DEEP CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY (1838-1844), Anderson County, SC A.K.A. A204 New Prospect Baptist (1844) Version 2.3, 16-Jan-2005, A131.TXT, A131 **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2005 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2005 G.P.S. MAPPING . : ____________ at ____________ in _______ HISTORY WRITE-UP : ____________ at ____________ in _______ IMAGES ......... : ____________ at ____________ in _______ LOCATION WRITE-UP: ____________ at ____________ in _______ TRANSCRIPTION .. : ____________ at ____________ in _______ CEMETERY LOCATION: ------------------ 7 miles west of Anderson. Latitude N x Longitude W CHURCH/CEMETERY HISTORY: ------------------------ The following is the story of Deep Creek Baptist Church, with some additional miscellaneous info on a few other churches. Deep Creek, which is located on Thomason Cir., became the "white" New Prospect Baptist Church which is on Whitehall Rd. between Centerville and Hwy. 24. The History of New Prospect was written by Col. James W. Creamer, Sr., and edited and updated by Rev. Robert W. (Bobby) Watson, Jr. Miscellaneous info: Moses Holland founded Big Creek Church which mothered Hopewell, Neal's Creek, Friendship, and others. Cooper Bennett founded Shockley Ferry Church near the Savannah River north of the present site of the Hartwell Dam. This church is believed to have been located about one-half mile west of Shiloh Baptist Church. This church became the mother church of several churches in Georgia, Bethesda (Mountain Creek), Mt. Tabor (later Anderson First Baptist), Salem, and others. Because of the distances involved, Shockley Ferry belonged to the old Georgia Association, rather than the Congaree Association. The Congaree District had grown too unweildy for self-government and in 1789, the Bethel Association (now referred to as "Old" Bethel because a new Bethel was formed later) was organized from the west side of congaree District. Rapid growth continued, and in 1803, the Saluda Baptist Association was organized at Old Salem Church meeting ground from nine churches from "Old" Bethel Association, and eight which were previous unaffiliated. ........................In 1825 the venerable Cooper Bennett, pastor at Mountain Creek, Shockley Ferry, and other churches was declared a heretic by the SBA for his support of missions. Mountain Creek excommunicated him and the Shockley Ferry Church was disassociated by SBA, stricken from its rolls, and died within a year. ..................New Prospect Church was located on the road with insections leading north to Centerville and east to Whitehall and southeast to Anderson when it moved from Deep Creek in 1844. The above excerpts were given due to mention of locations of old churches--BG DEEP CREEK CHURCH IS ORGANIZED The roads (or trails) generally followed previously well established Indian trails, as do many of our main highways today. where possible the trails and roads followed ridge lines, travel there being easier due to level ground, only descending into stream valleys when necessary. One of the streams which was crossed by the road from Fort Prince George to Ninety six was named Three and Twenty, and a stream to the south was Six and Twenty. These two streams ran together in present northwestern Anderson County and formed Deep Creek, which proceeded for about two miles before emptying into the Seneca River. All of these rivers, creeks and forks were buried under the waters of Lake Hartwell. By 1820 a bridge had been built across Deep Creek about three-fourth miles downstream from the confluence of Three and Twenty and Six and Twenty to serve Wild Hog Road (now SC Route 187) which ran to the town of Pendleton. The bridge was located near the Webb place and was called Deep Creek Bridge. Nearby, about one-fourth mile south of the present bridge across the Seneca River arm of Lake Hartwell, was McDaniel's Ferry, later the site of first the Simmons-Daniel-Brown Bridge, then in 1860 the Bayliss Earle Toll Bridge. Near Deep Creek Bridge, twenty-four adult Baptists of the area organized their congregation in 1838 with Hiram Lecroy as pastor of Deep Creek Church. Deep Creek was a daughter church of Bethesda. Lecroy was the assistant pastor at Bethesda (now Mountain Creek) Church. Its pastor, Jacob Burris, served as pastor of Deep Creek in addition to Bethesda the following year when Lecroy moved to Fellowship Church at Moffetsville. Burris served until late 1846, and co-pastored in 1852 and 1853. Jacob Burriss (also spelled Burris and Burroughs) was licensed to preach by Mt. Tabor (later became Anderson First) in 1825 and ordained by Bethesda in 1828. He was one of the most important leaders of Baptist in Anderson County and became a most prominent citizen in the process. His several offspring married into the county's most prominent and wealthy families. His descendants are numerous and many present members of our church are among them. He is now buried at Salem Baptist Church. Bryant Burris, another famous Baptist minister from this family, is reported to have been a pastor of our church and has been listed in previous church histories. This cannot be supported from SBA minutes. He could have served for less than a year or could have preached from time to time, or could have conducted revivals. The site of the church was relocated in September, 1988 by Lewis Martin, Jr., and James W. Creamer, Sr. following information provided by several accounts from various families. The church now owns the original site, which is located on the south side of Thomason Circle off Portman Road---(Portman Rd. has been named Whitehall Ext. Thomason Cir. is 2 blocks from the intersection of Whitehall and 187 South, toward Green Pond Landing--BG), three miles west of the present church. Depressions and fieldstones mark the gravesites. The concrete and fieldstone steps and foundings are present. The site is on the old road which is plainly visible. The graveyard is between the building site and old road. The building is facing east. A small stream east of the road was dammed temporarily to form a Baptismal pool. It was reported that one single engraved headstone was present in the cemetery some years ago, but it was not located in the initial search. The year after organization, on August 9, 1839, Deep Creek Baptist Church joined the Saluda Baptist Association with twenty-seven members. The SBA report of 1839 says that Deep Creek Baptist was organized in 1838 and that it was assigned to the association's District 3. The first delegates to the SBA were Hyram Lecroy and Gilliam Shearer, and Lecroy was listed as pastor. It probably had both white and slave members. In 1841, the SBA began listing memberships as to race. Deep Creek had twenty- one members, of which 17 were white and 4 were black. During these years prior to the Civil War, there were few, if any, separate black Baptist churches in this part of South Carolina. Slaves attended church with their masters, with whom they sat as part of the extended family. Large slaves had slave balconies, but there was no evidence that Deep Creek or New Prospect had one. The small farms which grew up in the church community included few which required slave labor. Very few of our members were wealthy enough to be slaveowners. Black membership varied from one to five adults before 1860. In 1867 the number had dropped to one, but rose to eleven in 1868. These left the church in 1868 at their request to form their own church. This took place through the county and state. Never since has New Prospect had any black members. DEEP CREEK BECOMES NEW PROSPECT About May 1844, the Deep Creek congregation voted to move from where it was to the present location, which is three miles to the east along the road to Anderson. Centerville lay about two miles to the north on Six and Twenty Creek. The move met bitter resistance from some members who liked the old location better than the "new prospect" up on the ridge line three miles to the east. They protested the move to the SBA at the 1845 meeting, and a committee was formed from other churches to investigate the complaint. This committee reported back in 1846 in favor of the group at New Prospect, and instructed the rump group still at Deep Creek to cease their opposition and rejoin the main body. Because of the small membership numbers, it is difficult to be certain about the number who wanted to remain at Deep Creek, but it would appear that about 5 or 6 members opposed. The church first met at the new location in October 1844, with elder W. P. Martin, a well known area preacher who was noted for his oratory, preached the dedicatory sermon. It erected a building on land owned by Clayton S. Webb. This building stood where the older part of the cemetery now is, across from the white building at the western side of Hiott Road and the sout side of New Prospect Church Road. This building would reportedly seat 250 to 300 people and was probably one room. It was ambitiously large for a membership of 50 adults and probably twice that many children. The land was originally conveyed to the church by Elisha Burriss on May 12, 1844, and it may be presumed that a building was erected shortly thereafter. The tract contained two acres, more or less, and was apparently poorly surveyed. The land was reconveyed on February 9, 1858, by Clayton Webb of Hartwell, Georgia, to W. E. Erskine, K. Brezeale, Lewis Pritchard, and Asa Avery, when $5.00 was paid for two and three-fourths acres. (A new survey and plat were made and a new deed issued to reflect the corrections. John Martin, W. A. Webb, and C. A. Webb were witnesses). This reconveyance in 1858 may have been a realignment of property brought about by the moving of the building. Whether the original 1844 building was moved or a new one built is not known. A new survey and partial change in the location of the building following the fire of 1878 brought about the granting of a deed by Elisha Snipes for two and three-fourths acres of land, to be paid for by Toliver Bolt, T. J. McClure, M. L. Campbell, Aaron Creamer, and J. L. Shirley, Trustees. This again involved the two and three-fourths acres of land deeded by Elisha Burriss and Clayton Webb. This deed is dated January 20, 1880. Small pieces of land were purchased from Samuel O. Campbell (.41 acres), April 24, 1909, and from Mary (or Mira) M. Neal (.07 acres and .16 acres) on the same date. Trustees were A. R. McLees, L. T. Campbell, J. W. Eskew, and M. L. Campbell. Additional tracts were added during the twentieth century and easements granted to the power company. By the time the congregation moved to the present location, missionary attitudes were well established. In 1843, the SBA passed a resolution to become more actively involved in missions. The previous year had been a debate over a tolerance for differing viewpoints within the churches and had resulted in a decision that differences of opinion should not affect the Christian fellowship between members nor result in exclusion of dissident members. Six missionaries were sent out to work in the mountainous areas of the upstate, one of whom was David Simmons, later a pastor at New Prospect. The first mission report was made in 1844. Jacob Burriss served as a missionary in the summer of 1844 while pastoring as New Prospect. The first annual revival was reported at New Prospect Baptist Church in 1849 under the leadership of Robert King, pastor from 1847 to 1850. David Simmons was pastor in 1851, W. B. Long and Jacob Burriss co-pastors in 1852 and 1853, w. B. Long alone from 1854-1856. W. E. Walters became pastor in 1857. In 1858, the first church building, then located in what is now the cemetery, was moved north across New Prospect Church Road. This building was reported to have been of very rough construction and probably unpainted. Known church members of New Prospect who served in the Civil War: J. William Eskew Asa Bolt and his nine sons, two of whom were Oliver Bolt and Tolliver Bolt. W. D. Hall Albert N. Collins A Campbell family of the church was reported to have had five of six sons killed in the war. David Simmons, respected minister and leader, was a member of the first group of home missionaries sent to the mountain area by SBA. He served as a moderator of the SBA for five years between 1850-1858. He lived at and was the pastor of Townville Baptist Church, but with most of our pastors until 1944, also preached at New Prospect and two other churches. He was badly needed by the church at a most trying time from 1867 to 1870. In 1870 he moved to Texas where he lived until his death in 1885. END OF INFO This article goes on to say that the SBA set up two committees to meet with and assist in the formation of two "colored" churches, but the next pages were not given to me. Could these have been the other "New Prospect" churches (black)? I will see if I can get the rest of this article. Submitted by: Becky Griffin at WWRoseHayseed@cs.com in Jan-2005 TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION NOTES: ------------------------------ a. = age at death b. = date-of-birth d. = date-of-death h. = husband m. = married p. = parents w. = wife Read January 2005 by Becky Griffin and Eugene Schneider This church is abandoned. There are many graves here that are unmarked even by fieldstones. A number of graves have only metal funeral home markers, many of which have long since lost their paper inserts. Most of the metal markers seem to have come from the Johnson Funeral Home and the Jackson Funeral Home. The ground on which the cemetery lies is sloped, which has led to erosion. Due to this, it was necessary to dig around some of the stones to read their inscriptions. There are also quite a few handmade/hand-etched stones in this cemetery that will probably become unreadable in the very near future. The cemetery could use a little TLC, as it is littered and covered with leaves and fire ant mounds. Anyone visiting here in warmer months should be very cautious of these ant hills. A good clean up might reveal more markers. The following markers were found: SIMPSON, William D., b. 5/21/1903, d. 11/13/1975, on double stone with Nora W. SIMPSON, Nora W., b. 3/4/1895, d. 1/16/1978, on double stone with William D. BLACK, Ida M., b. 5/11/1884, d. 1/5/1964, single stone MOSS, Feaster, b. 11/30/1878, d. 8/23/1964, single stone MOSS, Nathaniel, Cpl. US Army - Korea, 10/7/1933 - 10/30/1990, bronze marker TRAILER, Mrs. Otis, 1911-2002, Johnson Funeral Home metal marker PATTERSON, Willie P., died 3/1/1973, single stone MOSS, Lillie, b. 6/18/1893, d. 12/13/1956, double stone with Will Moss MOSS, Will, b. 12/25/1890, d. 8/2/1962, double stone with Lillie Moss WILLIFORD, Milamo, b. 7/5/1898, d. 1/2/1955, single stone in border (Note: beside this grave are 2 more inside single borders that are unmarked, but appear to have been purposely placed side-by-side) WILLIFORD, Lenard, b. 2/11/1912, d. 8/29/1936. This is a rock that has been inscribed by hand and is broken into 3 pieces. RICE, Burkley, b. 12/6/1886, d. 10/11/1968, South Carolina Pvt US Army World War I, single stone WILLIFORD, Mrs. I., 1969, metal funeral home marker inside double plot with border. FREEMAN, Mrs. Dessie, 11/22/??83, Johnson Funeral Home metal marker OWENS, Frances W., b. 1/28/1928, d. 5/7/1977, "Gone but not Forgotten", single stone WILLIFORD, Mr. Harold, 7/6/1975, pile of field stones with Johnson Funeral Home metal marker. WILLIFORD, Mr. Harvy, May 3, 1966, metal funeral marker and field stones With Mr. Williford, toward the lake, are 2 more groups of field stones.These appear to be together as a family. Two of these have unreadable metal funeral markers. FANT, Mr. John, 12/25/1968, metal funeral home marker and field stone MORRIS, Sylvene A., b. 1/14/1909, d. 8/10/1992, in double plot with Charlie Morris MORRIS, Charlie, b. 6/10/1881, d. 3/25/1951, in double plot with Sylvene A. Morris The borders of this plot adjoin the 5 grave AUSTIN plot. AUSTIN, John Henry, South Carolina, Pvt 156 Depot Brig, Jan 19, 1919 MORRIS, Ellen Austin, b. 8/15/1877, d. 3/21/1957 AUSTIN, Bertha, b. 4/13/1899, d. 8/27/1907 AUSTIN, J. Rosemond, d. 1/16/1915 AUSTIN, Ulysses, South Carolina, Pvt 1Cl, 301 Stev Regt, 4/29/1930 Border is connected to the Sylvene and Charlie MORRIS plot. PATTERSON, July 13, 1968 or 88. Metal funeral home marker with torn paper. Has field stone. SMITH, Mary F., Wife of Rev. W. F. Smith, b. 10/1/1867, d. 3/8/1914, single stone AUSTIN, Capers, b. 1/28/1858, d. 9/19/1891, single stone RICHEY, Nanie, b. 8/21/1901, d. 10/12/1927, single stone BRUC???, Rosa/Rosanna/Rosama (?) b. 1/31/1920, d. 1/2/1923 Hand-etched single concrete marker, badly weathered MORRIS, Frank, 1872-1958 MORRIS, Annie L. b. 2/1/1871, d. 10/2/1952 LEE, Fannie Died at 80. Could be LEE or Fannie Lee MORRIS (?) Inside a border TOWNSEND, T. B., b. 8/8/1889, d. 6/10/1918 At Rest Single stone MOSS, Mrs. Anna, b. 1857, d. 5/6/1952, single stone PRESSLEY, Martha, b. 1879, d. 6/1/1937, single stone PATTERSON, Ella, b. 1892, d. 11/30/1953, handmade and hand-etched stone PATTERSON, Fred, b. 7/23/1890, d. 6/21/1953, handmade, hand-etched stone The above stones are inside a very large border. CUNNINGHAM, Thomas, 1871-1948, single stone with border SANDERS, J. E. (?) b. 1880, d. Oct (?) 14, 1931, handmade, hand-etched stone SANDERS, M. M., b. 10/21/1921, d. 9/19(?)/ 1940, handmade, hand-etched stone ROEBUCK, Rebecca 7/8/1?95, metal funeral home marker These stones/marker are inside a border. There is a low, narrow stone between J. E. and M. M. Sanders with no readable markings. The Roebuck marker is stuck loosely in the ground with the M. M. Sanders grave and may not belong there. These stones are badly weathered and will not be readable much longer. Unreadable single handmade stone: d. Feb. 1930 MORRIS, Elizabeth W., b. 1/8/1901, d. 10/4/1967, single stone MCMULLEN, Fannie, b. 1874, d. 3/9/1934 Member of the PBA Society Single stone SCOTT, Coney South Carolina Pvt. 351 Field Rmt SQ QMC 9/24/1938 single stone MORRIS, Fannie Ray, b. 3/20/????, d. 7/5/1955, hand-etched stone MORRIS, Joe T. Pvt. 447 Svc Comd Unit World War II, 3/6/1926-10/27/1955 The above markers are inside a concrete block border MOSS, Mr. Tom, 1965 metal funeral home marker in wooded area WILLIFORD, Mrs. Lillian, 10/6/1963 Unreadable Jackson Funeral Home metal marker. d. 8/25/1952(?) 57(?), 68 years LEE, M. Coven(?), d. 8/11/195? Age 36 years. Jackson Funeral Home marker MOSS, Bonnie L., 1921-1981 MOSS, James C., 1914-1983 MOSS, Mr. Odell, Sr., 1909-1967 MOSS, Daisy B., b. 2/17/1886, d. 5/22/1957 GALLOWAY, M. M., 1917-1942 The above stones are inside a border MOSS, Mr. Earl, 1972, cone-shaped concrete marker with funeral home marker DOUGLASS, Mrs. Malinda S., 1969, funeral home marker LEE, Estella, b. 1885, d. 10/28/1943, single stone