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Thomas Chisholm 1680 Presbyterian Minister of Kilmorack Father of American Chisholms

The now abandoned church of Kilmorack was once the living of Thomas Chisholm. Thomas was from a Chisholm line who were considered by John Maclean to have been descended from the Chief’s line. Two of Thomas’ children were brought up in Georgia and later, as successful leaders of their communities, lived on either side of the Savannah River.

The Scottish Beginning

Thomas’ father was Alexander, a farmer of Teawig near Beauly. Alexander was born about 1650 and died after 1702 when Alexander’s elder son also named Alexander married Marie Fraser the daughter of William Fraser, minister at Kilmorack. Thomas was the middle child out of five, having two older brothers and two younger sisters. He was baptized on 14th December 1680 when Thomas Fraser of Struy and Thomas Fraser of Teainkell stood as his godfathers.

He was licensed by the Inverness Presbytery on 7th July 1709. At that time there was great conflict between Presbyterians and Catholics. According to ‘Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae’, when the Presbytery met for his ordination on 27th March 1711 the ‘entrance to the church was prevented by a rabble of men and women who surrounded every part of the building. The court having adjourned to the manse, stones were cast through the windows and the proceedings were so intercepted that it was impossible to continue. Clods and other missiles were thrown at the ministers as they left. The ordination took place at Kiltearn the following day.

For two years afterwards, [the former minister] Fraser’s widow refused to give up the manse, and Chisholm was continuously obstructed in his work, two thirds of the parishioners being Roman Catholics under the charge of a resident Priest (Peter MacDonald) while many were Episcopalians. In the course of time the animosity died down and Chisholm remained minister of the parish for fifty seven years.

Maclean described Thomas Chisholm (whom he might have personally heard preach) as ‘The great and godly Mr. Thomas Chisholm, minister of Kilmorack, was a descendant of the Chisholm family. He was a most powerful impressive and convincing divine, and an honoured instrument of doing so much good in his day and generation. He was succeeded by his son, Mr. David, also a celebrated divine.

The Kilmorack parish register dated 7th January 1768 reads ‘Wednesday morning departed this life Mr. Thomas Chisholm son of Alexander Chisholm of Teawigg and minister of the Gospel of Kilmorack in the 88th year of his age besides 24 days.

The American Part

The wife of the Rev. Thomas was Madalen Cuthbert who predeceased him. Her sister, Ann (Cuthbert) (Graham) Bulloch and several other Cuthbert relatives for reasons unknown emigrated to Georgia. Among those travelling with the Cuthberts were John and Thomas Chisholm, the two youngest sons of the Rev. Thomas and the nephews of Ann. The family later became known as the Cuthberts of Drakies, Georgia. It may have been that Thomas’ wife died early leaving the aunt to look after the two young children. For whatever the reason was, Ann took it on herself to take Thomas’ two youngest sons to Georgia and bring them up herself. Why the three younger sisters were left in Scotland is unknown.

In 1740 Ann married Patrick Graham, apothecary and surgeon, who later became President of the Colony of Georgia. When he died in 1755 she married James Bulloch who similarly predeceased her. Ann died in 1764. Her two nephews are noted in her will of 1762. It is likely that these two sons of Thomas were the same John and Thomas Chisholms who a few years later were reported living on either side of the Savannah River, near Savannah, then capital of Georgia. If so then it was these two sons of a Kilmorack minister who later became highly respected citizens of South Carolina and Georgia.

The Two Brothers

John Chisholm described as varyingly as ‘gentleman, esquire, captain, planter and senior’ was of St. Peter Parish, Granville County (later Beaufort District), SC. He received his first grant of land of 200 acres in 1764 in Granville County. Over the passage of time by 1781 he appears to have accumulated over 1,800 acres and had changed his name to Chisolm to reflect the pronunciation for non-Scots.

Whilst he was designated Captain there is no record of him having had Revolutionary War service. Nevertheless in 1782 he was recognised for supplying provisions for use of the Southern Army under the Hon. Major-General Green. He was elected for various terms to the General Assembly of South Carolina, served as tax inquirer for St. Peter’s Parish and Escheator for the Beaufort District in 1787. He acquired a further 1,522 acres by 1791

By 1792 he was a Justice of the Peace. In the 1790 census he is reported as being head of a household consisting of three males under 16, two males over 16, six females, and six slaves. By the 1800 census his household was somewhat reduced consisting of one male 10-16, one male 16-26, one person who was doubtless a servant and three slaves.

John Chisholm disappears from the records after this date by which time he was about 73 years old.

His brother Thomas Chisholm pursued a military career becoming Captain of the 1st Georgia on the 7th January 1776, Major 4th Georgia on the 1st February 1777 and finally Lieutenant Colonel on the 21st March 1778. In 1778 he became member of the Executive Council, House of Representatives. Thomas married Mary (Butler) Spencer, a widow with children. It appears that Thomas had no children of his own. He died on 21st October 1789 and an abstract of his death reads ‘Thomas Chisholm, Esq., late Major in the Continental Line died at his plantation in Burke Co.

How much the Rev. Thomas found out of his two sons’ progress over the years is unknown and can only be surmised. Messages between the two countries in those days must have been infrequent and then highly prized. Let us hope that the old divine learnt of his sons’ good fortune and rejoiced in the news.

Wilfrid Medlam & RECB

The Alexander Chisolms of South Carolina & The 11th Amendment

Two prominent Alexander Chisolms established families in 18th century Charleston SC. Both were large landowners and both preferred the distinctive spelling of ‘Chisolm’. They were closely related through marriage. The most noteworthy event in the younger Alexander’s life was his lawsuit against the State of Georgia that led to the 11th Amendment of the USA Constitution being ratified in 1798. Whilst the amendment and Chisolm’s surname is familiar with every student of the United States Constitution, the story of the man behind the event has in most places been forgotten. It is thought that Alexander Chisolm Snr. was born about 1709, left Scotland on 20th October 1735 arriving in Savannah, Georgia in January 1735/6[6]. He was a servant to Farqueson McGilivray and apparently ran away to Carolina during August 1742, a common practice because of the strictures of the Georgia proprietary government on indentured servants.

Alexander married Judith Radcliffe, known as ‘The Beauty of Waldo’, on 26th February 1742/43. They had two surviving daughters, Anne and Christiana (later to marry Alexander Chisolm Jnr.) both of whom were left considerable property when Alexander died in September 1772. One executor of Alexander’s will was Charles Pinckney (1732-1782) who would become provisional president of the first Provincial Congress and later a noted loyalist.

Alexander Chisolm Jnr. was born about 1738 in Inverness-shire, Scotland according to his tombstone. There is a story, not yet backed up by the records but reported by W.G. Chisholm, that Alexander’s father was John Bàn Chisolm of Lietry and his mother was Catherine Macrea. John Bàn may have been killed at Culloden (his name does not appear in the Muster Roll of the Jacobite army) and Alexander was brought by his widowed mother to Carolina during 1746 or soon after.

Alexander firstly married on 5th October 1766 Christiana Chisolm (born 1745), daughter of Alexander Chisolm Snr. and in the process acquired 4,000 acres of land on the seven miles long Chisholm Island from his father-in-law. They had six children. Christiana died in 1778 and Alexander married secondly Sarah Maxwell the widow of William Maxwell of Ediston.

With the coming of the Revolution Alexander like most native born Scots remained loyal to Britain. It is remarkable that in the aftermath of the Revolution, due to his position in the community he was neither expelled from South Carolina (as John Chisholm of Craven was) nor was his estate confiscated. However Alexander did not escape ‘Scot-free’. In 1782 he was fined 12% of the value of his property but later petitioned for relief from this amercement (fine) though with what success is unknown.

Alexander’s brief brush with fame came as a result of being one of the executors of the will of Captain Robert Farquhar, a very successful Charleston merchant. In this will, probated in 1779, Farquhar left a fortune to his only daughter who at the time of her father’s death was not only under the age of ten and but also at school in Great Britain. Representing the estate, Alexander in 1789 petitioned the House of Representatives of the State of Georgia for the payment of a bill of £63,605 Continental Currency of South Carolina. This represented goods that in 1777 had been sold and delivered to commissioners of the State of Georgia. The petition was turned down on the ground that the State had paid the commissioners.

Alexander took his case before the Georgia courts and when unsuccessful, took it to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1792. There it became known as Chisholm (originally Chisolm) v. Georgia Reports 2 (Dallas) 419-20. In 1794 the Supreme Court decided in favour of the plaintiff, Chisolm, but said it had no authority to enforce its decision. Not surprisingly Georgia again refused to pay.

Almost immediately an amendment was proposed that would prevent a citizen from one State suing another State. When ratified in 1798 as the 11th Amendment it became the first amendment to follow the Bill of Rights.

Alexander died about 72 years old in Charleston on 10th December 1810. His tombstone in the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Charleston states that Alexander was gifted with a vigorous mind and lively fancy and discharged his duties with integrity and maintained a respectable standing in society.

Wilfrid Medlam & RECB

Antrim Parish, Halifax County, Virginia

When Halifax county was divided from Lunenburg, in 1752, it comprehended all that is now Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin, and Patrick. Antrim parish was coextensive with Halifax county.

At the time of its establishment it is probable, from certain entries in the vestry-book, that there were no churches or chapels in its wide extent, for the readers who had been appointed before the separation, four in number, were re-appointed, and several gentlemen were allowed to have services in their own houses, doubtless for the benefit of their neighbors as well as their own families.

Besides this, when the first minister was settled among them he was required to officiate at six different places, at no one of which was there a church or chapel, though at some of them buildings were about to be erected. Four buildings were ordered at some of the earliest meetings of the vestry, and others afterward.

One of the places of reading is recognised as being on Pigg River, in present day Franklin county. The buildings were small, either log or frame, and not very durable, generally.

The first movement toward getting a minister was in the year 1752, when a title to the parish was given to a Mr. William Chisholm, a candidate for Orders, who wished to be prepared with that indispensable qualification when he should present himself to the Bishop of London; but, as usual, there was this condition: ‘Provided, on his return, the vestry approved of him for their minister, or should not have accepted any other in his absence’.

Nothing more is heard of Mr. Chisholm; nor can his name be found on any of the lists of clergy ordained by the Bishop of London for any part of America.

From Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia by Bishop Meade