Primitive Baptist Church

On the trail of Barnes Cemetery.

Our discovery of the remains of Barnes Primitive Baptist Church began with a search for a slave cemetery and a school believed to be in the same vicinity. I’m fairly certain Barnes School actually was once near by, but L. Paul Sherrod Jr. said he had heard conflicting information about the cemetery, and we saw nothing that suggested a graveyard. This burial ground would have been associated with the plantation of Dr. Edwin Barnes, whose family cemetery I featured in a post Friday.

Today, a chance find that confirmed we’re on the right track:

Wilson Daily Times, 23 April 1955.

David Ruffin‘s funeral was conducted at Barnes Primitive Baptist, and he was buried “in the Barnes cemetery near the church.” So there is, or was, a Barnes cemetery near Barnes Church. But where?

Here is Barnes Church in a 1940 aerial photograph. The light gray area below and southeast of the church, showing few trees, is worth exploring in a search for the cemetery.

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In the 1900 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Isaac Ruffin, 52; wife Chania, 55; and sons Isaac, 22, Dave, 17, Grey, 7, and William, 5.

On 31 December 1903, David Ruffin, 21, married Celie Barnes, 19, in Stantonsburg township, Wilson County.

In the 1910 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer David Ruffin, 24; wife Celia, 18; and children Clara, 7, and Daisy, 2.

In 1918, Dave Ruffin registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 6 January 1870; his nearest relative was Celia Ruffin; and he farmed for E.B. Graves.

In the 1920 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: tenant farmer David Ruffin, 41; wife Cellie, 33; and children Daisy, 22, Dessie, 10, David Jr., 6, and Lula, 4.

Larsey Ruffin died 6 August 1926 in Wilson township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 18 years old; was born in Wilson County to David Ruffin and Celie Barnes; and worked as a tenant farmer.

In the 1930 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Dave Ruffin, 50; wife Celia, 45; daughters Clara, 28, Daisy, 19, and Lola M., 16; son-in-law John Hales, 39; grandchildren John, 10, Dave, 7, and Maizie Hales, 5; and son Dave, 19.

In the 1940 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Dave Ruffin, 50; wife Celia, 45; and [grandchildren] children David, 17, and Mazie, 15.

In the 1950 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Dave Ruffin, 78; wife Celia, 67; sons [sic] Walter Lee, 16, and George, 12; and sister Anna Artis, 77.

David Ruffin died 20 April 1955 at Route 3, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 2 August 1893 in Wilson County to Isaah Ruffin and an unknown mother; was married; was engaged in farming; and was buried in Barnes Cemetery. Carrie Hayes, 202 Pettigrew Street, was informant.

Ten days later: Celia Ruffin died 30 April 1955 at 202 Pettigrew Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 61 years old; was born in Wilson County to Calvin Barnes and an unknown mother; was a widow; was engaged in farming; and was buried in Barnes Cemetery. Carrie Hayes, 202 Pettigrew Street, was informant.

The last days of Barnes Primitive Baptist Church, in color.

Last week’s highlight was the discovery of the rusted tin, charred beams, and old brick that mark the site of Barnes Primitive Baptist Church, a congregation formed by freed slaves shortly after Emancipation. Yesterday, I received digital copies of three precious Polaroid photographs of Barnes Church taken in 1977 when the church closed and moved south to Watery Branch Church Road in Wayne County.

In the first photo, Barnes Church’s long-time pastor, Elder Kemmy A. Sherrod, stands with Deacon Douglas Barnes between the church’s two entrances. Elder Sherrod, a Wayne County native, was a grandson of Jack and Cassie Exum Sherrod and also pastored Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Church in Eureka, N.C., and New Center Primitive Baptist Church of Reidsville, N.C., and served as moderator of the Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Association and Durham Primitive Baptist Association.

The second photo, taken over the long hood of a car, shows the church’s southern elevation. That’s the chimney whose broken base we found standing in the woods.

The third hones in on the church’s simple, porchless, front-gable form. Fire consumed Barnes Church after it was vacated, and we found no sign of its plank siding, doors, or windows.

My unending gratitude to Leonard P. Sherrod Jr. for sharing these priceless photographs with me and to his cousin Cheryl Sherrod Pope for granting me permission to post them here!

Barnes Primitive Baptist Church, found.

Three years ago, I asked, “Where was Barnes Church?” Today, I have an answer.

Founded just after slavery, Barnes Church was one of the earliest African-American churches in Wilson County. Its simple double-doored, gable-front building is believed to have been erected shortly after the church’s establishment.

Barnes Church circa 1960s.

My father’s classmate L. Paul Sherrod Jr. asked me to explore the little spit of woods that I knew had once been the site of the church, but in which I’d not found any traces of the nineteenth-century building. My earlier looks had been in summer, though, when I could barely get a glimpse inside the woodline.

We entered via an old driveway over the ditch and immediately spotted this stack. I was puzzled at first, as this is obviously newer brick. A walk-around, however, revealed old brick piers, the corners of a building came into view, and this broken stack may have been a later addition that vented a wood stove. Curled trips of tin roofing lay rusting underfoot.

And then I spotted this. Barnes Church burned down after it was vacated. Here was a charred length of sill beam — with a four-inch, square-cut nail.

The nail. It was not hand-wrought, but cut from a sheet, as indicating by only two sides tapering. The head would have been added by hand. The earliest machine-cut nails of this type date to about 1840.

A brick from one of the piers. It is unmarked, but probably made locally.

This sill beam, from the north side of the building, is charred but unbroken.

A section still resting on a pier.

The pollen, y’all.

Paul and Barbara Sherrod, my guides. We’ve met Mr. Sherrod here and here and here.

It’s heard to visualize, but I’m standing in front the church’s site, perhaps seven feet from its front wall.

Barnes Primitive Baptist Church did not own its building or the land on which it stood. When the landowner refused to allow the congregation to upgrade the building, members of the Sherrod family donated land for a new church a few miles south, just across the Wayne County line on Watery Branch Road. The “new” church is now occupied by Now Faith Missionary Baptist Church.

Friendship Primitive Baptist buys land.

Friendship Primitive Baptist Church trustee Ransom Howell made two purchases on behalf of the church in just over two weeks in 1901.

On September 13, Isaac and Jackanna Rich sold the church for $12.50 an acre and a half on the north side of the railroad “except timber” rights. If the church later decided to sell the property, the Riches were to receive a right of first refusal.

Deed book 49, page 308, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

On October 1, L.R. and Mary Lamm sold the church for $25 a one-acre parcel on the “road leading from Black Creek road to Wilson” “on condition that if said Church shall go down or cease to exist,” the land would go to adjoining property holder W.H. Tomlinson.

Deed book 49, page 316, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

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  • Ransom Howell

In the 1880 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Ransom Howell, 31, farmer; wife Barbry, 28; children Alice, 3, Tobias, 8, and Diannah, 2; and Andrew Bass, 24.

In the 1900 census of Crossroads township, Wilson County: farmer Ransom Howell, 51; wife Barbara, 47; and children Dina, 22, William, 19, Mary A., 18, Janettie, 16, Lucinda, 14, James R., 9, Sarah E., 6, and John D., 3.

In the 1910 census of Crossroads township, Wilson County: farmer Ransom Howell, 61; wife Barbara, 58; and children Janettie, 26, James R., 19, and John D., 13.

Dinah Bynum died 4 June 1940 in Crossroads township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 6 March 1881 in Wilson County to Ransom Howell and Bobbie Howell; was married to Benj. Bynum; and was buried in Newsome cemetery, Wilson County.

James Howell died 28 October 1945 in Sharpsburg, Nash County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 1 April 1893 in Wilson County to Ransom Howell and Bobbie Woodard; was married to Lena Howell; worked as a farmer; and was buried in Rest Haven. Nettie M. Howell was informant.

At White Oak Primitive Baptist Church.

Like other white Primitive Baptist congregations, Saratoga’s White Oak Primitive Baptist admitted African-Americans to segregated membership — probably from the time it was founded in 1830. However, when they were able to form their own congregations after Emancipation, most Black Primitive Baptists left white churches to worship in less discordant settings, and White Oak’s members joined African-American churches in southeast Wilson County, including Bartee and Cornerline.

White Oak P.B. is no longer active. A small cemetery lies adjacent to the church, but its graves are relatively recent. (The oldest marked grave dates to 1927.) It seems likely that prior to that time, church members were buried in family cemeteries in the neighboring community.

White Oak Primitive Baptist Church, Saratoga, Wilson County.

On a recent visit to White Oak, I was surprised to recognize a feature in the graveyard. Up to then, of hundreds I’ve found, I had never seen a Clarence Best-carved marker on a white person’s grave. Here, though, was a little cluster, a single family whose small marble headstones I immediately recognized as Best’s work. They tell a terrible tale of loss, four babies who died before they reached the age of two.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2023.

Plat map of Corner Line Primitive Baptist Church property.

Corner Line Primitive Baptist Church’s land was surveyed in 1980, and the plat map was drawn and filed in 1981. In August 2008, church trustees, acknowledging that  “Cornerline Primitive Baptist Church no longer uses the … property as its church,” determined that “it is in the best interest of the church that it be sold,” and, for a nominal price, transferred ownership to Elder Samuel Barnes, grandson of Cornerline’s long-time pastor Elder Wiley Barnes.

African-American members of Lower Black Creek P.B. Church, part 8.

Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1783, was the second church organized in what is now Wilson County. (It closed its doors in 2010.) The church’s nineteenth and early twentieth-century records includes names of enslaved and freed African-American members, who worshipped with the congregation as second-class Christians even after Emancipation.

This page is entitled “A list of Names & members belonging to the church at Black Creek Meeting House Wayne County.” It is not dated, but the left margin contains baptism dates (and suggests the page was compile from earlier data.) Additional info appears for a few members in the right-hand column. Four “servants,” i.e., enslaved people, appear in the list.

  • Choe, a servant of John Barnes, baptized in 1827
  • Joe, a [servant of] of William Horne, baptized in 1828, “dead”
  • Jim, a servant of John Hooks, baptized in 1828
  • Mary, a [servant] belonging [to] T. Wasson, baptized in August 1852

 

African-Americans excommunicated from Lower Black Creek P.B. church, part 7.

Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1783, was the second church organized in what is now Wilson County. (It closed its doors in 2010.) The church’s nineteenth and early twentieth-century records includes names of enslaved and freed African-American members, who worshipped with the congregation as second-class Christians even after Emancipation.

This page continues with names of members excommunicated for serious infractions of church rules or doctrine. The page includes references to four enslaved African-Americans, including one man cast out for disobedience. As Primitive Baptists did not practice infant baptism, the four were, if not adults, then nearly so, and thus were all born in the very late 1700s or early 1800s. Some may have lived to see Emancipation, but even if they remained in Wilson County, I have no way to identify them further.

African-Americans dismissed or excommunicated from Lower Black Creek P.B. church, part 6.

Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1783, was the second church organized in what is now Wilson County. (It closed its doors in 2010.) The church’s nineteenth and early twentieth-century records includes names of enslaved and freed African-American members, who worshipped with the congregation as second-class Christians even after Emancipation.

This page continues with names of members “dismissed by letter,” i.e. voluntarily, to join another church, as well as members excommunicated for serious infractions. The page includes references to 14 enslaved African-Americans, including one man cast out for disobeying his mistress. (Bless his heart.) As Primitive Baptists did not practice infant baptism, the 14 were, if not adults, then nearly so, and thus were all born in the 1700s or early 1800s. Some may have lived to see Emancipation, but even if they remained in Wilson County, I have no way to identify them further.

Dismissals by letter:

  • Haywood, a servant of John Sherrod
  • Hanah, a servant of James Aycock sen’r
  • Hannah, a servant of James Aycock sen’r
  • Hannah, a servant of Godfrey Stancil 
  • Rose, a servant of W. Fort

Excommunications:

  • Harry, a servant
  • Kedar, a servant
  • Moses, a servant
  • Samuel, a servant
  • Harry, a servant
  • Peter, a servant of Patience Aycock charged with Disobedience to his Mistress
  • Ann, a servant restored to fellowship
  • Kedar, a servant
  • Harry, a servant

Copy of documents courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III. Originals now housed at North Carolina State Archives. 

African-Americans baptized at and dismissed from Lower Black Creek P.B. Church, part 5.

Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1783, was the second church organized in what is now Wilson County. (It closed its doors in 2010.) The church’s nineteenth and early twentieth-century records includes names of enslaved and freed African-American members, who worshipped with the congregation as second-class Christians even after Emancipation.

This page continues the previous “Reception to Babtism” with entries from 1824 to 1831, as well as names of several members “dismissed by letter.” (Members leaving voluntarily requested letters of good Christian character from their home church to another church.) The page includes references to seven enslaved African-Americans. (Don’t let “servant” fool you.) As Primitive Baptists did not practice infant baptism, the seven were, if not adults, then nearly so, and thus were all born in the 1700s or very early 1800s. Some may have lived to see Emancipation, but even if they remained in Wilson County, I have no way to identify them further.

Baptisms:

  • Dick, a servant
  • Raiford, a servant
  • Lewis, a servant
  • Will, a servant of Johnathan Dickerson
  • Jane, a servant of A. Farmer

Dismissals by letter:

  • Kedar, a servant
  • Harry, a servant

Copy of documents courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III. Originals now housed at North Carolina State Archives.