Rev. Adam Crooks (May 3, 1824 – December 15, 1874) was a Wesleyan Methodist minister who promoted total abstinence from alcohol and the abolition of slavery. "If

Orange Scott Orange Scott (February 13, 1800 – July 31, 1847) was an American Methodist Episcopal minister, Presiding Elder, and District President. He presided over the convention that organized the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion in 1843, and was among th ...

can be called the founder of the

Wesleyan Methodist Connection The Wesleyan Methodist Church was a Methodist denomination in the United States organized on May 13, 1841. It was composed of ministers and laypeople who withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church because of disagreements regarding slavery, ...

, Adam Crooks would have to be named its perpetrator."

"Duty Respecting the Temperance Movement"

Rev. Crooks wrote, "Not enough that we do our neighbor no harm. Not enough that we do him all the good we can personally. We may not innocently stand by and permit the infliction of injuries by others. These principles are fundamental to the social compact; and applied to the subject of

Temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

, they
(1.) Forbid all agency, direct and/or indirect, in the manufacture, sale, purchase, or use of intoxicating liquors, as a beverage.
(2.) Require that we should do our utmost to influence all others to practice habits of strictest temperance.
(3.) That, by forces, both moral and legal, we prevent all others from the worse than murderous traffic in liquors that can intoxicate."

Freedom's Hill Church

"In October of 1847, a Wesleyan Methodist Minister, who loved God and hated slavery accepted a call to pastor a new congregation of Southern Christians who had taken the same courageous stand in the turbulent years before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Unwilling to wait for better weather in the spring, they broke ground during the winter months of 1847-48." "He arrived in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in October of 1847 and began an evangelistic and church organizing ministry ... A log church was built that first winter nearby in

Alamance County Alamance County (), from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 18, 2012. is a county in North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 171,415. Its county seat ...

, called 'Freedom's Hill' (although opponents nicknamed it 'Free Nigger Hill')." "Freedom's Hill Church" was the first Wesleyan Methodist church built in the South. It has been renovated, and relocated to the Southern Wesleyan University campus. "By the end of Crook's first year, he had established eight congregations in North Carolina and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, with a total of 140 members."

External links

Life of Rev. A. Crooks (HTML)

Life of Rev. A. Crooks (DjVu, PDF, TXT, FlipBook)

Freedom's Hill Church

References

Wesleyan Methodists American Methodist clergy 1824 births 1874 deaths Temperance activists from North Carolina Abolitionists from North Carolina Methodist abolitionists 19th-century American clergy {{US-reli-bio-stub