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Traditions and
History of Anderson County 1928
by Louise Ayer Vandiver , pg
41-44
Almost coeval with the
Presbyterians in the county were the Baptists.
Their first house of worship whose date is definitely
known was Big Creek, about three miles from Williamston,
erected in 1789. The Baptists of the Piedmont
section have lovingly called that "the Mother of
Churches," as many subsequent congregations sprang from
it. Its first pastor was a grand old pioneer
preacher from Virginia, Moses Holland.
The minutes of this church, which fortunately have
been preserved, a thing rare among the early
congregations, throws a most interesting light on the
ideas and customs of those days. The people
believed in, and practiced the scriptural injunction to
settle all their affairs in council of the
brethren. Negroes were
received as members
along with their masters' families, and in the church
their right to be heard was equal to that of any other
member. A negro woman belonging to Big Creek
brought accusaitions of cruelty against her owners and
the church spent two years trying to adjust the
difficulty. The mistress was told that if she
continued her mistreatment of her slave, she would be
excluded from the fellowship of the congregation.
Even the beloved pastor, Mr. Holland, was not exempt
from the strict dealings of the church. He had
some business transactions with one of his members,
which was most unsatisfactory to the minister, who did
not hesitate to express his displeasure. The
church failing to adjust the matter, declared Mr.
Holland out of fellowship. For two years they had
no pastor, though they continued to hold regular
meetings, which Mr. Holland regularly attended.
The quarrel was with Mr. Elijah Burnett over a matter
involving five dollars. When the lower Pelzer dam
was built there were discovered faint signs of an old
chimney near the western end of the dam. That
small pile of stones marked the place where stood Mr.
Holland's dwelling. The river there was long known
as "Holland's Ford." The road which leads to the
power house used to be a public road. There is
still a spring under the hill which furnished the family
with water. Mr. Holland is buried in the Big Creek
grave yard. His strong personality so impressed
itself upon his community and the Baptist church of his
day that the lapse of a hundred years has failed to
obliterate it entirely.
The records of Big Creek tell interesting
stories. Among cases excluded for drunkenness was
sister N. A. A committee was appointed to go to
brother H. and find out why he did not attend
meetings. Brother W. reported his own case for
getting drunk at tax paying, for which the church
forgave him. Another brother was excluded for
bringing home with him from Abbeville a stray hound,
said dog not being his property. Sister E. was
excluded for attending a shooting match and associating
with bad company. A brother was excluded for
attending an unlawful assembly and shooting for a
prize. Another brother did not perform work
according to promise, and charged too high for it. His
work being examined by a committee and pronounced bad,
he was excluded. One sister was excluded because
she had been angry and said bad words, with other
reports.
She confessed her fault, denied reports and
was forgiven. A complaint was made by a brother
against a sister for saying that two other women, blood
sisters, were liars, and she could prove it.
Having failed to substantiate the accusation, the
brethren put on record that she had fallen under their
censure until such time as she makes her accusation
good. One brother applied for letters which he
got, then told lies, ran away and left his debts
unpaid. Sister E. applied for a letter of
dismissal, and at the same time said she was not
satisfied with the conduct of the church in turning out
her husband; letters were refused. A favorite
expression used in the minutes is "we disapprobate such
conduct."
One of the negro members named Caesar
was rather an unusual character. He was a preacher
of considerable influence. He had been a slave who
saved enough to buy his own freedom, and later bought
his brother. The land just above the place where
Rush and Vandiver's planning mill once stood, was owned
by Caesar.
He was buried in a field just in
the rear of the old Williamston Female College
buildings. In the records it is several times
stated that "Brother Caesar made application to go about
and exercise his gifts." Sometimes his request was
granted, sometimes refused. Caesar was once
excluded from fellowship for persisting over the protest
of church in taking an additional wife. Later he
was restored to fellowship, what befell wife No. 2 is
not stated. He was admonished to preach "sound
doctrine" on his preaching expeditions. Also he
sometimes help services for the Big Creek
congregation. Once "Brother Caesar" was up before
the church for having knocked down with an axe a fellow
servant.
A brother was declared out of fellowship
for "voluntarily leaving us and joining the Methodist
Society." A sister was excommunicated because she
declared that she was "a Methodist indeed, and that she
received more
satisfaction with them than with
us." She was excluded "To be numbered with us no
more until she altered her principles."
One entry
reads, "On the night of our next meeting we agree to go
into washing each other's feet."
Moses Holland was pastor of that church for forty-one
years, from 1788 to 1829. He was succeeded by
Robert King, (Uncle Bobby), 1830-1838, John Vandiver,
1838-1844. William P Martin,
1848-1873.
During Mr.Martin's
pastorate, a good brick church was erected. Big
Creek is still an influential church in the county.
Until after the war of secession negroes belonged to
all of the white churches, and some of the old time
darkeys never became quite reconciled to the separation
of the races. Many Anderson people remember "old
Uncle Henry Reed," a well known old colored gardener and
handy man about town. He always told with
pride that he joined the white Baptist church, and
that Mr. Murray baptized him. He said to the last
that he never liked any other church so well.
In
1843 Big Creek church was torn by dissention. An
itinerant preacher from Tennessee named Edward Musgrove
became a member of the church, and aspired to become its
pastor. On one occasions, John Vandiver being
already in the pulpit, Mr. Musgrove also entered it, and
proceeded to conduct the services, Reverend Vandiver
also doing the same. For a time pandemonium
reigned. The two men entered into a bitter
newspaper controversy, and in those days neither
newspapers nor people were so polite as they are now, so
the antagonists vilified and scandalized each
other in the coarsest and most violent way, until
finally the editor or his readers got tired, and they
were both shut off.
Mr. Musgrove was fiercely
anti-missionary and anti-prohibitionist, both of which
were virulent subjects of dispute at that time.
Finally Musgrove became so offensive that he was forced
to leave the state, although he was a very bright man,
and must have had a great deal of magnetism, because he
had some very warm friends and admirers.
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