The Melchor-Quick Meeting House (MQMH) is a place to share information about the history and culture of African American families in Cumberland County. As we invite other families to join us in exhibiting and sharing family history, we begin with the display of images and stories about the Melchor and Quick families.
The Melchor-Quick Legacy
The first known family members who were residents of Cumberland County in 1891 were Dr. Paul N. Melchor and his wife, Gracie Perry Melchor.
They had a son, Warren Melchor (born in 1892) and a daughter, Ocia Melchor (born in 1893). In 1919 Warren Melchor married Beulah Tillman. They gave birth to two daughters—Grace and Beulah. Grace Melchor and her husband, Joseph Johnson had one child, Wanda Melchor Johnson Boatman. In 1943 Beulah Melchor married C. Mason Quick of Moore County. C. Mason Quick was the son of Edna Covington Quick and James Clifton Quick (who died of tuberculosis the week his son was born.) Their only child, Paula Mason Quick was born in 1949.
The place now known as Melchor-Quick Meeting House was built in 1964 by Dr. & Mrs. C. Mason Quick as a family residence. In 2009 the building was converted to an assembly space, which become home to the African American Education & Research Organization (AAERO) and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fayetteville. In keeping with the vision of preserving Fayetteville’s African American history and culture, Melchor-Quick Meeting House aims to display images, artifacts and documents about families, and host events that strengthen the community.
To learn more about the Melchors and the Quicks– descendants of Paul and Gracie Melchor and of Edna B. Covington Quick Taylor, visit the forthcoming family archive of photos and stories. The photo that follows is of a Quick Family Reunion (possibly in the 1950s).
