Greenville Presbyterian Church
Greenville Presbyterian Church, The Story of a People, 1765-1973 by John LEITH is the history of the congregation where ADAM McKEE was one of 29 signers of the charter application (11 Jan 1787)
south
Carolina
To
the Honourable Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives of the State
aforesaid.
The
Petition of the Subscribers Inhabitants of Abbeville County in Ninety Six
District humbly Sheweth that your petitioners haveing associated themselves as
Society for the purpose of Religious Worship and subscribed the following
articles in a book agreeable to the Thirty Eighth clause of the constitution of
this State: Viz:
First
that there is one eternal God and a futer State of rewards and Punishments:
Second:
That God is publikly to be Worshiped:
Third:
That the Christian Religion is the true Religion:
Fourth:
That the Holy Scriptures of the old and new Testaments are of Divine
inspiration and are the rule of faith and practice:
Fifth:
That it is Laxqfull and the duty of every man being thereunto called by
those that govern to bear Witness to truth -
Whereupon
they Pray your Honourable House that they may be Incorp-orated as body politic
for the Purpose aforesaid by the Name of the Presbyterian Congregation of
Greenville - and your Petitioners will ever pray Etc. Jan llth, 1787
Signed
George Reid
Edward Sharp
Joseph Reid
Saml Neel
Alexander Reid
ADAM McKEE
David
Crawford
Jas. Watts
Samuel Reid
Samuel Norwood
James Faries
Robert Peacock
William Seawright
Jere. McWhirter
James Richey
William Ston,[e]
Adam Cs. Jones Sr.
James Grey
John Hallum
William Ross
Samuel Lofton
Thos. Watts
Hugh Wardlaw
Thos. Clark
Jamis Dobbins
James Hathorn [Hawthorne]
John Wardlaw Jr.
William Bowman
John Bowman
The Story of a People provides additional background information on the Scotch-Irish settlements of Upper Long Cane and Saluda. These were "lowland Scots" who had migrated first to Ireland (where they were influenced by neighboring Puritans and Huguenots but retained a unique "dour Scot" heritage) before coming to America. They were "rock-ribbed" in their Calvinist faith. They prized learning, especially the ability to read and write" but were often looked down upon by more sophisticated cultures as lacking appreciation for man-made beauty and without sense of humor.
Greenville Presbyterian Church (where Mr. Nichols worships and may be described as the "resident historian") is located on a lane to the west of Highway 178, three miles south of the town of Donalds (across Greenwood County line - Greenwood County was still a part of Abbeville County until the mid to late 1800s). A number of ADAM McKEEs grandchildren and great grandchildren are buried there (see segment on the ADAM Junior branch which follows). Rev. HUGH DICKSON (DIXON?) who was minister from 1800-1846 was a son of a MICHAEL DICKSON who came from County Down, Ireland by way of Chester County (where HUGH was born in 1772).
HUGH DICKSON served as pastor of the Greenville Presbyterian Church (Saluda) from 1800-1846. In Greenville Presbyterian Church - The Story of a People, 1765-1973, John Leith devoted a chapter to Hugh Dickson. In it we learn that Hugh was born in 1772 in Chester County, SC. His father was Michael Dickson, "a native of County Down, Ireland". MICHAEL was a major during the Revolution and was a church elder for sixty years. "When he died, the works of John WITHERSPOON, the Scottish-born president of Princeton, were listed among his possessions".
When
I visited the cemetery several years ago Howard Nichols, the "resident
historian" of the church told me that "all of the McKee's" buried
there were descended from Adam McKee (Junior)
He was familiar with the Adam McKee family cemetery and that Adam was
buried there but wasn't aware of Adam Sr or that descendents of Michael's son
William McKee remained in Abbeville County.
George
W. McKee 4/7/18528/13/1914 Rest Sweetly
(George
W McKee was a son & co-exec of Adam
Jackson McKee estate)
Nannie
McIlwain w/of G. W. McKee b. 12/13/1857 d. 9/4/1907 She hath won the victory
(George
W McKee was a son & co-exec of Adam
Jackson McKee estate)
Little
Martha Daughter of G.W. and N.J. McKee 10/3/189811/16/1898 Safe in the arms
of Jesus
Infant
son of G.W. and N.J. McKee
Infant
daughter of G.W. and N.J. McKee
Infant
son of W.J. and M.I. McKee 9/14/1902 Safe in the arms of Jesus
Margaret E. McKee 2/9/19148/16/1999
William J. McKee 2/1/18775/16/1940
Mittie C. McKee 3/22/18799/3/1957
Captain George Nickles b. 10/17/1800 d. 7/14/1884
Unveil thy bosom faithful lamb. Take our dear father to thy Trust and
give there sacred ril-ios [?] roomTil God shall call him from the dust
Private
Thomas H. Nickles Co. F Holcombe Legion CSA
Mary
Nickles wife of Capt. George Nicklesb. 9/27/1818 d. 1/14/1883
O
let us think of all she said; And all the kind advice she gave and Let us do it
now she's gone and sleeping in her love of advice
Eleanor
McKee 6/18 age 76 years Who was called ? She was a ? and true flower of the ?
Irvin Jack McKee 12/1/190911/13/1990
Connie Winn McKee 10/31/19071/22/1991
In
the memory of William J. McKee who departed this life 12/27/1878 In the 33 years
of his life
(
As I recall, the following plots were in a separate cluster but not far from the
cluster with William J, George W
etal. We can be certain that this
was the family of Adam Jackson McKee, son of Adam Jr and grandson of Adam Sr)
Eliza
McKee 188467 years
A.
J. McKee 10/23/18175/31/1885
Eleanor
McKee 1898 ? [tombstone broken]
John
W. McIlwain son of William and M. J. McIlwain3/2/186311/15/1886
Margaret
wife of William d. 5/24/1883 age 56 years
William
McIlwain 18221865Co. F Holcombe Legion died and buried in Elmira, NY
(I
did not examine the following stones and they died after the 1973 church history
listing. I assume they are
grandchildren of Adam Jackson & Eleanor McKee but cannot link them to
specific parents)
Robert P. McKee 7/1/19076/24/1974
Ernest Cochran McKee 6/8/190511/23/1978
Effie Compton McKee 5/3/190710/14/1984
Beside :A. L. Compton 8/8/18757/16/1942
Eloise S. Compton 8/4/186811/21/1952
(The
following is a real find! Andrew
& James Seawright arrived on the same boat with the Dixon's and James made
bond for the estate when John Dixon died. I
had wondered whether he was related by blood or marriage.
Its circumstantual but with a reasonable degree of confidence we can now
conclude that Andrew Seawright Sr's wife Mary Eleanor nee "Dickson"
was a sister of John Dixon; thus James Seawright would have been his nephew)
Elizabeth
McCullough 17521788 Born in Ireland and wife of James Seawright, Sr.
James
Seawright Pvt. SC Militia Revolutionary War17421790 son of Mary E. Dickson
and Andrew Seawright
Andrew
Seawright, Sr. Whig Patriot 17121777
Wife
Mary Eleanor Dickson 17161795 Pioneers from Ireland
Could these be any relation of our Dickson/Dixon families?