| Notes |
- Father: Rev. Harrison Ingram Quick (1859-1942) (Ref his record at Familysearch.org or his Findagrave.com record for his photo)
Mother: Martha Helen nee Ellerbe (1859-1933)
Father:
Harrison Ingram Quick
The Quick family is an important one in the "Old North State," and is well represented in the religious life of the State. One of the most vigorous members of the Quick family is Rev. Harrison Ingram Quick of Rockingham, who for years has been a prominent figure in the Baptist work of that section.
Mr. Quick is a native of Rockingham and goes back to the slavery period, having been born just before the war on Nov. 17, 1859. His father, John Quick, was a carpenter by trade. John's parents were Abram and Harriet Quick, natives of Marlboro Co., S. C. The mother of our subject was, before her marriage, Elizabeth Covington, a daughter of Rhoda Covington.
On Dec. 27, 1877, Rev. Quick was married to Martha H. Ellerbe, a daughter of Ephraim and Nettie Ellerbe of Richmond Co. Of the nine children born to them seven are living. They are: Corina, Elizabeth, Nannie J., Nettie L.,
Dr. John D., William H., Coochie and Ada Blanche Quick.
These have all been given the advantages of a college education which added to the excellent training of a Christian home makes them a credit to their parents and an ornament to the race.
The story of Mr. Quick's struggles for an education and his fight to get ahead in the world is a fascinating one. In 1861, before Emancipation, when the boy was only two years of age, his father died. There were two older brothers, one four and the other five. At the close of the war they
were without means. In 1868 the mother married a Mr. Leah, who was kind of heart and a 'hard worker but who did not realize the importance of education. This was a great barrier in the way of the boys in their earlier school days and a source of much solicitude on the part of their mother.
The boys were transferred to the home of their grandmother after which they went to school for several years. Books and clothing were to buy, but the boys stuck together and by running tar and burning coal at night for sale managed to make ends meet. The elder brothers went to college,
while our subject married and established a home. They made his house their home till they too were married. In this way our subject was deprived of college training until 1898 when he entered Shaw University for a special course in Theology. It is interesting to note that three of his children were attending the institution at the same time with their father.
When a youth about seventeen years of age he had given his heart to God and joined the Holly Grove Baptist Church. Later he felt the call to preach and was licensed by the Holly Grove Church in April, 1897. In October of
the same year he was ordained to the full work of the ministry and for more than twenty years has been in the active pastorate. He has served a number of the leading churches in his section and has steadily grown in popularity with the brotherhood. He pastored Bethlehem eight years, repaired the building and paid the debt of the church ; St. Lukes fifteen years, repaired the church and cancelled the debt; St. Stephens five years, Kyser two years, First Baptist, Hamlet, two years; First Baptist, Monroe, four years; East Rocky Ford, Wadesboro, eleven years; First Baptist, Southern Pines, four years; Macedonia, Hoffman, four years ; Deep Creek, Wadesboro, fourteen years ; St. Johns, Shannon, four years and Center Grove, Red Springs, three years. He has been Moderator of the Union in the Pee Dee Association for thirteen years and is Vice-President of the State Convention. He has always been active in educational matters and is a Trustee of the DeBerry School at Rockingham.
In addition to his success as a preacher Rev. Quick has also had a successful business career. Immediately after his marriage, he rented a small farm in Black Jack Township and continued to farm as a renter for eight years. He then bought a 64 acre farm and ran three plows. In this way he reared his family and was later able to buy 50 acres adjoining his place and start another plow. Some years later he was able to buy 295 acres and 48 acres just out of the town limits and ran an eight horse farm. During these years he purchased town property at both Rockingham and Hamlet. This property was improved and brings him considerable income in rents. He pays taxes on more property than any other colored man in the county. In politics he is a Republican. He was one time a Justice of the Peace for 6 years and was also in the Revenue service. He was also elected to the Legislature from his county, but was not seated. Among the secret orders he affiliates with the Masons, Pythians, Royal Knights and the Eastern Star, having filled the chair in Masons and Pythians and Deputy Master in other orders.
Such in brief is the story of a man who, though born in slavery, has struggled up to a place of large usefulness and has demonstrated what a boy can do who is willing to ''launch out."
*Bio and photograph from "History of the American Negro and his institutions" by A. B. Caldwell Volume IV 1921.
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