Beginnings
Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church, 1803-2003
In 1784, Jesse Lee, a powerful and charismatic minister who served as Chaplain to the House of Representatives in Washington from 1809 to 1815, and who introduced Methodism into New England in 1790, was sent to the Salisbury Circuit. His Journal records his preaching at Salisbury on June 12, 1784; the following day - Sunday - he preached at "Hern's, to a large company. On Monday, June 14, he preached at "brother Carter's . . . to a weeping congregation," then later in the week at John Randall's, C. Leadbetter's, and Cole's. The journey Lee described was the route of the wagon road which ran from Salisbury in a southeasterly direction through the edge of Meck1enburg (now Cabarrus) County, then through that portion of Montgomery County lying west of the Pee Dee River (later, Stanly County), crossing the Rocky River at a ferry, and so on into Anson County. That is the earliest mention of a meeting house, or preaching point, in the Cabarrus area.
The route followed by Jesse Lee must have become the established route for the Methodist circuit riders. In 1802, William Ormond was appointed to the Salisbury Circuit. He preached at the "Dutch Church" in Salisbury on Sunday, 28 March 1802; at "Brother Hearne's Meeting House" on the 29th; and at Carter's on the 31st of March, 1802. His Journal reveals that he often stayed the night at Hearne's, referring to him as the "Class Leader." In 1803, James Patterson succeeded Ormond on the Salisbury Circuit. Patterson’s Diary shows that he preached at "Hearne's Meetinghouse in Cabarrus County" on September 13th, 1803, and then at Jacob Carter's in Montgomery County on the next day. Records in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Cabarrus County reveal that the Hearne family owned land in the extreme eastern part of Cabarrus County near the County line, between Big and Little Bear Creeks; Elisha, William, and Jesse Hearne were listed as landowners at that time. Unfortunately, we find no further written record of Hearne's Meeting House.
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