Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Microfilm only; originals in private hands.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Mount Moriah Church Records #4669, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Loaned for filming by Curtis Booker (Acc. 93099).

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Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

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• African American Baptists--North Carolina--History.
• African Americans--Religion.
• Baptist State Convention of North Carolina--History.
• Church buildings--North Carolina--History.
• Mount Moriah Church (Orange County, N.C.)
• Orange County (N.C.)--Church history.
• Slaves--Religious life.

• Charles Edward Maddry Papers (#3593-z). Maddry wrote a brief history of the Mount Moriah Church that supplied information for the historical note above.

The Mount Moriah Church (Baptist) was organized in Orange County, N.C., on 4 March 1823, breaking off from the Eno Church and joining the Flat River Association. The first deacons were ordained October 1823, and the Church met in monthly conference for worship under the deacons' guidance until the first pastor, T. D. Armstrong, was called in 1832. The Church had 195 members as of July 1840, of which about 50 were African Americans. In 1856, an African-American deacon was ordained. The Church was still functioning in the 1990s.

Records of the Mount Moriah Church, 1823-1940, in four microfilmed volumes as listed below. Volumes 1-3 contain a copy of the Church's constitution, a list of "Rules of Decorum" by which the Church was governed, and lists of members of the congregation. In volume 1, there is also a short narrative of the founding of the Church. There are three items tipped into volume 3: Nancy J. Sparrow's 1887 certification of church membership; a blank church membership certificate; and a letter, dated 20 February 1924, from the Carrboro Baptist Church about fundraising.

In volume 4, circa 50 pp., the constitution and rules of decorum are replaced by a printed church covenant, declaration of faith, and rules of order. Volumes contain short entries documenting actions a monthly meetings as follows: Volume 1, circa 275 pp., August 1823-June 1886 with some gaps, notably 1863-1864; volume 2, circa 200 pp., July 1886-September 1913; volume 3, circa 50 pp., November 1913-September 1924; volume 4, circa 50 pp., October 1924-March 1940.