THE HISTORY OFTRINITY PARISHSCOTLAND NECKEDGECOMBE PARISHHALIFAX COUNTYSTUART HALL SMITHCLAIBORNE T. SMITH, JR.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN HALIFAX COUNTY
LEGEND 1. Whitaker's Chapel. 2. Conocanara Church. 3. Caledonia—Site of first settlement 1711. 4. Chapel in Halifax Town. 5. Quankey Chapel. 6. Dividing line between Edgecombe and Elizabeth Parishes—1774. 7. Chapel on Beaverdam Swamp. 8. Dividing line between Society and Northwest Parishes—1727. 9. Kehukee Chapel. 10. Buzzard's Point—The original Scotland Neck Plantation 1742.
Copyright 1955
by
STUART H. SMITH
CLAIBORNE T. SMITH, JR.
Printed in the United States of America
By CHRISTIAN PRINTING COMPANY, Durham, N. C.
THE HISTORY OF Trinity Parish SCOTLAND NECK Edgecombe Parish HALIFAX COUNTYSTUART HALL SMITH CLAIBORNE T. SMITH, JR.SCOTLAND NECK,NORTH CAROLINA1955PREFACE
In the following pages are assembled certain records and traditions pertaining to Trinity Parish, Scotland Neck, N. C. and to several colonial churches in Halifax and Edgecombe Counties, in order that the memory of those things which we have heard and known and such as our fathers have told us may be perpetuated and transmitted to posterity.
Of the many people whose contributions and advice have been of assistance to us we wish, especially, to acknowledge the following:
Mrs. Sterling Gary and Miss Nannie Gary, of Halifax, furnished information concerning the colonial church at Halifax:
Lawrence F. London and Henry W. Lewis of Chapel Hill, and Miss Kate Parks Kitchin, of Rocky Mount, have all read the manuscript and made valuable comments and suggestions. Mr. Joseph B. Cheshire of Raleigh contributed a biographical sketch of Dr. Cheshire, the rector who had a marked influence on the early development and growth of Trinity Parish.
Finally we wish to thank The Battle Foundation, of Rocky Mount, for making this publication possible.
This 20th day of October, 1954.
STUART H. SMITH
CLAIBORNE T. SMITH, JR.
CONTENTS
| Page | |
| The Church of England in Halifax County—Edgecombe Parish | 3 |
| Trinity Parish | 33 |
| Notes Relative to the History of Trinity Parish | 51 |
| Old Trinity Church | 67 |
| Joseph Blount Cheshire | 73 |
| Register | 81 |
| Appendix | 114 |
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN HALIFAX COUNTY EDGECOMBE PARISH
BY CLAIBORNE T. SMITH, JR.
EDGECOMBE PARISH
The Church of England was established by law in colonial North Carolina. In strictly ecclesiastical matters, North Carolina, along with the other colonies in which the Church was established, was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. The Bishop exercised a sort of loose control over this vast territory and appointed commissioners to oversee the American Church, and to make reports from time to time. The Bishop also licensed the ministers who came to America. Within the colony itself, the Church was under the control of the royal governor and the colonial assembly who enacted rather detailed legislation concerning it.1
The whole colony of North Carolina was divided into parishes which in general, were conterminous with the bounds of the county in which the particular parish was situated. Each parish was supported by general taxation but Dissenters were not required to attend the services of the Church. The Church, as established in North Carolina, closely followed the pattern that had been evolved in Virginia during the first hundred years of settlement. In Virginia, as in England, the parish was something more than an ecclesiastical unit and the parish vestries served certain political functions as well. One of the more important duties of the vestry was to oversee the county or parish poor.2
The first recorded settlements in what is now Halifax County were made about 1711 on the south bank of the Roanoke River near the present village of Tillery. From 1720 to 1740, there was a steady migration into this area from the lower Virginia counties, particularly Surry and the Isle of Wight.3
When the first settlers arrived, the territory south of the Roanoke was in Chowan Precinct of Albemarle County. By the Vestry Act of 1715, the colony of North Carolina was divided into nine parishes. The part of Chowan Precinct west of the Chowan River and south of Albemarle Sound was constituted South West Parish. As settlement progressed, new counties and parishes were accordingly created from the older counties. The rapid evolution of counties makes the geography of the Roanoke River section
(1) See the various vestry acts in Volume 23 and 25 of The Colonial Records of North Carolina, edited by W. L. Saunders. Raleigh, 1888.(2) For further information regarding the Church of England in Virginia and North Carolina, see Virginia's Mother Church, by J. McLauren Brydon, Richmond, 1947, and Northampton Parishes by Henry W. Lewis, Jackson, North Carolina, 1951.(3) 17th Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia. John B. Boddie, Chicago 1938, p. 202.seem complex at this period. Chowan Precinct soon became a county and Albemarle County, a name roughly applied to the whole Albemarle and Roanoke section, eventually ceased to exist.
In 1722 Bertie precinct was formed from Chowan.4 In the same year South West Parish was broken up. The part of the old parish south of the Albemarle Sound, and south of the Roanoke “as far up as Welches Creek” became South Parish.5 Welches Creek was near the present town of Hamilton. In 1729, the area in South Parish became Tyrrell Precinct. The part of South West Parish included in the new precinct of Bertie became known as Society Parish. The parish was presumably so named to honor the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, who had sent missionaries to the colony. It was while the Halifax area was a part of Society Parish, Bertie, that the first recorded activities of the Church of England began in the section.
There is no record of when the first services were performed in what was later to become Edgecombe Parish. Governor Eden, in 1716,6 wrote the church authorities in England that in most of the parishes, there were two or three readers. Hence it is likely that after the section had become reasonably well settled, a reader was appointed by the parent parish who held occasional services at some private house or convenient spot in the community.7
The early ministers who appear in the North Carolina records were sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This society was organized in London as early as 1675 to keep in touch with the colonial settlers and to maintain orthodox clergymen in the British possessions. The society paid a salary of fifty pounds sterling to the missionaries they sent abroad.8 The letters these missionaries wrote to the Secretary of the S.P.G. in London have been preserved and are an interesting and valuable source of colonial church history. The Society sent thirty-three missionaries to North Carolina during the colonial period and as late as 1783,9 were supporting the Rev. Daniel Earl in Edenton. As early as 1714, the Rev. Giles Rainsford was assigned the area
(4) Colonial Records. Opus Cit.: Col. 23, p. 100.(5) Ibid.—Vol. 25, p. 182.(6) Ibid.—Vol. 2, p. 228.(7) A reader in the colonial parish was roughly similar to the present day lay reader.(8) History of Edgecombe County. Turner and Bridges. Raleigh, North Carolina, 1920, p. 432.(9) The Church of England in Colonial North Carolina. The Rev. E. L. Pennington, Hartford, 1937, p. 35.south and west of Albemarle Sound. However he soon left for Virginia.10 The Rev. John Urmstone was assigned to Chowan and Pasquotank in 1709. In 1718, he wrote that “he had transversed all corners of the colony, no matter how obscure or inaccessible.”11 The Rev. Mr. Urmstone fell into disrepute, and left Chowan in 1721. It is very doubtful if either of these clergymen ever got very far west of the Chowan River settlements.
In 1722, the Rev. Thomas Newnam was assigned to North Carolina by the Society and settled in the Chowan section. He seems to have officiated in St. Pauls and Southwest Parishes. The latter was divided into Society and South Parish in that year. On June 29, 1722, he wrote an interesting letter to the Secretary of the S.P.G., describing his activities in some detail.12
The 1st Sunday—I preach going by water and land some few miles at Esquire Duckenfields House—large enough to hold a great Congregation, till we have built a church which is hereafter to be called Society Church. The 2nd Sunday, I take a journey up to a place called Maherin—about 40 miles off—where there are an abundance of inhabitants—who also are making a collection to build a Chappel forthwith—3rd Sunday, I perform Divine Service again at Esquire Duckenfields—13 4th Sunday, I go up to a place called Wicacon about 30 miles Journey—5th Sunday, I cross the sound to go to Eden Town, where the vestry there have also purposed to have a Church built out of hand—6th Sunday, I go to ye Chappell upon the south shore, about 12 miles by water and so ye 7th Sunday begin again at supra; except once every quarter I go up to a place called Ronoke about 80 miles journey and ye five last Sundays of ye year, the Vestrys do give me that I may go my rounds; and visit the remote parts of ye country—where the inhabitants live some 150 miles off—people who will never have the opportunity of hearing me or having their children baptiz'd unless I go to and amongst them.
The place referred to as Roanoke in the Rev. Mr. Newnam's letter is of course, difficult to identify. However, it is possible that he might be referring to the Caledonia section, a large neck of land on the south side of the Roanoke River in Halifax County.
(10) Ibid., p. 35.(11) Ibid., p. 20.(12) Ibid., p. 23.(13) See “Colonial Laymen of the Church of England,” by K. P. Battle, published in Sketches of Church History, by J. B. Cheshire, Wilmington, 1892.The land here rises in a bluff at the river bank and was considered very choice for settlement. Deeds on record in Edenton show that the Caledonia area was settled before the greater part of Bertie and Northampton, on the north bank of the Roanoke. Moreover, this section was about 80 miles from William Duckenfield's plantation on the shore of Albemarle Sound, where the Rev. Mr. Newnam was stationed. At any rate, Mr. Newnam could not have paid the Roanoke settlers too many visits. On May 9, 1723, Newnam wrote the Society that he and his family had suffered from fever, that he was resuming his journeys, and was setting off for Bath County, where 300 children waited baptism.14 He died the following fall. His will, dated September 21, 1723 and probated November 22, 1723 mentions his wife Frances as sole legatee. In the opening sentence of the will, the Rev. Mr. Newnam stated that he was a missionary of the Society, “residing in Edenton.”15 He apparently removed from Bertie shortly before his death.
After the death of Mr. Newnam, Society Parish went for a considerable period without a minister.
In 1727, Society Parish was divided and its western portion became North West Parish.16 The line dividing the part of the Parish across the Roanoke extended from the mouth of Bridgers Creek on the north bank of the river straight in a south west direction to “the outer inhabitants on Fishing Creek.” The line thus passed several miles west of the present town of Scotland Neck and the larger part of the present Halifax County fell within the bounds of North West Parish. The vestrymen of North West Parish, as designated in the Act of the Assembly creating the new parish included at least three residents of the south bank of the Roanoke. These men were Major Barnabas MacKinnie, Capt. John Spann, and Joseph Lane, Sen. The Lanes and MacKinnies had settled in the Caledonia section, already referred to, at a very early date.
In 1733, North West Parish obtained the services of the Rev. John Boyd. The Rev. Mr. Boyd had been educated at the University of Glasgow and had practiced Physic for seven years in Virginia. In 1731-32 he went to London for ordination, with letters of reference from Governor Burrington. On his return from England prior to June 1733, he served North West Parish until
(14) Pennington, Opus Cit.: p. 24.(15) Abstracts of North Carolina Wills, J. B. Grimes, p. 264.(16) Colonial Records, Vol. 25, p. 210.his death in 1737. On April 12, 1735, the Rev. Mr. Boyd wrote the Society that his parish was of vast extent being one hundred miles in length and fifty in breadth, and that he preached in seven different places.17 Undoubtedly, one of these places was in the portion of his parish south of the Roanoke.
The Rev. John Holmes became rector of North West Parish in 1738.18 Little is known about him. He preached several sermons before the Colonial Assembly about this time.19 According to some miscellaneous papers on file in the court house at Edenton, he brought suit against John Pope and John Brown, former Churchwardens and Samuel Williams and George Downing, then Churchwardens of Northwest parish, Bertie Co. at the March General Court 1740.20 For two hundred pounds contracted to be paid by a vestry held July 7, 1739, the Rev. Mr. Holmes was to preach at the following places: Bertie Court House, Mr. Maney's chapel, and the houses of Joseph Sims, Henry Jones, Henry Walker, Capt. Joseph Lane, William Arrington, and Philip Thomas. This record gives a great deal of interesting information about Northwest parish at that time. Bertie Court House was then located in Northwest Parish on Timber Branch, roughly between the present towns of Rich Square and Ahoskie.21 Maney's Chapel was located in what is now Hertford County.22 The record is also interesting in that it shows to what extent private houses were used for religious services prior to the erection of churches and chapels. Of the names listed above, it is certain that John Pope, Samuel Williams, and Capt. Joseph Lane lived in the part of Northwest parish on the south bank of the Roanoke and hence is evidence that the settlers of this area participated in the parish activities and that services were held here at this date.
Edgecombe precinct was cut off from Bertie in 1732 with the Roanoke as the boundary. In 1741 the county of Edgecombe was established. The same act of the Assembly provided for the establishment of a new parish, Edgecombe Parish.23 The act directed that the arrears due from the inhabitants of Edgecombe County to Society and North West Parishes “of which they were once a
(17) Lewis, Opus Cit.: pp. 8-10.(18) Lewis, Opus Cit.: p. 10.(19) Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pp. 489, 498.(20) N. C. Historical & Genealogical Register, Hathaway, Vol. II, p. 303.(21) Ibid.: Vol. II, p. 199.(22) Lewis, Opus Cit.: p. 13.(23) Colonial Records: Vol. 23, p. 164.part,” should be paid to the church wardens of the same. Edgecombe Parish, at its formation, extended on the west to the farthest bound of settlement. In 1746, Granville County was formed in the frontier area and became the western boundary of Edgecombe.24
The new parish of Edgecombe had no regularly assigned clergyman until 1747. In that year the Rev. James Moir, a Society missionary, was transferred from New Hanover to Edgecombe County. Mr. Moir had come to America in 1739 and served for a while in South Carolina. In a letter to the Society, dated Wilmington, November 4, 1746, Mr. Moir, after complaining about his recent bout of malaria, wrote as follows regarding the proposed transfer:
In the northern parts of this province which are above the district of the Rev. Mr. Hall, the land is higher and the climate colder which makes it more healthy and there is ten times the number of white people to what we have at Cape Fear—They have offered me frequently all proper encouragement to find me a glebe and Parsonage House and pay my salary truly and faithfully—If the venerable Society will approve of these proposals and order me to remove thither, I'll endeavor to answer the end of my mission.25
The transfer was apparently approved as the records show that Mr. Moir was officiating in Edgecombe Parish in 1747. From Mr. Moir's letter, it would seem that there were people in Edgecombe devoted to the Church and anxious to secure the services of a clergyman. The Rev. Mr. Moir wrote a long letter to the authorities in London, dated Edgecombe County, November 22, 1748. In this letter he discussed parish affairs and the state of the Church on the frontier in some detail.
When I was preparing to leave this Province in the Spring—many of our communion told me they thought it my duty to continue, not only because they were pleased with my labours but more especially because a great number in the county had turn'd Baptists for want of a clergyman and for encouragement they assured me that next Easter Monday a Vestry was to be chosen that would do me justice. They performed their promise; for ye new vestry called the tax gathers to account and paid my salary faithfully, and withall gave me to known they would slip no opportunity of purchasing a glebe and making convenience for me, and
(24) Ibid.—Vol. 23, p. 249.(25) Ibid.—Vol. 4, p. 795.that in acting thus, they did nothing but was very agreeable to the body of the people: they also allow'd me more time to officiate in remote places than the former vestry had done—These considerations prevailed with me to agree for another year. By riding through the upper parts I plainly see they require 3 missionaries—one to the south near ye Branches of Pedee River, another upon Neuse, 126 miles above New Berne and the 3rd in the North towards Virginia. The people seem much inclined to encourage missionaries and often complain of their being pestered with sermons of Baptist teachers: whom I have always found to be as grossly ignorant as those they pretend to teach. — — — —
I cannot give a particular account of the persons I have baptized since Michaelmas 1747—it frequently happening that I am not so well acquainted as to desire any to take the number: several spectators have told me I baptized above 100 in one day—two white adults I baptized by dipping—Last Whit Sunday, I had 95 communicants—I received your favor of February 4, 1747 and purpose to draw in bills till the venerable Society sees to appoint me their missionary for the Northern district in the Upper parts—if I can obtain leave of the Parish I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you next summer.26
In this letter, Mr. Moir gives some interesting information about the parish and himself. It seems that the majority of the people living in Edgecombe were not opposed to the Anglican Establishment. Mr. Moir had been in his new parish only a year and already he was dissatisfied and spoke of returning to England. It is possible that he actually obtained from the Society a special license to do missionary work on the frontier in addition to his regular parish work. Governor Tryon wrote as late as 1765 concerning Mr. Moir: “I do not think the province receives any benefit from him as an itinerate missionary; for under that general license of preaching everywhere, he seldom preaches anywhere.”27
The successive Vestry Acts passed by the Colonial Assembly of North Carolina were disallowed frequently by the authorities in London. This led to considerable confusion about the legal status of vestries in the various parishes. Such an incident occurred in Edgecombe Parish while Mr. Moir was the incumbent. In 1754 the vestry of the parish laid a tax of three shillings two pence per capita. John Pope, the county Sheriff of Edgecombe was appointed
(26) Ibid.—Vol. 4, p. 878.(27) Ibid.—Vol. 7, p. 102.to collect the tax. In 1755 it was found that the vestry which had ordered Pope to collect the tax was not legal and consequently he had no authority to collect the money or compel payment of the same. The vestry, however, held Pope responsible. To add to the confusion, Edgecombe Parish was divided at this time. The act of the Assembly ordering the division mentions the sum of money due the parish from Pope and directed that the money be divided between Edgecombe and the new parish by John Dawson and Robert Jones who were allowed five percent for their services.28 However, Pope didn't pay and the case was taken to the Supreme Court in Enfield where judgment was obtained against Pope for five hundred and thirty-three pounds, representing the parish taxes for 1754 and 1755.29 Finally Pope's claim was recognized and a special act of the Assembly was passed to relieve John Pope of the judgment obtained against him and ordering the two parishes to refund him the money.30
The parish division referred to took place in 1756. The part of Edgecombe Parish south of Fishing Creek was constituted St. Mary's Parish. This division left Edgecombe Parish bounded by the present limits of Halifax County. In 1759 the county itself was divided and Edgecombe Parish did in fact become Halifax County while the Parish of St. Mary's retained the name of Edgecombe.31 It is not known why the parish of more recent establishment retained the old county name. The confusing combination of Edgecombe Parish-Halifax County resulted.
The act dividing the parish in 1756, in addition to providing for the money due from John Pope, directed that St. Mary's Parish assume its share of the arrears of the parish of Edgecombe, the proportion to be determined by the number of tithables in each parish. This was customary when a new parish was established and seems to have been perfectly fair. However, the new vestry of St. Mary's didn't like the arrangement and sent the Rev. Mr. Moir and two of its members to the Assembly and to the Governor to complain.32
When Edgecombe Parish was divided Mr. Moir chose to serve the new Parish. The Edgecombe deeds show that he acquired a plantation on the Tar River.
(28) Ibid.—Vol. 23, p. 474.(29) Ibid.—Vol. 5, p. 1084.(30) Ibid.—Vol. 23, p. 501.(31) Ibid.—Vol. 23, p. 496.(32) Ibid.—Vol. 6, p. 233.In 1760 he was one of the commissioners appointed to lay out the town of Tarborough and was one of the first lot holders. Mr. Moir remained in St. Mary's until 1762 when he became rector of St. George's Parish in Northampton County. While in Northampton he seems to have visited Bertie and Hertford Counties and his old charge of St. Mary's with some degree of regularity. He resigned from St. George's late in 1765 and died soon thereafter. The Rev. Mr. Moir was quite a controversial figure and much has been written about him. He became involved in a private dispute with Governor Dobbs while he was rector of St. Mary's. There is a good discussion of Mr. Moir and his work in St. George's Parish in Northampton Parishes by Lewis.33
Regardless of his personal character, Mr. Moir left the Church well established in Edgecombe Parish. A parish church and two chapels had been erected during his ministry.
The Rev. Thomas Burges, the next incumbent of Edgecombe Parish, was rector of Nottoway Parish, Southampton County, Virginia prior to moving to North Carolina.34 Early in 1760, the North Carolina Assembly confirmed an agreement made between the Rev. Mr. Burges and the Churchwardens and vestry of Edgecombe Parish, “made October last.”35 Hence Mr. Burges probably began his services around October 1759. It is recorded that in the same year he preached the funeral sermon of a Mr. Thomas at his home on Roanoke River near Norfleet's Ferry.
In 1764 an act of the Assembly was passed allowing an increase in the salary of Mr. Burges.36
The Rev. Thomas Burges was born Sept. 6, 1712 at Standon, Staffordshire, England, the third son of John Burges and Dorothy Lovatt. He came to Virginia in 1741 and remained there almost twenty years before removing to North Carolina. The Rev. Mr. Burges married first in Virginia, Miriam—and had three
(33) Lewis, Opus Cit.: pp. 15-21.(34) It is of interest that the Rev. Thomas Burges purchased land in the Halifax section nine years before he actually settled there. On April 4, 1750 William Little sold to Thomas Burges of Southampton Co. Va. 640 acres on the south side of the Roanoke River. (Halifax D. B. 4, p. 95). On Dec. 12, 1751, as Thomas Burges “clerk” of Southampton County, he sold this land to Montford Elbeck. (Ibid., Book 4, p. 297). There is no further mention of him in the Halifax registry until April 20th, 1762 when Alexander Campbell of “the island of Martinico,” Merchant, sold to Thomas Burges, lot No. 118 in the town of Halifax (Ibid., Book 8, p. 278). On Feb. 15, 1764, Egbert Haywood and his wife Sarah conveyed to Thos Burges 1041 acres on Conoconara. (D. B. 8, p. 414).(35) Colonial Reords, Vol. 23, p. 511.(36) Ibid.—Vol. 23, p. 658.children by her. She died in 1758. In 1760, after removing to North Carolina, he married Mary, the daughter of Col. John Haywood, a prominent layman in his new parish. They had one son Lovatt Burges. Parson Burges, as he was called, lived near the parish church at Conoconara where his parsonage was still standearly in the nineteenth century. He died November 12, 1779 and was buried in the churchyard at Conoconara. In 1760 the Rev. Mr. Burges purchased a lot in the new town of Tarboro. This lot was inherited by his grandson Thomas Burges the Halifax attorney, the son of Lovatt Burges and Miss Irwin. In 1834 Thomas Burges deeded this lot to Calvary Church in Tarboro and it forms part of the plot on which Calvary Church now stands.37
By his four children, the Rev. Mr. Burges left a great many descendants in North Carolina. His son Henry John Burges also became an Episcopal minister. After his ordination by the Bishop of London on November 11, 1768, he returned to North Carolina and officiated in St. Mary's Parish from 1759 to 1770. Governor Tryon recommended him to the Bishop before he left for England and commented that he expected much from his ministry. The Rev. Henry John Burges in 1772 became rector of Newport Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia and later held several other parishes in that section of Virginia.38 The Burges family had a direct influence on the later revival of the Episcopal Church in Halifax County. The Rev. Henry John Burges and Gen. Lawrence Baker of Gates County, married sisters, the daughters of Albridgton Jones of Southampton County, Virginia. Mrs. Baker died when her son was young and he was reared in the household of his uncle, the Rev. Mr. Burges. Dr. Baker settled in Halifax County in 1795 and played a major role in the establishment of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck. Dr. Albridgton S. H. Burges the son of the Rev. H. J. Burges, was one of the organizers of Christ Church in Raleigh.
The Rev. Thomas Burges was not a Society Missionary and hence did not submit parochial reports to the S.P.G. in London. Hence, we know little of his activities in Edgecombe Parish. The Rev. Mr. Burges died in 1779.39
(37) See biographical sketch of the Rev. Thomas Burges and his son the Rev. Henry John Burges, by Marshal D. Haywood in the N. C. Booklet, 1926, p. 233.(38) “Clergy of the Establish Church in Virginia During the Revolution” by Brydon, Va. Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 41, p. 127.(39) The will of Thomas Burges, dated July 29, 1777, was probated Feb. 1794, Halifax. W. B. 3, p. 223.In 1774 Edgecombe Parish was again found to be too large and accordingly divided. The western portion became Elizabeth Parish. The dividing line began at Richmond's Old Place on the40 Roanoke and extended along various bounds to the house of Thomas Daniels on Fishing Creek.41 The landmarks mentioned in the division have now disappeared but the line apparently ran within a mile or so of the present road between Halifax and Enfield. The freeholders of Edgecombe Parish were directed to meet at the Church at Conoconara to elect vestrymen while the freeholders of Elizabeth Parish were to hold their election at the court house in Halifax town. Very little is known about Elizabeth Parish. After its formation there are few references to it. The will of the Rev. Thomas Burges mentions money due him from the two parishes in Halifax County, indicating that he served both Edgecombe and Elizabeth Parishes.
The same session of the Assembly which divided Edgecombe Parish in 1774 also divided St. Mary's Parish, Edgecombe County. The new parish formed from St. Mary's was also called Elizabeth.42 This parish was not a part of Elizabeth Parish as formed from Edgecombe Parish—Halifax and it is strange that the two new parishes should have identical names.43 Elizabeth Parish as formed from St. Mary's occupied what is now Nash County.
In 1776, a Society Missionary, one Hezekiah Ford, arrived in North Carolina.44 The same year, he was appointed chaplain to the Provincial Congress then meeting in Halifax. Little more is known about the Rev. Mr. Ford. It is not known whether he was in Halifax as an assistant to the Rev. Mr. Burges or not.
The late Richard H. Smith (1812-1893) of Scotland Neck collected information about the Churches and chapels of the Church of England in Edgecombe Parish. His findings were published in a local newspaper about 1878.45 He listed four chapels, located at Kehukee, Conoconara, Quankey, and Halifax Town.
(40) Richmond's old place is marked on the Mouzon Map of N. C., dated 1775. It was located a few miles south east of Halifax Town, on the river.(41) Colonial Records, Vol. 23, p. 964.(42) There is no record of any church or chapel having been erected by the Church of England in this section. The free-holders of Elizabeth Parish as cut off from St. Mary's, were directed to meet at the house of Samuel Carter to elect a vestry in 1774.(43) Colonial Records, Vol. 25, p. 465.(44) For further information regarding Mr. Ford, see M. D. Haywood, The Bishops of N. C.(45) Referred to henceforth as Richard H. Smith.The first three mentioned chapels took their names from nearby creeks. The chapel at Elias Fort's on Tar River was in Edgecombe Parish prior to 1756, when it fell in the newly organized St. Mary's Parish. An act to dock the entail on the lands of one John Lane of Halifax County, was passed by the North Carolina Assembly in 1761.46 The following sentence of interest appears therein: “forasmuch as notice has been published three Sundays successively in the several churches and chapels in the said Parish of Edgecombe in the county of Halifax, that application would be made to this present assembly to dock the entail on the said land.” This record indicates the existence of several church buildings in Halifax County at this date.
The five chapels previously mentioned were state-supported and their existence can be authenticated in the public records by deeds of property and other references. In addition, there seem to have been at least two other chapels in Halifax County used by the Church of England. These were Whitaker's chapel, a few miles east of Enfield, and the chapel on Beaverdam Swamp, in the southwestern portion of Halifax County. The only record pertaining to the last named chapel in the Mouzon map of North Carolina, printed in London in 1775. On this map, the chapel is clearly located on the south side of the road then leading from Halifax town to Bute Court House.47 The map was not drawn to accurate scale but this would be about seven miles southwest of Halifax and about ten miles from Quankey Chapel, which also appears on the map. No reference to the chapel on Beaverdam swamp appears in the Halifax deeds and when historians were collecting information about colonial church history a hundred years later, no memory of it appears to have survived. One can only surmise as to when the chapel was built and if it were part of the Anglican establishment at all. An examination of the map of Halifax County will show that Quankey Chapel was relatively far northwest and there would have been a need for a chapel in the Beaverdam Swamp neighborhood to serve the inhabitants of the south western part of the county. The chapels shown on the Mouzon map for all of the colony of North Carolina seem to have belonged to the Church of England unless otherwise marked. It might be argued that the chapel was built shortly before the Revolution, since it was so soon forgotten. The chapel was located
(46) Colonial Records, Vol. 25, p. 465.(47) This was near the present Elberon—Warren Co. N. C.in the center of a thickly settled neighborhood. Brinkleyville, a few miles to the west, was a very old settlement and appears on the early maps as “Bringlyville.” The Mouzon map shows the site of Col. McCulloch's plantation on the west side of Elk Marsh a few miles east of the chapel. Just below the chapel itself, on Beaverdam Swamp, are the names “Williams” and “Carney.” It can be proven by court records that the related families of Williams and Kearney owned adjoining lands on the Beaverdam at this time and “Carney” may be a misspelling of Kearney. However, there were persons named Carney living in Halifax at a later date.
According to tradition, Whitakers Chapel, east of Enfield, was built about 1750 by the Whitaker family who moved to North Carolina from Warwick County, Va., about this time. It is of incidental interest that they were closely related to the Rev. Alexander Whitaker, an Anglican minister who played a prominent part in the early history of Virginia. The original Whitaker's chapel was a log structure located about seven miles east of Enfield on the north side of the road from Enfield to Scotland Neck. The chapel was used by the Church of England until about 1776, when the congregation joined the Methodists.
The first house of worship in Edgecombe parish of which there is any record is Kehukee Chapel. On February 2, 1738, William Fort “Planter” deeded to the Parish and vestry an acre of land on the east side of William Bryant's mill run “being one acre of land where the Chapel now standeth on that very spot.” The deed was witnessed by Abram Dew, Robert Hilliard, and John Spier.48 Thus the chapel was built sometime prior to 1738. Kehukee was in the eastern part of what was then Edgecombe precinct and prior to 1741 was a part of Society Parish.
Kehukee Chapel was situated on a small branch known at various times as Bryant's mill run, Chapel Run, and Steptoe's mill run. A few miles north this run merges with Kehukee Creek, following in an easterly direction to empty into the Roanoke River. This locality is in that part of Halifax County formed by a great bend in the river and known from early times as “Scotland Neck.” Kehukee Chapel was in use as late as 1780 and in 1795 was reported as falling into ruin. The ruins were visible for many years later. Some of the bricks were obtained in 1885 and placed in the cornerstone of the third church of Trinity Parish, then under construction in Scotland
(48) Halifax. D.B. I, p. 257.Neck.49 When this building was burned in 1924, the brick, unfortunately, were not saved when the ruins were removed. There is no trace of Kehukee left today. The site, on a hill overlooking Steptoes mill run, is now a cultivated field.
The well-known Kehukee Baptist Church stood a few hundred yards west across the run. The original church is said to have been built by William Sojourner in 1745.50 In 1765 four churches in Halifax and Edgecombe convened at Kehukee and founded the Association bearing that name.51 Bishop Ravenscroft, on his first visitation to this section, preached at Kehukee Meeting House.52 The original building is gone but the site is occupied by a Negro church.
According to local tradition, the church at Conocornara in the central part of Halifax County, nine miles south west of Halifax Town, was built about 1750.53 On August 18, 1747, Stephen Cade, Inn Keeper, “in consideration of forty shillings,” deeded to John Haywood54 and William Kinchen,55 Churchwardens of Edgecombe Parish, for the use of the parish, a tract of land situated on the south side of the road leading from Captain Lane's to the Court House.56 The Lanes at this time owned land on the Roanoke River where the Caledonia Prison farm is located, just north of the present village of Tillery and prior to 1759, Enfield was the site of the court of Edgecombe. Hence the road mentioned in the deed was roughly the forerunner of the present road from Tillery to Enfield.
The Rev. James Moir, the then incumbent of Edgecombe Parish, wrote the Secretary of the S.P.G. in London, May 2, 1749, as follows:
This vestry met; yesterday and notwithstanding I promised if they gave me leave to go to London this summer to return with all convenient speed—They would not agree to
(49) Richard H. Smith.(50) Colonial Records, Vol. 5, p. 1164.(51) Ibid.—Vol. 5, p. 1176.(52) Journal of the 8th Annual Convention of the Diocese of N. C.(53) Richard H. Smith.(54) John Haywood—b. Christ Church Parish, St. Michael's Barbadoes, settled in 1730 at the mouth of Conoconara in Halifax Co. married Mary Lovatt and died in 1758. (Wheeler Reminiscences of N. C., p. lxiii.)(55) William Kinchen, son of William Kinchen of Northampton Co., member of the Gen. Assembly from Edgecombe 1754—He married Mary Dawson and died in 1758. He owned land on the south bank of the Roanoke, which is marked on the Mouzon Map of 1775.(56) Halifax. D.B. 3, p. 156.it for the reasons mentioned in my letter for the 22nd November. I then considered how forward they were to get things in order for public worship. The Church is almost finished and perceiving my absence might discourage them, I dropt my resolution of going to sea this summer upon which they instantly laid a tax for building two new chapels.57
The church in question was finished a few months later for the Rev. Clement Hall, the Rector in Edenton, wrote the Secretary September 11, 1749; “Our Church at Edenton is yet unfinished but one is lately built in Edgecombe County where Mr. Moir resides.”58 Undoubtedly, the land acquired by the churchwardens in 1747 was for the purpose of erecting a church and construction on the building was begun soon after this. The church was finished in September 1749, which is very close to the traditional date of 1750. Conoconara was the parish church of Edgecombe, and always appears in the records as “church” while the other establishments are designated as chapels. R. H. Smith refers to a parsonage which stood near the Conoconara Church until the early years of the last century.
Some confusion has existed among Edgecombe County historians about the identity of the church referred to in the Rev. Mr. Moir's letter. Turner and Bridges, in their sketch of the Anglican Church in Edgecombe, state that the church so mentioned was the chapel at Elias Fort's on Tar River, within the present limits of Edgecombe County.59 Bishop Cheshire was of the same opinion.60 However, it must be remembered that in 1747, Halifax was the older and more densely settled part of Edgecombe County. The Edgecombe deeds from 1732 to 1759 are on file in the Halifax Registry as they largely pertain to deeds in that section. In 1756, when Edgecombe Parish was divided, the older part retained the original name. It is strange that in 1759, when the county itself was divided, the southern portion, the less densely populated and the more recently settled area retained the name Edgecombe while the northern section was named Halifax. With this point in mind, it is much more likely that the parish
(57) Colonial Records, Vol. 4, p. 923.(58) Ibid.—Vol. 4, p. 954.(59) Turner and Bridges, Opus. Cit.: p. 73.(60) “Historical Sketch of the Church in Edgecombe Co., N. C.,” by J. B. Cheshire, Jr., printed in the “Church Messenger,” Aug. 17th-Sept. 21, 1880.church was located at Conoconara where it was retained in the parish when it was divided in 1756. The chapel on the Tar River was undoubtedly the first, and indeed, the only Anglican chapel within the present limits of Edgecombe County.
Conoconara was not used by the Episcopalians after the Revolution and fell into ruin about 1810. The Prayer Book used in this church was said to have been printed in London in 1763. It was given by the rector to a former parish clerk and descended in his family. This church was replaced by general subscriptions and was used as a “free church” by all denominations. This church, in turn, was replaced in 1849 by a church erected by the Baptists. This, the third church on the site, was taken to Crowell's Cross Roads where it is still in existence. There was a burying ground around Conoconara Church which was used for many years. Old Parson Burges is said to be buried in an unmarked grave in the former churchyard.61
Old Conoconara Church was located about a mile from Crowell's Cross Roads on the road leading north east to Tillery. In recent years, this road has been straightened. The old road made an abrupt turn at the church site, leaving the church on the southeast side of the road. The site is now a hundred yards northwest of the present paved highway, in a thicket. There are a few scattered bricks which indicate where the church stood. There are several gravestones in the surrounding area. Among the graves is the tomb of Thomas H. Burges, an attorney in Halifax Town who died in 1836. He was the grandson of the minister and it is possible that the Rev. Thomas Burges and other members of the family are buried close to this grave. A few hundred yards west of the church site is Conoconara Swamp which gave the church its name.
The records pertaining to Quankey Chapel in the western part of Halifax County are few. This chapel may have been one of those mentioned in Mr. Moir's letter that the vestry had laid taxes for in 1749. Probably the other chapel was at Elias Fort's on Tar River. There is no record of when these two chapels mentioned by Mr. Moir were erected and it is impossible to identify them positively.
(61) Richard H. Smith.Quankey Chapel was in existence prior to 1769, for on November 4, 1769 Edward Crossland deeded to John Alston62 and Nicholas Long,63 Churchwardens of the Parish of Edgecombe, a tract of land, near Edmundson's Ordinary, containing two acres “whereon a chapel is erected.”64 On Collet's map of North Carolina, dated 1770, and on Mouzon's map of 1775, this chapel and Edmundson's Ordinary are plainly marked about eight miles northwest of Halifax town. This chapel was located near Quankey Creek. The original site has not been identified aside from the general locality. It was used by the Baptists after the Revolution.65 The original building was moved to another site and was burned about 1875.66 There is a Baptist church named Quankey Chapel in the same locality today, in the southeast corner of Roanoke Rapids Township.
The first mention of any chapel in that part of Edgecombe Parish which became St. Mary's is in the act of the Assembly dividing the parish. The freeholders of the new parish were directed to meet at the chapel at Elias Fort's on Tar River to elect vestrymen. The chapel was built before the parish was divided and as stated above, could well have been one of the projected chapels mentioned in 1749. There is no deed pertaining to this chapel in either the Halifax or Edgecombe records. The will of Elias Fort of Edgecombe dated Jan. 14th, 1761, bequeaths to his son William Fort, 100 acres “beginning at the chapel door.”67 This would indicate that no land was set aside for the chapel, as occurred with the chapels in Halifax County. The sons of Elias Fort later became very active in the Baptist church, and moved
(62) John Alston, son of Joseph John Alston—He owned a plantation on Fishing Creek in western Halifax County. He married Ann Hunt Macon, the sister of Hon. Nathaniel Macon and died in 1784.(63) Nicholas Long (1728-1798), lived at “Quankey place” a mile south of Halifax town. He was colonel in the Revolution and held several public offices. He married (1) Mary Reynolds and (2) in 1761 Mary McKinnie.(64) Halifax. D.B. 10, p. 479.(65) The following newspaper notice shows that Quankey and Conoconara chapels were in use by the Baptists at that time. From the N. C. Free Press Tarborough, Tues. Dec. 1, 1831.“Elder Thomas D. Armstrong of Chatham will preach at the falls of the Tar River Wednesday after the 3rd Sunday in December; Thursday, Shell Bank; Friday and Saturday, Tarborough; 4th Sunday, Deep Creek; Monday, Conoconary, Tuesday, Halifax Town; Wednesday, Quankey Chapel; Thursday, Austin Mills; Friday, Bear Swamp; Saturday, Mearn's Chapel, Nash Co. . . . .”
(66) Richard H. Smith.(67) Edgecombe will Book “A”.to Tennessee. The chapel at Elias Fort's was located on the south bank of the Tar River near a small spring at Teat's Bridge.68 This bridge appears on Tanner's map of North Carolina, printed in 1823, and is located about eight miles north west of the town of Tarboro, near Dunbar farm. There is no reference to any other chapel in St. Mary's Parish, in either the printed histories or court records. The Mouzon Map already referred to, shows a cluster of houses and a church building at both Halifax town and Tarboro. Whether this is of significance or merely the map makers symbol for a town, one cannot say. There seems to be no tradition of a church or chapel in Tarboro at this date belonging to the Church of England.
It is difficult to fix even an approximate date for the erection of the chapel in Halifax town. The Rev. Frederick Fitzgerald, the first minister serving St. Mark's Parish, Halifax, wrote in 1853, that there was no doubt that the old church in Halifax was built by churchmen a hundred years before.69 However, there are no deeds pertaining to it in the Halifax Registry. The town of Halifax was laid out on the lands of James Leslie in 1757 and the court of Halifax was moved there about 1759.70 In the act of the assembly creating the town, there is no mention of a lot reserved for the use of the church. The gravestones in the churchyard go back as far as 1766 which indicates the site was set apart from secular use by that time. Sauthier's map of Halifax town, found a few years ago in the British Museum, was surveyed in 1769. There is no church or chapel designated on the map but the court house and “play house” are plainly marked.71 However, the map does show a small building on the site later occupied by the chapel, which may have been the building in question. There is another difficulty in assigning the date of the chapel. As the church stood at the beginning of the present century, there was a flat-topped tomb underneath it, the grave of one James Milner who died in 1772.72 The stone was covered by floor boards and
(68) Turner and Bridges—Opus Cit.: p. 433.(69) “Historical Sketch of St. Mark's Parish,” by the Rev. Frederick Fitzgerald—Recorded in the parish register.(70) Colonial Records, Vol. 25, p. 354.(71) There is a copy of this map in The Early Architecture of N. C., by Thomas Waterman, Chapel Hill, 1941.(72) There are several items relating to Milner in “The Virginia Gazette” published in Williamsburg. He was an attorney in Halifax. In the fall of 1772 he was elected to the Assembly and a great ball was held in Halifax town to celebrate this event. Shortly thereafter he was thrown from his horse and died of a fractured skull.thus Milner apparently was not buried in the church floor, following the English fashion. This would indicate that either the chapel was built after Milner's death in 1772 or was moved from another site. Then, too, there is the possibility that Milner was purposely buried under the church and the floor arrangement changed at a later date. As mentioned previously, Mouzon shows a church in Halifax in 1775.
The Halifax church was a small wooden building which faced west on the hill across the road from the Colonial Clerk's Office. The church stood until it collapsed in 1911. Photographs of the building show a small wooden structure standing about three feet off the ground. There were four windows on each side with shutters. In the front there was a window on each side of the door, and two small windows in the gable, on either side. The interior is said to have been very plain with a raised pulpit across the back. Apparently, the church must have been similar in design to others of the colonial period with a small communion table beneath the pulpit in place of an altar.73 On the wall back of the pulpit there was a crown and miter carved of wood.74 The crown was a sort of bracket and held the miter. It is to be regretted that this unusual piece of symbolism did not survive. This may have been some local craftsman's interpretation of the royal and ecclesiastical authority which characterized the Church of England.
After the decay of the established system, the Halifax chapel was used by all denominations and became known as the “old Free Church.” It was occasionally used for Episcopal services. On May 15, 1853, St. Mark's Parish was organized in this old building. It was thought wise that the congregation should not press the Church's rightful claim to the property and a new
(73) The vestry of Bristol Parish in Virginia gave detailed specifications concerning the erection of chapels in 1721 which appear to have been similar to the Halifax building. (Spelling modernized.)“Both chapels are to be of the following dimensions, forty feet in height, twenty feet in breadth, twelve foot pitch, framed on good sills & underpinned with good blocks or rock stones—a good substantial frame, to be weatherboarded with good clapboards— the inside to be common plain work, the seats to be single benches, except the two upper pews and them to be double and closed with doors; the floor to be laid with inch plank and each chapel ceiled with half-inch plank & a common plain gallery, a pulpit and reading desk and communion table, with doors and windows.” (Bristol Parish Vestry Book and Register; Chamberlayne, Richmond, 1898, p. 6)
(74) Records of Mrs. Sterling Gary, Halifax, N. C.THE COLONIAL CHAPEL AT HALIFAX SHORTLY PRIOR TO ITS DESTRUCTION IN 1911.
church, the present St. Mark's Church, was built.75 The old chapel fell down in 1911. Timbers were salvaged from the ruins and a small shelter was erected over the site of the pulpit. The shed, too, is gone, but the four blocks on which it stood are still there, and thus mark the sanctuary of the old church.
The old churchyard at Halifax contains some of the earliest gravestones in this part of North Carolina. The oldest stone is that of William Alexander-Merchant at Halifax, the son of John Alexander and Janet Kerr of Greenock, Scotland, who died in October, 1766. Also buried there are Abraham Hodge, died 1805, the publisher of “The North Carolina Journal,” and Sarah Davie (1762-1802), the daughter of Gen. Allen Jones and wife of William R. Davie, founder of the state university. Among the more recent monuments are those of the Daniel, Marshal, and Gary families who were strong supporters of the Episcopal Church in Halifax during the nineteenth century.
The efforts of the Church of England in Halifax County were reasonably successful. On the eve of the Revolution, there were two parishes in the county, served by the same resident clergyman. The Anglican Church was as strong in the county as in any of the coastal towns in the colony. Edgecombe was also a prosperous parish. It was among the few parishes, if not the only one in North Carolina, that employed its own clergyman and did not rely on the services of a Society Missionary. The later, as we have seen, received the bulk of their salary from the Society in London.
The Church did not fare too badly in the Revolution in a material way. The second ordinance passed by the legislature of the new state of North Carolina, then meeting in Halifax, was a statute to secure the titles of church lands and houses of public worship to the owners. Conditions were different in the neighboring state of Virginia where the glebe lands were confiscated. Many of the clergy and the majority of the laymen of the Church supported the Revolutionary cause. There were some exceptions. One John Llewellyn, a Tory who lived near Hamilton, in Martin County just south of the Halifax border, was called before Governor Caswell to defend his position. Llewellyn testified to his firm belief in the then existing Church of England and his fear, that should the colonist win this religion would perish in America,
(75) Fitzgerald, Opus Cit.held him in his loyalty to Great Britain.76 Many Churchmen, while not sharing Lewellyn's political views, must have felt the same way about the fate of the Church.
One of the functions of the parish vestry was the care of the poor. When the colonial establishment was dissolved, the new state of North Carolina passed an act in 1777 creating Overseers of the poor and county wardens to take over this function.77 The wording of this act is interesting and is similar to the former acts providing for the election of vestries. The freemen of each county were directed to elect seven freeholders as overseers of the poor “to have the same power as the vestries formerly had.” Two of the overseers were to serve as county wardens for one year “to have the same power or authority as the churchwardens heretofore have had, except as regards supporting ministers.” The same act of 1777 made the Overseers of the Poor responsible for the expenses of the former parish and the salary of the minister up to the date December 18, 1776.78 In 1787, the State Legislature passed an act to enable the Wardens of the Poor in Halifax County to levy a tax on the inhabitants to discharge debts due in the year 1777 to the Rev. Thomas Burges, now deceased, for ministerial services performed in the parish of Edgecombe.79 It is interesting to note in the records of Halifax and the neighboring counties that the names of the former parishes continued to be used occasionally for many years after they had legally ceased to exist.
Following the Revolution, the Church of England ceased to exist in Halifax County. Although the property of the church was secured to it by the legislature in 1776, the church was so disorganized that all the buildings formerly used by the parishes of Edgecombe and Elizabeth, passed into other hands. In spite of the general apathy, some church members remained loyal and an occasional service was held. Montford Elbeck, an attorney in Halifax,
(76) Early Edgecombe Records, a bound manuscript of records compiled by Mrs. Edna G. Denson and in the Rocky Mount, N. C., public library.(77) Colonial Records, Vol. 24, p. 89.(78) In many cases property belonging to the former churches and chapels was sold by the Wardens of the Poor. (See discussion of this in Northampton Parishes—by Lewis, p. 37). An excerpt from the Edgecombe County Court records among the papers of Bishop Cheshire, now in the Historical Commission in Raleigh, shows that the Wardens of the Poor for Edgecombe met in 1801, and authorized Capt. Peter Hines, one of the wardens to sell “the Church Bible and Prayer Book belonging to the parish.” These were undoubtedly those used in the chapel at Elias Fort's.(79) Colonial Records, Vol. 20, p. 152.in his will dated and proven in 1790, requested that on the occasion of his funeral, a sermon might be preached in the town of Halifax by a minister of the Church of England.80
Efforts to Establish the Episcopal Church in Halifax County
In 1789, the Protestant Episcopal Church was organized in Philadelphia. In 1790, at the insistence of Bishop White of Philadelphia, the Rev. Charles Pettigrew called the first Episcopal convention in North Carolina at Tarboro and tried to rally what remained of the colonial church. Successive conventions were held and in 1794 the Rev. Mr. Pettigrew was elected Bishop. However, he was prevented by the yellow fever epidemic then raging in Philadelphia from going to that city to be ordained. The efforts of the Tarboro conventions to revive the Church were totally unsuccessful.81
There were at least two clergymen who lived for a while in Halifax County between 1785 and 1800, the Rev. Samuel McDougald, and the Rev. James L. Wilson. They are of especial interest. There were only a few clergymen in the whole state during this period and their presence in Halifax would tend to reflect the strength of the colonial parishes in that section and the hope of the new Episcopal Church of reviving the former interest.
On Nov. 9th, 1789, the Rev. Charles Pettigrew wrote to Dr. Cutting of New Bern regarding his plans for the first Tarboro convention and stated “I have wrote in like manner to the Rev. Mr. McDougald above Halifax.” This letter, bearing the same date and address and addressed to the “Rev. Mr. McDougald, Halifax County,” has also been preserved and contains the following paragraph of interest.82
Should you approve of this proposition together with the time and place for our convention I might request it as a favor that you will in like manner write to the Rev. M. Mucklejohn & to the Rev. M. George at Warrenton, if of
(80) Halifax, W. B. 3, p. 180.(81) For further information regarding the Tarboro Conventions see “Sketches of Church History” by Cheshire, Opus Cit. The Rev. James L. Wilson published an earnest plea for all Episcopal laymen to support the Tarboro Conventions in “The N. C. Journal” of April 16th, 1794, Abraham Hodge's Halifax, N. C. newspaper.(82) Preserved in the Charles Pettigrew papers 1772-1803 (P.C. 36). N. C. State Department of Archives & History, pp. 23 and 24.the Episcopal order & write me the result by the first opportunity, as I have wrote similarly to the Rev. Dr. Cutting at New Bern, also to the Rev. Messers Blount on Tar River and Wilson of Martin and purpose communicating to you the purport of their answer.
This letter did not elicit a great deal of response from the Rev. McDougald as he took no part in any of the Tarboro Conventions. The Rev. McDougald is a somewhat legendary figure about whom little is known. He first appears in the records in 1787 when a bill was proposed in the North Carolina Legislature, then meeting in Tarboro, that the Rev. McDougald be made chaplain of the assembly.83 This measure, however, was defeated. In 1788, he is said to have officiated in St. Mary's Parish, Edgecombe County.84 According to the Census of 1790, he was then living in the western part of Halifax County. The Halifax Deeds show that in August, 1791 he sold 25½ acres to Edward Good.85 The deeds show no further reference to him. It is possible that he officiated in the region around Quankey Chapel, though no record of this exists. Mr. Pettigrew's letter places him “above Halifax” which is suggestive of the Quankey Chapel neighborhood.
In 1830, the Rev. Robert J. Miller, then about eighty years old, wrote a letter to the Rev. Francis L. Hawks on the state of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina during the post-Revolutionary period. He had the following to say about Mr. McDougald.86
I may add to this, that Mr. McDougald proved to be an imposter which had a very pernicious influence on the minds of many who were friendly to the cause of the Church in that opulent section of the state. He was then living in Halifax and had charge of the two congregations that had formerly been under the care of the Rev. Messers Burges and Taylor.
The Rev. Charles E. Taylor was the last Anglican minister who served St. George's Parish, Northampton County, across the Roanoke from Halifax However, there is no record of Mr. McDougald's ever having been in Northampton and the Rev. Mr.
(83) Colonial Records, Vol. 20, p. 124.(84) Turner and Bridges, Opus Cit., p. 441.(85) Halifax Co. D. B. 17, p. 339.(86) This letter is printed in full in “The Church Messenger” of Oct. 15, 1879.Miller was probably in error on this point.87 Also, as stated previously, Mr. McDougald did not live in Halifax town. Mr. Miller's remarks on McDougald are interesting, particularly since the Church has never been strong in the western part of the county. Bishop Cheshire thought that by “imposter” Mr. Miller meant that McDougald was “not of suitable character.”88 However, it is strange that Mr. McDougald did not attend the Tarboro conventions when he lived relatively near. Also, he does not appear in the lists of Anglican ministers licensed to come to America by the Bishop of London and he does not appear in the lists of those ordained by the American bishops.
The Rev. James L. Wilson, who took an active part in all of the Tarboro conventions, lived in Halifax County for a while. He was ordained by Bishop White in Philadelphia July 24, 1789.89 Soon thereafter he began to serve the church interests in the counties of Martin and Edgecombe, bordering Halifax on the south and east. He is probably the James Lewis Wilson who appears on the 1790 Census for Martin County. On April 20th, 1795, he advertised, as of “Williamston, Martin County,” for a stolen horse in The North Carolina Journal. This was the newspaper published in Halifax by Abraham Hodge. A few months later the following item of interest appeared in the same newspaper.90
A Latin school is now open in this county near Conoconary Church under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Wilson. Genteel boarding may be had in the neighborhood from ten to twelve pounds Virginia money per annum for each student.
This is very likely the Rev. James L. Wilson as no contemporary clergyman of that name, other than he, lived in this area at this time. Conoconara was the parish church of the former Edgecombe parish, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson no doubt made efforts to revive the church while teaching school nearby. Nothing more is known about the school at Conoconara and evidently it soon passed out of existence. The Rev. James L. Wilson was still in Halifax two years later, for on Sept. 21, 1797, as James Lewis
(87) Henry W. Lewis, Opus Cit.(88) “An Historical Account of the Church in Edgecombe,” Cheshire, Opus Cit.(89) Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Bishop White, N. Y. 1880, p. 201.(90) N. C. Journal—Issue of Oct. 26, 1795.Wilson of Halifax County, he bought lot No. 18 in the town of Williamston, Martin County from Thomas Hunter.91 It is not known whether he returned to Martin County at this time or not. He is said to have preached a funeral sermon near Scotland Neck in the year 1801 and seems to have died a few years later.92 The Rev. Mr. Wilson took an active part in all four of the Tarboro conventions and in 1792, went to New York City to attend the general convention of the Episcopal Church. However, due to difficulties in travel, he arrived a few days after the Convention was over.93
In 1817, the Diocese of North Carolina was organized at New Bern, and put under the care of the Rt. Rev. Richard Channing Moore, Bishop of Virginia. In 1818 the Rev. John Phillips came to North Carolina as a missionary. Through his efforts, Trinity Church, Tarboro was organized in 1819 and Emmanuel Church, Warrenton in 1821. The Rev. Mr. Phillips was also active in Washington and Raleigh and paid an occasional visit to Scotland Neck and other places. In 1823, his health began to fail and he was forced to resign. Trinity Church, Tarboro, did not survive his departure.94
St. Mark's Church, Halifax, was organized by the Rev. Samuel Sitgreaves, in 1822. In that same year the parish was admitted to the diocese and was represented by Edmund Freeman, John Hawks, David Clark, and Hon. J. J. Daniel. The report of the Missionary Society of the 1822 Convention is of interest.
The Rev. Mr. Sitgreaves from the diocese of Pennsylvania, has been in the service of the society for about the last six weeks in the eastern part of the state. He reports favorably of the prospects of our church in Washington and Halifax, but thinks the hope of a church at Tarboro has passed.
The Rev. Samuel Sitgreaves was ordained in 1820 by Bishop White, and died August 12, 1830, at the age of thirty-two. He apparently did not remain in the Halifax section very long.
The new parish at Halifax was not very strong and after a few years, ceased to be represented at the Annual Convention. It is interesting to note that among the representatives sent during
(91) Martin County Deed Book “C,” p. 470.(92) Richard H. Smith.(93) Bishop White, Opus Cit., p. 201.(94) “An Historical Account of the Church in Edgecombe,” Cheshire.these years, that two at least, David Clark and Simmons Baker, Jr., were residents of the Scotland Neck section and not of Halifax town. It is likely that St. Mark's Church at this time was supported by interested laymen throughout the county. Until St. Mark's Parish was organized for a second time in 1853, St. Mark's operated in close association with Trinity Parish, Scotland Neck. In 1841, Frederick Starling Marshall of Halifax represented Trinity Church at the Annual Convention of the Diocese.
The Rev. John Starke Ravenscroft became the first Bishop of North Carolina in 1823. He was a man of great ability and missionary zeal and reclaimed for the Church much of the ground that had been lost in the years of neglect. The new Bishop was particularly interested in the Halifax area. He reported to the annual Convention in 1828 as follows:
Along the Northern line of our diocese from Edenton westward, we have many friends, the descendants of Episcopal families, who would hail with gladness the revival of the church, where in former days, there were flourishing congregations, now scattered and peeled away, and were there are yet many buildings standing, and some of them in decent repair and the exclusive property of the Episcopal Church, but now and long silent to the responses of her liturgy. In the town of Windsor, in Bertie, in Scotland Neck, and in the town of Halifax in particular, which were visited on this occasion, and in all of which I preached and baptized, we already have an interest which deserves to be cherished and which promises well to reward whatever exertions we may be able to put forth. This is the true field for our missionary labors to be expended on and could we succeed in obtaining suitable missionaries the deserted temples would speedily be filled and the voice of praise be again heard in their long silent courts.
During the year 1827, the Rev. O. V. Howell was employed as missionary in the counties of Bertie, Halifax, and Edgecombe, no doubt as a result of the Bishop's interest. However, the Rev. Mr. Howell departed after a few months without reporting to the Bishop. Later efforts of the Missionary Society were more successful and resulted in the formation of Trinity Parish, Scotland Neck in 1832.
In 1844, the Rev. S. Y. McMasters, in charge of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Henderson, reported to the annual Convention of the Diocese that he had held services at Brinkleyville
Station, Halifax County. In 1845 he reported ten communicants at Brinkleyville and in 1846 he was still holding services there. In 1848, the Rev. Cameron McRae of Warrenton included Brinkleyville in his report to the convention. This is the last mention of the unofficial mission at Brinkleyville in the journals of the conventions of the diocese. The mission at Brinkleyville may have possibly had some influence on the establishment of St. Clements Church in near by Ringwood some twenty five years later.
As stated previously, the initial attempt to establish St. Mark's Church, Halifax, was unsuccessful. In 1852 Bishop Ives instructed the Rev. Frederick Fitzgerald, who had recently been assigned to the Church of The Saviour, Jackson, to give one Sunday a month to Halifax town. Here he found seven communicants. His work in Halifax was almost immediately successful and the congregation soon erected a new church.95 The parish was re-edmitted to the diocese in 1853. The new church was built on land donated to the vestry of St. Mark's Church by Mrs. Martha Burke Eppes, the widow of Hon. John Wayles Eppes of Buckingham County, Virginia, and daughter of Willie Jones. She inherited the Grove House under the terms of the will of her brother Willie William Jones in 1837 and spent the rest of her life there.96
St. Clement's Church, Ringwood, had its beginnings when the Rev. Richard H. Jones was stationed in Battleboro as missionary in 1868. In 1870, he reported to the convention of the diocese that he had been holding services for the past two years in Battleboro, Rocky Mount, Enfield, Whitakers and Ringwood.97 This seems to be the first indication that any of these places had the regular services of a clergyman. The Rev. Mr. Jones remained in Battleboro until 1874 when he was transferred to the Diocese of Virginia.98 In April, 1871, the Rev. M. M. Marshall of Warrenton, N. C. accepted a call to St. Clement's Church, Ringwood, and during his rectorship of two years, a church was built. In Nov. 1873, the Rev. Aristides S. Smith became rector of St. Clement's Church, assuming charge at the same time of the church interests in Enfield.99 In the latter place, he first held services in
(95) Henry W. Lewis, Opus Cit., p. 60.(96) Records of the late Stuart Hall Hill of New York.(97) Journals of the Annual Convention of the Diocese of N. C. 1870.(98) Ibid., 1874.(99) Ibid., 1873.a school house. The Church Messenger of June 1, 1880 carried a report from “Enfield Station” Halifax County, to the effect that “a church has been built here and paid for, costing $1,000.” However, the Church in Enfield progressed slowly and the Church of the Advent was not admitted to the diocese as a parish until 1886.100
The Rev. A. S. Smith, soon after he came to Ringwood, began to hold monthly services in Weldon. An attempt had already been made to erect a church here during the Civil War. Grace Church, Weldon, was eventually admitted to the Diocese as a parish late in the 19th century. In this same period, St. Alban's Church, Littleton, on the Halifax-Warren border, was organized. All Saints Church Roanoke Rapids was organized as a mission in 1907, and though the youngest parish in the county is now the largest.
100Ibid., 1886.TRINITY PARISH
BY STUART H. SMITH
Delivered at the Centennial of Trinity Parish, which was held in Scotland Neck, December 5 and 6, 1932. In charge at that time were the Rt. Rev. J. B. Cheshire, Bishop of the Diocese and the Rt. Rev. Edwin A. Penick, Bishop Coadjutor. The address of welcome was made by the Rev. T. S. Clarkson, Rector of the Church.
TRINITY PARISH
It is not my purpose to discuss the origin of the Church, which is fully set forth in the Holy writ and the writings of the early Fathers. Suffice it to say that somewhere about the year 1720, our forefathers came to Halifax County bringing the Church with them.
Here in colonial times chapels were built at Halifax, Conoconara, Quankey and on Chapel Run, between Scotland Neck and Palmyra. These were under the Established Church of England and were maintained by the government.
Our interest centers in the chapel near Scotland Neck. There is recorded at Halifax a deed, dated February 2, 1738, conveying to the Parish and Vestry a small parcel of land on Chapel Run, “where the chapel now standeth.”1 This is important as establishing by a public record the existence of this chapel and its date. How long it had been there when the deed was made we do not know. Its exact location was on the hill east of the road and south of the run, just below Steptoe's old mill pond. In 1795, when Dr. Simmons J. Baker came to the county, it was falling into decay, but the brick remains were visible for many years afterwards. The well worn path leading to it showed that once it had been frequented by numerous worshipers. The records concerning it are meagre. In 1779 William Ruffin Smith, Sen. was baptised here as were several of those who later joined in the establishment of Trinity Parish. With the loss of revenues, consequent upon the Revolutionary War, services there were discontinued. But an impress had been made which did not die. It was the forerunner of Trinity Parish. The spot where it stood should be marked as sacred, for there stood the first building in this locality dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. For many years after its abandonment, services were almost unheard of in this section. There are records showing that Bishop Ravenscroft preached several times near here2 and the Rev. N. Norment officiated occasionally in the Vine Hill Academy.3 Tradition associates the name of Mrs. Rebecca Hill4 with the organization of a new congregation.
I quote from the record book of the Church:
“In November, 1831, the Rev. Joseph H. Saunders5 and the Rev. William Norwood6 commenced officiating in a small congregation in Scotland Neck, each once a month on Friday.” This
1 Halifax County Registry: Book I, p. 2572 From “The Journal of the 8th Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina—1824.” P. 15, from the Journal of Bishop Ravenscroft. Finding an appointment made for me the next day at a place of public worship called Cahukie, distant 25 miles, I left Tarboro early and met the congregation there assembled, between twelve and one o'clock. The day was rainy and many were consequently prevented from attending. A goodly number, however, were present; but here also the service could only be partially used; though on the opposite hill once stood a temple, the walls of which were once vocal with the devout strains of our spirit stirring liturgy. I however preached to the people assembled, but whether to their edification I had no means of judging. Bishop Ravenscroft also visited Kehukee in 1828. (Journal of the 12th Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina.)3 From the “Journal of the 13th Annual Convention—1829.” From the Journal of Bishop Ravenscroft. On my return homewards, I visited the district assigned to the missionary labours of the Rev. Mr. Norment, and preached in Windsor, at Kahukee Meeting house, and in St. Mark's Church, Halifax Town. Report from the Missionary Society of the same convention. “The Rev. Mr. Norment has been employed for the year past in Halifax, Scotland Neck, and Windsor and has discharged his duties with diligence and assiduity.” There is little information available about the Rev. John H. Norment. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Ravenscroft, May 1828. According to the Journals of the Diocese, he served for a while, St. James Church in Greenville, Pitt County, and several churches in Beaufort County. In 1831 he was given dismissory letters to the Bishop of Pa. and apparently moved there.4 Rebecca Norfleet (1783-1845), the daughter of Reuben Norfleet and Mary Figures of Bertie County, North Carolina and wife of Thomas Blount Hill (1775-1815) of “The Hermitage,” Halifax County, North Carolina.5 The Rev. Joseph H. Saunders was born in Edenton, North Carolina in 1800 and was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1821. He was ordained deacon in 1831 and officiated as missionary in Warren, Franklin, and Halifax Counties. He was later chaplain at the Episcopal School for Boys at Raleigh (now St. Mary's) and in 1836 became rector of Christ Church, Pensacola. He died in Pensacola of yellow fever on October 24, 1839. He married in Scotland Neck, Laura Baker, the daughter of Dr. Simmons Baker. (See sketch of the Rev. Joseph Saunders, in “Reminiscences of North Carolina,” by John H. Wheeler).6 The Rev. William Norwood was born in Hillsboro, North Carolina in 1801 and was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1826. While a missionary in Halifax and Bertie counties, he married Winifred Hill, the daughter of Thomas B. Hill of Halifax County. In 1834 he became rector of Emmanuel Church in Warrenton and in 1838 was called to assist Bishop Moore at Monumental Church in Richmond, Virginia. He was later rector of St. Pauls in Richmond, in 1854 Rector of St. George's in Georgetown, D. C. and from 1862-1869, rector of St. John's Church in Richmond. He died in 1887.OLD TRINITY CHURCH.
afforded the congregation two services a month but no Sunday service and continued until December, 1832.
“On the first Sunday in December 1832, the Rev. William Norwood commenced officiating on two Sundays each month to this congregation, and continued his ministrations to them until March 1834. During this period the Church building was erected.”7 The building referred to stood on the lot in Scotland Neck now occupied by the residence of Mr. R. C. Josey, Jr. Mr. Norwood was a man of consecration and much learning. Perhaps his greatest work was in the establishment of St. Paul's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
The record book shows the Certificate of Consecration of the Church by Bishop Ives,8 under seal, as follows:
Know all men by these presents that I, Levi Silliman Ives, D. D., by the Grace of God, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of North Carolina, have on this 28th day of April, in the year of our Lord Christ, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, it being the third Sunday after Easter, consecrated to the service of Almighty God, in hearing His Holy Word, in receiving His Holy Sacraments and worshiping His Holy Name, according to the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in these United States, a building called Trinity Church, situated in Scotland Neck, County of Halifax, North Carolina was erected by members of the Protestant Episcopal Congregation in that place, and by them to be hence forth separated from all unhallowed worldly and common uses and devoted to the sole worship of said congregation in the manner aforesaid.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my name and seal in the place and on the day above written and in the second year of my consecration.
(Signed) Levi Silliman Ives (Seal)
The record continues:
At a meeting of certain citizens of Scotland Neck, held in February, 1833, an Episcopal congregation was regularly organized9 according to the provisions of the 7th Canon of the Diocese of North Carolina, as follows:
We, whose names are hereunder written do consent to form ourselves into an Episcopal congregation to be designated the Congregation of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, and further we do consent to adopt and be governed by
7 From the Journal of the 16th Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina—1832 from the Journal of Bishop Ives. On the 6th I returned to Scotland Neck and on the 9th, being Ashe Wednesday, I preached and administered confirmation to 7 persons, being assisted in the services by Rev. Messrs. Saunders and Norwood. The next day with the same assistance, I preached and administered the communion to about 20, some of them belonging to the surrounding sects. Here I was much gratified with the prospects of the church; a people that appear so grateful for our services, although obtaining them only once in two weeks and that on a weekday, deserve our best exertions in their behalf. The neighborhood is wealthy and they are about erecting a place of Episcopal worship. . . From the journal of the same convention, from the Parochial report to the Convention for Halifax County and Town, by Rev. Joseph H. Saunders. Scotland Neck is a joint weekday station of the Rev. Mr. Norwood and myself, who officiate there alternately every other Friday. The prospects of the church there are believed by both of us to be extremely promising, and it is thought by us to be one of the most important of any of our stations. Much attention and personal concern about religion have been awakened in the minds of different persons. Two adults have been baptised since the Bishop's visitation in March, and they, together with at least three other persons, are now desirous to receive the apostolic rite of confirmation. The friends of the church in this neighborhood are taking active measures to provide themselves with a comfortable church. A sufficient sum of money for the erection of a suitable building has already been or shortly will be subscribed for that purpose, a site for the building is fixed upon and a gentleman engaged to erect it.8 Journal of the 17th Convention of the Diocese—1833—; from the address of Bishop Ives. On Friday, the 1st day of March, I proceeded in company with the Rev. Mr. Norwood to Scotland Neck where I was gratified to find a neat and commodious church edifice, through the praiseworthy efforts of the congregation here, nearly completed. I preached here on the mornings of both Saturday and Sunday, confirmed eleven persons and administered the Holy Communion, the Rev. Messrs. Saunders and Robertson assisting in the service. . . . . I preached at Scotland Neck on Sunday 21, being in that neighborhood on my way to meet my family. On Sunday, 28th also I preached at this place in the morning and consecrated to the worship of Almighty God, the Church edifice (mentioned in connection with my former visit) by the name of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck. . .9 Journal of the 17th Convention of the Diocese—1833. The Committee to whom was referred the application for admission of new congregations into union with this convention, do report as follows: that they have examined the certificates from Trinity Church, Scotland Neck and Calvary Church, Tarborough, and find that the requisitions of the Canon have been complied with. They further report on the applications of St. Bartholomew's, Pittsborough, St. Mary's Church, Kinston, Lenoir County, and St. Thomas Church, Craven County, that the evidence of compliance with the canon is informal but is satisfactory to the committee; they therefore recommend the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved: That the Congregation of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck; Calvary Church, Tarborough; St. Bartholomew's, Pittsborough; St. Mary's Church, Kinston, Lenoir County; St. Thomas Church, Craven County, be admitted into union with this convention. The following appeared to be elected delegates to represent Trinity Church, Scotland Neck in this convention: Dr. Simmons J. Baker, George E. Spruill, Richard H. Smith, Robert A. Ezell.the Constitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of North Carolina.
Signed:10
| I. | Simmons J. Baker, Sen. | XIV. | Susan Smith |
| II. | George E. Spruill | XV. | Elizabeth Packer |
| III. | Robert A. Ezell | XVI. | Richard Smith |
| IV. | Richard H. Smith | XVII. | Rebecca Hill |
| V. | Thomas B. Hill | XVIII. | Mary G. Lowrie |
| VI. | William R. Smith, Jr. | XIX. | Winifred B. Hill |
| VII. | Whitmel J. Hill | XX. | Rebecca S. Lowrie |
| VIII. | Simmons J. Baker, Jr. | XXI. | Laura L. Baker |
| IX. | Felicia Vaughan | XXII. | Elizabeth Baker |
| X. | Ann C. Baker | XXIII. | Lavinia Hill |
| XI. | Sally Packer | XXIV. | James M. Hunter |
| XII. | William R. Smith, Sen. | XXV. | Rebecca, a colored woman. |
| XIII. | Sarah W. Smith |
Of the foregoing signers, Mr. Richard H. Smith, Sr., tells us that Mrs. Sarah W. Smith, Miss Sally Packer, Dr. Simmons J. Baker, Mrs. R. Hill, Mrs. M. G. Lowrie, William Ruffin Smith, Sen., Mrs. S. J. Baker and Rebecca, the old colored woman, were baptized members of the old Colonial Church.
We read further:
In April 1834, the Rev. John Singletary11 commenced officiating to the congregation of Trinity Church, performing service and preaching two Sundays each month.
The first vestry of Trinity Church was composed of Simmons J. Baker, Sr., and George E. Spruill, Wardens, Thomas B. Hill, Secretary, Robert A. Ezell, and Richard H. Smith, elected in 1833, when the Rev. William Norwood was officiating missionary. Upon removal12 from the parish of Robert A. Ezell and George E. Spruill in 1835, Richard Smith, Sr. and William R. Smith, Jr., were elected.
Mr. Richard H. Smith writes:
In 1833, I was elected by the vestry of Trinity Church delegate to the Convention in Warrenton. This honor has been accorded me at every convention since, making fifty-six years in succession. I have also been a vestryman and senior warden for nearly all of that period.
Mr. Smith was also several times delegate to the General Conventions (National) of the Church, especially during the period
10 Biographical Notes on the Original Congregation of Trinity Parish: I. Dr. Simmons Jones Baker (1775-1853), son of General Lawrence Lawrence Baker of Gates County, M. D. Edinburgh, member of the House of Commons and State Senate 1816-1818. He lived for a while in Jackson County, Fla. and was active in the formation of St. Luke's Church, Marianna. II. George Evans Spruill (1792-1845), son of Benjamin Spruill and Ann Hines of Tyrrell County, North Carolina. He was graduated from Yale in 1814 and practiced law. He married Mary Louisa, the daughter of Thomas B. Hill of Halifax County, North Carolina. III. Robert A. Ezell. Little is known about him. His marriage record appears in the Parish Register. He moved away in 1835. Possibly he is the Robert Allison Ezell who received a M.A. at the University of North Carolina in 1839. (See Battle's History of the University.) IV. Richard Henry Smith (1812-1893), son of William Ruffin Smith and Sarah W. Norfleet. He married Sally, the daughter of Judge John Hall of Warrenton. V. Thomas Blount Hill (1813-1888), son of Thomas B. Hill and Rebecca Norfleet (See above). He married Maria Simpson of New Bern. He moved to Warrenton in 1850 and later to Hillsboro. VI. William R. Smith, Jr. (1803-1872), son of William R. and Sarah Smith. VII. Whitmel John Hill (1804-1871), of “Kenmore,” Halifax County,—the son of Thomas B. Hill and Rebecca Norfleet. VIII. Simmons Jones Baker, Jr. (1805-1896), son of Dr. Simmons Baker and Polly Smith. He later moved to Marianna, Florida and was active in the Episcopal Church there. IX. Felicia Vaughan—Felicia Norfleet, the daughter of James Norfleet and Sarah Gordon of Gates County. She married Dr. George Vaughan in 1821. X. Ann C. Baker (d.1843), Ann Cleverius Leavitt, widow of Henry Hunter and second wife of Dr. Simmons Baker, Sr. XI. Sally Packer—nothing is known about her. XII. William Ruffin Smith, Sen. (1779-1845), the son of Arthur Smith and Anne Ruffin of Scotland Neck. XIII. Sarah W. Smith (1784-1873), Sarah Walton Norfleet, of Gates County and wife of William R. Smith, Sen. XIV. Susan Smith (1810-1895), Susan Evans, the daughter of Peter and Ann Johnston Evans of Edgecombe County and wife of William R. Smith, Jr. XV. Elizabeth Packer (1813-1890). She was a native of the Palmyra section and for many years lived in the house hold of William R. Smith, Jr. XVI. Richard Smith (d.1837), the son of Drew Smith and Sarah Bell of Scotland Neck. He married Anna Maria Baker, half sister to Dr. S. J. Baker. XVII. Rebecca Hill. See note four above. XVIII. Mary G. Lowrie—Mary Gordon Norfleet, the daughter of Reuben Norfleet of Bertie County. In 1811 she married Judge Samuel Lowrie of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. XIX. Winifred B. Hill (1812-18 ?). The daughter of Thomas B. Hill and Rebecca Norfleet and wife of the Rev. William Norwood. XX. Rebecca S. Lowrie; the daughter of Mary Norfleet and Samuel Lowrie, married the Rev. John M. Robinson. He came from Maryland and in 1833 served as missionary in Bertie County. In 1834, he removed to Huntsville, Alabama. XXI. Laura L. Baker (1810-1881), daughter of Dr. Simmons J. Baker and wife of the Rev. Joseph H. Saunders. XXII. Elizabeth Baker (b.1818), the daughter of Dr. Simmons Baker and his second wife Ann C. Leavitt. She married William H. Dudley of Wilmington. XXIII. Lavinia Hill (1808-1848), the daughter of James Barnes and Temperance Atherton and wife of Whitmel John Hill. XXIV. James M. Hunter—the grandson of Dr. S. J. Baker. No further record. He may have removed to Florida. XXV. Rebecca—a colored woman. She is no doubt the “Old Beck” referred to by Richard H. Smith in his memoir on church history, who was baptised in old Kehukee Chapel on the same occasion as his father.11 From the journal of the 18th Annual Convention of the Diocese 1834—from the proceedings of the missionary Society. The Rev. Mr. Singletary has but just entered on upon his labors. He reports to have found in Tarboro 5 communicants, in Scotland Neck 10. The Rev. John Singletary was born in Washington, North Carolina, in 1792, was graduated from Yale and practiced law for several years. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Ives, April 6, 1834, and the following Sunday began his labors in Scotland Neck and Tarboro. In January 1837 he was called to St. Peter's Church in Washington, N. C. In 1843 he went to St. Johns-In-the-Wilderness, Flat Rock, North Carolina where he died in 1845. He married a daughter of Dr. Robert Williams of Pitt County by whom he left issue.12 Bishop Ives commented on the removals in his journal at the 20th Annual Convention of the Diocese in 1836. On Tuesday, in Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, I preached according to appointment and addressed the parents and children of the congregation. The interests of this parish, chiefly from removals, have suffered materially since my last visitation. It is hoped, however, that the pious zeal of the few remaining friends of the church, sustained by pious confidence in its great Head, will not permit the ministrations of the Gospel to entirely fail among them.of the Civil War and at the convention of 1865 where he was an able assistant to Bishop Atkinson in re-uniting the northern and southern branches of the Church. He says in his pamphlet entitled “Organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States A.D. 1861 and its Re-union with the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, A.D. 1865:”
It needed but a moment or two to discover that we were alike convinced that after the fall of the Confederate nationality there no longer existed any “raison d'etre” for a Confederate Church, and that no time should be lost in seeking a resumption of our organic relations. Thus Bishop Atkinson set forth to the General Convention, while I was glad to follow him “Haud passibus aequis.”
The next minister was the Rev. John Morgan,13 who had charge of the parish from February 1838, until the spring of 1839.
February 5, 1841, the vestry invited the Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire to take charge of this congregation in connection with Windsor and Halifax, which invitation was accepted. “This brief entry in the record chronicles the beginning of a ministry rich in God's blessings to the parish and its members, continuing for twenty-eight years. It also marks the birth of that tie of love which bound Dr. Cheshire to the people of Trinity Parish for the remainder of his life, and which still lives, after ninety-two years, in our affection for his son, our beloved Bishop.”
Of Dr. Cheshire's ministry in Trinity Parish, Mr. Richard H. Smith writes:
In the year 1841, February 5, God put it into the hearts of our people to call to the rectorship the Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, a young man, full of missionary Zeal and energy, and above all, endowed with the true Christian spirit. For twenty-eight years he officiated two Sundays in each month, “Laboring in season and out of season,” until disease broke down his constitution, and his medical adviser recommended rest as the only means of saving his life. In the year 1861, he was assisted by the Rev. A. A. Benton14 who had charge of the colored congregation in connection with the parish. On the 27th day of May, 1855, it being Whit Sunday, a brick church was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. Thomas Atkinson, Bishop of the diocese, and the name “Trinity” given to it.15 In September, 1869, the Rev. Mr. Cheshire resigned the charge of this parish much to the regret of the congregation. During his ministration the
13 The Rev. John Morgan was received by letters from the Bishop of New York in 1838 and was assigned to Trinity Parish and Calvary Church, Tarboro. During the next year or so he was on a leave of absence in Europe and does not seem to have done much work in his two parishes. In 1842 he was transferred to the diocese of Conn. He may be the same John Morgan who was rector of Christ Church, Rowan from November 1832 until 1835, also during that time serving Charlotte and Lincolnton. According to Rumple's History of Rowan County, p. 318, this John Morgan was born in England, moved to Maryland in 1835 and died on Staten Island, N. Y. in 1877.14 The Rev. Angelo Ames Benton was born in Crete. His father the Rev. George Benton was an Episcopal missionary in Greece who later held a parish in Cumberland County, North Carolina where he died. The Rev. A. A. Benton served St. Timothy's Church in Wilson in 1869 and from 1871-1874 was rector of St. Pauls Church in Edenton. Later he was professor of Dogmatic Theology at Sewanee, Tenn.15 Journal of the 40th Annual Convention of the Diocese—1856, from the convention address of Bishop Atkinson. May 29, I consecrated the new and beautiful church of Trinity Parish, Scotland Neck, in Halifax County. The rector, the Rev. Mr. Cheshire, Messrs. Drane, Buxton, Parkman, and R. H. Mason took part in the services. I preached and confirmed one person, and with the assistance of Messrs. Drane and Cheshire, administered the Holy Communion. The building thus set apart for the service of Almighty God, reflects great credit on the large hearted zeal of the laymen and the perservering energy of the Minister, by whose efforts it was erected. The congregation is not large, but the House of God which they now have in their midst has, I think, no equal in any country parish in the diocese.number of communicants increased ten fold, a brick church was built with ample and beautiful burying grounds surrounding it, in which sleep many of her communion.16
Of the building of this church, Bishop Cheshire says:
The proposition for a new church building being made, the three Smith brothers, William, Richard, and James, concurred in thinking that it was needed, and as a consequence they built it. They authorized the rector to obtain such plan as might meet his views of what the church should be, and he wrote to Frank Wills17 of New York, one of the best architects in the country, and had plans and specifications prepared. There were no subscriptions solicited nor any attempt made to solicit money. The three brothers set their men to work to burn the necessary brick and to get the lumber for the frame, and floors and roof out of the forests. They employed skilled mechanics for such parts of the work as their slaves could not do, and within a comparatively few months the building was completed. Dr. Simmons J. Baker, who, I believe, removed from Raleigh back to his former home about this time, sold a pew which he had owned in Christ Church, Raleigh, and gave the proceeds towards the new church; some other smaller amounts were given by others; but no accounts were kept, or indeed could be kept, of the entire cost, and no one knew, and no one specially cared to inquire what the cost had been. Those who had undertaken it, paid for it, and said nothing about it, and did not suppose they were doing anything very extraordinary.
Twenty-eight colored persons were baptized during the ministry of Dr. Cheshire. After the Civil War, and his resignation, the parish register discloses no others. This throws an interesting light upon the relationship between Negro slaves and their owners.18 The custom of receiving these colored people into the church had come down from colonial times. Some of us can still remember several of them, Harriet Blount, Harriet Whitaker, and old Ben Cheshire, how regular they were in coming to the altar rail to take communion, after the white people were through. None were more faithful than they and they lived lives worthy of the profession which they had made.
In his letter of resignation, which is spread upon the records of the vestry, Dr. Cheshire said in part:
After a ministry of twenty-eight years, I can truly say that this is the only unpleasantness which has ever occurred
16 In his convention address at the 42nd Annual Convention in 1858, Bishop Atkinson commented on Trinity Parish during the ministry of Dr. Cheshire. Nowhere in this diocese, since I have been its Bishop, has a parish grown and strengthened more than in this locality; and while I attribute much of this under God to the faithful and unwearied labors of the minister and the cordial affection reciprocally felt by him and his congregation, I do not attribute it entirely to these influences. Much is due to the enlightened Christian liberality of the congregation themselves. They have erected for the worship of God a large and handsome brick building instead of a small one of wood; they have provided it with organ, bell, and spacious churchyard. They have thrown it open to the whole community; they have provided good music; the beauty of our ritual is made to appear. Aliens from the church come from curiosity it may be, are received as having equal rights with those who built the house, are struck by a service so different from, and so much more solemn and attractive than, any to which they have been accustomed, and resolve to come again. The result has been that in three years the congregation has trebled; the church, thought to be unnecessarily large when it was built, is found too small; the number of persons seeking its ordinances is greatly increasing and the temporal as well as spiritual interests of the entire community advanced, and this too in a rural region afar off from any one even of our small towns and villages.17 Frank Wills (1827- ?-) was a prominent architect in New York City who designed several Episcopal Churches in the North and South in the period just prior to the Civil War. He was the author of Ancient English Ecclesiastical Architecture and Its Principles Applied to the Wants of the Church of the Present Day; New York, Stamford and Swords, 1850.18 From the parochial report of Dr. Cheshire to the 35th Annual Convention of the Diocese, p. 30. A few of the communicants of the Church in this parish, in consideration for the spiritual wants of their servants, have built a large and commodious chapel at a convenient location for their plantations on the Roanoke River in which I officiate twice a month to large and attentive congregations of colored people. From the address of Bishop Atkinson to the 40th Annual Convention of the Diocese in 1856. In the afternoon of the same day, I preached and confirmed two of the congregation at a Chapel built for the colored people some miles from the church which I had just consecreated, but at a cost of the same contributors, to a great extent. This church is well attended and evinces the care which these masters have of the souls as well as the bodies of their servants, is by God's Mercy, not without fruit. The exact location of this chapel has not been ascertained. It is thought to have been on the river farm of the late W. E. Smith. The small marble font used in chapel is now preserved in old Trinity Church.to disturb in the least the harmony that has ever existed in our intercourse as minister and people. You have always yielded me the greatest respect and consideration, both as a man and as your minister, and have received my teachings however imperfect, as the instructions of heaven for your salvation. I can never forget your kindness to me and mine, nor shall I ever cease to pray that the God of all Grace may bestow upon the whole congregation of Trinity Church the choicest blessings of this life, and crown you at last with the infinite glories of the life to come.
For about three years after the resignation of Dr. Cheshire, the parish was without a minister. Several were called but no one accepted. However, the church services were continued by the lay reader, Mr. Richard H. Smith, until October, 1872.
Trinity Church has always been fortunate enough to have in its membership one or more men, able and willing, to act as lay readers. This has contributed in a large measure to the maintenance and growth of the parish. These men have been licensed by our bishops, only upon a knowledge of their fitness, acquired through personal acquaintance or by careful investigation. They have been men who commanded the respect and confidence of the community. Though there may have been others, I think the following is a complete list:
| Dr. Simmons J. Baker | Alfred Luther Purrington |
| Richard H. Smith, Sen. | Isaac H. Neal |
| John Young Savage | Stuart H. Smith |
| Walter Dupree Shields | William Edward Smith |
| Richard H. Smith, Jr. | Henry T. Clark |
Their service covers the entire period of the history of the parish from its organization to the present time.
In October, 1872, the Rev. J. J. Norwood19 accepted a call by the vestry. His ministry lasted till July 1, 1874, when he resigned on account of ill health. His resignation was accepted with reluctance.
Our next minister was Dr. Aristides S. Smith,20 a man of great piety and learning. Coming on March 1, 1875, he remained until October 1, 1881. For three years he preached twice a month on Sundays; then during the last three years, he came only one Sunday in each month.
During the period of his ministry the Ladies Sewing Society (now the Church Improvement Society) was organized in 1878, with Mrs. Rebecca N. Smith as its president. Its immediate object
19 The Rev. John Jones Norwood (1842-1919). He was the son of the Rev. William Norwood—(See Note 6 above.) He was ordained in 1872 and after leaving Scotland Neck, served parishes in Franklin, Virginia and Fauquier County, Virginia.20 The Rev. Aristides S. Smith was born in Abingdon, Virginia in 1809 and was graduated from Yale in 1828. He was ordained priest by Bishop Meade in 1842. From 1845 to 1861, he was engaged in educational work. During the Civil War, he was chaplain of the 11th North Carolina Regiment. Thereafter, he was briefly an assistant at St. Paul's Church, Petersburg and Rector of St. Paul's Church, Centerville, Maryland. In 1873 the Rev. Mr. Smith accepted a call to St. Clement's Church, Ringwood, Halifax County. While in Ringwood he was at times rector of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, St. Mark's in Halifax, Grace Church, Weldon, and the Church of the Advent in Enfield. He died April 16, 1892.was to build a rectory. Heretofore the men, though much in the minority, had managed the affairs of the church especially those relating to finance and business. But conditions had changed. A period of great depression was on.21 It was hard for the men to raise the minister's salary. If the parish was to grow with the community it was necessary to have a resident minister and a house for him to live in. The ladies undertook to provide this and began their work. They soon acquired a rectory lot by a small outlay of money. There they moved an old store building, which they remodeled, adding four rooms in front. Several years passed before all this was done, but, though it was not entirely completed, Mr. Hilton, the next minister lived there. Improvements were made from time to time. Many other things have been accomplished by this society, a complete account of which would show material assistance in the building of two brick churches, the purchase of organs and church furniture, beside numerous works and gifts of charity in the fifty-four years of its existence, under the leadership of Mrs. Smith and after her death in 1915,22 under that of her daughter, Miss Lena Smith. To them and to the other devoted and consecrated women who labored incessantly with them, the rectory will remain a fitting memorial. It is especially appropriate that this memorial should be a home.
From October 1, 1881, to October 1, 1885, the Rev. Horace G. Hilton23 had charge of this parish, in conjunction with St. Martin's, Hamilton, North Carolina. So much good was accomplished by him in a short time that in July 1882, when there was a proposition to make Mr. Hilton evangelist in the Edenton Convocation district, the vestry declined to release him.
On the night of March 27, 1884, the parish church and all its contents, including the parish register were destroyed by fire, the origin of which was never discovered.24 At a meeting of the congregation held in Edmondson's Hall, April 1, steps were taken towards building a new church within the corporate limits of the town.25 In the early fall of the same year work was commenced on a new building on a lot purchased from the trustees of the Vine Hill Academy. Shortly after this, an offer was made by Mrs. Martha Clark,26 a former member of the parish, to restore the old church and put it in a condition to be used for Divine worship. The offer was accepted and as soon as the work was completed the old church was used regularly until the new church
21 From the parochial report of the rector, The Rev. A. S. Smith, to the Convention of the Diocese in 1879. Trinity Church has been able to do but little to build up the church beyond its own parish bounds and but little there. Probably no church within the Diocese has suffered more in a pecuniary way than it has done. From being one of the strongest Churches in the Diocese, it has become of the weakest, and will, after this, be able to support a clergyman only one quarter of the time. The services of the Church however, are well attended, not only when the Rector is present, but when they are held by a lay reader, and I am happy to be able to state that the church is opened regularly every Sunday and once or twice a week during Lent. It has lost heavily by removals during the last two or three years and I fear this process is not at an end.22 Rebecca Norfleet Smith (1830-1915), the daughter of Whitmel John Hill and Lavinia Barnes of “Kenmore,” two of the original members of the parish, and the wife of Peter Evans Smith.23 The Rev. Horace Gray Hilton was born in 1825 and was ordained in 1871. He was at different times, rector of St. Thomas Church, Bath, other churches in Beaufort and Hyde counties,and St. David's, Scuppernong. He left Scotland Neck to take charge of Grace Church, Plymouth, and St. Thomas Church, Windsor. He died in 1887 soon after leaving Scotland Neck.24 The following account of the burning of Trinity Church appeared in The Church Messenger of April 10th, 1884. The Burning of Trinity Church Trinity Parish is in tears over the destruction of its beautiful house of worship on the night of the 29th of March. That it was the work of an incendiary hardly admits of a doubt. The day had been devoted by a number of persons to the pleasant task of working the ground and cleaning up the church preparatory to the Bishop's visit on the succeeding Sunday. No fire during the day is known to have been used in the church yard and everything of a combustible nature was taken from the church; in fact, every floor and closet was swept and worked by the indefatigable exertion of the ladies of the Parish; and never have I seen the ground and church in better condition for the solemn services of the Church. Many hearts went up in thankfulness to God that they had such a beautiful sanctuary in which to worship Him. Alas, little did they realize that before the dawn of another day, all would be laid in ruin. About 11 o'clock at night a colored man passing by discovered the fire and gave the alarm, but before any assistance could come, the whole interior was in flames and nothing could be saved. The organ, the font, the altar and lecturn of solid walnut, the Sunday school library and church register in a few hours were in ashes. I am told by those who saw the fire that the sight was awfully grand beyond description. The gothic tower and walls of the church stood out in all their beautiful proportions. The flames, lighting up the church yard, displayed the silent monuments of the dead as mute spectators of the horrible work, whilst could be read in living light on the rear chancel wall, the beautiful inscription: “We wait for thy loving kindess O God in the midst of thy temple.” The loss of the church has produced a profound sympathy in the hearts of all classes of our citizens, save possibly the degraded wretch who lighted the torch. The congregation has taken prompt action toward building a new house of worship in the town of Scotland Neck, the old church having been located thirty years ago on its present site before a town or rail-road was contemplated in this section by the most enthusiastic person. Many tears have been shed and many heart been made sad by the action of the congregation in deciding not to rebuild on the old site. The base walls, without one brick being thrown from them, still stand in all their beautiful gothic proportions, grand in their very desolation. The congregation is poor in this world's goods and will need much help from abroad to enable them to rebuild. They have commenced in faith that some of the wealth of the church will reach them and cheer their hearts ’ere long with a new sanctuary in which to worship the God of their Fathers. Richard H. Smith25 The burning of the parish church and the erection of the new church in a more central location was not without advantage. The town of Scotland Neck had grown up after the church was built, and its location inconvenient for most of the congregation. The Rev. A. S. Smith, in his parochial report to the annual convention in 1878, wrote as follows: Since my last report, I have commenced an afternoon service in Greenwood, the lower extremity of Scotland Neck, nearly two miles from Trinity Church. These services are always well attended and I hope, will result, at no distant day, in the erection of a chapel in this end of town. Trinity Church is beautifully located, but if it were situated a mile lower down in the town, I believe that in hot or rainy weather, the congregation would be fifty percent larger than they are. About twelve months ago, I commenced an afternoon service once a month, in the church, for the colored people. For several months, the church was nearly filled, but they have since built a church of their own in the heart of town and my congregations have become so small that I have determined to give the Sunday afternoons devoted to them to Crowell's Cross Roads, a village twelve miles distant.26 Martha Goodwin (1815-1897), born in Scotland Neck, married in 1837, Wm. Ruffin Clark of Scotland Neck (1809-1861). They had no issue. The children of her brother-in-law Gen. David Clark placed a memorial window to her in the third church of Trinity Parish, which was destroyed when the church was burned in 1924. The following information relative to Trinity Parish and Mrs. Clark appears in The Bishops of N. C., by M. Haywood, p. 170. “In Passing through Scotland Neck, in Halifax County, where the principal crop could not be marketed on account of the war, Bishop Atkinson asked whether the congregation of Trinity Church, in view of their reverses, would be able to raise the usual contributions to missions and the amount necessary for the support of the parish, and received the answer that their contributions to the church would be increased, because there was greater need for them. One lady of that parish, Mrs. Martha Clark, hearing that the Church's educational interests were suffering for lack of funds, sent two thousand dollars to the Bishop to aid the work.”OLD TRINITY CHURCH BEFORE THE FIRE OF 1884.
was so far completed as to be used for worship, which was in the spring of 1886.27
While the old church was being restored the Methodists permitted us to use their church building in Scotland Neck for about twelve months. A suitable resolution of thanks appears upon the minutes of the vestry.
Within six weeks $2,369.38, of which $278.19 was cash, was subscribed for the new building. Mr. Peter E. Smith, a vestryman of the church and a practical builder and architect was given charge of the work. By his devoted and untiring energy, it was ready for use in a comparatively short time.28 A debt of $1000.00 had been incurred. It took 15 years for us to pay this off.
Mr. Hilton resigned October 1, 1885. After several months he was succeeded by the Rev. Herbert W. Robinson of Ontario, Canada, who remained till March, 1888. He was the first minister to hold services in the new church. Mr. Robinson had a splendid voice and took great interest in the church music. He established a vested choir composed of men and boys. This was among the first of its kind in North Carolina.29 It was kept up for several years after Mr. Robinson left the parish.30 For a while he attempted full choral services and the chanting of parts of the psalter, but this was soon abandoned. Ladies were not excluded from the choir but sat near the organ and did not wear the vestments. Because of the high standard which Trinity Church has always maintained in Church music, I give the names of those, who as organists have directed it:
| Mrs. Rebecca N. Smith | Mrs. Mary Smith Robertson |
| Mrs. Mary Smith Johnson | Mrs. Anna Clark Gordon |
| Mrs. Nan Hill Elliott | Mrs. Elizabeth Hyman Smith |
| Mrs. Sallie Smith Busbee | Mrs. Nannie Shields Bryant |
Mrs. Lizzie Hall Bond
Upon completion of the new church, the following questions were submitted to the bishop:
1. Which building takes the name of Trinity Church?
Answer: The new one as it received the assent of the congregation to its removal to the town of Scotland Neck.
2. Can the vestry regulate the services of the Church?
Answer: No, but can make any suggestions to the Rector.
The Bishop recommends that two full services be held yearly at the old church, one on Sunday after Easter (low Sunday), the other on All Saints Day.
27 From the address of Bishop Lyman to the Annual Convention of the Diocese in 1885. April 29th, in the Methodist Church at Scotland Neck, after morning prayer by the Rev. H. G. Hilton, I preached and confirmed two persons and administered the Holy Communion. I also addressed the congregation, urging to a united and vigorous effort to push forward to completion the new church edifice, now only roofed in. The building is of brick and quite capacious, and occupies a very central position. When once it is made ready for occupancy, I feel pursuaded that a new impulse will be given the work of the Church in that neighborhood. I was also glad to learn that through the liberality of a former parishioner, the old church had been covered with a new roof and would be soon in a condition to be used for all funeral occasions and sometimes also for a communion service. Standing as it does, in the midst of the cemetery and with so many tender associations clustering around it, how fitting that it should be thus preserved and employed for such sacred purposes.28 From the address of Bishop Lyman to the Convention of 1886 Wednesday, April 14, had a conference with the vestry of Trinty Church, Scotland Neck, and then went to the new Church building, lately completed, and held its opening service. After Morning Prayer by the Rev. Walter J. Smith and the Rev. Herbert W. Robinson, I made an address to the congregation, preached, confirmed seven persons, addressed them, and administered the Holy Communion. I was very glad to meet and welcome the new Rector, who has been transferred to this Diocese, by Letters Dismissory from the Bishop of Toronto. Mr. Robinson has been most kindly welcomed by the people, and very cordial and affectionate relations have already been established. Rev. Mr. Hilton resigned the charge of the Parish last autumn and has removed to his old home in Plymouth. The new church, at Scotland Neck, is about a mile and a half from the old building, and is in the center of a large and populous neighborhood, which has sprung up long since the erection of the old church. The new building is considerably larger than the old one, and is a very neat and solidly constructed brick edifice. It was entirely filled on the day of my visitation, and I feel encouraged to believe that there is now before the Parish a career of increasing prosperity.29 In his address to the Convention of 1887, Bishop Lyman commented on the choir organized by the Rev. Mr. Robinson. Easter Day, April 10th, proved a most brilliant and lovely day and the hearts of the good people of Scotland Neck were made glad by its jubilant services. Large congregations were present, both morning and evening. The estimable rector has given a fresh impulse to the work of the Church. He has organized a surpliced choir and the music is of a very simple, earnest and congregational character. After Morning Prayer by the Rector, I preached confirmed six persons, addressed them, and administered the Holy Communion. The Rev. Walter J. Smith came over and took part in the Evening Service, when I preached again.30 The Rev. Mr. Robinson was in charge of St. Mark's Halifax, while in Scotland Neck. When he left Scotland Neck, he accepted a parish in Iowa. The parochial report of Mr. Robinson to the Convention of the Diocese in 1887, giving an account of his first year in Scotland Neck, is of interest. The past year has been one of great activity in the Parish. “The Ladies Sewing Society” has expended nearly $250 on the rectory, which is now nearly completed. May God bless them in their work. A surpliced choir was introduced at Christmas and has been a perfect success, adding very much to the impressiveness of the services. The Bishop's visitation at Easter will not soon be forgotten. Bright, hearty services, eloquent sermons, large congregations, and beautiful weather, combined to give all that could be desired. As the fruit of the self-denial of the congregation during Lent, there were many and valuable Easter offerings—a carpet for the chancel, matting for the nave, white frontal for the altar, hand-painted new lamps, brass altar vases, and a pair of five light candelabra.THE 3RD CHURCH OF TRINITY PARISH, 1886-1924.
The recommendation of the Bishop was adopted and for many years services were held in the old church, regularly, on those days
Reverend Walter J. Smith accepted a call to the parish on June 22, 1888. He was the son of William R. Smith, Jr., and grandson of William R. Smith, Sr., who were among the organizers of the parish. The new rector had been baptized and confirmed in old Trinity Church. He was a man of great piety and endeared himself to people of all denominations.31
During the period of his ministry, the tower to the church was built and a bell installed. This bell was a gift from Mrs. Bessie S. Leak and her sister, Miss Sadie L. Smedes, as a memorial to their parents, Dr. Aldert Smedes and his wife Sarah Lyle Smedes. Intended for St. Mary's Mission Church, when Mr. Smith became rector of Trinity Church, at his suggestion it was given to this church. A consideration which suggested the transfer was the fact that in and around Scotland Neck there were many old pupils of St. Mary's School who loved and revered the memory of Dr. and Mrs. Smedes. In a letter to Mr. Richard H. Smith, dated July 24, 1888, Miss Sadie Smedes and Mrs. Leak acknowledged receipt of his letter of acceptance and expressed pleasure that the bell was placed at Scotland Neck.
The Woman's Auxiliary was organized in 1890, with Miss Adelaide E. Smith as its president. Under her leadership and after her death under Mrs. Henry Irwin Clark, Mrs. William E. Smith, and Mrs. John D. Hall successively this organization has been a great factor in spiritual growth among the women, and in fostering missionary zeal and a broader knowledge of the work of the church.
Mr. Smith was requested by the Bishop to take charge of the Thompson Orphanage in June, 1898. He was granted a leave of absence for twelve months by the vestry, but resigned as rector, before the twelve months had expired, in the fall of that year.
Taking charge temporarily when Mr. Smith first went to the orphanage, Rev. Girard W. Phelps32 was elected as rector in charge of the parish, in November 1898. He remained until June 1908. The Church debt having been paid in full, the Church was put in order and consecrated July 5, 1903, on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, by the Rt. Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, D.D., the Bishop, assisted by the Rev. Charles Fetter, the Rev. A. B. Hunter, the Rev. Francis Joyner, the Rev. W. J. Smith, the Rev. G. W. Phelps,
31 The Rev. Walter Johnson Smith, b. July 26, 1852—died August 2, 1924, was ordained to the priesthood in Trinty Church on Nov., 15th, 1886. He married Arabella, the daughter of Gov. Henry Toole Clark of Edgecombe County. When called to Scotland Neck, he was in charge of St. Mary's Mission, Speed, Edgecombe County, and St. Martin's Parish, Hamilton. In 1889, the year after he came to Scotland Neck, the Rev. Mr. Smith reported to the Convention of the Diocese. On Dec. 2nd. (1888), I started a mission at Spring Hill, six miles distant, and have since then held services there once a month with good attendance. — — the tower (of Trinity Church ) has been about completed and the yard enclosed with a neat fence. In 1891, he reported that in addition to his work in Scotland Neck, he was holding monthly services at Palmyra, Spring Hill, and Hobgood. His visits to Palmyra developed into an organized mission, St. Anne's, which, however, lasted for only a few years. In 1895, he reported that he was holding monthly services at Tillery and Spring Hill, and that a chapel had been erected at Tillery. Bishop Cheshire's address to the same convention contains the following reference to this chapel. “Friday August 10th, at Tillery, Halifax County, I laid the corner stone of the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, being assisted in the service by the Rev. Walter J. Smith, whose faithful endeavors, aided by the liberality of Mrs. Fries of New York and the N. C. Lumber Company of Tillery, have brought the work nearly to completion.” Dr. and Mrs. Fries of Buffalo, N. Y. had bought “The Mansion House,” the former home of the Tillery family just south of the village of that name, and lived there occasionally during the winter. Tillery and Spring Hill continued to be missions of Trinity Church for many years but were finally abandoned.32 The Rev. Girard W. Phelps was born in Hyde County, North Carolina in 1832, served (while deacon) as chaplain of the 17th North Carolina Infantry and was ordained in 1869. His first parishes were St. David's, Scuppernong, and later St. Mary's Gatesville. From 1872 to 1879 he was rector of St. Timothy's, Wilson, and also the infant Church of the Good Shepherd in Rocky Mount. Following this he seems to have moved to Virginia. In 1895, he resided in Littleton as evangelist of the Convocation of Tarboro, being in charge of missions in Halifax and Edgecombe Counties. After coming to Trinity Parish, he at first continued to be in charge of the Missions of St. Mary's and Grace Memorial in Edgecombe County, but he later confined his labors to the parish proper with its two missions at Tillery and Spring Hill, together with occasional visits to the State Convict farm near Tillery. He retired from the ministry after leaving Scotland Neck and moved to Victoria, Virginia where he died in 1918.and by the Rev. Theodore Dubose Bratton, who preached the consecration sermon.33
Rev. F. W. Arthurs was minister in charge from June 27, 1908 to September 7, 1908 when he left to resume his studies in the seminary.
From July 15, 1909 to April 15, 1911, the Rev. G. G. Bradley was rector. At this time the rectory was improved and made more comfortable, money for the purpose having been borrowed.
In the fall of 1911 Dr. R. W. Anderson came. He died before he had been here a year. His work was hampered by failing health. During a short ministry he greatly endeared himself to those who knew him. He is buried just in front of the old Church.
During the last twenty-five years we have had five rectors, the Rev. A. W. Blackwelder, the Rev. Floyd Cartwright, the Rev. Reuben Meredith, the Rev. Theodore H. Patrick, Jr., and the Rev. Thomas Clarkson. All of them are living and invited here today to participate in this celebration. Each has made his contribution to the growth of the parish.34 In many respects great things have been accomplished, in all church activities, in the growth and development of the Sunday School, the study and teaching of the word of God, and in the spiritual welfare of our people. In contribution to the endowment of St. Mary's School, Trinity Church was the first in this diocese to “go over the top.” It has given liberally to the Thompson Orphanage and to the University of the South.
In January 1924 for the second time our Church building was destroyed by fire. Our Baptist and Methodist brethren at once offered us the use of their churches, and we held services in both. Plans were made at once for building a larger and more beautiful house of worship. To this exigency our people responded liberally and beyond their means. The purchase of a parish house was undertaken at the same time. The entire cost of the Church, parish house, and furnishings, including the organ, amounted to about $55,000.00. All of this has been paid except about $9,000. This indebtedness has greatly hampered us in our ability to do other things which we should and would like to do. But taking everything into consideration Trinity Parish is in a better condition to go forward than it was twenty years ago.
In looking back over one hundred years, the lives of our parents and grandparents pass before us. The retrospect is inspiring. Economic and political changes have been great. Two
33 See “The Sermons and Addresses—Delivered On the Occasion of The Consecration of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck—Sunday, July 5, 1903,” Elam and Dooley, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1903.34 The Rev. Locke Winfield Blackwelder came to Scotland Neck from Plymouth on June 1, 1913. He was in charge of Trinity Parish and St. Mark's Halifax. On January 1, 1915 he left Scotland Neck to become rector of St. Mary's Church, High Point. The Rev. Floyd Cartwright, Deacon, officiated in Scotland Neck and Halifax from October 1, 1915 to June 29, 1916. The Rev. Reuben Meredith became rector of Trinity Parish on July 1, 1916. He held his Scotland Neck charge in conjunction with the Church of the Advent, Enfield, and St. Clement's Church, Ringwood. However, he resided in Scotland Neck. The Rev. Mr. Meredith was born February 16th, 1870, in Virginia, and died in Oxford, N. C. on August 5th, 1948. He left Scotland Neck on March 1, 1926 to assume charge of St. Stephen's Church, Oxford. The Rev. Theodore Partrick, Jr. succeeded Mr. Meredith on September 1, 1926 and remained until November 1, 1930. The Rev. Mr. Partrick was born in Clinton, N. C. June 2, 1889 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1920. He died in Raleigh in 1935. On leaving Scotland Neck he became rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh. While in Scotland Neck, he was also rector of the Church of the Advent in Enfield and in charge of St. Clement's Church, Ringwood. The Rev. Thomas Simmons Clarkson was never officially assigned to Scotland Neck. He was ordained July 21, 1931 and held services in Scotland Neck once a month in the interim period following the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Partrick. The Rev. Mr. Clarkson at this time was in charge of St. Paul's Mission, Smithfield, and St. Gabriel's, Selma, under the supervision of the Bishop. He resided in Raleigh while in charge of these missions.TRINITY CHURCH 1886-1924, INTERIOR.
major wars have sapped our lifeblood. There have been times of prosperity and of depression. Many who were rich have become poor; some who were poor have become well off and are now poor again. But throughout it all we have gone forward. This has been accomplished by the leadership of some and the co-operation of all. Three ministers have been born and baptized in Trinity Parish, the Rev. Walter J. Smith, Rev. Henry Clark Smith and the Rev. Zach. T. Vincent. To this list might be added the name of Isaac N. Neal whose studies for the ministry were terminated by ill health, and Susan Smith, a missionary in Alaska, and, too, we feel that have a claim upon the Rev. Morrison Bethea, who was once a member of our Sunday School.
As typical of our church membership, and in no way in disparagement of the large number of others, men and women, who have rendered faithful and zealous service, I shall give a list of the wardens as disclosed by minutes of the vestry, and of the secretaries who have kept the records during the one hundred years.
Wardens: Simmons J. Baker, George E. Spruill, Richard H. Smith, William R. Smith, Jr., James N. Smith, William H. Shields, Richard H. Smith, Jr., Isaac H. Smith, James S. Paull, William E. Smith, Charles H. Smith, C. Shields Alexander, and Henry T. Clark.
Secretaries: Thomas B. Hill, Peter E. Smith, F. I. Smith, John J. Bishop, James S. Paull, A. L. Purrington, J. B. Hall, N. S. Smith, T. W. Bell, P. E. Shields, and W. J. Grimes.
The church has always taken a lively interest in the Thompson Orphanage. A guild was formed in August 1888 by the Rev. Walter J. Smith and for ten years sent contributions regularly. Each year our Sunday School has sent its box and contributions at Thanksgiving Day or Christmas.
The St. Mary's Guild, organized in 1907 by Miss Adelaide E. Smith with former pupils of that institution, has likewise rendered valuable service.
The Parish owns the following real estate:
Trinity Church in the town of Scotland Neck, built in 1924 by Nat Pierson of Enfield, Contractor; plans and specifications by Benton and Benton of Wilson, North Carolina. This property is subject to an incumbrance of about $7,000 to the American Church Building Fund.
The Parish house, adjoining the Church in Scotland Neck. This is used by the Sunday School, and the Young Peoples Service League, and for all meetings of a secular nature and connected with the parish.
The rectory: This with the parish house is subject to a mortgage of about $2,000 to the Home Building and Loan Association of Scotland Neck.
The old Church Standing in the cemetery, on the hill just out of town, keeping watch over those who lived for it and loved it so. It is beautiful and picturesque, but needs repairs to prevent its falling into decay.
We have every reason to hope for a bright future. Depression and debt surround us, but these things call for more effort and more co-operation. Every sacrifice will be compensated by the joy of winning a good victory.
We have come a long way since twenty-five men and women formed themselves into a congregation to be designated “Trinity Church.” We have grown perhaps beyond their expectations but the community has grown likewise. Opportunities and responsibilities call to us for increased work and larger sacrifices. Let us heed that call, each one seeking in his own life to know and to do the will of God, and we shall not fail in our trust.35
35 Trinity Parish Since 1932 On June 18, 1933, the Rev. Benjamin Thorpe Brodie was ordained to the Diaconate in Holy Innocents Church in Henderson and was immediately assigned to Trinity Church, Scotland Neck and the Church of the Advent in Enfield. He was also in charge 1. Halifax County Registry: Book I, p. 2572. From “The Journal of the 8th Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina—1824.” P. 15, from the Journal of Bishop Ravenscroft. Finding an appointment made for me the next day at a place of public worship called Cahukie, distant 25 miles, I left Tarboro early and met the congregation there assembled, between twelve and one o'clock. The day was rainy and many were consequently prevented from attending. A goodly number, however, were present; but here also the service could only be partially used; though on the opposite hill once stood a temple, the walls of which were once vocal with the devout strains of our spirit stirring liturgy. I however preached to the people assembled, but whether to their edification I had no means of judging. Bishop Ravenscroft also visited Kehukee in 1828. (Journal of the 12th Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina.)3. From the “Journal of the 13th Annual Convention—1829.” From the Journal of Bishop Ravenscroft. On my return homewards, I visited the district assigned to the missionary labours of the Rev. Mr. Norment, and preached in Windsor, at Kahukee Meeting house, and in St. Mark's Church, Halifax Town. Report from the Missionary Society of the same convention. “The Rev. Mr. Norment has been employed for the year past in Halifax, Scotland Neck, and Windsor and has discharged his duties with diligence and assiduity.” There is little information available about the Rev. John H. Norment. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Ravenscroft, May 1828. According to the Journals of the Diocese, he served for a while, St. James Church in Greenville, Pitt County, and several churches in Beaufort County. In 1831 he was given dismissory letters to the Bishop of Pa. and apparently moved there.4. Rebecca Norfleet (1783-1845), the daughter of Reuben Norfleet and Mary Figures of Bertie County, North Carolina and wife of Thomas Blount Hill (1775-1815) of “The Hermitage,” Halifax County, North Carolina.5. The Rev. Joseph H. Saunders was born in Edenton, North Carolina in 1800 and was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1821. He was ordained deacon in 1831 and officiated as missionary in Warren, Franklin, and Halifax Counties. He was later chaplain at the Episcopal School for Boys at Raleigh (now St. Mary's) and in 1836 became rector of Christ Church, Pensacola. He died in Pensacola of yellow fever on October 24, 1839. He married in Scotland Neck, Laura Baker, the daughter of Dr. Simmons Baker. (See sketch of the Rev. Joseph Saunders, in “Reminiscences of North Carolina,” by John H. Wheeler).6. The Rev. William Norwood was born in Hillsboro, North Carolina in 1801 and was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1826. While a missionary in Halifax and Bertie counties, he married Winifred Hill, the daughter of Thomas B. Hill of Halifax County. In 1834 he became rector of Emmanuel Church in Warrenton and in 1838 was called to assist Bishop Moore at Monumental Church in Richmond, Virginia. He was later rector of St. Pauls in Richmond, in 1854 Rector of St. George's in Georgetown, D. C. and from 1862-1869, rector of St. John's Church in Richmond. He died in 1887.7. From the Journal of the 16th Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina—1832 from the Journal of Bishop Ives. On the 6th I returned to Scotland Neck and on the 9th, being Ashe Wednesday, I preached and administered confirmation to 7 persons, being assisted in the services by Rev. Messrs. Saunders and Norwood. The next day with the same assistance, I preached and administered the communion to about 20, some of them belonging to the surrounding sects. Here I was much gratified with the prospects of the church; a people that appear so grateful for our services, although obtaining them only once in two weeks and that on a weekday, deserve our best exertions in their behalf. The neighborhood is wealthy and they are about erecting a place of Episcopal worship. . . From the journal of the same convention, from the Parochial report to the Convention for Halifax County and Town, by Rev. Joseph H. Saunders. Scotland Neck is a joint weekday station of the Rev. Mr. Norwood and myself, who officiate there alternately every other Friday. The prospects of the church there are believed by both of us to be extremely promising, and it is thought by us to be one of the most important of any of our stations. Much attention and personal concern about religion have been awakened in the minds of different persons. Two adults have been baptised since the Bishop's visitation in March, and they, together with at least three other persons, are now desirous to receive the apostolic rite of confirmation. The friends of the church in this neighborhood are taking active measures to provide themselves with a comfortable church. A sufficient sum of money for the erection of a suitable building has already been or shortly will be subscribed for that purpose, a site for the building is fixed upon and a gentleman engaged to erect it.8. Journal of the 17th Convention of the Diocese—1833—; from the address of Bishop Ives. On Friday, the 1st day of March, I proceeded in company with the Rev. Mr. Norwood to Scotland Neck where I was gratified to find a neat and commodious church edifice, through the praiseworthy efforts of the congregation here, nearly completed. I preached here on the mornings of both Saturday and Sunday, confirmed eleven persons and administered the Holy Communion, the Rev. Messrs. Saunders and Robertson assisting in the service. . . . . I preached at Scotland Neck on Sunday 21, being in that neighborhood on my way to meet my family. On Sunday, 28th also I preached at this place in the morning and consecrated to the worship of Almighty God, the Church edifice (mentioned in connection with my former visit) by the name of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck. . .9. Journal of the 17th Convention of the Diocese—1833. The Committee to whom was referred the application for admission of new congregations into union with this convention, do report as follows: that they have examined the certificates from Trinity Church, Scotland Neck and Calvary Church, Tarborough, and find that the requisitions of the Canon have been complied with. They further report on the applications of St. Bartholomew's, Pittsborough, St. Mary's Church, Kinston, Lenoir County, and St. Thomas Church, Craven County, that the evidence of compliance with the canon is informal but is satisfactory to the committee; they therefore recommend the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved: That the Congregation of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck; Calvary Church, Tarborough; St. Bartholomew's, Pittsborough; St. Mary's Church, Kinston, Lenoir County; St. Thomas Church, Craven County, be admitted into union with this convention. The following appeared to be elected delegates to represent Trinity Church, Scotland Neck in this convention: Dr. Simmons J. Baker, George E. Spruill, Richard H. Smith, Robert A. Ezell.
10. Biographical Notes on the Original Congregation of Trinity Parish: I. Dr. Simmons Jones Baker (1775-1853), son of General Lawrence Lawrence Baker of Gates County, M. D. Edinburgh, member of the House of Commons and State Senate 1816-1818. He lived for a while in Jackson County, Fla. and was active in the formation of St. Luke's Church, Marianna. II. George Evans Spruill (1792-1845), son of Benjamin Spruill and Ann Hines of Tyrrell County, North Carolina. He was graduated from Yale in 1814 and practiced law. He married Mary Louisa, the daughter of Thomas B. Hill of Halifax County, North Carolina. III. Robert A. Ezell. Little is known about him. His marriage record appears in the Parish Register. He moved away in 1835. Possibly he is the Robert Allison Ezell who received a M.A. at the University of North Carolina in 1839. (See Battle's History of the University.) IV. Richard Henry Smith (1812-1893), son of William Ruffin Smith and Sarah W. Norfleet. He married Sally, the daughter of Judge John Hall of Warrenton. V. Thomas Blount Hill (1813-1888), son of Thomas B. Hill and Rebecca Norfleet (See above). He married Maria Simpson of New Bern. He moved to Warrenton in 1850 and later to Hillsboro. VI. William R. Smith, Jr. (1803-1872), son of William R. and Sarah Smith. VII. Whitmel John Hill (1804-1871), of “Kenmore,” Halifax County,—the son of Thomas B. Hill and Rebecca Norfleet. VIII. Simmons Jones Baker, Jr. (1805-1896), son of Dr. Simmons Baker and Polly Smith. He later moved to Marianna, Florida and was active in the Episcopal Church there. IX. Felicia Vaughan—Felicia Norfleet, the daughter of James Norfleet and Sarah Gordon of Gates County. She married Dr. George Vaughan in 1821. X. Ann C. Baker (d.1843), Ann Cleverius Leavitt, widow of Henry Hunter and second wife of Dr. Simmons Baker, Sr. XI. Sally Packer—nothing is known about her. XII. William Ruffin Smith, Sen. (1779-1845), the son of Arthur Smith and Anne Ruffin of Scotland Neck. XIII. Sarah W. Smith (1784-1873), Sarah Walton Norfleet, of Gates County and wife of William R. Smith, Sen. XIV. Susan Smith (1810-1895), Susan Evans, the daughter of Peter and Ann Johnston Evans of Edgecombe County and wife of William R. Smith, Jr. XV. Elizabeth Packer (1813-1890). She was a native of the Palmyra section and for many years lived in the house hold of William R. Smith, Jr. XVI. Richard Smith (d.1837), the son of Drew Smith and Sarah Bell of Scotland Neck. He married Anna Maria Baker, half sister to Dr. S. J. Baker. XVII. Rebecca Hill. See note four above. XVIII. Mary G. Lowrie—Mary Gordon Norfleet, the daughter of Reuben Norfleet of Bertie County. In 1811 she married Judge Samuel Lowrie of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. XIX. Winifred B. Hill (1812-18 ?). The daughter of Thomas B. Hill and Rebecca Norfleet and wife of the Rev. William Norwood. XX. Rebecca S. Lowrie; the daughter of Mary Norfleet and Samuel Lowrie, married the Rev. John M. Robinson. He came from Maryland and in 1833 served as missionary in Bertie County. In 1834, he removed to Huntsville, Alabama. XXI. Laura L. Baker (1810-1881), daughter of Dr. Simmons J. Baker and wife of the Rev. Joseph H. Saunders. XXII. Elizabeth Baker (b.1818), the daughter of Dr. Simmons Baker and his second wife Ann C. Leavitt. She married William H. Dudley of Wilmington. XXIII. Lavinia Hill (1808-1848), the daughter of James Barnes and Temperance Atherton and wife of Whitmel John Hill. XXIV. James M. Hunter—the grandson of Dr. S. J. Baker. No further record. He may have removed to Florida. XXV. Rebecca—a colored woman. She is no doubt the “Old Beck” referred to by Richard H. Smith in his memoir on church history, who was baptised in old Kehukee Chapel on the same occasion as his father.11. From the journal of the 18th Annual Convention of the Diocese 1834—from the proceedings of the missionary Society. The Rev. Mr. Singletary has but just entered on upon his labors. He reports to have found in Tarboro 5 communicants, in Scotland Neck 10. The Rev. John Singletary was born in Washington, North Carolina, in 1792, was graduated from Yale and practiced law for several years. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Ives, April 6, 1834, and the following Sunday began his labors in Scotland Neck and Tarboro. In January 1837 he was called to St. Peter's Church in Washington, N. C. In 1843 he went to St. Johns-In-the-Wilderness, Flat Rock, North Carolina where he died in 1845. He married a daughter of Dr. Robert Williams of Pitt County by whom he left issue.12. Bishop Ives commented on the removals in his journal at the 20th Annual Convention of the Diocese in 1836. On Tuesday, in Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, I preached according to appointment and addressed the parents and children of the congregation. The interests of this parish, chiefly from removals, have suffered materially since my last visitation. It is hoped, however, that the pious zeal of the few remaining friends of the church, sustained by pious confidence in its great Head, will not permit the ministrations of the Gospel to entirely fail among them.
13. The Rev. John Morgan was received by letters from the Bishop of New York in 1838 and was assigned to Trinity Parish and Calvary Church, Tarboro. During the next year or so he was on a leave of absence in Europe and does not seem to have done much work in his two parishes. In 1842 he was transferred to the diocese of Conn. He may be the same John Morgan who was rector of Christ Church, Rowan from November 1832 until 1835, also during that time serving Charlotte and Lincolnton. According to Rumple's History of Rowan County, p. 318, this John Morgan was born in England, moved to Maryland in 1835 and died on Staten Island, N. Y. in 1877.14. The Rev. Angelo Ames Benton was born in Crete. His father the Rev. George Benton was an Episcopal missionary in Greece who later held a parish in Cumberland County, North Carolina where he died. The Rev. A. A. Benton served St. Timothy's Church in Wilson in 1869 and from 1871-1874 was rector of St. Pauls Church in Edenton. Later he was professor of Dogmatic Theology at Sewanee, Tenn.15. Journal of the 40th Annual Convention of the Diocese—1856, from the convention address of Bishop Atkinson. May 29, I consecrated the new and beautiful church of Trinity Parish, Scotland Neck, in Halifax County. The rector, the Rev. Mr. Cheshire, Messrs. Drane, Buxton, Parkman, and R. H. Mason took part in the services. I preached and confirmed one person, and with the assistance of Messrs. Drane and Cheshire, administered the Holy Communion. The building thus set apart for the service of Almighty God, reflects great credit on the large hearted zeal of the laymen and the perservering energy of the Minister, by whose efforts it was erected. The congregation is not large, but the House of God which they now have in their midst has, I think, no equal in any country parish in the diocese.16. In his convention address at the 42nd Annual Convention in 1858, Bishop Atkinson commented on Trinity Parish during the ministry of Dr. Cheshire. Nowhere in this diocese, since I have been its Bishop, has a parish grown and strengthened more than in this locality; and while I attribute much of this under God to the faithful and unwearied labors of the minister and the cordial affection reciprocally felt by him and his congregation, I do not attribute it entirely to these influences. Much is due to the enlightened Christian liberality of the congregation themselves. They have erected for the worship of God a large and handsome brick building instead of a small one of wood; they have provided it with organ, bell, and spacious churchyard. They have thrown it open to the whole community; they have provided good music; the beauty of our ritual is made to appear. Aliens from the church come from curiosity it may be, are received as having equal rights with those who built the house, are struck by a service so different from, and so much more solemn and attractive than, any to which they have been accustomed, and resolve to come again. The result has been that in three years the congregation has trebled; the church, thought to be unnecessarily large when it was built, is found too small; the number of persons seeking its ordinances is greatly increasing and the temporal as well as spiritual interests of the entire community advanced, and this too in a rural region afar off from any one even of our small towns and villages.17. Frank Wills (1827- ?-) was a prominent architect in New York City who designed several Episcopal Churches in the North and South in the period just prior to the Civil War. He was the author of Ancient English Ecclesiastical Architecture and Its Principles Applied to the Wants of the Church of the Present Day; New York, Stamford and Swords, 1850.18. From the parochial report of Dr. Cheshire to the 35th Annual Convention of the Diocese, p. 30. A few of the communicants of the Church in this parish, in consideration for the spiritual wants of their servants, have built a large and commodious chapel at a convenient location for their plantations on the Roanoke River in which I officiate twice a month to large and attentive congregations of colored people. From the address of Bishop Atkinson to the 40th Annual Convention of the Diocese in 1856. In the afternoon of the same day, I preached and confirmed two of the congregation at a Chapel built for the colored people some miles from the church which I had just consecreated, but at a cost of the same contributors, to a great extent. This church is well attended and evinces the care which these masters have of the souls as well as the bodies of their servants, is by God's Mercy, not without fruit. The exact location of this chapel has not been ascertained. It is thought to have been on the river farm of the late W. E. Smith. The small marble font used in chapel is now preserved in old Trinity Church.
19. The Rev. John Jones Norwood (1842-1919). He was the son of the Rev. William Norwood—(See Note 6 above.) He was ordained in 1872 and after leaving Scotland Neck, served parishes in Franklin, Virginia and Fauquier County, Virginia.20. The Rev. Aristides S. Smith was born in Abingdon, Virginia in 1809 and was graduated from Yale in 1828. He was ordained priest by Bishop Meade in 1842. From 1845 to 1861, he was engaged in educational work. During the Civil War, he was chaplain of the 11th North Carolina Regiment. Thereafter, he was briefly an assistant at St. Paul's Church, Petersburg and Rector of St. Paul's Church, Centerville, Maryland. In 1873 the Rev. Mr. Smith accepted a call to St. Clement's Church, Ringwood, Halifax County. While in Ringwood he was at times rector of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, St. Mark's in Halifax, Grace Church, Weldon, and the Church of the Advent in Enfield. He died April 16, 1892.21. From the parochial report of the rector, The Rev. A. S. Smith, to the Convention of the Diocese in 1879. Trinity Church has been able to do but little to build up the church beyond its own parish bounds and but little there. Probably no church within the Diocese has suffered more in a pecuniary way than it has done. From being one of the strongest Churches in the Diocese, it has become of the weakest, and will, after this, be able to support a clergyman only one quarter of the time. The services of the Church however, are well attended, not only when the Rector is present, but when they are held by a lay reader, and I am happy to be able to state that the church is opened regularly every Sunday and once or twice a week during Lent. It has lost heavily by removals during the last two or three years and I fear this process is not at an end.22. Rebecca Norfleet Smith (1830-1915), the daughter of Whitmel John Hill and Lavinia Barnes of “Kenmore,” two of the original members of the parish, and the wife of Peter Evans Smith.23. The Rev. Horace Gray Hilton was born in 1825 and was ordained in 1871. He was at different times, rector of St. Thomas Church, Bath, other churches in Beaufort and Hyde counties,and St. David's, Scuppernong. He left Scotland Neck to take charge of Grace Church, Plymouth, and St. Thomas Church, Windsor. He died in 1887 soon after leaving Scotland Neck.24. The following account of the burning of Trinity Church appeared in The Church Messenger of April 10th, 1884. The Burning of Trinity Church Trinity Parish is in tears over the destruction of its beautiful house of worship on the night of the 29th of March. That it was the work of an incendiary hardly admits of a doubt. The day had been devoted by a number of persons to the pleasant task of working the ground and cleaning up the church preparatory to the Bishop's visit on the succeeding Sunday. No fire during the day is known to have been used in the church yard and everything of a combustible nature was taken from the church; in fact, every floor and closet was swept and worked by the indefatigable exertion of the ladies of the Parish; and never have I seen the ground and church in better condition for the solemn services of the Church. Many hearts went up in thankfulness to God that they had such a beautiful sanctuary in which to worship Him. Alas, little did they realize that before the dawn of another day, all would be laid in ruin. About 11 o'clock at night a colored man passing by discovered the fire and gave the alarm, but before any assistance could come, the whole interior was in flames and nothing could be saved. The organ, the font, the altar and lecturn of solid walnut, the Sunday school library and church register in a few hours were in ashes. I am told by those who saw the fire that the sight was awfully grand beyond description. The gothic tower and walls of the church stood out in all their beautiful proportions. The flames, lighting up the church yard, displayed the silent monuments of the dead as mute spectators of the horrible work, whilst could be read in living light on the rear chancel wall, the beautiful inscription: “We wait for thy loving kindess O God in the midst of thy temple.” The loss of the church has produced a profound sympathy in the hearts of all classes of our citizens, save possibly the degraded wretch who lighted the torch. The congregation has taken prompt action toward building a new house of worship in the town of Scotland Neck, the old church having been located thirty years ago on its present site before a town or rail-road was contemplated in this section by the most enthusiastic person. Many tears have been shed and many heart been made sad by the action of the congregation in deciding not to rebuild on the old site. The base walls, without one brick being thrown from them, still stand in all their beautiful gothic proportions, grand in their very desolation. The congregation is poor in this world's goods and will need much help from abroad to enable them to rebuild. They have commenced in faith that some of the wealth of the church will reach them and cheer their hearts ’ere long with a new sanctuary in which to worship the God of their Fathers. Richard H. Smith
25. The burning of the parish church and the erection of the new church in a more central location was not without advantage. The town of Scotland Neck had grown up after the church was built, and its location inconvenient for most of the congregation. The Rev. A. S. Smith, in his parochial report to the annual convention in 1878, wrote as follows: Since my last report, I have commenced an afternoon service in Greenwood, the lower extremity of Scotland Neck, nearly two miles from Trinity Church. These services are always well attended and I hope, will result, at no distant day, in the erection of a chapel in this end of town. Trinity Church is beautifully located, but if it were situated a mile lower down in the town, I believe that in hot or rainy weather, the congregation would be fifty percent larger than they are. About twelve months ago, I commenced an afternoon service once a month, in the church, for the colored people. For several months, the church was nearly filled, but they have since built a church of their own in the heart of town and my congregations have become so small that I have determined to give the Sunday afternoons devoted to them to Crowell's Cross Roads, a village twelve miles distant.26. Martha Goodwin (1815-1897), born in Scotland Neck, married in 1837, Wm. Ruffin Clark of Scotland Neck (1809-1861). They had no issue. The children of her brother-in-law Gen. David Clark placed a memorial window to her in the third church of Trinity Parish, which was destroyed when the church was burned in 1924. The following information relative to Trinity Parish and Mrs. Clark appears in The Bishops of N. C., by M. Haywood, p. 170. “In Passing through Scotland Neck, in Halifax County, where the principal crop could not be marketed on account of the war, Bishop Atkinson asked whether the congregation of Trinity Church, in view of their reverses, would be able to raise the usual contributions to missions and the amount necessary for the support of the parish, and received the answer that their contributions to the church would be increased, because there was greater need for them. One lady of that parish, Mrs. Martha Clark, hearing that the Church's educational interests were suffering for lack of funds, sent two thousand dollars to the Bishop to aid the work.”27. From the address of Bishop Lyman to the Annual Convention of the Diocese in 1885. April 29th, in the Methodist Church at Scotland Neck, after morning prayer by the Rev. H. G. Hilton, I preached and confirmed two persons and administered the Holy Communion. I also addressed the congregation, urging to a united and vigorous effort to push forward to completion the new church edifice, now only roofed in. The building is of brick and quite capacious, and occupies a very central position. When once it is made ready for occupancy, I feel pursuaded that a new impulse will be given the work of the Church in that neighborhood. I was also glad to learn that through the liberality of a former parishioner, the old church had been covered with a new roof and would be soon in a condition to be used for all funeral occasions and sometimes also for a communion service. Standing as it does, in the midst of the cemetery and with so many tender associations clustering around it, how fitting that it should be thus preserved and employed for such sacred purposes.28. From the address of Bishop Lyman to the Convention of 1886 Wednesday, April 14, had a conference with the vestry of Trinty Church, Scotland Neck, and then went to the new Church building, lately completed, and held its opening service. After Morning Prayer by the Rev. Walter J. Smith and the Rev. Herbert W. Robinson, I made an address to the congregation, preached, confirmed seven persons, addressed them, and administered the Holy Communion. I was very glad to meet and welcome the new Rector, who has been transferred to this Diocese, by Letters Dismissory from the Bishop of Toronto. Mr. Robinson has been most kindly welcomed by the people, and very cordial and affectionate relations have already been established. Rev. Mr. Hilton resigned the charge of the Parish last autumn and has removed to his old home in Plymouth. The new church, at Scotland Neck, is about a mile and a half from the old building, and is in the center of a large and populous neighborhood, which has sprung up long since the erection of the old church. The new building is considerably larger than the old one, and is a very neat and solidly constructed brick edifice. It was entirely filled on the day of my visitation, and I feel encouraged to believe that there is now before the Parish a career of increasing prosperity.
29. In his address to the Convention of 1887, Bishop Lyman commented on the choir organized by the Rev. Mr. Robinson. Easter Day, April 10th, proved a most brilliant and lovely day and the hearts of the good people of Scotland Neck were made glad by its jubilant services. Large congregations were present, both morning and evening. The estimable rector has given a fresh impulse to the work of the Church. He has organized a surpliced choir and the music is of a very simple, earnest and congregational character. After Morning Prayer by the Rector, I preached confirmed six persons, addressed them, and administered the Holy Communion. The Rev. Walter J. Smith came over and took part in the Evening Service, when I preached again.30. The Rev. Mr. Robinson was in charge of St. Mark's Halifax, while in Scotland Neck. When he left Scotland Neck, he accepted a parish in Iowa. The parochial report of Mr. Robinson to the Convention of the Diocese in 1887, giving an account of his first year in Scotland Neck, is of interest. The past year has been one of great activity in the Parish. “The Ladies Sewing Society” has expended nearly $250 on the rectory, which is now nearly completed. May God bless them in their work. A surpliced choir was introduced at Christmas and has been a perfect success, adding very much to the impressiveness of the services. The Bishop's visitation at Easter will not soon be forgotten. Bright, hearty services, eloquent sermons, large congregations, and beautiful weather, combined to give all that could be desired. As the fruit of the self-denial of the congregation during Lent, there were many and valuable Easter offerings—a carpet for the chancel, matting for the nave, white frontal for the altar, hand-painted new lamps, brass altar vases, and a pair of five light candelabra.31. The Rev. Walter Johnson Smith, b. July 26, 1852—died August 2, 1924, was ordained to the priesthood in Trinty Church on Nov., 15th, 1886. He married Arabella, the daughter of Gov. Henry Toole Clark of Edgecombe County. When called to Scotland Neck, he was in charge of St. Mary's Mission, Speed, Edgecombe County, and St. Martin's Parish, Hamilton. In 1889, the year after he came to Scotland Neck, the Rev. Mr. Smith reported to the Convention of the Diocese. On Dec. 2nd. (1888), I started a mission at Spring Hill, six miles distant, and have since then held services there once a month with good attendance. — — the tower (of Trinity Church ) has been about completed and the yard enclosed with a neat fence. In 1891, he reported that in addition to his work in Scotland Neck, he was holding monthly services at Palmyra, Spring Hill, and Hobgood. His visits to Palmyra developed into an organized mission, St. Anne's, which, however, lasted for only a few years. In 1895, he reported that he was holding monthly services at Tillery and Spring Hill, and that a chapel had been erected at Tillery. Bishop Cheshire's address to the same convention contains the following reference to this chapel. “Friday August 10th, at Tillery, Halifax County, I laid the corner stone of the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, being assisted in the service by the Rev. Walter J. Smith, whose faithful endeavors, aided by the liberality of Mrs. Fries of New York and the N. C. Lumber Company of Tillery, have brought the work nearly to completion.” Dr. and Mrs. Fries of Buffalo, N. Y. had bought “The Mansion House,” the former home of the Tillery family just south of the village of that name, and lived there occasionally during the winter. Tillery and Spring Hill continued to be missions of Trinity Church for many years but were finally abandoned.32. The Rev. Girard W. Phelps was born in Hyde County, North Carolina in 1832, served (while deacon) as chaplain of the 17th North Carolina Infantry and was ordained in 1869. His first parishes were St. David's, Scuppernong, and later St. Mary's Gatesville. From 1872 to 1879 he was rector of St. Timothy's, Wilson, and also the infant Church of the Good Shepherd in Rocky Mount. Following this he seems to have moved to Virginia. In 1895, he resided in Littleton as evangelist of the Convocation of Tarboro, being in charge of missions in Halifax and Edgecombe Counties. After coming to Trinity Parish, he at first continued to be in charge of the Missions of St. Mary's and Grace Memorial in Edgecombe County, but he later confined his labors to the parish proper with its two missions at Tillery and Spring Hill, together with occasional visits to the State Convict farm near Tillery. He retired from the ministry after leaving Scotland Neck and moved to Victoria, Virginia where he died in 1918.
33. See “The Sermons and Addresses—Delivered On the Occasion of The Consecration of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck—Sunday, July 5, 1903,” Elam and Dooley, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1903.34. The Rev. Locke Winfield Blackwelder came to Scotland Neck from Plymouth on June 1, 1913. He was in charge of Trinity Parish and St. Mark's Halifax. On January 1, 1915 he left Scotland Neck to become rector of St. Mary's Church, High Point. The Rev. Floyd Cartwright, Deacon, officiated in Scotland Neck and Halifax from October 1, 1915 to June 29, 1916. The Rev. Reuben Meredith became rector of Trinity Parish on July 1, 1916. He held his Scotland Neck charge in conjunction with the Church of the Advent, Enfield, and St. Clement's Church, Ringwood. However, he resided in Scotland Neck. The Rev. Mr. Meredith was born February 16th, 1870, in Virginia, and died in Oxford, N. C. on August 5th, 1948. He left Scotland Neck on March 1, 1926 to assume charge of St. Stephen's Church, Oxford. The Rev. Theodore Partrick, Jr. succeeded Mr. Meredith on September 1, 1926 and remained until November 1, 1930. The Rev. Mr. Partrick was born in Clinton, N. C. June 2, 1889 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1920. He died in Raleigh in 1935. On leaving Scotland Neck he became rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh. While in Scotland Neck, he was also rector of the Church of the Advent in Enfield and in charge of St. Clement's Church, Ringwood. The Rev. Thomas Simmons Clarkson was never officially assigned to Scotland Neck. He was ordained July 21, 1931 and held services in Scotland Neck once a month in the interim period following the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Partrick. The Rev. Mr. Clarkson at this time was in charge of St. Paul's Mission, Smithfield, and St. Gabriel's, Selma, under the supervision of the Bishop. He resided in Raleigh while in charge of these missions.35. Trinity Parish Since 1932 On June 18, 1933, the Rev. Benjamin Thorpe Brodie was ordained to the Diaconate in Holy Innocents Church in Henderson and was immediately assigned to Trinity Church, Scotland Neck and the Church of the Advent in Enfield. He was also in charge of St. Clement's Church, Ringwood. The Rev. Mr. Brodie was born October 17, 1909, the son of Benjamin T. and Florence McIntosh Brodie. On December 28th, 1933, in Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, he was ordained to the priest-hood by Bishop Penick. During his rectorship, the debt on the church building was paid off and the church was consecreated by the Bishop on April 25, 1943. This is the present church used by the congregation of Trinity Parish and the fourth building erected since the organization of the parish in 1832. The Rev. Mr. Brodie resigned Oct. 1, 1946. He was succeeded by the Rev. John William Drake, Jr. on June 1, 1947. The Rev. Mr. Drake was the first rector in the history of the parish to serve Trinity Church alone. During his rectorship, the old rectory was sold and the proceeds applied towards building a new rectory in the Clarksville section of Scotland Neck, only a short distance from the former one. The new rectory was completed in Nov. 1949. The Rev. Mr. Drake left Trinity Parish on May 1, 1951 to assume charge of the recently organized St. Timothy's Church in Winston-Salem, on September 15th. TRINITY CHURCH.
September 15th, 1952, the present rector, the Rev. Robert Emerson Davis, took charge of the parish. The Rev. Mr. Davis was educated at St. Laurence University and the Theological School of St. Laurence University at Canton, N. Y. He was ordained Deacon October 18, 1950; Priest April 25, 1951. Before coming to Trinity Parish, the Rev. Mr. Davis was rector of St. Paul's Church, Lewiston, in the diocese of western New York. A cross section of Trinity Parish today in 1954 shows the Rev. Robert E. Davis, rector; a membership of 155 communicants and 172 baptized persons; and a Sunday School membership of 102.
| CHURCH OFFICERS | ||
| Eric W. Rodgers—Senior Warden | ||
| Samuel M. Hanff—Junior Warden | ||
| C. S. Alexander—Secretary | ||
| Jack Lawrence—Treasurer | ||
| VESTRY | ||
| Jack Lawrence | Henry T. Clark | D. E. Henderson, Jr. |
| Peter E. Shields | C. S. Alexander | Samuel M. Hanff |
| Charles Hale | Charles H. Smith | Eric W. Rodgers |
| SUNDAY SCHOOL | ||
| W. O. McDowell—Superintendent | ||
| Samuel T. Gregory—Asst. Supt. | ||
| Miss Blair Maddison—Secretary | ||
| Cary Knight—Treasurer | ||
| WOMAN'S AUXILIARY | ||
| Trinity Auxiliary | Susan Smith—Auxiliary | |
| Mrs. C. H. Neville—President | Mrs. Alvin Wilson—President | |
| Mrs. J. D. Hall—Vice-President | Mrs. Laurence Maddison—Vice-Pres. | |
| Mrs. Clarence House—Secretary | Mrs. Samuel T. Gregory—Secretary | |
| Mrs. Samuel M. Hanff—Sen.-Treas. | Mrs. Richard Pittman—Treasurer | |
| ALTAR GUILD | ||
| Mrs. William A. Kitchin—Chairman | ||
| TRINITY PARISH IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE | ||
| P. E. Shields—Chairman | ||
| Samuel T. Gregory—Secretary | ||
| Mrs. C. H. Neville—Treasurer | ||
| Charles Hale | Mrs. T. Douglas Temple | |
| Mrs. Balfour Dunn | C. S. Alexander | |
| Charles H. Smith | Samuel M. Hanff | |
| YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICE LEAGUE | ||
| Betsy Brodie—President | ||
| Blair Maddison—Vice-President | ||
| Lee Green—Secretary | ||
| Joe Billy Riddick—Treasurer |
ADAPTED FROM A SKETCH WRITTEN BY LENA H. SMITH.
OLD TRINITY CHURCH
The first church of Trinity Parish was a small wooden structure erected in the village of Clarksville (now the northern portion of Scotland Neck) by Mr. Thomas B. Hill in 1832. In 1855, a larger church was needed by the growing congregation and a more favorable location was selected. The church was built on a beautiful elevation just above a stream of water, a mile north of the first frame church. At that time the public road that divided the lands of Richard Smith and Peter E. Smith crossed the brow of the hill selected for the site of the church. Each of these two men gave part of the land for the building and the ample burial ground around it.
The three Smith brothers, William, Richard, and James are credited by Bishop Cheshire with the building of Trinity Church. However, contributions were made by others. The following undated documents was found in the papers of Peter E. Smith, now in the Southern Historical Collection at Chapel Hill.
We, the undersigned do agree to pay to the vestry of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, the sum opposite our respective names for the purpose of building a brick church and constructing a public burying ground, to be located at some convenient spot in the neighborhood.
| Richard H. Smith | Dr. A. S. Hall | William Slocumb |
| James N. Smith | William H. Smith | John T. Lawrence |
| Ann Evans | John H. Speed | B. W. Cotten |
| William R. Smith | Dr. James M. Johnson | Heshborn Bishop |
| Whitmel J. Hill | George A. Higgs | William H. Shields |
| Peter E. Smith | Thomas D. Lawrence | Charles Shields |
| A. J. Cooper |
An account of the erection of the church is given elsewhere. The church was planned by Frank Wills, a New York architect, and it was the first Gothic Church in this part of the country. The interior had an open timbered roof. The walls were painted to resemble square blocks of stone. The chancel was enclosed by a large arch over which in letters of gold leaf were the words; “Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness, Be Ye Doers of The Word and Not Hearers Only.” On the rear chancel wall, over the triplet of windows were the words: “We wait for Thy Loving Kindness O God in the Midst of Thy Temple.” This wall remained intact after the fire which destroyed the church in 1884. The sentence is still there as placed in 1855. The witnesses at the
fire said the sentence stood out through the smoke and flames.
There was a choir loft across the rear end of the nave with a fine pipe organ. The choir loft was reached by a stairway in the tower. The chancel furniture was of walnut with a massive altar. The windows in the church were of leaded glass with diamond shaped panes; the triplet in the chancel was of stained glass with medallions of Christian symbols.
The silver communion service used in this church escaped destruction when the building was burned. Part of it is marked 1842 and it must have been bought for the old church, built in 1832. This communion service is still in use in the present, the fourth church of Trinity Parish.
The church building was mysteriously destroyed by fire with all that it contained March 27, 1884. The parish decided to erect a new church within the town of Scotland Neck. At a vestry meeting held soon after the church was burned, it was resolved that the remains of old Trinity Church be not disturbed except in case of necessity in the last resort and James N. Smith was appointed custodian of the remains of the old church building and grounds. The church was restored late in 1884 sufficiently to be used for services through the kindness of a former parishioner, Mrs. William Ruffin Clark of Baltimore. The restoration was made on the condition that Trinity Parish would make no improvements in it until after the new church in Scotland Neck, then under construction, was consecrated. Consequently, it has never been restored to anything like its former beauty. After the restoration, a bridal gift of money to Louisa Hill Smith, who married Thomas S. Norfleet was used to furnish the chancel.
After the church was burned, Bishop Cheshire wrote:
The readers of The Church Messenger have already been informed of the great calamity which has befallen this parish in the destruction by fire of its beautiful church building in the night of March 27. It is a sorer affliction to them than any one can understand who has not known the parish and its people long and well. Their church was one of the few things associated with the old days of wealth and prosperity which had been left to them. That which they kept, they lost—This church which they had given to God, they had kept and now it, too, is gone.
The building just destroyed was erected about thirty years ago during the rectorship of the Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, D.D., and was consecrated May 27, 1855. It was built after
INTERIOR OF OLD TRINITY CHURCH AS RESTORED.
designes by Frank Wills, the eminent New York architect and was a gem of art, simple and unpretentious, but graceful and satisfying. It was the first specimen of Gothic architecture which the writer ever saw and in later years, after having seen some of the most famous structures in this country, he remembers his feeling of agreeable surprise upon revisiting Scotland Neck, at finding that this modest country church had lost nothing of its charm by contrast with greater works. The meadow lily is not so handsome a flower as the rose, but it is no less perfect and no less pleasing in its place. The graceful tower of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, crowning the gentle elevation on which it stood, was a sight not to be forgotten. It was without question the most beautiful country church in North Carolina.
In recent years the church building fell into decay and could no longer be used for services. A restoration movement was started in 1946 by interested persons to save the building from ruin and today (1953) it is in a good state of repair. As the restoration in 1884 was only a partial one, plans are being made to restore the church to something more closely approximating its appearance when it was built.
A large churchyard was provided for when the church was built in 1885. This was open to the public and used by all denominations. The Rector, Dr. Cheshire, a botanist and landscape gardener, laid out the yard and planted the evergreens and shrubs. After the public burying ground was established, several graves were moved here from private cemeteries. Hence some of the monuments antedate the establishment of the cemetery. The oldest monument in the cemetery is that of Col. Whitmel Hill (1743-1797), a colonel in the Revolution and a member of the Continental Congress. His grave was moved here from his former home “Hills Ferry,” near Palmyra, in eastern Halifax. The churchyard was used by all denominations and by 1881, the sections were nearly all appropriated. In that year, the Baptist Church requested land for a separate cemetery and the vestry alloted them the land lying south of the churchyard.
JOSEPH BLOUNT CHESHIRE1814—1899
BY J. B. CHESHIRE III
JOSEPH BLOUNT CHESHIRE
John Cheshire emigrated about 1750 to Norfolk, Virginia, from Liverpool and married there on August 16, 1759, Mary Frances Miller. He was a lieutenant in the Virginia Revolutionary Navy and later Captain of the armed brig “Lord Chatham” of North Carolina's similar Navy. He was lost at sea in this service about 1778-1779. His wife and two of their children, Margaret and John, removed to Edenton when their home was burned in the confusion resulting from the capture of Norfolk by Lord Dunmore and its recapture by the Patriots. John Cheshire II, born June 8, 1769, also followed the sea before his marriage and was captured by the Morrocan Pirates in 1805, but was rescued by one of Lord Nelson's frigates a few days before the Battle of Trafalgar.
On December 12, 1812 John Cheshire II married Elizabeth Ann Blount, daughter of Joseph Blount and Ann Gray of Edenton. John Cheshire II and his wife were both members of St. Paul's, Edenton, and her father, grandfather and great grandfather had been wardens and vestrymen of St. Paul's since 1701. After his marriage, John Cheshire II was a merchant of Edenton until his death on February 17, 1830. The eldest son of this union was Joseph Blount Cheshire, born at “Cheshire Hill,” Edenton, December 29, 1814.
Joseph Blount Cheshire was educated first at the Edenton Academy and was then sent to The Episcopal School of North Carolina in Raleigh. After finishing this school he studied law under Mr. Thomas P. Devereaux in Raleigh, receiving his license to practice in the inferior courts of the State on December 26, 1836, and his license for the Superior and Supreme Courts on December 29, 1837. He practiced for two years in his native Chowan and adjoining counties but his heart was never in the law, and feeling a strong call for the ministry, he was admitted a Candidate for Holy Orders on August 8, 1838, beginning his studies at once under the direction of Bishop Ives. He was ordained Deacon early in 1840 and Priest on May 9, 1841.
His first work was as a missionary in Bertie and Halifax Counties, having especial charge of the towns of Halifax and Windsor. At the suggestion of Mr. Thomas B. Hill, he began holding services in the Scotland Neck neighborhood early in 1840. Soon after this Mr. James N. Smith was confirmed; but there were no other men confirmed there for the next ten years, when Mr. William R. Smith and his son Peter E. Smith, were baptized and confirmed at the same time.
Mr. Thomas B. Hill was soon the bearer of an invitation to the young priest to come and hold services at Calvary Church, Tarboro. He visited that Parish in June, 1842, with the result that these two Churches, Trinity, Scotland Neck, and Calvary, Tarboro, became the fields of his life work.
In Tarboro he found a wife, daughter of his Senior Warden, Theophilus Parker. On February 8, 1843, Joseph Blount Cheshire and Elizabeth Toole Parker were married in Calvary Church, Tarboro, by the Rev. John Singletary, Rector of St. Peter's Church, Washington, North Carolina. Four children of this union reached maturity. Joseph Blount Cheshire (1850-1932); Theophilus Parker Cheshire (1852-1893); Annie Gray Cheshire (1859-1951); Kate Drane Cheshire (1862-1935).
His permanent home became Tarboro. He retained also the Rectorship of Scotland Neck for almost thirty years, dividing his time between Tarboro and Scotland Neck, but soon after his marriage he gave up Halifax and Windsor. He said at the time that he had taken Scotland Neck and Tarboro as he had taken his wife “to have and hold till death do us part.”
By 1868, the Rector's health became so imparied that he was compelled on July 1, 1869 to resign the Rectorship of Trinity Church. He left it the strongest and most vigorous country parish in the Diocese, not only in numbers, but in the character and intelligence and devotion of its members, and inferior in numbers and material equipment only to be the principal parishes in the largest towns, Edenton, New Bern, Wilmington, Fayetteville, and Raleigh. All other Churches in the Diocese were inferior to it in all of the elements of Church strength.
At Tarboro the work progressed less rapidly than in Scotland Neck. After ten years, 1853, there were only nineteen communicants, and in 1858 thirty-three. The small Church of 1834 was still in use but the churchyard was soon doubled in size and began to show the effect of the Rector's enthusiasm for beautifying the property with walks, and trees, shrubs and flowers. A new church was found necessary and $9,000 was subscribed for its erection. Some of the contributors were not members of the Church. The architect was William Percival and the builder Thomas Coats, both of Raleigh. No debt was contracted in the building of this Church. By the fall of 1860 the walls and towers of brick and the spires had been built, the roof finished, and the floors laid at a cost of about $18,000, all paid for. The impending War made it
necessary to stop. The Church was boarded up and remained so until 1866. Work was then resumed and the Church was finished and consecrated on May 10, 1868, during the session of the Diocesan Convention. The Church then finished is the beautiful Calvary Church, Tarboro, of today.
Dr. Cheshire's1 first sermon, after Tarboro had been occupied by Federal Troops in 1865, was offensive to some of the United States Army officers present in the Church and their feelings were not soothed by his failure to pray for the President of the United States. The next day, the Commanding Officer, by a note delivered through his orderly, requested a copy of the sermon which was at once furnished. The sermon was promptly returned with a polite note of thanks and nothing further was heard of the incident.
In September 1865, amid the tears of his family, he took the oath of Allegiance to the United States. He saw clearly that the Confederacy was dead and he could not perform a marriage ceremony nor bury the dead until he had taken this oath.
Now he began to reap the reward of his many years of work in ministry. His Parish grew and prospered. But by 1889 he became so feeble that he felt it necessary to resign as Rector of Calvary Church, which was then stronger than all other religious bodies in the community combined.
The Negroes and their religious welfare always had his interest and sympathy. In both his parishes he regularly had services for them on Sunday afternoons. During the morning services for the white people, the Negroes who attended sat in the gallery or on the rear seats; while at the afternoon services for the colored people, the seating arrangements were reversed, the Negroes occupying the main body of the church and the white people the back and gallery seats. The Communion services were in the morning and both races joined in these services and received the elements, the Negroes coming to the Altar rail after the white people.
In his own family the white and Negro children were all required to attend in the house, before the mistress, on Sunday afternoons and learn together the Church catechism, his own children enjoying only the distinction of standing at the head of the line.
1. He had been made a Doctor of Divinity by Madison College, Sharon, Mississippi in 1861.On the Bishop's visitation candidates from both races were presented and confirmed together. No objection so these methods were ever made by either race.
On completion of the new Calvary Church in 1868, the old building was devoted to the colored congregation and was given the name of St. Luke's. Here services were conducted for them as in the past, though they still came to the Parish Church for the Communion and for Confirmation, which services were; not separate until they had a minister of their own. In 1872 this congregation began an existence of its own with eighteen communicants and a large number of adherents among the most intelligent and respectable colored people of the town. It was in that year admitted into union with the Diocesan Convention as a Parish, the first colored parish in the present Diocese of North Carolina. Dr. Cheshire was a deputy to the General Convention from 1856 through 1871 (except 1862) and he declined election after 1871. He never missed a Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina for thirty-seven years. He also took part in raising funds to have a Confederate Prayer book printed in England. Our North Carolina Confederate Prayer Book was the only edition which successfully escaped the Federal blockade and it was used in the Churches of the State.2 One of his Scotland Neck parishioners furnished the money for his part in this enterprise.
In the face of strong opposition, under the statesmanship of Bishop Atkinson, the Diocese of North Carolina, in September 1865, elected a full delegation of clerical and lay deputies to the General Convention at Philadelphia in October 1865. Dr. Cheshire and Mr. Richard H. Smith of Scotland Neck were of this delegation. Everyone of the delegation attended. The happy issue of this wise course, in at once re-uniting our church, North and South, has been a great blessing to the Episcopal Church.
On October 13, 1893, Joseph B. Cheshire II, the eldest son of Dr. Cheshire was consecrated Bishop of North Carolina in Calvary
2. This was known as the “Cotton” Prayer Book. Five North Carolina parishes: Christ Church, Raleigh; Trinity, Scotland Neck; St. John's, Fayetteville; St. Bartholomew's, Pittsboro; and St. James, Wilmington, each contributed a bale of cotton which was sent to Liverpool on a blockade runner. The cotton was sold in England and the proceeds applied toward the publication of a prayer book. (The Church in the Confederate States, J. B. Cheshire, N. Y. 1912-pp. 101-102: “The Confederate Prayer Book” by G. MacLaren Brydon, The Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Vol. XVII, No. 4, p. 339).Church, Tarboro. Dr. Cheshire's last service was the funeral of his own wife. He went to the Church and said the whole office himself. He died on September 9, 1899 and was buried beside his wife in the beautiful churchyard of Calvary Church, the work of his own hands.
THE PARISH RECORDS
The parish register of Trinity Parish begins in 1831, before the parish was formally organized. The records from 1831 to 1858 were kept in the same volume as the early minutes of the vestry. This book is extant. The parish registry and the vestry minutes from 1858 to 1884 were destroyed when Trinity Church was burned in the latter year. However, as many dates as could be remembered were recorded in the new register. This list is naturally incomplete and subject to error. The records for these years as printed here have been amplified by records from tombstones in the churchyard and from family data. The records from 1884 until the present have been preserved. Only the marriage, baptismal, and death registers have been printed herein. The confirmation register and the minutes of the vestry have not been included. The dates in the death register are those of the date of death.
REGISTER
MARRIAGES| NAME | DATE |
| Rev. William Norwood to Winifred B. Hill | April 11, 1833 |
| Rev. Jos. H. Saunders to Laura Baker | April 23, 1833 |
| Rev. John M. Robinson to Rebecca Lowrie | May 20, 1833 |
| Richard Smith to Sarah Hall of Warrenton | Dec. 4, 1833 |
| Robert A. Ezell to Martha Critchlow | Dec. 1833 |
| Thomas B. Hill to Maria Simpson of New Bern | Sept. 15, 1836 |
| Dr. A. Stuart Hall to Emily T. Baker | June 15, 1841 |
| Alexander A. Austin to Martha Joyner | Feb. 24, 1842 |
| Dr. Willie J. Eppes to Temperance Joyner | Nov. 2, 1843 |
| John H. Speed to Ellen Edmundson | April 28, 1850 |
| Turner W. Battle to Lavinia B. Daniel | May 1, 1850 |
| Charles to Rosetta (Colored) | Dec. 25, 1850 |
| John H. Whitaker to Mary Elisa Anthony | June 17, 1851 |
| William Fenner to Anna M. Smith | Oct. 28, 1851 |
| Peter E. Smith to Rebecca N. Hill | Dec. 22, 1852 |
| Richmond to Frances (Colored) | March 5, 1853 |
| John E. Leary to Lucy Anthony | Jan. 9, 1854 |
| Dr. James M. Johnson to Mary Weldon Smith | June 13, 1854 |
| William Grimmer to Lavinia P. Edmundston | April 22, 1855 |
| A. W. Whitehead to Mary Camp | .................., 185.... |
| Rufus Purrington to Sallie Pittman | .................., 185.... |
| W. E. Whitmore to Winifred Pittman | .................., 186.... |
| Heshborn Bishop to Maria F. Whitehead | .................., 186.... |
| Dr. William R. Wood to Henrietta Anthony | .................., 186.... |
| Whitmel Dilliard to Laura Tunstall | .................., 186.... |
| Richard H. Smith Jr. to Mary Herbert Cocke | Dec. 12, 1865 |
| Thomas H. Peters to Susan Hyman | Dec. 13, 1865 |
| John B. Neal to Nannie Elizabeth Smith | Dec. 14, 1865 |
| Norfleet Smith to Mary Rebecca Alexander | Oct. 15, 1867 |
| Alexander H. Smith to Anne Hayes Cocke | Sept. 14, 1869 |
| Isaac H. Smith to Sallie F. Baker | May 15, 1871 |
| William E. Smith to Virginia Peterson Cocke | Feb. 12, 1873 |
| John H. Darden to Mrs. Mary E. Grimes | Jan. 1874 |
| Fabius Busbee to Sallie H. Smith | June 5, 1877 |
| W. A. Dunn to Catherine Speed | .................., 1878 |
| Frank Brinkley to Mary Biggs | .................., 187.... |
| William R. Bond to Lizzie Hall | .................., 1873 |
| Dr. William McDowell to Olivia Lawrence | .................., 1877 |
| J. C. Lassiter to Mattie Biggs | .................., 187.... |
| Nelson Smith to Henrietta Letsinger (Colored) | Nov. 5, 1885 |
| J. H. Alexander to Mary G. Shields | .................., 1883 |
| George Turner to Clara Whitaker (Colored) | April 18, 1884 |
| Gideon Lamb to Olivia Shields | June 15, 1887 |
| Walter D. Shields to Rebecca Whitmel Smith | Dec. 22, 1887 |
| William Edward Gray to Edith Robinson | Jan. 11, 1888 |
| NAME | DATE |
| Oliver H. Perry to Lena W. Hyman | Sept. 12, 1889 |
| James L. Josey to Martha T. Herring | June 25, 1890 |
| Harry C. Roberts to Kate Irene Gregory | Oct. 16, 1890 |
| William P. Van Horn to Bettie S. Stearns | Nov. 20, 1890 |
| John H. Porter to Honoria D. Currie | Dec. 10, 1890 |
| W. H. Lawrence to S. Whitaker (Colored) | Dec. 31, 1890 |
| Peter Whitehead to Mary Hilliard (Colored) | March 12, 1891 |
| George V. Strong, Jr. to Sallie Hall Smith | April 29, 1891 |
| J. Charles Worrell to Mamie Whitehurst | Oct. 14, 1891 |
| William Henry Josey to Mary Cornelia Cotten | Dec. 23, 1891 |
| James S. Darden to Cleopatra Ware | Feb. 22, 1893 |
| John Coughenour to Elizabeth Joyner | May 23, 1893 |
| John Timothy Riddick to Claudia Darden | Jan. 2, 1895 |
| Philip St. George Barraud to Sallie Turner Smith | Jan. 29, 1896 |
| Mordecai C. Flemming to Nannie Bell | May 28, 1896 |
| Edward L. Whitehead to Mary Daisy Crump | May 20, 1896 |
| Charles M. McNaughton to Jennie Maybry Joyner | Oct. 7, 1896 |
| Gustavus Smith White to Etta Hall Cotten | Oct. 21, 1896 |
| William Whitehurst to Nannie L. Bell | Dec. 20, 1896 |
| Robert V. Smith to Minnie C. Whitehead | Dec. 23, 1896 |
| William W. Pittman to Naomi Gertrude Ware | April 28, 1897 |
| Charles Speed to Nannie Paull Cotten | June 29, 1898 |
| Luther Hyslop to Blanche Hall Bishop | Aug. 8, 1898 |
| John S. Turner to Janie B. Rhem | Feb. 14, 1900 |
| Richard F. J. Johnston to Sallie Collins Smith | July 10, 1901 |
| Frederick Guion to Nannie Hayes Smith | Aug. 28, 1902 |
| Benj. Ware to Anna S. Pittman | Oct. 29, 1902 |
| John A. Anthony to Bessie Riddick | Nov. 11, 1902 |
| Casper W. Gregory to Mary J. Rhem | Nov. 27, 1902 |
| Charles F. Pittman to Pauline A. Ware | Feb. 4, 1903 |
| Charles A. Beck to Martha W. Cotten | Jan. 12, 1904 |
| Charles H. Herring to Pauline A. Shields | June 6, 1905 |
| Thomas M. Robertson to Nathalie C. Smith | Jan. 1, 1907 |
| Amous Curtis Prince to Alma Virginia Speed | April 14, 1909 |
| Samuel M. Hanff to Blanch Baker Smith | June 29, 1910 |
| James Norfleet Smith to Elizabeth Whealtley Hyman | Feb. 14, 1911 |
| Samuel Johnston Hinsdale to Rebecca A. Smith | Oct. 14, 1912 |
| John W. Isanogle to Margaret Bowers | April 23, 1913 |
| Clarence J. Smith to Lena Leggett | Oct. 15, 1913 |
| William J. Gordon to Anna Barrow Clark | Nov. 11, 1913 |
| Henry Toole Clark to Cornelia Justice Josey | Oct. 25, 1916 |
| John Leroy Edwards to Nellie J. Baggett | Dec. 7, 1916 |
| William Thomas White to Elizabeth Pittman | July 10, 1917 |
| William Hugh Kitchin to Hattie Leggett | Oct. 15, 1917 |
| Enoch M. Cherry to Lena Roberson | Dec. 22, 1917 |
| David Franklin Bryant to Nannie Dupree Shields | Dec. 27, 1917 |
| Newsome Allsbrook Riddick to Nannie Louise Josey | Jan. 2, 1918 |
| Howard Earle Dodge to Frances Rives Meredith | Oct. 4, 1918 |
| Julian A. Pittman to Rebecca B. Bradley | Dec. 28, 1918 |
| NAME | DATE |
| Rufus Sugg Shaw to Ellen Bankhead Meredith | April 17, 1923 |
| Claiborne Thweatt Smith to Bertha Sears Albertson | Nov. 22, 1923 |
| Charles Shields Alexander to Mattie Herring Josey | June 11, 1924 |
| Elmer Hyman to Rosa Lee Taylor | Aug. 9, 1924 |
| Willie Keel to Selma Roebuck | March 31, 1925 |
| Roscoe M. Porter to Madeline Riddick | April 2, 1925 |
| Addison Mayfield Marrow to Jane Marshall Meredith | April 16, 1925 |
| Andrew N. Adams to Roberta H. Temple | Oct. 19, 1925 |
| Albert Sidney Page to Mary Josephine Josey | Nov. 18, 1925 |
| William McDowell Dunn to Ellen Edmondson Speed | Dec. 26, 1925 |
| George R. White to Mary E. Lamb | Jan. 9, 1926 |
| Dr. Kempton P. A. Taylor to Elizabeth Herbert Smith | Oct. 24, 1928 |
| Robert Heber Meade to Billy Hodges Temple | June 19, 1929 |
| Thomas Douglas Temple, Jr. to Mary Powell Josey | Aug. 25, 1930 |
| Marion Ramsey to Hermine Ausbon | Oct. 4, 1930 |
| Paul Heydenrich to Mary Wood Hall | Sept. 2, 1931 |
| Lawrence Beckley Maddison to Jane E. Purrington | Oct. 20, 1934 |
| The Rev. Benjamin T. Brodie to Julia Boyd Smith | June 19, 1935 |
| Mills Scott Benton to Katherine Stuart Hall | Oct. 17, 1936 |
| Merle Dumont Bonner to Blanche Baker Hanff | Jan. 30, 1937 |
| George C. Green, Jr. to Alethia W. Johnson | June 10, 1939 |
| Bennie E. Wheeler to Clarie Neville | Nov. 19, 1939 |
| Carl D. Parker, Jr. to Joyce Mae House | Nov. 25, 1939 |
| John Lawrence Hodges to Helen M. Hilliard | May 24, 1941 |
| James B. Hall, Jr. to Elizabeth Benson Pippin | July 24, 1941 |
| Earl G. Whitson to Lucille Worthington Bass | April 12, 1942 |
| Leon Cedric Pittman to Evelyn Edmondson | Sept. 19, 1944 |
| George R. Gammon to Rebecca Whitmel Bryant | Jan. 18, 1945 |
| Richard David House, Jr. to Cornelia J. Clark | Feb. 24, 1945 |
| Francis S. Harrell to Sarah Bellamy Hall | Feb. 23, 1946 |
| Fletcher H. Gregory to Mary Louise Riddick | April 27, 1946 |
| James Alvin Wilson to W. Rodney Cherry | June 12, 1946 |
| Sidney Ray Williams to Anne Dupree Bryant | Nov. 5, 1946 |
| Harry Marvin Havins to Ruth Doyle House | Jan. 25, 1947 |
| John Robert Herring to Eunice Marie Allsbrook | Dec. 6, 1947 |
| Richard Bradley Pittman to Joyce Melba Baucom | May 9, 1948 |
| Edwin Wilson Watkins to Lucy Morton Rogers | June 19, 1948 |
| Albert McCoy Shaw to Martha R. Cherry | Dec. 26, 1948 |
| Archibald McDowell to Janet May Todd | June 2, 1949 |
| Charles Herbert Herring to Bertha B. Roberts | Jan. 20, 1950 |
| John McNeill Holmes to Willie Marjorie Riddick | June 24, 1950 |
| John Leon Rogers to Katherine R. Johnson | June 24, 1950 |
| Allen T. Powell, Jr. to Dorothy Whitaker Marks | Oct. 14, 1950 |
| Lewis Winston Gregory to Dorothy Miller Shields | Aug. 3, 1951 |
| Lee R. Biggerstaff to Olivia Shields White | Aug. 22, 1952 |
| John H. McCaw, Jr. to Pearle House | Oct. 30, 1952 |
BAPTISMS
| 1831 | George E. Spruill, Adult. |
| Mary Louisa Spruill, Adult. | |
| Rebecca Lowrie, Adult. | |
| Winifred Blount Hill, Adult. | |
| Anna Maria Hunter, Adult. | |
| Laura L. Baker, Adult. | |
| Rebecca Norfleet Hill, daughter of Whitmel J. and Lavinia Hill. | |
| Rebecca A. Spruill, Louisa Spruill, George and Mary Spruill, children of George and Mary Spruill. | |
| March 1832 | Elizabeth Packer, Adult. |
| Mary Louisa, daughter of Benjamin S. and Margaret Spruill. | |
| May 1832 | Thomas H. Spruill; Robert A. Ezell. |
| June 1832 | Peter Evans Smith, son of William R. and Susan Smith. |
| July 1832 | Richard Smith, Adult. |
| Sept. 1834 | Atherton B. Hill, son of Whitmel J. and Lavinia Hill. |
| May 19, 1834 | Mary Anne Smith, daughter of William R. and Susan Smith. |
| March 15, 1836 | George Alexander Smith, son of William and Susan Smith. |
| March 15, 1836 | Bolivar, Mary Rebecca, Sarah and Jane Vaughan, children of George W. and Felicia Vaughan. |
| 1837 | Susan Smith, Adult. |
| Oct. 1838 | Thomas Norfleet Hill, son of Whitmel J. and Lavinia Hill. |
| Feb. 14, 1839 | Harriet Bond Marshall, at Halifax, daughter of F. S. and Martha Marshall. |
| Feb. 27, 1840 | William Long Bond, at Halifax, son of Robert and Martha Bond. |
| May 24, | Lucy Williams Moore. |
| May 25, | Mary Elizabeth Arnott. |
| July 12, | Rebecca Hill, daughter of Thomas Blount and Maria Hill. |
| Oct. 23, 1840 | Mary Louise, Bartholemew and Lucy Williams, the children of Bartholemew and Lucy Moore at Halifax. |
| Feb. 16, 1841 | Alexander McClellin, colored, at Halifax. |
| March 21, 1841 | Mary Louise Powell. |
| April 4, | Olivia Cox, Adult. |
| Eliza Angelina Strickland. | |
| Margaret Hadley Bell. | |
| May 14, 1841 | Martha Joyner. |
| Temperance Joyner. | |
| May 16, | Anne Blount, Ellen Jane, and Lavinia Edmondson, daughters of John and Anne B. Edmondson. |
| May 23, | Sarah Ann Baker and Emily Turner Baker, daughters of James L. G. and Sarah Smith Baker. |
| Sallie Cook Justice. | |
| Rufus Holmes Purrington and Rebecca Foster Purrington children of Dr. and Mrs. Purrington. | |
| William Henry Edmondson, son of John and Anne Edmondson. |
| May 20, 1841 | Marmaduke Norfleet Cox, William Ruffin Cox, Olivia Ruffin Cox, and Caroline Ann Cox, children of Thomas and Olivia Cox. |
| June 27, 1841 | Danford Edmondson, son of John and Anne B., Edmondson. |
| Feb. 26, 1842 | Annie Bond, daughter of Dr. R. C. and Martha Bond of Halifax. |
| March 13, | Richard Henry Smith, son of Richard and Sarah Smith. Augustus Weldon Powell, and Thomas Cox Powell, sons of Dr. Lemuel B. and Mary L. Powell. |
| May 12, | George Body Moore, son of B. F. and Lucy Moore, at Halifax. |
| June 26, | Martha Young Pender. |
| Sept. 5, | Sarah Simpson Hill, daughter of Thomas B. and Maria Hill. |
| April 30, 1843 | James Norfleet Smith, Adult. |
| Elizabeth Norfleet Smith, Adult. | |
| Edward Hall, son of Dr. A. S. and Emily T. Hall. | |
| June 25, | Adelaide Evans Smith, daughter of William and Susan Smith. |
| May 23, 1843 | Temperence W. Austin, child of Alexander and Martha Austin. |
| July 1, 1843 | James Smith Baker, William L. Baker, Susan Evans Baker, and Henry Hyer Baker, children of James L. G. Baker and Sarah Baker. |
| April 28, 1844 | James Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| April 27, 1845 | Sarah Eliza Smith, daughter of William and Susan Smith. |
| May 5, 1844 | Anne Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Richard and Sarah Smith. |
| May 12, 1846 | Alexander Hall Smith, son of Richard and Sarah Smith. William Edward Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. James Baker Hall, son of Dr. A. S. and Emily Baker Hall. |
| July 26, 1846 | Lucy Anne Hill, Louisa Catherine Hill, James Charles Hill, children of Whitmel and Lavinia Hill. |
| Dec. 13, | Sarah Louisa Moore and Anna Maria Moore, the children of B. F. and Lucy Moore of Halifax. |
| Aug. 1, 1847 | Charles Stuart Smith, son of William and Susan Smith. |
| Nov. 28, 1847 | Francis Johnston Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| May 7, 1848 | Isaac Hall Smith, son of Richard and Sarah Smith. |
| Ben Smith, colored. | |
| Jan. 26, 1849 | James Moore, son of B. F. and Lucy Moore—at Halifax. |
| Helen Olivia Hervey, daughter of Peyton and Harriet Hervey—at Halifax. | |
| John Eppes, colored—at Halifax. | |
| May 6, | Sallie Hall Smith, daughter of Richard and Sarah Smith. |
| Oct. 7, | Margaret Andrews Norfleet. |
| Nov. 25, | George, Harriet, Frances, and Rosetta, colored adults. |
| June 6, 1850 | Robert Walton Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| Feb. 24, | James and William Smith, colored. |
| May 5, | Mollie Carey Drew Savage, Margaret Anne Cordey Savage, Victoria Albert Savage, and Benj. Oliver Savage, children of John and Julia Savage. |
| March 30, 1851 | Arthur Lillington Smith, son of William and Susan Smith, Weldon Smith, son of Richard and Sarah Smith. |
| June 8, | Lucy Ann Speed, daughter of John and Ellen Speed. |
| Della, Joseph, Serena, Henderson, Mary and Margaret—colored, the children of Patsy. | |
| Columbus, colored, the son of George and Martha, Robert, colored, the son of Laura. | |
| June 22, | Andrew, colored, the son of Laura. |
| June 29, | Lawrence, Laura, Catherine, colored, children of Mary. |
| Feb. 29, 1852 | Richard Smith Hall, son of Dr. A. S. and Emily Hall. |
| March 6, | Andrew Joyner, adult, at Halifax. |
| March 14, | William Ruffin Smith, Adult. |
| April 4, | Anne Ruffin Baker, daughter of James L. and Sarah Baker. |
| May 2, | Rebecca Elizabeth Whitaker, child of John and Mary Whitaker. Joseph Cheshire Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| Oct. 3, | Jno Benjamin and Mary Frances Ellixson, children of Benjamin and Mary Jane Ellixson. |
| Walter Johnston Smith, son of William and Susan Smith. | |
| Margaret, Caroline, Amous, and Emily, colored. | |
| Mary, colored, the child of Silas and Cynthia. | |
| Oct. 31, | Lucy, colored, child of Charles and Rosetta. |
| Nov. 28, | Julia Pocahontas Savage. |
| May 7, 1854 | Laura, colored adult. |
| Aug. 13, | Louisa, colored adult. |
| Oct. 7, 1854 | Rebecca Wilson Shields, daughter of William and Ann Shields. |
| 1855 | Elizabeth Norfleet Smith, child of Peter and Rebecca Smith. John Robert and Cornelia Whitaker Herring, adults. |
| Feb. 1856 | Cornelia Smith Fenner, daughter of William and Anna Maria Fenner. |
| Sarah Elizabeth Hall, daughter of Dr. A. S. and Emily Hall. Bettie Norfleet Johnson, daughter of Dr. James and Mary Johnson. | |
| Nov. 8, 1856 | Ann H. Shields, Adult. |
| 1857 | Amanda Peebles Ferrall. |
| May 1, | Mary Griffin Shields, daughter of William and Ann Shields. |
| Nov. 1857 | Catherine Gary Fenner, daughter of William and Anna Fenner. |
| Susan Evans Smith, daughter of Peter and Rebecca Smith. | |
| Sept. 5, 1858 | Anne Dupree Shields, daughter of William and Ann Shields. Weldon Edwards Hall, son of Dr. A. S. and Emily Hall. |
| 1859 | Peter Evans Smith, son of Peter and Rebecca Smith. |
| Eunice Rebecca Sand, daughter of Edward and Frances Sand. | |
| 1860 | Mary Cornelia Johnson, daughter of Dr. James and Mary Johnson. |
| James E. Shields, son of William and Ann Shields. | |
| Rebecca Whitmel Smith, daughter of Peter and Rebecca Smith. | |
| Atherton Barnes Smith, son of Peter and Rebecca Smith. | |
| May 5, 1861 | William H. Shields, Adult. |
| Feb. 20, 1862 | Walter Davis Shields, son of William and Ann Shields. |
| May 1864 | Benjamin Gordon Smith, son of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| 1865 | Nannie Hill Smith, daughter of Peter and Rebecca Smith. |
| 1865 | Lucius Junius Johnson, son of Dr. James and Mary Johnson. |
| 1866 | Richard Henry Smith, son of Richard and Mary Herbert Smith. |
| May 1866 | Susan Evans Smith, daughter of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| 1867 | Richard Smith Neal, son of John and Annie Neal. |
| May 1867 | Sarah Banks Applewhite, son of John T. and Laura Applewhite. |
| 1868 | Weldon Thweatt Smith, son of Richard and Mary H. Smith. |
| May 1868 | Lavinia Barnes Smith, daughter of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| Nov. 29, 1868 | Eleanor Stuart Smith, daughter of Norfleet and Mary R. Smith. |
| Sept. 1868 | Olivia Norfleet Shields, daughter of William and Ann Shields. |
| Sept. 15, 1869 | Nathalie Cocke Smith, daughter of Richard Smith, Jr. and Mary Smith. |
| 1869 | Mary Cornelia Cotten, daughter of Dr. Joseph and N. B. Cotten. |
| 1869 | Susan Cotten, daughter of Whitmel and Martha Cotten. |
| April 1870 | James Norfleet Smith, son of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| 1870 | John Baker Neal, son of John Baker and Nannie E. Neal. |
| Sallie Hall Smith, daughter of Alexander and Ann Hayes Smith. | |
| Oct. 28, 1871 | Sallie Turner Smith, daughter of Norfleet and Mary R. Smith. |
| Nov. 1872 | William Ruffin Smith, son of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| 1872 | William Baker Smith, son of Isaac H. and Sallie Smith. |
| Jan. | Mary Herbert Smith, daughter of Richard Jr. and Mary Smith. |
| March 27, 1873 | William G. Grimmer, Adult. |
| 28, | Laura Catherine Ware. |
| June 8, | Helen B. Briggs. |
| Sept. 1, | Edward L. Tarkinton. |
| Oct. 15, 1873 | Charles Stuart Whitehead. |
| 1873 | Nettie Mullen Gilliam, daughter of George and Antionette Gilliam. |
| Dec. 14, | Nannie Elliot Hill. |
| June 17, | Sallie Smith Neal, daughter of John and Nannie E. Neal. |
| Oct. 27, | Virginia Cocke Smith, daughter of Richard and Mary Smith. |
| April 12, 1874 | Martha India Pulley, Adult. |
| James S. Tarkinton. | |
| Sarah Jane Tarkinton. | |
| April 24, 1873 | Sallie Collins Smith, daughter of Isaac Smith and Sallie Smith. |
| May 31, 1874 | Emily Baker Hall, daughter of Dr. James and Mary Wood Hall. |
| John Robert Herring, Martha Thomas Herring, Joseph Norfleet Herring, children of John and Cornelia Herring. | |
| June 28, 1874 | Cora Hart Shields, daughter of William and Leah Shields. |
| James Norwood Hill, son of Thomas and Eliza Hill. | |
| Nannie Cocke Smith. | |
| July 12, 1874 | Sarah F. Henderson. |
| July 12, 1874 | Catherine E. Pittman. |
| 1875 | William Edward Smith, son of W. E. and Virginia Cocke Smith. |
| April 1875 | Louisa Hill Smith and Nannie Hill Smith, daughters of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| Nov. 19, 1876 | Virginia Thweatt Smith, daughter of Alex. H. and Nannie Smith. |
| 1876 | Richard Henry Smith, son of Isaac and Sarah Smith. |
| Claudia Irene Darden, daughter of John H. and M. E. Darden. | |
| Nov. 1877 | Whitmel Hill Smith, son of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| Nathaniel Cocke Smith, son of William E. and Virginia Smith. | |
| Feb. | Pauline Arrington Shields, daughter of William and Leah Shields. |
| March | Mary Weldon Smith, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Smith. |
| Sept. 1878 | Alexander Weldon Neal, son of John B. and Nannie E. Neal. |
| Nov. 1878 | Elizabeth Curtis Smith, daughter of Richard and Mary Smith. |
| William Norfleet Herring, son of John Robert and Cornelia Herring. | |
| Charles Herbert Herring, son of John Robert and Cornelia Herring. | |
| 1879 | James Norfleet Smith, son of William Edward and Virginia Smith. |
| June 1879 | Isaac Hall Smith, son of Isaac Hall and Sarah Smith. |
| June 1881 | John Thomas Applewhite, son of Henry and Nannie Applewhite. |
| Oct. 16, | Anne Hayes Cocke Smith, daughter of William and Virginia Smith. |
| Dec. 14, | Richard Henry Smith, son of Richard and Mary Smith. |
| April 1882 | Blanche Baker Smith, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Smith. |
| March 5, | Charles Young Speed, son of John and Mattie Speed. |
| June 11, | Annie Lane Darden, daughter of Goodman and Mary Lane Darden. |
| July 16, | Norfleet Saunders Smith, son of Norfleet and Mary Rebecca Smith. |
| April 27, 1883 | Robert B. Gammons, son of Benjamin and Emily S. Gammons. |
| April 17, | Nathalie Cocke Smith, daughter of Richard and Mary Smith. |
| Sept. 16, 1883 | Francis Robert Smith, son of William Edward and Virginia Smith. |
| March 20, 1884 | Rebecca Ellen Pender, Adult. |
| May 4, | James Harper Alexander, son of J. H. and Mary Alexander. |
| June 1, | Alma Virginia Speed. |
| Aug. 10, | Rebecca Alexander Smith, daughter of Norfleet and Mary R. Smith. |
| Aug. 10, | Archibald Stuart Hall, son of J. B. Hall and Mary E. Hall. |
| Oct. 19, | Adelaide Evans Smith, daughter of William Edward and Virginia Smith. |
| Nov. 11, | Mary Lee Lassiter, daughter of J. C. and M. L. Lassiter. |
| April 28, 1885 | Josephine Adele Darden, Adult, daughter of John and Mary Darden. |
| April 21, | Lillian Steptoe Riddick and Bessie Lee Riddick, daughters of W. and Georgianna Riddick. |
| June 14, | Nannie Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Smith. |
| June 21, | Zachary Taylor Vincent, son of Z. T. and Bettie Vincent. |
| Annie Eugenia Hill, daughter of Whitmel and Josephine Hill. | |
| Aug. 23, | Sarah Indiana Bishop, Adult; William E. Bishop, Blanche Hall Bishop, Rebecca Purrington Bishop, Joseph Leslie Bishop, Alice Shields Bishop, children of J. B. and Sarah Indiana Bishop. |
| Aug. 4, | Annie Dupree Alexander, daughter of J. H. and M. G. Alexander. |
| June 18, 1886 | Ruby Louise Hassard-Short, child of Algeron and Routh Hassard-Short. |
| June 24, | Sarah E. Vincent, daughter of Z. T. and Bettie Vincent. |
| Sept. 5, | Joseph Hubbard Saunders, son of Joseph Saunders. |
| Nov. 30, | Charles Harrison Cocke Smith, son of William and Virginia Smith. |
| Feb. 13, 1887 | Fannie Nicholls Hill, daughter of Whitmel and Josephine Hill. |
| April 8, | Loulie Bridgers, child of John and Mary Eliza Bridgers. |
| April 9, | Annie Smith Fenner, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Baker Fenner. |
| Mattie Allen Tillery, daughter of Thomas and Martha Tillery. | |
| June 12, | Bessie Wilson Vincent, daughter of Z. T. and Bettie S. Vincent. Paul Allen Tillery, son of Thomas and Martha Tillery. |
| Nov. 13, | Wm. Samuel Alexander, son of James H. and Mary Griffin Alexander. |
| April 8, 1888 | Walter Johnston Smith and Gilbert Elliott Smith, sons of Benjamin and Louisa Smith. |
| Sept. 2, | Annie Blanche Burroughs, daughter of Robert M. and Helen Burroughs. |
| Nov. 1, | Elizabeth Herbert Smith, daughter of William Edward and Virginia Smith. |
| Nov. 4, | Edward Madison Alexander, son of J. Harper and M. Alexander. |
| Jan. 6, 1889 | Rowena Hines Shields, daughter of Walter D. and Rebecca Shields. |
| March 10, | Anna Laura Riddick, daughter of William and Georgianna Riddick. |
| March 13, | Jennie Mabry Joyner, adult, daughter of William and Nanny Joyner. |
| Sallie Dunn, daughter of Sydney and Betty Gray Dunn. | |
| April 2, 1889 | Ernestine Alexander, adult, daughter of Henry and Martha Hornethal. |
| Mildred Angeline Alexander, daughter of Edmund A. Alexander. | |
| April 5, | Micajah Whitehead, Adult. |
| April 10, | Helen Marian Pleasants, daughter of Edward and Clarice Pleasants. |
| Aug 23, | Charles Urquhart Hill, son of Whitmel and Josephine Hill. |
| Sept 1, 1889 | Elva Rosamund Crump, daughter of Walter and Roxanna Crump. |
| Dec. 1, | George Charles Lamb, son of Gideon and Olivia Lamb. |
| May 11, 1890 | Henry Clark Smith, son of Walter and Arabella Smith. |
| June 15, | Eli Biggs Riddick, son of William and Georgianna Riddick. Ruby Lee Darden, daughter of John and Mary Darden. |
| April 5, | Harriet Elizabeth Powell, Adult. |
| Aug. 20, | Susan Hines Smith, daughter of William and Virginia Smith. |
| May 14, 1891 | Charles Marshall Burroughs, son of Robert and Helen Burroughs. |
| Sept. 21, 1890 | Rebecca Hill Shields, daughter of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Sept. 21, | James Paull Fenner, son of Thomas and Sarah Baker Fenner. |
| Dec. 19, | Agnes Brimmage Hyman, daughter of Robert and Agnes Hyman. |
| Dec. 28, | Samuel Midyette Alexander, son of J. Harper and Mary Alexander. |
| Oct. 24, 1891 | Mary John Wood, daughter of John W. Wood. |
| March 13, 1892 | Henry Williams Gray, son of William and Edith Gray. |
| Aug. 21, 1892 | Walter Johnston Smith, son of Walter J. and Arabella Smith. |
| Dec. 9, | Laura Emily Neal, John Lawrence Neal, Lucy Leonora Neal, children of Albert and Eugenia Felicia Neal. |
| Dec. 20, | Laura Alice Roberts, daughter of Harry and Kate Roberts. |
| Feb. 19, 1893 | Peter Evans Hines Shields, son of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Feb. 19, 1893 | Wilson Dupree Lamb, son of Gideon and Olivia Norfleet Lamb. |
| April 1, | Bessie May Van Horn, daughter of William and Bettie Van Horn. |
| Nannie Louise Josey, daughter of William and Mary Josey. | |
| Oct. 8, | Charles Shields Alexander, son of J. Harper and Mary Alexander. |
| Nov 30, | Frederick Thomas Gray, son of William and Edith Gray. |
| Jan. 14, | Sarah Baker Fenner, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Fenner. |
| Feb. 21, 1894 | Claiborne Thweatt Smith, son of William and Virginia Smith. |
| March 1, 1894 | Agnes Permelia Lewis, Adult. |
| March 7, 1894 | Susan Hyman Peters, Adult. |
| July 20, | Ruby Lee Darden, daughter of James and Cleopatra Darden. |
| Aug. 13, | Elizabeth Gray Dunn, daughter of Sydney and Elizabeth Dunn. |
| Oct. 24, | Florence Sylvia Coughenour, daughter of John and Elizabeth Coughenour. |
| Annie Dupree Shields, daughter of Walter Shields. | |
| Feb. 21, 1895 | Elizabeth Wheatley Peters, Adult, daughter of Thomas and Susan Peters. |
| March 17, | Mary Clark Smith, daughter of Walter and Arabella Smith. |
| May 5, | Nannie Shields Lamb, daughter of Gideon and Olivia Lamb. |
| March 30, 1896 | Alice Hyman Powell, Adult. |
| April 4, | Maud Lovejoy Jenkins, Adult. |
| April 26, | Raymond Whitmore Riddick, son of John T. and Claudia Riddick. |
| May 1, 1896 | Gavin Llewellyn Hyman, son of Edward and Mary Hyman. Kelly Jenkins, son of Kelly and Maud Jenkins. |
| May 28, | Jennie L. Coughenour, daughter of John and Bettie Coughenour. |
| June 19, | Frederick William Gregory, son of Samuel and Maria Gregory. |
| Jan. 5, 1897 | William Henry Shields, son of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Jan. 13, | Philip St. George Barraud, son of Philip and Sallie Barraud. |
| Jan. 24, | Julian Alphonso Riddick, son of Julian and Mary W. Riddick. |
| Jan. 31, | Mary Agnes Lewis, son of George and Maggie Tabitha Lewis. |
| March 26, | Edward Wheatley Hyman, son of Edward and Mary Hatton Hyman. |
| William Butterworth, son of William and Lena Butterworth. | |
| June 11, | Hester Louise Darden, daughter of James and Cleopatra Darden. |
| June 14, | John Pittman Darden, son of John and Mary Darden. |
| Aug. 24, | Susan Evans Smith, daughter of Walter and Arabella Smith. |
| Dec. 9, | Edward Shields, son of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Feb. 27, 1898 | Walter Dupree Shields, son of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Mary Eliza Lamb, daughter of Gideon and Olivia Lamb. | |
| March 27, | Elmira Jenkins, daughter of Kelley and Maud Jenkins. |
| May 23, 1897 | Emily Llewelyn Peters, daughter of Thomas and Susan Peters. |
| April 11, 1899 | Elizabeth Bryan Pittman. |
| Sept. 29, | Janet Paull White, daughter of Gustavus and Etta Hall White. |
| Sept. 24, | Laura Smith Shields, daughter of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Sept. 29, | John Lyon Coughenour and Robert Andrew Coughenour, children of John and Bettie Coughenour. |
| Oct. 1, | Mary Whitmore Pittman, daughter of William and Gertrude Pittman. |
| William Darden Riddick, son of John and Claudia Riddick. | |
| Feb. 4, 1900 | Mary Stuart Riddick, daughter of Julian and Mary Riddick. James Henry Kinnon. |
| Feb. 10, | Alice Elizabeth Powell, Adult. |
| March 20, | William Walton Pitman, Adult. |
| James Smith Darden, Adult. | |
| Aug. 29, | John H. Darden. |
| Sept. 15, | Lucy Hill Thompson, Adult. |
| Oct. 28, | James Paull Speed, son of Charles and Nannie Paull Speed. |
| Feb. 14, 1901 | Alethia Pope. |
| Vernia Edna Shelburn, daughter of John and Claudia Shelburn. | |
| Feb. 14, | Thadeus Manning, son of Thadeus and Alethea Manning. |
| John Noah Pope, son of Joseph and Alethea Pope. | |
| May 9, 1901 | Claudia Elizabeth Riddick, daughter of John and Claudia Riddick. |
| March 29, 1902 | Mary Josephine Josey, son of William and Mary Josey. |
| Aug 3, 1902 | William Edward Smith, son of William and Juliette Smith. |
| Aug. 31, 1902 | Alfred Luther Purrington, son of Alfred and Georgie Purrington. |
| Sept. 8, 1902 | Madlin Darden Riddick, daughter of Julian and Mary Riddick. |
| Oct. 5, 1902 | James Darden Riddick, son of John and Claudia Riddick. |
| Oct. 8, 1902 | Bertha Albertson, daughter of Charles and Maybell Albertson. |
| April 3, 1903 | Ellen Edmondson Speed, daughter of Charles and Nannie Speed. |
| May 8, | Hazel Bethea, daughter of Morrison and Gertrude Bethea. |
| Aug. 28, | Amy Viola Snipes, daughter of Oscar and Annie Marie Snipes. |
| May 24, 1904 | Minnie Rebecca Hyman, daughter of Henry and Nannie Hyman. |
| Sept. 25, | Philip Parker Purrington, son of Luther and Georgia Purrington. |
| April 14, 1905 | Lois Cotten Speed, daughter of Charles and Nannie Speed. Elizabeth Webb Josey, daughter of William and Mary Josey. |
| Aug. 20, | Juliette Hatton Smith, daughter of William and Juliette Smith. |
| Nov. 19, | Curtis Rhem Gregory, son of Casper and Mary Rhem Gregory. |
| May 30, 1906 | Maude R. Leggett, Adult. |
| July 22, | Charles Herbert Herring, son of Charles and Pauline Herring. |
| Sept. 10, | Emily Pittman Ware and Elizabeth Ware, children of Benjamin and Anna Shields Ware. |
| March 27, 1907 | Charles Allen Webb, Adult. |
| May 5, 1907 | Mary Rhem Gregory, daughter of Casper and Mary Rhem Gregory. |
| May 26, | Mary Wood Hall, daughter of James and Cornelia Hall. |
| Sept. 8, | James Norfleet Smith, son of William and Juliette Smith. |
| Dec. 1, 1907 | John Darden Riddick, son of John T. and Claudia Riddick. |
| March 8, 1908 | Sarah Georgiana Purrington, daughter of A. L. and Georgia Purrington. |
| April 19, | John Brown Robertson, son of Thomas and Nathalie Robertson. |
| Sept. 7, | Margaret Virginia Leggett, Adult. |
| Lena Leggett, Adult. | |
| Feb. 7, 1909 | Newsome Allsbrook Riddick, adult, son of Albert and Willis Riddick. |
| James Baker Hall, son of James and Cornelia Hall. | |
| Aug. 1909 | James William Fleming, son of Mordecai and Felicia Fleming. |
| Oct. 24, 1909 | Roliff Holmes Purrington, son of Alfred L. and Georgia Bosley Purrington. |
| Oct. 31, 1909 | William Shields Herring, son of Charles H. and Pauline Herring. |
| Nov. 14, 1909 | Robert Ivey Jones, son of Rufus and Jennie Jones. |
| Dec. 12, 1909 | David McKinnie Prince, Annie May Prince, Minnie Gertrude Prince, William Amos Prince, and Julia Katherine Prince, children of David Maybury and Minnie Deems Prince. |
| Feb. 27, 1909 | Thurman Delna Kitchin, son of Thurman and Rebecca Clark Kitchin. |
| March 17, 1910 | William Jesse Bowers, James Shepherd Bowers, Franklin Llewellen Bowers, and Catherine Carlessa Bowers, the children of James S. and Carlotta Boothe Bowers. |
| April 3, 1910 | John Goodrich Smith, son of William Edward and Juliette Hatton Smith. |
| Aug. 14, 1910 | Emily Baker Hall, daughter of James Baker and Cornelia Hall. |
| Feb. 26, 1911 | Florence Ellis Bowers, daughter of J. E. and Frances Nelson Bowers. |
| Feb. 26, 1911 | John Frederick Pittman, Gertrude Shields Pittman, and Virginia Ware Pittman, children of Charles Frederick and Pauline Anne Pittman. |
| May 3, 1911 | Amos Curtis Prince, son of Amos and Alma Speed Prince. |
| Aug. 20, 1911 | Blanche Baker Hanff, daughter of Samuel M. and Blanche Baker Hanff. |
| Aug. 20, 1911 | Frances Edna Jones, daughter of Robert and Eunice Jones. |
| Oct. 20, 1911 | Elizabeth Flaugher, daughter of James Flaugher. |
| Dec. 3, 1911 | Irwin Clark Kitchin, son of Thurman and Rebecca Clark Kitchin. |
| March 15, 1912 | Lawrence Norman Howard, son of John and Mattie Howard. |
| March 17, 1912 | James Blaine Flaugher, son of Harold and Emma Moore Flaugher. |
| Oct. 16, 1912 | Katherine Stuart Hall, daughter of James Baker and Cornelia Whitaker Hall. |
| June 6, 1913 | Hattie Augusta Leggett, Verna Leggett, and Lucile Leggett, adults. |
| Oct. 12, 1913 | Jane Elizabeth Purrington, daughter of A. L. and Georgia Purrington. |
| Oct. 26, 1913 | John Wetmore Hinsdale, son of Samuel and Rebecca Alexander Hinsdale. |
| Dec. 26, 1913 | Harry Victor Beaver Blackwelder, son of the Rev. L. W. and Minnie M. Blackwelder. |
| April 26, 1914 | John Robert Herring, son of Charles H. and Pauline A. Herring. |
| Oct. 11, 1914 | Alethia Whitaker Johnson daughter of George Herbert and Kate Johnson. |
| Nov. 26, 1914 | Jacqueline Bowers Isanogle, daughter of John W. and Margaret Bowers Isanogle. |
| Jan. 31, 1915 | George Fisher Smith, son of Norfleet Saunders and Agnes Fisher Smith. |
| Feb. 13, 1916 | Mark Alexander Smith, son of Norfleet and Agnes Fisher Smith. |
| March 7, 1916 | Rebecca Alexander Hinsdale, daughter of Samuel J. and Rebecca A. Hinsdale. |
| March 14, 1916 | William Walton Kitchin, son of Thurman and Rebecca Clark Kitchin. |
| Nov. 17, 1916 | Myrtie Ruth Moore, daughter of L. Moore. |
| Jan. 20, 1918 | Pattie Leggett Rawl, adult, daughter of James Wilson and Martha Hobgood Leggett. |
| Jan. 20, 1918 | Henry Jacob Rawl Jr., son of H. J. and Pattie Leggett Rawl. |
| March 17, 1918 | Henry Toole Clark, son of H. T. and Cornelia Josey Clark. |
| March 30, 1918 | Haywood Blount Hyman, son of Haywood H. and Stella Blount Hyman. |
| Nov. 10, 1918 | William Hugh Kitchin, son of W. H. and Hattie Leggett Kitchin. |
| Jan. 20, 1918 | Agnes Winton Smith, daughter of Norfleet and Agnes Smith. |
| Oct. 1, 1918 | George W. Dunn Jr., son of George and Elsie Gorsuch Dunn. |
| March 23, 1919 | Archibald Stuart Hall, son of James B. and Cornelia Whitaker Hall. |
| June 22, 1919 | Jarl E. Bowers, son of J. E. Bowers. |
| July 13, 1919 | Anne Dupree and Rebecca Whitmel Bryant (twins), daughters of David and Nannie Shields Bryant. |
| Aug. 2, 1919 | Edward Wheatley Hyman, son of Cavin and Antoinette Pope Hyman. |
| Feb. 22, 1920 | Edward Wheatley Hyman, son of Henry H. and Stella Blount Hyman. |
| April 3, 1920 | Mary Louise Riddick, daughter of Newsome and Nannie Josey Riddick. |
| April 3, 1920 | Rebecca Jane Pittman, daughter of Julian Allen and Rebecca Bradley Pittman. |
| April 25, 1920 | Ernest Hodges Leggett, Adult. |
| April 25, 1920 | Enoch Moore Cherry, son of W. R. and Belle Cherry. |
| June 27, 1920 | Elizabeth Eleanor Cherry, daughter of Enoch and Lena Robertson Cherry. |
| May 22, 1921 | Ernest Hodges Leggett Jr., son of Ernest and Helen Hilliard Leggett. |
| Sept. 22, 1921 | Joe Rix Stallings Jr., son of J. R. and Elizabeth Grey Dunn Stallings. |
| Dec. 11, 1921 | Elizabeth Wheatley Hyman, daughter of Gavin L. and Antoinette Pope Hyman. |
| Dec. 11, 1921 | Cornelia Josey Clark, daughter of Henry T. and Cornelia Clark. |
| Dec. 11, 1921 | Phillip Hodges Pittman, son of John Joseph and Molly Knight Pittman. |
| Nov. 13, 1921 | John Joseph Pittman, the son of Henry A. and Alice Shields Pittman. |
| March 26, 1921 | James Leggett Kitchin, son of William H. and Hattie Leggett Kitchin. |
| March 26, 1921 | Frances Bishop, Elise Bishop, Rebecca Whitehead Bishop, and Eugene Dupree Bishop, children of Eugene and Bethie Harvel Bishop. |
| May 28, 1922 | James Harper Alexander, son of J. H. and Ethel Dunn Alexander. |
| Dec. 30, 1922 | Mary Alexander Wells, daughter of John David Wells and Mary Shields Alexander. |
| Dec. 17, 1922 | Annie Elizabeth Johnston, colored. |
| March 31, 1923 | Margaret Hodges Kitchin, daughter of William H. and Hattie Leggett Kitchin. |
| Aug. 12, 1923 | Evans Rousseau Shields, son of Peter E. Hines and Ella Mae Shields. |
| Oct. 14, 1923 | Joseph Shields Pittman, son of Joseph John and Mollie Knight Pittman. |
| Oct. 14, 1923 | Julian Allen Pittman, son of J. A. and Rebecca Bradley Pittman. |
| Dec. 2, 1923 | William Jesse Grimes. |
| Dec. 2, 1923 | Loraine Byrd, daughter of Rufus P. and Margaret E. Byrd. |
| Dec. 20, 1923 | Mary Shields Justis, daughter of Linwood H. and Angelyn Alexander Justis. |
| Dec. 30, 1923 | John David Wells, Jr., son of John D. and Mary Alexander Wells. |
| Feb. 24, 1924 | Robert Lee Johnson, son of George H. and Clara Allsbrook Johnson. |
| Feb. 24, 1924 | George Herbert Johnson, son of Robert Lee and Maud Richardson Johnson. |
| March 23, 1924 | Harry Lee Riddick, the son of Julian S. and Nannie Riddick. |
| March 23, 1924 | Henry Montague Hilliard, son of Henry M. and Mary Pittman Hilliard. |
| Sept. 24, 1924 | Katherine Richardson Johnson, daughter of Robert Lee and Maud Richardson Johnson. |
| Oct. 26, 1924 | Edna Adelaide Bryant, daughter of Benjamin F. and Annie Whitehead Bryant. |
| Feb. 22, 1925 | Ellen Meredith Shaw, daughter of Rufus S. and Ellen Meredith Shaw. |
| Feb. 22, 1925 | Gavin Llewellyn Hyman, son of G. L. and Antoinette Hyman. |
| March 29, 1925 | Martha Whitfield Hall, daughter of John D. and Sadebelle McGwigan Hall. |
| March 29, 1925 | Grace Thompson Neblett, daughter of Bernard and Grace Thompson Neblett. |
| April 7, 1925 | Pattie May Shaw, Alexander Wilson Shaw, Nancy Rebecca Shaw, and Vernon Hill Shaw, children of Alexander Benjamin and Pattie Kidd Shaw. |
| June 14, 1925 | Dorothy Miller Shields, daughter of Peter E. H. and Ella Mae Miller Shields. |
| May 31, 1925 | Martha Hyman Sherrod, daughter of William B. and May Boatlight Sherrod. |
| Nov. 8, 1925 | Selma Talitha Hyman Turner. |
| Feb. 28, 1926 | William Stephenson Riddick and Albert Barnard Riddick, sons of Julius Stuart and Nannie Stephenson Riddick. |
| Feb. 28, 1926 | William Stuart Grimes, son of William J. and Mary Stuart Riddick Grimes. |
| Feb. 28, 1926 | Richard Bradley Pittman, son of J. Allen and Rebecca Bradley Pittman. |
| Feb. 28, 1926 | Martha Robertson Cherry and William Rodney Cherry, children of Enoch and Lena Robertson Cherry. |
| April 16, 1927 | Will Bishop Pittman and David Lee Pittman, sons of Joseph John and Mollie Knight Pittman. |
| May 22, 1927 | Joe Lanier Riddick, son of Preston and Emma Allsbrook Riddick. |
| May 22, 1927 | Spencer Cotten Lewis, son of John and Lou White Lewis. |
| May 22, 1927 | Maxie Clarence Riddick, son of Preston and Emma A. Riddick. |
| Aug. 17, 1927 | Marion Virginia White, daughter of Cary Whitaker and Jennie Gregory White. |
| Aug. 17, 1927 | Marjorie Brickell Marks, daughter of Charles F. and Jennie Sewell Marks. |
| Dec. 4, 1927 | Mattie Josey Alexander, Adult. |
| Dec. 25, 1927 | Nancy Adelaide Wood, daughter of Elisha and Mary Bryant Wood. |
| Feb. 6, 1928 | Olivia Taylor, negro, daughter of Alexander and Beatrice Taylor. |
| April 7, 1928 | Hilliard Montague Leggett, son of Ernest and Helen Hilliard Leggett. |
| Aug. 12, 1928 | William McDowell Dunn, Jr., son of William McDowell and Ellen Speed Dunn. |
| Dec. 2, 1928 | George Richard White, son of William and Ivy Hastings White. |
| Dec. 30, 1928 | Henry Allen Pittman, and Carey Knight Pittman, sons of Joseph John and Mollie Knight Pittman. |
| Jan. 21, 1929 | Sally White, daughter of Charles and Lucy Applewhite White. |
| March 30, 1929 | Helen Montague Hilliard, daughter of Henry and Mary Pittman Hilliard. |
| March 30, 1929 | Willie Marjorie Riddick, daughter of Newsome and Louise Josey Riddick. |
| March 30, 1929 | John Winfred Grimes, son of William J. and Mary Riddick Grimes. |
| Oct. 13, 1929 | Olivia Shields White, daughter of George and Mary Lamb White. |
| Nov. 1, 1929 | Walter Johnston Smith III, son of Walter and Frances Parker Smith. |
| Nov. 14, 1929 | Harry Lee McDowell, son of Harry L. and Dorothy Dunn McDowell. |
| July 27, 1930 | Margaret Grace Ernestine Johnson, daughter of Harlow and Fanny Coughenour Johnson. |
| Aug. 31, 1930 | William Franklin Hilliard, son of Henry and Mary Pittman Hilliard. |
| Sept. 14, 1930 | Kate Parks Kitchin, daughter of John Arrington and Norma Cloman Kitchin. |
| Sept. 28, 1930 | Ethel Ann Kitchin, daughter of Louis and Ethel Pope Kitchin. |
| Oct. 19, 1930 | Dorothy Whitaker Marks, daughter of Charles and Jennie Sewell Marks. |
| Oct. 19, 1930 | Roscoe Marvin Porter, Jr., son of R. M. and Madeline Riddick Porter. |
| May 17, 1931 | William McDowell Dunn, adult, son of Balfour Dunn. |
| May 17, 1931 | Paull Speed Dunn, son of William M. and Ellen Speed Dunn. |
| June 12, 1932 | Lois Bell McRegan, daughter of Ben and Allie M. McRegan. |
| June 12, 1932 | Rachel Butler, daughter of L. S. and Estelle Butler. |
| Nov. 12, 1932 | Dorothy Edna Umphlette, Sarah Wells Umphlette, and Stanley Reuben Umphlette, children of Willie E. and Daisy Mullen Umphlette. |
| Dec. 16, 1933 | Janie Marjory House, James Bruce House, Albert Clarence House, Pearl Smith House, Ruth Doyle House and Joyce May House, children of Clarence House. |
| Oct. 14, 1934 | William Preston Shields, son of Dupree and Iona Ward Shields. |
| July 26, 1935 | Julia Lynn Riddick, daughter of Maxie and Juliette Smith Riddick. |
| Aug. 4, 1935 | Cecil Howard Neville, adult, son of Augustus and I. Bellamy Neville. |
| Aug. 4, 1935 | Cecil Howard Neville, Jr., son of C. H. and Martha Evans Neville. |
| March 1, 1936 | William Edward Smith III, son of W. E. and Louise Stephenson Smith. |
| July 22, 1936 | Pauline Celestia Pittman, daughter of C. F. and Pauline Ware Pittman. |
| Nov. 7, 1937 | William Dell Robertson, son of Joshua and Will Andrews Robertson. |
| Dec. 5, 1937 | Benjamin Oscar Joyner, Frances Lucille Joyner, Doris May Staton, and Susie Lee Staton, children of Benjamin O. Joyner. |
| April 9, 1937 | William Ross Bonner, son of Merle D. and Blanche Hanff Bonner. |
| April 17, 1937 | Frances Louise Smith, daughter of William E. and Louise Stephenson Smith. |
| Nov. 6, 1937 | Elizabeth Overton, daughter of W. C. and Odelia Overton. |
| Nov. 20, 1938 | Charles Harrison Smith, son of Charles H. and Lucille Carroll Smith. |
| Feb. 19, 1939 | John Hatton Hyman, son of Gavin and Ethel Allsbrook Hyman. |
| May 7, 1939 | Elizabeth Thorp Brodie, daughter of the Rev. B. T. Brodie and Julia Boyd Smith. |
| Oct. 21, 1939 | Turner Bass, son of J. C. and Virginia Bass. |
| Nov. 19, 1939 | William Dennis Grimmer, son of William M. and Mamie Coburn Grimmer. |
| Dec. 3, 1939 | Augusta Louise Pittman, daughter of C. F. and Pauline Ware Pittman. |
| May 10, 1940 | Hubert McNaughton Riddick, son of M. C. and Juliette Smith Riddick. |
| Aug. 30, 1940 | Marnie Norfleet Herring, daughter of W. N. and Marjorie Warren Herring. |
| Dec. 1, 1940 | Bettie Ann Arnold, daughter of L. B. and Minnie Stevens Arnold. |
| Dec. 8, 1940 | Agnes Kathleen Clay, daughter of Bester and Mary Bailey Clay. |
| Feb. 16, 1941 | Alethia Johnson Green, daughter of George C. and Alethia Johnson Green. |
| April 12, 1941 | Richard Malcolm Flowers, son of Curfew and Matilda Berbage Flowers. |
| Dec. 7, 1941 | Mary Ann Bailey Clay, Adult. |
| May 10, 1941 | Dorothy McDowell Dunn, daughter of Harry Lee and Adeline Tillet McDowell Dunn. |
| April 5, 1942 | William Hugh Kitchin III, son of W. H. Kitchin. |
| Feb. 20, 1942 | Albert Leyton Brown, Adult. |
| May 30, 1943 | Sarah Blair Maddison, and Lawrence Beckley Maddison, Jr., children of L. B. and Jane Purrington Maddison. |
| April 8, 1944 | George Chancellor Green III, son of George C. and Alethia Green. |
| April 9, 1944 | Ruth Ward Jones, negro, daughter of Robert Lee and Ruth Ward Jones. |
| Oct. 21, 1944 | William Edward Allmond, son of W. E. and Jane Allmond. |
| Nov. 19, 1944 | Benjamin Thorp Brodie, son of the Rev. B. T. Brodie and Julia Boyd Smith. |
| June 24, 1945 | Mary Powell Josey Temple, adult, daughter of James L. and Mattie Josey. |
| June 24, 1945 | Thomas Douglas Temple, III, and James Josey Temple, sons of Thomas D. and Mary Josey Temple. |
| July 1, 1945 | Mary Elizabeth McDowell, daughter of William Owen and Thomasine Rhoads McDowell. |
| Sept. 30, 1945 | Gerald Scott Allmond, son of W. E. and Jane Page Allmond. |
| Oct. 27, 1945 | Jane Ross Bass, Charles Dickens Bass, children of C. D. and Dean Gaylord Bass. |
| Nov. 4, 1945 | Gertrude Edge Kitchin, Margaret Ann Kitchin, children of William Hugh Kitchin, Jr., and Blanch Jacob Edge. |
| Nov. 4, 1945 | Harriet Kitchin Gilliam, daughter of Charles Lamb and Margaret Kitchin Gilliam. |
| Nov. 6, 1945 | Albert Clarence House, adult, son of Albert and Emma Staton House. |
| Nov. 6, 1945 | Naomi Bennett House, adult, daughter of William Bryant and Maggie Bennett. |
| Nov. 6, 1945 | Oscar Julian House, son of O. J. and Naomi B. House. |
| Nov. 10, 1945 | Sarah Little Thigpen, Helen Louise Thigpen, and Margaret Woodard Thigpen, daughters of Harry G. and Hattie Thigpen. |
| March 23, 1946 | Jeanette Daniel Purrington, daughter of Roliff H. and Jeanette Dunn Purrington. |
| July 6, 1946 | Patricia Anne Penney, daughter of James T. and Martha Thigpen Penney. |
| Feb. 9, 1946 | William Shields Herring, Jr., son of W. S. and Edna Goodwin Herring. |
| July 13, 1947 | William Owen McDowell, Jr., son of William O. and Thomasine Rhodes McDowell. |
| March 27, 1948 | Mary Hall Green, daughter of George C. and Alethia Johnson Green. |
| March 27, 1948 | Mary Ann Dunn, daughter of Balfour and Elizabeth Josey Dunn. |
| May 9, 1948 | Cynthia Paige Allmond, daughter of William E. and Jane P. Allmond. |
| May 15, 1948 | Mary Louise Gregory, daughter of Fletcher Harrison and Mary Riddick Gregory. |
| May 30, 1948 | Joseph Lanier Riddick Jr., son of J. L. and Willella Murphy Riddick. |
| June 13, 1948 | Laura Irwin Clark, daughter of Dr. H. T. and Blanche Burrus Clark. |
| Oct. 10, 1948 | Linda Ruth Havins, daughter of Harry Marvin and Ruth House Havins. |
| Nov. 28, 1948 | Frank Shaw Hart, son of William Almond and Mary Shaw Hart. |
| Dec. 12, 1948 | William Hadkin Lewis, son of Richard Applewhite and Bertha Parish Lewis. |
| Dec. 26, 1948 | Sarah Katherine Johnson, daughter of George Herbert and Joy Dunn Johnson. |
| Dec. 26, 1948 | Marion A. Josey, daughter of Danford E. and Fredricka Kirkland Josey. |
| Feb. 29, 1949 | Michael Clark Kistler, son of Clark C. and Mary P. Kistler. |
| Feb. 27, 1949 | Ethel Margaret Allsbrook, son of Henry C. and Marian Thorpe Allsbrook. |
| March 17, 1949 | John Timothy Riddick, son of John Allen and Anne Simmons Riddick. |
| April 10, 1949 | James Charles Alexander, Jr., son of J. C. and Margaret Byrd Alexander. |
| April 16, 1949 | Charles Stuart White and Dorothy Shields White, children of Woodrow Wilson and Maxine Shields White. |
| July 31, 1949 | Edward Todd Hyman, son of Edward Wheatley and Jane Todd Hyman. |
| June 26, 1949 | Martha Elizabeth Leggett, and Enoch Gilbert Leggett, children of Robert Edward and Eleanor Cherry Leggett. |
| Sept. 11, 1949 | Henry Toole Clark IV, son of Dr. Henry T. and Blanche Burrus Clark. |
| Sept. 18, 1949 | Roberta Linell Josey, daughter of Claude Kitchin and Linell Bruce Josey. |
| Jan. 10, 1950 | Franklin Darden Hardy, son of Frank and Aurelia Flowers Hardy. |
| March 3, 1950 | Josephine Maddrey House, daughter of Albert Clarence and Josephine Maddrey House. |
| April 9, 1950 | David Norman Boyer, son of George N. and Carolyn Boyer. |
| Oct. 15, 1950 | Ann Dunn Johnson, daughter of George H. and Joy Dunn Johnson. |
| Oct. 15, 1950 | James Alvin Wilson, Jr. son of James Alvin and Billie Cherry Wilson. |
| Oct. 22, 1950 | John William Drake III, son of the Rev. John W. Drake and Marjorie Gray Dunn. |
| Jan. 28, 1951 | Thomas Suiter Green, son of George and Alethia Johnson Green. |
| Feb. 25, 1951 | Roliff Holmes Purrington, Jr., son of R. H. and Jeanette Dunn Purrington. |
| March 11, 1951 | Mary Louise Alexander, daughter of Louis Ward and Marjorie Davis Alxander. |
| April 8, 1951 | Samuel Albritton Leggett, son of R. E. and Eleanor Cherry Leggett. |
| April 21, 1951 | Alfred Garland Grizzard, Jr., son of A. G. and Mildred Flowers Grizzard. |
| April 22, 1951 | Mallory Scott Barber and Eugenia M. Palmer Barber, children of Mallory Palmer and Alice McIlwain Scott Barber. |
| April 22, 1951 | Francis Fisher Sater Harrell, Jr., son of F. S. Harrell and Sarah Bellamy Hall. |
| Dec. 28, 1951 | Samuel Merrill Hanff, Jr., son of S. M. and Hazel Womack Hanff. |
| Feb. 10, 1952 | Carter Blaine Roberts and Courtney Gilbert Roberts, children of Aaron Ernest and Bertha Elinor Boulton Roberts. |
| Charles Herbert Herring, III, son of C. H. and Bertha Boulton Roberts Herring. | |
| Jane Wheatley Hyman, daughter of Edward W. and Mary Todd Hyman. |
| Deborah Fern Coggins, daughter of George McDonald and Hazel M. Coggins. | |
| Robert Beckwith Gregory, son of Samuel T. and Elizabeth Beckwith Gregory. | |
| Aug. 10, 1952 | Florence Downing House, daughter of Albert C. and Josephine Maddrey House. |
| Nov. 16, 1952 | Cornelia Clark House, daughter of Richard D. and Cornelia Clark House. |
| Dec. 7, 1952 | William Arrington Kitchin, adult, son of John A. and Norma Cloman Kitchin. |
| March 1, 1953 | Susan Victoria Ehrhart, daughter of Charles D. and Hazel Womack Ehrhart. |
| March 1, 1953 | Isaac Hall Hanff, son of Samuel M. and Hazel Womack Ehrhart Hanff. |
| March 8, 1953 | Marjorie Kay Rogers, daughter of John Leon and Katherine Johnson Rogers. |
| May 10, 1953 | Barbara Bruce House, daughter of James Bruce and Barbara Elizabeth House. |
| Oct. 18, 1953 | Lynne Whitmel Shields, daughter of Evans Rousseau and Faye Thomas Shields. |
| Dec. 23, 1953 | John Cloman Kitchin, adult, son of John Arrington and Norma Cloman Kitchin. |
| Jan. 10, 1954 | Mary Hollingsworth Henderson, Margaret Ann Henderson, and Frances Jean Henderson, children of Dulan Eugene and Frances Killebrew Henderson. |
| Jan. 10, 1954 | Rebecca Elizabeth Pittman, daughter of Julian Allen and Elizabeth Hancock Pittman. |
| Aug. 1832 | James Baker Smith, infant of William and Susan Smith. |
| Nov. 1832 | Anne Hunter, wife of Dr. W. Hunter. |
| 1839 | Richard Smith, Sen. |
| May 19, 1845 | Rebecca Hill, the wife of Thomas Blount Hill. |
| June 22, 1845 | William R. Smith, Sen. |
| Oct. 27, 1845 | Mary Anne Smith. |
| May 1, 1846 | Charity Anthony, wife of Whitmel Hill Anthony. |
| July 1846 | Thomas Pernell of Halifax. |
| Oct. 31, 1851 | Whitmel Hill Anthony. |
| Nov. 1851 | David, an old colored man. |
| Dec. 15, 1851 | Elizabeth N. Smith. |
| Jan. 24, 1852 | Isaac, an old colored man. |
| Dec. 25, 1852 | Peter Evans, age 71. |
| Jan. 12, 1853 | Robert Arthur Smith. |
| Aug. 18, 1853 | Dr. Simons J. Baker, age 78. |
| June 24, 1854 | William Paull, infant son of Wm. H. and Cornelia Paull. |
| July 2, 1854 | Peter McB. Webb, infant son of Richard H. and Josephine Webb. |
| Aug. 25, 1855 | Ezekiel Curry, age 65. |
| Aug. 15, 1856 | Cornelia Smith Fenner, infant of William and Anna Fenner. |
| July 10, 1856 | Dr. Robert Park Hall. |
| May 24, 1857 | Edward Hall. |
| 1857 | J. M. Peebles. |
| 1857 | Mrs. Ellixon. |
| May 15, 1858 | Josephine Webb, age 29, wife of Richard H. Webb. |
| 1858 | Mrs. Mary Young. |
| 1858 | Jack Sills. |
| 1858 | Randolph A. Futrell. |
| 1858 | Sarah Futrell. |
| 1858 | Frances Cullifer Futrell. |
| Jan. 4, 1858 | Elizabeth Norfleet Smith, infant of Peter and Rebecca Smith. |
| 1858 | Marmaduke Pittman. |
| July 18, 1858 | Ellen Speed, infant of J. H. Speed. |
| Dec. 18, 1859 | Thomas L. B. Gregory. |
| 1859 | Jesse Manning. |
| 1859 | Charlotte Sills. |
| March 17, 1859 | Reuben Whitehead, age 23. |
| Sept. 12, 1859 | Ann B. Edmundson. |
| 1860 | A. M. Riddick. |
| 1861 | Mary E. Bishop. |
| 1861 | Thomas Whitehead. |
| 1861 | Samuel Gregory. |
| 1861 | Rollif Purrington. |
| 1861 | Lizzie Hyman. |
| 1861 | Eliza Pender. |
| 1861 | Arthur Pender. |
| 1861 | M. E. Bishop. |
| July 9, 1861 | Peter E. Smith, infant of Peter and Rebecca Hill Smith. |
| Aug. 3, 1861 | James Stuart Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| 1862 | Douglas Barksdale. |
| 1862 | L. G. Baker, Jr. |
| May 23, 1862 | Elias Carr Hines. |
| 1862 | Susan J. Shields. |
| May 13, 1863 | Rebecca Spruill, age 22. |
| June 25, 1863 | Peter E. Spruill, age 26. |
| 1863 | Ida P. Bishop. |
| 1863 | Martha Hyman. |
| 1863 | Mary Hyman. |
| 1863 | Ann Bishop. |
| 1863 | Rosa Hyman. |
| 1863 | Nathaniel Phelps. |
| April 19, 1863 | Annie P. Grimmer, daughter of Wm. and Lavinia P. Grimmer. |
| Oct. 17, 1863 | Susan Evans Smith, infant of Peter and Rebecca Smith. |
| April 15, 1863 | John Edmundson. |
| April 21, 1863 | Lucy Ann Speed, daughter of John H. Speed. |
| 1863 | Dr. B. F. Halsey. |
| 1863 | West Whitaker. |
| 1864 | Mary A. Bishop. |
| 1864 | Charles L. Purrington. |
| 1864 | Mary Johnson, infant of Dr. James and Mary Smith Johnson |
| 1864 | Lucius J. Johnson, infant of Dr. James and Mary Smith Johnson. |
| 1864 | Emily Gray. |
| 1864 | Antoinette Spruill, age 24, daughter of George E. and Mary Spruill. |
| Nov. 18, 1865 | Atherton B. Smith, infant of Peter and Rebecca Hill Smith. |
| 1865 | Ben Hall, colored. |
| 1865 | Edward Cheshire Lawrence. |
| 1865 | Rut Sills. |
| 1865 | Richard Wood. |
| 1866 | Dr. Keith. |
| 1866 | Breckenridge Peebles. |
| 1866 | Emmett Peebles. |
| 1866 | Norfleet Pender. |
| Dec. 23, 1866 | Pattie Doyle, wife of James Doyle. |
| 1867 | Mr. Davis. |
| Oct. 29, 1867 | Mrs. Sarah Vaughan, age 49. |
| 1867 | Susan Gray. |
| 1867 | Infant of M. L. and V. P. Venable. |
| 1867 | Spier Pittman. |
| 1867 | Alonza Sills. |
| Dec. 31, 1866 | Mrs. Ann Evans, age 77, wife of Peter Evans. |
| July 23, 1868 | John H. Hyman, age 38. |
| 1868 | Elizabeth Hyman. |
| 1868 | Infant of J. H. Hyman. |
| 1868 | John L. Hill, infant of A. B. and Eliza Hyman Hill. |
| 1868 | Gavin Hyman Hill, infant of A. B. and Eliza Hyman Hill. |
| 1868 | Walter Neal Hill, infant of A. B. and Eliza Hyman Hill. |
| 1868 | Mrs. Lassiter. |
| 1868 | Mr. Hamilton. |
| 1868 | Hennie Biggs. |
| 1868 | Lawrence Pender. |
| 1868 | Infant of A. S. Sills. |
| Oct. 26, 1868 | Martha Currie, age 67. |
| 1868 | Martha D. Pope. |
| Feb. 1868 | Ann N. Shields, age 37. |
| 1868 | Child of William H. Shields. |
| May 30, 1868 | Rosella Wiggins, wife of George A. Smith. |
| 1868 | Whitmel John Hill. |
| 1868 | Lawrence Hill. |
| 1868 | Atherton Barnes Hill, infant. |
| 1868 | L. B. Hill, infant. |
| 1868 | Infant of H. Alsbrook. |
| 1869 | Mrs. H. Alsbrook. |
| 1869 | Sarah E. Alsbrook. |
| 1869 | Child of H. Alsbrook. |
| 1869 | George Griffin. |
| 1869 | Mary N. Lawrence. |
| 1869 | Infant of J. H. Lawrence. |
| 1869 | Infant of W. P. Jones. |
| 1869 | J. N. Alsbrook. |
| May 3, 1869 | Mary Powell, age 40, wife of N. B. Josey. |
| 1869 | Henry Webb. |
| 1870 | Heshborn Bishop. |
| 1870 | Infant of Harriett Blount, colored. |
| 1870 | Infant of Frances and Richmond, colored. |
| 1870 | Bettie, a colored woman. |
| 1870 | Eddie, colored. |
| 1870 | Simon Peter, colored. |
| 1870 | Lucy Bradley, infant. |
| July 21, 1870 | Virginia Camp, wife of James H. Camp. |
| 1870 | Virginia Lovejoy. |
| 1870 | Miss Leary. |
| 1870 | Miss Charlotte Hyman. |
| 1870 | Miss Dolly Hyman. |
| 1870 | Miss Rosanna Hyman. |
| 1870 | Sarah Walton Smith, wife of William Ruffin Smith, Sr. |
| 1870 | Anne R. Saunders. |
| 1870 | Louisa Sills. |
| 1870 | Mary Whitehead. |
| 1870 | Amelia P. Whitmore. |
| 1871 | I. M. Morrisett. |
| 1871 | Margaret Morrisett. |
| 1871 | Olivia Hyman. |
| 1871 | Annie E. Griffin. |
| 1871 | Anna Savage. |
| 1871 | Helen B. Biggs, infant. |
| 1871 | Peyton T. Anthony, son of John and Lucy Tunstall Anthony. |
| 1871 | Elizabeth Parsons, wife of Benjamin Curtis. |
| Aug. 19, 1871 | Patrick M. Edmundstone. |
| 1871 | Martha Vaughan. |
| 1871 | Abeilla Pully. |
| 1872 | L. B. Gregory. |
| 1872 | M. L. Beadley, infant. |
| 1872 | Sarah M. Roberts. |
| 1872 | Norfleet S. Warren. |
| 1872 | Jehu Nichols. |
| 1872 | B. Savage. |
| 1872 | William Baker Smith. |
| 1872 | Sally Smith, wife of Richard H. Smith. |
| 1872 | Edward S. Neal, son of John and Anne Smith Neal. |
| 1872 | Martha Pender. |
| 1872 | Mary L. Sills. |
| 1872 | Florence C. Craft. |
| June 12, 1872 | William Ruffin Smith. |
| 1873 | Jesse G. Holliday. |
| Nov. 20, 1873 | Nathalie Cooke Smith, infant. |
| March 13, 1873 | James G. Anthony, age 39. |
| Jesse W. Herring. | |
| Rebecca A. Gammon. |
| Louisa Sills. | |
| Frank Sills. | |
| William Grimmer. | |
| Robert D. Smith. | |
| Joseph Tarkenton. | |
| 1874 | Claude Raspberry. |
| Aquilla P. Hyman, age 42. | |
| 1874 | E. A. Bradley. |
| Jan. 7, 1874 | John H. Speed. |
| 1874 | Virginia C. Smith, infant of Richard H. and Mary H. Smith. |
| 1874 | Joseph Heming. |
| 1874 | A. J. Cooper. |
| 1874 | L. M. Pittman. |
| Dec. 28, 1875 | Robert Walton Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| Sept. 29, 1875 | Mary Wood, daughter of Dr. William and Henrietta Wood. |
| 1875 | Edward Tarkenton. |
| 1875 | Mrs. Ben Shields. |
| 1875 | Minor Smith, colored. |
| 1875 | Infant George Bracey. |
| 1875 | Mr. Whitehead. |
| 1875 | Julia P. Savage. |
| 1875 | Nannie E. Smith. |
| 1875 | Lizzie Sheppard Saunders. |
| Jan. 3, 1875 | Catherine Devereaux, wife of Patrick Edmundstone. |
| 1875 | John Pully. |
| 1875 | Edgar Pittman. |
| 1875 | William F. Sills. |
| 1875 | Nannie E. Hill, infant of A. B. and Eliza Hyman Hill. |
| March 9, 1876 | Frances Gregory, age 64, wife of Thomas L. B. Gregory. |
| 1876 | Benjamin Wells. |
| 1876 | Lena Biggs. |
| Sept. 6, 1876 | Dr. Archibald S. Hall. |
| June 28, 1876 | John Manning Hill, age 14. |
| 1877 | Samuel B. Hyman, son of John L. and Elizabeth Wheatley Hyman. |
| 1877 | Angeline Strickland. |
| March 1877 | Ann W. Steptoe, age 70. |
| 1877 | E. Leary. |
| 1877 | Mary Peebles. |
| 1877 | Charles C. Shields. |
| 1878 | Ed Barnes. |
| 1878 | Mary Lawrence. |
| 1878 | Henrietta Gray. |
| June 16, 1878 | Francis Johnston Smith, son of James and Adelaide Smith. |
| 1879 | W. M. Crump, infant. |
| 1879 | Stuart Shields. |
| Oct. 20, 1879 | Catherine Ida Currie, age 12. |
| 1879 | Kate Bass. |
| 1879 | James Camp. |
| 1879 | Lucy M. Anthony, wife of John Hill Anthony. |
| April 12, 1879 | Felicia Norfleet Young, age 76, wife of Charles Shields. |
| 1880 | Pat Crowder, colored. |
| 1880 | Mary E. Barnes. |
| 1880 | Pattie Savage. |
| Oct. 11, 1880 | Anna Peters, infant of Thomas and Susan Hyman Peters. |
| Dec. 14, 1880 | Benjamin Cotten, age 69. |
| 1880 | Anne H. Smith, wife of Alexander Smith. |
| 1880 | Mary E. Whitaker. |
| 1880 | W. H. Hancock. |
| 1880 | Mrs. Burgay. |
| Nov. 5, 1880 | N. B. Josey, age 53. |
| 1880 | Louisa Smith, wife of Thomas Spruill Norfleet. |
| 1881 | Henry Garrett. |
| 1881 | Milly Smith, colored. |
| July 21, 1881 | Sarah L. Peters, infant of Thomas and Susan Hyman Peters. |
| Oct. 23, 1881 | Laura L. Saunders, wife of the Rev. Jos. H. Saunders. |
| 1881 | Katherine Peebles. |
| 1881 | Mrs. David Pope. |
| 1882 | Mary F. Gregory. |
| 1882 | Henry F. Ware. |
| 1882 | Nannie E. Neal, age 38, wife of John Baker Neal. |
| 1882 | James Burgay. |
| 1882 | Virginia Bailey, wife of E. G. Whetmore, age 70. |
| 1882 | Martha B. Sills. |
| June 4, 1883 | Susan Hyman, wife of Thomas Peters. |
| 1883 | Asa Bishop. |
| July 6, 1883 | Mark Alexander. |
| 1883 | John Roberts. |
| 1883 | J. H. Cullifer. |
| 1883 | Louisa F. Harris. |
| 1883 | Charlotte Medford. |
| 1884 | William Lassiter, infant. |
| May 28, 1884 | Vivian L. Alsbrook, infant. |
| Nov. 26, 1884 | Annie Mary Neal, infant of John and Sallie McDowell Neal. |
| 1884 | Maria Long, age 26, wife of William Weldon Hall. |
| Dec. 7, 1884 | William Fenner, age 68. |
| May 6, 1885 | Infant George E. Bracey. |
| Oct. 25, 1885 | Eliza Evans Hill, age 43, wife of Thomas N. Hill. |
| Sept. 18, 1885 | Whitmel Hill, infant. |
| 1885 | D. H. Harwell, infant. |
| Oct. 1, 1885 | Katy Hyman. |
| 1885 | Weldon Edwards Hall. |
| 1885 | Mary L. Brinkley, age 27. |
| Sept. 24, 1885 | Joseph H. Saunders. |
| June 21, 1885 | Thomas J. Vaughan, age 62. |
| Sept. 10, 1885 | Joseph Bishop, infant. |
| July 24, 1885 | Anna Baker Fenner. |
| May 31, 1885 | Rowena Hines Shields, age 22, wife of Walter Davis Shields. |
| Aug. 27, 1885 | Leah A. Shields, age 52, wife of William H. Shields. |
| Nov. 29, 1885 | Norfleet S. Saunders, age 16. |
| 1885 | George Allsbrook. |
| 1885 | Sherod Shields. |
| Jan. 15, 1886 | Mabry Whitaker. |
| April 8, 1886 | Rebecca Wilson Shields, age 31, daughter of William Shields. |
| July 4, 1886 | Ella Dunston Sherrod, age 23. |
| July 16, 1886 | Sallie Purrington, age 52. |
| Oct. 31, 1886 | Hannah, a colored infant. |
| Nov. 16, 1886 | Sally Adams, infant. |
| Feb. 1, 1887 | Joseph Cheshire Smith. |
| Feb. 14, 1887 | Mary Anna Whitehead, age 53. |
| March 19, 1887 | Amanda P. Lawrence, age 15. |
| June 21, 1887 | Sallie W. Purrington, age 80. |
| July 10, 1887 | Mary Bond, age 73, colored. |
| Aug 10, 1887 | Rebecca Ellen Pender, age 32. |
| Nov. 8, 1887 | Sallie Speed, age 32. |
| Feb. 28, 1888 | Ellen W. Speed, age 9. |
| March 14, 1888 | George E. Spruill. |
| April 19, 1888 | Eli C. Biggs, Jr., age 23. |
| July 5, 1887 | Robert M. Burroughs, infant. |
| July 9, 1887 | Joseph Scarborough. |
| April 1, 1888 | Lucy Anna Allsbrook. |
| June 26, 1888 | William Lamb, infant. |
| Nov. 10, 1888 | Gavin L. Hyman, son of John L. and Elizabeth Wheatley Hyman. |
| Jan. 7, 1889 | James B. Bishop. |
| June 17, 1889 | Angeline Alexander, age 65. |
| Jan. 30, | Sally Park Turner, age 77, wife of Mark Alexander. |
| March 2, | Samuel M. Alexander, Jr., age 30. |
| March 4, | LaFayette Whitaker, colored. |
| June 6, | Sarah Indiana Bishop. |
| June 17, | Nettie Turner, colored. |
| July 22, | Laura Smith, age 47, colored. |
| Aug. 8, | Rowena Hines Shields, infant of Walter and Rebecca Shields. |
| Sept. 10, | Ann Dupree Shields, age 31, daughter of William Shields. |
| Oct. 11, | Cornelia Jane Herring, age 54. |
| Sept. 20, | Robert M. Burroughs. |
| April 20, 1890 | Austin Evans, colored. |
| July 13, 1890 | Mary Herbert Smith, age 45. |
| Sept. 5, | Dr. Richard Saunders, age 56. |
| Oct. 29, | Robert Lee Adams, age 5. |
| Oct. 30, | Elizabeth Packer, age 77. |
| Nov. 16, 1890 | John J. Bishop, age 77. |
| Feb. 21, 1891 | Julian Travis Speed, infant. |
| James McIllwain Dunn, infant. | |
| March 14, | Emily Hyman, age 77. |
| May | Mary Eliza Anthony, colored. |
| May 28, | Ruby Lee Darden, infant. |
| May 30, | Alma Shields, infant. |
| June 23, | Martin Clark, colored. |
| July 26, | Dr. Eugene Speed, age 36. |
| Aug. 21, | Marion Oswald White, age 20. |
| Aug. 23, | Edward Madison Alexander, infant. |
| Aug. 26, | George N. Steptoe, age 28. |
| Oct. 22, | John W. Wood, age 28, son of Dr. William and Henrietta Wood. |
| Nov. 1, | Lucinda Anthony, colored. |
| Nov. 3, | Mary Elizabeth White, infant. |
| Dec. 9, | John L. White, age 28. |
| July 24, 1892 | William L. Riddick. |
| April 3, | James Samuel Harwell, age 50. |
| April 8, | Martha Eliza Cotten, age 73. |
| Aug. 16, | Mattie Johnson, infant. |
| Oct. 7, | James F. Whitmore. |
| Oct. 23, | Angelo Garibaldi, age 77. |
| Dec. 31, | Stephen Andrews, age 76. |
| Feb. 1, 1893 | Mary M. Hall, age 44. |
| March 2, 1893 | Richard Henry Smith, Sr., age 80. |
| March 26, | William Edward Smith, age 47. |
| April 9, | Araminta Pittman, age 50. |
| June 29, | Andrew Peebles. |
| Aug. 17, | George Turner, colored. |
| Aug. 26, | William W. Hall, age 39, son of Dr. A. S. and Emily Baker Hall. |
| Sept. 3, | Mary Ann Evans, age 84, wife of Dr. Samuel Southerland. |
| Oct. 20, | Louisa H. Boyette, age 46. |
| Oct. 20, | William H. Shields, age 66. |
| Dec. 18, | James Norfleet Smith, age 76. |
| Dec. 28, | Philip W. Purrington, age 29. |
| Jan. 7, 1894 | Maria F. Pope, age 55. |
| Jan. 14, | Sallie Cook Justice, age 77. |
| Feb. 27, | Alexander H. Smith, Jr., infant of Alexander and Irene Boyle Smith. |
| March 23, | Wilson Dupree Lamb, infant. |
| March 28, | Norfleet Smith, age 54. |
| July 12, | John R. Herring, age 60. |
| Sept. 17, 1894 | Eli C. Biggs, age 63. |
| Oct. 22, 1894 | Florence Coughenour, infant. |
| Oct. 31, 1894 | Theodore Lyman Crump, age 12. |
| Feb. 28, 1895 | Robert Benjamin Gammon, age 70. |
| April 27, | William W. Steptoe, age 64. |
| May 29, | Justice Edmunds, age 83. |
| June 2, | William David Anthony, colored infant. |
| June 4, | Cora Hart Shields, age 21. |
| June 15, | William M. Shields, age 42. |
| July 9, | John Suiter, age 35. |
| Nov. 7, | Susan Evans, age 85, wife of William Ruffin Smith. |
| Nov. 13, | William H. Smith. |
| Jan. 5, 1896 | Caroline Gilliam Hall, age 23, daughter of Dr. James and Mary Hall. |
| April 10, | Katy Lee Hudgins, age 9. |
| May 15, | Mary Jane Purrington, age 68. |
| May 18, | Robert Smith, colored. |
| June 8, | Sarah Eliza Lawrence, age 25. |
| June 9, | Dr. James M. Johnson, age 67. |
| June 22, | Jennie Coughenour, infant of John and Bettie Coughenour. |
| Aug. 9, | Eleanor Blanche Moore, age 12. |
| Oct. 3, | Alpheus Whitehead, age 66. |
| Jan. 8, 1897 | William H. Shields, infant of Walter and Rebecca Smith Shields. |
| Jan. 14, | Philip St. G. Barraud, Jr., infant of Philip and Sallie Barraud. |
| Jan. 31, | Mary Weldon Johnson, age 61, wife of Dr. James M. Johnson. |
| May 25, | Jesse Whitaker Gammon, age 20. |
| June 2, | Edward Wheatley Hyman, infant. |
| June 19, | John Pittman Darden, infant. |
| June 30, | Frances Margaret Nicholls, age 71. |
| Aug. 24, | William Frank Butterworth, Jr., infant. |
| Sept. 21, | Jesse R. Whitehead. |
| Dec. 9, | Infant son of W. D. Shields. |
| Oct. 18, 1898 | Henrietta Anthony, age 57, wife of Dr. William Wood. |
| July 5, 1899 | Lillian Steptoe Riddick, age 13. |
| July 11, | Dr. William Richard Wood, age 65. |
| Sept. 19, | Robert Powell, age 12. |
| March 27, 1900 | Walter Pittman, age 40. |
| May 19, | Dr. James C. Hill, age 54. |
| June 23, | Lena Smith Shields, infant of W. D. and Rebecca Shields. |
| June 29, | John Lyon Coughenour, age 4. |
| July | Leah Clark, colored, age 20. |
| Aug. 29, | James S. Darden, age 49. |
| Sept. 5, | Edgar Lee Pittman. |
| Oct. 21, | Dr. John Stuart Hall, age 49. |
| Dec. 4, | Winifred Witmore, age 72. |
| Feb. 5, 1901 | Benjamin G. Smith, age 64. |
| Feb. 11, | Florence Taylor, age 45. |
| March 10, | Richard Stuart Whitaker, age 46. |
| March 25, | Julia Spruill, age 67, wife of William Smith. |
| May 14, | Claudia Riddick, infant. |
| May 21, | Walter D. Shields, age 40. |
| June 1, | John Noah Pope, infant. |
| Oct. 3, | Susan Evans Smith, age 35. |
| Oct 15, | George W. Hudgins. |
| Dec. 30, | Mrs. Ellen Taylor, age 56. |
| Feb. 1, 1902 | Emily Baker Hall, age 28. |
| April 13, | Alex H. Smith, age 57. |
| May 25, | Sadie E. Coughenour, infant. |
| Oct. 19, | Eli Bishop Pope, infant. |
| Dec. 11, 1902 | Mrs. Felicia Savage, age 55. |
| Jan. 21, 1903 | Rufus Holmes Purrington, age 74. |
| Nov. 29, | Augustus Alexander, infant. |
| Dec. 2, | Helen Smith, age 12, daughter of Alexander and Irene Smith. |
| Dec. 24, | Alden Dunn, age 56. |
| Feb. 14, 1904 | Barsheba Smith, colored, age 80. |
| March 14, | Emily Turner Hall, age 81, wife of Dr. A. Stuart Hall. |
| June 22, | E. Nelson, age 50. |
| July 24, | Judge Thomas N. Hill, age 60. |
| Oct. 5, | Ben Cheshire Smith, age 81, colored. |
| March 16, 1905 | Virginia Peterson Cocke, age 55, wife of William E. Smith. |
| May 31, | Bettie Hyman, wife of Atherton B. Hill, age 69. |
| June 5, | Whitmel J. Hill, age 46. |
| July 9, | Annie Viola Snipes, infant. |
| Sept. 20, | Samantha Currie, age 80, wife of J. H. Currie. |
| Oct. 15, | Peter Evans, Smith, age 77. |
| Oct. 17, | Emma L. Outerbridge. |
| Dec. 7, | Martha E. Hyman, age 76, wife of Aquilla P. Hyman. |
| Feb. 7, 1906 | Archibald Stuart Hall, age 21. |
| Feb. 21, | Atherton Barnes Hill, age 73. |
| May 18, | Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Charles Whitmel Spruill, age 55. |
| May 29, | Anne Saunders, age 65. |
| Sept. 26, | E. H. Height, age 45, colored. |
| Nov. 14, | J. F. Applewhite, age 60. |
| June 12, 1907 | Anna Ware, age 26. |
| Jan. 26, | Clara Hill, age 54, colored. |
| June 2, | Rebecca Purrington. |
| June 5, | Mrs. Mary W. Riddick. |
| June 19, | Alice Shields, wife of Henry Allen Pittman. |
| Oct. 27, | Herbert Hyman, age 46. |
| Dec. 28, | Mr. H. A. Pittman, age 63. |
| Dec. 30, | Harriet Clark, age 80, colored. |
| Feb. 7, 1908 | Dr. Robert Alexander, age 69. |
| May 2, | Hariett Whitaker, colored, age 80. |
| June 24, | Josey Holt, colored, age 24. |
| Aug. 14, 1909 | Mrs. Adelaide Maria Smith. |
| Oct. 6, 1909 | Mr. William Henry Hopkins. |
| Oct. 29, | Mrs. Margaret A. Savage. |
| Jan. 26, 1910 | Richard Henry Smith. |
| Feb. 1, | Mrs. Alethia Johnson. |
| Feb. 8, | Mrs. Amanda Peebles Ferrall. |
| March 16, | Mrs. Harriet Elizabeth Cannon. |
| May 19, | Mrs. Alice Hyman Powell. |
| Aug. 31, | Miss Adelaide Evans Smith. |
| Nov. 27, | Miss Georgiana Steptoe. |
| Feb. 27, 1911 | Emily Baker Hall. |
| Feb. 26, 1912 | Mrs. Nathalie Cocke Robertson. |
| March 3, | Thomas Pender. |
| June 10, | The Rev. Richard Warner Anderson. |
| Oct. 24, 1915 | Mrs. Rebecca N. Smith. |
| Feb. 9, 1916 | George Smith. |
| April 19, | Margaret Rebecca Pearson. |
| Oct. 15, 1917 | Sally Smith Neal. |
| Jan. 19, 1918 | Sarah Eliza Smith. |
| Feb. 9, | Edward Wood Hall. |
| Oct. 3, | George Dunn, Jr. |
| Mrs. M. F. Pope. | |
| Feb. 10, 1918 | James Norwood Hill. |
| March 26, 1919 | Margaret A. C. Savage. |
| June 21, | Grimes, infant. |
| May 31, 1919 | Mrs. Ellen Speed. |
| June 14, | Jarl E. Bowers. |
| July 6, | Isaac Hall Smith. |
| Aug. 25, | Edward Hyman, Jr. |
| Oct. 22, | Mrs. Mattie Herring Josey. |
| July 30, 1920 | Sidney F. Dunn. |
| Aug. 22, | James Smith Paull. |
| Nov. 2, | John Young Savage. |
| Feb. 20, 1921 | Julian J. Crump. |
| May 17, | Charles Herbert Herring. |
| William Turner Joiner. | |
| Aug. 18, | Eleanor Stuart Smith. |
| Feb. 12, 1922 | Mrs. Charles Pittman. |
| June 6, | Martha B. Nicholls. |
| June 20, | Capt. William R. Bond, C. S. A. |
| July 23, | Caroline Alexander. |
| July 11, 1923 | Dr. James Edward Shields. |
| Aug. 9, | Mrs. Louisa Catherine Smith. |
| Sept. 6, | Gideon Lamb. |
| Sept. 24, | Joseph B. Hilton. |
| Feb. 18, 1924 | Martha Virginia Neblett. |
| March 6, | John H. Speed. |
| Aug. 2, | The Rev. Walter Johnston Smith. |
| Dec. 16, | Edward Wheatley Hyman. |
| Jan. 8, 1925 | Mrs. Jennice Allsbrook. |
| Jan. 31, | Charles William Albertson. |
| Feb. 4, | John Lucius Hooker. |
| April 6, | William Etheridge Whitmore. |
| Oct. 24, | James Harper Alexander, Sr. |
| Feb. 17, 1926 | Rufus Ivey Jones. |
| June 21, 1926 | Zachariah Taylor Vincent. |
| Aug. 13, | Mrs. Emily Brown Hill. |
| Sept. 8, | Charles Anthony Beck. |
| Oct. 19, | Joseph H. Saunders. |
| Oct. 13, | Mrs. Norfleet Smith, Sr. |
| Nov. 29, | Mrs. Fannie C. Saunders. |
| Jan. 24, 1927 | Mrs. Thomas Tillery. |
| April 22, | Linville Allen Darden. |
| July 23, | Mrs. J. O. Applewhite. |
| July 28, | Mrs. Kate Dunn. |
| Oct. 30, | Mark Turner Alexander. |
| March 26, 1928 | O. A. Snipes. |
| Oct. 15, | Hilliard Montague Leggett. |
| Jan. 4, 1929 | Mrs. Bettie Cotten Vincent. |
| Jan. 5, | Henry Haywood Hyman. |
| Feb. 4, | Mrs. Jennie Knapp Vande. |
| May 15, | Walter Mason Crump. |
| March 24, | Mrs. Edward Wheatley Hyman |
| July 25, | W. P. Darden. |
| Sept. 14, | Andrew Jackson Jones, Sr. |
| March 18, 1930 | Francis Robert Smith. |
| April 12, | Mrs. Bettie Mason Dunn. |
| April 17, | Dr. Henry Clark. |
| Oct. 23, | Mrs. Susie Cotten Walker. |
| Jan. 4, 1931 | Mrs. Nannie Paull Cotten. |
| Jan. 7, | Atherton Barnes Hill. |
| Nov. 2, | Abiel McConiber Vande. |
| March 6, | Dudley Whitaker. |
| Feb. 3, | R. F. Coleman. |
| Mrs. Willie Knight. | |
| Jan. 30, 1931 | Mrs. Mollie Knight Pittman. |
| July 21, | Thomas W. Hill. |
| Oct. 15, | William McDowell Dunn. |
| Feb. 28, 1932 | Charlie Speed. |
| March 18, | Mrs. John Speed. |
| May 19, | Dr. Charles A. Beck. |
| Bessie Dunn Stallings. | |
| Dec. 18, 1932 | Biscoe Sherrod. |
| Dec. 21, | Ben Bryant. |
| Jan. 10, 1933 | Dorothy Dunn McDowell. |
| Feb. 13, | Alethia Barrow Clark. |
| June 8, | Mr. Norfleet Smith. |
| March 14, 1934 | John Darden. |
| June 4, | Miss Kate S. Fenner. |
| Aug. 14, | Ernest Hodges Leggett. |
| May 20, 1935 | Mrs. Margaret Hodges Leggett. |
| May 26, | Nathaniel Cocke Smith. |
| Aug. 17, | Mrs. Claudia Keel. |
| Oct. 6, | Mr. Tom Fenner. |
| Aug. 27, 1936 | Mrs. J. A. Pittman. |
| Dec. 30, | Harper Alexander. |
| March 25, 1937 | John Baker Neal. |
| April 10, | William Herring. |
| Oct. 26, | Gilbert Elliot Smith. |
| Aug. 13, 1938 | Nannie Cotten Speed. |
| Oct. 12, | Sadie Hyman. |
| July 9, 1939 | Richard Hall. |
| Jan. 12, 1940 | A. L. Purrington. |
| Nov. 22, 1938 | Mrs. Sallie Baker Smith. |
| Jan. 18, 1939 | Miss Nannie Elizabeth Smith. |
| Jan. 18, 1940 | John Hyman. |
| April 17, | Mrs. Rebecca Whitmel Shields. |
| Feb. 4, | Mrs. John B. Cloman. |
| Aug. 2, | Miss Elizabeth Curtis Smith. |
| Jan. 25, 1941 | Thomas Douglas Temple. |
| Jan. 28, | Fannie Lamb Hyman. |
| March 14, | C. Frank White. |
| Aug. 5, | Mary Shields Alexander. |
| Jan. 4, 1942 | Gustavus Smith White. |
| April 22, | Albert Leyton Brown. |
| May 8, | Mrs. Nannie Flemming Taylor. |
| Oct. 1, | David Franklin White. |
| Dec. 6, | Enoch M. Cherry. |
| Feb. 7, 1943 | Lena Neville Robertson Cherry |
| May 10, 1943 | Lena Hill Smith, age 89. |
| May 9, | Mrs. Walter J. Smith. |
| Jan. 9, 1944 | Elizabeth Hall Bond, age 87. |
| May 15, | James Baker Hall, Jr., age 35. |
| May 27, | Mrs. T. W. Fenner. |
| July 9, | Mrs. Olivia Shields Lamb. |
| Nov. 7, | Robert George Shackell, age 77. |
| Jan. 12, 1945 | Roberta Hodges. |
| Feb. 18, | Nancy Bennett Flowers, age 70. |
| March 2, | Gavin L. Hyman, age 50. |
| April 20, | Albert Sidney Page, age 42. |
| June 1, | Mrs. Maybelle Sears Albertson, age 69. |
| Jan. 9, 1946 | Minnie Gray Riddick. |
| June 7, | Louise Stephenson Smith. |
| Aug. 19, | Newsome Allsbrook Riddick. |
| Dec. 12, | Mary C. Josey. |
| Dec. 14, 1946 | Willie Bishop. |
| Dec. 19, | Cary Knight Pittman. |
| April 20, 1947 | Mrs. Norma Cloman Kitchin. |
| Nov. 16, 1947 | Marjorie Marks, age 23. |
| Nov. 21, | Virginia Margaret Leggett, age 71. |
| May 13, 1948 | Stuart Hall Hill. |
| July 8, | Thomas Norfleet Hill. |
| Oct. 8, | Juliette Hatton Smith, age 72. |
| Nov. 18, | Infant of Chester and Mary Elks. |
| Jan. 1, 1949 | John Denby Hall, age 65. |
| Jan. 5, | Charles Henry Bell, age 78. |
| March 17, | John Timothy Riddick, age 81. |
| July 7, | Lydia Shaw Lawrence. |
| Aug. 27, | Georgianna Biggs Riddick, age 93. |
| Jan. 17, 1950 | Elizabeth Joyner Coughenhour, age 84. |
| Feb. 18, | Rupert H. Allsbrook, age 52. |
| Sept. 4, | John Frederick Pittman, age 51. |
| Sept. 10, | William E. Smith, Sr., age 75. |
| Sept. 16, | Mrs. Mattie Cotten Beck, age 74. |
| Nov. 19, | John William Flowers, age 76. |
| Jan. 18, 1951 | Elizabeth Pittman White, age 76. |
| Feb. 2, | Mrs. Etta Hall White, age 78. |
| April 3, | Irwin Clark, age 68. |
| Feb. 23, 1953 | Robert A. Shackell, age 64. |
| Sept. 26, | Rudolph White, age 61, (Enfield). |
| Dec. 4, | Isaac Hall Smith, age 74. |
| April 4, 1954 | Mrs. Nan Hill Smith Durham, age 89. |
| April | William Hugh Kitchin. |
APPENDIX I
The following list of marriages performed by the Rev. J. B. Cheshire (1814-1899) was kept by him in a manual of devotion, entitled The Clergyman's Companion. This book is now owned by his grandson, J. B. Cheshire III. Some of these marriages took place in Trinity Church and appear in the Parish Register.
| James Allen, Esq. to Miss Margt. West | July 9, 1840 |
| Thomas G. Tucker to Miss M. C. Capehart | Nov. 18, 1840 |
| Dr. Stuart Hall to Emily T. Baker | June 15, 1841 |
| Atlass J. Peebles to Miss S. S. Cannon | Dec. 15, 1841 |
| James Webb to Miss S. F. Cheshire | Feb. 17, 1842 |
| Mr. Alex. A. Austin to Miss Martha Joyner | Feb. 24, 1842 |
| Dr. Thomas to Miss M. S. Clark | Nov. 1, 1843 |
| Stephen Norfleet to Miss Frances H. Pugh | June 20, 1844 |
| Mr. Franklin Hart to Miss Sarah R. E. Bryan | Nov. 5, 1845 |
| Mr. Wm. T. Dortch to Miss Mary E. Pittman | March 17, 1846 |
| Dr. W. F. Williams to Miss Laura S. Pugh | June 16, 1846 |
| Jas. W. Strange to Miss Mary S. Hyman | Oct. 15, 1846 |
| Jos. I. Pugh to Miss C. D. I. H. Williams | Nov. 24, 1846 |
| Mr. E. D. McNair to Miss Elizabeth A. Cheshire | Feb. 11, 1847 |
| James D. Howell to Miss Martha A. Gray | July 29, 1847 |
| Dr. John G. Rives to Miss Lucy D. Foxhall | Sept. 20, 1848 |
| Mr. Wm. Hill to Mary Elizabeth Outlaw | Jan. 9, 1850 |
| Dr. Charles Smallwood to Miss Harriet I. Clark | March 20, 1850 |
| John H. Speed to Miss Ellen Edmundson | April 28, 1850 |
| Mr. Turner W. Battle to Miss Lavinia B. Daniel | May 1, 1850 |
| Charles W. Garret to Miss Mary Sugg | June 12, 1851 |
| Mr. John H. Whitaker to Miss Mary E. Anthony | June 17, 1851 |
| Mr. John Parker to Miss Eliza Jane Philips | Oct. 15, 1851 |
| Rev. Drane to Mrs. C. C. Hargrove | |
| Dr. John Hill to Miss Willie Ruffin | Oct. 23, 1851 |
| William Fenner to Miss Anna M. Smith | Oct. 28, 1851 |
| Mr. F. M. Parker to Miss Sally T. Philips | Dec. 17, 1851 |
| Genl. J. B. Littlejohn to Miss Sallie Field | Oct. 13, 1852 |
| Mr. Mathew Weddell to Miss Maria T. Clark | Oct. 20, 1852 |
| Mr. Peter E. Smith to Miss Rebecca Hill | Dec. 22, 1852 |
| Mr. O. W. Telfair to Miss Pauline D. MacNair | March 1853 |
| William H. Smith to Miss Julia A. Spruill | Dec. 1, 1853 |
| Mr. John E. Leary to Miss Lucy E. Anthony | Jan. 9, 1854 |
| Dr. James M. Johnson to Miss Mary W. Smith | June 13, 1854 |
| Rev. John H. Parker to Mrs. Ann Lord | Jan. 1854 |
| Robt. H. Lewis to Sarah E. Howard | Nov. 1, 1854 |
| Wm. M. Pippin to Mary H. Powell | March 21, 1855 |
| Dr. Jos. H. Baker to Susan D. Foxhall | May 16, 1855 |
| Mr. Kemp P. Battle to Martha A. Battle | Nov. 28, 1855 |
| George A. Smith to Rosella Wiggins | June 11, 1856 |
| William Carr to Elizabeth Irwin | June 11, 1856 |
| Frank P. Haywood to Mrs. Martha Austin | Sept. 5, 1856 |
| Eli C. Biggs to Martha C. Steptoe | Nov. 18, 1856 |
| Will. R. Cox to Penelope Battle | Nov. 27, 1856 |
The following inscription appears on the monument in the Baker graveyard on the so called Hall farm several miles north east of Scotland Neck near Cypress Swamp. The inscription is printed here because many of the people mentioned were active in the early history of Trinity Parish.
THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF DR. S. J. BAKER IN COMMEMORATION OF THEIR FATHER AND OF THEIR ANCESTOR THOS. TURNER AND HIS DESCENDANTS AND THEIR CONNECTIONS WHO ARE BURIED AROUND IT
Milly Turner, daughter to Thomas Turnermarried Jas. Smith, died and was buried hereTurner Smith, son of Jas. and Milly SmithBorn Jan. 21, 1757—Died Sept. 1778Betty Edwards, wife of Turner SmithDied a few months after her husband 1778Polly Turner, daughter of Turner and BettySmith Born July 3rd, 1778, married Dr.Simmons J. Baker of Gates Co. Oct. 29, 1795died after the birth of her 8th child Oct. 26, 1812Marciana Augusta Baker, daughter of S. J. andP. T. Baker, born Oct. 15, 1812 Died Sept. 17th, 1813Emily Turner eldest child of S. J. andP. T. Baker Born Feb. 3, 1797married Dr. B. B. Hunter—Died Nov. 9, 1822Ann Jones daughter of S. J. and P. T. BakerBorn April 25, 1801 married G. L. Stewart Died June 22, 1826Ana Maria sixth child of S. J. and P. T.Baker, Born June 20th, 1807 marriedDr. W. Hunter Died Nov. 1832Agatha Baker and Elizabeth Harveysisters of Dr. S. J. Baker are buried hereAlso Joseph Harvey, husband of Elizabeth and Eliza their daughterJohn Simmons, son of G. L. and Ann Stewart is also buried hereMartha, daughter of S. J. Baker and his second wife Ann C. Born June 9th, 1816 Died Sept. 9th, 1820Lawrence, son of S. J. and A. C. Baker Born Sept. 14, 1821—Died July 7, 1826William son of S. J. and A. C. Baker Born Sept. 5, 1825—Died Aug. 1831Lawrence 3rd son of S. J. and A. C. Baker Born Dec. 31, 1828—Died Sept. 1831Anna C. Baker, 2nd wife of Dr. Simmons J. Baker Died May 3rd, 1843Dr. Simmons Jones Baker, son of Lawrence Baker of Gates Co. Born Feb. 15, 1775—Died Aug. 18th. 1853![The history of Trinity Parish, Scotland Neck [and] Edgecombe Parish, Halifax County](https://iiif.lib.ecu.edu/cantaloupe/iiif/2/00016850_0001.jp2/full/!225,225/0/default.jpg)
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