A.M.E. church

Wilson County’s A.M.E. Zion and A.M.E. churches.

The earliest black churches in Wilson were Baptist, but African Methodist Episcopal Zion missionaries quickly established a foothold in the county. Saint John A.M.E. Zion is one of the oldest black churches of any denomination in Wilson County, and the first generation of college graduates emerged from its attendant private academy. The older African Methodist Episcopal denomination did not take root as quickly or as widely in North Carolina, but at least two churches were founded in Wilson County.

As far as I know, Evansdale mystery aside, no black United Methodist congregations were ever established in Wilson County.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches

Founded in 1868. Present site at Pender Street purchased in 1880. Wooden church replaced by current handsome brick structure in 1914. Associated with several high-profile pastors in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Rev. Joseph C. Price, Rev. Owen L.W. Smith, and Rev. R.A.G. Foster.

Second oldest active African Methodist Episcopal Zion church in Wilson. First sanctuary  built on land purchased in 1909 on Banks Street from Rev. Smith, former consul to Liberia and A.M.E.Z. presiding elder.

In 1903, Orren and Hancey Best sold trustees a lot in Grabneck community for construction of Saint Stephen’s. Also known as South Wilson Mission. Per the 1923 report of the Wilson District of the Cape Fear Annual Conference, a 22 foot by 32 foot church was built in 1922. Church is defunct, and precise location is not clear.

Founded in 1877. Presently active at 210 West Broad Avenue, Stantonsburg. Bethel’s original site was southeast of Stantonsburg on what is now Peacock Bridge Road. Its old cemetery marks the approximate site.

  • A.M.E. Zion, Black Creek

In 1886, A.M.E.Z. trustees bought a lot on “Avenue Street.” Location not now known. This was likely Hardy’s Chapel. Church is defunct.

Active in 1940s. No further information.

  • A.M.E. Zion, Wilson

The 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows an A.M.E. Zion church at 312 Manchester Street, at the corner of East Suggs Street. The 1930 Sanborn map, however, shows this building housing a Christ Disciple Church. No other information is known.

Six miles from Wilson. No further info.

Eight miles from Wilson. No further info.

Perhaps: in 1910, the Colored Methodist Episcopal purchased a lot on Wilson Street, east of the railroad, in Elm City. No further information.

African Methodist Episcopal churches

  • Saint Luke A.M.E., Wilson

In 1906, trustees bought a lot on Suggs Street to build an A.M.E. church.  However, the church was not organized as Saint Luke until 1910. In the 1930s, the congregation moved to a storefront at the corner of Vick and Atlantic Streets and erected its current church building at that site in 1948.

  • Saint Paul’s A.M.E., Lucama

On 1 September 1903, the trustees for the A.M.E. Church of Lucama paid $25 for a quarter-acre lot on Main Street in Lucama. The exact location is not clear.

A.M.E.Z. or A.M.E.? (Or maybe C.M.E.?)

Shown in the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map on South Lodge Street, across from Imperial Tobacco. No further identification.

The A.M.E. church at Lucama.

Another bit of documentation regarding Lucama’s “lost” A.M.E. church:

On 9 March 1919, Walter Bethea, 18, of Crossroads township, son of R.D. and Mary Bethea, married Mattie Westley, 16, of Crossroads township, daughter of John Anne Westley, in Wilson County. Herbert Bethea applied for the license, and A.M.E. minister J.F. McNair performed the ceremony at “the A.M.E. ch. in Lucama N.C.” in the presence of R.D. Bethea, Will Hines, and James Bunn.

Lane Street Project: Flat Rock A.M.E. Church, Fayetteville, Georgia.

Though I will always be of Wilson, I have lived in Atlanta nearly all of my adult life. It is very much “home” for me, too, and is a bottomless well of African-American culture and history that often informs the way I process research and work related to Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project.

I’ve begun visiting metro Atlanta’s historic African-American burial grounds. How have they weathered exploding population growth, shifting demographics, outmigration, land loss, and other pressures? The seventh in a series — Flat Rock African Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery in Fayetteville, Georgia.

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Flat Rock A.M.E. Church, a few miles southeast of downtown Fayetteville, is believed to be the oldest congregation in Fayette County. Like many early churches in Wilson County, Flat Rock also offered schooling for the community.

Its cemetery lies adjacent to the church, with the newest section closest to the building.

In 2025, this historical marker was erected in Fayetteville’s historically white town cemetery to commemorate the Union Benevolent Aid Society.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2026.

Lane Street Project: Cobb-Bethel A.M.E. Church Cemetery.

Though I will always be of Wilson, I have lived in Atlanta for most of my adult life. It is very much “home” for me, too, and is a bottomless well of African-American culture and history that often informs the way I process research and works related to Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project.

I’ve recently begun visiting metro Atlanta’s historic African-American burial grounds. How have they weathered exploding population growth, shifting demographics, outmigration, land loss, and other pressures? The third in a series — Cobb-Bethel A.M.E. Church Cemetery, Atlanta, Fulton County.

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Located up a short slope behind Cobb-Bethel A.M.E. Church on County Line Road, this cemetery shows signs of a recent major clean-up. The older section, up front, is clear, and small red flags indicate a survey. As you push deeper, the ground is stubbled with the stumps of saplings, and even further back, some headstones remain in dense underbrush, but the church’s commitment to the care and reclamation of this burial ground is clear.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2025.

Saint Paul A.M.E. Church of Lucama.

Here’s another reference to an African Methodist Episcopal church in Lucama. This deed, dated 13 December 1917, records the sale of a one-quarter acre lot on Main Street to trustees of an A.M.E. church for $475. The lot was identified as “the lot upon which St. Pauls Church stands.”

The metes and bounds description is slightly different, but this appears to be the same quarter-acre lot the church bought in 1903. I’ll need to research that further. In the meantime, though we now know what happened to the church, I still don’t know exactly where it was.

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  • Willis Hines

On 30 January 1901, Willis Hines, 44, of Wilson County, son of Simon and Easter Hines, married Edith Jones, 31, daughter of Noel and Sarah Jones, in Lucama, Wilson County.

In the 1910 census of Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County: on Railroad Street, Willie Hines, 62, brickyard laborer; wife Edith, 46; children Lee H., 7, John H., 6, and Arcadie, 3; and stepdaughters Addie, 18, and Ida Deans, both servants.

Edith Hines died 15 May 1929 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 59 years old; was born in Wilson County to Noah Jones and Sarah Jones; was married to Willis Hines; and lived at 200 Pender Street, Wilson. Sarah Barnes was informant.

In the 1930 census of Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farm laborer Willis Hines, 72, widower, and boarder Arnly Adams, 84, widower.

Ida Hines died 16 January 1931 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 28 March 1901 in Lucama to Will Hines and Sarah Barnes; lived at Route 5, Wilson; worked as a laundress; and was buried in Wilson.

  • R.D. Bethea — Roddie Bethea.

In the 1920 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Roddie Bethea, 50; wife Mary R., 45; and children Lillie, 15, James A., 11, Clifton, 9, Vashtie, 6, and Hubert, 22.

  • J.L. Wright — Jacob L. Wright.

In the 1910 census of Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Jacob L. Wright, 41; wife Mary, 37; and children Willie M. [Wright], 20, Arece, 3, Annie M., 10 months, and Lenora, 20.

In the 1920 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Willie Wright, 30; wife Lenora, 30; children Robert, 6, Silas, 4, and Mary, 1; father Jacob, 51, widower; and siblings Arsee, 13, Annie, 10, and Carlie, 9.

In the 1930 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: R.C. Wright, 22; father Jake Wright, 62; sister Annie Mae McCoy, 20, and her children James F., 5, Bernetha, 3, and James H., newborn.

Annie Mae Pettiford died 9 November 1968 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 6 July 1911 in Wilson County to Jacob Wright and Mary Jones; lived in 908 Stantonsburg Street; and was married to Benjamin Pettiford. Rematha Pettiford was informant.

Lucama A.M.E. buys a lot on Main Street.

Deed book 49, page 560, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

On 1 September 1903, the Trustees for the A.M.E. Church of Lucama paid W.R. Davis and wife Neppie Davis $25 for a quarter-acre lot on Main Street in Lucama.

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There is no longer an African Methodist Episcopal church in Lucama. Is anyone familiar with this one? Where was it on Main Street?

I will be glad to hear from you all.

Late in 1925, Rev. Thomas G. Clark, an African Methodist Episcopal minister in  Goshen, New York, pulled out a sheet of his official stationery to scrawl a short letter to his brother John H. Clark of Wilson.

Nov 29, 1925

Dear Bro. John,

I Trust you are well this leaves both of us well. I have not heard from you for some time. Nor any of the rest do you know how they are. Write & let me know. I am writing Jesse Barnes to send me some sweet potatoes & corn meal. How are you all getting on. I will be glad to hear from you all at any Time. I am

Yours, Tom

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Jesse Barnes was very likely Jesse R. Barnes, whose farm adjoined the Clark family’s farm on what is now Bishop L.N. Forbes Street in Wilson. Jesse and Sarah Barnes Barnes sold their property to the Town of Wilson to establish Rest Haven Cemetery in 1933.

Original in my collection; thank you, J. Robert Boykin III.

The obituary of Rev. J.O. Vick, A.M.E. minister.

Wilson Daily Times, 28 May 1945.

A.M.E. minister James Oscar Frank Vick died just a year before his eldest brother Samuel H. Vick.

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In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: grist mill worker Daniel Vick, 38; wife Fannie, 35; children Samuel, 16, Nettie, 14, Earnest Linwood, 12, Henry, 10, and James O.F., 8; plus boarders (nephews) Frank O., 20, and Marcus W. Blount, 26.

O.F. Vick is listed as a second-year English student, Preparatory Department, in the 1892-1893 catalogue of Biddle University [now Johnson C. Smith University], Charlotte, North Carolina.

I have not determined when Vick graduated from Gordon Theological Seminary, but by 1902, he was well-established in the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Boston District.

Boston Globe, 10 June 1902.

On 30 June 1903, the Fall River Evening News reported that J.O. Vick had been transferred the A.M.E.’s New York Metropolitan District. His first known pastoral assignment was at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Kinderhook, N.Y., just south of Albany.

Courtesy of Dennis Dickerson’s The Past Is In Your Hands: Writing Local A.M.E. Church History (1989).

New York Age, 2 February 1905.

In mid-1906, a Brooklyn newspaper noted that Rev. Vick had taken charge of Bethel A.M.E. in Freeport, New York, on Long Island.

The Brooklyn Daily Times (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 21 July 1906.

By 1909, Rev. Vick led yet another Bethel, this time in Olean, New York, about 40 miles south of Buffalo.

Times Herald (Olean, N.Y.), 31 March 1909.

In the 1910 census of Olean, Cattaraugus County, New York: clergyman James O. Vick, 40, boarder in the household of Willard, a day laborer, and Frances Reaze, who were white.

Buffalo Evening News, 28 February 1910.

Between 1910 and 1914, Rev. Vick married Ella Ruth Reeves and assumed duties at Emmanuel A.M.E. in Montclair, New Jersey.

In the 1914 Montclair, New Jersey, city directory: Vick James O Mrs nurse h 26 Myrtle av; also, Vick James O Rev pastor Emmanuel AME  Church h 26 Myrtle av

In the 1915 state census of Montclair, New Jersey: at 14 Miller, clergyman James O. Vick, 34, and wife Ella R., 29.

Rev. Vick held refreshingly progressive views:

“Why I Am Going to Vote for Equal Suffrage, By Fifty Montclair Men,” The Montclair Times, 2 October 1915. 

Between 1915 and 1918, the family moved again, this time to Easton, Pennsylvania, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia on the Delaware River.

In 1918, Rev. James Oscar Vick registered for the World War i draft in Easton. Per his registration card, he was born 10 March 1874; lived at 416 Canal, Easton; was minister of the gospel at Union A.M.E. Church, 439 Ferry, Easton; and his nearest relative was Mrs. Ella Ruth Vick.

Rev. Vick’s signature on his draft card.

During the first half of the 1920s, Rev. Vick pastored at several A.M.E. churches in northern New Jersey, including Mount Teman in Elizabeth and Heard in Roselle, but settled in Princeton by 1926.

In 1920 census of Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey: M.E. Church pastor James O. Vick, 46; wife Ruth, 36; servant Emma Robins, 22; and niece Fanny M. Vick, 10. [Like her uncle, Fanny Vick was born in North Carolina. Her father was William H. Vick.]

In the 1920 Montclair, New Jersey, city directory: Vick James O Rev rem to Easton Pa

In the 1921 Elizabeth, New Jersey, city directory: Vick James O Rev pastor Mt Teman AME Church h 16 S Union

In the 1926 Asbury Park, New Jersey, city directory: Vick J Oscar h 126 Atkins av

In the 1927 and 1928 Princeton, N.J., city directory: Vick J Oscar pastor Mt Pisgah AME Church h 22 Jackson; also, Vick Mrs J Oscar (Ella R) 22 Jackson

In the 1930 census of Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey: clergyman James O. Vick, 49; wife Ella R., 35; and adopted son Victor, 0, a “foundling.”

In the 1931, 1932 and 1933 Princeton, N.J., city directories: Vick J Oscar (Ella R) pastor Mt Pisgah AME Ch h 10 McLean [Sidenote: Mount Pisgah’s modest former parsonage at 10 McLean Street is now valued at more than a million dollars.]

In the late 1930s, Rev. Vick assumed his last assignment at Trinity A.M.E. Church in Long Branch, New Jersey.

Asbury Park Press, 5 March 1941.