The Methodist Church in N.C. began about 1772 with the first Methodist preaching at Currituck Court House. In 1785, the was held in Baltimore, Md., establishing the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) in the United States. At that time, N.C. territory was encompassed within the Va. and S.C. Conferences. In 1824, the Holston Conference formed, including sections of N.C. west of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1836 the N.C. Conference was formed. Between 1844-1845, pro-slavery dissenters left the MEC and formed the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). A majority of N.C. churches joined the MECS, significantly reducing the number of churches in the MEC. What had been the N.C. Conference and Holston Conference, MEC, became N.C. Conference and Holston Conference, MECS. Between 1845 and 1865, there was no official N.C. Conference, MEC. However, in 1869, the N.C. Conference of the MEC re-formed, which included the entire state of N.C. In 1870, southern and western piedmont counties moved from the S.C. Conference of the MECS to the N.C. Conference, MECS. At this time, the N.C. Conference, MECS, included all N.C. counties except those west of the Appalachian mountains. In 1890, the Western N.C. Conference was organized, composed of the western part of the N.C. Conference, MEC, and territory west of the Blue Ridge Mountains that had been in the Holston Conference, MEC. In 1939 the MECS, MEC, and Methodist Protestant Church (MPC) merged to become the Methodist Church (MC), and the Western N.C. Conference and N.C. Conference of the MC formed, composed of white ministers and congregations. At the same time, the Central Jurisdiction of the MC formed, composed of African-American congregations and ministers. In 1968, all conferences and jurisdictions of the MC and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged into the United Methodist Church (UMC). Christmas Conference The United Methodist Church Records are comprised primarily of bound volumes of quarterly conference minutes that document the administrative life of church units (circuits, charges, and churches) in the N.C. Conference (1784-1974, bulk 1841-1919) and the Western N.C. Conference (1884-1962, bulk 1893-1932) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). Counties in N.C. represented in the collection include Alamance, Ashe, Bladen, Burke, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham, Cleveland, Dare, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Gates, New Hanover, Iredell, Lincoln, Perquimans, Randolph, Rowan, Yadkin, and Wake. However, this collection does not include complete runs of any set of bound minutes, correspondence, or other documentation for any N.C. county or district. There are also bound volumes of N.C. Conference, MECS, district conference minutes (1866-1939); financial, administrative, and legal records for the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Western N.C. Conference, MECS (1909-1952); bound journals of annual conference meetings of the N.C. Conference, MECS (1838-1913); as well as some district, conference, and national records for non-N.C. conferences and for the MECS and the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). National records include correspondence and financial records from the American Mission in North Africa, MEC (1909-1952). Although the entire collection dates from 1784-1984, the bulk of the material dates from 1800-1940.
