Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-01-18

1877.
and the Americans many. In no place in
America we're there truer Wings than in the
region which Greene had now entered and
through which he proposed to lead his united
forces. Colonel Tarleton called the region
the Hornets Nest" The region around
Charlotte, North Carolina, has ever claimed
to be, in particular sense, the birth place Of
American liberty. In North Carolina the
first blood in defence of American liberty was
shed in Charleston, South Carolina, the prop
osition was first made to sever. absolutely, the
ties which bound the colonies to the mother
country; but in Charlotte, North Carolina,
the first Declaration Of Independence was
drawn up and signed.
It is interesting to inquire into the origin
of this love of liberty which characterized
the people of that region. Things, insignif.
cant in the eye of human wisdom, often are
the base upon which mighty events are build.
ed. The storm.cfoud which sweeps with fury
over half continent, filling the hearts of
man and beast with terror, has its origin in
tiny vapors which cannot be discerned by hu-
man eye. The events which terminate in the
dethroning of kings and the elevating Of beg.
gars from the dust and investing them with the
insignia of royalty, often escape the observa-
ton of the multitude. The men who, by
their swords win the victory, rarely begin the
strife. The Trojan war had its origin in a
wedding feast. Years rolled away before the
clash of arms began. The prime actor and
apparent cause of that dreadful conflict spent
his youthful days as an humble shepherd,
with no higher ambition than to disperse
prowling robbers who preyed upon the Aocks
of Mt. Ida. Admitting that the fatal apple,
Paris, Helen and the Trojan war had no actual
existence but were the creations of the fertile
brain of Homer, still, the names changed, the
leading events narrated by Homer have trans.
pired in many lands. If American liberty
was born and Graded in the New World, it
was conceived in the Old World. The first
man in South Carolina who talked ABOUT sew
ering, absolutely and forever, the ties which
bound the American colonies to the British
throne, was an humble blacksmith.
In England, at the time of the Restoration
in 1860, there lived two brothers by the name
of johnson. These brothers became dissat-
is6ed with the political condition of affairs in
their native land and went to Holland. This
was in 1862 or '63. In process of time, they
came to America, and one Of them settled in
the city of New York, on or near the spot
where Trinity Church now stands. On going
to Holland they exchanged the English name,
johnson, for the Dutch, Yansen.
On coming to America, they retained, for
q time, their Dutch name. All their land
deeds were granted to Yansen and not to
Johnson. AS, however, they were amongst
an English speaking people, they very natu.
rally concluded to surrender their Dutch
name and assume their original name, John.
son. There was nothing villainous in this.
It was only what any other man would haze
done, but it vitiated their title to their prop
erty, and that property, which to-day is worth,
perhaps, millions, was con6scated.
After this, some of the descendants of these
brothers came to Charleston, South Carroll.
ma. One of them, William johnson, was in
Charleston in 1865 after the repeal of the
stamp act. By trade he was blacksmith,
and in 1865 was running forge at which
was made ship-irons. The redress of griev-
ances, which meant the repeal of the stamp
act, satisfied Massachusetts but nothing less
than liberty would satisfy William johnson.
He conversed with the mechanics of Charles
ton and infused into them love of liberty.
Christopher Gadsden became their orator.
In this way, multitudes of South Carolinians,
they had been the pets of the Eng.
|ish government, we're prepared to resist its
upon the rights Of the sister
colonies. ,..,.
Long before this the seeds of rebellion had
been sown in Pennsylvania. The soil, at that
time at least, was not adapted to its growth,
md the good seed would not germinate. Tie
forest had to be cleared and the soil broken
before the germ of liberty would grow and
bear fruit. Alexander Craighead, native
IF Ireland, descendant of ancestors origi-
nally from Scotland, and consequently a
Scotch Irishman, was licensed to preach the
gospel, and ordained to the full work Of the
ministry by the Presbytery of Donegal about
The year 1875. he was q Jealous man, full
Of energy; orthodox in his creed and in bis
preaching; pious in his department, but un-
willing to be bound by those conventional reg
alations which were common among his
brethren and by them held to be as important
% the word of God. He imbibed the spirit Of
Whitfield, and on account Of his zeal. for the
salvation of perishing sinners, he was charged,
n 174O, by bis Presbytery, Of irregularities.
The majority of the members of the Presbytery
we're against him, but such was his zeal and
energy that even in the Presbytery he made
for himself at least ardent sympathizers. His
case was taken before the Synod of Philadel-
phia. Here, on account of the great revival
which was progressing at that time, the case
was lost sight of. For long time his name
was stricken from the roll of his Presbytery,
and consequently from the roll Of the Synod.
In 1751, in the month of August, the an
tiburger Synod of Scotland received peti-