Notes by Susan Aldridge 

susanaldridge2000@yahoo.de

Help and corrections needed and desired.

Dr William A. Webb of Aiken and Jackson, South Carolina asked me if I could help him find "Matlock SC" because the Matlock Baptist Church in Jackson, S.C. was originally built in "Matlock SC," as written on a tombstone in Florida of a descendant.  

In other words, just as the area of what is Aiken, SC today was originally called Clinton, the area of what is now called Jackson, SC was originally called Matlocke, although those born there sometimes spelled it Matlock. But where was this original church? It was said to have burned and to have been closer to Hallow Creek, 200 yards away. Was this after the Civil War or before? The new church was purportedly built at its present location and the old one on Hollow Creek. But at what point? 

According to a church member, a gravestone in the back of the present location says the burial was 1860, but after going out to the church and looking in the graveyard, there must be gravestones missing, as I found the earliest burial to be 1920. Why would a church, built at the time of slaves in the 1800s, have the earliest burial at 1920? Now I have been told the graves of the oldest sort are way in the back near the woods which would give a clue to where the church building was at the time of burial. Have the present building(s) to the far left and the accompanying play ground been built over part of the graveyard? After examination I can see that the Foreman Fellowship Hall which I am told has hand hewn rafters built perhaps in 1878? has been covered up with a 20 foot extension to the front and a building addition on the left of it. The new church 1898? was built in front and to the right of the old Foreman Fellowship Hall. See white section peaking out above brick facing in foto.

According to the handwritten paper in the possession of Dr. Webb, the Foreman Fellowship Hall was the spot of the old church which was dismantled and taken away inside of 3 days. They probably did not want to disturb the grave yard and came up with the novel solution of building a Fellowship Hall on the foundation of the old church and building a new church to the front and right. The graveyard would have been to the left. 

However at some point in later years did they cover the graveyard? Did they save the old stones and markers from the grave yard? Have they been recorded on paper? The land seems to sit on 5 acres, so I wonder that with so much land available they chose to cover the old graveyard. With the oldest grave being 1920, it can only be speculated there must have been discussions lasting till many midnights about building on top of graves. It is not unknown to do so, as the present day Quaker Race Street Meeting House in Philadelphia. Pa is built on top of graves from the 1700s, as well as their parking lot. When I went to find my ancestors grave, I was disappointed and stared at the black macadem of the parking lot and wondered where he was.

Dr Webb and his father Avery Alexander Webb belonged their whole lives to the "Matlock Church" so he was really interested to find out its early history. Church tradition says it is an off-shoot of the famous Silver Bluff Church when it split up in 1773 and that the Matlock Church gots its name when it was built by a man named Matlock after the church at Silver Bluff split up and the white congregation turned over the Silver Bluff church to the black church members. I saw no evidence of a church at Silver Bluff though. Where is it?  The "new" church was in "Matlock SC" before and/or after it moved to its present location. 

I drove out to the church this sunny afternoon. I got the feeling that this area has stood still and made a slow motion advance into this age, reluctantly going forward and lovingly staying original, except for the church which is relatively new and has had a tradition of building new on top of old foundations. Taling the road to the right f the Matlock Church, I drove down the Bluff Landing road to Silver Bluff and the Savannah River, astounded to find that the road is dirt- as it ever was- in perfect condition. I could drive 35 miles an hour with no problem. How do they do that? There were many gates I would have loved to enter, but dared not. I found what may have been a slave cabin on Bluff Rd. or it was a free negro cabin and stopped to take a picture. Yes, I would have loved to stay forever in this lost time and frozen beauty. Just set me in a buggy and off we would go.

As yet there is little evidence linking Matlock Church to Hollow Creek, however a family name linked with "Matlock SC" is Beggs. The "Old Beggs place" is now where George McElmurray lives, according to a source from Dr. Webb. Was the Beggs place on Silver Bluff Rd or Bluff Landing Rd? or did it go from one road to the other? James Beggs who married Anna Walker Goodwin b 1785, is the daughter of Charles Goodwin who bought Silver Bluff from George Galphin. James and Anna Walker Beggs' son, Thomas Beggs, had 53 acres on Hollow Creek among other tracts. It is recorded somewhere that Anna's son John Miller Beggs was born in "Matlock SC in Dec 1822." His brother Charles was born at "Burnside" Plantation on "Peters Pond " according to descendants in Florida. Both Charles and John M. Beggs migrated to Florida and died in Madison, FLA. The original name of the James Beggs place was probably 

Burnside Plantation on Peters Pond at Matlocke, Barnwell Dist. SC

Series: S213192 Volume: 0044 Page: 00495 Item: 003

Date: 1/15/1818Description: BEGGS, JAMES, PLAT FOR 53 ACRES ON HOLLOW CREEK, BARNWELL DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY PHILIP LAMAR. Names indexed: BEGGS, JAMES; BUTLER; HANKERSON; LAMAR, PHILIP; TAYLOR, WALTER (Hankerson and Butler would have been neighbors of Beggs, and perhaps the others named)Locations: BARNWELL DISTRICT; HOLLOW CREEK; SAVANNAH RIVER; SILVER BLUFF

Document type: PLAT

As it turns out the names McElmurray and Foreman are also tied to Matlocke Regular Baptist Church of Christ by their petition in 1840 which I discovered indexed at the SC Archives, as well as the will of Andrew McElmurry (copy below) who says he lives on the "Matlock place." Adding to that, John Burgess, according to his 1829 Will, living in Edgefield above Minors Bridge near Old Jackson Hiway, bought land from Andrew McElmurry on the East side of Hollow Creek. John Burgess also bought or sold 915 acres on Hollow Creek to or from Jacob Foreman of Barnwell on 20 June 1828. John Burgess is in the Edgefield Co 1825 map as being on the west side of Hallow Creek near the Edgefield/Barnwell Dist. line but above Minors bridge. Most likely his land would have crossed over the Barnwell Dist line and on down to Hollow Creek and he could shout across to Andrew McElmurry and Jacob Foreman on the east side.

So using the Edgefield 1825 map, John Burgess was living above the Minors bridge going over Hallow Creek. Peters Pond was probably below the Minors bridge. The present church is a few hundred yards from Minors bridge. These planters owned thousands of acres and the properties went all the way to Back Swamp, noted as Big Back Swamp on the 1825 map of Barnwell. For the moment this information places Matlocke SC roughly between Hallow Creek and Big Back Swamp (aka Carolina Swamp?) and from above Minors bridge going down almost to Silver Bluff. Matlocke SC probably also went partially around Big Back Swamp to Crackers Neck and near a plantation called Silverton.

Matlocke would not have built a Meeting House in the woods where people had to tramp on paths to get there Sunday morning. He would have built it for easy access, which means that if it were on Hollow Creek, it would have been either near Minors bridge or at the Silver Bluff Rd crossing.  Common sense reasons that the Meeting House or church would have been on Andrew McElmurry's land, known as the Matlocke Place by his contemporaries. But he may have had at least a thousand acres and several tracts and it could be any one of those places where he built a church. Search of deeds going back to him and  before him may reveal the location of a Meeting House or church.   

I see examples of deeds in the Archives where men owned 5000 or 10000 acres. Jacob Foreman had one transaction of 900 acres. Matlocke may have owned from Hollow Creek back to the Back Swamp. Or a piece here and a piece there up and down the Savannah River. I noticed that names from people living in Cambridge SC (now gone) also had land way down at Silver Bluff and made trips back and forth to Charleston. Perhaps they traveled more than we do when one counts hours of travel.

But that the map makers of 1817-1825 did not record the Matlocke Church presense is puzzling. Did they not see it? Or was it somewhere else? There is a "MH+" (i.e. Meeting House or church) designation on what is now Old Jackson Hi-way where Atomic Rd meets it today. (I believe that spot matches the old map.) Which church was that one? I drove out there today and found the place where the church must have been. It is at the confluence of Atomic rd and Old Jackson Hiway. There is nothing there but some scraggly trees and a couple wild dogs. Was this the the Canaan Fair church? attended by the free negroes descended from Galphin.

I have found in the SC Archives where extensive records are stored from 1840 calling Matlocke Church the Matlocke Regular Baptist Church of Christ and records linking the Matlocke plantation to Andrew "McElmurry" 's plantation in an area bordering "Back Swamp." Andrew McElmurry also owned land at Cracker Neck sometimes associated with "Winton Co. Barnwell District" or Silverton. he also owned land on Hollow Creek. Other associations with the McElmurray family have been Four Mile Branch.  

If Patrick McElmurray (a Tory), Andrew McElmurry's father, bought land before 1798 and after 1769, it would have been called Orangeburg District. After 1798 it became Winton Co. Barnwell District. Before 1769 it was called Granville Co.. So there are several county court houses to search in pursuit of the history of Matlocke Regular Baptist Church. Inquiry must be made to ask about where the records were finally stored for Winton Co.. The missing link is finding a deed which grants land, perhaps part of an old plantation, for the Matlocke Regular Baptist Church of Christ. Patrick's son Andrew bought the old "Matlock Place" which may have been next to Patrick's plantation. 

It is not clear at this point whether the Matlock Church was really built by Matlocke, or whether the church was named so because the area was called Matlocke after the original settler, or because that settler Matlocke gave land for the church.