USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
BEAUFORT .- The Presbyterian flock in this place had had the occasional services of Rev. Archibald Simpson down to the time of his return to Scotland in 1772. In his journal he speaks of visiting Beaufort March 19th, 1770, and having conversation with Dr. Cuthbert about erecting a new meeting- house in that place. It was proposed to make collections for it, "to get a congregation settled, and a dissenting minister fixed between this and the island of St. Helena. He stayed with Mr. Daniel de Saussure, who was the eldest son of Henry de Saussure of Lausanne, in France, who emigrated to Caro- lina in 1731 and settled near Coosawhatchie, where he lived and died and where his monument is still found. Daniel de Saussure was born at Pocotaligo, and removed to the town of Beaufort in 1767, where he conducted the largest commercial establishment in the province out of Charleston.
401
DE SAUSSURE.
1770-1780.]
" Daniel de Saussure took an early and active part in the revolutionary struggle, and when the troubles broke out, was elected member of the Pro- vincial Congress of South Carolina, from Beaufort, which he continued to represent until his removal to Charleston in 1779. In 1775, when the ques- tion of declaring independence was anxiously discussed, he was sent, in conjunction with Mr. Powell, to Georgia, to stimulate the energies of that people and confer with them as to the plan and means of resistance. When our relations with England were broken off, he was the first in South Caro- lina to open a trade with France. Early in 1777 he sailed in his own brig, with a cargo of rice and indigo, to Nantes, where he established a commer- cial correspondence, long afterwards kept up, and brought back a large and valuable cargo to Charleston. While in France he determined to visit the land of his fathers, and passed into Switzerland. Here he found numerous relations who received him with great cordiality and kindness. The author- ities at Lausanne presented him with the medal of the Canton (still pre- served in the family), to which every head of a family in the Canton was entitled. At their request he recorded the names of his children in the town books at Lausanne, which gave them the right of citizenship. Visiting Geneva, he became acquainted with his distinguished relative, Professor de Saussure, with whom he continued to correspond for years. He was a resident of Beaufort when the British, in December, 1778, advanced with a formidable armament to the attack of Savannah. A transport laden with troops and horses grounded on the shoals near St. Helena. Mr. de Saussure, at that time commanding a volunteer company in Beaufort, proceeded with a part of this company in a barge to reconnoitre the vessel. Finding her to belong to the enemy, they boarded her and brought her into Beaufort, with the troops and two British captains as prisoners of war.
" The founder of the De Saussure family was Antoine de Saussure, who lived in the sixteenth century in Lorraine. The family name is derived from the borough of Saussure, formerly in their possession. The father of Antoine was Mongin de Saussure, lord of Dommartin and Monteuil, Counsellor of State and Grand Falconer under the Duke of Lorraine. Anthony de Saussure embraced the reformed religion and abandoned Lorraine in 1551. He was one of the chief instruments in the establishment of Protestantism in Metz, Strasburgh, and Neufchatel, where he successively resided. Ile lived for some time in Geneva, where he was on terms of intimacy with Calvin. Jean Louis de Saussure performed gallant service in 1712 in the battles of Bremgarten and Wilmergen, and the States of Berne erected his estate into a barony and conferred on him the title of 'noble and generous.'
" The descendants of Henry de Saussure, the emigrant, in 1841 were one hundred and twenty-nine in number, all but ten residents of South Carolina. His third son, Louis, received a mortal wound at the siege of Savannah. His fourth son was killed in one of the skirmishes which preceded the cap- ture of Cornwallis. His eldest son was the Daniel de Saussure, of whom we now speak, who bore arms at the siege of Charleston, was kept in close con- finement in St. Augustine till the exchange of prisoners in 1781 ; was sent to Philadelphia, where he received an appointment in the bank of Robert Morris. He was afterwards president of the bank of the United States, in Charleston, till his death ; was a member of the legislature from 1783 till 1791 ; was president of the Senate at its first session in Columbia, and died in July, 1798. His eldest child and only son was Henry William de Saussure, the distinguished chancellor, who was born at Pocotaligo, August 16th, 1763, and died on the 26th of March, 1839."-(Judge Harper's Memoir of Hon. Henry William de Saussure, Charleston, 1841.)
The Presbyterian church being out of repair, the use of the
26
402
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHARLESTON. [1770-1780.
Episcopal church was requested for Mr. Simpson to preach in on Lord's-day, April the Sth, but it was refused. April 8th, being Lord's-day, he preached to a large and interested audience, and says the effort to build a new church seems to prosper. He afterwards hears that the devil is stirring up great opposition to our designs at Beaufort. At the com- munion at his own church, which he characterizes as " a great day of the Lord," he says, " the Beaufort people were there ;" and that he "received a letter from Dr. Cuthbert and Mr. Bowman acquainting presbytery of their doing." "With this letter the presbytery was well pleased, and appointed me to supply according to their requests, and to proceed in doing among them all the services I could. I also obtained the moderator (Mr. Maltby) to make them a visit, and other sup- plies were appointed." On his way home he obtained a subscription of £70 currency from Mr. Hutson, " a young man about twenty or twenty-four years old, eldest son of the minis- ter, who lives partly in Charleston and partly at his planta- tion, about six miles from his own residence," and whom he describes as wealthy. There are repeated notices of his preaching at Beaufort. April 14th, 1771, he says, "as the church minister is gone to Charleston, had a large auditory." At this visit he " married a young couple, Robert Oar [Orr], a grandson of the Rev. William Oar [Orr], a Presbyterian minis- ter who, many years ago, lived and preached for many years on this island, a worthy man, a good scholar, but of no very great preaching gifts; and Susan Dix, a descendant also of the Oar family, and a half cousin to the young man." "Mr. Bowman had the subscription for building the meeting-house and obtained some names to it." He understands there will be a letter to the presbytery from Port Royal requesting a continuance of his services. He preaches at Beaufort and interests himself in obtaining subscriptions for the new meeting-house down to his sailing for Scotland. From entries in his journal after he reaches Scotland it appears that they were anxious for his return and that his heart longed to be with them and his dear people of "Indian Land."
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHARLESTON .- From the preceding pages it will be seen that this was regarded as the central church of the Presbyterian order, and was the place where the meetings of presbytery were usually held. From 1770 to some time in 1776, the Rev. Dr. Hewat continued to be its pastor. In the year last named he returned to Europe, but the exact day on which he sailed has not been ascertained.
403
DR. HEWAT.
1770-1780.]
There is evidence on record that he presided at the meeting of the session on the 22d of November, 1773, and again on the 23d of May, 1774. On the 9th of May, 1775, it is recorded that the Rev. James Latta was married to Sarah Wilson by virtue of a license from his Honor the Lieutenant-governor (then the Hon. William Bull) directed to Rev. Alexander Hewat. On the 9th of May, 1775, he was therefore still in Charleston. It is highly probable he remained till some time in 1776; for, in vol. ii., p. 299, of his History, he states that the capital of the South Carolina Society in that year " had arisen to a sum not less than £68,787 10s. 3d. ; " and it is by no means probable that he would have obtained this minute information after he left the country. A tradition exists that he was intimate in the family of Governor Bull, and was essen- tially assisted by him in obtaining the materials for his His- tory. This History appeared in London in 1779. The near approach of the war between the colonies and the mother country is believed to have been the reason which induced him to leave Carolina. His attachment to those who had been his flock here continued, and was cordially reciprocated by them. When in 1792 the congregation sent to Scotland for a pastor, Dr. Hewat was associated with Rev. Drs. Robert- son and Blair in the commission. His absence from Edin- burgh alone prevented him from joining in its execution. From this time till the 28th of September, 1820, we have little information of Dr. Hewat on which we can rely, except what may be gleaned from his sermons, in two volumes, published in London in 1803-1805. He was married to a widow lady of Carolina (Mrs. Barksdale), who had visited Europe for the benefit of the health of two of her children. He continued to correspond with some of his former friends in Charleston. It is believed he had a pastoral charge near London, and spent the latter part of his life in or near that city. On the 28th of September, 1820, he addressed a letter to George Edwards of Charleston, South Carolina, from the Carolina Coffee-house, Birchen-lane, Cornhill-a resort formerly well known to all gentlemen of Carolina who visited London. He is believed to have died in 1828 or early in 1829. He remembered the people of his church in Charleston in his will, and left them a legacy of £50 sterling, which was received by the treasurer of the church October 4th, 1829. The History of Dr. Hewat is brought down to the period of the Revolution, the initial scenes of which it briefly describes, is written in a pleasing style, but exhibits towards its close the spirit of the Royalist. His
404
CAINHOY .- PON PON .- SALTKETCHER. [1770-1780.
sermons are chiefly on duties rather than doctrines; but in the few doctrinal discourses we discover no proclivity towards those doctrinal errors (save perhaps in a single passage, and this of a doubtful character) of which Mr. Simpson seems to have suspected him. The notices we have before given of the meetings of presbytery show how considerable was his influ- ence over his co-presbyters. We have not ascertained by whom the Presbyterian church in Charleston was supplied during the last four years of this decade. In the confusion of the times there was probably much irregularity in this as in other churches as to the ordinances of the gospel and the worship of God's house .- (Hon. Mitchell King, in Sprague's Annals, vol. iii., p. 250.)
The PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CAINHOY was in existence in 1778. It is called in the Statutes at Large, vol. viii., p. 119, "The Presbyterian Church of Caintroy in St. Thomas's parish." The charter bears date the 9th day of October, 1778.
BETHEL, PON PON, was without a pastor in 1770, and on Lord's-day, April 15th, in this year, Mr. Simpson records his concern at hearing that presbytery designed to settle over that church a minister who it was thought would not be ac- ceptable to the most serious part of the people. He was him- self called to this pastorate, and in April, 1771, he says, " Mr. L[ambert] of Pon Pon brought up the call with him, signed by more than fifty people, and more to sign it, which is a very great number in the lower part of this province, and especially in a place where the dissenting interest was quite gone." He subsequently says the Pon Pon. call is signed by more than seventy persons. It miscarried at presbytery, and Mr. Simpson was continued at Indian Land (Stoney Creek). Rev. James Gourlay appears to have divided his labors between this church and Stoney Creek through the remainder of this de- cennium. This church was incorporated under the new con- stitution of South Carolina in 1778.
THE SALTKETCHER CHURCH .- From the journal of its founder, June 20th, 1770, we learn that £900 were subscribed towards enlarging the church edifice ; that at the sacrament of the Lord's supper, July 22d, there were eighty or eighty-one com- municants ; that on May 7th, 1771, one-half of the salary due him for the first four years was yet unpaid ; that on the 6th of April, 1772, before he leaves for Scotland, he deposits a paper with the trustees, promising that if he did not return
405
WILLIAMSBURG.
before the following January he would leave his dwelling- house, books, and every necessary his plantation affords, for the use of the minister while he continues to serve both churches, Saltketcher and Indian Land (Stoney Creek). This he does to encourage his settlement. In closing his accounts with Saltketcher, May 12th, he relinquishes £200 out of the two last years' salary for the benefit of the congregation, and several hundred pounds of the salary of preceding years. He continues interested for his former charge while absent in Scotland, and writes urging upon Saltketcher and Beaufort to look no longer for him, but avail themselves of the services of some of those Irish ministers lately arrived in the province, with some thousand families from the north of Ireland who are so scattered about. In June, 1773, Mr. Henderson was occupying his house and preaching to the people of Salt- ketcher. He speaks of him in February, 1775, as lately ordained. Yet the people both of Indian Land and Salt- ketcher write earnestly desiring his return. Mr. Henderson seems to have commenced his ministry at Wilton in 1776. Whether he still visited Saltketcher and preached there occasionally we know not.
WILLIAMSBURG CHURCH .-- As we have seen, p. 325, Rev. David McKey or McKee, of the presbytery of Bangor, in Ireland, was settled over this church by the old presbytery of South Caro- lina, in February, 1769. He did not continue long in this relation, but was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Kennedy in 1772. The date of his arrival in the colony is fixed with tolerable accuracy by the contemporary journal of Mr. Simpson. He was in Charleston during the week preceding the 25th of May, 1772, and says-" Heard a sermon (preparatory to Sacrament) at the Scots meeting, by a gentleman that came in about four weeks ago from Ireland for Williamsburg. Mr. Kennedy preached from Mic. v. 2. He spoke very low, and seems an easy, polite preacher." " Of Mr. Kennedy," says Mr. Wallace, " we know but little, except that he was a man of God, and faithful in his covenant work." Under his ministry the church prospered in a remarkable degree, both by additions from abroad and by genuine conversions. His labors are thought to have closed about the commencement of the Revolutionary war. The same conflicting statements are made respecting him as respecting his predecessor : one, that he went to Ire- land to bring his mother to America, and the war broke out before his return; the other, that he closed his mortal career
406
WILLIAMSBURG.
[1770-1780.
here, and his dust sleeps beside that of Alison and Ray .* His register of marriages extends to March 20th, 1774, per- haps to May 31st, 1775.
About the year 1770 there were large additions made to the church and the village of Kingstree by immigrations from Ireland. Poverty pressed heavily upon the lower classes of farmers, and many were goaded almost to desperation by the hardships of unequal laws, or by the oppressions of landlords. Thousands of them sought a home on this side the Atlantic, and a few years afterwards appeared in arms against - the mother country, as assertors of the independence of the Amer- ican Republic. It has been computed that in 1773 and the five preceding years, the north of Ireland was drained of one- fourth of its trading cash, and of the like proportion of manu- facturing people. Some of the members of the synod of Ulster, where lax theological sentiments prevailed, joined the stream of emigration, and several ministers of the secession were shut up to the same alternative .- (Reid's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, vol. iii., p. 449.) Dr. Wither- spoon thinks that the emigrants to Williamsburg at this period had far less of piety and devotion than those who preceded them.
It became necessary now to enlarge the house of worship, which was done by taking out the side opposite the pulpit, and adding to the building about one-half its original dimen- sions. The increased accommodations were not unblessed to those who sat under the ministry of the man of God; and many of those who made no profession and no pretensions to piety in their native land, became the hopeful subjects of sav- ing grace.
* Wallace, p. 31. We have three letters of Rev. Thomas Kennedy to his friend Rev. Robert Mcclintock, to the care of Thomas Aston of Charleston, dated Knockmagoney, April 27tlı, 1785; Holywood, February 26tlı, 1786, and Sep- tember 9th, 1786. In the first of these he speaks of McWhir (afterwards Dr. Mc Whir of Georgia), the two Mckees, and Hidelson, as having gone to the northward, and Johnson of Comber as having sailed for. Baltimore, of the death of his mother, and that nothing stands in the way of his return but his wife's consent, which he hopes to obtain. The second was sent by the hand of Samuel Kennedy, who was on a visit to Ireland, in which he expresses his fixed resolution to return. In the third lie asks if his friend, Samuel Kennedy, continues in Williamsburg, and how the people are affected to- wards him. He says the stories of those who have returned to Ireland since the war, of the shocking state of the country, have cast a damp on Mrs. Ken- nedy so that he cannot prevail on her to go over. Still there is little to be done in that country for a rising family. "Our preachers are become still more and more despicable in the eyes of the people, and must live very poorly, especially those who have nothing to begin with." It is most proba- ble that Mr. Kennedy did not return to America.
407
1770-1780.]
MAJOR JOHN JAMES.
Of the state of this church during the Revolution we have little to say. In those stormy days its worship must often have been interrupted ; yet there was a people here to serve the Lord and make mention of his name. The congregation in the period next subsequent to this, suffered much from the in- cursions of the enemy. But it acted a noble part in the struggles which secured our liberties, and more than one name on its roll is distinguished on the pages of history. The most conspicuous of these is that of John James, who, when the revolution commenced in 1775, was captain of the Williamsburg militia under George III. He subsequently held the office of major and served under Marion and Greene. He was born April 12th, 1732, and was the oldest son of William James, who had served King William in his wars in Ireland against James II. William James was originally from Wales, which country he left in consequence of a difficulty with his sovereign in reference to a mill-pond and the fish it contained. This prop- erty being wrested from him he removed to Scotland, where he married the daughter of John Witherspoon. He subse- quently emigrated to Ireland and thence to America. He is said to have inherited, with the rest of the family, a barony of land in Wales, which they did not return to claim, and which consequently fell into the hands of other heirs. William James accompanied his father-in-law, John Witherspoon, to America in 1732 (his son, John James, being then an infant), and with this family were many of their neighbors and John James, the younger brother of William. The partiality of William James to the memory of William of Orange, in which his associates sympathized, is supposed to have originated the name Williamsburg, first given to the township but now borne by the district or county. Both William and John be- came herdsmen, like the patriarchs of old. William settled on " the Lake," and John on Broad Swamp. William had large flocks and herds which he kept on Bull's Savannah, about twelve miles above Kingstree, and here his son John, after- wards Major James, spent much of his boyhood herding tho cattle of his father, and acquiring that athletic vigor and bold horsemanship which prepared him for his future exploits. Nor was the situation of the settlement, in his early life, abso- lutely free from danger. Among his early recollections wero those of a stockade fort and of wars between the first settlers and the natives. His opportunities of obtaining more than a common English education were small. Opportunities for religious instruction were more ample. For not only was ho
1
408
MAJOR JOHN JAMES.
[1770-1780.
brought up by pious parents, but under the pastoral care of Rev. John Rae, whose labors were greatly blessed. Major James married, on the 18th of January, 1753, Miss Jean Dobine, became an elder in the church, and at the commencement of the Revolution, in 1775, had acquired a considerable portion both of property and military reputation, and was forty-three years of age, a period when men are most full of energy and enterprise. Probably the style of piety, as manifested in him- self and others in the church, was less staid and sober than in these days is regarded as fitting those who represent the Christian name. When the first settlers located themselves, all around was wild and savage; they dwelt at first in rude houses of earth or in "shanties." Gradually they erected better dwellings, but it was but slowly that the free and jovial life of the woodsman was laid aside. The forests abounded in game and resounded with the crack of the rifle, much of life was spent on horseback and in hunting, and when the people met together the men would now try the speed of their horses in the race, and now engage with the fairer portion of society in the merry dance. Nor had the day of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks yet come; nor was it so very disgraceful to make merry with one's friends, and to reach that point when the worse wine could be set forth safely, the men hav- ing well drunk. The times of that ignorance many winked at. Nor would we be surprised to learn that the brave soldier and good elder sometimes was present and participated in those scenes. Stock was wild, and if a horse was wanted, one was caught from the woods, mounted, and made to obey the rein. In trials of horsemanship the young men delighted, and to ride the fleetest horse and subdue the most ungovernable was a point of emulation. There was not wanting to Major James some spice of humor. The belief in ghosts was common, and the spiritual world was not thought so separate as since it has been supposed from this our world of flesh and blood. Major James had as little dread of those imaginary beings as he had of the enemy on the field of battle. On one occasion he was driven into the session-house to escape the fury of a storm. Taking the saddle from his horse he lay down to rest, and using the saddle for a pillow, fell asleep. Night came on, and a neighbor entered to enjoy the same friendly shelter. In moving about he stumbled over him unawares, and took to his heels in pale affright. James aroused, uttered a loud and terrific cry, which gave new speed to the trembling fugitive. Out of this rather material incident a new ghost story was
409
MAJOR JOHN JAMES.
1770-1780.]
now set on foot which filled the neighborhood with alarm, and continued current till the secret transpired, to the great morti- fication of the terrified neighbor. On another occasion Major James, passing his father's grave one night, saw what ap- peared to be a white sheet hanging over the cedar head-board which marked the spot. He supposed it placed there by de- sign to inspire terror. He determined to see what it was. As he drew near he saw bare feet beneath the sheet, and soon a female form started up. It appeared that it was a lady who had been engaged at her private devotions, and belonged to a company of "movers," who had sought the churchyard as their camp for the night. She besought him not to disturb her, and he remonstrating with her for such exposure of her- self, induced her to seek shelter within the walls of the church. These incidents probably belong to the earlier period of his life.
Major James was universally respected. He was under six feet in height, with full breast, broad shoulders, weighing about two hundred pounds, commanding in his look and gait, so as to attract attention in a crowd of men. He was in the battle of Eutaw, was at Snow Island with Marion, and held a seat in the first legislative body, to which he was elected shortly after the battle of Eutaw. Disapproving at the outset of the war the measures of the British government, he resigned his royal commission as captain of militia, but was reinstated by a popular vote in his former command. In the year 1776 he marched with his company to the defence of Charleston. In the year 1779 he was with General Moultrie on his retreat before General Prevost, and commanded one hundred and fifty riflemen at or near Tullifinny bridge, a few miles this side of Coosahatchie. Others in this church became distinguished by their heroism and their sufferings, but their history more appropriately belongs to the closing period of the war.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.