USA > South Carolina > Orangeburg County > The history of Orangeburg County, South Carolina : from its first settlement to the close of the Revolutionary War > Part 7
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*Copies of the Urlsperger Reports can be seen in the library of New- berry College, or in the Astor Library, New York City.
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"The following extracts indicate that many such servants were sold and located in Saxe-Gotha, and after their legal discharge from servitude they obtain- ed the king's bounty and tracts of land, the same as other settlers.
"Journal of Council, vol. xi, p. 486: 'Petition of John Wolfe and wife, natives of Berne, Switzerland, too poor to pay passage-money, entered into the ser- vice of Anthony Stack, of Saxe-Gotha, for three years, being now discharged from service, prays for his quota of land and bounty-money. Granted, on evidence of his written legal discharge.'
"Vol. xi, pp. 142 and 143: 'Fullix Smid, of Switzer- land, servant of David Hent, lately deceased, dis- charged by his executors, applied for and received 150 acres of land and bounty in Saxe-Gotha.'
"It is useless to multiply instances, which could easi- ly be done; these extracts will fully show the correct- ness of all the foregoing statements, and that Saxe- Gotha, with many other settlements, received her full share of this class of useful settlers, who proved to have been upon the whole a great benefit to their adopted country.
"During the period that intervened between the years 1744 and 1750, Saxe-Gotha received a large in- flux of population, and much of the available land of that township was then occupied. The vessel which bore them across the ocean was the ship St. Andrew, Captain Brown, commander, who doubtless treated his paying passengers well, although he acted so unfeel- ingly to those who were to be sold for their passage- money. Mention is likewise made of a Captain Ham, who brought other German settlers to South Carolina, but whose passengers chiefly located themselves in Orangeburg, whilst others settled in Saxe-Gotha.
"All these German colonists came mostly from those
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provinces bordering on the Rhine, such as Switzer- land, Baden, the Palatinate, and Würtemberg. They excelled as tillers of the soil, and were accustomed to the culture of the vine, and thus they constituted the very class of people which did become greatly service- able to the prosperity of Carolina, but whose influence upon the physical welfare of their adopted county has been as yet little noticed by the various historians of the South.
"The Saxe-Gothans were fortunate and blessed in obtaining the services of a pious and faithful pastor; all the records extant speak in the strongest terms of praise concerning him, but, at the same time, all agree in stating that he had a hard life of it, that he was not appreciated, that he was often persecuted for right- eousness' sake, and this treatment he received at the hands of the very people for whose good he labored and prayed. Two years after the first settlers set foot upon the soil of Saxe-Gotha, the Rev. Christian Theus arrived and labored in their midst; and as these set- tlers were not neglected in the administration of the means of grace, which unfortunately was the case with many others of the early colonists, they really had no excuse for their conduct, and should have treated their pastor in the most friendly manner.
"Dr. Muhlenberg's journal, published in the Evan- gelical Review, vol. i. p. 540, contains the following statement:
" 'October 22. 1774. This afternoon I had an accept- able visit from the Reformed minister, the Rev. Theus. of the Congarees (Congaree River), in South Carolina. 120 miles from Charleston. His brother Theus. a painter, lately deceased. received me as a stranger most kindly into his house. when. thirty-two years ago, I travelled through here on my journey from Sa- vannah to Philadelphia, and afforded me an opportu-
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nity to preach on Sunday to the then yet few German families. The Lord requite his love in eternity! The aforesaid pastor, Theus, came with his parents into this country from Switzerland as a candidatus theolo- gic, was examined and ordained by the Reverend English Presbyterian Ministerium, and since 1739 has performed the duties of the ministerial office in the scattered country congregations among the German Reformed and Lutheran inhabitants, and has conduct- ed himself with the propriety and fidelity due his sta- tion, according to the testimony of capable witnesses. We had agreeable conversation, and he promised me a written account of church matters in these country congregations, which, moreover, he is best able to furnish, having lived longest in this country, and being an erudite man.'
"It is to be regretted that this 'written account of church matters', if Dr. Muhlenberg ever received it, has never been published; what interesting material it could now furnish the Church, which must forever be buried in oblivion!
"The Doctor continues: 'He also furnished me with a more detailed description of the sect mentioned Oc- tober 5th, the members living near him. At a certain time he came unexpectedly into their meeting, and found Jacob Weber contending that he was God, and the said Smith Peter (or Peter Schmidt) insisting that he himself was Christ, and that the unconverted mem- bers must be healed through his stripes. Pastor Theus. opposing such blasphemy, the leaders became enraged and threatened his life, and counselled with the rab- ble whether to drown or hang him. He escaped, how- ever, from their hands, fled to the river, and fortunate- ly found a negro with his canoe at the shore. sprang into it, and was conveyed across.
"Here we have the impartial testimony of Rev. Dr.
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Muhlenberg, gathered from 'capable witnesses', of the parentage, ordination, date of ministry in Saxe-Gotha, piety and learning of the Rev. Christian Theus, up to the period immediately preceding the Revolution. This brief narrative, coming from such a source, is not only entitled to our entire credit, but speaks as much of that devoted man of God as though a volume were written to perpetuate his name and memory.
"Rev. Theus lived to be an aged man, for we discov- er his name in the list of members of the 'Corpus Evangelicum', and present at every meeting of that body until the year 1789,* the last meeting of which the records are still extant. How much longer he was spared to do good we know not; but from the dates which are in our possession, he had at that time been half a century in the ministry of his Savior .-
"His resting-place is still pointed out to the stranger, and is located in a field along the state road, between Columbia and Sandy Run, about eight miles from Columbia. It is the only grave that can still be seen there, and tradition says that his dwelling was located not far from that graveyard. Mr. Abraham Geiger, now also in eternity, erected the tombsome, at his own expense, at the head of Rev. Theus' grave, to
*This fact seems not to have been taken cognizance of by the Pro- vincial Assembly in 1756, for on the 27th of January of that year, an Act was passed for paying the ministers of the several parishes in South Carolina, and in the third section of that Act the following provision occurs: "Whereas, the inhabitants of the Congrees, and the inhabitants of the Waterees, have never had any minister of the gos- pel to preach and perform divine service among them, Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the public treasurer of this Province for the time being shall pay to such minister of the gospel of the established church as shall statedly preach and perform divine service at Saxegotha, or such other centrical place in the Congrees as the commissioners hereinafter named shall direct, and six times a year at least, at the most populous places within forty miles of the same, the sum of seven hundred pounds current money per annum". -Stats. of S. C., Vol. IV., p. 21.
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perpetuate his memory. Had Mr. Geiger not perform- ed this labor of love, the church and the world would never even have known where the first pastor of Saxe- Gotha, the contemporary of Giessendanner, Bolzius and Gronau, had been laid down to rest. The inscrip- tion is now much defaced by the hand of time, and can scarcely be deciphered; nevertheless, we are thank- ful for this much, and would wish that we could gath- er similar mementoes of the resting places of all of the first German ministers in the South .* The in- scription reads as follows:
"'This. stone points out where the remains of Rev. Christian Theus lie. This faithful divine labored through a long life as a faithful servant in his Master's vineyard, and the reward which he received from many for his labor was ingratitude.'
"Rev. J. B. Anthony, one of the late pastors of San- dy Run Lutheran Church, adds yet this information, published in the Lutheran Observer, A. D. 1858: 'Among the octogenarians of this vicinity we have not been able to learn much more of Mr. Theus than the rude stone, now standing in a vast cotton-field, records. Few now living recollect to have seen him. No records of those early times are known to exist .;. The small school-house, which is said to have stood near his grave, has long since disappeared. A few other graves are said to be here, but as no stones can be found in this sandy section to place at the head and foot, lightwood knots are frequently substituted by the poor. hence, when these decay, there is nothing left to mark the place.'
*The burial places of the two Giessendanners are unknown. It is, however, reasonable to suppose that they were buried in the old Epis- copal church yard.
+The name of Christian Theus occurs several times in the Giessen- danner record.
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"The spiritual and moral condition of the Saxe- Gothans is not very highly extolled in the Urlsperger Reports. Rev. Bolzius, who gives us the account. may have been somewhat prejudiced, inasmuch as his Ebenezer colony had lost some runaway white ser- vants, who probably" concealed themselves in the neighborhood of the Congaree River, and in several pages of his diary he berates both the Saxe-Gothans and the government of South Carolina that they were not returned; thus, perhaps, his human feelings were too much enlisted on the side of prejudice and inter- est whilst speaking of these people. We insert the following extract:
"Urlsperger Reports, vol. iv, p. 672: ‘Wednesday. April 25, 1750 .- The German Evangelical Lutheran inhabitants of Congaree, in South Carolina, which new settlement has been named Saxe-Gotha, had be- sought me, several months ago, to come to them and preach for them, and administer the Lord's Supper. I sent them books suitable for the edification of adults and the instruction of children, and wrote them that my circumstances did not permit me to make so long a journey. Now I have received another letter, in which the former request is renewed, and in which they likewise beseech me to assist them in the erec- tion of a church and in obtaining a pastor. They have a congregation of about 280 souls, who could at- tend church if the house of worship were erected in the midst of their plantations.
""The Reformed have received 500 pounds. Carolina currency. from the government. which amounts to something more than 500 guilders, for the building of a church, but no one is interested for the Lutherans. unless I would do something in their behalf. They live with the Reformed in great disunion, at which I showed my displeasure in my former letter. A few
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families have removed from this place among them, who might have supported themselves very well here: afterwards three adult youths were persuaded to leave their service here, and two (white) servants ran away, all of whom are harbored in the Congaree settlement. The citizens themselves, as a Carolina minister once wrote me, lived disorderly among each other, and es- timate their Reformed minister very low. I have no heart for this people. If they were truly concerned about God's word. then so many unworthy people would not have located in their midst, as there are other places where good land and subsistence may be obtained.',
"'In this very letter they inform me that they have built both a saw-mill and a grist-mill, and expect to build more of the kind. Why then should they be un- able to erect a house of worship if they were sincerely in earnest?'
"The above record in Bolzius' diary, published in the Urlsperger Reports, is in strict accordance with the testimony of Dr. Hazelius on the Weberites- which sect arose some ten years later,-with Dr. Muhl- enberg's account, with the inscription on the tomb- stone on Rev. Theus, and with several living witnesses. who were contemporaries with many old citizens of a former day, whose narratives they still well remem- ber.
"Whilst many of the Saxe-Gothans were not devoid of blame, and deserved censure in those days, there were others whose life and conduct were praiseworthy. and others who were devotedly pious, and who were anxious to enjoy the blessings of the means of grace, and it is sad that Rev. Bolzius permitted his feelings of interest for his own colony to cause him to act so unfriendly toward this people, and to send no kind word of encouragement to them, when they besought
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him to visit them and break to their hungry souls the bread of life. Who knows what good he might have accomplished by a friendly visit? Who knows what future evil, e. g., that Weber heresy, he might have been the instrument of preventing? Besides all this, he, a minister of the Gospel and of like persuasion with these people, had no right to withhold his influ- ence and sympathy from two hundred and eighty souls, (we are surprised at so large a number) who extended such a Macedonian call to him, and besought him twice to interest himself in their behalf in procuring a minister for them, who were almost as sheep with- out a shepherd. Who could calculate the influence the Lutheran Church would have exerted in those regions, had this large congregation been properly cared for, and supplied with the means of grace? Besides, had Rev. Bolzius been instrumental in securing a pious and efficient pastor for them at that early period, and this pastor, laboring side by side with Rev. Theus, how much that faithful servant's hands would have been strengthened, and how much good seed might have been sown, springing up to everlasting life, which would have entirely changed the spiritual and moral condition of this people. Deprive men of the Gospel and the Sacraments, take away or refuse to give then the benign influences of Christianity, and we need not be astonished at 'disorderly living' and heresy in doc- trine.
*
"The present citizens of old Saxe-Gotha, now Lex- ington County, are an entirely different people; their forefathers could not prevent unworthy settlers from locating themselves among them. Many of those de- praved men met an untimely death in the war with the Cherokees; a few perished miserably at the hand of administrative justice; others were cut off by dis-
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ease and an early death; whilst a number moved to other parts of the country. It is exceedingly doubtful whether many of those reprobates left their descend- ants behind them in Saxe-Gotha, as all traces of Weber and Schmidt have entirely disappeared.
"We have seen that Rev. Theus came to the Con- garee settlement in the year 1739. In what. building he first preached is unknown, but arrangements were soon made for the erection of a church. As early as 1744-5 John Jacob Riemensperger petitioned the gov- ernment of South Carolina to do something toward the erection of churches and school-houses for the German settlers in various localities; otherwise they would continue to do what many had done heretofore, move with their families to Pennsylvania, where all these advantages could be enjoyed. That the govern- ment entered into such arrangement we have already seen from the Urlsperger Reports, for five hundred pounds currency was donated for the building of a German Reformed Church, which, we presume, had been completed at that time, A. D. 1750, and the peo- ple were enjoying the means of grace in their new house of worship. Tradition informs us that this Ger- man church stood near the spot where the remains of Rev. Theus are deposited, but it has long since been no more. We now turn to an ancient map of South Car- olina, originally published in 1771 and 1775, and re- cently reprinted in 'Carroll's Collections'. Near the Congaree River, a short distance below the confluence of the Saluda and Broad Rivers, and in the township of Saxe-Gotha, a church is laid down, bearing the name St. John's. This substantiates all the above- mentioned records and traditions, gives us the exact locality of that church, which, in the proper propor- tion of distances, would be the very spot where the grave of Rev. Theus can still be seen, and furnishes.
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furthermore, the name by which that church was known. This house of God must have been destroyed during the Revolutionary War, as all traces of the same after that period appear to have been lost; it is not mentioned in the general act of incorporation of all the German churches, passed by the legislature of South Carolina in 1788.
"During the years 1759 and 1760, the people of Saxe- Gotha suffered greatly from the ravages of the Chero- kee war. During the time that the French and Eng- lish were at war with each other in the colonies of America, which however did not reach as far South as the Carolinas; the French instigated the Cherokee In- dians to make war upon the peaceful settlers of the two Carolinas, who murdered the white inhabitants at midnight, whilst they were wrapped in their peace- ful slumbers, and committed atrocities at which hu- manity shudders. The Congaree and Fork settlements were then mostly exposed to the fearful inroads of the savages, as but few settlers were living further in the interior than the Germans were at that time. Bolzi- us informs us, that many were compelled to take refuge among the Germans at Ebenezer and Savan- nah, whilst others fled for safety to Charleston, Purys- burg, and other places, until those Indian hostilities were ended, and peace and security was again re- stored."*
On pp. 168-69 of his book, Dr. Bernheim makes this significant remark: "The Newberry County Germans
*It appears from certain passages in the Giessendanner record that the inhabitants of Orangeburgh Township also had some fears of In- dian outrages, and that many of them collected together in forts or block-houses; (See baptismal entrys Nos. 611, 616, 617, 624.) and that at least one German citizen of Orangeburgh Township, John Whet- stone, Jr., served in the expedition against the Cherokees. (See No. 105 on burial list. )
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were mostly all descendants from the original German settlers in Saxe-Gotha Township, with an occasional addition from the German settlements of North Caro- lina and Virginia." Dr. Bernheim should have placed Orangeburgh Township along with Saxe-Gotha. An examination of the Giessendanner record will show that many of the names thereon obtain in Newberry and Saluda counties to-day.
During the Revolutionary War many of the Hessian hirelings of the British army deserted and became per- manent settlers in this country. Dr. Bernheim says, p. 174: "Among these Hessian deserters was one who afterwards became a Lutheran minister in South Car- olina, named John Yost Mütze, known better as Rev. J. Y. Meetze, and whose history was obtained from one of his sons. He deserted near Charleston at the time the British army was besieging that city from the other side of Ashley River; he was pursued some thirty miles, but finally made his escape over Bacon's bridge, where he was safe within the American lines. He located himself in Saxe-Gotha Township, now Lexington County, six miles above the present county- seat, and became the forefather of a large and influ- ential family in that section of the country. The fol- lowing tablet inscription marks the spot where his remains now repose:
"""Sacred to the memory of the Rev. J. Y. Meetze, who departed this life May 7th, 1833, aged 76 years, 5 months, and 5 days.'"
Section 4. The settlers of Barnwell.
That portion of Orangeburgh District, afterwards embraced in Barnwell District, also received a share of the German settlers, as Dr. Bernheim says, by the breaking up of the Dutch colony on James Island, the
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gradual absorption of the unsuccessful German and Swiss colony at Purysburg, and the influx of other German settlers from Orangeburg County."
The same section also received many settlers fron Virginia. In this connection the following extract from "Memoirs of Tarleton Brown." p. 3, will be of in- terest: "Flattering inducements being held forth to settlers in the rich region of South Carolina contigu- ous to the Savannah River, and my uncle, Bartlet Brown, having already moved, and settled himself two miles above Matthew's Bluff, on the Savannah River; my father brought out some negroes, and left them with his brother to make a crop; and in 1769, a year afterwards, my father and family, consisting of eleven persons, emigrated to this country and settled on Brier's Creek, opposite to Burton's Ferry. We found the country in the vicinity very thinly inhabit- ed. Our own shelter for several weeks to protect us from the weather was a bark tent, which served for our use until we could erect a rude dwelling of logs."
General Johnson Hagood is authority for the state- ment that Tarleton Brown probably has more. de- scendants in Barnwell County to-day than any other man who ever lived in that county. Among the other natives of Virginia, early settled in the same section. were the Wright and Erwin families.
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CHAPTER II.
THE GIESSENDANNER RECORD.
Almost every South Carolina historian who has mentioned Orangeburg has spoken of the Giessendan- ner Church record-book, but Dr. Bernheim is the only writer who has gone beyond a mere mention of the fact that this record-book existed. What Dr. Bern- beim has said of this interesting work has already been given in these pages.
After the death of Rev. John Giessendanner in 1761, his son Henry came into possession of the book, and a few scattering records were made by him. After his death the book fell into the hands of his second wife, who, previous to her marriage to Henry Giessendan- ner, was the widow Larey; and through her it fell into the hands of her son, Daniel Larey. Daniel Larey left it to his daughter, Mrs. M. B. Treadwell, of Orangeburg. Mrs. Treadwell, after keeping it for many years, turned it over to the late Mr. John Lucas, Senior Warden of the Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) at Orangeburg, and Mr. Lucas, after making a copy of it, turned it over to the Diocese of South Carolina, and it was deposited in the Episcopal Library in the small building in the rear of St. Stephen's Chapel, on Anson Street in Charleston. It was there that the writer first saw the book, and copied it by permission of Rev. A. R. Mitchell, Secretary of the Diocese of South Car- olina. Since then Bishop Capers has had the book re- turned to Mrs. Treadwell at her request.
The book appears to have been an ordinary, but substantial, blank book, over which Rev. John Gies-
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sendanner, or some subsequent keeper of the book, had stretched a raw-hide binding and sewed it on with thick, twisted, white chord. It is in a very dilapidated condition; some of the pages being torn in half, and numerous pages have been lost.
It is evident that the first Giessendanner, who began to keep the record in the fall of 1737, and kept it un- til his death, the latter part of 1738, kept it in a differ- ent book; for when his nephew began to keep the re- cord in 1739 he says that the record kept by his uncle has been copied from the old book into the new, and after giving the record kept by his uncle, he begins his own record. The record kept by the elder Gies- sendanner and most of that kept by the younger be- fore his trip to England for ordination was written in German, and the records here given for that period are from translated notes made by Dr. Bernheim, and others, for Mr. Lucas; and possibly some of them were made by Henry Giessendanner, as the papers appear to be of different ages, (some appear to be very old) and in different handwritings .*
The parts, preserved and translated, of those rec- ords kept up to the time when the younger Giessen- danner went to England are very meagre and scatter- ing, but those kept after his return are very complete. It is doubtful if there was a church record-book kept in the Province at that time, that is as complete.
The younger Giessendanner started to keep all of the records of marriages, births, and deaths in one book and divided the book equally into three parts and kept the marriages in the first part, the births in the second part and the deaths in the third part. His record before his departure for England only covered
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