I hope this helps, it is rather long.
Thanks Jimmy LeCroy


DEEP CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY (1838-1844), Anderson County, SC
A.K.A. A204 New Prospect Baptist (1844)

Version 2.3, 16-Jan-2005, A131.TXT, A131


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REPRODUCING NOTICE:
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Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must
obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent.

Paul M Kankula - nn8nn
Seneca, SC, USA
Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator

Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html

Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html
http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html

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DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2005

DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2005

G.P.S. MAPPING . : ____________ at ____________ in _______

HISTORY WRITE-UP : ____________ at ____________ in _______

IMAGES ......... : ____________ at ____________ in _______

LOCATION WRITE-UP: ____________ at ____________ in _______

TRANSCRIPTION .. : ____________ at ____________ in _______



CEMETERY LOCATION:
------------------

7 miles west of Anderson.

Latitude N x Longitude W


CHURCH/CEMETERY HISTORY:
------------------------

The following is the story of Deep Creek Baptist Church, with some additional
miscellaneous info on a few other churches. Deep Creek, which is located on
Thomason Cir., became the "white" New Prospect Baptist Church which is on
Whitehall Rd. between Centerville and Hwy. 24. The History of New Prospect was
written by Col. James W. Creamer, Sr., and edited and updated by Rev. Robert W.
(Bobby) Watson, Jr.

Miscellaneous info:

Moses Holland founded Big Creek Church which mothered Hopewell, Neal's Creek,
Friendship, and others. Cooper Bennett founded Shockley Ferry Church near the
Savannah River north of the present site of the Hartwell Dam. This church is
believed to have been located about one-half mile west of Shiloh Baptist
Church. This church became the mother church of several churches in Georgia,
Bethesda (Mountain Creek), Mt. Tabor (later Anderson First Baptist), Salem, and
others. Because of the distances involved, Shockley Ferry belonged to the old
Georgia Association, rather than the Congaree Association.

The Congaree District had grown too unweildy for self-government and in 1789,
the Bethel Association (now referred to as "Old" Bethel because a new Bethel was
formed later) was organized from the west side of congaree District. Rapid
growth continued, and in 1803, the Saluda Baptist Association was organized at
Old Salem Church meeting ground from nine churches from "Old" Bethel
Association, and eight which were previous unaffiliated.

........................In 1825 the venerable Cooper Bennett, pastor at Mountain
Creek, Shockley Ferry, and other churches was declared a heretic by the SBA for
his support of missions. Mountain Creek excommunicated him and the Shockley
Ferry Church was disassociated by SBA, stricken from its rolls, and died within
a year.

..................New Prospect Church was located on the road with insections
leading north to Centerville and east to Whitehall and southeast to Anderson
when it moved from Deep Creek in 1844.

The above excerpts were given due to mention of locations of old churches--BG


DEEP CREEK CHURCH IS ORGANIZED
The roads (or trails) generally followed previously well established Indian
trails, as do many of our main highways today. where possible the trails and
roads followed ridge lines, travel there being easier due to level ground, only
descending into stream valleys when necessary. One of the streams which was
crossed by the road from Fort Prince George to Ninety six was named Three and
Twenty, and a stream to the south was Six and Twenty. These two streams ran
together in present northwestern Anderson County and formed Deep Creek, which
proceeded for about two miles before emptying into the Seneca River. All of
these rivers, creeks and forks were buried under the waters of Lake Hartwell.

By 1820 a bridge had been built across Deep Creek about three-fourth miles
downstream from the confluence of Three and Twenty and Six and Twenty to serve
Wild Hog Road (now SC Route 187) which ran to the town of Pendleton. The bridge
was located near the Webb place and was called Deep Creek Bridge. Nearby, about
one-fourth mile south of the present bridge across the Seneca River arm of Lake
Hartwell, was McDaniel's Ferry, later the site of first the Simmons-Daniel-Brown
Bridge, then in 1860 the Bayliss Earle Toll Bridge. Near Deep Creek Bridge,
twenty-four adult Baptists of the area organized their congregation in 1838 with
Hiram Lecroy as pastor of Deep Creek Church. Deep Creek was a daughter church
of Bethesda. Lecroy was the assistant pastor at Bethesda (now Mountain Creek)
Church. Its pastor, Jacob Burris, served as pastor of Deep Creek in addition to
Bethesda the following year when Lecroy moved to Fellowship Church at
Moffetsville. Burris served until late 1846, and co-pastored in 1852 and 1853.
Jacob Burriss (also spelled Burris and Burroughs) was licensed to preach by Mt.
Tabor (later became Anderson First) in 1825 and ordained by Bethesda in 1828.
He was one of the most important leaders of Baptist in Anderson County and
became a most prominent citizen in the process. His several offspring married
into the county's most prominent and wealthy families. His descendants are
numerous and many present members of our church are among them. He is now
buried at Salem Baptist Church. Bryant Burris, another famous Baptist minister
from this family, is reported to have been a pastor of our church and has been
listed in previous church histories. This cannot be supported from SBA minutes.
He could have served for less than a year or could have preached from time to
time, or could have conducted revivals.

The site of the church was relocated in September, 1988 by Lewis Martin, Jr.,
and James W. Creamer, Sr. following information provided by several accounts
from various families. The church now owns the original site, which is located
on the south side of Thomason Circle off Portman Road---(Portman Rd. has been
named Whitehall Ext. Thomason Cir. is 2 blocks from the intersection of
Whitehall and 187 South, toward Green Pond Landing--BG), three miles west of the
present church.

Depressions and fieldstones mark the gravesites. The concrete and fieldstone
steps and foundings are present. The site is on the old road which is plainly
visible. The graveyard is between the building site and old road. The building
is facing east. A small stream east of the road was dammed temporarily to form
a Baptismal pool. It was reported that one single engraved headstone was
present in the cemetery some years ago, but it was not located in the initial
search.

The year after organization, on August 9, 1839, Deep Creek Baptist Church joined
the Saluda Baptist Association with twenty-seven members. The SBA report of
1839 says that Deep Creek Baptist was organized in 1838 and that it was assigned
to the association's District 3. The first delegates to the SBA were Hyram
Lecroy and Gilliam Shearer, and Lecroy was listed as pastor. It probably had
both white and slave members.

In 1841, the SBA began listing memberships as to race. Deep Creek had twenty-
one members, of which 17 were white and 4 were black. During these years prior
to the Civil War, there were few, if any, separate black Baptist churches in
this part of South Carolina. Slaves attended church with their masters, with
whom they sat as part of the extended family. Large slaves had slave balconies,
but there was no evidence that Deep Creek or New Prospect had one.

The small farms which grew up in the church community included few which
required slave labor. Very few of our members were wealthy enough to be
slaveowners. Black membership varied from one to five adults before 1860. In
1867 the number had dropped to one, but rose to eleven in 1868. These left the
church in 1868 at their request to form their own church. This took place
through the county and state. Never since has New Prospect had any black
members.

DEEP CREEK BECOMES NEW PROSPECT

About May 1844, the Deep Creek congregation voted to move from where it was to
the present location, which is three miles to the east along the road to
Anderson. Centerville lay about two miles to the north on Six and Twenty Creek.

The move met bitter resistance from some members who liked the old location
better than the "new prospect" up on the ridge line three miles to the east.
They protested the move to the SBA at the 1845 meeting, and a committee was
formed from other churches to investigate the complaint. This committee
reported back in 1846 in favor of the group at New Prospect, and instructed the
rump group still at Deep Creek to cease their opposition and rejoin the main
body. Because of the small membership numbers, it is difficult to be certain
about the number who wanted to remain at Deep Creek, but it would appear that
about 5 or 6 members opposed.

The church first met at the new location in October 1844, with elder W. P.
Martin, a well known area preacher who was noted for his oratory, preached the
dedicatory sermon. It erected a building on land owned by Clayton S. Webb.
This building stood where the older part of the cemetery now is, across from the
white building at the western side of Hiott Road and the sout side of New
Prospect Church Road. This building would reportedly seat 250 to 300 people and
was probably one room. It was ambitiously large for a membership of 50 adults
and probably twice that many children.

The land was originally conveyed to the church by Elisha Burriss on May 12,
1844, and it may be presumed that a building was erected shortly thereafter.
The tract contained two acres, more or less, and was apparently poorly surveyed.

The land was reconveyed on February 9, 1858, by Clayton Webb of Hartwell,
Georgia, to W. E. Erskine, K. Brezeale, Lewis Pritchard, and Asa Avery, when
$5.00 was paid for two and three-fourths acres. (A new survey and plat were made
and a new deed issued to reflect the corrections. John Martin, W. A. Webb, and
C. A. Webb were witnesses). This reconveyance in 1858 may have been a
realignment of property brought about by the moving of the building. Whether
the original 1844 building was moved or a new one built is not known.

A new survey and partial change in the location of the building following the
fire of 1878 brought about the granting of a deed by Elisha Snipes for two and
three-fourths acres of land, to be paid for by Toliver Bolt, T. J. McClure, M.
L. Campbell, Aaron Creamer, and J. L. Shirley, Trustees. This again involved
the two and three-fourths acres of land deeded by Elisha Burriss and Clayton
Webb. This deed is dated January 20, 1880. Small pieces of land were purchased
from Samuel O. Campbell (.41 acres), April 24, 1909, and from Mary (or Mira) M.
Neal (.07 acres and .16 acres) on the same date. Trustees were A. R. McLees, L.
T. Campbell, J. W. Eskew, and M. L. Campbell. Additional tracts were added
during the twentieth century and easements granted to the power company.

By the time the congregation moved to the present location, missionary attitudes
were well established. In 1843, the SBA passed a resolution to become more
actively involved in missions. The previous year had been a debate over a
tolerance for differing viewpoints within the churches and had resulted in a
decision that differences of opinion should not affect the Christian fellowship
between members nor result in exclusion of dissident members. Six missionaries
were sent out to work in the mountainous areas of the upstate, one of whom was
David Simmons, later a pastor at New Prospect. The first mission report was
made in 1844. Jacob Burriss served as a missionary in the summer of 1844 while
pastoring as New Prospect.

The first annual revival was reported at New Prospect Baptist Church in 1849
under the leadership of Robert King, pastor from 1847 to 1850. David Simmons
was pastor in 1851, W. B. Long and Jacob Burriss co-pastors in 1852 and 1853, w.
B. Long alone from 1854-1856. W. E. Walters became pastor in 1857. In 1858,
the first church building, then located in what is now the cemetery, was moved
north across New Prospect Church Road. This building was reported to have been
of very rough construction and probably unpainted.

Known church members of New Prospect who served in the Civil War:

J. William Eskew
Asa Bolt and his nine sons, two of whom were Oliver Bolt and Tolliver Bolt.
W. D. Hall
Albert N. Collins

A Campbell family of the church was reported to have had five of six sons killed
in the war.

David Simmons, respected minister and leader, was a member of the first group of
home missionaries sent to the mountain area by SBA. He served as a moderator of
the SBA for five years between 1850-1858. He lived at and was the pastor of
Townville Baptist Church, but with most of our pastors until 1944, also preached
at New Prospect and two other churches. He was badly needed by the church at a
most trying time from 1867 to 1870. In 1870 he moved to Texas where he lived
until his death in 1885.

END OF INFO

This article goes on to say that the SBA set up two committees to meet with and
assist in the formation of two "colored" churches, but the next pages were not
given to me. Could these have been the other "New Prospect" churches (black)?
I will see if I can get the rest of this article.

Submitted by: Becky Griffin at WWRoseHayseed@cs.com in Jan-2005


TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION NOTES:
------------------------------

a. = age at death
b. = date-of-birth
d. = date-of-death
h. = husband
m. = married
p. = parents
w. = wife


Read January 2005 by Becky Griffin and Eugene Schneider

This church is abandoned. There are many graves here that are unmarked even by
fieldstones. A number of graves have only metal funeral home markers, many of
which have long since lost their paper inserts. Most of the metal markers seem
to have come from the Johnson Funeral Home and the Jackson Funeral Home. The
ground on which the cemetery lies is sloped, which has led to erosion. Due to
this, it was necessary to dig around some of the stones to read their
inscriptions. There are also quite a few handmade/hand-etched stones in this
cemetery that will probably become unreadable in the very near future. The
cemetery could use a little TLC, as it is littered and covered with leaves and
fire ant mounds. Anyone visiting here in warmer months should be very cautious
of these ant hills. A good clean up might reveal more markers.

The following markers were found:


SIMPSON, William D., b. 5/21/1903, d. 11/13/1975, on double stone with Nora W.
SIMPSON, Nora W., b. 3/4/1895, d. 1/16/1978, on double stone with William D.

BLACK, Ida M., b. 5/11/1884, d. 1/5/1964, single stone

MOSS, Feaster, b. 11/30/1878, d. 8/23/1964, single stone

MOSS, Nathaniel, Cpl. US Army - Korea, 10/7/1933 - 10/30/1990, bronze marker

TRAILER, Mrs. Otis, 1911-2002, Johnson Funeral Home metal marker

PATTERSON, Willie P., died 3/1/1973, single stone

MOSS, Lillie, b. 6/18/1893, d. 12/13/1956, double stone with Will Moss
MOSS, Will, b. 12/25/1890, d. 8/2/1962, double stone with Lillie Moss

WILLIFORD, Milamo, b. 7/5/1898, d. 1/2/1955, single stone in border
(Note: beside this grave are 2 more inside single borders that are unmarked, but
appear to have been purposely placed side-by-side)

WILLIFORD, Lenard, b. 2/11/1912, d. 8/29/1936. This is a rock that has been
inscribed by hand and is broken into 3 pieces.

RICE, Burkley, b. 12/6/1886, d. 10/11/1968, South Carolina Pvt US Army World
War I, single stone

WILLIFORD, Mrs. I., 1969, metal funeral home marker inside double plot with
border.

FREEMAN, Mrs. Dessie, 11/22/??83, Johnson Funeral Home metal marker

OWENS, Frances W., b. 1/28/1928, d. 5/7/1977, "Gone but not Forgotten", single
stone

WILLIFORD, Mr. Harold, 7/6/1975, pile of field stones with Johnson Funeral Home
metal marker.

WILLIFORD, Mr. Harvy, May 3, 1966, metal funeral marker and field stones
With Mr. Williford, toward the lake, are 2 more groups of field stones.These
appear to be together as a family. Two of these have unreadable metal funeral
markers.

FANT, Mr. John, 12/25/1968, metal funeral home marker and field stone

MORRIS, Sylvene A., b. 1/14/1909, d. 8/10/1992, in double plot with Charlie
Morris
MORRIS, Charlie, b. 6/10/1881, d. 3/25/1951, in double plot with Sylvene A.
Morris
The borders of this plot adjoin the 5 grave AUSTIN plot.

AUSTIN, John Henry, South Carolina, Pvt 156 Depot Brig, Jan 19, 1919
MORRIS, Ellen Austin, b. 8/15/1877, d. 3/21/1957
AUSTIN, Bertha, b. 4/13/1899, d. 8/27/1907
AUSTIN, J. Rosemond, d. 1/16/1915
AUSTIN, Ulysses, South Carolina, Pvt 1Cl, 301 Stev Regt, 4/29/1930
Border is connected to the Sylvene and Charlie MORRIS plot.

PATTERSON, July 13, 1968 or 88. Metal funeral home marker with torn paper. Has
field stone.

SMITH, Mary F., Wife of Rev. W. F. Smith, b. 10/1/1867, d. 3/8/1914, single
stone

AUSTIN, Capers, b. 1/28/1858, d. 9/19/1891, single stone

RICHEY, Nanie, b. 8/21/1901, d. 10/12/1927, single stone

BRUC???, Rosa/Rosanna/Rosama (?) b. 1/31/1920, d. 1/2/1923 Hand-etched single
concrete marker, badly weathered

MORRIS, Frank, 1872-1958
MORRIS, Annie L. b. 2/1/1871, d. 10/2/1952
LEE, Fannie Died at 80. Could be LEE or Fannie Lee MORRIS (?)
Inside a border

TOWNSEND, T. B., b. 8/8/1889, d. 6/10/1918 At Rest Single stone

MOSS, Mrs. Anna, b. 1857, d. 5/6/1952, single stone

PRESSLEY, Martha, b. 1879, d. 6/1/1937, single stone

PATTERSON, Ella, b. 1892, d. 11/30/1953, handmade and hand-etched stone
PATTERSON, Fred, b. 7/23/1890, d. 6/21/1953, handmade, hand-etched stone
The above stones are inside a very large border.

CUNNINGHAM, Thomas, 1871-1948, single stone with border

SANDERS, J. E. (?) b. 1880, d. Oct (?) 14, 1931, handmade, hand-etched stone
SANDERS, M. M., b. 10/21/1921, d. 9/19(?)/ 1940, handmade, hand-etched stone
ROEBUCK, Rebecca 7/8/1?95, metal funeral home marker
These stones/marker are inside a border. There is a low, narrow stone between
J. E. and M. M. Sanders with no readable markings. The Roebuck marker is stuck
loosely in the ground with the M. M. Sanders grave and may not belong there.
These stones are badly weathered and will not be readable much longer.

Unreadable single handmade stone: d. Feb. 1930

MORRIS, Elizabeth W., b. 1/8/1901, d. 10/4/1967, single stone

MCMULLEN, Fannie, b. 1874, d. 3/9/1934 Member of the PBA Society Single stone

SCOTT, Coney South Carolina Pvt. 351 Field Rmt SQ QMC 9/24/1938 single stone

MORRIS, Fannie Ray, b. 3/20/????, d. 7/5/1955, hand-etched stone
MORRIS, Joe T. Pvt. 447 Svc Comd Unit World War II, 3/6/1926-10/27/1955
The above markers are inside a concrete block border

MOSS, Mr. Tom, 1965 metal funeral home marker in wooded area

WILLIFORD, Mrs. Lillian, 10/6/1963

Unreadable Jackson Funeral Home metal marker. d. 8/25/1952(?) 57(?), 68 years

LEE, M. Coven(?), d. 8/11/195? Age 36 years. Jackson Funeral Home marker

MOSS, Bonnie L., 1921-1981
MOSS, James C., 1914-1983
MOSS, Mr. Odell, Sr., 1909-1967
MOSS, Daisy B., b. 2/17/1886, d. 5/22/1957
GALLOWAY, M. M., 1917-1942
The above stones are inside a border

MOSS, Mr. Earl, 1972, cone-shaped concrete marker with funeral home marker

DOUGLASS, Mrs. Malinda S., 1969, funeral home marker

LEE, Estella, b. 1885, d. 10/28/1943, single stone