The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, October 15, 1970, Image 8
PAGE 8—The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thursday, October 15,1970
In 1826 a Missionary Commi
ttee of the Synod of Lutheran
Churches in South Carolina was
appointed to preach, to help
needy and destitute churches
and to organize other churches.
Rev. J. G. Schwartz was one of
the travelling missionaries for
the Synod and organized the
congregation that was to be
come St. Luke’s in 1828.. The
meeting at which this organi
zation took place was known as
the Baptist Meeting House, lo
cated about two miles southeast
from the present church build
ing. Evidently it was used by
all people of the neighborhood
as a place for Sunday School,
prayer meeting and preaching
service when an itinerant prea
cher came along. In 1830, a
small plain church building was
built on land given by John En-
low which is the present site.
The earliest available record
of the congregation is dated
February 2, 1832 and shows Rev.
Jacob Moser as pastor and a
list of eighty members. The
Rev. William Berley served St.
Luke’s as Pastor while teach
ing at the Lutheran Seminary
at Lexington. In 1845 under his
pastorate the church building
was replaced with a larger one
and the materials in the old
building sold to Colony Luthe
ran Church, also organized un
der the ministry of Rev. Berley.
The new church was built with
a gallery for slaves to sit dur
ing the service. The door that
led to the gallery was known as
‘Aunt Lucy's Door” named
after one of the best known
slaves. During the time from
1845 until slavery was abolished,
St. Luke’s had a membership
of 38-40 slaves.
While pastor at St. Luke’s
Rev- Berley also organized
Grace. Prosperity. After Rev.
Berley’s resignation. Rev. T. S.
Boinest became Pastor of St.
Luke’s and Colony, but because
of his interest in and work with
Luther Chapel (the present Re
deemer. Newberry), he resigned
to devote full time to Luther
Chapel.
The dark days of the Civil
War seemed to have a great ef
fect on St. Luke’s. As there was
no pastor, Rev. Smithdeal, Pas
tor of Grace, Prosperity, and
Rev. Boinest of Newberry per
formed pastoral duties for the
congregation. In 1869, the synod
grouped churches into pasto
rates. St. Luke’s, Colony and
Grace formed Pastorate No. 13
and was served by Rev. Jacob
Hawkins. He was a son of St.
Luke’s congregation and his pa
rents were charter members of
the Church. It is interesting to
note that he (Rev. Jacob Haw
kins) was born in 1828, the year
St. Luke’s was organized. Three
times he was pastor of his
mother church and died while
her pastor in 1895. He was a
writer of rare ability, author of
Hawkin’s Catechism and editor
of the Lutheran Visitor.
Rev. H. S. Wingard served as
Pastor for a short time. During
or shortly after his pastorate
Grace Church withdrew from
Pastorate No. 13. St. Luke’s
and Colony were served by
Rev. J. D. Bowles. It was dur
ing his pastorate that the first
parsonage was built and occu
pied by the Pastor of the
Church. Rev. Bowles was fol
lowed by Rev. Jacob Hawkins,
his second term, Rev. Monroe
Epting and the return of Rev.
Jacob Hawkins who served un
til his death in July 1895.
Rev. George S. Bearden be
gan his work shortly thereafter.
The records show that he mar
ried Miss Katherine Luther of
Prosperity in 1895. Mrs. Bear
den still resides in Prosperity.
Rev. Bearden served other
churches in supply services
while at St. Luke's as well as
being editor of a Church Paper.
He was followed at St. Luke’s
by Rev. H. J. Mathias and then
Rev. S. P. Koon who served
until 1912 when he resigned to
become President of Summer-
land College, an institution of
the South Carolina Synod for
Women. During Rev. Koon's
pastorate, he organized Silver-
street Church, mostly of mem
bers from St. Luke's and has
often been called a child of St.
Luke's.
A Sunday School Annex was
built and renovations to the
Church were made during the
pastorate of Rev. B. W. Cronk..
lie was followed by Rev. W. H.
Roof and Rev. E. H. Seckinger
who served until 1926. At this
time the congregation numbered
317 in membership and the
church property was valued at
$7,500.00 During the times when
there was no pastor, names
such as Rev. R. A, Goodman,
Dr. A. J. Bowers among others
were common to the Church
service.
Rev. J. B. Harmon accepted
the work of the pastorate in
1928. The Centennial Anniver
sary of the congregation was
celebrated on August 9, 1928
(Thursday) with a large crowd
of members, former members
and friends. Former Pastors
and Supply Pastors were pre
sent or sent greetings for the
occasion.
In 1937, Rev. J. Virgil Long
was called as Pastor and served
until 1943 at which time the
Church Council released him as
Pastor so that he could enter
the Armed Forces as Chaplain.
Thus, for the third time in his
tory, war had called upon the
congregation to give of her sons
and this last time of her pas
tor as well. (It is interesting
to note that at this time Rev.
Long serves as pastor of Co
lony, one of the congregations
that was a part of the parish
at an earlier date.)
In 1944, Rev. C. E. Seastrunk
began his work and continued
until 1950. Rev. Thomas F. Su-
ber, D. D.served from 1951
until his retirement in 1962, and
served as Pastor Emeritus un
til his death in 1969. Under his
leadership and direction the new
church building was constructed
and the debt eliminated.
The present parsonage was
built in 1962 and first occupied
by Rev. J. Hilton Roof who be
gan his pastorate on August 15,
1963 and serves as the present
pastor. The congregation has
a membership of 830 baptized
members and a property eva
luation of $126,952.
Sons of the congregation who
were ordained to the Ministry
are as follows: Levi Beden-
baugh, pastor of some of the
more prominent churches in S.
C. graduated with the first class
of the Theological Seminary at
Lexington. Wilson Bedenbaugh
brother to Levi, became an or
dained minister, but there is no
further record of him. Jacob
Hawkins has already been men
tioned in this history. Elijah
Hawkins, uncle of Jacob Haw
kins, graduated with Levi Be
denbaugh in 1836 but no further
record is made. J. S. Elmore,
son of the congregation served
in the South Carolina Synod.
Cornelius Boozer was a son of
charter members of the congre
gation. L. P. Hawkins did most
of his ministerial work in Vir
ginia and Pennsylvania. P. D.
and J. A. Shealy, brothers, were
confirmed in St. Luke’s but la
ter transferred to Grace, Pros
perity. P. E. is now deceased
and J. A. resides in Leesville.
Vernon A. Frick was ordained
in 1953 and is an adopted mem
ber of St. Luke’s having grown
up in St. Peter’s (Piney Woods)
Chapin. He now serves Union
Lutheran Church, Salisbury, N.
C. Clyde Bedenbaugh was or
dained in 1954 and presentlv
serves as pastor of Luther Me
morial Lutheran Church, Holly
wood, Fla. Gerald Smith, or
dained in 1970, is serving as as
sistant pastor at Mt. Calvary
Lutheran Church, Excelsior,
Minnesota. Larry Smith, also
ordained in 1970 is serving as
pastor of the Peak-Springhill
Lutheran Parish, Peak, S. C.
SC DRIVERS LICENSE
EXPIRE ON BIRTHDATE
You may be at the age when
you’d rather not count your
birthdays—but it’s to your de
finite advantage to remember
your birth date insofar as your
South Carolina’s Driver’s Li
cense is concerned.
Since July 10 of this year
when the Highway Department
began its record keeping on the
subject, more than 2,200 drivers
in the state have had to take
a complete driver examination
because they let their birthdate
slip by without renewing their
drivers licenses. The exact
number is 2,225 through Octo
ber 5.
A drivers license expires on
the holder’s birthday in the
fourth calendar year after it has
been issued to him. If he has
it renewed before the expira
tion date, he has only to sub
mit to an eye test in order to
have his license renewed. If
he waits until the license has
expired, he then must take the
complete driver examination,
written and road tests, just as
if he had never had a license,
according to the Highway De
partment driver licensing offi
cials.
Public invited
to Dorn party
Congressman Wm. Jennings
Bryan Dorn will be honored
with a barbecue, Saturday, Oc
tober 17th, at 11:00 A. M. Jim
mie Coggins, of Newberry,
Chairman of the Dorn For Con
gress Committee, announced to
day. The barbecue will be held
at the Dorn Farm on Route
One, Greenwood, on the Calli-
son Highway.
The Honorable L. Mendel Ri
vers, Chairman of the Armed
Services Committee, will be
principal speaker. A band con
cert by the championship Abbe
ville High School Grenadier
Band will begin at 10:30 A. M.
The Debutones, famed singing
group from Anderson, will ap
pear.
Congress will recess late Wed
nesday night and Dorn will fly
down from Washington for the
occasion. The Congressman will
share the platform with Rivers.
James Ellison, Chairman of
the Arrangements Committee,
said barbecue will be served fol
lowing remarks by Dorn and
Rivers. The general public is
invited.
Freyer lecture
set tonight
Ireland’s problems will come
in sharper focus for Newberry
area residents when they attend
a lecture by Grattan Freyer,
Irish critic-journalist, at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Wiles
Chapel on the Newberry College
campus.
Freyer’s appearance is the
first program of the season for
the College’s Artists and Lec
turers Series,
The journalist comes to the
College under the auspices of
the Association of American
Colleges Arts Program; it is
supported by a grant from the
Danforth Foundation. The As
sociation’s purpose is to assist
colleges in their efforts to stren-
then liberal education.
After graduating from Eng
land’s Cambridge University
with honors in English and
science, Freyer studied lan
guages and received his docto
rate from the University of Du
blin. For the past sixteen years
he has combined free lance
writing and lecturing with farm
ing, potting, and horse breed
ing.
The speaker will also talk to
political science and English
classes on Friday, Oct. 16.
the second program in the
Artists and Lecturers Series is
the Bertoncini Trio; the evening
of classical and contemporary
guitar music is planned for
Wednesday, Oct. 28. All pro
grams in the series are free
and open to the public.
WITH MEN IN
The SERVICES
VIETNAM - Willie F. Can-
non. son of Mrs. Corrie M. Can
non. 1722 Drayton St., was pro
moted recently to Army spe
cialist four while serving with
the 69th Engineer Battalion near
Binh Minh, Vietnam.
Spec. 4 Cannon is a cirpenter
in the . battalion's Company B.
He entered the Army in Sep
tember 1969 and completed ba
sic training at Ft. Leonard
Wood, Mo., where he was last
stationed.
L. HART JORDAN
Republican Candidate For
County Council District 1
ADMINISTRATOR
22 years as Plant Manager w’ith Kendall
EXPERIENCE
In supervision, Employee Relations and bus
iness Management including budget prepara
tion and administration.
GOVERNMENT
6 years City Council, Edgefield, S. C.
4 years Mayor Pro-tem
Di rector State Chamber of Commerece—2
terms
Chairman Industrial Managers Committee
Newberry County Development Board—
Member Education Committee since com
mittee was formed in 1968.
Member Administrative Board, Central
United Methodist Church
Past Board Chairman and Church Lay
Leader
Previously served as District Lay Leader—
4 years
Currently member District Program Coun
cil and Associate District Lay Leader and
Director South Carolina Methodist Advocate
I Shall Be Grateful For Your Vote and Support
on November 3,1970