Ray’s Chapel AME Zion Church: A House of Worship Still Standing

On December 16, 1885, three church trustees: George W. Wikle, Manley Neusom Stewart, and Dudley Stewart purchased land for $5 from Captain William Montraville Addington. ² This land, originally located on Harrison Avenue, was intended for the use of a church and graveyard. That church was Franklin’s African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church, also known today as Ray’s Chapel. Although the land was formally purchased in 1885, the land was likely in use before then as the church was founded in 1865.

Newspaper articles from The Franklin Press, the town’s local newspaper, offer glimpses into the church’s history, from fundraising, ministerial travel, to church repairs.

In 1903, the congregation decided to build a new church building and began gathering material and preparing for the renovation. ³ The church was torn down by May 1905. ⁴ As they move and prepare to rebuild, their church bell is stolen. With the help of Sugarfork Church, the congregation hosts a festival to raise $7.25 to purchase a new “beautiful brass bell.”

Later that same year, the town of Franklin passed an ordinance indicating that buildings within distance from the courthouse have to be made of brick. The congregation was now left with a catastrophic dilemma. Their original building had already been demolished and the church could not afford to build a new church made entirely of brick.

As Summer progressed, G. Fortune, one of the church’s Presiding Elders, wrote a column in The Franklin Press to vocalize the church’s frustration and the unfairness of the local ordinance. It seems that the board of town commissioners required them to “procure a building permit” prior to rebuilding their church, despite them having already torn down their old building and gathered lumber. ⁶

I have yet to uncover the exact text of the ordinance. However, I did encounter a document that references the ordinance. It appears that on September 7, 1905, a town board meeting was held in N. P. Rankin‘s office at the courthouse. The individuals who were present included Mayor Bryson, Alderman Smith, Trotter, Mann, Potter, and M. D. Billings. The meeting minutes are quite parse, but they do note that the committee authorized the revised town ordinances to be printed in pamphlet form. Since this meeting appears to have occurred after Fortune’s article, it’s possible that it could be referring to a revised version of the ordinance that prohibited the church from reconstructing a new building.

Agreement Reached

Regardless, the ordinance does not seem to be a coincidence. Push back from local residents urged the church to give up their land on Harrison Ave and rebuild elsewhere. Several white families, including the Harrisons, Higgins, Lyles, and the Ashes lived on or near Harrison Avenue.

On August 11, 1905, the church’s trustees, Dudley Stewart, Nannie Ray, Ella Jones, Jennie Hays, and Addie Cline received $100 from Dr. S.H. Lyle, I.J. Ashe, and Dr. W. H. and in return agreed that “no building, church, school or other structure shall be erected on the property… and further agree that no corpse shall be hereafter buried on said lot nor… used for meeting or gathering place for holding services of any kind.” The land record goes on to state that the church is still welcome to care for the lot as a graveyard only.⁹

The church used the funds to purchase land from Matt and Nannie Ray on Green Street (where the current building now stands).

Moving the Graves

On August 7, 1916, the church sold their Harrison Avenue lot to C. C. Cunningham for $150 and agreed to move the bodies in the cemetery within six months. That same year, the church bought property next to the St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church cemetery and moved graves there from Harrison Avenue.

Blanche Ray Means, daughter of Matt and Nannie Ray, remembered that the original church building was a “simple board-and-batten structure, surrounded by less than a half-acre of churchyard.” She said that the churchyard was less than a half-acre and full of graves, most of them unmarked.¹¹

Pastoral Timeline

In continuing the research of Ms. Barbara McRae, we’ve collectively identified several individuals as previous pastors of the church. I’ve listed them below with known dates of pastoral service:

• C.N Walton (1894-1887)
• J. F. Quinn (1897)
• Charles L. Stewart (1900-1926)
• G. W. James (1903-1904)
• G. H. Jackson (1904)
• C. R. Harris (served as bishop in 1905)
• Edward Johnston McKay (1918-1920)
• E. S. Wyler (1924)
• Clifton T. Bryant (1930)
• D. D. Moore (1937)
• O. W. Connor (1943)
• Edward Johnston McKay (1945)
• Joseph P. Keaton (1949-1951)
• Marie/Maria Hayward (1950-1956)
• M. Williams (1957)
• “Mrs. Rev. Elam” (1958?)
• James “Jim” Conley (1960-1962)
• E. A. Armstrong (1963)
• Mattie Sue Ray (1966-1970s?)

A local resident indicated to me that the church was no longer in service by the 1970s.

Family Connections

While many of my ancestors had connections to Ray’s Chapel, a few are mentioned by name in the church’s history. Two trustees of the church, Dudley Stewart (1855-1918; son of Ruffin Stewart)¹² and Manley Neusom Stewart (1888-1938), were great uncles. One of the church’s pastors, Charles L. Stewart (1869-1926), was also a great uncle. Charles and Manley were brothers and also grandsons of Ruffin Stewart.

Ray’s Chapel Today

In 1949, the church building was replaced by the current building. Ray’s Chapel’s presently stands on Green St in Franklin, North Carolina.

The church, which is in heavy need of repairs, currently remains in a state of limbo. With no congregation or functional church services since at least the 1970s, the church currently remains as an endangered testament to the history of Black folks in the region. While this blog post only serves as a starting point, it is my hope that documenting this history will play a small part in taking steps towards its preservation.

A special thanks is due to Ms. Barbara McRae, whose work laid the foundation for my own research into the church’s history, and to Liliana Vitale, who provided me with copies of records and helped me talk through multiple aspects of this history.

1. Macon County Historical Society, Inc. 1987. The Heritage of Macon County North Carolina. Winston-Salem, North Carolina : Hunter Publishing Company.
2. Land Record from Macon County Register of Deeds, Book U, Page 62
3. The Franklin Press, June 3, 1903, pg. 3)
4. The Franklin Press, May 24, 1905 (page. 3)
5. “Colored Church Festival.” The Franklin Press , 24 May 1905.
6. Fortune, G. “Our Cause Is Just.” The Franklin Press, 26 July 1905.
7. Billings, M. D. Town Board Meeting Minutes. 1905.
8. “United States Census, 1900”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSBM-5VR : Thu Apr 11 20:44:46 UTC 2024), Entry for Matt Ray and Nannie Ray, 1900.
9. Land record from Macon County Register of Deeds, Lyle & AME (503-504)
10. Google Maps. https://www.google.com/maps. Accessed 2024.
11. The Franklin Press, 1979.
12. “North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F36W-WPG : 16 August 2019), Dudley Stewart, 15 Apr 1918; citing Franklin, Macon, North Carolina, reference p 258 cn 1612, State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 1,892,352.
13. “North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F36W-WPG : 16 August 2019), Dudley Stewart, 15 Apr 1918; citing Franklin, Macon, North Carolina, reference p 258 cn 1612, State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 1,892,352.