USA > North Carolina > A history of the development of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, and of the Synodical home missions, together with evangelistic addresses by James I. Vance and others > Part 6
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The object was to place, or help to place, evangelists in .. every county in the State, to get groups of churches in the way of self-support, and to have the Presbyteries to assume the support of the evangelists as soon as possible. To this end thousands of dollars were raised by Dr. Smith alone, not to speak of the considerable amounts raised by others, and the people were stimulated by his presen- tation of the cause to give liberally, and thus much land was possessed and many souls were saved.
Dr. Smith was ordained as co-pastor of the Greensboro Church, with his honored and venerable father, Rev. Jacob Henry Smith, D. D., in October, 1886, and this relation continued until he became pastor of the West- minster Church in Greensboro, from which he was called to the work of the synod in 1890. Early in 1894 he re- turned to the co-pastorate with his father, which con- tinued until the death of his father, in November, 1897. He then had sole charge of the large First Chunch of Greensboro, giving to it his untiring and successful labors, until 1906, when he removed from the synod to Louisville, Ky. He did a noble work for the Synod of North Caro- lina, a work which attracted the attention of the whole Southern Church, and which placed North Carolina in the forefront as to Home Missions, and the synod will never cease to owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Egbert W. Smith.
But, notwithstanding the retirement of Dr. Rose and Dr. Smith, and the stringency of the times owing to the money panic, the work went steadily forward. New fields were opened, new men were employed and the con- tributions increased with the demands of the work. A large number of evangelists were now employed by the Presbyteries for a part or all of their time, and aided in their support by the synod's funds. The synod had
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very few local or district evangelists whom it supported entirely, but the object was to help the Presbyteries in overtaking their destitutions by synodical means. The success of the whole scheme depended largely upon the labors of these evangelists, and they did, and are still doing, a grand work, the results of which cannot be tabulated or written in a book like this.
About this time, however, profound attention was directed to the labors of at least three of these local evan- gelists-Messrs, Miller, Pell and Black.
In May, 1892, the Rev. Cornelius Miller began his work as synod's local evangelist in Stokes county. At that time there was no Presbyterian church and no Pres- byterians with which to form a church in the county. In the long ago there were one or two feeble Presbyterian organizations in this county, one at Sandy Ridge and one at Snow Creek, but not a vestige of them now remained. The first point at which Mr. Miller began to preach was at a school house in the northwest part of the county, near the residence of Mr. Robert W. George, one of the wealthiest farmers and one of the most influential men of the county, and at that time Mr. George was not a professor of religion. In the summer of 1892, Mr. Miller began operations to build a church at this point, Mr. George subscribed liberally, and with some help from the neighborhood and from kind friends in Winston and elsewhere, the church was built, and on May 28, 1893, the building was dedicated to the worship of God by the Rev. D. I. Craig. A vast crowd was present, almost ex- clusively of the Primitive Baptist "persuasion," the only Presbyterians being present were the two preachers, Messrs. Miller and Craig, and an old gentleman by the name of Hines, who was a wandering tailor stopping in the neighborhood. In the following summer two young
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men, Messrs. W. K. Forsyth and E. E. Gillespie, semi- nary students, assisted Mr. Miller and organized a Sun- day-school, with Mr. Gillespie as superintendent. This was probably the first Sunday-school ever known or conducted in that community. Miss Mamie McMillan and Miss Eleanor Coble, who were teachers of the public schools of the neighborhood, greatly assisted in the Sun- day-school, and did missionary work. In July, 1893, the Rev. William Black assisted Mr. Miller in a meeting, with blessed results. Such a meeting had never been known in that community. The first convert was Mr. Robert W. George, and he was followed by many, in some cases whole families coming together. In the following Octo- ber Dan River Church was organized with 58 members.
In the winter of 1892, Dr. Rose assisted Mr. Miller in a meeting at Danbury with blessed results. A church building was immediately begun, and in 1894 Mr. Black held a meeting there with Mr. Miller, and soon after- wards the Danbury Church building was completed, and the church was organized with 33 charter members.
In the summer of 1894 Mr. Miller held a meeting in the woods, in the northwest corner of the county, assisted by Mr. L. A. Coulter and Rev. A. S. Caldwell. Twenty- nine persons were received into the Presbyterian Church, but there was no building. Mr. George, heretofore re- ferred to, proposed to the people on the ground that he would pay one-half the cost of a church building if they would raise the other half. The proposition was accepted, and soon afterwards the Asbury Church building was completed, and the church organized and dedicated.
In another region, inhabited largely by blockade dis- tillers, Mr. Miller preached faithfully for a long time under great difficulties and bitter opposition ; but finally he organized a small church known as Snow Hill. He
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was greatly assisted here by a noble young lady, Miss Annie Query, who taught school and boarded right in the midst of the blockaders.
In 1896 Orange Presbytery licensed and ordained, as an extraordinary case, Mr. Robert W. George to labor as a native evangelist in Stokes county and the surrounding country.
For some time Mr. George had been practically preach- ing, going from house to house and holding prayer meetings, and telling the people what the Lord had done for him. Very soon afterwards he built a church, which was afterwards organized and known as Pine Ridge, in the edge of Surry county, adjoining Stokes. He was instrumental in building and organizing Pine Hall Church, in Stokes county, and also Sandy Ridge Church, in the same county, paying half of the cost of both build- ings. Mr. George is a wonderful man-a wonderful monument of God's grace, possessed of a strong mind and body, a big heart and full of the Master's Spirit. He has done, and is still doing a great work in his native county.
Mr. Miller left the field in 1897, and was recalled to it in 1899. In the mean time the churches were supplied by Rev. S. S. Oliver and Rev. Robert W. George. After Mr. Miller's return he strengthened the work he had planted, and sowed good seed abundantly. He preached in the highways and hedges, in school-houses, under brush arbors, in the woods and everywhere. His name and labors will never be forgotten in Stokes county. He left the synod in 1903, but returned again, and at present is a beloved minister of King's Mountain Presbytery, and resides at Dallas, N. C.
A similar story, with perhaps more thrilling incidents and along somewhat different lines, might be told of the
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wonderful labors of Rev. R. P. Pell, in Mitchell and .. Watauga counties. The data is not in hand to give a detailed account of Mr. Pell's work, but it was far more than that of an evangelist. It lay along educational lines as well as preaching the Gospel, and was far-reaching in its results, and if the data were in hand, the story of the beginning of the great educational work at Banner Elk, in Watauga county and at Spruce Pine, Plum Tree and Elk Park, in Mitchell county, would have to be told. The story would require a whole chapter in itself, as one of the great results of Synodical Home Missions.
Mr. Pell was ordained as an evangelist of Orange Presbytery September 2, 1887, and he was a most faith- ful and successful evangelist of Orange and Albemarle Presbyteries until June, 1891, when he entered Mitchell and Watauga counties as the district evangelist for the synod. At that time there was no Presbyterian church in Mitchell county, and only one small church in Watauga. The following is a condensed summary of Mr. Pell's work, given to the synod in 1894, viz .: "Churches in charge, 4; mission points, 5 ; communicants, 162; Sabbath schools, 4; pupils, 275; day schools, 3; pupils, 275, with 7 teachers; regular prayer meetings, 3; seven elders and four deacons; buildings completed, 4, and I partly com- pleted (and for the past year), 40 acres of land secured, 45 baptisms, 68 additions, and money collected for church and school purposes, $787." Last year Mr. Pell had re- ported that he had cultivated 10 points with considerable regularity, and had collected $1,543; and the year before he states the donation of 50 acres of land. Hc travelled1 hundreds and hundreds of miles in his buggy and on horseback over hills, mountains and dales, and held an unknown number of services in sowing the good seed, which are now bringing forth an abundant harvest. He
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left the synod early in 1905, and at present is the honored president of Converse College, at Spartanburg, S. C.
The Rev. William Black was licensed by Fayetteville Presbytery January 17, 1893, and on the same day he was transferred to Mecklenburg Presbytery, where he im- mediately began his work as evangelist in Union and Anson counties. He was ordained May 9, 1893, and the report of his year's work to the synod of 1893 was as follows : " Personally conducted 218 services and assisted in 96; professed conversions, 757; additions to the Pres- byterian Church, 102; churches built, 2 and I organized ; Sunday-schools organized, 2; elders, 4, and deacons, 2 ordained ; baptisms, 79 adults and 2 infants."
The splendid reports of others who were engaged in evangelistic work about this time, such men as Rev. M. McG. Shields, Rev. W. C. Alexander, Rev. F. W. Far- ries, Rev. C. W. Robinson, and many others, might be cited to show the progress of the work.
But enough ; the work went steadily forward in spite of all difficulties and hindrances.
The year 1894 marks the beginning of the career of the Rev. William Black in full connection with Synodical Home Missions, which connection has continued uninter- ruptedly until the present time, a period of more than thirteen years.
As has been stated, Mr. Black was elected superin- tendent to succeed the Rev. Dr. Smith January 15, 1894, and he entered upon the full duties of superintendent, in- cluding the work of general evangelist, on February 15, 1894. It was at a time when the whole country was be- ginning to feel the depression in business on account of the money panic, but at the end of the year the reports showed marked progress along all lines. The sum of about $23,000 had been raised in the synod for evangelis-
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tic work, and all the workers had been paid without. _ incurring debt. There were now forty-six evangelists, synodical and Presbyterial, at work in the synod, for the whole or part of their time; and through these it was reported that there had been 1, 198 additions to the church, and of this number 526 were reported by synodical evangelists.
During the next two years the financial embarrassments of the country were felt more keenly, and the contribu- tions to the work suffered a slight decrease, while the demands of the work increased. Consequently there was a deficit; but in spite of the deficit the work went steadily forward. The policy of the Presbyteries and of the churches had now become so fixed as to render the con- duct of the work somewhat easier and more certain and satisfactory. Yet it was felt that the combined work of superintendent and general evangelist was too heavy a burden to be borne by any one man, and ought to be separated. For example, the reports of 1895 and 1896 showed that Mr. Black had held 45 meetings, had preached more than 700 times, had added 728 persons to the church, and had acted as secretary and treasurer, which involved the writing and mailing of hundreds and thousands of letters and circulars ; collecting and disburs- ing all the funds, looking after the work of the whole field, and raising money for its support. Consequently the synod of 1896 recognizing the need of more active prosecution of the financial side of the work, and not wishing to draw more of the superintendent's time from the evangelistic work, in which he had been so eminently blessed, the synod authorized the committee to secure the services of an assistant superintendent. But when the committee met it relieved Mr, Black, the general evangelist, of the entire responsibility of the conduct and
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support of the work by electing the Rev. A. J. McKelway, D. D., superintendent, to take charge of this part of the work, and in order that Mr. Black might devote his entire time to the work of general evangelist. The next synod endorsed this action of the committee, and this plan has been continued until the present time, and the Rev. Wil- liam Black has been re-elected by the synod, usually by a rising vote, from year to year, as the one general evan- gelist of the Synod of North Carolina.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CONTINUED PROGRESS, AND SOME OF THE RESULTS, OF SYNODICAL HOME MISSIONS IN NORTII CAROLINA, AND THE MEN OF THE TIMES.
The Rev. A. J. McKelway, D. D., was elected and entered upon his work as superintendent in January, 1897. During a part of this year he gave only one-half of his time to the work, the other half being given to his pastorate in Fayetteville. He also published for a time a paper called " The Synodical Evangelist," which was a source of much information and help to the cause. During the administration of Dr. MeKelway, which was nearly two years, he attended the meetings of the Presby- teries, visited a great many churches, and by personal appeal secured, in cash and subscriptions several thous- and dollars for the support of the work. As many as five or six new counties were opened to Presbyterianism, and as many new men were placed in the field. Dr. McKel- way was a faithful and efficient superintendent, and under his administration the work was aggressive; but about this time he became manager and editor of the "North Carolina Presbyterian," and the ever increasing demands of the work required the whole time and energies of a man to present the cause to the churches, from year to year, and to keep the financial needs adequate to the demands. Consequently, at the meeting of the Synod of 1898, Dr. McKelway resigned as superintendent, that he might give his whole time to editorial work, having be- come editor of the " North Carolina Presbyterian."
The responsibility of the work of the superintendent
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devolved again for a short time upon the Rev. William Black, general evangelist.
In order to show the progress of the work about this time, and especially the increasing demand for all of the time and energies of a superintendent, it is only neces- sary to revert to one of the results of Home Missions in the year 1896. It was the formation of Asheville Pres- bytery, set off from Mecklenburg, on November 12, 1896. This Presbytery is composed of II counties, 19 churches, Io ministers and 1,000 communicants. The territory lies west of the Blue Ridge, and embraces the counties of Buncombe, Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Hender- son, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Transylvania and Swain. This Presbytery was almost entirely missionary ground and greatly increased the duties of the superintendent. In 1896 there was no Presbyterian church in four of these counties, and there were not more than 150 communi- cants all told in about four of the other counties com- bined. At the present time every county has been entered, and there are 25 churches with more than 1,700 communi- cants, and nearly $22,000 in aggregate is raised in the Presbytery. There have been great transformations in that part of the country within the last ten or twelve years, and whatever of good has resulted in this region from Presbyterianism through evangelistic efforts, a large share of that good is due to the earnest missionary spirit and great liberality of the First Presbyterian Church of Asheville, under the able leadership of its beloved pastor, the Rev. R. F. Campbell, D. D. And in conjunction with this church, due credit should be given for the success achieved to the Rev. R. P. Smith and the Rev. E. Mac- Davis.
The Rev. R. P. Smith became a member of the synod and pastor of the Gastonia Church in 1893, and from that
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day until the present time he has been identified with --
evangelistic work. After a most successful work as pastor of the Gastonia Church he became the general evangelist for Mecklenburg Presbytery, and he labored in some of these counties before the Asheville Presbytery was formed. After the formation of the Presbytery, he be- came its general evangelist until 1904, when the synod called him to the office of superintendent of Synodical Home Missions. For more than eight years Mr. Smith was evangelist of this Presbytery, and during that time, as a brother minister has said, "he was eyes, ears, hands and feet to the Presbytery's Home Mission Committee." HIe travelled through the valleys and over the mountains in all sorts of conveyances, on horseback and mule-back, with or without saddle, and often on foot. He preached to the people in churches, school houses and groves, by the wayside and from house to house. He planned most of the buildings erected, purchased the material, and superintended the work from start to finish. He organized churches and schools, fostered them with his personal care, and found preachers and teachers to take charge of them. Thus he was not only "all things to all men," but well-nigh "all men to all things." Mr. Smith is a man of lovable disposition and temperament, and has a great fondness for children, and he has never failed to find an open door to the homes of the people, with whom he has labored and with whom he is exceedingly popular. He is a faithful and earnest preacher, his manner showing that he believes what he preaches, and much of the success that has marked the mission work in Western North Carolina has been due to the wisdom, energy and conse- cration of Rev. Robert P. Smith.
The Rev. E. Mac. Davis was the pioneer evangelist of Madison county, beginning his labors in the summer
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of 1897 and continuing until 1904. In the brief reports to synod of his work we learn that he preached at about thirty-eight points, distributed thousands of tracts and books, and travelled thousands of miles. He organized three or four churches and a large number of Sunday- schools and mission summer day schools. He secured for teachers and as helpers in his Sunday-school work from time to time during his sojourn of about six years, and usually without cost to the committee, the following persons, viz. : Misses Margaret Allison, Elizabeth Tucker, Elizabeth and Fanny McPhearson, Janie Vaughan, Bessie Black, Urbie Myrover, Kathrene Jarrell, Ethie Vickery, Lula Barnett, Miss Ferguson, Miss Rea, Anna McDon- ald, and Mr. T. G. Rogers. Misses Allison, Black and McDonald were with him, perhaps, longer than some of the others, but a great and grand work was done by all of these noble, self-sacrificing women. Mr. Davis was a man of strong convictions of truth and righteousness, and was absolutely fearless. He had many conflicts with the illicit distillers and whiskey interests in this county, and at times his personal safety was threatened, but in 1901 he won a great victory in his field by his valiant labors, resulting in the passage of a prohibition law covering three counties. We cannot estimate the value of this faithful soldier's service for the Master in that section. The churches he has left behind him, with a membership of perhaps 200 are his memorial. He did a fine work, and the people will not soon forget his zcal and energy and noble efforts for the cause of God and humanity.
After the resignation of Dr. A. J. McKelway as super- intendent, in October, 1898, the Rev. William Black, general evangelist, acted as superintendent the remainder of the year, and in January, 1899, the committee, in its wisdom, selected for the office of superintendent the Rev.
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. E. E. Gillespie, a young man of splendid attainments, . .. and an evangelist of Orange Presbytery, who entered upon his work as superintendent January 16, 1899. Mr. Gillespie continued in this position, filling the office of superintendent with great acceptance, ability and success, until the end of the year 1904, a period of six years, within which time great things were done for the ad- vancement of the Kingdom of Christ.
It will be remembered that the first permanent Commit- tee on Synodical Home Missions was constituted at Char- lotte in 1889, and the first report of that committee was made at Wilmington in 1890. At that time the report showed that the synod was composed of six Presbyteries, including Albemarle, which had just been formed, 127 ministers, 275 churches and 26,189 communicants. The report also showed that the following 27 counties had no Presbyterian church within their borders, viz .: Alleghany, Ashe, Bertie, Brunswick, Camden, Cherokee, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Graham, Greene, Hertford, Hyde, Jackson, Madison, Martin, Mitchell, Northampton, Pam- lico, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Stokes, Tyrrell, Washı- ington and Yancey ; and 19 other counties had but one Presbyterian church each, making 46 counties either wholly or almost destitute of Presbyterianism. The re- port, moreover, showed that the aggregate funds raised in the synod for all causes and reported to the Assembly amounted to $194,385.00, and that there were not more than twelve ministers engaged for a part or the whole of their time in evangelistic work.
In 1900, after a lapse of ten years, the reports show that there were 7 Presbyteries, 160 ministers, 377 churches, 34,634 communicants ; only 17 vacant counties, 23 Presby- terial evangelists, 14 ministers, not including the super- intendent and general evangelist, and a large number of
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male and female teachers, doing evangelistic work, and that the aggregate amount of funds collected for all causes and reported to the Assembly was $220,946.00. -
Thus it will be seen by this comparison that at the end of ten years there was a decided advance along all lines in overtaking the destitutions.
The names of the ministers employed under the direc- tion of the Synodical Committee for a part or the whole of their time, and at some time during the past ten years are as follows :
Superintendents-Rev. Alexander Sprunt, Rev. E. W. Smith, Rev. William Black, Rev. A. J. McKelway and Rev. E. E. Gillespie.
General Evangelists-Rev. W. D. Morton, Rev. E. W. Smith, Rev. W. E. McIlwaine, Rev. John M. Rose and Rev. William Black.
District or Local Evangelists-Revs. Messrs. C. W. Maxwell, J. C. McMullen, R. P. Pell, F. H. Johnston, C. Miller, M. McG. Shields, W. C. Alexander, C. W. Robin- son, F. D. Farris, D. J. Currie, Jonas Barclay, B. Soulier, John Wakefield, L. A. McLaurin, Edgar Tufts, L. E. Bostian, A. K. Pool, J. E. Balou, E. Mac. Davis, John Grey, P. C. Morton, James Thomas, F. D. Thomas, C. N. Wharton, E. D. Brown, W. T. Walker, W. M. Shaw, J. E. L. Winecoff, E. P. Bradley and Allen Jones, Jr.
There were also a number of Presbyterial evangelists in no wise connected with the Synodical Committee, and all of these brethren labored faithfully and efficiently, and were the instruments in God's hands in disseminating the truth in preaching the pure Gospel, in building and or- ganizing churches, in the conversion of thousands of souls, and in strengthening the faith and comforting the hearts of tens of thousands of God's people. It is impossible to estimate or reduce to figures the good results of the
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labors of these men during these ten years. God only knows. There were also a number of teachers, mostly ladies, of mission schools, whose names are not at hand, who did a noble work and rendered great assistance to the Home Mission cause.
Of the above named ministers, at least four of them, the Rev. F. H. Johnston, D. D., the Rev. Paul C. Morton, the Rev. E. Mac. Davis, and the Rev. A. K. Pool, have gone to their blessed reward, and have joined scores and scores of those who heard them preach and sing the story of redeeming love while on earth.
The Rev. Dr. Johnston and the Rev. Mr. Morton be- longed to that class of ministers who had labored faith- fully and long before the origin of synodical missions. Dr. Johnston was the son of a missionary, and was born in Constantinople August 8, 1834. He spent the first six- teen years of his life in the far-off land of Asia Minor. He came to North Carolina, the native land of his fathers, in 1851, and was educated at Davidson College. For thirty-three years he was a beloved and successful pastor, first at Lexington and afterwards at Winston, N. C. He was the honored stated clerk of old Orange Presbytery for twelve years, and was elected general evangelist be- fore the formation of Albemarle, and in 1890 he was residing within its bounds. He continued in the evan- gelistic work until his death, November 14, 1901.
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