Day Dawn Baptist Church was founded in Pineville in 1870.
During the antebellum period, the Pineville Episcopal Church was the only established church in Pineville. It had been established in 1810 as a chapel of ease for the St. Stephen Parish Church by the planters who settled in Pineville after 1793.
Some slaves and free blacks attended the Pineville church; others gathered in brush arbor churches to worship and sing. After the Civil War, the freedmen and their families organized their own churches. First came the Baptists, then the Episcopalians and the Methodists.
The Day Dawn Baptist Church was founded in 1870 by Rev. John Jefferson Jr. who served as pastor for 56 years. The organizers toiled all night over what to name the church. As the morning sunrise appeared, it came to them, “We’ll name it Day Dawn.”
Serving as officers of the original Deacon Board were Israel Gardner, Abraham Prioleau, Moses Williams, Lewis Prioleau, Charles Gourdine, Theodore Jefferson, James Waring, Henry Middleton, Stephen Johnson, Romeo Judge, and Silas Judge. Sextons were Lawrence Williams, Aaron Williams, Sanko Judge, and Robert Smalls.
Rev. Jefferson died in 1926 and was succeeded by Reverends John Mustopher, Sam W. Butler in 1938, Gabriel L. Gaillard in 1939, Butler again in 1942, and then J.S. Ravenell and George Jefferson.
The Junior Missionary Board was established in 1962 with Ida R. Mallard, president; Omega B. Jefferson, secretary; Bertha L. Williams, treasurer; and Rev. Joshua Prioleau, pastor.
At that time there were 69 members of the board.
A new building for the church was begun in 1958 under Rev. George Jefferson and completed in 1972 under Rev. Joshua Prioleau who is the current pastor. The Building Committee was made up of Joseph H. Jefferson Sr., Ernest Mallard, Richard Williams, Luther Dingle, and James Pinckney. Deacons were Joe Milligan, Allen Thompson, Saul Judge, Henry Williams, Chris Williams Sr., Joseph H. Jefferson Sr., John Dingle, Isaiah Gourdine, Clarence Judge, Moses Williams, Freddie Prioleau, and Ernest Mallard. Trustees were Relious Gaillard (chairman), L.T. Jefferson, and Isaiah Williams. I.H. Jefferson was church clerk and Sunday School superintendent.
Leave a Reply