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Good Shepherd Episcopal ChurchChurch of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church I Cooleemee Compiled Information from the Collection of the Martin -Wall History Room of the Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina Table of Contents Images 1-4 History 5-18 Priests 19-21 Book by Jim Rumley 22-25 Book by Marie Craig 26-27 Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina Images Pages 1 - 4 Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, EPISCOPAL, COOLEEMEE This Episcopal congregation, the Church of The Good Shepherd, was organized and the first building erected in 1901. The present building, Parish House and Rectory were built between the years 1924 and 1928. page forty-seven From Churches of Davie County, North Carolina By Thomas L. Martin DAVIE COUNTY ENTERPRISE RECORD, Feb. 3, 2000 - Down County Public u6r" Mockswiie, NC ``i L U N 4 m v L 2 - Down County Public u6r" Mockswiie, NC ``i n 0 Z 3 IF rr �; �W� CSO c .d w. p U7. r- Co r N 45 z —� n o � oT co 40 19 n 0 Z 3 Z"d � Xv:R Good S*Vend) F- i5s p V Cooleemee 7 N.C. History Pages 5 - 18 Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina Good Shepherd Episcopal Church Our church was founded in 1901 as an "Industrial Mission" in the new cotton mill town of Cooleemee, NC. Rev. Francis J. Murdoch of Salisbury was instrumental in the region's campaign to create textile manufacturing following the devastation of the Civil War. Where he helped to build mills, he also helped plant Episcopal churches. The first Good Shepherd Church was a wood structure. Our Parish House was added in 1912. As with so many other churches in Cooleemee that relied on pot-bellied stoves for heat, it suffered from a fire. In 1925, the wood church was replaced with this Gothic -style brick structure. In these pews Cooleemee people worshiped The Lord together. Our congregation helped to erase social lines between mill overseers and ordinary cotton mill hands—lines that might have hardened in other industrial Q settings. Spinning Room girls like Mary W Howerton and her daughters Mabel .i. Q 40 10 Missionary Ethel Louise Byerly Nurse Margaret 119 Greene I Lila and Virginia as well as mill workers Claudie and Frances Boger shared the communion cup with Cooleemee Journal editor J.C. Sell, Dr. A.B. Byerly, banker John Rice and Weave Room overseer J.D. Goins. In the eyes of God, they were all his children. The Episcopal Church gave Cooleemee its first church building. In a cooperative effort Good Shepherd and Erwin Mills organized a medical clinic in 1930 run by nurse Margaret Greene. Here, Cooleemee kids got their immunization shots. This church also gave Cooleemee its first foreign missionary, Ethel Louise Byerly Simmonds. Today, Good Shepherd's doors remain open to all who wish to join us for our regular service at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Members of this small parish remain active in God's service to the community. People of the Cloth The Cross A shuttle &t a spindle for the symbol of Christ's sacrifice Cotton Boll The symbol of God's Creation from which we are clothed Et fed Mill Hand's Prayer A symbol that God loves the humble and hears their voice The Mill House Asymbol of family, the blessing of Holy Matrimony, the love of children Ft neighborhood I We seek to become a missionary diocese. Once upon a time, there existed the field of "Industrial " missions along side the "Colored" and "Deaf" missions.. Between 1883-1900 the Episcopal Church of North Carolina experienced one of its greatest periods of growth. In the course of these seventeen years, 58 new churches and chapels were erected and 25 missionaries were sent into the field. Among these evangelists was Francis Murdoch who was instrumental in founding sixteen "Industrial Mission" outposts among the new textile mill towns and villages appearing in the Carolina countryside. St. Pauls and Good Shepherd were two of them. When Cooleemee's mill closed in 1969, it was a harbinger of things to come. The old Salisbury Mill is now closed. Within the next five years, what we have known as the Southern cotton textile industry may cease to exist. Thousands of blue collar workers are being laid off, no longer tending cards, spinning frames and looms. The images of the Good Shepherd stole have been created to remind us of our heritage of girls, boys, men and women who worked with their hands. So, too, should it remind us of a mission field right before our eyes. On the occasion of the consecration of the Good Shepherd Stole by Bishop Michael Curry April 28, 2002 - Church of the Good Shepherd Cooleemee, MC 0- LV\SCOVioc-is0ow .Dtl€Pt. F -V Excerpts from a remembrance of Father Simeon J.M. Brown "I suppose that every reader of "The Spirit of Missions" knows that two of the most important branches of our work in the South are the missions in cotton -mill towns and those in the country districts... "Here, in the Piedmont section of North Carolina, rather off the beaten track, the Rev. Simeon J.M. Brown has for many years been quietly and effectively laboring among the country people and mill workers, bringing to them the strengthening and enlightening influences of the historic church... "Reared on a farm only a few miles from the field of his present work, the descendant of some of the first settlers in this region, Mr. Brown was prepared by his Lutheran training for the order of the Church's ways. There, too, his natural taste for music found its highest expression; for during many years he was a singing teacher, riding in regular circuit, in season and out of season, to hold classes in a school -house and a country chapel or in the mill villages near by... I "From the farm and the singing classes, Mr. Brown went to the Salisbury cotton mill as a weaver. It was there that th, remarkable priest, the late Dr. Francis Murdoch, found him, and, guiding him into the ministry, gained his energy and resource- fulness for the work of the church. "Let us visit the heart of this group of mission, Cooleemee mill village. Here on the South Yadkin River, where the roar of the waterfall mingles with the rattle of the hundreds of looms, nestles the town on the tree -covered ridges... Nearby, under the oak trees, shines the honest white face of the Church of the Good Shepherd. This was tha first place of worship built on the "hill," and it has ever since been a light -bearer to the community... `.Back of the church building you ca: see the new parish house. With but little outside help, the congregation has built and paid for this very simple yet suitable little building, at a cost of $1,000. To the `Saint Agne's Guild' of the women of the church is due to the carrying -out of the long series of efforts which have been crowned in the completion of the building... "The Girls' Friendly Society does not regularly meet in the parish house, but on `neutral ground' in a large room over the company store down the street ---for the seventy-five girls of this branch represent every religious organization in the place. As you are reading these lines, perhaps many a girl of the Cooleemee G.F.S. is making her rounds, up and down the long aisles of the spinning -room at the mill, her deft fingers catching up many a loose thread on the four to eight `sides' that she runs from day -light till dark. But perhaps that familiar pin she wears at her work calls to her mind her comradeship in that great family of girls all over the world; perhaps it brings back to her the happy days at the sea -shore last year at the Wilmington Holiday House, where a score of these girls heard the roar of the breaks for two weeks instead of the whir of the machinery... 'During the long, up -hill pull to get the parish house built, it was he [Brown] and his wife who inspired all with their unfailing enthusiasm and energy. But this is a congrega- tion where everybody is a worker; and in the choir, the Junior work, the GSs' Friendly, and Sunday -school entertainments, how much interest and happiness have not these willing, cheery people brought into a community almost destitute of amusements for its young people... "The life and labors of this faithful servant of Christ have been a powerful influence for good throughout this entire .— - -- countryside. Let us not, at this time of his r.; weakness, suffer a work so unselfishly rendered to his Master to fall to the ground from The Spirit of Missions." ---By the Reverend Theodore Andrews "The Spirit of - Missions," circa 1918 Ceaaleemee. W . 11 191 • To th. -Right everand Joseph Blount Cheshire, L•, Bishop of ;oa-th C :,-ro1ina, ..-Ra 1 e i zh , north Caro1ina� ::izht =avenend -z ther in o �Ye the undsr'�i nes., bein, adults, desirous that we be yo.:ned into a �.i sion of 1.he Protestant :Episcopal Church in the ioc.sse of North Carolina do certify that :*re consent to be governed Y the Constitution and Canons of the Church, as set forth in ,he enaral Convention, and b7 the Con:atitution and Canons of the Church n "u -hi..-,: Diocese: V s 10 r, ILA r- fF VF OAVIE CO, PUBLIC UBRARY MOCKBViLL'.F4 NO for the Pas W"X. G: W Creeps of Cana, was in .town Monday, W. G Lindsay, of Rowan, veal. in town last week. Netud Will m; colon -d' died 1 -Monday night,a She was sure -all She — old wDulan. . trFrs. Thos. If Gaither, of Cltar- �lgtte, carne np to tse`leer brotber, it>r J A, Kell) during his illness Miss Cfa a L„atfin,reached home from Darhalu last wcek, ql ite sick., uuprnving, glad to Stal( AetorAleS E L,';Gaither is able to be out again after two or three weeks illxexs tett tri .e Mrs Iy G i Pahltot of I ouis hiirq W 7Ja , rs t4ltinti her sister, min G.rA.” rllisuu, at, A,dvauce._ johuatcri and 'sou uox, Lire visitu:�Mvn Eohni;ton's p.lreni „MY. and Mr>, B. A. KPgx at CltvOaud lily r 713 Qowotttn has',ascuin �.•1��u a J�. xnt +who has Siad) ,tell oorary c, aFF,e crit nit, of try nein, h,s accepted ,a _pail tfuw tht l';esbs .ter an etturclt at.'>?.iocksrille 17e Will pr at,4-tette ypx �uutl I1 c ;, bToUtlaXaR�rpkt��+t.�tralYsx Clif- ford dowa and pbiced hirer in jatL Walter's !Pwd Js &Cted and: be t Iles heen:iilakmg 11i) at., Yo horn �+ soRreA( Capa IteofJe's i ap-rt�. I'oteat,_ L';gtu Tomlinson aid I n1L`Appling lcft 5attutlat. "bean }puny alto have been isoik-1 fnrilinire factory --for Chuncil at Qtiolee-"a ha5 :been Stars. .. _ r ".. � . -and Mflrlles- ,'gjpirtq�eN;�+vul;hrerof R. J. ,,roan I °` .Wem uplttd to ata?rrlag� ;ui.'at � tt1�±?t at ileniison s (7ltapel. _ : ,rp�r �Hn�r_1on of Ch tlottr, tvlti �G has hent U, yn el -8..l Ct—Yr g here at the Baptist ehtirch; returned home 1 .cyatttrdi y. He "lade many f1.nepes %w N ltrle.here. ' Mr, JohnK F'ostcr, oldest son of Berry Foster, decd, died at, his .- homIo,JQ` lahalu. to e^ wnship Sunday nivllL. aiea .58 years: Mr. Fo:ter Ed ward .M. Auderspv, formefly of Calabalri township, .died pt,.his. - - home it llioutezunna, Iowa, 't-_cp 27th, aged 65 years::' He leaves a oti"Awn nf. relatice4 Yh Davin . (Davie Record; Feb. 22, rgot.), rave you a rtppe ye The furniture factory vvas shute ,dot wn several days last veek, .,Will bleronev; of Statesville was sit town oue.day last- ,week. Miss Luoa Holland, of Winston,, "visjied Itfrs: R S' Grant last week. ''George Tarker, of Tbotuasville -,Ga , spent la few days In town last,, 4a�ek.' Jacob Stewart and B. Q. Morris ;;attended :at, 00gates from the{. hxoeksvilli I,y4e, the Junior Or, d,cr State`:fyonvcgtion at VJiuston� last vveel .i' W, ,0. Brown .4nd P. Fork.of Hickory, :�atopped over in Mocks '.rille last week on their way. home £roux. Winston. Mrs. Brady Angell died last week of »,uewonia. She leaves a bus• 17agd and five, childmi. The editor visited .`Winston last) ,veek antj'. was in : several stores ,vhile theTg, in which he did not Mrs. J, Ellis dices at Iter home at Elbaville recently, Site was.;ti' d�aughterof'FI.Ii. Rubel [son, de-, ceased: Two ctiildreu, a husband, four brothers and one sfstersttrvi vE;- T. B. Walker has accepi,4'' . 'position in Statesville, slid lit! left.- Mocksville on Saturday for his new howe. hir.Rhew,.Supe rvureudentof the.i farniitire factory at this place, -heft for Atlanta 5atrrday_ We heal he hag accepT&d a pq;,itjUn utI Ittarion. : ]tlr..: and ribs. Bill Eooc, ofl Jericho, visited rtolatives in Solis•r bury.: recently. Mr-., :co,rel,, ilFutvn, :of uear J¢rtcltp, is very III yttllh .sEUtnpI11A. l Mr un Firs. Il st lr9.11 ;' EiPllesus, who have been quite vick,:' are improvtng,.bµctu..ir little .,onl Gilmer, continues quit licit: 'i'here ace ay,ead mauv rasCs .r; t. grippe in Jericho and T phesus Sec- M. D, Leiser litecontra tar buildillK the Il copal chuieh atl (wooleIQ, to ee. Tha hpi'diu is 26xi.4 feet and is located in x beautiful l grove. _ .. see a single customer. SoiuetWng� .ia wrong ..�. �7 l,l 3.,i:ix of Davie has[ t3C0 l� :.i�•lv Inalt �i4en.9 Ulke jQb,JAllug $8 VCr, ' - flay. fie" y looking after Indlau de,predattou claims in Texas. Georgexi Tucker; while ;killing.. k o,s aepr` 4dvauce, had the utis• ""fortune to get one of his -homes - Ant very badty, hal, £C;iul ngby and bliss bliumit; ! .Uyers were married oil the 24Lb,` DOVE.Ca. PUBUC Ll�irdtRly 7 . J, Ellis; i sq, o f cipuny, 4 F. A4..:Williuiusis moving -from, '. 'ML)OKS{ f1LLF, NO Advunce to Eixbv, and will occupy -: the D. R. Davis shouse. ... -. . The grippe has _struck Advance _. au many.pI. the People '1 sere ezc� ynite ell. ;� . Tlte.0 >�,ta tokin',pq ,?I Of pueurrtonla at.couicVulee. Ali"f .00p&' VgC9t{ FTC%: Rnbl u: on �•:� G• fundait a e v, £lt with pneumonia. two car toads of machinery art rived at Gooleemce lost week for COPY G n o �� ¢ r -v. c..• Rev. Norvin C. Duncan 12 von Ruck Court Asheville, N. C. Dec. 16th, 1963 Dear Mr. Huske: I regret to say that I do not have an extra copy of my book, and if I had it would not be of much help to you, as it contains only a picture of the Cooleemee congregation taken about 1930 which is in the book along with a poem. Somewhere in my numerous scrapbooks I have an article, or rather.one about my work. I doubt that there is much of the history of the Church in it. As you know, Dr. Murdock was instrumental in establishing the Church there, and some of his students took the services. Mr. Wm,, A. Erwin also was active in the mill work at Cooleemee. While you are getting your material there is one thing that I hope you will include as the contribution of the Episcopal Church to the Community, and that is the Clinic which I established, and which Mrs. Margaret Green carried on so successfully for many years, You probably have the story below which was written by one of the ministers who came after Robinson, but I do not recall which one. "The first service of the Episcopal Church in Cooleemee was held in an Episcopal building. The Rev. Francis Murdock, noted for his ability as priest and teacher, was likewise famous as a designer and builder of cotton mills. And whenever he built a mill he built an Episcopal Church. The mill at Cooleemee was scarcely built and the houses were not all up (1901) when an Episcopal Church stood on the present site. That was the way of the Rev. Rrancis Murdock. The first Sunday School supt. was Ashe Bost, who at that time worked in the mill office. The services for a time were carried on by Dr. Murdock, and by the Rev. Mr. Osborne, Arch- deacon. The first resident minister was the Rev. Thomas Trott, a. pupil of Dr. Murdock. He was; succeeded by the Rev. S. J. M. Brown, likewise a pupil of Dr. Murdock, who served until his death in 1920. The parish house was built in 1912, through the efforts of the Woman's Auxilliary. The Rev. Mr. Brown was succeeded by the Rev. J. C. D. Wilson during whose pastorate the congregation was organ- ized with warden, clerk, and treasurer. After Mr. Wilson the Rev. Mr. Skerry served for a brief time. Then the Church was without a pastor for some time, during which the congregation built the present beautiful Church building and the rectory. In 1908 the Bishop appointed Mr. J. H. L. Rice lay reader, and he served in the capacity many years. For a considerable time the only regular services were those conducted by Mr. Rice; and he conducted the first service in the new Church building. In 1927 the Rev. N. C. Duncan became the minister in charge of this congregation. He well long be remembered and his name honored; for it was under his leadership that the Church gave to Cooleemee the "-clinic* {, The EpiscopalA fins given to Cooleemee the first Church build- ing, the first religious service, the first layman to conduct regular services,,the+first candidate for the ministry the first new Church and the first missionary to foreign parts, �at was Ethel Louise Byerly.) DAME CO. PUBLIC LJSPj, p;Y 2 MOCKSVILLF., `>0 . �DD jet m 4:,2,c: - The following h$ve served as pastors: Rev. S. J. M. Brown March 1906 to 1920; Rev. J. C. D. Wilson, Nov. 1920 - Dec. 1 1923; Rev. Mr. Skerry)Jan. 1926 - Aug. 1926: Rev. N. C. Duncan, Dec. 1926 - June 1931; Rev. C. E. B. Robinson)Sept. 1931 - June 1946: Rev. W. P. Price,Aug. 1946 - March 1949: Rev. Thomas Aycock July 1950 - Oct.: 1951: Rev. L. G. Roberson June 1952." From then .on :I.: am sure that you are familiar with the record. I mention the clini'c, not because I had anything to do with it, but because through it the Episcopal Church rendered a truly great service to Cooleemee. Please excuse the many xes. I did not have time for erasures. It may seem strange for a man 80 years old, who had a severe operation in July, to be talking about being busy. Yet, it happens to be true. There is never an idle moment, and I am getting a real kick out of living. I am enclosing a clipping which will give you some idea of what the "old man" is doing. I trust that the Good Shepherd Church is flourishing, and I know that a Huske with your background of family service to the Church, is doing his share to keep things moving. In my collection for a pictorial history I have several Huskes. If I can run across any more information I will pass it on. With best wishes for a happy Christmas, I am, Faithfully yours, (Norvin C. Duncan) i� P. S. I'd like to have the clipping returned thoughA there are a few "'Old Timerb" there I ' d like them to see it. WME CO. F'UBUC Lik"'P RY MOCKSVILLE, NIC 103 C o rr=..- The Asheville (N.C.) Times, Saturday, Nov. 16, 1963 VETERAN CLERGYMAN RECALLS AN EVENTFUL SO YEARS BY Marguerite Alexander "There is so much of heaven all about us in this world. If we could only see it - if men had not made such a mess of things,".' the Rev. Norvin C. Duncan mused this week as he prepared to celebrate his 80th birthday anniversary on Tuesday. Mr. Duncan who is known and loved throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina, expla3�ned that sitting in his garden at 12 Von Ruck Court, he was able to visualize the Garden of Eden. And I realized that I am living in Eden now," Mr. Duncan smiled. Mr. Duncan was born in Blacksburg, S. C. and moved to Lincolnton as a child. He was educated at.8t. Lukets Mission School, Lincolnton; Christ School, Arden,,, where he was in the second class to be graduated; and St. John-ts School for Postulants, Uniontown, Ky. He completed his preparation. for the ministry under private tutors while serving in various missions. He was ordained to the priesthood on St. Luke's Day, Oct. 18, 1914, in St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Greensboro. As a child he saw conditions of life in a cotton mill town as it was at the turn of the century. He remembers men, women and children working 12 hours a day, six days a week. The -only break in the dull routine was to go to church on Sunday, but he saw that there the preachers told of fire and brimstone and painted a picture of hell ever more unbearable than life endured for the rest of the week. Before his graduation from Christ School, Mr. Duncan had resolved that in preaching he would talk about heaven instead of hell, and dwell on the redeeming power of God's love instead of talking of the punishment of sin. This he has faithfullydone so that he can go into church and beginning with a loaf of bread, an ear of corn, the fragrance of a rose or a sunset he can paint a picture of God's redeeming love and open the eyes of the congregation to the Heaven which awaits only the discovery to be enjoyed here and now. Mr. Dunc"ts first work was in St. John's parish in Fayette- ville and Christ Church, Hope Mills. While there he married the former Miss Mary Olivia Butt of Winterville, who with her family was spending the winter in Arden, and their marriage was the first to be performed in the cha,,pel of Christ School. Later Mr. Duncan sewed missions in Morganton and while there he suffered a severe breakdown in health. Later he came to Cooleemee where he had charge of the Good Shepherd Church. The mountain climate improved his health and he spent four active years in service. However, he again took on a larger field than his strength would permit and in 1933- he was forced to retire. This was a blow which might have shaken a man of less courage, but not Mr. Duran. Unable to preach from the pulpit he turned to writing and his articles have appeared in many magazines and news- papers. He is the author of a book of poems, "People, Places and Things." �A, F�` C-0 ,,i'b ' :C LiS " ° P� 1�1.IG iV. 1 .J�L� �.Y�i'�.0\f MOCKSIALLE,, NG 1 � Igor Coe) leer -nee, At the present time Mr. Duncan is working on a Pictorial History of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina, Since 1933 Mr. & Mrs. Duncan have lived in Asheville and Mr. Duncan is constantly being called to take a service in some mission which is without a priest in charge. In this way he has become known and loved by church membersin a wide area of it the diocese. Mr. Duncan will be honored by two missions where he has often in times past supplied and celebrated the Holy Communion. Tomorrow, members of the Church of the Redeemer will honor Mr. Duncan with an informal -birthday party in the parish house immediately after the 9:30 a.m. service, and the following Sunday, Nov. 24, St. Luke's Church, Chunnts Cove will honor Mr. Duncan after the 11 a.m.-service. Mr. Duncan will be guest of honor at a luncheon meeting of the clergy of the Asheville Episcopal Deanery at 11 a.m. Tues- day in the home of the Rev. James Y. Perry, Jr., executive secretary of the diocese, on Hendersonville road. The occasion also will mark the birthday anniversary of Mr. Perry. 9 5 R ' � I.M. ItARGARET S. GREEN ,`�tritL, cc_.. �Zt4 �.�.� ��-1— C`Ca c�C.OL 4`r-e-;`J'"w1930--9490 She was nurse for the health clinic community project sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the Gppd Shepherd, Cooleemee, North Carolina. It became a part of the Public Health System at a later date and was under a Forsyth Health Officer in the system with Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin Countios. Doctors from the Public Health Department and from Bowman Gray School of Medicine staffed the clinic. 4ttrR Y�'Q �`�d' QY bar. Vll'�l. Graffi i�JIJ �y bo N 6 v 0 � U2 ?' 0 O b q4 v ob•^E 00, 3 .p r v �yH°v 4) d CO ca ��- y �wv 3l o.N d e0 ;d ow d �pN14 V O O y Cd d� v A to Q CD °WMaa, L'01 -H /fl usv r rIe7-LUU/ceA7C-e/ �s6-vrGAe7 t ' e Church on Church Street ! tion and 15 Episcopalians. '1'o- { day, though the population has increased but a fractional part, Tne Dpiacopahans are.. _eight. i times as many. IIn 1908 Mr, J: H. L. Rice be gan serving as lay leader, an ef- fice which he continues to fill with the utmost of devotion. It is estimated that he and -Mrs. (A ;" Rice have more. god -children .than any other '.ten piople -in town. The Woman's (Auxiliary was organized in 1907. In 1909 the vested choir made its first appearance, with Rebekah Byer ly as crucifer. The first Church i wedding was that of Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Alexander in 1913. The parish house was built in 1914. The present Church and the rectory were built in 1925.'. j. They were built and paid for sr during a period when the con-! ; gregation was without a minis- -star, a performance that it would 0_1, r re hard to match. On the feast: "`"" '. o. the Epiphany, 1930, the The Church Of The Good Church opened its free health' — ciinic to the people of this com• Shepherd munit'. The people have ' res- ponded to the extent of making IThe Mill was not yet complete an average of 3247 calls at the vor were the houses alll built, ,Iinic each year. In addition to !when an Episcopal Church stood It1iis,4he Church nurse has made' Ion the present site. This was in ;ecer 700 tis a year in the 1901. We expect mill men to (homes of Coo!eemee; and done a build churches. But in this easel! tremendous work in the public it was the other way around: all school. Though schools about us Church man built the mill. The ,1 suffer each year from epidemics Rrv. Francis J. Murdock, reetoi• : of contagious disease, Cooleemee I of St, Lukes Church, Salisbury,!: srhool has not had one for four built the mill and the Church, ;years. and conducted the first religious ; The people of this community services for Cooleeanee. Mr. are welcomed with al! sincerity l Ashe Bost ,was appointed the Ito participating in the worship first superistendent of the Sun- ; of Goa at the Church of tl+e day School. And before long I Gbod Shepherd each Sunday at the Rev. Thomas Lee Trott be - 19 a. m. and 8 p. in. came the first resident minister. ai The Rev. Simeon Jeremiah Mi- chael Brown began his long min - W ° " " sx 3stry of beloved memory in the ear ll. the same year that :� s.-Seell. began his ministry a. editor of the local press. In that l ;year Cooleemee had 1800 populal Priests Pages 19 - 21 Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina I .j U ,lea �.O fL O'�,p Q•:i N w N �1'I�.'arug'.9i;�AmNuU.W•wRpCFv ?Np°�v(wA wvyww -Ww.�^yw'�•a�ON+ �wwe w�wwNr" Cypt6��H' ti3N '•g�+a wvN 7mN Qm.. wpd°0.wqw°O . G .Uti''i�0wm waU Um°OoF. X'�"°^•• Pa 0 d x J 3 ;0. on"o vN�An v�c ywy. bY 4 .o y wrtl"wCm G000W iIa AV" 0 3>p�UAg wmua °mp G-laUz> J. Ja1'v O1 v m ai m a .0 :: p ,wp .0 w w 9 o" z a, N.er p. wx m a a ►� cF" 40 v�nE�com° "0� w�5�om.'Cw.w °-0 WAN or. �cbadti�v�c aG: N „�,:„ «°c �?�°,'aoxs�da °boa>wmgoggcv�m�m°�C BA3a.9�tou a a5 ~�„:m$C7�L:AdToB59w�B N y d! Fw u o'NO . o .O. r�00uaUmw'r8> .vaW CmwmA.a Fwi m C'm 1 d .. 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O qA I. r J J f. t ri A! c B ,•1 CT�.vta-h es - E� e,so "(�,?1 - a'q'd .11ke� hef d Davie County Public library Mocksville, NC RECORD, THURSDAY, OCTOBE /1778 Good Shepherd Priest -In -Residence He is mi presenuy � Lbrarian. r,... ONE CO. MOC Book by Jim Rumley Pages 22 - 25 Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina Ell111 Eg syp� Md. "Fk lorULliol, T he Life Et Times of a ci�,` §a by Jim Rumley Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal was Cooleemee's first church built. It stood on Church Street at the corner of Cross Street. A fire destroyed the old wood sanctuary. Published by the Cooleemee Historical Association 2001 Pale 5 avLl 202 THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH In charge of its construction was M.D. Lefler. Perhaps more than any other One of his helpers was Jake Eaton, whose congregation, the Episcopal church journal mentioned working on the church's roof.' represented the spirit of the New South and The Church of the Good Shepherd's its times. By the time the new mill town was structure measured 25 by 72 feet in size and built, its founder, Francis Johnstone Murdoch cost $433.93. As was the custom, the mill (1846-1909), was already awell-known leader in the movement for a Southern cotton company donated the land and William A. mill industry. Murdoch, believing that the Erwin gave $83 toward the church's building white poor needed a living and not charity, fund. In 1912 � the Saint Agnes Guild, the was in the Forefront of the movement to church women's auxiliary, raised and donated establish a textile industry to provide jobs. $1,000 toward the Building of a parish house. Murdoch was from Buncombe In 1925, the original church burned and was County near Asheville, the fourth of ten replaced by the now -standing brick church children born to William and Margaret building. In 1935, a nursing and social Murdoch. His parents had migrated from services mission was established to seine the Ireland during the last wave of the mass needs of the community. Scot -Irish movement to America. After a Prior to the arrival of a full-time brief stay in Pennsylvania, his parents priest, the church's services were handled by reached North Carolina in 1845 and Francis Murdoch and a Reverend Osborne. The first was born'a year later on St. Patrick's two full-time priests were the Reverends birthday. His father made a living as a Thomas Trott and J.M. Brown. Both of these merchant and by raising cattle. men had been trained by Murdoch in a small Murdoch's service to his fellow man theological school which he ran. began in 1868, when he was ordained as a The Reverend Trott arrived in 1902 deacon at St. Luke's Church in Salisbury. and remained until 1906. Under him, Ashe Following this, Francis was assigned mission Bost became superintendent of the Sunday work in the cotton mill community of High School where he was in charge of its four teachers and eighty-six pupils. During this Shoals on the Catawba River. In 1870, he early period the core of the Episcopal was ordained to priesthood and two years congregation ranged from between twenty later he became rector of St. Luke's. His and forty members. skill as an organizer and educator became The Reverend J.M. Brown came to apparent and in a brief time he doubled the Cooleemee in 1906 and remained until 1920. size of the congregation. He was rewarded Brown was born and raised in Rowan County. with a brief assignment at -the training school His religious background was originally in for ministers of the Episcopal creed at the the Lutheran church. He spent his early Ravenscroft School in Asheville. working life traveling around the countryside There is some evidence that as a singing teacher. One of his pupils was Murdoch may have reached the future his daughter, Ola, remembered as one of Cooleemee as early as 1898. He was Cooleemee's most notable singers. certainly present by 1901. With him were Brown found it difficult to make a two of his students, both ministers, and a living holding small singing classes in field couple of experienced textile men to help get schools and chapels. This eventually led the new mill's office get organized. Most if him to seek his fortune in Salisbury, where not all of those traveling with him were from he took a job on Chestnut Hill in the the Old Salisbury Mill on Chestnut Hill. Salisbury Cotton Mill. There, he worked at The first Episcopal services were the weaver's trade until being discovered by held in 1901, and the new church's Murdoch, who brought him into the foundation was laid in February of that year. Episcopal fold in which he became an ordained priest. 2� Brown proved to be a hard worker and under his leadership the Episcopal flock grew. The Sunday school classes reached one hundred scholars by 1912. In addition to the church in Cooleemee, Brown served two other congregations, Christ Church in the Rowan town of Above: Rev J.M. Brown who began his life as a mill hand and became an Episcopal priest. Cleveland, and the Ascension Church in Davie's Fork community. He traveled between the congregations in a horse and buggy. In 1920, Brown was replaced by the Reverend J.D.C. Wilson. Wilson organized the nurse Margaret Green ran the church's clinic for many years in its parish house. It served the entire community with baby check-ups and shots. congregation and expanded the lay member leadership base. At one time Doc Byerly held the Ieading office of church warden. Byerly was later replaced by banker J.H.L. Rice. Cyrus Alexander became church treasurer and Kelly Cope accepted the position as church secretary. Following Rev. Wilson, a priest named Sherry served for a brief time and his departure left Cooleemee's church without a priest until 1927. During the intervening period, the church was able to carry on despite this. In 1883, Francis Murdoch had waged and won a struggle for the recognition of lay readers who were not candidates for the holy orders. The Bishop had finally accepted this reform and Cooleemee was later to benefit from it. Church warden Rice was a lay reader and he filled the pulpit until the Reverend Duncan took on the assignment as priest in 1927. Father Norvin Duncan is remembered by many in Cooleemee for his regular column in the Cooleemee Journal titled "Religion in the Here and Now." Under Duncan, the church built a parish house and established a nursing and social services program. Margaret Greene ran the nursing program with Mrs. Heathman handling the social service side of the operation. We have no information on the social services program, but the nursing program was a great success. A list of Margaret Green's activities in just one year makes this point well. She examined 2,976 students, made 682 house calls and vaccinated 853 children for typhoid. In the same year, she gave shots to 123 children for diphtheria. Another 112 received the smallpox vaccination, and finally an additional 112 children were given the Schick test for diphtheria. Rev. C. E. B. Robinson leading Foyle Brogdon, Jack Riddle Richard and James Barber and another youngster in song. Rev. Francis J. Murdoch When Murdoch returned from High Shoals to Salisbury, he became involved in the founding of several cotton mills. Murdoch's work in this direction came just wheri-it was most needed. By the mid -1880s, Rowan County was experiencing a decline and in its countryside, hundreds of families were barely making a living on their tiny farms. Falling crop prices and the decline in the old industries turned the thoughts of area leaders to the textile industry. Meetings began in 1885, but went nowhere. Then in 1887, a Salisbury Improvement Association was formed to promote the establishment of manufacturing. To attract capital, an investment of as little as twenty-five cents a week was accepted. Rev. Murdock made sure that his church entered the new villages to serve the mill peoples' spiritual needs. In 1887, local churches joined in the mill -building campaign. A visiting evangelist, the Reverend R.G. Pearson, put aside the matter of personal salvation and turned to the plight of the poor, arguing the need for jobs rather than handouts. The next day, leading men of the comniunity met and listened to several local clergymen speak on the same subject. In the lead was the Reverend Francis J. Murdoch. By December, a committee of five, including Murdoch, had raised $63,000. Over the next ten years, Rowan County would become the ninth largest cotton mill county in North Carolina. Murdoch was both an investor and leader in this movement, holding positions in the Salisbury Cotton Mill, Rowan Knitting Company, Vance Cotton Mills and the Yadkin Falls Manufacturing Company. His positions ranged from that of Secretary -Treasurer to President of these first establishments. Above: Rev. Norvin Duncan. The Good Shepherd Clinic began when he served the parish. Good Shepherd Episcopal Church's new brick house of worship. Book by Marie Craig Pages 26 - 27 Davie County Public Library Mocksville, North Carolina Walter T. Green, white, name on monument Walter Taylor Green, full name Birth: 28 January 1921 Death: 2 November 1942 Buried: Australia; body returned to Arlington Cemetery 1920 US Census: his parents, Walter T., Sr. and Margaret Green, and son, Allen, lived in Columbia, S.C.; Walter T., Sr. was a lawyer. 1930 US Census: his widowed mother, Margaret S., 41, a registered nurse, was living at Riverside Hotel in Cooleemee. Walter and Allen are not with her. 1940 US Census: Walter T_., 19, living in Cooleemee, Jerusalem Township with his mother, Margaret, public health nurse, and older brother, Allen Enlistment: enlisted on 31 October 1941 at Fort Bragg, Air Corps, Aviation Cadet, born in 1921 in South Carolina, living in Davie County, two years of college, an actor, single Mocksville Enterprise, 29 May 1942: "Lieut. Walter T. Greene, 17 Church Street, Cooleemee, is one of 17 North Carolinians slated to receive their war wings at Ellington Field, Texas, when class 41-E of fighter - flyers graduate at seven different pilot schools with Wa1fiel�fiieen.d,. headquarters at Randolph field, Texas. The class, the sixth since Pearl Harbor, is the largest in history Army Air Corps and has members from every state in the union. WiNNII Mrs. Margaret Green left Saturday morning for Killed in Action Ellington Field to be present at the graduation of her son." Photograph in flight suit on next page from this article Article in The Davie Times, 2 December 1942: Davie Soldier Killed. "Second Lieut. Walter T. Green, of the U.S. Army Air Corps, a son of Mrs. Margaret Green, of Cooleemee, met death in the Australian area. Lieutenant Green enlisted in the air corps a little more than a year ago. The body was laid to rest in Australia with military honors. This is the second man from Davie county to lose his life while in the service of his country, the first being a son of Mr. and Mrs. Stacy K. Smith, who was reported missing in action last December." [later, found alive] Second article had additional information: "He attended the Virginia Episcopal school and N.C. State College where he played on the freshman football team." The State (newspaper in Columbia, S.C.), 12 March 1948, page 10B: "Lieut. Green Laid to Rest in Arlington. Private graveside services for Lieut. Walter Taylor Green, Jr., son of Mrs. Margaret S. Green of Cooleemee, N.C., were conducted in Arlington National Cemetery yesterday afternoon by the Rev. George F. Tittmann, rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Arlington. "Lieutenant Green was killed when the Army Air Force bomber which he was piloting crashed near Townsville, Australia, on November 2, 1942. "He was bom in Columbia January 28, 1921, the son of the late Walter Taylor Green, Sr., of Columbia, and Mrs. Green. He attended Cooleemee high school, Virginia Episcopal school at Lynchburg, and North Carolina State college where he was a member of the freshman football squad. He left State college in October, 1941, to enlist in the Air Force. "In addition to his mother, he is survived by a brother, Allen J. Green, of Arlington." NARA Records, World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing for NC: 2nd Lt, DNB (died; non -battle) Photograph on this page from A Salute to Our Veterans DAVIE COUNTY VETERANS' MEMORIAL PAGE 63 2_ (, Walter, as an altar boy, with inset of military photo — source: Cooleemee Textile Museum Right, this plaque is located inside The Church of the Good Shepherd, the Episcopal Church in Cooleemee. Walter's mother was a nurse and ran a small clinic, The Good Shepherd Clinic, which was behind the Episcopal Church. Left, W T. Green, freshman at North Carolina State College in 1940 Agromacl, from Internet Right, photo from Mocksville Enterprise article on previous page I DAVIE COUNTY VETERANS' MEMORIAL PAGE 64 �i z7