death, A. D. 1675, Henry Compton, D. D. was translated from the See of Oxford to London.*

66

The first Minister of the Church in Charles-Town, was the Reverend Atkin Williamson. At what period he came to the Province is not known. He was here in 1680, and died at an advanced age in the Colony. It appears that, there was a balance of £39 6 8 due to him from the Church, and that he was compelled to petition the General Assembly, April 28, 1709, to be considered for his services in officiating as Minister of Charles-Town." He was ordered to be paid; and on the 1st March 1710-11, the General Assembly appropriated £30 per annum for his support, during life. The act states that, he "had grown so disabled with age, sickness and other infirmities, that he could not any longer attend to the duties of his Ministerial Functions, and was so very poor that he could not maintain himself."+

The Church being vacant, The Reverend Samuel Marshall, A. M. was appointed to its Cure in 1696. Mr. Marshall was an amiable, learned and pious man, who had been induced to come to Carolina through the exertions and liberality of the Reverend William Burkitt, Vicar of Dedham, author of the popular exposition of the New-Testament. His conduct and talents had given great satisfaction, and his income from the Church being precarious, the General Assembly, October 8, 1698, passed "an Act to settle a maintenance on a Minister of the Church of England in Charles-Town." The following are extracts:

*A letter from the Governor and Council to the Lord's Proprietors, dated March 12, 1697-8, states: "We have had the small-pox amongst us nine or ten months, which hath been very infectious and mortal; we have lost by the distemper 200 er 300 persons. And on the 24th of February last, a fire broke out in the night in Charles-Town, which hath burnt the dwellings, stores and out-houses, of at least fifty families, and hath consumed (it is generally believed) in houses and goods, the value of £30,000 sterling." In a subsequent letter, dated April 23, 1698, they state that, the small-pox still continued, but was not so fatal as in the cold weather, and that a great number of Indians fell victims to the disease.

1Jonathan Amory bequeathed to Mr. Williamson £10, November 23, 1697. Mr. A. died in the fatal summer of 1699,

Whereas his late Majesty King Charles II, of blessed and happy memory, hath by his Letters Patents and Royal Grant of the Province of Carolina to Edward, Earl of Clarendon, and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors, provided that no Religious Ministry, except that by law established in the kingdom of England, should have any public maintenance." &c.

"And whereas, the Reverend Mr. Samuel Marshall, Minister of the Gospel, out of the zeal he hath for the propagation of the Christian Religion, and particularly that of the Church of England, hath left a considerable benefice and honorable way of living in England for that reason, and is recommended by the Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London, and the Lords Proprietors of this Province,for a sober, pious, worthy, able and learned Divine, of all which, by his devout and exemplary life and good doctrine, he hath approved himself worthy:

"Be it therefore enacted, &c. that the said Samuel Marshall be, and he is hereby nominated Minister of Charles-Town, during his life, or so long as he shall think fit to continue in this Colony, and serve in the said Ministry, and shall have and enjoy all the lands, houses, negroes, cattle and money's appointed for the use, benefit and behoof of the Minister of CharlesTown." &c.

The Act likewise appropriated a salary of £150 per ann. to him and his successors for ever, and directed that a negro man and woman, and four cows and calves, be purchased for his use, and paid for out of the Public Treasury.

The Act is of considerable length, but a great part of the original appears to have been destroyed by vermin, and we know not that a copy of it is extant. It was repealed Nov. 30, 1706, and the Church Act passed on the same day.

F

Mrs. Affra Coming,* a lady of eminent piety and liberality, generously made a donation of lands to the Church, in 1698. They are situated upon Wentworth, Coming, Beaufain and St. Philip's streets; and constitute the present glebe of St. Philip's and St. Michael's Churches. The following is a copy of the Deed:

"TO ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE to whom this Present Writing shall come. I Affra Coming, of Berkley County in the Province of Carolina, late wife of John Coming, Esq. deceased, send greeting. Know ye, that I the said Affra Coming, as well for and in consideration of the Love and Duty I have for, and owe to the Church, as by law established in the Kingdom of England, of which I profess myself a Daughter, as to promote and encourage so good, charitable and pious a work as the particular maintenance of a Minister of the Church of England in Charles-Town, as also for divers other good causes and considerations me at this present especially moving: Have given, granted and Demised, and by these Presents, do give, grant and demise unto the Rev. Mr. Samuel Marshall, Minister of the Gospel in Charles-Town, for and during his natural life, if he shall so long continue Minister of CharlesTown, or for and during the time he shall continue Minister of Charles-Town, and no longer. And after the said Samuel Marshall shall, by death or otherwise, cease to be Minister of Charles-Town, to such other Minister or Ministers of Charles-Town, successively, for ever, as shall be allowed of, nominated and appointed by virtue of, and according to the directions of an Act of Assembly entitled, "An Act to settle a maintenance on a Minister of the Church of England in Charles-Town," made and ratified the eighth day of October, Anno Dom. 1698, seventeen acres of land or thereabouts, situate, lying and being on the north side of Ashley river, next Charles-Town, in Berkley Coun

* See page 15.

ty, and butting and bounding as by a Plot thereof hereunto annexed is represented, together with all the feedings, pastures, woods, underwoods, ways, waters, easements, profits, commodities and appurtenances whatsoever to the said Seventeen Acres of Land, or to any part or parcel thereof belonging or in anywise appertaining, To have and to hold the aforesaid Seventeen Acres of Land, together with all and singular other the Premises hereby given, granted, and demised with their and every of their rights, members and appurtenances unto the said Samuel Marshall for and during the term and time he shall continue Minister of Charles-Town, as aforesaid, and after unto his successors Ministers of Charles-Town for ever, to be allowed of, nominated and appointed as by the before recited Act is Provided. He and they paying to the true and Absolute Lords and Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, the Quit-rents due, reserved and owing to them for the same. Witness my hand and seal at Charles-Town, this tenth day of December, Anno Dom. 1698.

"AFFRA COMING.

"Sealed and Delivered in the presence of us, F. Randolph, Geo. Dearsley, Geo. Logan, Jonathan Amory, John Fenning."

The Rev. Mr. Marshall died in 1699, of a malignant disease, which swept off many of the principal inhabitants of Charles-Town. This disease was, probably, the Yellow-Fever, which raged at the same time in Philadelphia. In a Letter from the Governor and Council to the Lords Proprietors, dated "CharlesTown in South-Carolina, Jan. 17, 1699-1700," they state that, they had nothing to communicate, but that

a most infectious, pestilential and mortal distemper (the same which hath always been in one or more of his Majesty's American Plantations, for eight or nine years last past) which from Barbados or Providence was brought in among us into Charles-Town, about

the 28th or 29th of Aug. last past; and the decay of trade, and mutations of your Lordships public officers occasioned thereby. This distemper, from the time of its beginning aforesaid, to the first day of November, killed in Charles-Town, at least 160 persons: Among whom were Mr. Ely,* Receiver-General, Mr. Amory, Receiver for the Public Treasury; Edward Rawlins, Marshall; Edmund Bohun,† Chief Justice. Amongst a great many other good and capital Merchants, and House-keepers in Charles-Town, the Rev. Mr. Marshall, our Minister, was taken away by the said distemper. Besides those that have died of this distemper in Charles-Town, 10 or 11 have died in the country, all which got the distemper, and were infected in Charles-Town, went home to their families and died; and what is notable, not one of all their families was infected by them." This afflictive dispensation of Providence, is likewise mentioned in a letter from Isaac Norris, dated Nov. 18, 1699, O. S. It states that," 150 persons had died in Charles-Town, in a few days;" that "the survivors fled into the country, and that "the town was thinned to a very few people."

The Governor and Council likewise addressed a letter to "The Right Hon. and Right Rev. Father in God, Henry [Compton] Lord Bishop of London," dated Jan. 17, 1699-70, of which the following is an That fatherlike care which your Lordship

extract:

* John Ely, appointed Rec. Gen. July 26, 1698.

+ Ed. Bohun, appointed Chief Justice, May 20, 1698.

This is conclusive evidence, that it was neither imported nor infectious; that its origin was local, and that it was incommunicable by personal contact. This is the most particular account we have seen of the disease of 1699. It was, probably, the same with the Yellow-Fever of the present day. It appears, likewise, that it had existed in several of the American Provinces, in preceding years. Another interesting fact is obtained from these letters, that, before our extensive swamps were cleared of their timber, and their surface exposed to the direct rays of the sun, persons could reside in the country in the summer and autumn without danger; and when unusual sickness prevailed in the town, the country was resorted to as a place of health. Neither can now be done with impunity.

§ Rush's Works, iii. 204. Ramsay's So. Ca. ii. 62: