Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1889-08-01
Methodism in the Green
vile District.
HISTORY OF THE CHIRCIpS WON.
DERFUL GROWTH IN THE PAST
TWENTY.THREE YEARS.

Prepared Especially for the KEowEN Cnu.HER.l !
The Grccnviilc District of the
South Carolina Annual Conference,
Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
was formed by Bishop Wightman ut
the Annual Conference which met NJ
Marion in December, 1866. It's ter
rtory before that time had been en-
braccd in the Spartanburg and
Cokcsbury Districts. a portion of
its present territory was originally
within the lIolStonComicrc viz: All
OF Oconcc county and sections OF
pickcns, Grcrnvilic and Anderson
counties. This part OF the work
was at one time under he care,
rs Presiding Elder, Of Rev ID. Il.
McAnally, ID. d., now editor Of the
St Louis Christian .iRcocuic In
1S4l the llolSton Conference coded
that portion OF its territory in Sonth
Carolina to the South Carolina Con-
ference.
The Grccnvil" District i com
posed of the Counties Of Grcrnvillc,
Anderson, Oconcc and pickcns, and
Il part of Spartanburg County.
The District has had six prcSidin"
Elders y. l'. Stephens, Il. i.
Franks, Q. \. Darby, :. B. Jones,
II. G. Herbert and J. Walter Dick
son, each Of whom remained in
charge the full disciplinary term oi
four years, except the present incum-
bent, whose term has but little more
than half expired.
1t must not be inferred that the
history of MrthodiSm in the region
occupied by this District is confined
to the last twcnty-two years. Ear
from it. On the other hand, this ter
ritory embraces 1T least Il few spots
rendered sacred by the labnrS and
sacrifices Of some of the vcnrratcd
men VIII" helped to lay the foun-
Iation of McthodiSm in our Commons
wealth. In former days this region
cnj"ycd the laL"r& OF such men rs
Malcomb Mcpherson, Nicholas Tai
ley, Whatroat \. Gamcwcll, Hugh
\. Walker, Wm. VI. Wightman,
David Derrick, james Stacy, Archi-
bald McGilvary, Samuel D,lnw"olv,
and James Dannrlly, who have gone
to their reward, and of other Stalwart
men, who still lingcr among us, she'd
ding perennial hrnrdictiuns ON their
junior brethren. Besides these, the
sweet spirited BiSkop Capcrs, the
acknowledged father of missions to
the blacks, hon"rcl this region by
choosing il rs his residence during
the closing yrai'> Of his eminent life.
1t cannot hr denied that, up to
comparatively recent wears, in Our
Piedmont section, the standing of
the Methodist church, in til" rStinra-
ton OF others, was not aS higi rs
that of her SISTER denominations.
Indeed, in the ncmory Of men still
LIVING IN some parts OF our country,
it was considered no small rrproAch
to be Il Methodist, anal especially to
be Il Methodist preacher.
Since then public opinion has
greatly changed, and the elements
which have produced this change
are still increasingly ut work, So that
the condition OF things is rapidly
becoming more and more pleasant
for us. Now the Methodist church
is in the very front rank OF he for
ccS OF our Emmanuel in their a~grrS-
Sivc march a@ain>, til" powers OF
Satan
Let us look little into the facts
upon which dies" statements are
founded. At the close Of the first
year we had 3,I>7 members. AZ the
end Of last year we hah S,l12 mem.
bcrs, showing Il net increase OF more
than on" hundred per cent in the
twrnty-on" years. TiIiS gratifying
increase is happily accompanied by
II