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Entries
Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
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Black farmers Joe B. Brooks and John W. Jones organize Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church
African American farmers Joe Bethel Brooks and John William Jones founded the Jones Grove congregation north of Hillsboro. Its members were close to Lea's (now Lee's) Chapel Baptist Church at Cedar Grove, where the Brooks family lived.
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Joseph H. Jones deeds a quarter acre of his farm to the Jones Grove church trustees
John Jones's father, Joseph H. Jones, gave a quarter-acre of his farm to the trustees of the new Jones Grove congregation: his son John, Joe Brooks and Joe's brother William Brooks. The deed also marks the line of the Ridge Road School lot to the south.
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Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church dedicates its first sanctuary
Members and neighbors built a front-gable weatherboarded church, finished early in 1928, with Buck Jacobs giving a large cash gift, William Brooks the sand and Aldolphus Hester the logs; John Jones hauled lumber in a white neighbor's truck. Rev. Joe B. Brooks led the dedication.
Civil rights era · 1945–1975
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Rev. Joe B. Brooks, founding pastor of Jones Grove, dies
Joe Bethel Brooks, a farmer who helped found Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church in 1926, led it as pastor until his death.
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Rev. George W. Davis of Durham becomes pastor of Jones Grove
Rev. George W. Davis took charge of the Jones Grove congregation after Joe Brooks's death and served for twenty years, a period that saw the frame church replaced.
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Jones Grove dedicates a concrete-block church built by its own members
Congregants Otha Thompson and A. J. Breeze served as general contractors and Thomas Watkins supplied lumber for a front-gable concrete-block sanctuary paid for with members' gifts. The 1928 frame church to the west was torn down when it was done.
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Jones Grove adds a rear wing to its church
In the mid-1970s the congregation built a rear addition holding the pastor's office, restrooms and a baptismal pool, and covered the sanctuary walls with wood-look paneling.
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Rev. Theodore C. Nicholson begins a 41-year pastorate at Jones Grove
Rev. Theodore C. Nicholson of Durham led Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church from 1975 to May 30, 2016. During his tenure he ordained six associate pastors, among them his wife Bessie M. Nicholson.
Recent decades · 1976–2026
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Jones Grove builds a fellowship hall on land given by the Brooks family
Luther A. Brooks, son of the founding pastor, and his wife Catherine gave a tenth of an acre east of the church for a fellowship hall, begun in spring 1990 and finished in January 1991.
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Jones Grove names its fellowship hall for the Brooks family
The congregation named its 1991 fellowship hall in honor of the Brooks family, who had founded, led and given land to the church.
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Jones Grove pays off its mortgage and adds a steeple built by a deacon
The congregation marked the end of its mortgage along with the year's improvements: new carpet, lights and pew cushions, and a steeple that deacon Gotha C. Watkins built and gave.
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Emma Torian Jones gives her home lot beside Ridge Road School to Jones Grove Church
Emma Torian Jones donated the lot west of the school, where she and her husband had lived since the 1960s, to Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church; the house was later torn down, returning the ground to woods. The Torian heirs had also deeded the school parcel to the church.
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Tremaine Royster becomes the fourth pastor of Jones Grove
Tremaine Royster became Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church's fourth pastor; the church, which owns Ridge Road School, also runs a food bank.
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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 1, 2026.
