f 7j > f be llrrali\ ' ? \ - ' rue* OSE DOLLAB PBB TEA.. \ "TRUE TO OURSELVES, OUR COUNTRY AND OUR COD. ? bi?0L7OOP,BTF^B~^ VOL. 22. SMITHEIELD, X. C.. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 190IL ~ N034. SMITH FIELD BAPTIST CHURCH. A Brief History of its Foun dation and Progress. Smithtield Missionary Baptist church was organized on the 14th day of July, 1882. While the record does not say so, it is pre sumed that the organization was effected in the old Academy build ing,Jwhich was torn down a few years ago Subsequent records show that the meetings were held in tne school buildiug until a house of worship was erected a few years later. The record of the organization is as follows: "Smithtield, July 14, 1832. "Elders William Clark, William B. i iuton and James Dennis be ii (.resent at a protracted meet-) iii_ Smithtield, and there being p.. ???ut several individuals who tin : been baptized upon the pro le.--' n of their faith in the Lord Jesii Christ, and not being con stituted a church, nor regularly belonging?o any church, the be- j fore alludeu to individuals all be ing present, the constitution be ing read to them (whicn see) and meeting their unanimous appro bation, were then regularly con stituted a church, by the above mentioned ministers, in the fear of irod and to the honor and glory of God's grace. "Signed, Win. U. W oeon, Clk "A true co.).' Yi-:liit-is. - hi e.i, Con_ _il ow'fell,Zeciieriah Har rison, Matthew A vera, 17. Females?Louisa Boon, Patsey Borden, Elizabeth Broadstreet, Julia Sanders, Martha A vera. Maria A vera, Elizabeth Talton, Sarah McCuller*, kerou Sanders. Mary Carter, Nancy A vera, Griz-< za Ann* Sumner. Sarah Bryan, Nancy Stevens, Mary A vera, Fat sey Fool, Sarah Fool, Fenny Clark, Elizabeth Britt, Pherebe Helme, Emily S. Ballenger, Fat- J sey Gulley, Elizabeth Sanders, Mary Terrell, Nancy Smith, Eliz abeth A vera, 2<>. t The next uieetiug of the church was held August IS, 1832, when thirteen other persons were ad- \ ded to the church upon a profes-! sion of their faith. At this meet ing Daniel Boon, David 11. Bryan J and William h. Guy were elected: deacons and William 11. Watson clerk. Elder James Dennis was called to the pastorate of t he church an 1 accepted the same.! The deacons were ordained on August 21, by the laying on of hands of Elders Trottmau aud Dennis. This day was set apart: by the church as a day of fasting [ and prayer. At a conference of ttie cDurcn i held on Saturdaj', September 22, 1882, a resolution was passed instructing the clerk to address a letter to the Raleigh Association asking for admissiou into that body. Brothers Daniel Boon and Harry \vera were appoint ed delegates to the association! to bear the communication. It seems that the church met every third Sunday and Satur-, day before. A church conference ( 'was held at each Saturday's meeting at which the peace and harmony of the church was dili gently inquired into. At almost every meeting several new mem bers were ftddei to the church, aud occasionally a disorderly member was excluded. The members of this church early believed in contributing to the support of the church as will be seen by referring to the min utes of the conference held Feb ruary 22, 1833. On that day a committee was appointed to see each member and find out how much each was willing to pay yearly to the support of the church. Soon after the church was or ganized steps were taken to build a house of worship The first ^ record of this work is found in i i I the minute* of the conference heW May 18, 1H.?{<$. On t\u\t Jay the following resolution vas passed: "Resolved, That wlim the Bap tist church in 8mith|eld shall have been completed, ir,shall he the duty of the Secretary to transcribe in the cburcn hook, the subscription list, together with the name of each individ ual, and the sums by theij sub scribed. that posterity* liuay know by whose liberaliti\*aid I church was built and mo\l>ar- ; ticularly, that thev may Auow | what denomination of Christians was entitled to supremacy." On August 17, 1888, Rawom Sanders and David Thomson vere appointed delegates to attend the Raleigh Association "to be held in the neighborhood of Smithfield and to commence the j Thursday before the first Lord's | Day in October next." Tin treasurer was directed "to pat ' over to the brethren above named two dollars for the use of the \*HL? t. T, , jjTw MlrHFtBLD OAl'tl - ? ( " i 'f V " -T"^ tlrir:i.pr-i:T,T?^ ? ? *" jlj- .ijiux.l.jiiuilw__ HUM j above association and also j money to defray the publication in the newspapers of the Camp Meeting in the vicinity of Smith field." The record for the third Sat Air day in December, 1833, is as fol lows: "In consequence of theab seuce of Brother James Dennis and more particularly the raiD.y bad weather there was no preach ing on this lay, but on Sunday Brother David Thomson address ed the congregation who appear ed to be not only attentive but serious." lhis church, which has done much for the cause of missions, began this work in its early life. At a conference held September 1!), 1835, the delegates to the Raleigh Association were in structed to advocate the contin uance of the work of theitinerant preachers within the oouuds of said association. At this same meeting a contribution of ten dollars was voted to "brother Oakley for services rendered as an itinerant preacher within the bounds of this association." At theJOctober meetingm 1835, the church appointed David Luceford a delegate to the Bap tist State Convention, This is the first record we have of the church being represented in the Convention. We have no record when the church held the first meeting in its own house of worship. It is evident that as soon as the church was organized a building committee was appointed and steps were taken to erect a house as soon as possible. From the best knowledge obtainable, we think that the house was com pleted about the close of the year 1835. Rut the records show that the building was not paid for then and that Elder David Thomson, who was quite a well-to do man, advanced the money to complete the building. In July, 1838, t he church passed an order to pay Elder Thomson the sum of $232, which he had advanced on the building At the May meeting in 1839 a com mittee was appointed to raise funds to paint the church both inside and out. In 1841 the belfry was completed Mr. Thomas Ives, fat he* of our townsmen. John and Walter Ives, was one of the carjienters who built the church. Mr. Ives was a member of the church end died here about 1S">7. During tiie church's early hie tory it licensed two of its mem hers to preach, Viz: David Thom son and bryan Holland, both these men were men of ability and thoroughly interested i:i their Master's work. It is large ly through the efforts of Eider Hollaud that bethesda church was orgauized. He held a meet ing in that section in 1S41 ami several joined and an arm of Hia Smithfieldchurch was established, bethesda church was organized March 1S42, with 24 members From this beginning bethesd.< chutch has grown to be a very large and infieuontial one. During the e-rl.v days of the church its discipline was very strict, as will be found from such resolutions as the following "Itesolved, That the names of the members of the church be called once a quarter and any member neglecting to attend two quarterly meetings without | a justifiable excuse shall be dealt: with for a breach of the church i covenant." This order was passed at the March meeting, 1839. The subsequent history of the church tor the next few years shows that they tried to live up to this resolution. At the June meeting 1839, Thomas Lockliart and Ransom Sanders were chosen deacons and were ordained at the August meeting. In 1841, nine years after the church's organization, it was decided to raise the pastor's salary to $125 per year. The uien who were the backbone of this church in its early days; believed in taking care of the old and worn ouc preachers, and in 1840 the delegates to the Ral eigh Association were instructed to vote for the raising of a fuud for superannuated preachei-s The foregoing is a brief history of the church from itsfounda ion to 1844. The records of the church from 1844 to 1868 lave been lost and we are compelled to pass over this period, oue of the most interesting and perhaps the most trying period in toe life of the church. Elder James Dennis served the church as pastor from its foun dation to 1844, and perhaps longer. From what we can learn of him, he was a man of great power and influence. During his ministry here the church grew very rapidly, scarcely a monthy meeting passing without adfi tions to the ctiurch, and sone times there were as many as 15 who asked for baptism at the regular Saturday conference We would be very gladtokvw more of Elder James Dennis Jand should any reader of this sV happen to know anything of him or his history, the writer would greatly appreciate having it sent to him. The next record we have is of a conference held on December 15, 18(58. it that time the pastor was Elder Weaver and E. 8. Moore was clerk Protein. For twenty years or more after 1870. the church had many ups and downs. In 1870 there were abeut 80 member-. Through 4 nonie cause these began to drop ] off, one by one, until a few years i later there were scarcely a dozen (: active members in the church , I Dr. \V. B. Harrell was pastor ! in 18(lft and 1870, resigning in < December of the latter year. He i was succeeded by Dr. William i Royall of Wake Forest < 'ollegi' who served the church only a few months, having been called to the church in Charlotte. There is no record of any church meet ings from September 1N72, to ?I u 1 v 1873. and again from March 187-4, to February 1873. It was perhaps during these years that old AuiOt Putney Crocker looked after hbe church. It is said that she went to the church on the regular meeting Saturday of each month, swept out the church, and knelt down in prayer asking that (iod would yet revive the church. This good old lady was given a home by Mr. P. T. Mas sey as long as she lived. During these dark and gloomy years there was an occasional service held at the church by some min ister of other denominations and at one time, it has been said, that a'church of another faith ai d order was about to be orga nized, when old Aunt Patsey Crocker went and cluimed the church building in the name of the Baptists. It is largely through her influence and faith ' *l;e ideutity of the Mist nonary Fapttofc church at iL.: plac; laintai '. The pastors of the chip -a e since Dr. Royall have been in - cessive order as follows: Re?c. F. R. Fnderwood, C. J. Nelson, I^evi Radford, Jno. F. Ellington, Jno. I>. Davis, J. K. Howell. L. C. Brickhouse. J. R. Jones, W. C. Nowell, O C H ?i F. H Pis ton, J. ? !' '11' ' ?> ! . Tot ' : and Jm 'A ski; e During r.-h vea - ?->- and . if to* been hifurn J ,i - h ""I'h, 'Hi'! esp ?. ... Rev. Jno. W. So tile has been its pastor. He was called to the pastorate of the ehurchon December 13, 1897, and since that time he has worked earnest ly and faithfully for the cause in thiscouuty. During his pastor ate here the membership has in creased from about 00 to more than 100. Iu 1899 thecburcb decided that | they needed a larger and better house of worship. On February 20th, of that vear, a building committee was appointed to take the matter in charge. But nothing was done except raising some little money until the fall of 1901, when a building lot on thei corner of Johnson and Fourth Streets was purchased, the price paid being $.700. .!. W. SUTTLE. Pastor l Hmlthfield Baptist Church. I The work on the new church fvas begun on April 10, 1002. ITheiwork was pushed as rapidly (lis possible, but the church was iilit completed until July, 1903. Tmouirh Snot comple ed, services i?t her objects, *.ss 27; Castor's i ?salary, $250,00. Total, $1,5+5 - 25. The Kmitlitiekl Baptist Church, I while not strong in numbers or wealth, has been a great power for good iu this section. It has i been a nuclues from which has grown an influence which has been ttie means of the establish ment of several churches, among them being Bethesda, (already mentioned above) Sardis, l'isgah, Blackmail's Grove, Hood's Grove, (organized October 17, 1003) and perhaps others. Khiloh hutch, organized in 1800, was constituted by mem bers, pri 1- c tally from this church, among it -' i being D. H. Hol land, V\\ . r II. Moore and Wil liam H. s ders. Dr. W if Harrell, in a letter published in the North Carolina! Baptist two years ago. says that it was through the influence of Mr. Alfred Holland, a deacon and also clerk for many year of the iSmithtleld church, that the Baptist church in Winston was established. No one can measure the iullu ence of the church here. It has been through all the 71 years of its existence as a city set on a hill. Jt has had its dark and .'.?itiomv days. Yet it has stead ? 1" p ey. Tuesday and Wednesday, were some where near six hv?t bales sold here on the/ days. ng styles The Recital last Fri most this ing, notwithstaudin^i^'i'INGS, greeable weather, nounced success. ' contest later in thj h t ? interesting and inp? r I). J. Thurston a to-date. W. Shore wone th Ladk,g Migge8 Mr. Lofton E will sen aH ]ow oldest men in Cla. , i.? died at the home /' ' / . I L. EM'" lorget that I ' ;? >tV' 2i> He !i-e. j.u go -ftT>oot for siJ on ac Cic*-t h conducted he S rial service. Oct. 2>- S. W.