HISTORY OF THE WAKE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION ITS AUXILIARIES ...

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HISTORY OF THE WAKE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

ITS AUXILIARIES AND CHURCHES

1866-1966

For convenience we have labeled the second period leading up to the half century mark as the Golden Years. It is unfortunate that dur-ing this period of our history, some of the minutes are lost. The year 1893 found the Reverend Joseph Perry as Moderator; Dr. N. F. Roberts, Clerk ; C. H. Williamson, treasurer and Reverend G. W. Perry as auditor. This session was held with the New Providence Bap-tist Church near Fuquay.

Among the major objectives of the Association at this time was special study for those men aspir-ing for the ministry. The Associa-tion sponsored the fallowing courses: "Reading, writing, arith-metic, United States History, sys-tematic theology (Pendleton) The The Church (Harvey), Deaconship (Howell), Church Discipiine (His-cox), Homiletics (Broadus) and History of the Baptist Denomina-tion."

This course of study was adopt-ed unanimously by the A!!sociation. The churches with in the bounds were to see that no person who could not pass satisfactorily a min-imum of the above fundamentals be ordained to the Gospel Ministry.

Another objective of the Asso-ciation was assistance to the Grant Orphan Asylum as it was known at that time. The Reverend Robert Shepard was the superintendent during the early nineties. He pre-sented one of the students from the Orphanage who was able to name all the books of the Bible.

The total salary for all pastors for the "year 1893 was $3,197.00; money collected for home mission $67.43; Foreign Mission $39.15 and the Orphan Asylum $77.32.

Another noteworthy custom of the Association was preaching under the arbor. This was a shelter made of poles and covered over with brush. There were home made benches placed in the stands with a rude type of pulpit. Services of a business nature would take place in the churches while singing and pr~aching would take place under the arbor. Different pastors and preachers would be assigned to this

CHAPTER II

THE GOLDEN YEARS 1891-1916

part of the service. The Minutes of 1898 assigned Dr. J. J. Worlds to preach at the "stand."

The Thirty-fourth Annual Ses-sion of the Wake Baptist Associa-tion held with the Friendship Bap-tist Church, Forestville. Minutes show that Reverend J. J. Worlds was Moderator; Dr. N. F. Roberts was Clerk; Dr. A. W. Pegues as Treasurer, and Reverend G. W. Perry, auditor. Dr. Worlds tenure was from 1901 to 1912. He was the pastor of the First Baptist Church and served as · pastor on two oc-casions; from February 187 4 to 1880 and 1886 to 190?. It was while pastoring the church' on his second tenure that he was the Moderator Wake Baptist Association. Dr. Worlds' bioJ?raphical sketch says that he was born in Harnett Coun-ty near Lillington, North Carolina.

The 1904 Session of the Wake Ass::iciation met with the New Providence Baptist Church; the 1905 session met with St. Matthew Baptist Church and the 1906 Ses-sion met with Juniper Level Bap-tist Church. The 1912 Session was held with Mount Bright Baptist Church, Hillsborough, North Caro-lina. It was at this Session that Reverend J. W. Ligon the Vice Moderator was moved to the Mod-erator's chair; Dr. Roberts was continued as clerk and Dr. Pegues continued as treasurer. This same year death claimed three of the Association's distinguiehed leaders in the person of Augustus Shepard, Reverend Joseph Perry, Moderator and G. W. Perry a pastor. The me-morial services were conducted by Dr. J. J. Worlds, H. Pair, A. T. Price, H. T. Cooke and William El-lerby.

The 1913 Session met with the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. The 1914 Session met with Union Grove Baptist Church. The total membership for the Association re-ported that year was 7150 per-sons. This same year saw Dr. Worlds, the former Moderator go to his eternal rest.

Nineteen Hundred Sixteen mark-ed fifty years of existence of the Wake Baptist Association. This Session was held with the Wake-

field Baptist Church August 16-17. Dr. Ligon was still the Moderator and Dr. Roberts was still clerk.

The pastoral roster of the Wake Baptist Association for the Golden Jubilee Year included: Bethlehem, Reverend C. C. Clark; Felts Chapel, Reverend R. W. Underwood; First Baptist, Franklinton, Dr. A. W. Pegues ; Good Hope, Reverend A. B. Vincent; Gethsamane, Reverend Harmon Pair ; Jones Hill, Rever-end A. T. Price; Liberty, Reverend C. F. Pope; Main Street, Louisburg, Reverend J. H. Halbert; Mount Moriah, Reverend J. S. Davis; Mar-tin Street, Reverend C. H. Mayes; Macedonia, Reverend M. L. Nichol-son ; Mount Pleasant, Wake, Rever-end C. C. Clark; Mount Pleasant Franklinton, Reverend L. H. Brooks; Middlesex, Reverend J. S. Stanton; New Light, Reverend C. H. Dunn; Oak City, Reverend J. W. Jones; Pleasant Grove, Reverend A. T. Price; Springfield, Dr. J. W. Ligon; Spring Hope, Stoke's Chap-el, Reverend C. H. Dunn; Wake Chapel, Reverend J. W. Jones; Wakefield, Dr. G. W. Moore; Friendship Chapel, Reverend J. W. Jones; Zebulon Baptist, Dr. G. W. Moore; South Park, Raleigh, Rev-erend John Dunston; Baptist Grove, Reverend R. B. Jones; First Baptist, Wilson, Reverend P. Wat-son; Holly Springs; Dr. G. W. Moore, Juniper Levi, Reverend A. T. Price, Little Zion; Reverend P. S. Alston; Malaby's Cross Road Reverend H. Pair, New Bethel: Reverend D. S. Salter, New Provi-dence, Reverend W. A. Jones, Ober-lin, Reverend S. H. Witherspoon Old Liberty, Reverend R. J. John: son, Olive Branch, Reverend M. C. Ransom, Riley Hill, Reverend H. Pair, Tupper Memorial, W. T. Cole-man, Saint Matthew, Reverend H. Pair; Union Grove, Reverend W. T. Coleman, Union Baptist, Reverend D. J. Avery, Wendell Baptist, Rev-erend S. S. Hall, Woodland, Rever-end W. H. Freeman.

The statistical report for the year of 1916 showed salaries paid to pastors·by the churches amount-ed to $6,817.00. The total member-ship for that same year was 7,030 persons. · '

We have labeled this period of tory from 1916 to 1941 as the

· mond Years of the Wake As-tion. The 1917 Session of the

ake Baptist Association was d with the Olive Branch Bap-

st Church. The Fifty-Third Ses-lon was held with the Holly

rings Baptist Church August 13-5, 1919. The 1920 Session was

d with Springfield Baptist urch. The official roster for that

ear was: J. W. Ligon, Moderator; armon Pair, Vice Moderator; N.

~. Roberts, Clerk; S. H. Wither-n, Corresponding Secretary;

. C. Clark, Auditor, and W. H. ray, Statistician; Reverend W. , Turner, Dean at Shaw Univer-'ty was the pastor of the Church. t this time, the Constitution of

'lhe Association was amended to in-ude .. the• Wmnarus:,··s1Auvci'liary hich was recently organized. Mrs. essie Barrett presented the As-

ation $60.00. There were forty urches represented that year

!'th $1,009.06 collected from urches, the public offering col-cted was $58.43, the total receipts

'/.or that session were $1,221.50.

The Ministerial Roster for this 'od was as follows: Baptist

rove, R. B Jones; Bethlehem, everend H. M. Jones; Felts Chap-

1, Reverend R. B. Darden ; Friend-·p, Reverend J. W. Jones; First ptist, Franklinton, Dr. A. W.

egues; First Baptist, Raleigh, Dr. , E. Askew ; First Baptist, Wen-ell, Reverend R. Crockett; Flat ock, Reverend J. H. Jones; Good ope, Reverend A. T. Price; Geth-

Emane, Reverend Harmon Pair; lly Springs, Reverend W. S. rner; Jones Hill, Reverend A. T.

!Price; Juniper Level, Reverend A. :f, Price; Liberty, Reverend C. F. fope; Little Zion, Reverend P. Alston; Malaby's Cross Road, Reverend Harmon Pair; Mount Moriah, Reverend J. S. Davis; Mount Bright, Reverend H. G. Pope; Mount Pleasant, Reverend C. C. Clark; Mount Pleasant, Franklinton, Reverend J. Mc-Knight; Martin Street, Reverend fE. Wimberly ; Macedonia, Rever-~nd W. H. Freeman; Middlesex,

CHAPTER III

THE DIAMOND YEARS

1916-1941

Reverend E. Nelson; New Light, Reverend J. W. Powell; New Bethel, Reverend D. L. Salter; New Providence, Reverend M. V. Cannady; Oberlin, Reverend S. H. Witherspoon; Old Liberty, Rever-end J. W. Higgins; Oak City, Rev-erend J. W. Jones; Olive Branch, Reverend M. C. Ransom; Pleasant Grove, Reverend A. T. Price; Riley Hill, Reverend H. Pair; Saint Mat-thew, Reverend A. T. Price; Springfield, Reverend J. W. Ligon; Stokes' Chapel, Reverend S. H. Witherspoon; Tupper Memorial, Reverend T. H. Dwelle; Union Bap-tist, Reverend,J. H. Jenkins; Union Grove, Reverend L. A. Brooks; Wake Chapel, Reverend J. W. Jones; Wakefield, Dr. C. E. Askew; Woodland Chapel, Reverend W. H. Freeman; Zebulon, Reverend M. V. Cannady; Mary Grove, Reverend S. A. Todd.

The 1922 Session of the Asso-ciation met with the First Baptist Church, Franklinton, North Caro-lina, August 16-18. The 1923 Ses-sion met with Saint Matthew Bap-tist Church. The 1924 Session met with New Bethel Baptist Church, Rolesville, North Carolina. At this session, Reverend Stokes was moved from the Clerk to the Vice Moderatorship and Dr. 0. S. Bul-lock was elected Corresponding Secretary and, Reverend C. C. Clark was elected auditor

1925 was a -significant year in the life of the Association. It marked the close of the Moderator-ship of Dr. J. W. Ligon. He had led the Association well. 1924 was the last year in which Dr. Ligon presided over the Wake body. l'hirty-nine churches represented that year with total receipts of $1,715.69.

Dr. Ligon was a native son of Wake County, born November 12, 1869 in Method, North Carolina. His parents were Washington Ligon and Amanda Dunn Ligon.

As a boy he attended rural Wake County Schools. He graduated from Shaw University with A.B. in 1889. He did further study at

the University of Chicago. Shaw University conferred upon him the honorary D.D the spring of 1925. He died June 28th, 1925, just a few months before the Annual meeting of the Association in August.

The 59th Session of the Wake Baptist A,ssociation met with the New Providence Baptist Church, August 12th-13th. Dr. N. F. Rob-erts tended his resignation after thirty-five years of service to the Association, from 1890 to 1925.

New churches recommended to the Association was River Dell Baptist Church, organized and in Gospel Order, pastored by Rever-end A. W. Seawell. The majority of these members later merged with the Good Hope Baptist Church, Shotwell.

The Committee on Officers made its report: "We, Your Committee on Officers, beg leave to submit the following report:

Moderator, Dr. G. W. Watkins; Vice Moderator, Reverend C. C. Clark; Honorary Clerk, Dr. N. F. Roberts ; Clerk, Reverend George S. Stokes; Corresponding Secre-tary, Reverend A. A. Morrisey; Honorary Treasurer, Dr. A. W. Pegues; Treasurer, Dr. 0. S. Bul-ock; Auditor, Reverend M. W. WiI-liams; Statistician, Brother J. W. McAllister.

Respectfully submitted,

E. W. Montague J. W. Jones C. P. Harris W. H. Ray A. Horton A. I. Goodson; 1

The statistical report for 1925 shows the following:

Number of members added to the church by baptism, 983; Num-ber excluded, 131; Number lost by death, 118; Value of Church proP-erty, $162,500.00; Total Amount Contributed, $19,814.99; Number of members gained, 98.

,With the death of Dr. J. w. Ligon, Dr. G. W. Watkins, pastor