The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-05-04
TWO RECENT WORKS ON NORTH
CAROLINA BAPTIST HISTORY.


(Reviewed by ]. D. Hufham, D. D., il
Biblical Recorder)
For more than a hundred years the
Baptists have been talking about a his
tory of the denomination in the State
but until last year nothing was done &c
secure the preparation or publication OF
such book. At last the work has been
done. 1t is by Rev. Charles B. Williams
a native of Camden county and gradu-
ate of Wake Forest College. The title
is, "a History of the Baptists in North
Carolina" 1t is neatly printed by Ed
wards & Broughton; and so is a North
Carolina book throughout. 1t is easily
read, as there are only PA pages in all
The object of this paper is to commend
the work to those persons who desire to
know something of the origin and pro-
gress of the Baptsts in North Carolina
from the beginning to the present time
This book cannot be called a history; ii
Is rather a hand or book of refer
ence. OF course the history of a great
denomination cannot be compressed into
space of 200 pages, but the outline is
there; such as man wants for refer
ence; such as the Sunday School teacher
will want in speaking to his class on the
history of the North Carolina Baptists
such as every head of a family who
wishes his children to be informed con-
corning the denomination to which they
belong will desire to have on his table.
Mr.. Williams has not attempted to do
original work. but he has gone over the
documents which have been printed and
made public, arranging and condensing
them so as to make an interesting and
instructive volume. Nothing seems to
have escaped him and his work has been
done with remarkable skill relying only
upon documents which have already ap-
peared. The work is not free from mis-
takes but on the whole it is correct, and
few persons will read It without feel
ing of thankfulness that God raised UP
the Baptists at a time when there was
no one else in North Carolina to supply
the lack of preaching and religious
teaching. | should be very glad to know
that a copy of this book has been placed
in very many of the Baptist families OF
the State. | think it is in the hands of
Edwards & Brcughton. l do not know
the price, but the publishers will answer
all inquiries on the subject. | have seen
nothing better in the way of book MAX
ing in North Carolina, whether one con-
siders the authors part of it or that of
the publisher.
Permit me to call attention to another
valuable work on the history of North
Carolina Baptists. 1t is Major William
A. Graham's work on the South Fork
Association. This body lies along the
Catawba river and was early occupied by
the Baptists. gentleman from New
York wrote me some years ago that the
ancestors OF Storewal Jackson were
Baptists who lived in that part of North
Carolina. They emigrated, he said, to
Kentucky and thence to Ohio and West
Virginia. Mr.. Woodmason, a missionary
Of the Church OF England, stated in 1769
that the Baptists had established line
of churches west of the Presbyterian
settlements in Mecklenburg and along
the Yadkin river. The Baptists OF that
region have become a great body. but
they have reached their prosperity only
Thorough much tribulation. 1t is by ar