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No restrictions. Open for research.

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For use restrictions contact the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Mount Zion Lodge 4662 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows and Mount Zion African Methodist Church Pulpit Aid Society Minute Book #70141, North Carolina Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from McBride Rare Books in 2022 (Acc. 20221116.1)

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Saija Wilson, May 2023

Encoded by: Jodi Berkowitz, May 2023

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African American Methodists--North Carolina--History.
• African American fraternal organizations--20th century.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Economic Conditions--20th Century.
• African Americans--Social conditions--20th century.
• African Methodist Episcopal Church--History-- 20th century.
• African Methodist Episcopal Church--North Carolina.
• Belmont (Gaston County, N.C.)--Church history.
• Belmont (Gaston County, N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. Mount Zion Lodge No. 4662 (Belmont, N.C.)
• Minutes (Records).
• Mount Zion African Methodist Church Pulpit Aid Society (Belmont, N.C.)

The Mount Zion Lodge 4662 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, an African American fraternal lodge, was located in Belmont, N.C. and was active from 1901 to 1915, as derived from dates associated with their minute book entries. The Mount Zion African Methodist Church Pulpit Aid Society was located in Belmont, N.C. and was active from 1917 to 1919, as derived from dates associated with their minute book entries.

Notebook that belonged to Pearl McLean containing the minutes of both the Mount Zion Lodge 4662 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, an African American fraternal lodge, and the Mount Zion African Methodist Church Pulpit Aid Society, which were located in Belmont, N.C. The handwritten minutes in this volume were taken over the period of 1901 to 1919. The first half of the book, documenting the Pulpit Aid Society during the years 1917-1919, includes topics like fundraising and plans to purchase items the church needed. The second half of the book, documenting the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows during the years 1901-1915, includes notes about the collection of dues reserved for providing aid to members, the by-laws that governed that practice, and minutes recording member attendance and information about the lodge’s finances.

Entries about the Pulpit Aid Society, 1917-1919, highlight topics like fundraising at balls and picnics and plans to purchase bibles, hymn books, and glasses. These pages detail the funds raised or donated by individual members, providing their names next to the sums. Six pages are devoted to listing the names of the members of the society, including Reverend Charlie Pettiford and Reverend J. Francis Lee.

Entries about the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, 1901-1915, consist of approximately 50 pages and detail the collection of dues reserved for sick leave and burial cost for members, the by-laws that governed that practice, minutes recording member attendance, the dues they paid, and information about the lodge’s finances. Some entries simply state that an initiation occurred or that a household had been reinstated. This section is difficult to read due to fading script. People who held leadership positions at different times were sometimes mentioned by name including George W. Bigger who was President, Pearl McLean who was Secretary, Claranda Boyce who was Treasurer, J. E. Campbell who was Sub-Treasurer, and R. A. Armstrong who was chair.

Near the end of the volume, entries include letters that were copied by McLean about the lodge, followed by a list of Laura Glenn’s children including their ages, dates of birth, and sometimes their dates of death which composed a genealogy of the Glenn Family, and a handwritten eulogy about Hermon Glenn. Also included are a note stating that George Armstrong had passed away at 38 years old on February 8, 1910, and a few lists of individuals who had household policies with the lodge.

This volume is composed of two separate sections bound together by a pink wrapper. The entries do not appear in chronological order, with the entries from the Mount Zion Lodge 4662 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows that were taken earlier appearing after those of the Mount Zion African Methodist Church Pulpit Aid Society. Throughout the volume there are sections of blank pages, pages with handwritten text that have been crossed out, and pages where sums seem to have been conducted. There are also signs that pages have been removed, some sections are difficult to read due to fading script, and names may have variant spellings.

• Minute book (SV-70141/1)