Afrontiersman preacher’s life was hard in the good ol’ days.

Charles Woodmason, an Anglican minister in South Carolina’s frontier wilderness, wrote, “I was almost tir’d in baptizing of Children -- and laid my Self down for the Night frozen with the Cold-- without the least Refreshment, No Eggs, Butter, Flour, Milk, or anything, but fat rusty Bacon, and fair Water, with Indian Corn Bread, Viands I had never before seen or tasted.”

In his journal – published as “The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution” – he recorded his adventures with “uncivilized” settlers, Indians and uncooperative Irish Presbyterians.

He ministered from Camden to upper Cherokee towns, Catawba areas and the Peedee, as well as Charleston.

He and his horse did a lot of traveling.

His English cultural preferences, and prejudices didn’t mix well with life on the frontier. English and Irish prejudices didn’t dissolve on the sea passage to the new world either.

Tea time with biscuits just didn’t happen in primitive living conditions, where settlers carved out a life near rivers, slept in hand-hewn log cabins and labored in harsh conditions just to survive.

A humorous foreshadowing of challenges occurred in June of 1766 when he called his ship companions to join in prayer for a “prosperous voyage.”

All refused.

On another Sunday after he preached, the gentleman on the ship invited the ladies to tea.

When the ladies didn’t come out of their cabins, the men were greatly offended.

He recorded that a “criminal commerce enter’d between the gentleman and ladies.” He responded by reading them lectures that spoke of “temperance” and was laughed at and ridiculed.

While traveling in the upstate, horse thieves kidnapped him but let him go when he agreed to preach to them.

On that Sunday, the area militia showed up and the horse thieves ran.

He preached to the militia instead.

Seed ticks, also known as chiggers or red bugs, were an added amenity for camping in the frontier wilderness.

At a service, where communion was planned, Irish Presbyterians gave away 2 barrels of whiskey to the residents before church. By 10 many people were drunk, firing guns, whooping and hollering.

Few came for Communion that day.

Woodmason wrote, “if I could have found the individuals who did this I would have punished them.”

Appalled by the settler’s clothing, he wrote, “How the polite people of London would stare to see the females, (many very pretty) come to service in their shifts (long dress like undergarments), and short petticoat, barefoot and barelegged, without caps or handkerchiefs, quite a state of nakedness. Men appeared in long shirts and trousers, no shoes or stockings.”

In 1770, he made rules for proper church behavior.

He strongly suggested, “Putting and getting things in order overnight. Coming to sermon late discourages people. Keep your children as quiet as possible. If they are fractious, carry them out.

“Bring no dogs with you, [they] are very troublesome. I shall inform the magistrate of those who do it, for it is an affront to the Divine Presence, which we invoke to hear our prayers, to mix unclean things with the service.

“Do not whisper, talk, gaze about, neither sneeze or cough. Do not practice that rude indecent custom of chewing or spitting, which is very ridiculous, especially for women, and in God’s house.”

No tobacco, no dogs and a quiet, attentive congregation was his desire, but apparently not what he saw at his services.

Woodmason became a vocal advocate of the backcountry.

He severely chastised Charleston officials for their neglect of law and order, courts, schools, and roads for those in the wilderness. He was instrumental in getting those things established.

As a Loyalist refugee after the Revolution, he returned to England. Woodmason’s diary is a fascinating book. To better sympathize with his journey, pick a hot day, sit in the woods with a powdered wig and robe. If you do, send us a photo.