The Minutes of Old Asbury
There are many Asbury churches in North
Carolina: this particular one with the in¬
teresting minute hook is located down in •
ICohcson County.
RAYNHAM. down in Robeson,
was named after the seat of
the Townsend family in Eng¬
land, and that name predominates
in the neighborhood. Here lived
the patriarch, Richard Townsend
who, starting from scratch, gave a
college education to ten of his
twelve children and who would
have educated the other two but
for the fact that in 1865 a party
named William T. Sherman came
prowling through that section and
interfered with his plans. Not only
did he provide his children with a
college education, but when he died
he devised to each of them prop¬
erty worth more than $100,000.
This seems doing quite well for a
Carolina dirt farmer who had noth¬
ing with which to start save his
bare hands, and I think his record
would bear broadcasting on the
program of the Tar Heel Farm
Journal.
Old Graduate of Trinity
One of his sons. Claude B.
Townsend, veteran lawyer and
Clerk of the Superior Court, was
at the time of his death, the oldest
living graduate of Trinity College,
and as such in the possession of
the cane presented by the college
to its oldest alumni, a cane which,
upon his death, passed into the
possession of no less personage
than United States Senator Furni-
fold M. Simmons! It was from this
family that came Judge N. A.
Townsend, outstanding Superior
Court jurist, first Parole Commis¬
sioner, who now occupies a high
position with the Department of
Justice at Washington.
The casual traveller may have
some difficulty in locating Rayn-
ham, as there is nothing there but
a small country store and ancient
Asbury Church, named in honor of
Methodism’s first American Bishop.
In the days before the Civil War,
old Peter Doub, pioneer Methodist
itinerant, ministered to the fold at
ancient Asbury, which numbered
far more slaves than whites in its
membership. They sat in a gallery,
high up under the roof, whence
they could look down on their mas¬
ters and mistresses who wor-
By It. C. LAWRENCE
shipped in the church below. Peter
Doub ministered to fifteen Meth¬
odist churches. In those pioneer
days some country churches held
their monthly services on Satur¬
day; others on Sunday morning;
yet others on Sunday afternoon.
Soon after the Civil War came
the mighty preacher. John Tillett.
to minister to the spiritual needs
of Methodism at old Asbury. and
he also undertook to preach to
fifteen churches. He was gathered
to his fathers more than fifty years
ago. but his shadow still rests over
two states: over Tennessee, where
his son. Dr. Wilbur F. Tillett. is
the veteran Dean of Vanderbilt
University; over Charlotte where
there arc a host of Tillett grand¬
children who carry on the tradi¬
tions of their father, Charles W.
Tillett. one of the primates of the
bar.
The minute book of the church
conferences held at old Asbury con¬
tains much of quaint and quite
curious information. The clerk re¬
corded his views of the faults,
frailties and foibles of his brethren
and sisters with a unique vividness
and a positive assurance which is
quite charming in its stark naivette,
and which left nothing whatever
to the imagination. And those
plagued Baptists! They had a way
of making a raid on the Methodist
congregation every now and so
often and carrying off a sheep here
and there. This irked the very soul
of the staunch Methodist clerk, and
it was hard for him to control his
deep indignation. A few of his com¬
ments set opposite the names of the
members of the congregation will
show the travail of his soul as he
recorded the doings of the heartless
marauder?:
Admirable Frankness
Here a line is drawn through
the name of an erstwhile member,
and opposite it is written: "Turned
out. No good nohow.” Another:
“Gone to the Baptists. Never was
no force." Another: "She fell from
grace.” Another: "Deep Water.”
This puzzled me for a time, but
when I reflected that the Baptists
immerse while the Methodists
sprinkle, I concluded that the old
clerk knew the Baptists had got
his member but was too proud
to admit it! Opposite another:
"Expelled. Good riddance." An¬
other: "Gone to the Baptists OR
WORSE." That stumped me for a
time, but I finally reached the con¬
clusion that the words "or worse"
were simply a sly dig at the Pres¬
byterians! And the pages bearing
the names of the slave members of
the congregation are marked
across, and on the margin is writ¬
ten the annotation: "All gone to
old Abe Lincoln!"
An association has recently been
organized to protect and preserve
this ancient landmark, where the
only services are the annual "home¬
coming exercises” held once each
year. I know the formation of this
association is a great comfort to the
old clerk of the sixties as he looks
down on ancient Asbury from his
home on the other shore. Because
for many years he has been deeply
troubled lost the heartless Baptists
make another raid upon his beloved
church and carry off the very
building!
It was in this same section that
General William Tecumseh Sher¬
man wrote with his own hand on
the fly-leaf of a pulpit Bible a mes¬
sage addressed to its local pastor:
"Reverend McNeill: Pray for old
Abe Lincoln." I do not know
whether the Reverend McNeill ac¬
ceded to this courteous request or
not: but mayhap he was of the
opinion expressed by the Confed¬
erate General Jubal A. Early,
who, after he had captured the
city of Chambersburg, Pennsyl¬
vania. was waited upon by the
Episcopal Rector, who inquired
whether the Confederate Com¬
mander would permit the reading
of the usual Episcopal prayer for
President Lincoln. Whereupon the ,
humorous Early dryly said: "Most
certainly. Parson; I’m sure no one
needs such prayers any worse than
Lincoln!"
5
