Charles Woodmason
Charles Woodmason was an itinerant Anglican minister recognized for his journals documenting his experiences in the South Carolina backcountry during the 1760s. Arriving in South Carolina in the early 1750s, he initially enjoyed financial success and civic engagement in Charleston, where he published several poems and essays, notably on indigo cultivation. His fortunes shifted after he lost his wealth and faced public backlash while serving as a stamp distributor under the Stamp Act, leading him to leave Charleston and seek ordination in England.
Woodmason then returned to serve a frontier parish near Camden, where he expressed deep concern for his parishioners' moral and spiritual needs, particularly in the face of the growing influence of New Light Baptists. His involvement in the Regulator movement highlighted his commitment to advocating for backcountry citizens, as he produced various written materials for the group. Furthermore, his sermons from this period provide insight into the life and challenges of rural communities in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Although he returned to England in 1774, the details of his later life remain unclear, with the last record of him being a sermon delivered in Bristol in 1776.
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Charles Woodmason
- Born: c. 1720
- Birthplace: Probably England
- Died: Unknown
Biography
Itinerant Anglican minister Charles Woodmason is known through a series of journals in which he recorded his travels and explorations in the South Carolina backcountry in the early to mid-1760’s. Although little is known of Woodmason’s early life, he came to South Carolina in the early 1750’s and enjoyed a decade of financial and social success, holding several civic positions in Charleston.
Woodmason published four poems in London’s Gentleman’s Magazine, including one on Franklin’s electricity experiments. The same magazine published an essay by Woodmason on the cultivation of indigo, in 1755. The crop had recently been introduced to the colony by Eliza Lucas Pinckney, who had received seeds for the crop from her father in the West Indies. The methods for its cultivation outside of the Caribbean, as well as procedures for the manufacture of the valuable blue dye derived from it, were of current interest. In 1754, Woodmason had published in a Charleston paper an essay, entitled “A Letter from a Gentleman of South-Carolina, on the Cultivation of Indico,” on which he likely based his Gentleman’s Magazine piece.
Sometime in the early 1760’s, Woodmason lost his wealth and returned to England for a brief period. When he returned to Charleston, he resumed his public service and again enjoyed success—until he attempted to become stamp distributor under the Stamp Act in 1765 and saw public opinion turn dramatically against him. It was at this point that he became an itinerant minister, quickly leaving Charleston first for England for ordination, and then returning to the frontier parish northwest of the town of Camden, in present-day Kershaw County.
Although Woodmason’s immediate motivation for leaving Charleston may have been political, he held strong Anglican convictions and his concern for his parishoners is obviously sincere. His concern about the influence of the New Light Baptists on the frontier communities, where Anglicanism was scattered and less well-supported than in the cities, is palpable. Woodmason saw his parishoners as sorely lacking in moral and other kinds of discipline, yet he nonetheless believed in their potential and objected to the dismissive treatment they often received from the administrative authorities on the coast. He supported the 1767 vigilante movement known as the Regulators, who objected to and intervened in Charleston’s administration of backcountry justice. Woodmason served as a spokesperson and secretary for the group, producing all their written materials, including letters, articles, and petitions. Woodmason also produced numerous sermons during this time which, while unrelated to these politics, serve as a fascinating record of backcountry life in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
Woodmason was by no means a patriot, and he left South Carolina for England in 1774. The date of his death is unknown, but the last record of him is found in his sermon book, which indicates that he preached in Bristol, England, on November 17, 1776.