History

Alexander Bettis was born into slavery on Augusta 4, 1836 on the Edgefield County plantation of Mrs. Nancy Nobles Jones. His parents were Jack and Annis Bettis. It was recorded that when Mrs. Jones first hear the baby’s robust cries, she exclaimed, “He shall be a Baptist preacher!” It was a statement that would later prove to be prophetic. Over the years Alexander Bettis earned a reputation for honesty & trust worthiness along with a fitting nickname, “Honest Aleck.” He joined the (White) First Baptist Church of Edgefield Courthouse. In 1863, during the Civil War, Rev. Dr. Luther Gordon of the Baptist Church recommended to the congregation that “Honest Aleck” be set apart and licensed to preach as a Baptist Minister. For five years, Minister Alexander Bettis preached the Gospel faithfully, yet the White Baptist pastors refused to ordain him. In 1867, at the dawning of the Reconstruction Era, seventeen Black members procured their letters to leave the First Baptist church so that they could establish a church of their own. They requested that Minister Bettis be allowed to be their leader. In order to fulfill this request, Min. Bettis would have to become ordained. In 1868, four White and one Black Reverend met with Min. Bettis and the other seventeen at a spot 10 miles west of Trenton, SC. As Min. Bettis knelt, they laid the holy hands upon his head and when he arose, he rose as Reverend Alexander Bettis. The Mount Cannan Baptist Church was established and Rev. Bettis was installed as its first Pastor. This was the first of some forty Baptist Churches that Reverend Bettis would eventually start. When the Reconstruction Era ended in 1877, Revend Bettis realized the importance of educating his people so he formed his churches into educational unions in 1878, with Rev. Bettis as Moderator. In 1880, Rev. Bettis proposed the idea of opening a school for the youth. After some opposition, reverend Bettis was able to secure the votes and on July 4, 1881, Bettis Academy was born. The school opened on January 1, 1882 in a one room schoolhouse with a hand full of students. When he passed away on May 13, 1895, Bettis Academy had an annual enrollment of nearly 500 students on a sprawling campus with over a dozen buildings on over 200 acres of land. Rev. Alexander Bettis was buried in the yard of the Mount Canaan Baptist Church on the very spot where he had been ordained over a quarter of a century earlier. He was gone but he had laid the foundation and provided the blueprint for his school to flourish for years to come.