The Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association and Its Founders from 1866–1966: Volume 2

By Dr. Linwood Morings Boone

In The Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association and Its Founders from 18661966, Dr. L. Morings Boone has created a historical memorial to the founding fathers of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association. These men played a great part in shaping the destiny of the members of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association. Distinguished in their religious and public life, these men left their stamp on the history of the Negro Church of Northeastern North Carolina and Virginia. Dr. L. Morings Boone has done another tremendous job of restoring a history and legacy of African-American clergy who established a ministerial alliance against the backdrop of racial oppression and dismal circumstances. These faithful and courageous founding fathers led their congregations in such a way as to establish the Roanoke Institute to educate the children of northeastern North Carolina. Dr. Boone has searched tirelessly into the history of the association to discover the passionate work that drove these men against the tyranny of southern discrimination to elevate their communities through their Missionary Baptist efforts and through public education.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524673949

Dr. Linwood Morings Boone

Dr. Linwood Morings Boone’s holds a Doctrate of Ministry from United Theological Seminary, Dayton Ohio. His present and past experiences includes: author, chaplain, clinician, counselor, educator, evangelist, genealogist, historian, pastor, professor at the historic Hampton, University, Hampton, Virginia, and publisher. He is a distinquished and qualified mental health professional with the Wuwusi Scott Properties, L. L. C., and the Agape Foundation, Hampton, Virginia.

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© 2017 DR. LINWOOD MORINGS BOONE. D. MIN. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/19/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-7395-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-7394-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017903284

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in 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.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Remembering Rev. Zion Hall Berry

The Second Generation

R. T. Adams

J. J. Armstrong

W. L. Armstrong

Isaac Arnold

A. B. Askew

Samuel A. Askew

C. W. Bennett

Reverend J. H. Billups

L. T. Bond

C. C. Boone

Riddick Boon

W. F. Brinkley

N. F. Brooks

J. F. Bryant

W. H. Bryant

L. B. Capehart

R. R. Cartwright

E. R. Cooper

Robert C. Cross

Isaac A. Daniels

W. H. Davis

W. N. Douglas

J. W. Dungee

Andrew S. Dunstan

P. P. Eaton Ii

John M. Eure

Reverend J. W. Faulk

Samuel D. Felton, Sr.

Lee Freeman

James M. Garriss

E. H. Griffin

Jane W. Hays

D. G. Jacock

Dr. R. Jacocks

S. M. Jenkins

Rev. J. J. Johnson

F. M. Jones

W. P. Jones

S. P. Knight

Arthur W. Lamb

R. C. Lamb

G. C. Lassiter

J. Q. A. Lassiter

J. P. Law

R. R. Lee

Matilda N. Lennox

E. M. Lewis

J. A. Lewis

J. R. R. Mccray

L. Worley Melton

David Mitchell

G. W. Mizell

H. B. Moore

W. J. Moore

S. D. Morton

U. G. Moye

H. H. Newby

M. N. Newsome

L. G. Nichols

W. H. Nichols

J. A. Nimmo

Rev. A. E. Owens

W. H. Owens

A. L. Parker

E. S. Parker

L. J. Parker

I. W. Penn

U. G. Privott

G. T. Rousen

W. E. Sanderlin

R. Henry Sawyer

Butler A. Sharpe, Sr.

L. F. Sharpe

T. Sharp

Frank Smith

Daniel A. Stallings

W. H. A. Stallings

William A. Taylor

Rev. A. C. Tillery

J. E. Tillett

W. H. Trotman

P. G. Welch

Z. W. White

A. T. Wilson

H. F. Woodhouse

Z. B. Wynn

Forgotten Songs Of The Faith

Our Fallen Leaders

Eastern North Carolina Sabbath School Union

Newspaper Clippings:roanoke Annual Association Meetings

Rev. George Daniel Griffin, B. Th.

Emancipation Celebrations

The New Era Institute

Church Histories

First Zion Grove

Gale Street Baptist Church

Mount Eprew Baptist Church

New Chapel Church

New Middle Swamp Missionary Baptist Church

Rev. Eugene G. Armistead

Rev. J. A. Brinkley

C. M. H. Odom

Weeping Mary Baptist Church

Zion Tabernacle

B. W. Dance

Z. B. Wynn

John T. Doles

C. R. Mercer

H. C. Saunders

R. M. Watson

J. M. Hall

W. E. Banks

Stanley E. Wiggins

Conclusion

Bibliography

DEDICATION

William A. Boon

William Aldred Boon, the great grandfather of the author, was born on January 15, 1845 in the Reynoldson District of Gates County, North Carolina to John C. Boon (1814) and former Martha Patsy Reid daughter of Amariah Reid and Betsey Skeeter Reid. William A. Boone descended from Joe Skeeter, an English land surveyor who settled Skeetertown, near the Dismal Swamp. Skeeter had two interracial marriages. His daughter, Patsy, was William’s mother.

In 1850 six year old William Orren (translated as Orange and thus his nickname) was living in the Reynoldson District of Gates County with his black father, John Boon, and his mulatto mother, Patsy, and his mulatto siblings Jason, Francis and Parmelia. William’s other siblings were: Ada, Preston, Frank (1830), Anthony (1836), Andrew (1851), and Sarah Jane (1860). William BOON (son of Patsy BOON, deceased) was listed among those allowed to work in the Great Dismal Swamp. He was a member and secretary of the Stony Branch Baptist Church, Gates, N. C., When he moved to Somerton, Virginia in 1878, he became a member of the Palm Tree Missionary Baptist Church. William Aldred Boon married three times. He first married was to Phereby Chalk of Nansemond County, Virginia. His second marriage was to Nancy Duck of Nansemond County, and his third marriage was to Edith Victoria Caroline Boon, Reynoldson, North Carolina, (February 1858) daughter of Mills Parker and Mary Ann Boon Parker. His October 1888 marriage to Edith Victoria Caroline Boon was performed by Rev. W. B. Waff in Reynoldson, N. C. William & Edith’s (fondly known as Caroline) mulatto house hold consisted of Otis (1882), Daisy (May 1884), John Wesley (Jan 1887), Canzina (September 1892), Saphronia (September 1894), Mary Iona (April 1898), Elnora (April 1900), and Constantinople (1903), and sometimes her grandparents, Dempsey & Anzilla Boon. Boon was the official photographer of the Stony Branch Missionary Baptist Church. Many of his black and white types pictures have survived. Boon’s work depicted the religious life and activities of the week to week services at Stony Branch. A picture taken by William Orange during one of its Odd Fellow Meetings on the Stony Branch Church campus is displayed in Chapter 11 under the heading of Stony Branch.

The idea of black men donning military uniforms gained public support after the summer of 1862. In April of that year, the Confederacy had begun conscription, and the necessity for a draft in the North became plain when states took months to answer the president’s call in July for three hundred thousand more volunteers. In January, 1863—the month of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the second year of the Civil War—the United States began allowing black soldiers to enlist in the Union army. The army needed more manpower or, as African-American soldier James Henry Gooding put it with bitter eloquence, more food for its ravenous maw.

William A. Boon’s inclinations and favoritism towards the Union Army may have resulted from an initial contact with the secessionist Confederates on July 29, 1863. It was not a pleasant meeting. Col. Samuel P. Spear of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry arrived on the east bank of the Chowan River, across from Winton, North Carolina. The 11th Pennsylvania had come from their camp at Bowers Hill, which is near Suffolk, VA, and traveled and stopped on William’s property on the North Carolina, and Virginia boarder. While there, they forcefully and unmercifully commandeered his valuables, and properties, and one horse. Boone would later recount the experience on his application to the Southern Commission. Boone had witnessed the Confederate defeat and the Union’s victory during the seizure at Suffolk. He had seen the Union army meet its objectives at Hill Point and at Backwater in the Nansemond County, district of Suffolk, Virginia. It was widely circulated that the Union Army campaign had been to hold Suffolk, which they had done. Boon stated that he visited with a cousin in Norfolk, Virginia in 1864, and while there was induced to enlist in the Army by a recruiting officer who, according to a written statement by Boon, laid upon me unless I enlist I would be drafted into the service in a very few days. He said the government wanted every able body, young colored man that they could get. Therefore, when I returned back to Gates County from the visit, I returned to Suffolk, Virginia a few days after and enlisted in the Union Army on August 4, 1864 in Norfolk, Virginia., and without my knowledge or consent was assigned to Company H, 1st Regiment of the U. S. Col Cav. The 1st Regiment of the United States Colored Cavalry was organized at Camp Hamilton, Va., Dec. 22, 1863. Camp Hamilton was located on the mainland opposite Fort Monroe (where the downtown section of Phoebus is today).

Colored Men across the width and the depth of the United States of America yearned to serve in any capacity within the Union Army. Their motives were complex, but revolved around a desire to prove them worthy of equal citizenship. They knew that the war meant the death of slavery, but not necessarily the birth of freedom or equality. They hoped to prove, to the racist white population, their worth in the crucible of battle. Once admitted to enter the Union Army, the white Union soldiers often treated the black soldier with derisions of all kinds. Despite these decisions and obstacles the Black Union Soldier were determined to serve their country and to fight for their rights. Inspection reports indicate that black troops did well in drill, took pride in their uniforms, and suffered less than white troops from such camp vices as drinking and swearing. Boone declared on an affidavit dated April 16, 1894 that: There was not a Gates County man in my regiment; there was not a Gates County man in the whole company. They were all strangers, to me. The company was composed of slaves; nearly everyone had run away from their owners and enlisted. These men had come from different sections of the country. When the war was over and they were discharged from the army, they did not have a home to go to. Hence they went all over the country. All but 50,000 of the 186,000 black Union soldiers were escaped slaves from Southern states. Boon stated in another affidavit dated the 16th of May 1894 that At the time I was hurt, I was with a detailed of 8 or 10 men from the Regiment; only 2 from my company, according to my recollections Benjamin Flythe an escaped slave, now dead, John Williams, who then said that he was escaped from the Eastern Shore of Virginia and I knew about my complaining of being hurt at the time."

Boon agreed, against all odds, obstacles, derisions, and ill and abusive treatments by the White Union Soldiers, the Negro Soldiers composed of former run-away slaves, and the Free Born Man held their own. Although, at first the Black Union Soldier received no pay at all; when offered half-pay, they refused saying that they would volunteer service to their country, rather than be treated as less than full soldiers. Boon’s August 27, 1864 army mustered record shows that he was committed to 3 years of volunteer service. However, he did not receive the 30c due him until March-April 1865. There are notations on his records for 30c due him for May-August 1865 for service rendered at Saban Knot. Boon received no pay for his service in Brazos Santiago, Texas. He was there from February 4, 1864 to July 1, 1864. He was paid $100.00 for this period of time on August 31, 1865. A special note is affixed to the bottom of this muster record stating that: William A. Boon joined as Recruit force previous to April 19, 1861. (Boon very possibly passed as a white man doing that period of time in the army.) Boon’s regiment eventually received full pay due to the persistence of the men.

Boon’s attachment served in southern Virginia from early 1864 to June 1865. They were attached to Fort Monroe, Va., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to April, 1864. Unattached Williamsburg, Va., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to June, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 18th Corps, Army of the James, to August, 1864. His mustered record verifies that he was at the Newport News, Virginia from August 1, 1864 to August 30, 1864. His company held the Defenses of Portsmouth Va., District of Eastern Virginia, to May, 1865. Cavalry Brigade, 25th Corps, Dept. of Virginia and Dept. of Texas, to February, 1866. William Aldred Boon was at Fort Monroe and Williamsburg, Va., until May, 1864. He and his battalion conducted reconnaissance in Kings and Queens County February, 1864. Butler’s operations on south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond May 4-28. Capture of Bermuda Hundred and City Point May 5. Swift Creek May 8-10. Operations against Fort Darling May 12-16, Actions at Drury’s Bluff May 10-14-15 and 16; In trenches at Bermuda Hundred until June 18. Bayler’s Farm June 15. Assaults on Petersburg June 16-19, Siege of Petersburg until August. Action at Deep Bottom July 27-28. He was ordered to Fort Monroe August 3. Duty at Newport News and at Portsmouth and in District of Eastern Virginia until May, 1865. Cos. E and I Detached at Fort Powhatan and Harrison’s Landing August, 1864, to May, 1865, then to City Point, Va. By 1865, he and approximately one tenth of his fellow Union soldiers and sailors about 80% of these came from the slave states. Black soldiers fought with notable valor. When captured they faced much greater brutality from Confederate soldiers than did their white comrades. Union service, for Boon and the other 5,723 Virginia United States Colored Troops did not guarantee equal treatment. Black soldiers in the Union army served in segregated troops, often faced menial assignments, and received lower pay—$10 per month to white soldiers’ $13. He was honorably discharged from Cedar Point, Virginia during February 1865 due to an injury to the face, eye and head.

William Boon suffered a back injury on September 1865 while working with others in unloading a ship, taking off heavy building timbers, such as Scanting from the Hatch Hold. He added, I did not feel it at first. However, its intensity has increased during 1868-1869 when it became too bad. Alfred Parker and B. W. Gatling signed an affidavit stating the same. He reported on the Call for History of Claimant Disability form. that he was discharged from the U. S. Service in February 1866. He located and lived near Nurmeysville, Whaleyville Virginia, and as best as I can remember, left Nurmeysville in 1872 and came to Gates County, and lived about 4 years (1876) before returning to Virginia and located near Somerton Virginia, where I remained for 5 years (1881), I think. I then removed to Gates County again, and located after living 2 years (1883) at William Everett just over the Virginia and North Carolina, then to Dort. I have been living in Gates County every since, more or less 8 or 10 years (1898). He stated that his usual employment had been light farming or day work on the farm.

During the year of 1872 William Aldred Boon made a claim against the Southern Claims Commission as a Loyalist. The "Loyalist of North Carolina opposed the succession of the States in order to form the Confederate States of the United States of America with the rights to continue to traffic in human slavery. The Union Loyalist fought against slavery and the dissolution of the Union because they knew that Negro slavery had been different than any other form of slavery. The African-Negro had been seized a prisoner of war, unarmed, bound hand and foot, and conveyed to a distant country among what to him were worse than cannibals; brutally beaten, half-starved, closely watched by armed men, with no means of knowing their own strength or the strength of their enemies, with no weapons, and without a probability of success.

The following statements were extracted from his 1871 & 1872 claims: William Boon is a free colored man, was born free-resident of Gates County, N. C., He was in no way connected with the succession government, was never in Confederate employment. His sympathies were at all times with the Union Army. His loyalty is well outlined. About the last day of July 1863 a force came by claimant place on their way to Suffolk, Virginia where they were stationed. When they were at the claimant house one of them took the claimant house. The securement and the payment of $100.00. The application form reads: Before the Commissioners of Claims: In the matter of the claim of William A Boon of Gatesville, in the County of Gates and State of North Carolina. COMES NOW THE CLAIMANT, and represent that he has hereto forth filed with the above named commission a Petition for the allowance of a claim for the property taken for the use of the army of the United States. The said property, the claimant believes was BY DAMAGED, DESTRUCTION and/or LOSS, and NOT he use, of property by unauthorized or unnecessary DEPREDATION of troops and other persons upon the property, or rent or compensation for the occupation of building, grounds or other real estate, is as follows: 1 horse valued at $200.00.

According to Boon these soldiers were acting under the direction of a General Veil. An unidentified cavalry spearman of the 11 Pennsylvania Calvary was actually responsible for his loss of valuables, one horse and home in the Reynoldson District of Gates County, North Carolina. Boon was able to sufficiently verify that he held American citizenship, resided in North Carolina after it succeeded from the union, could document loyalty to the federal government throughout the conflict; and had suffered official confiscation of goods from his Reynoldson, North Carolina property. He was paid a reasonable amount for his loses and for his loyalty. On his January 30, 1895 pension application, William made the following statement:

I do solemnly swear that I spell my name in full and foresaid, William Aldred Boon. I do solemnly swear that I could not read or write when I listed in the army. What I know about reading and writing, and all I know about it, I learned during the war, while I was in the army. I think it proper to state that my name Aldred is sometimes began with an E, but not by my authority. I will also state that the name Boon is sometimes spelled as Boon e", but not by me. I spell it Boon.

Boon’s statement about his literacy is unquestionable. His statement accurately described the illiteracy rate of many of the Union solders when they first entered the Union Army. Although most were illiterate ex-slaves, several thousand were well educated, free black men from the northern states. A religious worker in Virginia was astonished to find a host of black soldiers who could speak Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, and several were able to read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

After the Civil War ended with the complete defeat of the Confederates many United States Colored Troops veterans struggled for recognition and had difficulty obtaining the pensions they were due. Since the United Stated Colored Troops was considered an auxiliary force, its members were not considered veterans by the Department of War’s standards. Although the Veterans of the Union army who were disabled as a result of their service during the Civil War were eligible for a federal pension as early 1868. The Federal government did not address the inequality until 1890, and many of the veterans did not receive service and disability pensions until the early 1900s. On March 4, 1870 Boon provided a claimant’s testimony that while at Key West, Florida he contacted an affection of the eyes caused by exposure to the white sand and the glare thereof. He reapplied twice a year until 1879 or 1880. On that application Boon stated that he believed that such injury to his eye was due to exposure while in the United States Army as a member of Company H, 1st U. S. C. Cavalry. He added, I first experienced painful sensations in my eyes that caused a partial failure of sight, which I first noticed by my inability to read. My left eye is especially affected, inflamed and sore at times. He resubmitted claims for Invalid Pensions on January 17, 1894, February 5th, 1895, and February 15, 1901. On February 4, 1905, 58 year old Boon made a Declaration for Increase of Pension. He listed five reasons for needing an increase in his pension: stated the disease of eyes, rheumatism, and an injury to back, kidney trouble and general disability. He made additional remarks that he had one bad eye and the other is defective, and had only married once, to the former Caroline Parker. The application was signed by C. Frank Eleanor and John Darius Boon. His printed signature was affixed to his application.

The story is told of a young Confederate soldier captured during a battle in the western theater. The Rebel found to his surprise that one of his Union captors was his brother, whom he had not seen since the beginning of the war. After a brief reunion, the captured soldier was led away and his brother returned to the battle. The captured Reb called back to his brother, Don’t shoot that-a-way no more- Father’s over there!

William Aldred Boon brothers, Anthony, Frank, Andrew and Jason Boon both served in various support roles during the Civil War. William, Andrew, and Frank served the Union cause and Anthony and Jason served the cause of the Confederates to hold Negroes in slavery and in servitude. The following graphic account of the accidental meeting of two brothers, former residents of Princess Anne, after a separation of nearly forty years, is given by the Newport News correspondent of the Baltimore Sun. The stories highlights the similarities and difficulty that these divided loyalties presented to the soldiers and to the Boon family. This notable incident occurred in the streets of Phoebus, (Hampton, Virginia) when an ex-confederate soldier ignored his brother, a Union veteran, whom he had not seen since the outbreak of the Civil War. The family of Kings, in Princess Anne, Somerset County, MD., was divided.

The father and his son, Albert King, cast their lot with the South, as did Jason and William Boon, and joined the First Maryland Regiment of the Western Shore, Colonel Herbert commanding. John King, sympathizing with the North as did William Aldred Boon, joined the First Maryland regiment of the Eastern Shore, commanded by Col. James Wallace. The regiments went to the front, joining the respective armies of the North and South. At the Battle of Gettysburg both were engaged and it is said at one time the one clashed with the other. In the engagement the father was killed. His son, the Confederate, bore the body from the field. When the war ended the family remained divided. Albert King, having lost all his property, left Maryland for the Pacific Slope. After 41 years’ separation he returned east and settled at Old Point in present day Hampton, Virginia. While walking in the streets of old Phoebus, he entered into conversation with some old soldiers. One of the veterans gave a brief account of his career. King, to his astonishment, found it was his brother, still clad in blue and an inmate of the Soldier’s Home. Without disclosing his identity he hurriedly walked away and took the next car for Old Point. Here, when he was interviewed, he broke down and cried like a child. There might have been forgiveness, he said, if he had not found him an inmate in the home. This seemed to strike him as worse than his brother fighting against him.

William A. Boon was an outstanding person in the community. Giles Eure and Moses Boon stated on a General Affidavit signed on April 7, 1894, each speaking for himself that he had known William A. Boon long before the late Civil War. I believe that he is a man of good character. I know him to be a sober and upright man, and a member of the Baptist Church, and in regularly attendance. Moses Boon stated that he believed William A. Boon to have no vices, and he is a good citizen. W. H. Cross and Mills Parker both stated on an Affidavit dated February 15, 1901 that they had known William A. Boon for the last forty years, and have never even heard of him having any vices; although he has been suffering for a long time. During March 27, 1901 John J. Melton and C. J. Boon acknowledged in a letter to the Department of the Interior, Washington D. C., that William A. Boon was a yellow man of Dort, North Carolina can be identified by a mark under his left eye. He is an outstanding person. On February 5, 1935, Mrs. Bettie Morgan, the next door neighbor to the veteran stated that Mr. Boon is receiving the full benefits of his pension. Mr. Abe Lassiter who has known Mr. William A. Boon for a number of years was of the opinion that William A. Boon was receiving good attention and that his pension check was being used to good advantage.

Field Examiner, J. O. Howard of the Public Administration Office, Washington, D. C. addressed William A. Boon’s mental acuity and entered the following report about Boon’s mental intellect.

I contacted the above captioned Civil War Veteran and found him in bed from an illness which was not of a serious nature. It was some sort of Bowel ailment for which Dr. Thomas L. Carter had prescribed that morning. I found an old colored man about 92 years of age. He was hard of hearing and it was necessary to shout for him to understand what was said. However, his mind was clear and he gave intelligent answers to all the questions I asked him. He told me that he paid his daughter, Mrs. Rayfield Boon $42.50 per month to take care, prepare his meals and look after his welfare. He lives to himself in a small one room building in the back yard of the home of his daughter. It is his preference to reside there.

Mr. G. G. Gatling went with me to see this veteran and the veteran remembered Mr. Gatling very well and also incidents which had happened more than twenty-five years before. Those two renewed acquaintances and discussed mutual friends and relatives that they knew. Veteran’s mind seemed to be clear and he stated that he handled his own money and that Rayfield Boon his son-in-law and Rayfield Boon’s brother Pat Boon help him attend to his affairs. Veteran stated that Rayfield Boon brought his mail to him and got his check cashed for him and her then paid his daughter the $42.50 per month and then got Pat Boon to deposit some money in the Gatesville Bank, Gatesville, N. C. so that he would have enough to bury him when he died. I contacted Rayfield Boon, the son-in-law of veteran and he told me practically the same story that the veteran had told me, veteran is getting very good treatment and is well satisfied with his treatment.

He does not appear to need a guardian and he knows what he is doing and seems to be able to handle his own affairs with the help of his sons-in-law Rayfield Boon and the brother of Rayfield Boon, Pat Boon, who are not related to veteran by blood. Rayfield Boon and Pat Boon bear good reputations in the community, are intelligent and industrious farmers. Rayfield owns his own farm. Dr. Thomas L. Carter, Gatesville, N. C. was contacted and attached herewith his statement and in view of his statement and my observations I do not think the Clerk of Superior Court, Gatesville, N. C. would appoint a guardian.

However, Mr. S. E. Ellenor, County Commissioner of Gates County, North Carolina communicated with the Chief Attorney and Contact Representative in Washington, D. C., requesting that in his opinion Mr. Boon is more or less mentally unbalance. Mr. Ellenor asked if the agency would file a petition for a lunacy hearing. He disagreed with the Field Examiner, J. O. Howard of the Public Administration Office, Washington, D. C. William A. Boon remained intellectual stimulated although he was confined to his bed for the last two years of his life. He managed his own affairs until the last year of his life at which time a special guardian was appointed for the retired Civil War Veteran. He died November 18, 1937 at the age of 93. He was interned in the Boon family plot in south most part of Nansemond County, Virginia. He received no official recognition for his achievement and valor as a Cavalryman in Company H. 1st Regiment of the Colored U. S. Union Army. If there were any recommendations for service they were filed away and ignored. There is no headstone or tombstone to mark his final resting place.

The story of William Aldred Boon’s exploits on the behalf of the Union Army is a continuation of the first appearance of the Negro in the military affairs of this country beginning with the Virginia militia of 1652, and from the French and Indian Wars to the present conflict in the Middle East. The Free People of Color exploits have been numerous. While the death of Crispus Attucks in the Boston Massacre is often recalled, the deeds of Lemuel Hays, a native of Massachusetts and one of the Minute Men is recalled during Black History month, the names of William Aldred Boon and James Jenkins of Gates County, North Carolina have been nearly buried in the forgotten history of the past.

A committee consisting of William A. & Caroline Parker Boon’s great-grand children: Linwood Morings Boone (Amanda), D. MIN., chairman, Lisha Boone-Johnson (Jimmy), assist chairperson, Melvin Boone, Ollie Boone, Rose Camm, Willie Leroy Hunter, Catheryn Hunter-Woodard (C. B.); and great great grandchildren, Sherri Boone & Carla Saunders Jones, and great-great-nephew Earl Boone, D. MIN., planned a May 9, 2012 Memorial and Dedication Ceremony. In preparation for the Memorial Service and Dedication the team’s research included the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C., state archives in North Carolina and Virginia; Harrison B. Wilson Archives and Gallery at the Norfolk State Library, Norfolk, Virginia, the Special Collections at the Peabody Archives at Historic Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina, Baptist Collection at the Z. Smith Reynolds Archives at Wake Forest University, Greensboro, North Carolina, G. R. Little Archives, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and the Outer Bank History Center, Manteo, North Carolina.

On Saturday May 9, 2012 more than one hundred twenty-five people including descendents, family friends and re-enactors assembled at the Stony Branch Missionary Baptist Church, Gates, North Carolina for a motorcade led by Brian Parker, and the Next To Nun Bike Club to the family cemetery ten minutes away in old Nansemond County, Virginia. With lights flashing, horn blowing, and a motorcade of seventy-five cars, being led by twenty five bikers, dressed in their club colors, black and purple to pay homage to William A. Boon by giving him a Union Tombstone.

Deacon Ollie Boone, a great-grandson of William A. Boon and deacon of Union Baptist Church, Pughsville, Virginia offered the Invocation. Dr. Earl Boone, the dean of Religion and Religious Studies at the Pentecostal Inc, Suffolk, VA was the memorial speaker. Dr. Boone immortalized the following words:

the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seem to have died; and their departure is accounted to be their hurt; and their journeying away to their ruin; but they are in peace. Their hope is the fullness of immortality.

In additional to the above remarks Dr. Boone explicated several of William A. Boon’s accomplishments in light of the world in which he lived. Thomas L. Grub Jr. Commander of the James D. Brady Camp #63 stated:

the march of this soldier is over. Let us remember comrade Boon, as it is our duty as Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War to honor the memory of the men who stood shoulder to shoulder on the battlefields. He fought for liberty and the dear old flag.

The Commander, Chaplain and Brethren of the Sons of the Union conducted the Acts of Dedication. The following participated in the Memorial:

The Laying of the Wreath of ever green                                             Donald E. Wells

The laying of a single rose on the grave                                          Charles B. Hawley

The laying of the Laurel on the grave                                                         Mark Day

The placing of the United States flag on the grave                              Thomas L. Grub, Jr.

The reading of the poem The Unknown Dead                     Chaplain Charles B. Hawley

The tombstone reads: "William A. Boon, Pvt. Co. H. 1st Regiment-USCT (United States Colored Troops), January 15, 1846-November 18, 1937. The Sons of Union Veteran’s members laid two wreaths, a rose and a U. S. Flag, followed by a three-volley military gun salute and the playing of taps.

Brian Parker and the Next to Nun Bike Club led the recessional and motorcade back to Stony Branch Missionary Baptist Church where the social hour began with a short program under the direction of Great-grand daughter Rose Camm. Joyful music and singing was led by Dr. Linwood Morings Boone at the piano.

Dressed in cloths from the period, Deloyce Maria Ria Camm-Glass, great-granddaughter, re-enacted the role of her great-grandmother Caroline Parker Boone, wife of William Aldred Boon. She wore a profusely ornamented black bonnet with a beige sash accented with a long silk dress that ceaselingly flowed from sided to side as she mincingly sashayed up the center aisle. Her silk blouse was breath taking. A beautifully well chosen old-fashioned brass brooch tied the outfit together. She was a little woman, not five feet tall, and proportioned to her height. She stood erect. She seem’d a part of joyous Spring: She look’d so lovely, as she entered the fellowship hall. She swayed the congregation with dainty finger tips.

She was led through the fellowship hall and introduced to her grandson, 95 year old James Hunter, Franklin, Virginia. Caroline sashayed through the hall, stopping momentarily to make lavish comments about her great-grandchildren, family members, and friends. The Apex of Caroline’s visit from the grave was the unveiling of a black a white portrait of William Aldred Boon. This was an awakening moment as only a few decedentants had ever seen a picture of William Aldred Boon. The Memorial Service and Tomb Dedication concluded with the same fanfare as it commenced. The following unit’s participants in the ceremony:

Colonel James D. Brady Camp

Department of the Cheseapeake

Sons of the Union Color Guard

54th Massachusetts Infantry

63rd New York Infantry

Next to Nun Bike Club

Aldred Boon finally received the homage due him for his years of service to the Union Army. His story is forever memorialized in the May 13, 2012 edition of the Suffolk News Herald, Suffolk, Virginia; the May 28, 2012 edition of the Virginia Pilot-Suffolk-Sun, Suffolk, Virginia, and in this book, The Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association and Its Founders from 1866-1966 Volume I., and on more than twenty WWW sites. Each can be accessed by inputting the keywords: William A. Boon Union Soldier in the search engine of your choice. Therefore, the beloved of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Be Ye Steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (I Corinthians 15: 58 KJV)

The Palm Tree Missionary Baptist Church of which Mr. Boon belonged presented his great-grandson, Linwood Morings Boone with a recognition award and plaque for the years of service that his ancestor contributed to the local congregation.

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Dr. Linwood Morings Boone with the United States Colored Troops standing at rest.

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PREFACE

In the Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association and Its Founders from 1866-1966, Dr. L. Morings Boone has created a historical memorial to the Founding Fathers of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association. These men played a great part in shaping the destiny of the members of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association. Distinguished in their religious and public life, these men left their stamp on the history of the Negro Church of Northeastern North Carolina and Virginia. Dr. L. Morings Boone has done another tremendous job of restoring a history and legacy of African American clergy who established a ministerial alliance against the backdrop of racial oppression and dismal circumstances. These faithful and courageous Founding Fathers led their congregations in such a way as to establish the Roanoke Institute to educate the children of northeastern North Carolina. Dr. Boone has searched tirelessly into the history of the Association to discover the passionate work that drove these men against the tyranny of southern discrimination to elevate their communities through their Missionary Baptist efforts and through public education.

With limited financial resources, these men were able to succeed against the odds due to their willingness to work together; they persevered and endured hardness as good soldiers as they made progress despite powerful opposition. The work of associational building is never easy and the history of this association has never been forgotten. However, as the founders and organizers passed on from earth to heaven it became very evident that their historical work needed to be written down and understood for future generations! Their work could serve as inspiration for those who would later take their rightful place as servants in these meaningful institutions. These preachers inspired by God, recognized the power in educating the African American community. As the preachers became more educated, they saw the need to educate their congregations. For advancement of the race, solvent and influential religious institutions, a stronger community politically, socially and economically, the Roanoke Institute became the fertile soil from which African American youth were educated. The African American Church was the center of life for African Americans who were denied equal access to education, jobs, justice, political inclusion and housing by white supremacy.

Dr. Boone has taken the Bataan from others who knew this important historical contribution needed to be gathered, appreciated, shared and celebrated for a job well done. Unfortunately, no one was able to consistently pursue this great endeavor before Dr. Boone’s extensive and exhaustive work represented here. He has put in place a solid foundation that can be built upon as new information becomes available. The visionary Founding Fathers and leaders of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association make very plain the fact that no challenge is too great nor opposition too strong that it cannot be overcome through faith in God and committed team effort! Dr. Boone has displayed the same visionary commitment, faith and focus needed to bring such a relevant piece of Christian history back to life! Dr. Boone’s skillful research, insightful scholarship and unyielding determination have unearthed a rich harvest of ministry well done for the people of faith and the community at-large. His skillful research is an important milestone in the research and historiography of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association. It shows diligence and thoroughness in the procural of documents, judgment in their selection, analysis and classification, so that there can be a rightful understanding of our history as a people in a nation of people. This book reveal the life, thought and the actions, positive and negative of the Founders and the Second Generations of the Roanoke Missinary Baptist Association pastors and ministers so long neglected and pigeonholed by most historians. He has contributed greatly through this labor of love to further expose the reality of African American sacrificial service to the Kingdom of God! Too long others have spoken for us, wrote John B. Russwurm, editor of the first black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, in 1827. In the Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association and Its Founders From 1866-1966, Volume II, Reverend Doctor Linwood Morings Boone has written for us, using our own voices.

Billy J. Hill, D. MIN.

Friend & Colleague

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The persons listed below provided me with invaluable assistance and services as I was locating Sources for the research and documentation.

Archives

Sonja Basknight, Research Assistant, Peabody Collection, Hampton University.

Gladys Smiley Bell, Director of the Special Collections, Peabody Collection, Hampton University, Hampton, VA.

Mrs. R. Collina, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, D. C.

Gaynell Drummond, Archivist at Hampton Public Library Virginian Genealogy Room, Hampton, Virginia.

Julia W. Bradford, Coordinator -Baptist Collection at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University.

Lucious Edwards, Archivist at Virginia State University. Petersburg, Virginia

Janis G. Holder, University Archivist. University Archives and Record Services. The Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lynn (Roslyn) Holdzkom, Head of Technical Services, Assistant Curator, and Manuscripts Department, Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Beatheia Jackson of the Albemarle Pasquotank Regional Library, Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Mrs. Darlene Slater Herod, Research Assistant, Virginia Baptist Historical Society.

Marcia Kirby, Library Assistant for Services, William & Mary Swem Library, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Dr. Deborah Majett, Ed. D., G. R. Little Library, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Donzella Maupin, Assistant Archivist. Hampton University Museum, Hampton University.

Ms. Annette Montgomery, Assistant Archivist Harrison B. Wilson Archives & Gallery at Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Charlotte L. Strum, Archivist at the Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Bill Youngmark, Ed. D., Archivist at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Library {Baptist Room}, Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Churches

New Middle Swamp Missionary Baptist Church, Corapeake, North Carolina.

Mount Ararat Missionary Baptist Church, Cow Track Road, Windsor, North Carolina

Saint John Baptist Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

Organizations

Howard Hunter, III, Hunter’s Funeral Home, Ahoskie, N. C.

The late Mrs. Elsie Horton Lassiter, Past President of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association Women Missionary & Education Union

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Office of Archives & History, Raleigh, N. C.

The late Dennis L. & Marion Collins Stallings of the Dennis J. Stallings Funeral Home, Gatesville, N. C.

Outer Banks History Center, Manteo, N. C.

Individuals

Haywood L. Bond, Ryan’s Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Edenton, N. C.

Mrs. Amanda B. Boone, My best friend and my wife of twenty-six years.

Dr. Billy J. Hill, D. MIN-Baptist Church, Mosley Memorial Baptist Church Richmond, Virginia

Deacon John Riddick, Pineywood Chapel Baptist Church, Bertie County, N. C.

Rev. John S. Shannon-Providence Missionary Baptist Church, Edenton, N. C.

Mr. & Mrs. Roger & Faye Darden Smith

Rev. Harry White, pastor of the New Chapel Baptist Church, Plymouth, N. C.

INTRODUCTION

Few members of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association will have ever heard of the lives of many of the men and women whose biographical information is contained in this book. Their lives and labors were limited mainly to northeastern North Carolina, and southside Virginia. They typified and embodied the spirit of philanthropy which was born out of the Civil War. These individuals brought to us a philanthropic attitude which was so necessary to build the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association. Together with a group of kindred spirits of which they were the last survivors labored in and out of season, without money or reward to impart to the Black church the requite foundation for the spread of religious freedom. These brave men and women had to face social and professional ostracism by reason of their unselfish devotion. However, they never swerved or faltered. These pastors and ministers were eminent in their professions, so they were enabled to devote their days to a livelihood and their nights of preaching, teaching and serving their congregations, without hope or much expectation.

The Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association experienced the death of its Founding Father L. W. Boon in 1878. His death was followed by Henry H. Hays death in 1890; Willis Hodges death in 1890; H. H. Hayes death on January 11, 1892; Charles E. Hodges death in 1898; R. H. Harper’s death prior to 1900; George W. Holland death in 1906; Joshua A. Flemings death during 1910; Caesar Johnson’s death before 1912; and William R. Reid death in 1925. Most of these founders outlived their generations. Some of them lived to see the brush arbor removed, and the log church erected instead, and even the log churches taken away and frame and brick churches erected. Not only did he remove from the brush arbor to the frame church, but from the frame church to the beautiful brick buildings. The passing of the last Founding Father, William R. Reid in 1925, reminded us that the generation whose spirit he typified had wholly passed from the stage of action. The work which he inaugurated had long since passed into the hands of the first generation of Roanoke Missionary Baptist ministers which included: Emmanuel Reynolds, Eli Thomas; Zion H. Berry, Rev. James Jenkins, Elijah H. Griffin, W. T. Askew, Lafayette F. Sharpe, Rev. Moses W. D. Norman, Simon P. Knight, and Charles S. Mitchell and Rev. I. B. Roach.

Now with the publication of this work, all of the First Generation of pastors and ministers of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association have ceased from their labors. Their work must be carried on mostly, if not mainly, by their Black disciples whom they initiated into their labor of love for ministry and family, hereafter, known as the Second Generation of Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association ministers. Transition always involves loss. The Black ministerial neophyte have not always caught the the full measure of sacrifice and devotion which characterized the Founding Fathers, and the first General of Pastors and ministers.

I am greatly indebted to the unnamed pastors and ministers of an earlier day whose heroic faith coined in the midst of unspeakable cruelties of the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction Periods, laid the foundation for The Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association and Its Founders From 1866-1966, Volume II. The sons and grandsons, nephews and great-nephews of the Founding Fathers and the First Generations of pastors and ministers had managed to develop despite ups and downs of Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction. By the close of the nineteenth century there had been some significant developments in spite of white hostility South and North. The Second Generation of pastors and ministers had experienced steady growth in their religious institutions following the phenomental growth after the Civil War and Post Reconstruction. National denominational bodies had been formed and along with the individual churches, they were plugged into the herculean efforts of educating the Negro that were abroad in the land.

Regrettably, those herculean efforts are unknown, forgotten, faded away, quietly buried, in nearly ubiquitous graves in every nock and crannie of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Associatio terriorority. The wooden markers sometimes placed at the graves of the Founding Fathers and the First Generation of Roanoke Missionary Baptist pastors and preachers buried deep in thick woods; along the rivers, and creeks disappeared a long time ago, and, the cementeries, and graveyards, where these sainted souls were buried have been abandoned, sold to the State, city or county, or left vacant, and overgrown with trees, vines and branches. Depressions in the ground marking the graves can still be seen behind churchyards or in family burial grounds. Forgotten burials, graded, and paved over and meanwhile, nothing had been left to mark their burial sites. These individuals made too deep an impression upon the public mind to have as yet been forgotten. If it were possible to locate all the cemeteries where the earthly remains of our dearly departed Foundig Fathers rest, and where lay the sacred remains of the First and Second Generations of pastors and ministers who devoted their lives to human service we will discover that Greater Love has no man that this, a man lay down his life for his friends.

The memeorial to Foubnding Fathers Reverend Lemuel Washing Boon, and Reverend Harry Henry Hayes are the exceptions. The Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association Middle Ground Union Meeting conducted a monument drive for Founding Father Rev. Henry Harry Hays. The following is a list of the amounts received from sister churches of the Association for Rev. Henry H. Hays monument, Bro. J. W. Hudgins, Treasurer,

1. Received from Warren Grove by Rev. Samuel Felton, pastor, on November 28th, 1896, the amount of $8.35.

2. Received from Middle Ground Union for Rev. Henry H. Hayes monument the sum of $7. 50 on October 30th 1897.

3. Received from Levanton Grove the sum of $1.09 on June 12, 1896.

4. Received from Ballard Grove the sum of .53 cents on June 12, 1896.

Rev. L. F. Sharp, Rev. Thomas Sharp, Bro. J. W. Hudgins, Treasurer, Bro. Augustus Hays, Bro. Anthony Knight, and Bro. Gaston Langston.¹ The inscription reads: Erected to the memory of Rev. Harry H. Hayes Who departed this life on January 11, 1892, at