Old St. Luke’s to celebrate Daniel South, Mayflower descendant and Revolutionary War vet
In February, Daniel South's grave caught the eye of Keith Kammenzind, Western colony governor for the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who discovered South's unique history: French and Indian War and Revolutionary War veteran and Mayflower descendant. Kammenzind and Old St. Luke's church will celebrate and share South's life with the public from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 17.
People have worshipped at Old St. Luke's, one of the oldest churches west of the Alleghenies, since the 1760s. In 1976, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks recognized it as a National Historic Landmark.
Along with reenactments and dancing, folks can enjoy tours of Old St. Luke's, which houses the first organ brought over the Allegheny Mountains, Sept. 17, during an event celebrating Daniel South hosted jointly by the church board and the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's western colony.
Daniel South, French and Indian War and Revolutionary War veteran and Mayflower descendant, was buried in Old St. Luke's cemetery just off Old Washington Pike in Carnegie in 1811. The church and grounds were once an outpost for Fort Pitt, and people have worshipped at the site since the 1760s.
Just around the bend on Old Washington Pike, not far from Greentree Road, sits an unassuming church whose brilliant red door, if the stone building and shady property fails to, catches the eye.
That red door leads into Old St. Luke’s Church, a church whose walls contain centuries’ worth of stories. Recently, Keith Kammenzind, a church board member, made a discovery that adds more richness and depth to Old St. Luke’s history.
“There are several French and Indian War and Revolutionary War veterans buried here. But this is our main focus,” said Kammenzind, western colony governor of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pointing to a gravestone etched with the name Daniel South. “He is a Mayflower descendant. He served in the French and Indian War. He later served in the Revolutionary War. He led quite a life.”
The list of men who served in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War is not extensive. For one man to have survived both and claim direct lineage to someone who sailed to the New World aboard the Mayflower is rare.
“In New England, it’s more prominent,” Kammenzind, an amateur genealogist, said. “Here in western Pennsylvania, it’s not. It’s very unique. This is the first that I’ve really heard.”
Little is known about Daniel South’s life outside his military service and lineage. South’s great-great-great grandfather Edward Fuller was a passenger on the Mayflower, which landed at Cape Cod in November of 1620 (a few weeks after landing, the ship took settlers to Plymouth).
When the French and Indian War began in 1754, South was about 7 or 8.
“We know for a fact that he was part of the Forbes expedition from Fort Ligonier against Fort Pitt to drive the French out,” Kammenzind said.
That campaign started in 1758, so South would most likely have been a drummer, due to his age, Kammenzind said.
South married Euphemia (Smyth) Nixon, according to WikiTree, a union confirmed in his last will and testament. The couple had ten children, according to the will: Daniel, Benjamin and Joseph South and Mary Bell, Elizabeth Burns, Matilda (last name illegible in his will), Nancy Guthery, Abigail South, Euphamy South and another daughter whose name is illegible in the will.
South owned a good deal of land, which he left equally to his sons, and was financially prosperous, according to the money he bequeathed his daughters. Some of South’s land, Kammenzind said, probably abutted property owned by John Neville, then the area’s largest landowner.
“Daniel South was a pretty well-off farmer. He owned quite a lot of land and was pretty well-respected in the community,” Kammenzind said.
And yet, for more than 200 years, South’s story has gone unsung. He passed away in 1811 and his grave, a large stone in Old St. Luke’s Cemetery, weathered, the name nearly lost.
Until now.
“My dad and my mom were both big history freaks,” Kammenzind said, a Green Tree native and youngest of six. “We went everywhere. We went to different ports in different states. One day, they brought me down here.”
In 1975 or 1976, about the time the Rev. Richard Davies began restoration and cleanup efforts at Old St. Luke’s, Kammenzind and his parents headed to the grounds.
“He (Davies) happened to be here that day,” Kammenzind recalled. “It was in a pretty sorry state from what I can remember. Anyway, I was about 10 years old and he gave me a piece of glass that he found lying in the churchyard. He said, this is probably a piece of the original stained glass. I was just in awe. I still have the piece of glass.”
The tour made a lasting impression of Kammenzind, who visited throughout the years and occasionally attended sunrise Easter service at Old St. Luke’s. When he returned to the church in February of this year for a day of grounds exploring, another piece of church history caught his attention.
“At the time I made this discovery, I was serving as the (Western) colony historian. I was helping people get into the society, helping them with their applications and their documentation,” Kammenzind said. “It was a snowy day, and I was driving past. I thought, I’m going – this was my historian coming out in me – I’m going to stop by and look at some of these old graves and take pictures.”
Kammenzind took photos of a handful of graves and then headed home to research the names.
“Most of them were dead ends. They didn’t go back far enough (to be Mayflower descendants), or they went to Germany or whatever. But Daniel South,” Kammenzind said. “I kept going back (in his lineage) and I saw the name ‘Fuller.’ I knew ‘Lipton,’ too, because I had seen it in what’s called the Silver Books – the Bible of Mayflower geneology.”
The Lipton line is well-documented, Kammenzind said. It wasn’t difficult to determine South had multiple Mayflower lineages.
To celebrate South’s life and heritage and share the discovery with others, the SMDPA and Old St. Luke’s invites the greater Scott Township area to a two-day festival Sept. 16 and 17.
The event opens to VIPs Saturday and to the public between noon and 5 p.m. Sunday.
Festivities include reenactments by French and Indian War, Wayne’s Legion and Civil War troops and dance performances. Attendees are welcome to tour the church – the original building was one of the oldest frontier churches west of the Alleghenies and the new building houses the first organ brought over the Allegheny Mountains – and cemetery grounds.
Genealogical societies and other organizations, including the Society of Mayflower Descendants, will be on-site to educate and answer questions. Event organizers hope to welcome South’s descendants.
“We’re hoping it brings people down to Old St. Luke’s. I want people to come down and see that this is a really cool place. It’s local history,” Kammenzind said. “Also, there might be people out there who have a Mayflower lineage that just don’t know about it, or don’t know how to go about joining the society. We’re hoping that that’ll spark some interest.”
Kammenzind believes “everybody should know where they came from.” Once you get started, genealogy is fun; it takes people places they never dreamed and makes an individual life part of a greater story. Kammenzind’s own family history includes nine lineage lines to the Mayflower and he counts the king from the movie Braveheart, Winston Churchill and Casablanca’s Humphrey Bogart among his distant relatives.
“You never know what you’re going to find out. My one great-grandfather built Windsor Castle. I’m proud of what my ancestors accomplished,” he said.
Old St. Luke’s board president Scott Quinn is happy to partner with Kammenzind and the SMDPA to bring folks to Old St. Luke’s, a National Historic Landmark, and unveil South’s new headstone, a pink granite piece donated by a local mason.
“This is great,” he said.
Kammenzind agreed.
“Daniel South – it’s a draw. It’s something different. There aren’t many people who go back this far, that we know of, in Allegheny County who have Mayflower lineage,” he said. “He was here at the founding of the country.”
For more information on Old St. Luke’s, visit https://www.oldsaintlukes.org/.