USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 10
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The missionaries tarried some weeks, ordained elders, bap- tized children, and administered the Lord's-supper for the first time in these settlements. There is good reason to be- lieve that this was a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that some "such as should be saved were added to the church."
We are not able to state who were the elders that were appointed, no records being found which will give the requisite information. Soon after the return of Messrs. Roe and Close the Rev. Joseph Alexander, then of the presbytery of Orange and pastor of Sugar Creek, North Carolina, made them a tran- sient visit. A call, very ardently expressed, and signed by a
439
REV. JOHN HARRIS.
1770-1780.]
large number of persons, was sent for Mr. Roe, but was unsuc- cessful. Notwithstanding the anxious desire of the people to obtain a pastor from the synod of New York and Philadelphia, they remained still longer without one, to the great danger of the peace, harmony, and strength of the churchi.
About the fall of 1771 the Rev. Messrs. Josiah Lewis of the presbytery of Newcastle, and Hezekiah Balch of Orange pres- bytery, came and administered the Lord's-supper at ROCKY CREEK, a little church (or subdivision of the church) which had been planted and organized by Messrs. Roe and Close in the spring before. On this occasion there appears to have been a considerable stir in religious things among the people, and from this time the congregations at the four places of preaching seem to have settled down into a more distinct ecclesiastical order, and to have assumed more the form of regular churches ; but they were all still destitute of a stated pastor. A considerable body of emigrants, immediately from Ireland, had become dispersed among the congregations, and although many of these were of the most orderly and reputable character, as is always the case, their predilections were different from those of the earlier settlers, and there was less harmony in public taste and sentiment. The new comers preferred min- isters direct from Ireland. This circumstance, connected with the long vacancy in the church or churches, and the fact that their efforts to obtain ministers from the North were defeated, began to cool their zeal and cast a cloud over their prospects. Some of the late emigrants, with whom others joined by rea- son of these disappointments, sent to Ireland to the presby- tery of Down for a minister whom they named.
About this time the Rev. John Harris, who had been ap- pointed with other ministers in 1769 to visit and supply the vacancies in Virginia and North and South Carolina, but who appears not to have reached the upper settlements of South Carolina till now, came on a visit to the churches here, and in November, 1772, took the pastoral charge as stated supply of the congregations which by this time were known as Fort Boone, Bull Town, and Long Cane .- (MS. Hist. by Dr. Cum- mins and others as Committee of Presbytery of South Carolina.) About the same time with the first arrival of Mr. Harris these congregations were visited by the Rev. James Creswell of the presbytery of Orange, who settled in the congregation of Little river, Laurens district. Mr. Harris was born on the 29th of September, 1725, of Welsh parents, who settled on the eastern shore of Maryland early in the eighteenth century, and was
440
REV. JOHN HARRIS.
[1770-1780
graduated at Nassau Hall (Princeton) in 1753, and soon after, October 12th, was taken on trial for licensure by the presby- tery of Newcastle. He was ordained as pastor of Indian river, near Lewes, Delaware, in 1756 .- (Webster, pp. 669, 670.) When the presbytery of Newcastle was divided he was set off to the presbytery of Lewestown. He seems to have preached to the churches of Wicomico and Monokin, names familiar to the earliest records of the colonial church He resigned his pastoral charge in 1769. In 1774 he became a member of the presbytery of Orange, which then embraced all south of the presbytery of Hanover, in which connection he remained till he was set off with five others to constitute the presbytery of South Carolina, which held its first meeting at the Waxhaws, April 11th, 1785. In 1775 he accepted the regular call of the people, and labored among them as their stated pastor until October, 1779. At this time he was released from his pastoral charge on the ground of bodily indisposition, still serving the churches as occasional supply until they could obtain the ser- vices of another pastor. Mr. Harris lived till near the close of the next period of our history, but his most important min- isterial labors were performed in this. In person Mr. Harris was not above the medium stature, but his sturdy frame and erect carriage commanded respect, and the severe but honest determination of his countenance tempered the pleasantries which often sparkled from his dark eye. By all his acquaint- ances he was acknowledged to have been a very judicious, pious, and exemplary minister of the gospel. But liaving (to use his own words) a hesitancy in his speech, his delivery was not of the popular kind; yet his solid sense and convincing argument gave him influence in the pulpit and in the judi- catories of the church .- (MS. Hist.) In his missionary labors he was zealous and indefatigable, and ready to dispense the word wherever practicable, under a spreading tree, or in the log-cabin, and he had a word of encouragement and rebuke for all. An aged lady, born in 1769, recollects hearing him preach under a large chestnut-tree near the residence of Gen. Pickens, which was then the "Block-house," on the site now occupied by Abbeville village. In this discourse he in- veighed against the use of tobacco and some other species of intemperance then prevalent, though the staple of his preach- ing was Jesus Christ and his righteousness. The three preaching stations before mentioned grew, under his care, to be regularly organized churches, a condition to which they had attained at the close of the war.
2
441
REV. JOHN HARRIS.
1770-1780.]
Bold, enthusiastic, and independent, he was peculiarly fitted for the stirring times in which he lived, and he labored as a true patriot to stamp his own principles of Republican liberty upon others. And it was his boast that every man in his con- gregations was a Whig. But, though the Scotch-Irish were of the right mintage, there were not a few "red-coats" in the country around. As early as 1773 he had formed a settlement in the "Flat Woods" on the waters of McKinly's creek and Little river, and as a landowner and planter he bore no small share of the losses and sufferings inflicted by the Indians and Tories. The Savannah river, too, being near at hand, it be- came necessary for the well-affected to seek protection in forts against marauding parties from the Georgia side. Much of his catechetical and other instructions were given in these forts, which were scattered along the Savannah river, or in those nearer his preaching stations, which had been built for protection against the Indians. About three miles from the spot where the church was built, which was afterwards called Hopewell, a palisade fort with port-holes, and supplied within with a school-house, minister's residence, and other log dwell- ings, had been constructed after the return of the settlers to their homes. It was called Fort Boone, most probably in honor of Thomas Boone, then provincial governor. The father of Rev. Dr. Gray, now [1861] of La Grange, Tenn., and the venerable lady before mentioned, his sister, were pupils in the school at Fort Boone, and catechumens of John Harris.
His republicanism and influential position rendered him specially obnoxious to the Tories. When he went forth alone on his errands of mercy he was often obliged to flee before them and take refuge for the time in some thicket. As they could not lay hands on him they took revenge on his property, driving off at one time nearly all his slaves to Florida, where the British established a depot for them. At Bull Town was a fort, in the vicinity of Mr. Harris's plantation. In this neighborhood the Indians and Tories were particularly active. A negro woman was chased by them for three days with her child in her arms. At last she was caught and carried to the Indian nation, but made good her escape, leaving her child behind. The child was finally rescued by Colonels Pickens and Anderson, and is still (in 1861) living.
In the midst of these scenes it must not be supposed that the public worship of God was wholly suspended. The devout worshippers often bowed before him on their arms; and a veritable tradition asserts that Rev. John Harris often preached
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442
REV. JOHN HARRIS.
[1770-1780.
with his gun in the pulpit beside him, and his ammunition suspended from his neck after the fashion of the times.
An anecdote is also told of him, evincing his determination and his insight into character. Colonel A-, a worthy man but of a pliant temper, lived far down on the Savannah, in a region much subject to Tory aggression. He was a personal friend of Mr. Harris and a member of one of his congrega- tions, but having held a commission under the royal govern- ment, it was feared he would compromise his principles for British protection. This suspicion no sooner entered the mind of his friend than he mounted his horse, and taking his saddle-bags for a long visit, determined not to leave him till he took a decided stand on the right side. . He stayed with him several days, and on his return reported that " all is right."
As an evidence of his position as a citizen, he was at one time a member of the provincial congress of South Carolina; and besides, in that frontier life was very useful to his people in a medical capacity. Aged persons remember that their parents spoke of him as old Doctor Harris; and tradition has preserved some instances of his success in the healing art.
Although very genial and tolerant, he was an uncompro- mising champion of the faith. And it was even thought that he would not hesitate to demonstrate his belief by physical as well as rational arguments. At the close of the war he was the only Presbyterian minister in what was afterwards known as Abbeville district; but he had something of a competitor in a brother of the Associate Reformed church, who, offended at the fearless independence of the Presbyterian and at some innovations in psalmody, often gave vent to sentiments more warlike than Christian .* It was said to him, " You had better take care; old Dr. Harris will get hold of you." " I dinna care," he replied ; "he may hae the better of me in hither and yan, but I hae the advantage in length.". Such were the men of that rude and practical age.
For these notices of Rev. John Harris we are chiefly in- debted to the pen of Mrs. Mary E. Davis (of the family of Moragne, of the old Huguenot colony), who has kindly fur- nished them for the purposes of this history.t
* A son of Mr. Harris, a gallant and spirited youth, having learned some- thing of music from an Englishman in Virginia, ventured to introduce Watts, and to give his father's congregation some new tunes to vary the routine of the old Scotch dozen, but received his reward by drawing down upon him the indignation of the conscientious singers of Rouse. The Associate Reformed clergyman alluded to above was the Rev. Peter McMullen.
t Printed also in Southern Presbyterian Review, vol. xv., p. 78.
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443
THE FIVE CHURCHES.
1770-1780.]
The church edifices of this day were rude log-houses. " A traveller," says the same authority, " on the road leading from Charleston through the 'flat woods' of western Carolina, might have passed near enough to hear the songs of praise issuing from the log-building which was the first house of worship of the church of LOWER LONG CANE." It was situated in the midst of a rich country, on a level spot, in which the large trees stood up like columns in some mighty temple. The land on which it stood was given by a colonist from Ireland on the express condition that no grave-yard should ever be made there-a condition which has not been violated except in the burial of two or three foreigners. It was in this log-house that the Rev. Mr. Harris preached with his rifle at his side, and here he ordained the first elders, William Calhoun, senior, and A. Barksdale; and here, as early as 1777, he baptized several infant children, who, when they arrived at manhood, became elders in the same church.
There thus arose in due time the five churches of (1) Upper Long Cane, two miles north of Abbeville village, which is still called by the name Long Cane; (2) Lower Long Cane, em- bracing the territory now included in Hopewell church and congregation ; (3) Rocky Creek, now known as Rock church, a few miles from the village of Greenwood ; (4) Bull Town, now Rocky River, in the western part of what is now Abbeville district; and again (5) Saluda, now Greenville. The full ad- justment of the bounds of these congregations belongs, how- ever, to the next decade.
Nearly contemporary with the occupancy of these churches by Mr. Harris was the advent of Rev. William Raynoldson from Ireland. Though he was not the person named in the call sent to the presbytery of Down, he came over and settled among the people, although the churches were enjoying the labors of a pastor.
Such was Mr. Raynoldson's moral, or rather, in some things, immoral character (for he was charged with drunkenness), schismatic temper and pursuits, so unlike anything that had before existed, that it put a period to the harmony that had before graced and strengthened the people. Though he pro- fessed otherwise at first, he proved afterwards to be of the Secession church.
When the war grew hot between England and America, lie turned Tory, went off and died among the British, leaving grievous maladies, of which he was the author, to survive him in the church .- (Materials for the History of the Presbyterian
444
NEW BORDEAUX.
[1770-1780.
Church in Abbeville county, South Carolina, compiled by Dr. Cummins by order of presbytery.)
In August, 1772, Rev. Joseph Smith, who was dismissed August 26th from the pastoral charge of the church of Lower Brandywine, Maryland, received a call from Rocky Creek and Long Cane. He had probably visited those regions soon after he was licensed, by the appointment of the presbytery of Newcastle, as Dr. Power and Dr. McMillan are reported to have done. This call he declined. He was born in 1736, graduated at Princeton in 1764, and died on the 19th of April, 1792. He was one of the noble pioneer ministers of Western Pennsylvania .- (See Old Redstone, by Joseph Smith, D.D., p. 56. Philadelphia, 1854.)
FRENCH PROTESTANT CHURCH AT NEW BORDEAUX, ABBEVILLE DISTRICT .- This church continued to maintain the worship of God in their native tongue, under the guidance of their pastors, Rev. Jean Louis Gibert and M. Boutiton, a worship all the more dear to them as it reminded them of their trans- atlantic homes, and all they had suffered there for the testi- mony of Jesus Christ. If unintelligible to their neighbors, it must have affectingly reminded these of that worship for which their own fathers also had suffered on other shores, where they too were denied "freedom to worship God." In August, 1773, they experienced an irreparable loss in the death of their pastor, the founder of the colony, Jean Louis Gibert, in the vigor of life and in the midst of seemingly good health. He was cut off, by a sudden stroke, at the age of fifty- one years. Of his labors and sufferings as one of the pasteurs du dessert in his native land we have spoken in preceding pages, pp. 344-352. Tradition supplies the place of conjec- ture and fully establishes his character for learning and abilty. These were displayed in directing the early move- ments of the. colony, and afterwards, chiefly in catechising their youth, and in the general discharge of his ministerial and pastoral functions. His life, though not long, was an eventful one, characterized with great energy and devoted zeal. To have braved the bitter persecutions of malignant enemies for so many years-to have sustained the faith of the afflicted children of "the Church beneath the Cross" in his own native land-to have escaped the snares laid for him there-to have transplanted a colony of those persecuted saints to the American wilderness, where their descendants still reside, and to have watched over this colony during the first years of its existence-was accomplishing far more than
445
DEATH OF J. LOUIS GIBERT.
1770-1780.]
falls ordinarily to the most chosen servants of God. The choice library which he brought with him was distributed, after his death, among his descendants, and though his manu- scripts and many valuable volumes have perished, enough yet remains as memorials of a man to be had in long remem- brance. He left a widow and three small children, a son and two daughters. The son died unmarried. His youngest daughter, Louise, who was about six years old at her father's death, married William Petigru, and was the mother of Capt. Thomas Petigru, of the United States navy, recently deceased, and of Hon. James L. Petigru, of Charleston, whose family are the only lineal descendants of the Rev. J. L. Gibert. The other daughter married Mr. Thomas Finley, and died leaving an infant son, John Louis. He grew up a young man of great promise, but died while a student of the South Carolina col- lege, and his remains were recently removed by the students of that college to the Elmwood cemetery, near Columbia, out of respect to an honorable family and to that distinguished "pastor of the desert," of the "Church under the Cross," Jean Louis Gibert.
John Louis Gibert was buried at Badwell, where he had lived, and the epitaph on his tombstone, erected by his grand- son, will be read with interest. It is the composition of Hugh Swinton Legare.
H. S. E. JOHANNES LUDOVICUS GIBERTUS. Sævientem in Religionis Reformatæ Professores, Patriam fugiens Sociis Discipulisque Comitatus, . Pius Exul, Littora heu longinqua petiit, Auspice, Vero Cui se suaque omnia voverat, Deo, Mare Oceanum permensus Has silvas quantumvis eo tempore horridas Cultis illis quidem sed præ superstitione scelestis Civibus suis nuper, Gallis Hospitiores expertus, Hic pauperem domum posuit; Et quavis Fortuna sorte contentus Modo Fidem incorruptam servare Atque Libertate frui liceret, Hæc Arva Pro dulcibus Natis colebat. Sed præpropero Fato abreptus, Vitam liane integerrime Et non infructuose actam
446
PIERRE GIBERT.
[1770-1780.
Cum illa celesti ac sempitema Commutavit Aug., 1773-Æt. 52. Hoc monumentum sepulchrale Avo Sanctissimo, Nepos Pius Jacobus Ludovicus Petigru Ponendum curavit. MDCCCXXIX.
The nephew of John Louis Gibert [according to Coquerel, but " his brother," according to Moragne,*] Etienne Gibert, who was also educated at Lausanne, migrated to England, and was minister of the Chapel Royal. A volume of his ser- mons, and a book of criticisms on the writings of Voltaire were there published, and mark him as a man of ability and learning. Pierre Gibert, nephew of Jean Louis (according to Moragne) and of Etienne Gibert was taken to England by the latter, and partially educated there. He was brought to the colony by his uncle, Jean Louis Gibert. His English educa- tion gave him superior advantages in his new home, and the youth of the colony were chiefly indebted to him for their instruction, first in French, and then also in English. In the public affairs of the colony he became its acknowledged leader. He espoused the cause of the American colonies with great enthusiasm, and raised the standard of Independ- ence among his people. The town-hall of New Bordeaux rang with his stirring appeals to his countrymen, to make common cause with their fellow-colonists of different descent against British oppression. They promptly espoused the Whig cause to a man, and in the war of the Revolution did good service to their adopted country. They were not unused to military organizations, for before they left Charleston, July 16th, 1764, the men capable of bearing arms were organized into a company, of which Daniel Due was captain, Pierre Leoron, lieutenant ; and - Le Violette, ensign. This organization was perpetuated or renewed during their con- flicts with the Tories.
There is no reason to believe that the pulpit of Rev. Mr. Gibert was ever regularly filled by another. It has been thought that Mr. Boutiton, his brother-in-law, preached to the colony, though no one affirms with certainty that he performed divine service as his successor. His sojourn with the colony
* We are indebted for the American history of this family to the excellent address of W. C. Moragne, Esq., delivered at New Bordeaux, November 11th, 1854, being the ninetieth anniversary of the arrival of the French Protestants at that place.
447
REV. M. BOUTITON.
1770-1780.]
preceded the arrival of Mr. Gibert, as in 1765 he consecrated, after a threefold publication of the banns, the first marriage which occurred at New Bordeaux, that of " Pierre Moragne, natural and legitimate son of Pierre Moragne and Marie Paris on the one side, and Cecile. Bayle, natural and legitimate daughter of Jean Bayle and Marie Seyral on the other." There is a tradition preserved in the family that Rev. Mr. Boutiton suffered under some mental malady in the latter part of his life which disqualified him for public duty. As the colony advanced, the restricted limits of the town of New Bordeaux were found too narrow, and the colonists dispersed more widely over the adjoining country. Indeed the English scheme of towns and townships laid out upon navigable streams, according to a definite plan, was over-ruled through- out the province by the nature of a new, unsettled country, and the necessities of the first inhabitants. The house or place of worship was removed from the town to a site on the banks of the river, not far from the present site of Gibert's Mills. Here they conducted their simple service without a pastor, the reading of sermons and singing of psalms being conducted chiefly by Pierre Moragne, sen., and the prayers by Pierre Gibert, Esq., as anciens or elders, in fact, if not by official ordination, of the Huguenot church of New Bordeaux.
Our Jerusalem was built, through all this period, "in troublous times." The Presbyterian population, with few exceptions, were marshalled on the side of liberty. They had to contend with the Royalists in their midst, their Indian neighbors, and the armies which Britain arrayed against them. The Royalists, led on by Kirkland, Fletchall, the Cun- ninghams, and Pearis, were confronted by Colonels Thompson, Richardson, and Williamson in numerous engagements. In one of these, known popularly as "The Snow-camp's," in Decem- ber, 1775, our men suffered much, being illy provided, and scantily provisioned. They were rewarded by the temporary subjugation of the Royalists, many of whom never again assumed a hostile attitude. The Presbyterians especially took an active part in these contests, and the names of Andrew Pickens, of Major Joseph McJunkin, and others, elders in the church, became conspicuous as military leaders. After the gallant defence of Fort Moultrie, June 28th, 1776, which gave a respite to the State for two years from foreign invasion, Charleston enjoyed a lucrative commerce and sup- plied the north, as far as New Jersey, with foreign goods. The up-country was harassed still by the Indians and the
448
CONCURRENT EVENTS.
[1770-1780.
Tories, some of whom disguised themselves as Indians to wreak their vengeance upon the patriots. " The Tories," says Mr. Saye, "set up peeled poles at their houses, around which white clothes were wrapped. These were called passovers. On the 28th of June, 1776, the Indians commenced the work of death among the Whigs, but the Tories sat under their passovers in safety." Colonels Williamson, Hammond, and Lieutenant Hampton conducted expeditions against the Cherokees, whom they routed, laying waste their settlements, destroying their crops, and compelling them to cede the present districts of Greenville, Anderson, and Pickens. A full and interesting account of this expedition is found in Mr. Saye's history of Major McJunkin, in the Watchman and Observer of 1847, and in the Magnolia, which we regret that our limits forbid us to introduce. The fruitless expeditions of General Lee against Florida and of General Robert Howe, in which he lost five hundred men, chiefly by the malign influence of climate, and then was defeated at Savannah in December, 1778, and the miserable and sanguinary defeat of General Ashe on Briar Creek, in Georgia, March 16th, 1779, in which the bayonets of the Highlanders were turned upon the patriots after their surrender, exhausted greatly the resources of the country, and emboldened Prevost to advance upon Charleston. He was obliged to retire to Savannah, where he was unsuccessfully besieged by Gen. Lincoln and Count d'Estaing, in which we lost more than a thousand men. In the retreat of Prevost, besides a system of universal and rich plunder, some four thousand slaves were lost to their masters with the empty promise of freedom, three thousand of whom were sold in the West Indies. Of those who were left, some clung to the boats as they pushed off till their fingers were cut off with cutlasses. Many perished in the woods. Those who were got off with the army were left on Otter Island, where they died with camp fever, their bodies being devoured by birds and beasts, and the island strewed with their bones. The British were active at Augusta, and were joined by many infamous characters who were freebooters and bandits, and marched through the settlements perpetrating acts of dreadful cruelty and rob- bery. Andrew Pickens, an elder of the Long Canes church, collected the Whig militia of the district of Ninety-Six, and with about three hundred men, pursued them into Georgia, came up with them near Kettle Creek, in Wilkes county, on the 14th of February, 1779, and dispersed them with great slaughter, in which Col. Boyd, their leader, was slain. The
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