Of the 13 signatories in the year 1900, 8 were women

“We the undersigned residents of the town of Wilson in the Diocese of North Carolina do hereby apply to the Right Reverend Joseph Blount Cheshire, Bishop of said Diocese, and request him to organize us into a mission of said Diocese in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of the same; and we do hereby engage to be governed by the Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of North Carolina and in the United States of America, and to submit in all things to the doctrine, discipline and worship of said Church. Witness our hands this 2nd day of March in the year of our Lord Nineteen Hundred.”

This petition had 13 signatories, 8 of whom were women: Pearl Palmer, Ella Palmer, Ida R. Clark, Henrietta Hill, Lucy Haris, Minnie Williams, Bertha Wells, Mammie L. Peacock. The efforts of these women resulted in the creation of St. Mark’s Church in Wilson.

(Source: Cheshire Papers, Diocese of NC archives)