It is no small task for one untrained as a scribe and literarian and occupied as I am to undertake the work I have assumed.

Were it not for the impelling requests of my friends and a long and cherished desire to see the successive facts, as they may be gathered, which make the history of Mt. Bethel Academy, put into a condensed and authentic memorial so that they can be preserved, I would refuse again as I have often done before, because of my inadequacy to make the undertaking a success.

Many are the sources of what information I have. Some of these are Ramsay's History of South Carolina, Dr. LaBorde's History of South Carolina College, Dr. A. M. Shipp's History of Methodism in South Carolina, 1883, O'Neals Annals of Newberry, and to none am I more indebted than to Dr. John O. Wilson, president of Lander College, Greenwood, S.C., for his work on Methodism in South Carolina, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cromer, the mother of S. J. Cromer.

To fix, beyond a doubt the date of origin and promoters of Mt. Bethel, I have had to turn back, in research, the pages of 126 eventful years and found that Rev. Francis Asbury the first Methodist Bishop and the first Protestant Bishop in America at the home of Edward Finch on March 7th, 1793, wrote, "Preached at F's I consulted the minds of our brethren about building a home for Conference, preaching and the district school; but I have no ground to believe that our well laid plan will be executed, our preachers are unskillful and our friends have little money." At this time Edward Finchy gave thirty acres for the school site.

The next day the Bishop preached in Union County, on his itinerary which extended from Florida to Canada, he took subscriptions for the school in such numbers and amounts that he seemed encouraged, and his hopes and enthusiasm were revived. From now on he kept this noble purpose afresh in the minds and hearts of all who favored it.

Two years later, on March the 20th, 1795, the house was ready; and the school was opened, the Bishop preaching the dedicatory sermon from First Thessalonians, 5-16, "Rejoice evermore."

"The building was two stories high, 20 by 40 feet in size, the first floor in two large rooms, the second in smaller rooms for boarders."

The school so prospered and gained in increasing patronage, with its beneficient influence recognized to such an extent over the State, that cabins for the teachers and other boarding students were added.

Rev. Mark Moore was principal with Elisha Hammond and Josiah P. Smith as assistants.

Elisha Hammond was born in New Bedford, Mass., October 10, 1774. He graduated at Dartmouth college, came to South Carolina and was employed in Mt. Bethel School as assistant. He became principal of the school in 1802.

Only English and the sciences at first, were to be taught, but this feature was soon changed, and it became one of the finest classical schools in the State and drew its students from many sections.

It prepared the first class to enter the South Carolina College. Among these were Chancellor William Harper, who practiced law in South Carolina and became judge, one of the ablest of his time, was the first matriculate in the South Carolina College at its opening in 1805, and Judge Anderson Crenshaw was the first graduate at commencement in 1806. He deferred taking his diploma until the following year, 1807, when others of his Mt. Bethel schoolmates graduated.

Anderson Crenshaw ran his course alone. He practiced law at Newberry till 1819, when he went to Alabama, and became Judge. Judge Wesley Harper was in the class of 1807, William's brother.

The school was to be free, hence the salaries had to be raised by contribution.

Having no denominational paper, a circular was written out and sent to the preachers to be presented to their congregations for subscriptions. Rev. Mark Moore was paid $300.00 a year and was in charge for six years. He then moved to Columbia and taught there for some time. He was succeeded by his assistant, Elisha Hammond.

The school house, while occupied, was evidently not finished, for on December 3rd, 1802, Bishop Asbury wrote: "George Douthit (meaning Dougherty) and myself were engaged to put Mt. bethel School in full operation. I advised to finish the house for teaching below and for lodging above."

The patronage for that day was excellent. Dr. David Ramsay in his History of South Carolina, written in 1808, says: "In Newberry District there are two very respectable Academies. They were originated and carried on with much spirit. Mt. Bethel Academy under the patronage of a Methodist Society, and is much indebted to the zeal of Rev. Mr. Dorothy, deceased (for Dougherty) who died in 1807.

"It is situated in a popular, pleasant and wealthy neighborhood, about 10 miles northeast of the town of Newberry and about 1/2 mile from and East of the Buncomb road, and as the gentlemen of the vicinity feel a zeal for its welfare, they keep plentiful boarding at a reasonable price."

"This Academy has 70 or 80 students. It is generally filled by a respectable teacher."

The establishment of this school was a great achievement, since Methodism had been only introduced into South Carolina in 1785, and in 1793 there were 3,371 white and 821 negro members.

Judge O'Neal says: "It gave to the country such men as Judge Crenshaw (Granger), Walter Crenshaw, Chancellor Wm. Harper, Wesley Harper, John Caldwell, Dr. George Glenn, John R. Golding, Governor Richard J. Manning (grandfather of Governor Richard I. Manning, 1914-1918), John G. Brown, Dr. Thomas Smith, of Society Hill, N. R. Eaves, of Chester, and Thomas Glover, of Orangeburg. chancellor James J. Caldwell owed a sort of divided allegiance to the Newberry academy and to Mt. bethel School, as he attended both."

It is with pleasure I am authorized to add as students of Mt. Bethel the names of Bishop Capers, the beloved Confederate General, Judge Earle, the distinguished jurist and senator, and Judge Pressly, of Charleston.

"Charles Crenshaw (father of Chancellor and Walter Crenshaw) and Edward Finch, both Methodist and strict, uncompromising Christians, were two of the principal founders of Mt. bethel Academy. Mr. Finch was a magistrate." He is the great grand-father of Mr. James Henderson, of Newberry. Both Charles Crenshaw and wife, Emma Crenshaw; Edward Finch and wife, Martha Finch, are buried in the Mt. Bethel Academy graveyard. Their graves are well marked.

Prof. Hammond, the father of Governor Hammond, was elected to the chair of language in the South Carolina College in 1805, one of its first professors, but Mt. Bethel had suffered by his removal; so to save the school he resigned his place in the College, and in January, 1807, resumed his labors in the Academy. In 1815, he retired from the school for all time when he removed to Columbia. He died at Macon, Ga. July 27th, 1829.

Joseph Caldwell, born September 6th, 1807, was a very remarkable man. After attending Mt. Bethel for only three months, during the administration of Prof. Hammond in the year 1814, he was called to the farm of his father. He taught himself the art of reading, writing and practical arithmetic at night by lightwood knot fires.

His stability and honesty of purpose won for him many friends, not only in the community, but wherever he was known.

His intuitive righteous judgment was so pronounced and evident in civil and legal issues that repeatedly he was requested to sit in the councils of the bar of Newberry and give his opinion on the points under contention. Chancellor James J. Caldwell said of him his was the best legal mind he ever knew. Agriculture was his occupation.

He was an honored member of the Seccession Convention of South Carolina in 1861. A life-long member of the A. R. Presbyterian Church, loved and lamented, he died on the 25th day of June, 1888. His father, John Caldwell, of Scotch Irish blood, immigrated from the vicinity of Larn, County Antrim, Ireland, to America in 1769, settled at Pomaria and afterwards removed and settled near the intersection of the Buncomb and Caldwell roads. The old homestead is now owned by his great great grand-daughter, Mrs. Carolina Gibson Reid.

Mt. bethel academy continued its splendid work until about the year 1820, when it closed as a Methodist institution, for lack of support.

There is nothing left now to show the site of the once fine school, with its former glory and usefulness, except a few pillars, the chimney sites, and the graveyard, which is nearby, and which lie the remains of some of the noble spirits who built and loved the school, and also a few graves of students who died while attending upon the sessions.

Rev. John Harper was buried here and his grave is marked with only a crude stone bearing the letters "J. H." He was the father of William Harper, who was prepared for college at Mt. Bethel and was the first matriculate in the South Carolina College when it opened in 1805.

Though the care and nurture of Mt. Bethel was practically abandoned as an institution of the Methodists in 1820, and her former excellent work was thus diminished to some extent, still she lived on as the community's best asset for present and future educational effulgence.

We can find nothing definite regarding her work for a decade or more, except that it was still in existence.

From 1820 to 1877 Mt. bethel had many locations around and near the original site, changing to accommodate centrally the school population.

1838-1840 Mr. Alexander was the teacher with Mr. J. Thomas Price and others as pupils.

The teacher in 1841 and for several years was a Mr. Bulger. The school at that time was on the Sheaman place, one mile southeast of the original site.

Mr. Silas Johnstone, Col. J. C. S. Brown and J. T. P. Crosson were students at this place with many others under Mr. Bulger. It is said of him that he was a very large and rather easily irritated. The school "turned" him out one morning for a short holiday and a small treat. He became furious, attempted to beak in and threatened the boys with severe punishment if they did not open the house and let him in. They opened the door and as he started in they caught him , threw him to the ground, and dragged him to a large poplar tree in the yard, put his head in a hollow root and kept him there until he gave up. When he was free from the root his face was bruised and bleeding, but he gave the holiday and a candy treat.

Mr. Thomas P. Crosson afterwards attended and graduated at Erskine with the reputation of being one of the best essayists of his time. A number of his compositions are preserved in the Erskine Recorder.

Col. J. C. S. Brown went to Erskine for one or two sessions and afterwards devoted his life to agriculture. He organized and drilled two companies for the Confederate service. These were members of the Third South Carolina Regiment.

Col. J. C. S. Brown and Mr. Perry Halfacre were the last Confederate soldiers to leave Sullivan's Island when it was evacuated in February, 1865. They were detailed to spike all the guns and destroy all the powder in Fort Moultrie. This was to be accomplished after nightfall.

The Federals had been shelling the fort more or less all day and had almost cut off the only means of escape, the bridge connecting the island with Mt. Pleasant. These Confeds had their horses with them, which appeared to be some hindrance to their escape, but fortunately the horses leaped over the many shell holes in the bridge and followed their masters to safety.

Col. J. C. S. Brown was a trustee in Mt. Bethel School from about 1870 to his death, October 25th, 1910.

1847- The school house was rebuilt by Jas. P. Caldwell, Joseph Caldwell and Capt. George Turnipseed. These men constructed a good house, and because of their manifest interest, the patrons elected them trustees.

1848 and 1849 - Mr. Albert Mars was the teacher and he was a good man. Some of his pupils were J. T. P. Crososn, Miss Lizzie Crosson (Cromer), the mother of S. J. Cromer, and the grandmother of Miss Mattie Cromer, the present principal of Mt. Bethel-Garmany (1921), D. A. Crosson, H. S. N. Crosson, Dr. T. C. Brown, who became State Senator, James Edward Caldwell, Miss Angelina and Elizabeth Turnipseed.

1850-1851 - Wiley O'Neal was the teacher with the above students and others.

In 1852 Dr. John O. Lindsay and his wife taught this school. Miss Elizabeth D. Caldwell was a pupil under him. She became the wife of A. J. Gibson.

1853 - Mr. Joseph Reid, known to many now living in Newberry was the teacher.

1854-1855 - Miss Eliza Macah was the teacher and Dr. Thos. B. Rutherford one of the trustees. His children was students. They were Mrs. Lavinia Gist, Mrs. Dorothy Nance, Mrs. Laura Hall, Adam and William Drayton Rutherford, who succeeded Col. J. D. Nance as Colonel of the Third South Carolina Regiment, from the 6th of May until October 13th, 1864, when he was killed in the battle of Fisher's Hill, in the valley of Virginia, at the age of 27. The Drayton Rutherford Camp is in honor of his name.

At the close of the school term of 1855, the school house was burned, with suspicion of a strong nature resting upon one of the community as the incendiary.

The greatest embarrassments and hardships in the school's history began to multiply from this time on, for many years. The building and the support for the school were of an indifferent and inadequate character, not because there was a scarcity of children or lack of appreciation of the need of a school, but because the shadows of an approaching war were absorbing the attention of the community and her best intellects, to the detriment of all else.

From 1855 to 1877 the school was kept alive in various places.

In 1865 it was in the house where C. S. Suber's father afterwards lived, near King's Creek. It was taught by Mr. Bartlee Gibson. Here T. B. Leitzsey (the father of B. B. Leitzsey), the Kennerly boys and girls - Mrs. Alan Johnstone, Mrs. Maggie Todd, Mrs. Amelia Hardy, S. E. Samuel and James Richard Brown, John O. Caldwell (some of Joseph Caldwell, Sr.), Butler Sligh, the Atwoods-Curtis, Booker, Clark and Miss Julia ?, Jerry Hopkins, John C. Brown and John, William and A. J. Gibson attended school.

T. B. Leitzsey was a soldier of the First S.C. Regiment and was home on a second furlough, recuperating from a second wound and attended this school.

1867 - The school was conducted in the house now occupied by S. J. Cromer. It was the home of the teacher, D. A. Crosson, formerly a pupil of the school.

His niece, Mrs. Henrietta Cromer Adams (wife of Pink Adams), from Dutch fork, was one of the pupils along with all of the community children. Mr. Crosson was the youngest son of James Crosson, a fearless Confederate soldier, who saw the rain of shot and shell on many blood stained fields of historic Virginia. He was wounded twice, once in the wrist, and once through he body, was one of the best citizens, strong intellectually, and held the public confidence, like his father, as a surveyor. I was his pet until he married and had children of his own.

1868 - Miss Carrie Turnipseed, a daughter of Captain George Turnipseed, taught in the old Warmack house opposite the Brown Bros. Mill. The children played on the law of Joseph Caldwell, and on the noted Molly's Rock, of which it is reputed, a woman by the name of Molly lived on it and under a projecting portion. She was safe from rain under the projection and on top of the rock is a basin which holds a gallon or more of water, from which I have bathed my face many times after summer showers.

1869 - Mr. B. F. McGraw, a typical Irishman, taught the school, and for five or six years, in a house built by the community on the J. P. Caldwell place, at present owned by W. T. & J. A. Brown. Mr McGraw was a splendid teacher. His long term is the best evidence of the character of his service, which extended over many years. Among the students were Mrs. Maggie Rutherford Higgins, W. D. Rutherford, Dr. G. B. and Joseph Caldwell, Jr., Misses Alice and Janie McGraw, W. D. and Leadford Cromer, James Dickert, Preston, Cornelius, Beauregard and Mary Thomason, J. G., W. T., S. J. D. and Carrie Price, Kemper Kibler, Ella Suber, John C. and W. C. Brown, W. W. McMorries and a number of german children.

Mr. McGraw was fond of using the hickory, and when he whipped, stood on tip toe and his hair would rise up. this handy instrument stood in a corner near him where all could see it.

1874-75 - J. G. Martin was the teacher and had a large number of pupils. His school included the Boozers, Chalmers, Knights, Gorees, Wilsons, Buzhardts, Cannon,s Browns and Caldwells, in the old house at W. P. Lominick's.

1875-76 - A. G. Brice, from Chester, became teacher. He began and taught for three or four months to the satisfaction of all. His desire to begin the study of law became irrestible and he resigned. He introduced several of us to Latin. Mr. Brice became a member of the Legislature after his admission to the bar, which position he held for several terms.

1876-77 - (Fall and Spring) - Miss Georgia Turnipseed, an excellent lady and fine scholar, taught in the old Warmack house before referred to J. Epps Brown was one among the many pupils under her care. I might state that through all these years, from 1867 to 1877, the seats in the school house were made of common pine slabs supported by four crude legs with the flat side up to sit on. Our table to write on was perfectly flat, eight to ten feet long and four feet wide. All the furniture was of the commonest kind. I believe all these teachers had spelling as the last recitation before closing for the day, and in many instances every one was permitted to study the lesson at the top of her voice. You can imagine the noise.

1877 - A new school house was built on the George Lane place, known as the Wendt farm, where the last distinctive pure Mt. Bethel school term was taught in 1917-1918. In the summer of 1877, W. C. Brown hewed out roughly and later counter hewed the framing, or most of the framing, for this building, alone at the age of 16. That fall I went to Due West and never attended school at this place. Mr. J. G. Martin was the teacher from 1877 to '81. He afterwards went to texas, studied and practiced law till his death.

1881-1883 - W. W. Brownlee, from Knoxville, Tenn., fro two years taught very successfully. He prepared Miss Addie and Maggie Caldwell and Lizzie Chalmers and Ebbie L. Chalmers and S. E. Brown for college and Rev. John McGraw was a student at this time. His administration was pleasing to all patrons.

1883-1884 - W. C. Brown without applying for school work was elected by the trustees and informed of their action and further that I had to teach this term. My purpose was to begin the study of medicine in 1884 but deferred until 1885 in order to obey orders. From this school Misses Laura Rutherford (Eargle), Miss Fannie Caldwell (Mrs. Dr. E. O. Hentz), Miss Janie Brown (Mrs. M. B. Caldwell), C. S. Suber and J. Epps Brown went away to college. I think all of them entered the Sophomore class. My success as a teacher is expressed in a compliment by one of my patrons. He said to me he was glad to know I had sense enough to realize my incompetence and resigned. He told a stunning truth, which I acknowledged.

1884-1885 - Miss Lizzie Chapman, a splendid lady and teacher, presided over the school.

For all these years since the war a first grade certificate entitled a teacher to $25.00 per month. Now they are paid four or five times that amount.

1885-1886 - Mr. J. E. Caldwell, eldest son of Joseph Caldwell, taught a part of this term, then resigned, and S. E. Brown, son of Col. J. C. S. Brown, taught the remainder.

1886-1887 - J. Epps Brown, a former student and now the president of the Souther Bell Telephone Company, was the teacher.

1887-1890 - Miss Maggie Caldwell (Erwin) directed the educational policies of Mt. Bethel for three years.

1890-1891 - Miss Kittie Jones (Renwick) for one year taught successfully.

1891-1895 - Miss S. E. Dillard held the reigns of school government for four years.

1895-1896 - Miss Cyrille Rutherford presided over the school for one year.

1896-1900 - Miss Mamie McGraw (Henry) taught for years.

1900-1901 - Miss Annie Suber (Duncan) taught with marked discipline.

1902-1904 - Miss Mary Gibson (Cannon) taught for two years.

1904-1908 - Miss Pinkie Lee Estes (Glamtzberg), a lawyer in Main and New York, taught for three and a half years. Her unexpired term was finished by Miss Cornelia brooks.

1908-1911 - Miss Essie Pearson taught for three years.

1911-1912 - Miss Dorothy Buzhardt taught for one year.

1912-1914 - Miss Nenie Caldwell (Ruff) taught for two years.

1914-1916 - Miss Sarah Wallace (Whorton) was the teacher for two years.

1916-1917 - Miss Sarah Pope taught for one year.

1917-1918 - Miss Alice Cannon (Foy) taught one year.

1918 - In the summer of 1919 the citizens of Mt. Bethe, Garmany and McCreery school districts, being of one mind to have better school facilities, united the three schools into one with the name Mt. Bethel-Garmany, elected two trustees from Mt. Bethel, two from Garmany and one from McCreery. These trustees from Mt. Bethel, two from Garmany and one from McCreery. These trustees, Dr. W. C. Brown and S. W. Brown from Mt. Bethel, B. B. Leitzsey and J. E. Sease from Garmany and J. T. Oxner from McCreery, together with M. T. Oxner, C. H. Alewine and M. R. Brooks, constituted the building committee. The school location was bought from B. H. Wilson. In order to secure certain State aid a building after a design recommended by the State Superintendent of Education, had to be adopted. Only one style of building seemed to engage his interest - hence the building now in use was decided on and work began at once for its erection so that the school under its new auspices might be opened in the fall. We secured the services of Miss Olive Feagle as the first principal and Miss Mattie Cromer and Miss Marie Sease as assistants fro the term of 1918-1919.

1919-1920 - Was taught by Miss Mattie Cromer as principal, Miss Ida Young and Miss Mary Nichols as assistants.

1920-1921 - Miss Mattie Cromer, Principal and Misses Mary Brown and Margaret McIntosh, assistants.

1921-1922 - The same teachers in the same positions are elected for another year.

This school is doing a splendid work and has the united interest of the community, with one of the best School Improvement Associations in the State looking after and providing many of the necessities of the school.