Liberty County, Georgia - From the Dismemberment Till the Dissolution, 1903

From the Dismemberment Till the Dissolution

The resignation of Mr. Winn was soon followed by an event, which for some time had been foreseen, and which, though necessary, was very much regretted, as it was the beginning of dismemberment of the old church, and too clearly foreshadowing what was to bein the future. That event was the organization of the Walthourville church.

Walthourville Church

The population of Walthourville, one of the four retreats, having increased considerably, and it being so inconvenient, if not impossible, for the people to go so far (15 miles) to attend upon the ordinances of the sanctuary, it was deemed advisable by the members residing there, to have a separate and independent organization of theirown. Accordingly a letter was sent to the session of Midway church, signed by sixteen of the more prominent members, and asking for a separate organization. The letter was written in the spirit of brotherly love, and was answered in the same kind and conciliatory spirit, as appears from the following correspondence:

The period having arrived, which was deemed by the undersigned a_ proper time for a separation from your ancient and excellent association, we cannot take our farewell of you without expressing our regret and affection, and reassuring you that our action proceeds only from necessities. which are beyond our control. The oreat distance of our community from Midway. precludes the possibility of a regular attendance upon the administration of the sanctuary. This sad privation is felt particularly by our aged, our youths and our servants; and the growing prospects of our village demand that we should secure the more constant and permanent influences of pastoral supervision and Sabbath services. And these important ends cannot be properly attained without the organization of a church and the settlement of a minister in our midst.

Thus you have in a tew words our reasons for desiring an association of our own, and we feel persuaded that you wlll appreciate our motives, and regard our action as a peaceful withdrawal for the most worthy ends. We do not leave you to go far hence into a strange country, but as a branch to be nurtured under the shadow of the present vine, a youthful colony to be cherished by a fostering mother, we feel that in' many respects we shall still be one with our parent church ; one in the fond memories, the cherished associations, and the sacred history of the past; one in the commingling dust of our fathers; one in the kindred efforts to build up the kingdom of our Lord and Redeemer, and to transmit to our offspring an open Bible, a pure gospel, an evangelical ministry, an orthodox creed, and an active and spotless church. In taking leave of you, therefore, we earnestly ask your blessing and best wishes, and that you would unite with us in fervently praying that our separation may be overruled to the benefit of both churches, and the promotion of pure religion throughout our bounds.

Thos. Quarterman Reply

To the Walthourville Church and Society, Dear Brethren and Friends: Your communication of the 12th of March, 1855. to the Midway Congregational Society was duly received and acted upon at our annual meeting of last year. A committee was appointed to respond to your letter, which, from some misunderstanding of the committee, they have failed todo. The undersigned have been appointed at our subsequent meeting to respond to your communication, and to express in an especial manner our sincere regret at the apparent neglect. And we would say in the outset, your communication has been received in the very kindest spirit in which it was written, and although we exceedingly regret your separation from us, yet your reasons for so doing are good and sufficient, and apparent to us all, and we do appreciate the motives that prompted you to this action; and as you say, "we do not leave you to go far hence into a strange country, but as a branch to be nourished under the shadow, a youthful colony to. be_cherished by a fostering mother." So we hope we shall ever continue to feel that we are one people. We would therefore bid you God speed and wish to pray that you may become a large and flourishing vine, a pure and Godly church, whose members will feel individually called upon to be actively engaged in their Master's cause, to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And although we may be fighting under different captains and in separate companies, yet we trust we shall be cheered on by the presence of the great Captain of our salvation, until our warfare shall be ended, and we hear the plaudit, 'Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Es Tao

In accordance with the above request thirty-three of the members of Midway church were dismissed to be organized into a separate and independent church.

Those who were thus dismissed met May 19, 1855, to determine what form of government they would adopt, the form of the mother church being Congregational. After a lengthy and exhaustive discussion lasting two hours, the vote was taken which stood: For Presbyterianism, 22; for Congregationalism, 2.

Upon application to the Georgia Presbytery, the church was organized on Friday, July 27, 1855, by a committee of the Presbytery, consisting of Rev.C. C. Jones, D. D., Rev. John Jones and Rev. D. L. Buttolph. There were also present as visitors Rev. John Winn, Rev. Donald Fraser and licentiate R. Q. Mallard.

Ruling Elders

The church was supplied by the Rev. John Jones till the end of the year. On January following, (1856) Rev. R. Q. Mallard, a native of Liberty county, then a licentiate of Georgia Presbytery and temporarily supplying the church at Midway, was ordained and installed their pastor, and so continued to fill the position till October, 1863, when he was called to the pastorate of the Central church at Atlanta. After a short supply by the Rev. R. Q. Way, the Rev. N. P. Quarterman became pastor, and so continued from July, 1866, to April, 1870, when he was called to take charge of. the Anderson Presbyterian church, Savannah. He was succeeded by Rev. J. W. Montgomery, who supplied the church from January, 1871, to April, 1890. He was succeeded by Rey. E. W. Way, who filled the pulpit from December, 1891, to April, 1895, when he resigned the field and removed to Gainesville, Florida. At the time of his resignation the membership of the church numbered seventy-five.

Rev. John Fabian Baker Rev. John F. Baker

After the resignation of Rev. T. S. Winn in 1855, Mr. Buttolph was left the sole pastor of Midway church; and although the Walthourville people had withdrawn, and the field thus largely curtailed, there was still a necessity for a colleague, as there yet remained four different preaching places, viz.: Flemington, Jonesville, Midway and Dorchester, the latter place coming rapidly into competition with Midway on account of its nearness and health, thus furnishing a permanent abode for the citizens in that portion of the county. The church therefore gave a call to Rev. John F. Baker, a native of Liberty county, and son of Mr. John O. Baker, a former deacon of the church, and a graduate of Princeton. Mr. Baker accepted the call and entered upon his labors November, 1855, but remained but about six months, after which he tendered his resignation and removed to Virginia..

The church thus being again left with but one pastor, entered into another election for a co-pastor with Mr. Buttolph. Rev., afterwards Dr., Francis H. Bowman, son of Rev. Francis Bowman, D. D., former pastor of Greensboro, Georgia, church, was chosen. He accepted the position and thus continued co-pastor with Mr. Buttolph for three years, from 1856 to 1859, when he resigned his charge, and after a short time at Greensboro, Alabama, accepted the pastorate of Augusta church, Mt. Sidney, Va., in 1861, where he labored till 1869, when he resigned his position to accept a call to the First Church, Memphis, Tenn., where he labored till his death from yellow fever, October 6, 1873.

Mr. Bowman was a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was born July 9, 1833, connected himself at fourteen years of age with the church at Greensboro, Georgia, of which his father was pastor, graduated at Oglethorpe col- lege in 1850, taught school one year at Mt. Zion academy, and after two years at the University of Virginia and one year at Princeton, was licensed in the fall of 1856, by the Presbytery of Hopewell and soon after ordained and hbecame co-pastor at Midway.

Being pastor of the First Church in Memphis, Tennessee, at the time of the yellow fever in that city, he bravely remained at his post with his people till himself was stricken with the disease. A most remarkable incident happened in connection with his funeral. It was the wish of many of his people that the services should be held in the church, but fortunately wiser counsels prevailed, it not being considered prudent to have a gathering of the people in the stricken district. So the body was borne directly ito the cemetery, and whilst it was being lowered into the grave the whole plastered ceiling of the church fell in, crushing everything beneath. Had the people gone to the church, the result would have been most disastrous. Dr. Bowman was much beloved by his people in Memphis. The church edifice was burned about 1878, and in rebuilding the people put in a memorial window, upon which are inscribed these tender words: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend."

After the resignation of Mr. Bowman, the society at its next annual meeting in March, 1860, elected Rev., afterwards Dr. Donald Fraser, as co-pastor, but he declined the call, thus leaving Mr. Buttolph the third time sole pastor of the church, which position he continued to fill till the secession of the state and the war which soon followed, and even to its close. As the country wasin such a purturbed state and so soon convulsed with the tread of contending armies and so many of her sons engaged in the deadly strife, nothing further was done towards securing a co-pastor, Mr. Buttolph supplying the whole field as best he could. Upon that portion of the country, however, being overrun by the Federal army, a complete estoppel was, for the time being, put upon the church services, and followed with a general demoralization till the close of the war, the unhappy consequences of which only added greater impoverishment and distress to previous disaster.

Complete Desolation

Of the complete desolation that followed upon this inroad _ upon the quiet and peaceable homes of this people, it is truly sad to write. With freedom from the presence of an invading foe, till nearly the close of the war, it was theirs to ex- _ perience all the concentrated bitterness of it in a few weeks.

Just preceding the fall of Savannah December, 1864, Kilpatrick's whole division of cavalry in its circular swing, made the old church, with its sacred precincts, their camping ground for six weeks, with the usual accompanying destruction, terror and alarm, private houses being rudely entered, provisions all taken, silverware stolen, horses and stock carried away, and general plunder; fine carriages converted into wagons, by cutting off the upper portions, to bear off slaughtered meat. So great was the consternation and alarm that it became quite common for ladies not to change their dress at night during the entire stay of the Federal army, not knowing at what hour their homes might be invaded. The corner stone, laid December 6, 1852, for a monument in commemoration of the early settlement of the colony, was unearthed and rifled ofits contents. The Southern Florida & Western railroad, running through thecountry from Savannah to southwestern Georgia, having been cut, all the supplies for miles around the church having been taken, with every horse gone, and all the beeves, and pigs and chickens consumed by the Federal soldiers, the people with nothing left and no horses to go after anything, were reduced to the greatest straits. In some instances the destitution was so great that they were compelled to visit some of the abandoned camps of the Federals and gather up the shattered corn left upon the ground where the horses had been fed. There were but two things that saved them from utter starvation: the one was the barns filled with corn in the district known as ''the Desert,"' a small but rich section, surrounded with "Blue Clay'' swamp, which the Federal soldiers undertook to cross, but miring into it with their ponderous wagons, they thought it best not to undertake a

_ second trip. The other was that the rice raised on several of the farms were still standing in the ricks, which the negroes assured their visiting friends would choke their horses if fed upon it, and as they had ''no way to hull it," as they said, these were left untouched. These fortuitous cireum- ~ stances left some things for some of the people at least to feed upon. But I forbear speaking further on this subject.

I cannot, however, let this opportunity pass without paying a deserved tribute to the fidelity of the colored people of Liberty county. Like their brethren throughout the entire south, many of them displayed the greatest devotion to their masters. Instead of forsaking them in the time of their virtual imprisonment, when they could leave their homes only at the risk of life and destruction of property, these people, like the ravens of old feeding Elijah, would go out in | search of, and regularly bring them meals, whence they knew not, and without which kind service, it is hard to tell to what straits they would have been reduced. Let this and all similar acts of the colored people never be forgotten, but sink deep into the hearts of the Southern people.

Flemington Church

The disasters of the war soon brought about a second dis- - memberment of the old church. The same reasons impelled the Flemington people as those of Walthourville, only in a greater degree, to seek a church organization of their own. They were so reduced and poverty stricken that no other alternative was left them. It was either that or no church privileges, for even if the church services should be kept up at Midway, not one in ten could possibly attend. In view, therefore, of the situation, though reluctantly, a second application for dismemberment was made, resulting in the withdrawal of the Flemington people. In accordance with the request seventy persons living in and around Flemington were dismissed from Midway for the purpose of a separate organization. Following theexampleof Walthourville, they adopted the Presbyterian form of government and were, on application to the Presbytery of Georgia, duly elected into church, being assisted in his work by Rev. R. Q. Andrews, Methodist minister employed as missionary to the negroes, by the executors of Lamberts' estate.

At the end of 1867, the country being so impoverished and the people so reduced as to be unable to support a pastor, Mr. Buttolph reluctantly severed his connection with the Midway and Flemington people and removed to Marietta, Georgia, to which place he had been called as pastor.

Rev. David Lyman Buttolph was born at Norwich, N. Y., December 24, 1822. He was the son of David Buttolph, a lawyer. His mother was a Miss Lyman, a close relative of Dr. Lyman Beecher. He graduated at Williams College in 1845 and Columbia Seminary in 1852 in the class with the writer, was licensed the same year by Charleston Presbytery at Beech Island, and soon afterwards ordained to the full work of the ministry and for two years was assistant to ._ Dr. Thomas Smyth, then pastor of the Second Presbyterian church, Charleston, S. C., whence he removed to Midway. On the tenth of June, 1856, he was united in marriage to Miss Laura E. Maxwell, the great granddaughter of Col. James Maxwell, one of the early settlers of the county. In 1879 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the University of Georgia. When Gen. Hood retreated from before Gen. Kilpatrick and crossed the Altamaha river, Dr. Buttolph, who was with the army, hearing of the burning of the station house at McIntosh, and also that they had possession of Flemington, left the army, and after making a long circuitous detour, reached his home on Sunday night, which he approached with the greatest caution, having employed the services of a colored man as a guide, who went before him with the understanding that should he meet a picket, he would fall upon the ground and thus signal the fact to him. He was permitted to remain unmolested after being arrested and examined, and after being robbed of his gold watch by one of the Federal soldiers.

David L. Buttolph, D.D.

thirteen years, greatly beloved and respected by all, he removed as above indicated to Marietta, in the fall of 1867, and where he labored as pastor till April, 1888, when from which was accepted. Upon returning health Dr. Buttolph accepted the charge of a group of churches around Marietta, still making that place his home, and which he has supplied with the greatest acceptance.

After the retirement of Dr. Buttolph December, 1867, the Flemington church was supplied fortwo years and more, from January, 1868, to April, 1870, by Rev. N. P. Quarterman and afterwards by Rev. J. W. Montgomery for twenty years, from November, 1870, to the spring of 1891, when he removed to Texas, where he is still laboring as pastor of the church at Giddings.

In 1893 Mr. C. C. Carson, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Holston and a native of Tennessee, was ordained and installed pastor of the two associated churches of Flemington and Blackshear, which field he still fills.

Dorchester Church

On account of the withdrawal of the Walthourville and Flemington people, and abandonment of so many of the winter homes and farms, and the general dispersion and impoverishment of the inhabitants, caused by the war, the few families, some fifteen or twenty in all, composing the village of Dorchester, were about all that, was left of the white membership of the old church; the village of Jonesville the last of the summer retreats being hopelessly broken up, with the wreck of the farms, its location rendering it unfit for a place of permanent residence. In their isolated condition nothing was left the Dorchester people but to seek an organization of theirown. In imitation of Walthourville and Flemington, having a house of their own built several years before, and after a vear's supply by Rev. N. P. Quarterman, who was also minister to the other two places, and accordingly were organized January 6, 1871, into a church of fourteen members, with one ruling elder, by acommittee consisting of Rev. N. P. Quarterman, Rev. C. B. King and Elder Ezra Stacy; Elder E. J. Harden, the other member of the committee, being absent.

Ruling Elder

The church was supplied by Rev. J. W. Montgomery, who also preached at Flemington and Walthourville churches from 1871 to 1881, by Rev. R. Q. Baker from 1881 to 1882, then again by Rev. J. W. Montgomery from 1882 to 1893, and Rev. E. W. Way from spring 1893 to 1895, and Rev. L. T. Way, from January 1, 1896, to the present. Present membership (1898) forty-nine.

Final Dissolution

From the organization of the Dorchester church, 1871, may be reckoned the final dissolution of the Midway Congregational church, though virtually extinct even as early as the removal of Dr. Buttolph in the fall of 1867. The church was never formally dissolved, but simply exhausted itself by removals and repeated colonization. After the removal of Dr. Buttolph, the building was left in the hands of the colored members, who continued to use it and who were the next year, 1868, organized-into a separate Presbyterian church, with 600 members, by Rev. Joe Williams, a minister of their own color, the last annual meeting of the society being December, 1865, and the last record in the Sessi on Book being October, 1867.

Thus, after one hundred and thirteen years, this old church, venerable with years and abundant in fruit, yielding to the stern demand of an imperious necessity, laid aside her armor and drawing around her the drapery of her couch, laid herself down to rest.

Cteapter Vie

Having thus taken a general and rapid survey of this people, I desire more particularly to give some sketches of their inner and home life - some of their noble deeds, and some of their great men. This was truly a wonderful people if you consider their fewness in number in connection with the work they have done, and the influence they have exerted over the country and the world. The colony was not a large one by any means at first, and for a long time not more than three hundred and fifty whites all told, with an average church membership of not exceeding one hundred and fifty during the greater period of its existence, and yet in the end we will see what have been their achievements. The governors, signers of the Declaration of Independence, the number of counties named, the number of ministers and ministers' wives, missionaries, presidents and professors of institutions of learning, scientists, teachers, and men and women of influence, furnished by this little colony, are truly marvelous.

Though engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits, they were unusually intelligent and refined. Bartram tells of his going in company with "several of its polite inhabitants" from Sunbury, to attend a meeting at Medway. Ofthe home of

Hon. Benjamin Andrews, one of them, he speaks as the "seat of virtue, where hospitality, piety and philosophy formed the happy family.''! So Rev. Archibald Simpson, when on a visit to the church, speaks of the congregation as "large and genteel.'"'? These people have always been the friends and patrons of education as the long list of ministers, professors, teachers, scientists and prominent citizens going out from them abundantly attest. Their interest in this cause manifested itself even in Carolina in the formation of the Dorchester and Beech Hill Alphabet Society, not later per- - haps than 1740, and which was perpetuated in what was known as the Midway and Newport Library Society, and thus continuing for over one hundred years. This Society at one timé had a library of about five hundred volumes.*

Their interest in education further appears from the fact that at an early day, as early as 1788, a school of high classical character was established at Sunbury, and attained great celebrity under the management of Dr. Wm. McWhir.4 The beneficial results of this institution to the state were incalculable, as students came from different parts of the country, especially up and down the coast; the same also appears from the number of prominent ministers and men going out from its walls.

In 1798, in addition to the Board of Commissioners which had been Hee ee some time before, consisting of James Dunwoody, Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve, Peter Winn, Daniel Stewart, and Thos. Stevens, a committee was appointed consisting of James Powell, Benjamin Law, Henry Wood, John Stacy, John Warren, Simon Fraser, James Cochran, Thos. Bradwell, and Rev. Mr. Cloud, a Methodist minister, '"'to determine on some proper mode to establish an academy for the county.'"' At asubsequent meeting John Elliott of James Powell and Rev. Mr. Cloud. A school was soon afterwards established at Newport, mention being made of an appropriation of "glass to glaze the windows," but whether this was the one contemplated in the above action _ Iam not able to say. In addition to these, other schools were soon established first at Midway and afterwards at Walthourville, Flemington and Jonesville, and later on at Dorchester, to say nothing about those started in other parts of the county, under the influence and stimulus of these, as at Riceboro, Hinesville, Connouchee Bluff, and Taylor's Creek. Major John Winn taught for awhile at Midway, and Mr. Edward Pyn- _ cheon for a long time had a flourishing academy, male and female, at Walthourville, so Mr. John B. Mallard later on at the same place; Mr. Samuel Varnedoe, at Jonesville; Mr. - Samuel Mallard and others, at Flemington, and Col. James _S. Bradwell, at Hinesville. Hon. A. H. Stephens also at one time taught for awhile in the family of Mr. Louis LeConte's, near Jonesville. These schools were all first-class in every particular, the teachers being graduates. As the result, the children were all well taught and had every facility for ac- ' quiring a first-class education without ever leaving home. They were also a patriotic people. In attestation of this I need only point to the illustrious name which the county bears, and which was conferred by the unanimous . voice of the state. When the parishes were changed into counties by the constitutional convention which met in - Savannah in 1777, all the other counties were named in hon- _or of distinguished Englishmen, friends of America. Thus, Chatham was named in honor of the elder Pitt, the Earl of Chatham and friend of American liberty. Richmond, after the Duke of Richmond, another friend, who so nobly advocated - the cause of American freedom in the House of Lords. Ef fingham, after Lord Efingham, who refused to employ his sword against America. Burke, after the great Commoner

E ___ cing all the ceded lands north of the Ogeechee, after John x Wilkes, the avowed friend of American Independence. But 'this one was named in honor of her own self and in com- the great zeal of this people in the cause of Independence, that the name of the parish of St. John, in connection with those of St. Andrews and St. James, was changed by - the legislature to the county of Liberty; and if any people ever deserved to have patriotic devotion to their country's cause embalmed in their county's name, it was this. They were the first to assert their independence and the last to surrender to British supremacy, Sunbury being the last military post upon whose ramparts floated the colonial flag when the province was overrun in 1778. While the rest of the parishes were parleying and dallying, she resolved to act, ''the irresolution of fear,'' as Dr. Stevens expressed it, "having co place in her decided councils."' Withdrawing from the provincial congress on account of their halting and dalliance, she sought connection with the Charleston association through a petition sent by a committee appointed at Midway February 9, 1775, and consisting of Daniel Roberts, Samuel Stevens, and Joseph Wood. Being refused admission into the Carolina association, she resolved to act for herself, and in advance of the rest of the province, sent her own representative, Dr. Lyman Hall, to the continental congress at Philadelphia in 1775, and who, it is said, went allthe way on horseback.1 No wonder Governor Wright, in his letter to Secretary Germain, speaks of the inhabitants of St. John's Parish as a "nest of Oliverians, most of whom would go back again as soon as their crops would be reaped in Carolina.2. Dr. Stevens did not overdraw the picture, when he said in his eloquent address before the Georgia Historical Society : . "Alone she stood, a Pharos of Liberty in England's most loyal Province, renouncing every fellowship that savored not ot freedom, and refusing every luxury which contributed to ministerial coffers. With a halter around her neck and the gallows before her eyes, she severed herself from surrounding associations and cast her lot, while as yet all was gloom and darkness, with the fortunes of her country, to live with her rights, or die in their defense. Proud spot of Georgia soil! Well does it deserve the appellation

1. Dr. Hall was elected by this Parish March 21, 1775, and received May 13th of the same year, as "a delegate from the Parish of St. John's of the Province of Georgia," and allowed to deliberate, but not to vote when the vote was taken by Provinces, as he represented only a Parish. He was regularly chosen July 7th as the representative of the whole Province, and in company with Button Gwinnett, another representative, and trom the same Parish, signed the Declaration of Independence.

which a grateful state conferred upon it, and truly may we say of its sons in _ the remembrance of their patriotic sacrifices: 'Nothing was wanting to their _ glory ; they were wanting to ours.'''1

She had her full share of representatives on the committee drafting the resolutions for adoption at the famous meeting at Tondees' Tavern in Savannah August 10, 1774, and which has been styled the 'birthplace of freedom in Georgia."' She gave of her sons, furnishing her full quota of officers and men, sending at an early day two volunteer companies, the "St. John's Rangers" and the ''St. John's Riflemen.'' She was the first to offer upon the altar of her country in the cause of freedom, a commissioned officer of any prominence (Gen. Screven). The Midway people were the only community that sent a letter of congratulation to General Washington on his visit to Georgiain 1791. She still exhibits the same military spirit in the maintenance of two cavalry companies, one of which, ''The Independent Troop,'' has been perpetuated since just after the war of the Revolution, being the oldest cavalry and the second oldest military company in the state, the Chatham artillery outranking them by a few vears, they being organized in 1786, while the Droop were not organized till 1791 or 1792.° The other company, the ''Liberty Guards,'' was organized in the upper portion of the county in 1845, commanded by Captain Enoch Daniel, and kept up ever since. These companies have never failed to offer their services, when demanded by their country, or ever failed to win laurels on every knighted field. In the state tournaments the Liberty Troop have usually borne off if not all, at least their full share of the offered prizes. The interest and enthusiasm on the part of the members are kept up, in a large measure, by the interest manifested by the people. These companies have always occupied prominent positions on Fourth of July celebrations and other public occasions. Their drills and parades have always awakened enthusiasm among the citizens, which no doubt have largely contributed to their perpetuation. I know of no other county, purely agricultural, in this or any other state that maintains two military companies of volunteers. . They also possessed and exhibited in a very pleasing degree all the noble elements of social life. They were neigh- - borly and friendly. Ina great degree shut out from the rest of the world, they married and intermarried to such an extent that almost everybody became related to everybody else, and became as one large family, with associations of the greatest neighborly freedom and confidence. They were hospitable and kind. There were few houses, if any, where the worthy traveler could not spend the night without the payment of a single cent. Unable to live upon the farms on account of health, and therefore with a good deal of gentlemanly leisure, and in some instances of means, though of. no great wealth, they indulged a good deal in hunting and outside sports in the day time and devoting much of the evening to family reunions and to rehearsing the events of the day, or repeating incidents of former times. The writer remembers well with what interest he would listen to the marvelous stories and legends, of military prowess ~ and exploits, told by the older people, concerning ''Bob"' Sallett and other remarkable characters of the revolution; and for the same reason, any ''good joke'"' upon any one would surely be carefully treasured up as ''stock in trade,' and in due time was certain to receive proper ventilation. They were a temperate people. Though living in a malarial country, and where they might easily offer the modern plea of health for the use of alcoholic liquors, in accordance too with the common idea of the early settlers of the province, "that everybody knew the water,'' according to Tailfer, "needed qualifying," yet they were remarkably abstemious. Liberty county has ever been ranked with the prohibition counties, and has always, and ahead of all others, had local legislation on the subject. The writer remembers being at a gathering of young people one Christmas, when a proposition for an eggnog was made ; upon the suggestion of one of the young ladies, cologne was substituted for whiskey, there being no spirits to be had in the whole country. So I find very few cases of church discipline in the records for this

- quart, but the moral sentiment was always such that a man who would engage in the traffic even under this restriction, always felt that the avocation placed him considerably below par in the estimation of the people.

'They were a liberal people. The employment of two ministers, with a salary of $1,000 each, too clearly shows that = the contributions to all the benevolent causes were in like _proportion. As an instance of this we need only mention to the present, a large proportion of the young people being able to sing by note; the interest being kept up by weekly meetings at some central house in each neighborhood du- 'ring some night in the week for practice.

_~ But it was especially in their religious life and conduct that their character shone most conspicuously. They were emphatically a godly people, as appears from the fre- had the first settlers landed before they commenced the erection of a house of worship, and their zeal and devotion only increased with the flight of years. It was customary and also expected that everybody in attend those services, public sentiment demanding such at-_ tendance. To stay away was to sink in the scale of re spectability. The writer remembers but one man in his day unusual in the early settlement of anew country, and irrespective of the weather, though they had no means of warming the house. In the absence 'of the minister these services" were conducted by one or more of the deacons. The practice which commenced at an early day and afterwards obtained in all the retreats and kept up in some of them to absence of the minister, is worthy of note. After the settlement of the retreats, there being five places of worship and only: two ministers, and Midway claiming the service of one every Sabbath through the winter months, there could preaching. I give it as my own experience that I have in my rearing heard fully as many sermons read by laymen as preached by ministers. Where do you find the parallel to this in the annals of any other church? On account of the distance of so many of the families from the church, cold lunches were served for dinner, the different families resorting to the various little houses built around the church for

The bell would ring at eleven o'clock, the congregation would assemble, the minister would preach, or if it was "reading day,' the deacon would read a sermon; then an intermission of one hour for refreshment, after which the congregation would again assemble at the ringing of the bell to hear another sermon from the minister or deacon. The congregation would be finally dismissed about four o'clock and quietly return to their homes, reaching them late in the afternoon, when after catechetical exercises (in many of the homes) the family would retire. 1. These houses were erected at a very early date. To a stranger the church, surrounded with some thirty and more of these little houses,' framed and covered with boards, presented quite a singular and unique appearance.

_ The same customs also at the retreats. There were arbors _ erected at Walthourville and Flemington. At Jonesvilleand Dorchester, the houses being more compactly built, there was no necessity for these booths or arbors. In later years

8 the practice of remaining at the church during recess was Ss _ abandoned at all these places, it being more convenient for _ the families to return to their homes for dinner, but, all re- 4 turning to afternoon service.

Ss But in nothing did their piety more conspicuously display ___ttself than in their careful and conscientious training of their x children. They were great believers in the Abrahamic covea nant, and the duty to consecrate their children unto the .__Lord in baptism; even outsiders, in some instances, asking q the privilege. Their record shows that the practice at first was well nigh universal. They felt that they themselves and all they had belonged to the Lord, and therefore at a : very early age they presented their children unto the Lord, in the ordinance of baptism, and at the same time recognizing the responsibility assumed in such a service, they manifested their great concern for their spiritual welfare, in the ___ efforts they made to bring them to the Savior. They did = : not, as in these latter days, go to church themselves, and leave them at home or allow them to roam about on the Lord's day, but always carried their children with them to the house of the Lord. Mention is made in the records even of "children in the lap."'

And they not only carried their children with them, but required them to sit with them in the same pew, that they might be under their immediate care and supervision. Nothing contributed more to the good and orderly behavior at church than the practice adopted at the beginning, of raising

. the pastors' salary by renting the seats. Each family had its own pew, the father occupying one end and the mother the other, with the children between; and nothing was more beautiful. They emphatically worshipped by families, carrying out the order of the march of Israel through the wilderness, ''every man under the ensign of his father's house.'"* dren in Egypt, so this people were unwilling to leave their little ones behind them, but insisted on taking them along with them; as all the families of Israel, including their children, were baptized into Moses as their leader, by the deliyerance at the sea; as they all stood together, parents and children, and were sprinkled by Moses with the hyssop the:borders of the land, at the renewal of the covenant, express mention being made of ''the little ones," and as they - all entered, parents and children, into the portion of the land on the east side of Jordan, typical of the part of Christ's kingdom in Heaven, so these people felt and believed that their children should go along with them, and as children of the covenant, should be baptized into Christ as their leader. It was not until later years, when departing from the simplicity of the faith of their fathers, and after the introduc- - tion of a foreign element, that we find the duty to be neg- - lected by some, and the necessity of the Session calling attention to the neglect and insisting upon their return to their former practice. ;

As the result of all this faithful training, and confirmed and supported too by parental example, the children grew up as they were taught, having due respect for everything sacred. In no community was there greater veneration for the minister, the sanctuary, the ordinances of God's house, and that veneration was seen in all directions; respect was shown the aged; the children were trained up with gravity

Hence the short sittings of the circuit court, seldom occupying the whole of the two days allowed by the calendar. I do not now recall a single act of violence or murder trial in my raising. I doubt if the records of the courts, confined strictly to the Midway people and their descendants, will show a single homicide or murder during the entire history of the church. Only train the children right, make them

] vanity or ostentation that none, at least in this southern latitude, Lus in all the great moral elements mee a really substantial and happy ty. "If these consist in Obedience to, and reverence for, the laws tual confidence Peeeeen citizens, in warm social affections, in the kindest _ ourse, in a hospitality simple and easy. but without ostentation or in brotherly love one for another, in a surface everywhere dotted ~ no through past time, as she now is, a model and example to her - ounties of Georgia. And it may not be too much to say that her as indeed and in truth been felt, and as the jnstenon has de-