Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-04-15
pHILIPPI CHURCH CELEBRATES 1OOTH
ANNIVERSARY.
Centennial Celebration Held Last Sunday. Large
Attendance Interesting Exercise.
Bountiful Dinner.

hS SbAS opSS'SH
exercises celebrating the one hun
aredth anniversary of the founding
OF Philippi church would be held
caused large number of people,
500 or more, TO gather at this his
toric church Sunday morning last,
Aiken, Trenton, Johnston, Edgefeld
Ward, Ridge Spring and other sec.
tions being represented. Fhilippi is
situated FIVE miles southeast of
Johnston and is a member of the
Ridge Baptist association.
In planning for the celebration,
invitations were extended to Rev.
w. r. Hundley, now of Beaufort,
and DR.. J. G. Browne, of Aiken, to
be present. Of the large number Of
ministers who have served the
church in the past, these two are
the only ones now living. DE-.
Browne was present, but on account
of sickness Mr.. Hundley was unable
to attend. His absence was regret
ted.
HISTORY OF CHURCH READ.
The exercises of the morning
opened with the reading of the hi.-
tory of the church by MIR. Jesse
Williams, son of the lamented
Abraham Williams, the present
clerk of the church. The church was
constituted in 1914. The constituent
members were 25 in number, three
Of whom were negroes The minis
terial Presbytery which formed the
church was composed Of Rev. Thom-
as DeLoach, Rev. Francis Walker
and Rev. John Landrum There is
no record Of who was the first pas
tor but among the earliest were
Revs. Thomas DeLoach, Preston
Bush, Benjamin Still and Peter
Galloway. The Rev. Villa N John
a&ga. Ted ia 1876 aattid served
for several sears. Those who fol-
lowed him were Revs. II. A. Will
liams, Absalom Horne, Elijah w.
Horne, Edward +. Kendall, James
A. Woodward, Henry T. BARLEY,
William 8. Shaw, w T. Hundley
and J. G. Browne. DR.. King, pastor
of the Johnston Baptist church, is
now pastor of the church.
The present building is the fourth
that has been erected since the
church was founded in 1914. The
Grst was built of logs on Bull
Branch about four miles southeast
Of where the church now stands.
The second was also built of logs
but was located practically on the
site of the present building. The
third building was small frame
structure, the contract being let to
Mr. Samuel Posey for 500. The
present building was erected in
1897 at the small cost of $3.50. The
building is commodious, comforta-
BILE and we'll constructed of the best
material. DR.. Browne stated that
the fact that this building was erect
ed for so small sum was due to
,he splendid judgment of Mr.. Lew
is V. Claxton who was chairman of
the building committee and super
vised the work
PASTOR FOR THIRTY YEARS.
The venerable DR.. J. G. Browne
who is sincerely and universally be-
loved by the PEOPLE of the Philippi
community briefly reviewed his
pastorate of 80 years. He came
from Georgia to South Carolina in
1875 and while serving Mt. Pleas
ant church in Aiken county, not
many miles from Philippi, Mr..
Abraham Williams invited him to
preach at Philinri on one occasion.
Not long after that the church ex-
tended call to DR.. Browne which
was az repted. DR.. Browne has re-
sided continuously in Aiken since
coming to South Carolina, and dur
ing all these years he has driven
regularly distance of ls miles to
serve the Philippi flock. Surely
such faithfulness will have its just
reward!
DR.. Browne took the initiative in
the erection Of the present building,
the old one being Inadequate to the
needs Of the growing church. He
however met with hearty responses
on the part of the people, among
the leaders being Abraham Will
liams and DR.. w. II. Zimmerman,
both of blessed memory. Of the
$3.50 contributed for the building
of the new church DR.. Zimmerman
gave Sl75. He thus gave generously