https://johnsonvilleschistory.org/files/original/099edebd72e8d39ea5a4500904713093.pdf b08faf39f4a2e022886e5e8bfbefbf9a PDF Text Text J•age 10-Tlll-: \\'1':1-: KI,\' <)RSl-:R\'1-:R. llemingway. South c·arolina. Thursday. July X. l!Ji6 • •s NOTE: While the series J'fO~ man Heritage published our ~ks edition of The Weekly 1ast we and entitled ''Early erver Around Rome'' did not ustr~r byline, it was written by rY h C Chandler. It was also thah her efforts that the exu~ old photographs were t~!l ble to The Observer. 81ta p~RT 1 OF 2 PARTS 6Y BERTHA C. CHANDLER early records of old Union fh~h are lost. The Georgetown ur ty records were sent to n bia , s. C. for safe keeping 1 ~~ the Civil War and were rined when General William T . erman burned Columbia. . have researched all the records 1 • • V(ife. Susannah Annesley Wesley lived at Epworth, Lincolnshire A son, ~ ohn Wesley was born· to them in 1703. In 1707, another son Charles was born. The brothers wer~ educ~t~d at Oxford and ach1e:ved distinction as students and 1n exemplary living. Their fellow students called them ''Met~o~ist'' . This name was so descr1pt1ve of their methodical study and worship that it was generally accepted and now millions of people are called ''Methodists.'' Accompanied by his brother Charles, John Wesley came to America as a missionary to Georgia in 1735. He began preaching his new faith , and when he found the churches closed to him , he joined George Whitefield in ('ontintted from Page I • OLD UNION CHURCH C IRCA 1820 t are available, and from ·ords at South Caroliniana brary, Archives Library at Offord College, some old records llnion Church, Rev. A. B. Betts istory of South Carolina ethodism '', and from the three hirnns of Bishop Asbury's l'nal and Letters, and a per. al diary , I have gle~ned a few ngs that went into the beginning the creating of the old Union llfch. F'irst we can't properly un' . . stand our denomination without Understanding of the origin of e name ' Methodist. In England e Rev. Samuel Wesley and his holding open-air meetings. He organized his converts into bands of prayer and church societies, appointed leaders to act as Laypastors, and finally ordained preachers. He returned to England in 1738. In 1771, John Wesley called for more volunteers to go to America. Five men offered to go, and two were chosen, Francis Asbury and Richard Wright. Mr. Wright did not serve long, but Mr. Asbury began a long career in this country. When the American colonies declared their independence in 1776, all the preachers sent here by Mr. Wesley ('ootinued to Page 10 returned home except Mr. Asbury. He found refuge in the home of a friend and stayed there until the war was over. After the War, he was ordained a deacon, then an Elder, and then a ·Bishop. He was the second bishop of the Methodist ' Episcopal Church and the first to be ordained in America. He organized the first Sunday School in Virginia in 1786. Francis Asbury was a son of Joseph Asbury and his wife, Elizabeth Rogers Asbury. His boyhood home still stands on Newton Road, West Bromwich , about four miles from Birmingham in England. It is preserved as a historic site. He was born in 1745 UNION UNITED METHODIST ( 'llllRCll ON TllE and in 1771, he sailed for America. In the Black Mingo area a lot of WILLIAMSBURG- Gf:<lRGETOWN COUNTY LINE settlers were living and dying l~lJ IL T IN l!J22 without the comfo1·t of a minister, because they were so sparsely shingles, if not the roof of the house He traveled our rivers and woods settled that the few ministers in the would be taken in the wind'' . area couldn't get to all of them . roads, and visited all the log cabins There was an Espicopal Church on along the way, each time speaking 1790 Monday, Feb. 1st: ''After Black River called Prince of crossing Lynches River, at the exhortations and prayers at Johnsonville, after Frederick's Parish, near the present Flower's meeting house at Marion, present Winea Plantation. Nearer spending the night at Mary Port's we left for Port's Ferry, had to to the Black Mingo area was a at Port's Ferry on the Pee Dee cross in the night and wade in the church called '' Black River River at Poston, S. C. He usually low places. We were very wet but meeting house '' near the present spent the next night at Wiltov•n on rode to the widow Port 's in safety, home of Mr. and Mrs. D. P. Cook. Black Mingo, ''sleeping upstairs at t~ough one of the horses getting his People of different denominations an Inn there. I can 't mention all of hind feet over the side of the boat worshipped in this meeting house his travels through S. C. here but I made it dangerous for the others'. by a ''first come, first served'' will mention a few for you to After preaching at Brittan's Neck rulE;!. Williamsburg County was recognize some family names that we went our usual route to Black' almost completely Presbyterian, still are here today . Mingo and on to Georgetown and 1785 His first visit to S. C. ''We but along the county line road there spent the night at William were some who were not set off for Charleston, S. C. When at Waynes. ,, . the Cheraw Hills , a family came Presbyterian. 1804 Monday,Jan. 30th. ''We Mar1y new religious groups arose after us to come dine. We found lodged at the home of Henry as these transplanted Europeans that they had been Methodist. After spending some time in Birtton and were entertained. The felt hunger of the soul. The prinnext day I preached at Jenkin's cipals of religious liberty and prayer at (St. David's) church, chapel (Johnsonville). separation of church and state they pressed us to spend the night. 1804 Thursday, Jan. 25th: ''At were very important to these early Next day we journeyed on to Long Black River meeting house, I colonists. The early history of Old Bluff court house. " Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1785: ''We · spoke to a few souls on I Tim. 2: 1 Union Church and the other early churches in this area should excite crossed Lynches River, Black This part of the country has a Mingo , Black River and came to solitary appearance, because the in us gratitude to God, and a white inhabitants have been much reverence for our brave ancestors. Georgetown . Thursday, Feb. 24: '' I preached lessened. (from disease> I stayed The early records of these churches are full of instruction for us in Georgetown to a Serious People with Jane Green in Williamsburg County." on I Cor. 2-14. today. 1786 Jan. 4th ''I rode my sore1815 Tuesday, Jan 17th: ''While Bishop Asbury made his first trip to South Carolina in 1785, and he backed horse to Dunham's Bluff at Kingston (Conway>, on our route (at Brittons Neck) Dunham is in we visited Bethel Durant, and saw returned every year, coming through this area each time, until repair. I borrowed a horse and we his brethern, John, and Henry. went on. We crossed Pee Dee and Their simple-hearted kind father he closed his journal at Granby, S. C. in Dec. 1815. He was not to write Lynches Creek and wet my books. entertained me thirty years ago on way returning from again after the pen fell from his Coming to Black Mingo, we lodged my hand there. He died in Virginia in at a Tavern, and were well used. Charleston, S. C. '' Sleeping upstairs, I was afraid the In South Carolina again in 1816 . • November i815, on his usual route, and his last travels, he wrote ''I am wasting away with a constant dysentery and cough. There is no time to take medicine in the day, I must do it at night.'' November 24th: ·~The Dr. urges and I have consented to take . digitalis - 0, the powerful expectoration that follows!'' He realized his weakness and turned sharply to the east to Charleston to an approaching conference. In his weakened state he continued on at a slow rate. Dec. 1815 Thursday Dec. 7th: ''We met a storm and stopped at William Baker's, Bran by, S. C. '' Here the pen fell from his hand and he was not to write again. His Journal was closed. He was trying to get to the meeting of the General Conference at Baltim~re on May 2nd, 1816. He was disappointed. The disease made rapid progress and he preached his last ser1non March 24th, 1816, in an old Methodist church in Richmond, Virginia. Trying to reach Fredericksburg, he stopped with a friend at Spottsylv·a nia and breathed his last on March 31st, 1816. His mailing address was simply ''America''. His annual circuit stretched from New England to Charleston, S. C. and any postmaster knew that the man who rambled America would soon be passing this way! He carried the bible and hymn books in his saddle bags and brought news of the outside world to the log cabins. He wasn't far behind the newest pioneer. He printed the map of his ministry with· the hoofs of his horse, and he is entitled to rank as one of the builders of our nation. This dedicated man preached and stayed in the homes of the early people along this Williamsburg-Georgetown County Line road. In his journal he speaks of the Coachmans, the Greens, the Russells, the Birttons, the Port's the Durant's and many other fa_milies. He was welcome in all of the homes, and he preached to those who would receive him in vacant barns, brush arbors, at crossroads, and in meeting houses and court houses. I have found a record that he had organized Methodist meetings along the Georg~town-Williarrisburg County line between 1785 and 1800. � 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 Union Church, 7-8-1976 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 7-8-1976 News Newspaper Weekly Observer