The Story Goes On
THE STORIES OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN
OF THE DIOCESE OF NORTH CAROLINA
IN THE WORDS OF THOSE WHO LIVED THEM.
We will tell the stories not because we live for the past but because the past informs the present,
and we must be present before we begin, with God’s help, to claim our future.
The story fragments below were collected and published during the five-year lead-up
to the 200th anniversary of the Diocese of North Carolina in 2017.
A faithful and devoted daughter of the Church has presented this Parish with a handsome Stone Font, and by her unceasing efforts and devotion, is doing much in other respects to promote the welfare of the Parish. I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to an aged lady member of the Parish for kindnesses of a personal nature.
(Source: The Rev. T. B. Haughton, Deacon Officiating, Parochial Report, Church of the Advent, Williamston, 1876 Journal of Convention, p. 112)
The contributions of the Parish Branch of the Woman’s Auxiliary have amounted to $15.17, most of which was given to St. John’s Hospital.
(Source: The Rev. Walter J. Smith, Parochial Report, Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, 1892 Journal of Convention, p. 126)
“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)
When celebrating her first Eucharist at The Chapel of the Cross on February 13, 1977, Pauli read from her grandmother Cornelia’s Bible, from a lectern given in memory of Cornelia’s owner, Mary Ruffin Smith. (This was also the first Eucharist celebrated by a woman in North Carolina.) In her autobiography (Song in a Weary Throat), Pauli wrote, “Whatever future ministry I might have as a priest, it was given to me that day to be a symbol of healing. All the strands of my life had come together. Descendant of slave and of slave owner, I had already been called poet, lawyer, teacher, and friend. Now I was empowered to minister the sacrament of One in whom there is no north or south, no black or white, no male or female – only the spirit of love and reconciliation drawing us all toward the goal of human wholeness.”
(Source: Sketch of Anna Pauline (Pauli) Murray by Margaret (Meg) McCann, November 2012, for “By Word & Example: Women Who Graced the Episcopal Church in North Carolina, 1817-2017,” a project of the Episcopal Church Women of the state of North Carolina for the bicentennial of the Diocese of North Carolina.)
The consecration of the Church erected in this place Leaksville was prevented by the prevalence of malignant fever during the Fall, which left hardly enough well persons to attend upon the sick or to bury the dead. I found the worthy Pastor just recovering from a fearful attack, and mourning the loss of a wife who, in the highest and best sense, had been “a help meet for him.” I should do injustice to my feelings, were I not here to express my admiration of her character, and my devout thanks to the Divine Head of the Church, for her good example.”
(Source: The Rt. Rev. Levi Silliman Ives, Bishop’s Address, 1847 Journal of Convention, p. 26)
The Ladies Sewing Society took upon itself the plans for a Rectory in 1878 and this was completed a few months later by acquisition of an old store and the remodeling thereof.
(Source: The Rev. B. T. Brodie, Rector, Trinity Church, Scotland Neck. From brief history in bulletin for Service of Consecration, April 25, 1943)
It seems almost impossible to build up a Parish where people do not stay in a place long enough to become interested in its work. The main human factor in that upbuilding has been lost in the death of Mrs. Jas. D. Glenn.
(Source: The Rev. J. D. Miller, Parochial Report, St. Andrew’s Church, Greensboro, 1897 Journal of Convention, p. 77)
In May, 1866, the first effort towards the erection of a church at Weldon was made by the ladies of the vicinity, under the special direction of Mrs. C. J. Gee and Miss Mary A. Long, the result amounting to $376.06, which was the nucleus of the church fund here.
(Source: The Rev. W. Lawton Millinchampe (sic), “Grace Church, Weldon, N. C.,” The Churchman, February 28, 1891, 324, Parish Files, Diocesan Archives)
In conclusion, I would record the liberality of the Female Prayer Book Society of Philadelphia, in forwarding to my care, for the benefit of the destitute, a hundred and forty Prayer Books of their beautiful edition. Our thanks are due for this needful charity.
(Source: The Rt. Rev. Levi Silliman Ives, Bishop’s Address, 1843 Journal of Convention, p. 16)
The Working Society continues, with unabated zeal, its unostentatious but highly useful labours. It is pleasant to observe, how one want after another, either of the Church or her Ministers, is supplied by the industrious hands of this small association of females; who manage to earn and to apply to various useful purposes, upwards of $60 per annum.
(Source: The Rev. George W. Freeman, Parochial Report, Christ Church, Raleigh, 1836 Journal of Convention, p. 25)
