ARP 101 By Chaplain Bill Holiman
What do you want to know about the ARP denomination? Send questions to
ARPeditor@arpsynod.org. Do you know about Rev. Peter Bryson? Rev. William Holiman shares what he has discovered.
The Story of the Rev. Peter Bryson I
n the fall of 1914 the Memphis Presbytery, one of the parent Presbyteries of the current Mississippi Valley Presbytery, was in session. One of its long-time min- isters, regular in attendance and well respected, Rev. Peter Bryson, had died and
the Presbytery wished to memorialize that fact. The minutes of the Presbytery record the following resolution: Rev. Peter Bryson was born in Mississippi Feb 19, 1838, and died near Atoka, TN June 1914, in his 68th year. He studied theology under Dr. S. A. Agnew, and was licensed to preach at a meeting of Presbytery at Salem, Tennessee. Shortly after he was licensed he moved to Tennessee and began preaching near Atoka. He was successful in organizing a church which was called Hebron. Of this congregation he was pastor for many years. He had the reputation of being an honest citizen and a devout Christian. He was especially fond of the Psalms, many of which he could repeat from memory. God has removed him from his labors on earth to the church
This resolution introduces us to an interesting chapter of the history of the ARP
Church. As you probably detected Rev. Bryson was an African American and had been a slave in the days before the Civil War. We must remember that in those days many ARP members were slaves. Some of our congregations were majority slaves, or as the modern expression puts it, enslaved persons. Not only that but he was trained for the ministry by one of our ministers, Samuel A. Agnew, who had a very long min- How did Rev. Bryson get to where he was? The Centennial History says this of
Rev. Bryson: ‘Son of Henry and Violet Bryson, was born in Laurens Co. SC. He had no oppor-
birth wrong, but the date correct. How did he get from South Carolina to Mississippi? The Centennial History says that in 1851 a number of families moved, along with the Rev. J. L. Young, from the Providence Church of Laurens County, South Carolina to Mississippi. When whom were colored persons. Thomas Bryson, Samuel Bryson and John K Crocket Bryson family. It was normal when slavery ended for slaves to take the last names of their former masters. I believe this is what happened here, and in two other instances we shall see below.
War battle. Peter Bryson was right in the thick of all the things that happened in the slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era. When the war was over many of the now freed ARP former slaves disappeared
from the ARP Church. But not at Bethany. A very special minister, S. A. Agnew, served here and at Hopewell for many years. Rev. Agnew had come from Due West, SC to Bethany in 1852 along with his
after the Civil War till he died, from 1868 to 1902. He had a tremendous ministry to
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black and white members of the church. There were a large number of black members at Bethany even after the War was over. Peter Bryson was one of those members.
Peter Bryson preached for two years as part of Bethany before he moved to the area near Salem ARP, Atoka, Ten- nessee. He was ordained at the Salem Church in 1887. He served the Hebron congregation faithfully for thirty years. The Centennial History adds to the description of Rev. Bryson that ‘He was to Sallie Young, daughter of Joseph and also important. It tells us that he was al- most certainly married to a member of
Somehow in the midst of all the dif-
slavery, Peter Bryson became committed to the Bible, the Reformed faith, the ARP Church, and to God. Rev. Bryson was not the only Black
ARP minister who had grown up as an enslaved person. Rev. Thomas Leroy Young was born in 1833 as a slave to Rev. Charles Strong of Newberry, SC. He subsequently passed to the fam- ily of Rev. J. N. Young of Erskine. Like Rev. Bryson he learned the shorter cat- echism, attended family worship, and made a profession of faith. He was trained for the ministry, ordained by Second Presbytery and ministered to a black ARP congregation in Due West af- ter the Civil War.
I cannot imagine what life was like in those days. But clearly God was active in the calling and ministry of Peter Bryson and Thomas Young. We might pray for more men like them to be raised up.
Rev. William Holiman is a retired Chap- lain in Mississippi Valley Presbytery.
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
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