Keowee Church was constituted by Elders Joseph Logan and ___ Hargiss. The meeting house was from “Old Keowee Fort, on Keowee River, … about one and a half miles from the river.” (“History of Baptist Churches,” Southern Watchman and General Intelligencer, 24 March 1837, posted at Pickens County, South Carolina, Genealogy, 2002)
Historian Frederick Van Clayton notes that there was no Anglo-American settlement in this area until after the American Revolution when it was taken from the Cherokee, who had allied themselves with the British: “Very few settlers came here until 1784 … [when] the Settlement Act was passed which provided for [land grants] in this newly acquired territory. However, previous to 1784 a few people did settle in this territory, and they may be termed … ‘Squatters’, for they did not have a grant for their land, but in all probability had filed their intention with the State government that they would take out a grant when they were able to pay for same, or when the State government passed such laws as would enable them to get good titles to the land.” Joseph Logan was one of these early squatters. (“History of the Keowee River Baptist Church,” Frederick Van Clayton, transcribed by Lois E. Branch, 2000, scgenealogy.com/pickens)
The first minister of Keowee Church was Joseph Logan in 1791. In the listing of the ministers of Keowee Church, Van Clayton notes “squatter” beside Logan’s name. Joseph Logan was also the delegate to church associational meetings. Church membership was 17.
Records are incomplete until 1794 when Joseph Logan is no longer a minister or delegate. But in 1800 Charles Dodson was the delegate from Keowee Church to Baptist associational meetings. (“History of the Keowee River Baptist Church II,” Frederick Van Clayton, transcribed by Lois E. Branch, 2000, scgenealogy.com/pickens)
Joseph Logan’s daughter, Mahala Logan, would later marry Charles Dodson’s son, Dillingham Dodson. Both the Logan and Dodson extended families would move to Warren County, Kentucky.
logan connections 