Rev. Archibald Whyte, York County, South Carolina

Rev. Archibald Whyte
By: Louise Pettus

The Rev. Archibald Whyte was a planter, innkeeper, postmaster, schoolteacher, magistrate, civic leader and politician in York District from 1844 until his death in 1865.

Before Whyte settled in York County, he was a minister of gospel. Born in Argyle, N.Y., on Aug. 3, 1800, he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, N. Y., in 1822 and then did four terms of graduate study in the Associate Seminary of Philadelphia. The seminary trained ministers to serve in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

It was the custom for young ministers, as well as newly graduated teachers, to do internships in communities lacking a regular pastor. In 1826-27, Whyte traveled in the Carolinas filling vacant pulpits wherever he might be needed. In Mecklenburg County, he met Miss Susan Grier, the sister of Col. William Grier, an elder of the Steele Creek church.

Whyte returned to Pennsylvania and was installed as the pastor of a small Associates church in Baltimore, but pparently could not forget Miss Grier. He soon married her and in 1833 left Baltimore to serve Little Steele Creek and Back Creek churches in lower Mecklenburg.

She died in December of the following year, leaving Whyte with a small daughter.

In 1840 the national Associates, taking a strong position in favor of abolition, suspended the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas. After being visited by Northern leaders, the Rev. Whyte resigned from the ministry on April 14, 1844.

Whyte’s York District plantation with its inn, or tavern, and post office was on the old Saluda Road near the Catawba River. The post office was called Nation Ford and there still exist a few hand-endorsed envelopes in Whyte’s beautiful handwriting.

He was present at the Nation Ford meeting of Catawba Indians and the state-appointed commissioners who met to make the Nation Ford Treat of 1840, which removed the claim of the Catawbas to their ancestral 144,000 acres and put them on their current 630-acre reservation.

Whyte was made the secretary and the historic treaty is in his handwriting.

Archibald Whyte again took up the ministry, serving Neely’s Creek ARP church. He served two terms in the S. C. House of Representatives where his courtly manner and eloquence was impressive.

He married a second time—to Mrs. Elizabeth Hart Campbell—and had two sons, Thomas and William.

In 1855-60, Whyte was one of the financial backers of a newspaper called the Indian Land and wrote some of its feature articles. His best-known article was a history of the Catawba Indians that is preserved in the Draper Manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

He was a popular teacher. When the Civil War broke out, one of the first military companies in the Rock Hill area called itself the Whyte Guards. The all-volunteer group was formed by Capt. Eugene Hutchison, who as a boy was a student of Whyte’s.

Immediately after the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, the Whyte Guards were called into service. Archibald White accompanied them to Columbia. His son, William, was one of the soldiers.

The Whyte Guards wore a “W.G.” monogram on their caps and became known as the “Wild Geese,” causing the unit to use the call of the wild goose as a means of identification.

Whyte’s biographers all agree that he had the “brightest mind of his day.” If proof is needed of his scholarly bent it can be found in his estate inventory. After he died Aug. 8, 1865, his library was sold to pay his debts. The title of each book is listed alongside the name of the purchaser of the book of sets of books. There are more than 300 books listed, not counting several lots of schoolbooks and almanacs. Most of them are on religion and philosophy but there are also many histories, biographies, and encyclopedias.

Archibald Whyte is buried in the cemetery at Neely’s Creek Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.