Prepared by Spencer McCall, Jr. F ebruaiy 1999

BIOGRAPHY OFIBE

REV. GEORGE W. HOLLAND (1833 - 14 November 1907)

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"The Rev. George HOLLAND typified the esteem to which a minister could rise. In addition to First Baptist in Winston, he founded thirty-five other churches in Virginia and North Carolina" (MILLER, 4).

Rev. HOLLAND was born in Franklin County; Virginia in 1833 and he received the call to preach while a young man. A brief time after Emancipation Rev. HOLLAND moved to 309 G. Street in Richmond, Virginia. While making his home there, he continued to travel about calling the unsaved to redemption and conversion.

In his later thirties, First Baptist Church of Danville, Virginia licensed him to preach and some time later he was ordained at the rural Chapel Hill Baptist Church.

He left Richmond and moved to Danville, Virginia however this was not be his permanent home. In the late 1870's, he joined a dedicated Christian band of Baptists in the Waughtown Community where the black Baptist Church of Forsyth County began. In the Waughtowri Community Rev. HOLLAND settled in a two-story log house on the comer of Waughtown and Francis Streets. In the 1880 Census he is living in the Broadbay Township of Forsyth County in the Waughtown Community and his household is enumerated as follows:

HOLLAND George45 Susan 50 John 73

wife father

Minister VA VA VA NC NC NC VA VA VA

Rev. HOLLAND and his faithful band of early followers had no permanent home, however they remained faithful. (The following narratives and information are excerpted from the Diary of the Pastor of St. Philips Moravian Church, which are archived at Old Salem, Inc.)

On Wednesday May 22, 1879, Colored Br. HOLLAND of the Baptist Church made an address.

For Thanksgiving the pastor preached the 10' o'clock, service and Br. HOLLAND of the Baptist Church also addressed the congregation.

Rev. HOLLAND was again present at prayer meeting on December Yd.

During the Revival Elder Lewis HEGE preached along with Rev. George HOLLAND, Br. Benjamin LINEBACH from Friedberg, Rev. SMITH, of the M. E. Church and presumably others unnamed. The Church had 22 candidates for confirmation at the end of March.

The congregation continued to meet under brush arbors, at Hinshaw's Hall, or where ever they were able - until the 1880's. In 1879 DR. HA. BROWN, the pastor of the white First Baptist Church and several of his deacons aided Rev. HOLLAND in organizing his faithful Christian Band into the First Baptist Church (black). In the same year, the Baptist Congregation bought a parcel of land at the comer of Sixth and Chestnut Streets from the Moravians (Congregation of United Brethren of Salem and area) for seventy-five dollars.

Three years later in 1882 the congregation began to erect a wooden structure, which faced Sixth Streets. The wooden structure rested on brick pillars and the basement was not enclosed until 1886. In 1886, the City Graded School System was organized in Winston to serve the black children and some classes were held in the enclosed basement of the church. It was also during this time that Rev. HOLLAND and the congregation decided to move the wooden structure so that it faced Chestnut Street.

At about the same time Miss Addie C. MORRIS united with the church (Ironically, the black Baptist Church - Movement in Forsyth County began in the cabin of Addie's stepmother Mary LINEBAG-I FRIES MORRIS.) Miss MORRIS was a graduate of the Missionary Department of Shaw University and was supported by northern patrons. Rev. HOLLAND and the congregation allowed her to build a Mission House on their lot at the comer of Chestnut and Sixth Streets where she instructed students and distributed clothes. Rev. HOLLAND and Miss MORRIS were also instrumental in establishing the Baptist Colored Orphanage in the Belview-Waughtown Community with the assistance of the Rowan Baptist (black) Association and its affiliates. This Orphanage was the first of its kind (Baptist and black owned) in the state and the only of its kind for a number of years.

Sometime thereafter "a more pretentious brick structure was built and dedicated. Among those invited by Reverend HOLLAND to prdch at the dedication was the Doctor R. B. BRUCE of Charlotte, NC who was then editor of the A.M.E. Zion Sunday School literature and who was later elected Bishop of that Church. " (The History of First Baptist ClJurch.)

REV. HOLLAND was a progressive and involved minister, he constantly invited state and district associations to meet as his church, and many accepted his offer. In 1903 the Lott Carey Baptist~ Home and Foreign Mission Convention held its annual Session at First Baptist Church on September 4- 8, 1903. This was a great honor for Rev. HOLLAND, his congregation, and the black community.

Rev. HOLLAND was also concerned with the future of his parishioners. He encouraged the youth of his church (boys and girls) to get the best "possible education" and to go to college and he especially urged them to go to Shaw University.

Rev. HOLLAND was further concerned with the furthering of the church and Gospel. "Among the preachers ordained under his administration were Reverend Pinkney JOYCE, Doctor P. S. LEWIS, Reverend Nat 1URNER, Reverend J. W. JONES, Reverend Peter FOY, andReverendJ. H. MARTIN."

Rev. HOLLAND died on the 29 October 1906 at his home on 309 E. 8th Street. The October 31, 1906 edition of the Wmston-Salen Journal reported:

"Well Known Pastor is Dead"

Rev. G. W. HOLLAND pastor of the Colored Baptist died at his home Monday afternoon in his 70th year. The funeral service will be conducted by Dr. H. A. BROWN at 10:00 am this morning at the church. The deceased

was well known throughout the city and was respected and admired by all for his character and ability. (1).

Dr. BROWN (the same pastor who helped Rev. HOLLAND organized his church) used as his text Acts 6:5 and Acts 2:47 "For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit ... "

MILLER writes, "When he died in 1906, the white Baptist pastor preached his funeral before a large assembly of blacks and whites. Three hundred and sixty-five vehicles followed him to the graveyard; every lodge and fraternal organization marched in the procession. Observers declared it the largest funeral ever held in Winston-Salem. (4).

Rev. HOLLAND was interred in the Masonic Cemetery in the Brusher Fork Community and a substantial gravestone was erected in his honor. The gravestone reads:

SOURCES:

REV. GEORGE W. HOLLAND Born in VA 1833

PASTOR OF FIRST BAPTIST CHUR.a-I WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.1879- 1906.

DIED OCT. 29, 1906

SUSAN HOLLAND WIFE OF

GEORGE W. HOLLAND BORN 1837 DIED NOV. 14, 1907

HOLLAND

1880 Federal Census: Forsyth County, Broadbay Township.

First Baptist Church Winston-Salem, NC (black). Sixty-Sixth Anniversary: 1879 - 1945. Winston-Salem; North Carolina: 1945.

----. The Centennial History of First Baptist Church.

MILLER, Bertha H. "The Black Church in Winston-Salem, NC 189 5-1920."

Old Salem, Inc. Diary of the pastor of the St. Philips Congregation.

Winston-Salem J oumal.