USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 1 > Part 31
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It is no small argument for the divine origin of the visible church, that it outlives the imperfection of its members, and the sins and even 'crimes of those clothed with authority in it. It claims no perfection for the individuals that compose it, but only for the truth it publishes. Neither the passion of Moses, the meekest of men, nor the crimes of David, nor the fall of Peter, have been able to destroy it.
Previous, however, to this dénouement and sad termina- tion of Mr. Miller's official life, on the 9th of March, 1758, the congregation of Waxhaw seems to have assembled in full num- bers at their house of worship to attend to matters relative to the church. Mr. Miller had sold his plantation to Mr. Bar- nett, but had reserved four and a half acres, on which the church was built, as sacred to the uses of the congregation. On this day he and his wife Jane executed a lease and release of the land, transferring this tract, on which was the ceme- tery, church, and spring, to trustees for the Waxhaw congre- gation. The trustees named in the document are Robert Davies, Robert Ramsay, John Linn, Samuel Dunlap, and Henry White. It is attested by Robert McClanahan, John Crockett, and Andrew Pickens. It states that the land was given in good will to the congregation ; that it is to be con- tinued to the Presbyterian chy "ch as established in Scotland, and in failure of this, to reve to the original donors ; that the trustees are to fill their own vacancies, and in case they fail to do so, it is to be done by the congregation; and that the minister's stipend is to be raised on the seats, the trustees paying the same as others.
In a little more than three months from this, the high hopes of the congregation were dashed by the deposition of their minister.
" We continued destitute of a stated ministry," says Mr. Davis, " and had few supplies until 1759, when Mr. William Richardson, a probationer from the Virginia presbytery, who had been sent a missionary to the Cherokee Indians, on his way out called upon us in February. Finding no probability of success among the Indians, he soon returned to us and preached greatly to our satisfaction. At our instance he put himself under the care of the Charlestown presbytery, and we presented our call, which he accepted, and was
291
REV. WILLIAM RICHARDSON.
1750-1760.]
ordained by the presbytery, but not installed to our congre- gations."
We are now able to trace that course of providential events which gave to the people of Waxhaw this pastor who labored so long and faithfully among them. In Mr. Simpson's diary, which he began at the early age of fourteen, and in the year 1748, in the city of Glasgow, he speaks often of his " dear friend and comrade, W. R." The record often occurs, "Spent the entire afternoon with my friend W. R., in the field, in prayer, praise, and reading God's word." Mr. Simpson entered college in July, 1748, and seems to have spent his Saturdays with his friend, " W. R.," in some retired spot beyond the noise of the city, in acts of devotion. The two friends were brought up under the same ministry and the same influences.
On the 8th of February, 1755, we find him receiving a letter from " his dear comrade, W. R.," the same with whom he had such constant and sweet Christian intercourse while they were fellow students at Glasgow. He too is in America, in Vir- ginia, not yet in the ministry, but has some prospect of it. Their intercourse is now renewed by epistolary corre- spondence. W. R. is licensed and at last ordained, and has his full share of discouragements and trials. At length, on Monday, April 16th, 1759, we find this entry : "Dear old comrade, W. R., came to my house. He was dlicensed and ordained by a presbytery in Virginia. Had gone some months ago a missionary to the Cherokee Indians, but finding no good could be done among them, as they were inclined to join the French, he has laid down his mission and accepted an invitation from a people at the Waxhaws, about two hundred miles beyond Charlestown, is come down to join presbytery and accept their call, they being in our bounds." He has much conversation with his " dear comrade," finds he has been only one year employed in public work, and has not been without his share of trouble, affliction, and sickness. Finding his circumstances low, he assists him. He sends him to preach at Pon Pon, and at Port Royal, or Beaufort. On Wednesday, the 16th of May, his comrade is received as a member of presbytery, his people are present with their call, it is accepted, and he is to be installed in the autumn. Pres- bytery being over, he accompanies his dear comrade some distance on his way, and parts with him six miles from Charleston. Thus the two college friends, that had studied and prayed together in Glasgow, and had gone to the house
292
REV. WILLIAM RICHARDSON.
[1750-1760.
of God in company, meet in America, and commence a minis- try on these shores, which was to be continued for years, and to be owned by the Master of assemblies. The comrade of Mr. Simpson was no other than William Richardson, who now became pastor of the Waxhaw church, the first church, we believe, above Orangeburg, to enjoy full gospel ordi- nances.
William Richardson was born in the year 1729, at Egremont, near Whitehaven, in England, from which place his sister Mary removed when she came to America. His father is said to have been a man of wealth, which was inherited by his eldest son, who was wild, extravagant, and dissipated. William was the youngest of the family, whose whole inheritance was the education he received. The companion of Archibald Simpson in the University of Glasgow, he seems to have gradu- ated earlier than he, as his name ceases to be mentioned in the diary of the latter for some considerable time before his academic life was finished. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Richardson came to America, and landed in the city of Phila- delphia, in the year 1750. He became a resident in the family of the Rev. Samuel Davies of Virginia, whose name is so dis- tinguished in the annals of the Presbyterian church and pulpit. Davies, in 'writing to his correspondents in Scotland, speaks of him as being then under his roof, and as ready to assist him in distributing the books sent out by the Glasgow society. He was taken on trial by Hanover presbytery, June 9th, 1757, and was licensed at a meeting at Capt. Anderson's in Cumber- land, Virginia, January 25th, 1758. On the 18th of July, 1758, at the first meeting of that presbytery after the union of the synods of New York and Philadelphia, held in Cumberland, he was ordained as a missionary to the Cherokee Upper Towns, to which he, as well as Mr. Martin, was sent, by an under- standing between the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England and the Society in Scotland for Propagating Religious Knowledge. Mr. Davies, with whom he studied theology, preached the sermon at his ordination. Henry Patillo, also a student of Samuel Davies, and afterwards a pastor in Orange and Granville counties, was ordained with him .-- (Webster, p. 674.) He was appointed to perform the installation services of Alexander Craighead at Rocky river in North Carolina, who had occupied an exposed position in Augusta county, Virginia, and after Braddock's defeat, on the 9th of July, 1755, fled with such of his congregation as were able to fly, and settled in Mecklenburg, in North Carolina,
293
BLUFF CHURCH.
1750-1760.]
and became the first minister of a congregation on Sugar Creek, by which name the congregation was afterwards known. Mr. Martin had been appointed previously to preside at the installation of Mr. Craighead ; but failing to do it, the duty was performed by Mr. Richardson on the 27th of September, 1758, on his way to the Cherokees. Mr. Richardson's stay in that neighborhood must have been scarcely more than six months, since he arrived at the residence of Mr. Simpson in the low-country of South Carolina on the 16th of April following, 1759. The Cherokees took up arms through the instigation of the French, and the mission to them was abandoned. In 1761, he is reported as having left Hanover presbytery, and joined the presbytery in South Carolina not in connection with tlie synod. In 1762, thie presbytery of Hanover sustained his reasons for joining the presbytery of South Carolina with- out a dismission from his own.
Mr. Richardson married Nancy Craighead, one of the six daughters of the Rev. Alexander Craighead, said to have been a lady of great beauty and talent, and to have possessed much of her father's spirit. Already, at the close of 1758, Mr. Richardson is thought to have made his arrangements to settle in this congregation. His installation was appointed by the presbytery of Charleston to take place in, the fall of 1759. Mr. Richardson's labors were by no means confined to his congregation at Waxhaw, but pursuing his vocation as a missionary, he extended them widely through the Catawba region, which was already becoming occupied more and more by clusters of settlers .*
Another instance occurred in 1758 of the remote settlement of a minister, under the supervision of the presbytery of South Carolina, among the Scotch settlers upon the Cape Fear, in North Carolina. In 1747, Neill McNeill of Argyleshire, Scot- land, visited Wilmington, and ascended the Cape Fear; as far
* MS. account of the Waxhaw church, prepared at the request of Presbytery under the order of the General Assembly, signed Jolin Davis, session clerk, Waxhaw, April 5th, 1794 ; Rev. J. B. Davies' Sketches of Bethel Presbytery ; MS. of Daniel Green Stinson, Esq. ; Foote's N. C., pp. 169, 170; Diary of Archibald Simpson.
+ The successors to the original trustees have been William Davis, Robert Montgomery, Robert Dunlap, William Carns, Nathan Barr, James Dunlap. After this, the trustees having died out, the congregation held an election, during the pastorship of Edward Palmer, and elected John Foster, B. S. Massey, Robert Crockett, D. Dunlap, and - Gamble. The lease of the church lot was recorded in the Registry Office of Anson county, N. C .- (Book D., No. 4, pp. 371, 375, the 17th of September, 1759.)
294
REV. JAMES CAMPBELL.
[1750-1760.
as Lower Little river, exploring the country. In the neigh- borhood of Heart's Creek, now known as Fayetteville, he found William Gray, Nathaniel Platt, and another man by the name of Russell. The former of these had entered land as early as 1732. In the spring of 1749 he landed in Wilmington with about three hundred emigrants-men, women, and children- from the Highlands of Scotland. The people of Wilmington, struck by their unusual dress, speech, and wild gesticulations, required Mr. McNeill to enter into a bond for their peaceable and good behavior. This Mr. McNeill contrived to evade, and ascending the Cape Fear with his companions, he set- tled them in the neighborhood of Fayetteville, the Bluff, and Little rivers. In 1749, Baliol of Jura ran a vessel be- tween Cambelltown, Scotland, and Wilmington, and the num- ber of emigrants increased yearly. Thus commenced the " Scotch Settlement" of North Carolina, which for many years remained emphatically an isolated people. Hugh McAden, in his journal, published in Foote's Sketches, says : "On Sab- bath, the 25th, [Jan., 1756], I rode to Hector McNeill's (evi- dently the ' Bluff,') and preached to a number of Highlanders -some of them scarcely knew one word I said-the poorest singers I have ever heard in all my life. Wednesday, rode up to Alexander McKay's, upon the Yadkin road, thirty miles, (where Long-street church is now located). Thursday, preached to a small congregation, mostly Highlanders, who were very much obliged to me for coming, and highly pleased with my discourse, though, alas, I am afraid it was all feigned and hypocritical." This he feared because some stayed around the house all night and engaged in drinking, in spite of his remonstrances. In 1745 " the veteran warriors of Preston Pans, the Clansmen of Lochiel and Glengary," gathered around the standard of Charles Edward the Pre- tender, and were at length defeated, as we have before re- peated, at the battle of Culloden. They were driven away, as we have seen, with bitter and relentless retribution. In- stead of settling in South Carolina, under the guidance of Neill McNeill, they ascended the Cape Fear river, and sat down with their countrymen who had preceded them
James Campbell was born at Campbellton-on-Kintyre, in Argyleshire, came to America in 1730, was licensed, probably by Newcastle presbytery, in 1735, was " well received" by the Philadelphia presbytery, May 22d, 1739 ; preached at Newtown and Tinicum, in Buck's county, Pennsylvania, until, under a
295
FAIRFOREST.
1750-1760.]
spiritual despondency, he came to believe himself unconverted, and told the synod that he dared not preach till he was born again. Whitefield had much conversation with him, and by his efforts and those of Tennent he was persuaded to resume his ministerial duties. He was ordained in 1752, and installed at Tinicum, or Tehicken, in 1744. His pastoral relation was dissolved in 1749. He seems to have preached afterwards in Lancaster county, on the Conecocheague, to a Scotch congrega- tion. To him McAden recited the spiritual wants of his countrymen on the Cape Fear, and in 1757 "he took up his residence in their midst, on the left bank of the river, thirteen miles above Fayetteville, nearly opposite the Bluff church, on the plantation where, almost within sight, his mortal remains now rest." In 1758 he was dismissed from the presbytery of Newcastle, within whose bounds he last labored, to join the presbytery of South Carolina. It was made one of the con- ditions of his settlement, specified in the call, that he should, "as soon as his convenience permit, accept of our call, to be presented to him by the Rev. Presbytery of South Carolina, and be by them engaged to the solemn duty of a pastor for us." "On his own plantation," says the authority to which we are chiefly indebted for these facts, " beneath the shade of his own lofty oaks, Mr. Campbell first preached Christ and him crucified, and through him pointed out the way of salvation to his famishing countrymen. The tidings that a Gaelic preacher had settled in their midst sped throughout the 'Scotch settlement' almost with the speed of the fiery cross in the Highlands, when sent to summon the clansmen to the fight. Soon multitudes came to hear the word expounded, and to listen to the accents of his Highland tongue."-(A Centenary Sermon, by Rev. Neill Mckay, and a Centennial Historical Address, before the Presbytery of Fayetteville, at the Bluff church, the 18th day of October, 1858, by James Banks, Esq., Fayetteville, 1858.)
The germ of the FAIRFOREST CHURCH, in the district of Union, on the waters of a large creek of the same name which falls into the Tyger river, a branch of Broad river, was planted at the same time. The site of the church is half a mile below where the line between Spartanburg and Union crosses the Fairforest creek. The first house of worship was half a mile eastward of the present one, on a lot now enclosed as a ceme- tery. The church dates its origin from some seven or eight families who emigrated from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, from the year 1751 to 1754. Among the first emigrants were
296
FAIRFOREST.
[1750-1760.
George Story, James McIlwaine, and one by the name of Dugan. Their first place of encampment was on a command- ing eminence about two miles east of Glenn's Springs. A beautiful valley stretched far in the distance, a grove of lofty trees concealed the meandering of a stream which fertilized the tract below. The rays of the declining sun shed their departing beams on the tree-tops that waved over the wide amphitheatre in the evening breeze. One of the two, McIlwaine, it is said, exclaimed : " What a fair forest this !" The name attached itself to the place, and then to the bold and lovely stream, which, rising in the mountains, sweeps on, dispensing fertility and refreshment to the central portions of this and the neighboring districts below.
These forests were not unpeopled. The buffalo, deer, and other wild game, the panther, the wild-cat, the wolf and bear, and other beasts of prey, filling the night with their dismal cries, roamed through them; the beaver, architect and engineer together, built his works across the cold streams, and birds of varied plumage sang through the day and night around them.
What was true here was true throughout the country in which these early churches were planted. It was, indeed, a goodly land, a " land of rivers of water," " of springs sent into the valleys which run among the hills," of forests goodly like Lebanon, or the oaks of Bashan, with their grassy carpet or their tangled vines ; of wooded mountains, or rolling hills, or undulating plains, or prairies covered with a rich growth of cane. The margins of many streams almost equalled the cane- brakes of the Southwest. These facts are established by the names which many of the streams in the up-country still bear, as Reedy River, Reedy Fork, Cane Creek, and Long Canes. The cane growth of the country was, we are told, the standard, to many, of the fertility of the soil ; a growth twenty or thirty feet high denoting the highest fertility, and that no higher than a man's head, a more ordinary soil .- (Logan's History of Upper South Carolina.)
The aborigines had done the country no injury. So far as they produced any effect, it was to increase the natural fertil- ity of the soil. They burned the woods at proper seasons to destroy the undergrowth and promote the springing of wild grasses. So rich and abundant was the pasturage that stock of all kinds increased and fattened without the expense of feeding.
These immigrants were all Presbyterians, some of them of respectable attainments in knowledge, and all attached to the faith of their fathers, and desirous of enjoying the ordinances
297
FISHING CREEK.
1750-1760.]
of the gospel. In 1754 they were visited by the Rev. Joseph Tate, then pastor of Donegal, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, whence they had emigrated, and in the year following by the Rev. Daniel Thane of New Jersey, who preached to them under the shadow of a spreading oak. Mr. Tate was sent out by the synod of Philadelphia, and Mr. Thane by the synod of New York. In the same year they were visited by Hugh Mc- Aden, who preached to them one sermon. In the absence of ministers of the gospel, the flame of piety was kept burning by a diligent attention to family religion, and by social gather- ings called " society meetings," which were held in the church or in private houses, for worship, reading the Holy Scriptures and sermons, and catechising .- (Records of the Pres. Ch., pp. 210, 260 ; MS. Hist. in hands of Stated Clerk of Gen. Ass. ; MS. Hist. by Mr. Saye ; do. by Rev. A. A. James.)
FISHING CREEK was first settled in 1749, 1750, and 1751, the first inhabitants of this congregation being persons chiefly from Pennsylvania, and professing the Presbyterian faith. In the winter of 1752 a sermon was preached at Landsford, on the west side of the Catawba river, by a Rev. Mr. Brown from Virginia, and in the winter following the Rev. Mr. Rae from Black river, at their request, paid them a visit, and baptized several children. At or about this time they began to be constituted as a regular congregation, and about the year 1755 presented a call to the South Carolina presbytery for the services of the Rev. Mr. Miller, who preached in two meeting-houses, one on each side of the river, until the fall of 1757, when he was silenced. During the season that the church was vacant they were favored with a visit from the Rev. Mr. Campbell and Rev. Mr. Alison. About the year 1758 they were visited by the Rev. Wm. Richardson, on his way from Virginia to Charlestown. Being encouraged by him, they sent a call to the South Carolina presbytery, which he had then joined, and obtained his services .- (MS. Sketch of Fisli- ing Creek Church, by Samuel Neely, dated March 31st, 1794.)
CATHOLIC CONGREGATION occupies a portion of country in the southeastern part of Chester county, the whole region around being drained by Rocky Creek and its affluents. Tradition informs us that white men were settled on the Catawba, near the mouth of Rocky Creek, as early as 1732. If this is so, we should suppose it could only be the settlement of some adventurous Indian traders quite in advance of the white population. In about 1751 or 52 there was an emi- gration from Pennsylvania of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and
298
CATHOLIC .- INDIAN CREEK.
[1750-1760.
also from Virginia, some of whom had formerly been of the Church. of England. The progress of settlement was slow till 1755, when in consequence of Braddock's defeat and the incursion of the Indians, the whole country of Upper Carolina began to receive refugees from Pennsylvania and Virginia. These settlers opened communications with their friends in Ire- land, and a direct immigration from that country commenced, which reached its height perhaps in 1768. The principal inhabitants active in forming the congregation were Messrs. Thomas Garret, John Lee, Alexander McQuown, and Hugh McDonald. The congregation was formed by the labors of Mr. Richardson, who gave it the name Catholic. Mr. Richard- son did not visit the Waxhaws till 1758, nor take charge of that congregation till 1759. This is said to be the date of its organization.
"The beginnings of the churches of INDIAN CREEK and of GRASSY SPRING, near Maybinton, in Newberry district, date back to a like early period. The original founders emigrated from Pennsylvania in the years 1749-1758. Several professors of the Presbyterian denomination having settled successively on Enoree river, Indian Creek, and Tyger river, which are all near each other in this part of the State, they were first visited with a preached gospel in 1755, by the Rev. Mr. McKadden," [McAden], who " preached them one sermon only."-(MS. Hist., written April 7th, 1794.) "On Monday," says Hugh McAden in his Journal, (Sketches of North Carolina, p. 170,) " the 10th of November, 1755, returned about twenty miles, to James Atterson's on Tyger river; preached on Tuesday, which was the first they had ever heard in these parts, but I hope it will not be the last, for there are men in all these places, blessed be God, some at least, that have a great desire of hearing the gospel preached. Next day rode to James Love's, on Broad river. Thursday, preached." The name spelled Atterson should have been Otterson. He was probably the father of Major S. Otterson, who had settled a little before this on Tyger river a few miles above Hamilton's ford. Fam- ilies of the name of Hamilton were among the first settlers, and Presbyterians .- (Rev. James H. Saye. MS. Account.) Another account says, " they were first visited by a Presby- terian minister, whose name is now unknown, in the year 1758 or 59. He preached at Jacob Pennington's, on Indian Creek, and baptized several children." If this date is correct, it refers to some other visit than McAden's. We find that Mr. Benjamin Hait was appointed by the synod of New York, in 1757, to supply the southern vacancies. They recommended
299
UNION CHURCH.
1750-1760.]
the presbytery of Newcastle to send another, and the pres- bytery of Hanover to send another, when Mr. Hait shall come to them. And it may have been one of these .- (Records of the Presbyterian Church, p. 279.) By such labors, and among such a people, the churches of Grassy Spring and Indian Creek subsequently arose.
One great source of confusion, as we conduct our researches, is the different ecclesiastical organizations, springing up some- times contemporaneously, more often successively in the same general community, the dates of which as organizations are made coeval with the settlement itself. Religious people occupying a new country, worship God in their households first, then in social assemblies of limited numbers, eventually in ecclesiastical organizations, and these not always perma- nent, but one giving place to another, as population extends itself in different directions, and families move from their original seats. This we have found true in several neighbor- hoods, and one among others is the upper corner of New- berry district and the adjoining corner of Laurens, where the waters of the Enoree and its affluents, King's Creek, Gilder's Creek, Indian Creek, Duncan's Creek, on the one side, and Tyger on the other, and the neighborhood of Grassy Spring, are in such proximity, and where the same general population covers the whole space. Different organizations have existed here, and to each of them there is a tendency to ascribe the date of the earliest settlement. It may be said that the origi- nal founders of Grassy Spring church, now extinct, emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1749 to 1758 ; but this will not make the organization so old as is thus indicated. Pennington's grant on Enoree dates, it is believed, in 1751, or possibly earlier. Pennington's Fort, erected as a protection against the Indians, was on Indian Creek. Duncan's settlement on Duncan's Creek was begun in 1752: the portion between Enoree and Tyger probably earlier. Bearing these remarks in mind, we will better understand the statements which follow. A church was organized at Indian Creek in the next decade, but a full organ- ization at either locality is not a matter of record so early as this.
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