USA > South Carolina > Oconee County > The Old Stone Church, Oconee County, South Carolina; > Part 9
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$500, taking his student audience with him, and continued these services until the year 1818, when he contemplated a removal to Missouri. At this point we lose his track. Dr. Campbell tells us he died in the prime of life in one of the British Isles whither he had gone in pursuit of health. Dr. La Borde tells us that there never was a separation between a people and pastor more trying than his separation from Camden Church. He was often heard to say, "it was the most sorrowful day of his life" when he left Camden. One who heard his farewell sermon says that it was an occasion never to be forgotten. There was not a tearless eye in the church and many irrepressible bursts of sorrow testified the attachment between pastor and people. Dr. Leland re- marked that he was "capable of great eloquence." Dr. Campbell remarked that the most brilliant discourse he ever heard was preached by Dr. Montgomery.
Rev. James McElhenny was pastor of this church for two years, from 1810 to 1812, when he died of a malignant fever. He was born in Waxhaw, Lancaster County ; studied under Dr. Joseph Alexander, then teaching in Mecklenburg, North Carolina; studied theology under Dr. Hall, of North Carolina. Being licensed to preach, he was called to John's Island, thence he removed to Pendleton, near Keowee, and died. He was buried in the cemetery of this church, with a touching epitaph upon his tomb. He was an eloquent man, with a vigorous intellect, and his preaching united strong reasoning with persuasive and touching tenderness. He was a younger brother of Dr. John McElhenny, of Lewisburg, West Virginia, where, through a pastorate of sixty years, he maintained the Presbyterian standard of doctrine and discipline over an extensive scope of country, and died at a very advanced age.
Hopewell now became dependent upon occasional sup- plies. In 1813 the church was visited by Rev. John B. Kennedy and Rev. Hugh Dixon. In the spring of 1816 Carmel and Hopewell united in a petition that Rev. James
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Hillhouse be permitted to officiate as supply. A call is made for his pastoral services in November and in April, 1817, at a meeting of the Presbytery at this church his installa- tion is effected, Rev. Richard B. Cater preaching the ser- mon and Rev. Wm. H. Barr charging the pastor and people. On the 17th of October, 1817, a call was made for one-third of his time at Carmel and he was installed over that church in April, 1818, the Presbytery meeting at that church. Mr. Hillhouse emigrated to Greensboro, Alabama, in 1822, and died there in 1835. Rev. Dr. Nall says that, as an effective preacher, he has never been surpassed in the Synod of Ala- bama. His command of language was remarkable. His feelings were easily excited. He was not a student, but abundant in labors. His appeals to the church and the world were truly powerful.
After receiving licentiate supplies for several years Hope- well and Carmel again petitioned the Presbytery for sup- plies, and in 1827 Rev. Aaron Foster is sent to alternate between this church and Willington. From this time on- ward the connection between the churches of Hopewell and Carmel seems to have closed. In 1828 this church had only fifty-nine members, and, as it would seem, by the force of circumstances and mutual consent, preaching was gradu- ally transferred to Pendleton, the village three miles east.
As the ecclesiastical interest of Hopewell (Keowee) seems from this time forward to concentrate in Hopewell- Pendleton, it would seem to suggest the propriety of tracing its history somewhat farther, as it develops in the history of the latter. At the time of the retirement of Rev. Aaron Foster the separate history of this church closes. Rev. An- thony W. Ross, from Harmony Presbytery, and pastor of the church at Winnsboro, was now preaching at Carmel and Hopewell-Pendleton, by mutual agreement. In 1832 we find Mr. Ross officiating as stated supply at Sandy Springs. The recorded history of the precise connection is somewhat doubtful. In that year Pendleton is reported
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vacant. The next year the Rev. Richard B. Cater becomes the stated supply.
In 1837 Mr. Cater was succeeded by Mr. Ross, who was at this time preaching at Carmel and still supplying Sandy Spring By mutual agreement he retired from Carmel and was succeeded there by the Rev. John L. Kennedy. Rev. Anthony W. Ross continued the pastor of Hopewell-Pendle- ton until 1851. In 1861 or 1862 he removed to Florence, Marion County, retiring from his active ministry, and soon after died in the residence of his son, Anthony. He was a man of fine taste, of great gentleness, of elegant composi- tion and unswerving piety. His remains lie in the cemetery of the Hopewell Church, Marion County. It is remarkable that his church declined in membership from 209 in 1838 to 76 in 1845.
Mr. Ross was succeeded in this church by the Rev. T. L. McBryde. The Rev. Thomas Livingston McBryde was born in February, 1817, in Abbeville District, S. C. At the age of fifteen he professed religion in the Presbyterian Church of Hamburg, S. C. He graduated from Franklin College, Athens, Ga., studied theology in Columbia, was licensed by the Presbytery of Harmony in April, 1839, in the 22d year of his age. He was ordained a missionary to China by the Charleston Presbytery in December of the same year and sailed for Singapore, China, in March, 1840. His health having failed, he returned in 1843. In 1846 he was installed pastor of Providence and Rocky River Churches, Abbeville District. His health again seriously failed and he accepted a call to Hopewell-Pendleton, in a bracing climate. While here, running his pastorate, he was honored with the title of D. D., by Erskine College. Here he labored with great acceptability until his decease, in April, 1863.
A little anterior to Dr. McBryde's ministry at Pendleton (Keowee Church) and about the time of his embarkation for Singapore, a very remarkable interest was aroused in
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South Carolina on the subject of foreign missions. It sprung during the decade from 1830 to 1840. It was at first an . effort of the united Synod of South Carolina and Georgia to establish a mission among the aborgines of this country. The movement invited a visit from the Rev. William S. Plumer, D. D., then living in Petersburg, Va. At a meet- ing of the synod in Columbia in 1833, in which Dr. Plumer was present, the movement resulted in the formation of a Board of Missions auxiliary to the A. B. C. F. M. Drs. Leland, Smythe and Gildersleeve were appointed to draft a pastoral letter to the churches, setting forth the claims of this subject. The feeling on this subject was very much awakened and the General Assembly appointed the first Monday in January, 1824, as a day of fasting and prayer. The Synod of South Carolina and Georgia endorsed the proposition heartily. It was a moment of trembling sus- pense, says the pastoral letter ; an influence from above evi- dently descended upon the whole assembly. Instantly there was such a gush of devout feeling, such a meeting of hearts, such an evident overpowering sense of the immediate presence of God, as we never before witnessed. Before this influence objections vanished, the mountains flowed down. All the members knelt down in prayer and rising upon their feet, by one united voice, adopted the missionary constitution, and, standing, sang the missionary hymn. Almost every face was bathed in tears and almost every frame trembled with emotion. The extraordinary scene closed, and like the great Pentecostial meeting, diffused an electric influence through the land on foreign missions. The spirit of missions at once enthused several young men, among whom was George W. Boggs, who became a mem- ber of Carmel Church and devoted himself to the foreign mission work. His support was guaranteed by the Synod. Ordained by the Charleston Union Presbytery in March, 1832, united in marriage to Mrs. Isabella Adger, daughter of William Ellison, and on the 28th of May, 1832, embarked
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on the Black Warrior, John Endecott, Captain, for Bombay. John Fleetwood Lanneau, native of Charleston, was or- dained foreign missionary in May, 1833; John Leighton Wilson, of Sumter, was ordained by Harmony Presbytery in September of the same year; John B. Adger and James 1. Merrick, native of Amherst, Mass., were ordained in April, 1834, and John Livingston McBryde in December, 1839. The writer was present at this latter ordination and witnessed the scene, with the very deepest impressions of the pious devotion of Mr. McBryde, and his appropriate address. These most interesting movements of a past gene- ration and their great results in forthcoming time yet ahead of us, are the outcome of antecedent struggles and emotions felt within these walls and in the dwellings of your pious ancestors. Yes, we will remember the work of the Lord, even his wonders of old.
Gentlemen, let not these venerable walls ever be torn down. They stand with yonder stone tablets of the ceme- tery as God's two witnesses to forthcoming generations, of the Revolution when Americanism struggled for a name and a place in the earth. Could these stones cry out from the wall, they would tell you of the counsels of a brave Pickens and a brave Anderson, of the prayers devout of warriors, encountering the perils of the wilderness and the perils of the sword for their country, their homes and their sanctuary. Could the stones of these walls cry out, they would tell you of the burning eloquence of a Simpson, a Reese and a Mc- Elhenny, of a Hunter, a Gilliland, a Montgomery and a Price. Cater, Ross, and Hillhouse would speak again as if from the dead. Yonder sacred tombs would burst open, as they shall one day, and rehearse what only a few yet know-the thrilling story of households, of fathers afar off chasing savage Indians, or on the field of battle, meeting the mightier foe from beyond the Atlantic; of mothers guarding the household; of brave boys felling the forest ; of industrious maidens plying the arts of diligence un-
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wearied. O! it is in the interior walks of life where woman lives and sheds around her the grace and love of her sex, that the greatest interest centers. That interior story has not been told. But it is to be told on the great day to come. Yonder they sleep with their fathers, lovers and sons, not famous on the page of history, but whose story is cherished by him who loves the meek. The learned and eloquent Reese sleeps yonder ; there the brave, the victorious Pickens ; the stern, the logical but pathetic McElhenny lies there; Murphy, the lamented young pastor, and McBryde, the loved and honored missionary, rest there. Yes, yonder sleeps Roberson, the zealous man who brought to this spot the first load of stone that was to build this church, and Mr. Berry Benson, born September, 1789, the honored antece- dent of the Caters, Bensons and Harrisons. Yonder sleep the remains of the widow of the chaste and amiable Ross, whose form has mouldered to resurrection dust in the ceme- tery of Hopewell, Marion, now Florence County, with the dust of the Johnsons, Greggs and McPhersons. Beneath that large chiseled dome of stone lies beside the form of his brother the courageous young Lewis, who, during the war, boldly mounted a ladder to bring down from his retreat in a steeple or garret a deserter, and in the attempt was killed by the stroke of an axe and fell to the ground ; and between those two tall pines, standing as head and foot monuments, lie the remains of the fated young Bynum, who fell in a duel with the young B. F. Perry, afterwards one of the Governors of South Carolina. It took place during the Nullification contest, about 1833. There sleep the Cherrys, Sidney, George and John, and Mrs. Samuel Cherry, nee Susan Reese, daughter of the learned pastor. And there John Whitner, native of Germany, the father of the late Joseph N. Whitner, whose piety cast a halo of sanctity around the judicial bench. And Richard Lewis, native of Albemarle County, Virginia, who died in 1831. And there lie the remains of John Miller, native of London, England,
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who printed Junius's letters, those celebrated philippics, pub- lished in the Public Advertiser of London between the years of 1769 and 1772 against the English ministry and leading characters of that time, and containing some of the most effective specimens of invectives in English Literature. For his complicity in these powerful invectives Miller escaped to this country, settled here, and in this cemetery he and his sons, John and Crosby, lie buried. This individual and his brother deeded sixteen acres of land for this cemetery and church. And here, too, sleeps John Rusk, the builder of this church and the father of the late United States Senator from Texas. And the gallant Col. F. W. Kilpatrick, brother of Mrs. J. W. Livingston, who in the late war fell mortally wounded in the arms of a friend, breathing, ere he expired, these tender names, "Mother !" "Willie!" the latter his affianced. And how much more of touching history lies enclosed in that famous city of the dead, time would fail us to tell. There they sleep till that tremendous hour when the "powers of Heaven shall be shaken" and the earth yield up her dead.
Gentlemen and Brethren: Before we close this brief sketch of history that circulates around this venerable sanc- tuary and yonder city of the dead, let me say that there is another monument of the past standing here more durable than these walls and tablets of stone; it is the word "Keo- wee," one of those original triliterals of speech that trilled joyfully upon the lips of tattooed warrior and black-haired squaw. It sounds as beautiful to-day, and has risen, with a thousand other names, to the high honor of our American classics. There are no terms derived from Greek and Latin lore, now domesticated within our English language, that charm us more effectually, that sound more sweetly than Keowee, Enoree, Pedee, Congaree, Oconee, or those broader Indian generics, Waxhaw, Cheraw, Choctaw, Kennesaw, or those more elongated quadriliterals, Ocmulgee, Generostee, Altamahaw, names written with a pen of iron on our moun-
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tains, our rivers, our lakes, our Territories and our States, the epitaphs of a receding race. Who would have thought they should have left us a heritage of literature that shall enrich the linguals of America down to the very end of time! There are no monuments of the human race so last- ing as the idiomatic speech of nations. Ancient Greece has left the world her sculpture, her Ionic and Doric styles of architecture, but they are not so abiding as her household words, woven and yet constantly weaving into our English vernacular in the shape of innumerable ologies. Ancient Rome has left the world a heritage of names and literature, a literature so far from going into decay it has domesticated itself into the very structure and habitation of the English tongue, clothing its household words with the eloquence and ornamentation of a new and ever widening vocabulary. Almost two-thirds of the English language to-day is a heri- tage from Ancient Roman speech. The oldest of Semitic tongues, the Hebrew, the language which tells of the birth of the world, the honored medium of communication from Heaven, that has brought us the most precious and impor- tant of all information, has come into our language, has given names to our children and enshrined itself in our hearts and homes in the formulas of the Jehovahs, Em- manuels and Amens of our prayers. There is nothing the English language is so proud of to-day as its heritage from the first written speech of the world. The younger Semitic, the language of the Koran, takes a share in this contribution and gives us the scientific and technical names of Algebra, Alchemy, Nadir, Cipher, Alcohol, Elixir, Magazine, and the latest of dying races has left us our "Keowee," and much more written upon our rivers and our mountains. And the great English language, enriched with the treasures of the past, carries in it the undying monuments of the race and must bear down to the end of time the memorials and historic deeds of the whole world.
9-O. S. C.
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THE OLD STONE CHURCH.
There is something in the human heart that yearns for sympathy for the home of the dead, where our loved ones are laid away, awaiting the summons at the great day of the final account. Impressed with these sentiments we could very naturally appreciate the feelings which induced our friends to organize themselves into an Association for the purpose of protecting and improving the historic bury- ing place in Oconee, known as the Old Stone Church. As well as we could decipher, the corner-stone of this edifice shows that it was erected in the year 1794, one hundred years ago.
Seventeen acres of land were conveyed to Trustees by John Miller, an Englishman, who left the home of his na- tivity to escape trouble caused by his connection with the publication of the "Junius's Letters," for the purpose of erecting thereon a house of worship, known in the history of the country as Hopewell-Keowee. It was the pioneer house of worship in this section of the country.
The building was erected by John Rusk, a skillful work- man in stone, and the father of Senator Rusk, of Texas. As the country increased in population other houses of wor- ship were erected. Pendleton, always the seat of learning and wealth, built Hopewell-Pendleton, where services were regularly held, and from this period the Old Stone Church was year by year abandoned to its lonely fate.
In its prosperity the sainted dead of the early settlers of the country were laid to rest in its sacred precincts. Rev. Mr. Reese, the first pastor of the church, was the first to find rest in the old church yard, and over whose remains a mar- ble tablet marks the spot. Then comes the Pickenses, a family of renown, whose remains are enclosed by a brick wall. The head-stone that marks the resting place of Gen. ยท Pickens is being broken and carried away by relic hunters. This is an act of vandalism that ought to be stopped by the strong arm of the law. The graves of the Whitners, Max-
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wells, Sloans, Lewises, Pickenses, Calhouns, Bensons, Mil- lers, and many others, are to be found here, marked by the never-failing hand of love and affection. The grave of the fated Bynum, who fell in a duel in 1832-3, by the hand of the gifted Perry, is found between two large pines, one at the head and the other at the foot of his home of clay. The story that has gained credence that these pines grew since his burial, has been exploded. A gentleman who long resided near the place states that the body of Bynum was buried be- tween the pines, small at the time of sepulture, but are now of large growth and imposing. There is a sympathy be- tween these tall witnesses, sighing with every whirl of the breeze, in perfect harmony with the desolation that appa- rently stands around on every side. The long years gone by have not added to the comeliness even of the spot and the future bears no impress of brightness in the years to come.
On last Thursday the Association met for the purpose of celebrating its first anniversary. Dr. W. B. Cherry, one of the landmarks of the past, is the President, and was unani- mously re-elected in opposition to his protestations that his usefulness as a presiding officer had passed away. The re- maining officers, including the present efficient Executive Committee, were also re-elected. Col. B. F. Sloan, in the absence of Dr. McBryde, was elected to discharge the duties of Secretary and Treasurer, and, also, as Chairman of the Executive Committee to solicit members of the Association, and collect all funds due the Association by reason of mem- bership, as well as from those who are willing to aid in im- proving the grounds and cemetery, and protect the place from stock and relic hunters, or rather vandals, who have no respect for the dead and no sympathy for the living. The attendance was reasonably good, especially of the ladies, who are always foremost in works of love and charity.
Dr. D. E. Frierson, of Anderson, had been invited to deliver a sermon on the occasion, and he was present. Rev. J. A. Wilson, of Seneca, opened the services by song and
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prayer. Dr. Frierson then delivered his address, which he was pleased to term sermonic and historical. Much care and labor had been devoted by him in his research for facts upon which his remarks were, in the main, founded. The history of the church, Hopewell-Keowee, from 1788-9 to the period within our recollection, was full and very inter- esting. Altogether the address of Dr. Frierson was able and scholarly and is a most valuable contribution to the cur- rent history of this section, viewed either from a religious, moral or literary point of view.
The Association adopted a resolution tendering its thanks to Dr. Frierson for the able and acceptable manner in which he had discharged his duty as orator of the day and request- ing a copy of the address for publication.
The Association also decided to print in pamphlet form the Constitution and By-Laws of the Association and such proceedings as would naturally interest the reader and con- tribute to the success of the laudable aims of the Association.
It is to be hoped that a potent feeling will be awakened in the hearts of those who have loved ones asleep in the old church yard, as well as that of the public, all of whom are interested in the permanent improvement of the grounds, and the protection and beautifying the home of the dead. A small sum of money judiciously expended would accom- plish all that is desired for the present. Every one who has a friend or relative buried there should contribute for this purpose, and the public might well assist in the same good work to preserve intact the history and traditions which cluster around this interesting and instructive place.
(From "Keowee Courier," 1894, after the meeting at which this address of Dr. Frierson was delivered. )
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MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE "OLD STONE CHURCH," NEAR PENDLETON, ON MEMORIAL DAY, MAY 4, 1901, BY WM. S. MORRISON, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, CLEMSON COLLEGE.
We have met to-day, Ladies and Gentlemen, on hallowed ground for a pious purpose. Suffer me, a student and teacher of history, Confederate Veterans, after thanking you for the honor done in calling me to the pleasant duty undertaken to express my heartfelt approval of your noble work, as outlined in your constitution and exemplified in the workings of your organization-United Confederate Vete- rans.
How appropriate the name you have given your camp! Among the Wofford College boys, who, when Caro- lina called, forty years ago, laid aside books, left col- lege halls, took up arms, and went to the tented ground and field of battle, were two brothers. One gave his life for his country. Of him a comrade wrote home in a private letter : "Pendleton has had to mourn the loss of another one of her true and patriotic sons-Tally Simp- son-a noble fellow, too. He fell, while gallantly discharg- ing his duty, on the field where many have fallen before him, and many, I expect will have to follow his example."- Letters of Lieutenant Richard Lewis, page 56. His name your camp bears. The other brother lives and serves his day and generation-and generations that are to follow. One died for the Southern Confederacy. The other, after service in war, in the dark days of Reconstruction, in the trying times of 1876, and in the Wallace House-amid the duties of law office and court room gives freely his best thought, and the earnest efforts of mature life, to the Clem- son Agricultural College-of whose Board of Trustees he has been since its organization-and still is, the honored Chairman.
You have asked me, Confederate Veterans, to speak briefly of this church ; of the soldiers of this community who served
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in our country's wars; and of those old warriors who are sleeping in this cemetery.
On the 13th of October, 1789, when Washington had been less than six months President of these United States, "a people on Seneca" appealed to the Presbytery of South Carolina to be taken under its care and for "supplies of preaching." Their request was granted, and Rev. John Simpson, a native of New Jersey and a graduate of Prince- ton, was sent to preach to these people, who soon organized as a congregation, and took the name of Hopewell. The name was given in honor of the home of Gen. Andrew Pickens, on Seneca River, near where the Blue Ridge Rail- road now crosses that stream, the scene of one of that famous officer's treaties with the Indians-memorable "Treaty of Hopewell." The name of this congregation ap- pears at different times in the records of Presbyterian Church history as Hopewell (Keowee), Hopewell on Seneca, and Hopewell-Pendleton.
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