USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 3
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The services for seamen were first conducted by Rev. Jonas King in Mr. Cleapor's sail loft on Lothrop's (now Accommo- lation) wharf, and afterwards in the more spacious one of Mr. McNellage, on Duncan's (now South Atlantic) wharf, but in December, 1820, at a meeting of citizens which was called by the Marine Bible Society to consult on the propriety ot erecting a Marine Church, some $3,000 were soon subscribed or the object, but instead of erecting a new edifice, a church which had been occupied by the Baptists was purchased and he titles were vested in the Charleston Port Socicty, which :xpended about $3,000 more in enlarging and improving the building. This society was organized on the 23d of Decem- er. 1822, Thos. Napier being the first President and Jasper Corning the first Secretary. The opening sermon was preached y Rev. B. M. Palmer, D. D., pastor of the Circular Church.
404
MISSIONS.
[ 1820-1830.
The flag first hoisted on it bore the inscription "Mariner's Church," but the word "Bethel," was afterwards its legend. The pulpit was supplied by the different pastors of the city until February 12th, 1823, when Rev. Joseph Brown was settled in the pastorate. In 1822 the Bethel Union was formed to hold prayers on board vessels in port, or in the boarding houses where seamen. resort and to provide for them such orderly houses as they ought to occupy as their homes while on shore. This Society was eventually merged in " The Port Society," which obtained its charter of incorporation in 1823. In 1826 the Ladies' Seaman's Friend Society was formed in conjunction with the Bethel Union, to provide a temperance boarding house for seamen.
THE YOUNG MEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY of South Carolina appears to have been a Union Society, in which, however, the Presbyterian element largely predominated. We have not been able to lay our hands on its successive reports. It ap- pears to have been organized January 27, 1820, Edward Palmer, then resident in Charleston, being President of the same. In 1821 Thos. Fleming, and in 1822 Thos. Napier, was President. An efficient missionary that year was Daniel B. Johnson a graduate of the College of New Jersey, and of Princeton Seminary, and who labored for two years in South Carolina. In 1822 he visited Chester, Purity, Yorkville, Beersheba, King's Creek, Long Creek, Olney, Beckhamville, Beaver Creek, Sumterville, Concord, Providence and Unity, in North Carolina, and Salem (B. R.). Rev. Joseph Brown was their first missionary. He had been selected for this service by Rev. Dr. Porter, of Andover. He was called to the service of this Society on the 3d of December, 1820. He performed a brief preliminary labor in Beaufort and its vicinity, and Stony Creek. He received his instructions to labor in Newberry and Edgefield Districts, and at Beech Island, January 3, 1821. He reports four churches at Beau- fort-two for Baptists, one for Episcopalians, and one for Presbyterians. At Stony Creek, about fifteen communicants and a fund of $8,000. In Edgefield District, twenty-one Bap- tist churches and six preachers, twelve Methodist houses of worship, one local preacher and two circuit riders. He speaks of Red Bank and the Blocker settlement, and of the academies at those places. Mr. Brown served the Society six months in the following year, three of which were under the direction
405
MISSIONS.
1820-1830.]
of the Missionary Society of Walterboro'. He had been licensed by the Andover Association, and was ordained by the Congregational Association of South Carolina on the 3d of January, 1821.
There were various others who came into the bounds of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, and served as mis- sionaries temporarily or became permanently settled within its bounds. Some were called by our local societies or sent by the Home Missionary Society, at New York, and remained with us.
Where the Synod of South Carolina was constituted, it felt more deeply than ever the responsibility that rested upon it in reference to the regions beyond, and none more deeply felt it than the Presbytery of South Carolina. Rev. T. C Stuart was one of the missionaries it sent out to Alabama in 1819. Others followed, of different Presbyteries, who settled down in that State, and were set off from their several Pres. byteries and ordered to constitute as a Presbytery at Cahawba on the first Thursday in March, 1821, and " The Presbytery of Alabama " was thus constituted, in obedience to this order of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. A deep sym- pathy, too, for the Indian tribes in what was construed to be the territorial limits of the Synod, and a desire for their sal- vation was one of the chief motives for forming the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Synod, and in the spring of 1820 the Board of Managers appointed the Rev. Daniel Humphreys and the Rev. Thomas C. Stuart to visit the Creek Nation and the Chickasaws, to obtain the requisite information and make the necessary arrangements for mis- sions among them.
They first made their way to the Creek Nation to lay the object of the Synod before them. They were obliged to com- municate with their large Council through an interpreter. The Council expressed a desire to have schools among them and to have their children taught. But they expressed, also, fear that there was something behind which they did not un- derstand. It might be to obtain a foothold and thus make efforts to get possession of their lands. They rejected the offer, and assigned this as the reason. These brethren then pursued their way to the Chickasaws, in Mississippi, preach- ing in the various settlements as they went to large and attentive congregations, till they reached the Chickasaws,
406
MISSIONS-CHICKASAWS.
[1820-1830.
whose country extended from the Tombigbee on the east to the Mississippi on the west, a distance of one hundred miles, and from Tennessee on the north to the Choctaw line on the south, which is about the same distance. They found them a friendly and hospitable people, open in their manners and free from timidity in the presence of whites. They held a council with them on the 22d of June. They acceded at once to the proposal of the commission, and granted everything they desired, yet required of them an obligation in writing that they should not seize upon their land and make it private property. This obligation was drawn up in form, consisting of several articles, and signed by the king and representatives of the Chickasaws, and by our commissioners, David Hum- phreys and Thomas C. Stuart, June 22d, 1820.
We find the following statement in respect to the subse- quent history of this mission.
" The mission among the Chickasaw Indians was com- menced by the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia in 1821. The number of the tribe was six or seven thousand. On the 17th of December, 1827, the mission was transferred to the American Board. The principal reasons for this measure were, that the establishment among the Chickasaws might be more closely united with similar establishments among the Cherokees and Choctaws, that the Board could supply the wants of the missionaries with certainty and regularity, and at much less expense than the Synod, &c. The number of stations at the time of the transfer was four :
MONROE, near the thirty fourth parallel of latitude, about forty-five miles northwest of Mayhew, and twenty-five west of Cotton Gin Port, on the Tombigbee. Rev. Thomas C. Stuart, missionary and superintendent of the mission ; Mrs. Stuart, Mr. Samuel C. Pearson, farmer, Mrs. Pearson. The number of schools were four, and of scholars, eighty-one. The farm consisted of nearly one hundred acres, brought under culti- vation. The property was valued at $3,870. The church was formed in June, 1823, and then consisted only of mem- bers of the mission family and one colored woman. The next year four were added; in 1825, five ; in 1826, six ; in 1827, twenty-six ; in 1828, about seventeen-making fifty- nine in all. Of these, only eight were native Chickasaws.
TOKSISH .- This station is about two miles from Monroe, and was formed in 1825. Mr. James Holmes, licensed
407
INDIAN MISSIONS.
820-1830.]
reacher, Mrs. Holmes, Miss Emeline H. Richland, teacher ; cholars, fifteen. The religious concerns of this station are losely connected with that at Monroe, there being but one church.
MARTYN, situated about sixty miles northwest of Monroe, ind forty southeast of Memphis, on the Mississippi. Rev. William C. Blair ; missionary, Mrs. Blair. By a treaty formed vith the Government of the United States some years since, t was stipulated that $4,500 should be paid by the United States for establishing two schools, and $2.500 annually for he support of them. Of this latter sum, three-sevenths were given to the school at Martyn, and four-sevenths to that of Caney Creek. The school at Martyn consisted of four or ive pupils.
CANEY CREEK is about ninety miles east of Martyn, three miles south of the Tennessee River, and eight miles south- west of Tuscumbia. Rev. Hugh Wilson, missionary, Mrs. Wilson, Miss Prudence Wilson."-Origin and History of Mis- ions.
We learn from the Society's report of January, 1823, that he station established by Mr. Stuart was called Munroe, in honor of the then Chief Magistrate of the United States ; that n the month of April, 1822, Mr. Stuart was joined by Messrs. Hamilton V. Turner and James Wilson, the former a me- ;hanic, and the latter a farmer and teacher, with their wives ; hat in the month of October, Rev. Hugh Wilson, with his wife and sister, left North Carolina to join them, and on the 15th of December the Rev. Wm. C. Blair left Columbia for he same place. The buildings erected were four dwelling. houses, at $175 each, $700; dining-room and kitchen. $450; horse mill, $650; school-house, $231 ; five cabins for children, $250; lumber-house and smoke-house, $80; stable, smith's shop and corn crib, $100. In all, $2,461.
This Society also conducted Domestic Missions. The Rev. Benj. D. Dupree was employed by this Society previous to January, 1822, for several months, chiefly in Pendleton Dis- rict ; Rev. Horace Belknap, at Beaver Creek ; Rev. Francis McFarland, in McIntosh County and Burke County, Ga., and Rev. Orson Douglas, in Jackson County, Ga.
At the second session of the Presbytery of South Alabama, November 9, 1821, it was
408
THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST.
[1820-1830.
Resolved by that body, " That the Rev. Messrs. Andrew Brown and James L. Sloss be, and they are hereby, appointed a committee to draft and transmit a letter to the Missionary Society of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, petition- ing that they would send two or more ministers of experience and talents to congregate and minister unto churches within our bounds."
" Resolved further, That said committee be, and it is hereby, authorized to promise that the members of this Presbytery will use all diligence to acquire contributions for the support of said missionaries."
Mr. Isaac Hadden, who had been licensed by the Presby- tery of South Carolina, October 5, 1822, was induced to go out by these calls, and commenced the missionary work in that State in 1823. He was ordained as evangelist at Mont- gomery, March 24, 1825, and though beginning his ministry under abundant discouragements, labored in it successfully for twenty-five years;" was widely known through the churches ; was a man of great prudence, of mature Christian character, and as a minister of Christ, efficient and successful." [Minutes of Synod of Alabama, October 27, 1849 ]
The Society continued in existence no longer than till the close of 1827. On the 14th of December of that year the Synod expresses its approbation of the discontinuance of this Society, of the transfer of its Indian Mission to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and of its Domestic Missionary operations to the several Domestic Mis- sionary Societies within its bounds. [MS. Minutes of Synod, Vol. I; p. 180 ]
The Synod of South Carolina and Georgia still had their attention directed to the extension of the institutions of the gospel in the South and Southwestern States. The Presby- terian population of the upper Carolinas had overflowed into upper Georgia, into Alabama, and the more distant South- west. The affections of the mother churches followed their daughters, and the ministry, to no small extent, followed the migrations of the people. At the meeting of the Synod at Upper Long Cane, in the District of Abbeville, in November, 1820, an overture was introduced on the roth of that month by the Committee of Bills and Overtures, as follows : "Over- ture Ist. That the Rev. Andrew Brown and James L. Sloss,
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THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST.
1820-1830.]
of the Presbytery of South Carolina ; the Rev. Thomas New- ton, of the Presbytery of Hopewell, and the Rev. John Foster, of the Presbytery of Harmony, all living in the State of Ala- bama, be set off from their respective Presbyteries, so as to form a new Presbytery ; that their first meeting be held at the town of Cahawba on the first Thursday in March next ; that the Rev. Andrew Brown preach the opening sermon and pre- side till a Moderator be chosen, or, in case of his absence, the senior member present, and that they afterwards meet on their own adjournments.
Resolved, That the Synod do concur in granting this over- ture, and that the members above named be and they are hereby set off from their present Presbyteries and constitute a Presbytery to be known as " The Presbytery of Alabama," and that they form a constituent part of this Synod.
Ordered, that the clerk do forward a copy of the above overture and resolution to the Rev. Andrew Brown. (Minutes of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, Vol. I., p. 63.) "Signed by order of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, at their Sessions at Upper Long Cane Church, South Carolina, November 10, 1820.
JOHN COUSAR, Clerk pro tem.
" In compliance with the foregoing resolution the Rev. A. Brown and J. L. Sloss met in Cahawba on Thursday, the first day of March, A. D. 1821, and were joined by the Rev. Neil McMillan and Elders Daniel McIntosh and David Johnson. The Rev. Thomas Newton and John Foster were absent. Agreeably to the preceding resolution of the Synod, the Rev. A. Brown opened Presbytery with a sermon from I Cor. xv., 3. JAMES L. SLOSS, S. C."
There was some informality in the proceeding. Only two of the ministers authorized by the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia were present. Neil McMillan was of the Synod of North Carolina, and thus the constitutional number was secured. The minutes were, however, approved and the action regarded valid by the Synod. It is not known in what way the name of the Presbytery was altered to South Alabama. It first occurs in the minutes of Presbytery, May 25, 1827. (Dr. Nall's Discourse, the Dead of the Synod of Alabama, Mobile, 1851.)
410
THE PRESBYTERY OF ALABAMA.
[1820-1830.
The Presbytery of Alabama remained in connection with the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia until the organiza- tion of the Synod of Mississippi and South Alabama, which occurred at Mayhew, in the Choctaw Nation, by the appoint ment of the General Assembly on the 11th of November, 1829. During these eight years the Presbytery of Alabama was represented in the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia only three times. The Rev. Isaac Hadden was present in November, 1825, the Rev. Thomas Alexander, in December, 1827, and the Rev. John H. Gray in December, 1828.
During this decade the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia contributed to the ministerial force of Alabama, the Rev. Andrew Brown, who died greatly lamented on the 8th of October, 1823; the Rev. James L. Sloss, who removed to East Tennessee in 1824; the Rev. John Foster, who died at Claiborne some time after the death of Mr. Brown; the Rev. Henry White, who died March 13, 1829, near Claiborne ; the Rev. George G. McWhorter, a patriot and soldier in the Revolution, who died in November, 1829; the Rev. Murdoch Murphy, once pastor in Georgetowa District. S. C., afterwards at Midway Church, Liberty County, Georgia, a man of many virtues, who organized the Government street Church in Mobile ; the Rev. James Hillhouse, of the Presbytery of South Carolina, who migrated to Alabama in 1822 ; the Rev. Francis H. Porter, who preached a : a missionary in Alabama in 1818 and 1821, and became a member of the Presbytery of South Alabama in the Spring of 1828, the father of three sons who entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and of whom we have before written ; the Rev. Thomas New- ton, of the Presbytery of Hopewell ; the Rev. Isaac Hadden who entered on his work in 1823.
During this period vacant churches were supplied in the several Presbyteries by the pastors of other churches occa- sionally, or by the newly licensed probationers. Hopewell Presbytery recommended to its ministers to devote fourteen days in each successive year to such labors outside of their own congregations. [John S. Wilson, D. D., Necrology, ยป). 26.]
An order of the Presbytery of South Carolina was "that the members of the Presbytery, with the licentiates under their carc," should "each put in four weeks of missionary labor within our bounds in the course of the ensuing year." November, 1821.
411
820-1830.] EDUCATION FOR THE MINISTRY.
Under the influence of the Presbytery of Hopewell, the Georgia Educational Society was formed in 1823, at the An- qual Commencement at Athens, of which Society, Major Abraham Walker was President, and Rev. Thomas Goulding Secretary. In 1828 Hopewell Presbytery reported to Synod that this Society had under their care twelve young men in a course of education for the ministry. Charleston Union Pres- bytery reported four young men under the care of the South Carolina Education . Society. One young man was reported under the care of Harmony Presbytery, and one under the are of the Presbytery of South Carolina. In 1829 the Geor- gia Society reported fourteen beneficiaries under their care, ind funds to the amount of $1, 850 collected during the year. Charleston Union Presbytery appointed a Committee in 18. 4 of four ministers and four laymen to look out for young men of proper piety and promising talents, who may have a desire o enter the ministry, and have not the means of obtaining a competent education, and to devise ways and means for af- ording them assistance.
The minutes of Harmony Presbytery exhibit zeal on the ame subject. The effort to found a scholarship in Princeton Seminary by the ladies of Camden, Salem and Mt. Zion, eems to have been partially successful. On the 15th of No- ember. 1823, the Presbytery formed itself into an Education Society, auxiliary to the Assembly's Board, and adopted a Constitution. [Minutes, pp. 402, 403.]
From the acknowledgments in connection with the reports of he American Education Society, we found that the contributions from South Carolina and Georgia amounted to, in 1820-'21 $11,144 00 n 1822 to 1,140 50 n 1823 to 1,510 00 n 1824 to. 720 00
n 1825.
No report.
n 1826 to
342 38
n 1827 to
196 00
$15,052 SS
After this, acknowledgments were not made in the reports, but in the New York Observer. It is probably true, too, that dissatisfaction with he methods of the Am rican Education . Society now arose, and that ontributions from our own churches thence forward were directed to he Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church.
In some Presbyteries, the method was adopted of placing the can- idate for the ministry under the care of some minister, who was alled his patron, who superintended his education, provided for his ecessities, kept a careful watch over his conduct, and rendered a report it next meeting of the Presbytery. This was true of the Presbytery of outh Carolina, and perhaps of other Presbyteries.
412
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES.
[1820-1830.
This interest in the education of young men for the minis- try led to the effort to provide schools for theological edu- cation. Dr. John S. Wilson, in his Necrology, (" The Dead of the Synod of Georgia,") says : " To Hopewell" Presbytery " belongs the honour of taking the initiative for establishing a Theological Seminary in the South. The Seminary at Princeton went into operation in 1812, and so did the Theo- logical School of the Synod of Virginia, in connection with Hampden Sidney College, of which Dr. Moses Hoge was President and Theological Professor at the same time." This, however, would not make what is popularly known as a The- ological Seminary. Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and other Colleges had Professorships of Theology long before Theo- logical Seminaries proper were originated. It is true, how - ever, as he says, that " Union Seminary proper did not com- mence its exercises till 1822, when Dr. John H. Rice was elected Professor." But he informs us that the idea of a The- ological Seminary was conceived by the Presbytery of Hope- well in 1817. That the Presbytery appointed Dr. Cummins, Dr. John Brown and Dr. Finley, then President of Athens College, a committee "to draft a plan for a Theological School, to be laid before the Presbytery at its next session." This committee did not report until April, 1819, when the following minute was entered : "In consequence of the death of Dr. Finley, the committee appointed in 1817, to draft a plan for a Theological School, did not report. A new committee was then appointed, consisting of Dr. Cummins, Dr. Brown and Dr. Beman, 'to report on the subject at the next session.' At the meeting in September, 1819, this committee reported on the 'subject of a Theological School at considerable length.' The report was 'in part considered, but not adopted.' The Presbytery proceeded to the choice of a site for the insti- tution. Athens and Mount Zion were put in nomination. On taking the vote, it was carried for Athens. Subsequently another report ' on the subject of a Theological School was brought in and read, but not adopted.' Thus ended the en- terprise." The conjecture of Dr. John S. Wilson was that a conflict about location was the cause.
A proposition had been made by the Synod of North Car- olina to the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia in 1819 to co-operate with them in the establishment and endowment of a Professorship in the Theological Seminary at Princeton.
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PRINCETON.
820-1830.]
The Synod, while approving highly the object, deemed it hexpedient to pledge themselves to this effort, at that time, being then engaged in the establishment of a Missionary So- iety, embracing the two fold object of supplying the destitute arts within our own bounds with the means of grace, and of extending the means of religious instruction and civilization o the Indian tribes on our own frontiers.
At their session held at Upper Long Cane, Abbeville, in November, 1820, their judgment was more favorable to the proposition made in the preceding year, by the Synod of North Carolina, to unite with them in endowing a Professor- ship at Princeton, which their own engagements had led them at that time to decline; and they resolved to raise in the space of five years $15,000 for this object, but to suspend fur- her arrangements till their next session.
In 1825 it appeared that the Synod had paid $10,061 for the establishment of this professorship ; $3,480 more is sub- scribed, and that for $1,359 no provisions as yet had been made. In 1828 it appears that the Board of Directors of the Princeton Seminary was requested to allow the interest accumulating from the sum already paid in to be added to the principal until the amount pledged should be made up. This drew from the Directors the earnest request that the interest might be used as heretofore, stating that the pressing wants of the Seminary required it. Their request was complied with, and the agents to collect the subscriptions continued.
Down to 1821 more than $19,coo seems to have been paid into the Treasury of the General Assembly for the permanent and contingent fund of this Seminary, and for the support of indigent students. Some of the sums thus given were large. The donation of John Whitehead, of Burke Co., Ga., amounted to $3.275. The Nephew Scholarship, . founded by James Nephew, of Liberty Co., Ga., $2,500 ; Mrs. Hollingshead's legacy, $1,000 ; Charleston Female Scholarship, $2,500; the Augusta Female Scholarship, $2,500; the Isaac Keith Scholar- ship. $2,500. In all there were subscribed and paid the Prince- ton Institution, within the bounds of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, before it undertook the endowment of its own seminary, considerably more than $40,000-between $42,000 and $43,000.
The Rise and Progress of the Literary and Theological Seminary of the South .-- The next project which engaged the
414
LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. [1820-1830.
attention of the Synod was the foundation of a Literary and Theological Seminary which should serve as a place of edu- cation to all classes, while it had especial reference to the. preparation of young men for the ministry of the Southern Presbyterian Church. The forty-ninth session of the Presby - tery of South Carolina was held at Willington Church on the Ist of April, 1824. The Rev. Wm. H. Barr and Richard B. Cater, with ruling elder Ezekiel Noble, were appointed a committee to draught the outlines of a constitution, and the Rev. Henry Reid and John Rennie were appointed to prepare an address to the public. A constitution was reported and adopted which began as follows :
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