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| Brush arbor similar to those used in planting churches |
Freed slave June Kennedy was a
remarkable and important figure in the history of black Baptist churches in
Laurens County. Personal information is not available, but Kennedy’s name is
connected with the formation of many early Baptist churches. What we do know is
that even though Kennedy was unable to read, he went regularly to sympathetic white
believers who provided the Biblical teaching to help him organize and lead
many new churches of freed slaves across Laurens County.[1]
Another former slave named Thomas
Hood was well known for his singing, and June Kennedy for his itinerant
preaching. Martin C. Cunningham meanwhile started prayer meetings at his home near Clinton,
and the numbers grew.
While working together at T.B. Baggett's Mill, six miles west of Clinton, Kennedy and Hood wondered if, owing to the large prayer meetings conducted by Cunningham, a church could not be organized in the community. Interest was high even among the non‑religious, and the black members of Beaverdam and Huntsville (later First) Baptist churches were dismissed to form their own church.
"Wade Perrin[2] [had] preached the first sermon [in that area] under a brush arbor in Mr. S.M. Bailey's woods. His intention was to plant there an A.M.E. church, but the Baptists were too strong." New China Baptist Church was the result, and June Kennedy was the visionary. Kennedy was the first pastor until 1877, and the charter members were George Hooker, George Nelson, Mary Blakeley, Letia A. Cunningham, Martin C. Cunningham, George and Silvia Davis, and Emma Hooker. The membership would reach 350 by 1900.[3] Hebron Baptist in Clinton was organized in 1883 with fourteen members sent from New China. They first met at Clinton Presbyterian until the whites helped build their church.
While working together at T.B. Baggett's Mill, six miles west of Clinton, Kennedy and Hood wondered if, owing to the large prayer meetings conducted by Cunningham, a church could not be organized in the community. Interest was high even among the non‑religious, and the black members of Beaverdam and Huntsville (later First) Baptist churches were dismissed to form their own church.
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| Wade Perrin |
"Wade Perrin[2] [had] preached the first sermon [in that area] under a brush arbor in Mr. S.M. Bailey's woods. His intention was to plant there an A.M.E. church, but the Baptists were too strong." New China Baptist Church was the result, and June Kennedy was the visionary. Kennedy was the first pastor until 1877, and the charter members were George Hooker, George Nelson, Mary Blakeley, Letia A. Cunningham, Martin C. Cunningham, George and Silvia Davis, and Emma Hooker. The membership would reach 350 by 1900.[3] Hebron Baptist in Clinton was organized in 1883 with fourteen members sent from New China. They first met at Clinton Presbyterian until the whites helped build their church.
In
1871, Rev. Morton held prayer meetings at his home and a service once a month in
the Gray Court area. On August 5, 1873, Center Rabon Baptist Church[4] was organized, and
the sermon preached by C.P. Arnold was ironically titled, "And the Door
Was Shut." "Brother M.E. Mahaffey, a white friend, served as clerk
for several months because none of the blacks were able to write."
In 1869, Hopewell Baptist Church[5] came out of New
Prospect Baptist Church (white) near Maddens Station south of Laurens. It was led
by F. Morris and started at Simpson's Mills, three‑quarters of a mile below
Hamilton's Old Field. The first pastor, however, was Dan Burnside, and one of
the deacons was
Harry McDaniel, state legislator from Laurens 1868-1872. Rocky
Spring Baptist Church[6] was established in
1871 with twelve black members also from white New Prospect Baptist as June
Kennedy preached under a brush arbor.
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| Henry (Harry) McDaniel |
White
Plain Baptist Church[7] was formed in 1872
with eleven members, five miles southwest of the courthouse near the railroad
in the Lisbon community, and Christian Hope Baptist Church[8] was organized the
same year by June Kennedy. Flat Roof (later Flat Ruff) Baptist Church,[9] two miles northeast
of Barksdale, began in 1872 with Joseph H. Sanders as the first pastor. Good
Hope Baptist Church[10] was built in 1872
near Puckett's Ferry under Wallace Evans, and burned in 1887. "The
faithful brethren prayed and labored hard in order to get this church on
foot."
June
Kennedy continued his whirlwind church planting in 1873, six miles from the
courthouse toward Boyd's Mill on the Reedy River. He preached under a brush
arbor on Robert H. Hudgen's land, and organized Mount Zion Baptist Church[11] with six members from
Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church. Mount Zion grew about 50 members a year to 300
members.
Little
River Zion Church[12] near the Newberry
County line in the Belfast community was organized in 1876 from members sent
out from Bush River Missionary Baptist Church[13] (black) who had themselves
come out of Bush River Baptist Church (white) after 1865. Little River Zion Church
was planted by, again, by the remarkable Rev. June Kennedy because of the far
distance of walking to the black Bush River church in Newberry County. Rev. B.F.
Lively was the first pastor.[14] Former slave Maria Cleland,
born a slave of John Satterwhite near old Bush River Baptist Church just across
the line in Newberry County, SC, attested years later at age 80 in May 1937:
"Before de Negroes had their own church meetings, the slaves went to the
white folks' Bush River Baptist Church and set up in the gallery. Negroes most
always shouted at their religious meetings."[15]
This mushrooming of churches across
Laurens County led a number of black leaders in 1879 to the formation of the
Tumbling Shoals Baptist Educational Association where Thomas Jones taught in a
log schoolhouse. The association was founded by Homer Hill, Calvin Pitts,
Haywood Donaldson, Martin A. Cunningham, all ministers, and deacons John
Finley, Priest Miller, and others.[16]
New Prospect Baptist Church (black), planted by June Kennedy and Robert Holmes,
was the head church of the Association, one‑ half mile from Tumbling Shoals.
"These sketches are being recorded in the absence of many records and are
subject to some inaccuracies."[17]
[1]
“History of Little River Zion Baptist Church,”
http://www.lrzbc.com/index.php/our-history,
Accessed Nov. 5, 2015.
[2] The same Wade Perrin assassinated at
Martin’s Depot (Joanna) the day after he was elected to the SC General Assembly
during the Laurens Riots of 1870.
[3] O.W.C. Lawson, "Church Built near
Baggett's Mill," Laurens Advertiser, June 10, 1970.
[4] 14155 Highway 101 S, Gray Court, SC
29645
[9] 640 Flat Ruff Church Rd., Laurens, SC
29360. 34.578694, -82.052697
[10] 16698 S Carolina 72, Cross Hill, SC
29332. 34.287963, -82.043945
[11] 2391 S Carolina 252, Laurens, SC 29360. 34.493435,
-82.110418
[12] 9012
South Carolina 56, Kinards, SC 29355
[13] Bush River Baptist Church was formed c.
1772 as a Separate Baptist congregation connected directly to Shubal Stearns
and the Sandy Creek (NC) Baptist Association.
[14] “History of Little River Zion Baptist
Church,” http://www.lrzbc.com/index.php/our-history,
Accessed Nov. 5, 2015.
[15] Maria Cleland (age 80), in Slave
Narratives, (I, i, 204), May 17, 1937, edited by Elmer Turnage. "I was
born near old Bush River Baptist Church, in Newberry County, S.C. I was the
slave of John Satterwhite. My mother lived with them. I was a small girl when
the war was on. My brother went to war with Marse Satterwhite. When de Ku Klux
and paddrollers traveled around in that section, they made Mr. Satterwhite hold
the niggers when they was whipped, but he most all the time let them loose,
exclaiming, 'they got loose'‑‑he did not want many of them whipped. People
there did not believe much in ghosts. They were not much superstitious, but one
time some of the negroes thought they heard the benches in Bush River Baptist Church
turn over when nobody was in the church. I moved to Newberry when I was young,
after I got married."
[16] Mary Whitener, "Contributions by
Negroes," Laurens Advertiser, June 10, 1970.
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