Pleasant Daniel Gold (March 25, 1833 – June 7, 1920) was an American publisher, lawyer, and Baptist minister. Ordained as a
Primitive Baptist
Primitive Baptists – also known as Hard Shell Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists or Old School Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th c ...
minister in the
Kehukee Association, he was a prominent Baptist leader in North Carolina for over half-a-century. He served as a minister in
Rocky Mount,
Goldsboro,
Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
* Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
,
Tarboro
Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Rocky Mount Rocky Mount metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 ...
, and
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
. In 1867 he co-founded the Baptist newspaper ''Zion's Landmark'', serving as editor until 1920. In 1902 he founded the P.D. Gold Publishing Company, which issued two newspapers for
Wilson County Wilson County is the name of four counties in the United States:
*Wilson County, Kansas
*Wilson County, North Carolina
*Wilson County, Tennessee
*Wilson County, Texas
Wilson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 202 ...
.
Biography
Gold was born on March 25, 1833 in a part of
Rutherford County that was later incorporated into
Cleveland County
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
.
He was the son of Milton Gold, a farmer, and Martha Fortune Gold.
[ His grandfather, Daniel Gold, had moved to North Carolina from Virginia in 1798.][ He worked on his family's farm until he was twenty, when he borrowed money to attend college.][ Gold studied law and received his law license in 1856.][ Gold worked as an attorney at a law firm in Shelby and was a partner with future North Carolina Governor John W. Ellis.][
Gold left the law practice and enrolled at ]Furman University
Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...
to study theology, transferring to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at ...
with hopes of becoming a Missionary Baptist
Missionary Baptists are a group of Baptists that grew out of the missionary / anti-missionary controversy that divided Baptists in the United States in the early part of the 19th century, with Missionary Baptists following the pro-missions movem ...
minister.[ While he was at seminary, the ]American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
began.[ He left school to enlist in the ]Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
, serving as a chaplain and nurse until a fever ended his military service.[
In the 1860s Gold left the Missionary Baptist Church and became a ]Primitive Baptist
Primitive Baptists – also known as Hard Shell Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists or Old School Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th c ...
, joining the Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church in Halifax.[ He was baptized and ordained as an elder and a pastor at Kehukee Baptist Church.][ He served as a Baptist minister in ]Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
* Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
, Rocky Mount, Tarboro
Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Rocky Mount Rocky Mount metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 ...
, and in Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
.[ He was a leading figure in the Primitive Baptist community of North Carolina for over half a century.][
In 1863, while serving as a Baptist pastor in Goldsboro, Gold met and married Julia Pipkin, a daughter of Willis Pipkin of Lenoir County.][ They had eleven children before Pipkin's death in 1913.][ He later married Eugenia Alice Roberts of ]Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...
, with whom he had no children.[
In 1867, with L.I. Bodenheimer, he co-founded ''Zion's Landmark'', a Baptist newspaper.][ He became the associate editor in 1871 and was made editor the following year.][ He served as editor of ''Zion's Landmark'' until 1920.][ The paper became the leading publication of the Primitive Baptist Church.][ In 1902 Gold founded the P.D. Gold Publishing Company, which issued ''The Daily Times'' and ''The Semi-Weekly Times''.][ The company was later incorporated as The Wilson Daily Times Publishing Company.] He handed over the publishing company to his son, John Daniel Gold, who was married to author Daisy Hendley Gold
Daisy Mabel Hendley Gold (October 26, 1893 – April 7, 1975) was an American writer, poet, and journalist. She worked for the ''Statesville Record & Landmark'' and '' The Greenville Piedmont'' before becoming the managing editor of the ''Wilson T ...
and founded the ''Wilson Times
''The Wilson Times'' is an American, English language semiweekly newspaper based in Wilson, North Carolina covering Wilson County. The newspaper is owned by Wilson Times Co. The paper began as ''Zion's Landmark'', established in 1867 by the pasto ...
'', in 1896. Two more of Gold's sons, Pleasant Daniel Gold, Jr. and Charles Willis Gold, co-founded the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company in 1907. In 1912 the company completed merges with two other companies, Security Life and Annuity Company and Greensboro Life Insurance Company, moving the headquarters to Greensboro
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
.[ The Gold brothers later stepped down and handed the company over to Julian Price.][
Gold died in ]Mebane
Mebane is a city located mostly in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States, and partly in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County. The town was named for Alexander Mebane, an American Revolutionary War general and member of the Unite ...
in 1920 and is buried at Maplewood Cemetery in Wilson.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Pleasant Daniel
1833 births
1920 deaths
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century American newspaper founders
20th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
American newspaper chain founders
American people of English descent
Baptists from North Carolina
Baptist ministers from the United States
Confederate States Army soldiers
Furman University alumni
North Carolina lawyers
People from Cleveland County, North Carolina
People from Rutherford County, North Carolina
Pleasant
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary alumni