Rare Original Handwritten History of Methodism in North Carolina!

Methodism in Beaufort

(North Carolina)

Being a Paper Read before a Church Conference in 1889

By Bro. L. A. Potter

~~To Which is Added~~

A List of the Pastors and Presiding Elders who have Served  this Charge, with Some Sketches

By Robah F. Bumpass.

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Folio.  27 pages, plus 6 other handwritten page and 3 typed pages laid in loosely and paper-clipped together.  The binding measures about 15 1/2 inches tall by 11 inches wide.  Bound in half leather with cloth-covered boards.  The spine has completely disintegrated and the boards are just barely holding on.  Corners rubbed and chipped.  Paper label on the front cover has "Methodism in Beaufort" handwritten in ink.  The original ledge was for the "Queen (Fire) Insurance Company of Liverpool, England" with the office in New York.

Three leaves have been cut out at the front, but this may have been of different material.  The first page reads, "Methodism in Beaufort..." and serves as a title page.  The front pastedown has (pasted down) a letter from C. P. Jones entitled "Brief Historical Statement," which is about 3 pages long. The page after the title page begins the history, and there are 15 pages of this narrative, with about 325 words per page.  The following pages are a series of notes (sometimes historical notations in paragraph form) and listings of ministers, elders, etc.

The rear pastedown also has several letters or notes to Brother Bumpass.  One is from T. Page Ricaud and is dated Wilmington, North Carolina in 1894.  Another is dated Chapel Hill in 189? and is signed by J. B. Martin.  Another portion of a letter is signed by T. W. Gautier.

This is a rare and important collection of what appears to be a largely unpublished history.  Worldcat lists nothing like this by Bumpass or by L. A. Potter.  The historical and statistical information after the narrative seems to have been largely compiled by Rev. Robah Bumpass (not to be confused with his father Rev. Sidney Bumpass, who was also a Methodist minister in North Carolina and who is also mentioned in the text).  The main part of the historical narrative was read before a conference in 1889, and many parts of this book have notations from the 1890s.  We don't know whether narrative portion of this was the original manuscript or whether it was an early copy of the manuscript.  We have found references to it with portions quoted, but we have not found where the entire manuscript was published.

In 1897 Rev. Robah Bumpass published an article in the "First Annual Publication of the Historical Society of the North Carolina Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church (South)."  The article was entitled "Methodism in Beaufort," and Bumpass made reference to "a manuscript history of Methodism in Beaufort by L. A. Potter."  Bumpass quotes part of that manuscript, and the same text is in this volume.  Either Bumpass had the original or copied this from the original (we also have a Bible by Rev. Bumpass).

We have many more photos of this item.