Person:William Martin (310)

Reverend William Martin

William Martin was born at Ballyspollum, near Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Ireland on 16 May 1729. On 2 July 1757, he was ordained a Covenanter minister in an open air service held at The Vow, between Ballymoney and Kilrea, County Antrim. As the only Covenanter minister in Antrim and Down, the two counties became his parish, so to speak, and Rev. Martin, though resident at Kellswater, had supervisory responsibility for Covenanter groups at Ballymoney, Dervock, Cloughmills, Leighmore and Cullybackey. Rev.

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William Martin was no shrinking violet. On top of his mammoth preaching and pastoral duties, he was vocal in his opposition to the High Church (Anglican) authorities who openly discriminated against the Presbyterians. The oppressed Presbyterians were subjected to excessive rent demands and when payment could not made, the tenants were evicted. During this period, many agents were active in Northern Ireland, representing that South Carolina was offering a bounty to settlers. Many of the poor and oppressed Scots-Irish had migrated to South Carolina. It was during this time that Rev. Martin “received a call to Rocky Creek”, a small settlement in South Carolina.

In Rocky Creek, South Carolina, there were about five or six Presbyterian groups including Associate, Covenanter, Burgher, Anti-Burgher, and Seceders. These groups combined to build a church on Rocky Mount Road, about 15 miles southeast of Chester. They called the Church “Catholic” indicating that all of the various groups were to worship there. By 1770, the Covenanters wrote to Ireland requesting that a minister be sent to South Carolina. It was probably in response to this call that Rev. Martin decided to go to South Carolina.

The traditional story is that there many incidences of violence resulting from the conflict caused by the high rents and evictions. Following one such incident, Rev. Martin preached a sermon calling for his entire congregation to accompany him to South Carolina. In 1772, a total of 4671 families responded to Rev. Martin's call to South Carolina and around twelve hundred Covenanters and others, including Roman Catholics, left Ulster under the leadership of Rev. Martin. A total of 5 ships took the emigrants to the New Country.

The James and Mary, departed Larne on 25 August 1772 and arrived in Charleston on 18 October 1772.
The Lord Dunluce, sailed from Larne on October 4 and arrived in Charleston on December 20.
The Pennsylvania Farmer, sailed from Belfast on October 16 and arrived in Charleston on December 19.
The Hopewell, sailed from Belfast on October 19 and arrived in Charleston on December 22.
The Free Mason, sailed from Newry on 27 October and arrived in Charleston on December 19.

Most of those on board the ships came from Ballymoney, Kilraughts, Derrykeighan, Ballyrashane, the Vow and Kellswater. It was a tremendous feat at that time to lead so many people so far in such vessels yet this only goes to illustrate the determination of Rev. William Martin. Upon arrival in South Carolina, Rev. Martin, settled in Rocky Creek, where he both received a land grant and bought an additional 640 acres (1 square mile) and built a stone house. He preached regularly at Catholic, but in 1774 the Covenanter congregation withdrew from Catholic and built a log church about 2 miles east of the Catholic Church. Although, due to the excessive numbers involved, the large group that had arrived with Rev. Martin, was scattered throughout the province, the majority did manage to settle in and around Rocky Creek.

When the Revolutionary war broke out, Rev. Martin was a strong supporter of the patriots. In 1780 he preached another of his fiery sermons, reminding the congregation of the hardships that their fathers had suffered, that they had been forced out of Scotland and again out of Ireland, had come to America where they were free men and where they had built their homes and church. Now the British were coming and would once again drive them from their homes. He told them that there is a time to pray and a time to fight and the time to fight had come. Immediately after the sermon, two companies were formed under command of Ben Land and Captain Barbour. The next day they joined the American forces fighting the British. For his efforts, the British burned the church and took Rev. Martin prisoner.

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Rev William Martin
Birth 16 May 1729
Limavady, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Death 13 Jan 1807 (aged 77)
Chester, Chester County, South Carolina, USA
Burial
Martin Family Cemetery
Chester County, South Carolina, USA

William Martin was the eldest son of David Martin, born May 16, 1729/33, at Ballyspaolen or Eglington, Co. Londonderry. (Bally means settlement.) In 1753 he graduated from Glasgow University and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall where he studied under John McMillan, founder of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was licensed to preach and was ordained in the open air at Vow in 1757. He was then placed in charge of the Presbyterian societies centering in Ballymoney. They associated themselves into corresponding meetings and these into a General Meeting.

He was the first Reformed and first Covenanter minister in Ireland of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was also the only Covenanter minister in Down & Antrim at the time. He preached in Antrim, Londonderry, North Down, & Donegal. He lived at Bangor for a time, east of Belfast. He had oversight for societies at Cullybackey, Laymore,Cloughmills, and Dervock. The Presbytery was founded in 1743. In Ulster Covenanters had first met in societies, then meetings, and then general meeting.

In 1760 Mr. Martin elected to make Kellswater the main centre of his work and a meeting house was created on the site of the present church where formerly a corn mill been converted. It is the oldest congregation in the Irish Church. The congregation met for forty-six years in this simple meeting house beside the river. The Meeting House is situated on the banks of the Kellswater River, on Grove Road near the villages of Kells and Connor, about 4 miles to the south of Ballymena. It was replaced in 1806 by the present building. However, Covenanters have had a presence in the area since the 1680s when Alexander Peden "the prophet of the Covenanters" was forced to flee from Scotland. {In 2000 there were 35 families as members of the church from scattered areas, and there are no children of Sabbath School age.} There are no records of the congregation for this period in its history but we know that one of its main strengths lay in the regular meetings of the Societies. There was probably one in each townland with an attendance of from 10 to 12 members. The meeting was run under the supervision of an elder who put the question for discussion and led the meeting.

Kellswater is in the townland of Carnaghts, Parish Connor. The village is Kells, but people from the area near there and the Kells River refer to being from Kellswater, even tho' there is no town by that name.
Martin was minister of Kellswater Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1760 to1772, when he left for the English colony SC. In County Antrim Ireland, the congregation of Rev. William Martin, called the "seceders" were a splinter Presbyterian group.

Martin was to minister to the Antrim Congregation of Covenanters, and services were held at Ballyrashane, Kirkhills, Laymore, Kellswater, Donegore, and Roughfort. Under Rev. Martin's leadership, congregations were established at Kellswater in 1760, at Drimbolg and Ballylaggan in 1763, and Cullybackey in 1765. Although he emigrated to South Carolina, two other ongregations were established shortly after he left as a result of his pioneer work - Kilraughts and Dervock in 1783. All these congregations are in existence today.

Adherents, stayed close by their minister, the Reverend William Martin. His work included ministering to the societies centering around Ballymoney (NW of Belfast).

Kellswater is on the Kells River, close to Ballymena. Linen mills drew power from this river. Ballymena today is a predominantly Protestant town that could have been transplanted straight from the Scottish lowlands. Indeed, most of its plantation settlers came from the southwest of Scotland, and the Ballymena accent still retains traces of Scottish lowlands speech. Like many Northern Irish towns, its prosperity derived from the linen trade, while the alleged tightfistedness of its residents earned it the sobriquet of the "Aberdeen of Ireland." It is also known as the "Buckle of the Bible Belt."

In 1727, 50 years before Martin left for SC, there were listed 4 reasons for immigration: Forbidding of the erection of Presbyterian meeting houses; the inability of Presbyterians to occupy public posts; the illegality of Presbyterian marriages; the prohibition of all schools other than those conducted by teachers licenses by bishops of the Church of England. Their taxes supported a church not their own. Most were employed in the textile industry, and business was bad. Rents for farms were too high.
Entire text courtesy of: Chester, SC Public Library: MARTIN Family File.

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