ROCKINGHAM - Last Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of the Richmond County Historical Society was held at Rockingham City Hall. A good group of members and guests from Richmond and Moore counties filled the council room.
Dr. John Stevenson opened the meeting by welcoming guests and especially members of the Moore County Historical Society to the meeting.
Board of Director’s member Donald McLeod conducted the monthly program. His program was based on early Highland Scots and Presbyterian Churches in N.C.
Mr. McLeod started by giving some history of Scotland. He said that the country of Scotland was about the size of South Carolina. In the 1700’s the Scottish population was about a tenth the size of England’s population.
Also in the 1700’s, Scots began to leave Scotland and come to North America due to wars but mostly due to high land rent placed upon the people.
Gaelic was the Celtic language used by most of Scotland. A lot of Scots were of the Presbyterian faith which was started in 1550 by a preacher by the name of John Knok.
Early Scot immigrants sailed into Philadelphia and later took the Great Wagon Road south into Carolina. A few years later Scottish immigrants began to sail into Wilmington N.C. and then migrated up the Cape Fear River. They settled all along the Cape Fear Basin and even moved as far west as along the banks of the Pee Dee River in present-day Anson County.
Early rural churches of all faiths usually would have their services under what they called the “Brush Arbor” which was often nothing more than poles stuck in the ground with limbs and/or grass placed on top for shade.
Gaelic being the common tongue of most Scots, it was hard to find a preacher in America who could preach in their language. A well-known pioneer missionary of the Presbyterian faith was Hugh McAdew, but he couldn’t speak Gaelic either. Finally, John McLeod brought over from Scotland a shipload of his own people and, with other circuit-riding preachers like James Campbell, the need for Gaelic preachers was partially satisfied. Another possibility was that while living around English-speaking people, the next generation of Scots soon learned to speak in English.
Another Scot preacher by the name of John Bethune was the first Presbyterian minister in Ontario, Canada. He made his way south as a Loyalist supporting the King of England during the American Revolution. He became the chaplain of the group of loyalists that included Allen McDonald (husband of Flora McDonald) who were defeated at the important battle at Moore’s Creek Bridge. Later in his life he would help start Mt. Carmel Church here in Richmond County.
Some of the old Presbyterian churches in southeastern N.C. still exist. For instance, the Old Brown Marsh Presbyterian Church in Clarendon is the second oldest still standing in N.C. Old Bluff Church along the banks of the Cape Fear near Fayetteville is still standing. Old Bethesda in Moore County and Old Mt. Carmel in Richmond County are also among the old church buildings that can still be seen. Their congregations now attend a new church building by the same names as their Scottish forefathers used. Interesting enough is the fact that some old Presbyterian church congregations proclaimed themselves to be “dry” while others were “wet” (meaning some were teetotalers while others didn’t mind having a little drink of Scottish ale).
The next meeting of the Richmond County Historical Society will be the third Monday night in September (17th) at Rockingham City Hall. The public is invited and the Society is open for new members.
