1902 Ebenezer Road – Ebenezer Manse

R&R HISTORY LINK: EBENEZER ARP CHURCH

City Directories and History: 1946 – Rev. John C. Bailey, 1963 – Emmie G. Rollins, 1975 – Richard F. Shilling

This two story house was constructed in circa 1909 and was Ebenezer Presbyterian’s first manse. Dr. Joseph Terrell Dendy was the first minster to reside here and continued serving as the manse for many years. On January 23, 1901, he married Kate Ives Drennan of Richburg, SC. They had one daughter, Elizabeth Dennan Dendy. Other misters and their families that lived here included the Rev. Dr. John C. Bailey and his family who was also the minister at the church. Sons included; John, Morgan, Bill, Donald, and Joseph.

The Rock Hill Record reported on Aug. 13, 1908 – “The Ebenezer Church folks are getting busy on their manse.  The building committee of John H. Steele, J.B. Neely, and R.T. Fewell has already erected the barn and will soon start of the house. They expect to build the manse for $2,500.”

John Crooks Bailey was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 8, 1870, the son of John Crooks Bailey and Margaret Isabel (Harrison) Bailey. His father was editor and proprietor of the Enterprise and Mountaineer, a weekly newspaper (forerunner of the Greenville News). As a youth, he learned to set type in his father’s shop, and do all the tasks associated with a newspaper office. He attended Furman University and was graduated from The Citadel in 1890.

Doctor Bailey began his career as a journeyman typesetter and then as a reporter. He taught school for a time and then went to Washington, where he was a clerk in the Bureau of Pensions for a year. Turning next to the ministry, he was graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1896. He was licensed by Enoree Presbytery that same year. He was ordained by Harmony Presbytery on October 9, 1896, and installed as pastor of the Tirzah and

Wedgefield Churches in Sumter County, and the Summerton Church in Clarendon County. The first two he served until 1900. From 1900 to 1907, he served Hebron and Hepzibah Churches in Sumter County in addition to the church at Summerton. While serving this last pastorate he met Miss Annie Mabel Canty, a Methodist, who played the organ at his church in Summerton. They were subsequently married on November 14, 1900.

From 1907 to 1919, he served a group of churches in Pickens County. From 1919 to 1947, he served Ebenezer, Tirzah, and Hopewell. He was honorably retired by Bethel Presbytery March 31, 1947; however, he continued to serve another year as Pastor Emeritus. Doctor Bailey was stated clerk of Bethel Presbytery from 1924 to 1945, was moderator of the Synod of South Carolina in 1939, was frequently moderator of Presbyteries, and four times was a commissioner to the General Assembly. Davidson College awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1934. Dr. Bailey, who was not without a sense of humor, once said of his D.D. Degree that “D.D. means dry as dust.”On another occasion he told a questioner about his sermons, “/,preach some mighty strong sermons. Sometimes a sermon will do a man a year  or at least a fellow will wait a year before coming back to church.”On still another occasion during the Depression years when offering a prayer upon receipt of the offering at Hopewell, he said, “0 Lord, we thank thee for these fifty-cent dollars. ” [Courtesy of History of Ebenezer Pres. Church – S.B. Mendenhall]

One of the things Dr. Bailey will always be remembered for according to one author was his prayer, “Lord, help us die in our own beds.”

The manse was sold when the church constructed a modern house closer to the church.

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