Dr. Hazelius's
Account
of
The Weberite Heresy
Compiled by : Brenda Helen Keck Reed
Reverend Dr. Hazelius gave a brief sketch of the Weberites in his History of the American Lutheran Church, page 103. Dr.Hazelius served as a Lutheran minister in the early nineteenth century and helped found the Lutheran Seminary in Lexington, South Carolina. His account of the Weberites was written from a distance of about seventy-five years or longer from the events of 1761 at Saxe Gotha on the Saluda River."It was about this time that a number of our (German) people, living on the banks of the Saluda River, being destitute of ministerial instruction, agreed to assemble from time to time for singing, prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, and mutual edification. This was as it should be, but the enemy soon sowed tares among the wheat, by introducing spiritual pride among the small flock. One man, by the name of Weaver [Jacob Weber] personated Christ, another the Holy Spirit, a certain woman, the wife of Weaver [Hannah Weber], the Virgin Mary, and one poor fellow was doomed to represent Satan [John George Smithpeter]. The curiosity of the people became highly excite by the strange proceedings on Saluda River, in the neighborhood of what is now called Younginer's Ferry. Excess followed excess, until at length Weaver [Jacob Weber], representing either Christ or God, ordered in virtue of his dignity, that Satan should be chained in a subterranean hole, and finally that he should be destroyed. For this purpose they met, placed the unfortunate man in a bed, covered him with pillows, on which some seated themselves, while others tamped with their feet on the bed until the life of the man become extinct. The corpse was then taken out of bed, and thrown into a burning pile of wood, to be consumed to ashes. The perpetrators of this crime were taken to Charleston and tried. Weaver was found guilty, and suffered the penalty of the law on the gallows. His wife [Hannah Weber] was pardoned."This excerpt can be found in The History of Orangeburg County, South Carolina by A. S. Salley, Jr., published in Baltimore in 1978 by Regional Publishing Company. This book can be found in the Sutro Library in San Francisco, California: Call number Sutro F277-06-S1-1978.
