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African-American students boycotted
Wilmington schools, protesting the closing of the city's all-black high school and the handling of school integration. The integrated Congregational United Church of Christ became the gathering place for the protesters. The national UCC Commission on Racial Justice sent a young staff member, Ben Chavis, to Wilmington to organize and provide structure for the student protesters. Chavis and nine other individuals (The “Wilmington Ten”) were convicted of bombing a grocery store and conspiracy to assault responding emergency personnel. The trial received national attention and a number of churches left the denomination obscuring their connection with James O’Kelly in historical memory.
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churches reported the number of active members, the number of members added and removed from the church roll, church school enrollment, and the expenditures for benevolences and local church needs. The reports included the names of pastors and the year they were called to the church. Random checks reveal that Martha’s Chapel had thirty-two members in 1876, sixty-two in 1913, ninety-four in 1934, and sixty-four in 1955. In its last recorded report to the
Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ in 1972, Martha’s Chapel reported fifty-six members. Martha’s Chapel ceased its affiliation with the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ in 1972 or 1973.
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congregation in
Chatham County was organized later that year and that it was the first new congregation formed by the Southern Christian denomination. It has not been possible to determine the exact date the first sanctuary was constructed; however, the original O’Kelly Chapel is “generally acknowledged to be the first church building erected by the southern Christians.” Before building churches, congregations in the new denomination worshipped in former Methodist meeting houses, structures abandoned by the Church of England, private homes, and public buildings such as courthouses and inns.
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James O’Kelly is thought to have been born in
Virginia about 1736. He married Elizabeth Meeks in 1759, and they had two children, John and William. James O’Kelly was listed as a homeowner in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, in 1787. When he led the withdrawal from the Methodist Church in 1792 - 1793,
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The congregation first worshiped together in 1794, probably in O’Kelly's home. In 1803, about two acres of land were given to the
Christian Church on which to erect a church building. Over time, several different structures were built on the site. The current church, built in 1910 and shown above, is
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O’Kelly, leader of the movement, moved in 1794 to
Chatham County, North Carolina, and gathered a congregation which eventually took the name O’Kelly Chapel. In 1797, he began a congregation in Orange County known as the Damascus Christian Church. He also began Martha's Chapel in Apex in 1803. O’Kelly
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Sometime in the early 1980s worship services ceased being held on a regular basis in O’Kelly's Chapel. Occasional weddings, confirmation classes and holiday services occupied the chapel in meaningful ways, yet even those diminished over time. The building fell into disrepair. The
Southern Conference
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O’Kelly's Chapel church was formed and a worship house built on the site in 1794 after James O’Kelly departed the
Methodist Church. The structure that currently sits on the property on NC 751 in northern Chatham County is the fourth structure to be erected there. The ministry on that site was guided
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Rural congregations in the early nineteenth century were small, their size limited by the distance worshipers could travel by foot, horseback or wagon to attend a mid-day service and return home before dark. The two churches, Martha’s Chapel, and O’Kelly Chapel, five or six miles apart, easily could
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The O’Kelly's move may have been prompted by the need to be near family because of their age or health. However, after the move, O’Kelly continued to organize new churches, visit congregations and attend church conferences. MacClenny stated that in his last years O’Kelly delivered his sermons while
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When did the O’Kellys move to North
Carolina? There is evidence for James and Elizabeth O’Kelly's move to Chatham County between 1794 and 1807. One or both sons were already in North Carolina when the parents arrived. The younger son, William, had moved to Chatham County in the mid-eighties. The
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A sale was agreed upon to For Garden's Sake, a landscape and garden supply business located immediately south of the chapel. The new owners have no plans to raze the building and continue to explore options that would encourage community involvement. Southern
Conference leaders hope that the chapel
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Based on similar policies with emphasis on local autonomy, the Christian Church united in 1933 with the larger Congregational Church to form the Congregational Christian Church. With similar theological roots and claiming an ecumenical future for American Protestantism, the Evangelical and Reformed
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The more conservative doctrine and social views held by many who were members of former Southern Christian and Reformed churches clashed with the liberal heritage of the Congregational Church. A case in point was the UCC's role in the Wilmington racial protests in the nineteen-seventies. In 1972
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MacClenny, The Life of Rev. James O’Kelly..., p. 18; Raymond Beck found deeds recording the 1797 and 1812 purchases in the Chatham County Courthouse, see Raymond Beck to George Troxler, 4/5/17; Beck to Troxler, 6/2/17 gives MacClenny, p. 18, as source of date for William's settlement in
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The Christian Church founded by O’Kelly was primarily a movement in eastern Virginia and the upper Piedmont of North Carolina. In time, other churches were started and there were mergers with other church groups, e.g., a group of dissenting Baptist churches in Vermont. Though never a large church
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Eventually, due to their deep convictions, O’Kelly, 36 other ministers, and 10,000 lay people pulled out of the Methodist church to form a church association called “Republican Methodists.” In 1794 these dissenters formally took the name “Christian” and agreed to be governed by five fundamental
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O’Kelly and others protested at the organizational conference that the church should not concentrate so much power in the bishop but be structured more democratically, with self-government for ministers and churches. O’Kelly envisioned “a republican , no-slavery , glorious church” that would be
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Researchers can track Martha’s Chapel in the minutes of their association’s annual meeting published in the Southern Christian Church’s annual report, The Christian Annual, beginning in 1870 with the earliest surviving issue, and after 1957 in the United Church of Christ’s Yearbooks. Each year
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Chatham County Deed Books, Chatham County Register of Deeds, Chatham County Courthouse, Pittsboro, N.C. Deed Book BN, 393 quoted in Stokes and Scott, History of the Christian Church, p. 46. Stokes and Scott identify this as the site of O’Kelly's Chapel. MacClenny, The Life of Rev. James
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In 1922 The Southern Christian Convention merged with the American Christian Convention to form the General Convention of the Christian Church. A second merger in 1931—with the Congregational Church, (the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock and Puritans of Massachusetts Bay), created the Congregational
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the fourth. Part of a cemetery with about 100 graves is also on the property. In 1968, the site was posted with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker (see photo above) and listed in 1985 on the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places.
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In August 1794, a conference of dissident Methodists ministers meeting in Surry County, Virginia, finalized organization of a new denomination and adopted the name “Christian”. W. E. MacClenny in his 1910 biography of James O’Kelly, the denomination's founder, stated that the O’Kelly Chapel
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O’Kelly..., p. 169-170, identifies the tract as “where Martha’s Chapel church now stands”. When Stokes and Scott were writing Martha's Chapel was not associated with the United Church of Christ, the successor of the O’Kelly's Southern Christian Church.
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W. E. MacClenny, The Life of Rev. James O’Kelly and The Early History of the Christian Church in the South, Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company, 1910, p. 169; Stokes & Scott, History of The Christian Church.., p. 46.
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Board of Directors initiated a discernment process in 2013 to determine the chapel's future. Since there was no money or interest in repairing or improving the building, the Board decided in 2016 to sell the property.
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by the “creed”, if it can be called that, of each person having “liberty of conscience,” the right and responsibility to interpret scripture in his or her own way so long as such did not violate God's law. When the
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congregationally based. The church was to reflect the democratic principles of the newly formed United States, organized into conferences with each pastor having equal authority and laymen having a voice, too.
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O’Kelly family purchased 101 acres near the site of O’Kelly Chapel in 1797 and an additional 19 acres in 1812. James and Elizabeth O’Kelly settled on the tract purchased in 1797, which William was farming.
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In 1803 or earlier, O’Kelly organized a second Chatham County congregation, Martha's Chapel, five or six miles south of O’Kelly's Chapel. That same year, John Scott executed a deed for one acre of land:
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to the said O’Kelly & the Christian Church collectively for the particular purpose of erecting a Meeting House to be occupied by way of preaching and expounding the Word of the Lord.
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On July 29, 2018, a decommissioning ceremony was held in the chapel to convert the land and chapel to secular use. A dozen UCC members attended, including members from Pilgrim UCC in
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share the pastoral services of the aging O’Kelly whose home was a short distance from O’Kelly Chapel. Both congregations remained active after O’Kelly’s death in 1826.
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Church (from a German Calvinist heritage) and the Congregational Christian Church (with a mainly English Calvinist heritage) merged in 1957 to create the
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seated. James O’Kelly died on October 16, 1826. He was buried in the family cemetery on the farm they had purchased in 1797 near O’Kelly's Chapel.
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Durward T. Stokes, “James O’Kelly,” in William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. IV, pp. 391–392.
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Durward T. Stokes and William T. Scott, A History of The Christian Church in the South, privately printed, 1973, p. 26.
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Document of the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ, "A History of O'Kelly Chapel." Andes, K. June 6, 2013.
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Having secured title to the property, the Martha's Chapel congregation probably built the first sanctuary in 1803 or 1804.
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movement, the Christian Connection (as these churches often referred to the larger structure) was a national connection.
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to become the United Church of Christ (1957) the chapel became the property of the Southern Conference of the UCC.
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Christian Church. It merged in 1957 with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the United Church of Christ.
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5. The right of private judgment and liberty of conscience is a right of privilege of all.
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can be preserved and stand as a reminder to the ministry and service of James O’Kelly.
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served these three congregations as a circuit-riding preacher for a number of years.
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4. Christian character is a sufficient test of fellowship and membership.
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O’Kelly was the Methodist district superintendent in southern Virginia.
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National Register of Historic Places in Chatham County, North Carolina
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Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
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MacClenny, The Life of Rev. James O’Kelly..., pp. 228 – 229.
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The Christian Annual, passim; United Church of Christ Yearbooks.
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3. The Holy Bible is a sufficient rule of faith and practice.
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National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory
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features including a steeply pitched roof and lancet windows.
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The 1875 Charles Stieff Piano, now named the "O'Kelly Piano"
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Erected by the So. Conference of the United Church of Christ
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1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of the Church.
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2. “Christian” is a sufficient name for the Church.
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19th-century United Church of Christ church buildings
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Carpenter Gothic church buildings in North Carolina
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History of the National Register of Historic Places
485:. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office
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424:) was sung, composed to the tune of
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388:~ George Troxler, January 29, 2018
236:Indoor Panorama of O'Kelly's Chapel
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101:Show map of the United States
1224:Chapels in the United States
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1173:National Historic Landmarks
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1209:Churches completed in 1900
537:Pews inside O'Kelly Chapel
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116:Farrington, North Carolina
76:Show map of North Carolina
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255:. Named after Reverend
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162:2 acres (0.81 ha)
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463:. July 9, 2010.
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218:July 5, 1985
1161:Other lists
982:Northampton
977:New Hanover
952:Mecklenburg
146: /
122:Coordinates
1188:Categories
1122:Washington
1057:Rutherford
1047:Rockingham
1012:Perquimans
1002:Pasquotank
962:Montgomery
782:Cumberland
489:2014-08-01
434:References
249:Farrington
134:78°56′41″W
131:35°51′56″N
877:Henderson
847:Granville
817:Edgecombe
787:Currituck
767:Cleveland
702:Brunswick
667:Alleghany
662:Alexander
650:by county
520:Chatham.
270:in 1985.
1067:Scotland
1037:Richmond
1032:Randolph
957:Mitchell
947:McDowell
907:Johnston
882:Hertford
857:Guilford
827:Franklin
797:Davidson
772:Columbus
752:Cherokee
732:Carteret
722:Caldwell
717:Cabarrus
707:Buncombe
687:Beaufort
657:Alamance
209:85001457
111:Location
1168:Bridges
1127:Watauga
1097:Tyrrell
1062:Sampson
1042:Robeson
997:Pamlico
937:Madison
927:Lincoln
902:Jackson
897:Iredell
872:Haywood
867:Harnett
862:Halifax
822:Forsyth
747:Chatham
742:Catawba
737:Caswell
274:History
172: (
170:c. 1900
1152:Yancey
1147:Yadkin
1142:Wilson
1137:Wilkes
1117:Warren
1077:Stokes
1072:Stanly
1017:Person
1007:Pender
992:Orange
987:Onslow
942:Martin
922:Lenoir
852:Greene
842:Graham
832:Gaston
812:Durham
807:Duplin
777:Craven
757:Chowan
727:Camden
697:Bladen
692:Bertie
591:Topics
418:Durham
245:chapel
1132:Wayne
1107:Vance
1102:Union
1087:Swain
1082:Surry
1052:Rowan
967:Moore
932:Macon
912:Jones
837:Gates
802:Davie
712:Burke
682:Avery
672:Anson
648:Lists
479:(PDF)
167:Built
1112:Wake
1027:Polk
1022:Pitt
972:Nash
892:Hyde
887:Hoke
792:Dare
762:Clay
677:Ashe
174:1900
159:Area
917:Lee
582:in
204:No.
191:MPS
1190::
481:.
459:.
453:.
442:^
333:.
251:,
572:e
565:t
558:v
492:.
429:.
176:)
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