The Tie That Binds: Rehoboth Methodist Church and 300 Years of Worship Along the South Shore of the Albemarle Sound

By Chris Barber

The Tie That Binds: Rehoboth Church and 300 Years of Worship Along the South Shore of the Albemarle Sound investigates the evolution of faith and culture that laid the foundation for Rehoboth Methodist Church. It examines Rehoboth’s years as an active church from 1853 through 1969, then spotlights the many volunteers who have helped to keep the church’s doors open for a few services each year for the last fifty years. An appendix lists names of people found in old church records.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716936340

Chris Barber

Chris Barber is a registered nurse (learning disabilities), qualifying as such in December 1989, and he holds an MEd from the University of Birmingham in special educational needs (autism). He has worked as a nurse, as a visiting lecturer in learning disability nursing at Birmingham City University, and for the eleven years up to 2021 as a full-time care-giver for his late wife. Chris is a parent of a young man who is on the autism spectrum, and he himself was diagnosed at the end of 2008 as being ‘high-functioning autistic’. Chris sits on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Nursing, the British Journal of Mental Health Nursing, and the British Journal of Health Care Assistants and has written a number of articles and papers on a wide variety of subjects including learning disabilities, care givers, spirituality and autism. He is the author of Autism and Asperger’s Conditions, published by Quay Books in 2011. 

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BARBER

Copyright © 2020 Chris Barber.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any

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of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews.

Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-7169-3635-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7169-3634-0 (e)

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this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 06/12/2020

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many individuals were the sparks of life for this book, as they assisted in telling the story of Rehoboth Methodist Church and the history of this area. Their support is a reminder that throughout its long life, Rehoboth has had many helpers.

First, I want to remember a few people whose interest and dedication in 2007 became the seed of Rehoboth Church Preservation Society, Inc., noted later as the Society or RCPS. These people bound themselves to the task of preserving Rehoboth Church and grounds. Had they not, the story of Rehoboth Church would be different today. Rev. Frank Alexander of the Albemarle Charge of the UMC, Juanita Oliver, Mildred Swain, Jesse Carawan, Carol Deaver, and Jeff Swain joined me around the dining room table that year. In 2008, five of us became the first board of the newly formed Society. Jeff Swain and Carol Deaver assisted in other ways.

Many people have provided information or helped with this book in other ways. Sue Lilley, Lois Krawczyk, and Mildred Swain provided the information they had about known ministers who served at the church. Mrs. Swain also provided records of activities she led as a member of the board. Mrs. Krawczyk, whose family has been closely associated not only with Rehoboth, but also with the earlier Swain’s Chapel, provided much information about the roles of some of her ancestors.

Former board member Jesse Carawan, who began assisting at Rehoboth in 1970, was a great resource whenever there were unanswered questions about the operation of Rehoboth by volunteers between 1970 and 2004.

Descendants of Noah White, who lived close to the church, were active supporters of Rehoboth for a century. Carolyn White, whose sons, Brian and Greg, and her late husband, Joe Jesse, descend from this line of dedicated people, kindly provided information and photos on those ancestors and helped to fill in the story. Joe Jesse White’s father was Mr. Joe, whom readers will meet later in the book.

Vernon Everett assisted both Carolyn White and Raymond Spruill many years ago in collecting the information they have shared for this project. Mr. Everett also shared his Rehoboth Church cemetery research with the Society. This information appears in the Appendix.

Raymond Spruill provided information he had about the original Noah White home place, a landmark in the local community a short distance from Rehoboth. These details breathed life into the story of the family’s presence in the community and their roles at the church. Bobby Spruill, Raymond’s younger brother, shared an important story he remembered about the road that passes the church.

Carol Deaver provided information on her family’s restaurant, Simp’s Barbecue, a local landmark commonly tied to Rehoboth, particularly after 1970.

The following individuals or companies gave permission for me to use their images in this book: Carolyn White, Mildred Swain, Carol Deaver, Lois Krawczyk, Arden Jones for Doward Jones, Bill Barber, Mary Wayt of The Roanoke Beacon, Preservation North Carolina/Tammy Vantrell, and Morris Press Books. All other images are either from Rehoboth files or my personal collection.

Jonni Kephart and Howard Simpson assisted with a few small details prior to publication.

Martha DeLong transcribed some of the old church records, those that list members from 1878 through 1887. Her work appears in the Appendix. The late Juanita Oliver helped me transcribe baptism and marriage records a decade ago.

Several people assisted me as readers and editors. Their feedback helped me to make this a better book. Carol Deaver, Lois Krawczyk and Katie Hassell focused on content. My colleagues at Wordsmiths of the Inner Banks, which includes Mary Montgomery, Michael Soper, Vernon Fueston, and Kate and Bill Ahearn, reviewed early drafts of the book and offered helpful suggestions.

Patty Horansky edited a section of the book and provided much useful feedback that assisted me as I proceeded. Mary Wayt, publisher and editor of the Roanoke Beacon, helped prepare me by discussing publishing details as the book neared completion. Karen Simmering copy edited and proofread the book and was crucial in helping me make a few important corrections.

Carol Deaver, Katie Hassell, and I served as the book committee. Their assistance, by making calls, doing a bit or research, and providing feedback, helped me focus on the writing.

Whenever I had unexpected questions about hymns or services, Carol assisted. She also contacted individuals to invite them to be a part of this book project as patrons. The list of these generous people appears at the back of the book.

On a few occasions when I was stumped on a technology question, Sarah Harris Whitt assisted me. I am extremely grateful that I could call on her.

My husband, Bill, was a significant contributor to this book, just as he is with my work at Rehoboth. As we share an interest in local history, he was a helpful consultant throughout this project. He chose to research Rehoboth Church at the turn of the 20th century by searching through early editions of The Roanoke Beacon. Readers will see his efforts in details from those articles that help to bring the church and congregation to life. He provided feedback, clarification on some details, and much technical assistance critical to the completion of the book. I am forever grateful for his support.

Any errors in this book are solely my responsibility.

The list of people who assisted with the publication of this volume is quite long. To each and everyone, I extend my sincere gratitude. The resultant volume is a reflection of many hearts, hands and voices.

Finally, I want to remember – and thank - my husband’s late grandparents, Mr. Asie and Ms. Virginia Barber, who lived at Pea Ridge. I was a city girl when I visited their home with Bill in 1967, and had my first glimpse of simple rural lives, the kind of lives I describe in portions of this book. Mr. Asie had been a farmer and a commercial fisherman. He raised hogs, and in the spring followed the old tradition of dipping herring, which he cleaned, salted and stored in stone crocks in the smokehouse near the hams he cured and smoked each January. When I spent the night at their home that winter, I nestled under several of Nannie’s thick, hand sewn quilts, welcome in that cold bedroom. Only the main living area was heated by a single oil heater that had recently replaced the old wood stove they had used for years.

At the time, I didn’t fully understand or appreciate that I was witnessing the end of a way of life. The Barbers, their neighbors, and generations of ancestors had lived simple, nearly self- sufficient lives, just a few miles from Rehoboth. This was something I had never seen before. In just a few years, those old traditions disappeared like smoke in the wind as people adopted more modern lifestyles. I hope this book reminds some readers about their own family’s heritage.

This book is proof of ties that bind.

Chris Barber

4/01/2020

PREFACE

The year 2020 is a special one in the life of Rehoboth Church. In 1970, its membership had declined so low that the church was no longer sustainable, and so it was removed from the roster of active churches. Rehoboth could have been forgotten and fallen into ruin. Instead new stewards began to take charge. Fifty years later, we are celebrating this great milestone of support.

As I gathered material for this book, I saw an opportunity to place Rehoboth Church in the context of history. Its location in rural Washington County is a reminder of its own roots and the origins of its rich lineage, which began in a wilderness one hundred fifty years before Rehoboth was built.

This community is unique because of its age, reaching back to the beginning of the Carolana colony in 1663. Some families who worshipped at Rehoboth Church had ancestors who were here in those earliest days.

Rehoboth and the three churches that preceded it provide an important link. Faith and the church brought people together in the days when lives were filled with work and people didn’t travel far from home.

The history of the area is a perfect context for appreciating how Rehoboth Methodist Church became the center of its community.

BLEST BE THE TIE

THAT BINDS

John Fawcett, 1740-1817

Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love:

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne,

We pour our ardent prayers:

Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,

Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,

Each other’s burdens bear,

And often for each other flows

The sympathizing tear.

When we are called to part,

It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart,

And hope to meet again. Amen¹

Taken from The Methodist Hymnal. The Methodist Book Concern, Whitmore and Smith, Nashville, Tennessee, 1932, 19355, 1939, p. 416

FOREWORD

The Tie That Binds:

Rehoboth Methodist Church and 300 Years of Worship Along

The South Shore of the Albemarle Sound

Located less than a mile from the South Shore of the Albemarle Sound in rural Washington County, North Carolina, Rehoboth Methodist Church, built about 1853, has links to the earliest days of settlement and the establishment of religion in the colony. From the 1680s until 1729, this area on the South Shore was part of Chowan Precinct and thus impacted by all precinct decisions.² Modern day Chowan County, with Edenton as its county seat, is much smaller than its earlier ancestor.

On Highway 32 North, the chapel sits in the middle of a two-mile span that begins near the intersection of highways 32 and 37 at Pea Ridge and ends near the foot of Holly Neck Road’s east end. The church is in the area in Washington County known as mid-county.

Rehoboth Methodist Church, however, was not the first chapel in this small area. It was the fourth. The first was an unnamed church that, for convenience, will be called the South Shore Chapel. It was built before 1733 near the area of Chapel Swamp in the vicinity of Holly Neck Road. The second was Skinner’s Chapel. It was built two miles east of the first chapel, and a mile east of Rehoboth, sometime in the latter half of the 18th century. These first two churches were part of the Church of England.

Swain’s Chapel was the third church and was built near Skinner’s Chapel in 1805. Though it is unknown what denomination it was in its earliest years, Swain’s became a Methodist Protestant Church in 1828. When Rehoboth Church opened its doors in 1853, it followed Swain’s faith and remained a Methodist Church.

These four churches, built only a short distance from each other, share a common heritage begun in 1701 when the Anglican church gained a foothold in the young colony. Early settlers struggling to survive in a remote wilderness came together in those early days and began the tradition of worship that endured and strengthened with each generation.

This string of four successive churches built over a century and a half is significant in several ways. The South Shore Chapel was the result of the establishment of the Church of England in the Carolina colony in 1701. The only faith practiced in the colony up to that year was the Quaker religion. The Methodist faith was not founded until many decades later. Rehoboth Church, thus, descends first from the seeds of faith of the Church of England and later from the then newly established Methodist faith. People who worship at Rehoboth today join a long line of people who have persisted in worshipping in this small area for over three centuries.

The lifeblood of any church is its people. In this portion of modern-day Washington County, several generations of families had roles in building and attending these churches. Many modern residents are descendants of the earliest Normans, Spruills, Davenports, Phelpses, Snells, Learys, Chessons and other family lines. Their continued presence is notable, giving testimony to family ties bound to this area for many generations.

Just as Rehoboth’s physical location is in the middle of the three prior churches, it sits almost in the middle of a time span that began in 1701 and extends to 2020. Rehoboth is a bridge between the century and a half of worship that preceded it, and the century and a half since it opened. This quaint old church, which has