When the Church Act of 1706 named the Anglican Church as the state church of South Carolina, the province was divided into 10 parishes. Johns Island was part of St. Paul’s Parish during these early years. However, an Act of Assembly in 1734 created more parishes, and Johns Island then became part of St. John’s Parish instead. A new parish church was established as a result, and the first St. John’s Episcopal Church was built on the present site in 1735.
In 1817 the first church was replaced by a newer edifice, this one said to have a “handsome portico.” The second church was destroyed in the spring of 1864 by a fire that engulfed much of the island. A third church was completed by 1875 and served the congregation for 80 years. The present church replaced the third church in 1955. The spire was added the following year as a gift to the church from Bishop Albert Thomas. It was designed and built by Bishop Thomas’s son, an architect.
An accounting of what we paid and what we owe for 2019. Other churches have a file you can open to see this information.
I am trying to find my relatives who lived on St. John’s Island, the Pattison/Patterson family. I think that John Pattison dies about 07 Feb 1818. I have photo of his tombstone, but not where it is located. How would I go about getting hold of old church records from the staff? Thank you so much.
I visited the church in 2001 and photographed the graves of relatives buried there. I found the church records wonderful as I could find entries of relatives and family members for genealogical research. The staff are very helpful and the old church records hold a wealth of information about people from that area.