USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 1 > Part 30
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On the 8th of July, 1755, Mr. Simpson hears of Mr. Rymer's indisposition, goes to visit him, and learns of his death on the way. From the notice of his death in the South Carolina Gazette of July 10th, 1755, we learn that Mr. Rymer was born in St. Andrew's, in Scotland, bred and educated in the univer- sity there, licensed and ordained in the Church of Scotland ; and that upon a call from the Presbyterian church at Pon Pon he was transported thither in the year 1752." On the 5th of February, 1756, the following record appears transcribed in the session book of the church, relative to the affairs of the congregation, which were laid before presbytery, viz. "We,
-
281
MR. CHARLES GORDON.
1750-1760.]
the members of the Presbytery now met at Charles Town, do declare our satisfaction with the within Report [this report is too long for insertion here], and hereby give and grant, as far as in us lies, unto the Trustees for the Church and Congre- gation of Bethel, Pon Pon, a full quietus. This done and certified in open Presbytery, this 5th day of February, 1756. Signed, Archibald Simpson, Moderator ; Jonathan S. Porter, minister ; Thomas Bell, minister ; Wm. Donaldson, minister ; James Sandiford, Elder ; Wm. Edings, Elder."
We have spoken on a preceding page of the difficulties in- terposed to the settlement of Mr. Simpson over this church. After his settlement at Stoney Creek, Bethel renewed its appli- cation for half his time. This was agreed to by the other church and approved of by presbytery. The Pon Pon people very generously agreed to give £50 sterling to the Indian Land congregation towards a parsonage, they having no such con- venience, and Mr. Hutson, their former pastor, " having a very good estate of his own." But on Lord's-day, September 11th, 1757, he writes-"Took my leave of Pon Pon, the Presbytery having forbid the engagement to be renewed without their special allowance." From this onward his ministry at Pon Pon was only occasional. On the 8th of July, 1759, his journal mentions the arrival of Mr. Charles Gordon, a young Scotch minister, with his family. "Above three years ago Presbytery had thought of maintaining an itinerant minister in the back settlements. They sent to Scotland for one. Finding them- selves scanted in means, they determined, if one came on that invitation, to settle him in some vacancy. This invitation Mr. Gordon accepted two years ago. He arrived about two weeks since, and is recommended by Presbytery to Pon Pon." On Wednesday, the 31st of October, at a pro re nata meeting of presbytery at the Pon Pon church, at which Mr. Alison presided, Mr. Gordon was installed over that church and congregation.
We find another minister besides Mr. Alison, who by a simi- lar course of events was transferred from Pennsylvania to the province of South Carolina. In answer to supplications from Virginia and North Carolina, the synod of Philadelphia, on the 24th of May, 1753, appointed Mr. McMordie to supply the vacancies in those parts for ten weeks or longer, beginning with the first of July ; and Mr. Donaldson in like manner to supply ten weeks or longer, beginning with the first of October. They are recommended to show "a special regard to the vacancies of North Carolina, between the Atkin [ Yadkin] and Catoba [Catawba] rivers." On the 29th of May, 1755, Mr. [William] Donaldson is directed to supply the back parts of
282
WACCAMAW.
[1750-1760.
Virginia and North Carolina, "at least three months next fall." Mr. Donaldson appears to have extended his missionary labors still further southward, and to have remained longer in the field. In Mr. Simpson's diary we find the following entries : Saturday, January 31st, 1756, " Rode 35 miles to Charles- town; rode about 100 miles this week, chiefly on horseback. Lord's-day, February Ist, Preached in Charlestown. Fri- day, 6th, Presbytery constituted, poor I Moderator. Satur- day, 7th, Rev. Mr. William Donaldson, who was last year ordained a minister at large for Pennsylvania, was received a member of our Presbytery, and accepted a call to Waccama, within our bounds." A petition had been sent from WACCAMAW to this intent. We have found Wakamah, or Wakamaha, and Wakamaha Neck, mentioned as among his places of occasional preaching, in the register of Mr. Baxter. This was probably at Kingston, in the bounds of Horry District, which was settled by the Scotch-Irish about the same time with Williamsburg. The earliest lots in the township of Williamsburg were granted in 1735, in Kingston, now Conwaysboro, Horry, in 1735, 1736. Mr. Donaldson was moderator of presbytery, November 19th, 1756. Mr. Donaldson must have visited these parts soon after his appointment by the synod of Philadelphia. Mr. Simpson, on the 16th of February, 1755, tells how much he was "refreshed with the heavenly discourse of a very worthy Pres- byterian minister, who had some months ago been sent out by thie synod of Philadelphia to preach through the back parts of Virginia and Carolina."
The Presbyterian church on the BLACK MINGO, near its junc- tion with the Black river, lost its minister, the Rev. Samuel Hunter, in June, 1754. " He was," says Mr. Simpson, "a worthy and judicious minister of Christ, of middle age, having been in the province about twenty years, which is very extraordi- nary, few ministers living half that time in this country, which is so sickly and fatal to people in our way." Of this church Dr. J. R. Witherspoon, of Alabama, who was raised in the Williamsburg congregation, and was a descendant of John Witherspoon the emigrant, says, "there was also a church below Black Mingo, usually called 'the brick church,' erected several years anterior to the church near Kingstree, which has some- times been called through mistake the original church of Williamsburg. It was not built by any of my ancestors."-(MS. letter to Dr. Thornwell, October 2d, 1848.)*
* Was there a Presbyterian community and congregation so early as this in the district or county of Georgetown ? The ancient register of marriages
283
WILLIAMSBURG.
1750-1760.]
The Presbyterian church of WILLIAMSBURG still enjoyed the faithful labors of the Rev. John Rae. Everything in the church was conducted with vigor and punctuality, in accordance with the discipline of the Church of Scotland during the period of which we now treat. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was duly administered, when "dyets of examination were ap- pointed for communicants. Saturday was observed as a day of fasting and humiliation, and Monday as a day of thanksgiving." Offenders were subjected to discipline, and however scandalous their offence, they were compelled to confess it and be rebuked for it in the presence of the congregation. Not only did the days of religious observance appointed by the public authorities re- ceive attention, but occasionally we find them setting apart days of their own accord. Thus, on May 3d, 1752, session "considering that the conduct of Providence seemed very threatening in the present long drought in the time of planting and sowing, unanimously agreed to appoint a meeting of the society for prayer and supplication on Monday, May 4th." There had previously, April 5th, been a nomination of additional elders. The edict of their nomination was served on the 19th, being Lord's-day, and their installment appointed on Thursday fol- lowing, which was to be observed as a day of fasting and humiliation. On that day " the minister represented (to the session) the expediency of signing the formula of the Confes- sion of Faith by all elders of the Presbyterian persuasion, that hereby they might not only satisfy all concerned with respect to the articles of their faith, but also be entitled to sit and vote in our Presbyteries ; to which the session unanimously agreed." When, therefore, the ceremony of their ordination and install- ation took place, they signed the following paper, which is inscribed upon the records of their church :
" Wc, the subscribers, members of the Session of the Congregation of Williamsburg, Do hereby declare that we sincerely own and believe the whole
in the Williamsburg church has the following entries : May 27th, 1753, " Joseph Roper, in the neighboring congregation of Wyncau, with Mary MaCantz, were proclaimed Io and married November 1." Again, January 19th, 1755, "John Durant, in Wyneau congregation, and Hannah Caples, werc pro- claimed in order to marriage Iº, &c. Married February 6th." " Mr. Baxter's register, beginning January 7th, 1733-34, and terminating in 1765, shows that on five different occasions he preached at Winyaw, the first time preaching twice and administering the Lord's supper; the second time and the fifth preaching twice, and the third and fourth onee. March 15th, 1805, a eall was received from the congregation of Black River, Winyaw, Georgetown District, for the ministerial labors of Murdoch Murphy, by the "First Pres- bytery of South Carolina," which accordingly held an intermediate session at that church, and ordained and installed hini on the 18th of May in that year. (See page 589.)
284
REV. JOHN BAXTER.
[1750-1760.
Doetrine contained in the Confession of Faith approved by the General As- sembly of the Church of Scotland, and ratified by Law in the year sixteen hundred and ninety, and frequently confirmed by divers Aets of Parliament since that time, to be agreeable to the Seriptures of Truth ; and we do own the same as the confession of our Faith. And likewise, We do own the purity of Worship presently authorized and practieed in that Church, and also the Presbyterian Government and Diseipline now so happily established therein, which Doctrine, Worship, and Church Government we are persuaded are founded upon the Word of God ; and we promise, through the Grace of God, that we shall constantly and finally adhere to the same, and to the outmost of our power shall in our station assert, maintain, and defend the sd Doc- trine, Worship, Diseipline, and Government, by Church Sessions, Presby- teries, Provincial Synods, and General Assemblies, and submit to the sd Dis- cipline and Government, and never shall endeavor, dircetly, nor indireetly, the prejudiee and subversion of the same. And we promise that we shall follow no divisive course from the present establishment of that Church, renouncing all Doetrines, Tenets, and Opinions whatsoever contrary to or inconsistent with the sd Doctrine, Worship, Diseipline, and Government of that Church. Jo. Rac, Min'; John James, James McClelland, James Witherspoon, Jolin Liviston, Robert Witherspoon, Samuel Fulton, Robert Wilson, Robert Paisley, Gayin Witherspoon, William Dobien, Elders."
After this follows, under date of June 8th, a full account of the legacy of Henry Sheriff of James Island, with an extract from his will, which he ordered to be registered in the session books of the several churches to whom liis legacies were left. The legacy to the Williamsburg church was the sum of £200, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of a Presbyterian minister who shall be of the profession and prin- ciples already named. It appears from this record that Mr. Sheriff had left legacies in like manner to several different congregations. The solicitude for soundness in the faith and in the principles of church order which these several pro- ceedings manifest, are worthy of all praise. This legacy was duly received and applied to the designated use.
The ministry of Mr. Rae seems to have been pursued with the most exemplary diligence and faithfulness. Mr. Simpson bears his testimony to his great worth, and the ancient records of the church, kept through his pastorate with extraordinary particularity and care, attest his regard for sound doctrine and holy living. The church register informs us that he was married to Mrs. Rachel Baird, of Prince George parish, July 10th, 1750.
The Rev. John Baxter was still active as a member of presbytery. At the meeting in Charleston, November 20th, 1754, lie introduced a young man to presbytery, Mr. Banan- tine, who was taken under its care as a candidate for the ministry. He was a native of Scotland, and his father a clergyman there, who had been some years dead. Mr. Banan-
285
" OLD WAXHAW."
1750-1760.]
tine had been a teacher in Mr. Baxter's family for some two years and a half. At a subsequent meeting, in March, his trials were completed, and he received license on Friday, the 14th of that month. Mr. Simpson notices his subsequent preaching in Charleston twice during a meeting of presbytery in November, 1755. " Thursday, 20th, Mr. Banantine preached an excellent sermon on 'Love to one another.'" Some of the Wilton people, he also notices, preferred him as a pastor at the time Mr. Simpson himself was a candidate before them. Where Mr. Baxter's labors were now bestowed we are less able to say. From his register of texts, and places of preach- ing, Santee and Black river were his most constant places of preaching in the latter part of his ministry. His landed possessions were in Williamsburg district. Eleven hundred acres were granted to him in the township of Williamsburg in 1737, three hundred in 1739 .- (Grant books, Secretary of State's office.) Within this period too we must date the origin of the SALEM CHURCH, of BLACK RIVER, of which further par- ticulars will be given in the next decade.
CHAPTER II.
THE OLD WAXHAW CHURCH .- The church and congregation whose name stands at the head of this article is one of the oldest in the up-country of South Carolina. Some six or seven families settled in the country known as "the Waxlaws," in Lancaster district, in May, 1751. In the fall of the same year a few more joined them, and a considerable number in 1752, chiefly from Augusta county, Virginia, and the back parts of Pennsylvania. The first grant of land in the settlement was made to Robert McElhenny, in the year 1751, and is known now as " the old Blair place," adjoining the plantation of Dr. Thornwell, called then " the garden of Waxhaw." Many other grants were taken out in 1752. These first settlers were known as " the Pennsylvania Irish," having first settled in that State in their migrations from the north of Ireland. " Those from Pennsylvania," says Mr. Stinson, from whom we now quote, " had resided there sufficiently long to be judges of good land." They settled along the river and creek. The " Scotch-Irish," who came by the way of Charleston, not be- ing judges, settled out on thinner land, and towards the heads of creeks and water-courses. All, however, were of the Pres-
286
" OLD WAXHAW."
[1750-1760.
byterian persuasion. Many were in possession of consider- able wealtlı. Many were aged, with children grown up. Their families were often intermarried. The Whites, Fosters, Simpsons, were so connected. There were several families of the name of Dunlap. There were the names of McClana- han, Crocket, Barnett, Miller, Stephenson, the McKees, McIlhennys, Thompsons, Ramsays, and Lattas. Several of the more aged men were probably elders in the churches of Pennsylvania and Virginia, from which they removed. As members of the church they emigrated in search of new liomes, and were prepared to organize as a congregation wherever God in his providence might direct their footsteps. Their spirit was that of the ancient patriarch, who, wherever he went, first built an altar unto the Lord. We are not in- formed when they were first organized as a church. Rev. J. B. Davies says in 1755 or 6, but perhaps it was earlier than this. They were sparsely settled in the wilderness over a considerable area, along the river and creeks, and must have had quite early some common place of assemblage and of worship. They did have a common place of burial. The first tenants have not left a stone standing to tell their names, and the date and exact spot of their interment. It is said that some graves formerly bore the date of 1754, and others of 1758. The first emigrants did not allow themselves to be forgotten. Their spiritual desolations were made known in letters to friends they had left behind in Pennsylvania and Ire- land. And it was the custom of presbyteries and synods at the north to send their young licentiates on missionary tours to the new settlements of the south. "The first ser- mon was preached to us," says Mr. Davis, "by Mr. John Brown, then a probationer from Pennsylvania, in February, 1753. In 1754, we were favored with a visit from Mr. Ray of Williamsburg, South Carolina, and Mr. Tate of Pennsyl-
vania. In 1755, we heard tlie gospel preached by Messrs. Hogg (or Hoge), McAden, and others from the northward." The McAden here referred to is the Rev. Hugh McAden, who was graduated at Nassau Hall in 1753, a ndstudied with John Blair of Newcastle presbytery. He was sent out by that body immediately after his licensure in 1755, on a mis- sion to the new settlements in the south. We quote from Dr. Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, who has had access to his journal. From Sugar Creek in North Carolina, on Monday, the 20th of October, " he took liis journey for Broad river, 'sixty miles to the southward, in company with two young
287
"OLD WAXHAW."
1750-1760.]
men, who came thus far to conduct me thither-a place where never any of our missionaries have been.'
"On this journey, he passed through the lands of the Ca- tawba Indians. On the first night they prepared to encamp in the woods, about three miles south of the Catawba, 'there being no white man's house on all the road.' This was his first night 'out of doors.' On the next day they passed one of their hunting camps unmolested; but when they stopped to get their breakfast, they were surrounded by a large num- ber of Indians, shouting, and hallooing, and frightening their horses, and rifling their baggage. Accordingly they moved off as fast as possible, without staying to parley; and to their great annoyance, in a little time they passed a second camp of hunters, who prepared to give them a similar recep- tion, calling them to stop from each side of the path. Pass- ing on rapidly, they escaped without harm ; and after a ride of twenty-five miles, were permitted to get their breakfast in peace.
" On Sabbath, the 2d of November, he preached ' to a number of those poor baptized infidels, many of whom I was told had never heard a sermon in all their lives before, and yet several of them had families!' This," says Dr. Foote, "seems hardly credible. But he relates an anecdote told him here by an old gentleman, who said to the governor of South Carolina, when he was in those parts, in treaty with the Cherokee Indians, that he 'had never seen a shirt, been in a fair, heard a sermon, or seen a minister in all his life.' Upon which the governor promised to send him up a minister that he might hear one sermon before he died. The minister came and preached ; and this was all the preaching that had been heard in the upper part of South Carolina before Mr. McAden's visit.
" How far he penetrated into the State is not known, on account of the loss of a few leaves of the journal. It is very unlikely that he was the first minister the people heard in those neighborhoods ; but those who had never heard a ser- mon were comparatively few, as the mass of the early settlers were of a parentage that taught their children the way to church. There were, however, some settlers from the older parts of the State who had not been much accustomed to any religious forms.
"'Friday, the 14th, took my leave of these parts, and set out for the Waxlaws, forty-five miles, good; that night reached Thomas Farrel's, where I lodged till Sabbath-day ;
288
"OLD WAXHAW."
[1750-1760.
then rode to James Patton's, about two miles, and preached to a pretty large congregation of Presbyterian people. Wed- nesday, preached again in the same place, and crossed the Catawba river and came to Henry White's.' Here he re- mained till Sabbath ; part of the time sick of the flux, but was able to preach on Sabbath, the 23d, at the 'meeting- house,' five miles off; and went home with Justice Dickens." Mr. Stinson reasons with much probability, that the "Justice Dickens" of McAden's journal was a mistake for Pickens, and that the individual referred to is Andrew Pickens, after- wards a distinguished general in the war of the revolution. " At what particular date Andrew Pickens became a resident of Waxhaw is not known, nor whether any other of the family ever resided there, although the name is kept up in other families unto the present time, e. g., Pickens Davis. The di- rection from Waxhaw which Mr. McAden would take on his return would conduct him to a plantation up the Waxhaw Creek, now known as 'Pickens Old Fields.' It is certain that he resided in Waxhaw settlement in 1758, and there in- terested himself in the affairs of the church. Many of the old grants of land of Lancaster, Chester, and other districts, were granted to A. Pickens, and others to Pickens and Rutherford. These were North Carolina grants in Anson county. This region, after settling the line between North and South Carolina, was called 'The New Acquisition,' until laid off into the counties of Lancaster, Chester, York, Union, Spartanburg, etc."
This year, 1755, was the year of the great drought from early in the spring till late in the fall, which McAden men- tions as prevailing through Virginia and the Carolinas. It was the year too of Braddock's defeat, (9th of July, 1755.) The murderous savages made inroads through the valley of Virginia. Mr. Craighead, after living in Virginia six years, fled, with such of his people as were disposed to follow him, to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, and became the first minister of Sugar Creek. The war, pestilence, and famine, that then threatened the colonies, drove many to the more peaceful regions of the Catawba, down to the peace of 1763.
It is evident that a house of worship was already erected at . the time of McAden's visit. Mr. Stinson says whether it was built in the first or second year of their settlement is now unknown. The spot fixed for the site was on the plantation of Robert Miller. The church, which was of logs, was built
289
"OLD WAXHAW."
1750-1760.]
on the east side of the graveyard, and signs of it are now vis- ible from the road-side.
Our other authority, Mr. Davis, proceeds to say that " during this time the number of inhabitants had considerably increased. We now thought ourselves in a situation that would justify our making application for a stated ministry. The inhabitants of Fishing Creek were now forming themselves into a congregation, and being contiguous, we entered into union with them in 1756, and built houses for worship. We found ourselves far distant from any of the northern presby- teries, and probationers under their care exceedingly few. It appeared to us advisable to put ourselves under the care of the Charlestown presbytery, South Carolina, with a view of obtaining a preacher from Scotland.
" Accordingly Mr. Robert Miller, a probationer, made us a visit in the spring, and we forwarded a call to the presbytery in May, which he accepted and was ordained a minister. He was a man of popular talents and a lively preacher, but in a little more than a year, a charge of too much familiarity with a young woman put a stop to his preaching and left us vacant."
We are able to throw light upon this piece of history from the journal of Mr. Simpson. At the meeting of the Charles- ton presbytery, in November, 1755, at which Mr. Simpson acted as moderator, a Mr. Robert Miller, a man " well advanced in years," who had followed the occupation of a schoolmaster, was put on trial for licensure at the request of the people on the Waxhaws. ( the 7th of February he was licensed to preach, and was appointed to go as soon as possi- ble to the Waxhaws for settlement. He was to be ordained at Pon Pon on the 16th of June, 1756, with a view to his officiating at Waxhaw, and for a season was to supply at Wilton and Pon Pon. The people at Pon Pon, however, shut the doors against him. He was prevailed upon by Mr. Simp- son to preach under the trees. There was reason for this opposition. At the meeting of presbytery in Charleston, June 22d, 1758, Mr. Miller was deposed and was laid under the lesser sentence of excommunication for violating the seventhi commandment. It appeared that he had once been deposed by an associate presbytery in Scotland for the same crime. Mr. Simpson subsequently preached at Pon Pon, and read Mr. Miller's sentence of deposition. It was ordered to be read in all the churches throughout the province. It was published in the church at Williamsburg on the same day. It is believed that Mr. Miller repented sincerely of this his sin, and lived
19
290
REV. WILLIAM RICHARDSON.
[1750-1760.
afterwards a virtuous life as a private Christian. Intercession was afterwards made for his restoration to the ministry by the people of Long Cane, who testified to his sincere repent- ance and regular life, but without success.
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