A H|f|RY 
 
 i i> mm, 
 
DUKE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 DIVINITY SCHOOL 
 LIBRARY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/churchbellhistorOOware 
 
A HISTORY 
 OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 WILSON, N. C. 
 
 By 
 
 CHARLES CROSSFIELD WARE 
 
 FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 WILSON, N. C. 
 
 1963. 
 
Printed by Owen G. Dunn Co. 
 New Bern, N. C, U.S.A. 
 
0\ v 
 
 TO 
 
 GENEVIEVE 
 
 March 13, 1896— September 21, 1962. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 Foreword 9 
 
 I. The Bell 11 
 
 II. The City 13 
 
 III. The Cause 20 
 
 IV. The Beginnings 25 
 
 V. The Buildings 35 
 
 VI. The Ingatherings 46 
 
 VII. Outreach ! 52 
 
 VIII. College and Community 59 
 
 IX. Lighter Vein 68 
 
 X. Men and Women 74 
 
 XL Youth 92 
 
 XII. Music 100 
 
 XIII. Dramatics 106 
 
 XIV. Memorials 111 
 
 XV. Pastors, Battle to Davis ________ 116 
 
 XVI. Pastors, Melton to Wallace 124 
 
 XVII. The Golden Roll 140 
 
 Index 142 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Present Sanctuary Frontispiece 
 
 Mrs. Genevieve Hackney 67 
 
 Pastors' Group No. 1 81 
 
 Pastors' Group No. 2 82 
 
 Pastors' Group No. 3 83 
 
 Pastors' and Missionaries' Group No. 4 84 
 
 Pastors' Group No. 5 85 
 
 The Brick Church, (1898-1954) ... 86 
 
 The Education Building, (1938) .. 87 
 
 The Carolina Room . 88 
 
 Special Groups of Disciples 89 
 
 Group, additions, March 16, 1958 ^ 90 
 
 Vision of New Education Building 91 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Soon after the 90th anniversiary of the First Christian 
 Church, Wilson, N. C, the pastor, James G. Wallace asked 
 me to write the Church's history for publication. Being 
 assured of extensive archival materials at hand for the 
 purpose, I was pleased to give my assent. A nominal 
 support for the project was embodied in the annual local 
 church budget for 1962. At once a History Committee 
 was named as follows: Mrs. W. D. Hackney, II, Chair- 
 man, (deceased, Sept. 21, 1962) ; Mrs. W. D. Adams, Sr.; 
 Miss Sadie Greene; Bruce W. Riley; Mrs. J. R. Shannon, 
 William E. Tucker, pastor, James G. Wallace, and Presi- 
 dent Arthur D. Wenger. Throughout, this excellent and 
 highly talented committee has been for us a fortress of 
 fellow-service. 
 
 A preliminary executive meeting of the committee 
 with me on January 17, 1962, requested me to proceed 
 with the required research and composition. Pursuant 
 to this directive, I have, as far as practicable, used my 
 active hours of 1962. Wherefore I am hopefully respon- 
 sible for what herein appears. 
 
 Chiefly our sources : 
 
 1. The Carolina Disciplinana Library, serving cumu- 
 latively since 1924. It is housed in The Clarence L. Hardy 
 Memorial Library at Atlantic Christian College, Wilson, 
 N. C. 
 
 2. Five large scrap books deliberately and tastefully 
 assembled through several years by Mrs. W. D. Hackney 
 II, former historian and archivist of the local church — 
 an abounding, variegated source. 
 
 3. Three clerk's record books of the local church with 
 sparse but precious accounts mainly relating to the early 
 years. 
 
 4. Minutes of pertinent official board, cabinet, and 
 committee meetings inscribed in typed synopses over the 
 
10 
 
 THE .CHURCH BELL 
 
 past few decades by secretaries: Mr. Jesse High, Miss 
 Sadie Greene, Mrs. Marjorie Watson (Bill), Holland, and 
 others. 
 
 5. Various factual reviews by the author mostly with 
 members of long standing in the local fellowship, of the 
 continuing events and objects in the life and activities of 
 the local church. 
 
 A word as to the dedication. It is appropriate we 
 think that with candor and gratitude, Mrs. W. D. Hack- 
 ney, II, (nee Genevieve Holden), should thus be memo- 
 rialized. We know that with exceptional devotion and 
 dedicated diligence, springing purely from her loyal, 
 loving heart, she gathered and safely preserved the vol- 
 umes of historical lore so materially essential to a com- 
 prehensive story of the Wilson Church. She passed 
 from us before she could see this publication, but the 
 most of it she did see in manuscript and graciously pro- 
 nounced it good. Surely this and later generations will 
 rise up and call her blessed. 
 
 Conclusively this is our well-assisted effort to offer an 
 authentic work at once readable and publishable. If the 
 reader is held and helpfully served let him thank the 
 Supreme Giver of all that is good. 
 
 Charles Crossfield Ware 
 
 Wilson, N. C, Christmas, 1962. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE BELL 
 
 Oddly this part of our story begins with a bird dog. 
 His owner was Captain Thomas Jefferson Hadley of 
 Wilson, North Carolina, known to his townsmen as Con- 
 federate soldier, pioneer banker, and original public 
 school trustee. His home stood where the Colonial 
 Apartments are today, at the northeast corner of Golds- 
 boro and Vance Streets. Diagonally across Goldsboro 
 Street sat the initial frame meetinghouse of the local 
 Disciples of Christ. Calling seasonably to worship from 
 its tower was the bell, weight 614 pounds. A wrought- 
 iron fence enclosed the grounds of the Hadley residence 
 across the way. To this whenever the church bell rang 
 the dog would surge. Then braced against the firm metal, 
 he would howl his dissonant accompaniment, shrill and 
 quavering. His fond owner was disturbed. Opportunely 
 he effected a mutual adjustment. For a generous help of 
 $500 from this friendly citizen it was agreed that the 
 bell was not to ring again. Cancelled was the incitement 
 to the favored canine. 
 
 The incident reminds one of what happened at the 
 First Christian Church, corner Fourth and Walnut 
 Streets, Louisville, Ky. About a century ago they paid 
 $4500 for their lot having potential metropolitan value; 
 several decades later the church sold it for $365,000. In 
 their acquirement deed was the explicit clause that "no 
 bell larger than a dinner bell" should be rung from the 
 church for "twenty-five years". Touching this a Louis- 
 cille reminiscence added: "The neighbors were taking no 
 chances." (Melville O. Briney in Sketches of Old Louis- 
 ville.) 
 
 At Wilson the Disciples' bell was reinstated in the 
 tower of their new brick structure at its opening in 1898. 
 When their stone sanctuary was occupied in 1954, a 
 block west of the old location, the brick building was 
 dismantled. Skillfully taken down was the long unused 
 
12 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 bell, and reconditioned by chief Tyrus Bissett, and his 
 associates at the local Fire Station. This inscription was 
 then revealed : 
 
 From a generous people 
 
 To the Disciples' Church in Wilson 
 
 March 1, 1885. 
 
 For almost seventy years, it had served, or as circum- 
 stances decreed, it had been poised to serve, the commun- 
 ity. It was venerable — so much so that Pastor C. A. 
 Jarman made to his cabinet an "impassioned plea" that it 
 "be permanently preserved as a part of our heritage." 
 To-day this is being officially done. Incidentally, James 
 M. Moudy, then Dean of Atlantic Christian College, is 
 recorded to have commented : "Many preachers have been 
 saved by the bell, but this is the first bell I have ever 
 known to be saved by the preacher." 
 
 In line with the spirit generated by the late, but judi- 
 cious orienting of their bell, the four-page parish weekly 
 of the local church has since been known as The Church 
 Bell. Excepting July and August it reaches the 510 
 "family homes" of the local congregation each week. 
 
 Pious reflection of many minds, it seems, has woven an 
 aura about this churchly instrument. Thus a Kentucky 
 poet sings : 
 
 Though gone from earth and earthly things — forever 
 
 passed away — 
 The faithful ones who loved while here its summons to 
 
 obey 
 
 Now rest beyond the tide of Time, with rapture long to 
 dwell, 
 
 For there their footsteps guided were by the Old Church 
 Bell. 
 
 — George W. Doneghy, in The Old Hanging Fork and 
 Other Poems. 1897. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE CITY 
 
 The story of Wilson, as village, town, and city, spans 
 a hundred and fourteen years. In to-day's public rela- 
 tions parlance it is "Wide-Awake Wilson," and "The City 
 of Versatility." It could well be the theme of a large, 
 significant volume. I sketch here certain phases of its 
 Nineteenth Century rise and development. 
 
 It was located primarily on the densely wooded plain 
 of the Toisnot-Contentnea basin. This was apart from 
 immediate access to travel-accommodative streams. 
 Earliest plantations in the Province and State were better 
 facilitated by situations upon navigable water-courses 
 and their fertile valleys. Thus as a civic center, Wilson 
 arrived somewhat tardily in the Coastal Carolina expan- 
 sion. Albeit a new era opened for Toisnot Depot with 
 the arrival of the first train on the Wilmington and Wel- 
 don Railroad, (now the A. C. L.), on March 19, 1840. 
 Also a few hundred yards distant had stood Hickory 
 Grove, (Toisnot), church since 1803, at what became the 
 southeast corner of Barnes and Tarboro Streets. Its 
 "one acre of land", was then said to be "on the public 
 road from Tarboro to Smithfield." In the community's 
 mind was the forecast of coming events. The timely 
 Plank Road from Greenville to Wilson, then a commercial 
 artery of the first importance to the locality was pushed 
 to early completion. Furthermore the crossroads hamlet 
 became the capital of the new County on February 15, 
 1855, both named Wilson. Thus the stage was set for 
 the birth of a city. 
 
 Senator Alfred Moye, (Jan. 19, 1793-Feb. 26, 1863) 
 of Pitt County, served at the State capital, first in the 
 House of Commons, 1828, 1829, and in the Senate there 
 throughout most of the two decades to follow. He was a 
 layman in the Oak Grove Christian Church, later named 
 Corinth. Its building, (Corinth), yet stands at Lang's 
 Crossroads, six miles east of Farmville, and near the 
 
14 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 ante-bellum Moye home. As President of the Plank Road 
 he is memorialized in stone at that site on Federal High- 
 way 264, sponsored and erected by the general public. 
 His son, Moses Tyson Moye, was a Wilson citizen, 1865- 
 1900. His descendants have long been prominent in the 
 social and economic life of the city. 
 
 Senator Alfred Moye on December 20, 1848, success- 
 fully introduced for "first reading" his bill to establish 
 Wilson. It is recorded : "Mr. Moye presented a bill to 
 incorporate Toisnot Depot and Hickory Grove, in Edge- 
 combe, into a town by the name of Wilson." The name 
 is in memory of General Louis Dicken Wilson, (May 12, 
 1789-Aug. 12, 1847), Mexican War hero, native of the 
 part of Edgecombe which became Wilson County. The 
 designation Toisnot, derived from nearby Toisnot Swamp, 
 is said to be an Indian word denoting "halting place." 
 
 Since September 10, 1890, the city has grown to be 
 "The largest flue-cured tobacco market in America." Yet 
 it has other nationwide distinction. Here in Maplewood 
 cemetehy is the grave of the "Betsy Ross of the South," 
 Mrs. Rebecca Murphy Winborne, (Nov. 22, 1831-July 
 23, 1918.) She was born at Louisburg, N. C., but spent 
 the last thirty-one years of her life with her daughter, 
 Mrs. J. T. Webb, in Wilson. She completed making the 
 Confederate flag at Louisburg on March 17, 1861, from 
 her working design which had been officially adopted by 
 the Confederate Government at Montgomery, Ala., on 
 the preceding March 4. In recognition the U.D.C. on April 
 9, 1921, unveiled her marble memorial in Wilson's Maple- 
 wood. The simple legend there states that she was "The 
 Maker of the Original Stars and Bars." 
 
 In 1877 it was claimed for Wilson : "Few places com- 
 bine so many advantages in the way of society, accessi- 
 bility, health, and beauty as this enterprizing, and moral 
 educational centre of Eastern Carolina." The spirit of 
 the community later encouraged Superintendent of 
 Schools Charles L. Coon to institute his bus-carrying sys- 
 tem for attending pupils, attracting wide attention of 
 educators. 
 
THE CITY 
 
 15 
 
 The local religious background deserves study. First 
 itinerant evangelist of record serving in the area was 
 Dr. Josiah Hart, a General Baptist. In 1748 he preached 
 Arminian doctrine at the place three-and-a-quarter miles 
 east of Wilson, now marked as the site of the original 
 Toisnot Meetinghouse. There he baptized John Thomas, 
 first recorded immersion in this immediate section. These 
 Toisnot General Baptists were soon diverted to the Cal- 
 vinistic persuasion by zealous missionaries of that faith. 
 Wherefore to this creed the Wilson Primitive Baptists of 
 to-day have adhered for 207 years. Threading these 
 woods also in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 
 were the Sandy Creek Separates, and the Christian Bap- 
 tist itinerants, William Guirey, and Joseph Thomas, "The 
 White Pilgrim." Guirey and Thomas incidentally, start- 
 ed the symbolic baptismal line reaching directly through 
 Landon Duncan, and Dr. Chester Bullard to Virgil Angelo 
 Wilson, and the founding of the permanent Disciple con- 
 gregation at Wilson on April 27, 1871. 
 
 First Methodist sermon in Wilson was by Nathan An- 
 derson in 1850, their first church being organized with 
 18 charter members in September, 1853. The Episcopal 
 Church has been here since 1856 ; the Missionary Baptist 
 since 1865. Wilson's First Presbyterian Church was or- 
 ganized July 25, 1885, with 24 charter members. 
 
 Representing the Disciples I sketch here five of their 
 ministers and three of their laymen who shared as resi- 
 dent pioneers in the making of Wilson. 
 
 Evangelist Amos Johnston Battle, (Jan. 11, 1805-Sept. 
 24, 1870), united with the Disciples, in 1852, and located 
 in Wilson, that year. He was proprietor of the Battle 
 House, at corner of Lodge and Barnes Streets, now the 
 site of the Imperial Tobacco Company. It was for many 
 years, "the important hostelry of the town." A fellow- 
 townsman, Thomas Crowder Davis, said: "Mr. Battle 
 was a bright, active-minded man, an omnivorous reader, 
 and could devour the contents of an ordinary book almost 
 in the time it would take some persons to examine and 
 understand the preface. He was not a successful money 
 maker and did not profess to be. He was a good farmer 
 
16 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 and some of his most radical experiments and suggestions 
 as an agriculturist have long since materialized and 
 proven that he lived before his day." Further, said Davis, 
 Battle was "an old line Whig, deprecated the War, (1861- 
 1865), but as a true man went with his people." Shortly 
 after the War, reported Davis, a train bearing General 
 Robert E. Lee stopped at the station in Wilson. The 
 "great chieftain" was called to the platform when "in 
 silence with suppressed emotion Uncle Amos Battle took 
 his hand and said : 'God bless you, sir ; God bless you ;' 
 and was gone." 
 
 William H. Hughart, (died in 1868) , a Virginia preach- 
 er and teacher since 1845, came to Wilson in 1857. Mrs. 
 Hughart was a teacher of "thirteen years' experience as 
 an instructress of youth." Here she opened her school at 
 once, teaching courses in English, French, Latin, and 
 Music. She advertised the "second session" of her "Fe- 
 male School" to begin Feb. 1, 1858. This is the first such 
 publicized account of a Wilson school which I have seen. 
 She announced that "Dr. Hughart will deliver lectures 
 before the School on Chemistry and animal and vegetable 
 physiology." Her highest charge was $15 for the five 
 weeks of "Music." The Hugharts returned to Virginia 
 where in August, 1861, he reported about his evangelis- 
 ing: "I find the minds of the people so excited and dis- 
 turbed by the war, that it is impossible to get them suffi- 
 cently interested in religion to make any additions." 
 
 Peter Edmund Hines, a minister of the Disciples, came 
 to Wilson from Marlboro, N. C. in 1865. A leader in his 
 church he presided at four of their State Conventions. 
 His home was on the west side of Goldsboro Street, mid- 
 way of the block between Greene and Vance, where the 
 Varita Court Apartments are to-day. His wife gave the 
 lot in 1871, on which the initial First Christian Church 
 plant stood. He served Wilson as mayor from 1878 to 
 1885 ; a leading citizen here for almost three decades. 
 
 Moses Tyson Moye, (Oct. 27, 1827-Oct. 1, 1900) , located 
 in Wilson in December, 1865 ; a Disciple minister having 
 graduated at Bethany College on July 4, 1858. In the 
 War he was Captain of Company G. of C.S.A. Cavalry; 
 
THE CITY 
 
 17 
 
 later, the long-time chaplain of the local Jesse S. Barnes 
 Company of Confederate Veterans. His Wilson home 
 was at the southeast corner of Tarboro and Greene 
 Streets, He was a druggist, 1875-1883, in the firm of 
 "Moye and Nadal," later establishing "M. T. Moye and 
 Company, Manufacturers and Wholesale and Retail 
 Dealers in Havana and Domestic cigars." He was a grad- 
 ed school trustee, a town commissioner, and was regarded 
 as "one of Wilson's successful men." 
 
 Joseph Henry Foy (1838-1917) came to Wilson in 
 1859 ; a Christian minister and brilliant teacher in the 
 schools at Stantonsburg and Wilson. One observer said : 
 "He requires his pupils to master their lessons so thor- 
 oughly as to be able to translate the Latin, Greek, French, 
 and German, into English; and also the English into 
 German, Greek, French, and Latin. His forte is teach- 
 ing; he seems to love it. He is a superior teacher, and as 
 such is deservedly popular." Another contemporary said 
 that in 1875 Foy had "accepted a professorship in the 
 Wilson College (coeducational), in response to warm 
 overtures from its friends and patrons." Here he was 
 associated with the notable schoolman Elder Sylvester 
 Hassell. To concerned prospective students they an- 
 nounced : "Entire average expenses, $200 per year ; music, 
 $45 additional." Later he was co-principal with J. B. 
 Brewer in the "Wilson Collegiate Seminary for young 
 ladies, a finishing school of the very highest grade." In 
 this he taught "Languages, Mental and Moral Philosophy, 
 etc." Ideally, the gate to learning was widely opened — 
 "There were no arbitrary limitations to admission." at 
 this "Seminary". Josephus Daniels was a student of Foy. 
 He has reminded us that Foy inspired to great manhood 
 such leaders as Governor Charles Brantley Aycock, Judge 
 Frank A. Daniels, Rodolph Duffy, and James Williams 
 Hines. As Daniels simply stated : "He could make the 
 boy feel the call to bigger things." 
 
 Willis Napoleon Hackney, (Jan. 26, 1823-Dec. 6, 
 1887), was an outstanding layman and charter member 
 of the Wilson Disciples in 1871. Among these a fine pro- 
 portion of his descendants are active to-day. His pastor 
 
18 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 declared that Hackney was "a just employer, an honor- 
 able and useful citizen, and an humble and devout Chris- 
 tian." He came to Wilson, as a wheelwright, in 1852, 
 "when the town was a mere hamlet." At first to meet 
 grim necessities of the travelling public on the almost- 
 forbidding roads he made wheels in his small shop. In 
 war-time he made wagons. The business grew. His 
 three sons, Thomas, George, and Douglas, joined him in 
 1878, in the firm, "Hackney and Sons." After a time 
 they were making annually 200 buggies and 100 wagons. 
 The son, Thomas, removed to Rocky Mount, but George, 
 (Sept. 19, 1854-May 16, 1948), in the Hackney Brothers' 
 firm continued the business in Wilson which eventually 
 became the Hackney Brothers Bus Body Company. This 
 is a highly successful enterprise serving many states, 
 manufacturing motor facilities widely in use, and in some 
 phases susceptible to a seasonable pyramiding demand. 
 Douglas, (W. D. Hackney, Sr., March 28, 1858-Feb. 28, 
 1937), headed the Hackney Wagon Company in 1900. 
 Here by the shifts of time the production has been well 
 adjusted to variable sales potential, finally to such popu- 
 lar utilities as baggage trucks, tobacco trucks, bleacher 
 seats, and the colorful "Sunburst" vehicles for circuses. 
 
 Joseph Kinsey, (Jan. 17, 1843-Jan. 12, 1929), descend- 
 ant of the Palatines landing at New Bern, was a Disciple 
 layman from old Pleasant Hill, in Jones County. After 
 conducting his successful "Seminary" for two decades at 
 LaGrange, N. C, he removed it to Wilson in 1897. From 
 this Atlantic Christian College stemmed in 1902. Senator 
 F. M. Simmons received his early training under Kinsey, 
 of whom he said : "I regard him in all of the essentials of 
 a great teacher, as one of the greatest teachers this State 
 has produced. For me he did much to mould my future 
 life, and I cannot think or speak of him except in terms 
 of affection and reverence." 
 
 Charles Edward Winstead, a centenarian, (1859-1959), 
 Disciple deacon here for fifty years, was a contractor and 
 was generally "considered one of Wilson's master crafts- 
 men." Among the homes he builded as supervisor were 
 those of Jonas Oettinger, (now Elk's Club) ; Colonel John 
 
THE CITY 
 
 19 
 
 F. Bruton; and Fred and Graham Woodard, in the 700 
 Block of West Nash Street. Likewise he was chief in 
 construction of the Woodard-Herring Hospital, and in 
 the installation of the pipe organ in the local First Chris- 
 tian Church in 1907. 
 
 The fifty persons who comprised all of the emerging 
 Wilson of 1848, when one-acre building lots sold here for 
 $30 each, have increased to the official count of 28,753 in 
 1960. This preponderantly rural State had but six cities, 
 (urban, 2500 population), in 1850. This compares with 
 its 125 cities of 1960, among which Wilson ranks as fif- 
 teenth in population. There are 47 North Carolina cities 
 east of Raleigh ; among these Wilson is fifth in size. At 
 its first tax-listing in 1851, Wilson's entire property as- 
 sessment, real and personal, was $15,600; as of January 
 1, 1961, it was $51,461,557. Its manifold growth, blend- 
 ed with increasing cosmopolitan quality, is factual and 
 substantial. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CAUSE 
 
 Some Presbyterian immigrants from North Carolina 
 to Kentucky settled to form churches of their faith in the 
 early 1790's at Cane Ridge, in Bourbon County, and at 
 Concord, in Nicholas County. These had been much in- 
 fluenced in the old colony by the ecumenical bent of Henry 
 Patillo, (1726-1801), and by that of his brilliant mentor, 
 Samuel Davies, (1723-1761). Both had clearly stressed 
 the priority of the Christian name ; in fact the latter de- 
 clared in a sermon, that, first at Antioch, the title had 
 been bestowed by "divine appointment." With these bear- 
 ings, Barton Warren Stone, (1772-1844), was progres- 
 sively at home in his Cane Ridge-Concord pastorate 
 dating from 1796. There on June 28, 1804, he severed 
 his ties with Calvinism, and was signatory to the "Last 
 Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery." This 
 declared : "There is but one body and one Spirit, even as 
 we are called in one hope of our calling." Historically, 
 this is a distinctive part, and chronologically the first, of 
 the origins in the east-central Mississippi Valley, of what 
 is organizationally known to-day as The International 
 Convention of Christian Churches, (Disciples of Christ). 
 
 Another focal part of that beginning is represented in 
 "The Declaration and Address of The Christian Associa- 
 tion of Washington" (PA.), written by Thomas Camp- 
 bell, issued September 7, 1809, and most ably promoted 
 by his son, Alexander Campbell. It also sprang from 
 fervent ecumenical motive, declaring: "The Church of 
 Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and con- 
 stitutionally one." The fellowships of Stone and Camp- 
 bell were conventionally united at Lexington, Kentucky, 
 in January, 1832. Factional opponents called them "New- 
 lights," and "Campbellites" ; militating nicknames befit- 
 ting a tailored glossary for gainsayers. Albeit in this 
 virgin land there were real yearnings for a people's church 
 in which purity and reason in a new Christian order 
 
THE CAUSE 
 
 21 
 
 would be Scripturally and freely articulated and prac- 
 ticed. Exigencies on the frontier had measurably eman- 
 cipated its religion from certain stereotyped forms. It 
 was a thrilling opportunity for various reformers. Forth- 
 rightly they used it. 
 
 A half-century before the Cane Ridge, Ky., and Wash- 
 ington, Pa., manifestos, the Separate Baptists at Sandy 
 Creek, N. C. had precipitated an evangelistic awakening 
 spreading promptly and widely over the old southeastern 
 States. Their sermons had a captivating fervor resulting 
 in a sweeping evangelical success. Nevertheless by the 
 infiltration of zealous missionaries who proselyted in- 
 domitably they lost their primal integrity conventionally 
 to the Regular Baptists, (Calvinistic) , in North Carolina 
 in 1777, and in Virginia in 1787. This did not happen 
 however in Kentucky until 1801 ; yet as late as the 1820's 
 many held in reserve their cherished principles. A new 
 movement to welcome their adapted coherence with Dis- 
 ciples was in progress. 
 
 Noteworthy for study are certain beliefs of these Sep- 
 arates. They are briefly stated : (1) No creed in actual- 
 ity but the Bible ; (2) Baptism (immersion) , administered 
 promptly upon the candidate's sincere profession of faith 
 in Christ, an overt commitment to Christian obedience, 
 and the beginning of fulfillment of discipleship ; (3) 
 weekly observance with open communion of the Lord's 
 Supper; (4) A developing ecumenical spirit questing for 
 Christian union with whomsoever it could be effected in 
 good conscience. This certainly is not the whole of the 
 Separates' ecclesiology. But it is obvious that these 
 affirmations go far to parallel some paramounted tenets 
 of the renascent Disciples of Christ. 
 
 In Kentucky's beginning there was a preponderance of 
 Separates among the pioneer Baptist clergy. The Sepa- 
 rate sentiment was tenaciously but quietly carried into 
 the Nineteenth Century. In their time the rising Disci- 
 ples on that frontier were remarkably helped by this 
 condition. North Carolina Disciples however had no dis- 
 tinct beginning as a group until October, 1832. They 
 
22 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 were given a rebound from the crusade in the trans- 
 Appalachian States. Significant however was their union 
 at Hookerton, North Carolina, on May 2, 1845, with a 
 relatively large body of Reformed Free Will Baptists. 
 These may consistently be identified as a modified con- 
 tinuation of the earlier Arminian Baptists with varied 
 names in the area. 
 
 Led here specially by General William Clark, John 
 Patrick Dunn, and Thomas Jordan Latham, the Disciples 
 established a bridgehead in Pitt and other central coastal 
 counties of the State. To Wilson, a new town, came some 
 of their leaders in the mid-nineteenth century. After 
 establishment of the Wilson church two of their out- 
 standing pastors gave statements of the Disciple faith, 
 John James Harper in 1887, and Joseph Henry Foy in 
 1900. These are positive, individual, constructions stat- 
 ing what each thought are characterizations of the beliefs 
 and practices held by the people whom they served. 
 
 John James Harper on "Beliefs of Disciples" : 
 
 1. We hold to the name Christian Churches, (Dis- 
 ciples of Christ) , or Churches of Christ. 
 
 2. We accept the Bible, Divinely given, as our 
 only and sufficient rule of faith and practice ; we are 
 opposed to human productions serving as tests of 
 fellowship. We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God, and in His supreme authority as Lord of all. We 
 submit that all Christians may best unite on this uni- 
 versal principle. 
 
 3. We believe in the Holy Spirit and heartily rec- 
 ognize His perpetual agency in converting sinners, 
 but we repudiate all theories of the Holy Spirit's op- 
 eration which rule out the Word of God as instrumen- 
 tal to conversion. Faith is Christ we believe comes by 
 hearing (or reading) the Word of God, and to be 
 effective must be strong, active, full, issuing in overt 
 acts of obedience, in loving service to Jesus. 
 
 4. We teach that all responsible persons are sin- 
 ners and need to come to that repentance which 
 changes life, and leads the faithful to final salvation 
 through the "One Mediator", Jesus Christ. 
 
THE CAUSE 
 
 23 
 
 5. We require before witnessses a solemn confes- 
 sion of faith in Christ, before the respective admin- 
 istration of the ordinance of baptism; this confes- 
 sion rightly given by the individual, is expressive of 
 his loving intention to serve Him. It must be under- 
 stood that in these statements there is no compulsive 
 relevance, no ultimate authority, as applies to an 
 individual soul, save that which the enternal Spirit 
 of Truth through His everlasting Word, sanctions 
 for one's voluntary acceptance thereof. 
 
 6. We hold that baptism is an immersion in water 
 of a believing penitent person into the name of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It can only be valid 
 for that person when done in the consistently strong 
 faith and deep penitence which has truly led him to 
 it. The water is but a means chosen by Christ, to 
 test his loyalty; by His blood only are we cleansed 
 from sin. There is no virtue or merit in the water, 
 except as the divinely-appointed symbol of the ap- 
 propriation of His blood. 
 
 7. We hold that when a person by faith based up- 
 on an intelligent conception of the Gospel, turns to 
 Christ, genuinely, heartily, in faith, and in life, it 
 may then be said of him that he is converted to Christ 
 by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel as a means. 
 
 Joseph Henry Foy on "Practices of Disciples" : 
 
 (1) "That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," 
 is the essential article of faith among Disciples, for 
 believing, penitent, persons coming to them for bap- 
 tism and church membership. This as well under- 
 stood among Disciples includes not only a renuncia- 
 tion of whatever has been wrong in the past life of 
 the confessor, but also his unreserved commitment to 
 God to be built up anew after the glorious model left 
 us in the character of Jesus Christ. 
 
 (2) In harmony with the custom of the Primitive 
 Church they uniformly practice immersion as the 
 only scriptural action of baptism. 
 
 (3) They observe the Lord's Supper, in connec- 
 tion with other acts of worship, on every first day of 
 the week, and regard this solemn feast as open to the 
 enjoyment of all believers in Christ. 
 
 (5) Respecting church government, they conform 
 to the congregational polity, and the "ministry" is 
 
24 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 composed of bishops (or elders), deacons, and evan- 
 gelists. 
 
 (5) Their conventions, assemblies, State meetings, 
 etc., are not legislative but deliberative bodies, and 
 are held solely for co-operative work. 
 
 (6) The Disciples began their movement with an 
 earnest plea for Christian union, and they have con- 
 tinued to urge that plea to the present time. They 
 continue, therefore cordially to invite all Christians 
 to unite with them on the pure word of God. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS 
 
 Wilson village grew apace and in 1853 had a total of 
 115 persons listed for poll tax. It then had four dry 
 goods stores, three groceries at which alcoholic beverages 
 were sold, and five turpentine stills in operation. The 
 two hotels were those of A. J. Battle, and Major Gay, 
 (Adams Hotel). About these hostelries, visiting Evan- 
 gelist, Dr. John T. Walsh said : "Neither of them have 
 a bar to supply their customers with ardent spirits, and 
 yet both houses are liberally patronized." A. J. Battle, 
 after a distinguished career in another communion, had 
 united with the Disciples at Rountree, Pitt County, N. C. 
 As briefed from the old Rountree book : 
 
 May 22, 1852. Preaching by Elder A. J. Battle 
 from Rom. 6:14. Conference opened by John P. 
 Dunn, moderator. A. J. Battle presented himself 
 desiring to unite with us as a member and minister 
 of the gospel, and was received. He made statement 
 of his position, and reasons for applying, and read 
 documents to confirm what he had said. All proving 
 satisfactory, resolved : That Elder Battle be received 
 in full fellowship. Right hand of friendship extend- 
 ed. He has full authority to preach and perform all 
 official duties of the ministry of the order of the 
 Disciples of the Bethel Conference. 
 
 Battle lived in nearby Greenville, N. C. for a time, 
 preaching frequently at Rountree, but next year as re- 
 corded at Rountree: "March 26, 1853. It was moved 
 and granted that Bro. A. J. Battle have a letter of Dis- 
 mission in order to join the brethren at Wilson." This 
 anticipated by a few months the formal start of the 
 initial Disciple group at Wilson. 
 
 Dr. John Tomline Walsh, (Feb. 15, 1816-Aug. 7, 1886), 
 had received his M.D. at the Eclectic Medical College of 
 Pa., at Philadelphia, in 1848, and had later taught Anat- 
 omy and Physiology at that institution. He became a 
 
26 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 Virginia Disciple evangelist, and in March, 1852, located 
 in North Carolina. This was in response to an insistent 
 call by leaders in this State for a sorely needed qualified 
 recruitment. His residence at Wilson was apparently 
 first designed, but could not be effected. Albeit he was 
 the first in cooperation with Battle to hold a revival there, 
 "embracing the third Lord's Day in August," 1853. 
 Moreover, beginning in June, 1853, he edited the first 
 Disciple periodical of the State entitled "The Christian 
 Friend'' and bearing the Wilson date line for its first 
 five months. In this Walsh reported the Wilson revival, 
 which he said "resulted in the baptism of ten persons, 
 five husbands and their wives." Further : "We have or- 
 ganized a small church here which meets in the lower 
 room of the Masonic Hall ; and may God grant that this 
 little body may multiply and become a thousand." 
 
 The five couples in this new local fellowship were those 
 of A. J. Battle, Richard Fryar, John T. Daniels, J. F. 
 Moore, and R. L. Ward. These attending at various times 
 represented the church from the time of its enrollment in 
 the Disciples' Annual State Meetings at Wheat Swamp, 
 Oct. 13-15, 1853, until its "erasure" from this roll at the 
 Farmville gathering, Oct. 8-11, 1857. The Wilson group 
 never exceeded 11 in number, who ceased formal activity 
 when no place was available for their worship. Battle 
 who was in finanical toils much of his life could not sus- 
 tain guaranty of a hall. He reported : "I preached for the 
 little band until we had to give up the Masonic room, 
 which is now occupied as a school room. We then moved 
 to Temperance Hall until their meetings conflicted with 
 my appointments to preach there. We very much need 
 a house of worship here, and have been contemplating to 
 build one, but at present we are all too poor to do much 
 toward it." 
 
 Battle died in 1870. Before then, three preaching col- 
 leagues had come; Foy in 1860, and Hines and Moye in 
 1865. These local preachers and visiting itinerants led 
 Disciple worship in the Courthouse or in the home of 
 Richard Fryar, until it was sold. They followed the 
 gleam and dreamed of a "whitening" of the harvest. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS 
 
 27 
 
 The Central Christian Cooperation, a district project of 
 the Disciples, later called Hookerton Union, was organized 
 May 18, 1870. Chiefly inspired by Dr. Walsh and Dr. 
 Frank W. Dixon, a dedicated Christian layman of Greene 
 County, it became alive with missionary spirit. Within 
 a year it had in hand over $500, half of which was desig- 
 nated for a three-months' service by an evangelist in 
 eastern N. C, the beginning of which was to be at Wilson. 
 Dixon for the Union wrote to Virgil Angelo Wilson of 
 Bethania, N. C, in Feb. 1871, giving him the call, and 
 urging him to begin as soon as expedient. The evan- 
 gelist accepted and dated the revival effort to start at 
 Wilson on March 12, 1871. His letter indicated the ap- 
 proach of a modest, consecrated man. Said he : "I doubt 
 not that Wilson is a hard place. We must sow in hope. 
 I can only do the best I can as a laborer ; the increase is 
 the business of God." 
 
 His style of preaching was original, conversational, 
 magnetic. He reasoned and exhorted continually from 
 literal Bible passages, which as he walked up and down 
 in the aisles he would ask one by one of his auditors to 
 read respectively and then he would quote the same from 
 memory. This direct, personalized, and Biblicized pres- 
 entation of an undoubted gospel was impressive in its 
 effects. Among others it won Willis Napoleon Hackney 
 and Robert J. Taylor, both of whom he baptized. This 
 teaching evangelism went on intermittently at Wilson for 
 47 days. Then on Thursday, April 27, 1871, the congre- 
 gation with 17 charter members was organized. Serving 
 as elders, were: Hines and Moye; as deacons, Taylor 
 and Hackney. 
 
 Attainment of a due perspective of the time and place 
 here concerned requires some standardized statistical 
 accounting. The census of 1870 credited Wilson with a 
 population of 1036. A gazetteer of the period called it 
 "a thriving agricultural place with three newspapers." 
 People of Wilson County numbered 12,258; Total cash 
 value of its farms, $1,159,600; the year's products, $828,- 
 264; manufactures, $247,616. Twenty-six merchants 
 were in the County, of whom 13 were in Wilson. The 
 
28 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 town also had 6 physicians, 6 lawyers, and 5 manufac- 
 turers. Facts bearing on living costs were announced in 
 1872 by the Chief of the National Bureau of Statistics in 
 Washington, D. C. Some items in his statement of North 
 Carolina averages: wheat flour, $9.50 per barrel; milk, 
 seven cents per quart; eggs, thirteen cents per dozen; 
 rent on four-room tenements, $6.06 per month ; six rooms, 
 $8.56; board for men, $3.40 per week; for women, $2.90. 
 Disparity in the last bracket is not explained, being rele- 
 gated perhaps to the freedoms of a chivalric society. 
 
 Already sketched is Willis Napoleon Hackney, one of 
 the aforementioned seventeen charter members. The 
 three preachers, Hines, Moye, and Taylor, also on the 
 charter roll, are to be more adequately presented in a 
 collation on the 22 Disciple pastors at Wilson, (First), 
 for the period, 1871 to 1962. This leaves 13 signers of 
 the original covenant for accounting as follows : 
 
 i. Mrs. Amos Johnston Battle, (nee Margaret Hearne 
 Parker), "received by commendation," was the daughter 
 of Weeks Parker and Sabra Irwin Parker. She had nine 
 children, five sons and four daughters. Of these, Kate 
 married Joseph Henry Foy; George, Confederate soldier 
 was killed in the battle of Seven Pines ; and Jesse Mercer 
 was the youngest child. Her husband, the evangelist, 
 Amos Johnston Battle, reported that for the year ending 
 Nov. 1, 1856, his entire income from preaching was 
 $319.90. She kept boarders. For awhile they lived on 
 the Walnut Hill farm three miles north of Wilson near 
 Toisnot swamp and close to the Wilmington and Weldon 
 R. R. Mrs. Battle outlived her husband 17 years, going 
 to St. Louis, Mo., in 1878, to live with her son, Jesse, 
 where she died Jan. 4, 1887. 
 
 Her son Jesse said of her : 
 
 When she was young she had red hair. When I 
 first knew her as mother her hair was streaked with 
 white. Her face was very pleasant. She was reserv- 
 ed but kind and considerate to all; amiable at all 
 times and could seldom be thrown off her usual com- 
 posure. Her benevolence was well recognized ; the 
 
THE BEGINNINGS 
 
 29 
 
 first one to be consulted in trouble. She lived in the 
 presence of the unseen and her devotion to her reli- 
 gion, made her a great source of consolation. She 
 delighted in having a peaceful home, and was a liv- 
 ing example of the highest type of womanhood. 
 
 2. Jesse Mercer Battle, (Nov. 10, 1850-Sept. 16, 1914), 
 "received by baptism", in 1867. He was born in Wilson. 
 He related that in the bitter reconstruction year, 1866, 
 at the age of 16 he taught school, and "collected in all, 
 $17.65", for his "five months' work". He married Laura 
 Elizabeth Lee of Clayton, N. C. He was an early light- 
 ning-rod agent in the Carolinas and Georgia, having 
 romantic experience. Later with his brother, Cullen, 
 they conducted a pharmacy in Wilson. He said : "We sold 
 out our drug store in October, 1875, and moved to St. 
 Louis". There he became a pharmaceutical capitalist 
 creating and marketing a number of formulas including 
 the lucrative Bromidia. After 1882 in partnership with 
 Joseph Joshua Lawrence the firm, "Battle and Company 
 Chemists' Corporation," established headquarters there 
 with branch offices in America and distant lands. His 
 "own building" in St. Louis, 1911, was at 2001 Locust 
 St. He said in concluding an autobiographical account: 
 "If my life has been an inspiration to others and my 
 memory shall be a benediction to those who come after 
 me; then I shall not have lived in vain." 
 
 3. Joseph J. Bynum, "received by letter from Anti- 
 och", (Farmville). 
 
 4. Mrs. Willis Napoleon Hackney, (nee Orpah Brown) , 
 "received by commendation." She was from Tuckahoe 
 Church in Jones County, N. C. She gave the first "Pres- 
 ident's Home", at Atlantic Christian College. 
 
 5. Mrs. Mary M. Hearne, "received by letter", from 
 Antioch, (Farmville). 
 
 6. Mrs. Robert Williams Hines, (1836-1906), (nee 
 Sarah Roxanna Jarman), "by letter" from Corinth 
 Church, Pitt County, N. C. She was of a Tuckahoe 
 Christian Church family, Jones County, N. C, daughter 
 
30 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 of Furnifold H. Jarman, and Mary Polly Brown Jarman, 
 (died April 28, 1880) , and granddaughter of Emanuel and 
 Sarah Jarman. The father of Sarah Roxanna, (Mrs. 
 Hines), was a brother of John Jarman, (1816-1850), 
 Disciple pioneer preacher, founder of Tuckahoe. The 
 mother of Sarah Roxanna, the aforementioned Mary 
 Polly Brown, had mental capacity beyond the ordinary. 
 It is said that upon her returning from a preaching serv- 
 ice she could repeat the sermon from memory. Her sister 
 Leah Brown married Dr. Cyrus Thompson, prominent 
 Onslow County physician. Another sister, Nancy Brown, 
 married Joseph Brock Kinsey, (parents of the founder 
 of Kinsey Seminary). 
 
 On Oct. 27, 1853, Sarah Roxanna Jarman married 
 Robert Williams Hines, (Dec. 11, 1830-June 23, 1906). 
 These were parents of James Williams Hines, (July 7, 
 1858-Feb. 13, 1928), benefactor of Atlantic Christian 
 College, and Alice Johnston Hines. 
 
 7. Dr. Robert W. King, "by letter" from Corinth, Pitt 
 County, N. C. He was one of the six physicians in Wil- 
 son in 1867. 
 
 8. John L. Kitchin, "by letter" from Antioch, Pitt 
 County, N. C. 
 
 9. Mrs. John L. (Lucy A.) Kitchin, "by letter" from 
 Antioch, Pitt County, N. C. 
 
 10. Joseph Joshua Lawrence, "by commendation". He 
 was born Jan. 28, 1&36, of English descent, in Edgecombe 
 County, N. C. His fourth-removed paternal grandfather 
 came to America in 1642. The subject of this sketch was 
 the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett Barrow Lawrence. His 
 mother was a daughter of Judge Jesse Cooper Knight. 
 In 1868, Joseph Joshua Lawrence edited the first daily 
 newspaper to appear in Goldsboro, N. C, named "Daily 
 Rough Notes". In Wilson on May 3, 1859 he married 
 Josephine Edwards, daughter of Col. Benjamin F. Ed- 
 wards of Greene County, N. C. He was a captain in the 
 C.S.A. ; afterward practicing medicine and with the Bat- 
 tle brothers conducted a drug store in Wilson. This only 
 
THE BEGINNINGS 
 
 31 
 
 provided a precarious living, so he located in St. Louis, 
 whence fortune beckoned him. There in 1873 he founded 
 the flourishing "Medical Brief", which in 1904 "reputedly 
 had the largest circulation and was financially the most 
 prosperous medical publication in the world." He de- 
 veloped the formula for Listerine which brought him 
 great wealth. His drug firm had outlets in England, 
 France and India. In addition to his St. Louis property 
 he owned a Fifth Ave. residence in New York City. 
 
 Josephus Daniels who had been a fellow-townsman of 
 Lawrence in their Wilson days wrote editorially about 
 him in his News and Observer of May 16, 1929. He noted 
 that "after the disbursement of several million dollars 
 from the Lawrence estate, there was still between seven 
 and eleven million dollars" for the executors' distribution 
 which was then being concluded. This said Daniels, 
 "reads like romance." A sketch in the National Cyclo- 
 pedia of American Biography, James T. White and Com- 
 pany, N. Y., 1904, declares that Lawrence was "noted for 
 his hopeful view of things, his universal good humor and 
 for his practical business ability, which are qualities 
 rarely combined in one person." 
 
 11. Mrs. Moses Tyson Moye, (nee Penelope E. White- 
 head), "by baptism." 
 
 12. Mrs. William A. (Mary J.) Pearce, "by baptism". 
 In 1910 she and Robert J. Taylor were the only surviving 
 charter members who were then living in Wilson. 
 
 13. Charles Jenkins Rountree, "by letter" from Roun- 
 tree Church, Pitt County, N. C. He was a grandson of 
 Jesse and Winnifred Jenkins Rountree, and son of 
 Charles Jenkins and Susan Hart Rountree. His brothers 
 were: William, Samuel, Robert Hart, Jesse, and Francis 
 Marion; his sisters were: Hannah, Sallie, Winifred, 
 Susan, and Charity. He was proprietor of the only drug 
 store in Wilson in 1867. 
 
 At the church organization, April 27, 1871, the Charter 
 members signed the following covenant: 
 
 Whereas, it being the duty of all baptized believers 
 to assemble together on the Lord's day, to attend to 
 
32 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 the ordinances, worship, and the fellowship of the 
 Church, that the members thereof may attain to 
 greater perfection in the Christian life and laborers 
 together in the dissemination of the Gospel of God's 
 dear Son, therefore, we, the undersigned, having 
 faith in, and having been baptized into Christ, do 
 hereby covenant and agree to form ourselves into a 
 congregation of Christians, to be known as the 
 Church of Christ, at Wilson, binding ourselves to the 
 infallible Word of God, as our rule of faith and 
 practice, and guide, believing with the Apostle Paul 
 that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 
 and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
 tion, for instruction in righteousness, that the man 
 of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all 
 good works. II Timothy 3: 16-17. 
 
 There was a year's delay in the enrollment of the infant 
 Church at the "Annual Conference of Disciples of Christ 
 in North Carolina." At Kinston, however on Oct. 10-13, 
 1872, M. T. Moye and C. J. Rountree represented it in 
 person, reporting 20 members and their contribution of 
 $2 for the printing of the year's "Minutes". Later dele- 
 gates to their annual State Meeting until 1889, when 
 there was no further printing of the delegates' roster, 
 were: Dr. R. W. King, (clerk 1889), R. J. Taylor, Peter 
 E. Hines, George Hackney, (clerk after 1889), James 
 W. Hines, Joseph H. Foy, W. A. Barbara, Robert W. 
 Hines, W. W. Farmer, and Charles N. Nurney. 
 
 The 17 members of 1871 grew to 44 in 1889. These 
 19 inclusive years serve us here to bound the beginnings. 
 The amount of their giving to causes beyond the local 
 church had increased from a total of $2 given to the State 
 Meeting, 1871, to $32.16 in 1889, for foreign, home and 
 state missions; in addition the church gave $4.35 for 
 "educating preachers", its maiden offering to this vital 
 cause. M. T. Moye, their pastor was paid $200 for his 
 year's work, and upon their building had been expended 
 $440.75 during that and the preceding year. 
 
 Meanwhile their struggles for maintenance and growth 
 may be sensed from a contemporary statement. M. T. 
 Moye writing on July 22, 1882 said that for "the last 
 
THE BEGINNINGS 
 
 33 
 
 three or four years" some "transient Evangelists and 
 nomadic preachers" had visited Wilson and misrepresent- 
 ed the church afterward. By this reprehensible means 
 it was talked about that the church "evidenced a condition 
 of supineness bordering on decadence approaching disso- 
 lution." He would put on record, to refute this, "a plain 
 statement of its actual condition." 
 
 1. The church worships harmoniously each Lord's 
 Day with a commendable regular attendance. 
 
 2. Their prosperous Sunday School, regularly or- 
 ganized and officered, numbers 40 in average attend- 
 ance. Most of the members' children attend, also 
 other children whose families are not affiliated with 
 the congregation. 
 
 3. The meeting house is owned by the Disciples 
 and is debt-free. 
 
 4. There has been for several years no occasion 
 for summary discipline. 
 
 5. Deaths and removals have caused considerable 
 losses in membership, which in time will be replen- 
 ished. 
 
 6. The church then was at the point of calling an 
 "accredited preacher," (J. J. Harper). Meanwhile 
 there has been faithful service of officiating elders. 
 Moye concluded : "Permit me to say that whether in- 
 tended or otherwise it is both impolite and unjust to have 
 this church published to the world as demoralized, or 
 held together by the frail tenure of individual effort." 
 
 J. J. Harper coming to the pastorate in November, 
 1882, praised both Moye and P. E. Hines, his "efficient 
 and faithful coworkers," for having competently "taught" 
 the church, "both by precept and example." The com- 
 munity to which Harper was called was marked openly 
 and avowedly by a religious partisanship, and an en- 
 trenched anti-missionary tradition. He makes clear his 
 stand on these crucial issues in the following briefs : 
 
 Harper, the ecumenical : 
 
 Some seem to think that owning the name Disciple 
 gives them a passport to glory. It is my conviction 
 
34 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 that if beyond bearing the bare Christian name there 
 is no genuine love for sinners and saints; no sacri- 
 fice of time, talent, or money ; no sympathy, no self- 
 denial; no meek, trusting, working, persevering, 
 praying spirit; then the name Christian for such 
 person is worse than meaningless. I submit that 
 I am heartily loyal to our professed name and plea, 
 but while these are important they are but the index 
 that points to our work. It is one thing to be a strict 
 religious partisan, but it is quite another to be a 
 Christian indeed. 
 
 Harper the missionary : 
 
 Let us all contribute of our means to foreign mis- 
 sions. Let no one refuse, or offer an excuse or apol- 
 ogy. Remember this — an opposing church refusing 
 to give to this sacred cause is not a church of Christ 
 according to the New Testament. Also the preacher 
 who opposes or neglects foreign missions in his lead- 
 ership, is not a preacher of the gospel according to 
 the Great Commission. Likewise an individual who 
 wilfully withholds his support to world missions is 
 not a Christian according to the New Testament 
 standard. 
 
 Harper visiting the Wilson congregation in 1890, re- 
 ported: "I received a cordial welcome from every one 
 regardless of religious views. My pastorate here covering 
 a period of five years, 1882-1887, was one of the pleasant- 
 est of my experience." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE BUILDINGS 
 
 Is a specially consecrated house or shrine respectively 
 indispensable in worship? Evidently humanity through- 
 out time has responded with an amplified affirmative. 
 Hebrews had their Ark of the Covenant, and their adored 
 Temple. Jesus once honored significantly the latter in 
 His youth. Later when He prophesied its destruction His 
 hearers were dismayed and confused. Freely the Son of 
 God preached in synagogues and homes; likewise the 
 Apostle Paul. Yet the sermon on the mount was in the 
 open beside Gallilee, while the introduction of Christian- 
 ity to the west was at the Philippian "riverside." Early 
 preachers of "The Way" used synagogues and household 
 abodes, and when persecuted in Rome assembled in the 
 Catacombs, foretokening today's Christian sanctuaries 
 the world around. Albeit, worthy of open-minded re- 
 study is the Lord's word to the woman at the well of 
 Samaria, and Paul's philosophical speech at Athens. 
 These voiced for Christians a fundamental devotional 
 principle for all time. Articulated is the worshipper's 
 precious freedom from inflexibly assigned place, or 
 position, or other such factor of finite planning in assur- 
 ing the Father's acceptance. It follows that crowned 
 examples of divine services have been in jails, on scaf- 
 folds, or in battle-swept no-man's-land. What matters 
 primarily and ineluctably in Christ-centered religion is 
 the believer's communion "in spirit and in truth" — 
 plenary qualification for the seeker of God. What a trans- 
 scendent refinement of an age-old worship pattern ! ! 
 
 Still a "Meetinghouse" is popularly regarded as a 
 proper exhibit, a concrete index of a particular people's 
 strength and faith. Wherefore in 1857 the initial Dis- 
 ciples at Wilson, not having their own building, nor 
 reasonable prospects therefor, had their Annual State 
 Meeting that year to "erase" their entry on the published 
 roll. Meanwhile two of their preachers, A. J. Battle and 
 
36 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 W. H. Hughart continued to reside there. These were 
 recruited ministerially before 1870 by P. E. Hines, M. T. 
 Moye, and J. H. Foy. Preaching was occasional in the 
 courthouse and after fourteen years the church was re- 
 activated. 
 
 Three months after the permanent organization on 
 April 27, 1871, a building site, then valued at $100, was 
 acquired by gift at the southwest corner of Goldsboro 
 and Vance Streets. The plat, 44 X 84 feet, was enlarged 
 by the purchase of March 19, 1873, and October 24, 1895, 
 yielding adjunctive room for the erection of their par- 
 sonage in 1898, and extension of educational rooms on the 
 west side of their brick building in 1908, at the expense of 
 $2800. A final facility at this site acquired August 1, 
 1913, completed the area for their $50,000 religious edu- 
 cation plant opened 25 years later, the parsonage having 
 been previously removed. As of record, this concentric 
 land-dimensional expansion had altogether, to this date, 
 {1938) , cost the church only $3502. They had the vision 
 to get progressively one compact lot adequate for oppor- 
 tune advance, and attractive in location. Their large 
 scale development for the growing church, one block 
 west, at the southwest corner of Tarboro and Vance 
 streets, is a romantic story of the 1950's and '60's. The 
 sixteen trustees representing Wilson Disciples, 1871 to 
 1959, when these various ground accessories were con- 
 veyed to them, were, in sequence: Peter E. Hines, Robert 
 J. Taylor, W. N. Hackney I, Moses T. Moye, W. W. 
 Farmer, George Hackney, C. N. Nurney, John B. Deans, 
 W. N. Hackney, II, T. J. Hackney, Sr., B. J. Forbes, A. D. 
 Shackelford, W. D. Adams, Sr., J. Ernest Paschall, W. D. 
 Adams, Jr., and Cecil B. Lamm. 
 
 In the original sanctuary, 1871-1898, according to a 
 widespread custom of the times, women sat on the right 
 side facing the preacher ; the men on the left. The pulpit 
 was in the center at the front of the rostrum raised in 
 the alcove by two steps from the common floor. Under 
 the pulpit was the baptistry flanked by two dressing 
 rooms. First to be baptized at the Disciples' new equip- 
 ment was Kate Barnes. Prior immersions had been in 
 
THE BUILDINGS 
 
 37 
 
 the nearby Toisnot stream, or in the Missionary Baptist 
 facility kindly proffered. The choir was accommodated at 
 the preacher's left. There had to be occasional repairs 
 to the building. Once services were "suspended for two 
 months" to meet this necessity, costing over $400, after 
 which their pastor, C. W. Howard "filled his regular 
 fourth Sunday appointment" with them on August 26, 
 1888. His Wilson salary that year was $100, and he lived 
 then at Fountain Hill in Greene County. In 1897 the old 
 church was valued at $4500. It was removed across the 
 railroad down Vance Street, and remodelled for an apart- 
 ment in which negroes now live. 
 
 The brick church to serve Wilson Disciples 1898-1954 
 was taking shape. Pastor B. H. Melton on April 1, 1898, 
 reported : 
 
 Our church lot is almost covered with all kinds of 
 fine lumber. Brick and sand and other building ma- 
 terial is being collected rapidly. Contractor John B. 
 Deans is completely master of the situation. He 
 will push the work as rapidly as is consistent with 
 first-class architecture. Every member of the church 
 is expected to contribute. Let the offering represent 
 real sacrifice. I have been appointed chairman of the 
 begging committee. Very thankful for the honor I 
 have already proceeded to business. Brother W. W. 
 Farmer lives six miles in the country. We have put 
 him down for $500 for our new church. Our ladies 
 have paid for the new organ and have about $35 on 
 the carpet. Our pews will be made in Grand Rapids, 
 Michigan. Last Sunday every seat at the Christian 
 church including the gallery was taken. A deep in- 
 terest was manifested. 
 
 Said a correspondent in the Baltimore Christian Trib- 
 une, "The Wilson brethren are preparing for a great day 
 of dedication on September 25, 1898, with B. A. Abbott, 
 minister of Baltimore's Harlem Avenue Disciples as guest 
 speaker." Briefed here is the report of the dedication of 
 the new plant which appeared in The Wilson Advance, 
 (weekly), of September 29, 1898: 
 
 It was an ideal day for the dedicatory service. 
 
 The church was packed; every seat was taken and 
 
38 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 people stood about the doors. The special singing by 
 Mr. Bobbitt, Porofessor Mangum, and Misses Dewey 
 and Rodgers had a profound effect. Introduced by 
 Pastor Melton, Rev. B. A. Abbott, an exceedingly 
 pleasant speaker gave the morning sermon ; his sub- 
 ject, "The Labor of Love." His attractive person- 
 ality gave much power to his words ; the atmosphere 
 was suffused with the spirit of sacrifice and love. 
 
 Observance of The Lord's Supper at the church 
 was in the afternoon. Visiting ministers, D. H. 
 Petree and W. G. Johnston presided. There followed 
 immediately a business meeting of the official board 
 to dispose of the marginal building obligation of 
 $806 yet due, that the church might be debt-free at 
 the dedication that evening. This was sacrificially 
 but heartily done until not a dollar remained unpaid. 
 It was a great victory and gave real joy. 
 
 Many were turned away for lack of room at the 
 evening service. Then in his eloquent manner Rev. 
 Abbott in his dedicatory address dwelt upon the effect 
 of the Christian religion in the world. There fol- 
 lowed a summing up of the successful building 
 effort by Rev. Mr. Melton. The plant had cost 
 $9,000; of this the friendly citizens of Wilson had 
 given $800 ; the congregation contributing the other 
 $8,200. He said that $10 had been contributed toward 
 a parsonage; its time of building indefinite. As he 
 faced the vast gathering in a building of which any 
 congregation might well feel proud and every cent 
 paid on it, Mr. Melton said that it was one of the 
 happiest times in his whole life. In an impressive 
 ceremony the keys of the church were then presented 
 to Professor Joseph Kinsey, chairman of the board, 
 with the request that it be locked against all that was 
 wrong, but thrown open to all that was pure. It was 
 a day that will be long remembered. 
 
 As furnished it was valued at $12,000 at its erection; 
 its appraisal with accrued improvements was $75,000 in 
 1927. 
 
 During the 27 years that their little frame church had 
 stood, Wilson Disciples had not entertained one of their 
 State Conventions. But with their new building, a goodly 
 host to it they were on Oct. 24-27, 1899. 'At this J. J. 
 Harper presided, giving their annual address on the 
 second day, "full of sound and practical forethought." 
 
THE BUILDINGS 
 
 39 
 
 The first day had been "occupied with the C.W.B.M. ses- 
 sions — a good day for the sisters." Again it came in 1902 
 to the Wilson church a month after the opening of At- 
 lantic Christian College. Pastor Melton had announced it 
 the preceding July : "We shall prepare for 500 delegates 
 and visitors. Our large church building has just been 
 murescoed throughout. It is very pretty and we have 
 arranged enlarged seating capacity. We are anxious for 
 the Disciples from the mountains to the sea to come in 
 large numbers and enjoy the Convention." Others of 
 these State Conventions have been in Wilson ; in 1909 ; 
 1917; 1925; 1936; 1944; (Centennial); and lastly in 
 1954, (new Gothic sanctuary). 
 
 State Secretary W. Graham Walker reported in his 
 Carolina Evangel early in 1908: " The Church at Wil- 
 son is enjoying a boom." J. C. Caldwell was then pastor. 
 Several class rooms to meet church school necessities, 
 structurally joined to the sanctuary had been provided 
 and opened on January 12, 1908. "The improvement was 
 much needed," said Walker. With the passing time re- 
 pairs were necessary. Services were suspended for a 
 month in the summer of 1928, to permit general repair 
 of the plant, to have it so reconditioned as to add greatly 
 to its service. "Walls and roof are to get special atten- 
 tion. The painting Christ in Gethsemane which has left 
 deep impress on many worshippers is to be retouched that 
 it may be more impressive." 
 
 The local minister, Ben Melton, married Eva Kinsey, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kinsey on July 3, 1900, 
 J. J. Harper and I. L. Chestnutt officiating. A parsonage 
 was needed. Already provided next door was the vacant 
 site. Ten days after the wedding it was observed : "the 
 building is going up at a good gait and will be ready for 
 the minister and his bride; house will cost about $1800." 
 This two-story preacher's home was later occupied by 
 the families of J. Boyd Jones, J. C. Caldwell, W. S. Bul- 
 lard, S. P. Spiegel, Richard Bagby, J. E. Stuart, and John 
 Barclay, (1924) . It served from 1925 to 1938-as a church 
 school extension.- Replacing it on the site is the religious 
 education building with its beautiful Carolina Room. Its 
 
40 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 opening was on September 12, 1938, John Barclay, pastor. 
 Thomas Herman was the local architect, with A. F. 
 Wickes, consultant, from the Brotherhood's staff at In- 
 dianapolis. On October 24, 1937, the congregation had 
 authorized the construction. S. W. Richardson was chair- 
 man of the building committee and had recommended that 
 the debt not exceed $10,000 at completion of the structure. 
 The plan was followed, and the Woman's Council of the 
 local church paid a fifth of the $10,000. A. D. Shackel- 
 ford was treasurer of the building fund and with W. N. 
 Hackney II, and W. D. Adams, Sr. served as trustee. It 
 was said : "much credit" was due Shackelford, who was 
 "likewise appointed by the church to handle the new sanc- 
 tuary building program." 
 
 The Wilson Daily Times said of the educational plant : 
 "It is one of the finest, most complete, and adequate 
 structures of its kind in. North Carolina. Mr. George 
 Hackney, chairman of the church board, praised highly 
 the women of the church who first started the idea, mak- 
 ing the initial gift of $1,000 toward its cost in 1931. It 
 stands to-day as a symbol of the kind of values which are 
 revered by Wilson people without which a community can 
 not achieve greatness." 
 
 Pastor T. T. Swearingen preached the dedication ser- 
 mon for this plant on February 13, 1944. The formal 
 presentation was by the board chairman, J. Ernest Pas- 
 chall, and the response by Sadie Greene. Swearingen 
 said : 
 
 This day marks a significant milestone in our his- 
 tory. Our education building is now free of debt 
 and represents an investment of $50,000, plus an 
 untold portion of sacrifice from both individuals and 
 groups. Each of these may now feel a deep sense of 
 satisfaction and joy. It was completed through that 
 inner power which sees things through. Now we will 
 go forward to the building of a new and beautiful 
 sanctuary. 
 
 On April 15, 1945, the Woman's Council of the Church 
 contributed $3200 toward the "more than $30,000" which 
 had then been assembled in cash and pledges for the pro- 
 
THE BUILDINGS 
 
 41 
 
 posed new sanctuary over the preceding thirteen months. 
 Growth of the building fund was steady, to be accelerated 
 after May, 1950, when the home site of George Hackney 
 (1854-1948) was offered as a gift by his daughter Bess, 
 (Mrs. W. D. Adams, Sr.), as a location for the new 
 church. On June 4, 1950, the congregation gratefully 
 accepted this site motivated by "love and affection," as 
 the deed records it. The site, a block west of the original 
 plant, is at the southwest corner of Tarboro and Vance 
 Streets. The lot is spacious. Street frontages are each 
 nearly 140 feet, with depth of more than 215. 
 
 The Eightieth Anniversary of the church was observed 
 on April 27, 1951, when "the erection of a new sanctuary 
 was considered." The decision: "after declining the con- 
 tractor's lowest bid of $371,000, other bids are to be pre- 
 sented, which may, perhaps, not run so high in the hun- 
 dreds of thousands." At the congregational business 
 meeting on September 16, 1951, the latest bid reported 
 was $245,000 to cover construction, heating, plumbing, 
 and wiring. If stone was used and steeple included the 
 bid would be increased to $289,042. Preparing for due 
 execution of the task a drive for $100,000 was approved 
 with Vance T. Forbes and W. D. Adams, Jr. to lead in a 
 swift fund-raising canvass to be concluded by the follow- 
 ing October 1. Accordingly the Building Committee, 
 Harold Seburn, chairman, made a fully detailed report 
 on October 14. He said that for the projected operation 
 there were "total assets" of $197,562.27. Building costs 
 had more than doubled since 1948. Moreover, added 
 Seburn, "the end is not yet in sight." The specifications 
 were for a building 147 X 70 feet, as compared with the 
 110 X 45 feet in the sanctuary of 1898. It would set back 
 fifty feet from Tarboro Street, and forty-five from 
 Vance. These offsets would "eliminate considerable traf- 
 fic noise." Beyond accounted assets at that time, there was 
 needed $86,000. But since "one hundred or more fami- 
 lies" were yet to be solicited, he expected "to hold our 
 borrowing to less than $75,000." The committee, whose 
 report was accepted, expressed strong faith in the "ulti- 
 mate success of the venture." 
 
42 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 Necessary for the project was the approval of the 
 National Production Authorization of Washington, D. C. 
 It came on March 20, 1952. Ground breaking was on May 
 18, 1952. Turning "the first spade of dirt" was Pastor 
 Jarman; Harold Seburn, Building Committee chairman, 
 standing beside him. Other representative participants 
 were: Goodwin Moore for Youth; Mrs. W. R. Raper, 
 children's division; T. L. Anthony, men; and Mrs. B. J. 
 Forbes, women. 
 
 At the annual business meeting, September 28, 1952, 
 there was accepted with "deepest gratitude" the gift of 
 W. D. Adams, Sr. consisting of the building known as 
 Adams Chapel. It is conjoined to the new sanctuary, of 
 which it is a "miniature"; seating capacity, 100. It is 
 equipped with Baldwin Electric organ and a set of MAAS 
 tower chimes. Also accepted for the sanctuary, most 
 thankfully at this time, was the forthcoming gift of the 
 three-manual Moller organ by Mr. and Mrs. Willis N. 
 Hackney, II. 
 
 Cornerstone laying ceremonies were on the afternoon 
 of October 20, 1952. Ministers participating with Pastor 
 Jarman, were : T. P. Inabinnett, D. Ray Lindley, and the 
 guest speaker, T. T. Swearingen, who gave special recog- 
 nition to those whose sacrifice made the day possible. 
 "We grow up taking advantage of what has been done for 
 us," he said. Again: amid other specific purposes "the 
 church exists to teach self -discipline ; honesty for which 
 there is no substitute; courtesy; courage; and compas- 
 sion — spiritual values that hold life together." Pastor 
 Jarman, Harold Seburn, building committee chairman, 
 and Bruce W. Riley, board chairman, "performed the 
 historic cornerstone laying ceremony." A "small copper 
 box" was inlaid containing appropriate memorabilia 
 along with the cherished media from the old box of 1898. 
 Honored was the presence of a large group of living des- 
 cendants of the seventeen charter members who were 
 mostly of the fourth and fifth generations. Among the 
 day's attendants who had also been present at the like 
 ceremony fifty -four years before, were, Mrs. Bess Hack- 
 
THE BUILDINGS 
 
 43 
 
 ney Adams, Mrs. Effie Winstead Eames, Mrs. Minnie 
 Winstead Darden, Mrs. C. C. Rackley, Sr., Mrs. May 
 Hackney Richardson, Mrs. Martha Hackney Lee, Charles 
 Edward Winstead, G. I. Herring, James Hackney, J. B. 
 Batts, W. T. Holden, Mrs. William Vick, Mrs. B. F. Tug- 
 well, Mrs. W. D. Etheridge, and Mrs. E. L. Wynne. 
 
 Fifteen months later the opening sermon was preached 
 in the new edifice by Pastor Jarman. And on the next 
 Sunday, January 24, 1954, the dedication sermon was 
 preached by Gaines M. Cook, executive secretary of the 
 International Convention of the Christian Churches, 
 (Disciples of Christ). Pastor Jarman said: "God has 
 blessed us immeasurably. We enter here with a deepened 
 sense of humility and gratitude. Its stately spire and 
 commanding Gothic architecture call us to worship; its 
 sweeping arches expand our spirits; its broad aisles in- 
 vite us to communion; its inspiring chancel says 'lift 
 up your hearts' ; and in glad response we lift them to the 
 Lord." 
 
 Stated value of this unit of the builded ensemble is 
 $425,000. It has stain-glass memorial windows. Its seat- 
 ing capacity is 600. About it The North Carolina Christian 
 said : "It is the considered judgment of many persons that 
 the new Wilson church is not only a distinct credit to the 
 cause of the Disciples in the Wilson community but will 
 serve to ennoble the cause throughout the State." 
 
 "Building obligations having been paid in full" there 
 was a "Victory service" on December 7, 1958, led by 
 Pastor Jo. M. Riley. The guest speaker was Cecil A. 
 Jarman during whose ministry here, 1945-1955, the plant 
 had been planned and completed. Bruce W. Riley spoke 
 on the history of the building operations. The burgeon- 
 ing fund had grown from $78.96, fourteen years before. 
 More than a thousand persons had participated in the 
 triumphant giving. Others speaking were : Roger West- 
 moreland, A. D. Wenger, and Bernard C. Meece. A. D. 
 Shackelford, building fund treasurer, handed the mort- 
 gage bond to Vance T. Forbes, board chairman, and to- 
 gether they "lit the fire that burned it." 
 
44 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 At the coming of Pastor Riley it was decided at the 
 congregational "Brotherhood Dinner" on January 9, 1956, 
 to purchase a parsonage. For a period of thirty years 
 the church had not owned a preacher's home. Approved 
 was the buying of the Joe D. Wheeler home at 302 La- 
 fayette Drive for $19,000. It is about two miles from 
 the church. Financing it, $4,000 was allocated to this 
 property from the building fund, and $15,000 was bor- 
 rowed. It is indeed a far cry from their first parsonage 
 housing D. W. Davis, sixty-seven years ago. Davis' domi- 
 cile had been the home of Adrian Daniel, now removed 
 to eastern suburbs, having its original street number over 
 its front door. 
 
 An "historic decision," was reached on September 8, 
 1958. Within three months the church debt was to be 
 cleared. Wherefore, sensing the need for expanded 
 church school facilities the board recommended : "that an 
 Education Building Fund be established as soon as the 
 present indebtedness on the sanctuary is liquidated. 
 Every Sunday we are reminded again and again of the 
 desperate need of additional educational space." 
 
 Next door to the church on Tarboro Street was the de- 
 sirable apartment house property of C. C. Benton and 
 Sons. An option on this was taken on July 27, 1959, due 
 to the favorable report of the Expansion Planning Com- 
 mittee, J. Ernest Paschall, chairman. At a congrega- 
 tional meeting on August 16, 1959, the site was purchased 
 for $42,500. Its financing involved a secured loan of 
 $35,000 from the Atlantic Christian College endowment 
 funds. In the summer of 1960, consultant Charles J. 
 Betts from Indianapolis made comprehensive study of 
 the projected development, reporting favorably on the 
 adaptiveness of the acquired site. His sketch envisioned 
 a two-storied "brick structure" with varied details of 
 fitness and adequacy. The local architect, Atwood Skin- 
 ner was engaged by the church. At a church cabinet 
 meeting on February 26, 1961, he sketched a two-story 
 structure, containing 22,000 square feet. In this the 
 fellowship hall was planned to seat 350 at tables, or 400 
 
THE BUILDINGS 
 
 45 
 
 in assembly, and church school facilities were provided 
 for 600, equivalent to about one half of the prospective 
 church membership. 
 
 Seven months later, September 20, 1961, the Building 
 Committee, B. J. Forbes, chairman, presented revised 
 plans which were adopted by the congregation with "no 
 dissenting voice." These provided for 24,000 square feet 
 of floor space; the fellowship hall to be 72 X 46 feet; 
 overall cost, with furnishings to be about $325,000. The 
 hall, in addition to necessitated utilities, is expected to 
 house an inspiring array of treasured memorabilia con- 
 sisting of apt Discipliana. Accredited progress toward 
 consummating happily this expansion is registered in the 
 increasing resources consecrated to that end. Meanwhile 
 on their present buildings there is carried a total insur- 
 ance, (Institutional Plan), of $777,300. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE INGATHERINGS 
 
 Since the time of Barton Warren Stone on the Tran- 
 sylvania frontier the Disciples have had an enriched soul- 
 winning tradition. At Wilson's First Christian Church 
 their investment in evangelism is noteworthy. Extant 
 records, covering its history, 1871 to 1962, show that a 
 total of 2937 persons have been received into its local 
 membership. Its total resident and non-resident mem- 
 bers as of the latest registry in their International Con- 
 vention Year Book is 1189; the apparent loss in number, 
 1748. It is thus a 59.5 per cent loss over the ninety years. 
 This perhaps is typical as a studied unit in American 
 Protestantism. Certainly the losses by death during four 
 score and ten years would be naturally large. In this 
 case the losses by geographical removal seem to be in 
 greater proportion. Balanced migration may be as a 
 mirage. As an educational center for the Disciples for 
 two-thirds of a century, the Wilson Church has been sub- 
 jected to numerical fluctuation. Incidentally adhering to 
 a felicitous fellowship, a considerable part of a faculty 
 and students periodically come and go here in exigences 
 of time. Moreover, relevant precise figures must needs 
 be in abeyance. Some few years in the harvest of souls 
 do not appear; furthermore occasional clerical inaccu- 
 racies are of record. Nevertheless this compilation may 
 offer a significant view of the church's progress by acces- 
 sions over a period now approaching the century mark. 
 
 Obviously slow was the growth in the first decades. 
 The seventeen souls gathered and organized in the Virgil 
 Wilson meeting of 1871, had increased to but 23 in 1881 ; 
 and only to 43 in 1891. After this the tobacco auctions 
 assured here a greatening commercial center, and the 
 Kinsey Seminary came to be a marked stimulus to educa- 
 tion. These events matched with able church leadership, 
 tended to accelerate the Wilson Disciple roll to 107 in 
 1901. There was meticulous nineteenth century disci- 
 
THE INGATHERINGS 
 
 47 
 
 pline. Five persons were "excluded"; two in 1877, one 
 in 1881, and two in 1888. The old record books, some of 
 which are falling apart, do not deign to tell the causes of 
 these wayfaring declensions. It is evident that the gen- 
 eral decorum of the body throughout these off-beat pro- 
 cedures was characterized by compassion, peace, and 
 good will. 
 
 The many meetings here, each protracted to an extent, 
 mount to a formidable total. Some representative ac- 
 counts of them from original sources are given here. 
 
 During John Harper's pastorate, Edward Everett Or- 
 vis, (1826-1884), a native Pennsylvanian, who was then 
 minister of Kinston Disciples, was invited to conduct a 
 revival. He began at Wilson on July 22, 1883, delivering 
 seventeen discourses. Pastor Harper observed : 
 
 His sermons were plain, logical and strong, and we 
 trust results in removing much honest dislike of us 
 as a people, arising from misinformation concerning 
 our teaching. There were five additions, our accom- 
 plished organist being one of the number ; all capable 
 of making active, efficient and useful members. The 
 local Methodist pastor, Mr. Guinn, participated with 
 us on fifth Sunday evening ; he is liberal in his views, 
 of genial disposition, and deservedly popular. We 
 are under obligations to the people of Wilson, gen- 
 erally, irrespective of religious predilections for 
 many of the sweet civilities of life both before and 
 during this series of meetings. They are an intelli- 
 gent, generous, large-hearted, and whole-souled peo- 
 ple. 
 
 Wilson's Disciples truly ecumenical in spirit, have co- 
 operated in certain union revivals held infrequently in 
 the city. One came in the spring of 1892, while Robert 
 William Stancill was their minister. The Methodists, 
 Baptists, Presbyterians, and Disciples arranged for it to 
 hold forth in the local Planter's Warehouse, led by evan- 
 gelist, W. P. Fife. Elaborate preparations were made. 
 Timely appointment locally of representative functional 
 committees on finance, management, program, and music, 
 
48 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 were made to serve in duly coordinating and making 
 effective the united crusade. 
 
 Pastor Stancill's enthusiastic report: 
 A thousand souls met on the evening of March 20, 
 1892, at the opening in our Planter's Warehouse. It 
 was one of the grandest scenes since apostolic days. 
 Evangelist Fife's sermon text was John 11 :39. He 
 is earnest, sincere, and all aglow with the love of God. 
 He appeals to his audience to unite as did the early 
 Christians and work together to glorify God; he is 
 filled with the Word, impresses one that the Bible is 
 the only authority. This meeting will help remove 
 some of the stones that separate God's people. 
 
 Pastor Dennis Wrighter Davis began on May 19, 1895, 
 a home-force revival at Wilson. He intended to continue 
 it "three or four weeks", hoping "to have a large ingath- 
 ering." For the preceding year the church had been 
 without a pastor. Thus at the beginning, Davis said, 
 "most of the church seemed despondent," but soon "their 
 interest revived." Davis continued: 
 
 This congregation has had many dark days and dis- 
 appointments, but to-day she seems to have a bright 
 future, and we believe is destined to do a grand work 
 for Christ. I know of no church in North Carolina 
 with a purer membership than this one; only some 
 40 or 50, but most of their lives is in keeping with 
 the gospel. Because of a sick man next door to the 
 church, the meeting closed during its second week, 
 with many expressions of regret. There were six 
 baptisms and three transfers. 
 
 J. Boyd Jones located in the Wilson pastorate in 1902. 
 He reported that during the first three months in 1904 
 the church had received "about 90 additions." Jesse 
 James Haley, (March 18, 1851-April 7, 1924), native 
 Kentuckian, was then preaching at Seventh Street Chris- 
 tian Church, Richmond, Va. He was called for a twelve- 
 day's revival at Wilson in March, 1904. Pastor Jones 
 observed : "It was a feast to hear Haley's strong, logical 
 sermons. He uses none of the modern methods of rousi- 
 
THE INGATHERINGS 
 
 49 
 
 fying, but preaches the Gospel in an earnest way. There 
 were three additions." 
 
 The Richard S. Martin Evangelistic Family of Chicago, 
 111., closed a series of Disciple revivals in eastern North 
 Carolina in the spring of 1905. They reported a total of 
 300 accessions to the five churches involved. Meetings 
 were held at Wilson, Kinston, Greenville, Washington, 
 and Rocky Mount. Special result : a new church of thirty 
 charter members was organized at Rocky Mount on May 
 28, 1905. A correspondent said: "The gospel was pre- 
 sented in plain, penetrating, and persuasive words. At 
 no place was the building large enough to seat all who 
 wished to attend. The cause of Christ was in every way 
 strengthened by visit, voice, and violin, of this whole 
 Martin family of talented and devoted workers." 
 
 In the Wilson pastorate, the two longest terms of serv- 
 ice were those of John Barclay, seventeen years, and Cecil 
 Albert Jarman, ten. As of record, throughout the tenure 
 of the first, there were 898 additions, while those added 
 by the latter during his term numbered 677. In each of 
 four different years, more than 100 persons were receiv- 
 ed: 102 in 1924; 128 in 1948; 102 in 1954; and 108 in 
 1958. These figures indicate an inflow from home-insti- 
 tuted crusades, except 1924, the year of the Ham-Ramsey 
 union revival. Pastor Barclay arrived August 24, 1924, 
 after the warehouse meeting of the union revivalists in 
 Wilson had closed. The former minister, James Edward 
 Stuart had left on May 15. Engaged for the interval 
 was the ministry of Mr. and Mrs. Paul T. Ricks. It was 
 announced : 
 
 They threw themselves enthusiastically into the evan- 
 gelistic campaign. As a climax more than a hundred 
 have come into this Church. The entire membership 
 has rallied ; all departments show increased interest. 
 Sixty have been baptized ; the church school has more 
 than doubled in attendance. The increase shows evi- 
 dence of permanence. Thus Paul Ricks and his good 
 wife have grasped the entire situation so well that 
 they have been requested to continue until September 
 and assist the new pastor in his beginning. 
 
50 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 With Pastor Barclay the Church in 1925 instituted the 
 annual "Palm-Sunday-To-Easter home force devotional 
 evangelistic meetings." These continued for eight con- 
 secutive years with marked success. In December, 1936, 
 he and an assisting layman "contacted more than a hun- 
 dred non-coming members and results were being seen 
 already." 
 
 Pastor Swearingen began here in January, 1942. At 
 the first he said there were "350 homes in the church mem- 
 bership and that in five months he hoped to call in each 
 of them." Then in March, alone, he chalked up 119 of 
 such visits. In November 1944 a city-wide survey in 
 Wilson showed 392 persons unattached but "expressing 
 a preference for the Christian Church." Three years 
 later, Newton J. Robeson, Raleigh pastor, conducted for 
 Wilson their "visitation evangelism project" using 60 
 local laymen for four nights to carry it out. A member- 
 ship development committee was appointed and charged 
 to promote fellowship and enlistment of new members in 
 church activities, and to aid the sick and shut-ins. "It 
 was brought out" at the church board meeting on Novem- 
 ber 10, 1947, "That there were 140 families in the church 
 completely inactive." Chairman J. Ernest Paschall ap- 
 pointed the following "Committee To Study Inactive 
 Membership" : A. D. Shackelford, chairman, B. B. Plyler, 
 Jr., Jasper Davis, Herbert W. Taylor, and B. J. Forbes. 
 
 With Pastor Jarman, Wilson led in the State's Disciple 
 records for number of accessions in the pre-Easter evan- 
 gelism of 1948, reporting total of 116, made up of 58 
 baptisms and the same number of transfers. This was 
 preceded by visitation in 294 homes by 45 volunteer lay- 
 men who found 110 persons to "signify their intention to 
 become members of this church." Adopted had been the 
 church goal of 574 additions 1947 to 1950 in the "Crusade 
 For A Christian World," a general Brotherhood program. 
 Carl Lane, chairman of the Evangelism Committee an- 
 nounced his beginning of a "Fisherman's Club" for soul- 
 winning, and B. J. Forbes, chairman of the Membership 
 Committee told of their newly inspired "Shepherd's Club" 
 
THE INGATHERINGS 
 
 51 
 
 for conserving worthy fellowship. Copies of Look Maga- 
 zine's illuminating article on "Who Are the Disciples ?", 
 by Craig, were sent to members along with The Church 
 Bell, local parish publication. 
 
 In the Spring of 1956, Pastor Jo M. Riley "within five 
 weeks made 235 calls", and at Easter received 36 persons 
 into fellowship. "The Year of Evangelism" program was 
 approved for 1957, to be augmented the next year in the 
 locally projected "Crusade for Christ." Personal visita- 
 tion was intensified. The climax was on March 16, 1958. 
 when 76 came down the aisles at the invitation. Three- 
 fourths of these were adults. Minister Riley said : "This 
 is the greatest day in the history of our church." Together 
 more than 300 Disciples had worked specially to achieve 
 this result. Directed by Mrs. Alton Bardin and Sadie 
 Greene more than 200 persons had been activated in 
 prayer relevant to the Crusade. There were three well 
 organized calling committees, respectively for informa- 
 tion, cultivation, and decision. For the special occasion 
 various other committees served. It worked. For more 
 than thirty years at Wilson selective classes have been 
 seasonably conducted by the respective pastors for spe- 
 cific evangelistic ends. Enrolled in these have been likely 
 prospects for initial church membership, thus implement- 
 ing a fruitful guidance facility for effective spiritual 
 response. 
 
 Led by Pastor James Gillespie Wallace, there was a 
 "fireside evangelism" program in effect in the spring of 
 1961. Forty-six were added. At a cabinet meeting in 
 July it was proposed to have "twelve women on the Pas- 
 toral Oversight Committee." Also a need was then dis- 
 cerned for a "revitalized evangelism in our church." This 
 looked forward to the calling of an outstanding leader to 
 conduct a preaching mission at Easter in 1962. This was 
 accomplished through A. Dale Fiers, of Indianapolis, 
 president of the United Christian Missionary Society. 
 For a week he spoke to the edifying of the Church and 
 the reception of thirty new members. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 OUTREACH 
 
 Inbred in the Wilson Church was the outreaching mo- 
 tive. Its founding had been initiated by the rising mis- 
 sionary spirit of the rejuvenated Hookerton Union in the 
 early 1870's. This was a spontaneous cooperative venture 
 grounded in a creative reciprocity, an age-old pattern for 
 the spread of the gospel. Most of the seventeen Disciples 
 beginning at Wilson had come from the earlier Antioch 
 and Corinth churches in Pitt County, N. C, later merging 
 as Farmville, a pivotal church in the Hookerton Union. 
 Moreover Wilson's continuing pastors did their proficient 
 outflowing share. J. J. Harper, in 1878, succeeding Dr. 
 J. T. Walsh as State Missionary Secretary, urged enlisted 
 supporters to make good their financial commitments. 
 He said : 'These pledges were made to the Lord Himself. 
 To shirk out of paying them, unless impossible to do so, 
 is robbing God." Twenty-two years later, Ben H. Melton, 
 Wilson pastor and state secretary said: "The work of 
 preaching the simple gospel and establishing Churches of 
 Christ in destitute parts of the State lies closer to my 
 heart than any other. The thought of evangelizing the 
 world for Christ is the most lofty and ennobling thought 
 that ever entered the human heart." Within John Bar- 
 clay's lengthy pastorate came the economic depression of 
 1929. While he led in maintaining a comparable level in 
 the church missionary budget, for the troubled period, yet 
 he volunteered an adaptive, executed cut in his personal 
 salary. 
 
 In accord with Wesley's view that the world was their 
 parish, yet these Wilson preachers were alive to oppor- 
 tunities close at hand. J. Boyd Jones pioneered a revival 
 at Macclesfield in the summer of 1905 resulting in a new 
 congregation of 17. He commented : "We have planted 
 a church in this very needy field, the only people trying 
 to establish organized religion there. Their house of 
 worship we hope to have ready by next May. A man 
 
OUTREACH 
 
 53 
 
 who can hold a successful meeting at Macclesfield can 
 hold one in any place in N. C." 
 
 J. J. Walker and Hayes Farish, members at Wilson, and 
 students at the College, evangelized at Wilbanks, nine 
 miles east of Wilson, as part of their continuing project at 
 that new outpost. They reported ten additions — "a 
 goodly increase". Further, said Walker: "We are now 
 erecting a church building at Wilbanks, and hope to have 
 it completed by October, 1909." Beset with many diffi- 
 culties this mission languished, but was reopened by John 
 Barclay in 1938. He helped decisively with semi-monthly 
 afternoon preaching. A report said : "Sixteen window 
 lights were restored, a new stove installed, a piano pro- 
 cured and paid for." 
 
 J. C. Caldwell gave vital ministerial assistance in the 
 early years of Rocky Mount Disciples. In their worship 
 hour on February 21, 1909, he assembled $1,000 "as a 
 start for erecting a neat, brick building which they 
 expect to occupy next June." 
 
 Richard Bagby gave Sunday afternoons to Saratoga. 
 It was a struggling mission then, but now a half -century 
 later, it enjoys a full-time ministry with well-equipped 
 plant and parsonage. He has told the author that he 
 sometimes wondered as he traveled to them whether the 
 offerings there would suffice for his particular livery 
 account in that horse and buggy day. Verily the times 
 have changed. 
 
 Significantly out of these parochial missions came re- 
 cruits to the ministry, to scatter blessings far and wide. 
 These were: R. A. Phillips from Macclesfield, O. T., and 
 W. T. Mattox, from Saratoga; and Thomas E. Morton 
 from Rocky Mount. Moreover the fledgling preachers of 
 the student body at Wilson found rewarding outlets near- 
 by for practice preaching. 
 
 The city itself was to have its share of missionary ven- 
 turing from First Church. Far out West Gold Street a 
 virgin field invited. There 26 persons were enlisted. 
 J. A. Taylor began as their local pastor and Wilson County 
 evangelist on November 1, 1921. He occupied their par- 
 sonage on May 1, 1922; their brick house of worship was 
 
54 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 completed the following July upon their lot, 60 X 200 
 feet. The lot was a gift sponsored through Thomas J. 
 Hackney, Sr. Cost of the structures was underwritten 
 by First Church, J. E. Stuart, minister. Taylor left in 
 September, 1924, to be the state secretary for Georgia 
 Disciples. With H. R. Diehl, chairman of the board, and 
 J. R. Woodall, church school superintendent, the work 
 continued with student preaching. The discouragements 
 of the situation prevailed. After sixteen years the mis- 
 sion was permanently closed in August, 1937, the property 
 being sold to R. A. Perry for $5,000. 
 
 A different story indeed is that of Westview, currently 
 the local mission of First Church. Now worshipping at 
 505 Raleigh Road, it has an excellent building site far- 
 ther out on that Road. Plans are well advanced for suit- 
 able construction. Charles J. Betts, Brotherhood archi- 
 tect, concluding a Wilson survey in January, 1958, said : 
 "There is definite need of a second Christian Church in 
 this community." Prophetically at a previous Wilson 
 survey in September, 1957, he had observed : "One of the 
 most satisfying thrills of a church is to develop a new 
 congregation as a very definite home mission project." 
 After thorough consideration, including a poll of the 
 membership, the First Church board showed the desired 
 green light. Lloyd Chesson was appointed chairman of 
 the "New Church Committee/' in June, 1959. The sign- 
 ing of its 27 charter members was in Adams Chapel on 
 January 17, 1960. These were ceremonially "commission- 
 ed" in the worship service of First Church on the fol- 
 lowing Lord's Day, James G. Wallace, minister. First 
 assembly of this newly chartered group was in the Jack 
 Forbes home ; then on March 6, 1960, A. D. Wenger was 
 their guest speaker at their first service in their "semi- 
 permanent" location. On April 3, following, their church 
 school was organized. A home force evangelism doubled 
 their membership to 98 in early 1961. Church school 
 enrollment grew to 117. The annual finance given locally 
 totalled $14,079 ; of which $792 was for missions — a per 
 capita of $8.08. First Church contributes substantially 
 
OUTREACH 
 
 55 
 
 enabling Westview to retain Henry Collins Hilliard, Jr. 
 to be their pastor who has served them ably since Jan- 
 uary 15, 1961. 
 
 There have been six recruits to full-time Christian serv- 
 ice from First Church members. Pastor Jo. M. Riley on 
 April 4, 1957, gave them special recognition at a dinner 
 in the Carolina Room featuring the "Year of the Minis- 
 try." The six: Roy G. Barham, Mrs. Vivian Griffin 
 Birnbaum, Griffith A. Hamlin, C. Manly Morton, Mrs. 
 Allan R. Sharp, (nee Glynn High), and W. C. White. 
 These are known for their work's sake, the Brotherhood 
 over. Morton longest in the service in both home and 
 foreign fields, responded to the author's current request 
 for a reminiscence. This he gave : 
 
 I was baptized in the Wilson church under a 
 Christmas tree, on the night of a Christmas program 
 more than 60 years ago. This is the way I got 
 started to the Christian Church after my family 
 moved to Wilson in 1898. I was of another commun- 
 ion, and I first went to its local church, but could not 
 feel at home, so stopped going to any church. A near 
 neighbor, Stanley Overman, at that time superin- 
 tended the local Disciples' Sunday School. He saw 
 that I was unattached so he invited me to go with 
 him, but I had no intention of doing so, even though 
 in my timidity I had promised it. I evaded him ; I hid 
 in the woods near our house. Again and again he 
 came to invite me, tactfully making no mention of 
 my repeated failures. This kept up for six months. 
 At last in sheer admiration for the gentle, Christian, 
 Stanley Overman, I redeemed my promise. To him I 
 will ever be grateful. Another who had tremendous 
 influence with me was George Hackney, Sr. His in- 
 spiring handshake made me feel that he was inter- 
 ested in me. It made me conscious that unless I did 
 my best it would betray the trust of that great man 
 of God. 
 
 I had to leave school after seventh grade and go 
 to work. I had a growing desire to become a minis- 
 ter, and with only $7 of my own I decided to try. I 
 went to our College President, J. C. Coggins, who 
 kindly had me sweep floors for my tuition. On each 
 week-end I worked 27 hours in Felton's Grocery for 
 the total sum of $2. This I did for three years then 
 
56 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 went to a job in New Bern. I returned soon to Wilson, 
 and made a talk in our church at a Christian Endeav- 
 or Society meeting. After this little speech, J. Boyd 
 Jones put his arm around me and said : "Manly, God 
 needs you, don't try to run away from Him." That 
 word was sufficient — it confirmed my resolution. 
 
 Subsequent to due recommendations of the Committee 
 on the Ministry of The North Carolina Christian Mis- 
 sionary Convention sixteen persons respectively have 
 been ordained to the Christian ministry in Wilson's First 
 Church, as follows : 
 
 December 24, 1904, J. Thomas Brown. 
 
 February 12, 1909, C. Manly Morton, Hayes Farish, 
 Jesse Moore. 
 
 November 18, 1912, John M. Waters, T. Hassell 
 Bowen, Raleigh L. Topping. 
 
 June 11, 1939, Griffith A. Hamlin. 
 
 August 4, 1943, Wade H. Everett. 
 
 August 28, 1949, Willie Lee Parker. 
 
 February 17, 1952, R. Worden Allen, Jr. 
 
 May 31, 1953, Mr. and Mrs. William S. Knight, June 
 Holton, Roy G. Barham. 
 
 June 30, 1957, Leslie L. Wilkins. 
 
 Clement Manly Morton, (now retired), was Wilson's 
 Living Link for a long period. He was born at Newport, 
 N. C, February 25, 1884. He was an outstanding servant 
 in educational missions, in Argentina, (1918-'29) ; in 
 Paraguay, (1920-'23) ; and in Puerto Rico, (1923-'54). 
 He married Selah Louise Beam, of Topeka, Kansas, in 
 1916, a capable and thoroughly dedicated helpmate. She 
 translated a quaintly expressed evaluation of C. Manly 
 by Puerto Rican natives at the Rio Piedras station in 
 January, 1939. In part, it follows: "Senor Morton is 
 one of these men that once you know him is to love him 
 for all his life. He knows how to captivate by his fine 
 
OUTREACH 
 
 57 
 
 manner, the highest pitch in beautiful kindness. His 
 presence in the island is a benediction." His book, "Para- 
 guay, the Island Republic" is an authority in its field. In 
 it Morton concluded : "During our years in Latin America 
 we have had the great privilege of living under three 
 flags, there to study at close range the conditions, cus- 
 toms, and peoples. We are convinced that one of the 
 mightiest challenges ever faced by the Church of Christ 
 is to-day in Latin America." 
 
 November 11, 1956, was Living Link Day at Wilson, 
 when special recognition was given Claylon D. Weeks, 
 sationed at Wema in the Congo. He had been chosen as 
 Wilson's new Living Link on the preceding March 12. 
 A Tarheel from Carr Memorial Church and graduate of 
 Atlantic Christian College and Vanderbilt he had been 
 commissioned by the U. C. M. S. in 1946. His wife, Helen, 
 is from Winimac, Indiana. At their African station there 
 were over 2400 baptisms in 1958, increasing membership 
 there to 15,000. About this Claylon and Helen observe : 
 "How important it is that they should have guidance and 
 teaching to grow in their Christian way of life, which is 
 so extremely different from what they had always known. 
 Our purpose has ever been to build a strong Congo Chris- 
 tian Church — a church that can carry on alone." 
 
 Stephen and Sharon H. Ginn, student members at the 
 Church were recognized on August 10, 1959, as mission- 
 ary volunteers. Both graduated at Atlantic Christian 
 College the preceding May. Thereafter on June 17, they 
 were duly accepted as candidates by the U. C. M. S., sub- 
 ject to the usual adaptive conditioning, for foreign service. 
 They are to join the 245 missionaries and 2180 nationals 
 of their faith already thus employed in eleven countries 
 abroad. 
 
 Typical growth in Wilson's financial giving to missions, 
 benevolence, and education, within its brotherhood, may 
 be graphically seen. In 1959 the year's total amount 
 given to these causes, ($13,763.89), is identical by less 
 than a hairs-breadth with the whole of six years, 1918- 
 1923, inclusive, ($13,749.14) — a sextuple gain, so to 
 speak, but in the time of a mighty inflation. Meanwhile 
 
58 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 a blessed and continuous pile-up of gifts, special and 
 budgeted, precludes a readable enumeration here. Insti- 
 tutionally and individually it has been a vastly sharing 
 church. Not until 1887 when it had 50 members is there 
 a missionary gift of record to its specific credit. Then 
 it was $10 for Home Missions ; twenty cents per person. 
 Seventy-five years later, (latest report, 1962), the annual 
 total is $23,957, for "outreach" ; a per capita of $22.64. 
 Two and one-half times greater, however, in 1962, is its 
 money given for "local purposes." Albeit the spirited 
 grapple with the Disciples' "Decade of Decision" is cur- 
 rently "looking to an increase in our congregation's 
 stewardship potential." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY 
 
 The annual nationwide Convention of Disciples met at 
 Indianapolis, Ind. in 1897. The Christian Standard of 
 October 23, in a column, "Picked up at the Convention," 
 noted : "Kinsey's Seminary, one of the best boarding 
 schools for young ladies in the South has been removed 
 from LaGrange to Wilson, N. C. Professor Kinsey and 
 family are devoted members of the Christian Church and 
 they will greatly increase the efficiency of the Church at 
 Wilson." Coming with Kinsey to Wilson was Alice John- 
 ston Hines, instructor in Latin and Mathematics, in his 
 Seminary here until 1901. She also was a tower of 
 strength in the local church by "the sheer force of her 
 strong Christian personality." She was the daughter of 
 Robert Williams Hines and Sarah Roxana Jarman Hines, 
 and a sister of James Williams Hines, benefactor of At- 
 lantic Christian College. Later for eighteen years she 
 presided with notable merit at the Disciples' Hazel Green 
 Academy in Kentucky. 
 
 B. H. Melton, Wilson pastor at the inception of A. C. 
 College, when the Kinsey foundation was acquired, said : 
 "The liberality of such souls as the Hackneys, the Moyes, 
 Deans, Nurney, Kinsey, Hines, Harper, and a host of 
 others, made possible the beginning of the College. It is 
 fair moreover to say that the institution would probably 
 have gone to smash in its first ten years had it not been 
 for the sacrificial gifts and guidance of the First Chris- 
 tian Church of Wilson." 
 
 Over the years many students of Disciple faith have 
 affiliated with First Christian, making it indeed the 
 "College Church", headlined as "A friendly church that 
 seeks to serve." Typical is the roll of 41 on its "Student 
 Membership" list of September 27, 1925, representing 
 five states, namely : Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North 
 Carolina, and South Carolina. Recently each September 
 the Church has observed "Student Day", at a morning 
 
60 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 worship followed by intimate hospitality at lunch of stu- 
 dent participants respectively in the homes of the Church. 
 This is followed by a "fellowship period" for students 
 and faculty in the parsonage, for "free discussion of the 
 place of the Church in College Life." Thus College and 
 Church are drawn into fruitful relation. At meetings on 
 Sunday evenings the three active groups in the. Church 
 include many from the College "finding expression" in 
 the "Disciple Student Fellowship." 
 
 Church and College have cooperated in bringing to 
 occasional local conferences such speakers as Kirby Page 
 and Sherwood Eddy. A matter-of-fact line in the official 
 church minutes of August 9, 1943, reported : "Professor 
 Perry Case made a very enlightening talk on religion." 
 The last five pastors of the church, Barclay, Swearingen, 
 Jarman, Riley, and Wallace, have taught at the College ; 
 and in 1949-'50, Jarman was its acting president. Former 
 pastors, Harper and Caldwell became presidents in 1904 
 and 1908, respectively. All eight presidents have been 
 active members at First Church. An entry in the church 
 minutes for June 11, 1956, records the Church's "going 
 away gift" of a $70 watch to President Travis A. White 
 for "his fine contribution to the church board and to the 
 entire congregation." It was said : "Dr. White has seen 
 A. C. College make the greatest strides in its history. In 
 his three-year period here, it has almost doubled its en- 
 rollment, has gotten well into its $2,000,000 building pro- 
 gram, and has received the highest accreditation obtain- 
 able for an institution of its kind." 
 
 When the College was bought at the Kinston State 
 Convention in 1901, the Wilson church, as such, made a 
 cash contribution of $100. For its maintenance, 1951-'52, 
 the church budgeted $5,000, completing payment of this 
 amount early in 1953. This is but an instance of its 
 consistent support for sixty years. When a check for 
 $3,300 was presented, applying to the above, the pastor 
 made a significant remark. He called attention to the 
 fact that the actual cost to the College for each student 
 enrolled is $89.24 beyond what the student is required to 
 pay. Wherefore the crucial need for adequate Brother- 
 
COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY 
 
 61 
 
 hood support. The College from its endowment funds 
 loaned $10,000 for construction of the first religious edu- 
 cation plant of the church in October, 1937. Likewise 
 $35,000 was loaned in August, 1959, to execute the pur- 
 chase of the Benton property for the church. 
 
 Approaching the sixtieth anniversary of the College, 
 the Trustees in October, 1961, unanimously adopted a 
 fifteen-year expansion program, 1962-1977. It was an- 
 nounced by President A. D. Wenger appealing for a mini- 
 mum of three and a half million dollars over the period 
 "to place the College in a favorable position to assume its 
 responsibilities effectively". In this the local church is 
 immediately and happily involved. Throughout these 
 entire sixty years, the Hackneys, George and his son, 
 Thomas J., Sr., both of the local Church, have served 
 respectively as chairmen of the College Trustees. 
 
 Due quality and extent of service to the community at 
 large must mark the church if it is to square with the 
 Christian ethic. An accounting by Wilson Disciples on 
 this score has interesting facets. A charter member was 
 Dr. Robert W. King, practicing physician, and "Professor 
 of Medicine" in 1873, at the local Wilson Collegiate In- 
 stitute. His home was at the southeast corner of Pine and 
 Green Streets where dental and optometrical offices are 
 to-day. Since then an increasing number of such public 
 servants have likewise been affiliated. In 1956 the church 
 put copies of "The Secret Place" \ a devotional booklet, 
 into the two hospitals. Disciple pastors in recent years 
 have provided the brief "Moments of Prayer" over local 
 telephones, (Dial 237-3159), designed to meet spiritual 
 need in quiet hours. At the polio onset in 1948, two 
 trained nurses from the church family, Emily Morton and 
 Elizabeth Winborne volunteered their aid. The men's 
 Class has sent representatives to teach the Bible in a nurs- 
 ing home of the County. An official board minute of 
 August 11, 1958, reads : "A Red Cross request was grant- 
 ed that in case of war disaster, our Carolina Room may 
 be used as a Nursery." 
 
 The church joined in city-wide religious surveys in 
 1942 and 1961. It has long been an active participant 
 
62 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 in the Council of Churches, both of Wilson and of the 
 State and Nation. Pastor Cecil A. Jarman served as 
 president of the North Carolina Council in 1954. Having 
 acquired the Tarboro Street lot adjoining the First Meth- 
 odist Church property, it confirmed agreement with them 
 on June 11, 1960, that advance information would be 
 mutually exchanged in good faith relevant to any newly 
 projected expansion of site. Disciples first used radio 
 broadcast of their worship services in July, 1937, alter- 
 nating with other churches of the city. 
 
 Embraced by the membership is an engaging cross 
 section of the city's life. Anticipating Labor Day, Pastor 
 Riley arranged an orderly occupational exhibit at the 
 morning worship, September 7, 1958; 21 persons placed 
 tools of their trade respectively on the pulpit section. 
 The following were thus represented: banker, tobacco 
 auctioneer, lawyer, policeman, fireman, mechanic, print- 
 er, filling station operator, gardener, municipal worker, 
 office secretary, postman, sales clerk, nurse, farmer, 
 housewife, bookkeeper, preacher, teacher, merchant, and 
 restaurateur. Two members have served in the State 
 Legislature, W. W. Farmer and S. G. Mewborn ; four have 
 been presidents of local banks, namely S. G. Mewborn, 
 A. D. Shackelford, Bruce W. Riley and J. E. Paschall. 
 The last named has been president of the North Carolina 
 Bankers' Association, and currently is a member of the 
 N. C. Banking Commission. Among awards bestowed, 
 civic and otherwise, is that of T. J. Hackney, Sr., by the 
 local Exchange Club on February 14, 1958. They said 
 of Hackney: 'This native Wilsonian is a serving citizen 
 whose life is an inspiration to his Community." Further- 
 more other local Disciple laymen have individually achiev- 
 ed highest honors. Numerous awards during the past 
 decade have been won by Russell W. Arnold, Professor 
 of Art at the College. Paintings of his have been cited 
 thus at the State Museum of Art at Raleigh, N. C. and 
 Columbia, S. C, and at the School of Art at the Univer- 
 sity of Florida. Claude Anthony recently "won the high- 
 est award that can be given to a photographer in North 
 Carolina", with his "Pancho" in the "Men's colored por- 
 
COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY 
 
 63 
 
 trait division." This was at the convention of photogra- 
 phers for both Carolinas, 1962, at Winston-Salem. 
 
 A typical school commencement speaker was Pastor 
 Barclay. In a year he would sometimes deliver ten such 
 addresses ; in 1941 he declined ten such appointments but 
 accepted six. In 1947 the board requested the pastor to 
 limit such service to four occasions per season. An in- 
 spiring leadership has been provided the local boys and 
 girls in scouting. Pastor Barclay made notable record 
 as a scoutmaster. The first ones to whom he awarded 
 Eagle badges were: Dick Brooks, William Cox, Nat 
 Thompson, and Charles Ware. As an educational after- 
 math he took these four boys at once on a far-flung 
 American and Canadian auto tour. A significant report 
 noted that at a morning service in September, 1938, eight 
 Eagle Scouts received their badges. 
 
 Aside from countless writers of manuscripts at least 
 forty-one residents of Wilson have authored one or more 
 book-length titles printed. First Christian personnel has 
 supplied twenty-two of these, as follows: Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jesse Mercer Battle, James Caswell Coggins, Glenn Gates 
 Cole, H. H. (Bill) Cunningham, Arthur McKinley Depew, 
 Joseph Henry Foy, Charles Hunter Hamlin, Griffith As- 
 kew Hamlin, Joseph Joshua Lawrence, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Denton Ray Lindley, Clement Manly Morton, Cecil Foy 
 Outlaw, Vere Hudson Rogers, McGruder Ellis Sadler, 
 Robert William Stancill, Tilford Tippett Swearingen, 
 John William Tyndall, Charles Crossfield Ware, Lena 
 Pittman Weeks, and Robert Frederick West. 
 
 Reared in the church was Catherine Ware, (now Mrs. 
 J. Dan McConnell of Charlotte, N. C). E. R. Rankin, 
 retired head of The Bureau of School Relations of the 
 University of North Carolina Extension Division said on 
 August 24, 1962, that for the fifty years' history of the 
 North Carolina High School Debating Union, Catherine 
 Ware is the only entrant who went to three finals in their 
 annual spring debates at Chapel Hill. She and her col- 
 league, Fred Carr won both series 1924-'25, thus securing 
 for "keeps" the Aycock Memorial Cup for the Wilson 
 High School. She also went to the finals in 1926. Among 
 
64 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 the 34,000 North Carolina High School contestants ap- 
 pearing within the half-century were Governors Kerr 
 Scott and Luther H. Hodges. These debates, observes 
 a recent feature writer, have tended "to produce articu- 
 late young men and woman who know how to use their 
 powers of reason, alacrity, knowledge, and understanding, 
 to produce either an affirmative or negative argument 
 worthy of the debating tradition." 
 
 During World War II Pastor T. T. Swearingen served 
 as the efficient head of the U. S. 0. in Wilson. Included 
 in the list that follows are the names of the men from 
 First Christian who were enlisted in the armed services. 
 A few in this list were not members there at the time who 
 are now thus affiliated, and a few were in the Korean 
 War only. The service roll : 
 
 George H. Adams, Milton Adams, W. D. Adams, 
 Jr., John Alphin, Willard G. Anderson, Alton Bardin, 
 H. F. Barnes, James T. Barnes, Richard F. Barnes, 
 Wade Barnes, William Barnes, Sam Bass, R. M. 
 Beamon, Col. 0. B. Beland, 0. B. Beland, Jr., John 
 Douglas Bell, H. P. (Red) Benton, F. M. Bissett, Jr., 
 Bruce A. Bryant, J. W. Byrd, Jr., Bruce Conyers, 
 Ralph Conyers, Bill Davis, J. D. Davis, Jr., Tom 
 Davis, W. R. Dixon, Jr., Thurman Edwards, Herbert 
 Etheridge, Sidney Forbes, Wiley Dew Forbes, Amos 
 J. Gatlin, Joe Gold, Garland Grainger, David Graham 
 Green, W. L. Green, Jr., Carl Hackney, George Hack- 
 ney, III, Richard J. Hackney, Robert Hackney, T. J. 
 Hackney, Jr., W. D. Hackney, III, W. N. Hackney, 
 III, Bunn Hearne, Jr., John B. Hearn, T. J. Herring, 
 Jr., Dr. L. A. High, Needham C. Holden, Needham C. 
 Holden, Jr., John E. Horne, J. S. Howard, Jr., Rob- 
 ert Johnston, John W. Jomp, Jr., Z. B. Lane, Jr., 
 Frank H. Lee, Jr., Warren L. Merritt, James Mill- 
 house, Sammy Millhouse, Frank Narron, Jack Nar- 
 ron, Robert Nichols, E. 0. Norton, Horace Overman, 
 Jack Overman, Joe Overman, William F. Overman, 
 Reuben Owens, James Paschall, James Peele, Thad 
 Petway, B. B. PPlyler, Jr., Charles E. Riley, Jack Ri- 
 ley, (killed), John Riley, Henry M. Rogers, H. B. 
 Ruffin, Jr., William H. Sharp, Jr., U. R. Simpkins, 
 Jr., Ernest Edward Smith, Henry Eldon Sullivan, 
 
COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY 
 
 65 
 
 David Taylor, Grey Taylor, Henry Tunstall, Herbert 
 Walker, Jr., John M. Waters, Jr., Earl Weathersby, 
 Bob Wilkins, George Woodall; Total, 87 men. 
 
 Liberal contributions by the church were made to the 
 War Service Fund. A multitude of letters, first and last, 
 went to the men in the armed services. In 1952, Pastor 
 Jarman with Jesse Bader joined in a preaching mission 
 at Fort Jackson, S. C., speaking four times daily to army 
 men for a week. 
 
 Among First Christian's members have been some star 
 athletes. May 9, 1957, was "Bunn Hearn Day" at the 
 University of North Carolina, so proclaimed by Governor 
 Hodges, and likewise announced for Wilson by Hearn's 
 home-town mayor, John D. Wilson. Bunn had completed 
 46 years in professional baseball. After 13 years of his 
 career, in 1924, he had been in the majors with the Giants, 
 Cardinals, and Boston Nationals. He then held two 
 World's records ; had hit three home runs in one game, 
 (two in one inning) , and once had pitched twenty con- 
 secutive scoreless innings. His world tour in 1913-'14 
 was with the Giants and Chicago White Sox. The three 
 Davis brothers, Jap, Tom, and Bill, each in turn made the 
 "Varsity Team" in football at Duke University for their 
 sophomore, junior, and senior years. The first two were 
 backs ; Bill was a guard. Jap, "considered one of the 
 fastest men on the squad," played in the Rose Bowl in 
 1939 ; so did Tom in 1942 when war emergency moved 
 its gridiron from Pasadena to Durham. Tom also played 
 in the Sugar Bowl. Red Benton starred at Chapel Hill, 
 (U. of N.C.), in baseball, (pitcher), and in football, (cen- 
 ter). Charley Taylor was a captain in Transylvania 
 football. 
 
 Responsively the Wilson community has stood up well 
 for the College and First Christian. Promoters in the 
 Wilson Educational Association, chaired by George Hack- 
 ney, after bringing Kinsey Seminary to Wilson, gave 
 valiant support to its successor, Atlantic Christian Col- 
 lege. The Association leaders, other than Hackney and 
 
66 
 
 THE' CHURCH BELL 
 
 Kinsey, were: George D. Green, Jonas Oettinger, J. F. 
 Bruton, F. A. Woodard, P. D. Gold, Haywood Edmundson, 
 Silas Lucas, H. G. Connor, and Jonathan Applewhite. 
 W. G. Johnston, Kinston pastor, reporting the annual 
 state-wide gathering of the Disciples at Wilson in 1899, 
 acknowledged : "Too much cannot be said of the admir- 
 able way in which the convention was entertained by the 
 people of Wilson. Members of other churches threw open 
 their doors, took us in and treated us like kings." Gen- 
 erous local citizens of various faiths have participated in 
 the several campaigns organized to bring the College to 
 largest usefulness on a safely accredited basis. A sum- 
 marized report in November, 1960, of the College's "Six- 
 tieth Anniversary Development Program", shows that 
 of a total contribution of $587,442, Wilson is credited 
 with $366,690, equivalent to 62% of the whole. 
 
Mrs. Genevieve Hackney. 1896-1962 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 LIGHTER VEIN 
 
 If a metaphor is in order here, may we have a coffee- 
 break? It may occasion a pleasing interlude. We have 
 been trying to articulate a church's life in a serious and 
 busy day. A refreshment stand may serve acceptably. 
 
 The North Carolina of 1830 was in large part a roman- 
 tic wilderness. The towns were few and far apart. 
 Within the vast expanse of "piney woods" a folklorish 
 people lived, labored, loved, attended church, and flour- 
 ished in a provincial civilization. This was a decade be- 
 fore free public schools. A score of years thereafter the 
 Wilson village gathered in Edgecombe's turpentine for- 
 ests to frame its skylight athwart the languorous shadows 
 of the great woods. Moreover it was two score years later 
 when by the Lord's blessing the Wilson Disciples arose 
 there to stay. Yet in the 1830's numerous schoolteachers 
 and others from the north came south ; some to stay for 
 the sheer joy of life in a friendly, resourceful land while 
 others returned to tell of colorful aspects in the "Down 
 Home" state. Among the latter was a roving scribe who 
 penned a humorous profile of a few preachers he had 
 enjoyed in the wide-spread rustic scene. 
 
 This is something of what he heard. An example of 
 pulpit apology as a preacher began his sermon : 
 
 "Last week my critter died, my children was sick, my 
 crop's in grass. I ain't been able to give a moment's 
 thought to this here sermon. I'll have to lean on the 
 Sperit, and I expect it will be pretty poor stuff." Then 
 he besought the Lord to "wake them all up to a sense of 
 duty and right then and there to come down upon them 
 with all His ponderosity." A fellowship conference fol- 
 lowed in which an old lady was asked if she loved Jesus. 
 Her reply: "I don't know that I have anything agin 
 Him." An aged man was asked if he was ready to die. 
 He said: "I never took much to strangers, nohow. I'd 
 rather stay if I can." 
 
LIGHTER VEIN 
 
 69 
 
 Another of the exhorters had recently lost his wife 
 about whom he spoke as follows with becoming pathos : 
 
 For six long months she suffered with divers dis- 
 eases and torments. If she tuck medicine for one 
 torment it was sure to interflict with another. Rheu- 
 maty pain and codicil of the brain tuck her off. She 
 went a shouting clear through to glory. It was the 
 worst lick I ever got. I still feel like an olphin and 
 for one whole month after I put her away I felt like 
 I could fall down and go to sleep anywhere. 
 
 Yet another preacher had lost his life companion and 
 had remarried too soon for his congregation's sense of 
 propriety. Defensively he confessed : 
 
 My grief was greater than I could bear. I turned 
 every way for peace and comfort but none come. I 
 searched the Scripters from Genisee to Riverlations 
 and found a plenty of promises to the widder but 
 nary one to the widderer. And so I took it that the 
 good Lord didn't waste sympathy on a man when it 
 was in his power to comfort himself ; and having a 
 first-rate chance to marry, I did so, and would do the 
 same thing again. Besides I considered that poor 
 Patsey was just as dead as she would ever be." 
 
 Another trying to invest with realism for his solemn 
 audience the redemptive sufferings of the Master em- 
 phasized it thus : 'They traitored Him, they caught Him 
 and beat Him. They spat on Him, boxed His jaws, and 
 put an old purple rag on Him. They stuck on His head 
 a litter of thorns and with cursed feelings snared Him 
 on a crucifix. I tell you Brethren what they done to Him 
 was a plenty." 
 
 Two-thirds of a century after the above, Dennis 
 Wrighter Davis was the Wilson Disciple pastor. Then 
 departmentalized nurseries at church were non-existent. 
 When audiences crowded at worship services children 
 were decorously seated on the rim of the pulpit platform. 
 Davis had numerous children of his own, and when any 
 of them needed discipline for their outbreaking playful- 
 
70 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 ness, he administered it manually, all the while continuing 
 his sermon with the alacrity of a Peter Cartwright. Also 
 if any of the young hopefuls were nodding he would 
 gently recline them for a less fitful sleep; again without 
 losing a spell-binding accent in the magical fluency of his 
 message. It is said that some of these favored children 
 were: Effie and Minnie Wnstead, Cora, Fannie, and 
 May Pearce, Nellie Ezzell, and Katy Snakenburg. 
 
 In the early years of the little frame church there were 
 fire hazards. It contained a wood burning stove shaped 
 like an "alligator" as Bud Batts recalled. It was re- 
 placed by a heating system below the floor, the vent being 
 a "large square grill" with a damper control. One day 
 some devout church women walked across the grill when 
 the upsurging air was too much for modesty, and the 
 gallant preacher "hurriedly kicked the damper completely 
 shut and forgot to open it". This almost created a fire. 
 About this time an electric storm known to have been 
 the most severe in their experience gave them a narrow 
 escape from shock and flames. At evening worship, 
 lightning flashed menacingly ; thunder was deafening ; 
 the lights as usual went out. The well-poised Alice 
 Snakenburg at the organ played "Nearer My God To 
 Thee," while the panicky group sang it with what cour- 
 age they had. A bolt struck nearby. Men went out to 
 investigate and returned to say they had indeed been 
 nearer to God than all had realized. 
 
 At the beginning and long thereafter men sat on the 
 left of the church assemblage and the women on the 
 right. It was a habit of the times. Like some other 
 customs, then and now, it was without supportable rea- 
 son. A cuspidor always in place and much, used in the 
 left amen corner, and which was retained for a period 
 in the brick church, may have indicated the needful prac- 
 tice of this exclusiveness. 
 
 Bess Hackney, (now Mrs. W. D. Adams, Sr.), helped 
 individually in youthful fund-raising for the church. 
 Accordingly she sold magazines and extracts; she assem- 
 bled countless five-cent bags of peanuts which her bro- 
 
LIGHTER VEIN 
 
 71 
 
 thers Tom and Jim sold at play-time in the aisles of the 
 old Opera House. She too would have helped in the actual 
 selling, "but in those days young girls just didn't do those 
 things." 
 
 Inspiring music has long been heard at First Church. 
 Tradition has it that W. D. Hackney, I, was so impressed 
 with it in his youth that he decided to learn how to sing. 
 Coached at length by Robert J. Taylor, they and the con- 
 gregation finally gave up that "it was no use." 
 
 In the old brick church at the turn of the century a 
 hand-pumped organ was installed. When the employed 
 colored boy was not on hand, Willis Hackney or Ernest 
 Winstead took over, each of whom, it is said, occasionally 
 napped at the wrong time. This once was a startling 
 recurrence when C. Manly Morton volunteered for the 
 job. As he tells it in a breezy reminiscence: 
 
 The incident is humorous now but tragical then. 
 It was on the invitation hymn. I was hidden behind 
 the organ. The signal for me to begin pumping as I 
 well understood, was a little kick on the organ by the 
 organist. The sermon was long that day. I was 
 tired. The preacher announced the hymn and fol- 
 lowed with an evangelistic rousement. The organist 
 promptly gave the signal. I was sound asleep. She 
 kicked again. The preacher alert to any musical 
 shortcoming exhorted some more. Then the frus- 
 trated organist kicked mightily. The instrument 
 literally rattled. This awakened me and thinking 
 the service was over I started to leave. Just then 
 the preacher stepped back and gave me a good shake. 
 Within a second I was hard pumping and the service 
 closed in dignity and order. 
 
 The story goes that George Hackney offered a prime 
 incentive to his pastor, Ben Melton. He would give him 
 a new suit if and when the growth of his Sunday morning 
 audiences necessitated the raising of the partition in the 
 brick church between auditorium and church school 
 rooms. Soon thereafter in June, 1899, the preacher was 
 rewarded: It is said that the church wedding of Melton 
 and Eva Kinsey was generally regarded as one of the 
 
72 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 most attractive social events in the calendar of this 
 romance-minded community. 
 
 Sam Richardson, about whom people who knew him 
 said, "he's a fine man," married May Hackney in June, 
 1907. In the following January he became a proprietor 
 in the Wilson Hardware Company, one of the three old- 
 est stores in the city. This is what brought him to Wilson 
 to live: he traveled from Richmond, Va. for Cottrell, 
 (Hardware jobbers). In Wilson he once incidentally 
 sat with the "Squatters Club", a select conversational 
 group which gathered on favorable evenings in front of 
 Doane Herring's Drug Store. Here W. D. Hackney, I, 
 told him of the local business opening, of which Richard- 
 son promptly took advantage. Before this hardware store 
 was remodelled there was an iron post at the front with 
 a half-inch hole in it. Through this aperture varied 
 hands thrust notes, historical and otherwise, from time 
 to time. By a hand of mischief, fire destroyed most of 
 these, but among the retrieved was found the posting of 
 the following dates : "April 14, 1924, began tearing down 
 the old courthouse; June 24, 1926, 11:01 A. M., clock in 
 the new Courthouse began working; September 21, 1926, 
 excavation for the National Bank Building begins." 
 
 An incident in the rendering of a certain youth pro- 
 gram at a crowded church service is told with relish by 
 Mrs. W. L. Wooten, (nee Maude Harrell). Maude was 
 then about thirteen and it was her first time to take part 
 in such an exercise. Four girls participated, the other 
 three being Keron Dunn, Minnie Finch, and Lizzie Finch. 
 The quartette with Bibles in hand were altogether to read 
 the sixteen verses from Matthew 25:31-46. In fixed 
 order Keron was to read first but in the march to the 
 rostrum she lost her appointed place in the Scriptures. 
 Without avail she tried desperately to relocate it; the 
 others seeing her predicament clutched tightly their as- 
 signments. Keron not to be outdone opened excitedly at 
 Matthew 1:1-16 and proceeded haltingly with the un- 
 pronounceable "begats". Her unhappy venture brought 
 an increasing ripple of merriment from young and old. 
 
LIGHTER VEIN 
 
 73 
 
 But significantly the bemused audience showed that it 
 was better prepared to respond in the benevolence offer- 
 ing that followed than if all had gone as cut and dried. 
 
 Few remain who can remember the "poetry sermon", 
 of Hayes Farish. It was preached here on a Sunday 
 evening long ago, early in his distinguished career. It 
 consisted of an almost endless reciting from sacred poems 
 captivating to his fancy. The sermon was monotonously 
 long. It had verse but not diverseness. It was specially 
 wearing on the Wilson congregation whose receptivity by 
 a stretch of piety might have been more charitable. At 
 length a few sighs of exhaustion, ominous and audible, 
 escaped from the pews. Others of the restive crowd 
 shored up their composure, mindful to maintain a respect- 
 able control of their risibilities. At last came the sweet 
 benediction when psychic placidity was assured. Em- 
 phatically it must be said for Hayes that he grew to be an 
 outstanding Brotherhood leader serving the great pas- 
 torate at Woodland, in Lexington, Ky., for more than 
 three fruitful decades. 
 
 The mural painting, "Christ in Gethsemane," appeared 
 high on the interior right wall of the old brick church. 
 It enriched countless meditative souls who worshipped in 
 the pews below. An artist, Thurbell, passing through 
 Wilson at the turn of the century, was in need of funds. 
 He had been given a loan by George Hackney at his old 
 Nash Street office. The impecunious painter now offered 
 to repay it with service. He was thus quietly commis- 
 sioned to do the work at the church. If it should be ap- 
 proved he was to receive added compensation. This all 
 happened satisfactorily. Thus strangely the old church 
 obtained one of its finest intangible assets. Regrettably 
 by the rigors of time and circumstance it could find no 
 place by transference into to-day's super-imposing media. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 MEN AND WOMEN 
 
 The development of "Fellowships" among Disciple men 
 and women respectively, as it relates to Wilson, is an 
 interesting study. Elders, deacons, and junior deacons 
 have been men exclusively among whom a spontaneous 
 fellowship in common service has readily obtained. More- 
 over the recurring clerks or secretaries, with a pure sense 
 of public relations, have been personal links of communi- 
 cation with those outside the parish. As of record, 1871- 
 1962, thirteen persons at Wilson have thus served as 
 follows: Dr. R. W. King, George Hackney, I, Calvin 
 Woodard, J. R. Hardy, J. B. Batts, Paul Branch, W. H. 
 Price, S. W. Richardson, Jesse High, T. J. Hackney, Sr., 
 Mrs. James B. Fretz, Bruce W. Riley, and Mrs. Lula 
 Hackney Ruffin. The last named has served for the last 
 twenty years. As the men increased in numbers and re- 
 ligious aptitudes the opportunity was clear for a con- 
 stituted inclusiveness of such personnel to activate prop- 
 erly the churchly potential. 
 
 In April, 1925, it was announced that a "Men's Social 
 Club had been organized with a membership of about 45." 
 There had been three monthly meetings on first Monday 
 evenings "for a supper and a program very much enjoyed 
 and largely attended." So far as records indicate, it was 
 short-lived. Perhaps a better name was needed, or the 
 time may not have been ripe. Indeed an effective move- 
 ment in this category among the men was long in matur- 
 ing. 
 
 Sam Bundy of Farmville, N. C. was invited to come and 
 help organize their Men's Fellowship Club in the Carolina 
 Room on January 24, 1951. Fifty-one men attended. The 
 last Tuesday evening in each month was appointed for 
 regular meeting, "except when greatly inconvenient or 
 undesirable." After the first six years the local name 
 was changed to Christian Men's Fellowship. It was affil- 
 iated from the beginning with their national headquar- 
 
MEN AND WOMEN 
 
 75 
 
 ters. Twelve presidents have served in order as follows : 
 B. H. Conley, B. B. Plyler, Jr., Mark Anthony, Garland 
 Grainger, Noel C. Carr, Pat Goodman, P. W. Creech, Bill 
 Batts, J. W. Jomp, (3 terms), Allen W. Harrell, K. D. 
 Bennett, and Joe A. Batts. 
 
 Its stated objectives : "To enlist all men in the church, 
 to promote church and church school attendance, worship, 
 and church fellowship, stewardship, church school work 
 and evangelism. To be a working force for the minister 
 and the church board, and to accomplish special projects 
 for the church." For a distribution of specific services 
 the body was divided into eight groups with five men in 
 each. The Projects and Plans Committee, A. D. Wenger, 
 chairman, named certain prospective doings. These were : 
 to provide needed utilities for the nursery; to furnish 
 suplemental clerical help for The Church Bell, parish 
 paper ; to distribute the devotional booklet, "Secret 
 Place"; and to place an identifying sign on the new build- 
 ing site. Volunteers assumed respective responsibility 
 for all of these. Some noteworthy gifts have provided 
 photographing of building operations for the new sanc- 
 tuary, and funds for Boy Scout campings, and Student 
 Loan Funds. 
 
 Two significant entries in the record book preserved 
 by J. W. Jomp, Sr. : first, "It was moved and carried that 
 meetings be held in the Carolina Room if the women of 
 the church would feed us." And a later one: "A stand- 
 ing vote of thanks was expressed to the ladies for the 
 fine meal served." The executive committee upon whom 
 the arrangement of these culinary climaxes largely de- 
 volved, were: Kermit Lamm, Wiley Forbes, A. D. Wenger, 
 B. B. Plyler, Jr., and R. L. Stevenson, Later serving in 
 this capacity : Bruce W. Riley, Beli Lamm, Harry Laing, 
 and Red Benton. 
 
 Attendance at the monthly dinners has. varied with an 
 average of about 30 over the entire period. Aside from 
 their hosting functions for the Coastal Plains District, 
 their largest crowd perhaps was on a "Ladies Night," 
 Mark Anthony presiding, attendance 104. Throughout in 
 
76 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 their regular meetings about 40 guest speakers have en- 
 livened their programs. Among these have been four 
 from the Brotherhood's National Association, namely: 
 Bill McKinney, Mark Rutherford, Jack Sutton, and Fred 
 D. Sawyer. 
 
 A longer story is that of the Christian Women's Fel- 
 lowship at Wilson. There the first to speak a bold and 
 cogent word in the press for women's work in missions 
 was Mrs. William H. Hughart, pioneer schoolteacher and 
 wife of a devoted Christian minister. She wrote a stir- 
 ring appeal, dated, Wilson, N. C, February 15, 1858, 
 which was published in Dr. Walsh's Disciples' Advocate 
 the following April. Briefed, she said this : 
 
 The present crisis, when our congregations seem 
 so cold and careless, should induce each of us to make 
 the inquiry, am I the cause? I fear we are the hin- 
 dering cause. The sinner looks at us and says that 
 if the Bible teaches what these people say, they are 
 very indifferent about its success. It is true we are 
 not half as much in earnest about the salvation of 
 our fellow-beings as we are to lay up the goods of 
 this life. If we are not more devoted our lamp will 
 go out. Not only those in our happy country should 
 have our aid, but the heathen also have claims upon 
 us. Let it not be said of us, North Carolina has done 
 nothing ; as we love the truth, let us give. I do believe 
 that if we would be more liberal in the cause of For- 
 eign Missions, God would bless us more at home. As 
 our interest increases, our zeal also will be increased, 
 and we will see glorious results. 
 
 My dear sisters, I address you specially. We have 
 our part to perform in the great work. We can give 
 our mites; they will help — and we can pray — the 
 throne of grace is accessible. We ought to feel for 
 our much degraded and trodden down sisters in those 
 lands where the light of the Gospel does not shine. 
 Let us be faithful. 
 
 This was thirteen years before permanent establish- 
 ment of the Disciples at Wilson, and fourteen years be- 
 fore the earliest cooperative benevolent work among Dis- 
 ciple women in the State at Hookerton. Thirty-three 
 years later, (1891), their groups in the State became 
 
MEN AND WOMEN 
 
 77 
 
 administratively affiliated with their National Christian 
 Woman's Board of Missions. Not until 1899, 27 years 
 after the Hookerton institutional beginning was there a 
 local auxiliary at Wilson. Meanwhile there had long been 
 an active, resourceful Ladies Aid Society which had 
 helped materially in buildings erection, 1871, (frame), 
 and 1898, (brick), along with other local developments. 
 In this, an outstanding worker was Mrs. W. D. Hackney, 
 I. There was "a special service for members who had 
 served two centuries", (19th and 20th), at the church on 
 April 24, 1938. At this, Mrs. Hackney received a "certifi- 
 cate of long and faithful service, March, 1886-April, 
 1938." She was long a tireless worker for her church. 
 
 In 1897 when Alice Hines and Mrs. Joseph Kinsey 
 came to Wilson, a build-up began for organized participa- 
 tion by local Disciple women in world-wide missions. 
 Wilson was not listed among the ten Auxiliary units of 
 the C. W. B. M. in North Carolina in 1897, nor was it 
 with the fourteen in 1898. But in that period Miss Hines, 
 state superintendent of Children's Work had organized 
 a Junior Mission Band which flourished. Katie Snaken- 
 berg, a member, reporting for it in April, 1898, said it 
 was "the most interesting and instructive society in the 
 Christian Church." Further she said that at each roll 
 call each member paid a penny per week and recited a 
 Bible verse. May Hackney was president. The Band had 
 pledged $30 support for an orphan at Bilaspur, India. 
 
 With Miss Hines in the local auxiliary which soon fol- 
 lowed, the general work at state level tended to central- 
 ization at Wilson. Some years later it shifted to Kinston. 
 Their "advisory board" in 1899, had four Wilson women 
 on it, a majority; the four: Mesdames, W. D. Hackney, I, 
 Calvin Woodard, Joseph H. Kinsey, and Miss Daisy Her- 
 ring. Moreover in 1904, Mary Kilpatrick, state organizer, 
 was resident in Wilson, while on their executive board 
 for the State were five Wilson women, a large majority, 
 namely: Mesdames: J. Boyd Jones, president; W. D. 
 Hackney, I, Calvin Woodard, Lillie Rouse Edmundson, 
 and Miss Daisy Herring. In 1899 Wilson's first C. W. 
 
78 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 B. M. offering, $4.12, was made to the state development 
 fund. Not until May and September of 1900, did the first 
 Wilson offerings, (total $36.93), reach their national 
 headquarters at Indianapolis. 
 
 Louise Kelly, national organizer for the C. W. B. M. 
 and editor of the program department in Missionary 
 Tidings, (C. W. B. M. journal), spoke at the Disciples' 
 State Convention at Wilson, October 24-27, 1899. Here 
 she led in strengthening the new Wilson auxiliary. She 
 had visited widely, therefore stated this observation: 
 "Organizaing work is sorely needed in our Southern 
 States, where our sisters have so long been held back by 
 tradition and custom from entering into the joys of fel- 
 lowship with Christ in active service." 
 
 In the winter of 1900 there were strong efforts to 
 increase Wilson's membership. At their meeting on Feb- 
 ruary 1, new women uniting with it numbered 26. Since 
 they already had 16, the 'enlarged membership of 42 was 
 indeed encouraging. Pastor Melton, on the sidelines, was 
 so enthusiastic that he recommended to the lone group 
 a plan to support a missionary. Their officers at this 
 time president, Alice Hines ; vice president, Mrs. Joseph 
 H. Kinsey ; secretary, Mrs. W. T. Holden ; treasurer, Mrs. 
 K. H. Watson. 
 
 The count in the summer of 1902 showed a net gain 
 of only two members, but their 18 members still made it 
 the third largest Auxiliary in the State. They experienc- 
 ed one of the sad incidents of history, a temporary radical 
 erosion of interest. Nobody came to their May meeting, 
 and for the next month, Mrs. Holden, the secretary, re- 
 ported: "The June, (1902), meeting had only two pres- 
 ent, the president and myself — I cannot tell you why this 
 indifference." Moored at low tide, Melton demurely 
 noted: "There is intense opposition to missionary work 
 in Wilson." Paradoxically however the church with 107 
 members was steadily increasing its gifts to missions. 
 In 1903 when their annual salary to Pastor Jones was 
 only $1,000, their offering to Foreign Missions, $282, was 
 the highest of any sister church in the State. 
 
MEN AND WOMEN 
 
 79 
 
 It was hard sledding to interest the local women in 
 subscribing for Missionary Tidings. This was their own 
 highly useful monthly journal, widely regarded in its 
 time, (1883-1918), as one of the best balanced sources of 
 missionary information and inspiration in all Christen- 
 dom. In 1904 the Wilson Auxiliary reported 21 members ; 
 it had religiously observed "Woman's Day" with offering 
 of $13, but had only seven Tidings subscribers. The vital 
 exercise of their reading privilege seemed thus to have 
 been below par. The passing years saw an improvement 
 at this salient. In 1913 with 34 members the subscribers 
 numbered 20, and their total offerings were $175. Also 
 their Young Peoples' Department, Mrs. Richard Bagby, 
 superintendent, had 35 members giving $125 that year 
 to the C.W.B.M. 
 
 In 1926 national polity in Disciples' woman's work 
 changed to the Woman's Council plan for each local group. 
 Frances F. Harper became the first president of the Wil- 
 son Council; other local officers: Mesdames: Howard S. 
 Hilley, W. D. Hackney I, Perry Case, Julius Hardy, and 
 Miss Mildred Ross, secretary. This consolidated the 
 strength of Missionary Society and Ladies' Aid. Struc- 
 turally in this plan each woman in the church was ac- 
 counted a member. The total group then had 12 Circles, 
 leaders of which were : Mesdames : W. D. Adams, Sr., W. 
 A. Burton, Bertha Riley Crosby, T. J. Hackney, Sam Har- 
 rell, S. G. Mewborn, Z. Motzno, Sollie Winstead, Dave 
 Woodard, and Misses: Sadie Greene, Myrtie L. Harper, 
 and Bessie Rouse. 
 
 In May, 1934, Frances F. Harper declared: "This 
 Wilson Council is numerically the largest organization of 
 women affiliated in support of our United Christian Mis- 
 sionary Society in the State. Their offerings this past 
 year [of depression] to the U. C. M. S. was $900. The 
 task is not for the few but for all. The whole church 
 must bring united forces to the whole task." 
 
 World Call superseded Missionary Tidings as official 
 journal for their National Woman's Work in 1919. As- 
 signed in the day of the Councils was an Honor Roll 
 
80 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 standard for each local group. Thus in July, 1944, the 
 Wilson correspondent reported eleven new subscribers 
 there, and added : "We intend to be on the Honor Roll for 
 World Call every year; our goal for next year is a 25% 
 increase in subscriptions." About this time the Council 
 recommended that the new local church library be named 
 in honor of Francis F. Harper, (1870-1940). In October, 
 1946, the Council adopted a budget of $1800 for the forth- 
 coming year, "a 20% increase over the previous year." 
 
 On January 2, 1950, in conformity with their Brother- 
 hood's plans, the Wilson Council changed its name to 
 Christian Women's Fellowship. Retained was the sys- 
 tem of enrolling every woman within the church. In 1952 
 the local C.W.F. contributed over $7,000 on the building 
 of the new sanctuary. In 1958 its initial contribution to 
 the building of the new educational plant on the Benton 
 lot was $440.78. The National C.W.F. Retreat is held 
 each Quadrennium at Purdue University at La Fayette, 
 Indiana. Representative women from Wilson attending 
 in 1957, were : Mesdames : Garland Granger, Boyce Pres- 
 lar, Coy Smith, and Miss Sadie Greene ; in 1961 : Mes- 
 dames : Bernard C. Meece, and George Watkins. 
 
 Present membership in Wilson's C.W.F. is reportedly 
 458, with 15 Circles. The aggregate of its offerings to the 
 U.C.M.S. for the past five years is $12,067.67. Their roll 
 of presidents serving Council and Fellowship, 1926-1962 
 is as follows : 
 
 Mrs. W. D. Adams, Sr., Mrs. F. S. Hodges, Mrs. 
 Frank Barnes, Mrs. F. A. Jefferson, Mrs. Ernest 
 Batton, Mrs. E. B. Jordan, Mrs. Joe A. Batts, Mrs. 
 J. H. Little, Mrs. H. F. Bell, Jr., Mrs. W. E. Mins- 
 chew, Mrs. W. A. Burton, Mrs. Buck Rawlings, 
 Mrs. O. P. Dickinson, Mrs. Bruce W. Riley, Mrs. 
 Jack Forbes, Mrs. W. G. Spencer, Jr., Mrs. Vance 
 Forbes, Sr., Mrs. E. C. Stallings, Mrs. T. J. Hackney, 
 Sr., Mrs. H. A. Walker, Sr., Mrs. W. D. Hackney, III, 
 Mrs. C. C. Ware, Frances F. Harper, Mrs. Sollie Win- 
 stead, Mrs. Howard S. Hilley, Mrs. W. L. Wooten. 
 
Ministers, First Christian Church, Grout) 1. Upper left, A. J. Battle; 
 upper right, P. E. Hines; center, M. T. Moye; lower left, J. H. Foy; 
 lower right, R. J. Taylor. 
 
Ministers, First Christian Church, Group 2. Upper left, C. W. How- 
 ard; upper right, H. C. Bowen; center, J. J. Harper; lower left, R. W. 
 Stancill; lower right, R. D. Harding. 
 
Ministers, First Christian Church, Group 3. Upper left, D. W. Davis; 
 upper right, B. H. Melton; center, J. C. Caldwell; lower left, J. Boyd 
 Jones; lower right, W. 8. Bullard. 
 
Ministers, First Christian Church, Group 4. Upper left, S. P. Spiegel; 
 upper right, Richard Bagby ; center, J. E. Stuart; lower left, C. Manly 
 Morton, former Living Link Missionary ; lower right, C. D. Weeks, 
 present Living Link Missionary. 
 
Ministers, First Christian Church, Group 5. Upper left, T. T. Swear- 
 ingen; upper right, C. A. Jarman; center, John Barciay ; lower left, 
 Jo M. Riley; loiver right, James G. Wallace. 
 
Upper: The brick building, First Christian Church erected, 1898. 
 (now dismantled). 
 
 Lower: An interior view of- this brick church. 
 
Upper: A group, (1958), of descendants of the Charter members of 
 the First Christian Church. 
 
 Lower: A group, (1958), of members of First Christian Church, 
 who individually had been Disciples of Christ for fifty years or more. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 YOUTH 
 
 It has been said that the Church of Jesus Christ on 
 earth is always just one generation removed from extinc- 
 tion. Granted the truth of this thesis, it follows that the 
 corporate Christian teaching and development of the 
 whole of its susceptible, voluntary adherents, particularly 
 of its youth, is of first importance. Wherefore the rele- 
 vant church application of this concept by Wilson Dis- 
 ciples is of interesting account. 
 
 John James Harper, regarded as the "Father of At- 
 lantic Christian College," began his Wilson pastorate on 
 November 12, 1882, twenty years before the College open- 
 ing. On January 15, 1883, he wrote: 
 
 "Our members at Wilson number about 25. It is a 
 thriving town, with good schools, good water, a 
 healthy, intelligent population. Our Sunday School 
 meets every Lord's Day evening at 3 o'clock, Bro. M. 
 T. Moye, superintendent. I am highly pleased with 
 the field where there is more work and more self- 
 denial than I have been accustomed to bestow, but I 
 hope and pray for more grace and ability also." 
 
 A Wilson correspondent in the summer of 1900 observ- 
 ed: "Our Sunday School is doing well. We recently 
 changed its time of meeting from the afternoon to the 
 morning. Our attendance is not quite as large but the 
 interest is fully as good. Our Young Men's Prayer 
 Meeting was organized in February, 1900, and has since 
 been doing good work. We consider it one of our most 
 important organizations." 
 
 Tides of growth were experienced when the Richard 
 S. Martin Family, with a corps of able musical assistants, 
 closed their revival here on April 21, 1905, with 75 addi- 
 tions. Pastor J. Boyd Jones reporting it said : "A large 
 number of these new members are young people whose 
 parents are in no wise identified with the Christian 
 
YOUTH 
 
 93 
 
 Church. Our future is full of hope. We have determined 
 by the help of God to build up a large church here in 
 Wilson." 
 
 After M. T. Moye, of 1882, the first of record as super- 
 intendent of their chlurch school, was Robert J. Taylor 
 in 1885. Enrollment was then 43, including 6 teachers. 
 The annual offerings, $25.85, were the highest among the 
 22 Disciple schools in N. C. reporting that year. Fifty- 
 three such schools responded with data in 1887, with 
 T. J. Herring listed as the Wilson superintendent. Other 
 superintendents for the next 42 years at Wilson until 
 1927, when superintendencies were departmentalized, in 
 order of time, were: George Hackney, J. B. Batts, J. I. 
 Thomason, S. P. Spiegel, T. P. Cobb, 0. W. Johns, H. E. 
 Barlow, J. Ernest Paschall, J. W. Jomp, Perry Case, and 
 John Barclay. 
 
 Enrollment in 1900 had climbed to 94, including 9 
 teachers. A decided gain was registered in 1911, with 
 325 on the roll. Meanwhile a Young Peoples Department 
 began to function in 1905 with 35 members, 30 subscrib- 
 ers to King's Builders, 7 conversions, and $37 in offerings 
 that year. The Wilson Church school enrollment grew 
 from 43 in 1885, to 629 in 1961. 
 
 Serving as earliest equipment at Wilson was the one 
 room frame building so prevalent for such purpose in 
 eastern N. C, 1871 to 1898, during the first 11 years 
 of which no Disciple church school at Wilson is of record. 
 The brick church of 1898 was an improvement for the 
 average attendance of less than 100, but not until after 
 1908 when adjunctive rooms were added on the west side 
 did the enrollment top 300. Then for thirty years it 
 remained near this figure, actually registered only 250 
 in 1938. However at this time their new educational plant 
 next door was opened and the enrollment shot up to 402. 
 Then added to the staff were 14 new teachers and depart- 
 mental officers to serve the increase, and 77 new members 
 were added to the church that year. With the opening 
 of the new stone sanctuary and Adams Chapel in January, 
 1954, some educational rooms were available in exchange 
 
94 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 for the brick church which was soon razed, and the open 
 space, (64 X 112), devoted to children's recreation. 
 
 Needs were piling up for a better housing of the re- 
 surgent school. A conference report by the Future De- 
 velopment Committee, Bruce W. Riley, chairman; Sadie 
 Greene, secretary, on April 10, 1957, "pointed out that 
 one of the major problems facing this church to-day is 
 the need for expanded educational facilities. The avail- 
 able equipment is entirely too limited for the job to be 
 done." Charles J. Betts, Brotherhood architect, was call- 
 ed from Indianapolis, to make a thorough survey in this 
 field in the summer of 1957. Early in 1958, a "Building 
 Expansion Committee" was set up "to plan for enlarged 
 religious education facilities." There was still but 26 
 rooms, (7 departments), for 31 classes, after 8 of the 
 classes had moved into the residence on the newly-pur- 
 chased Benton lot in October, 1959. An elaborate report 
 by Betts concluded by recommending that an educational 
 plant adjacent to the church be constructed to provide 
 for at least 580 persons. This is now in the offing, and 
 a visualized plan adopted. 
 
 Provided in October 1946, was an adequate visual aid 
 equipment, "not to be loaned in any event." A "four-year 
 plan for advance in education" had been adopted in April, 
 1942, early in the Wilson pastorate of T. T. Swearingen. 
 A year later the official board set up an Educational 
 Committee, to be a responsible executive group adminis- 
 tering the church school. Cecil A. Jarman, then a resi- 
 dent member, and Director of Religious Education in 
 the State was Chairman; later during Jarman's Wilson 
 pastorate, Bruce W. Riley served as chairman. 
 
 Summarizing broadly and briefly the varied youth 
 functions at First Christian entails many facets. We 
 start with the babies where naturally our humanity be- 
 gins. Bess Adams relates that her pastor, Richard Bagby, 
 1912-1918, visited her home after the gift of each of 
 her new-born, and kneeling at the bedside asked a bless- 
 ing upon parents and child, invoking for father and 
 mother a sense of relevant Christian dedication. A quar- 
 ter of a century passed and the idea came to flower in a 
 
YOUTH 
 
 95 
 
 seasonal practice. Then Mrs. W. L. Wooten insisted to 
 her pastor, John Barclay, that it seemed to her that the 
 grandest providential gift to her had been the birth of 
 her daughter; wherefore a dedicatorial recognition of 
 this at the church would be highly appropriate. Thus the 
 first such service called "Blessing of the Babies," was 
 held on March 31, 1940, and has since followed at due 
 seasons. It was reported in 1939 that the annual Chil- 
 dren's Day for Missions in the church school had been 
 observed in June successively for 50 years, and that for 
 each of the past 20 years the offering had not fallen below 
 $100. Currently, three functional Fellowships are: Chi 
 Rho Fellowship for those in Junior High School, Vance 
 Forbes, president, enrolling, 72 ; Christian Youth Fellow- 
 ship, Garland Grainger, president, enrolling 60, one of 
 whom, Bill Cubberley, is State C. Y. F. president; and a 
 selective group in United Campus Christian Fellowship, 
 (interdenominational, meeting at First Christian), Scar- 
 lett Mills of Kinston, N. C, president. 
 
 Wilson Disciples have an excellent record in fostering 
 the Scouts. The order is chartered directly by Congress 
 and the President of the United States is its Honorary 
 Chairman. Their individual vow : "I will do my best to 
 build, to serve, and to achieve." Currently hundreds are 
 enlisted under various church auspices in the Wilson 
 District. It was said of First Christian in May, 1933, 
 that in this cause it "was taking a praiseworthy part in 
 eastern N. C." Further: "Troop No. 2, led by Scout- 
 master A. D. Shackelford, and Troop No. 10 led by John 
 Barclay are outstanding." Chairman of the Scout Troop 
 Committee in 1943 was J. Ernest Paschall. Four classi- 
 fications are: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 
 Brownies. In 1950, Cecil B. Lamm leading Troop 10 was 
 "honored in its 25th anniversary by the National Council." 
 In May, 1941, "the Girls' Scout Troop was greatly en- 
 couraging." Serving as leader was Bess Adams. Later 
 a troop of 22 girls was sponsored by Mrs. Tyrus Bissette 
 and Mrs. Estelle Walston. 
 
 The Daily Vacation Bible School held each June for a 
 quarter-century at the church is an important educational 
 
96 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 feature. It has generally been reported as "successful 
 and effective." These have been well staffed. A typical 
 one perhaps is that of 1956, which Mrs. Allan R. Sharp 
 supervised, when more than 200 were enrolled, instructed 
 by 50 teachers. Youth Sunday is observed in the morning 
 worship at First Christian on the national January date. 
 In the one for 1959 members of youth groups had "com- 
 plete charge," serving as elders, deacons, ushers, and 
 leaders in worship; Sharon Ginn and Jimmy Boswell 
 brought the morning messages. 
 
 A Home Department functioned in the church school in 
 1952, headed by Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Grainger. Various 
 organized classes in the school have inspiring records. 
 An instance is the Fellowship Class, six of whose past 
 presidents were presented awards at a banquet on No- 
 vember 21, 1957. These were: R. M. Beamon, H. P. 
 Benton, Jr., J. S. Goodman, Jr., Mrs. Boyce Preslar, 
 Lloyd Chesson, and John E. Riley. Guest speaker, Neil 
 Lindley was moved to say : "We will be able to grow be- 
 cause people are talking stewardship more than ever 
 before." The Friendship and other classes and depart- 
 ments in the school deserve honorable mention. 
 
 Wilson personnel has consistently given vital support to 
 the state- wide Youth Conferences from their beginning at 
 Neuse-Forest, June 3-9, 1929. It is typical that five of the 
 faculty at Neuse-Forest, including deans of men and 
 women, director of recreation, instructor in "Christian 
 Home," and vespers speaker were from the Wilson church. 
 The aggregate of Wilson's gifts to the construction of 
 Camp Caroline in 1953-'54 was $1758.22. At Christmount 
 also leaders and investors from First Christian have been 
 in evidence since 1947. 
 
 There has been a vast and variegated voluntary super- 
 vision of the educational ensemble at the local church 
 with its complex related activities. And there has been 
 regular salaried service for nine successive full-time direc- 
 tors and four part-time, for the period, 1946-1962. For 
 the initial venture in this intensified program, it was 
 announced: "We welcome Mrs. Eloise Case Smith, (later, 
 
YOUTH 
 
 97 
 
 Mrs. Ernest P. Batton) as our Director of Religious 
 Education at the local church beginning June 1, 1946." 
 Pastor Jarman early in his Wilson ministry, Dec. 3, 1945, 
 had been "empowered to employ a Religious Education 
 Director at annual salary, $1200." Mrs. Smith began the 
 following June at an increased salary. She was of well- 
 trained home talent, daughter of Professor and Mrs. 
 Perry Case. She resigned on March 10, 1947, accepting 
 a position at the Wilson County Library. 
 
 The next month, Vera F. Rogers, native of Roanoke, 
 Va., was called at salary, $1800, representing no increase 
 in pay. She is the daughter of Professor and Mrs. Vere 
 H. Rogers, the father being on the faculty of Atlantic 
 Christian College. A Lynchburg College graduate she 
 had recently completed her Master of Religious Educa- 
 tion degree at Duke University, and was "highly recom- 
 mended for this new position." She resigned on May 10, 
 1948. 
 
 In July, 1948, it was reported : "Robert M. Clarke, Jr., 
 ministerial student at A. C. College has been called as 
 director of Youth activities at our Wilson Church. He is 
 from our Peachtree Church, Atlanta, Ga., where he has 
 for two years received considerable experience and train- 
 ing in leadership of youth. For the summer only will he 
 be with us. He will also promote a program of leadership 
 training for adult counsellors." 
 
 In succession Mae Louise Brown accepted the call to 
 begin service on October 14, 1949. She had been a secre- 
 tarial assistant at the U. C. M. S. rooms, Missions Build- 
 ing, Indianapolis. Her experience in leadership of youth 
 had been at St. Joseph, Mo., and at University Church, 
 Indianapolis. It was said : "Here she will direct the total 
 educational program, including youth activities, and as 
 such will be a vital factor in the administrative staff of 
 the local church." 
 
 After Miss Brown, Goodwin, ("Goodie"), Moore, was 
 serving in January, 1952. He attended the December, 
 1951, meeting of the Executive Committee of the Inter- 
 national C.Y.F. Commission at Indianapolis and was as- 
 signed the preparation of "Morning Watch" materials 
 
98 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 to be used in Youth Conferences throughout our Ameri- 
 can Brotherhood. 
 
 In April, 1952, Ruby E. Craddock, native of Chatham, 
 Va., was called as Director, who began at Wilson in the 
 following July. She had in the preceding month received 
 her M. R. E. degree at the College of the Bible, Lexing- 
 ton, Ky. In the Central Christian Church of that city, 
 she had led in the Children's Division program, and had 
 served in Laboratory Training Schools, Christian Educa- 
 tion Institutes, and in Leadership Training. A Wilson 
 announcement said: "She comes highly recommended 
 and we look forward to an ever-expanding program of 
 effective Christian education." In October, 1955, she 
 resigned, effective the following November 15; she went 
 to a like position at Hopkinsville, Ky. 
 
 Part-time service at Wilson in this vocation was given 
 by A. C. College Ministerial students in 1955, 1958, and 
 1959. These were: Bill Boswell, Gwen Stanley, Wayne 
 Quinton, and Patsy May. 
 
 A graduate of A. C. College is Mrs. Jack Dennis Hern- 
 don, (nee Nan Mattox), of Wendell, N. C, who began as 
 Director at Wilson on July 8, 1956. The month before 
 she had received her M. R. E. degree at Texas Christian 
 University. She had practical experience in Fort Worth, 
 Texas, at Arlington Heights, and University Christian 
 Churches. As announced locally: "Nan's special area 
 of work will be in the church school and with the Youth 
 Departments. She will supervise the school and assist 
 in program planning for the church." Having married 
 in December, 1956, then removing to Raleigh, N. C, she 
 resigned June 15, 1957. As reported : "she was with the 
 church a little less than a year but her work has stimu- 
 lated its educational program." Albeit she was reemploy- 
 ed, July 21, 1957, at salary, $3600, inclusive of car allow- 
 ance, and "led in setting up the program for the coming 
 year." 
 
 After part-time leadership by some college students, 
 Richard Fay Rundell, was called and installed as Minister 
 of Christian Education on July 3, 1960. A graduate of 
 Lynchburg College he had received M.A. and B.D. de- 
 
YOUTH 
 
 99 
 
 grees at Hartford Theological Seminary, having majored 
 in Religious Education there. He was ordained in his 
 home church at Canton, Pa., on May 29, 1960. His expe- 
 rience had been with youth camps in Virginia and New 
 York, and with the Virginia Council of Churches in week- 
 day religious programs. He resigned, effective June 30, 
 1962, to accept the Bath, N. C, Christian Church pas- 
 torate. While an incumbent at Wilson he was appointed 
 chairman of the Disciples' Children's Work in the State. 
 
 On July 21, 1962, the official board called Richard 
 Vance Ziglar to the local Ministry of Christian Education. 
 A Tarheel and highly honored graduate of A. C. College, 
 he had received his M.R.E. degree from Texas Christian 
 University. Then from June, 1958, he had served Sev- 
 enth Street Christian Church, Richmond, Va., in his 
 chosen educational capacity. Also in his students days 
 in the "Lone Star State," he had served likewise in the 
 churches at Fort Worth, and Paris. In his native state 
 he was long an effective leader in youth activities, state- 
 wide and local. He now leads a varied area in the local 
 church school, in programs of youth, adult education, 
 missionary education, and other educational emphases. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 MUSIC 
 
 Noteworthy contributions to Christian hymnody has 
 been made by American Disciples. From the Cane Ridge, 
 Ky. revival of 1801 came the words of three hymns by 
 Barton W. Stone. Used widely in his generation was the 
 best known of these, having ten verses, with the first 
 line: "The Lord is the fountain of goodness and love." 
 Knowles Shaw, (1834-1878), composed the popular 
 "Bringing in the Sheaves," and produced two notable 
 Sunday School hymnals in the 1870's, entitled "Sparkling 
 Jewels", and "The Morning Star." James Henry Fill- 
 more (1849-1936) of the widely-patronized Fillmore 
 Brothers authored "Tell Mother I'll Be There," marked 
 by an endearing sentiment expressed in a memorable 
 tune for the mind and heart of his generation. Jessie 
 H. Brown Pounds, gifted poet, novelist, and dramatist, 
 wrote "Beautiful Isle Of Somewhere". Lovely in senti- 
 ment and used happily by many vocalists it yet incited 
 some cynical caricatures. A remarkable production has 
 come from Frank C. Huston, (1871-1959), singing evan- 
 gelist. He wrote the music for a round hundred of his 
 "Hymns and Gospel Songs," composing the words also 
 for 84 of these. To his best known "It Pays To Serve 
 Jesus" he gave both words and music. It has been sung 
 the world around and is translated into many languages. 
 Several of his other effusions have seen general use. The 
 foregoing is but a partial list. Other Disciple hymnists 
 have served creatively and with distinction since Cane 
 Ridge. 
 
 Specifically two Wilson Disciples have had a creative 
 part in this area of worship. W. S. Martin and wife, 
 (listed C. D. Martin in musical composition), lived in 
 Wilson, 1916-1918, at 605 West Kenan Street. From 
 them at an earlier date came both words and music for 
 "God Will Take Care Of You", (Hope Publishing Co.) 
 It has been widely used, particularly by Homer Rode- 
 
MUSIC 
 
 101 
 
 heaver. She (Mrs. Martin), wrote the words also to 
 "His Eye Is On The Sparrow." The felicitous refrain 
 to this which follows, is pleasantly remembered by many 
 soloists who have used it : 
 
 I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. 
 For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He 
 watches me. 
 
 The First Christian at Wilson, having but 25 members 
 in 1882, eleven years after its permanent organization, 
 seems not to have had an organized choir with instru- 
 mentation in the interval. A general custom of the times 
 was to have free congregational singing directed by an 
 experienced leader. This the faithful fully enjoyed, using 
 their well-worn pocket-sized tome, "Hymns and Spiritual 
 Songs/' of Disciple vintage. First reference to a musical 
 instrument is given by Pastor John J. Harper in July, 
 1883, when their "accomplished organist" was then 
 among the five additions in their seasonal revival. How 
 long their organ had been possessed is beyond our ken. 
 Of the 1058 resident communicants currently enrolled, it 
 appears as of record that Mrs. William T. Spillars is the 
 oldest in point of membership. She was baptized by 
 Pastor Dennis Wrighter Davis on March 13, 1895. At 
 her baptism the four verses of No. 673 in an early song 
 book was used by the congregation. The composers, 
 (1872), were John Nicholson and William G. Fischer; 
 the first line: "Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;" 
 its title, "Whiter Than Snow;" the theme based on Ps. 
 51 :7. Singers in an early mixed quartette at the church 
 were : J. B. Batts, Florence Herring, Mittie Herring, and 
 Robert J. Taylor. A slight impediment in the voice of 
 the last named caused him ever and anon to trail by a 
 word in the concerted cadence. 
 
 Extant records point to Mittie Herring, (Mrs. Graham 
 Winstead), as probably their first organist. She was 
 born January 20, 1867, thus was sixteen years of age 
 at the time she played for their revival in July, 1883. 
 Since she was twelve she had played. Her father, Thomas 
 
102 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 James Herring, (Oct. 15, 1840-Jan. 26, 1897), native of 
 Sampson County, N. C, had removed to Wilson in Jan- 
 uary, 1883. Mittie's sister, Florence, (Mrs. E. B. Stal- 
 lings), born in 1875, also played, and was remarkably 
 gifted. She practically began when she was eleven years 
 old when her feet barely reached the pedals of the reed 
 instrument. She never knew a note. Her instinctive 
 ear and memory sufficed admirably for her part. Her 
 father, an accomplished singer, who knew the notes well 
 and led the choir, would often strike the key for her as 
 she began a number. A loyal family in the service of 
 song the Herrings have continuously made a large con- 
 tribution. 
 
 In the church school some fifty years ago a small or- 
 chestra functioned. Participating were: Bertha Riley, 
 (Mrs. Crosby), at piano; Ephraim Harrell, cornet; G. L. 
 Herring, trombone, and Needham C. Holden, violin. Ed- 
 ward T. Stallings, Wilson's most gifted violinist, served 
 the church choir for three years. 
 
 At the first vesting of the choir it was reported : "Be- 
 ginning on Palm Sunday, March 20, 1932, our choir has 
 been vested. This was done with the approval of the 
 Woman's Council and the church board. The atmos- 
 phere of simplicity and dignity thus makes contribution 
 to the worship hour." At their Christmas programs in 
 the 1930's the three choirs participated which drew 
 audiences, "overflowing the building." After the coming 
 of the radio, on February 13, 1938, "a motion was passed 
 to continue the solo during communion on the Sundays 
 that broadcasting is from our church." Ten years later 
 "both of the Wilson radio stations were to be used in 
 turn for our church worship." For congregational sing- 
 ing, 250 new hymnals were provided in January, 1946. 
 A Junior Choir was organized in October, 1947. 
 
 In January, 1954, the last anthem in the brick church 
 was "Peace I Leave With You;" Mrs. H. M. Holliday 
 gave the solo part. At the opening of the stone church, 
 immediately following, the first solo was by Nancy 
 Forbes ; the title : "Bless This House." At the Christmas 
 
MUSIC 
 
 103 
 
 program, 1957, four choirs served, namely: Carol, Chi 
 Rho, Boys, and Chancel, with combined personnel of 92. 
 The 36 singing in the Chancel Choir then, were: 15 
 sopranos, 9 altos, 7 tenors, and 5 basses. 
 
 Reed and hand-pumped organs were used at First 
 Christian for a quarter-century. The use of their pump- 
 organ provided for their new brick church soon to be 
 completed, dated from April, 1898, when it was stated: 
 "Our ladies have paid for the new organ." The pipe 
 organ installed in February, 1907, lasted for 47 years. 
 Impartially it was said to have the finest tone of any 
 such instrument in the city. It was circumstantially sub- 
 jected to neglect however, thus on certain occasions it 
 was mechanically wild or dumb. This entailed costly 
 repairs with which the patient choristers and congrega- 
 tion were tolerant, while the always accessible piano was 
 used. 
 
 In June, 1952, for the planned new sanctuary, (stone 
 church), there was appointed "a special organ commit- 
 tee ;" its personnel : B. J. Forbes, chairman, Lee Howard, 
 Russell Roebuck, C. A. Jarman, Mrs. W. N. Hackney, II, 
 and Mesdames : Bertha Crosby, and Lula Ruffin. It was 
 decided that the new memorial instrument should not be 
 used promisciously, and that "every caution possible 
 must be used to protect it." The employed organist was 
 to be in complete charge of it; "the schedule of organ 
 practicing" to be "posted on a bulletin board in the lob- 
 by;" and "the organ chamber to be locked at all times." 
 Adopted was the specific statement giving eight "princi- 
 ples governing the use of the organ." Its installation was 
 completed on December 30, 1953; its sales number, 8541, 
 from the M. P. Moller Company, Hagerstown, Md., said 
 to be the "largest organ company in the world," and 
 which has now served for 84 years. The Company's 
 workmen installing it were : J. H. Presgraves, E. E. 
 White, and C. G. Stancill, whose "ability and genuine 
 interest," impressed observers. The instrument was 
 given by, Mr. and Mrs. Willis N. Hackney II. 
 
104 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 First hymn used on it by Mrs. Crosby, was : "Hark The 
 Herald Angels Sing;" then "He Leadeth Me." On Octo- 
 ber 21, 1961, Mrs. Crosby became assistant organist, 
 retiring after an exceptional term of 35 years in faithful, 
 efficient service. On the preceding September 20th there 
 had been "a fellowship dinner given in her honor," at 
 which Pastor Wallace as a token of appreciation, "pre- 
 sented her a wrist watch with appropriate inscription on 
 the back." In his tribute to her, he said: "Most of the 
 people here tonight have come to maturity of faith under 
 the leadership of your playing. Because music melts and 
 molds the heart, you have indelibly influenced the think- 
 ing, feeling, and decisions of the church. As we have 
 listened we have found healing for our hearts. We have 
 returned to the world of noise and fear composed and 
 ready to bring healing insight and faith to troubled 
 times." She had begun at an early day in John Barclay's 
 pastorate who observed how dependable and punctual 
 she was. Tradition has it that he offered her two boxes 
 of candy for each delay of a "split second" in her ap- 
 pearance at the appointed time. A laconic chronicler 
 said : "After four boxes he quit." 
 
 Following is an alphabetical roll of the regular organ- 
 ists at the church, some of whom also doubled as choir 
 directors. 
 
 1. Burleigh, W. J. 
 
 2. Cobb, James V. 
 
 3. Fontaine, John W. 
 
 4. Hackney, Martha. 
 
 5. Herring, Florence 
 (Mrs. E. B. Stallings) 
 
 6. Herring, Mittie (Mrs. 
 Graham Winstead) 
 
 7. King, Nora 
 
 8. Kinsey, Ina, (Mrs. 
 Taylor) 
 
 9. Mercer, Helen (Mrs. 
 Mack Swindell) 
 
 10. Muilberger, A. E. 
 
 11. Pierce, Mae (Mrs. T. 
 B. Woodall) 
 
 12. Riley, Bertha (Mrs. W. 
 L. Crosby) 
 
 13. Settle, Harriet (Mrs. 
 B. B. Plyler, Sr.) 
 
 14. Snakenberg, Alice 
 (Mrs. W. T. Holden) 
 
 15. Stuart, Blanche (Mrs. 
 George W. Gates) 
 
MUSIC 
 
 105 
 
 Following is an alphabetical roll of the regular choir 
 directors at the church : 
 
 1. Barnes, Rebecca 
 
 2. Cobb, James V. 
 
 3. Druckenmiller, Eliza- 
 beth W. 
 
 4. Eller, Roscoe 
 
 5. Fulton, Harriet 
 
 6. Grove, Eugene F. 
 
 7. Herring, T. J., Sr. 
 
 8. Hinton, Mrs. Nanelle 
 P. 
 
 9. Holliday, Mrs. H. M. 
 
 10. Howard, Lee 
 
 11. Luke, Ray 
 
 12. Peery, William Wal- 
 
 lace 
 
 13. Roebuck, Russell 
 
 14. Settle, Harriet (Mrs. 
 B. B. Plyler, Sr.) 
 
 15. Yavorski, Mrs. E. E. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DRAMATICS 
 
 Drama may be defined as a "series of happenings that 
 seem like those of a play." This meaning accepted, it 
 becomes part and parcel of universal life as we are privi- 
 leged to experience and envision it. It is thus an inherent 
 factor of the Christian religion eternally relevant to the 
 whole of life's issues. The dramatic element in the teach- 
 ing career of Jesus is clear. The Old Testament is replete 
 with the histrionic for those who have eyes to see. The 
 story of Job is one of the sublime dramas of all time. 
 The best in the plays of Shakespeare is essentially a 
 dramatization of certain emphases in the English Bible. 
 Our world is indeed in the context of storied treasure. 
 
 Beginning during John Barclay's pastorate, organized 
 dramatics in the Wilson Church has been articulate for 
 almost a quarter-century. Also informal practices of it 
 have been interspersed. Pastor T. T. Swearingen once 
 in a morning worship illustrated how sinners may wil- 
 fully do away with Biblically-oriented standards. Act- 
 ing out the respective delinquents he took a copy of the 
 Book and with clippers sheared away with precision the 
 crucial passages, one by one which were to be actually 
 nullified by the specified conduct of the impenitent. On 
 thinking hearers it made a profound impression. His 
 first pastoral message to Wilson, 1941, was entitled : "The 
 Corridor to Christmas." It was his story of a flowing 
 fountain at the World's Fair, which "seemed to bring the 
 peace and quiet of a countryside indoors." It was an 
 approach to where "beauty was supreme and souls were 
 receptive." Evoked was a spiritual preparation for a 
 Christmas, in which one might not "miss so much". 
 
 At a midnight watch service, December 31, 1950, the 
 old church bell which had been silent for fifty years, rang 
 in the new half -century. It had taken "seven good men 
 and true to condition the bell for its sweet and timely 
 service." When Pastor Jarman's flock moved from the 
 
DRAMATICS 
 
 107 
 
 brick to the stone church, on January 17, 1954, two hon- 
 ored elders Herbert W. Taylor and J. R. Woodall, carried 
 the Bible in solemn procession to its new stance in the 
 Gothic-embowered pulpit. A gavel was made from the 
 wood in the old church and entrusted to Chairman Jack 
 Forbes to strike the first parliamentary call in the stone- 
 church era. When on December 7, 1958, their mortgage 
 of formidable proportion had been paid, the burning of 
 the cancelled papers in the sanctuary was a meaningful 
 spectacle. 
 
 Sadie Greene, a qualified leader, who had a growing 
 talent in public dramatic presentation was encouraged by 
 Pastor Barclay to initiate, develop, and stage the first 
 religious drama at the local church. She became an ac- 
 complished director. Briefed here is her account of the 
 beginning of this well-accepted service : 
 
 Since 1926 we had in process a building fund for 
 a much needed Education Building. In its planned 
 assembly hall, known as the Carolina Room there was 
 to be a stage with curtain. I had expected these 
 facilities to offer great possibilities. The building 
 was dedicated and put into use in September, 1938. 
 I decided to attempt the production of a Christmas 
 pageant that year. I selected the "Christmas Pag- 
 eant of the Holy Grail" by W. Russell Bowie, with a 
 cast of 26 and a reader. It required several changes 
 of scenery, elaborate lighting, and so much depended 
 on the music that the use of the organ was necessary. 
 For this the Carolina Room facilities were inade- 
 quate. So our first pageant was produced in the 
 sanctuary with surprisingly wonderful results. 
 
 There was a capacity crowd at the church an hour 
 before our scheduled start. Mr. Barclay appeared 
 just before we began and was visibly disturbed. He 
 saw the overflow crowd ; he knew that the cast had to 
 enter down the various aisles ; he was aware that our 
 improvised lighting equipment was a fire hazard. 
 He called Charlie Darden, of the Wilson Fire Depart- 
 ment aside, who hurried out to return promptly with 
 fire extinguishers to serve in an emergency. The 
 audience never knew of this safety measure. John 
 Thomas of the Wilson Daily Times staff attended 
 and his unsolicited report was highly complimentary. 
 
108 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 He said in the Times: "Several hundred people 
 were turned away at the door and so the pageant is 
 to be presented again for those who were turned 
 away. The music perfectly blended was played by 
 Mrs. Bertha Crosby and the choir did a fine job. To 
 Miss Sadie Greene should go the credit which is truly 
 hers for putting on the pageant so well." 
 
 Miss Greene further says: "The success of this pro- 
 duction did much to instill confidence in the director and 
 the church as a whole. More than a hundred persons had 
 some active part in making the pageant a success. All 
 ages participated. The results obtained by our working 
 together were most highly satisfactory. After this the 
 interest in dramatics at the local church ran high. We 
 decided to organize a dramatic club, and met on January 
 15, 1939, for that purpose." It was named "The Christian 
 Church Dramatic Club." Its officers: president, Milton 
 Adams; 1st vice president, Lula Hackney Ruffin; 2nd 
 vice president, Joseph A. Batts ; secretary, Julia Howard ; 
 treasurer, Bruce Bryant. The play of 1938 was repeated 
 at Christmas, 1939. 
 
 A "One-Act Drama of the Crucifixion" was presented 
 in the Carolina Room, March 22, 1940. Sadie Greene 
 was director, assisted by Joseph A. Batts, stage manager ; 
 Carl Ross, assistant stage manager; Genevieve Highfill, 
 consultant artist; Mrs. Raymond Morgan, costumer; and 
 Elizabeth Ann Nail, prompter. On October 11, 1944, it 
 was provided "that drama be made a part of the function 
 of the Education Committee with Miss Sadie Greene as 
 Director of Drama and that an amount not to exceed $25 
 be approved for materials." This ceiling was raised to 
 $100 per annum three years later. Meanwhile Miss Sadie 
 Greene had taken a study course in the "Dramatics Work- 
 shop" at Denver University, Colorado. 
 
 Pastor Jo M. Riley had an inbred passion and capability 
 for sacred pageantry. It marked strongly his spiritual 
 leadership. For his first Christmas in Wilson the Worship 
 Division, Mrs. Willis Hackney, chairman, announced a 
 pageant to be given at vespers period, December 23, 1956. 
 In his ministerial report for May, 1957, he reported that 
 
DRAMATICS 
 
 109 
 
 during the seven weeks preceding Easter there had been 
 in First Christian, 61 regular services, attendance 6785, 
 and 18 special programs, including an Easter pageant, 
 attendance, 1595. In the former, 306 persons had "places 
 of leadership," and in the latter, "more than 250". He 
 added : "The wide variety of programs illustrates how 
 the church is seeking to provide various programs that 
 can appeal to all the people." The Christmas Carol by 
 Charles Dickens was directed by Nan Mattox Herndon in 
 1957 with a cast of 35. Accompanying were "more than 
 90 persons in the four choirs." 
 
 Early in 1958 the Wilson Council of Churches requested 
 Pastor Jo M. Riley to produce and direct the pageant to 
 be staged in the Recreation Building at Easter sunrise. 
 This had a cast of 70. Riley said: "In many cases it 
 would be easier for the minister to do the task himself 
 but one of the purposes of the church is to help people to 
 develop their abilities and talent." 
 
 In April, 1958, Riley proposed a "Wedding Bells Serv- 
 ice" for a morning worship hour in May, at which at- 
 tending couples would "reaffirm their marriage vows." 
 By the official board it was "decided that this was un- 
 wise," but an evening service for the unprecedented 
 event was recommended if found advisable. 
 
 The Easter pageant authored by Riley was entitled 
 "Triumphs of the Messiah." The text had a porologue 
 and twelve scenes in sequence as follows : He Taught 
 Them ; Parable of the Good Samaritan ; Jesus Blessing the 
 Children ; the Prodigal Son ; Teach Us To Pray ; Entry 
 of Jesus Into Jerusalem; The Lord's Supper; Gethsem- 
 ane ; Christ Before Pilate ; Christ Bearing the Cross ; The 
 Crucifixion; The Resurrection. 
 
 The Wilson Daily Times of October 19, 1962, reported 
 that Pastor James G. Wallace, current president of the 
 Wilson County Ministerial Association and an active com- 
 munity leader, had been asked by the Wilson Chamber of 
 Commerce through its "Wide-Awake Wilson" committee, 
 Van B. Langley, chairman, to be chairman of the com- 
 mittee for the forthcoming Community Christmas Pag- 
 
no 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 eant. It was presented "on a specially constructed stage 
 in front of the Wilson County Courthouse during the 
 second week in December." Langley stated : "We received 
 the support of our ministers and we are indebted to Mr. 
 Wallace for consenting to serve as chairman of what we 
 know is a significant event." 
 
 An impressive drama written by Richard Vance Ziglar, 
 and based on chapters 2, 4, and 5, of this history by C. C. 
 Ware, was presented on November 12, 1962. Its title: 
 "We Would Be Building". It was staged with costumed 
 choral accompaniment in the Wilson Community Build- 
 ing, the 600 persons in attendance giving it an enthusias- 
 tic acceptance. It stimulated interest in the forthcoming 
 construction of the new education building. Its narration 
 concluded : "Will we move into our new building on 
 January 17, 1964; or will we be witnessing a ground- 
 breaking service ; or will we be in the process of construc- 
 tion? What date does the future have for this congrega- 
 tion? You are the ones who will continue to write the 
 historical drama of this church. What will the next 
 pages say to the future generations?" 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 MEMORIALS 
 
 At the conception and erection of the stone church 
 there was spontaneous desire to adorn the spacious site 
 and beautiful structure. Accordingly an advisory Memo- 
 rials Committee was appointed who served ; the members : 
 B. B. Plyler, Jr., Chairman; Harold Seburn, (ex officio) ; 
 Cecil B. Lamm, Jasper D. Davis ; Mesdames : Ernest Bat- 
 ton, T. J. Hackney, and B. J. Forbes. The names of the 
 persons memorialized with respective contributors, and 
 of the makers of specified gifts are kept in the Memorial 
 Room. 
 
 Following are these distinctive rolls, given alphabetic- 
 ally, and brought up to date, as of record. 
 
 I. Names of those memorialized, by respective media 
 and by whom. 
 
 ANTHONY, T. L. (MARK). The chancel cross; by 
 his wife, Mrs. Eunice Aycock Anthony, and sons, Claude 
 and John. 
 
 BARNES, HOWARD FRANKLIN, SR., AND FUL- 
 GHUM, JESSE CARL; exterior spotlights on steeple; 
 by Mrs. Myrtle Fulghum Barnes, and other relatives. 
 
 BISSETT, C. H. ; three front stairway light fixtures ; 
 by his daughter, Mrs. F. B. Eason. 
 
 BROWN, SYBIL ; two silver communion trays ; by the 
 Mabel Case Class, (Friendship). 
 
 CLARK, MRS. HARRIET; the silver communion serv- 
 ice ; by Sidney P. Clark. 
 
 CLARK, MRS. HARRIET, AND FORBES, MRS. 
 NAN; the stained glass windows; by their children and 
 grandchildren. 
 
 DAVIS, IRA; the lectern, by his wife, Mrs. Eunice 
 Davis. 
 
112 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 FINCH, MR. AND MRS. BENJAMIN PERRY; a 
 chancel chair, by their children. 
 
 GRIFFIN, K. FRANK; a chancel chair; by his wife 
 and children. 
 
 HACKNEYY, MRS. BESSIE ACRA; the Maas tower 
 chimes ; by her daughter, Mrs. Bessie Hackney Adams. 
 
 HACKNEY, GEORGE, SR. ; the memorial lot; (Vance 
 and Tarboro Streets) ; by his daughter, Mrs. Bessie Hack- 
 ney Adams. 
 
 HACKNEY, GEORGE, SR.; the memorial room; by 
 Hackney Body Bus Company and its employees. 
 
 HACKNEY, MRS. SUE A. (W. D., I) ; the cross and 
 candlesticks; by Miss Susan Hackney. 
 
 HACKNEY, W. D., I; the bronze plaque charter; by 
 Mr. and Mrs. Willis N. Hackney, II. 
 
 HACKNEY, MR. AND MRS. W. D., I; The Moller 
 Organ in the sanctuary ; by Mr. and Mrs. Willis N. Hack- 
 ney, II. 
 
 HACKNEY, WILLIS NAPOLEON, I; (1823-1887), 
 memorial window originally given by his sons, transfer- 
 red from brick to stone church by his grandson, W. N. 
 Hackney, II. 
 
 HARDY, MRS. JULE R. ; a side aisle lantern, (on 
 left) ; by Mrs. Vazelle B. Batts. 
 
 HOWARD, MRS. J. S.; the painting, Madonna and 
 Child, in Memorial Room ; by William E. Minschew, Jr. 
 
 LANE, MRS. NETTIE; the Book of Remembrance; 
 by her children: Mrs. Sybil Snouffer, Mrs. Janie Lane 
 Wooten, Baynard Lane, and Raymond Lane. 
 
 LANE, ZEB. ; a side aisle light fixture, (on left) ; by 
 his wife, Mrs. Nettie Lane. 
 
 LITTLE, MR. J. H.; two silver communion trays; by 
 his wife, Mrs. J. H. Little. 
 
MEMORIALS 113 
 
 MILLHOUSE, JAMES IRVIN; the James Millhouse 
 Youth Room ; by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Millhouse. 
 
 MOYE, MOSES TYSON, AND WIFE, MOYE, PE- 
 NELOPE E.; the balcony pews; by their grandchildren. 
 
 PETERSON, MISS MARY JANE ; the vestibule light 
 fixtures ; by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Peterson. 
 
 RICHARDSON, SAM W. ; the lawn bulletin board; by 
 his wife, Mrs. Mae Hackney Richardson. 
 
 RILEY, JACK 0; the side aisle light fixture; (on 
 right) ; by his mother and brothers and sisters. 
 
 RILEY, JOHN G. ; the repository for the guest register; 
 by his wife and children. 
 
 SHACKELFORD, A. D.; the organ grilles; by his 
 many friends in appreciation of his services. 
 
 SMITH, MRS. LULA BELL ; a nave pew ; by Mrs. Thad 
 Petway. 
 
 SPIEGEL, S. P.; SPIEGEL, EUNICE SETTLE; 
 CALDWELL, J. C. ; AND CALDWELL, MARY SET- 
 TLE; the silver offering plates; by Mrs. Harriet Settle 
 Plyler. 
 
 STALLINGS, MRS. FLORENCE HERRING, (E.B.) ; 
 a chancel chair ; by Nora Stallings. 
 
 STRICKLAND, PEARL; two silver communion trays; 
 by C.W.F. Circle 7, (Mrs. J. S. Goodman, leader). 
 
 SUTTON, MRS. ELIZABETH C. ; a narthex light fix- 
 ture; by Mrs. Harry Yarborough. 
 
 TAYLOR, HERBERT W. ; a chancel chair; by a group 
 of women. 
 
 TONEY, MR. AND MRS. EDWARD S., and TONEY, 
 IDA ; the concrete base for the walks ; by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ben Royster. 
 
 TURNER, MRS. MARY MORTON; the Bible mark- 
 ers ; by a friend. 
 
1 1 A 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 TUTEN, CALVIN, AND TUTEN, MRS. MARY 
 KATHERINE; the balcony lantern by Mary Katherine 
 Jarman, and Cecil A. Jarman, Jr. 
 
 WALKER, JULIA; the flower vases; by the Mabel 
 Case Class (Friendship). 
 
 WALSTON, W. L.; an outside light fixture; by his 
 wife, Mrs. W. L. Walston. 
 
 WATERS, LUCIAN ALFRED; the dorsal curtain; by 
 Waters Brothers. 
 
 II. Names of those making particular gifts applied 
 to media as specified below : 
 
 ADAMS, W. D., SR. AND ADAMS, MRS. W. D., SR.; 
 The Adams Chapel building with furnishings including 
 the Baldwin Electric Organ in the Chapel. 
 
 BARDIN, MR. AND MRS. ALTON C. ; a pew for the 
 nave. 
 
 BARDIN, CLAYTON, JR.; front stairway light fix- 
 ture. 
 
 BIRNBAUM, MRS. VIVIAN GRIFFIN ; the minister's 
 robe. 
 
 CHURCH SCHOOL CHILDREN AND YOUTH; 126 
 Church Hymnals. 
 
 CLASS, EVER READY ; the Rearing aid mechanism 
 and public address system, the pulpit in the sanctuary, 
 and the two seven-branch brass candelabra. 
 
 CLASS, MEN'S; the chancel pews given in honor of 
 ministers: John Barclay, T. T. Swearingen, and C. A. 
 Jarman. 
 
 CLASS, YOUNG ADULT ; furnishings for the minis- 
 ter's study. 
 
 COLLINS, MRS. SADIE ; the cornerstone. 
 
 COURIE, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE: the drinking 
 fountain. 
 
MEMORIALS 115 
 
 DANIELS, MR. AND MRS. MOSES, AND THEIR 
 SONS : Barnes and John Hall Daniels ; the silver chalice. 
 
 DAVIS, MRS. GEORGE, SR. ; the pulpit Bible in the 
 sanctuary in honor of her children. 
 
 GREEN, MR. AND MRS. W. L. ; the lawn benches. 
 
 HARRIS, MRS. W. P. ; the pulpit scarf. 
 
 HIGH, BERNICE, AND HIGH, JESSE ; insulation for 
 Youth Room. 
 
 HOFFMAN, MRS. RUBY : a light fixture for the nar- 
 thex. 
 
 HORNE, ELMER : filing cabinet and desk. 
 
 HORNE, MRS. ELMER ; a stair hall light fixture. 
 
 JAMES, MR. AND MRS. CHARLES; the lawn sun 
 dial. 
 
 JOMP, JOHN W. ; complete set of the Interpreters Bi- 
 ble for the church library. 
 
 JORDAN, MR. AND MRS. E. B. ; a new piano in honor 
 of their children. 
 
 PASCHALL, J. ERNEST; the spot-lighting equipment 
 on the communion table. 
 
 SEBURN, HAROLD; the engraving on the gavel of 
 the chairman of the official board. 
 
 SHARPE, MRS. W. H. : A side aisle light fixture, (on 
 left). 
 
 STEVENSON MILLWORK COMPANY; the gavel 
 made from wood in the old wood church. 
 
 TOMLINSON, CHARLES L. ; the landscaping of the 
 grounds. 
 
 WATSON, MR. AND MRS. HOWARD ; the baptistry 
 grille in honor of their four daughters. 
 
 WOOTEN, MRS. MAUDE HARRELL, (W. L.,) and 
 WOOTEN, MISS KAY; a spotlight in the nave. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 PASTORS 
 
 Many ministers, evangelists, and other religious lead- 
 ers, ordained and unordained, have spoken in Wilson's 
 First Christian pulpit. The men briefly sketched here 
 are only those of the regularly employed pastors, the 
 recorded shepherds of the flock. From 1853 when the 
 local Disciples began their first worship group, to be dis- 
 continued for lack of due facilities in 1857, there were 
 two pastors, A. J. Battle, a settled resident, and William 
 H. Hughart, transient, who served the faithful, number- 
 ing less than a dozen. These two preachers have been 
 presented in our chapters two and four of this mono- 
 graph. Likewise, in the same chapters, two of the three 
 serving from 1871 to 1876 and 1878-1880, namely M. T. 
 Moye and P. E. Hines, have also been sketched. Moye 
 served again in 1889, 1890. 
 
 Moreover during the earlier period, as stated above, 
 Robert J. Taylor co-pastored the congregation with Moye 
 and Hines. Taylor, a charter member baptized by Virgil 
 A. Wilson, the pioneer evangelist in 1871, was a pros- 
 perous business man, who like many consecrated men of 
 the period combined preaching with commercial pursuits. 
 He supervised farms of Alpheus Branch. His home was 
 in Wilson, but in 1884 he was proprietor of a planing 
 mill at the village of Black Creek, seven miles south. The 
 next year his name disappears from the state registry of 
 Disciple ministers upon which he had been enrolled since 
 1872. He frequently represented his church at the annual 
 state convention, at which representative assembly he 
 sometimes preached. He served as a deacon in the local 
 church from its organization April 27, 1871, to his death 
 in July, 1912. In December, 1910, he and Mrs. Mary J. 
 Pearce were the only two surviving charter members 
 resident in Wilson. 
 
 The brilliant Joseph Henry Foy who ministered here in 
 1877 has also been previously sketched. While he was 
 
PASTORS, BATTLE TO DAVIS 
 
 117 
 
 pastor at Fourth Christian Church, St. Louis, Mo., he 
 composed in 1889, The Christian Worker. This is an ex- 
 cellent "practical manual for preachers and church offi- 
 cials", published by the old Christian Publishing Com- 
 pany of St. Louis. It has been widely used. 
 
 Biographical briefs of the later eighteen pastors of 
 whom sixteen have been personally known by the author, 
 at Wilson's First Christian, are presented as follows : 
 
 1882. HENRY CLEOPHAS BOWEN. Born July 26, 
 1858, in the Long Acre community, northern Beaufort 
 County, N. C. He died at Cincinnati, 0. in 1915, and was 
 buried at Catherine Lake, N. C. His parents : H. H., and 
 Ann Latham Boyd Bowen. His paternal ancestry was 
 from England ; his maternal from Scotland. He attended 
 country schools and recalled "With delight his youthful 
 pleasure in Peter Parley's History; Life of Franklin, and 
 Life of Francis Marion." He participated happily in 
 school declamations and in the neighborhood debating 
 society. In his public school the New Testament was used 
 as a reader. His mind was turned to the ministry of the 
 gospel. At seventeen he taught in his local school. Later 
 he attended Plymouth, N. C. Academy. Baptized in May, 
 1875, he united with the Long Acre Chapel Disciples in 
 his community. There he began to preach and was or- 
 dained in May, 1876. His ministry soon extended to 
 churches in adjoining neighborhoods. He attended in 
 1878 the Farmville, N. C, Academy, Josephus Latham, 
 principal, and much of his later achievement he attributed 
 "to the spiritual nurture that he received during his per- 
 sonal fellowship with this godly man." 
 
 He married Martha Josephine Sutton, of Hertford, 
 N. C. in May, 1880. His first wife having died, he mar- 
 ried Caroline Cox of Catherine Lake, N. C. on December 
 27, 1882. She was "an earnest and active helper in every 
 department of church work and much of his success was 
 due to her encouragement and assistance." He evangeliz- 
 ed successfully under the State Service in the Jones-On- 
 slow (Southeastern) District, 1881-1884. 
 
118 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 Beginning in June, 1885 he served the Kinston pas- 
 torate for two terms for a total of six years. At William- 
 ston and Winston-Salem he led in building their first 
 Disciple plants. Later he ministered to Belhaven and 
 Wilmington, and edited The Carolina Evangel. Serving 
 as Disciple State Secretary, 1890, 1891, he doubled and 
 trebled their annual missionary gifts. In 1894 he was the 
 Disciples' State Superintendent of Christian Endeavor 
 laboring "to give his people a correct understanding of 
 the purposes, principles and methods of this great move- 
 ment." His life was filled with an energetic, tireless, 
 work, and a constructive Christian ministry. 
 
 1882-1887. JOHN JAMES HARPER. Born at the 
 Harper House, (now a Confederate shrine), April 10, 
 1841; died at Atlantic Christian College, January 17, 
 1908; the interment was at Smithfield, N. C. He was a 
 planter, merchant, preacher, editor, statesman, and col- 
 lege president. Baptized by Henry Dennis Cason on 
 July 29, 1860, he preached his first sermon, May 18, 1861, 
 and qualified for enrollment in the Disciples' ministry at 
 their Pleasant Hill State Convention, October, 1862. 
 
 He was of English Quaker lineage; the immigrant, 
 John Harper I, came with the William Penn settlement, 
 arriving in Philadelphia, August 2, 1682. A grandson, 
 John Harper III, (1762-1834), served under LaFayette 
 and was present at the Yorktown surrender of Cornwallis. 
 A great-grandson John Harper IV, (born February 18, 
 1803), and Amy Ann Woodard Harper, (1820-1900), 
 were the parents of the subject of this sketch. 
 
 President John James Harper married Arrita Ander- 
 son Daniel of Pitt County, N. C, May 1, 1862. Serving as 
 the Disciples' State Evangelist, 1863-'65, his yearly salary 
 of $1,000 was in "Confederate money." Federal soldiers 
 early confiscated his only horse ; hence his foreshortened 
 gospel travels for the duration was by "shank's mare." 
 When the movement in the Hookerton Union was launched 
 to establish permanently the Disciples' cause in the grow- 
 ing center of Wilson through the effective evangelism of 
 Virgin A. Wilson of Bethania, N. C, Harper supported it 
 
PASTORS, BATTLE TO DAVIS 
 
 119 
 
 warmly. In his letter to Dr. Frank W. Dixon, of Hook- 
 erton, N. C, dated Bentonville, N. C, December 4, 1871, 
 Harper said: "I would be delighted to see Bro. V. A. 
 Wilson. I am grateful to learn that the Disciples in your 
 region are becoming more active in evangelizing. It is 
 high time for them to awake out of sleep. I trust this is 
 the dawning of a brighter day. My heart sickens at see- 
 ing our Master's banners trailing in the dust." Explain- 
 ing his situation in the prevailing post-war adjustments, 
 he added: "I am preaching regularly three times each 
 month — twice for the whites and once for the colored. I 
 am also doing considerate business in the way of mer- 
 chandising which is greatly in the way of my preaching 
 effectively". 
 
 His home for a long period was near Smithfield, where 
 he edited The Christian Visitoi* in the late 1870's and 
 '80's, and represented Johnston County in the State Sen- 
 ate. Among his pioneering pastorates were those at Wil- 
 son's Mills, Dunn, LaGrange, Wilson, Washington, and 
 Kinston. 
 
 In 1908, a writer who said it had been his "pleasure to 
 know Brother Harper very intimately", declared: 
 
 When our State Convention undertook the work 
 of building a College in this State, Brother Harper 
 was a most important factor. He was the first chair- 
 man of its Board of Trustees and devoted his head 
 and heart to that work. Persuaded by his fellow- 
 trustees to become President of the College, he took 
 it without any visible provision having been made to 
 meet expenses. He worked without pay for some 
 time; the interest grew; new students came; at his 
 death he left the rooms there filled with students. 
 He does not need a marble statue over his resting 
 place. He has built one in the hearts of the people. 
 The College is a monument to him. 
 
 Harper and close associates who shared his initiative 
 and vision fashioned their State Constitution which was 
 acceptable but unique. Dynamically administered it be- 
 came a living shield for creating and maintaining a quali- 
 fied ministry for North Carolina Disciples. This model 
 
120 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 of democratic conventional control purposely saved many 
 a Brotherhood headache from the sheer unfitness and in- 
 competence of an intruding self-serving leadership. 
 
 Harper's personality for a quarter-century was per- 
 haps the most outstanding and influential among his peo- 
 ple of the State. By scrupulous care he preserved vir- 
 tually intact the Disciples' State Convention Records from 
 1841, onward, now appearing in that particular category 
 to be incomparably the best in Discipledom for a like 
 period of inclusiveness and continuity. He presided in 
 eleven State Conventions. In his time he was the chief 
 builder of their cooperative life. 
 
 1888. CURTIS WILLIAM HOWARD. Born in Lenoir 
 County, N. C, October 28, 1853 ; died in Kinston, N. C. 
 July 23, 1932. He is memorialized in the Howard Chapel 
 on the Atlantic Christion College campus. Ordained in 
 1874 he gave 58 years' ministry to a score of churches. 
 With some he served long terms; at Armenia, 24 years; 
 at Riverside, 23 ; at Salem, 19. At the time of his passing 
 he was the dean of his fellow-ministers in the State. He 
 was the resident founder of the Southwest Church which 
 recently celebrated a unique and notable anniversary. 
 He was state secretary for five years at a pioneering time. 
 Moreover he was an active consultant on the State Board 
 for a long period where his service was of inestimable 
 executive value. 
 
 He attended his district school, and finally Wilson Col- 
 lege in 1877, under the distinguished teacher Joseph 
 Henry Foy. He taught mathematics for six years in the 
 Kinston Collegiate Institute with R. H. Lewis. For a 
 number of terms he was Superintendent of Lenoir County 
 Schools which were greatly improved under his wise 
 supervision. 
 
 He served a total of 32 years as Trustee for Carolina 
 Christian College, at Ayden, (1893-1896), and for At- 
 lantic Christian College, at Wilson, (1904-1932). He 
 was in truth a founder of both institutions. Moving to 
 
PASTORS, BATTLE TO DAVIS 
 
 121 
 
 Kinston in 1915 he gave his entire time henceforth to 
 religious work. Among a legion who knew him he was 
 beloved. He loved the church and was like a father to 
 many congregations in their prosperity as well as adver- 
 sity. 
 
 His mantle fell on younger men commissioned of God 
 to carry on looking to "the far-off Divine event toward 
 which the whole creation moves." 
 
 1891, (July to December). ROBERT DICKINSON 
 HARDING. Born near Burkeville, Va., June 3 1861 ; died 
 in Speers Hospital, Dayton Ky., June 26, 1935 ; the inter- 
 ment was in Burkeville, Va. He was of a highly esteemed 
 Nottoway County, Va. family. He attended Louisa, Va. 
 Male Academy, two years, and Randolph-Macon at Ash- 
 land, Va., one year. Associates in his youth nicknamed 
 him "Bob Dick." He graduated from The College of the 
 Bible, Lexington, Ky. in June, 1891, coming at once to 
 Wilson for a short ministry. Next his pastorates were 
 at Somerset, Ky., three years, and at Bellevue and the 
 adjacent Dayton, for a total of 41 years at the two places. 
 He organized the Dayton Church and ministered there for 
 38 years. In point of continuous service he was the oldest 
 Disciple minister in Kentucky at his passing. Meanwhile 
 he gave exceptional church-building guidance, leading in 
 erecting new houses of worship in Kentucky at Dayton, 
 Fort Thomas, and Silver Grove ; in his native Virginia at 
 Roanoke, Jetersville, Ontario, Forest Grove, Rehoboth. 
 and Church Roads; and in Ohio, at Moscow. He made 
 his home with his sister, Carrie who cared for him ten- 
 derly in his last days. 
 
 1892-1893, ROBERT WILLIAM STANCILL. Born 
 near Greenville, N. C, June 5, 1854; died, August 28, 
 1924; the interment was in Columbia Cemetery near 
 Washington, D. C. He graduated at the College of the 
 Bible, Lexington, Ky., 1883; his noteworthy oration 
 there: "No Star Goes Down But Rises in Another Sky." 
 He then evangelized in Kentucky and Indiana ; later was 
 
122 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 the State Evangelist for a term in Virginia, and there in 
 1896, served the Hampton pastorate. At Troy, N. Y. he 
 ministered 1885-1889, and led in completing the second 
 plant of this historic New York church. While at Troy 
 he wrote and published a book entitled: "The First and 
 the Last Church". In his native State he was the first 
 located minister of the Winston-Salem Disciples, and was 
 a founder of the New Bern Church. 
 
 He married Sallie Dixon, daughter of Dr. Frank W., 
 and Sallie Rasberry Dixon, who lived on the old Winsor 
 Dixon plantation near the present Maury, N. C. The 
 Stancills had three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Stan- 
 cill was "often called the model preacher's wife." Ben 
 Melton said of Stancill: "His fine sense of honor, his 
 quiet devotion to the finest ideals of life, made his minis- 
 try a blessing to thousands." 
 
 1894. No pastor. On the church roll were only 25 
 names; George Hackney, clerk. The reported total con- 
 tribution that year, to "local work", $15 ; to Foreign Mis- 
 sions, $7.50. 
 
 1895-1897. DENNIS WRIGHTER DAVIS. Native 
 Tarheel, born near Jamesville, April 1, 1861 ; died at 
 Washington, N. C., June 7, 1912; interment at Poplar 
 Chapel, near Jamesville. Baptized by Joseph Grey Gur- 
 ganus, in 1882, he attended schools taught by Henry C. 
 Bowen at Catherine Lake, and by I. L. Chestnutt at Farm- 
 ville. Further training he received at The College of the 
 Bible, Lexington, Ky. He married Mary Cotten Johnson ; 
 there were nine children. He baptized thousands, fruits 
 of his constant evangelizing. His pastorates in such 
 fields as Wilson, where the membership was tripled dur- 
 ing his term, and at Washington, and Greenville had pro- 
 found and far-reaching effects. Nearly thirty years after 
 the passing of Davis, J. Boyd Jones who knew him well, 
 said : "I have heard great preachers in America, and also 
 
PASTORS, BATTLE TO DAVIS 
 
 123 
 
 some of the best beyond the seas, but in my opinion none 
 could preach with greater power than D. W. Davis." 
 
 The monument memorializing Davis erected at Poplar 
 Chapel in 1923, the gift of grateful friends, is inscribed : 
 
 An advocate of "The Plea" building strong churches of 
 Christ on his native soil 
 
 An evangelist for Christ in the "Old North State" serv- 
 ing effectually with self-sacrifice 
 
 A devout man of vision and noble initiative being a 
 founder of the North Carolina Christian Mission- 
 ary Convention and of Atlantic Christian College. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PASTORS CONTINUED 
 
 After DENNIS WRIGHTER DAVIS there have been 
 twelve Wilson pastors as follows : 
 
 1897-1902. BENJAMIN HURON MELTON. Born at 
 Pollocksville, N. C, September 20, 1868; died in Suburb- 
 an Hospital, Bethesda, Md., October 8, 1944; the inter- 
 ment was beside his wife, Eva Kinsey Melton, in Wash- 
 ington, D. C. Surviving were their son and daughter, 
 Joseph C. Melton, of Bethesda, Md., and Frances Melton, 
 (E. H.), Leamon, of St. Petersburg, Fla. Melton was 
 ordained by J. W. McGarvey at Lexington, Ky., on June 
 9, 1892. He graduated at The College of the Bible there 
 in June, 1895, after attending New Bern, N. C. Collegiate 
 Institute and teaching several sessions. Further study 
 he had at Harvard University. 
 
 It appears that his five most important pastorates 
 were : in North Carolina at Wilson ; in Virginia at Han- 
 over Ave., Richmond; in Maryland at Twenty Fifth St., 
 Baltimore; and in Washington, D. C, at Columbia 
 Heights, and Ninth Street. Finally before retirement in 
 1940 he served for eight years as West Virginia State 
 Secretary. When he was pastor at Ninth Street, that 
 church was said to have the largest enrolled membership 
 of any congregation of like faith on the Atlantic Seaboard. 
 He was directly instrumental in adding 2480 persons to 
 the churches. He directed 34 young men to the ministry, 
 including J. Warren Hastings of the National City 
 Church. He made 24,880 pastoral calls. He served in 
 many Brotherhood capacities. His final ministry, (ad 
 interim), was at the Mirror Lake Church, St. Peters- 
 burg, Fla., where he preached his last sermon on August 
 14, 1944. 
 
 A Tarheel colleague said that Melton went to Lexington 
 with but $5.00 in all to sustain him there. Thus "he did 
 all kinds of work to stay in College until he was handed 
 his sheepskin. His first pastorate was in Wilson, N. C, 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 125 
 
 and it was here he showed his ability as an organizer and 
 a real leader. He found a little frame church and left 
 the field with a beautiful brick building and a seven-room 
 parsonage all paid for. It was under his inspiring leader- 
 ship that Atlantic Christian College was established and 
 that College stands to-day as a monument to his vision." 
 
 1902-1907. JOHN BOYD JONES. Son of Jesse Bond 
 Jones and Emily Jones, he was born September 2, 1869, 
 one mile west of Yeatesville, N. C, on the old Washington- 
 Leechville highway, down which Thomas Campbell of 
 "The Declaration and Address" made his way in the 
 spring of 1834. Jones died at his St. Petersburg, Fla., 
 home, January 23, 1946. He was baptized by W. 0. Win- 
 field, and induced by J. L. Winfield to attend the Lexing- 
 ton, Ky. College of the Bible, where he graduated in 1901. 
 In the year of his graduation he married Hattie Ford of 
 Mill Creek Church in Mason County, Ky., where Jones 
 had held a student ministry. His first wife having died 
 during their Asheville, N. C. pastorate, he married Mrs. 
 Cornelia Alger of St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1934. 
 
 After his student preaching in Kentucky, including 
 Lebanon, 1898-'99, his pastorates were : in North Carolina 
 at Wilson, and Asheville, 1923-'27 ; and in Indiana at 
 Marion, Anderson, Terre Haute, and Bloomington. At 
 Asheville he led in building the beautiful stone church at 
 20 Oak Street — a monument to his vision and zeal. He 
 had a summer home at Lake Junaluska. While at Wilson 
 he served also as State Secretary 1905-'06, was involved 
 happily in the early sacrificial development of the College 
 there, and in fruitful evangelism at Greenville, Maccles- 
 field, and numerous other fields. Some of his ad interim 
 terms in his native State were with the churches at New 
 Bern, Raleigh, and Charlotte. 
 
 He won many souls to Christ by his fervent, winsome 
 appeals. There was fire and magnetic urgency in his 
 gospel invitations, when congregations great and small 
 sat and stood in his heart-moving revivals. He is grate- 
 fully remembered by hundreds whom he led to make the 
 great commitment. 
 
126 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 In the heartland of old Kentucky I was baptized by this 
 pulpit Boanerges. It was on a rare day in June nearing 
 the count down for the new century. 
 
 1907-1908. JESSE COBB CALDWELL. Son of Robert 
 and Mildred Cobb Caldwell, born near Liberty, Mo., Jan- 
 uary 15, 1873 ; died at his Des Moines, Iowa home, Feb- 
 ruary 22, 1941 ; the interment was in Des Moines. His 
 grandfather, James C. Caldwell, pioneer Disciple preacher 
 in central Kentucky, was according to an autographed 
 inscription by Walter Scott, (1796-1861), his (Scott's) 
 "Dear Brother and fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ." 
 
 Jesse married first, Mary Settle of Owenton, Ky., Octo- 
 ber 18, 1898, who died in 1926. Their children: Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Caldwell Leatherwood, and Mrs. Mildred Cald- 
 well Wright. His second marriage was to Ruth Wilkin- 
 son of Floris, Iowa, on August 10, 1927. 
 
 He was the first graduate of the Excelsior Springs, Mo. 
 High School, and later attended the State Normal at 
 Warrensburg, Mo. His A.B. he received at Kentucky 
 University, (now Transylvania) in 1896, and the next 
 year was given the classical diploma, from the College of 
 the Bible, located then on the same campus. His B.D. 
 was bestowed by Yale in 1903; LL.D. was conferred on 
 him at Transylvania in 1916, which was followed at once 
 by a graduate course in the University of Chicago. His 
 educational career: principal of the Caldwell Academy 
 at Owenton, Ky., 1900-'02 ; president of Atlantic Christian 
 College, 1908-'16; dean of the College of the Bible at 
 Drake University, 1916-'37, and from 1937 to the time of 
 his passing, he was professor there of the "History of 
 Religions". He left obvious marks of his leadership upon 
 many students going from these institutions. 
 
 Ordained to the ministry in 1897, his pastorates were: 
 in Kentucky at Owenton, 1897-1902 ; in Alabama at Selma, 
 1903-'07, and lastly at Wilson where he led in adding the 
 initial church school rooms before his call to the presi- 
 dency of the College. Passionately identified with the 
 Disciple movement, his preaching had inspirational qual- 
 ity. He generously gave his personal attention as far as 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 127 
 
 expedient to such churches of his faith as were struggling 
 into life two generations ago, as Wilmington, Goldsboro, 
 Rocky Mount, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Charlotte. His 
 Tarheel friends sent him on a tour of the Holy Land in 
 1911-'12. 
 
 Here at Wilson a half -century ago he had the gruelling 
 job of running a small college of high quality without 
 endowment. Not only was there no endowment, but there 
 was harassing debt; first the bulk of the original pur- 
 chase price hanging on through the years like a self- 
 perpetuating parasite; then the debt incurred by new 
 building which followed the triumphant disposal of the 
 original bonds. Yet during these nine years at Wilson, 
 Caldwell put the soul of an artist into the institution and 
 trained preachers to serve high places in a far-flung 
 Brotherhood. Likewise he inspired leaders of excellent 
 quality in other lines. He promoted in the school an 
 atmosphere of culture, a high morale, a substantive ambi- 
 tion to "follow the gleam." 
 
 1908 (June to November). WILLIAM STONE BUL- 
 LARD. Born in Pulaski County, Va., November 22, 1847 ; 
 died at Bluefield, W. Va., March 20, 1922. His father was 
 Chester Bullard, (March 12, 1809-February 27, 1893), 
 who in the 1860's baptized Virgil Angelo Wilson, a founder 
 of this church in Wilson, N. C, to which his son came for 
 a short ministry. The baptismal succession went back 
 through Landon Duncan; Joseph Thomas, "The White 
 Pilgrim", to William Guirey, the Christian Baptist. The 
 Bullard home at Snowville, Va. was called Humility, and 
 the church there, (Cypress Grove), has been often refer- 
 red to as the "Jerusalem of the Southwest Virginia Dis- 
 ciples." 
 
 William married Sarah Bill in 1871, "who was in every 
 way an excellent woman," surviving him until August, 
 1938. Their children: Stella, Chester, Elsie, and Ralph. 
 Stella married Daniel E. Motley, a state evangelist for 
 N. C. Disciples, prime agitator for the start of Atlantic 
 Christian College, and called to be its first president. 
 
128 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 After declining this offer Motley founded Washington 
 D. C. Christian College. 
 
 "Willie" Bullard as he was affectionately known, was 
 baptized by his father in 1860 and preached his first 
 sermon in Wythe County, Va. July 15, 1864. This is the 
 locality in which Barton W. Stone, by his own account 
 had in 1796 his first favorable experience in preaching. 
 Bullard's pastorates were: in Virginia, at Snowville, 
 Wytheville, Radford, and Tazewell; in Arkansas at Tex- 
 arkana, (1900-1907), building their new plant, and from 
 thence coming to Wilson ; in New Mexico at Las Vegas ; 
 and in West Virginia at Bluefield. 
 
 He graduated at Bethany College, June 17, 1869. "He 
 was a well and accurately read man, and had one of the 
 best and largest individual libraries in western Virginia. 
 No minister stood higher in the respect of the people." 
 
 1908 1912. SAMUEL PICKENS SPIEGEL. His wis- 
 son pastorate began November, 1908 ; closed June, 1912. 
 Born at Falkville, Ala., September 10, 1873 ; died at Mo- 
 bile, Ala., July 4, 1941. He was a son of Samuel and 
 Mary Eliza Spiegel, the sixth in a family of nine children. 
 He married Eunice Settle of Owenton, Ky. ; she died in 
 1923 ; there were no children. 
 
 He grew up at Piney Grove, Morgan County, oldest 
 congregation of Disciples in Alabama, it was founded in 
 1839. By 1941, it had produced nine preachers, of whom 
 five were Spiegels, namely: O. P., J. E., J. M., and finally 
 S. P., and their nephew, Grady Spiegel, (born July 15, 
 1897). Another of their nephews, W. Otto Henderson, 
 (born December 23, 1894), is also a minister of the Dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 "Uncle Pick", as S. P. was familiarly known in inti- 
 mate circles, had a course at Hartselle, Ala., College, for 
 two years and a half, and graduated at The College of the 
 Bible, Lexington, Ky., in 1896. Aside from Wilson, his 
 other pastorates were: in Alabama at Decatur, Mobile, 
 and Dothan ; and in Georgia at West Point, where he or- 
 ganized the church and ministered for a long period. 
 Some of the others which he helped to organize, were: 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 129 
 
 Decatur, Montgomery, Cullman, and Bragg's, all in Ala- 
 bama. Over a wide field he won many souls to Christ. 
 He was a trusted and beloved leader in Boy Scout, 
 Rotary, and Masonic activities. 
 
 Richard L. James, Alabama Disciple historian, says : 
 "The five Spiegel brothers who went out from Piney 
 Grove have carved a noble path for the Master's cause in 
 Alabama and throughout the South." 
 
 1912-1918. RICHARD BAGBY. Born October 13, 
 1867, at the home of his maternal grandfather, Temple 
 Walker, in King and Queen County, Va. ; died at Ashland, 
 Va., August 21, 1948; the interment was in the Smyrna 
 Christian Church cemetery in his native County. He was 
 a son of Captain A. F., and Fannie S. Walker Bagby. His 
 brother E. B. Bagby was a Chaplain of the U. S. House 
 of Representatives ; his other brothers were : Drs. B. B. 
 and A. F. Bagby, prominent physicians. Richard mar- 
 ried Daisy Price of Hyattstown, Md., June 3, 1896 ; she 
 died in 1962 ; there were no children. 
 
 At Smyrna, his home church, he was baptized while a 
 youth by Robert Y. Henley, son-in-Jaw of Alexander 
 Campbell. His college training was at Milligan in Ten- 
 nessee, 1886-'87, graduating at Bethany, W. Va., 1893; 
 later he was graduate student at the University of Vir- 
 ginia. Ordained January 26, 1894, his pastorates were: 
 in Maryland, at Rockville; in Virginia at Louisa and 
 Clifton Forge ; in Pennsylvania, at Scranton, and in North 
 Carolina at Wilson and Washington ; retiring on Decem- 
 ber 1, 1937, after eighteen and a half years at Washing- 
 ton. In World War I he was a Y.M.C.A. Chaplain over- 
 seas. 
 
 He was consecrated and watchful for God's resources. 
 He had poise, patience, understanding, sympathy. He was 
 alert and perceptive ; when any would react to thwart 
 the sacred ideals of the fathers in the futilities of pro- 
 vincialism and obscurantism, he towered as a spiritual 
 giant toward restoring the Disciples' order to the better 
 angel of its nature. He was an effective fighter with the 
 sword of the Spirit. 
 
130 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 He knew by reason and experience the inclusive love 
 of God. Christ he knew on the battlefields of Europe ; in 
 the coal mines of Pennsylvania ; in the sedate countryside 
 of Virginia and Carolina. Without consciously striving 
 for it, and not being aware of it when he attained it, he 
 became the most beloved citizen of the old historic city 
 by the Pamlico. 
 
 1918-1824. JAMES EDWARD STUART. Born at 
 Mechanicsburg, Va., July 26, 1869; died at Greensburg, 
 Pa., April 2, 1926 ; the interment was in Westview Ceme- 
 tery, Atlanta, Ga. His daughter, Mrs. Blanche Stuart, 
 (George W.), Gates, was resident in Atlanta, until her 
 death a few years ago. His other child is Mrs. Margaret 
 Stuart, (Eldred C.) Benton, of West Point, Ga. He mar- 
 ried Margaret Garrett, a fellow student at Milligan Col- 
 lege, Tenn., in 1892. 
 
 He decided to enter the ministry while a student at 
 Milligan, was ordained in 1890, and graduated there in 
 1892, in a class of seven. Later he received an M.A. 
 there. Aside from Wilson, his pastorates were: in Ten- 
 nessee, at Rockwood, Harriman, (two terms), Jackson, 
 (two terms), Union City, Nashville, (Woodland Street) ; 
 in Washington, D. C, (15th Street) ; and in Pennsylvania 
 at Greensburg. 
 
 During Stuart's six years at Wilson there were 298 
 additions to the church increasing the enrolled member- 
 ship to 540. He was active here, with voice and pen in 
 many good causes and was truly loved and revered for 
 himself, his fruitful work, and his lovely family. At his 
 passing in 1926, Louis Dudley Riddell who "had enjoyed 
 the fellowship and friendship of this rare soul for nearly 
 thirty years," said of him: 
 
 He leaves the record of a faithful ministry. He 
 was a preacher of rare ability ; spoke with zest, and 
 with a fervor and force that were compelling. He 
 was endowed with an unusual appreciation of the 
 beautiful in nature, art, and literature. This enrich- 
 ed his sermons with gems. He was well read and 
 knew the best authors and the choicest books. He 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 131 
 
 was a man of broad vision, deep convictions, intense 
 feelings, and the keenest sense of humor. These 
 served well in his ministry. 
 
 1924-1941. JOHN BARCLAY. A son of J. J. and Sul- 
 tena Todd Barclay, he was born January 17, 1893, at 
 Kingston, Madison County, Ky., a village, (present popu- 
 lation, 100), near Berea. He was reared in Lexington, 
 his native State. He is currently the pastor of Central 
 Christian Church, Austin, Tex., having served there for 
 the past 21 years. He married Lydia Clark Todhunter of 
 Lexington, Ky., June 30, 1924; she died the following 
 April 27 ; was buried at Lexington, and simultaneous 
 memorial services were held for her at Wilson and Lex- 
 ington. "Blessed were those who came within the radius 
 of her influence and felt the uplift of her gentle, charm- 
 ing personality." In September, 1941, John was married 
 to Mattie Belle Stewart, of Portsmouth, Va. Their chil- 
 dren: John, Jr., (born 1943), now an eagle scout with 
 palm, and Gayle, (born 1946) ; her pet name, "Bitsey." 
 
 "Captain John" rose from private to Captain of infan- 
 try in World War I, following which he took special 
 courses in the University of London in 1919. He worked 
 his way through Transylvania College, at Lexington, at 
 manual tasks, firing furnaces, and rising before day to 
 wrap papers at the Herald office for out-of-town sub- 
 scribers. He participated in all branches of athletics at 
 High School and College ; his basketball team in 1922 won 
 the national championship at the Chicago Tournament. 
 He has featured as scout master, playground director, 
 gym instructor, and boys' camp director. He received 
 his A.B., (cum laude), at Transylvania, 1920; his B.D. 
 at The College of the Bible there, 1922; his M.A. at 
 Teachers College, Columbia University, N. Y., 1923. He 
 was Resident Fellow at Union Theological Seminary, N. 
 Y., 1922-'23. Transylvania conferred his D.D. in 1950. 
 
 He was ordained May 1, 1916. Aside from his seven- 
 teen years at Wilson, his pastorates have been : student 
 ministries to three churches in Kentucky; at Bethany, 
 W. Va., (1923-'24) ; and Austin, Tex. (Central). He was 
 
132 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 vice president for a year of the International Conven- 
 tion of Christian Churches, (Disciples of Christ). 
 
 When Barclay left Wilson for Austin his pastorate 
 here had been the longest of such incumbency of any man 
 in the history of this city. He has traveled in 35 countries 
 on four continents. He has presided at North Carolina 
 and Texas State Conventions of Christian Churches, and 
 has served in many other Brotherhood capacities ; has lec- 
 tured, preached, or spoken in more than twenty Universi- 
 ties and Colleges. For more than a decade he has been a 
 personal friend of U. S. Vice President Lyndon Baines 
 Johnson, who is indeed one of his parishioners at Austin. 
 Thus Barclay, representing Protestantism, led one of the 
 four inaugural prayers for Kennedy and Johnson on Jan- 
 uary 20, 1961, with its global-interest telecast. 
 
 Reportedly during his term at Wilson there were 898 
 additions to the local church. He led in the building of 
 the Vance Street educational plant with its popularly 
 acclaimed Carolina Room. According to the official min- 
 utes, at his leaving, he said that "he intended to write a 
 book within the next two years and dedicate it to the 
 congregation of the Wilson Church." That promised 
 book is yet to be. At his tearful farewell service here on 
 a "terribly hot night" in September, 1941, he stood in his 
 Wilson pulpit for the 1700th time. "No one left and no 
 one even moved as the minister spoke." He said in part: 
 
 This is the freest pulpit in the South. Wilson as a 
 whole is a thoughtful town. If I shall succeed in my 
 new and other fields I shall know that I am indebted 
 to you for it. If you will come to see us in Texas I 
 will try to repay your thoughtfulness of me 
 through my years here. I don't like this leaving. I 
 think that two professions, doctors and ministers, 
 should stay in one place all their lives. Yet I was 
 married here only two hours ago and now I am 
 preaching here for the last time. 
 
 He revisited Wilson in August, 1961, preaching to large 
 and rapt audiences in the stone church ; a reception being 
 happily given him on an evening in the home of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bruce W. Riley. 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 133 
 
 1941-1945. TILFORD TIPPETT SWEARINGEN. Born 
 in a rural two-room log cabin in Howard County, Mo., 
 May 9, 1902, son of Robert S. and Minnie Swearingen; 
 now State Secretary of Texas Disciples, with office in 
 Fort Worth. He married on December 25, 1924, a 
 schoolmate, Elizabeth Earickson, also a Howard County 
 native but of Kentucky and Alabama ancestry. Their 
 child: Robert Kirk, (Bobby), born in Kansas City, Mo., 
 1929, namesake of his paternal grandfather, and of Gen- 
 eral Robert E. Lee. Both of Tilford's grandfathers were 
 Virginians, Confederate veterans under "Marse Robert." 
 
 At Glasgow in his native county he had one year in 
 Pritchett College, and another at North Central College, 
 Napierville, 111. At Phillips University he received his 
 A.B. in 1923; his A.M. in 1924; finally he was awarded 
 his D.D. at Phillips in 1937. Meanwhile he had a succes- 
 sion of summer courses at the University of Chicago. 
 
 He was ordained in 1922. Aside from Wilson his pas- 
 torates have been: in Oklahoma, at Waukomis, (3 years) ; 
 in Missouri, at Lathrop, (5 years), and three years at 
 Kansas City, (Oak Park.) In 1928 he toured Palestine, 
 and eight additional countries in Asia, Africa and Eu- 
 rope. From October 1, 1929 to January 1, 1942 he served 
 in varied executive capacity in the National Department 
 of Religious Education at the Disciples' Indianapolis 
 headquarters, finally in 1936 succeeding Roy G. Ross as 
 the executive secretary. For nine years he was president 
 of William Woods College, Fulton, Mo. Since March 15, 
 1961 he has been chief executive of Texas missions, (Dis- 
 ciples). He has authored these books: "Planning for 
 Young People in the Local Church, (1933) ; Must A Man 
 Live, (1941) ; and The Community and Christian Educa- 
 tion, (1950). 
 
 His four-year pastorate at Wilson confronted shifting 
 fortunes of the all-out American part in World War II. 
 Significant gains were made. The total membership of 
 the local church rose to 898. Church School attendance 
 climbed. Final payment of $6,380 was made on the edu- 
 cational plant, and the mortgage was burned. The "new 
 sanctuary" fund was launched in 1944, with $27,100 
 
134 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 pledged on it that year. Religious dramatic presenta- 
 tions at the church were highly successful as directed 
 by Sadie Greene. A year-round evangelism was achieved. 
 Missionary giving was increased. Unprecedented bud- 
 gets were underwritten. A six-department functional 
 church reorganization was effected. Early in 1944 he 
 submitted a list of twenty parish goals. His reiterated 
 thesis : "Church work is the business of all the members. 
 The minister is employed to give full time to such work 
 as the members are unable to do." 
 
 He left for Chicago to assume his new position with the 
 International Council of Religious Education, but by 
 special invitation returned seven years later for the lay- 
 ing of the cornerstone of the stone church, October 19, 
 1952. About the function of Christian worship, he said : 
 "Each Lord's Day is a new chance to shut out for awhile 
 the matter-of-fact, the routine, the noise, the unlovely. 
 Thus to walk again in the quiet comradeship of other 
 Christians ; to leave behind all selfish pride of accomplish- 
 ment ; to be in the presence of true greatness." 
 
 1946-1955. CECIL ALBERT JARMAN. Born Decem- 
 ber 8, 1906, at Richlands, N. C, (population, 445, in 
 1910), son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Z. Jarman. He currently 
 serves as professor in the Department of Religion, Texas 
 Christian University. An apparent trend among Disci- 
 ples in mid-twentieth century is for a considerable Tar- 
 heel removal of leadership to Texas with a reciprocal flow 
 of Texans to the "Old North State," for the individually 
 contemplated "greener pastures." Cecil married Ina 
 Rivers Tuten, (A.B., Atlantic Christian College, 1935), 
 of Aurora, N. C. Their children: Cecil A., Jr., (Jack), 
 and Mary Katherine. 
 
 He received his A.B. at Atlantic Christian College, 
 1928; his M.A., at Emory University, 1932; his B.D. at 
 Yale, 1935 ; his Ph.D. at University of N. C, 1946 ; and 
 was awarded his D.D. at Atlantic Christian College, 1952. 
 For ten years he served ably on the faculty of Atlantic 
 Christian College; in addition he was its Acting Presi- 
 dent, 1949-1950, when he led successfully in erecting and 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 135 
 
 equipping Harper Hall and Hardy Memorial Library at 
 the College, and dedicating both buildings on May 27, 
 1951. 
 
 He began his ministry at Batesburg, S. C. in 1929. At 
 Yale he held student pastorates. Aside from Wilson, 
 (Jan. 20, 1946-Nov. 1, 1955), his other pastorates in 
 North Carolina were: Plymouth, Wendell, LaGrange, 
 Beulah, Bridgeton; and in Alabama, at Birmingham, 
 (First). In his native State he was State Director of 
 Religious Education, (Disciples), 1940-1945; President 
 of the State's Disciple Centennial Convention, 1944 ; Presi- 
 dent of the State's Christian Ministers' Association, Pres- 
 ident of the N. C. Council of Churches, (1954), and 
 Chairman of its Leadership Education Commission. In 
 wider Brotherhood activities he has served on the Board 
 of Managers, U. C. M. S., and on the Board of Trustees 
 of The College of the Bible, Lexington, Ky. He was a 
 Lion and a member of the N. C. Education Commission. 
 
 During his Wilson pastorate, the stone church (a 
 $425,000 property), was builded, equipped, and dedicated, 
 whereupon Bruce W. Riley, Chairman of the official 
 board "expressed appreciation on behalf of the entire 
 church for Dr. Jarman's excellent planning and splendid 
 leadership — a big job well done." He returned from Bir- 
 mingham to deliver the principal address at the "Mort- 
 gage Burning" Ceremonial at the church on the evening 
 of December 7, 1958. Provided for him and Mrs. Jarman 
 was a tour of the Holy Land for the period June 2 to 
 July 15, 1955. 
 
 The Wilson Daily Times said editorially on August 31, 
 1955, as briefed : 
 
 All have read of Dr. Cecil A. Jarman's resignation 
 with regret. For he is more than the pastor of the 
 church he has been serving here — he belongs to the 
 community; he has given so generously of his time 
 and talents to every worthwhile civic endeavor. His 
 contribution to character building can be measured 
 by no yardstick. His decision to leave Wilson must 
 have been a hard one to make since he and his family 
 
136 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 have made a place for themselves here. His new 
 field offers challenges that will be met with distinc- 
 tion and honor. 
 
 1956-1959. JO MERLE RILEY. Born at St. Peters- 
 burg, Fla., January 9, 1921; reared at Lexington, Ky. ; 
 son of Edgar Carlisle Riley, (1883-1945), and Mrs. Riley; 
 now pastor at Central Christian Church, Decatur, 111. 
 Jo married in 1945, Rebecca Ann Matheny, of Stanford, 
 Ky. Their children : Lucinda, Joetta, and Louis. Rebecca, 
 a graduate nurse, received her academic training at the 
 University of Kentucky. In Jo's pastorates she has taken 
 consistently an excellent part in her share of church work. 
 For one year she was chosen "Mother of the Year," in 
 Howard County, (Kokomo), Indiana. Edgar, the father 
 of Jo, living at Lexington and Midway in Kentucky was 
 widely known for his highly successful fund-raising for 
 Transylvania College and Midway Junior College, (K. F. 
 0. S.). 
 
 Jo in Lexington, Ky. received his A.B. at Transylvania, 
 1942, and his B.D. at The College of the Bible, 1945. His 
 further graduate work was at Union Theological 
 Seminary and Columbia University in New York City, 
 also at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis. For 
 five years he taught in the Indiana University extension. 
 In the Summer of 1952 Jo and Rebecca toured the Holy 
 Land for seven weeks, travelling 15,000 miles in twelve 
 different countries by air, bus, rail, and boat. Their per- 
 sonal word : "As we saw what the Protestant Churches in 
 Europe are doing, we were convinced that they have a 
 message for the whole world. They are coming to grips 
 with the tremendous problems of the Christian people 
 there." 
 
 Aside from Wilson, Riley's work has been: in Ken- 
 tucky, at Oxford, and Alton, (student pastorates), and 
 as assistant minister at Lexington, (Central) ; in Indiana, 
 at Kokomo, (Main Street), serving from September 8, 
 1947 to December 31, 1955; and presently in Illinois at 
 Decatur, (Central) . He was a chaplain in the U. S. Navy, 
 1945-'46, stationed at Washington, D. C, and at Pearl 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 137 
 
 Harbor, (Honolulu). In his Kokomo term the member- 
 ship there increased from 600 to over 1,000, which in- 
 cluded 141 confessions received on one Lord's Day. The 
 annual budget grew from $14,000 to $38,000; and the 
 church plant was renovated, and two new properties ac- 
 quired. He wrote the centennial monograph of the Ko- 
 komo church of 90 pages, (1951), using dialogue for 
 dramatic passages. F. E. Davison visiting this field in 
 the fall of 1955, reported: "It is doubtful if any church 
 in Indiana has accomplished greater things for the King- 
 dom than the Kokomo church under the leadership of Jo. 
 M. Riley." 
 
 During his Wilson pastorate there were reportedly 214 
 additions to the church. He wrote and directed the Wil- 
 son Easter Pageant, 1958, (interdenominational). He 
 wrote and directed the communion ritual for the Inter- 
 national Conventions of 1957, '58, and '59, held at Cleve- 
 land, St. Louis, and Denver, with registered attendance 
 at each of 8441, (average) . He participated in many other 
 Brotherhood activities, at local, state, national, and inter- 
 national levels. Many of his sermons were made avail- 
 able in mimeographed leaflets, thus extending their help- 
 fulness. 
 
 Beginning his Wilson pastorate, February, 1956, he 
 observed : "I see the task of the local church as fourfold. 
 We must be concerned in preaching the gospel and spread- 
 ing the good news ; in the worship of God ; in providing a 
 teaching program for others and ourselves; and in ex- 
 tending brotherly love to all." 
 
 Leaving Wilson on June 21, 1959, he declared : "Rebec- 
 ca and I appreciate all the support that you have given; 
 loyalty that you have expressed ; and work that we have 
 done together. My ministry with you is not concluded 
 this Sunday. It will continue as long as you seek to 
 dream the dreams which we have dreamed, live the faith 
 which we have discovered, and follow the ideals that we 
 have upheld. Our ministry can only be fulfilled in your 
 life. I only hope and pray that you will fulfill our min- 
 istry together by living the life that Christ would want 
 you to live." 
 
138 
 
 THE CHURCH BELL 
 
 1959—. JAMES GILLISPIE WALLACE. Now serv- 
 ing at Wilson. Born at Bluefield, W. Va., February 18, 
 1924; son of Mr. and Mrs. P. F. Wallace. He married 
 Charlotte Ann McCloud, of Knoxville, Tenn., on Septem- 
 ber 4, 1945. She attended Butler University at Indian- 
 apolis, and the Jordan Conservatory of Music there. Their 
 children: Rebecca Ann, Sarah Virginia, James Phillip, 
 and Jonathan David. Living with the Wallaces at the 
 First Christian parsonage at 302 Lafayette Drive is Mrs. 
 Alice Cumming, great aunt of Mrs. Wallace. 
 
 He graduated in his native Bluefield, (Beaver High 
 School), in 1941. At Johnson Bible College, Kimberlin 
 Heights, Tenn., he received his A.B. in 1945 ; his B.D. at 
 Butler's School of Religion, Indianapolis, Ind., in 1948; 
 his thesis was in the field of church administration. At 
 Butler he was elected to Theta Pi, an honorary theological 
 society. In January, 1961, he attended a two-week re- 
 fresher course at Yale Divinity Scrool. 
 
 Following is a chronology of his ministerial work. He 
 did student preaching in West Virginia, at Calfee Memo- 
 rial, (near Bluefield) , and in Indiana at Kingman, Brook, 
 and Vedersburg ; in Alabama, a year-and-a-half pastorate 
 at Decatur (1948-'49), and at Selma, over seven years, 
 (1949-'56) ; in Florida at Sarasota, (Feb. 1956-Aug. 
 1959) ; and was installed at Wilson, N. C. (First), Sep- 
 tember 6, 1959. 
 
 While in Alabama, among other Brotherhood activities, 
 he was president of the State Missions Society. During 
 his three and a half years at Sarasota, Fla., (First), the 
 membership grew from 330 to 660. He was president of 
 the Sarasota Ministers' Association, and an active mem- 
 ber of the State Board. He led in acquiring new proper- 
 ties for First Church and in fund-raising campaign pro- 
 viding $75,000 to apply on a projected education building 
 and fellowship hall, costing $130,000, for which ground- 
 breaking was scheduled for October, 1959. 
 
 Harold Seburn was Chairman of the Pulpit Committee 
 consisting of seven persons who recommended Wallace 
 favorably, resulting in his call, and the arrival of his fam- 
 
PASTORS, MELTON TO WALLACE 
 
 139 
 
 ily in Wilson on August 29, 1959. The Committee's report 
 concluded: "It is our belief that Mr. Wallace will serve 
 us with distinction to the church, and with honor to him- 
 self." 
 
 Upon assuming his ministry here he gave this message 
 in behalf of the local youth potential facing the church of 
 to-morrow : 
 
 Someone has said that the church is only one gen- 
 eration away from extinction. This means we should 
 be constantly aware, alert, and concerned that we 
 are doing our utmost to provide an authentic experi- 
 ence for our children. It means at least three things : 
 providing the best possible facilities and equipment ; 
 recruiting and training the finest possible teachers ; 
 constant prayer that we give our children and youth 
 not facts alone but true knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE GOLDEN ROLL 
 
 Pastor S. P. Spiegel in December, 1910, published an 
 official membership roster of the First Christian Church, 
 Wilson, N. C. Following is a list, as of December, 1962, 
 of names and addresses of the 27 living members, now 
 enrolled and resident in the city who also appear on the 
 Spiegel list of 52 years ago. Exceptions are to be noted 
 in two instances as given herewith. Mrs. Conyers now is 
 enrolled with the local Westview Christian Church, and 
 Mrs. Annie Deans Barkley passed from this life on De- 
 cember 1, 1962. 
 
 About the same number, (31) , survive from the Spiegel 
 catalog of December 1910, who are presently non-resident, 
 as relates to Wilson. Obviously the summary below is 
 simply an inclusive presentation, (1962), of local resi- 
 dent survivors of the recorded church fellowship of 1910. 
 The First Christian in numerical expansion appears in 
 the graphic comparison of the total of 231 resident mem- 
 bers in 1910, with the 1058 of like status in 1962. 
 
 The following specific list of 1962 is intended to supply 
 in detail a ready comparative identification with the 
 names as given in the aforementioned publication of 1910. 
 
 1. Adams, Mrs. Bessie Hackney, (W. D., Sr.) 607 West 
 Vance Street. 
 
 2. Barkley, Mrs. Annie Deans, (W. T.) 114 N. Roun- 
 tree Street. 
 
 3. Bell, Mrs. Sudie Walker, (John E.), 509 Woodard 
 Ave. 
 
 4. Conyers, Mrs. Anna Applewhite, (Spurgeon C), 513 
 Broughton St. 
 
 5. Crosby, Mrs. Bertha Riley, (W. L.) , 313 West Vance 
 Street. 
 
 6. Darden, Mrs. A. L., 408 East Vance Street. 
 
THE GOLDEN ROLL 141 
 
 7. Eames, Mrs. Effie Winstead, (H.P.) , 408 East Vance 
 Street. 
 
 8. Granger, Mrs. Sallie Wiggins, 309 Lafayette Drive. 
 
 9. Griffin Mrs. K. Frank, 606 Whitehead Avenue. 
 
 10. Herring, Mrs. Elizabeth Wiggins, (T. L.), 198 Ward 
 Boulevard. 
 
 11. High, Mrs. Otho, 313 S. Tarboro Street. 
 
 12. High Mrs. Lucy Polk Clark, 704 West Vance Street. 
 
 13. High, Miss Vermelle, 1001 Branch Street. 
 
 14. Lee, Mrs. Martha Hackney, (Frank Houston), 305 
 North Goldsboro St. 
 
 15. Little, Mrs. Callie Garner, (James H.), 405 Monti- 
 cello Drive. 
 
 16. Plyler, Mrs. Harriet Settle, (B. B., Sr.), 707 Broad 
 Street. 
 
 17. Privette, Miss Hattie, Hotel Cherry. 
 
 18. Richardson, Mrs. S. W., 1311 West Nash Street. 
 
 19. Riley, Mr. Charles E., 407 North Tarboro Street. 
 
 20. Riley, Mrs. John G., 701 West Kenan Street. 
 
 21. Rogers, Mrs. Jennie Boykin, (N. M.), Varita Court, 
 Apt. J. 
 
 22. Shepard, Mrs. Mary Batten, 1115 Churchill Street. 
 
 23. Spillars, Mrs. William T., 701 Academy Street. 
 
 24. Tugwell, Mrs. Annie Morton Raulen, (B. F.) , 615 
 West Lee Street. 
 
 25. Whitley, Mrs. Emily Morton, (L. G.), 615 West Lee 
 Street. 
 
 26. Woodall, Mrs. J. R., 410 West Hines Street. 
 
 27. Wooten, Mrs. Maude Harrell, (W. L.), 1015 Branch 
 Street. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A 
 
 Abbott, B. A., 37, 38. 
 Adams, W. D. Jr. 41. 
 Adams, W. D. Sr., 40, 42. 
 Adams, Mrs. W. D. Sr., 41, 
 
 70, 94, 95. 
 Anthony, Claude, 62. 
 Anthony, Mark, 75. 
 Arnold, R. W., 62. 
 
 B 
 
 Bagby, Richard, 53, 94, 129, 
 130. 
 
 Barclay, John, 40, 49, 95, 
 106, 107, 131, 132. 
 
 Bardin, Mrs. Alton, 51. 
 
 Barnes, Kate, 36. 
 
 Batten, Mrs. E. P., 97. 
 
 Battle, A. J., 15, 16, 25, 
 26, 35, 116. 
 
 Batts, Bud, 70. 
 
 Benton, Red, 65. 
 
 Bissette, Tyrus, 12. 
 
 Bissette, Mrs. Tyrus, 95. 
 
 Bowen, H. C, 117. 
 
 Brown, Mae Louise, 97. 
 
 Bullard, W. S., 127, 128. 
 
 Bundy, Sam, 74. 
 
 C 
 
 Caldwell, J. C, 39, 53, 126, 
 127. 
 
 Campbell, A., 20. 
 Campbell, Thos. 20. 
 Carr, Fred., 63. 
 Case, Perry, 60. 
 Chesson, Lloyd, 54. 
 Chestnutt, I. L., 39. 
 Church Covenant, 31, 32. 
 Clark, William, 22. 
 Clarke, R. M., Jr., 97. 
 Cook, Gaines M., 43. 
 Coon, C. L., 14. 
 Cornerstone Laying, 42, 43. 
 
 Craddock, Ruby E., 98. 
 Crosby, Mrs. Bertha, 102, 
 104. 
 
 Cubberly, Bill, 95. 
 
 D 
 
 Davis, Brothers, 65. 
 Davis, D. W., 44, 48, 69, 
 
 101, 122, 125. 
 Davis, Jasper, 50. 
 Dixon, F. W., 27, 119. 
 Dramatic Club, 108. 
 Dunn, J. P., 22. 
 
 E 
 
 Eagle Scouts, First, 63. 
 F 
 
 Farish, Hayes, 53, 73. 
 Farmer, W. W., 62. 
 Favored Children, 70. 
 Fiers, A. Dale, 51. 
 Fife, W. P., 47. 
 Forbes, B. J., 45, 50. 
 Forbes, Nancy, 102. 
 Forbes, Vance T., 41. 
 Foy, J. H., 17, 23, 36, 116. 
 
 G 
 
 Ginns, the, volunteers, 57. 
 Golden Roll, 140, 141. 
 Grainger, Garland, 95. 
 Grainger, Mr. & Mrs. H. G., 
 96. 
 
 Greene, Sadie, 10, 40, 51, 
 
 107, 108. 
 Guirey, William, 15. 
 
 H 
 
 Hackney, George, 18, 40, 
 61, 65, 71, 73, 122. 
 
 Hackney, May, 77. 
 
 Hackney, T. J. Sr., 54, 61, 
 62. 
 
INDEX 
 
 143 
 
 Hackney, W. D., I, 18, 71, 
 72. 
 
 Hackney, Mrs. W. D., I, 77. 
 Hackney, Mrs. W. D., II, 9, 
 10. 
 
 Hackney, W. N., I, 17, 27, 
 28 
 
 Hackney, W. N., II, 40. 
 Hackney, Mr. and Mrs. W. 
 
 N., II, 42, 103. 
 Hackney, Mrs. W. N., II., 
 
 108. 
 
 Hadley, Capt. T. J., 11. 
 Haley, J. J., 48. 
 Harding, R. D., 121. 
 Harper, Frances F., 79, 80. 
 Harper, J. J., 22, 33, 34, 
 
 38, 47, 52, 92, 101, 118- 
 
 120. 
 
 Hart, Josiah, 15. 
 Hearn, Bunn, 65. 
 Herndon, Mrs. J. D., 98, 
 109. 
 
 Herring, Florence, 102. 
 Herring, Mittie, 101. 
 Herring, T. J., 102. 
 High, Jesse, 10. 
 Hines, Alice, 77. 
 Hines, J. W., 17. 
 Hines, P. E., 16, 26, 33, 36. 
 Hines, R. W., 59. 
 Hilliard, H. C, Jr., 55. 
 Holden, Mrs. W. T., 78. 
 Holland, Mrs. Bill, 10. 
 Holliday, Mrs. H. M., 102. 
 Howard, C. W., 37, 120, 121. 
 Hughart, W. H., 16, 36, 116. 
 Hughart, Mrs. W. H., 76. 
 Huston, F. C, 100. 
 
 I 
 
 Inabinnett, T. P., 42. 
 J 
 
 Jarman, C. A., 12, 42, 43, 
 49, 50, 62, 65, 94, 106, 
 134-136. 
 
 Johnston, W. G., 66. 
 
 Jones, J. Boyd, 48, 52, 56, 
 78, 92, 125, 126. 
 
 K 
 
 Kelly, Louise, 78. 
 King, Dr. R. W., 61. 
 Kinsey, Joseph, 18, 39, 59. 
 Kinsey, Mr. and Mrs. Jo- 
 seph, 77. 
 
 L 
 
 Lamm, Cecil B., 95. 
 Lane, Carl, 50. 
 Latham, T. J., 22. 
 Lindley, D. Ray, 42. 
 Lindley, Neil, 96. 
 List, Memorials, Gifts, 111- 
 115. 
 
 M 
 
 Martin, R. S., 49, 92. 
 Martin, Mr. & Mrs. W. S., 
 100. 
 
 Melton, B. H., 37-39, 52, 
 59, 71, 78, 124, 125. 
 
 Mewborn, S. G., 62. 
 
 Moore, Goodwin, 97. 
 
 Mortgage Burning, 43. 
 
 Morton, C. M., 55-57, 71. 
 
 Morton, Emily, 61. 
 
 Moudy, J. M., 12. 
 
 Moye, Alfred, 13, 14. 
 
 Moye, M. T., 16, 17, 26, 32, 
 33, 36, 93. 
 
 N 
 
 National, C. W. F. Retreat, 
 80. 
 
 O 
 
 Organ Committee, 103. 
 Orvis, E. E., 47. 
 
 P 
 
 Paschall, J. E., 40, 44, 50, 
 62, 95. 
 
 Pearce, Mrs. Mary J., 116. 
 
144 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pioneer Laymen, 26. 
 Plyler, B. B., Jr., 50. 
 Pounds, Jessie B., 100. 
 Preachers in Parsonage, 39. 
 Richardson, S. W., 40, 72. 
 Ricks, Mr. and Mrs. P. T., 
 49. 
 
 R 
 
 Riley, Bruce W., 42, 62, 94. 
 Riley, Jo. M., 43, 44, 51, 62, 
 
 108, 109, 136, 137. 
 Robeson, N. J., 50. 
 Rogers, Vera F., 97. 
 Roll, Armed Services, 64, 
 
 65. 
 
 Roll, Authors, 63. 
 Roll, Charter Members, 28- 
 31. 
 
 Roll, Choir Directors, 105. 
 Roll, Circle Leaders, 79. 
 Roll, Church Clerks, 74. 
 Roll, C. M. F. Presidents, 
 75. 
 
 Roll, C. W. F. Presidents, 
 80. 
 
 Roll, early delegates, 32. 
 Roll, early Quartette, 101. 
 Roll, History Committee, 9. 
 Roll, ministerial recruits, 
 
 53, 55. 
 Roll, ordinations, 56. 
 Roll, organists, 104. 
 Roll, S. S. supts., 93. 
 Roll, Church trustees, 36. 
 Rundell, R. F., 98. 
 
 S 
 
 Seburn, Harold, 41. 
 Separate Baptists, 21, 22. 
 Shackelford, A. D., 40, 50, 
 62, 95. 
 
 Sharp, Mrs. Allan R., 96. 
 Shaw, K, 100. 
 Spiegel, S. P., 128, 129, 140. 
 Spillars, Mrs. W. T., 101. 
 Stallings, E. T., 102. 
 Stancill, R. W., 47, 48, 121, 
 122. 
 
 Stone,' B. W., 20, 46, 100. 
 Stuart, J. E., 49, 54, 130, 
 131. 
 
 Swearingen, T. T., 40, 50, 
 94, 106, 133, 134. 
 
 T 
 
 Taylor, Charley, 65. 
 Taylor, H. W., 50, 107. 
 Taylor, J. A., 53. 
 Taylor, R. J., 27, 71, 93, 
 116. 
 
 Thomas, Joseph, 15. 
 W 
 
 Walker, J. J., 53. 
 Walker, W. G., 39. 
 Wallace, J. G., 51, 54, 104, 
 
 109, 138, 139. 
 Walsh, J. T., 25, 26, 52. 
 Walston, Mrs. Estelle, 95. 
 Ware, Catherine, 63. 
 Weeks, C. D., 57. 
 Wenger, A. D., 54, 61, 75. 
 White, Travis A., 60. 
 Wilson, L. D., 14. 
 Wilson, V. A., 46, 116, 118. 
 Winborne, Elizabeth, 61. 
 Winborne, Mrs. R. M., 14. 
 Winstead, C. E., 18, 19. 
 Woodall, J. R., 54, 107. 
 Wooten, Mrs. W. L., 72, 95. 
 
 Z 
 
 Ziglar, R. V., 99, 110. 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Demco-293