USA > South Carolina > Berkeley County > Goose Creek > St. James church, Goose Creek, S. C. : a sketch of the parish from 1706 to 1909 > Part 6
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And to these words of high praise may be added the encomium of several gentlemen of the Province who, when Mr. Thomas died in October, 1706, sent this message to bis home in England,
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that he "was very much lamented for his sound doctrine, ex- emplary life and industry, after having laid a foundation for his successors to carry on the work he had begun."
One who has a judicial mind and has carefully examined all the papers in relation to Samuel Thomas, missionary says:
"The letters and communications of Mr. Thomas to the S. P. G. and to his friends in England, many of which are among the Society's records, show him to have been a person of education, earnestness and piety, and industrions in good works. He left in England a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, and five children. He was about 34 years of age at the time of his death."
The foregoing narration suffices to give an adequate view of the life and the services of Samuel Thomas, the godly mission- ary.
The conclusion, concisely stated, is that his life was stainless and that his services consisted, briefly summed up, in the estab- lishment of the School and the Church Episcopal in South Car- olina.
It was the personality and the spirituality of Samuel Thomas that led to this grand consummation, involving influences moral, mental and religious, that when they bear the divine stamp become forces that perish never.
His work was a distinct one. Before he came the Church was dead and irreligion prevailed among the colonists. He changed things. With the wand of spiritual power he touched the corpse of the Church in the Province and it became full of life, and striking the rock of a stony religion, abundant streams of spirituality flowed forth.
I come now in logical order to the culmination of my argu- ment in proceeding to the analysis of the character of the model missionary of 1702-06.
One of the Papers which best illustrate the Rev. Mr. Thomas' characteristics-published in The S. C. Historical and Genea- logical Magazine, Jan'y, 1904-is his well known "Account of the Church in South Carolina"-being a "memorial relating to the state of the church in the Province of South Carolina, offered humbly to the consideration of the honorable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
" By their humble and faithful missionary-Sam'l Thomas."
This admirable document, so historic in character, so excel- lent in Christian temper I need not cite further except to say that it suggests all those graces of spirit that have been conceded to the beloved author.
The other Paper,-also published in the above Magazine, Jan'y, 1904-which may be regarded the most characteristic of all the Papers that emanated from the pen of the missionary is "Mr. Samuel Thomas' Remonstrance in Justification of Himself." It is as follows:
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"To the Honorable Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts:
"The humble representation of Samuel Thomas, their dil- igent and faithful missionary, containing a just vindication of himself from the false calumies of Mr. Edward Marston, min- ister of Charlestown, in South Carolina, with a true character of the said Mr. Marston, honestly designed to prevent the vener- able society's being imposed upon by his misrepresentations.
"May it please this honorable Society, with all due respect and humble submission to this venerable body, I beg leave to make my just defence against the unjust and false charges brought against me by Mr. Edward Marston, minister of Charlestown, in South Carolina, in a late printed letter of his -- I have not seen the letter, but the substance of those particulars which concern myself were read by the most reverend president in the vestry at St. Lawrence the last time you convened there, and are as followeth:
"1. That I did not settle among the Yammonsee Indians according to. your design in sending me.
2. That I removed Mr. Kendal, who, he intimates upon my arrival and proceedings, became distracted.
3. le would insinuate that my ignorance of the canons and constitution of the Church of England and want of courage to reprove vice were the things which most recommended me to the favor of the Government."
The answer made by Mr. Thomas to those charges before the tribunal of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts which, through the Bishop of London, had appointed him "for her Majesty's service to go chaplain to Car- olina, " cannot on account of its length be reproduced here.
It is a masterly production and presents the author in a new light. The shield of character has two sides- an obvious fact -- but often overlooked in the world's estimation. The Rev. Samuel Thomas has been adjudged a person of eminent piety and many pleasing graces. This Paper, called by some " Mr. Thomas' Remonstrance, " but named by himself :'The Hum- ble Representation of Samuel Thomas, " proves conclusively that this diligent and faithful missionary, as he claimed to be, was also a man of eminent ability and much force and no little fire. The spirit of the lion as well as of the lamb was in this humble servant of God. With something of the power of the Apostle Paul, united with St. James' gentleness and St. John's love, he not only vindicates himself conclusively and completely against the
. allegations of his adversary, the Rev. Mr. Marston, but boldly taking the aggressive and showing himself as affective in attack as in defence, he arraigns his accuser, and. places him in his true light before the Society and the Province.
No impartial mind, after reading Mr. Thomas' "Repre- sentations," can resist the conclusion that he unhorsed his foe-
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man and left him prostrate on the field of battle-and be it remembered that the record shows how he bore himself like a Christian knight wielding the lance of truth.
The "Representation" closes thus: "This venerable Body may, if they desire it, have satisfaction that this is a just and true character of Mr. Marston from under the hands of persons unbiased and of known integrity and reputation, such as may be depended upon. I know that many pious and honorable in that Province who have not thought themselves obliged to encourage a man of Mr. Marston's principles and practices will be much concerned to think that the Province and myself should be so misrepresented as we are in this printed letter."
Mr. Thomas adds, and thus ends in, these words reflecting a Christian spirit.
"I pray God inform Mr. Marston's judgment aright and give him grace for the future to better govern his turbulent and imperious temper, that he may do God and His Church yet some service in Carolina, for if he continues what he has been many will conclude that it had been better for him and many in that Province if he had never come there."
And he signed himself thus:
"I am with profound respect and gratitude, honored gentle- men, your humble, obedient and faithful missionary-S. Thomas."
Thus it is that a peaceful Epic has its episode of war-for which the missionary was not responsible, but which demon- strates his muscular Christianity-muscular and yet mild.
The character of Missionary Samuel Thomas, of Ballydon, near Sudbury, in the County Essex-Suffolk, England, and cit- izen of the Province of Carolina from Christmas Day, 1702, until his death in October, 1706, stands now unveiled in the clear light of authentie history. He was a clergyman of the Church of England, one fully equipped in mental and religious furniture for the Master's work.
His was a truly missionary spirit. When the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was organized, it was this Thomas-not doubting, but believing-who stepped to the front and modestly said "Here I am-send me" to Car- olina.
Ile was a consecrated man full of zeal in the cause of Christ. When he took up the banner of his church, in season and out of season, year after year, with taet, and energy and enthusiasm, he carried on his work, and here at Goose Creek and at other points on the Cooper River he fought his battles and won his victories, like the good and brave soldier of the cross that he was, until he fell with harness on upon his chosen fiekl.
He was a strong man and brave to do duty, but he was also a gentle man of marked humility of spirit in the sight of God. He was meek and pure in heart, and hence two at least of the
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Beatitudes may be applied to him, whose virtues are now for the first time realized, after the lapse of two hundred years:
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
The saintly Samuel Thomas inherits the earth and sees God.
I have thus given a brief review of the proto martyr of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, and of one who may be deemed the central figure in the past ecclesiastical history of our State.
The pedestal upon which my guarded pen has placed him- the role I have assigned to him in history, I bope high Heaven approves-whatever men's judgment may be. I have tried to let my "just censures attend the true event."
As was said by another of a character that was high and in- corruptible, so may I say of the Rev. Samuel Thomas: "The living man scorned fulsome adulation, and his living spirit, if permitted to hover over us now and to hear our voices and per- ceive the pulsations of our hearts, will accept no offering that can- not bear the scrutiny of time and the severest test of truth."
It is meet that the year 1904 has been chosen for this bi-cen- tennial. The year of our Lord 1704 marked the climax of the career of Samuel Thomas in his ministry in Carolina, and it stands the mean between the extremes of 1702 and 1706 --- the golden mean between the advent and the ascension of the God blessed missionary.
It is meet further that April has been selected for the com- memorative exercises. The season is propitious.
Spring, with that nameless pathos in the air,
Which dwells with all things fair,
Spring, with her golden suns and silver rain,
Is with us once again.
Out in the lonely woods the jessamine burns
Its fragrant lamps and turns
Into a royal court with green festoons The banks of dark lagoons.
And it is meet to be here because of the purpose of these com- memorative rites.
Let us not fail to recall the career of the proto martyr of the infant Church in this fair Province of Carolina, nor forget to cherish the remembrance of his Christian virtues, but let us draw the line between what is due to man and what is due to God. Let us honor the Man. Let us crown the Missionary. But let us give the glory to God.
While the echoes of Easter morn yet ring in our cars, let us say in reverent spirit:
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye ever- lasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.
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Who is the King of Glory? Even the Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory."
'The usual fate of the Pioneer, as illustrated over and over again in history, has been the fate of the Rev. Samuel Thomas. No marble can be found that bears his name or records his ser- vices. No tablet in church has been placed to keep his person- ality before the eyes of the generations to come. But the Re- cording Angel has written the record of Samuel Thomas, in letters of gold, upon the pages of the Book of Life. "If you would see his monument look around."
This ancient sanctuary, built first about 1713, but preceded by the wooden edifice in which the Rev. Messrs. Corbin and Thomas-1703-1706-officiated, and by the second wooden edifice built about 1707, during the beginning of the rectorate of the Rev. Francis LeJau, D. D., was, to say the least, the in- direct inspiration of the spiritual labors and abiding infhience of Samuel Thomas, the protagonist of the Church in the Provinec of South Carolina-and this is affirmed with no disparagement whatever of Dr. LeJau, rector 1707-1717-whose ministry was most excellent, and of whom Dr. Robert Wilson remarks that "of the faithful and fearless soldier of the Cross it may be truly said, 'he died right knightly, with his armor on.' '
And here let me turn aside for a moment to suggest that could these woods hereabout, "where the jessamine blooms, and the moss droops low from the green oak tree," sing to-day, how jay- ously they would break forth in anthems of praise to Thomas and to LeJau and of glory to our risen Lord.
And now disturbing no more the silent dust of these two saintly servants of God, let us reconsign them to their rest and apply to each the Miltonic line:
Dear son of Memory, great heir of Fame.
when Fame, as poets deem it, is "next grandest word to God."
Tis said that Emperors write their names in green
When under age, but when of age in purple.
So Love, the greatest Emperor of them all, Writes his in green at first, but afterwards
In the imperial purple of our blood.
This Samuel-God's obedient servant-of the house of Thomas, lover of Christ and of His Church, in England wrote his name and his ministry in green; but afterwards, in the Province of South Carolina, here at Goose Creek and elsewhere on the banks of the river Cooper, the devoted Missionary wrote his name and his crown- ing ministry in the imperial purple of his blood.
To what I have written I have but little more to add on the high occasion of this bi-centennial of Church.
Myself, simply a layman in the Church of my forefathers, I have not sought this office. My unworthiness to stand in
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this august presence, amid these symbols of God's house on earth, I feel profoundly. Most highly, however, do I appre- ciate in my heart of hearts the privilege accorded to me by vir- tue of the appointment of the Wardens and Vestry of St. James, with the approval of the Bishop of this Diocese.
To the best of my ability, without favor or affection, with an eye single to truth and justice, I have discharged what seemed to me my duty to an historic personage. Demonstrating what the Society that he so loyally served calls his "great worth, " I have sought to elevate the great and good missionary, Samuel Thomas, to his proper and rightful place in history.
With memories personal and ancestral that stir within me the fountain of deepest feelings, permit me to say that the emo- tions of the moment find expression in the words of one of the world's best hymns:
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead thou me on; The night is dark and I am far from home, Lead thou me on; Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene, one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that thou Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead thou me on;
I loved the garish day; and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will; remember not past years. So long thy power has blessed me, sure it still Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er erag and torrent, till The night is gone, And with the morn those angel faces smile, Which I have loved long since and lost awhile.
Nor, in view of the many incidents of my life that happen to gather around this memorial month --- making it radiant in memory-incidents that withstand the mutations of Time and the ravages to age-incidents forevermore to be felt in the crim- son of my blood-incidents of which the work of to-day makes the climax and the coronation, may I refrain from adding to Newman's chastened thought the poet's address to the month, the season's resurrection and life.
Sweet Aprill many a thought Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed; Nor shall they fail till to its autumn brought, Life's golden fruit is shed.
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AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ST. JAMES, GOOSE CREEK.
BY THE HON. H. A. M. SMITHI.
Sunday April 22nd, 1906.
(The News and Courier, April 23rd, 1906.)
At the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the founding, "by Act of Assembly," of the historic Parish of St. James, Goose Creek, the address of the occasion was delivered by Mr. H. A. M. Smith, of this city. This address, which abounds in local color, and which has the greatest interest for all those who have any acquaintance with the quaint old church and parish, is here published in full. Mr. Smith spoke, standing on one of the vaults in front of the ancient fane, the church being too small to accommodate the many who desired to hear him. Ile said:
Ladies and Gentlemen: Some time ago the zealous and per- fervid member of the vestry-I mean my friend, Mr. Stoney -- informed me that I would be expected to deliver upon an occasion which, at the time he gave the information, seemed indefinitely postponed in the far future, a short address as to Goose Creek Church, its age and the occasion of its founding Some time since, later, when time had slipped past me with the lightning- like rapidity with which it passes when we indulge in the delight- ful, if reprehensible, habit of procrastination, he informed me that he wanted, not a short address, as was our first understanding, but an historical discourse. Well, it is manifest that it is impossi- ble for me in the limited period remaining, to give a historical discourse covering the history of a church which has existed for nearly two centuries and a quarter. Nor would I this evening, even if I had the period of time to indulge myself in giving an historical discourse, have the temerity to take up your time at this hour, and in the midst of this delightful atmosphere of a Sabbath evening, by detaining you to hear a long, dry historical discourse.
I think I am supposed to know something of Goose Creek and, without arrogating too much to myself, I may say I hope I do. I have lived near it or in it for many years, have traversed every ae- cessible part of it, and have endeavored to familiarize myself with its history. But when I say its "history" I have in mind that part of the history of Goose Creek which has most appealed to me, the part which deals with the history of its people in tracing them from the time of their settlement, acquainting myself with the homes in which they lived, partaking, so far as we can partake,
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of the atmosphere in which they moved, and in looking upon the same domestic scenes they looked upon. So in saying I know Goose Creek I mean that I know Goose Creek in its concrete sense; I know it in its relation to the people who lived there.
I thought, therefore, that this evening I would do that which would interest the most of those who hear me, to the greater ex- tent, if I were to endeavor, not to recur to dry statistics and fig- ures, but to give you instead some account of the individuals themselves connected with that historie fane, which stands be- fore us, so as to let you to some extent understand who built it, for whom it was built, and who it is that has continued it until the present day in its present relations to the land. Therefore, in this address before the church in which they worshipped - the ground around which is literally sowed with the sleeping places of the parishioners who created it-I shall devote myself, and cursorily, I assure you, to the people for whom Goose Creek stood as the re- presentative -- the centre of their worship and of their parish.
My first contribution to that this evening -- and don't be alarmed at this roll; it simply contain- memoranda -my first contribution shall be to the name of Goose Creek. We commonly call it the parish of Goose Creek, but it is the parish of St. James and Goose Creek is merely the distinguishing definition added to distinguish it from another parish of St. James, created at the same time, the St. James of Santee. But the name of this parish church before it was organized as a parish and took on the form of civil as well as ecclesiastical government was Goose Creek. Now what Goose Creek was called in the Indian tongue I have never been able satisfactorily to myself to determine. Our forefathers when they settled this country ignored, to our regret, Indian names and supplanted them with names of their own; either with names having tender associations for them with their homes across the sea or with names of those whose acts placed them so high that they would be honored and therefore applied their names to a piece of earth. So, when we come to Goose Creek we find that at a very early day it had received in common parlance a name which was not the Indian name, and in order to arrive at its original name you can only reason by analogy.
Now we know that the ending "e" or "ec" among the Indians of the coast region indicated a river or water. We have it in the Pee-Dee, the Combahee, the Santee, and we have it also in Con- garee and Waterec.
We have it in the creek which lies a few miles to the north, now known as Foster's Creek, and which was known by the Indian name of Appeebee. Therefore, the letters "e" or "ce" in their language were generally applied to a creek or water or river. In the case of Goose Creek, the only indication we have is that the plantation on which the Otranto Club House now stands, on the bluff across the ercek, say half a mile behind us, when originally
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granted to Arthur and Edward Middleton, was known by the name of Yeowee, with the "e" sounding. There is no vocubu- lary left of the coast Indians, but owing to the efforts of a brave and indefatigable Confederate soldier, Oscar Lieber, there was compiled by him a vocabulary of the language of the Catawba tribe, which was allied to the coast Indians, and in his vocabulary the word representing Yayah is "green." I submit, therefore, that, although a mere surmise, yet one which is not altogether devoid of plausibility, it is probable that the original name of Goose Creek was Yeowee or Yayahee, meaning Green Water or Green River.
However that may be, that name was very soon put aside. In the early grants the creek is known as Yeamans' Creek, the name of the second Proprietary Governor, Sir John Yeamans, whose estate and settlement lay along Goose Creek, near where its de- bouchment takes place into Cooper River four or five miles be- low. The grant was in the name of his wife, Lady Margaret Yeamans, yet it is a fact that the ereek was known, as Yeamans' Creek and in the very early grants it is called Yeamans' Creek.
But popular custom will persist in giving local names, in spite of the best endeavorsto give those deemed to be more aristocratic, and the word Yeamans as applied to the creek soon yieldled to that of Goose Creek, the tradition being that it was called Goose Creek from the large number of wild fowl, including wild geese, which resorted to it. Therefore, we have at a very early day the name Goose Creek applied to the creek, and from the creek, to the territory around it. This territory was vague at first in its defini- tion, so that all this territory around us up to the time of the formation of the parish was known as Goose Creek and the people who occupied and possessed this land to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west of us on both sides of the ereek running up to Back River, were known as the Goose Creek men or the Goose Creek people. It so happened that by their turbulence they earned for themselves in early days n very unfortunate reputation which attached to Goose Creek and the Goose Creek men.
Exactly when Goose Creek Church was built -- and by the church I do not mean that building upon which our eyes can now rest, but the Church, which was a part in the organized form of a polity of church government, that magnificent church govern- ment which has distinguished the Church Anglican for so many centuries-when the first place of worship in the country fre- quented by the Goose Creek people was built, it is absolutely im- possible, at least so far as any remaining records extant now show, to determine. There was a very large settlement in Goose Creek at an early period. The early grants date as early as 1672 and 1673, and by 1680 all the lands on both sides of Goose Creek as far as Baek River and Foster's Creek, and even to the head waters of
.
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Goose Creek, within five miles of the present town of Summer- ville, were taken up, and taken up almost entirely by Church of England people. The Rev. Mr. Samuel Thomas, that most de- vout and zealous missionary, the first sent to the State by the Society to which the Church owes so much, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, writing his account of the Church in the State in 1704 states that Goose Creek was settled, and settled almost exclusively, by Church of England people. There being at that time only a few families of French Huguenots and two of Anabaptists in the whole section of some 120 to 123 families. He also states that the citizens of Goose Creek had some years previously at their own expense constructed a house of worship, in which service was performed as often as they could procure the services of any minister. Now, where thut house of worship was, as stated before, is a problem, a problem for any one who takes any interest in antiquarian matters, and one which is apparently insoluble, because there is nothing re- maining from which to solve it. But from subsequent inferences as vague as those from which I deduced the name of Goose Creek as being Green Water, o. Green River, I think I can say plausibly that the inference to be drawn is that the original house of worship constructed by the Goose Creek people at their own expense as that temple in which they should worship God was in sight of, and, if not immediately upon, at least within a few yards of the build- ing before us.
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