name to this congre- gation. They immediately sent me a call to be- come their pastor. After consultation with my family and congregation, they reluctantly gave me leave of absence for nine months, during which time the hope was expressed that my health would be sufficiently restored to enable me to re- sume my ministerial labors among them. As the Lutheran Church had scarcely an existence in our Southern States, and as we had no Synod here, an
418
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
extra meeting of the Synod of New York was cou- vened in December, 1814, at Rhinebeck, Dutch- ess County, the place of my nativity, for the pur- pose of ordaining me. The ordination services were performed by Dr. Quitman and the other officers of the Synod in the Lutheran church at Rhinebeck, where I had been baptized in infancy. Without returning home, I proceeded on my way to this city.
" The State of our Country.
"We were in the midst of a three years' war with the most powerful of foreign nations. Fear- ful battles had occurred on our Northern frontiers, on the ocean and on the lakes. The traces of de- vastation and death were visible in the half-cov- ered graves along the highway between Baltimore and Washington. The blackened walls of the Capitol at Washington, and the waste and destruc- tion in every part of the city, presented an awful picture of the horrors of war. On my arrival here I found our citizens working on the lines of de- fence thrown around the landside of our city- even ladies went there with hoes and spades to cheer the citizen soldiers by their presence, their countenance and example, and I too joined, at least in form, for it was our common country that was to be defended. In the meantime the battle of New Orleans had been fought, on the 8th of January, and a treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent;
419
IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
but these important events were not known until some time afterwards. The war had fallen heavily on our Southern people. The principal staple of our commerce, cotton, had for several years, during the embargo and war, been sold at a mere nominal value, and was stored away in various depositories in King Street. Our city was then only a village compared with its present growth, and the grass was growing in our most public streets. Men had the necessaries of life, and these were cheap; but all the means of enterprise and all the avenues to wealth were closed up. Fortunately men were driven to the necessity of manufacturing their nec- essary articles, and they were compelled to deny themselves luxuries; they studied economy, and hence there was not much suffering among our people from any want of the necessaries of life. But the constant dread of invasion, the sufferings and dangers to which our friends who were in the army and at sea were constantly exposed, kept the minds of our citizens in an unsettled and feverish state. The means of traveling were very differ- ent from what they are now in the days of steamers and railroads. The roads were almost impassable; as an evidence of this, I would state that with the exception of a Sabbath on which I preached for Dr. Mayer, of Philadelphia, I came in the regular stage line, which traveled day and night, and ar- rived at Charleston on the morning of the twenty- ninth day after leaving Dutchess County, which is a hundred miles north of the city of New York.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.