Analysis
of
Claude Leitner's 1934
Account
of
The Weberite Heresy
by Brenda Helen Keck Reed
In 1934 Claude C. Leitner published an article
entitled "Cedar Creek Methodist Episcopal Church, South",
in the May 14th, 1934 edition of Southern Advocate.
Mr. Leitner presents a unique account of the Weberites and the Weberite heresy at the German-Swiss settlement at Saxe Gotha, (Lexington) South Carolina. He gives the reader additional insight into the development of religion in the Carolina Backcountry, while leaving us with many questions and ideas to ponder. For purposes of this analysis I am including only a portion of the article that relates to the Weberite Heresy.
I thank Pelham Lyles of the Fairfield County Museum for generously providing me with this document, presented to the museum by John D. Ruff, Esq. of Chevy Chase, Maryland.
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"It will be recalled that prior to 1775 the Episcopal Church was 'the established' church in South Carolina -- and dissenters had a hard time of it because of that fact. The above mentioned Saxe Gotha church will fairly illustrate this. In Saxe Gotha (Lexington) on the banks of the Saluda dwelt a number of pious German people who formed a congregation which was broken up in disgrace by a so-called trial of 'the Waeber heretics.' It was alleged that their religious leaders, Waeber, Schmidt and Repsimann had misappropriated the title of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost -- and had actually done to death the person representing the devil. We smile at such nonsense; but they actually hanged Waeber for it. When they had taken him to Charleston and as we would say today 'railroaded' him through the Court, Jacob Waeber, 'imprisoned and ironed' signed a Confession worth going to the Charleston library to see. There is not a German expression in it -- and Waeber was a German as sauer kraut. Even the nouns and principal words are not capitalized. The rector of a certain church in Charleston certainly knew how to write a good confession -- even if he was ignorant of German and the Germans. But Schmidt and Repsimann and certain others of these persecuted families moved over Broad River and settled in the Cedar Creek neighborhood -- where Schmidt was Smith and Repsimann was Turnipseed -- and four or five generations of their descendants have given the lie to the 'Waeber Heresy.' Unordained the Repsimanns et al undertook to meet the needs of their day. But the numerous Nipper, Leitner, Kilgo, and Turnipseed preachers which have literally covered South Carolina and Florida are and have been of the same grade of 'heretics.'"So it came about that in 1762 a form of purchase was made from two Sachems by the names of John-May-the-Fourth and Harry-up-the-Grove and a log building about 16'x30' with a dirt floor was erected here undrer the pastorate of the Rev. John Nicholas Martin. No one seems to know today what the German name of the church was, but in 1788 it was duly incorporated by the South Carolina legislature as 'The German Protestant Church of Appii Forum, Cedar Creek.' (Appii Forum meant to the minds of that day 'the jumping off place'; or 'where we thank God and take courage' -- depending upon the viewpoint.) But strict Lutheranism was losing out to the Reformed -- and to another strong element in the church which deserves notice -- and for some years Cedar Creek church was known as DuBard's Presbyterian Church on Cedar Creek."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leitner presents an interesting point of view if not a flawed account. He stated that Jacob Weber was as German as sauer kraut. However in his so-called "confession" written on 16 April 1761, the day before his execution at Charlestown, Jacob Weber wrote of his Swiss origins The confession, in reality, proves to be Weber's final letter to his children in which he tells them about his life, his traveling to South Carolina, and his spiritual life. Weber wrote that his birthplace was "Switzerland, in the canton of Zurich, the county of Knomauer, the parish of Stifersweil." He made no mention of ever having lived in Germany. At age fourteen, he traveled to South Carolina with his brother (probably Heinrich Weber) who died soon after their arrival, leaving Weber without any family in the Carolina. (See Confession of Jacob Weber.)
Leitner neglects to state that Jacob Weber, Hannah Weber, John Geiger, and Jacob Bourghardt were tried and convicted for the murders of not one, but two men -- Captain John George Smithpeter (Schmidtpeter) and Michael Hentz. He never mentioned the murder (as described by Reverend Henry Melchior Muhlenberg as recounted by Reverends John Nicholas Martin and Christian Theus) of "the godless colored preacher named Dauber" [Frederick Dubard] or which they were not tried or prosecuted. Leitner appears to gloss over the one murder that he mentioned of the "devil", that apparently being Captain Smithpeter.
Leitner leaves us with the question: Were Schmidt and Repsimann among the seven who were tried for the murders and among the three who were found not guilty?
In this account Leitner leads us to believe that Captain John George Smithpeter (Schmidtpeter) was not, in fact, one of the Weberite sect's leaders. Was Smithpeter merely a man who disagreed with Jacob Weber and his religious practices and was murdered for that reason? What is clear is that Captain Smithpeter, as he is called in the South Carolina Gazette , died on February 23 or 24th of 1761, at the hands of Jacob Weber and his followers.
Who was Peter Schmidt (Smith) and what became of him?
Is Peter Schmidt, rather than John George Smithpeter, the preacher who was thrown out of Pennsylvania and the Gifted Brethren sect of that locale?
Who were the Gifted Brethren? The New Lights? Are they Baptists? (See Reverend Woodmason's account.)
Have the identities of Peter Schmidt and John George Schmidtpeter (Smithpeter) been confused with one another? Are they in fact two different men?
Historical records exist that document the life of John George Smithpeter. The South Carolina Council Journals state that John George SmithPader (Smithpeter) arrived from Rotterdam on the Rowand on 2 October 1752. The Evangelical Luthern Parish Registers of Ettenstaat, Bavaria held at the Archive in Regensberg, Germany (Volume 67-6, page 46) indicate that his name was Johann Georg Schmidtpeter, that he was born at Wollmertzhoffen, Ettenstadt, Mittlefranken, Bavaria on 28 October 1730 and left for the Carolina in 1752 at twenty years of age with his wife, Caterin. The South Carolina Council Journals document John George SmithPader (Smithpeter or Schmidtpeter) arrived at Charlestown, South Carolina, on the Rowand, a snow, on 2 October 1752. Shipping records do not indicate that the Rowand landed in the north on this voyage from Europe. No records have been located to date that would indicate that John George Smithpeter (Schmidtpeter) ever visited or lived in Pennsylvania or that he was a preacher there or anywhere else. (See Smithpeter Land Records.) South Carolina Payments for Colonial Service indicate that he participated in the Cherokees wars, c1755, and the expedition to Fort Prince George in 1760, receiving nearly 1000 pounds current money for his service. The South Carolina Gazette indicates that he was a Captain, at the Congarees, and in charge of wagons for the expedition. When he died in 1761, he had one son, John Michael Smithpeter; a wife, Catherine Smithpeter; 200 acres of land on the South side of the Saluda at Saxe Gotha; one slave girl and a sizeable estate. He owned several books written in German and English.
Leitner gives us a clue in his article about what may have become of the Weber family. He states that "young Weaver (Waeber) and young Leitner built the first cotton mill in South Carolina about 1833. Land records indicate that Hannah Weber reappeared in the Dutch Fork area as Hannah Weaver.
What became of the Hannah Weber (Weaver) and her descendants?
Who was Claude C. Leitner?
Did the Leitner family have any affilitation with the Weberites?
Any information that you can add to solving one of history's mysteries and shedding light on the above questions will be greatly appreciated. Contact me by E-mail.
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Copyright 2000. All Rights Reserved. Brenda Helen Keck Reed
