"Our Heritage"
Mt. Olive Tribune
By Claude Moore

Church Has Colorful History

The First Congregational Church of the little village of Dudley has had an interesting and eventful history and is one of the first black (African American, Indian) churches in Wayne County. The little village of Dudley was founded when the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad was being built. A labor camp was also built there. It was named for Governor Edward B. Dudley, the president and builder of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad (first called Wilmington and Raleigh). A number of free black families lived in the vicinity and some owned their own land and a number were of Indian descent.

The Indian physical traits can still be recognizable among them. They were members of white churches before the War Between the States, but after the war, the free blacks and freed men began to establish their own churches. The buildings in Dudley were burned by the Union Army in December 1862 during the Battle of the Neuse Bridge.

The First Congregational Church of Dudley grew out of a school founded in 1867 for black students and was taught by John P. Casey, an ex-Confederate soldier. He was later joined by a white teacher, Miss Jane Allen of Delaware. George Washington Simmons of Indian decent was one of the local leaders who championed education. In 1868, the school was taught by D.C. Granison, a black graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio.

The Rev. D. D. Dodge, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Wilmington became interested in the community and he came up to Dudley and organized a Sunday school. In 1870, the First Congregational Church of Dudley was organized with the Rev. John Scott (white) of Naugatuck, Connecticut, as the first pastor (1870-73).

The pastor purchased 700 acres of land in the vicinity and resold it to black families in ten-acre lots. The objective was to build up a community of landowners around the church and school.

The charter members of the church were: George Washington Simmons, James King, Levi Winn, Sr., Levi Winn, Jr., Henry Winn, George Winn and members of their families. The church was organized along the lines of the Congregational churches of New England with the congregation governing the church and electing its ministers. A cemetery had already been laid out and is located on the old Mount Olive-Goldsboro Highway leading from Dudley to the Genoa crossing and the railroad. The school building and church were burned but they were soon rebuilt and the county furnished funds for the school.

In the early days the men and women sat separately in the church, as was the case in most Baptist Churches in those days. Other families who were prominent in the church in the early days were: Jacobs, Brewingtons, Carters, Artis, Manuel, Henderson, Aldridge, Cobb, Coley, Baker and Elmore. The pastors of the church prior to 1900 were: John Scott, Richard A. Tucker, David Peebles, J. P. Lestrade, J.E. B. Jewett, S. C. Goosley, John W. Freeman, S. P. Smith, and the present minister since 1967, the Rev. Henry L. Carnes of Chapel Hill. Several of the ministers during the years have been white as is the present pastor.

The present church is a brick church located in Dudley, on the northeast corner of O’Berry Road and the old Mount Olive-Goldsboro Highway. Mrs. Jessie Simmons (1892-1991), a member of the church for 61 years, left an estate in excess of $270,000 (Winn-Dixie stock) as a perpetual trust endowment for the church. The church now has around 100 members and plans are already underway for building a new church. The church is now affiliated with the Church of Christ.

This church with its long and rich history has made a significant contribution to the spiritual and educational life of Wayne County.

Source: Henry Winn of Dudley, a member of this church.