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Christ
Episcopal Church
GREENVILLE
A history of Christ Church is, in part, a
history of the City of Greenville. It was established in 1821
and called St. .James's Mission Greenville was then a village of two or
three hundred inhabitants, and St. James's Mission held its
first services in the old court house, its communicants numbering but
ten.
The regular church records date no farther back
than 1845, with the exception of a slight sketch of the
founding of the mission in 1821 and the building of a church in 1826. One
entry in the old records says: "The first Episcopal Church at
Greenville was built chiefly through the efforts of Mr. Rodolphns
Dickerson, and that of Mr. Edward Croft. Mrs. Emily Rowland,
and Mrs. Jane T. Butler rendered him valuable assistance. The descendants
of these early founders are still in the
congregation."
This church, in 1828, though unfinished,
was consecrated by Bishop Bowen as "Christ Church". The bell
hung in an old fashioned wooden belfry.
The walls of this
building were torn down in 1852 and the material used in the
foundation of the present edifice. In the northeast
corner of the nave under the
north transept, a copper box containing a glass jar was
placed. This jar holds a Bible, a Book of Common Prayer, copies of The Churchman, Gospel
Messenger, Calendar, Banner of the Cross. Church Times, the
Church Almanac for 1852, and
a roll containing the dedication of the church to the service
of Almighty God.
The first recorded baptism in the old
church was that of Edward Croft in 1826, while the first
marriage was that of J. H. J. Service to Mrs. Martha Williford in 1826. The first
recorded burial is that of Mrs. E. F. Bacot in 1829.
It
is said that some of the members of this congregation in the
early days called it the "Snap Bean Church" because many of
its members were from the
lower part of the state and worshiped here only during the
snap bean season, returning to the sea coast at the coming of the first frost.
BY
HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
South Carolina Churches
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