USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 1 > Part 7
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67
MR. MALCOMSON.
1800-1810.]
ter of religion, would here meet with encouragement and success, he removed to Charleston in the beginning of this year. Here his expectations were more than realized. Lib- eral and discerning men did justice to respectable talents, to attainments far above mediocrity, to upright and exemplary conduct, to agreeable manners and to an unexampled suavity and placidness of disposition which is justly deemed one of the best proofs of a Christian temper. He had obtained a respectable and numerous academy ; daily accessions were making to a congregation already considerable for numbers and justly and sincerely attached to their pastor, and he had the fairest prospect of being highly useful and respected in the community, and of making a handsome provision for his family. When, alas! to the inexpressible grief of his family and friends and to the great loss of society, in the prime of life, in the full vigor of his faculties, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, he is removed from us to occupy a more exalted station in another region of God's infinite dominions.
We, who witnessed its closing scene, are able to add an authority still more unexceptionable and impressive. For
" A death-bed's a detector of the heart :
" There tir'd dissimulation drops the mask :
" There REAL and APPARENT are the same." YOUNG.
How much was it to be wished that the infidel and the worldling had been present in the last moments of our de- parted friend ! That they who foolishly barter an eternity of bliss for an hour of transitory enjoyment, had heard his senti- ments on the vanity of all sublunary things! That they who are carried down the stream of pleasure, unmoved by the sorrows, and insensible even to the joys of others, had wit- nessed the heart-rending but instructive scene, when, finding his end approaching, he called his family and friends around him, comforted his afflicted consort, exhorting her to trust in the living God who had all along befriended them, and who would still prove her protector and guardian ; when he took his infant child in his arms, blessed her, and commended her to the providential care of the Almighty ; when he charged such of his offspring as had understanding sufficient to com- prehend his meaning, to persevere in the virtuous course in which they had been initiated, and diligently serve Him
68
INDIAN TOWN.
[1800-1810.
whom their father had served ; when he expressed to his weeping friends and some of the affectionate attendants on his ministry who were present, his ardent wishes for the suc- cess of the gospel, and for the interests of religion and virtue, declared his unfeigned assent to the truth of Christianity. devoutly thanked God for the comforts and hopes of religion, and desired his friends to join in the performance of that divine exercise of praise, which he was soon to enjoy in per- fection in the mansions above."
INDIAN TOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was associated with Bethel as the pastoral charge of Dr. Stephenson, and he resided in its vicinity. He labored successfully and satisfac- torily among them for the space of nineteen years. He preached his valedictory sermon at Indian Town on the 28th of February, 1808, and set out for Maury County, Tennessee, with a colony of about twenty families of the Bethel Church (some part of whom, however, had preceded him), and set- tled on a tract of land which they had jointly purchased from the heirs of General Green. He was succeeded in the pas- torate by Rev. Andrew Flinn, afterwards D. D., in 1809. The history of James White Stephenson, as written by Rev. J. A. Wallace, subsequently pastor of the churches of Bethel and Indian Town, is given by us in our first Volume, pp. 581, 587, and was also published in the Southern Presbyterian Review, Vol. VI., p. 102.
It was during the ministry of Dr. Stephenson that Thomas Dickson Baird, afterwards D. D., became a resident within the bounds of this congregation and a member of this church. He was born in the County of Down, Ireland, on the 26th of December, 1773, of parents who were members of the Burgher Secession Church. In early life he had a strong desire for knowledge, and for a liberal education, which his father felt obliged to deny him, intimating to him that he was destined to the trade of a blacksmith. But while toiling at the anvil he made himself acquainted with arithmetic, and advanced considerably in Lilly's Latin Grammar, which was the more difficult as it was itself written in the Latin tongue. He was at the same time a diligent student of the scriptures, and acquired a good knowledge of systematic theology. At eighteen he became a member of the church to which his parents belonged, and afterwards joined the Reformed Church or that of the Covenanters. On the 12th of December, 1796,
69
1800-1810.] THOMAS DICKSON BAIRD, D. D.
he was united in marriage with Isabella Mackey, and returned again to the Associate Church.
He was a participant in the Irish rebellion of 1796, and. eluding the vigilance of the authorities, in the year 1802 he embarked for America and landed at Newcastle, Delaware, on the 9th of July. He was employed at his trade in Penn- sylvania nearly three years, when, receiving letters from a relative in Williamsburg, S. C., he left Philadelphia in March, 1805, and traveled by the way of Charleston to the place where his relative resided. In the following autumn his wife was seized with the prevailing fever, which proved fatal, and shortly after his two little boys feil victims to the same dis. case and were laid by the side of their mother. He himself was then seized by the same malady, and escaped death as if by a miracle. The man who made the coffins for his wife and children was still living in 1858. It was at this period that Mr. Baird began more seriously to meditate the purpose of entering the ministry. He had already united with the church at Indian Town, and gradually became reconciled to singing the version of the Psalms then in use.
His purpose of entering the ministry was subsequently thwarted again and again. Yet it was not abandoned. He wrote a sermon while he was yet at Indian Town which he exhibited to a few of his friends. The vestiges of his house were still shown a few miles from the church on the 6th of February, 1858. Persevering in a purpose so early formed, in April, 1809 he quit his worldly occupation, sold the little property he had accumulated and again entered on a course of study. He availed himself of the instruction of the Rev. Moses Waddel, then the principal of a very popular school at Willington, Abbeville District, S. C., while at the same time he was acting as tutor in the institution. In the spring of 1811 he was taken under the care of the Presbytery of South Carolina, as a candidate for the ministry, and on 8th of April, 1812, was licensed to preach the Gospel.
The success of the Presbyterian colony led forth by Dr. Stephenson, may be known by the following history of "the Frierson Congregation," so called by the prevalence of that name among them. And, indeed, down to this time, several of that name have entered the Presbyterian ministry.
70
THE FRIERSON CONGREGATION. [1800-1810.
A REMARKABLE CONGREGATION.
We take the following sketch from correspondence of the Louisville Presbyterian Herald :
The history of the Frierson congregation is somewhat unique and peculiar, and deserves from me more than a passing notice. About the commencement of the present century a number of families belonging to a Presbyterian congregation in South Carolina, determined to emi- grate to the West for several reasons. The land on which they lived was much exhausted and the climate of South Carolina was so unhealthy that their children sickened and died before arriving at the age of maturity. They had heard of a promised land in the West and determined to seek a residence in it But they formed a resolution to carry with them the institutions of the Gospel, and to implore the blessing of God on their enterprise. They could not go unless God went with them, and they determined to acknowledge him in all their ways. Their minds were bent on making a settlement in Louisiana, but to reach that territory which had been but recently ceded to the United States, it was necessary to pass through Tennessee. Louisiana was at that time supposed to be a perfect paradise. In the spring of the year 1805, four families came out and settled for a time in the neigh- borhood of Nashville, to prepare the way for the removal of the whole colony. They had to traverse mountains and nearly all the way they had to pass through an unbroken wilderness. But Providence was kind to them and "they arrived in the vicinity of Nashville at the time the purchase was made from the Indians of the lands whereon they afterwards settled, of which purchase they knew nothing previous to their emigration." Such is their own statement, made in a journal or history of the colony, which is still in existence. That purchase of Indian territory was the means, in the hands of Providence, of fixing the permanent residence of the colony of Tennessee.
In the year 1806, eleven other families removed from South Carolina. Temporary places of abode had been prepared for them in the neigh- borhood of Franklin, about twenty miles southeast of Nashville. Their journey was a prosperous one. They thankfully recorded that the rivers were lowered so that they had not to ferry a single stream, nor had they a single shower of rain to wet them or to make the roads muddy. Not an accident of a serious nature occurred during the journey. These families traveled in two companies. One company rested on the Sab- bath day and conducted public worship by singing, praying and read- ing a sermon. The other had hired wagons to convey their families, without any written agreement, binding the drivers of their wagons to stop on the Sabbath day, and when the Sabbath came they geared up their horses and would go forward. The party that kept the Sabbath arrived at their journey's end just one hour after the other, with their wagons and horses in a much better condition. Resting on the Sab- brai had proved to be profitable both to man and beast.
In 1807, the colony purchased five thousand acres of land from the heirs of General Greene, in Maury County, and prepared to settle on it permanently. They went into the cane brake, divided their land and built a house of worship in the center of their tract near a spring, and then went to work to build small cabins for the accommodation of their families. We do not believe that the same thing can be said of any settlement that has ever been made in the West. I never heard of any
71
THE FRIERSON CONGREGATION.
1800-1810.]
other emigrants who built a house of worship before they cut down a single stick of timber to make comfortable residences for their own families. What is also remarkable, they had no preacher with them, and their worship had to be conducted by laymen. Their pastor did not join them until several years after their removal into the wilder- ness .. He first paid them a visit, and afterwards moved into the midst of them. With pleasure we make the following extracts from the his- tory of the congregation. It gives a pleasing view of the state of feel- ing among the Friersons on a very important subject :
A Committee named our Society Zion In the fall of 1808, Rev. Gideon Blackburn preached for us; in the winter, the Rev. Samuel Finley. In the spring of 1809, Rev. James W. Stephenson removed to our neighborhood. and became our stated supply. Six elders were. e.ected and set apart for that office ; two had been previously set apart, so that the session consisted of eight elders.
The houses not being large enough to accommodate the people, we erected a stand and made a shed before the meeting house In 'August, 1809. the sacrament was administered for the first time, and we trust much good resulted.
About this time a goodly number of our black people appeared to be under awakening influences and petitioned to be admitted to church privileges. To our shame we have to acknowledge that the education of these people had hitherto been criminally neglected. A great num- ber of them had been the companions and nurses of our infantile years. They had been doomed to hard slavery in order to procure means for our education and to let us live in ease, and yet we had not taken that pains and trouble which we ought to have taken in training them and teaching them a proper knowledge of the God who made them, of their lost condition by nature, of the pure requisitions of God's law, or of the plan of salvation through a Redeemer. * * * *
* A sense of that neglect made a considerable impression on the minds of a number of the congregation. The session resolved to pay due attention to them, and to take them under charge as catechumen.
[Sprague's Annals, vol. III., pp. 550, 554, vol. IV., 476, 478.]
THE CHURCHES OF HOPEWELL AND A.IMWELL, on Pee Dee, united, both, as " vacancies." remained under one and the same pastoral charge through the most of this decade. At the beginning of the century they were vacant and were dependent still on occasional supplies. (See Vol. I., p. 593.) On September the 29th, 1803, Duncan Brown applied to the First Presbytery of South Carolina, which embraced that por- tion of the State Northeast of the Broad, Congaree and Santee Rivers, to be received under their care, producing a certificate of dismission from the Presbytery of Orange. The tradition is, that he was pastor of the two churches from the year 1800. He may have preached to them as a licentiate from that date, and probably did so, but he was not connected with the Pres- bytery to which these churches were amenable till the date
1
72
HOPEWELL AND AIMWELL.
[1800-181C.
mentioned above. A call from these two churches for his pastoral services was presented to the Presbytery at this meet- ing, and by him accepted .* At an intermediate meeting, held at Hopewell, on the 19th of November, 1803, he was solemnly ordained to the whole work of the gospel ministry by prayer and the imposition of hands, and installed as pastor of the united congregations of Hopewell and Aimwell (Pee Dee.) The ordination sermon was preached by the Moderator, Rev. Geo. G. McWhorter, and the charge delivered by Rev. Jas. W. Stephenson. He remained in this pastoral charge, faithfully performing its duties, until October 2d, 1809, when the pas- toral relation was dissolved at his own request, and with the concurrence of his people. He was at the same time dismissed to join the Presbytery of Transylvania.t
The only statistical reports we find of Hopewell and Aim- well during this period are for the year 1805. Total commu- nicants reported 57 Infants baptized 5. For the year 1807, communicants 56; Baptisms, I adult and 12 infants.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BLACK MINGO still had the Rev. William Knox as its pastor. He was a minister of the old school, and probably regarded many of his brethren as too rigid, and perhaps fanatical.
THE RED BLUFF CHURCH.
The site of the old Red Bluff Church is still to be seen in Marlboro' County, on the west bank of the Little Pee Dee River, on a high bluff, from which it takes its name. It was perhaps the oldest Presbyterian Church in the State on the east of the Great Pee Dee. We have failed to get the exact date of its organization. It was doubtless organized some years previous to the great revival of 1802, by Scotch settlers,
*This call was signed by Alexander Gregg, James Bigham, Jr., E. Birch, David Bigham, William Gregg, Sr., John Muldrow, Joseph Gregg, Thomas McCall, Hugh Muldrow, Alex. Gregg, Jr., Jeremiah Brown, John Cooper, James Hudson, Samuel Bigham, John Gregg, Samuel Gregg, S. I'ritchard, Charles Rinacklea, John McCown, Hanor Davis, Robert Gregg, James Neuter, Gavin Witherspoon, John Ervin, Hugh Ervin, Stephen Thompson, Moderator of the meeting, Rev. James Ste- phenson, of South Carolina Presbytery, and Pastor of Williamsburg Church. (MSS. of Rev. W. A. Gregg.)
+MSS. Minutes of First Presbytery of South Carolina, pp. 53, 55, 60, 61 and 124.
73
RED BLUFF CHURCH.
1800-1810.]
who came down into that region from the Cape Fear settlement. At that time (1802) Rev. Colin Lindsey was preaching there to a regular organized church, and, as far as we can learn, a church of some considerable strength. Here, as elsewhere, a good degree of excitement, and, perhaps, some excesses attended the revival meetings. Mr. Lindsey, it is said, at first tolerated, then afterwards took strong grounds against the revivalists, and a goodly number of the congregation sided with him. This caused two parties in the church, very bitter in their feelings toward each other. The revivalists were called the New Lights. They did not at first secede from the church, but invited Rev. Murdoch Murphy, of Robeson County, who held the same views, to preach for them on a different day from Mr. Lindsey's appointment. A well estab- lished tradition said the Old Lights, or anti-revivalists, to defeat this movement, built a high rail fence around the church on the night previous to the appointment of Mr. Murphy. The elder who kept the church key, (Mr. John McRay.) siding with the New Lights, leaped over the fence, opened the church door, and bid the minister and congregation to fo low, which they did, and worshiped without further molestation. After this Mr. Murphy preached at private houses until a .neiv house of worship was erected by the revivalists, about one and a half miles east of the old church. This was called Sharon Church, and continued a number of years a separate organiza- tion. After Mr. Lindsey's death the two parties came to- gether again at the old stand. Which party was right in this controversy we cannot fully determine, but are rather inclined to side with the revivalists .. There was evidently more piety on that side, and their views, after lopping off excesses, finally prevailed in the community. Had Mr. Lindsey been a more pious and prudent man, this breach in the household of faith might have been prevented. This leads us to say of Mr. Lind- sey, that in the judgment of posterity he was a man of some talent, but little piety. A well founded tradition says that he was often assisted into the pulpit by some one of the elders, and preached to the people under the influence of strong drink, and would say to the people : " Do not as I do, but as I say." We have learned the name of but one elder during Mr. Lindsey's time. Mr. John McKay, whose name is mentioned above, and who withdrew with the revivalists. The elders of Sharon were John McRay, Hugh McLaurin, Duncan Rankin,
74
BLACK RIVER, WINYAW.
[1800-1810.
Daniel McIntyre, and Archibald Thompson. After the re- union the following elders were elected : Daniel McLeod, Daniel McLaurin, and John McRae. Mr. Murphy supplied the Sharon Church but a short time. He removed Westward, and was succeeded by Rev. Malcom McNair. (Liberty Co., Ala., Dr. Wall's Diar., &c., p: IO.)
Some attention was drawn to Presbyterianism in other localities in this general region of the State. " A few people near the LONG BLUFF on PEDEE RIVER, and a people near Kingstree, request to be noticed by this Presbytery." [Min- utes of the First Presbytery of South Carolina, September 21. 1802.] On the 15th of March, 1805, Murdoch Murphy, who had been appointed in October, 1804, by the Synod of the Carolinas, a missionary for the lower part of South Carolina, was received as a licentiate from Orange Presbytery, N. C. A call was presented to Presbytery for his pastoral services from a congregation by the name of the church and congre- gation of BLACK RIVER, WINYAW, in Georgetown District, which was put in Mr. Murphy's hands and by him accepted. On May 17, 1805, an Intermediate Presbytery was held at Black River Church, the evening session being held at the house of Mr. Samuel Green. On the following day the ordi- nation services took place at the church, the Rev. Geo. G. Mc Whorter preaching the sermon, Dr. Stephenson proposing the constitutional questions to the candidate, and the usual charge being given to the minister, the Rev. Murdock Mur- phy, and the address to the people over whom he was placed. This church was located very near the spot where an Epis- copal Church had stood in former days. Mr. Murphy was dismissed March 2d, 1809 to the Presbytery of Orange, and it is not probable that his connection with this church con- tinued longer. [Min. Ist Presbytery, p. 116.]
SALEM CHURCH (BLACK RIVER) .- The Rev. John Foster was released from his pastoral charge at the meeting of the Presbytery at Bethesda, March 27, 1801. On the 16th of March, 1805, he was cited to appear before Presbytery, at its next stated meeting, to answer for non-attendance upon its sessions and neglect of ministerial duty. The citation was renewed at the next session. On the 13th of March, 1806, he appeared and plead bodily indisposition as his reason, which was accepted. He was again cited September 29th, 1807, for the same fault and for indifference to their orders. The
75
SALEM, BLACK RIVER.
1800-1810.]
citation was repeated with greater sharpness and severity on March 3d, 1808, and he was ordered to appear at the next session to answer the charges exhibited against him. At the fall sessions, October 3d, " Mr. Foster, being called to answer to the several specific parts of such charge, was heard in each in his own defense in justification for supposed neglect of duty as stated in the same, and his reasons were such as induced the Presbytery to acquit him. However, Mr. Foster unequivocally denies his violation of his own word, and promises, as stated in such charges, and Presbytery, without any hesitation, admit that such charge is to be considered as carrying with it some degree of harshness." [Minutes, p. 102.]
The strictness of the Presbytery is at the same time shown by the citation of the Rev. Murdock Murphy to appear per- sonally or by letter at the next stated sessions to inform them " of the reasons of his former non-attendance."
"The Rev. John Foster continued to fulfil the ministerial duties," says M. P. Mayes, clerk of the session of Salem Church, " until the time he left us and removed to the back country. Our church was now vacant, with only occasional supplies. Rev. Mr. Roxborough gave us a sermon or two, and perhaps others. . In September, 1802, the Rev. George Gray McWhorter came on as a missionary from some one of the North Carolina Presbyteries,* preached to us, pleased us, and became our pastor, without any Presbyterial installation. On September 2d, 1804, the Brick Church was dedicated by him, and two elders-William Wilson and Charles Story- were ordained."
There is one error in this statement. Mr. McWhorter was a member of the Old Presbytery of South Carolina, organized in 1785. He was ordained pastor of Bethel and Beersheba in 1796; was one of the original members of the First Pres- bytery of South Carolina, on the division of the Old Presby- tery, and was released from his charge of Bethel and Beer- sheba by act of Presbytery, September 29, 1801. Salem had 67 communicants in 1807.
* Rather from the First Presbytery of South Carolina. The Old Pres- bytery of South Carolina was set off from the Presbytery of Orange in 1785. On the 6th of November, 1799, it was divided into the First and Second Presbyteries of South Carolina, the waters of Broad River on their way to the Ocean being the southern boundary of the First Pres- bytery.
76
CONCORD-NEWHOPE-MIDWAY. [1800-1810.
CONCORD CHURCH, SUMTER DISTRICT, was organized by Rev. George G. McWhorter about 1808 or 1809, while he acted as pastor of Salem Church. It is about eight miles from Sumterville. on the road to Kingstree and Georgetown. The Presbytery to which the Rev. Mr. McWhorter at that time belonged was known as the First Presbytery of South Carolina, the original Presbytery of South Carolina having been divided in 1799 inco the First, and Second Presbyteries of South Carolina.
NEWHOPE .- This was a church gathered, we believe, by the labors of the Rev. John Cousar while yet a licentiate. A call was presented to him through the Presbytery on the 29th of September. 1803. " The First Presbytery of South Caro- lina held its ninth regular session at this church. And on the igth of March, 1804, during the session, the Rev. Geo. G. McWhorter preached an ordination sermon from Jeremiah I : VII., last clause, ' For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak ;' after which Mr. John Cousar was, by prayer and the imposi- tion of hands of the Presbytery, solemnly ordained and set apart to the exercise of the whole of the gospel ministry, and installed pastor of the congregation of Newhope. A suitable charge was then given by Mr. Walker, after which Mr. Cousar took his seat in Presbytery." [Minutes, p. 60.] Newhope had 21 communing members in 1805. It had 23 in 1809, and IO infants were baptized that year. Mr. Cousar was dismissed from Newhope, and the church declared vacant, April 5, 1811. [ Minutes of Harmony Presbytery, p. 28.]
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