USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.1 > Part 25
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There is no record of the first French Protestants brought out by Petit and Grinard in the ship Richmond in 1680, though one of the conditions of their transportation was that a list of their names should be furnished. They must have been persons of some means, however small, for they were required to furnish their own provisions for the voyage. It is believed that they were settled on the east branch of Cooper River, and formed the nucleus of what was known as Orange Quarter, subsequently the parish of St. Denis. It has been conjectured that the first of these names was derived from the principality of Orange in the province of Avignon. The name of St. Denis is supposed to commemorate the battle-field of St. Denis in the vicinity of Paris, which was the scene of a memorable encounter in 1567 between the Catholic forces commanded by Mont- morency and the Huguenots led by Coligny and the Prince of Conde, in which Montmorency was slain. Some thirty families were settled here soon after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.2 Lawson, in his travels in 1700. found seventy families established on the Santee, following trade with the Indians and living "as decently and happily as any planter in these southward parts of America. The French," he says. "being a temperate and industrious people, some of them bringing very little effects, yet by their endeavours and mutual assistance amongst them- selves (which is highly to be commended) have outstript our English who brought with 'em larger fortunes though (as it seems) less endeavour to manage their talent to the best advantage. They live," he says, "like one family, and each one rejoices at the prosperity and elevation of his
1 Hewatt's Hist. of So. Co., vol. I. 56.
2 Howe's Hist. Presb. Ch., 111.
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bretheren."1. But it was through pain, travail, and anguish that these noble people accomplished what they did. A letter of one of the first to arrive, the mother of Gabriel Manigault, who in a long and useful life was to accumu- late a fortune so large as to enable him to aid the asylum of his persecuted parents with a loan of 8220,000 for carry- ing on its revolutionary struggle for liberty and indepen- dence, has been preserved by Ramsay, which, after giving a most touching and piteous account of escape from France and suffering on their voyage to Carolina, thus relates their bitter experience there: -
" After our arrival in Carolina," she writes, " we suffered every kind of evil. In about eighteen months our elder brother unaccustomed to hard labor we were obliged to undergo died of a fever. Since leaving France we had experienced every kind of affliction - disease - pestilence - famine - poverty - hard labor. I have been for six months together without tasting bread, working the ground like a slave; and I have even passed three or four years without always having it when I wanted it. God has done great things for us ena- bling us to bear up under so many trials. I should never have done were I to attempt to detail to you all our adventures. Let it suffice that God has had compassion on me and changed my fate to a more happy one, for which glory be unto him." 2
The Huguenots at first cultivated the barren highlands, and naturally attempted to raise wheat, barley, and other European grains upon them until better taught by the In- dians. Tradition relates that men and their wives worked together in felling trees, building houses, making fences, and grubbing up their grounds until their settlements were formed; and afterwards continued at their labors at the whip-saw, and in burning tar for market. General Peter Horry stated that his grandfather and grandmother
1 A New Voyage to I carolina, etc., by John Lawson, Gentleman, Sur- veyor General of North Carolina ( London, 1709).
" Ramsay's Hist. of So. Cu., vol. 1, 6, note. The letter is in French.
:
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began the foundation of their handsome fortune by work- ing together at the whip-saw.1
It was hoped that these people would have introduced the successful cultivation of vines and the production of oil and silk. Unfortunately, their expectations were dis- appointed. An attempt was made to cultivate the vine and the olive, but the climate proved insalubrious, the land, except on the margin of the rivers and creeks, was unproductive. and did not reward the care of the culti- vator. But though not successful in enriching the coun- try with these valuable commodities, these refugees became a most important and useful part of the population of the colony, and were soon after joined by others of their people like themselves, refugees from religious persecution.
The good will of the King and Lords Proprietors towards these distressed and exiled Protestants has been considered an instance of noble humanity.2 We cannot so regard it. at least on the part of the Proprietors. Their great desire and purpose at this time was to effect a colonization of their lands. They were seeking emigrants for the prov- ince on their own account and for their own advantage, and the sober and industrious character of these people, and. as it was supposed, their peculiar adaptability to the climate and circumstances of Carolina. strongly recom- mended the scheme of their colonization to their Lordships. So advantageous, indeed. did they regard this immigration that they granted Rene Petit and Jacob Grinard 4000 acres of land each for having secured the addition to their colony.3 During the years 1685, 1686. and 1687, the Pro- prietors made sales themselves directly to French refugees, and sent out instruction for lands to be surveyed for
1 James's Life of Marion, introduction, p. 12. - Hist. Nieches of No. Ca. ( Rivers), 171. 3 Coll. Hast. Soc. of So. Cu., vol. I, 102.
Y
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them.1 But only in two instances does it appear that these grants were made upon other terms than payment of the purchase money : and in these they were apparently granted as a bonus for inducing others to emigrate. To Jean Francois de Genillat, the first of the Swiss nation to settle in Carolina, was granted 3000 acres ; and to John d'Arsens, Seigneur de Wernhaut, probably a Belgian, the trustees of the Proprietors were instructed to measure out such quantity of land as he might desire, not exceeding 12,000 acres.2 Including those to the Swiss and Belgians, grants to the foreign Protestants amounted to more than 50,000 acres. The grants to these people, whether upon sale or for other considerations, were upon the same terms of possession and descent as the lands given or sold to English settlers, notwithstanding the opinion of the latter that the new-comers were aliens in all respects in the colony as they were in the mother country.3
Charles II had furnished the first of these emigrants with transportation in the ship Richmond, and in the reign of James II considerable collections were made for the refugees who went over to England; and in that of William. £3000 were voted by Parliament "to be distrib-
1 These grants were as follows: (1685) James du Gue, 500 acres ; Isaac Le Jay and Magdalen Fleury alias Le Jay, his wife. 500 acres ; Charles Franchomme and Mary Baulier alias Franchomme, his wife, 500 acres ; Nicholas Longuemar, 100 acres ; Jean François de Genillat (Swiss), 3000 acres ; Arnold Bonneau. 3000 acres ; James Le Bas. 3000 acres ; (1686) Isaac Le Grand, Siem d' Anarville. 100 acres ; James Le Moyne, 100 acres; James Nicholas alias Petibois, 200 acres : Henry Augustus Chastaigner. Esq., Seigneur de Cramaché, and Alexander Chastaigner, Esq., Seigneur de Lisle, 3000 acres; John d'Arsens, Seigneur de Wernhaut, 12,000 acres : James Martell, Goulard de Vervant, 12,000 ; : 1687) Joachim Gail- lard, 60) acres. Coll. Hast. Soc. of No. Ca. vol. 1. 114, 110. But one of these names, i.e. Gaillard. is now surviving in South Carolina.
& Call. Hist. Soc. of So. C.e., vol. I. 114, 117.
3 Hist. Sketches of No. Ca. (Rivers), 174.
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uted among persons of quality, and all such as, through age or infirmity, were unable to support themselves." The nobility and wealthier portion of refugees remained nearer their old homes in England and on the Continent. Those who ventured to America were generally tradesmen, agri- culturists, and mechanics. There were, however, among them some families of ancient lineage and position. In the act "making aliens free," the names and occupations of those who had petitioned the General Assembly are given, and from them we may gather somewhat of the character of these people. These are the occupations which are at- tached to their names : weavers, wheelwrights, merchants, saddlers, smiths, coopers, shammy-dressers, joiners, gun- smiths, sailmakers, braziers, goldsmiths, blockmakers, plant- ers, watchmakers, silk-throwsters, apothecaries, and one doctor.1 Sixty-three persons were named in the act, and all other persons desiring to come in under its provisions, and obtain the benefits of naturalization, were required, by its terms. to apply to the Governor and obtain a certificate from him of having taken the oath prescribed. Under this provision, the list of naturalized Huguenots was increased to 154.2 The artisans generally found a home and employ-
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. II, 132.
? " Liste Des François et Suisses . . . who desired naturalization." Edited by Theodore Gaillard Thomas, M.D. New York Knickerbocker Press, 1868. Ramsay gives a list of a number of respectable and influen- tial families which sprung from this stock ; to wit, Bonneau, Bounetheau, Bordeaux, Benoist. Boiseau. Bocquet, Bucat, Chevalier. Cordes, Couterier, Chastaigner, Du Pre. De Lysle, Du Bose, Du Bois, Deveaux. Dutarque, De la Consiliere, De Leiseline, Douxsaint, Da Pont, Du Bourdieu, D'Harriette, Faucheraud. Foisin, Fagsour, Guillard, Gendron, Gegnilliat, Guerard, Godin, Giraudeau, Guerin. Gourdine, Horry, Huger. Jeannette. Legare. Laurens, La Roche, Lerud. Lansac, Marion, Mazyek & Manigout, Mouzon,
" The Mazyeks were not, however. French or Swiss Huguenots. They were Walloons of Liège. The name originally was written de Mazyek ; but apen the removal to the Isle de Re was changed to Mazieq, agreeably
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ment in Charles Town, while those accustomed to rural pur- suits settled in Craven County on the Santee, and some on Cooper River and at Goose Creek, and industriously set to work clearing and cultivating the ground. The larger portion of these settled on the south side of the Santee, where a town or tract was laid out and called "James Town."1 This portion of the country hence obtained the name of French Santee. Lawson found about fifty fami- lies settled on the banks of the Santee. In 1687 six hun- dred French Protestants were sent to America through the Royal bounty, and most of these, it is said, located in Carolina : 2 but this can scarcely be so, for the Huguenots. including all arrivals, did not reach that number.3 Ran- dolph enclosed to the Lords of Trade in his letter of
Michau, Neufcille, Priolenu, Peronneau, Perdriau, Porcher, Postell. Peyre, Poyas, Ravenel, Royes. Simons, Sarazin. St. Julien, Serre, Tres- vant. In the eighty years since Dr. Ramsay wrote, some of these families have died out or disappeared. The names of those still living are italicized. 1 The tract of land was called " James Town," but no town or village was founded.
2 The Huguenots (Samuel Smiles), 435.
3 The following table was furnished Edward Randolph by Peter Girard. See Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. ( Rivers), Appendix, 447 : -
PEOPLE
The number of the French Protestant Refugees of the French Church of Charles Town is . 195
The quantity of the French Protestants of the French Church of Goose Creek is 31
The quantity of the French Protestants of ye Eastern branch of Cooper River is . 101 .
The number and quantity of the French Church of Santee is 111
Total of the French Protestants to this day in Carolina . 438
to the French iliom. The original orthography was resumed by the emigrant to Carolina, a wealthy merchant, who, upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, escaped, and came to Carolina with a cargo of $1000 sterling, -the foundation of a large fortune which he afterwards made in the trade to Barbadoes and the other West Indies. Howe's Hist. Preah. Ch .. 102.
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March 16, 1608-99, an estimate of the number of these people as at that time 438.
The Rev. William Screven. a native of Somerset, Eng- land, emigrated to America in 1681, and settled at Kittery, in the province of Maine. He was an Anabaptist, and as such his religious views were not in harmony with the "Standing Order" of that province; whereupon he was presented and fined by the County Court "for not fre- quenting the publique meeting according to Law on the Lords days." The fine was remitted, however, as it ap- peared that he usually attended " Mr. Mowdy's meetings on the Lords days." He was nevertheless esteemed as a citizen and was rapidly advanced to positions of trust; but his zeal in behalf of his opinions determined him to devote himself to the ministry and to the formation of a Baptist Church in Kittery. Going to Boston. he was ordained on the 11th of January, 1682, and upon his return organized a Baptist Church; but in doing so he met with great opposition from the provincial authorities. was summoned before the County Court at York, examined as to his views upon infant baptism. and thereupon was adjudged guilty of blasphemy, fined, and prohibited from having any private exercises at his own house or else- where upon the Lord's Day, either in Kittery or any other place within the limits of the province. Disregarding this injunction. Mr. Sereven was " convicted of contempt of his Majestys authority by refusing to submit himself to the sentence of the former court," required to give bond for his good behavior in the future, and committed to jail until he did so. He was released, however. upon his promise to depart out of the province within a very short time. On the 25th of September. 1682, a covenant was entered into and signed, and a " Baptist company " organized. for removal to some other place. They do
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not, however, appear to have been in haste to go. As late as October 9, 1083, the "Baptist company " were settled at Kittery; for Sereven was summoned again before the court for disregard of the previous order; and again on the 27th of May, 1084, he was summoned "to appear before the General Assembly in June next." As no further mention in reference to Mr. Sereven is found in the records of the province, it is probable that he and his company had made all their preparations for removal and before the time of the meeting of the General Assem- bly arrived, had left their homes on the Piscataqua for a new settlement in Carolina. The place selected for the settlement was on Cooper River, not far from Charles Town; but the exact location is not known, nor the date of their arrival. Mr. Sereven called the settlement Somer- ton. probably from his native place in England.1 Blake, Axtell. and Morton came to Carolina about the same time. Blake's wife and her mother, " Lady " Axtell, became mem- bers of Mr. Sereven's congregation. Before 1693 most of the members of the church had removed to Charles Town.2
In the year 1696 Carolina received a small accession of inhabitants by the arrival of a Congregational Church from Dorchester in Massachusetts, who, with their minister, the Rev. Joseph Lord, settled in a body near the head of the Ashley River. about twenty miles from Charles Town. The church of Dorchester. Massachusetts, was composed of a company of Puritans who, early in 1630, had sailed from Plymouth, England, and settled in that province. This congregation, which was formed as a missionary enterprise,
1 To "a confession of Faith of several churches in the county of Somerset and in the counties near adjacent," " William Sereven of Somerton " is one of twenty-five subscribers in 1856. This, it is sup- posed. is the same William Sereven, the immigrant to Carolina.
2 Hist. of the Baptist Ch., Charleston ( Tupper), 1889.
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embarked on the 5th of December, 1695, in two small ves- sels, and experienced a severe gale on their passage; but both vessels arrived safely in about fourteen days. The colony, treading their way up the Ashley River in quest of a convenient place for settlement, fixed upon a spot which they named Dorchester. Here. in the midst of an unbroken forest. inhabited by beasts of prey and savage men, twenty miles from the dwelling of any white man, they took up their abode, and remained nearly sixty years, keeping together as a distinct community. Finding the situation unhealthy and confined to a tract of land too small for their purposes, they again moved in 1752 and settled at Medway, Liberty County, Georgia. Several families of Colleton County, however, came from the stock, and it is believed that many of the people in that section of the State are derived from this source. The ruins of their fort and of their church may yet be seen near Summerville.1
The colony was continually receiving new additions from Barbadoes and the other West India Islands, bring- ing with them their negro slaves. These were all Church of England people, and formed a great part of the church party in the colony. They settled principally upon the Cooper River; some of them were of the Goose Creek men of whom the Proprietors warned Ludwell to beware.2
1 Howe's Hist. of the Press. Ch .. 120-122.
2 Sir John Colleton. one of the Proprietors, was from Barbadoes, and so were his two brothers, James, the Governor, and Major Charles Col- leton. From that island came Sir John Yeamans, the Landgrave and Governor; Captain John Godfrey, Deputy ; Christopher Portman, John Maverick, and Thomas Grey, among the first members-elect of the Grand Council ; Captain Gyles Hall, one of the first settlers, and an owner of a lot in Old Town; Robert Daniel. Landgrave and Governor ; Arthur and Edward Middleton, Benjamin and Robert Gibbes, Barnard Schinkingh, Charles Buttall. Richard Dearsley, and Alexander Skoene. Among others from Barbadoes were those of the following names: Cleland, Drayton. Elliot, Fenwicke, Foster, Fox, Gibbon, Hare, Hayden, Lake, Ladson,
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The early settlers followed the river courses, and planted themselves upon their banks. There were probably two causes inducing this : the rivers presented the only means of transportation in the absence of roads, and the way also of escape from the Indians. The innumerable creeks, branches. and inlets from the sea, which intersect the low country, presented abundance of room for many years to allow river front to almost every plantation. Then fol- lowed the filling up of the islands and peninsulas, the set- tlements still. however, continuing within easy access to water. The banks of the Ashley were first settled under Sayle, the western bank most thickly. The Cooper River was next followed, and a settlement made upon Goose Creek, its first considerable branch, and also on the east between that river and the Wando. The destruction of Lord Cardross's colony put a stop for many years to any settlement at Port Royal: but the sea islands, those now known as James, John's, and Edisto islands, were soon peopled. The French refugees had pushed up the Cooper, as we have seen. until they had reached the Santee. A map made in 1715 1 shows that the population of South Carolina was still confined almost entirely be- tween the Santee on the northeast and the Edisto on the
Moore, Strode, Thompson, Walter, and Woodward. Sayle, the first Governor, was from Bermuda. From Jamaica came Amory. Parker, Parris, Pinckney, and Whaley ; from Antigua, Lucas, Motte, and Percy ; from St. Christopher, Rawlins and Lowndes; from the Leeward Islands, Sir Nathaniel JJohnson, the Governor ; and from the Bahamas, Nicholas Trott, the Chief Justice. Some of these were probably but temporarily on the islands ; some had been long-established residents.
This list has been compiled, with the assistance of Langdon Cheves, Esq., from various sources, including Emigrants to America, 1600-1700 ( Hotten).
1 Year Book City of Charleston (Courtenay), 1886. Copied from an original map of principal part of North America, in the library of Thomas Addis Einmet, M.D., of New York.
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southwest. Generally speaking. the old English colonists and the Barbarians, who together composed the Church of England people, were settled in Charles Town and upon the Cooper and Ashley rivers ; the French Huguenots on the Santee; and English dissenters who had come out with Blake and Axtell upon the Edisto. There were, however. Independents, Baptists. Quakers, and Huguenots in the town.
Berkeley County was thus for the Church of England, Colleton was strongly imbued with dissent, and Craven, while Calvinistic in its tenets, was without hostility to the church. The colonists had crossed the seas and changed their climate, but not their minds; they had brought with them their Old World thoughts. opinions, and prejudices. Indeed. was it not on account of these, and that they might have liberty to enjoy them, that many had deserted their homes and sought refuge in the wild woods of America? All were more or less earnest in their religious convictions and sentiments, and clung to them as matters of vital consequence even while neglecting to be ruled in their lives by the principles they professed. In this small community of less than 6000 there were churchmen from England and Barbadoes, Independents from England, Old and New. Baptists from Maine, and Huguenots from France and Switzerland: all zealous of their peculiar religious tenets and many, if not most, with the tenacity of bigotry and fanaticism. Carolina was a Church of England province under its charter, and the Fundamental Constitutions, while offering the greatest religious freedom, provided only that God was acknowledged and publicly and solemnly worshipped. still provided for the establishment and maintenance of that church. Every one that came to the colony came with full notice of these provisions. Yet the Proprietors
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could truthfully write to Archdale that Carolina was looked upon as a place of refuge and safe retreat from arbitrary government and the inconveniences of other places.1 But it was inevitable that the Old World's ani- mosities must needs soon break out among these various people. They had, indeed, been alive from the very planting of the colony.
It is not certainly known, as we have before observed, when the first clergy man appeared in the colony, or when the first church was built. Dalcho places at the head of his list of the clergy the name of the Rev. Morgan Jones, as arriving in 1660. but does not mention such a person in the text of his work. Dalcho's authority for this is a letter written by this person in New York, March 10, 1685-86, in which he claims to have been sent from Virginia by Sir William Berkeley, to meet the fleet from Barbadoes and Bermuda under West. He states that as soon as the fleet came in. the small vessels with them sailed "up the River" to a place called Oyster Point, where he remained for eight months.2 If the writer met the expedition, it is clear that he antedated the event by ten years. He states that he remained in the colony at Oyster Point for eight months. It will be observed that the colony first settled Old Town on the Ashley in 1670 and was not removed to Oyster Point until 1680. Nor can we reconcile his statement by suppos- ing it a mere mistake as to the date, for the date was the very point about which his letter was written, the object of it being to show that the title of England to America by pos- session was prior to that of Spain; moreover, even upon the supposition of a mistake as to the date, we remember that. on June 25. 1670, at the very time Morgan Jones would thus claim to have been in the colony, i.e. eight months after the
1 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Co., vol. 1. 138.
2 Gentleman's Magazine, for March, 1710, vol. X, 103, 104.
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arrival of the fleet, from March to October, 1670, Sayle wrote to Lord Ashley about the want of a minister, asking that one should be sent, - a request which was renewed by Sayle and others in the September following. The letter we are con- strained to believe a mere fabrication.1 Mr. Bond, for whom Governor Sayle applied in 1670, certainly did not come out.
We have no account of the building of any church in Old Town on the Ashley, though Culpepper supposed that a tract marked out as reserved by the Proprietors was intended for a minister. It is possible that the Rev. Atkin Williamson may have officiated there. The removal of the town took place in 1680, and in the plan of the new town, 1672. as we have seen, a place had been reserved for the building of a church, but no church had been built when Thomas Ash arrived with the first Huguenots in 1680. In a deed dated January 14, 1680-81, by which four acres of land were granted to Mr. Williamson, it is recited that the donors. Originall Jackson and Meliscent his wife, "being excited with a pious zeal for the propagation of the true religion which we profess, have for and in consideration of the divine service according to the form and liturgy now established to be duly and solemnly performed by Atkin Williamson cleric his heirs and assigns for ever in our church or house of worship to be erected and built upon our piece or parcel of ground."2 It is not known that Mr. Jackson owned any land in or near the town. He did own land on the Wando or Cooper River. The description of the land in the deed does not allow of its identification. It is probable that this was an attempt to establish a church
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