Archibald Stobo
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Archibald Stobo (1670–1737) was a Church of Scotland minister who founded the first Presbyterian church in the United States.
Life[edit]
Stobo was born in or near Edinburgh in 1670 and studied at Edinburgh University.[1] In 1699 he was one of five Church of Scotland ministers, led by Alexander Shields, who volunteered to set up a new church in Panama as part of the Second Darien Expedition. This set off in the wrongful expectation that the First Darien Expedition had been a success, and was intended as a 1000-strong reinforcement to an established community.[2]
Stobo sailed on the lead ship, the "Rising Sun", a specially commissioned ship for the Company of Scotland carrying 34 cannon. Between the "Rising Sun" and the three other ships ("The Duke of Hamilton", "The Hope of Bo'ness" and "Hope") a total of 1000 people were carried plus gold and silver. They sailed from the River Clyde in the summer of 1699 and reached Caledonia Bay in the Isthmus of Panama on 30 November 1699.[3] They expected to find a ready-built community with a number of houses and a population of 1200. But the chosen site lacked a fresh water supply, and adjacent land was not suitable for agriculture. Disease had ravaged the first expedition and the settlement had been abandoned. All but 300 had died. The survivors left, some to Jamaica and some to the then small settlement of New York. However, the initial expedition's military leader, Captain Thomas Drummond, heard news in New York that a relief expedition (the "Olive Branch" and Hopeful Beginning") was coming and hired two sloops ("Anne of Caledonia" and "Society") and had returned to Darien with around 300 men to establish some presence for the arrival of the Second Expedition.[4]
The physical structures on their arrival were a palisaded fort with 50 cannon (Fort St Andrew) and an incomplete collection of timber houses, named "New Edinburgh", with these two areas separated by a morass. The ministers jointly created the "Presbytery of Caledonia" for their stay in Darien and provided church services for the colonists.[5] The jungle environment did not suit their Scottish temperament and further deaths ensued, leaving Stobo as the only surviving minister.[6] The proposed colonisation had failed and when direct threat of attack by the Spanish arose, the few hundred survivors were given the option of surrender and quit the site or face an armed attack. This led to a formal abandoning of New Edinburgh in January/February 1700.[7][8]
Stobo was again aboard the "Rising Sun". It sailed north, but was damaged by a storm off the Florida coast. They decided to head for Charleston, South Carolina for repair arriving late in August 1700. The ship anchored beyond the harbour bar. The inhabitants of Charleston heard there was a pastor on board and Stobo and his wife were invited ashore by the congregation of the White Meeting House (later renamed the Circular Congregational Church). They were ashore with ten others from the ship when a cyclone hit on 3 September. The ship was destroyed and its contingent of around 100 persons were drowned. Only those already ashore survived.[9]
Stobo became pastor of the White Meeting House. However, he resigned in 1704 to work on a project to build five new churches on the surrounding islands. The most important of these was John's Island Presbyterian Church. This was established as a congregation in 1710 but did not build their purpose-built church until 1719.[10] He also founded the James Island Presbyterian Church slightly earlier in 1706[11] on land donated by hatmaker Johnathan Drake, but this was burned down in 1724 and was thereafter called the Burn Church or Burned Church.[12][13]
In 1728 he founded the Bethel Presbyterian Church (aka the Pon Pon Church) which was destroyed in a fire in 1886.[14]
He died at Colleton in South Carolina on 25 February 1737 and is buried nearby at Walterboro.[citation needed]
Family[edit]
He was married to Elizabeth Park (1670-1747) who was born in Edinburgh. They had two daughters.[citation needed]
Memorobilia[edit]
Stobo's bible is held in the South Carolina Historical Society Museum in Charleston.[15]
References[edit]
- ↑ Prebble, The Darien Disaster
- ↑ ODNB: Alexander Shields
- ↑ Prebble, The Darien Disaster
- ↑ Prebble, The Darien Disaster
- ↑ Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1943-1961) Vol. 37, No. 3 (September, 1959), pp. 129-142
- ↑ Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, vol.37, September 1959
- ↑ Scotsman (newspaper) 24.6.2016
- ↑ Prebble, The Darien Disaster
- ↑ http://www.halseymap.com/Flash/window.asp?HMID=27
- ↑ https://www.jipc.org/a-300-year-history/
- ↑ https://www.logcollegepress.com/archibald-stobo-c-16701741/
- ↑ https://adventuresincemeteryhopping.com/2018/08/24/james-island-presbyterian-church/
- ↑ Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1943-1961) Vol. 37, No. 3 (September, 1959), pp. 129-142
- ↑ https://www.logcollegepress.com/archibald-stobo-c-16701741/
- ↑ https://www.logcollegepress.com/archibald-stobo-c-16701741/
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