Vision of John Wesley Jenkins
lie was a circuit rider in life day and time,
but lie saw' the need for a Methodist orphan¬
age and he didn't «|uif until he saw' the
realization of his dreams.
THE North Carolina Legislature
on March 6, 1899, granted a
charter to the Methodist Or¬
phanage at Raleigh, N. C. On
Thanksgiving Day, November 29,
1900, with proper religious cere¬
monies the orphanage was official¬
ly opened for the reception of chil¬
dren. and on January 7, 1901.
Cassie Bright, the first child, was
admitted.
However this is not a story of
the Methodist Orphanage, but
some memories of the one man
who did more than any other per¬
son to get it established. This
person was The Reverend John
Wesley Jenkins, a Methodist min¬
ister. who for many years had been
a circuit rider. I had the privilege
of living in his home for six years
just prior to the opening of the
orphanage, and was greatly im¬
pressed by his vision and determi¬
nation. Prior to that time he had
been talking about the need of an
institution of the Methodist Church
to take care of the orphaned chil¬
dren of the Methodist people, the
wives of deceased Methodist min¬
isters, and the ministers on the
superannuated list. He wanted
such an institution to be called
The Methodist Home. He had in
mind the necessary building plans,
and had worked out a plan by
which the money could be raised
to put up the buildings, and fur¬
ther to maintain the institution
after it had been established.
Little Encouragement
For several years he kept the
idea before the Church by means
of letters to The Christian Advo¬
cate and by speeches on the annual
conference floor. However, very
few members of the conference
agreed with him. Many of the
ministers said that they could not
collect their own salaries and con¬
ference claims, and they knew that
they could not collect money to
build and maintain an orphanage.
This did not lessen his courage or
weaken his persistence. Some
members of the conference even
made a joke of the whole propo¬
sition and laughingly said that old
man Jenkins would have to get
THE STATE. March 22. 1947
By E. S. YARBROUGH
his orphanage speech off his chest
before they could get down to
business.
However on October 19, 1898,
he wrote a very strong letter for
The North Carolina Christian Ad¬
vocate in which he stated that his
former letters seem to have done
no good but that he still insisted
on having a Methodist Home.
When conierence met the follow¬
ing month, he made his speech
just as soon as he could get the
floor and then a motion that a
committee be appointed to take
under consideration the establish¬
ment of a Home. The motion was
carried and the committee appoint¬
ed. The committee consisted of a
group of ministers and business
men with Reverend Jenkins as its
chairman. The conference thought
that these men would kill the proj¬
ect. No one seemed to think that
the conference should undertake
such a project. But the committee,
on the last day of conference, re¬
ported favorably and asked for the
appointment of a permanent com¬
mittee for further investigation
and a report at the next annual
conference. Bishop Oscar P. Fitz-
jerald presiding, appointed the fol¬
lowing committee: Rev. J. W.
Jenkins, chairman; Rev. J. N. Cole;
Mr. J. G. Brown of Raleigh; Mr.
E. J. Parrish of Durham and Mr.
L. B. Bynum of Bynum.
At this time Reverend Jenkins
had passed the age of sixty and
was pastor of the Cary Circuit and
had been married three times. His
third wife was Betty Bradsher
Jenkins of Caswell County. Im¬
mediately after conference she
gave him $800.00 as a starting fund
for the orphanage. However, Rev.
W. W. Rose had previously made
a gift of one dollar as the first
donation towards the cause.
Reverend Jenkins had such a
strong conviction of the need of
an orphanage, such faith in the
ability of the conference to build
and maintain one, such a strong
determination to see the job done,
and was so convincing in his argu¬
ment that he had no trouble in
winning the committee to his way
of thinking. However his commit¬
tee was composed of men of vision
and foresight and needed very
little persuasion for the under¬
taking.
Final Realization
They went to work immediately
and kept at it during the year.
This was probably the busiest year
in the life of Reverend Jenkins.
He was on the road practically all
the time. When conference met in
the fall of 1899 at Washington,
N. C., the chairman of the com¬
mittee reported the possession of
a tract of land in Raleigh suitable
for the site of an orphanage; also
$10,000.00 in cash, and a sizable
endowment. Reverend Jenkins was
appointed agent for the orphanage
and instructed to devote his entire
time to the work and the com¬
mittee was instructed to proceed
with its work. In March of the next
year the contract for the first
building was let.
In those days the main road
from Raleigh to Durham was via
Cary and Morrisville. Reverend
Jenkins predicted that with the
coming of automobiles a shorter
and better road would be built
leading out Glenwood Avenue by
Lewis Mill and Leesville into Dur¬
ham. With this in mind he advo¬
cated purchasing a nice tract of
land just west of the orphanage
site between Glenwood Avenue
and St. Mary’s Street. The pur¬
chase was made and later the road
was built leading out Glenwood
Avenue by the orphanage and its
beautiful site.
Today the orphanage owns 96
acres in the home tract, a farm of
241 acres, eighteen buildings, with
a total valuation of approximately
$1,500,000 and is caring for three
hundred children. A man had a
wonderful vision of a home for
orphaned children of the Method¬
ist people, an unfailing faith in the
ability of the conference to build
and maintain such a home, and a
strong determination to see it done.
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