The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-05-10
DESCENDANTS Of
THE cOVE|N||AINTER|S A
OHIO CITIZEN VISITS GRAVES
OF ANCESTORS IN NEW.
BERRY COUNTY
Newberry Herald and News.

Newberry Herald and News.
Chalmers C.. White, and wife, Of
Steubenville, O., were !, visitors In
Newberry on Saturday and Sunday.
While here Mr.. White had the PRIV.
ilege to visit the Head Spring, king
Creek and Connor. Greek grayeyards
going by auto through what Mr White
pronounces some of the most pic
turesque and fertile country her has
seen in the United States. Mr. White
and wife are just returning north af-
ter q winter spent inst Petersburg,
Fla. It;Was the desire Of his mother,
Mrs. Margaret, Mitchell Kyle; White,
deceased, to visit these ;. ancestral
burying grounds, but her wish was
never fulfilled so Mr., White as q
matter Of duty is making It in her
stead. :. -. Nj. a.ts..,f. ~; I 81
Mr.. White on his mothers ,sids s
descended from the Boyd Chalmers
families, early pioneers in this sec.
ton. The branch that went north
about 1900 along with friends from
Chester, s., c., were Coyenanters pr
Reformed Presbyterians. Ahont / 800
Rev: D. Alex, Mcleod OF; New York
city visited this section and notified
Covenanters who wished to, remain In
their. Communion to cease & holding
slaves; They did 80 and the !. Civil
War saw this church which Dr.. Nc.
Leod said was ''nat amy branch but
the root Of the. Cslyinistic church., 8
with not single church below MaSqn
and Dixon's line, Other denomtna-
tions four-fushed and split up North
and South, says Mr.. White, s,, a.: {. Z, (
Furnished Brilliant Men.
In. these graveyards and one at:
Prosperity Mr.. White found tomb
stone names Of families whose names
are used to conjure with in the Cove
nanter church. The tfBoYds and
Chalmers form some 3ef the most
sturdy CovenanterS in the denomina-
ton while the latter family has fur.
nished some of the. most !. brilliant
ministers in the A. R. P. church, The
Sloans furnished some Of the, most
distinguished ministers and thenlogi.;
cal instructors in the "A. r. p. church.
One Sloan was a speaker on the an.
ti-slavery platform with. Wendell
Phillips and Garrison. DIR. Sloan's
one great regret was that Phillips
and Garrison neither Of whom were
orthodox believers could hold the
church up as the bulwark of human
slavery. The Reids whose names are
found in local graveyards furnished
descendant, Whitelaw Reid to be
the distinguished editor of the New
York Tribune and be an ambassador
to England. The Renwicks came Of
family that furnished the last Cow
enanters martyr for the scaffold in
Scotland. His successor had to be
ordained by the Calvinistic church in
Holland.
Now Only in Graveyards.
Such is the history of people, q
faith, a church represented in the
South only by graveyards. That
church should erect monuments in
the four here and three graveyards
at Chester to mark the spot where
are buried people who always stood
for civil and religious liberty, who
feared not the wrath of earthly kings
but feared him who is Emmanuel. In
short the Covenanters dissented from
voting, holding Office, etc., because
they held the United States constitu-
ton in its failure to recognize. Christ
as king of kings to be immortal and
of an atheistic-infdel order, also be.
cause it says government is ordained
of we the people when the Bible
says all government is ordained Of
God. They hold that the Bible should
be the supreme guide in government
tai affairs; they will not tolerate
members of secret orders in their
communion and they hold to the
Psalmody of Uncle David as the only
manual of praise.
Mr.. White has been newspaper
reporter for twenty-seven years on
the Republican and Democratic pa
pers in his city. From here he goes
to Xenia and Cedarville, Ohio. where
later generations of the Boyd-Chal-
mers and Reid families are buried
Mr.. White is not a member Of the
Covenanter church though both his
parents were once in the church and
his father was a minister of the de-
but is now in the Presby-
terian church, North.