I joined church in Flordia, the Methodist church. I was 50 years old. I
joined because they had meetings and my daughter had already joined. I
think all ought to join de church."

=Source:= Mary Edwards (79), Greenwood, S.C.
Interviewed by: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (6/10/37)

Project #1655
Stiles M. Scruggs
Columbia, S.C.

A SON OF SLAVES CLIMBS UP.

The Rev. John B. Elliott, A.B.A. A.M., D.D., 1315 Liberty Hill Avenue,
Columbia, S.C., is the son of slaves. He was born at Mount Olive, N.C.,
in 1869, and missed being a slave by only four years. His college
degrees were won at Shaw University, Raleigh, N.C., and the degree of
Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Allen University of Columbia,
S.C.

Sitting on the parsonage piazza recently, the Rector of St. Anna's
Episcopal Church talked about his struggle for education, and his labors
up from slavery.

"I was born at Mount Olive, N.C., the son of Soloman Elliott and Alice
(Roberts) Elliott. They were slaves when they married, and I escaped
bondage by only four years, since slaves were not freed in the South,
until 1865.

"My father was owned by Robert W. Williams, of Mount Olive, and he was
the most highly prized Negro in the vicinity. He was a natural carpenter
and builder. Often he would go to the woods and pick out trees for the
job in hand. Some of the houses he built there are standing today.
Mother was equally trained and well equipped to make a home and keep it
neat and clean. When they were free in 1865, half the community was
eager to employ them and pay them well for their services. And, when I
came along, they were living in their own house and prospering.

"I chose a religious career when quite a boy, and, when I was ready for
college, I was much pleased. I finished at Shaw University at Raleigh,
took a year's study at Columbia University in New York and then finished
a religious course at the Bishop Payne Divinity School at Petersburg,
Virginia, where most of the colored clergymen of the Episcopal Church
are finished. After I felt that I was fairly well fitted to begin my
clerical work, I chose South Carolina as my field.

"My first assignment was at Waccamaw Neck, a little below Georgetown,
S.C., and a big industrial center. There the Negro population is keen
for wine and whiskey. One of the men whom I was interested in, was
pretty tipsy when I called, and, as I sat and talked with him, he said:
'You're drunk, too.'