THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060366
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WANCHESE LENGTH: 33 lines
As a former state senator and North Carolina politician emeritus, Melvin Daniels Jr. says one nice thing about being named Daniels in Dare County is that it's no trouble to round up enough relatives for a reunion.
``In fact we'll be offering cut-rate quorums on Aug. 18 when the annual reunion of the Daniels family will be held in Wanchese,'' said Daniels, a World War II Air Force pilot and present-day Elizabeth City banker.
``Daniels Day'' in Dare County was started 62 years ago by the late Melvin R. Daniels Sr., father of the present Melvin and for many years Dare's register of deeds.
The late Josephus Daniels, publisher of the Raleigh News and Observer, was another founder of the Daniels family reunion. Every summer, several hundred members of the Daniels clan gather at Roanoke Island.
This year's reunion will be held at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Bethany United Methodist Church in Wanchese.
Bethany Church is an architectural rarity because of special request by a deaf, elderly sea captain who was a member of the Daniels clan.
When a subscription was taken up to build the church, Capt. Daniels agreed to contribute provided he could sit close enough to the pulpit to hear the sermon.
So instead of putting the pulpit at one end of the church, the preacher was placed at the side of the church, with the pews running parallel to the long-axis of the nave.
``The church is still arranged that way, and old Capt. Daniels supposedly said he could hear just fine,'' said Melvin Daniels Jr. by CNB