At the encouragement of Reverend John Bailey Adger, the Charleston Presbytery built the church that today serves its congregation at 93 Anson Street as St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church (ca. 1850). Reverend J. B. Adger had served as a Presbyterian missionary to Armenia until his wife, Elizabeth Keith Shrewsbury, received slaves in an inheritance. The Presbyterians did not allow slaveowners to serve as missionaries, and the Adgers never returned to Armenia. Instead Reverend J. B. Adger decided to establish a church to serve the slaves of Charleston. His project met with mixed reviews from Charleston's white population. The slaves of Charleston were not consulted.
The church was dedicated on Sunday, May 26, 1850. As Reverend J. B. Adger notes in My Life and Times, "the congregation that assembled to take part in the dedication of the house to the worship of God by negroes, was composed exclusively of white people." It is not clear what non-white people thought of this arrangement.
In 1850, six people were held in slavery by the Reverend J. B. Adger while he served as minister of the church.
The church was located just two doors down from the house occupied by Major William Jacint Laval and his wife Sarah Caroline Ward. In the best Charleston tradition, the neighbors were also cousins. Doubly so, in fact. Reverend J. B. Adger was the son of Major Laval's aunt Ann Jacks' stepdaughter's nephew, and he was also the brother-in-law of Sarah Caroline Ward's cousin's son-in-law.
Small world.
The church was dedicated on Sunday, May 26, 1850. As Reverend J. B. Adger notes in My Life and Times, "the congregation that assembled to take part in the dedication of the house to the worship of God by negroes, was composed exclusively of white people." It is not clear what non-white people thought of this arrangement.
In 1850, six people were held in slavery by the Reverend J. B. Adger while he served as minister of the church.
The church was located just two doors down from the house occupied by Major William Jacint Laval and his wife Sarah Caroline Ward. In the best Charleston tradition, the neighbors were also cousins. Doubly so, in fact. Reverend J. B. Adger was the son of Major Laval's aunt Ann Jacks' stepdaughter's nephew, and he was also the brother-in-law of Sarah Caroline Ward's cousin's son-in-law.
Small world.
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