USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 15
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HENDERSON, February 28 1850.
REV. AND DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 19th of November was in due me received. and I can only say that, while I approve of the course iken by the Synod. I am sorry that I have been called on to take any
524
LETTER OF REV. D. L. GRAY.
[1830-1840.
part in preparing these sketches. But without any apology I shall comply.
I was born in Abbeville District, S. C, on the 24th of April, 1803 I am the fourth child and second son of John and Hannah Gray, who were blessed with a numerous offspring - eight sons and three daughters. My parents were devotedty pious, and early dedicated me to God in baptism. From my earliest infancy they labored to imbne my mind with the great principles of truth as taught in the Word of God and our catechism. I might say that I grew up under a system of religions training. Being blessed with the ministry of Rev. Moses Waddei, D. D., I was required, every Sabbath evening, to tell where the text was, and what the leading facts were which were contained in the sermon. After this, my venerable father made a tender and personal application of the whole sermon to his children. Well do I remember these Sabbath evening exercises, and even now look back to them with fond recollec- tion. After this we recited the shorter or Mother's Catechism, and the day was closed by reading the Word of God, singing and prayer. But every day was opened and closed with the family worship.
With such training my parents had a right to expect the blessings of God upon their offspring, and the results show that they were not dis- appointed. All their children, as they arrived toward maturity, at- tached themselves, by profession of their faith, to the Church of Christ. Of the sons who arrived at manhood, three of them were, and two are now, ruling elders. My brother James, before he was of age, was elected a ruling elder by the church of Hopewell to take the place of his father, made vacant by death. But he, too, was soon called to join the General Assembly and Church of the first born in glory Two others are ministers-Rev. John H. Gray, D. D .. pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tenn. ; the other, the subject of this memoir.
At a very early age my mind was powerfully impressed with my sin- ful and lost condition, and many a tear I shed in secret in view of my sins. But I was soon taught by the Spirit to feel that I could not be justified by works of Law. Then I was guided to Jesus Christ, and en- abled, as I hope, to give my heart to Him. Even now, after the lapse of nearly forty years, do I remember many a precious season of prayer, when with childlike simplicity I committed my way to God, and pleaded with Him to make me a faithful minister of the Gospel. It was not tili years after that I made a publie profession of my faith. But during this period I think I loved the people of God, and never did I witness a communion season that my heart did not reproach me for not doing this " in remembrance of me." And often with an aching heart and streaming eyes did I promise that if I was spared to see another con- munion season, I would be found with the friends of Christ.
I was brought up on my father's farm and tanght the science of ag- riculture, which I have found to be of great advantage in after life. My English education I received from my father. My classic education I commenced with Dr. John S. Read, but I was soon removed to Union Academy, Abbeville District, which was then taught by the Rev. Sammel Pressley, who was afterwards Professor of Belles Lettres in Franklin College, Athens, Ga. In the fall of 1824 I went to the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where I graduated in the fall of 1826.
As soon as I graduated I joined the Presbytery of Cincinnati, from which I was soon transferred to the South Carolina Presbytery, by which I was licensed in the fall of 1828. I was immediately invited by the
525
LETTER OF REV. D. L. GRAY.
30-1840.]
ders of the Fairforest congregation to visit them. Very soon in the ring of 1829 they gave me a call, which I accepted, and in June I was dained and settled as pastor. Half of my time I devoted to Fairforest hurch until I left in the fall of 183! for the West. The church was eatly blessed during my ministrations, and at every communion ason some were added to the fold. One-fourth of my time I preached Cane Creek, Union District. Here, too, God was pleased to own my bors in building up this feeble church. When Icommenced my labors ere, I could find but six or seven members, but during my stay the murch increased to about thirty-five members. The other fourth of y time I spent missionating. At a very early period in my ministry thought that my appropriate work was that of an evangelist, and I on determined to remove to the West, which, to some extent, was in formative state.
My first settlement was in the Western District of Tennessee. Here I bent the most of one year in exploring the country, and preaching as od gave me opportunity. During the year I organized one church, hd was permitted in the good providence of God to witness the out- ourings of His Spirit at a camp meeting, when many were added to he Lord. In this settlement I suffered much, being exposed in the oods under a cloth tent for three weeks, when everything was frozen p. In the fall of 1832, with a small colony, I removed to White River, ackson Co., Arkansas Here, too, I was exposed to all the difficulties nd privations incident to a new country. Without houses, or food, or bads, or milis, exposed to freezing weather, I made my settlement among Christianized paganism"-hunters, and stock-growers and refugees om justice, many of whom had never heard the voice of a minister. ere I organized a church, and had full proof before my eyes that the reaching of the Gospel is the wisdom and power of God in the conver- on of men ; for here, too, we enjoyed a precious revival of religion.
I traveled extensively and was instant in season and out of season. o one who has not been a pioneer, who has not rode all day through ine, and mud, and water, and lain down on the ground, with his iddle for a pillow. and preached to a company of native population nder some shady tree, with their guns in their hands and hats on heir heads, can realize for a moment the labors to be done and the ifferings to be endured by the first ministers in a new country.
After remaining here for three years, I was forced to leave on account f sickness. About this time the Chickasaw Indians were removing om the north of Mississippi, and the country was rapidly filling up. hither I removed my family in 1836, and was amongst the first resbyterian ministers to enter this goodly land. Here I labored much nd spent most of seven years as a missionary in hunting up the seat- red sheep and organizing churches. During this time I was engaged many glorious revivals, and my own church near Hudsonville, Miss., as blessed with three gracious outpourings of the Spirit of God.
In the midst of this work I was called to this field, where I have been boring for five years, and it has pleased the great Head of the Church visit us in mercy and grant us a precions reviving. Within the last x weeks, about one hundred have professed to have found the Saviour. In all my wanderings I have been mercifully preserved. I have been laced in very trying and difficult situations, and to many of them my ind now turns with the freshness of a yesterday's trial. I can truly say ith the Apostle, that I have been in perils oft : in perils by land, in perils y water. in perils by robbers, in perils by murderers ; yet out of them all
ยท
526
LETTER OF REV. D. L. GRAY.
[1830-1840.
the Lord has delivered me. and every new peril left me more fully con- vinced that man is immortal till his work is done.
As to my nele, Daniel Gray, I know bat little. I believe he was educated by Dr. Doal, of East Tennessee. The only minute I can find of his early ministry isin Dr. Foote's Sketches of North Carolina. There you find this minute: " Rocky River, October Ist, 1807 .- Added to the Presbytery of South Carolina. Daniel Gray."
I have furnished a short sketch of my life at your request and trans- mit it to you, and when the work is published I want a copy.
Yours, fraternally,
D. L. GRAY.
Appended to this letter, in the handwriting of Mr. Saye, are the following remarks :
I saw Mr Gray in the summer of 1824 at a camp-meeting at Hebron Church, Franklin County, Ga. He was then just grown, as I suppose. He was considerably over the size of his relative, Win. A. Gray. His reputation in these parts corresponds very well with the account he gives of his labors here. He became a temperance man while at Fairforest. His eyes were opened on the subject by Rev M. Diekson the first genuine temperance man in South Carolina. Mr. Gray immediately broke loose upon " the good creature " with his characteristic zeal, and either brought over men to his views or drove them off. Union District is largely in- debted to him for putting distilleries to death.
Mr. Gray was married to Miss Boyd while at Fairforest When he left, some fifteen families went with him, or after him, from the Fairforest congregation. Most of them went to Arkansas and returned to Missis- sippi with him, among them, Mrs Boyd, his mother-in law, and several families of the name of Means, her near relatives Mr Gray met with strong opposition in his temperance measures, and not a few who loved ' the good creature " were glad when he I -ft the country.
This letter explains itself. Mr. Gray was one of my predecessors at Fairforest and Cane Creek I wrote to all of them who were alive as soon as I reached home from the Synod at Camden, requesting them to do as von see Mr. Gray has done, but he is the only one from whom I have re- ceived any reply. J. H. SAYE.
The Rev. Jeptha Harrison, D. D .. (whose mativity, whose early history we have allowed himself to tell.) came South believing himself far gone in pulmonary consumption. He took charge of a small school among the pines in Sumter District, where after a few months his health was restored. He went to Union District. and a year or two supplied Fair- first and Cane Creek churches. His ministry in the field was greatly blessed He went to Virginia, thence to Memphis, Tenn, thence to Kentucky, thence to Alabama, thence to Iowa. In each field his labors have been crowned with a large measure of success.
The Rev. John Boggs was a native of Savannah, Ga., but brought up and educated at the north, where he entered the
527
REV. JOHN BOGGS.
330-1840.]
ministry. When somewhat advanced in life, he returned to avannah ' and for a time supplied the First Presbyterian Church in that city. Thence he removed to Washington, ja., where he was engaged in teaching and preaching for a cason. Thence to Cherokee Corner where he exercised the ame offices for a year or two. Thence to Greenville District, . C. Thence to Spartanburg. C. H. Here he was engaged teaching and preached statedly to a number of churches, nd whenever he found opportunity. While here he wrote nd published a work called "The Southern Christian." About the end of 1838 he removed to Louisiana, where for ome years he exercised the office of teacher and minister. Thence to Virginia where he laboured for a time. Thence to Abbeville District to engage in another new field. But here he messenger of release met him and he entered upon his eward. Mr. Boggs was certainly a remarkable man and minister. In person, small and emaciated, his face cadave- ous, his eyes black and piercing. One would have thought he could perform little or no labor, and endure no hardship. Yet he performed an amonut of work of which few men in he vigour of manhood would be thought capable. He not only preached often but with great effect. He preached a ermon at a camp meeting in Georgia, which was attended by results the equal of which I have not heard of on any occasion in the present century. He was at home at a camp meeting. His voice was distinctly audible through a very arge crowd. His solemnity, earnestness and readiness in word and doctrine, fitted him for such a field. The solidity of his instructions made him useful as a stated preached. He vas alive to the importance of education and stirred up the people on this subject wherever he went. Whether he loved to ramble or not. I cannot say, but he lived a roving life, per- haps because the Master had use for him in many places. He certainly had a mind to work. [Rev. Jas. H. Saye's MS. Hist. of Fairforest Church.]
Of the elders of this church belonging to this period whose names and history are perpetuated by the same writer, is John McDowell.
" He was a native of Ireland ; he came to Fairforest after ie had a family and served many years as a ruling elder. At the time of the writer's [Rev. Mr. Saye,s.] settlement at Fairforest, he was so prostrated by the infirmities of age, that
528
OTHER CHURCHES.
[1830-1840.
-
he was unable even to be at church. His intellect was still vigorous, and he delighted in religious conversation. He seemed to have relished religious ordinances greatly in past years, and to have studied the doctrines of religion closely, and was ready in the application of them to the practical duties of life. They were to him a perpetual feast in his last years. His death occurred probably in 1841. His worthy companion survived him a number of years. He had been clerk of the session for years, and had put down in the records many memoranda of the sermons preached from time to time, no doubt under the conviction that the public minis- trations of the sanctuary were the most important and inter- esting of ministerial functions," [MS. of Mr. Saye.]
There are some other churches in Bethel Presbytery which were Independent, and followers of W. C. Davis, which, after the Union, came back to the Presbytery, viz :
Carmel Hill, thirteen miles from Chester C. H., in the direction of Unionville. Vacant in 1877.
There is also Zion Church on one of the roads from Chester C. H., to near the county line. Vacant in 1877.
There is also a Hopewell Church, of which Isaac McFadden was ruling elder in 1835, and which was vacant in 1877.
There is also a Beth Shiloh, of the Dairsites in York, hav- ing 122 members in 1835, of which S. J. Feemster was pastor. The following Statement appended to the Minutes of the General Convention of the Independent Presbyterian Church, (the adherents of W. C. Davis,) held at Bullock's Creek Church, York District, South Carolina, August, 1835, will exhibit the strength of this body at the middle of this decade :
OF THE DIFFERENT CHURCHES AS REPORTED TO THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF 1835.
34
CHURCHES.
SITUATION.
DELEGATES NAMES.
Admitted.
Dismissed.
Adults Baptized.
Infants Baptized
Died.
Suspended.
Resigned.
Grand Total.
NAMES.
Bullock's Creek ...
York, S. C.
Win. Jameison, Wm.Giles ... F .. Parker, I. Hope
5
12
5
1
200 R. Y. Russell.
Salem
Union, S. C.
7
1
3
49 S. J. Feemster.
Olney.
Lincoln, N. C ... .. J. A. Robinson, A. B. Cox
7
13
3
11
2
132 S. J. Feemster.
Yorkville
York, S. C.
S. Melton, A. E. Crenshaw ..
5
1
Harmony
York, S. C.
W. C. Penick, A. S. Wallace ...
3
1
1
Tabor.
Union, S. C.
W. Gotte, J. Bailey ...
2
11
2
8
1
1
Hopewell
York, S. C.
George Davis
1
1
3
1
67 G. W. Davis.
Hephzibah
Lincoln, N. C.
S. Hagar, Wm. Cockrum.
8
4
5
72 G. W. Davis.
Beth Shiloh
York, S. C.
D. M'Callum, J. E. Davis ...
2
7
2
7
4
1
123 S. J. Feemster.
Salem
Lownds, Miss.
3
26
Chesterville
Chester, S. C.
A. Anderson, A. R. Nicholson
18 R. Y. Russell.
Mill Creek
York, S. C.
ames Mckenzie
16 S. J. Feemster.
33
32
17
73
9
11
2
992
--
.
..
90 G. W. Davis. 106 R. Y. Russell. 93 T. Mitchel.
STATEMENT.
529
-
)-1840.]
..
..
..
....
PASTOR'S
10
530
AVELEIGH CHURCH.
[1830-1840.
CHAPTER V.
AVELEIGH CHURCH (Newberry) .- The following correspon- dence will enable us to understand more clearly the circum- stances in which the organization of this church occurred :
EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER OF CHANCELLOR JOB JOHNSTON.
.
The following facts, with reference to the first movements toward the organization of a Presbyterian Church at Newberry, I have obtained from Chancellor Job Johnston. I simply make a quotation from a letter which I received from him on this subject : " My former wife in- formed me that there was formerly, as far back, perhaps, as 1822, a Pres- byterian Church organized in this village. I remember there was a meetingof Presbytery held about that time in the old Male Academy then tanght by the Rev. Joseph Y. Alexander, and that he received or- dination at its hands And I find by a memorial in my family Bible that he baptized my sen Silas, at my wife's request, on the 18th of January, 1822, at my house being the first baptism by that minister. Yet sostupid was I that I never for a moment suspected, until years afterwards, that there had ever been any Presbyterian organization at. Newberry. Mrs. Johnston, when she gave me the information, stated that her sister, Mrs. Harrington. and her sister in law. Mrs. Dr. Johnston, had all been mem- bers, and that Mr Thomas Boyd, of Bnsh River, had been an elder. All that I had noticed was, that there was very regular preaching in the Court- house while Mr. Alexander taught our school, and that there was less of shooting and kite flying in the streets on Sabbath than formerly. Cn the removal of that excellent man, Mr. Alexander, to Georgia, I suppose the church fell through, for on the 15th of July, 1832, I find that my wife had three of our children baptized at Heads; ring (Sereder) Church by the late Samuel P. Pressley, subsequently a Professor in Athens College, Georgia, but at that time pastor of Cannon Creek, Prosperity, Indian Creek and Head Spring Churches By the three children being bap- tized at the same time, I suppose that was the day she Leiself joined Mr. Pressley's church. In 1833 or'34 Mr. Pressley went to Ceergia, by which his churches were for a time left vacant. He was a very liberal man, and under his administration his churches relaxed the rigor of close communion. All the Presbyterians in the neighborhood united as members with him, and in the course of the few years he was min- ister here, his churches had more than doubled the number of their communicants. On the 14th of September 1834, I united with the church at Cannon Creek, at a commmion administered by the Rev. Mr. Boyce, of Fairfield, acting as a temporary supply. I stated at the time that on the first convenient opportunity I should nnite with the Presbyterian Church, and that I should exercise the privilege of open communion. I united on this condition. expressed at the time, for after Mr. Pressley's removal, neither I nor the other Presbyterians in his late churches were pleased with the rigor we anticipated in them.
On the $0th of November 1834, Mr. Pressley. on a farewell visit to his churches, administered the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at Head Spring. I remember that there was an eclipse of the sun during the communion. Mr. P. spent a night at my house during the meeting.
.
531
AVELEIGH CHURCH.
30-1840.]
e was then about to transfer his connection to the Presbyterian Durch, and we had a conversation about the prospects of a Presby- rian Church here. On Monday, after the communion at Head spring, ing December Ist. 1834 and sale-day, I drew a subscription paper for e building of the church, subsequently called "Aveleish." The neces- ry amount was soon subscribed. Mr Robert Boyce conveyed five res of land as a lot for the church to be built on, at Hunt's Cross- bads, one mile and a half from the village of Newberry. On the ad- re of those interested, I wrote to Dr. Moses Waddell, Rev. S. B. wers and Rev. John Kennedy, of the South Carolina Presbytery, and Rev. Robert B. Campbell, of Harmony Presbytery, to preach for us they could, and, also, to Mr. Gladney, then of Columbia, a licentiate. hey all generously aided us."
AVELEIGH CHURCH .- From the Session Book of the veleigh Church I take the following extract, relating to the ganization of that church : " A number of citizens of New- rry District, S. C., living at a considerable distance from y Presbyterian Church, feeling it our duty to associate our- Ives together as a religious society, that we might thereby the better able to procure instruction for the purpose of proving ourselves in the knowledge and practice of our ity to God and man, and under these circumstances consid- ing it our duty to call on some ministers of the gospel to sist us in forming and organizing a congregation, we, for at purpose extended an invitation to the Rev. Moses Wad- ll and the Rev. S. B. Lewers, who attended on the 30th May, 1835, when a congregation was organized and en- red into this congregational covenant, viz : Believing that e true God is justly entitled to the reverential and social orship of all his intelligent creatures and that their social mage is conducive in the highest degree both to the esent comfort and future happiness of mankind, we the un- rsigned inhabitants of Newberry District, S. C., residing ar the Courthouse, have felt a strong desire to associate id unite ourselves together in the capacity and relation of a ligious society for the purpose of improving ourselves in e knowledge and practice of our duty to God and man and exciting ourselves to love and to good works, and believ- or that the doctrine and discipline approved and adopted by e General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the hited States of America, as set forth in their confession of th, conforms most nearly to the system of faith and order ught in the gospel, we profess our desire and design to unite th and place ourselves under the pastoral care and direction
532
AVELEIGH CHURCH.
[1830-1840.
of that ecclesiastical body so long as they adhere to that confession.
In testimony of which we have voluntarily attached our names to the above, this 30th day of May, 1835.
Then follows a list of the names of those who signed the congregational covenant, thirty-two in number, and on the day following four others were added on examination. Those who signed the covenant on May 30th, (Saturday) proceeded to give their votes for the election of ruling elders, which re- sulted in the choice of Isaac Keller and Alexander Chambers, who were ordained to this office on the day following.
The church was occasionally supplied with preaching by Rev. Moses Waddell, D. D., Rev. Isaac Waddell and Rev. S. B. Lewers, until the meeting of the Presbytery of South Carolina in March 1836, when application was made by the church for supplies from Presbytery. This application was repeated at each meeting and supplies ordered by Presbytery till the spring of 1837. Presbytery generally appointed two or three ministers to attend the church at the same time and hold a meeting of three or four days.
As these appointments did not take place more than two or three times in a year, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered at every meeting, and few such meetings passed without additions of more or less communicants to the church.
(A record made in the Session Book of a meeting held by order of Presbytery in November, 1836, mentions the name of Mr. R. C. Ketchum, of Harmony Presbytery, as being present. And the next record is of a meeting in August, 1837, where Mr. Ketchum is spoken of as pastor of the church, (this must be incorrect.)
At a meeting, including the seventh Sabbath in January, 1838, Rev. R. Colden Ketchum was ordained and installed pastor of the Aveleigh Church. Rev. Isaac Waddell preached the sermon and Rev. S. B. Lewers delivered the charges to the pastor and people. At that time the commu- nicants of the Church numbered 44.
On the second Sabbath of March, 1839, two more ruling elders (John Johnson and G. W. Glenn) were ordained. In the fall of 1837 the pastoral relation between this church and Mr. Ketchum was dissolved. The church seems to have prospered during his charge of it. It numbered fifty-five
.
533
-
30-1840.]
SMYRNA-GILDER'S CREEK.
embers when he left, and had he continued, the common pression is that the church would have continued to flour- . But his departure marks the commencement of a de- ne. As in some of our churches, we see that great blessings .ve resulted from a permanent ministry, so in this we e the disastrous consequences resulting from the want it
When the blessing of God attends the labors of a minister any place and the people are anxious for him to continue th them (as was the case here) he certainly should weigh e matter well before he suffers private interest or personal elings to remove him to another place. Another cause, however, which contributed to weaken this church at this ne was the organization of the Smyrna Church, about six Id a half miles distant, which was at first composed mostly members from the Aveleigh Church, who found it more onvenient to attend at that place and so transferred their embership. Though the Aveleigh Church was weakened, et, upon the whole, the cause of Presbyterianism was ad- inced by the transfer and organization of the new church.
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