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 6
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The majority of these settlers were, doubtless, members of the Reformed Church of Switzerland before they came to America; they were all Prot- estants, as this faith was made one of the condi- tions for their becoming settlers of this colony; a few families were connected with the Lutheran Church, as Rev. Bolzius' journal informs us. The colony brought their own pastor with them, the Rev. Joseph Bügnion, "a Swiss minister," who, when he arrived in England, on his way to Caro- lina, was induced to have Episcopal ordination laid upon him by the Rev. Dr. Clagett, Bishop of St. David's. His motives were doubtless pure, think- ing that the Church of England was the established religion in Carolina, and that he might accomplish as much good, with less opposition, "as a stranger in a strange land," if he would conform to the rules and worship of that Church. Whether the majority of the Swiss Protestants coincided with
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him is not stated ; probably many of them did so, but others connected themselves with the Lutheran Church at Ebenezer, Georgia. Rev. Mr. Bügnion did not remain a great while among his country- men at Purysburg; about the commencement of the year 1735 he removed to St. James, Santee.
"In 1744 the Rev. Henry Chiffelle arrived in the Province as the first missionary from 'The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts' to this parish. He was a native of Switzerland, and was ordained," as a minister of the Church of England, "by Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, July 14th and 21st, 1734." During his time of service in this charge, in February, 1746, this set- tlement was established as a separate parish by an act of the legislature, under the name and title of St. Peter's Parish. "The Act directed that the Church or Chapel, and the dwelling-house wherein the Rev. Mr. Chiffelle had preached and dwelt, should be the Parish Church and Parsonage-house of St. Peter's Parish. The Rector or minister was to be elected as in other parishes, and to receive a salary of £100. Proc. money. Mr. Chiffelle con- tinued in this mission until his death in 1758, and was succeeded by the Rev. Abraham Imer, who arrived in the Province in 1760, and died in 1766." (Dalcho's History of the Prot. Epis. Church in South Carolina, pp. 385 and 386.)
In regard to the Lutheran element of this colony, we may add, that they appear to have always had a warm attachment to their own faith. Their con- tiguity to their Lutheran brethren of the Ebenezer
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colony on the other side of the Savannah River, as well as the zeal of the Salzburg pastors, who occasionally visited them, had the effect of keeping up the interest in their own Church for a long time. The following extract from the journal of Rev. Bolzius, as found in Force's Collection of Historical Tracts, abundantly proves this : " March 19th, Mr. Oglethorpe, going to Purysburg, took with him one of us, Rev. Mr. Gronau, and recom- mended him to preach to the Germans there, which he accordingly did. There are three families of our Lutheran confession in that place. Rev. Gro- nau having preached for them from Gal. 2: 20, they were very glad, and resolved to come con- stantly to our settlement, which is but a few, three German, miles from Purysburg to hear the word of God, and to receive the sacrament. They reckon the Salzburgers very happy in having their own ministers, for at Purysburg they are now without a minister."
As far as can be ascertained, no Lutheran con- gregation was ever established in this place, as there were but few families of that faith in the colony, and these could occasionally attend divine worship at Ebenezer. Of the Episcopal Church established there, Dalcho further states : "There has been no incumbent since the Revolution. Divine service has occasionally been performed by visiting clergymen. No organized Episcopal congregation exists here at present." A.D. 1820.
The final history of the colony is hinted at by Mills, page 370, from which we can draw our own
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conclusions. He states that " in a short time they felt the many inconveniences attending a change of climate. Several of them sickened and died, and others found the hardships of the first state of colonization much greater than they expected. They became discontented. Smarting under the pressure of indigence and disappointment they not only blamed Purry for deceiving them, but repented leaving their native country." The colony lingered up to the period of the Revolutionary war. Mills informs us that "Purysburg was the first headquar- ters of the American army under Lincoln in the Revolution. It afterwards was in possession of the British under Prevost."
A large number of these Swiss settlers sought and found homes in other parts of Carolina, both before and after the Revolution, which left to Purysburg very little more than a name in his- tory.
Section 10. The German and Swiss Colonists of Orangeburg, S. C., A.D. 1735.
The story of the settling of Orangeburg, South Carolina is a page in the history of that State which has never been fully written. The cause of this omission can scarcely be accounted for, as ample materials were within the reach of former histo- rians. Certain outlines have been given, but noth- ing very satisfactory has been furnished.
"The first white inhabitant who settled in this section of country was named Henry Sterling; his
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occupation, it is supposed, was that of a trader. He located himself on Lyon's Creek in the year 1704, and obtained a grant of a tract of land, at present in the possession of Colonel Russel P. McCord." (Mills, p. 656.)
" The next settlers were some three or four indi- viduals, who located themselves at the Cowpens, northwesterly of the low country white settle- ments; these, and the Cherokee and Catawba Indians were all the inhabitants who had pre- ceded the Germans." (Mills, p. 657.)
The colonists of Orangeburg County and town were mostly German and Swiss, who came over from Europe in a large body, occupying several vessels, and even to the present day their descen- dants are easily recognized by their unmistakable German names, and are found to be the principal owners and occupants of the soil in this portion of South Carolina.
The principal facts concerning the early history of these colonists are mainly derived from the Journals of Council of the Province of South Carolina, as found in manuscript form in the office of the Secretary of State, as well as from the Church record-book, kept by their first pastors, the two Giessendanners, uncle and nephew, written in the German and English languages, which is still extant, and has been thoroughly examined by the writer; and as these additional facts are now presented for the first time, it is hoped that they may open new avenues, which will afford future
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historians of the State additional sources of research and information.
That the German element of the Orangeburg colonists came partly from Switzerland, we learn from the records of the Giessendanners' church- book, as it was the custom of the younger Giessen- danner to mention the place of nativity of all the deceased, in his records of each funeral of the early settlers; and as this emigration from that country to Orangeburg occurred only two or three years subsequent to the emigration of a former Swiss colony to Purysburg, S. C., it certainly re- quires no great stretch of the imagination to ex- plain the causes which induced such a large num- ber of emigrants from that country to locate them- selves upon the fertile lands of South Carolina, which were described so glowingly by John Peter Purry and his associates.
Let any one examine the pamphlets, as found in vol. ii of Carroll's Collections, which Mr. Purry published in reference to the Province of South . Carolina, and which he freely distributed in his native country, in which the fertility of the soil, salubrity of the climate, excellency of government, safety of the colonists, opportunities of becoming wealthy, &c., &c., are so highly extolled, and cor- roborated by the testimony of so many witnesses, and he will easily comprehend what the Switzers must have fancied that province to be, viz. : the El Dorado of America,-the second Palestine of the world.
Mr. Purry's account of the excellency of South
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Carolina for safe and remunerative settlement went round, from mouth to mouth, in many a hamlet and cottage of the little mountain-girt country, losing nothing by being told from one family to another; which, with the additional fact, that many had relatives and friends living in both the Carolinas, whom they possibly might meet again, soon fastened their affections upon that province, and induced them to leave the Fatherland, and make their future homes with some of their countrymen in America. Their little all of earthly goods or patrimony was soon disposed of; preparations for a long journey were quickly made, as advised by Mr. Purry in his pamphlet; the journey through North Germany towards some seaport was then undertaken ; and, with other Germans added to their number, who joined their fortunes with them whilst passing through their country, they were soon rocked upon the bosom of the ocean, heading towards America, with the compass pointed to their expected haven, Charleston, South Carolina.
These German and Swiss settlers did not all arrive in Orangeburg at the same time; the first colony came during the year 1735; another com- pany arrived a year later, and it was not until 1737 that their first pastor, Rev. John Ulrich Giessen- danner, Senior, came among them with another reinforcement of settlers; whilst Mills informs us that emigrants from Germany arrived in Orange- burg District as late as 1769, only a few years be- fore the Revolution.
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Like most of the early German settlers of Amer- ica, these colonists came to Carolina not as "gen- tlemen or traders," but as tillers of the soil, with the honest intention "to earn their bread by the sweat of the brow," and their lands soon gave evi- dence of thrift and plenty, and they, by their in- dustry and frugality, not only secured a compe- tency and independence for themselves and their children in this fertile portion of South Carolina, but many of them became blessed with abundance and wealth.
From the records of Rev. Giessendanner we learn that there were also a considerable number of mechanics, as well as planters and farmers, among these colonists ; and the results of this Ger- man colonization were extremely favorable to Orangeburg District, inasmuch as they remained there as permanent settlers, whilst many of their countrymen in other localities, such as Purysburg, &c., were compelled to leave their first-selected homes, on account of the want of health and of that great success which they had at first expected, but the Orangeburg settlers became a well-estab- lished and successful colony.
It has been asserted that the German congrega- tion established in Orangeburg among these settlers was Reformed, which is evidently a mistake, as any one may perceive from the following facts. On the one hand, it must be admitted that the Switzers came from the land where John Calvin labored, and where the Reformed religion prevails, but where there are also many Lutheran churches
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established. It is also admitted that the Giessen- danners were natives of Switzerland, but it would be unsafe to conclude from these facts that the German congregation at Orangeburg, with all, or nearly all, of its members, and with their pastors, were Swiss Reformed or Calvinistic in their faith. On the other hand, although nothing positive is mentioned in the Record-book of the Church, con- cerning their distinctive religious belief, yet the presumptive evidence, even from this source of information, is sufficiently strong to conclude that this first religious society in Orangeburg was a Lutheran Church. The facts from which our con- clusions are drawn are :
Firstly .- Because a very strong element from Germany was mixed with their Swiss brethren in the early settling of this county, which, by still later accession of German colonists, appears to have become the predominating population, who were mostly Lutherans, and the presumption be- comes strong that their church-organization was likewise Lutheran.
Secondly .- It seems to have been a commonly admitted fact and the prevailing general impres- sion of that time, when their second pastor had become an ordained minister of the Church of England.
Thirdly .- In examining their church records one will discover, through its entire pages, a rec- ognition of the festivals of the Lutheran Church, as were commonly observed by the early Lutheran settlers.
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Fourthly .- In Dalcho's History of the Prot. Epis. Church in S. C., published in 1820, at the time when the son of the younger Giessendanner was still living (see Mills' Statistics, p. 657, published as late as 1826), it is most positively stated concern- ing his father, that "he was a minister of the Lu- theran Church." (Dalcho, p. 333, footnote.) How could Dr. Dalcho have been mistaken when he had the records of the Episcopal Church in South Caro- lina before him; and in that denomination this was the prevailing impression, as was, doubtless, so created from Giessendanner's own statements in the bosom of which Church he passed the latter days of his life.
Fifthly .- One of the churches which Giessen- danner served before he became an Episcopal clergyman, located in Amelia Township, called St. Matthews, has never been any other than a Lu- theran Church, and is still in connection with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of South Carolina.
Sixthly .- The Orangeburg colonists, after their pastor departed from their faith, were served with Lutheran pastors entirely, numbering in all about seventeen ministers, and only for a short time a Reformed minister, Rev. Dr. Zübly, once labored there as a temporary supply.
Seventhly .- In Dr. Hazelius' History of the American Lutheran Church, p. 64, we have the following testimony, gathered from the journal of the Ebenezer pastors, Bolzius and Gronau, found in Urlsperger's Nachrichten : " Their journal of that time mentions among other things, that many
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Lutherans were settled in and about Orangeburg in South Carolina, and that their preacher resided in the village of Orangeburg."
It is to be hoped that all this testomony is satis- factory to every candid inquirer, that the first es- tablished Church of Orangeburg, S. C., which was likewise the first organized Lutheran Church in both the Carolinas, was none other than a Lutheran Church; that those early settlers from Germany and Switzerland were mostly, if not all, of the same denomination, and that Dr. Dalcho has pub- lished no falsehood by asserting that "their pastor was a minister of the Lutheran Church."
The first colony of German and Swiss emigrants who settled in Orangeburg village and its vicinity in 1735, as well as those who selected their homes in Amelia Township along Four-hole swamp and creek, did not bring their pastor with them; the Rev. John Ulrich Giessendanner did not arrive until the year 1737; he was an ordained minister and a native of Switzerland, and was the first and, at the time, the only minister of the gospel in the village and District of Orangeburg; we infer this from Mills' Statistics, p. 657, stating that there were but four or five English settlers residing in the District before the Germans arrived, and these few would not likely have an English minister of their own to labor among them. We infer this, moreover, from the record of Giessendanner's marriages; the ceremony of one was performed in the English language during the first year of his ministry, with the following remark accompa-
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nying it : " Major Motte having read the ceremony in the English language," from which we conclude that at the time, October 24th, 1737, Rev. Giessen- danner was still unacquainted with the English language, and that on this account he solicited the aid of Major Motte in the performance of a clerical duty. That there could have been no other min- ister of the gospel within reach of the parties, who did not reside in the village, otherwise they would not have employed Rev. G. to perform a ceremony under such embarrassing circumstances.
Rev. J. U. Giessendanner came to this country with the third transportation of German and Swiss settlers for this fertile portion of South Carolina. In the same vessel also journeyed his future part- ner in life, who had resided at his home in Europe as housekeeper for twenty-six years, and to whom, on the 15th of November, 1737, he was " quietly married, in the presence of many witnesses, by Major Motte ;" doubtless by him, as no minister of the gospel was within their reach, to which rec- ord he piously adds : "May Jesus unite us closely in love, as well as all faithful married people, and cleanse and unite us with himself. Amen." By this union he had no children, since both himself and his partner were " well stricken in years."
The elder Giessendanner did not labor long among this people. Death soon ended his minis- trations in Orangeburg, and we infer that he must have died about the close of the year 1738, since the records of his ministerial acts extend to the summer of that year, whilst those of his nephew
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commence with the close of the year 1739. Allow- ing the congregation time to make the necessary arrangement with the nephew, and he to have time to seek and obtain ordination, as we shall see hereafter, besides the inference drawn from the language of a certain petition, &c., we learn that during the fall of 1738, the Rev. John Ulrich Gies- sendanner, Sr., was called to his rest, and thus closed his earthly career.
The congregations in Orangeburg village and District now looked about them for another servant of the Lord to labor among them in holy things, but the prospect of being soon supplied was not very encouraging. The Ebenezer pastors were the only Lutheran ministers in the South at that time, and they could not be spared from their arduous work in Georgia, and to expect a pastor to be sent them again from the Fatherland was at- tended with many difficulties. Another plan pre- sented itself to them. The nephew of their first pastor, who had prepared himself for the ministry, was induced to seek ordination at the hands of some Protestant denomination, and take upon him- self the charge of these vacant congregations in the place of his departed uncle.
From the records of the Orangeburg Church we learn that their second pastor was also named John Ulrich Giessendanner, but he soon afterwards dropped his middle name, probably to distinguish him from his uncle, and so is he named in all the histories of South Carolina, which give any ac- count of him.
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Difficulties and sore trials soon attended Rev. John Giessendanner's ministry; the Urlsperger Reports state, in vol. iii, p. 1079, that the town of Orangeburg was then, A.D. 1741, in a worse con- dition than Purysburg ; that the people were lead- ing very sinful lives, manifesting no traces of piety, and that between pastor and hearers there were constant misunderstandings. It is also stated that their lands were fertile, but, as they were far removed from Charleston, and had no communi- cation with that city by water, they could not con- vert their produce into money, and on this account very little or no money was found among them. Dr. Hazelius likewise gives an unfavorable account of the state of religion in that community. On p. 64, he remarks: "From one circumstance men- tioned with particular reference to that congrega- tion, we have to infer that the spiritual state of that church was by no means pleasing. . A Mr. Kieffer, a Salzburg emigrant and member of the Ebenezer congregation, was living on the Carolina side of the Savannah River, whose mother-in-law resided at Orangeburg, whom he occasionally visited. On one occasion he remarked, after his return, to his minister, Pastor Bolzius, that the people at Orangeburg were manifesting no hunger and thirst after the word of God ; he was therefore anxious that his mother-in-law should remove to his plantation, so that she might enjoy the oppor- tunity of attending to the preaching of the word of God, which she greatly desired." All this tes- timony, though in the main correct, needs, how-
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ever, some explanation, and by referring to the Journals of Council for this province, in the office of the Secretary of State, we will soon discover the cause of such a state of things. The people had been but sparingly supplied with the preached word, the discipline of the Church had not been properly administered, and when the younger Giessendanner took charge of these congregations, and attempted to regulate matters a little, whilst the majority of the people sustained him in his efforts, a minority, who were rude and godless, became his bitter enemies, and were constantly at variance with him.
This condition of Church affairs opened the way for the Zauberbühler difficulties, which are very minutely described in the Journals of Council of the Province of South Carolina, vol. 10, page 395, et seq .; the main facts of this troublesome affair were the following :
During the year 1743, a Swiss minister of the gospel, formerly located along the Savannah River, at New Windsor, Purysburg, and other places, named Bartholomew Zauberbühler, very adroitly attempted to displace the Rev. John Giessendanner from his charge in Orangeburg, and make him- self the pastor of those churches. He supposed that by becoming an ordained minister of the Episcopal Church, at that time the established church in the Province, he would have rights supe- rior to the humble Lutheran pastor in charge at Orangeburg, and, as he supposed, have the law on his side in thus becoming the pastor himself. The
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records of his evil designs, which have long slum- bered in oblivion in manuscript form on the shelves of the Statehouse at Columbia, are now brought to view, and read as follows :
"Nov. 9th, 1742. Read the petition of Rev. B. Zauberbühler, showing that as there were a great many Germans at Orangeburg, Santee, and there- abouts, who are very desirous of having the word of God preached to them and their children, and who desire to be instructed in the true religion, humbly prays : That he may be sent to serve them and to be supported with a competent salary until he shall be able to take a voyage to England to be ordained by the Bishop of London, and at the same time proposes to bring over with him a number of Germans, which he thinks may be as great a num- ber as ever were brought at any time into this province, it being a great encouragement to them when they find that they may have the Gospel, not only on their voyage, but also after their ar- rival in this province, preached to them, &c.
"Upon reading the said petition, it was the opinion of His Majesty's Council, that providing the petitioner do produce a certificate from the inhabitants of Orangeburg, as also a certificate from ye Ecclesiastical Commissary, Mr. Garden, of his qualifications to receive orders in the Church of England, and his engaging to go home to Lon- don to receive ordination, and after that to go to Germany to procure others of his countrymen to come over to settle in this province, that the sum of five hundred pounds currency be advanced him
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out of the township fund, in order to enable him to perform the same."
Journals of Council, vol. xi, pp. 74-76. Under date of Feb. 13th, 1743-44: "Reconsidered the petition of Rev. Mr. Zauberbühler, which had been exhibited at this Board on the 10th day of November, 1743, praying that in consideration of the earnest desire of the inhabitants of Orangeburg, Santee, to have a person to preach the gospel to them in their own language, he is willing to per- form that pastoral duty, but being as yet unor- dained, desires to be supported with a competent salary until he shall be able to take a voyage to England to be ordained, at which time he proposes to bring over a number of foreign Protestants to settle in this province, who are unwilling to come over for want of having the gospel preached to them in their voyage here. Whereupon it ap- pearing by a former minute of Council, of the 10th of November last, that provided the petitioner shall produce a certificate from the inhabitants of Orange- burg of their desire to receive him as a preacher amongst them, and also a certificate from the Rev. Mr. Garden of his qualifications to receive orders, that then the sum of £500 current money be ad- vanced him out of the township fund, in order to enable him to perform his voyage, and bring on the Protestants to settle here as he mentions. Whereupon the petitioner produced the following certificate from the Rev. Mr. Commissary Garden :
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