New Hope Presbyterian Church

In the chronology

1. 1756 (traditional date) New Hope Presbyterian Church traces its beginning to New Hope Presbyterian Church, south of Hillsborough on the road to Chapel Hill, counts 1756 as its founding year, when the Hawfields and Eno Presbyterians, with whom the New Hope families then worshiped, first asked Hanover Presbytery for preachers. Its early records burned in 1827; D. I. Craig judged it was formally organized later, most likely under Henry Pattillo after his 1765 call, and it first appears with its own minister in the 1795 Orange Presbytery minutes.
2. c. 1760 New Hope congregation builds its first meetinghouse Settlers still attached to the Hawfields congregation built a rough first meetinghouse about five miles south of Hillsborough and a quarter mile east of the road to Chapel Hill. An octagonal log church on higher ground replaced it, which the church dates to 1775.
3. 1774 Henry Pattillo leaves the Hawfields and Eno churches Pattillo, who came to the Hawfields and Eno churches in 1765, left in 1774. The New Hope families still belonged to the Hawfields then, and Craig believed Pattillo had organized New Hope church in its first meetinghouse.
4. about 1775 John DeBow takes the Hawfields and Eno charge and preaches at New Hope DeBow, a young minister, succeeded Pattillo at the Hawfields and Eno about 1775 and preached at New Hope as he could. Craig calls him probably the first preacher with anything like a regular appointment there.
5. September 1778 The Presbytery removes Alexander McMillan, who had led Presbyterian worship in Hillsborough McMillan had held regular services in the courthouse jointly with the Little River and New Hope congregations until the Presbytery deposed him for misconduct. For some years afterward Hillsborough had no regular Presbyterian services.
6. September 8, 1783 John DeBow, minister to the Hawfields, Eno and New Hope people, dies DeBow died at 38 and was buried at Hawfields church. Craig was told he was the first person buried in the present Hawfields churchyard.
7. November 2, 1785 David Craig's 1785 stone is the oldest dated marker in New Hope's old graveyard The earliest date Craig could find in the old graveyard beside the first church site reads 'D. C. - N. 2. - 1785', which he took for David Craig, a son of William Craige, who died November 2, 1785. Earlier graves there were marked with rough, unlettered stones.
8. 1790 Jacob Lake ends his ministry to New Hope Lake followed DeBow and served New Hope with the Hawfields and Eno churches in the same way until 1790. He left Orange Presbytery in 1794 after about ten years in it.
9. February 25, 1792 Gilbert Strayhorn deeds two hundred acres to New Hope church Soon after Lake left, the aged Gilbert Strayhorn gave two hundred acres 'to the subscribers of the church and their successors.' Every New Hope church stood on this land, and seventy acres of it were still the congregation's in 1891.
10. from about 1795 A school begins to be kept at New Hope church Thompson urged the congregation to take up schooling, and after his time the church generally kept a school for many years. His successor James H. Bowman is said to have taught school there while supplying the pulpit.
11. about 1795 James Strayhorn, John Strain and John Freeland become ruling elders at New Hope Three men were ordained and installed as elders about 1795, joining James Hart. The four made up the whole session when the church was reorganized in 1820.
12. between 1795 and 1799 New Hope builds a parsonage with a farm on the church tract At William F. Thompson's urging the congregation built a parsonage where William C. Claytor later lived and laid off much of Gilbert Strayhorn's two-hundred-acre gift as a farm to go with it.
13. November 18, 1795 Orange Presbytery holds its earliest recorded meeting at New Hope The oldest surviving Orange Presbytery minutes record a meeting at New Hope church, the first after Concord Presbytery was set off. James Bowman was moderator, William McGee was ordained with William F. Thompson, John Gillispie was licensed, and two candidates, Robert Foster and Robert Tate, sat part of their trials.
14. November 18, 1795 William F. Thompson is ordained at New Hope as its first pastor Thompson, said to be a native of Connecticut, was ordained at New Hope and apparently installed as its pastor at the same meeting, the first pastor the church had. Earlier ministers had served it as supplies alongside the Hawfields and Eno.
15. September 20, 1799 William F. Thompson deeds a hundred acres of New Hope church land to John Strayhorn As he was leaving, Thompson sold about a hundred acres of the church tract to Gilbert Strayhorn's son John, stating that Gilbert had conveyed the land to him. No such conveyance was ever seen or recorded, and Craig judged the deed a forgery; the land left the church's hands.
16. November 12, 1799 William F. Thompson resigns as pastor of New Hope Thompson gave up the charge at a called meeting of Orange Presbytery at Cross Roads church and left the presbytery's bounds. In April 1802 the presbytery suspended him from the ministry for false charges he had made against it.
17. 1800 A great camp-meeting revival is held at New Hope People came from long distances and camped on the church grounds for days, and the revival spread into other neighborhoods. Craig thought it did much to prompt the building of a third church.
18. about 1802 to 1815 James H. Bowman becomes stated supply at New Hope Bowman, whose charge in 1799 was Eno and Little River, went west as a missionary in 1800, returned in the fall of 1801 and probably came to New Hope in 1802. He preached and taught school there until he left the presbytery in 1815, and was perhaps the first to preach in the third church.
19. February 6, 1803 Gilbert Strayhorn, a founder and first elder of New Hope church, dies Strayhorn died at 88 and was buried in the old New Hope graveyard, next to the church he had helped found on his own land.
20. 1805 New Hope builds its third church The third house of worship went up about two hundred yards southeast of the second, beside a spring that rises from rock. It had a high pulpit at the west end and a gallery at the east end for Black worshippers, and it stood until fire destroyed it in 1862.
21. February 1816 John Craig, a founder and first elder of New Hope church, dies John Craig, eldest son of William Craige, died at about 90. Craig names him with Gilbert Strayhorn as the church's original founders and first elders.
22. May 17, 1817 New Hope's elders sell seventeen acres of church land for repairs After what the deed calls mature deliberation, the elders and subscribers sold seventeen acres at the southwest corner of the church tract to Samuel Strayhorn to pay for church repairs. Seventy acres of Gilbert Strayhorn's gift remained.
23. November 1818 to April 1820 Elijah Graves preaches at New Hope as stated supply Graves, who was teaching at Hillsborough, preached at New Hope from November 1818 until April 1820. A temperance reformer, he persuaded many hearers to sign a pledge.
24. April 23, 1820 New Hope church is reorganized under Shepherd K. Kollock On April 22, 1820, Kollock laid before the session Orange Presbytery's call for long-vacant churches to be reorganized; finding no roll of members and little discipline, the session resolved to reorganize the next day. On April 23 four elders and ten members publicly assented to the articles of faith and covenant.
25. October 15, 1820 Alexander Gattis, Samuel Faucett and Gilbert Strayhorn are ordained elders at New Hope The session added three ruling elders; Gilbert Strayhorn was a grandson of the founding elder and a son of William Strayhorn.
26. May 1825 Shepherd K. Kollock's connection with New Hope is dissolved Kollock, who had preached at New Hope with the Hillsborough church since 1820, ended his connection in May 1825. Elijah Graves came back as stated supply that November and stayed until May 1831.
27. November 1831 to November 1832 A year-long revival at New Hope adds at least seventy communicants Under the evangelists Daniel L. Russell, John S. McCutcheon and Philip Pearson, families built tents on the church grounds and lived in them for weeks to attend the meetings. The session record shows at least seventy people admitted to communion.
28. February 1, 1832 Five elders are ordained at New Hope during the revival William Brown, Alexander Strain, Samuel Hart, David Hart and Allen Petty were added to the session. The two Harts were grandsons of Gilbert Strayhorn, and Strain was a son of the earlier elder Alexander Strain.
29. 1833 James Phillips is licensed to preach and later serves New Hope Presbyterian Church Mathematics professor James Phillips joined the Presbyterian church in 1832 and was licensed to preach by Orange Presbytery in 1833. He was later ordained and installed as minister of New Hope Presbyterian Church, about seven miles outside Chapel Hill, and shared the university chapel work with Elisha Mitchell.
30. March 23, 1833 New Hope elects George W. Ferrill as pastor The congregation unanimously elected Ferrill pastor, and he was installed soon after. The pastoral relation was dissolved in July 1836.
31. August 1836 to December 1865 James Phillips begins nearly thirty years as stated supply at New Hope The university professor began preaching at New Hope in August 1836 and served it until December 1865, longer than any other minister. Because Chapel Hill long had no Presbyterian church, New Hope heard him almost every Sunday for years.
32. May 9, 1840 Four elders are ordained at New Hope George A. Faucett, David Craig, William C. Blackwood and Joseph Kirkland were added to the session. All but Faucett were great-grandsons of William Craige; Kirkland was the father of the Rev. Alexander Kirkland.
33. March 27, 1842 Charles Phillips joins New Hope church James Phillips's son Charles, later a minister and teacher at the university, joined the church at New Hope. He often preached there with his father in later years.
34. October 26, 1845 David L. Swain and Charles Phillips transfer from New Hope to the Chapel Hill church University president David L. Swain, who first joined a church at New Hope, and Charles Phillips were released by letter to the Presbyterian church at Chapel Hill. People: Charles Phillips
35. September 1859 Five elders are ordained at New Hope Samuel S. Claytor, Alexander Dickson, William S. Kirkland, Bryant Strayhorn and George R. Long were ordained and installed. Craig traces each to the founding families except Dickson.
36. 1861 to 1865 Thirty-five men of the New Hope congregation die in Confederate service Craig lists thirty-five men from within the bounds of the congregation who died in the Civil War, eight of them Strayhorns and three Craigs.
37. March 9, 1862 New Hope's 1805 church burns The church burned on a Saturday night, most people believing it was set on purpose. The next morning James Phillips preached to the congregation under the trees, and through the summer of 1862 they worshipped under a large arbor built on the grounds. People: James Phillips
38. 1863 New Hope Presbyterian Church builds its fourth church In the middle of the Civil War, New Hope Presbyterian Church put up its fourth building, the one still in use in 1953.
39. February 1866 to winter 1867 Thomas Lynch becomes stated supply at New Hope after James Phillips Lynch took up the New Hope pulpit after Phillips stopped preaching there at the end of 1865 and served until the winter of 1867.
40. April 1866 Calvin H. Wiley is ordained at New Hope At the last meeting of Orange Presbytery held at New Hope, Calvin H. Wiley was ordained with Charles Phillips, both sine titulo, without a pastoral charge.
41. 14 April 1866 Charles Phillips is ordained at New Hope Church in Orange County Phillips was ordained on 14 April 1866 at Orange County's New Hope Church, which had long been under the pastoral charge of his father James Phillips. Orange Presbytery had convened there on Wednesday, April 11, and ordained Phillips and Calvin H. Wiley during the meeting. People: James Phillips
42. May 1868 Henry B. Pratt, a missionary to South America, supplies New Hope Pratt preached at New Hope for six months with the Hillsborough church. On May 24, 1868, D. I. Craig, John T. Hogan and three women were received and baptized as members.
43. 1869 and 1870 Alexander Kirkland, a son of the congregation, supplies New Hope The Rev. Alexander Kirkland, son of the New Hope elder Joseph Kirkland, supplied the church for part of 1869 and 1870 after Pratt.
44. January 1, 1869 New Hope's present graveyard is begun Because the old graveyard lay so low that winter graves filled with water, James Newton Craig and elder David Craig chose a dry site a little south of east of the church. His nine-month-old son Vernon, who died on December 31, 1868, was buried there on January 1, 1869 as its first grave.
45. 1870 to fall 1872 T. U. Faucett becomes stated supply at New Hope Thomas U. Faucett served the church as stated supply from 1870 until the fall of 1872.
46. June 1871 John T. Hogan and Samuel D. Blackwood are ordained elders at New Hope The two men were ordained and added to the session. Hogan descended from the early elder John Freeland, and Blackwood from John Craig.
47. August 1874 Pleasant H. Dalton becomes stated supply at New Hope Dalton, who had joined New Hope as a university student in 1842, began supplying the church in August 1874. By his own count at least fifty members were added in his twelve years there.
48. July 8, 1877 William C. Claytor, Nettleton G. Craig and Charles W. Johnston are ordained elders at New Hope Three elders were added to the session. Claytor was a son of the 1859 elder Samuel Claytor; Johnston's grandmother was Mary Cabe, a daughter of Gilbert Strayhorn.
49. July 17, 1879 Samuel Kirkland and Leroy Craig are ordained elders at New Hope The two were added to the session in what Craig in 1891 called the last ordination of elders at New Hope.
50. January 6, 1884 Pleasant H. Dalton is installed as pastor of New Hope After nearly ten years as stated supply, Dalton was installed as the church's pastor.
51. December 1886 Pleasant H. Dalton's pastorate at New Hope is dissolved amid a divided session Dalton offered his resignation in February 1886, but most of the congregation would not accept it; the relation was dissolved that December after the session fell into disagreement. The church stood vacant about a year while a presbytery commission settled the trouble.
52. March 1887 James L. Currie is installed as pastor of New Hope Currie, who had preached there briefly in 1874, was installed as pastor; the relation was dissolved in November 1889 after new troubles in the session.
53. March 5, 1889 Orange Presbytery decides an estate dispute that had divided New Hope's session A quarrel over a member's settlement of an estate, which Craig thought belonged in the civil courts, had been brought before the session. An adjourned meeting of the presbytery decided it, and the ruling deepened the split in the session.
54. May 16, 1889 Orange Presbytery removes all six active elders of New Hope Member David A. Claytor had carried a petition, which most of the members signed, calling on the active elders to resign; three agreed and three refused. Meeting at the church, the presbytery heard the parties, dissolved all six elders' relation to the church and ordered a new election.
55. May 25, 1889 New Hope re-elects three of its removed elders With the Rev. F. H. Johnston presiding, the congregation chose Charles W. Johnston, John T. Hogan and William C. Claytor again, and they were reinstalled before a large congregation.
56. November 30, 1890 James E. Fogartie is installed as pastor of New Hope and Chapel Hill Fogartie was called to New Hope jointly with the Chapel Hill church. About the same time the synod's evangelists W. D. Morton and a Mr. Maxwell held a meeting at New Hope that added a number of members.
57. 1912 David K. Blackwood is moved from a family burying ground to New Hope churchyard In 1912 the remains of David K. Blackwood, who had died in 1859, were taken from the family graveyard and reburied at New Hope Presbyterian Church. His marble headstone records the move.
58. 1942 A memorial to local Revolutionary War soldiers is placed at New Hope In 1942 a monument honoring Revolutionary War soldiers from the neighborhood was set in the grounds of New Hope Presbyterian Church, beside its cemetery.

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