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The Progress of the Races
church at Mandeville, La. He served as secretary of the Gulf Coast Missionary Baptist Association at the same time two years or more. He is a man of education, and an impressive preacher.
In 1870, Holmes Chapel M. E. Church was organized at Pearlington, Miss. The members first worshipped in a rented house, but in a short while they built a church. Rosa McKan and Isabella Gilbert raised the first hundred dollars on the new church, and more money on the furniture when the church was finished. For the faithful work of these two sisters the brethren promised to have their names engraved on the corner stone, but by some means or other this was overlooked in the premises, possibly not intentionally. This church at one time was the leading Methodist church on the coast of Mississippi. It has a great history in the uplift of the Negro both in religion and education. Some of the ablest preachers in the denomination have pastored this ch~ch. Men like the Reverend Dr. Clemens, the Rev. G. W. Smith, who was advanced to presiding elder or district superintendent; the Rev. Aaron Davis, who was promoted to district superintendent; the Rev. W. H. Smith, who built a new church, which was as fine as any colored Methodist church on the coast; and the Rev. Jesse Holmes, who was also a district superintendent and an excellent preacher.
April 17, 1912, the steeple of this church was also struck by lightning. This church has sent out three preachers who have pastored splendid churches, namely, the Rev. David F. Dudley, the Rev. Henry McCarty, and the Rev. .Tames Young.
The Ministry of the Rev. David F. Dudley
The Rev. David Foster Dudley, the son of Peter Dudley and Millie Dudley, was born a slave at Pearlington, Miss., and served his master well for a number of years before he was set free. He began his free life under meager circumstances. The death of his father left his mother and younger sister to his exclusive care, later he took a wife and they had children. He was a hard worker, and would lay his hands to anything that would earn an honest dollar, such as chopping wood, burning coal, hauling logs, working in the sawmills, or sailing on a schooner. He became a Christian in early life and united with Holmes Chapel M. E. Church at Pearlington, where he served in nearly every capacity of the church, that fitted him for his life’s work in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was sent out from this church to preach, and he has wrought well in the great task that was set before him.
I doubt very much whether he has ever attended a regular school, but took his lessons at night and promiscuously as he could get them. Some would call him a self-made man, but I hold that there is no such a man as that. Whatever is in a man will come out whether his education is limited or consummate. Education will develop what is in the man and enable him to do his work with more ease, but after all it is the man and not his education so much that makes him do and dare.
In the early Eighties the Rev. D. F. Dudley was ordained to preach the gospel. He has pastored some of the best churches in the State of Mississippi. He pastored at Paulding, Ellisville, Hattiesburg, Pass Christian, Hub and other places. The Southivestem Christian Advocate of New Orleans said some years ago that he had built more Methodist churches in the State of Mississippi than any colored preacher in the denomination. This shows that
The Progress of the Races
37
he is a live wire in the Christian ministry and a dynamo in the uplift of fallen humanity. Notwithstanding all of his handicaps he attained to that coveted office of District Superintendent, which for many years was the goal of the colored Methodist preacher.
Honor and shame from no condition rise ;
Act well your part, there all the honor lies.
The Rev. Henry McCarty pastored at Sardis, and the Rev. James Young at Biloxi, and other places.
About 1887, the A.M.E. Church was organized and built in “The Point” by the Rev. Brother Johnson, who was its first pastor. The Rev. Silas Parker, a product of Pearl River, also pastored this splendid little church and a church at Bay Saint Louis. The public school was taught in this church for a number of years before the patrons built a school house on Bogue Houma Ridge, a few hundred yards east of the Gainesville road. Joseph Felder, David Sam, and Ed Christmas were the trustees of this school for a number of years.
In 1895, the Bogahouma Baptist Church was founded by Mary J. Fryer-son, the wife of the Rev. Taylor Fryerson. It was organized for the convenience of the Baptists who moved down from Gainesville and the Isadore Settlement to work at Logtown when business was discontinued at Gainesville. The church is located on Bogue Houma Ridge and the Gainesville public road about three and a half miles above Pearlington. These churches have stood for much in this community in the saving of men and women and in an educational and social way. The most prominent pastors in the Baptist church there were the Rev. Brother Lee, the Rev. Brother Folson, and the Rev. G. W. Palmore, the present pastor.
The Work and Ministry of the Rev. John W. Lee
The Rev. J. W. Lee was born at Logtown, and reared under Christian influence. His parents and grandparents having been devout Christians. He received his early education from the public schools of Logtown, and in later years from Selma University, where he prepai-ed himself educationally to preach the gospel. He began his industrial career working in the sawmills and lumber yards of the H. Weston Lumber Company at Logtown, and the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company at Pearlington. He ran a schooner for the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company, plying the waters of Pearl River, and the lakes and sounds along the coasts of Mississippi and Louisiana.
He was baptized in Pearl River at Pearlington by the Rev. S. E. Piercy, pastor of the First Baptist Church at Pearlington, and licensed to preach by the same church and pastor. While attending Selma University, he got his letter from the First Baptist Church at Pearlington, and united with the West Trinity Baptist Church, Selma, Ala., the Rev. L. J. Benson, pastor, and was ordained by that church and pastor, in April, 1920. And in May, 1922, was called to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church at Moss Point, Miss., where he is now pastoring. This church has about 262 members, 90 of whom he baptized, and probably received more by letter or restoration.
He was moderator of the Gulf Coast Missionary Baptist Association from June, 1923, to October, 1928, when he resigned. With the Christian influence under which the Rev. J. W. Lee was reared, the spiritual and educational