Those Who Gathered First: Early Souls of Pilgrim Grove
Long before the new brick church was rebuilt in 1955, long before the congregation moved to Pecan Road in 1996, and long before dedication programs were printed in crisp black ink, Pilgrim Grove Presbyterian Church lived in the footsteps of the people who built it with their hands, their faith, and their unshakable endurance. These early souls—some born in slavery, some in the first dawn of freedom, some in the raw pinewoods after Reconstruction—were the foundation upon which Pilgrim Grove stood for more than a century.
They were farmers and timber workers, midwives and mothers, lodge brothers and church sisters. They walked the dusty roads between Mt. Moriah, Bethel, and St. John. They buried their dead in the red clay of Evans Cemetery. They carried babies into the one-room sanctuary and whispered their prayers in wooden pews that creaked under the weight of shared hope.
These are the people who gathered first.
Sena Evans: A Purchaser and Steward of Sacred Ground
If Pilgrim Grove has a mother, it is Sena Evans (1848–1914)—a woman born enslaved who lived to see freedom not only as an idea, but as land she legally owned. She was the daughter of Ben and Kizziah Evans, members of one of the largest African American family groups on the old Evans plantation.
In the years following emancipation, Sena became one of several formerly enslaved people who pooled resources to purchase land in Section 18, Township 5, Range 11 East from the heirs of Catherine W. Evans. This acquisition represented a significant achievement for a Black woman in Reconstruction-era Mississippi, requiring both financial sacrifice and navigation of a legal system not designed for freed people.
By 1898, Sena was in a position to convey one acre of that purchased land—located at the southeast corner of Section 18—to the Black Presbyterian congregation forming in the Mt. Moriah community.
That acre became holy ground.
On it, the congregation raised their first sanctuary—not as a gift bestowed from above, but as a church made possible by land that had been bought, held, and stewarded by a freedwoman who believed her people deserved a place of worship they could call their own. In later years, that sacred ground would be further protected through the actions of her sister, Delany Evans Mosley, ensuring that the church’s land remained secure even as surrounding property changed hands.
Sena bore sixteen children, eight of whom survived into adulthood, and she spent her life working as a farm laborer and housekeeper. She died in 1914, her burial unrecorded, but her legacy lives in every hymn ever sung at Pilgrim Grove.
Nancy Bolton Evans: A Mother of the Church
Among Pilgrim Grove’s earliest and most influential members was Nancy Bolton Evans (1865–1965), the daughter of James “Jim” Bolton and Patsy Bolton. Born the year the Civil War ended, she grew up in the fragile years of Reconstruction and joined Pilgrim Grove early in life, remaining a devoted member until her passing nearly a century later.
Nancy raised ten children, and her descendants became the backbone of the congregation. In later years, it was said that 95% of the church’s membership traced their lineage to her, a testament not only to her long life but to her deep impact on the community.
She was a mother of both her family and her church—a woman whose life spanned from the era of lantern-lit worship to the modern age, linking generations across time.
Nathaniel “Nathan” Evans: One of the First Elders
Another early soul who helped anchor the congregation was Nathaniel “Nathan” Evans (c. 1848–1918), brother to Sena and Gus Evans and son of Ben and Kizziah Evans. Nathan was born enslaved on the Evans plantation and came of age as freedom dawned in Mississippi.
Nathan married Charlotte Evans, and together they raised a large family: Ella, Mary, Kizzie, Jerry, Freeman, Seany, Peter, and Manuel. Like most freedmen of the era, Nathan worked as a farmer, shaping his livelihood from the very soil his parents once labored under bondage.
A Feb 23, 2000, article lists Nathaniel Evans as a ruling elder of Pilgrim Grove. In this role, he helped guide the church during its early years, providing leadership and structure while the congregation was still young and resources were limited.
He died in 1918, likely buried in Evans Cemetery. Though his grave may be unmarked, his place in Pilgrim Grove’s story is solid and enduring.
Arch G. Evans: A Pillar of the Mid-Century Church
Born on August 12, 1904, Arch G. Evans grew up in the Bethel–Altare community, the son of Scott Evans and Nancy Bolton Evans. He completed the 8th grade—no small feat for a rural Black child in the early 20th century—and married Ludie Chapman in 1930. Together they raised ten children who became part of the living fabric of Pilgrim Grove.
Arch worked in highway construction, on local farms, and in seasonal labor, reflecting the versatile work life typical of many Black men in rural Mississippi. But his greatest devotion was to the church.
He served as:
- Deacon
- Ruling Elder
- Session member
He was also a dedicated member of Tuscon Lodge No. 163, Prince Hall Affiliation, where Black men built networks of leadership, charity, and community uplift.
Arch passed away in 1979, and his funeral filled the sanctuary with family and friends who remembered him as a pillar of faith, family, and community.
Joe Mosley: A Man of Land, Faith, and Early Pilgrim Grove Leadership
Joe Mosley (c.1860–1920), sometimes recorded in documents as Mosler, belonged to the first generation of African Americans in Newton County to come of age in freedom. Born during the final years of slavery, likely in Newton County, his life unfolded during Reconstruction and the tightening grip of Jim Crow—a period when land ownership, kinship, and church affiliation were central to survival and dignity.
Joe’s early life reflects the complexity of post-emancipation family structures. His father’s identity remains a mystery, but his death certificate identifies his mother as Mirah Gipson. What is unmistakable is that Joe was nurtured within a rich network of Mosley and Evans relatives who significantly influenced the Bethel–Altare landscape.
By the late 19th century, Joe had established himself as a farmer and landholder—an achievement of deep significance for a man born at the threshold of freedom. On February 24, 1898, Joe and his first wife, Delany Evans Mosley, received 20 acres of land in Section 18, Township 5, Range 11 through a redistribution of Evans family holdings—a transaction that reflected kinship-based land management rather than an outside purchase. Delany herself came from a land-owning Evans family, sharing property ties with her siblings Sena Evans and Emma Evans McAdory, as well as extended Evans relatives. Their land was held free of mortgage, signaling both careful stewardship and family cooperation.
Over the next decade, Joe expanded his holdings. In January 1899, he and Delany purchased an additional 40 acres from W. B. Richardson, followed by another 20 acres in 1905 acquired from his sister-in-law Millie Evans and her children. These transactions place Joe among a small but determined class of Black farmers who secured and retained land during an era when many lost theirs to debt, crop-lien pressure, or legal manipulation. Delany last appears in the 1910 census, and her death likely occurred sometime before the end of that decade.
By 1919, Joe had remarried. His second wife, Myra Mosley (born 1882), appears prominently in the final deeds of his life. In December of that year, Joe—already ill—transferred land to Myra, first 20 acres and then, just days before Christmas, a full 100 acres. In those deeds, he referred to her plainly and tenderly as “the love of his life.” These final acts were deliberate, ensuring that his property remained within family hands after his death.
Throughout his life, Joe labored as a farmer, a vocation that demanded endurance and cooperation in a rural Black community shaped by segregation and limited access to resources. His work sustained not only his household but reinforced the broader Mosley, Evans, and Walker kinship networks that undergirded the Bethel and Altare settlements.
Joe Mosley died on January 19, 1920, at approximately sixty years of age. His cause of death was listed as nephritis, or Bright’s disease—a chronic kidney condition frequently associated with prolonged physical labor, dehydration, untreated infections, and restricted medical care. Ben Walker served as the informant on his death certificate, further underscoring the close ties among the Mosley, Walker, and Evans families. Although his burial place was not recorded, family patterns suggest he was laid to rest in or near Evans Cemetery or another burial ground long used by the extended Mosley family.
Despite the limited surviving records, Joe Mosley’s presence endures in both land and memory. A February 23, 2000, newspaper article lists “Mr. Joe Mosley” as an elder of Pilgrim Grove Presbyterian Church, serving during the long 18-year ministry of Rev. C. B. Scott. That reference anchors Joe firmly within Pilgrim Grove’s early leadership and reflects the fluid worship life of rural Black communities, where faith commitments were shaped by need, opportunity, and service rather than rigid denominational lines.
Joe Mosley’s life bridges eras—from slavery to landownership, from Reconstruction to institutional church leadership. Through farming, family stewardship, and service to Pilgrim Grove, he helped lay the quiet but enduring foundations upon which the church and community were built.
Closing Section: The Fellowship That Built Pilgrim Grove
The early souls of Pilgrim Grove were bound together not by wealth, resources, or buildings, but by shared histories and shared hopes. Their ties ran deeper than denominational lines, and their commitments reached further than any one churchyard. These men and women—Sena, Nathan, Nancy, Arch, Joe, and many others whose names have faded from written record—formed a fellowship that endured through hardship, migration, and change.
They walked miles down sandy roads to worship.
They raised their voices in wooden sanctuaries lit by oil lamps.
They carried their babies to the altar and carried their elders to the grave.
They worked the land through droughts, storms, and harvests.
They built a church from the ground up—literally from Sena’s acre of freedom, later safeguarded through the deliberate actions of her sister Delany.
Their faith was not just a belief.
It was a movement.
A foundation.
A declaration that Black life, Black community, and Black worship would survive and flourish in Newton County.
These early souls passed the torch to their children and grandchildren, who carried Pilgrim Grove into the 20th century. Their footprints remain in the soil around the old church, their names in the cemetery records, their hymns echoing across generations.
They were the first to gather.
And because of them, Pilgrim Grove had a story to tell.
sources
- The Newton Record, Pilgrim Grove Presbyterian, Serving the Community for 115 years, Annie Thames, Wed, Feb 23, 2000 ·Page 16
- The Newton Record, A.G. Evans Obituary, Wed, Feb 07, 1979 ·Page 14