In Georgia, the mission work was receiving wonderful impetus from the Rev. A. J. P. Dodge, the benefactor of the negro work, recently come to the coast region.[13] In 1887, there were six congregations, the remnants of once flourishing missions. Mr. Dodge pushed his work out to county after county, ably seconded by the Rev. D. Watson Winn. Ruined churches were restored, and new ones built; existing schools were strengthened, and new ones founded. In many cases, they discovered old members of the Church upon whom to build the younger generation. Georgia has been divided since then, and the six churches of the old Diocese have expanded into seven in the Diocese of Atlanta, and fifteen in the Diocese of Georgia of today. Into all of them, the devoted spirit of Dodge is built.
Another region which is quite typical of the growth during this modern period, deserves our study in short detail, i. e., North Carolina, with its several Dioceses. Here, as everywhere, the new life grew out of the members of the old dormant fire which still smouldered. Nearly every church of today began with a few Negroes who clung faithfully, in spite of destruction all around them, to the white parishes, refusing to join the purely racial Churches as the vast majority of their fellows did.
“St. Cyprian’s, New Bern, and St. Mark’s, Wilmington, were the result of the consecrated vision of Bishop Atkinson who sought to preserve to the Church the fruit of her anti-bellum labors.” The former was established in 1866, and was ministered to, for many years, by the rectors of the parish Church, in which the first members of St. Cyprian’s were reared. I quote from a manuscript story of the Church among the Negroes kindly furnished by Bishop Darst and the Executive Secretary of East Carolina. “It is impossible to estimate the value of the influence this school has had upon the life of the colored people of New Bern. It would be hard to find a native New Bernian above 35 years of age who did not at some time attend this school.” The old landmark did its work, and its site is now the Parish Playground, still serving usefully. The character of the parish has grown in grace, all its present members having been trained in the Church and in the old “Red School.” Its contributions to the Nation-Wide Campaign were $1000 in 1921.
St. Mark’s, Wilmington, was founded by the Rev. C. O. Brady about 1872. The parish is distinguished as the mother of clergy. The Parish School, with domestic science, has been a perennial garden of Church growth.
The banner parish of the Eastern Diocese is St. Joseph’s, Fayetteville, founded by the Rev. Dr. Huske and the colored members of the old parish. It also led the negro churches of the South in the Nation-Wide Campaign to which it gave $1300 in 1920.
St. Luke’s, Tarboro, was organized in 1872 by Dr. Cheshire, rector of the old parish of Calvary and father of the present Bishop of North Carolina. In 1881, the Rev. John W. Perry became rector. The parish grew, and a school was opened which has trained many good Churchmen and some teachers.
St. Michael’s, Charlotte, owes its birth and early nurture to Bishop Cheshire who, when rector of St. Peter’s, opened the Mission for colored people. A school was opened, children were trained, parents followed them, the church was completed, and an excellent plant provided equipment for a working congregation. Four men were sent forth into the ministry.
Another parish—the combined work of white and colored priests—is St. John’s, Edenton. Founded by the Rev. Dr. Drane, about 1880, the Mission was able to build its church in 1886. The parish school has sent out many successful pupils who have taken high stand in their vocations. Direct fruits of Edenton, the mother of the district, are the negro parishes of St. Philip’s, Elizabeth City; St. Paul’s, Washington; and St. Mary’s, Belhaven.