Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series

Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be 
reproduced without permission. 
Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto.

                 Reverend Thomson - Pioneer Minister
                        in Waynesborough

"Our Heritage"
By Claude Moore

   The Reverend David Thomson of Sampson County was one of the founders and 
was first minister of the Waynesborough Baptist Church, which was the 
forerunner of the First Baptist Church of Goldsboro.  Services were held for
some years in the old Free Meeting House in Waynesborough.  The first Sunday
School was organized in 1840 by Charles J. Nelson, a carriage marker, and 
he became the first superintendent.  In 1843, there was a formal organization
of the Waynesborough Baptist Church.  In 1851, services at Waynesborough 
were abandoned, and for a time services were held in the old Academy 
Building in Goldsboro.

   The Reverend David Thomson was born near Turkey, in Sampson County, in 
1791, and was the son of Captain James Thomson (an officer in the North 
Carolina Militia during the Revolution) and Lucy Ivey.  He attended Grove 
Academy in Kenansville.  His father was Presbyterian and his mother an 
Episcopalian, but at an early age he was converted to the Baptist faith and 
was baptized by the Reverend Fleet Cooper.

   In 1814, young David Thomson was ordained into the ministry, and in the 
same year he was founder of Beulah Church on Ten Mile Swamp near Turkey.  
Around 1817-1819, he went as a missionary to Georgia and Alabama.
 
   In the early 1820’s, the Reverend David Thomson moved to Smithfield, 
where he bought a plantation in the country and built a home in the town.  
Even though he went into the mercantile business and was postmaster of 
Smithfield, he continued to serve as pastor of various churches in Johnston 
County.  He first married Sarah McCullers (1801-1836), and by her he had two
daughters, Sarah (died young), and Ann (1831-1850), who married Dr. John 
Beckwith.  He later married Mrs. Pheriby Saunders Helme, and by her he had 
one daughter, Lucy (1838-1844).

   The Reverend David Thomson served for several years in the State Senate 
from Johnston County, and he was one of the promoters of the move to 
establish Wake Forest College.  He was a member of the first Board of 
Trustees of Wake Forest and served until 1842.

   Besides preaching for several years prior to 1843 at Waynesborough, the 
Reverend David Thomson held services at other churches in Wayne.  The records
show that he preached the introductory sermon when the Eastern Baptist 
Association met at Bear Marsh Baptist Church in 1841.

   The Reverend David Thomson and two daughters, Sarah and Lucy, all died on 
September 1, 1844, and are buried in the Old Town Cemetery in Smithfield.  A 
local paper said of him after his death, "as a man, a citizen, a Christian, 
he stood pre-eminent with all who had pleasure of his acquaintance.  He held
the individual confidence of all who knew him as well as the community in
which he lived, whose State Senator he had often been, with marked credit to
each, the constituent and the representative."  

==============================================================

USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free
information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial
entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material.
The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit 
or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes 
other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file 
contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of 
this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb 
Archives to store the file permanently for free access.

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Barbara Kawamoto <bakawamoto.earthlink.net>

==============================================================