Echoes of The Sandhills

Series 4 - Echoes in Action: Lives That Shaped the Sandhills and the World

Echo 1: Anson Bailey

History is often told through the lives of the well-known, the leaders, the firsts, the ones whose names made headlines. But history is also shaped quietly, daily, and faithfully by ordinary people whose lives touched others in ways that mattered.

Every person leaves an imprint. Whether through labor or leadership, sacrifice or service, resistance or resilience; anyone who interacts with others shapes the world around them. Some impacts are loud and visible. Others are subtle, steady, and long-lasting, like footprints pressed into sand.

Echoes in Action focuses on those lives.

In this fourth echo, we turn our attention to individuals whose contributions, no matter how small they may have seemed at the time, rippled outward. Their lives remind us that significance is not measured by fame, but by faithfulness; not by recognition, but by relationships.

These are people who lived fully within their circumstances, often constrained by forces beyond their control, yet still influenced families, communities, and generations that followed. Their stories deserve to be told, not because they were perfect or powerful, but because they were present.

Introducing Our First Life: Anson Bailey: A Life That Echoed

Anson Bailey was born in the early 1840s, in Harnett County, North Carolina, at a time when his life began in bondage. The records do not agree on the exact year, 1843 or 1844, but they are clear on this: Anson was born enslaved, the son of Joseph McDougald and Lettie Barkster, into a world that placed limits on his freedom but not on his faith or future.

By the time the 1870 census recorded his name, Anson Bailey was no longer listed as property, but as a person. He was a farmer, a husband to Mary, and the father of four children. The land he worked and the family he raised tell the story of a man building stability in the fragile years following emancipation, rooting himself in labor, responsibility, and hope.

But Anson Bailey’s life extended far beyond the boundaries of his farm.

In 1867, just two years after the Civil War ended, a small group of Black men and women in Lillington made a bold decision. They believed they needed a place of worship of their own, one shaped by their faith, their leadership, and their community. Among those founders were Anson and his wife Mary.

From that decision, Lillington First Presbyterian Church was born.

Anson Bailey did not simply attend the church; he helped lead it. He became one of its first elders, entrusted with spiritual guidance at a time when Black institutions were still fragile and hard-won. In those early years, church leadership required more than scripture, it demanded courage, steadiness, and a vision for a future that could not yet be fully seen.

Faith was not something Anson Bailey kept within the walls of the sanctuary. For more than fifty years, he devoted himself to teaching children, across denominations, working in Sunday schools wherever he was needed. He taught the Shorter Catechism with passion and patience, shaping young minds and spirits with the same dedication early church leaders once showed. Though deeply committed to Presbyterian doctrine, he was never narrow in spirit, believing that faith was meant to be shared, not guarded.

As years passed, Anson Bailey became a pillar in the community. By the time of his death in February 1936, he had lived into his ninety-third year. He had seen slavery and freedom, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, hope and hardship. Even in his later years, blind but engaged, he remained attentive to the life of the church, listening, reflecting, and rejoicing in the work of younger leaders.

The breadth of his influence was made clear at his homegoing. Ministers from multiple denominations stood to testify to the ways Anson Bailey had shaped their lives as students and servants. Voices from both Black and white communities offered words of respect and gratitude. His pastor chose for the eulogy a verse Anson himself often quoted: “Enter ye in at the straight gate.” It was a fitting farewell for a man who had walked his path with conviction and grace.

Anson Bailey may not have left behind volumes of written words, but his life spoke clearly. Through faith, teaching, leadership, and quiet consistency, he shaped a church, strengthened a community, and left an echo that continues to reach forward.

His life reminds us that history is not only made by those whose names fill textbooks, but also by those who faithfully show up, teach the next generation, and live in a way that draws others toward something better.

Stay tuned for our next Echo, as we look back once more to honor another pioneer whose footsteps guide us forward.

Reference: African-American Presbyterian congregational histories / Darius L. Swann, compiler.--https://catalog.history.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=57771