Rowan-Iredell County NcArchives Church Records.....Centre Presbyterian Church Copyright Date November 5, 1938 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joseph H. Howard jhhoward@comcast.net May 3, 2007, 4:26 pm HISTORY OF CENTRE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Centre Presbyterian Church Concord Presbytery Synod of North Carolina (By Capt. R. R. Morrison) Centre Church was organized in 1765 in what was then the southwestern part of Rowan county. Rowan was formed from Anson in 1753. The earliest settle¬ments in Rowan, then Anson, were made in the vicinity of Salisbury in 1737. We may conclude that some years after this date, 1737, settlers came into this community where still later Centre Church was organized. Among the names of the early comers to this region we find--Davidson, Reece, Ramsay, Hughes, Brevard, Osborne, Winslow, Kerr, Rankin, Templeton, Dickey, Brawley, Moore, McNeely, Emerson, Oliphant, Frohawk, Wilson, Connor, McPherson, Creswell, Cathey, McCorkle, Harris, Torrence, Givens, McConnell, Gracey, Byars, Nail, Houston, Jetton and Baker. Religion and education had a prominent place in the minds of these pioneers, as we would expect from a knowledge of their past history, as they were mostly Scotch-Irish. A classical school was started in 1760 near the home of Col. Alexander Osborne and was given the name of Crowfield Academy. This school may have ante-dated Queen's Museum in Mecklenburg. It was run for a little more then 20 years and attracted students from a wide territory. Among its pupils were Adlai Osborne, son of Col. Alexander Osborne, and Dr. Ephraim Brevard who wrote the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He was a son of John Brevard who lived in Centre congregation and whose house was burned by the troops of Cornwallis because he had seven sons in the Conti¬nental Army. Also thought to have attended this school for a time were Dr. Samuel Eusebius McCorkle and Dr. James Hall. Dr. McCorkle for a long time conducted a school called Zion-Parnassus Academy near Thyatira Church where he also was pastor for years. Gen. Wm. Davidson was wearing Dr. McCorkle's great coat when he was shot. Dr. James Hall was truly the soldier-preacher of the Revolution. This most worthy man commanded a company in and was at the same time chaplain of his regiment. Gen. Greene selected him for com¬mission as Brigadier General upon the death of Gen. Wm. Davidson at Cowan's Ford, but he declined. The school, Clio's Nursery, on the headwaters of the South Yadkin was founded and conducted by Dr. Hall in addition to his ac¬tivities in the ministry. There were meeting-houses for the worship of God in various places in this newly settled land.. The one we are interested in was near the home of Col. Alexander Osborne and appears to have been mentioned under two names, Osborne's Meeting-house and the New Meeting-house. This building was where Centre Church was first located. This and other places of worship in this territory had as their first missionary Rev. John Thompson who was sent by the Synod of Philadelphia. He came in 1751 and died in 1753. One of his daughters married a man named Baker. Mr. Thompson lived in a small house in the Baker's yard. When he passed away a grave was dug under the floor of his cabin and he was buried there. Later others were buried beside him, but Mr. Thompson was the first to rest in what became known as Baker's Graveyard, which is just off the Beattie's Ford road. The second missionary who came to these people was Rev. Hugh McAdden. His visit was made in 1755 and his diary gives a list of places visited, among them one near Col. Osborne's home. Mr. McAdden was a native of Pennsylvania and a Princeton College graduate. As would be expected distances between-meeting-houses varied greatly, and the Synod of Pennsylvania saw the need of having these groups of wor¬shippers properly organized. The population down herd had been steadily increasing, the immigrants coming mostly by way of Pennsylvania. In 1764 Revs. McWhorter and Spencer were sent as delegates "to form so¬cieties, adjust bounds, ordain elders, dispense the sacraments, instruct the people in discipline and the best way to obtain the stated ministry." Their work with this congregation resulted in the laying off of a boundary of about 12 by 14 miles and in the selection of a site for a church. Although the name Centre was given it was not in the center of its territory. The place chosen was within two miles of its southern limits, near the old Houston home, about two miles north of what later became Davidson College. This was where Osborne's or New Meeting-house stood, and within less than a mile of Crowfield Academy. Here a burying-ground was laid off and used until the relocation of the church to where it now stands. The earliest stones in the present cemetery have the date of 1776. Both Col. Orborne and his wife were buried here in that year. The original Centre Church building was destroyed by fire in 1774. It was then decided to change to this present location and this was done in 1774-75. A log building of goodly dimensions 50 by 80 ft. was put up. Its length was parallel to the road, with doors in the side next the road and the ends. The pulpit was opposite the road and had a sounding board over it. After doing service for eighty years it was torn down and the pre¬sent structure took its place in 1854. Dedication was observed in Oct. 1853. A quotation from the minutes may be of interest--"Centre, October 13, 1855.- The Session met on this day (Saturday) during a sacramental meeting, which commenced on yesterday, when the new church was dedicated to Almighty God by a sermon preached by the Rev. R. H. Morrison, D. D. The Revd. D. A. Penick was also with us on this day. The members of the Session present were--Messrs. James S. Byers, Rufus Ramsay, D. L. Torrence, Wm. C. Moore, Robert McPherson and Stephen Frontis." Centre had no ordained pastor prior to 1777. It was served at irregular intervals by missionaries, among whom in addition to the previously mentioned John Thompson and Hugh McAdden were Revds. McMordie, Donaldson, Wilson„ Kennon, Craighead, Hunt, Millar, Craig and Debow. The first man to accept a call here was an outstanding one, Rev. Thomas Harris McCaule of Pennsylvania, a graduate of Princeton College. He is de¬scribed as a man of great parity of life, great usefulness and very eloquent. He was popular both as a preacher and as a man. He encouraged resistance to the British and when the conflict came into this territory he was in camp with the men of his congregation. He was beside Gen. Wm. Davidson when he fell. The people held him in such high esteem that he was run for governor of North Carolina and failed of election by only a small vote. Mr. McCaule left Centre in 1785, going to Winnsboro, S. C. to become principal of a large school which at his suggestion was incorporated as Mount Zion College. This community did its part in furnishing soldiers for the Continental Army. The memorial tablet in the church entry is inscribed with the names of these men. What pastors supplied Centre between the leaving of Mr. McCaule in 1785 and the coming of Dr. James McRee in 1798 are not known. This is due to the fact that the old church records lost long ago. During this period however an event of importance took place on this spot, namely the first meeting of the Synod of the Carolinas on Nov. 5, 1788, the year Iredell county was formed from Rowan. Here the Synod was organized with Rev. David Caldwell, another intense patriot during the Revolution, as moderator. Previous to this the first Presbytery that convened between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers met at Centre. Also the first regular meeting of Concord Presbytery, which had been organized at Bethpage, was held here March 29, 1796. Rev. Samuel C. Caldwell, moderator. Centre's second pastor, Dr. James McRee, was raised in the congregation, near McPherson's Mill on the western edge of what is now Mooresville. He attended Crowfield Academy, graduated at Princeton College and came here from Steele Creek. He remained here 30 years. His father had an exten¬sive library for those days, six religious books in addition to the Holy Bible and the Shorter Catechism. Next to become pastor here was Dr. R. H. Chapman who had been president of the University of N. C. from 1812 to 1817. He served 2 years and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Espy who stayed only one year. Rev. Walter Smylie Pharr with Rev. John M. Ervin following him, served this field and Prospect jointly during the years 1833 to 1839. Of interest to Centre congregation is the fact that when in 1836 the electoral votes for president of the United States were cast, a man born two miles west of this spot received the third highest number. He was beaten by Martin Van Buren and Wm. H. Harrison but received more votes than Daniel Webster and Willie P. Manum. Born here in 1773, taken by his family to Tenn. in 1786, Hugh Lawaon White became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of that state, later was sent to the U. S. Senate and in 1836 was a candidate for president of this republic. Relatives of this able and distinguished man are living in this community. Prospect and Centre were ministered to by Rev. John LeRoy Davies from 183 9 to 1848. Rev. Stephen Frontis, born in France in 1792, came to this country at the age of 18 and graduated from Princeton in 1823. He first engaged in missionary work which extended over several states. In 184.9 he began work at Centre but was given part time to Thyatira. After two years of this, Centre extended him a call for his whole time which he accepted and gave until his resignation in 1856. It was during his pastorate that this present building was erected. Our church records start with the ministry of Dr. Frontis. He taught French as Acting Professor at Davidson College in 1860-61. Names most numerous on the roll of communicants at that time, the mid¬dle of the last century, may be of interest. We find three or more of the following names, which are given in the order of most frequent oc¬currence—McNeely, Templeton, Deaton, Brawley, Henry, Brown, Torrence, Byars, Ramsay, Davidson, Donaldson, Reid, Stinson, Emerson, Atwell, Houston, Moore, Freeman, Huggins, Young, Morrow, Alexander, Scofield, Douglas, White, McCreary, Gillespie, Knox, Lemly, McLain and Lowrance. In 1850 there were 11 colored communicants and colored membership increased until it reached a maximum of 50 in 1867-68 from which it rapidly fell away. The gallery was built for the colored part of the congregation. Centre did her part in furnishing soldiers for the Confederate Army. Company I, 7th N. C. Inf., C.S.A. was composed of men from this neigh¬borhood and there were some in other organizations. Prospect and Centre extended jointly a call to Rev. William Walter Pharr which was accepted and he was installed in 1858. And then began a long and faithful ministry which extended over a half a century, Dr. Pharr resigning in 1908. When the tablet commemorating the 1788 meeting of Synod here was pre¬sented and accepted, Hon. R. R. Clark of Statesville, now deceased, made the address. He was a loyal son of Centre. Describing Centre and her people as he remembered them as a boy-during the Seventies he said, "They were a conservative people, moderately progressive for the time. They held the old faith and walked in the old paths. They believed that family government, the foundation of all government, is ordained of God, hence children were trained and controlled. There were no lesson helps of consequence in that Sunday School. The main books were the Bible and the Catechism. Some of us learned to read by having the catechism and the Bible read to us in the home where we committed the lesson to memory and then recited it here." After Dr. Pharr, Rev. R. W. Culbertson from 1908 to 1915 and Rev. W. E. West from 1915 to 1925 were shared by Prospect and Centre. Our present beloved pastor, Rev. J. Kenton Parker, came to us in 1927 and holds ser¬vices at Centre each Sunday morning, the afternoons and evenings being given to Shearer Chapel and Sherrill's Ford. Centre has been truly called "The Mother of Churches," Prospect was organized in 1824 and Bethel in 1828 and both drew partly from this congregation for their membership. In later years Davidson College, Mooresville and Shearer, as well as neighbor churches of other denomina¬tions have drawn on this church. We trust and believe that Centre's usefulness had justified her exis¬tence for the past 173 years. Our prayer for Centre is that she may continue in that most important work that she and other country churches are doing. Nov. 5, 1938. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/rowan/churches/centrepr32gbb.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 13.1 Kb