SCBERKEL-L Archives

From: "Dee Thompson" <>
Subject: [SCBERKEL] Re: Books
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 15:56:38 -0500
References: <20021103.112436.-83977.1.tjjenkins4@juno.com>

Hi Tom,
That book doesn't have anything on St. Thomas, but the Berkeley List
and website are incredibly helpful. To subscribe to the List send a
plain text (not HTML) e-mail message with only the word SUBSCRIBE (or
UNSUBSCRIBE) in the message body to:
(for mail mode) or to:
(for digest mode)

These Berkeley County sites will help you also on your St. Thomas
dilemma.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~scbchs/
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scbchs/church3.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scberkel/cemeteries.htm


ST. THOMAS CHURCH - 1819
St. Thomas & St. Denis Parish
The parish church for St. Thomas Parish.

Historians state that the section around Cainhoy probably had a
few' settlers before Charles Town was moved from Old Towne to its
present location. In 1704, the Rev. Samuel Thomas reported the
population included 80 (Church of England families and 20 Dissenting
families here. The Parish was laid off in 1706, but the boundaries
were not defined until 1708 when the St. Denis Church was made a
Chapel of Ease. Although the parish church was authorized by the
Assembly in 1706, it was not begun until 1707 and completed in 1708. A
Glebe of 200 acres was set up.
In 1709 the Rev. Thomas Hasell was appointed a Missionary, to the
Parish. He was buried at Pompion Hill, and his grave is said to have
washed into the River.
In 1721, Richard Beresford, Esq. left a will bequeathing funds
known as the Beresford Bounty which gave the Church a source of income
and and provided education for the poor children of the Parish.
We are told that the population of the parish in 1728 included
565 whites, 950 Negroes, 60 Indian slaves, 20 free Negroes, or "a
total of about 1600 souls."
St. Denis (the French Church) was the official Chapel-of-Ease to
the Parish until 1747 when Pompion Hill was declared a Chapel-of-Ease.
In 1755, the Rev. Mr. Garden informed the Missionary Society in
England that the old French Refugees were dead, and in 1768 an Act was
passed disestablishing the Church of St. Denis and turning its
property over to the Vestry of the English Parish.
In 1784 the old charter of the Parish was renewed and the name of
old St. Denis was revived in the official name, the Parish of St.
Thomas and St. Denis. In 1815 a forest fire destroyed the building of
1708, and the present building was erected in 1819 at a time when the
white population had dropped to 212.
The funds appropriated for the building of a parsonage were
considered insufficient when the church was built, and as late as 1723
there was none, but one was eventually built and was burned by Federal
troops during the Confederate War.
The Church silver was buried by the overseer of Rev. Robert Smith
beneath a tree at Brabant Plantation, which is just a few miles up the
road from the Church. Though the overseer was suspended from a tree
three times before being released, he did not disclose the burial
place. Two cups, dating from 1711 and 1753 are said to remain today.
In 1937 the Parish Church was in need of extensive repairs. This
work was sponsored by the Society of Colonial Dames and through the
generosity of Mr. Harry F. Guggenheim a new roof was put on, the
church completely repaired, and the ruined vestry room in the
churchyard was repaired. Several years ago, this building was
practically abandoned. Vandals would not permit it to be kept locked.
Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Humphries of Cainhoy have taken an interest in the
building and with funds provided by the Guggenheim family have begun a
program of cleaning and restoring the church and graveyard. See
photograph, above.
Congregationalists were here at an early date. When they had no
minister, the congregation became Presbyterian. With the coming of the
Methodists in the late 1700's much of the community became Methodist.
Methodist Bishop William Capers was from this community. His parents
were buried on the site where the Methodists once had a ten-acre tract
with church and campground. The grave of his mother, Mary Singletary
Capers, stands intact as the monument is upright, but vandals have
destroyed most of the flat tombs and taken away brick and stones.
The Annals and Register of St. Thomas and St. Denis Parish as
collected from all sources then available and arranged by Robert F.
Clute is a source of information on names and dates of birth,
marriage, death and burial of many of the early, settlers in this
section.

Information and Article from
"Historic Ramblin's Through Berkeley"
written by and used with permission of
Mr. J. Russell Cross

Let me know if I can help you with anything else.
Dee


For details on sources used, refer to this link:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncbladen/lookups.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas J Jenkins <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2002 2:24 PM
Subject: Books


Dee-
On your list of books, "South Carolina Begins: The Records of a
Proprietary County, 1663-1721," does this book address it self to
Charleston or what? I'm interested in Berkeley County, St. Thomas
Church
and its cemetary layouts as well as a list of those buried there. Are
these items mentioned? Thanks for your answer.
Tom Jenkins from FL.

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• [SCBERKEL] Re: Books by "Dee Thompson" <>