First Officers of the Meeting House

The Meeting House was really a continuation of the White Meeting House in Dorchester, South Carolina, which became a Presbyterian church after 1754 until it was discon­tinued. There is no mention in records of the Meeting House of a pastor, deacons, and elders at the first meeting in 1754, nor is there mention of elections of a clerk and Select Men.

At the second meeting in 1755, however, it was voted to continue Benjamin Baker as clerk, and John Stevens, William Baker, and Parmenas Way as Select Men. This would indicate that those gentlemen were already serving in those positions before 1754.

There is no record of original members of the Meeting House and such a record of the White Meeting House has been lost forever. Membership of the Meeting House was not more than 75 during its first three years of existence, which placed its congregation in a minority group of the Midway District population during that period of time. William Baker was the only deacon of the church for more than ten years after it was established.

There was a board of elders and deacons in the White Meeting House, but the Meeting House in the Midway Dis­trict had only a pastor, deacons elected by members of the church, and five Select Men elected by the Midway Society. Those officials were not only church leaders but civic pioneers in the Midway District and for many years afterward.