Spartanburg County, South Carolina - Chapter 7: A General Review of the Progress of the Christian Religion in Spartanburg County, During the 19th Century, 1900

Chapter 7: A General Review of the Progress of the Christian Religion in Spartanburg County, During the 19th Century

In searching the pages of history as to the spread of the Christian religion in Spartanbnrg connty dnring the 19th centnry, the first revival occnrring, which we find recorded, as attracting special interest was within the bounds of the Nazareth (Presbyterian) Clinrch, which was held under the auspices of the Second Presbytery of South Carolina. The precise place of this meeting is said to have been at Poplar Springs, and it made its remarkable appearance Friday, July 2d, 1802. It is stated that while the District of Spartanburg contained at that time no less than twelve thousand souls, there were at the meeting of this Presbytery some four or five thousand people, mainly from the districts of Union, York, Laurens and Greenville, but there were also members attending from the districts of Pendleton, Abbeville, Chester and Newberry, and some from the counties of Greene, Jackson, Elbert and Franklin, in the State of Georgia.

This great meeting and revival was attended and |)articipated in by not only Presbyterians, but by Baptists and Methodists as well, and was conducted on the old camp-meeting style, and the camp was pitched in a beautiful grove on one of the branches of the Tyger River, "and being" says a writer, "in a vale, which lay between two hills, o-entlv inclinino- towards each other and verv suitably adapted for this purpose."

Presbyterian preachers, viz.: Messrs. Simpson, Cummins, Davis, Cunningham, Wilson, Waddel, Williamson, Brown, Kenedy, Gilleland Sr., McElhaney, Dixon, Gilleland Jr.^ and quite a number of Methodists and Baptists.

The most interesting account of this great revival of religion in our county, we find contained in a letter written by Ebenezer H. Cummins, dated "Abbeville, S. C, July 7th, 1802" (nearly 98 years ago), which the reader will find in full by referring to Howe's History of the Presbyterian Church of South Carolina, Vol. 11. (See page 131.)

Says this writer : "I have just returned from Nazareth, where I have seen and heard things which no tongue can tell, no pen can paint, no language can describe, or of which no man can have a just conception until he has seen, heard and felt." After describing the services of the first day, which was taken up in encampment until 2 o'clock, the writer goes on to further say, that "the evening was spent in singing and prayer alternately. About sundown the people were dismissed to their respective tents. By this time the countenances of all began to be shaded by the clouds of solemnity and to assume a very serious aspect. At 10 o'clock two young men were lying speechless, motionless and sometimes to all appearance, except in the mere act of breathing, dead. Before day five others were down. These I did not see. The whole night was employed in reading and commenting upon the Word of God ; and also in singing, praying and exhorting ; scarcely had the light of the morning sun dawned upon the people ere they were engaged in what we call family worship, the adjacent tents collecting in groups here and there all around the whole line. The (central) place of worship was early repaired to, by a numerous throng.

Divine service commenced at eight, by one of the Methodist brethren, whom I do not recollect. He was followed by the Rev. Wm. Shackelford, of the Baptist profession. Singing, praying and exhorting, by the Presbyterian clergymen continued until two o'clock, when .an intermission of some minutes was granted that the people might refresh themselves with water, etc. By this time the audience became so numerous that it was impossible for all to crowd near enough to hear our speaker, although the ground rising above the stage, theatrically, afforded aid to the voice. Hence the assembly divided, and afterwards preaching was performed at two stages." It would consume too much time and space to recount here, as described, all scenes that transpired at this great revival meeting and the great power, force and effect of the preaching to the vast multitude assembled, the grace imparted, and the great spiritual good resulting therefrom.

"I cannot but say that the parting was one of the most moving and affecting scenes which presented itself throughout the whole. Families, who had never seen each other until they met on the ground, would pour iorth in tears of sympathy like streams of waters ; many friendships were formed and many attachments contracted which, although the persons may never meet again, shall never be dissolved. Not one quarter of an hour before I mounted my horse to come away, I saw one of the most beautiful sights which ever mortal beheld. It would not only have afforded pleasure to the plainest observer, but the profoundest philosopher would have found it food for imagination. The case to which I allude was the exercise of Miss Dean,* one of the three

* This lady afterwards became the wife of ' ' Sheriff Sam ' ' Miller, and the mother of General Joel W. and Dr. Pinckney Miller, both known and popular citizens of Spartanburg county. 7 h sc sisters who fell near the close of the work. Her reflections presented mostly objects of pleasure to her view. But sometimes, for the space of a minute, she would lose them, the consequence of which was painful distress. By the very features of her face I could see the afflictive sensations approached as plain as I ever saw the sun's light obscured by the overpassing clouds. In her happy moments she awakened in my recollection Milton's lovely picture of Eve when in a state of innocence."

" Another extraordinary case occurred at the very moment of departure. Two young men disputing, one for, the other against, the work, referred their contest to a clergyman of respectability, who happened to be passing that way. He immediately took hold of the hand of the unbeliever, and thus addressed him : ' If you were in your heart's desire to wait on the means of grace, God would show you the truth. You may expect mercy to visit you ; but remember, my hand for it, it will cost you something ; a stroke would now come at a successless hour.' Scarcely had the words dropped from his lips, when a man on the ground pleading for an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and begging pardon of God for dishonoring him and the cause of religion through unbelief. I understood the man to be a pious man and his hesitations of a religious and conscientious kind. The other men who had been in the crowd, where many had been lying under the operations of the work, attempted to run off. One, leaving his hat in haste, ran about twenty or thirty paces and fell on his face. His shrieks declared the terrors of anguish^ under which he labored. The other ran a different course about fifty yards and fell."

"The number of those stricken could not be ascertained, but I believe it to be much greater than any one would conceive. On Sabbath night, about twelve or one o'clock, I stood alone on a spot whence I could see and hear all over the camp, and found that the work was not confined to one, two or three places, but over- spread the whole field, and in some large crowds the ground appeared almost covered. In the course of one single prayer, of duration of about ten minutes, twelve persons fell to the ground, the majority of whom declared, in terms audible and explicit, that they never prayed before."

How long the annual camp-meeting continued under the auspices of the Second Presbytery of South Carolina, we are not advised ; but as the Presbytery met from year to year in other sections within its bounds, it is reasonable to suppose, from the good results already attained, that they were continued for many years.

In Logan's ' ' History of the Broad River ' ' and "King's Mountain" Associations, and in Griffith's " Life of Landrum," we have accounts of a great revival of religion in 1831, Says the latter writer :

" In August, 1 83 1, the Saluda Association convened with the Brushy Creek church, eight miles from Greenville C. H., and during the meeting there began a revival of religion, which for extent and duration has hardly a parallel in the history of revivals.

" Several circumstances connected with the beginning of this revival are worthy of notice. One was the death of Rev, Lewis Rector, which took place a short time before the commencement. Lewis Rector was a man far ahead of the age in which he lived. It is said that he had the hillsides of his farm ditched thirty years before hillside ditching became generally known and practiced in his part of the country. He was a man of powerful intellect and unquestionable piety. He had preached in the section of country lying along the base of the Blue Ridge and extending as far south as the counties of Laurens, Newberry and Union, with all the powers of his great mind and with all the fervor of his warm, devoted heart, ever since about the year 1800 ; but to those who judged by the immediate fruits, his preaching had seemed almost in vain, yet the good old man, strong still in the faith, looked out into the unexplored future, and just before he died, cried out as if filled with a spirit of prophecy : ' A great revival of religion is near at hand. I have labored and prayed -for it, but I shall not live to see it.' As Moses from the top of Pisgah looked over upon the sweet fields of Canaan, so, from the last mount of earthly affliction, lyCwis Rector caught a sight of the coming harvest.

" Another circumstance connected with the beginning of this revival, was a strange phenomenon in nature. The rays of the sun were dimmed by a dark spot on his disk, visible to the natural eye, and men who were not alarmed felt humbled, as under the finger of God, when they saw the pale, sombre hue that rested on the whole face of creation. The preachers, who were at that time meeting at Brushy Creek, eager to lay hold of every means adapted to the awakening and humbling of sinners, made happy and forcible allusions to the surrounding scene. Several preachers were there from Georgia, who had recently been in a great revival at home, and all things being seemingly ready, the work began. Landrum was then a young man and a stranger. But he was appointed to preach, and he did preach with a power that astonished his hearers, and caused the most hardened sinners to treinble. The meeting closed on the fourth day, but the revival extended to other parts of the country and continued with little or no abatement for three years. During these years men and women Tode on horseback fifteen, twenty, and frequently as far as twenty-five miles, to hear the gospel preached ; the preachers went from house to house, preached from stands in the woods, and often when these rude accommodations were wanting, stood under the spreading oak hy the roadside and ' reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come.' It is difficult now to state the precise result of this revival. Within an area of twenty-five miles square, thirteen new churches were formed, while the old ones were filled to overflowing. It is safe to estimate that during the whole period there were added to these churches between two and three thousand souls. Nor was the great work confined to the ignorant and excitable ; the best material in the country was gathered into the folds of the church and a new era dawned upon the Baptists of Upper Carolina."

"In the year 1831 Landnim and others began to preach in the town of Spartanburg. Spartanburg now (1882) numbers between five and six thousand inhabitants and boasts of its complement of churches, schools and colleges, but at that time there were but three Baptists out of a population of a thousand or fifteen hundred, in the whole town. One account says there was but one professor of religion, and that lady was upwards of seventy years of age.* But Mr. James Harris and wife, who still survive, were members of the Baptist Church at that time, and there were probably a few others of other denominations scattered over the town. But there was not a single house of worship and no church organization of any kind. If there were more than the number stated, pledged to the service of Jesus Christ, they were hidden away in the multitude not to be known by their fruits. How the people spent their Sabbaths with no 'Church-going bell' to summon them to worship ; what were the influences brought to bear upon the young; what was the character of the amusements and employments of a thousand people in the absence of Sunday-schools, benevolent societies and all religious influences, we are left only to imagine.

"But the influence of the revival started at Brushy Creek soon began to be felt, not definitely at first, but vaguely and mysteriously. The manifestations were allied to those of presentiment - that unaccountable feeling, which sometimes weighs heavily upon the heart and which, 'men say, heralds the approach of mighty events. An observer would have been struck at first with an air of restlessness, worn by those he met ; he would have seen that restlessness then settle into a deep

* The person referred to here was Mrs. Rebecca Earle, wife of Col. John Earle, and grandmother of the late Hon. John Earle Bomar. She was married twice ; her first husband being Col. John Wood, who was murdered by "Bloody Bill" Cunningham and his band, for an account of which the reader is referred to the "Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper published by the writer.

solemnity, pervading the entire community, and he would have sought in vain for the cause of any outward circumstances or condition. It was the troubling of the waters of the pool of Bethesda by the angel of God.

"When Landrum first began to visit the town he preached from the judge's stand in the Court House ; afterward he stood under the branches of a great oak near by and preached to large congregations, so uncomfortably situated that nothing but the intense interest of the occasions could have held them together. So thrilling were the scenes that transpired here, that the spot became enshrined in the hearts of the people, and some were known to shed tears when they visited it many years after the scenes by which it was hallowed had passed away. Samuel Gibson and Thomas Ray, of the Baptist, Micheal Dickson, of the Presbyterian, and Charles Smith of the Methodist Church, all took part in these meetings under the oak, and their labors laid the foundations of the present Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches of Spartanburg.

"At one time, too, during the year 1832, Rev. John Watts, of the Methodist Church, and Rev. John G. Landrum, held a joint meeting in the Court House at which meeting twenty-two persons united with the Baptists, and a considerable number with the Methodists. The preachers would alternately give opportunities for converts to unite with the denominations of their choice and all worked together in perfect harmony."

The Rev. John Watts was living in Greenville county (1882), near Sandy Flat. During this year the writer received a letter from his daughter, Miss Sallie Watts. In referring to her father, who was then bowed down with age and infirmities, she wrote : "Even the state of the revival in Spartanburg has escaped my father's memory. However, the fact exists clearly in his mind that the Rev. John G. Landrum joined Rev. Armstrong, Rev. Dr. Lewis and himself on the second or third day of the meeting and labored with zeal and power, both on the stand and around the altar. ^'

Many of the converts at the meetings just mentioned went to Mount Zion and Bethlehem, about seven miles from town, and became members of those churches. Among those who connected themselves with the former, were Maj. Hosea J. Dean and Dr. Robert Young.

In our researches we gather further information of the preaching and revival meetings referred to. Under the head of "Kentucky Correspondence" to the Spartan^ by Rev. Joseph Cottrell, we find the following paragraph :

"I have been to church since writing the above, and now, before dinner call, I'll pen a little mention of names of preachers, who, in Spartanburg, ministered Ho us boys' effectively. Bond English^ Gamewel'l, J. W. Wheeler, Durant, Walker (father of Charlie), and Clough Beard were the Methodists ; Holmes, the Presbyterian \ Landrum and the Drs. Curtis from Limestone Springs, Baptists. These were the preachers who held sway by the mystic wand of spirit and vocation over the youth of the town."

Among the material which we have preserved, to form a part of the contents of this volume, is an old letter written by Samuel F. Hill' to Miss Elizabeth Wright, dated "Carrolton, Pickens county, Ala., August 21st, 1874." After Miss Wright had been dead about a dozen years, the letter referred to was found among her papers and published in the Spartan. Mr. Hill writes as follows :

"Many a day has passed since last I saw you, and many a change has occurred. The older citizens have nearly all passed away, and many of the young. Little did I think when I gave you the parting hand, at Mr. Joseph Michals', that you would ever recover ; neither did Dr. Vernon, with whom I visited you, but God in his great wisdom has spared you thirty-four years longer, no doubt, for a wise and good purpose.

"Thousands upon thousands of times have I thought of the little church as it started, and our little prayermeeting as it was in 1838, when there were but yourself and I to pray, and the great principal attendants were Mrs. Gault and some of her family and Mrs. Rowland and some of hers, the whole company comprising about eight or ten persons. Yet these prayer-meetings were meetings of great interest. The next year the Bros. Rowley came and we had the first great ingathering. Bros. Bobo, Henry, D. W. Moore, and many others joined the church. How oft have I referred to that good meeting with pleasant reflection, and never had I stronger faith than at that meeting.

" I have never forgotten the kind visit you made me when I first went to Spartanburg a boy ; when you, learning that I was a member of the church, hunted me up at Mr. Brem's and gave me kind advice. A member of the church of any name was hard to find, there being at that time (1834) only six Baptists, three Methodists and one Presbyterian in the place. I Avas told that if I stayed there twelvemonths I would be wrecked and, for fear, I made no associates for over twelve months, and there being no church and but little preaching my Sabbaths were Sabbaths of solitude, but not alone, for in my solitary hpurs I had frequent visits from the Great Head of the church, and I was permitted to hold sweet communion with my Heavenly Father. I have had frequent occasion to refer to that year as one of the happiest I ever spent, and I attributed, it to my closer walk with God, my frequent communion with Him who always blesses in all our associations with Him.

" I would like to see the church of which I was the first class leader, and talk" with one of its first members. What a change has taken place since then. I look back at that meeting of 1839, and I think of old Brother Hutchings, John Watts, Samuel Armstrong, Joseph Moore and others of the Methodist church, and John G. Landrum, Dr. Lewis and others of the Baptist church, and the great interest manifested, the many tender emotions manifested by almost every one, and my heart swells with gratitude to God. I can see in my imagination Sister Moore, who was the first convert, clapping her hands, and then calling for her husband. It is but yesterday in my imagination.

" There are many interesting recollections connected with that good meeting. I shall never forget my Sabbath-school pupil, John Walker, who professed at that meeting and died the next year. ** * * * * **

"I hope to hear from you, if you can possibly write, and if we nevelr meet on earth, that we will meet in the Haven of rest. Give my kindest regards to any of the old citizens who may be still living in the place.

The late David W. Moore, the party referred to in the above, once related to the writer the circumstances of this revival meeting, of its spirituality, and the deep conviction of sin which overcame him. He was at the time engaged in the saloon business (possibly in connection with the grocery business, as was the case in many instances at that time) in a frame building which stood almost opposite the carriage manufacturing establishment of Fowler & Robinson and very near where the Herald office was located. He stated that he was so thoroughly convinced of the sin and, the sinfulness of the business in which he was engaged, that he determined at once to put an end to the same. In the building referred to, he showed the writer a window^ through which he one night emptied the entire contents of spirituous liquors in his establishment, saving, only some wine;, to be used for. sacramental purposes,, fearing lest, when the .morning came, he would be overio6 History of Spartanburg County.

Mr, Moore, having been converted to the principles of the Christian religion, ever afterwards remained true and faithful, and the subject of religion was always his happiest theme.

The great revivals in the Methodist Church at Spartanburg referred to, in which Mr. Moore and others were converted to the Christian religion, were largely due to "bread which had been cast upon the waters" by a few pioneer ministers of this faith and order who traveled through the present county of Spartanburg a few years before. It will be remembered that the organization of Methodism occurred in Baltimore during the year 1784 - only one year before said county was laid out and organized - and then spread over the Southern States reaching South Carolina and Georgia in 1785; and it was some time during that year or the year following that Bishop Asbury passed through Upper South Carolina, and doubtless through Spartanburg District to Salisbury, N. C. In Shipp's "History of Methodism," it is stated that John Turwell and Henry Willis were sent to South Carolina to form the circuits in the lower and upper portions of said State, and were assisted in so doing by James Foster, especially in forming the Broad River circuit in 1786, which included Spartanburg District (now county). Stephen Johnson also traveled that circuit in that year with Mr. Foster. In 1787 Richard Ivey, John Mason and Thos. Davis were on the circuit, including Spartanburg, and were men of solid parts and of earnest piety who never thought of growing rich by the Gospel - their sole purpose being to grow rich in grace and in saving souls to Christ, thus promoting and advancing the principles of their Church and society.

"In the year 1752 there was born in Pennsylvania a daug:hter to Quaker parents, who, moving to Spartanburg District with that child, wrought a great influence for good in that community and ultimately for the whole district. Being brought up under the example and religious influence of that noted and worthy people, the Quakers, and educated in the best schools of that day, she was prepared to receive the Gospel from the mouths of John Mason and Thomas Davis in 1787, whom she regarded as the proper exponents of the teachings of that Gospel and of her own opinions. They believed that Gospel taught a sound conversion, 'justification by faith,' and she never rested until she attained that true and great position. Shipp's History of Methodism says : ' She traveled for fifteen years the way to Zion alone, her husband and children not giving heed to the teachings of the Gospel and the divine impressions that the Good Spirit always makes, in connection with that Gospel.' In the year 1802, however, they were awakened and converted and brought into the Methodist Church, under the preaching of Lewis Meyers and George Dougherty. That good woman was Martha Lewellyn, the wife of Joseph Wofford, and the mother of Rev. Benjamin Wofford, the liberal founder of Wofford College, in the growing city of his native district of Spartanburg, S. C. That good woman after living to a ripe old age in prayer and usefulness, went to Heaven on the 24th of March, 1826, leaving a gracious influence behind her. She being dead still speaks through her children and grand and great-grandchildren, to her Church and people of her native county. Wofford College, the gift of her noble son, the Rev. Benjamin Wofford, is like, in its gracious influence of a proper religious education, its own stream, the beautiful and fertile Pacolet rising in the mountains not far away and growing larger as it rolls on and making every hill and valley to rejoice that it touches in its onward course to the eternal beyond."* The Wofford family

*The writer is indebted to Rev. James F. Smith, Spartanburg, S. C, for information transmitted herein relating to the introduction and spread of Methodism in Spartanburg county.

' ' There are others - preachers and laymen of the Methodist Church - within the bounds of Spartanburg- District that took up the work and carried it on in their own way and with its irresistible doctrines until, with the help of other denominations, who are likely to take the present large and progressive county of Spartanburg for Christ in a saving, personal and experimental religion. Some of the names of the ministers on the rolls of the past and worthy of perpetuation are the MuUinaxes, * the Gramlings (x^ndrew and John), Postells, Capers, Wheeler, Hutchings, Samuel Armstrong. David Drummond, Donelly, Potter, Rev. Henry Wood (who gave rise to the name Wood''s Chapel) John Watts, Ben Wofford , and others not so prominent whose names we cannot now gather. The laymen, besides the Woffords, Tuckers, Simpson Bobo, Tucks, John Bishop, Adam Gramling, Mack Tinsley, Waters, Fingers, Fosters, Jas. H. Carlisle, and a great host who still live, are pressing on the victories of the Cross in their children - and children's

*At the old Foster's meeting-house place, near Fair Forest, S. C, is to be found the grave of Rev. John Mullinax. The following is the inscription on his tomb :

"Sacred to the memory of Rev. John Mullinax, who was born July 25th, 1769, and died July 14th, 1836, aged 66 years, 11 months and 10 days.

"For the last 33 years of his life he was a devoted heraldof the Cross in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in 4:he hope of a joyful Resurrection. 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lordfrom. henceforth ;.yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; and their works do follow them,'

" The gracious Savior smiles and says well done. Enter my rest,my faithful servant thou ; The strife is o'er, thou hast the victory won. No sin nor sorrow can disturb thee now." .

His wife lies buried beside him. She was a sister of Rev. Benjamin Wofford, founder of Wofford College. The following is the inscription on her tomb : "In memory of Rebecca Mullinax, born August 4th, 1774. Died in great peace July 26th, 1S58. Having lived over 50 years in the communion of the M. E. Church. Her record is on high." - : children. In later days Barnett, Dr. Whiteford Smith, James F. Smith, Wightman, Shipp, Gamewell, Herbert, the Moods, Walkers (Charles and Alexander), the Boyds, J. M. Carlisle, and a great many others - some of whom have gone to receive their reward and others on the way."

The names of the churches over which these preachers ministered and to which these leading laymen belonged in the past are Shiloh, Foster's Meeting House, the two Antiochs, Spartanburg, Tabernacle, Chapel, Liberty, and Cannon's, where is now, and has been for nearly eighty years, the famous camp-meeting ground, the promoter of much of the spread of Methodism and vital piety. Besides these, we would also mention Fingerville, Lebanon, Rocky IMount, Hebron, Walnut Grove, Zoar and Bivingsville. The camp-meetings besides Cannon's were at Shiloh, Bird Mountain (near Landrum) , one near Lebanon Church, one near Pacolet, and one near Fingerville. All these reflected an influence for great good, but none exist now except Cannon's, and but few in the State, mostly in the low country.

The great Scotch preacher, Dr. Chalmers, said of Methodism, "It is Christianity in earnest" ; and it deserves to prevail, with all true religion, as it always will in Spartanburg county.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century we estimate that there were about five hundred persons professing the Christian religion in the original county of Spartanburg. The following brief statistics will show about the present status of the different denominations in said county :

Whites

Note. - During the first half of the nineteenth century the emigration from Spartanburg county to other States largely exceeded the immigration and almost the increase of population during the same time, but these conditions have been reversed during the latter half of said century.