Hickory Grove Church (9)
Hickory Grove Church (9)
Dr. Joe Sutton
METHODIST LEANINGS
Hickory Grove was organized as a Free Will Baptist (F.W.B.) congregation by 1841. Evidence suggests they met as a house church until their building was constructed around 1860. Although it continued as an F.W.B. work throughout the 1840s and 1850s, little is known about Hickory Grove during the 1860s.
News outlets were silent on Church happenings from 1860 to 1869. Not a single reference to Hickory Grove was found in an exhaustive Newspapers.com online search of local newspapers published by nearby towns of Goldsboro, Kenansville, Kinston, Mt. Olive, Moseley Hall (La Grange), New Bern, Rocky Mount, Snow Hill, and Wilson.
No doubt, the absence of Hickory Grove news had to do mostly with the economic and social turmoil brought about by the Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction afterwards. All aspects of life during that time period were adversely impacted. Even news outlets were unable to escape the deleterious effects. According to Stephen W. Sears, there were "shortages of everything from newsprint to reporters" in the rural South.
A few historical records provide limited, albeit important, information about Hickory Grove during the 1860s. The meeting minutes of the 1864 Original Free Will Baptist (O.F.W.B.) Conference are perhaps the most revealing. Among the four Lenoir County churches represented was Hickory Grove, along with Deep Run, Rose of Sharon, and Wheat Swamp. Of significance, Hickory Grove was tagged with the footnote, "This church is dismissed." No further explanation was provided for Hickory Grove's dismissal from the O.F.W.B. Conference, whether disciplinary or voluntary.
The inexplicable separation of Hickory Grove from the O.F.W.B. Conference in 1864 effectively ended its nearly quarter-century of ministry as an F.W.B. work. With little time lost, the Church apparently developed an informal association of sorts with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (M.E.C.S.) Conference by 1867.
The Branson's North Carolina Business Directory for 1867-1868 identified nine churches in Lenoir County. Included was Hickory Grove, listed as a Methodist church: "Hickory Grove, meth[odist], near Mosely [sic.] Hall," and pastored by "C. W. King." Similarly, in the 1869 edition of Branson's Directory, Hickory Grove was again named among nine Lenoir County churches, still identified as a Methodist Church: "Hickory Grove, near Mosely [sic.] Hall," and pastored by "W. C. Meacham, Meth[odist]."
Next month's article will share more information on Hickory Grove's Methodist leanings. Interested readers may enjoy reading a previously published Bucklesberry article titled "Family Squabble" available at https://t.ly/2UKgD.
