https://johnsonvilleschistory.org/files/original/515fa224a95aed697a8b15a16c74b102.pdf 3129c8952e1a8292b6056858a1e9785a PDF Text Text Vol. 3 No. 18 I Hemingway, S. C., 29554 ,, s • • nsonvz , I lt • IS in al Gr • IS ld Is. ,ct JD ng ry ps Henry Edison Eaddy and Wife :nt • ru- Henry Edison Eaddy is shown with his wife. the former Eliza Higgins. Eaddy was 011e of the founders or the Old Johnsonville Methodist Church and also the Trinity Methodist Church. . - ts. of l's he a gn en up as nd to !el (Editor's Note: This is the third in a series or articles by Mrs. Elaine Eaddy dealing with the history and heritage of some of the early families of the Hemingway-Johnsonville area. Mrs. Eaddy said that she was writing the articles as a Bicentennial project to comme1norate the 200th birthday our our country'.) By E. Y. EADDY • During the Civil War period, tlie community we· now call Johnsonville was known as Buzzard's Roost. The name reflected certain activity which occured at the community's general store and whiskey shop. Gambling .and drunken brawls had given the place a bad name and no selfrespecting woman would enter its environs. But is is said that older male children were occasionally dispatched to Buzzard's Roost to ''bring Daddy Home." Both the character and name of Buzzard's Roost changed in 1870 when a small group of people met with Rev. W. W. Jones under a clump of trees for worship services. The religious revival kindled at that spot was climaxed in July 1872 In the organization ' of Old, Johnsonville Methodist Church. Rev. A. Nettles served as pastor until 1873 when a building was constructed. The site of the new church--the fourth in the area, after Ebenezer at Muddy Creek, Prospect at Prospect and Trinity near Johnsonville--was on the Williamsburg-Florence County line. The deed, recorded in Deed Book NP, pp. 7071, Williamsburg County· Court House, dated Nov. 7, 1873, states in part that "W. J. and Peruria L. Ard his wife for the sum of $20 ... paid by W. J. Haselden: E. Baxley, G. S. B. Huggins, H. E. Eaddy and C. B. Huggins, Trustees ... have granted all that parcel of land situate in the County of Williamsburg ... on the South Side of Muddy Creek, ' bounded by a line commencing thirty five yards south of Muddy Creek Bridge on the Georgetown Road and running East for Eighty fiv.e years thence South for one hundred and forty yards, thence East to the Georgetown Road thence in a Southerly direction along said road to the first i:nentioned ... point, containing one and a half acres .... " One provision of the deed prohibits the use of any part of the land for a cemetery, 'stating, ''And it is ... furiher agreed that there shall be no burial ground on the abo:ve premises." With or without permission from the owners, people of the community were soon burying their dead there, and the Ard Family Cemetery soon became Old Johnsonville. The founders of this church were an unusually able, devout, and ·dedicated group of men. Historically the 1870's were a turbulent and improverished decade, and only such a group as listed above could have succeeded in establishing a new church. The interest of the Haselden family in religion and specifically their devotion to Methodism, were mentioned in the earlier Ebenezer story. · Of the church's founders, Edmund Baxley, born about 1822, was a large land owner who built an unusually fine Georgian house near the present northern town limits of Hemingway. He served the South in the Ci vii War in Company D. Second Regiment of Reserves, transferring to an independent company in 1864 that saw much action in South Carolina defense. The South Carolina Legislature • nsonvz Continued from Page I 'Close to it was a large turpentine still . Th e skimmings from the crude sap were thrown out in a great heap, and when cooled, this dross was as hard as a rock and burned like the fat-test lightwood . There were huge piles of dross and good sized lumps of it were knocked off, placed on scaffolds about waist high and then set ablaze. This gave the brightness of daylight to the scene . ' 'Inside the dining room a regular 8 Pages Wednesday, December 31, 1975 appointed him a Commissioner of Roads in 1863. His brother dying in Confederate service in 1862, he reared a family of nieces and nephews with his own children . Another founder , H. E . (Henry Edison > Eaddy (1832-1912) had been one of the organizers and founders of the earlier Trinity Methodist Church. He had married Eliza Louisa Ann Huggins, the daughter of John Samuel Huggins and Zilphia Ham . This Samuel Huggins was the inventor of the first mechanical cotton planter used in the South and was ·an ordained Methodist minister. H . E . Eaddy , another church founder had fought in the Civil War and had returned home to his ravaged plantation to take up a career as a surveyor, writer, engineer, farmer and legislator. The Eaddys reared a large and talented family . It was H. E . Eaddy who s·upervised construction of the church . · G. S. B. (George Samuel Briley ) Huggins (1831-1914 ) was an ordained Methodist minister from l!n old and, since early colonial days, distinguished South Carolina family. He, too, had participated in the Civil War and was severely wounded in the Second Battle of Manassas . . His wife, the former Elizabeth Timmons, a niece of Henry Edison ·' Eaddy (above) had the plantation slaves hitch mules to a wagon and berself drove the Jong and hazardous distance to Virginia to bring her husband home to recuperate. His letters to his wife and his mother reveal a man of deep faith . He was lamed by his wounds. A contemporary wrote that despite his lameness, he walked the footlogs across Muddy Creek to attend services at Old Johnsonville. A little group 23 men pledged on July oos 29, 1872, amounts varying from $3.00 to $50.00 to build the church. They were L. R. Haselden , H. E . Eaddy, Thomas R . Grier, S. T. Cooper. W. J . Dennis, J . J . Haselden, I. N. Lawrence, D. Cox , J . E . Taylor, C. B. Huggins, B. L. Ferrell , W. M. Haselden , Wm . M. Potter , L. L. Owens, R . F . Cox , Thos. H. Tanner, L. A. Haselden, J . G. Haselden, A. J . Venters, Geo. S. B. Huggins, Wm . J . Haselden, Enos McDaniel , and R •. T . Hugg.ins . Old Johnsonville Methodist Church wa s a uniting forc e in a very trying period and helped to weld isolated neighborhoods into a community with some common aims . One charter member said that it '. 'was the beginning of progress in a countryside that had remained dormant since the Civil War ." In September 1896 the families came together for a church festival , its purpose being to raise funds to purchase a piano. Until that time , a ''tune raiser '' had had to suffice at the struggling church . This social event was held at the home of Stephen Haselden in Johnsonville. It was discribed in some detail by Judity (Grier ) Eaddy to her daughter-in-law , Elizabeth (Waddell) Eaddy, who recorded her mother-inJaw's reminiscences in a manuscript that she entitled ''All in a Lifetime." ''The festival was a lawn party and was held at Uncle Stephen Haselden's . Everybody, young and old, went. The women carried their babies. Most people came in wagons and as it was very warm, the babies were made comfortable on the hay with a quilt spread over it. ''Uncle Stephen's house was just across the road from where the parsonage now stands in Johnsonville. - - . • • Continued to Page Z ' George Samuel Briley Huggins G. S. B. Hug~ins was one of the founders of the Old Johnsonville Methodist Church. Huggins was a11 ordained Methodist minister and veteran of the Civil War . oos nee hot supper was served, turkey and barbecue with all the 'trimmings' at fifty cents a plate. Outside in the light of the beacons were stands where lemonade and little cakes and ice cream were sold. These stands were thronged with customers . until everything was gone. It was the first ice cream ever made in the comqiynity and was considered a great treat. ''The ice was shipped up Black Mingo from Georgetown to the bridge 15' twelve miles from Johnsonville and then brought from the bridge by wagon, half a• day's' trip at least. · • ''The ice cream was made from boiled custard, made with cream and eggs. One egg for every cup of cream was the rule. The custard was poured into fifty pound tin lard cans and covered. These · cans were placed in large zinc or wooden tubs, surrounded by ice and salt and vigorously turned back and forth until it· was froze11 through and through. At intervals the cans had to be opened and the frozen cream around the side scraped off the the whole stirred so it would freeze through and through." About seven years later a graded school, the first in the area, was also established at Old Johnsonville , replacing the one-room school of the past. This will be our next story . • .. • � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Weekly Observer Description An account of the resource The Weekly Observer was published out of Hemingway, SC from 1973 until printing ceased in 2012. The paper continues as an e newpaper on scnow.com Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-2012 Subject The topic of the resource Local Newspaper covering the Johnsonville and Hemingway communities. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Old Johnsonville Once Buzzard's Roost WO 12-31-75 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer News Newspaper Weekly Observer