Africo-American Presbyterian
“AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH. AND THE TRU'h SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.”
-John viii, 32.
VOL. XLIX.
CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDd
SEPTEMBER 29. 1927.
NO. 39.
BLAZERS AND CHIPS
By Rev. Wm. L. Metz, D. D.
(By order of Atlantic Synod).
Article IV.
Missionary to Freedmen in
Brunswick, Ga.
It does seem strange to the hu
man mind that where Christ did
some of His best work and most
effective; and where His mis
sionaries did their first work,
Christianity is at low tide. We
send missionaries to the people
who first heard the Gospel of
Christ,
tion. It was set apart July 7,
1870; and among those of her
early members were Revs. J. C.
Gibbs, J. B. Bates, S. Campbell,
W. T. Carr, M. R. Miller, Ishmael
Moultrie, and Licentiate H. H.
Hunter who preached in Edisto
and James Islands for quite a
number of years. He was from
some one of the Northern
Knox Presbytery
out that part under the caption!
“Laboring Without. Presbyterri 1
Boundaries,” charge it to him!
alone and not to the other mem-1
bers of the Committee, for htu
alone is responsible for it. Mean-1
while corrections are in order. 1
For the benefit of those inJ
terested and those who haw"|
written the writer about th. 1
book on “Afro-Americans irn
Presbyterian Background,” he irbl
glad to say that he has abouiB
finished and is reviewing it ti 1
see if it is worthwhile. !
It deals with our people ail
Presbyterians before 1860
1865, when our friends canuB
down from the North to help us 1
It touches on the NegroijBM
ing to the record, to labor in
Georgia among the Freedmen
after the Civil War was the Rev.
James Thomas Hamilton Wait,
who was commissioned to labor
as a missionary among the
■ Freedmen in Brunswick, Ga.;
and there he labored from 1873
to 1874—just one year. It must
be difficult to establish a Pres
byterian church there, for the
Minutes of the General Assem
bly of 1926 show that we have
only a school there, Selden In
stitute, under Rev. S. Q. Mitch
ell.
Rev. James Thomas Hamilton
Wait was born in New York
City, February 17, 1825. He
graduated in Columbia Theo
logical Seminary, South Caroli
na, ’52, and was ordained Dea
con in 1846 by New York Meth-
seemed to have held an informal
meeting at Brunswick, Ga., Oc-
tober 5. 1873;
and among her
first members were Revs. Jos
eph Williams,
David Laney. J.
odist Conference.
He was re-
ceived into
Church in
the Presbyterian
1849.
He served
Methodist churches at
Long-
lsland, N. Y., 1844. The next
year, 1845, he served the Meth
odist church in Charleston, S.
C„; York, Pa., in 1846; Drum-
mondtown, Va.. in 1867- fiSt^the
Presbyterian cnureh.es at Darien
and Waynesville, Ga., 1852- 55.
After this Rev. Wait became
pastor of Wicomico, Md., from
1856-’67. Leaving this charge
he became pastor of the Pres
byterian church at Toms River,
N. J., from ’67 to ’72. He, again
returned South as a missionary
to the Freedmen at Brunswick,
Ga., from ’73 to ’74. Leaving
this field where his services
were in more demand to build
up a strong spiritual force he
went to Medway, Ga., where he
labored from 1874 till the Mas
ter called him higher.
For many years this was the
largest church in membership
of all the other Negro churches
in America. It was in a large
section of Georgia that could be
well called “Black Border,” for
like the coastal section of South
Carolina, you can travel all day
among colored people and seldom
see a white man.
The Record, or the Minutes
of the General Assembly of 1898
show that Medway had a mem
bership of 537, which was 37
more than the membership of
Good Will Presbyterian church,
County. South Caro-
lina, at this time.
Laboring Without Presbyterial
Boundaries.
From 1865 to 1869, the latter
year when Atlantic Synod was
set aside by our Assembly,
these pioneers were laboring, it
seems, here and there with no
Presbyterian boundaries. How
ever, Catawba Presbytery held
its first meeting after setting
itself aside in Zion Presbyterian
church, on Calhoun Street in
Charleston, S. C., with Rev.
Sydney S. Murkland as Modera
tor. The other members were
Revs. Willis L. Miller and S. C.
Alexander and a colored minister
whose name is not given, but is
said to have been educated at
Princeton. Dr. Alexander did
not get to the meeting of this
Presbytery and the other broth
er, the colored brother, was only
able to be out the night of the
N
111
fo
T. H. Waite, G. S. Thompson,
and possibly others. This Pres
bytery is third in order, but the
time and place of its organiza
tion is uncertain.
Fairfield Presbytery
was authorized July 7. 1870, and
consisted of the churches in
Lancaster, and the parts of
South Carolina bounded east
and south by the Wateree River
and the southeastern boundries
of Richland, Lexington and
Edgefield Counties, the said
Presbytery to meet at the call
th
cu
1
W
'I
11
gr.
foi
in
bril
1
of Rev. Samuel Loomis. 1
Yadkin Presbytery 1
appears at the meeting of At
lantic Synod for the first time, 1
October 11, 1871, at Chester, S.
C. This Presbytery was set 1
aside and her boundaries were!
set the year Fairfield Presybtery
was set aside, 1870. !
McClelland Presbytery
was set aside by Atlantic Synod
in Charlotte, N. Q. November
id, “SSL, to hold her first meet
ing in Mount Pisgah church at
Laurens, S. C., March 11, 1885,
with Rev. G. T. Dillard as Mod
erator. Among the members
were: Revs. Wm. R. Coles, Wm.
L. Bethel, Geo. T. Dillard, Albert
G. Davis, Benjamin Garnett, Al
exander C. Johnson, Lionel! C.
Joell, Emory W. Williams, Thom
as L. Young and Benjamin F.
McDowell. The writer was pres
ent, but was only a lad of 15
years.
Since this pioneer work as to
the setting aside of Presbyteries,
other Presbyteries have been
set aside and are among our
most active Presbyteries. For
instance, Cape Fear, Hodge, and
those in Tennessee, Alabama
and Virginia.
The Mother Synod
is the Synod of Atlantic, which
held her first meeting at Char
lotte, N. C., according to ap
pointment, or order of the Gen
eral Assembly, and was opened
with a sermon by Rev. S. S.
Murkland, from I Timothy 3: 15.
At this meeting of Atlantic
Synod three Presbyteries were
represented: Atlantic, Catawba
and Knox.
The Rev. S. S. Murkland was
chosen Moderator; Rev. Luke
Dorland was appointed Stated
Clerk, and Revs. J. H. Bates and
II. H. Hunter wife appointed
Temporary Clerks.
This Is Not All.
The duty of gathering these
facts was imposed by the Syn
od upon the Rev. B. F. McDow
ell, A. A. Jones and the writer;
but while these brethren were
true and faithful in their ef
forts to get data relative to this
pioneer work and its workers,
the writer has had to do the bulk
of the work alone, getting in
formation hither and thither
from sources that were vague
and limited. The writer has
spent and burned the past mid
night oil and spent some nights
without very much sleep ponder
ing over data and dates in order
that he may not have to recant
meeting, being physically ill. So^ w jth humiliation something^
Rev. Miller and Rev. Murkland|about which he seemed doubly:
made the “Quorum” throughout sure .
humiliation
something
lieiice in the con mi uni! ylM
lunding of Biddle Universi^
Id a brief sketch of some of
Ie first teachers with their
.While this brief work is con-,
led in a large measure to the
Irk done in the South, brief
erence is made to Lincoln
iversify and some of her first
lid nates; and some of the ef-
1-ts to give light to the Negro
I the North.
Ilii connection with this is a
|ef sketch under the caption
looking Back At Old Biddle,”
"h cuts.
THE END.
the meeting, December 1866.
“Point of law!”
Atlantic Presbytery
has second place as to organiza-
The writer should say, fur
thermore, that if he has gone
astray in any matter touching-
ally part of this sketch, leaving