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Fourth Generation
26. Rebecca
ARTHUR was born in 1785. She died on 5 Nov 1839 in Milledgeville,
Baldwin Co., GA. She is reference number 522. Rebecca
ARTHUR (1785-1838), the daughter of Hargrove and Mary Reese
Arthur from south Carolina and Georgia, married Rev. Reddick PIERCE, son
of Lovick I and Lydia CULPEPPER PIERCE. Rebecca ARTHUR and Reddick PIERCE were
married on 2 Oct 1809.4 Reddick PIERCE was born on 26 Sep 1782 in Halifax District,
NC.5,6
He died on 24 Jul 1860 in Orangeburg Co., SC.7
He is reference number 511. Reddick Pierce (1782-1860), son
of Lovick Pierce Sr. and Lydia
Culpepper, and brother of Lovick Pierce Jr. He was born on the Roanoke
River in Halifax District, North Carolina. He lived as a child in Tinker
Creek, Barnwell District, South Carolina. Converted in 1802; became
increasingly deaf; married Rebecca Arthur, daughter of Hargrove and Mary
(REESE) Arthur. She died in Milledgeville Ga. They had 6 children.
In his early youth his people moved to Barnwell county,South
Carolina. His educational advantages were limited to six months schooling
at the "old-field" schools of his day. In January, 1805, then about
twenty-two years old, he with his brother Lovick, applied for admission
to the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist church, which met in
Charleston in that year. Both were admitted.
Reddick Pierce and his brother Lovick were admitted into the
itinerant connection of the Methodist Church, in Dec. 1804, in Charleston
South Carolina, with Bishop Francis Asbury presiding over the conference.
Reddick received his first appointment in Jan. 1805. He was Presiding
Elder of the Saluda District of the South Carolina Conference of the
Methodist Church in 1809, when he was married near Lexington South
Carolina. In 1810 after six years in the itineracy, his health failed and
he took a superannuate relation in the conference. In 1812 Reddick
located on a farm in Fairfield District, South Carolina, later moving to
Mt. Ariel, South Carolina to educate his children. The record of the
marriage of his daughter, Louisa Pierce, to Robert Downie Walker in her
father's home in 1834,lists his residence as Cokesbury, Abbeville County
(now Greenwood Co.) South Carolina. In 1836 Reddick Pierce is listed as a
member in the minutes of the Methodist Church of Milledgevile, Georgia.
In 1840 U. S. census of Georgia, Reddick Pierce is listed as head of a
large family in Milledgeville, Baldwin Co. Ga.
A portrait of Reddick Pierce, the man and the preacher, emerges in
the writings of his brother, Lovick II, and his nephew, Bishop George
Foster Pierce.
FROM: The Southern Christian Advocate, August 23, 1860.
A Sketch of Reddick Pierce by Dr. Lovick Pierce
" Of our early days, a few things must be said. There was no open
religion in my father's house, but religion was reverently recognized by
our parents, so that although we grew up without the benefits of
religious example, we did have the benefit of religious indoctrination of
mind. There was very little preaching in our region, and what there was
was badly suited to the condition of sinners, until 1799. That year our
portion of the District was included in the old Edisto Circuit, and in
those days a circuit was a circuit. James Jenkins and Mose Mathews were
the pioneers of Methodism in that portion of Barnwell, South Carolina,
then known as the Three Runs. As a great favor, they were allowed to
preach at my uncle, Lewis Weatherby's house, about a mile from my
father's. My aunt Weatherby had imbibed a love of Methodism in North
Carolina, before her removal, and hailed their coming among us as a
blessing. My father despised the race with bitterness. My mother, I
think, like her sister, had a liking for Methodism. But not one of our
family ever attended a Methodist service until August. Then my brother
and myself obtained leave to go, and hear a Methodist preacher. We went,
and James Jenkins was the preacher. His text was 'Happy is that people
that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord'.
This was the first time we ever heard the Gospel preached, with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven. Its truth entered both of our hearts, and
that very day we both resolved on leading a new life. But the purpose, as
far as it affiliated with Methodism, was unavowed. But then and there
commenced our life of prayer. We did not join the church until the summer
of 1801. Then within three weeks, all the family who were old enough,
united with the little church.
In 1802 we had built a meeting house very near my father's
residence. Brother and myself professed religion. He commenced exhorting
sinners to repentance right away. During this year we were both appointed
leaders, and licensed to exhort. Here commences the useful ministerial
career of my honored brother. No one knew him as well as myself. And I
now say of him, that a purer Christian never lived. His whole religious
life was a rich development of the most guileless devotion to God, and
his cause and kingdom.
His entrance upon calling sinners to repentance was in conjunction
with the first appearance of the marvellous signs that ushered in the
great revival in the early part of this century... I will mention one
remarkable evidence of the Divine design and presences in these
supernatural influences. As these religious phenomena were coincident
with Methodism in that religion, and as Methodism was a fore-doomed
heresy, these business of falling, of getting converted in a few hours,
and rising up with the assurance of pardon, and shouting, were all plead
against us as proof good enough that we were false apostles--deceitful
workers, transforming ourselves into the apostles of Christ. There was a
small Baptist church about three miles from ours. Some of its members had
become rabid in feeling against the new religion; regarded it as a
devilish necromancy; called it wild fire; but the most familiar figure
was fox fire. We Methodist, indifferent to such abuse, determined to omit
our next class meeting and attend the monthly Baptist meeting. So we did,
all of us, on Saturday. The good old pastor preached, and, as his wont
was, opened the way to receive experiences, by asking if there was anyone
in the house that had anything to say for the Lord. My brother, always
having something to say, and not being well posted on the order of the
meeting, arose and commenced one of his soul-stirring exhortations, and
in half of an hour the floor was almost covered with the fallen, and
during the afternoon many found peace in believing, and such a shout was
never before heard in any meeting among us. The old pastor stood in the
midst and wept, and praised, and said he felt as if the 'big end of his
heart was uppermost.' We never doubted but that God did this, to set his
mistaken people right. We heard no more of wild fire, nor of fox fire.
My brother was by nature a great man. In his mind could be seen,
projecting out, the evidence of a clear, logical philosophy. Even without
the benefit of an early education, and aided only by original genius, and
such assistance as a self-sustained mind could command, I doubt whether
any one ever heard him argue a point in polemic theology confusedly. He
was in his own way a great and powerful preacher. ...
1805 OT; 1807 FC Deacon; 1809 Elder.
South Carolina Conference: 1805 Little River (Ogeechee); 1806 Sparta
(Oconee); 1807 Montgomery (Camden); 1808 Augusta (Ogeechee); 1809
Columbia (Seleuda); 1810 PE Seleuda District; 1811 Sup.; 1812 Located on
a farm in Fairfield District, South Carolina; 1829 Sandy River
(Columbia); 1830 Enoree (Saluda); 1831 Abbeville; 1832 Supy. Abbeville;
1833 Supy. Charleston (Charleston); 1834 Sup.; 1838 Located; 1845 Sup.
He died at the home of Jacob Stroman near Springfield, in Orangeburg
County, South Carolina, and buried at Rocky Swamp Methodist Church.
Reddick was born on the Roanoke River, Halifax District, Martin
County, North Carolina. Shortly after his birth his parents moved to
South Carolina. His boyhood and young manhood were spent as a constant
companion of his brother, Lovick. Together they worked, together they
hunted, together they were converted, together they became preachers and
together they attended their first Annual Conference of the Methodist
Church at Charleston, South Carolina in December 1804. Reddick was
appointed to the Pee Dee Circuit. Here they separated and each went his
own way to different accomplishments and different recognition, although
they never felt there was any rivalry between them. Reddick lived in
South Carolina, married there and spent practically all his efforts
there. He was probably the best known preacher in South Carolina during
the first quarter of the 19th century, was the most highly esteemed and
claimed by his friends as the most preeminent. People who lived in South
Carolina thought Reddick was the greater preacher and those who lived in
Georgia favored Lovick. In 1807 Reddick was sent to the Augusta Station,
following his brother Lovick. Two years later he was stationed at
Columbia, South Carolina. Columbia was the site of the State Capitol and
the State University. He more than held his own with either the
intellectual in the faculty or the hecklers among the students. He was
anybody's equal in an argument. He welcomed controversy. He liked to
dissect error, to attack sophistry, to wrestle with knotty questions.
About this time he was afflicted with a growing deafness, which
eventually was to end his career. By 1810, just six years after entering
the itinerancy, his hearing was so bad that he had to locate. His ailment
continued to increase to such an extent that he became unable to do
anything as a regular pastor and was used as a supply pastor. Because a
supply pastor was not on a salary and because his increasing family
forced him to try and make a living, he was forced to take a
superannuated relation with the Conference in 1812. He tried farming, but
he was not successful in secular affairs of any kind.
In 1822 Reddick returned to the Conference. He really was a man of
great power in the pulpit. He was especially strong in the Calvinistic
controversy of his day and nearly every sermon dealt it a hard blow. He
was not a profound scholar and yet his information was extensive and
varied. In chemistry, astronomy, general politics, commerce and finance,
as well as theology, he was indeed well informed. He read widely but at
the same time he was an independent thinker, had his own ideas, his own
theories, and could defend them in any company. With a full, active,
inquiring mind, he was really a great intellect and a great preacher. His
mind was of the highest order--capable of profound thought and deep
investigation,and he was extremely logical. Tragically his infirmity
limited both his activity and his social contacts. He became so extremely
deaf that he could not hear others talk. He was surely a great man but,
because of his infirmity, his greatness was known by a very limited
number of people. Just before rejoining the Conference he moved to Mt.
Ariel in South Carolina to try to secure schooling and education for his
children.
After a few more years of active service in the ministry his total
deafness forced him to superannuate permanently. This was indeed a great
loss to the Church and a personal tragedy for him. Throughout long years
of sorrow and trouble, poverty and bereavement he lived to a ripe old
age. After the death of his wife and one more of his children, and the
marriage and dispersion of his other children, he was alone in the world,
and, in many respects, a forlorn, broken down old man. However, he was
not gloomy and never complained. He was patient and strong, cheerful and
hopeful. His faith never failed him. He was deeply religious. His piety
was habitual and steadfast, never intermittent. Once he was old and
feeble he attended a camp meeting in Georgia. It was very hot but he
attended every service day and night. Lovick, his younger brother, who
was also there, said to him -- "Brother, why do you weary and exhaust
yourself going to services so often when you cannot hear a word that is
said?" Reddick is said to have answered --"I go to fill my place, as
every man should." That seems to be the epitome of his life and
character. He always filled his place.
The last twelve years of his life, when not spent visiting his
children, he spent under the roof of his friend, Jacob Storman, a man of
great fidelity and hospitality. Here in the home and in the big heart of
this magnanimous person he found all that life needed and all that
kindness could bestow. He died at Mr. Stroman's home near Springfield,
South Carolina.
After his death the Southern Christian Advocate published on August
23, 1860 this tribute -- "Reddick Pierce was by nature a great man. In
his mind could be seen projecting out the evidence of a clear, logical
philosophy. Even without the benefit of an early education, and aided
only by original genius and much assistance as a self-sustained mind
could command, I doubt that anyone ever heard him argue a point in
theology confusedly. He was a great and powerful preacher. We claim
nothing for him above what constitutes a great man, the record of his
memory is all good. South Carolina owes him much. He did her good all the
days of his life. He loved her soil and her citizens. Let him sleep
sweetly in her earth." He is buried at Rocky Swamp Methodist Church in
Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Reddick and Rebecca had seven children.
Rev. LOVICK PIERCE, the great father of a great son, is perhaps the
most historic character in Georgia. He was a native of North Carolina,
born in Halifax, March 17, l785. He lived until November 9, 1879, when he
died at Sparta, Ga., in his ninety-fifth year. nearly, seventy-five years
of that period was spent in the Methodist ministry. In his early youth
his people moved to Barnwell County, S. C. His educational advantages
were limited to six months schooling at the "old field" schools of
his
day. Coming under religious convictions as a youth just about grown, in
January, 1805 then not quite twenty years old, he with his brother
Reddick, then twenty-two years old, applied for admission to the South
Carolina Conference of the Methodist church, which met at Charleston in
that year. Both were admitted. Never was there a greater contrast between
two brothers -- Reddick, strong of frame vigorous of mind, and rugged in
every sense of the word, while Lovick was shrinking, sensitive and timid.
Reddick's life work as a preacher was mainly in South Carolina, and many
people acquainted with him regarded him as quite the equal of his more
famous brother. The South Carolina conference then comprised part of
North Carolina, all of South Carolina, and so much of Georgia, as was
then settled.
Rebecca ARTHUR and Reddick PIERCE had the following children:
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