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The Jackson family had been Presbyterian before coming to the North Pacolet, and for some years after their removal to the area, they apparently attended the Nazareth Presbyterian Church, near Roebuck, S.C., which was established there by 1765. Then, in 1780, according to Mills’ “Statistics,” the North Pacolet Presbyterian Church was organized, and we learn in “The History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina” by Rev. George Howe, D.D., on page 546: “North Pacolet Church was an offshoot from Nazareth and Fairforest; of its original formation we have obtained no information. North and South Pacolet petitioned the Presbytery of S.C. for supplies in October 1785. Joseph Alexander was appointed on 12 Apr 1786 to preach at Pacolet, and James Edwards on 12 April 1787. On page 626: “ In 1790 Rev. Thomas Newton labored in this church. The elders at this time were R. Carruth and J. Jackson. Among the members were: R. Carruth, his wife and his son A. Carruth and his wife; J. Jackson and his wife; J. Logan and his wife; Thomas Jackson and his wife; Samuel Jackson Senior and his wife; S. Jackson Jr. And his wife; J. McDowell and his wife; R. McMillan and his wife.” After this it continued a vacant congregation dependent upon such occasional supplies as could be procured. A small unattended cemetery still exists where this North Pacolet Presbyterian Church stood, some inscribed stones are there, but no Jacksons.
The Methodist Bishop, Francis Asbury began his travels from the northern states down to Georgia, crisscrossing the country, and preaching at countless locations, beginning about 1785, and visited this area many times. In Shipp’s “History of Methodism,” he tells of the large camp meetings held in the Nazareth area, people coming from far and near, and of all denominations, and worshipping and enjoying fellowship with each other for a week or more at the time.
Churches and “meetings” were more and more commonly being organized and we like to believe that the Jacksons, forerunner to Jacksons Grove Methodist Church, were counted among the 361 Methodists mentioned in Mills’ Atlas as being in Spartanburg County in 1820.
The Jackson family, if not actively organized as Jacksons Grove Methodist Church, had close ties with the Methodists of Spartanburg County, at any rate. James Jackson, who inherited his father’s home place, had married Isabella Gray on 23 December 1838. She was the daughter of David Gray, an early Methodist leader in Rutherford County, N.C., and whose family founded the Gray’s Chapel Methodist Church, just off Highway 108, one of Polk County’s earliest churches.