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Some History

BACKGROUND of TRINITY

"This Church was organized under the ministry of the Rev. Edward (or Edmund) Christian about 1842 or 1843. "No records of official acts were left by him so far as I know.

"In 1845 or thereabouts, the Rev. George W. Dame of Danville held occasional services at Rocky Mount. If he kept a record of ministerial acts they are to be found with him in Danville.

"About 1848 or 1849, the Rev. Anderson Wade of Henry County used to preach at Rocky Mount once a month. He continued to hold service there, but irregularly, till the latter part of 1856, when he removed to Charles City County.

"In Jan. 1858, I began to preach once a month at Rocky Mount, during 8 or 9 months of the year, dividing the Sundays between Rocky Mount and Piedmont a Presbyterian Church on Blackwater, 12 miles West of Rocky Mount.

Rector of Christ Church,

Henry County, Virginia.

July 26, 1871."Trinity Parish Register, 1858-1904, p. 1

*(Note added by the compiler: "At the 1842 diocesan convention in Staunton, the committee on new parishes received application from Franklin Parish, Franklin County for admission to the convention. The rector, the Rev. Edmund Christian, an 1834 graduate of Virginia Seminary, reported that he had resumed his function as a minister after a period of poor health. He wrote, ‘"his parish has been recently organized under circumstances which authorize him to hope for success, in his efforts to build up the church, if faithful and indefatigable in the discharge of his duties." ‘ Benjamin B. Taliaferro represented the new parish and its Trinity Church as the lay delegate at this convention. 2Brown, Katharine L., Hills of the Lord, p. 62

The Rev. Edward Lewis Goodwin, in his, Recollections of My First Parish –1880-1885, states that Ascension Church was newly built in 1880, and dedicated by Bishop Francis McNeese Whittle, Diocese of Virginia, in 1881. The chapel served the Saunders and Hairston families and the surrounding area, although the Parish Record of Ascension Chapel begins with the baptism of Mr. Esom Sloan on October 17, 1894.

Emmanuel Chapel was completed and dedicated May 4, 1904 by Bishop R. M. Randolph, Diocese of Southern Virginia.

The Rev. William Thomas Roberts, the Rector of Trinity Church in Rocky Mount from 1902 until 1924, began a school for the mountain children, primarily for the purpose of religious education. This first school was known as Emmanuel School, later becoming Phoebe Needles and, finally, St. Peter’s School.

St. John’s was founded by Mr. Roberts in 1914. In 1926 the enrollment was estimated to be between seventy-five and one hundred twenty-five.

Miss Caryetta Davis, known as "Miss Etta," devoted her efforts to St. Peter’s, serving there from 1907 until 1937, while Miss Ora Harrison served at St. John’s near Endicott for forty years, from 1914 until 1954. Dr. Franc Morrill and Nurse Ann Barlow provided medical care for the pupils and for the families in the area. Maude Beheler taught crafts at St. John’s from 1925 until 1956. Others who served for long periods of time include:Miss Mamie Montgomery and Miss Octavia Ulmer at St. Peter’s.

The school at St. Peter’s closed in 1957, St. John’s School in 1936, and St. John’s Mission in 1961.

These few lines do scant justice to lives filled with sacrifice and service, but a fuller recounting of the history of the Mountain Missions of Franklin County is not the primary purpose of this volume. For those who would like to read more about the area, the times and the people, we recommend, Miss Ora and Miss Etta, A Folk History, by Esther Fox Maxey, from which this background of the mountain missions was taken. This is a private publication, copies of which may be found at St. Peter’s, Episcopal Church, Callaway, VA, and at the Ferrum College Library, Ferrum, VA.

CLERGY WHO SERVED IN FRANKLIN COUNTY

THOSE WHO SERVED AT THE MOUNTAIN MISSIONS

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