Reverend Charles W. Warlick Collection

Reverend Charles Wharton Warlick was born on October 11, 1876, in Lincoln County, North Carolina. The oldest of eleven children, he was the son of Henry Daniel and Elizabeth Wharton Warlick. He attended Catawba College in Newton, NC, where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1899. After his studies at Catawba, Warlick attended Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Divinity Degree in September 1903. At that time, he was ordained as a minister in the Evangelical and Reformed Church. In June 1956, Warlick received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Catawba College.

Charles Warlick was married to Mary Etta Michaels on June 19, 1899 in Conover, N.C. They had six children: Frederick Michael, born September 2, 1901; Thomas Maxwell, born February 11, 1904; Charles Wharton, Jr., born October 22, 1906; Joseph Ralph, born October 4, 1909; Hal Gerhardt, born January 31, 1915; and Richard Hoy, born January 31, 1915.

At the beginning of his ministerial career, Warlick pastored churches in Pennsylvania. His pastorates were Friends Cove, 1903-1905; Mans Choice, 1905-1908; Martinsburg, 1908-1913. From 1913 to 1921, he pastored churches in Matthews, Maiden, and Salem, NC, all part of the Lincoln charge. From 1921 to 1930 he was pastor of churches in Bear Creek, Mt. Pleasant, and Boger City, NC, all part of the Bear Creek charge. During the 1920s he also served as principal of the Mt. Pleasant grammar school, the Lowerstone Public School in Rowan County, and the Hahn School near Mt. Pleasant.

In 1923, Rev. Warlick played a key role in moving Catawba College to Salisbury, NC. At a meeting of the Evangelical and Reformed Annual classis in Charlotte, he proposed that the struggling college close its location in Newton, NC, and move to a partially-completed building in Salisbury. Davidson College had begun construction on the building but had changed plans. The motion carried; funds were raised to purchase the building and the surrounding land. Catawba College closed its Newton campus in 1923, and opened the current Salisbury campus in 1925.

Reverend Warlick was the author of two published works. In 1909, his book The Christian Ministry; or, The Problem of the Church was published. He was also the author of a booklet, A Reply to an Article “Myths, The Language of Faith”. Reverend Warlick continued to be an active minister into the late 1950s in the Concord and Mount Pleasant areas, serving churches in Concord and the surrounding area. In 1959, he received many letters of praise from Evangelical and Reformed churches (part of the UCC after 1957) celebrating his fifty-six years of service to the ministry. These letters were written on the occasion of his eighty-fourth birthday.

In addition to being a minister, Reverend Warlick was also an inventor and businessman. He created and sold several inventions through a business called the Mount Pleasant Novelty Company. One invention was a toy Tommy gun. Reverend Warlick also invented curtain stretchers for lace curtains designed to dry them in their correct shape. Receipts from the 1940s show he sold these inventions to local merchants. Reverend Wharton also invented a bed rest that elevated the head or feet. He obtained a patent for this invention in 1912.

Reverend Warlick died on May 10, 1967, at Rowan Memorial Hospital in Salisbury, following an extended illness. He was 90 years old at the time of his death.