John Rosborough

Aimwell Presbyterian church was chartered in home of John and Ann (Annie) Cupit Roseborough

HISTORY OF RIDGEWAY

The earliest settlers of the Ridgeway area of lower Fairfield District appear to have been Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. In Doctor George Howe's HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA (Columbia, 1870), he states, "In October 1799, a society on Cedar Creek petitions supplies, and prays it may be known on the minutes of Presbytery by the name of AIMWELL." However, in the old Session Book of the Aimwell Presbyterian Church in Ridgeway is the statement, "On the first Saturday in January, 1840, the semicentenary was observed and 63 dollars was subscribed for the board of publication." This places the origin of Aimwell Church as 1790.

When John Rosborough and his wife, Ann Cupit, moved to Ridgeway from Lebanon section of Fairfied in 1790, they "brought with them a fervent desire to organize a church," wrote Mrs. E.D. Goodson for the 150th anniversary of Aimwell in 1940. The first services were held in the rosboroughs' home on the site of the present Century House in the town of Ridgeway. The first church building appears to have been erected about 1790 on land near Cedar Creek, given the previous year by Francis Robinson. The Reverend George Reed or Reid was the first pastor, and served for seven years. Mr. John Rosborough was ordained as the first elder. Following the Reverend Mr. Reed, Aimwell was served by the Reverend William G. Rosborough, who, Howe tells us, was prepared at Mount Zion College, and received under the care of Presbytery in 1793.

The first church was burned. And second log church was built on a site near the present Bethlehem Colored Church across the street from the Crumpton House in Ridgeway, and this church was used until 1833. This marked the erection of Aimwell on the site of the present cemetery on land given the Presbyterians by Edward Gendron Palmer of Valencia. This building was erected in 1833; the fourth building was dedicated November 18, 1859. This building was described in later years by the late Eloise Davis Ruff as "white, foursquare, with a recessed porch and columns." There were two doors opening on the porch and in the enclosed ends were concealed the steps leading up into the gallery where the colored servants sat. In the body of the church were three rows of pews. A melodian, given by Miss Sallie Means, stood near the pulpit. The choir was composed of Mrs. Henry Davis, Miss Ann Thomas, and Miss Mattie Roseborough, with Miss Sallie Means, at the melodian. Behind the church, built of sturdy logs, was the session house, with a huge log fireplace," concluded "Miss Eloise" as she remembered Aimwell bout the time of the Confederate War.

Early members of Aimwell and residents of lower Fairfield District were the Rosboroughs, Robinsons, Craigs, Boulwares, and Colemans. Some of the first settlers had come from Scotland and Ireland by way of Virginia and North Carolina, whereas others, like John Rosborough, had come directly to South Carolina by way of Charleston from Ireland during the potato famines of the late 18th century. He had married Ann Cupit in Carolina after she came to Beaufort with her English sea captain father.

In the late 1800's about 1885 Aimwell built a frame church in the town of Ridgeway, and it was used primarily for prayer meetings for the greater convenience of the members. The church in the cemetery was eventually taken down, and given to the colored Presbyterians, and rebuilt on the Smallwood Road just south of the town limits. Like its parent white church in the town both have been brick veneered in recent years and continue to serve their respective congregations, the fourth Aimwell serving the colored people, and the fifth Aimwell serving the white congregation. In the days of the first and second churches, and the early days of Aimwell in the cemetery, the colored members were listed in the same congregation and attended the same services. Church segregation in the South is an outgrowth of the Civil War. Virtually all Southern churches had white and colored members before the War, and the Episcopal Church in South Carolina had more colored than white members.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH HUGUENOTS FROM THE LOWCOUNTRY

Edward Gendron Palmer of Saint James' Parish, Santee, Charleston District, came to Fairfield in 1824, the first of the lowcountrymen to move into this area and to exert an influence in the county out of all proportion to their numbers. Mr. Palmer had married Caroline, the daughter of Doctor James Davis, "eminent physician of his day," who lived at QUININE HILL near Columbia and who persuaded his son-in-law to migrate to the more healthful up country. Mr. Palmer purchased a plantation, BLOOMINGDALE, on Dutchman's Creek several miles northwest of NEWLANDS as Ridgeway was then called. Not finding BLOOMINGDALE as healthful as he had hoped, Mr. Palmer temporarily moved into a house he owned on what is now Palmer Street in Ridgeway. while building VALENCIA.

One of the first to follow Mr. Palmer to the upcountry was Samuel Peyre Thomas of St. Stephens's Parish, Charleston District, who built VALLEY GROVE, the lands of which adjoined BLOOMINGDALE. Having received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Harvard College in 1825, S. Peyre Thomas returned to his birthplace BETAW on the Santee in St. Stephen's Parish. Here he awaited his twenty-fifth class reunion, Mr. Thomas states, "Upon becoming of age a few months after my returning home from college, I found myself in possession of ten Negroes and about Two thousand Dollars. With this small property, I removed to Fairfield District and purchase a small farm and have ever since been engaged in the production of cotton." In 1834 Mr. Thomas married Jane Fears Rosborough, daughter of John Rosborough, whom he describes in another letter, now also in the Harvard Library Archives as "one of the most estimable men, and most correct in principle, that I ever knew." VALLEY GROVE was built in 1835, burned in 1841, and was described by Mr. Thomas as "very costly." The lived in the former VALLEY GROVE kitchen for some years thereafter.

In the meantime, Mr. Thomas' plantation had been greatly enlarged by his wife's inheritance through her late father's death of lands adjoining VALLEY GROVE. Mr. Thomas then determined to build on this former Rosborough land, nearer Ridgeway, on the Longtown-Camden Road. Here he had commenced the building of MAGNOLIA less than a mile east of the village of Ridgeway when he died on June 28, 1854. MAGNOLIA was completed by his widow and sons and remained the family home until it was sold to settle the estate of his daughter, Anne (Mrs. Charles E. Thomas). Another house now occupies the site below St. Stephen's church.

Through the influence of Messrs. Palmer and Thomas in lower Fairfield District, David Gaillard, Samuel DuBose, and Theodore DuBose of St. John's Parish also move to Fairfield in this period, all of these settling near Winnsboro. With the opportunity of entering their sons at Mount Zion Institute, several lowcountry widows - Mrs. Isabella Peyre Porcher, Mrs. Sarah Palmer Couturier, and Mrs. Mary Gaillard, among others - also moved to Fairfield at this time. Through marriage and family connections General John Bratton and Mr. Isaac Dwight were also attracted to the country.

In the summer of 1835 John Peyre Thomas, M.D. elder brother of Samuel Peyre Thomas, traveled through Fairfield, visiting most of these lowcountry settlers of the upper country. Continuing to Greenville District, where he spent the summer with his wife, the former Harriet Jane Couturier. Dr. Thomas suffered the cruel blow of her death soon after the birth of their sixth child in Greenville. Dr. Thomas returned to Fairfield and determined to settle here, purchasing several tracts of land to make up MOUNT HOPE PLANTATION, most of which had been owned by the Kennedys and Rosboroughs.

The next year Dr. Thomas married his late wife's sister, Charlotte Henrietta Couturier, and brought her to MOUNT HOPE where their country plantation home was under construction. All above from: Bob Thomas, Ok City, OK, January, 2005 - beebop73132@cox.net