This Parish is an ideal one as a Diocesan Mission. The Parish school under Miss Nannie Smith’s direction, and the Church attendance, too, have demonstrated that fact. Much interest has been manifested, and many signs of church life have appeared. There are 85 names of children on the school roll, and many more not there. Twenty-five families are closely associated with the Church, and probably twenty-five more families are associated members. And all speak well of it. The Parish school’s good work and results have shown very clearly that here is the place for building up a model Mission, with institutional features, i.e. industrial branches, and with branches also that have to do with good standards of living, practically as well as theoretically. To carry out a conceived plan we must have means to build and to furnish with at least the bare necessary equipment. At first there was the church building; now a church and school. We need, immediately, an organ, and several other smaller necessaries for the church; desks for the school-house, paint for both buildings, paint and materials for another building. It is not a question of keeping alive, but a question of whether the Diocese will allow it to grow.
(Source: The Rev. Royal G. Shannonhouse, Parochial Report, St. James’, Iredell County, 1900 Journal of Convention, 91)