Bluff, came and preached to a large congregation at a mill of Mr. Galphin's; he was a very powerful preacher. … Brother Palmer came again and wished us to beg Master to let him preach to us; and he came frequently. … There were eight of us now, who had found the great blessing and mercy from the Lord, and my wife was one of them, and Brother Jesse Galphin. … Brother Palmer appointed Saturday evening to hear what the Lord had done for us, and next day, he baptized us in the mill stream. … Brother Palmer formed us into a church, and gave us the Lord's Supper at Silver Bluff. … Then I began to exhort in the Church, and learned to sing hymns. … Afterwards the church advised with Brother Palmer about my speaking to them, and keeping them together. … So I was appointed to the office of an elder, and received instruction from Brother Palmer how to conduct myself. I proceeded in this way till the American War was coming on, when the Ministers were not allowed to come amongst us, lest they should furnish us with too much knowledge. … I continued preaching at Silver Bluff, till the church, constituted with eight, increased to thirty or more, and 'till the British came to the city of Savannah and took it.[1]
The first clear conception of time, which we get from these extracts, in regard to the origin of the Silver Bluff Church, is where David George speaks of being left in sole charge, as Liele and Palmer might no longer visit Silver Bluff, lest in so doing, they should impart to the slaves of the settlement a knowledge, which, in the then prevailing conditions, would result in their personal freedom, and, consequently, in great financial loss to their masters. This undoubtedly was not later than November, 1775, when the Earl of Dunmore issued on American soil a proclamation
- ↑ Rippon's Annual Baptist Register, edition 1790-1793, pp. 473-480, and compare article, Sir Archibald Campbell, in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. I, p. 511.
tion, in the year 1786, travelling both ways on horseback, preaching nearly every day during the three months he was away from home. But Palmer was now in the South and not in the North, as Benedict states. No other Palmer, known to Baptists, fits the case like this friend of Shubal Stearns. We shall continue to assign to him the credit of the first Negro Baptist Church in America, until we can find another "Elder Palmer," whose claim is absolutely certain. See Rippon, Annual Baptist Register, 1790-1793, pp. 475-476; Cathcart's Baptist Encyclopedia, II, 882.
