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Early Ministers
Source: A History of Marlboro County: With
Traditions and Sketches of Numerous Families,
1897
Since the first permanent settlers that we know of
were largely religious men, and organized a church on Marlboro's
soil as early as 1738, it is proper
that some notice be made of the men who led their worship, and gave
direction to thought which resulted in the formation of character. It is altogether likely that some of
the early pastors of the Old Welsh Neck church lived on the west
side of the Pee Dee and were never
citizens of Marlboro. The people were settled on both sides, up and
down the river, and rejoiced, whether residents on one side or the
other, for many years, to meet upon
its eastern bank tc worship God. The preachers lived upon their
plantations; whether on the one side or the other; to the flock it mattered not. The
river could be crossed in their little flat-boats and canoes, and
neighborhood and religious intercourse be enjoyed. The first pastor of this
church was Philip James, and in a "Historical Sketch," by the late
pastor of the present Welsh Neck,
Rev. John Stout, it is recorded that lineal descendants of that man
are found in the present membership. Mr. James was born near
Pen-nepeck, Pennsylvania, in 1701
and was ordained pastor over this church in 1743 by Messrs. Chandler
and Simmons. He died in 1753.
Rev. John Brown, of whom
mention has been made in a previous chapter, was the successor of
Mr. James, but did not continue long with the church, but gave his ministry to a field nearer
to his home in the region of Cashway. Mr. Brown was the first
Moderator of the Charleston Association, which was formed in 1751, and is
the second oldest Baptist Association in America.
Joshua Edwards was the next pastor, a native Welshman. He was
baptized at Welsh Tract in Pennsylvania and ordained at Welsh Neck.
Mr. Edwards "was a man of ardent piety and great purity of character," lived to be
fourscore and left a numerous posterity; and from him have descended
many good people in our neighboring
counties. Rev. Robt. Williams was the fourth pastor of this old
church. He was born, it is said, in Northampton, North Carolina, in
1717, came early to Pee Dee, and
entered the ministry in 1752 and died in 1788. In a sermon
occasioned by his death,Rev. Mr. Pugh said of him: "He was kind to the poor, and remarkably so
to the afflicted; a man of excellent natural endowments, and a
minister who preached the Gospel to
the edification and comfort of souls, as many have testified to me;
and to crown all, a sincere Christian." He was the grandfather of
General David R. Williams, a member
of Congress and Governor of the State. He, too, is represented in
several of the best families in the country at the present day.
After
Williams came Nicholas Bedgegood, an Englishman by birth, described
as a classical scholar and a man of good understanding. He
married a Miss Murphy, and Nicholas
Bedgegood, of Marlboro, was the only child of this marriage, and in
the death of the latter the name became extinct in this region of country. Mr.
Bedgegood took charge of the church in 1759, and held it till 1765;
and for two years he preached in
the vicinity of Charleston. Returning to Welsh Neck in 1767, he
again resumed the care of the church and continued in office till
his death in 1773 or
1774.
During the absence of Mr. Bedgegood in Charleston the
church was supplied by a young man who had but just entered the
ministry, but who was destined to
exert a powerful influence upon the after history of his country and
the cause of religion. Rev. Evan Pugh was born in Pennsylvania, educated a Quaker, came in early
life to North Carolina,
became a Baptist;
studiedtheology, became a minister, and married a Marjboro lady,
Miss Martha Magee. A daughter of this union married Mr. Hugh Lide,
of Darlington, and from this pair
has sprung a splendid family. The two Baptist pastors of Charleston
(1890) R. W. Lide and Dr. E. C. Dargan, are grandsons. Mr. Pugh was an ardent supporter of
the American cause during the Revolution, and was ready with his
means, his voice, his pen, to
encourage and help the struggling cause. When independence and peace
came his fellow citizens elected him a member of the Convention
that formed the State constitution
under which we lived till the days of reconstruction. A man of
genuine piety, sound judgment and cheerful disposition, after a ministry of forty years he
sank into the tomb lamented by all.
After the death of Mr.
Pugh, Rev. Elhanan Winchester was in charge three or four years,
but, embracing what the church considered erroneous beliefs, he was promptly discharged
and Rev. Edmund Botsford was elected in his stead, who, from 1779
until 1796, was the pastor of this
church. Temporarily, during the troublous times, he had to flee for
safety from the enemy, and his place was supplied by Rev. Joshua
Lewis, who was a Marlboro man. Mr.
Lewis has been described to the writer as a large, portly man, an
Englishman by birth, and lived at what has been known as "the Spring Hill place" on the
Cheraw road a mile or so above Easterling's Mills. A popular man and
good preacher, ready to go
anywhere, among the rich or poor, to relieve distress. A venerable
colored man related an incident that greatly impressed his own
youthful, untutored mind. The
gin-house of his neighbor, Mr. Bedgegood, caught fire, and Lewis was
soon upon the ground, and as the old man told it, "Mr. Lewis worked and toiled and
hollered and sweat as hard as any nigger dar, and when the trouble
wuz all over, he called us all in
the big house piazzer, and kneeled downand prayed." He preached at
Cheraw and Saw Mill. His last sermon was at the latter place. On the
next Sunday he was to preach at Cheraw, but sent a message to his people that he was too
sick to attend, and before night he was dead. His grave may be seen
at "Old Saw Mill" church to this
day, near where the pulpit stood in which he had so often preached
the glad tidings to his neighbors. He died about
1812 and left no children.
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