City Directories and History: Williamston Town and township were named for West Allen Williams, a wealthy planter who lived in the locality in the third decade of the nineteenth century. He owned several thousand acres of fertile land, including the wonderful spring of mineral water which later made Williamston a celebrated place, has several post cards bearing Twiggs postmark, 1891. In laying off the town, Mr. Williams appropriated two good lots for schools—one for boys and one for girls. The boys high school was successful, but the girls school failed. Not until Dr. Lander opened his college in 1871 did Williamston have a satisfactory school for girls. (This girls school was later moved to Greenwood and is now Lander College). Williamston soon became famed as a
health resort, and in 1830 a hotel was erected to accommodate the rush of people to partake of the curative water. In 1857, the Williamston Hotel was sold to a company which moved the building back from its original site, and erected the large Mammoth Hotel. Both the old hotel and the Mammoth were destroyed by fire in 1860. It is an established fact, though little known, that the last organized fighting east of the Mississippi River in the War Between the States took place near Williamston. The proof of this skirmish is in the first book that was presented to the Clemson College Library—The History of the South Carolina Military Academy. The commanding officer, upon advancing, finding that the attacking party, who were a portion of Stoneman’s raiders, had retired, turned about and resumed the retreat. It was now apparent that small bands of the raiders were on all sides of the corps of cadets. But without encountering any of these parties, the corps reached Belton the day after leaving Greenville, and halting at Cokesbury and Greenwood finally went into camp at Ninety Six, whence, after remaining for a week, it proceeded to Newberry C. H. and camped at that place. , by John Peyre Thomas, published in Charleston in 1893. The book was presented to the Library by Benjamin R. Tillman, and it bears out the facts that the cadets were at a point near Williamston, S.C., when the cadets had halted after a weary march, and were, many of them, asleep on their arms, when the command was fired upon, and some confusion, incident to a surprise, issued. But when the flag was displayed in the road, the command promptly rallied around it, and fire was returned by the cadets with effect. Here, Captain Thomas communicated with Governor Magrath, asking for further orders, the cadets being at that time (May 9, 1865) the only organized body in arms in the state, and perhaps in the South, this side of the Mississippi River.
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
Among the many Baptist churches in Anderson County, the first whose date is definitely known is Big Creek Baptist Church which was erected in 1789 and is located several miles south of Williamston. The Baptists of the Piedmont section have lovingly called it “the mother of churches” because so many congregations have sprung from it. A grand old pioneer preacher from Virginia, Moses Holland, served as its first pastor for forty-one years.
The property includes two buildings, the newer larger sanctuary and the “good brick church” which was built during the pastorate of William P. Martin (1848-1873). In the churchyard stands the obelisk monument erected to the memory of Elder Holland surrounded by many graves, old and new, of citizens and soldiers of many wars.
The records of Big Creek have been preserved and recount the ideas and customers of its early days. The congregation believed in and practiced the scriptural injunction to settle all their affairs in council of the brethren. A favorite expression used in the minutes was “we disapprove of such conduct” and even beloved Pastor Holland was declared out of fellowship temporarily for failing to settle a five dollar debt to the satisfaction of the congregation. Negroes were received as members along with their master’s families and in the church their right to be hears was equal to that of any other member.
Neal’s Creek, organized about the close of the century, was the first offshoot from Big Creek and has been called “the mother of preachers.” Among the many who went out from that church were William McGee, Sanford Vandiver, Wiley Smith, Robert King, Woodrow Holland King (son of Robert King and grandson of Moses Holland), Mike McGee, and J.K. Fant. (Source: Anderson County Sketches by the Anderson County Tricentennial Committee, 1969)
Early Pastors of Big Creek Baptist Church
- Moses Holland (1788-September 8, 1829)
- Robert King, son-in-law of Moses Holland and founder of Neal’s Creek Baptist (May 1830-August 4, 1838)
- John Vandiver (August 17, 1838-September 1842)
- Church split led by Edward W. Musgrove (September 1842-October 1845)
- William P. Martin (October 23, 1845-January 1873)
One upcountry church even went so far as to use the power of church discipline against a member who had failed the standard of Confederate honor and courage. Big Creek Baptist Church, in Williamston, brought charges again J.B. Turner in January 1865, “for acting the traitor, deserting our army, and going over to the Yankee army.” The Confederate Baptists of Big Creek “excluded” Turner from the fellowship of the brethren for this act, even as he had excluded himself from the southern war effort. (Source: Never Surrender: Confederate Memory and Conservatism in the South Carolina Upcountry by W. Scott Poole, page 46.)
Additional Links
- Big Creek Baptist Church – Find-a-Grave Entry
- Big Creek Baptist Church Graveyard Index
- Big Creek Baptist Church excerpt from Traditions and Legends of Anderson County by Louise Ayer Vandiver
- Moses Holland Inducted into the Anderson County Hall of Fame
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