USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 2
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393
REV. DAVID HUMPHREYS.
20-1830.]
milies and thirty or forty members. He had a young family d no resources. He purchased a small farm with the hope at he could make a support upon it, while his small salary ould go to pay for it, but to his great mortification, the lary was irregularly and but partially paid, and he was re- iced to the necessity of borrowing money at fourteen per nt. interest to pay for his lands, and in order to pay the bor- wed funds, he was driven to the necessity of teaching school, nich he said was a " herculean task for him, as all his ser- ons had to be written out in full and committed to me- ory." He kept up this practice of committing to memory r nearly twenty years, when he gradually adopted the habit using short notes or preaching extempore. He taught hool with some intervals, for several years and never con- acted a debt without some good prospect of paying it. He d but a small library which needed a few additional volumes ar by year, and a rising family, which increased his ex- nses. It was then a rare thing for a present of any kind to made to the pastor. If any article of food or ciothing was tained from any of the church members, the amount was ducted from the subscription, and if it exceeded the sub- ription, the balance was paid back or credited to the next tar. There were no deacons in these churches and no sys- matic plan adopted tor the collection of the small amount bscribed. Some paid a part in provisions and the balance mained unpaid ; others paid if they happened to think of it, hile the amount promised by those who removed from the bunds was never made up. The consequence was in a few ars that they were in arrears to the amount of about $1000. hus writes the Rev. John McLees, himself reared in the idst of these congregations. It is a sad story of violated ws, of broken promises, of the life of the ministry crushed it by a narrowness of spirit and a want of commercial integ- ty which one could not expect in that region of country hose people have prided themselves on generosity and no- eness of spirit. The story is written not by an enemy but a friend, not by a stranger to this people, but by one of emselves, and one who wishes them well.
The ruling elders in Roberts church in 1820 were Capt. avid Sadler, first a member and a ruling elder in the hurch of Bethesda, York. He removed into the bounds of oberts Church a short time before 1820. He was soon
-
394
ROBERTS CHURCH.
[[820-1830.
elected an elder here. He was a gallant soldier under Gen. Sumter. He became a convert in those remarkable revivals which took place in 1800 and thereafter. He was a man of eminent piety and usefulness. His four sons and six daughters became worthy members of the church. Two of his sons were elders in Good Hope and one a deacon. Two of his daughters married elders, and one a minister in the Presby- terian Church. From these a numerous family has descended in the third and fourth generation. Six or eight of his grandsons fell in battle or died in the army in our recent contest.
James McCarley was a Ruling Elder in 1820. He was of Presbyterian ancestors. His brother was an elder at Good Hope, where two of his sisters and another brother were members. He married Miss Elizabeth Wilson, a very pious lady. They had four sons and two daughters. They all united with the church except two of the sons who removed to Mississippi. His eldest son, a young man of fine intellect, commenced a course of study for the ministry, but not being fully persuaded of his call. abandoned these studies. One son and one daughter are still (October 1869) members of the Church.
David Simpson, the youngest son of Rev. John Simpson, was one of the elders in 1820. Of sterling worth and gen- uine piety, modest and unassuming, he was ever ready to aid the Church by his prayers and contributions. He married the second daughter of Capt. Sadler. They have had five sons and three daughters, all of whom except one son are, at this writing, members of the Church.
Deacons at Roberts Church .- For many years this church had no deacons. When it was felt to be necessary to the complete organization of the church to have deacons, Dr. J. M. Lockhart and Alexander McClinton were appointed and ordained.
Church Buildings .- At Roberts the first house of worship was of hewn logs, about 32 by 24 feet in dimensions. Shortly before the year 1820 a neat frame building was erected, about 44 feet in length by 32 in breadth. After some twenty years it was ceiled and reseated and made quite comfortable.
Ruling Elders in Good Hope .- In 1820 Mr. William Ander- son, formerly of Roberts Church, acted as elder here. Mr. Beaty, a relative of the one before named, was also long an
395
820-1830.] GOOD HOPE-PROVIDENCE.
fficial elder here. He had two sons and two daughters. The Idest son and the two daughters became members of the Church. Most of the children of that son were united with he Church. Two of his sons fell in the service of their coun- ry, the one a lieutenant and the other a private.
Andrew Young was one of the original set of elders, a nan of prayer, exemplary in his habits, and of great equa- limity of temper. He died in a good old age in 1831, and is descendants have removed beyond our bounds. [Written n 1867.]
Mr. Leonard Simpson, the eldest son of Rev. John Simp- on, was an active elder in the church when Mr. Humphries, n 1820, took charge of it. He was well acquainted with our loctrines and ecclesiastical order. He married a daughter of Col. Moffett. The family removed to DeKalb County, Geor- gia, and contributed much towards building up a church in hat part of the country. He died in Marietta, where some of his family resided when driven away as refugees a short ime since by the Federal army. Two of his grandchildren tre members of Roberts Church.
Church Edifice at Good Hope .- The first house of worship vas about two miles west of the present site. It was agreed o erect a new house more in the centre of the congregation. A large house of hewn logs was put up at the present loca- ion. It was perhaps about 48 by 35 feet in dimensions. It was weather-boarded and covered anew about some five or six years after the close of this decade. [MS. History by Rev. Mr. Humphries, October 1867.] The statistical tables give for Good Hope a membership of 56 in 1825, 1826; of 91 in 1828. 42 having been added in the preceding twelve months, unless this 42 represents the additions of two years, of 80 in 1829. They give for Roberts a membership of 45 in 1825. 49 in 1826, 60 in 1828, 19 being added in the pre- ceding twelve months, of 75 in 1829.
PROVIDENCE CHURCH is literally a branch of Rocky River Church, and originated in this wise. During the time that Rev. James Gamble was pastor of Rocky River, Presbytery ordered each minister to perform such missionary labor between that and the next meeting of Presbytery in any field that their labors would promise to be most useful. In compliance with this order Mr. Gamble commenced preach- ing in this distant part of his congregation in private houses,
396
NEW HARMONY CHURCH.
[1820-1830.
and the numbers attending on these occasions were such that a school-house being built in the vicinity was made larger for the purpose, in which he preached every fifth Sabbath for a time. When the school-house could not contain the congre- gation an arbor was built, at which place he continued to preach one-fourth of his time until his removal to Georgia in 1826.
After this a meeting house was built and one-fourth of the. labors of Rev. David Humphries was procured and continued . up to, and for some years after, the reception of the church . by Presbytery at their October session in 1828. [See Min- utes, Vol. 2, p. 179.]
At the time Providence Church was received under the care of Presbytery it had as its elders Col. Win. H. Caldwell, Robert Cosby and John Speer, Esqs., and about 60 white members.
In 1829 James H. Baskin was elected an elder, and at the close of that year there were 94 white and 27 colored mem- bers. In all, 121 members. Thus was commenced by mnis- sionary labors set on foot by Presbytery and by the zeal and faithfulness of the pastor, a church which continued afterwards to bear fruit to the glory of God. [MS. of J. H. Baskin, clerk of session, November 15, 1853.]
NEW HARMONY CHURCH may properly be said to be another branch of old Rocky River Church. It was taken under the care of Presbytery, March 27, 1830 [Minutes, Vol. 2, p. 4], and had part of its ministerial labors of the licentiates, Wm. Carlisle and Wm. H. Harris, up to the time of their union with Providence Church at Lowndesville, where a good frame church was erected, and they chose that it should bear the name of Providence. [Ibid.]
The following occurs on p. 179 of the second Vol. of the Minutes of the Presbytery of South Carolina :
" William H. Caldwell, elder, petitioned in behalf of a neighborhood lying between Rocky River and Good Hope Churches, that they should be recognized as a church and taken under the care of Presbytery, and that they be known by the name of PROVIDENCE CHURCH. Whereupon it was resolved that the prayer of the petition be granted, and that the elders, Josiah Patterson, Andrew Giles and Hugh McLinn, be representatives in behalf of Rocky River congregation, to meet the elders, Wm. Caldwell, John Spear and Robt. Cosby,
397
820-1830.] HOPEWELL (KEOWEE.)
n behalf of Providence congregation, to determine on a boundary line between the said congregations."
HOPEWELL (Keowee), popularly known as " The Stone Church." At the close of the preceding decade, we found his church and Carmel under the pastoral charge of the Rey. ames Hillhouse. They are united as if one joint charge in he statistical tables of 1825. Yet the pastoral relation with Mr. Hillhouse was terminated by act of Presbytery, October th, 1822, and the church petitions for supplies, and the licen- iates are directed to supply this and certain other churches. About that time, on the 6th of October, 1825, the Presbytery of South Carolina met at this church. On the 8th of March, 827, Hopewell and Carmel Churches both petition for sup- lies, and supplies were granted. The Rev. Aaron Foster, in 828 and onward, alternated between this church and Willing- on. He was a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of Andover Dartmouth College and Seminary. Other informa- ion respecting this church we do not have. Hopewell Keowee) and Carmel are represented as having a membership as united in 1825, of 115 members; Hopewell in 1826 and 1828 as having 59 members, and in 1829 as having the same. Pendleton Village .- Preaching seems to have been trans- erred to this village within this period.
CARMEL CHURCH .- We have seen that this church was under the pastoral supervision of Rev. James Hillhouse until October 1822. At that time Mr. Hillhouse was dismissed from the Presbytery of South Carolina to the Presbytery of Alabama. The Rev. Anthony W. Ross, formerly of Harmony Presbytery, was their next minister, probably, at first, as a stated supply. He did not become a member of the Presby- tery of South Carolina till the 8th of October, 1824. He continued to supply this church, and, by mutual agreement, that at Pendleton Village.
The Rev. Dr. Nall, in his account of " The Dead of the Synod of Alabama," says that the Rev. James Hillhouse settled in Greensborough, Ala., and was received by the Presbytery of Alabama on the IIth of September, 1823, and that, as an effective preacher, he has never been surpassed in that Synod. His command of language was remarkable, and his feelings easily excited. He was not a student, but no man was more abundant in labors. It was the joy of his heart to spend and be spent for Christ. His appeals to the church and the world
398
BETHLEHEM, CANE CREEK AND BETHEL. [1820-1830.
were truly powerful. To recount his labors, says his Presby- tery, would require volumes. He died at Greensboro', Ala., November 17, 1835.
BETHLEHEM, CANE CREEK and BETHEL .- We have no means of speaking definitely of these churches. April 6, 1822, Mr. DuPree was directed to supply at Bethel Church as frequently as circumstances would admit, and Mr. Humphries to admin- ister at that place the Lord's Supper in the course of the summer. It is on the list of vacant churches in 1825, 1826, and 1828. Cane Creek is represented as vacant in 1825, with twenty members ; as vacant in 1826, with twenty-five mem- bers; as having a stated supply in 1829. We do not meet with Bethlehem, but with Bethsalem, vacant in 1825, with twenty members ; in 1826, with a pastor and having twenty members.
These were churches which were founded by Rev. Andrew Brown. The Presbytery had sent him, in 1819, into the territory of Alabama on a three months' mission, and his name disappears on the minutes of Presbytery after 1820. It was in that year that he settled in Alabama and organized the Bethel Church (Tuscaloosa). He died after an illness of five days, near Marion, on the 8th of October, 1823, only four days after the adjournment of the Presbytery of Alabama. He died at the house of Jonathan Penroy, a worthy member of the Baptist Church, and was buried in the graveyard at Marion, where the Presbytery had held its sessions. A pious mother in Israel, a Mrs. Munford, erected a monument over his grave. Besides founding the church at Tuscaloosa, as- sisted by the Rev. Francis H Porter, he organized the New Hope Church, in Green County, and in 1822, the Lebanon Church, in Tuscaloosa County, in that State.
WESTMINSTER and MOUNT ZION .- On the 4th of October, 1823, " some of the inhabitants of two neighborhoods in the upper part of Pendleton District, the one on Couneros' and the other on Cane Creek, having put themselves in the form of associations for public worship, requested to be received by Presbytery as congregations under their care, the first to be known as Westminster, the other by the name of Mount Zion. The request was granted." (Minutes, p. 109.) They called for their pastor Mr. Benjamin P. DuPrè, a licentiate of the Presbytery. The call was accepted, and at an intermediate Presbytery at Mount Zion Church, on May 22, 1824, he was
399
820-1830.] NAZARETH (B. D.)-AUGUSTA-MACON.
rdained and installed as pastor of the two churches, Michael Dickson presiding, and Joseph Hillhouse preaching the or- ination sermon. These churches may possibly have super- eded those founded by Andrew Brown, which we have hentioned before. Westminster and Mount Zion are repre- ented in the minutes of the General Assembly in 1829 as the harge of Rev. Benjamin D. DuPrè, Westminster as having hirty-two, and Mount Zion thirty members.
NAZARETH (Beaver Dam) .- This church is represented as acant through this period, and there are no materials out of which to construct its history. It was still dependent on such upplies as could be obtained. The names of Andrew Brown, ames Hillhouse, David Humphries, and David Haslet are ecollected as being among those who from time to time sup- lied its pulpit.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (in Augusta, Georgia). On the 6th of February, 1820, a call was presented to the Rev. Mr. Moderwel, which he accepted, and entered imme- liately upon the duties of the pastoral office. Mr. Moderwel vas installed by the Presbytery of Hopewell, at their regular essions in November, 1821.
On the 16th of July, 1826, Rev. Mr. Moderwel resigned the bastoral charge of the congregation, which resignation was iccepted and his connection with them dissolved by Presby- ery in the following August.
During the interval between the death of Dr. Thompson ind the settlement .of Mr. Moderwel, nineteen persons were added to the membership of the church. During the six years of his connection with the church, ninety-three were added.
After the resignation of Mr. Moderwel, the pulpit of the church was supplied by Rev. S. K. Talmage and Rev. S. S. Davis jointly, for one year.
In November, 1828, a call was presented to Rev. S. K. Tal- mage to become the pastor of the church, which he accepted, and was installed by Hopewell Presbytery on the 28th of that month.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (Macon, Georgia) .- Near the close of 1805 the military post called Fort Hawkins was established by the United States Government on the eastern side of the Ocmulgee. Around this a village began to gather, perhaps as early as from 1815 to 1817, forming the nucleus of what is
400
MACON.
[1820-1830.
now East Macon. In May, 1821, the Legislature set apart a tract of land on this (western) side of the river, on which to establish a town, to be the county seat of Bibb County, and to be called Macon, in honor of General Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina. Only a single log cabin then marked its site. In December, 1822, commissioners were appointed to lay off the town and offer the lots at public sale. This they did, and the sale took place March 6th and 7th, 1823.
The town seems to have commenced its corporate existence in 1826, when Mr. Edward D. Tracy was chosen its first In- tendant. The second, Mr. Washington Poe, was chosen in 1827. Both these gentlemen afterwards became members and office bearers in the Presbyterian Church, and the latter still lives a venerated, beloved ruling elder, and one of our most honored citizens. The town received its charter as a city in 1832, and in 1833 chose as its first Mayor, Mr. Isaac G. Sey- mour. Its population on both sides of the river in 1826 could not have been more than 1,500 or 2,000, since the census of 1840 puts it at only 3,927 at that time.
As population gathered here, members of the Presbyterian churches from other places were found to compose a portion of it, and' Mr. Joseph C. Stiles, afterwards the widely cele- brated Dr. Stiles, then a licentiate and acting as an evangelist through this region, frequently preached at Macon for some time previous to 1826. The way being at length open, a church was organized June 18th, 1826, by Mr. Benjamin Gilder- sleeve, under the authority of Hopewell Presbytery of the then Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. Mr. Stiles, being not then ordained, was not competent to the duty of organizing a church, but was present on the occasion.
The organization took place in the Courthouse, a small building of wood standing on the corner of Mulberry and Third Streets, below the present Lanier House. The Academy was thereafter used, however, as the place for stated services for several years. It was a small wooden structure, after- wards destroyed by fire, standing on the site of the "Free Academy " lot, now occupied by the brick building already falling to decay.
Twenty-four persons received by letter and one by profes- sion of faith constituted the original membership of twenty- five. The organization was rather that of a worshipping congregation than a church, the first ruling elders not being
401
MISSIONS.
20-1830.]
rdained until over a year, and the first deacon over twelve fears afterwards.
Mr. Stiles continued to be the only supply of the pulpit making this one of the many points at which he preached) ntil the middle of November, 1827, a period of about ighteen months, during which the accessions were thirty- ight, and Samuel B. Hunter and Matthew Robertson became uling elders.
Rev. James C Patterson succeeded Mr. Stiles, his term of ervice extending from the beginning of 1828 to the close of 830, a period of three years, but much interrupted by his Iness. The accessions under his ministry were thirty-three, nd Washington Poe and Nathaniel Parker became ruling Iders. The former still holds the office, having exercised s functions for forty-seven years, and held his membership h the church for more than forty-eight. Only one, Mrs. Elizabeth Sims, is his senior in membership, she having bined the church July 8, 1827, forty-nine years ago.
The first church building was erected during Mr. Patter- on's ministry (1829 or 1830), a wooden building on Fourth treet, on the lot now occupied by Messrs. Adams & Baze- nore's warehouse. Removed and enlarged, it is now the Second Baptist Church.
The period over which we have now passed has exhibited great activity in the diffusion of religious truth. Efforts o this end began early in this century, were continued through this decade, and which, at the risk of some repetition, ve will now proceed to detail. The Congregational As- sociation of South Carolina set on foot a Congregational Missionary Society, " learning that there are many indigent and ignorant families in the State, and some considerable districts entirely destitute of the gospel," as carly as May, 1801. To this organization the members of that church and others were invited to contribute. The Young Men's Mis- sionary Society of South Carolina was organized January 27, 1820, Thomas Fleming, of Charleston, President, was espe- cially active during the years over which we have now passed. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia which had been formed in the preceding decade went into active operation in this. Of the organization of this Society the Rev. William H. Barr, D. D., was President, we have written on preceding pages.
26
402
MISSIONS.
[ 1820-1830.
There was also the Female Domestic Missionary Society of Charleston, organized June 28, 1818, which was actively employed in city missions.
Speaking of these not exactly in the order in which they have been mentioned, we find Alfred Wright the first mis- sionary of the Society last named. He was a native of Con- necticut, a graduate of Williams College in 1812, and of Andover Seminary in 1816, had taught in North Carolina and went eventually as a missionary to the Choctaws. Aaron Warner, of Massachusetts, a graduate of Willian.s College in 1815, and of Andover in 1319, was the next missionary. A place of preaching was provided for the mission; the city was divided into districts and committees of invitation aided the missionary in his labors. Mr. Warner was afterwards Profes- sor of Sacred Rhetoric in the Theological Seminary at Gilman- ton. N. H., from 1838 to 1843, then Professor of Rhetoric at Amherst College and honored with the title of D. D. In the same year the Rev. Joseph Brown was their missionary, beginning in May. 1822, but instead of devoting his labors to general missionary efforts through the city, he directed his attention to the seamen, preaching at the Mariner's Church and laboring elsewhere during the week. The Marine Bible Society supplied copies of the Scriptures. The Bethel Union lent its aid, and in the month of January, 1823, the Charleston Port Society. Preaching to the seamen had been held in a sail loft from year to year. In 1852 a church which had belonged to the Baptists was purchased and appropriated to them, and Mr. Brown passed from the service of the Female Missionary Society in that year to that of the Charleston Port Society, in which he continued. In parting with the ladies he recommends to them the establishment of a Mis- sionary Chapel in some central spot, and the employment of a permanent missionary. He also directs the attention of the Society to the adoption of a judicious measure for the re- covery of those fallen individuals of their own sex who had been led astray and to whom there seemed no way of escape. (Report, 1822, 1823.) But an earlier missionary of this Society was the Rev. Jonas King, who had labored from November, 1819, to May, 1820. He, too, had preached to the seamen, had visited the Sabbath-schools, had found his way into families of the Jews, had attended at the Orphan House, Alms House and Marine Hospital. " The formation of this
403
320-1830.]
MISSION TO THE SEAMEN.
ociety," says he in his report of May, 1820, " I hail as the ppearance of a star over this city like that at Bethlehem." lev. Jonas King had been ordained by the Congregational Association on the 17th of December, 1819, with the special iew of laboring in Charleston among the seamen, and at the ame time the Rev. Alfred Wright was ordained with a view f joining the missionary establishment at Elliott, under the uperintendence of Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury.
The Joseph Brown, before mentioned, first served as a missionary of the Young Men's Missionary Society, com- hencing in December, 1820, visiting Stoney Creek and Beau- ort first, and speaks of a Presbyterian Church as existing here, and then, after his ordination, on the 3d of January, 821, he preached in Edgefield District, at Beech Island, at he Courthouse, at Red Bank and elsewhere. Rev. Mr. Brown was graduated at Middlebury College in 1817, at Ando- er in 1820, was preacher to the seamen in Charleston till 829, when he removed to New York and labored in the eaman's cause till his death, on the 16th of September, 1833. t the age of 46. Alfred Wright married Harriet Bunce, is ister of Mrs. Palmer, the wife of Dr. B. M. Palmer, first of hat name, of Charleston, and died at Wheelock, Ark., March I, 1853. The Jonas King, before mentioned, was the cele- rated Jonas King, D. D., Missionary at Jerusalem from 819, 1825, Professor of Oriental Literature at Amherst Col- ege from 1822, 1828, Missionary at Athens, Greece, where he died on the 22d of May, 1869, aged 76.
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