City Directories and History: Constructed in the spring of 1854, this is a classic meeting house plan from the mid 19th century.
Extended History
Timeline of Allison Creek Presbyterian Church – Courtesy of Allison Creek Presbyterian Church
1853
At the fall meeting of Bethel Presbytery a petition was presented asking for organization of a new church located several miles north of Ebenezer Presbyterian Church.
Before the organization of Allison Creek, people of the community traveled many miles on roads that were hardly more than “pig paths” to worship in two distant churches, Bethel Presbyterian and Ebenezer Presbyterian.
1854
On February 4, a commission from Bethel Presbytery met and organized Allison Creek Presbyterian Church. Members of the commission were Rev. J. M. H. Adams of Yorkville, ruling elders Frank H. Simril and W. P. McFadden. The Rev. A. M. Watson of Indian Presbytery, who attended the organization service, was invited to sit as a corresponding commission member to constitute that a quorum was present.
The dedication was held that same day in the new church building with Rev. J. M. H. Adams preaching the sermon. In choosing a name for this new house of worship, the people decided to call it “Allison Creek” for the stream that flows southward behind the wooded hill where the church stands.
J. Durham Currence donated land on which the church was built. J. Durham Currence was the brother of Mrs. Susan S. Currence Allison who was present with her husband, William B. Allison, and helped organize the church.
The first officers elected to govern the new church were: Elders William Berry Allison, Angus Davidson Choate, Ezekiel Fewell and James Simril. Deacons were: James L. Wright, Hugh H. Simril, and William Choate.
The first pastor was Rev. J. R. Baird who served from 1854 to 1856.
1856
Church officers showed concern for the congregation’s state of earnestness. At their meeting on August 20, 1856, the following resolution was drawn up:
Whereas this church being at a low state of piety, very much needs a reviving from the presence of the Lord; therefore, be it resolved that Thursday be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer to God that He would visit this church and community with the reviving influence of His Spirit.
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Oct. 25, 1883 – “Mr. John Nichols who lives in the Clay Hill section was seriously hurt while feeding a cotton gin. His left hand was drawn between the saws and had to be amputated. The operation was performed by Dr. J.R. Bratton and assisted by Dr. Thomas Crawford of Rock Hill.”
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Oct. 4, 1883 – “Closing ceremonies have been held for the term at the school at Allison Creek School. The exercises lasted all day and the people of Clay Hill provided lunch. The school has been under the management of Prof. C. Stevenson of Statesville.”
1918
For many years, Allison Creek continued to be a flourishing and influential group of worshippers. Continued construction of the power dam on the Catawba River forced many families to move to other localities. Following completion of the dam, an epidemic of malaria fever struck the neighborhood. Entire families fled their homesteads and plantations in the area. The creek for which Allison Creek Church was named had almost caused its namesake to collapse; the church sat on the brink of folding. Concord Methodist Church, which stood only a few miles away was already deserted and closed. The dam had caused water to cover much of the farmland and had created breeding places for the hordes of mosquitoes that infested the community and drove people from their homes.
During this time of illness and turmoil, approximately 48 staunch members stayed on and regular services were maintained.
1941
The congregation secured the services of a minister, Dr. Tilden Scherer, who was a source of inspiration. Dr. Scherer was pastor of Bethel Presbyterian and Scherer Memorial Presbyterian churches. He held worship services at 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoons twice a month, which made Allison Creek his third sermon of the day.
1945
A tornado ripped a narrow path through the community. High winds tore the roof off the church, blew down huge pine trees on the church ground, leveled homes and left destruction in its path. The fallen pine trees were hauled to the sawmill and milled into materials that were used to replace the church roof.
1950
Allison Creek gained members and started growing again with new life while Jack Sadler of Rock Hill served as supply pastor during his studies at The Seminary.
1954
June 6 marked the day for the one hundredth anniversary of the original dedication of Allison Creek. Dr. Tilden Scherer gave a brief history of the church during the service. In a groundbreaking ceremony, the Rev. Bruce Fisher, turned the first shovel of dirt for the new educational wing. This wing consisted of an assembly hall, kitchen and three Sunday school classrooms. The work was completed in 1955 at a cost of $5,500. The church steeple was added to Allison Creek front roof as a centennial gift from Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bigger.
The Yorkville Enquirer on Sept. 2, 1869 contained an ad – from William Sahms who informs his customers that his flour mill and wool cards near Clay Hill are in complete order. I have in my employment as miller, Mr. Stephen Huddleston.
GRIST VISITS ALLISON CREEK AREA – (In the column, “Just A-Rolling Along the Way— In My Green Chevrolet,” A. M. Grist, editor of the Yorkville Enquirer, visited the Allison Creek area, October 27, 1933.) …. we presently arrived at Allison Creek Presbyterian church. I like that church and its beautiful grounds, the prettiest country church grounds in the county, I think, and I never pass that way that I do not stop to look it over for a few minutes. I wanted Dr. [W. W.] Harrison to see the place. He had heard of it many times, but this was his first visit to the place. He too, was impressed with its beauty.
In my jaunting’s over the county the past two years and more I have written stories about many of the cemeteries of the county, and in due course I “covered” the Allison Creek graveyard. When I visited that city of the dead a year and more ago Mr. [Ladd] Lumpkin was with me, and told me that on the lower side of the cemetery there was a large space where negroes of slavery days had been buried, but he didn’t know and neither did I, that a number of those graves of the slaves had markers. Tom Simpson told me about them the other afternoon and I went out into that jungle of undergrowth to see what I could find. I didn’t find but three or four, and these we had to pull up out of the soft earth so the inscriptions could be read. Tom said the markers were the work of the late Frank Happerfield. One of the markers read: “In Memory of Dorcas Hill. Born May 15, 1780. Died July 16, 1870.” Now here was something interesting. Dorcas Hill was a house girl in the home of “Old Man Billy” Hill of Ironworks fame. She was the mother of Elias Hill, who figured somewhat in the days of Reconstruction and about whom I told something in my Ku Klux sketches. She was also the great-grandmother of Tom Simpson. Dorcas Hill was the nurse of General
D. H. Hill of Confederate Army fame….
Another marker found reads thus: “In memory of Rachel Knox. Born Feb. 18, 1844; died April 9, 1870.” These markers, says Tom, were all erected by Madison Hill. He also says that there is a large area below the cemetery there filled with graves of slaves and others buried there after the war. We passed on from Allison Creek church and went on out by the Hill Iron Works site and on to old Concord church and even down to the old Partlow place, in sight of what was once Thorn’s ferry ——- On October 31, Grist continued his “jaunting …” …. While Tom [Simpson] and I were on the outside of the cemetery looking for the markers at the graves of the several slaves buried there in that jungle, he informed me that the stone wall built around the church cemetery was built in 1876, the people interesting doing the work and hauling the stone from nearby farms.
While out there after I copied the inscriptions of the several markers, I asked Tom about some information about himself. Among other things he told me that he was born within 100 yards of the Laurens county courthouse on December 31, 1856. His owner, or rather the owner of his mother, was Mrs. John D. Simpson, wife of Dr. John D. Simpson. Her name was Miss Jane Beatty, a native of Yorkville, a sister of the late Colonel William C. Beatty, a lawyer of Yorkville. She first married a Mr. Clowney of Union. Mrs. Clowney already well-to-do, inherited considerable property from her husband’s estate. A few years later she married the second time, her second mate being Dr. Simpson, and went to Laurens to reside. Tom’s mother was taken along to Mrs. Simpson’s new home at Laurens and there Tom was born.
Dr. Simpson had been previously married and had several children. His second wife had no children. Simpson was quite well-to-do. Mrs. Clowney married Dr. Simpson as a “free dealer,” according to Tom. I had to get him to explain just what being a “free dealer” meant. He said that it meant that the property of Mrs. Simpson when she married the doctor was still hers to do with as she pleased. He had nothing to do with her holdings. Likewise she had no say so in his properties. Dr. Simpson’s daughters had married and moved away from the home. In due time some of them came home for visits, occasionally. On one occasion a daughter from Georgia and possibly others came for a visit, and Tom, aged about five years at that time, as was ordinary in those days, played with the white children of about his age. They got along nicely. Along about dinner time the white children were called in to dinner. Tom didn’t join the dinner party and some one, thinking Tom was a white child, inquired where the other little boy was. It was explained that Tom was a son of one of the slaves. Then that started things—in short, a commotion, and as the upshot of this family fuss over the little negro slave having been playing with the visiting quality white folks, Mrs. Simpson then and there set Tom free and sent him over to York county to her brother, Colonel Beatty to look after and made him Tom’s guardian to see that he got proper treatment, clothing, etc.
Thus it came that Tom spent his first night in York county at the home of the late Col. George W. Williams. In a day or two Colonel Beatty sent him out to the country and he was placed in charge of the mother of Elias Hill, Dorcas, for his rearing, and that is how Tom came to know so much about Elias, who played such a big part in reconstruction times and who was whipped by the Ku Klux on one occasion. Colonel Beatty visited Tom at least twice each year to see that he was being given proper care. I asked tom if the Ku Klux ever got after him. He would have been about 16 in the days of the Ku Klux period. “Oh, yes, sir,” Tom replied with a laugh, “but I kept out of the way of them; but I never stayed more than one or two nights in the same place. Just kept changing from place to place and they never caught me. As I have recounted several times before, Elias Hill was born the same year as was General D. H. Hill, and Dorcas Hill, mother of Elias, was the nursemaid for the baby that was later to become a Confederate general. Up to the age of about seven years, Elias was a normal child. About that time disease seized him, something like rheumatism, and from that time on he was a cripple in body, helpless, so far as helping himself physically was concerned. He had to be carried wherever he went and had to have constant attention. But his mind was all right and quite evidently he had a mind that was far above the average of his race. He grew up with D. H. Hill and there was real affection between the two that never died as long as they lived. Of course D. H. Hill had the very best of educational advantages. He was a brilliant scholar himself and he took much delight in teaching the slave boy, Elias, and he did a good job of it. He taught him everything that he possibly could, and in time, according to Tom, Elias Hill became so apt in reading the original Greek that he could read it with the facility that English was read by the average scholar of his day.
After the war General Hill went to Charlotte to live, and there was on the editorial staff of the Charlotte Observer. In the meantime, Elias, handicapped as he was physically, gave his time to the work of teaching school and preaching. He went and preached all around over North Carolina—just anywhere that his people could and would take him to. Tom says Elias had such a powerful voice he could be heard a long distance when preaching.
In the meantime he was teaching school in Mecklenburg county, and according to Tom, General Hill every two or three weeks, would send his carriage out to where Elias was teaching and bring him to his Charlotte home to spend the week-ends and the two of them would greatly enjoy such occasions, Elias being treated with the utmost kindness on such occasions. Elias Hill, as many of my readers know, was anathema to the Ku Kluxers of Bethel township. He was considered a leader and adviser among his race and because of his education and other qualifications he was considered a bad egg. On one occasion a half dozen Ku Kluxers went to the house of Dorcas Hill, where Elias lived with his mother, took him after doing some damage to the furnishings of the home, among other things destroyed being a clock.
Elias according to the common story, was given several lashes with a hickory with, and some of the legends say he was threatened by the Ku Klux with being thrown into a nearby pond to drown. One common story is to the effect that one of the Kluxers unintentionally spoke a word or two and the voice was recognized as that of a well known man of the community. Recognizing the voice, it is said that Dorcas threw her arms around the legs of this man and piteously begged that her son be not drowned. The Kluxers, realizing the fact that they were thus made known, abandoned the idea of drowning Elias and so departed.
Tom has it another way. He says he was close by while all this was going on. He says there were six men in the party and that he recognized all of them, and in fact gave me the names of them; but that doesn’t matter here. He says that they broke the clock, carried Elias out of the house, and hit him a few licks with the withes, but did not threaten to drown him. At any rate Elias was not drowned.
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Dec. 11, 1884 – “Saul Hill, son of Madison Hill, was one of those who left for Liberia several years ago. He has done well there and owns over 700 acres of good land. Last week Madison received a shipment of a sack of coffee from his son. Saul has been shipping his coffee crop to Phil. Penn., and it considered to be of good quality. He is fortunate that he was in good financial circumstances when he went to Liberia. Some young men have returned from there in destitute condition.”
The Rock Hill Herald of Oct. 1, 1885 announced – “The home of Mr. Jerome Miller, of the Clay Hill section of the county was consumed by fire last Saturday along with most of his household furnishings. The house was very fine, having eight large rooms.” (The Yorkville Enquirer stated it was the Jerome C. Miller home, once belonging to his father.)
The Rock Hill Herald reported on July 8, 1886 – “The closing exercises of Mrs. Addie Permenter’s School at Concord Church will take place on July 13.” And on Aug. 12, Mrs. A. Permenter’s School in the Sutton neighborhood opened last Monday with 32 students.”
It was in 1871, that there was a movement over the south, probably originating in the North, for a migration of former slaves to the republic of Liberia on the west coast of Africa. The movement finally materialized and quite a party of York county negroes went on the expedition. The ones from this county were under the leadership of Elias Hill. Simpson told me the other day that when Elias Hill left York county starting for Liberia he had $5,000 in cash.
The emigrants reached Liberia all right and in due time. Tom Simpson was in the party. He stayed just a little over ten months and then came back and has been in York county ever since. Elias Hill died in Liberia in February, 1872. Tom Simpson was not the only one of the part of immigrants who returned to York county. I quite well remember several of them who came back. Among others were two men named Simrill—John and Green—John then migrated to Arkansas and so far as I know died out there——————————- In the files of The Enquirer are a number of letters written from Liberia by Elias Hill, my father having made arrangements with him to write the letters and tell of the experiences of the party in the African republic—Free Liberia. These letters are very interesting and bear all the marks of an educated man as he told of the voyage out and some of the conditions existing when the party arrived and what they did and were doing at the time. The going of the party to Liberia was the basis of much newspaper notoriety North and South, and the experiment was watched with much interest ail over this country. (Information courtesy of and from: YCGHS – The Quarterly Magazine)
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