HOPEWELL BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY, Oconee County, SC A.K.A. Seneca, SC Version 2.3, 16-Jan-2003, C090.TXT, C90 **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Dec-2002 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Dec-2002 G.P.S. MAPPING . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Dec-2002 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Unknown Author, The Seneca Journal LOCATION WRITE-UP: Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2003 TRANSCRIPTION .. : CEMETERY LOCATION: ------------------ Locate intersection of 76-Business & 59 in downtown Seneca. Drive S 0.7 miles on 59. Go straight on W South 7th and drive E 0.2 miles. Turn right on E South 7th and drive SE 0.3 miles. Go straight on S Walnut Street and drive SE 0.6 miles. Total distance 2.0 miles. Latitude N 34 39.663 x Longitude W 82.56.133 CHURCH/CEMETERY HISTORY: ------------------------ LAND FOR HOPEWELL BAPTIST GIVEN BY ABBOTT IN 1858 SENECA - Hopewell Baptist Church was founded by Willis Washington Abbott, a prominent religious figure during the early days of Oconee County. Abbott, seeing the need for a place of worship in his community of Hopewell, donated the plot of land on which Hopewell Baptist Church has stood for over a century. Church members have been told by descendants and a tombstone in the Hopewell cemetery that the land was given in May, 1858. Located on the site of the present Hopewell Baptist Church, the first church was a small one-room structure facing the cemetery. THE FOUNDATION was of hewed logs held together by wooden pegs carved by hand. A door was in each end of the building and wooden shutters served as windows as was the custom in those days. The doors of the church remained unlocked at all times The congregation was very small in those early days. Roads were rough and, in winter, often impassable. The people went to church on foot, horseback, wagons, or buggy. Church conferences were held on Saturdays, and preaching on Sundays. THE REV. W. W. Abbott served the Hopewell church as its first pastor. He was ordained into the ministry in December of 1865. He served other churches throughout the county as well as the Hopewell church. During his lifetime he married 555 couples and baptized far more than that. Rev. Abbott died May 5, 1912, and was buried in the Hopewell cemetery. Since there was no organ during the early days of the church, Ike Hopkins directed the singing with a tuning fork. The church received its first organ as a gift from George L. Abbott. UNDER THE Rev. W. T. Land, the first Sunday School was organized, and, in 1927, Mrs. Charles Knox helped organize the first B.Y.P.U. It was 1920 before the church received its first repair and addition - a coat of paint, a change of the entrance, and an addition to the side of the building. Up until 1927, the pastors had been paid whatever was taken up in the collection; at this time, the congregation voted to pay the pastor a yearly salary of $75, although this still was seldom reached. As the congregation grew through the years, the need for a new church grew with it. THE FOUNDATIONS of the new church were laid next to the old church. When the building was completed, it contained an auditorium, 10 class rooms, a study, and a library. The first service was held in the new church on July 2, 1950. A brick pastorium was completed in 1952 on Hopewell Road, and a recreation center was constructed in 1955. In April, 1954, Hopewell church organized a mission in the Bounty Land community; in January, 1955, it was constituted as a Missionary Baptist Church. IN 1955, the original church, which had been standing for 98 years, was replaced by a new sanctuary, and the building used previously as an auditorium was converted to a Sunday School building, which included primary, nursery, and adult educational areas, a kitchen, and two church offices. The new auditorium has recently been paneled on the inside. Hopewell Baptist Church a current membership of proximately 400 and is under the ministry of the Rev. Ch Candler. TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION NOTES: ------------------------------ a. = age at death b. = date-of-birth d. = date-of-death h. = husband m. = married p. = parents w. = wife