WPC:News

Volume No. 140 Issue No. 6 June 2008

Vince's View

Dear Family & Friends of West Union Chapel & Walhalla Presbyterian Church,

Public pronouncements about the Church over the past 30 years or so would lead us to think that the Church is a basket case. Listen to what marketing expert George Barna has found in his surveys regarding public attitudes toward the Church:

Loyalty to the Church, as an institution in which we have a personal investment and which we care about, is dropping. ...Membership in Christian churches is waning. Involvement in small group Bible studies has not increased in several years. Willingness to assume a leadership role in the congregation is declining.

...Attitudes about the value of the Christian faith are also deteriorating slowly but steadily. A large minority of adults say that the Church is not "relevant" for today. The majority of adults say that in difficult times they will put their trust in self rather than in God. Less than half of the public believes that churches and religious faith can help people deal with difficult times in their life. ...

After listening to Barna and some of the other opinion pollsters, we begin to wonder if there's any hope for the church. And then, we remember that the public derision, rejection, and abandonment of God's truth and His body as crazy, useless, and irrelevant is nothing new.

From the first days of Christ's life on earth, Jesus and His followers had run into resistance and hostility from the Jews. When the hostility reached the level of Christ's violent murder by torture on Calvary, the Jews thought the Christian sect was finished. But soon this sect started popping up everywhere, preaching that Jesus is the Christ. Far from being wiped out by the murder of Jesus, the Christian church was bigger and more vocal than ever.

The Jews repeatedly imprisoned the preachers of Jesus as the Christ, and they commanded them never to preach in His name again. But the Christians couldn't keep silent. And the Jews began to use murder as a means to silence their prophetic voices.

Paul knew firsthand both sides of the argument. He had been the prime persecutor of the Church on behalf of the Jews; and he had seen "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" with his own two eyes on the road to Damascus.

Saul's rebirth recreates him into a whole new kind of basket case. His preaching of the Gospel makes him the target of his former Jewish allies. The Jews watch the city gates for a chance to murder Saul. His only hope for escape is to completely trust his life into the hands of the Christians he came to Damascus to kill. The once proud Saul crouches down into a basket. He then totally relies upon his new Christian brothers to lower him in the basket to safety.

God couldn't work through Saul until Saul became so humble as to recognize his total dependence on the Lord. Reduced from the status of righteous Super Jew and Chief Christian Hunter, to riding out of town in a basket like an abandoned child. Saul is let down to the bottom, just far enough to be resurrected to eternal life! Saul is finally humble enough to see with spiritually open eyes that the greatest basket case of all time is the Saviour of the World.

Our God specializes in basket cases. God works through basket cases like Moses in the bullrushes; the Hebrew nomads who had no country or political power; the humble shepherd Amos of Tekoa; the prophet Daniel who was on death row without a chance; the little boy whose basket of 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5000; Lazarus, or the daughter of Jairus whom everybody had given up for dead; the hated tax gatherer Zacchaeus; the despised prostitute Mary Magdalene; and finally, Jesus of Nazareth.

If you think you're not good enough for God, you're on the way to salvation. The only one Who can make us good enough for God is the One Who blinded Saul with His perfect light on the Damascus Road. God can't use us until we're His basket cases.

The Church may apparently be a basket case to the outside world, but that's not a bad thing if it brings us to the point of total dependence on the grace and Spirit of Jesus Christ. It matters not what the world thinks of the Church on the outside. Who we are on the inside is what will change this world for Christ and His Kingdom.

Riding with you in God's Great Basket,
Rev. Vince Alig

Report from Xpujil Mexico Mission Trip March 1-8, 2008

Thanks to Alan Houtzer for this "web journal" of our recent mission trip to serve with Missionary Todd Luke. Just click on this link to see the journal: http://homepage.mac.com/ahoutzer/Xpujil

VacationBible School
Submitted by: Sylvia Rumer ---By: Susan Roper, VBS Director
Your Beach Party, Surfin' Through the Scriptures

Your kids are invited to the BEACH PARTY: SURFIN' THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES, a Vacation Bible School where they will be a part of fun in the SON Bible learning!

At this beach party, your children will become surfers riding the wave of God's love.

The Bible stories presented at the Scripture Scene encourage your children to develop Beach Be-Attitudes: Be Obedient, Be Kind, Be Forgiving, Be Bold, and Believe.

Your Children will extend their learning through every activity: making their own special memories in Beachcomber Crafts, singing fun tunes at Sound Waves, experiencing science Lab, participating in recreational activities at Rockin' Rec, and enjoying tasty snacks at the Snack Shack.

The Beach Party will be located at Saint Luke United Methodist Church, June 16th through 20th. The fun will start at 5:45 every evening and will end at 8:15pm.

Registration information will be provided later in the spring.

In the meantime, round up all the children you love (Age 4 through 5th grade) and tell them they won't want to miss this FUN IN THE SON! It will be a cooperative venture sponsored by St. Luke Methodist Church, Walhalla Presbyterian Church, West Union Presbyterian Chapel, St. John's Lutheran Church & West Union Chapel.

West Union Chapel News
By: E. R. Bryant

The rains have fallen this Spring and the flowers and God's green world are extremely beautiful this year. The crops and gardens seemingly spring up overnight. Surely God has answered when we are in need. I do not believe that God would hold back the needed rain, but mankind has so poisoned the environment that the natural process of the climate is greatly harmed, undoing the work of a great and wonderful Creator.

The Sunday of May 18 was the last luncheon until September, but let's not forget the church picnic. It will be on the 26th of July and begins at 11:00am. The picnic will be held at the Biggerstaff Retreat again this year. All are welcome to come and will be warmly welcomed for a great time of food and fellowship.

We at the Chapel continue to have Sunday school at 9:45am and end at 10:45am each Sunday morning. We have Bible study at 6:00pm each Sunday afternoon that lasts for one hour. This is a wonderful in-depth study and we have a great time as we learn the Word of our God. Come in for one of our lessons; I believe that you will want to return for more lessons and fellowship

THANK YOU GOD

Thank you, God, for this beautiful Spring,
the flowers all in bloom and all is green.
Thank you for our daily bread,
a place at night to rest our head.
Thank you for watching over us each day,
as we go along our hurried way.
Please, Father, let us do your will;
Use our life, Your work fulfill.
Help us to draw others near,
when they are filled with doubt and fear.
We thank You, Lord, in reverent prayer;
We know You hear and are ever there.

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES
Our congratulations go out to Drew Satterfield who graduated with honors from Walhalla High School. Drew is the son of Becky Satterfield of the West Union Chapel and Grandson of Ed & Pat Bryant.

Dr. & Mrs. Alton Barnett are pleased to announce the graduation from high cchool of two grandsons this year. May 24th, Asher Steinbeck, son of Larry and Dianne Barnett Steinbeck, from Kennesaw Mountain High School in Kennesaw, GA. He plans to go to Clemson University and major in Auto Engineering. May 30th, Trey Barnett, son of Al and Andrea Barnett, from Oconee Christian Academy in Seneca. He plans to go to Charleston Southern and major in Psychology, with an emphasis in Religious Youth Ministry.

PRESBYTERIANS IN THE KITCHEN

Sour Cream Apple Tart
Germaine Shick

Pastry for one 9” crust, 2 eggs,

1 cup sour cream, 4 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, 3 cups sliced tart apples

2 Tblsp. flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup flour

2 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 cup butter

Line pie pan with pastry. Beat together sour cream, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, cream cheese, and eggs. Add diced apples to pie pan and pour mixture over them. Bake at 3750 for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with crumbs that have been made by mixing together the brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and butter. Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes longer.

Says Germaine: Of my hundreds of cookbooks, a VERY favorite is a 40 page, 1958 Pennsylvania Dutch booklet. I don't make pies much as I never really had a hankerin' for them. But this one is the exception!! And I've made it often due to its rave reviews. You'll LOVE it or die sorry if you don't.

Germaine Shick and husband Art have been residents of West Union and members of WPC for a number of years. Sons Travis and Adam and their wives have blessed them with five grandchildren (soon to be six). As well as being a faithful member of the church choir, Germaine frequently shares her creative artistic talents in our church and the community.

More History…
by: Annie Brown

Born on March 18, 1782, near Abbeville in the Ninety Six District of South Carolina, John Caldwell Calhoun is one of South Carolina's most influential and beloved sons. To read his family's history is to read the history of many families who have called upstate South Carolina home for generations. His marriage to a distant cousin from Charleston tied the legacy of the small, backcountry farmer to that of the lowcountry planter. This union, too, is representative of the unity that was developing within the state after the Revolution. His heritage played an important part in producing the man we know as John C. Calhoun. One thing is certain: people throughout the entire state loved and respected John C. Calhoun. His name adorns statues, buildings, parks, and schools in all parts of South Carolina. Calhoun County was also named for him.

John C. Calhoun was descended from the Scottish clan of Colquhoun. His ancestors left Scotland in search of land in Ireland, but religious and political difficulties soon brought the family to America. His father (Patrick) was six years old in 1733 when the family settled in Pennsylvania near the Potomac River. Typical of many Calvinist colonists, the family was known to be religious, hardworking, and thrifty. In the mid 1840's, the family moved down the Shenandoah Valley with a group of similar colonists and settled in the southern part of Augusta County, Virginia. There the family prospered, and within ten years, they held more than three thousand acres of bottom land near Reed Creek. The Calhouns might have stayed forever in this beautiful part of Virginia had not the French and Indian War broken out in 1754.[1] In 1755, however, “the full horror of Indian War”[2] came to this part of Virginia. That same year, in South Carolina, the colonial government agreed to build a fort to protect the Cherokees from the French; in return, the Cherokees agreed to give to South Carolina the lands south and east of Long Cane Creek. On a visit to the Waxhaws (then part of South Carolina, but now in North Carolina), Patrick Calhoun learned of a planned settlement in the ceded land. He hurried home to Virginia to encourage his family and his neighbors to move to this newly opened land in South Carolina. The danger from Indians was so great in Virginia that Patrick moved his family to South Carolina in the dead of winter, even though this made a harsh journey even harder. Several other families left with the Calhouns; as the threat of Indian attack worsened, many more families followed in a mass migration out of Pennsyvania and Virginia.

The Calhouns and their companions traveled along the well used Catabaw Path to the Waxhaws, then along less traveled paths to Rocky Creek. From there, they crossed the Broad River and then forded the Little River and the Saluda River to reach the trading post known as Ninety Six.[3] “There they left the last white man behind as they pushed on to Long Cane Creek.”[4] Most of the travelers stopped at Long Canes, but the Calhouns went on a few miles to a stream known as Little River and built their log cabin on a tributary named Calhoun's Creek. Although it was February when they arrived, they found the weather mild, the soil fertile, and wild game plentiful. Patrick Calhoun was a surveyor, and by 1758, more than fifty plats had been surveyed. The community had become one of the largest in the upstate. Trouble with the Indians was brewing, however, because the “Long Cane settlement lay west of the creek whose 'dividing waters' marked the Indian boundary, and the Cherokees looked upon its growth with increasing alarm.”[5] As reported in an earlier Messenger article, on February 1, 1760, a group of settlers set out for Augusta (about 50 miles away) and was attacked by Cherokee Indians. About fifty settlers were killed, including John C. Calhoun's grandmother and his uncle, James Calhoun. Two of William Calhoun's (another uncle) daughters were killed, and one was taken prisoner. It was John's father Patrick who went back to bury the dead; he also traveled to Charleston to urge greater protection for the settlers. Aid was promised, but the settlers knew they must protect themselves. It was several years before real help came from the government. In 1764, the South Carolina legislature voted to pay for a company of rangers to protect Long Canes; the company consisted of twenty men, and their captain was Patrick Calhoun.[6]

During this troubled time, most of the Long Cane settlers moved back to the more settled Waxhaw section of South Carolina. It was there that Patrick Calhoun met lovely Jean Craighead, whom he later married. (He had probably known her as a child in Virginia) Her father was the Reverend Alexander Craighead, and her sister, Nancy, was married to William Richardson, the pastor of the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church. Reverend Richardson was the only minister regularly serving these new settlements in South Carolina. When Reverend Richardson went to Long Canes in 1764 to organize a church, he found many Presbyterians eagerly awaiting his arrival. He baptized sixty babies and performed several marriages. (It is believed that he married Patrick Calhoun and Jean Craighead at this time.) Jean Calhoun died in 1766 during the birth of twins who also died.[7] It was hard for Patrick Calhoun to accept the loss of his wife and children. Always a leader, however, Patrick Calhoun threw himself even more deeply into the affairs of his community. Trying to right the wrongs done to citizens of the backcountry, the Regulators were formed. In 1769, despite the fact that the polling places were located near Charleston, Patrick Calhoun was elected as a representative to the colonial legislature (the second from the back country). “Still in his early forties, Patrick Calhoun was perhaps the most prominent man in all the upper country, and he was ready to settle down again. In June of 1770 he married Martha Caldwell, born in Charlotte County, Virginia, whither her forbears had migrated like the Calhouns from Scotland by way of Ulster. Over the next fifteen years, a daughter and four sons were born of this marriage. The fourth child and third son was John Caldwell Calhoun.”[8] Thus, John C. Calhoun's life began on the rough frontier of the back country of South Carolina. His experiences there, along with those of his family, played a large role in the development of his character and help to explain many of the positions he took during his political career.

Note from Annie: School is now out for the summer, but it will resume in the fall with more about John C. Calhoun and conditions leading up to the Civil War, if you want me to continue with this history of life in South Carolina.

[1] Wiltse, Charles M.; John C. Calhoun Nationalist, 1782-1828; pp.12-13. [5] Wiltse; p.15.
[2] Wiltse; p.13. [6] Wiltse; pp.16-17.
[3] Wiltse; pp.13-14. [7] Wiltse; p.17-18.
[4] Wiltse; p.14. [8] Wiltse; p. 22.

Hymn of the Month
Submitted by: Doug Keel

There Is a Fountain
1772

…Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith,

to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance

God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Romans 3:25

William Cowper is one of God's gracious gifts to those suffering from depression. Like the Psalmist who cried, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” (Psalm 42:5), Cowper shows us that our emotional struggles often give us heightened sensitivity to the heart of God and to the needs of others.

Cowper (pronounced Cooper), born in 1731, was the fourth child of a British clergyman and his wife. William's three siblings died, then his mother died while giving birth to the fifth child. William was six when he lost his mother, and it was a blow from which he never recovered. Years later, when someone sent him a picture of her, he wrote:

My mother! When I learn'd that thou wast dead,

Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?

Hover'd thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son,

Wretch even then, life's journey just begun?...

I heard the bell toll'd on thy burial day.

I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,

And, turning from my nurs'ry window, drew

a long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!

William, emotionally frail, was sent to a boarding school where for two years he was terrorized by a bully, which further shattered his nerves. From ages 10 to 18, he had a better experience at Westminster School, developing a love for literature and poetry. His father wanted him to be an attorney, but, preparing for his bar exam, he experienced runaway anxiety. Concluding himself damned, he threw away his Bible and attempted suicide.

Friends recommended an asylum run by Dr. Nathaniel Cotton, a lover of poetry and a committed Christian. Under Dr. Cotton's care, William slowly recovered. In the asylum in 1764, he found the Lord while reading Romans 3:25: “...whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…” His life was still to hold many dark days of intense depression, but at least he now had a spiritual foundation. As he later put it:

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel's veins,

And sinners plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

Psalm 94:22
...the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.



					Messenger:The Newsletter of WPC and WUPC


	Volume No. 140 Issue No. 6 June 2008 Vince's View Dear Family & Friends of West Union Chapel & Walhalla Presbyterian Church, Public pronouncements about the Church over the past 30 years or so would lead us to think that the Church is a basket case. Listen to what marketing expert George Barna has found in his surveys regarding public attitudes toward the Church: Loyalty to the Church, as an institution in which we have a personal investment and which we care about, is dropping. ...Membership in Christian churches is waning. Involvement in small group Bible studies has not increased in several years. Willingness to assume a leadership role in the congregation is declining. ...Attitudes about the value of the Christian faith are also deteriorating slowly but steadily. A large minority of adults say that the Church is not "relevant" for today. The majority of adults say that in difficult times they will put their trust in self rather than in God. Less than half of the public believes that churches and religious faith can help people deal with difficult times in their life. ... After listening to Barna and some of the other opinion pollsters, we begin to wonder if there's any hope for the church. And then, we remember that the public derision, rejection, and abandonment of God's truth and His body as crazy, useless, and irrelevant is nothing new. From the first days of Christ's life on earth, Jesus and His followers had run into resistance and hostility from the Jews. When the hostility reached the level of Christ's violent murder by torture on Calvary, the Jews thought the Christian sect was finished. But soon this sect started popping up everywhere, preaching that Jesus is the Christ. Far from being wiped out by the murder of Jesus, the Christian church was bigger and more vocal than ever. The Jews repeatedly imprisoned the preachers of Jesus as the Christ, and they commanded them never to preach in His name again. But the Christians couldn't keep silent. And the Jews began to use murder as a means to silence their prophetic voices. Paul knew firsthand both sides of the argument. He had been the prime persecutor of the Church on behalf of the Jews; and he had seen "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" with his own two eyes on the road to Damascus. Saul's rebirth recreates him into a whole new kind of basket case. His preaching of the Gospel makes him the target of his former Jewish allies. The Jews watch the city gates for a chance to murder Saul. His only hope for escape is to completely trust his life into the hands of the Christians he came to Damascus to kill. The once proud Saul crouches down into a basket. He then totally relies upon his new Christian brothers to lower him in the basket to safety. God couldn't work through Saul until Saul became so humble as to recognize his total dependence on the Lord. Reduced from the status of righteous Super Jew and Chief Christian Hunter, to riding out of town in a basket like an abandoned child. Saul is let down to the bottom, just far enough to be resurrected to eternal life! Saul is finally humble enough to see with spiritually open eyes that the greatest basket case of all time is the Saviour of the World. Our God specializes in basket cases. God works through basket cases like Moses in the bullrushes; the Hebrew nomads who had no country or political power; the humble shepherd Amos of Tekoa; the prophet Daniel who was on death row without a chance; the little boy whose basket of 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5000; Lazarus, or the daughter of Jairus whom everybody had given up for dead; the hated tax gatherer Zacchaeus; the despised prostitute Mary Magdalene; and finally, Jesus of Nazareth. If you think you're not good enough for God, you're on the way to salvation. The only one Who can make us good enough for God is the One Who blinded Saul with His perfect light on the Damascus Road. God can't use us until we're His basket cases. The Church may apparently be a basket case to the outside world, but that's not a bad thing if it brings us to the point of total dependence on the grace and Spirit of Jesus Christ. It matters not what the world thinks of the Church on the outside. Who we are on the inside is what will change this world for Christ and His Kingdom. Riding with you in God's Great Basket, Rev. Vince Alig Report from Xpujil Mexico Mission Trip March 1-8, 2008 Thanks to Alan Houtzer for this "web journal" of our recent mission trip to serve with Missionary Todd Luke. Just click on this link to see the journal: http://homepage.mac.com/ahoutzer/Xpujil VacationBible School Submitted by: Sylvia Rumer ---By: Susan Roper, VBS Director Your Beach Party, Surfin' Through the Scriptures Your kids are invited to the BEACH PARTY: SURFIN' THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES, a Vacation Bible School where they will be a part of fun in the SON Bible learning! At this beach party, your children will become surfers riding the wave of God's love. The Bible stories presented at the Scripture Scene encourage your children to develop Beach Be-Attitudes: Be Obedient, Be Kind, Be Forgiving, Be Bold, and Believe. Your Children will extend their learning through every activity: making their own special memories in Beachcomber Crafts, singing fun tunes at Sound Waves, experiencing science Lab, participating in recreational activities at Rockin' Rec, and enjoying tasty snacks at the Snack Shack. The Beach Party will be located at Saint Luke United Methodist Church, June 16th through 20th. The fun will start at 5:45 every evening and will end at 8:15pm. Registration information will be provided later in the spring. In the meantime, round up all the children you love (Age 4 through 5th grade) and tell them they won't want to miss this FUN IN THE SON! It will be a cooperative venture sponsored by St. Luke Methodist Church, Walhalla Presbyterian Church, West Union Presbyterian Chapel, St. John's Lutheran Church & West Union Chapel. West Union Chapel News By: E. R. Bryant The rains have fallen this Spring and the flowers and God's green world are extremely beautiful this year. The crops and gardens seemingly spring up overnight. Surely God has answered when we are in need. I do not believe that God would hold back the needed rain, but mankind has so poisoned the environment that the natural process of the climate is greatly harmed, undoing the work of a great and wonderful Creator. The Sunday of May 18 was the last luncheon until September, but let's not forget the church picnic. It will be on the 26th of July and begins at 11:00am. The picnic will be held at the Biggerstaff Retreat again this year. All are welcome to come and will be warmly welcomed for a great time of food and fellowship. We at the Chapel continue to have Sunday school at 9:45am and end at 10:45am each Sunday morning. We have Bible study at 6:00pm each Sunday afternoon that lasts for one hour. This is a wonderful in-depth study and we have a great time as we learn the Word of our God. Come in for one of our lessons; I believe that you will want to return for more lessons and fellowship THANK YOU GOD Thank you, God, for this beautiful Spring, the flowers all in bloom and all is green. Thank you for our daily bread, a place at night to rest our head. Thank you for watching over us each day, as we go along our hurried way. Please, Father, let us do your will; Use our life, Your work fulfill. Help us to draw others near, when they are filled with doubt and fear. We thank You, Lord, in reverent prayer; We know You hear and are ever there. CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES Our congratulations go out to Drew Satterfield who graduated with honors from Walhalla High School. Drew is the son of Becky Satterfield of the West Union Chapel and Grandson of Ed & Pat Bryant. Dr. & Mrs. Alton Barnett are pleased to announce the graduation from high cchool of two grandsons this year. May 24th, Asher Steinbeck, son of Larry and Dianne Barnett Steinbeck, from Kennesaw Mountain High School in Kennesaw, GA. He plans to go to Clemson University and major in Auto Engineering. May 30th, Trey Barnett, son of Al and Andrea Barnett, from Oconee Christian Academy in Seneca. He plans to go to Charleston Southern and major in Psychology, with an emphasis in Religious Youth Ministry. PRESBYTERIANS IN THE KITCHEN Sour Cream Apple Tart Germaine Shick Pastry for one 9” crust, 2 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 4 oz. cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup sugar, 3 cups sliced tart apples 2 Tblsp. flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup flour 2 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 cup butter Line pie pan with pastry. Beat together sour cream, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, cream cheese, and eggs. Add diced apples to pie pan and pour mixture over them. Bake at 3750 for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with crumbs that have been made by mixing together the brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and butter. Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes longer. Says Germaine: Of my hundreds of cookbooks, a VERY favorite is a 40 page, 1958 Pennsylvania Dutch booklet. I don't make pies much as I never really had a hankerin' for them. But this one is the exception!! And I've made it often due to its rave reviews. You'll LOVE it or die sorry if you don't. Germaine Shick and husband Art have been residents of West Union and members of WPC for a number of years. Sons Travis and Adam and their wives have blessed them with five grandchildren (soon to be six). As well as being a faithful member of the church choir, Germaine frequently shares her creative artistic talents in our church and the community. More History… by: Annie Brown Born on March 18, 1782, near Abbeville in the Ninety Six District of South Carolina, John Caldwell Calhoun is one of South Carolina's most influential and beloved sons. To read his family's history is to read the history of many families who have called upstate South Carolina home for generations. His marriage to a distant cousin from Charleston tied the legacy of the small, backcountry farmer to that of the lowcountry planter. This union, too, is representative of the unity that was developing within the state after the Revolution. His heritage played an important part in producing the man we know as John C. Calhoun. One thing is certain: people throughout the entire state loved and respected John C. Calhoun. His name adorns statues, buildings, parks, and schools in all parts of South Carolina. Calhoun County was also named for him. John C. Calhoun was descended from the Scottish clan of Colquhoun. His ancestors left Scotland in search of land in Ireland, but religious and political difficulties soon brought the family to America. His father (Patrick) was six years old in 1733 when the family settled in Pennsylvania near the Potomac River. Typical of many Calvinist colonists, the family was known to be religious, hardworking, and thrifty. In the mid 1840's, the family moved down the Shenandoah Valley with a group of similar colonists and settled in the southern part of Augusta County, Virginia. There the family prospered, and within ten years, they held more than three thousand acres of bottom land near Reed Creek. The Calhouns might have stayed forever in this beautiful part of Virginia had not the French and Indian War broken out in 1754.[1] In 1755, however, “the full horror of Indian War”[2] came to this part of Virginia. That same year, in South Carolina, the colonial government agreed to build a fort to protect the Cherokees from the French; in return, the Cherokees agreed to give to South Carolina the lands south and east of Long Cane Creek. On a visit to the Waxhaws (then part of South Carolina, but now in North Carolina), Patrick Calhoun learned of a planned settlement in the ceded land. He hurried home to Virginia to encourage his family and his neighbors to move to this newly opened land in South Carolina. The danger from Indians was so great in Virginia that Patrick moved his family to South Carolina in the dead of winter, even though this made a harsh journey even harder. Several other families left with the Calhouns; as the threat of Indian attack worsened, many more families followed in a mass migration out of Pennsyvania and Virginia. The Calhouns and their companions traveled along the well used Catabaw Path to the Waxhaws, then along less traveled paths to Rocky Creek. From there, they crossed the Broad River and then forded the Little River and the Saluda River to reach the trading post known as Ninety Six.[3] “There they left the last white man behind as they pushed on to Long Cane Creek.”[4] Most of the travelers stopped at Long Canes, but the Calhouns went on a few miles to a stream known as Little River and built their log cabin on a tributary named Calhoun's Creek. Although it was February when they arrived, they found the weather mild, the soil fertile, and wild game plentiful. Patrick Calhoun was a surveyor, and by 1758, more than fifty plats had been surveyed. The community had become one of the largest in the upstate. Trouble with the Indians was brewing, however, because the “Long Cane settlement lay west of the creek whose 'dividing waters' marked the Indian boundary, and the Cherokees looked upon its growth with increasing alarm.”[5] As reported in an earlier Messenger article, on February 1, 1760, a group of settlers set out for Augusta (about 50 miles away) and was attacked by Cherokee Indians. About fifty settlers were killed, including John C. Calhoun's grandmother and his uncle, James Calhoun. Two of William Calhoun's (another uncle) daughters were killed, and one was taken prisoner. It was John's father Patrick who went back to bury the dead; he also traveled to Charleston to urge greater protection for the settlers. Aid was promised, but the settlers knew they must protect themselves. It was several years before real help came from the government. In 1764, the South Carolina legislature voted to pay for a company of rangers to protect Long Canes; the company consisted of twenty men, and their captain was Patrick Calhoun.[6] During this troubled time, most of the Long Cane settlers moved back to the more settled Waxhaw section of South Carolina. It was there that Patrick Calhoun met lovely Jean Craighead, whom he later married. (He had probably known her as a child in Virginia) Her father was the Reverend Alexander Craighead, and her sister, Nancy, was married to William Richardson, the pastor of the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church. Reverend Richardson was the only minister regularly serving these new settlements in South Carolina. When Reverend Richardson went to Long Canes in 1764 to organize a church, he found many Presbyterians eagerly awaiting his arrival. He baptized sixty babies and performed several marriages. (It is believed that he married Patrick Calhoun and Jean Craighead at this time.) Jean Calhoun died in 1766 during the birth of twins who also died.[7] It was hard for Patrick Calhoun to accept the loss of his wife and children. Always a leader, however, Patrick Calhoun threw himself even more deeply into the affairs of his community. Trying to right the wrongs done to citizens of the backcountry, the Regulators were formed. In 1769, despite the fact that the polling places were located near Charleston, Patrick Calhoun was elected as a representative to the colonial legislature (the second from the back country). “Still in his early forties, Patrick Calhoun was perhaps the most prominent man in all the upper country, and he was ready to settle down again. In June of 1770 he married Martha Caldwell, born in Charlotte County, Virginia, whither her forbears had migrated like the Calhouns from Scotland by way of Ulster. Over the next fifteen years, a daughter and four sons were born of this marriage. The fourth child and third son was John Caldwell Calhoun.”[8] Thus, John C. Calhoun's life began on the rough frontier of the back country of South Carolina. His experiences there, along with those of his family, played a large role in the development of his character and help to explain many of the positions he took during his political career. Note from Annie: School is now out for the summer, but it will resume in the fall with more about John C. Calhoun and conditions leading up to the Civil War, if you want me to continue with this history of life in South Carolina. [1] Wiltse, Charles M.; John C. Calhoun Nationalist, 1782-1828; pp.12-13. [5] Wiltse; p.15. [2] Wiltse; p.13. [6] Wiltse; pp.16-17. [3] Wiltse; pp.13-14. [7] Wiltse; p.17-18. [4] Wiltse; p.14. [8] Wiltse; p. 22. Hymn of the Month Submitted by: Doug Keel There Is a Fountain 1772 …Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Romans 3:25 William Cowper is one of God's gracious gifts to those suffering from depression. Like the Psalmist who cried, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” (Psalm 42:5), Cowper shows us that our emotional struggles often give us heightened sensitivity to the heart of God and to the needs of others. Cowper (pronounced Cooper), born in 1731, was the fourth child of a British clergyman and his wife. William's three siblings died, then his mother died while giving birth to the fifth child. William was six when he lost his mother, and it was a blow from which he never recovered. Years later, when someone sent him a picture of her, he wrote: My mother! When I learn'd that thou wast dead, Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed? Hover'd thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son, Wretch even then, life's journey just begun?... I heard the bell toll'd on thy burial day. I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away, And, turning from my nurs'ry window, drew a long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu! William, emotionally frail, was sent to a boarding school where for two years he was terrorized by a bully, which further shattered his nerves. From ages 10 to 18, he had a better experience at Westminster School, developing a love for literature and poetry. His father wanted him to be an attorney, but, preparing for his bar exam, he experienced runaway anxiety. Concluding himself damned, he threw away his Bible and attempted suicide. Friends recommended an asylum run by Dr. Nathaniel Cotton, a lover of poetry and a committed Christian. Under Dr. Cotton's care, William slowly recovered. In the asylum in 1764, he found the Lord while reading Romans 3:25: “...whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…” His life was still to hold many dark days of intense depression, but at least he now had a spiritual foundation. As he later put it: There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. Psalm 94:22 ...the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.