BERTIE COUNTY Deed File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John E. Tyler http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/bertie/church/sandyrun2.txt Typed by Marilyn Capps SANDY RUN BAPTIST CHURCH Roxobel, Bertie County A History in Recognition of its Bicentennial 1759-1950 by John E. Tyler FORWARD In commemoration of its two hundredth anniversary (1750-1950) I was requested by Sandy Run Baptist Church to prepare a history of this ancient institution. If I have dwelt at length on its origin and early development, it is because these early formative years were years of uncertainty and struggle. These were years when the church was exposed to any influences and ideas. These were years which saw the shaping of the character of the Sandy Run Church. Like any well constructed house, built on a firm foundation, the Sandy Run Church has endured. In preparing this history I wish to express my appreciation for their assistance to Miss Mattie Livermon, Mrs. Paul Jilcott, Miss Eva Watson, Mr. Malcom Brown, Rev. George E. Reynolds, members of the staff of the Wake Forest Library, Miss Mary Thornton, in charge of the North Carolina Room at the University of North Carolina, and others who have helped me in obtaining information. John E. Tyler Roxobel, N.C. July, 1950 HISTORY OF SANDY RUN BAPTIST CHURCH 1750-1950 by John E. Tyler The origin of the Sandy Run Church, the oldest Baptist church in Bertie County, is intricately connected with the early growth of the Baptist faith in North Carolina. It is assumed that there were some Baptists among the early settlers in the province, who drifted down from Virginia during the second half of the seventeenth century, seeking the rich and more bountiful lands along the Meherrin, Chowan and other streams which flow into the Albermarle Sound. It is known that the Quakers were well represented and that the Church of England was established by 1701. The first contemporary record of the presence of Baptist in the colony, however, does not appear until 1714. Under the guidance of Paul Palmer, the first Baptist church in North Carolina was established in 1727 in Chowan County. This church, however, was short lived and was soon scattered. Its first and only local pastor is believed to have been a young preacher Hertford County and who in all probability took a number of its members with him to begin the church there. In the meantime a church had been established at Shiloh in present day Camden County making it the earliest permanent Baptist church in North Carolina. As the little North Carolina colony began to expand in a westward and southward direction from its nucleus about the Albermarle region, we find the Baptist church spreading with the increasing population. In 1722 Bertie Precinct had been formed, as a part of Chowan County, embracing the lands west of the Chowan River, extending northward to the Virginia line, with the Roanoke River forming part of its southern boundary up to Welch's Creek. Therefore, when Joseph Parker moved to Meherrin about 1729 or 1730 he located in what was at that time a part of Bertie Precinct, which, also at that time was changed to Bertie County. All the while a great number of people were continually moving down into North Carolina from the counties across the line in southern Virginia. The church which Parker established at Meherrin was the first Baptist church to be founded west of the Chowan River. The church at Meherrin served an area which today includes Bertie, Northampton and Hertford Counties and parts of Gates County. In view of the increasing population, in this area, other churches sprang up in the more thickly populated sections. Therefore, the difficulties of travel were curtailed by this reduction of the distance that the members had to go to reach a meeting house. Such would seem to be the cause for the establishment of what was to become Sandy Run Church, for about 1740 "Joseph Parker and his people at Meherrin dismissed by letter enough of their members to form what was long known as the Bertie Church, but later as Sandy Run". (1) This new church was located some twenty-five miles south of the church at Meherrin and several miles from Sandy Run, which flowed into the Roanoke River. This church which first became known as the Bertie Church was, according to George W. Paschal, the Baptist historian, the fourth Baptist church established in North Carolina. With the quick demise of the first church started in Chowan County, it became the third oldest Baptist church to endure. Several dates have been given for the founding of what we now know as Sandy Run Church. Included are 1740, 1750, 1754-55-56, 1773. The date, 1750, is most generally given in the minutes of the different associations to which the church has belonged and is the date accepted by it. No doubt, this is because 1750 was the year in which the church presumably received its constitution and became an independent or separate unit. The fact that it was established as an independent body in 1750, however, proves that it existed as a branch of some other church before that date. The dates concerning the founding of the Bertie (later Sandy Run) Church may be summarized as follows: 1740 - Founded as a branch of the Meherrin Church. During the following decade it became associated with the Kehukee Church as a branch of that church. 1750 - Constituted and established as an independent body. 1754-55-56 - Approximate dates re-established under new constitution. 1773 - Reorganized by Rev. Lemuel Burkitt. The site of its first meeting house was located about three miles from Norfleets Ferry on the Roanoke River and about two miles from Sandy Run (2) not far from the present town of Roxobel, and in the vicinity of what was known as Bishops Mill Pond. When the first church building was erected is not known. However, it had been built by October, 1761, for at that time John Skinner of Bertie County, who lived in that area, gave to "the Baptist Society" a deed of gift to one acre, "it being the place on which the people aforesaid have built a meeting house for her public worship of God." This property adjoined his own and that of Benjamin Harrell. In a later deed of 1765 the boundary of the edge of the church property is referred to as "the meeting house line". Northampton County was carved out of Bertie in 1741 and Hertford County in 1759. With the establishment of those two counties, Bertie lost much of its territory. Though, now, located only a few miles from the boundaries of both these new counties, the site of the church, begun in 1740 by some of the congregation for the Meherrin Church, still remained in Bertie County. As the only Baptist church in the reduced boundaries of Bertie, it was known as the Bertie Church. It continued to be known as the Bertie Church until the early nineteenth century. For a number of years after it was constituted an independent church in 1750, it and the Meherrin Church were the only Baptist churches between the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers. Little is known of these first struggling years of the Bertie Church because there are no records or minutes to tell its story. When it was established many of its members were scattered over the county in different neighborhoods. It is possible that Elder Joseph Parker of Meherrin was responsible for its earliest guidance. During the early 1740's there was formed across the Roanoke River from the Bertie Church another Baptist church. This one, formed by William Soujourner, was located at Kehukee in present day Martin County. It and the Bertie Church were to play important roles in the development of the Baptist faith for the remainder of the colonial days and during the early years of North Carolina's statehood. Unlike the Bertie Church, which was evidently formed locally from a larger church territory, the first members of the Kehukee Church, migrated directly from Isle of Wight County in Virginia, because of a "visiting pestilential disease which carried off many of the inhabitants." This Baptist congregation was seeking a more healthy region. The Kehukee Church, from its beginning was a strong organization and under the leadership of its first pastor it developed several prominent preachers. The Bertie Church on the other hand, apparently had no regular pastor and its organization was rather loose. The proximity of the Kehukee Church to it, however, naturally had its effect and sometime during the period from 1740 to 1750 it appears that the Bertie Church came to look for guidance from the Kehukee Church across the river, rather than from its mother church at Meherrin. No doubt the Kehukee Church began to supply its preachers. One historian says that the Bertie Church became established as an arm of the Kehukee Church, becoming an independent body in 1759. (3) Members of the early Baptist churches in North Carolina were of the General Baptist inclination. They were, no doubt, influenced to some degree by Elders Paul Palmer, Joseph Parker, William Soujourner and others who as their pastors and leaders were General Baptist. One contributing factor which should not be overlooked, however, is that many of these first Baptist in North Carolina had moved, or were descended from families who had moved into the colony from counties across the border in southern Virginia, where a number of General Baptist had previously settled. Isle of Wight County, Virginia, particularly, seems to have been the source of many of the first General Baptist in eastern Carolina. As early as 1700 a number of General Baptist from England had settled in Isle of Wight County. From this area apparently some gradually migrated into Carolina. It was also from Isle of Wight County that William Soujourner brought his little band of General Baptist when he established Kehukee Church in 1742. The Bertie Church, like other Baptist churches established in North Carolina before 1755 was originally a General Baptist Church. (4) In 1660 all the General Baptist in England had sent representatives to London where they put forth a "confession of faith" that they might make known their principles to the new King Charles II. (5) In 1679 they published a new confession called the "Orthodox Creed". It was from these English General Baptist beliefs that the first Baptist churches in North Carolina were descended. Burkitt and Read speaking of the General Baptist say, "They preached and adhered to the Arminian of Free-will doctrine an their churches were first established upon this system. They gathered churches without requiring an experience of grace previous to their baptism; but baptized all who believed in the doctrine of baptism by immersion and requested baptism of them. The churches of this order were first gathered here (North Carolina) by Elders Paul Palmer and Joseph Parker; and were succeeded by a number of ministers whom they baptized." The names of the first ministers of the Baptist Church have not been preserved. No doubt at times it was without a pastor and at times, as already mentioned, probably Joseph Parker or his converts preached here. It can be assumed that the Kehukee Church also supplied some of its ministers. The earliest minister who had charge of the Bertie Church of whom there is recorded evidence was Thomas Pope. He was born near Blackwater, Virginia about 1728, embraced the principles of the General Baptist and evidently, on moving into Carolina, was baptized by Elder William Soujourner in 1749. (6) He was ordained about 1751. He married Alice Foreman, who was the Widow Ford. (7) In 1751 Rev. Thomas Pope was pastor at Kehukee and at the same time was probably supplying for the Bertie Church. Though several years later when he reorganized it, the members seemed to have been disorganized and pastor less. At this time the effect of the Particular Baptist was beginning to creep into the North Carolina churches, which would bring about a transformation in most Baptist churches in the colony, including the Bertie Church. The Particular Baptist were also known as New Lights and later as Regular Baptist. Their confession of faith, which was published in London in 1689 containing thirty-two articles, held to the Calvinist principles, a more rigid doctrine then that professed by the General Baptist. The movement in North Carolina seems to have first been started by Rev. Robert Williams, who was a native of Northampton County. He had gone into South Carolina in 1745 and there had been trained in the Calvinistic doctrine of the Welsh Neck Baptist. "Returning about 1750 on a visit to his native county he began to propagate his Calvinistic views. He had a great influence with the General Baptist, especially those of the Kehukee Church." Among his converts there was one William Wallis who also took up the cause. "At the same time Rev. Edward Brown who was at Great Cohara and nearer the Welch Neck district began to preach Calvinism and seemingly visited Kehukee and, added to what had already been done by Williams and Wallis, won over the pastor, Rev. Thomas Pope" (8), who was also serving the Bertie Church. In order to win the Carolina churches to the Particular Baptist view, Robert Williams and others sought aid from the Philadelphia Association, the oldest Baptist association in America and a stronghold of the Calvinist doctrine. The Association sent Rev. John Gano, who came south in 1754 to investigate. On hearing his story, upon his return, the Philadelphia Association moved to send two ministering brothers to North Carolina to proselyte. Paschal in his history says, "It is well to mark the warm missionary zeal of those Philadelphia Baptist and their readiness to make contributions of money to send messengers to rescue their Carolina brethren from error. But for it we should have a very different type of Baptist in eastern North Carolina from that found there today." The two men sent on this important mission were Peter Peterson Vanhorn and Benjamin Miller. The first church they visited was Kehukee, where its pastor, Thomas Pope, was already converted to the Calvinist doctrine. There in December, 1755, the Kehukee Church was reorganized after the Particular Baptist order. Shortly thereafter, perhaps in the first months of 1756, Rev. Thomas Pope crossed the Roanoke River into Bertie and re-established the Bertie Church under a constitution which adhered to the beliefs of the Particular Baptist. Paschal in his history gives a description of how a church made this change from a General Baptist to a Particular Baptist. He says, "the method of reorganization was first for the church in conference to disband whatever organization had previously existed, which in most cases, if we may believe Burkitt and Read, had been very loose. It was the preacher's church, though he had his deacons also in some instances. At the transformation those who desired to come into the new order were required to come under a new examination which was conducted by the approved ministers of the Particular Baptist faith who were present for the purpose. This examination was intended to determine whether the applicant had been converted before his baptism and he was expected to satisfy the examiners by a relation of the religious experiences which had led him to seek baptism. With Miller and Vanhorn those examinations seemed to have been conducted with much rigidity. When Miller and Vanhorn left the province their work was continued by Rev. Thomas Pope who reorganized numerous churches under the rigid Calvinist rules." After Pope, the next minister connected with the Bertie Church, as its pastor, apparently was James Abington. He was a resident of Bertie County and before he "became religious, he was a man much addicted to sporting and gaming, and very vicious in his life and conservation". He was converted under the ministry of Elder Pope and joined the Bertie Church, of which he became pastor about 1764. As pastor of this church, Abington was "Instrumental in gathering a considerable number of members". He was "a man of bright genius, a ready mind, and a good voice". In 1769 the Kehukee Baptist Association, modeled after the Philadelphia Association, was formed. Its first and subsequent meetings were held at Kehukee in Halifax county, therefore its name. Not only did the North Carolina churches join this Association, but also a number of southern Virginia Churches. The Bertie Church was one of the original churches to be represented at the Kehukee Association when it was first organized in 1769. To this meeting, the Bertie Church sent its pastor, James Abington. Also as delegates it sent Ephram Daniel, Thomas Miers and James Vinson. The next year, in 1770 the delegates were James MISSING PAGE 11 PICKED UP ON PAGE 12 his meetings a sermon of Whitfield or Williston. In a short time he began to write his own sermons and engage in public prayer. It is stated that "In this way he was lead by degrees to abandon the purpose he had or entering the profession of law, and became convinced that it was his duty to become a minister". (9) In July 1771 he was baptized in the Pasquotank River by Rev. Henry Abbot. Lemuel Burkitt was seated at the Kehukee Association meeting in 1773 as a delegate from the Shiloh Church in Pasquotank now Camden County and despite his youth was elected clerk of the Association. Young Burkitt, with Elders Jonathan Thomas and John Moore were appointed by the Association as a committee to investigate the situation in the Bertie Church and advise measures which he would be likely to regain a general fellowship in the church. The committee induced the members to undergo a re-examination as to their fitness for membership. A majority of the members were received and the church was re-established under a new constitution in November 1773. At the same time it chose Lemuel Burkitt for its new minister, who was accordingly ordained by Elders Jonathan Thomas and John Meglamre. The Baptist historian, Dr. G. W. Paschal says "For the next third of a century he (Burkitt) was the most influential man among the Baptist of North Carolina and gave direction and character to Baptist development in the eastern half of the state". This was the man who in 1773 had become pastor of the Bertie Church, a position, he was to hold until his death. The first ruling elders for the Bertie Church upon its reorganization in 1773 were James Vinson, Winbourn Jenkins, Jonas Woods, and James Jenkins. The first deacons were Jesse Rutland, Shadrack Dunning, Sander Futrel, Robert Moral, Henry Suton and Jesse Williams. (10) Lemuel Burkett, on moving into the Roanoke-Chowan area first lived in Hertford County. In 1788 he was a delegate from that county to the Hillsboro convention to consider the ratification of the United States constitution. A majority of the convention, including Burkett acting as a committee of the whole, proposed that no actions be taken on the ratification until a bill of rights were added to the constitution. This naturally was passed by the convention and ratification of our federal constitution was postponed until 1789 when it was ratified at the Fayetteville convention. In 1790, Lemuel Burkitt moved to a farm in Northampton County, close to the Bertie County boundary at Sandy Run. His first wife was Hannah Bell, daughter of Captain James Bell of Sussex County, Virginia and sister to Elder James Bell. Their children to reach maturity were three daughters; Mary, Nancy and Sally, and three sons; Lemuel, Jr., William and Burges. Elder Burkitt's second wife was Prudence Watson, also of Virginia, by whom he had one child who died in infancy. Under the leadership of its new pastor, the Bertie Church witnessed a great revival which began early in 1774. In that year it sent as delegates to the Kehukee Association, its new pastor, Lemuel Burkitt, and McAllister Vinson, James Lassiter and Jesse Williams. In December of that year Rev. Jonathan Thomas preached his last sermon at the Bertie meeting house. His text was from Luke XIV, verse 23: "Compel them to come in that my house may be filled". Burkitt and Read describing the occasion say "There was a large assembly, and but few in the congregation but what were in floods of tears; and many cried out loudly". Elder Thomas went home from Sandy Run complaining of a bad cold and early the following year he died. The work of the revival continued for two years during which time Rev. Burkitt brought nearly 150 new members into the church. In 1777 the membership of the church was 217. (11) About 1775 some of the members of the Meherrin Church living on or near "Pottacasy" Creek in Northampton County formed a separate fellowship. Under the influence of Rev. Lemuel Burkitt, this group soon became a part of the Bertie Church. At the time Burkitt took over the Bertie Church and began his revival, the influence of the Separate Baptist was beginning to have its effect on a number of the ministers of the Kehukee Association. According to Burkitt and Read, the Separatist first arose in New England, where some pious ministers and members left the Presbyterian of Standing Order on account of their formality and superfluity. They appeared in North Carolina as early as 1755. The Separate Baptist believed in a more evangelistic or missionary spirit than was evident in the Particular Baptist. The Separate Baptist also insisted on a converted membership with a strict examination before approval. The Particular Baptist were supposed to uphold a similar policy, but a number of churches in the Kehukee area had grown lax in this mater and many were slipping back to the old ways of the General Baptist. It was held by several of the churches of the Kehukee Association that the Separate and the Particular Baptist should be brought together. However, the Separate insisted on a reformation in the Particular Baptist churches before such a union would be considered. Rev. Burkitt had been in sympathy with the Separate Baptist views before he became pastor of the Bertie Church. The revival which he began in 1774 was a result of the Separate Baptist influence. At that time he led the Bertie Church in open conference to declare for a purified church membership, urging that repentance and faith should precede baptism, and that the church therefore exclude those who admitted they had been baptized in unbelief. The church convinced of his arguments, agreed to withdraw fellowship from all churches who maintained a contrary doctrine. It was one of the first churches in the Kehukee Association to undertake this new movement. Shortly after the Bertie Church had effected this reformation, three churches in Virginia brought about a similar reform in their churches. This breech in the Association which had been widening for sometime, finally resulted in a division in 1775 and for several years theological questions concerning salvation were argued at its meetings. Burkitt and Read however say that "it was not many years before all the churches were united again and the name Regular and Separate buried in oblivion." In 1784 the Kehukee Association met at the Bertie Church. Before it was to meet at this church again, the association was to be greatly reduced by the creation of two new associations from its territory. By 1790 the Kehukee Association perhaps had reached its maximum growth, having increased to sixty one churches, with a membership scattered over a wide territory in North Carolina and Virginia. In that year the Virginia churches withdrew to form the Virginia Portsmouth Association to be followed in 1793 by the churches south of the Tar River withdrawing to form the Neuse Association. Earlier, in 1789, the Bertie Church also had lost members when the Connaritsa Church, about ten miles away in Bertie County, was constituted. In 1794 the Kehukee Association met for the second time at the Bertie Church. (12) The membership of the association at this time had been reduced to twenty-six churches as a result of the two divisions. At this meeting, Meherrin, mother church of the Bertie Church, applied for admission. She had remained a General Baptist Church through all the years, but had lately been reformed, and was thus received into the Association. At its 1791 meeting the Kehukee Association subscribed to the Baptist Annual Register, a periodical, printed in London by John Rippon, and at the same time appointed Elder Lemuel Burkitt correspondent to it for the Association. He undertook this important work and contributed to the publication for some twelve years. During this period he assembled much valuable information on the religious affairs of the Baptist in eastern North Carolina. A great deal of this material which first appeared in London in Rippon's Register, was later used in compiling his history of the Kehukee Association. In 1803 Elders Lemuel Burkitt and Jesse Read were co-authors of the first history of the Kehukee Association to be produced. This volume was published at Halifax, North Carolina. (13) It is an invaluable record of the early Particular Baptist in North Carolina. As stated before, the contribution that Rev. Lemuel Burkitt made to the early progress of the Baptist faith in North Carolina is difficult to over-estimate. Burkitt was consistently elected clerk to the Kehukee Association. He was the originator of many of the theological questions which were introduced at the Association meetings for discussion and settlement and he often formulated answers to the inquiries proposed by other members. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw the "culmination of all the great services of Burkitt". This came about in the Great Revival which swept through the entire country, and which did much to give the people that evangelical seal and missionary spirit which prepared them for cooperative work in missionary societies and the Baptist State Convention. On hearing the news of the revival in Kentucky, Rev. Lemuel Burkitt set out for that state to learn if the reports were true. Speaking of this journey, Paschal says, "Though he (Burkitt) was already past fifty years of age, yet he was of wiry and tough frame. Probably for the first time in his life leaving the plains of the Atlantic Slope he climbed the majestic mountains which lay in his way to Kentucky." When he arrived the revival was going on with unabated progress. Seeing the wonderful works of grace "his soul caught the seraphic flame. He preached most night and day for several weeks, in Kentucky and Tennessee, with great acceptance, then returned home fired with an ardent zeal surpassing anything his friends had before seen." Burkitt immediately took up the work on the revival in his home territory describing the great work that had been done across the mountains. In two years 1,500 new members had been added by baptism to the churches of the Kehukee Association. People would flock by the thousands to hear Elder Burkitt as he went from church to church throughout the Association. At the Meherrin Church in August 1803 it was estimated that some 4,000 people were present to hear him. A stage, from which Burkitt was to preach, had been erected in the meeting house yard for the occasion. The weather was very threatening and before he had finished the rain descended in a downpour. "Yet notwithstanding the numerous congregation still kept together; effort was used to shun the rain by umbrellas, carriages, blankets, etc. yet we believe 1,000 people were exposed to the rain without shelter, some crying, some convulsed on the ground, some begging the ministers to pray for them; and they composedly stood and received the falling shower without ever being dispersed." (14) Such was the power of Burkitt's eloquence. During the period that Rev. Burkitt was pastor of the Bertie Church a number of "ministering brethren had been raised up in it and called to the work of the ministry." These including Elders Amos Harrell, Robert Moral, McAllister Vinson, Pitts Kirby, Frederick Futrell, James Rutland and James Vinson. Most of these men left to spread the Baptist faith throughout other sections of North Carolina. The minutes of the Bertie Church were kept by Elder Burkitt, who also acted as its clerk. They cover the years from 1773 to 1804 and are the oldest record of the church known to be in existence. (15) To the efforts of Rev. Burkitt, we, today, are indebted for this insight into the early life of Sandy Run Church when it was known as the Bertie Church. In these minutes are listed the members of the church and included are the names of some 125 Negro slaves who were in full fellowship with the church. In 1806 it was found advantageous to make another division in the Kehukee Association. This time all the churches east of the Roanoke River were dismissed by letter to form the Chowan Baptist Association. The Bertie Church, a member of the Kehukee Association since its beginning in 1769, as a result of this latest division, was now a member of the new organization. Brother George Outlaw was made first Moderator and Elder Lemuel Burkitt was made clerk. The following year, 1807, saw the death of Rev. Burkitt. He had been pastor of The Bertie Church since 1773 and was largely responsible for its being one of the outstanding churches of that period. His funeral was preached by Elder Spivey, who used as his text, Paul's 2nd Epistle "For I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand". He was buried near his home, close by Sandy Run. A highway historical marker is soon to mark the near-by site of his grave. In the death of such a predominant figure as Rev. Burkitt, the Bertie Church and the Chowan Association must have felt a great loss. (16) After the death of Burkitt, the Potecasi branch became independent in 1808, and the Bertie Church had secured Rev. Richard Poindexter as its pastor, who evidently was a preacher of much ability. Beginning in 1809 Rev. Poindexter served the church for approximately fifteen years. In this year of 1809, the recently created Chowan Association met for the first time at Bertie meeting house. Sometime between 1803 and 1821 the Bertie Church was moved from its first location to Sandy Run on the Northampton-Bertie boundary. This location was about a mile from the present town of Roxobel, beside the road leading into Northampton County. The exact date that the church made this move from its earlier site near Bishop's Mill Pond to Sandy Run, or why the move was made, is not known. Perhaps a better supply of water and easier accessibility at Sandy Run prompted the change, coupled with the fact that adjacent to the site selected was the home and grave of the church's beloved Rev. Burkitt. The change had not been affected by 1803, for in that year Burkitt gives the church location as some two miles from Sandy Run. That the move was made prior to 1821 is proven by a deed of gift. In that year William Britton, (17) a substantial landowner and merchant gave the tract of land, consisting of some five acres at Sandy Run and on which the meeting house then stood, according to the conveyance. The deed was made to Joseph Horn and Godwin Cotton, as deacons of the Sandy Run Baptist Church. It was witnessed by David Bryan, Will Hinton and Turner Horn. Apparently for some years prior to 1825 the church had been known as the church at Sandy Run or Sandy Run Church, but before that it still appeared on the minutes of the Chowan Association as Bertie Church. In 1825, however, it was recorded for the first time, officially as, Sandy Run Church. In this same year the Chowan Association for the second time held its annual meeting at the Sandy Run meeting house. Rev. Richard Poindexter had appeared on the minutes of the Chowan Association as a delegate from Sandy Run for the last time in 1824. From 1825 through 1833 there is no record of a pastor attending the Association from Sandy Run. By 1834, however, is found that William S. Brown was serving the church. In the following year, 1837, Pleasant Grove, in Hertford County, was constituted as a separate church. One historian says that "under the pastorate of Lemuel Burkitt and afterwards under that of A. M. Craig it (Sandy Run) was one of the most influential bodies of its kind in eastern Carolina". (19) Rev. Craig was born October 9, 1806, ordained at Sandy Run Church in 1832, and for the next twenty-five years was associated with Sandy Run. His family, on coming into North Carolina had settled in Orange County and though he had been reared in a Presbyterian atmosphere he had joined the Baptist church. Elder Craig was to prove a minister of great ability and became an outstanding figure through the Roanoke-Chowan area. He married Rebecca Gilliam of Bertie County. They were the parents of Rev. Braxton Craig, another capable Baptist divine and the Hon. Locke Craig, Governor of North Carolina. In 1842 Rev. D. Harrell was listed as Pastor of Sandy Run, but in 1844 Elder Craig was again in charge of the church. The church continued to be situated at its second location on Sandy Run until 1854, when it was moved to its present site in the town of Roxobel. This time the land for the church was a gift from Alanson Capehart, who on October 3, 1854 deeded the land containing three acres to William Lee and Joseph A. Tyler as trustees for the Church. In this year the Rich Square Church was also formed by members from Sandy Run. In 1861, the Chowan Association met for the last time at Sandy Run Church. In this year, besides Rev. Andrew Craig, two other preachers were listed as being affiliated with Sandy Run. They were Everett Hancock and T. Pittman. Elder Hancock, born in Virginia in 1807, had been baptized by Rev. Craig in 1843. He was ordained in 1852 and in 1862 was called to the pastoral care of Sandy Run Church, but his ministry here was of short duration for he died in 1865. After the death of Rev. Hancock, Sandy Run was served by Rev. J. Bunch in 1873 and the Rev. T. J. Rook in 1877. The West Chowan Association was cut off from the Chowan Association in 1883 and Sandy Run Church again found itself in a new organization. This same year the Lewiston Church was cut off from Sandy Run. Among the pastors at Sandy Run during this period from 1880 until the turn of the century were Revs. Charles W. Scarboro, W. B. Wingate, J. W. Powell, Archibald Cree, Alexander Speight, and T. T. Speight. In 1895 the West Chowan Association met at Sandy Run. The oldest continuous organization to which Sandy Run Church still belongs is the Bertie Union Meeting. (19) This assembly which now embraces the same territory as the West Chowan Association, was established prior to 1803, perhaps during the early years of the Kehukee Association. These Union Meetings were first established as local units within the Kehukee Association for the benefit of those churches which were closely situated to one another. The first members of the Bertie Union Meeting included Sandy Run and the Cashie, Wiccacon, Connaritsa and Meherrin churches. Most of these churches were located in Bertie County, which thus explains why it was given the name of Bertie Union Meeting. Its constitution called for an annual gathering of its members so that they may come in fellowship with one another. These meetings at first often lasted several days and were well attended by all the neighboring churches, proving an inspiration to all present. One of the first efforts for the establishment of Chowan College at Murfreesboro was made through the Bertie Union Meeting. Through the years these meetings have been discontinued in some sections, but the Bertie Union Meeting still carries on. In November 1898, Sandy Run Church dismissed by letter twenty-two of its members to form a church at Kelford. Through the ages from Sandy Run had developed the churches at Connaritsa, Potecasi, Pleasant Grove, Lewiston, Rich Square, Kelford and part of the congregation of the Aulander church. On July 24, 1936 the very fine wooden church building, with its memorial windows was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. Members of Sandy Run immediately began work to replace it with the modern brick church which now serves the congregation. A dedication service for the new church was held on June 9, 1940. Since 1900 among the ministers who have served Sandy Run Church have been: Rev. J. O. Alderman, McIntosh, Dancey Cale, R. L. Gay, J. W. Downey, Mr. Dailey, J. F. Cale, N. J. Todd, W. H. Hollowell, Jesse Blalock, J. L. Powers, N. H. Sheppard, C. E. Gaddy, C. M. Billings, Braxton L. Davis, Harold White, J. Wade Baker, G. M. Singletary and its present pastor, Rev. George E. Reynolds. The Sandy Run Church of today is a far cry from the handful of members who brought it into existence two hundred years ago. Its present membership is approximately 360, but there are untold numbers, who, through its long history, have gone out from this ancient institution to settle in other parts of the state and nation, taking with them and continuing the life of the Christian faith as they first experienced it in Sandy Run Baptist Church. PASTORS AT SANDY RUN BAPTIST CHURCH 1750 Thomas Pope 1760 James Abington 1770 Lemuel Burkitt 1780 Lemuel Burkitt 1790 Lemuel Burkitt 1800 Lemuel Burkitt Richard Poindexter 1810 Richard Poindexter John Crumpler Richard Poindexter 1820 Richard Poindexter 1830 William S. Brown Andrew M. Craig 1840 Andrew M. Craig O. Harrell Andrew M. Craig 1850 Andrew M. Craig 1860 Andrew M. Craig T. Pittman Everett Hancock 1870 J. Bunch K. J. Rook 1880 Charles W. Scarboro W. B. Wingate 1890 J. W. Powell A. Cree Alexander Speight T. T. Speight 1900 J. O. Alderman M. McIntosh Dancy Cale R. L. Gay 1910 Mr. Dailey J. W. Downey J. F. Cale N. J. Todd W. H. Hollowell 1920 Jesse Blalock J. L. Powers N. H. Sheppard C. E. Gaddy C. M. Billings 1930 C. M. Billings Braxton L. Davis 1940 Harold White J. Wade Baker G. M. Singletary George E. Reynolds 1950 George E. Reynolds CHURCHES FORMED FROM SANDY RUN BAPTIST CHURCH Connaritsa -- 1798 Potecasi -- 1808 Pleasant Grove -- 1837 Rich Square -- 1854 Lewiston -- 1883 Kelford -- 1898 Aulander -- 1886 (part of congregation) ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. 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