York County, South Carolina was a long way away from
County Antrim, Ireland. Nevertheless, after settling and living in Virginia for
many years, John and Martha Dickey had eventually ended up here in the
Backcountry among other pioneering Scots-Irish Presbyterians.
2 Their sons and neighbors had quickly set about the
task of building them a rather large and comfortable two-story log home. Little
did they know at the time, but that house would stand for almost two hundred
and twenty years on that spot and would one day be restored and moved to a
South Carolina state park for the citizens of their adopted state to enjoy.
3 In 1771, however, that was all a distant dream. For
now, they and their neighbors were more concerned with carving a new home out
of this wilderness.
4 One of those neighbors, William Hillhouse, had
established his plantation just across the road from John’s and Martha’s place.
The two families were friendly and quickly established both formal and informal
connections with each other. Indeed, Robert married William’s daughter
(Margaret) in 1772, and his sister Polly married Margaret’s brother, James. Of
course, both families were prominent members of the local Presbyterian
congregation at Bullock Creek.
5 “I have been told that Robert is going to be elected
as an elder here,” John Dickey confided to his wife. “I’m so proud of him,” she
smiled. “He has grown to be such a fine Christian man, and he has always been a
good son.” “Ah, yes, but David is the one who has stayed with us and helped us
with our daily work,” John reminded her.
6 “Robert and the other elders need to find a good
shepherd for the flock,” he continued. “That is the business they need to be
about!” he declared. Martha shook her head in agreement and stirred the kettle
of beans simmering over the low fire in the fireplace.
7 They didn’t have to wait long. Reverend Joseph
Alexander had decided to join the Presbyterian pioneers in York County after
losing his teaching job in North Carolina. Like them, his ancestry was Celtic,
and his spiritual roots were in the austere and no-frills Christianity of Knox
and Calvin. Unlike most of them, he had been educated at Princeton and was
familiar with the mood then extant in the rest of the country.
8 “The presbytery would very much like to offer you
the office of pastor here,” Robert told him. Alexander squirmed in his seat but
looked squarely in the face of each of the elders. “I would be honored to serve
as your pastor, but you must understand that I am very plain spoken and that I
intend to open my own academy in these precincts as soon as possible,” he confessed.
9 Robert allowed a small smile to form on his face and
then cleared his throat. “I think that we have already determined that you are
plain spoken, Reverend Alexander,” he began. “And, as for the other, I think
that we can all acknowledge the need for more and better education in these
parts.” To which, the other elders nodded in solemn agreement.
10 “Well, gentlemen, I think that you have found your
pastor then,” Alexander concluded. With that, they all shook hands, and the
meeting was adjourned.
11 Over the next few years, as tensions between the
colonists and England over taxes and local governance increased, Reverend
Alexander’s sermons always assured his congregation that God was on the side of
the Americans. “The king and his parliament must not provoke the wrath of their
children here!” he declared. “God has given them their places to serve His
people and their needs, not to serve their own bellies!” he continued.
12 Consequently, when news of what had happened at
Lexington and Concord reached the Backcountry, there was no question about
where the loyalties of the people of Bullock Creek lay. Indeed, Robert Dickey
was one of fifteen men chosen to represent that region of the state at the
convention to draft the state constitution in 1776.
13 True to his word, Reverend Alexander had also not
wasted any time in establishing his academy. Among his pupils, there was a
young lad who would be destined to play a large part in the new nation which
they were helping to create. His name was Andrew Jackson.
14 Later, when the war moved south, Lord Cornwallis
would set up his camp on the Hillhouse plantation, and many battles would be
fought in the immediate area. Robert Dickey, John Dickey Jr, John Hillhouse,
William Hillhouse, Thomas Kirkpatrick (and many other members of the Bullock
Creek congregation) would serve in the South Carolina Militia.
15 Reverend Alexander’s home would also eventually
serve as a hospital to treat patriots wounded in battle against the British and
their Tory allies. In short, these simple Backcountry Presbyterians were fully
immersed in the struggle for American independence.
16 Now these are the generations of John Dickey and
Martha McNeely Dickey:
17 They had children: Jane, John, George, Ebner,
Robert, David, Eleanor, Polly, Martha and William.
18 Robert Dickey married first to Margaret Hillhouse,
and they had children: John, William and Martha. After her death, he married
Mary Henry. They had children: James, Alexander, Mary, Robert, George, Agnes,
Elizabeth and Susannah.
19 Mary Dickey married Robert Ross, and they had four
children together.
20 Now it also happened that Joseph Alexander was the second cousin of Margaret Hudson, the mother of James Thompson Harney and William Selby Harney.
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