The People of Concord South Carolina

Technically, there are no people in Concord,  South Carolina.  There is a cemetery and a nuclear power plant.  But I did meet some interesting people along the way.

​I am most grateful to Wanda Fowler, the researcher at Historical Center of York County who dug up some yellowed undated newspaper articles and photographs in their archives.

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Micheal C. Scoggins wrote the book on the history of York County.  We also shared an interest in African-American soldiers who served in The Revolutionary War.  By happy coincidence, I was able to connect him with Janet Eberts of Concord, Ohio who is passionately trying to prove that long-time Concordian, Richard Stanhup, was a slave in George Washington's personal service during The Revolutionary War and was therefore a veteran.

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 I met Carla Pendleton at Dick Pendleton Grocery and Sporting Goods in Clover, South Carolina.  Her relative, Thomas Faris, gave the land for cemetery, and Carla heads up the Concord Cemetery Association   Carla also supplied some helpful additional historical documents.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Dow

The most fascinating part of this project is the people I meet, and the stories that they tell.  I’ve interviewed hundreds of strangers, some of whom quickly became friends.  A second way I’ve “met” people is through the research necessary to create the background of each of these “Concord” narratives.   Today I spent hours reading about Lorenzo Dow.  Dow was born in Connecticut and trained to become a Reverend in the Methodist church, but his passionate, uncompromising preaching was too radical for the orthodox Methodist church and they disowned him. With unkempt hair and only the clothes on his back and a box of Bibles that he gave away, Dow became an itinerant Methodist preacher who roamed far and wide, holding “camp meetings.”    These meetings were wildly popular.  It is said that he would preach to 10,000 and hold them spell-bound.  He went as far east as England and Ireland, as far south as The West Indies and as far North as Canada, but most of the time roamed the back woods of North America from Vermont to Alabama.   Dow became a leading figure in the Second  Great Awakening movement, and he included in his travels regular camp meetings in Concord, South Carolina.

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Among those who heard Lorenzo Dow speak, was a young Presbyterian named Thomas Faris. According to a letter from Faris' grandson "At first there was a tabernacle lighted on the outside with blazing pine knots on elevated earthworks and a trumpet used to call the congregation to services."   Ferris was so impressed that he not only became a Methodist, he also donated five acres of land to establish the Concord Methodist Church in 1832.  The deed specified that the land "could not be disposed of nor used for any other than church purposes, and that if for any reason they failed to get a preacher, they must get out and get fresh air. "

It is thought that more than 10,000 babies were named after Lorenzo Dow.  If you Google “Lorenzo Dow” and “Concord” you’ll find Concordians with the first name “Lorenzo” and the middle name “Dow” in a half dozen states,  I don’t know if there is a direct connection between the name “Concord” and Dow’s preaching, but he did preach in Concord NH in 1818 and later in Concord,  NC. 
So once again the name of this community was probably derived from the name of the church, but we probably will never know.
For more on the fascinating life of Lorenzo Dow, see http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ARIZARD/2005-11/1131402763

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Next Stop, Concord Tennessee (second Visit)