South Carolina

One aspect of Presbyterian Church history is that many members of the denomination tended to be professionals such as accountants, doctors, academics, lawyers, and similar vocations. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with Christians working in these professions and they need to worship like anyone else, but Paul’s instruction regarding the variety and individual ministries of […]

Edward Payson Davis was born in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, July 12, 1851. His father, Thomas, was from South Carolina but had moved across the state line to complete his college program in Davidson, and then he travelled further north into Virginia to study for the ministry in Union Theological Seminary in Farmville. Thomas was ordained […]

Samuel Rhea was born to Capt. John F. and Jane Rhea Preston in Abington, Virginia, September 4, 1849. He began his college education at Emory and Henry College in Emory but finished his Bachelor of Arts degree at King College in scenic Bristol. King College was named for Presbyterian minister James King and was established […]

The French Huguenots were one of the persecuted groups that sought religious and political freedom in the colony of South Carolina. Many of the Huguenots that moved to the colonies were poor as well as persecuted, so they pursued new opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic in a new land. The Guillebeau “pioneer […]

James Woodrow was born in Carlisle, England, May 30, 1828, the son of Rev. Thomas Woodrow, D.D., a native of Scotland. In 1886 the family moved to Canada, then the next year settled in the United States in Chillicothe, Ohio, where Rev. Woodrow was installed pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. James’s preparatory education for […]

Abel McIver Fraser was born in Sumter, South Carolina, June 14, 1856, to Thomas Boone and Sarah Margaret McIver Fraser. For many years Abel’s father was a Presbyterian ruling elder working in various judicatory committees and was a director of Columbia Theological Seminary, while professionally he was a lawyer, a judge for sixteen years, and he […]

The Huguenot Church at the corner of Queen and Church Streets in Charleston—the only extant Huguenot congregation in the United States—is a reminder of the importance of French Reformed Protestantism to the history of Charleston and the state of South Carolina. Huguenots began leaving France in 1685 due to the revocation of the Edict of […]

Up until roughly the end of the nineteenth century, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), and other Presbyterian and Reformed denominations opened and operated many educational institutions. Chicora College was one of several Presbyterian schools operated in South Carolina that has either closed or […]

The state of South Carolina is rich with Presbyterian and Reformed history because of its early settlement by Presbyterian Ulster Scots, Highlanders, Hebrideans, and others from the land of tartans and the Emerald Isle, as well as the Huguenots who were Reformed immigrants from France via a number of routes as they fled persecution. The […]

When I have occasion to visit churches while traveling, there are three churches I particularly enjoy worshipping in and wandering their properties because of their great histories, faithful preaching, and the historic appeal of their facilities.  One place of worship is the Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia, where the Word has been preached for over […]

On April 8, 1835, Bethel Presbytery organized its new church in Lancaster, South Carolina. The church needed a teaching shepherd, so elders who had seen James Thornwell examined for licensure encouraged the congregation to approve presenting him a call through presbytery. On June 12, 1835, after some soul-searching about his spiritual qualifications and calling to […]

Flournoy was born to Joel Alexander and Lucetta Cheatham Shepperson in Columbus, Arkansas, January 10, 1883.  His education included a Bachelor of Arts from Arkansas College after which he completed his ministerial studies in Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.  The seminary at the time included in its faculty, G. B. Strickler, T. C. Johnson, W. […]