Way Book on CD Disk: Midway Church Was Fortified in Rev. War

[DaneBowen@aol.com]

When I conceded that I did not footnote my statement that the Midway Church was fortified during the American Revolution, Mr. John Sinclair Quarterman remarked, "That's your conclusion.  It's unfortunate you didn't record your source."

E-mail is a great means of communicating in that it is immediate, cheap, and awesome in its reach.  The nature of the beast, however, is such that it leads to writing hastily, off-the-cuff, and tends to drop the civility, courtesy, manners and respect for the other person that should be a part of civilized discourse.  The remark, "That's your conclusion" has followed remarks such as "that's your speculation." 

The above comment about my not citing a source might be interpreted or misinterpreted as gratuitous, or patronizing or even a bit snide.  I did not consider it "unfortunate" because my interests are not the same as Mr. Quarterman's.  Moreover, an historical fact is not a "conclusion." Nevertheless, I spent a considerable amount of time looking in my old computers, and rummaging around in my filing cabinets, time, which would have been better spent on another family history and the researching and writing of my diplomatic memoirs that I am engaged in.  I stopped looking when I came up with one source on the fortification of the church at Midway.  Mr. Quarterman had to look no further for his answer than the brochure of the museum at Midway.  Instead, he fell back to citing Stacy, of which I have more to say below.

The Midway Museum brochure states: 

"[American commander] Colonel John White posted about one hundred continentals with two pieces of light artillery at the Midway Church and constructed a breastwork just south of it, hoping to hold off [British commander] Prevost until help arrived from Savannah….the Americans moved their positions 1 1\2 miles south of the church….Outnumbered, White retreated to Midway Church."

Dr. James Stacy rendered a signal, yeoman service to future generations by preserving the detailed records of the Midway Church and by writing his history, and the same can be said of the Quarterman family, which seems to have taken a proprietary interest in the history, in helping to preserve and update it. The fact that the detailed records of the Dorchester, SC, church were lost is "unfortunate."

Stacy, however, is but one source and a very dated one at that. Stacy should not be so greatly relied upon since there is no substitute for hard digging and research in many sources. Writing so long after the fact and in such a primitive condition, in the 1890's, when the telephone and typewriter were new inventions not yet in widespread use, not to mention the automobile and other tools of the 20th century, the wonder is that Dr. Stacy did not make more mistakes.  He certainly did not have available the vast resources, human and material, of modern researchers.

But mistakes he did make. I can cite three separate ones in just one paragraph.  He incorrectly stated that Henry Way came to America on the Lyon, that on board also was Roger Williams, Stacy mistakenly believing that it was THE Roger Williams who later led a dissident group of Baptists out of Massachusetts Bay Colony to found Rhode Island, and he said that the Ways of Carolina and Midway descended from Richard and AaronWay, when Richard Way clearly says in his will that he had no descendants.  The paragraph with the mistakes is in James Stacy, History and Published Records of the Midway Church, Georgia. With addenda by Elizabeth Walker Quarterman and a New Index by Margaret H. Cannon, PhD. Spartanburg, SC, 1979, pp. 276-7.   

Aaron Way, Jr. was accompanied to South Carolina by two brothers, William and Moses. Confusing Aaron Way, Sr., with Aaron Way, Jr., the Quarterman book mistakenly characterized the blood relationship between the two brothers Aaron Way, Jr. and William, living near each other five miles north of Salem village next to their relative Bray Wilkins.  My source? Will of Aaron Way, Sr.; Charles Granville Way Collection and Mary Elizabeth Collection, NEHGS, Boston; and others.

And I have never found any convincing evidence that the George Way of Conn. is descended from Henry Way (1583-1667) of Mass.  Neither did Charles Granville Way, Mary Elizabeth Way, nor the published genealogist of the Ways of Conn., Henry Abel Way.

With extensive training in history and historiography, with years of research and study of the Way family, I have found no convincing evidence that any Way of Dorchester, SC and Midway, GA, in the 18th Century was descended from anybody except Henry Way and his son Aaron Way, Sr.  Based on research, study, and informed judgment, that is my "conclusion."

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Since it is doubtful that 35 people would get together to order a hardcopy of my Way book, I am giving serious consideration to selling it on CD-ROM disks for $36 plus $3.95 for mailing first class in a padded envelop. The complete file is far too long to fit on a single CD-ROM disk.  I do not know how to compress info on disks and do not know what it would entail to decompress them at the other end.  I have been experimenting with deleting family pictures at the end of the book, pictures of the clan of my grandfather William Mitchell Way of West Texas, some maps related to that family, and pictures concerning my own diplomatic career.  By such deletions I believe I can get the all the rest of the book onto a single CD-ROM disk.

Those interested may contact me by e-mail or send a check  to:

Dane Bowen
6330 Hillcrest Place
Alexandria, Va. 22312

PS: I expect to be in France, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe in June, only returning home on July 4.


Dane Bowen in Alexandria, Va., researching Bowen, Bacon, Carlton (Carleton), Luker, Sanders (Saunders), Chaudoin (Chaudoins), Maverick, Richey (Ritchie, Richie, Ritchey), Spence, Sumner, Way, and Wells families.