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.
The Female Working Association still continues in active and successful operation. A resolution has been passed appropriating the avails of their labour (about $100 per ann.) to the building of a Rectory.
(Source: The Rev. William D. Cairns, Parochial Report, St. James’ Church, Wilmington, 1829 Journal of Convention, 13)
Today marks the end of the first year in the second half of the century in the life of the Auxiliary in this Diocese. If we are to be faithful interpreters of that life to others, there must be a steadiness of purpose in all that we do. We must rise above the difficulties and look beyond the problems that confront us; we must realize that growth involves change; we must know that the value of anything lies in the use we make of it. We must remember that after all what counts are our motives, our methods, our attitudes – they reflect our own outlook on life. Paradoxically as it may sound, the past fifty years reveal tremendous changes, yet there seems no change at all. The record of those earlier years discloses many of the same ideals and objectives, the same warnings and weaknesses, that characterize our efforts of today. It is conclusive evidence that those truths and ideals of life which constitute the eternal aspects of it always remain the same. It is true that we have grown numerically, financially, and I hope, spiritually – yet it is not the magnificence of glorious deeds that availeth, but the magnificence of a glorious spirit. And that is what I would have to stand out among us.
(Source: Rena H. Clark, President’s Address to the Convention of 1933, 1933 Woman’s Auxiliary Annual Report, 21)
This Parish has sustained a heavy loss during the past year, in the death of Mr. Thomas C. Lance, and especially in that of Mrs. Jane Boggan.
(Source: The Rev. S. D. Davenport, Deacon, Parochial Report, Calvary Church, Wadesborough, 1858 Journal of Convention, 38)
Since the appointment of Mr. Oliver Stancill to this work on the 1st of June, 1898, we have many evidences of progress. He is the first missionary stationed at this point and can, by wise and judicious management, mould the work according to his will. The future prospects are bright. Mrs. Stancill is of invaluable service in the school and church. We need a house for the missionary.
(Source: The Rev. J. H. M. Pollard, Parochial Report, Mission, Satterhwhite, 1899 Journal of Convention, 103)
Members of the McCauley family were the only petitioners for admission of St. Paul’s into union with convention who lived out their lives in Monroe. In 1878 difficult finances forced the Junior Warden to ask Mrs. Henrietta McCauley to turn over the money she had collected for the building of a church. In June 1885, she turned over $70 (“the proceeds of an entertainment”) toward the $1,000 purchase price of the Church lot.
(Source: Virginia R. Heath, History of St. Paul’s Church, Monroe, 8-11, Parish Files, Diocesan Archives)
This building was connected with the Palace built with princely magnificence by Gov. Tryon, of England. The building has been put in thorough repair by some friends at the North, and contains four rooms, in which we propose to establish three Church Schools, one of which is to be for the children of the poor, and to be under the direction of the ladies of the Parish.
(Source: The Rev. E. M. Forbes, Parochial Report, Christ Church, Newbern, 1868 Journal of Convention, 97)
Of the fund in parochial work with which to repair the church, on hand $155.75. I am glad to say God has put in the heart of one daughter of the church so to swell that fund that before the summer is over we will have beautified the House of Prayer so as to gladden many hearts.
(Source: The Rev. James Battle Avriett, Parochial Report, St. Paul’s Church, Louisburg, 1897 Journal of Convention, 85)
A recent item in News of Colored People said that Mrs. J. Herbert Jones, wife of the rector of St. Stephen’s Church, who is one of the national workers of the Child Study Commission, is doing a great work in their city in establishing a training course for those interested in kindergarten work and to do social and welfare work in the community. This worker obtained the endorsement of the city supervisor of playgrounds so that mothers might have charge of welfare work among the girls at the Fourteenth Street school playground, the only playground that is being maintained for colored children this summer. She has aroused great interest in child study among the women of her race. She has conducted classes and plans to hold still others. Mayor Coan, Dr. D. Clay Lilly, Mrs. J. E. Sills and other white leaders in the city have heartily approved the work. Mrs. Jones needs some central building to be used as a sort of central headquarters for the further conduct of the child study work. It is to be hoped that this need can be supplied. Colored churches in the city have shown a distinct interest in the work, and effective plans for promoting it are being shaped up more and more all the while.
(Source: Editorial from Winston-Salem Journal, quoted in The Carolina Churchman, September 1931, 11)
The church has just been completed and is one of the most beautiful in the State. Four hundred persons were within the doors when the church was opened the 9th of April… From a little Mission Sunday-school, started by some devoted women from St. Barnabas’ Church in Greensboro, this flourishing congregation has grown in two years, and many of the members are advocating its immediate formation into a Parish.
(Source: The Rev. F. S. Stickney, Parochial Report, St. Andrew’s Church, Greensboro, 1893 Journal of Convention, 110)
First Dividend on the Miss Auld bequest, Thirty Dollars, which, together with Twenty Dollars for Valle Crucis, were paid into the hands of the Bishop.
(Source: The Rev. Jarvis B. Buxton, Parochial Report, St. John’s Church, Fayetteville, 1849 Journal of Convention, 16)
