Wayne County NcArchives Church Records.....Pine Forest Methodist Church Copyright Date a. 1946 ************************************************ 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: Dorothy Lou T Walker skywalk1@embarqmail.com May 20, 2009, 9:56 am Goldsboro New-Argus Newspaper clipping [unknown date] “Historical Sketch Of Pine Forest” By Ida Sasser Jordan [b. 1864, m. 1894, d. 1946] Let us help Ex-Sheriff Stevens reporting in the Goldsboro News-Argus of the meeting of the Pine Forest Sunday School picnic at “Egypt.” Our understanding being that “Egypt” is any point upon the Neuse River, where said picnic assembles, so named by Mr. H. T. Jones, a former Superintendent of the Sunday School. We respectfully submit some information not perhaps so familiar to the Sheriff as those of us who have more recently traveled a part of the road he mentions. We have heard of a school house at Jumping Run, on the road leading through lands once owned by Col. J. T. Kennedy and perhaps he organized a Sunday School there; for he was an all around warm hearted soul in our day and while he had been sheriff of the county, was not a Sunday School leader in his later years. Moreover Jumping Run was more than a mile distant from Pine Forest, and that neighborhood called Pine Forest began in the following manner. In 1866 Mr. A. L. Sasser desiring school opportunities for his growing family secured Miss Nannie Hill of Webb Town, then a suburb, of Goldsboro, to teach his own and neighboring children whose parents could help in the cost of the teacher. It was Miss Hill, Mrs. A. L. Sasser and Mr. Davy Carroll, a one legged man, a shoe maker, that opened a Sunday School in the little school room. Mr. Carrol, was the first Superintendent. Mr. Sasser was not opposed to Sunday School but preferred the newspaper and his old Southern Harmony for amusement on Sunday morning, and in this connection, pardon the relation of an incident one Sunday morning of Uncle Davy, as he was called, and Mr. Sasser. On that Sunday morning Uncle Davy didn’t report at Sunday School. Mrs. Sasser and Miss Hill, returning home earlier that their custom were greeted by Mr. Sasser with the following song, sung in the tune of one of the numbers in their song book “Sunday School’s gone up the spout, in the light, in the light, Because Old Davy wouldn’t come out, In the light of God.” But Uncle Davy was a good old soldier of the cross and a missionary Baptist, Miss Hill was also a missionary Baptist, while Mrs. Sasser was a devout Methodist, and always led singing. After Uncle Davy’s going, with the help of teachers and others, Mrs. Sasser led the singing until her age interfered with her doing so. Miss Hill was a satisfactory teacher and the young school soon grew from infancy to youth and was the pride of all the patrons, but Miss Hill like all good teachers felt the call to one pupil rather than many so she resigned to change her name to Wiggs, not “Mrs. Wiggs of the cabbage patch” but Mrs. James Wiggs. Her husband being a merchant in Goldsboro. Mr. Larkin Edwards taught a year in the little house with success and went into the mercantile business in LaGrange. Mr. John W. Searborough was employed. He was a fine teacher and a progressive young man. The school increased until better facilities for accommodating the increase number of pupils was demanded, so he urged a new school building. The community desiring it, Messrs. Samuel Edwards, Edward Mitchell and A. L. Sasser shouldered the undertaking supported by others, the three before mentioned were made trustees and the Pine Forest School House was built. Mr. Lewis Sasser then well along in years but interested in education gave the land for the school, which was to revert to him when it was no longer used for school purposes. When the community decided upon the Rosewood School site, scarcely a mile from the Pine Forest School House merged into the Rosewood School and Pine Forest School House and site reverted to Mr. D. A. Sasser of Goldsboro who owns the same. The new Rosewood School was so named because of the crossing on the Southern Railroad near, and this crossing was so named because formerly the crossing was near the home of Rev. Ransom Rose. After the new school house at Pine Forest was built, the house in which our lamented friend, Mr. W. S. Stevens taught, when Sheriff Stevens visited his brother and had the pleasure of hearing a sermon by Old Uncle Ransom Rose, of blessed memory. Numerous preachers preached in Pine Forest School House, among them we recall J. Worrel Larmour, Arnold Wright and others. Pine Forest School House was perhaps really the first community building in the section anywhere. It was there some of the largest balls, following tournaments, were held, as well as the Grange and political gatherings. Many lover’s lanes in courtship entered there while Pine Forest Sunday school was non-sectarian always, until one day the Methodist Church drove a stob down there, and a Methodist church was organized. Some wag once said of the Methodist that no matter where folks assembled, the next thing you know a Methodist Church would “spring up there” and so with Pine Forest School merged into Rosewood the Pine Forest Methodist church was erected, not upon the original school site but across the road in front of the school. The land was donated by Mr. D. A. Sasser, son of A. L. Sasser, grandson of Lewis Sasser, who donated the site for the school house, and thanks are given Sheriff Stevens for calling attention to the Pine Forest School, parent of the Rosewoood High School, of which the community is justly proud. Thus was the beginning and ending of the Pine Forest School and the beginning and present success and hope of the future spiritual usefulness of Pine Forest Methodist Church. Additional Comments: Newspaper clipping from the papers of Virginia Tate Alexander granddaughter of Iada Sasser Jordan author of the article Sasser family names in article A. L. Sasser – Asa Lafayette Sasser D. A. Sasser – David (Asa or Asher) Sasser -son of A. L. Sasser Ida Sasser Jordan – Mrs. Thomas Murphy Jordan - daughter of A.L. Sasser Lewis Sasser - father of A. L. Sasser Mrs. A. L. Sasser – Elizabeth Delia Holt Sasser – wife of A. L. Sasser Pine Forest United Methodist Church 867 NC Highway 581 South Goldsboro, NC 27530 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/wayne/churches/pinefore46gbb.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 6.7 Kb