idea in which a small group met weekly for “spiritual examination and group support.” The historian concluded that it was easy “to visualize how from just such a close knit, spiritually alive and motivated group” the need for a Methodist church in the village was identified. Without class meetings, another Methodist historian wrote, Methodist zeal at the local level might have evaporated between infrequent preacher visits. 30 That the women’s group played this role from outside Church power structure was evidence of its eventual strong, widespread influence among Methodists in the village. When the group of Methodist women meeting regularly exceeded four, they may have shifted their meeting to the village public meeting hall instead of meeting in one of their homes. The village public meeting hall, called the C HAPEL , was less than 1/2 mile from the Byrd home, closer to the Merriman home. 31 Louisa Jane and seven other women founded Greenwood Methodist Church with organizing pastor Rev. William H. Lawton in 1858. At first, members worshiped at the C HAPEL . After the Baptist girls’ school, Fuller Institute, closed, that building became available. A perfect size for a church, Methodists purchased and renovated it. 32 Before the war, L.D. considered himself a farmer not a merchant. His personal estate value, $52,300, probably included the value of 21 slaves he owned and of his store fixtures and inventory. L.D. was a farmer, merchant and property owner. The value of his real estate, $13,000, suggested he owned the land and building where the business was located, the land and house where the family lived and probably other real property in and around the village. 33 30 Mays, Main Street , 28. Also, Jones, “What It Was Like To Be a Methodist.” 31 Insurance Maps of Greenwood, South Carolina (n.p.: Sanborn Map Company, 1923); zip file (Greenwood: GIS/Mapping Department, City of Greenwood, 2019), maps 12 and 13. 32 Mays, Main Street , 22-32. Also, Calhoun, History of Greenwood , 40. 33 1860 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, Greenwood, p. 108 (penned), dwelling 794, family 769, L.D. Merriman; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 27 September 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1212. Also, 1860 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, slave schedule, p. 98 (penned), L.D. Merriman, owner; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : 29 August 2020), citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1229.
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