FOOTNOTES:
[123] Hiram R. Revels was the successor of Mr. Jefferson Davis. He was a Methodist preacher from Mississippi. It was our privilege to be present in the Senate when he was sworn in and took his seat.
[124] This idea had been put forth in a speech by Alexander H. Stephens just after he had been chosen Vice-president of the Confederate States.
[125] My Bondage and My Freedom, p. 396.
[126] While this history is passing through the press, the sad intelligence comes of the death, after a painful illness, of his beloved wife. All through her life she was justly proud of her husband and children; and she leaves a precious memory.
[127] Mr. Greener was turned back one year upon the ground of alleged imperfection in mathematics; but it was done in support of an old theory, long since exploded, that the Negro has no capacity for the solution of mathematical problems. We know this to be the case. But the charming nature and natural pluck of young Greener brought him out at last without a blemish in any of his studies.
[128] Biography is quite a different thing from history; and the Colored men who may imagine themselves neglected ought to remember that this is a History of the Negro Race. We have mentioned these men as representative of several classes.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Its Origin, Growth, Organization, and Excellent Influence.—Its Publishing House, Periodicals, and Papers.—Its Numerical and Financial Strength.—Its Missionary and Educational Spirit.—Wilberforce University.
THE African Methodist Episcopal Church of America has exerted a wider and better influence upon the Negro race than any other organization created and managed by Negroes. The hateful and hurtful spirit of caste and race prejudice in the Protestant Church during and after the American Revolution drove the Negroes out. The Rev. Richard Allen, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He gathered a few Christians in his private dwelling, during the year 1816, and organized a church and named it "Bethel." Its first General Conference was held in Philadelphia during the same year with the following representation:
Rev. Richard Allen, Jacob Tapsico, Clayton Durham, James Champion, and Thomas Webster, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Daniel Coker, Richard Williams, Henry Harden, Stephen Hill, Edward Williamson, and Nicholas Gailliard, of Baltimore, Maryland; Peter Spencer, of Wilmington, Delaware; Jacob Marsh, Edward Jackson, and William Andrew, of Attleborough, Pennsylvania; Peter Cuff, of Salem, New Jersey.
The minutes of the Conference of 1817 were lost, but in 1818 there were seven itinerants: Baltimore Conference—Rev. Daniel Coker, Richard Williams, and Rev. Charles Pierce; Philadelphia Conference—Bishop Allen, Rev. William Paul Quinn, Jacob Tapsico, and Rev. Clayton Durham.
The Church grew mightily, increasing in favor with God and man. The zeal of its ministers was wonderful, and the spirit of missions and consecration to the work wrought miracles for the cause. In 1826 the strength of the Church was as follows:
Bishops 2
Annual conferences 2
Itinerant preachers 17
Stations 2
Circuits 10
Missions 5
Total number of members 7,927
Amount of salary for travelling preachers $1,054.50
Amount of incidental expenses $97.25
The grand total amount of money raised in 1826 for all purposes was $1,151.75. In 1836 there were:
Bishops 3
Conferences 4
Travelling preachers 27
Stations 7
Circuits 18
Missions 2
Churches 86
Probable value of church property $43,000.00
Total salary of pastors $1,126.29
Amount raised for general purposes $259.59
Total amount of money raised in 1836 for all purposes, $1,385.88. The total number of members in 1836 was 7,594. This was a decrease of 333 members, and is to be accounted for in the numerous sales of slaves in the Baltimore Conference, as the decrease was in that conference. In 1846 there were:
Bishops 4
Annual conferences 6
Travelling preachers 40
Stations 16
Circuits and missions 25
Churches 198
Probable value of church property $90,000.00
Total amount raised to support ministers $6,267.43½
Amount raised for general purposes $963.59½
The grand total amount of money raised in 1846 for all purposes was $7,231.03.
There were supported in the Church in 1846 three educational societies and three missionary societies.
In 1866 there were:
Annual conferences 10
Bishops 4
Travelling preachers 185
Stations 50
Circuits 39
Missions 96
Churches 285
Probable value of church property $823,000.00
Number of Sunday-school teachers and officers, 21,000
" " volumes in libraries 17,818
" " members 50,000
The amount of money expended to assist the widows and orphans was $5,000. The amount paid this year for the support of the pastors was $83,593. The amount expended for Sunday-school work was $3,000.
The receipts of the Church in 1876 were as follows:
Amount of contingent money raised $2,976 85
Amount raised for the support of pastors 201,984 06
Amount raised for the support of presiding
elders 23,896 66
Amount of Dollar Money for general
educational purposes, etc. 28,009 97
Amount raised to support Sunday-schools
for the year 1876 17,415 33
Amount raised for the missionary society, 3,782 72
Amount raised in one year for building
churches 169,558 60
———————————
Total amount raised for all purposes, $447,624 19
Statistics of Members.
Ministers.
Number of bishops 6
" " travelling preachers 1,418
" " local preachers 3,168
" " exhorters 2,546
—————
Total ministerial force in 1876 7,138
Ministerial force in 1816 8
—————
Ministerial gain in 60 years 7,130
Members and Probationers.
Number of members 172,806
" " probationers 33,525
———————
Total number of members and probationers 206,331
Summary of Members.
Total number of ministers 7,138
Total number of members and probationers 206,331
———————
Grand total membership 213,469
Church Property.
Number of churches 1,833
" " parsonages 218
Value of Church Property.
Value of churches $3,064,911 00
" " parsonages 138,800 00
—————————————
Total value of church property $3,203,711 00
Annual Conferences.
Number of annual conferences 25
Sunday-Schools.
Number of Sunday-schools 2,309
" " superintendents 2,458
" " teachers and officers 8,085
" " pupils 87,453
" " volumes in libraries 129,066
Missionary Societies.
Number of parent home and foreign societies 11
" " annual conference societies 24
" " local societies 250
Wilberforce University in 1876.
Number of students enrolled—males 375
" " " " —females 225
" " professors—males 3
" " " —females 7
The total receipts of Wilberforce University for the year was $4,547.89.
The assets of Wilberforce University in 1876 were as follows:
Endowment notes $18,000 00
College property 39,000 00
Bequest of Chief-Justice Chase 10,000 00
Nine semi-annual and annual notes 900 00
Bills receivable 125 00
Horse, wagon, etc. 200 00
Cash in bank 1,000 00
——————————
Total assets $69,225 00
The liabilities were only $2,973.42, leaving the handsome amount of $66,251.58 of assets over the liabilities of the institution.
The General Conference of 1880 met in St. Louis, Mo., on the third day of May. The following are some of the facts, as we glean from the reports:
The Financial Secretary, Rev. J. C. Embry, reported that for the fiscal year ending April 24, 1880, he had received $32,336.31 for general purposes alone, and in the four years from April 24, 1876, to April 24, 1880, he had received $99,999.42 for the general expenses of the Church.
The General Business Manager, Dr. H. M. Turner, reported the receipts in the Book Concern to be $50,133.76. This was the largest amount of business ever reported by the Concern.
The receipts of the two departments were $150,133.18. The total amount raised in 1826 was $1,151.75. The gain since that time has been $148,981.43.
Receipts.
Amount of contingent money $27,897 36
" " dollar money 33,400 00
" " missionary money 25,248 08
" " ladies' mite missionary money 2,296 06
" for Sunday-school purposes 115,694 40
" " pastors' support 1,282,465 16
" " pastors' travelling expenses 36,608 16
" " presiding elders' travelling exps. 7,338 20
" " presiding elders' support 106,817 20
—————————————
$1,637,764 62
Receipts.—(Continued.)
Amount brought up $1,637,764 62
Amount for educational purposes 6,125 46
" " building and repairing churches 596,824 48
" " charitable and benevolent
purposes 20,937 02
—————————————
Total annual collection $2,261,651 58
—————————————
The amount for four years 9,046,606 24
The General Business Manager's report 51,000 00
—————————————
Grand total for four years $9,097,606 24
Statistics of Members.
Travelling Preachers.
Number of bishops 9
" " general officers 4
" " travelling licentiates 434
" " travelling elders 445
" " travelling deacons 940
—————
Total number of travelling preachers 1,832
Local Preachers.
Number of superannuated preachers 21
" " local preachers and exhorters 7,719
" " elders 42
" " deacons 146
—————
Total number of local preachers 7,928
Members and Probationers.
Number of members 306,044
" " probationers 85,000
———————
Total number of members and probationers, 391,044
Summary of Members.
Total number of travelling preachers 1,832
" " " local preachers 7,928
" " " members and probationers 391,044
———————
Grand total membership 400,804
Sunday-Schools.
Number of Sunday-schools 2,345
" " teachers and officers 15,454
" " pupils 154,549
" " volumes in library 193,358
Church Property.
Number of school-houses 88
" " churches 2,051
" " parsonages 395
Value of Church Property.
Value of school-houses $26,400 00
" " churches 2,884,251 00
" " parsonages 162,603 20
—————————————
Total value of church property $3,073,254 20
Paper.
Number of subscriptions to "Christian Recorder" 5,380
In 1818 a publishing department was added to the work of the Church. But its efficiency was impaired on account of the great mass of its members being in slave States or the District of Columbia, where the laws prohibited them from attending school, and deprived them of reading books or papers. In 1817 the Rev. Richard Allen published a book of discipline; and shortly after this a Church hymn-book was published also. Beyond this there was but little done in this department until 1841, when the New York Conference passed a resolution providing for the publication of a monthly magazine. But the lack of funds compelled the projectors to issue it as a quarterly. For nearly eight years this magazine exerted an excellent influence upon the ministers and members of the Church. Its coming was looked forward to with a strange interest. It contained the news in each of the conferences; its editorials breathed a spirit of love and fellowship; and thus the members were brought to a knowledge of the character of the work being accomplished.
At length the prosperity of the magazine seemed to justify the publication of a weekly paper. Accordingly a weekly journal, named the "Christian Herald," made its appearance and ran its course for the space of four years. In 1852, by order of the General Conference, the paper was enlarged and issued as the "Christian Recorder," which has continued to be published up to the present time. In addition to this a "Child's Recorder" is published as a monthly. About 50,000 copies of both are issued every month.
The managers and editors in this department have been:
From 1818 to 1826—Right-Reverened Richard Allen, First Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, served in the capacity of Bishop and General Book Steward.
From 1826 to 1835—Rev. Jos. M. Corr. He was the first regularly appointed General Book Steward, and served until October, 1836, at which time he died.
From 1835 to 1848—Rev. Geo. Hogarth.
From 1848 to 1852—Rev. Augustus R. Green.
From 1852 to 1854—Rev. M. M. Clark, Editor; Rev. W. T. Catto, General Book Steward, and Rev. W. H. Jones, Travelling Agent.
From 1854 to 1860—Rev. J. P. Campbell (now Bishop) served in the capacity of General Book Steward and Editor.
From 1860 to 1868—Rev. Elisha Weaver served the most of the time as both Manager and Editor.
From 1868 to 1869—Rev. Joshua Woodlin, Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner, Editor. During the year 1869 Rev. Joshua Woodlin resigned.
From 1869 to 1871—Rev. A. L. Stanford served until above date, when he also resigned, and Dr. B. T. Tanner was left to act in the capacity of Editor and Manager until May, 1872.
From 1872 to 1876—Rev. W. H. Hunter, Business Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner reappointed Editor.
From 1876 to 1880—Rev. H. M. Turner, Business Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner again reappointed Editor.
1880—Rev. Theo. Gould, Business Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner was for the fourth term appointed Editor.
In addition to the work done here on the field, this Church has been blessed with a true missionary spirit. It has pushed its work into "the regions beyond." In 1844 The Parent Home and Foreign Missionary Society was organized by the General Conference. Its first corresponding secretary was appointed in 1864, John M. Brown, Washington, D.C.; 1865 to 1868, John M. Brown; 1868 to 1872, James A. Handay, Baltimore, Maryland; 1872, Rev. W. J. Gaines, Macon, Georgia; 1873, Rev. T. G. Stewart, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 1874 to 1876, Rev. G. W. Brodie; 1876 to 1878, Rev. Richard H. Cain, Columbia, S.C.; 1878 to 1881, Rev. James M. Townsend, Richmond, Indiana.
The following is the last report of the present missionary secretary:
Recapitulation.
Receipts.
Collected for general work (including $300 from the W. M. M Society) $2,630 35 Collected on the field in Hayti 1,221 54 Women's Mite Society (in addition to the above $300) 364 31 Collected for domestic missions 3,743 87 ————————- Total receipts $7,960 07Expenditures.
Total expended on salaries, travelling expenses, printing, etc. $7,773 10 Balance in Women's M. M. treasury 48 97 Balance in general treasury 138 00 ————————- $7,960 07Respectfully submitted,
The work of education has been fostered and pushed forward by this Church. Wilberforce University is owned and managed by the Church, and is doing a noble work for both sexes. More than one thousand students have received instruction in this institution, and some of the ablest preachers in the denomination are proud of Wilberforce as their Alma Mater. The following gentlemen constitute the faculty:
WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY.
Faculty.
Rev. B. F. LEE, B.D., President,
Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Systematic Theology.
Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Homiletics, and Pastoral Theology.
J. P. SHORTER, A.B.,
Professor of Mathematics and Secretary of the Faculty.
W. S. SCARBOROUGH, A.M.,
Professor of Latin and Greek.
ROSWELL F. HOWARD, A.B., B.L.,
Professor of Law.
Hon. JOHN LITTLE,
Professor of Law.
Mrs. S. C. BIERCE,
Principal of Normal Department, Instructor in French, and
Natural Sciences.
Mrs. ALICE M. ADAMS,
Lady Principal, Matron, and Instructor in Academic Department.
Miss GUSSIE E. CLARK,
Teacher of Instrumental Music.
Assistant Teachers.
CARRIE E. FERGUSON,
Teacher of Penmanship.
D. M. ASHBY,
G. S. LEWIS,
Teachers of Arithmetic.
ANNA H. JONES,
Teacher of Reading.
Rev. T. H. JACKSON, D.D.,
General Agent.
In the summer of 1856 the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church decided to establish in that place a university for the education of Colored youth. Its Board of Trustees consisted of twenty white and four Colored men. Mr. Alfred J. Anderson, Rev. Lewis Woodson, Mr. Ishmael Keith, and Bishop Payne were the Colored members. Among the former were State Senator M. D. Gatch and the late Salmon P. Chase. It was dedicated in October, 1856, when the Rev. M. P. Gaddis took charge. He held the position of Principal for one year, when he was succeeded by Professor J. R. Parker, who worked faithfully and successfully until 1859. Rev. R. T. Rust, D.D., became President upon the retirement of Mr. Parker, and accomplished a noble work. He raised the educational standard of the school, attracted to its support and halls friends and pupils, and gained the confidence of educators and laymen within the outside of his denomination. Unfortunately, his faithful labors were most abruptly terminated by the war of the Rebellion. The college doors were closed in 1862 for want of funds; the main friends of the institution having cast their lot with the Confederate States. It should be remembered that up to this time this college was in the hands of the white Methodist Church. The Colored Methodists bought the land and buildings on the 10th of March, 1863, for the sum of $10,000. The land consisted of fifty-two acres, with an abundance of timber, fine springs, and a commodious college building with a dozen beautiful cottages. And the growth of the institution under the management of Colored men is a credit to their Church and race.
Bishop D. H. Payne, D.D., was elected to the presidency of the university, which position he has filled with rare fidelity and ability for the last thirteen years. In 1876 Rev. B. F. Lee, a former graduate of the college, was elected to occupy the presidential chair. It was not a position to be sought after since it had been filled for thirteen years by the senior bishop of the Church, but Mr. Lee was the choice of his official brethren and so was elected. President Lee is a native of New Jersey. He is about the medium height, well knit, of light complexion, dark hair and beard of the same color that covers a face handsomely moulded. He is plainly a man of excellent traits of character; he is somewhat bald and has a finely-cut head, broad and massive. He moves quickly, and impresses one as a man who is armed with a large amount of executive tact. His face is of a thoughtful cast, and does not change much when he laughs. There were many difficulties to hinder his administration when he took charge, but he surmounted them all. Under his administration the institution has grown financially and numerically.
The following report shows the financial condition of the college at the present time.
Receipts.
June 20, 1880. Balance in Treasury, Avery Fund $10,000 00 " " Rust Prize Fund 100 00 " " cash 63 82 ——————————Total balance $10,163 82Receipts.—(Continued.)
Balance $10,163 82 Received from Financial Secretary 200 00 " " tuition 1,604 49 " " dormitories 525 80 " " Unitarian Association 600 00 Received from loans 100 00 Received from interest from Avery Fund 800 00 Received from interest from Rust Fund 8 00 Received from General Agent 150 00 " " contributions 232 00 " " Philadelphia Conference 52 95 Received from Illinois Conference 30 00 " " bequest of John Pfaff 602 08 Received from miscellaneous 407 64 ——————— $5,312 96 —————————— Total receipts $15,476 78 ==========Expenditures.
To salaries $3,166 15 " building and grounds 243 25 " furnishing building 177 37 " notes paid with interest 285 86 " lectures 600 00 " fuel 116 64 " Powers' Fund interest 114 90 " incidental 296 17 " insurance 219 00 " miscellaneous 144 21 ————————— Total expenditures $5,363 55 Balance in bank—Avery Fund securities $10,000 00 Balance in bank—Rust Fund securities 100 00 Balance in bank—cash 13 23 —————————— $10,113 23 —————————— $15,476 78 ==========STATEMENT OF CASH RECEIPTS, FROM 1865 TO 1881.
1865 to 1866 $10,677 82 1866 to 1867 6,717 88 1867 to 1868 9,000 00 1868 to 1869 5,403 83 1869 to 1870 9,498 24 1870 to 1871 28,672 22 1871 to 1872 7,270 31 1872 to 1873 4,452 30 1873 to 1874 6,129 77 1874 to 1875 4,962 50 1875 to 1876 7,805 36 1876 to 1877 13,757 66 1877 to 1878 14,429 15 1878 to 1879 4,944 37 1879 to 1880 6,942 98 1880 to 1881 5,312 96 ——————————— Total $145,977 35
The following-named persons are the bishops of the Church: James A. Shorter, Daniel A. Payne, A. W. Wayman, J. P. Campbell, John M. Brown, T. M. D. Ward, H. M. Turner, William F. Dickerson, and R. H. Cain.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church will remain through the years to come as the best proof of the Negro's ability to maintain himself in an advanced state of civilization. Commencing with nothing—save an unfaltering faith in God,—this Church has grown to magnificent proportions. Her name has gone to the ends of the earth. In the Ecumenical Council of the Methodists in London, 1881, its representatives made a splendid impression; and their addresses and papers took high rank.
This Church has taught the Negro how to govern and how to submit to government. It has kept its membership under the influence of wholesome discipline, and for its beneficent influence upon the morals of the race, it deserves the praise and thanks of mankind.[129]
FOOTNOTES:
[129] We have to thank the Rev. B. W. Arnett, B.D., the Financial Secretary, for the valuable statistics used in this chapter. He is an intelligent, energetic, and faithful minister of the Gospel, and a credit to his Church and race.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Founding of the M. E. Church of America in 1768.—Negro Servants and Slaves among the First Contributors to the Erection of the First Chapel in New York.—The Rev. Harry Hosier the First Negro Preacher in the M. E. Church in America.—His Remarkable Eloquence as a Pulpit Orator.—Early Prohibition against Slave-holding in the M. E. Church.—Strength of the Churches and Sunday-schools of the Colored Members in the M. E. Church.—The Rev. Marshall W. Taylor, D.D.—His Ancestors.—His Early Life and Struggles for an Education.—He teaches School in Kentucky.—His Experiences as a Teacher.—Is Ordained to the Gospel Ministry and becomes a Preacher and Missionary Teacher.—His Settlement as Pastor in Indiana and Ohio.—Is given the Title of Doctor of Divinity by the Tennessee College.—His Influence as a Leader, and his Standing as a Preacher.
PHILLIP EMBURY, Barbara Heck, and Capt. Thomas Webb were the germ from which, in the good providence of God, has sprung the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The first chapel was erected upon leased ground on John Street, New York City, in 1768. The ground was purchased in 1770. Subscriptions were asked and received from all classes of people for the building, from the mayor of the city down to African female servants known only by their Christian names. Here the Colored people became first identified with American Methodism. From this stock have sprung all who have been subsequently connected with it. Meetings were held, prior to the erection of John Street Church, in the private residence of Mrs. Heck, and in a rigging-loft, sixty by eighteen feet, in William Street, which was rented in 1767. Here Capt. Webb and Mr. Embury preached thrice a week to large audiences. The original design to erect a chapel must be credited to Mrs. Heck, the foundress of American Methodism. Mr. Richard Owen, a convert of Robert Strawbridge, the founder of Methodism in Baltimore, was the first native Methodist preacher on the continent. The first American Annual Conference was held in Philadelphia, Pa., twenty-nine years after Mr. Wesley held his first conference in England, with ten members, precisely the same number there were in his. They were Thos. Rankin, President; Richard Boardman, Joseph Pilmoor, Francis Asbury, Richard Wright, George Shadford, Thomas Webb, John King, Abraham Whiteworth, and Joseph Yearbry. It began Wednesday the 14th and closed Friday the 16th of July, 1773. All the members were foreigners, and in the Revolution many of them were subject to unjust suspicions of sympathy with England, in consequence of this fact alone. The aggregate statistical returns for this conference showed 1,160, which was much less than Mr. Rankin supposed to be the strength of Methodism in America.
On the 2d of September, 1784, Rev. Thomas Coke, D.D., LL.D., a presbyter in the Church of England, was ordained by John Wesley, A.M., Superintendent or Bishop of the Methodist Societies in America. He was charged with a commission to organize them into an Episcopal Church, and to ordain Mr. Francis Asbury an Associate Bishop. He sailed for America at 10 o'clock A.M., September 18th, and landed at New York, Wednesday, November 3, 1784. Mr. Coke at once set out on a tour of observation, accompanied by Harry Hosier, Mr. Asbury's travelling servant, a Colored minister. Hosier was one of the notable characters of that day. He was the first American Negro preacher of the M. E. Church in the United States. In 1780 Mr. Asbury alluded to him as a companion, suitable to preach to the Colored people. Dr. Rush, allowing for his illiteracy—for he could not read—pronounced him the greatest orator in America. He was small in stature and very black; but he had eyes of remarkable brilliancy and keenness; and singular readiness and aptness of speech. He travelled extensively with Asbury, Coke, and Whiteworth. He afterward travelled through New England. He excelled all the whites in popularity as a preacher; sharing with them in their public services, not only in Colored but also in white congregations. When they were sick or otherwise disabled they could trust the pulpit to Harry without fear of unfavorably disappointing the people. Mr. Asbury acknowledges that the best way to obtain a large congregation was to announce that Harry would preach. The multitude preferred him to the Bishop himself. Though he withstood for years the temptations of extraordinary popularity, he fell, nevertheless, by the indulgent hospitalities which were lavished upon him. He became temporarily the victim of wine; but possessed moral strength enough to recover himself. Self-abased and contrite, he started one evening down the neck below Southwark, Philadelphia, determined to remain till his backslidings were healed. Under a tree he wrestled in prayer into the watches of the night. Before the morning God restored to him the joys of His salvation. Thenceforward he continued faithful. He resumed his public labors. In the year 1810 he died in Philadelphia. "Making a good end," he was borne to the grave by a great procession of both Colored and white admirers, who buried him as a hero—one overcome, but finally victorious.
It is said that on one occasion, in Wilmington, Del., where Methodism was long unpopular, a number of the citizens, who did not ordinarily attend Methodist preaching, came together to hear Bishop Asbury. Old Asbury Chapel was, at that time, so full that they could not get in. They stood outside to hear the Bishop, as they supposed; but in reality they heard Harry. Before they left the place, they complimented the speaker by saying: "If all Methodist preachers could preach like the Bishop we should like to be constant hearers." Some one present replied: "That was not the Bishop, but his servant." This only raised the Bishop higher in their estimation, as their conclusion was, if such be the servant what must the master be? The truth was, that Harry was a more popular speaker than Asbury, or almost any one else in his day.[130]
So we find in the very inception of Methodism in the United States the Colored people were conspicuously represented in its membership, contributing both money, labor, and eloquence to its grand success.
The great founder of Methodism was an inveterate foe of human slavery, which he pronounced "the sum of all villainies," and in this particular the Methodist societies in their earliest times reflected his sentiments. The early preachers were especially hostile to slavery. In 1784 it was considered and declared to be contrary to the Golden Law of God, as well as every principle of the Revolution. They required every Methodist to execute and record, within twelve months after notice by the preacher, a legal instrument emancipating all slaves in his possession at specified ages. Any person who should not concur in this requirement had liberty to leave the Church within one year; Otherwise the preacher was to exclude him. No person holding slaves could be admitted to membership, or to the Lord's Supper, until he complied with this law. But it was to be applied only where the law of the State permitted.[131] These rules provoked great hostility, and were suspended within six months.
The Church had, however, put the stamp of condemnation upon it. And ever in a more or less active but always consistent manner opposed it, until its final extirpation was accomplished, though not until the Church had been several times divided in favor of and against it.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America was organized in what is historically known as the Christmas Conference, which convened in Baltimore at ten o'clock Friday morning, December 24, 1784, Bishop Thomas Coke, presiding. Rev. Francis Asbury was there consecrated a bishop. In 1786 a resolution emphatically enjoining it upon the preachers to leave nothing undone for the spiritual benefit and salvation of the Colored people was adopted. The Church is a limited Episcopacy. The bishops are elected by the General Conference. They fix the appointments of all the preachers, but the conference arranges their duration. The bishops hold office during good behavior. The General Conference is the Legislative, and the bishops, presiding elders, pastors, annual, district, and quarterly conferences, with the leaders' and stewards' meetings, and the general and local trustees, are the Executive Department. The ministerial orders are two: elder and deacon. The offices of the ministry and rank are in the order named,—bishop, sub-bishop, pastor, and sub-pastors. The ministry are classified as Effective, Supernumerary, Superannuate, and Local. The property of each congregation is deeded in trust for them to a Board of Local Trustees, who may sell, buy, or improve it for the use of said congregation. The stewards are officers whose labors are partly temporal and partly spiritual. They are entrusted with the raising of supplies, benevolence, and the support of the ministry. Exhorters are prayer-meeting leaders and general helpers in the work of the circuits.
Methodism began in a college and has been a great patron of education. It has been largely devoted to the educational and religious culture of the Colored people in the South and in Africa. There are sixteen conferences of Colored members in the M. E. Church—fifteen in the United States and one in Liberia. For the Liberian Conference two Colored bishops have been consecrated, viz.: Francis Burns and ex-President Thomas Wright Roberts, both deceased. The present bishops are all white, one of whom annually visits Africa. The same is true of conferences in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, India, China, and Japan. The agency by which the Church prosecutes this work is the Missionary, Church Extension, Freedmen's Aid, Education, and Sunday-school Union societies. Books and periodicals are amply supplied by its own publishing house, which is the largest religious publishing house in the world.
In the sixteen conferences there are 225,000 members, 200,000 Sunday-school scholars, 3,500 day scholars, one medical, three law, and seven theological colleges, and twelve seminaries. There is $500,000 in school and $2,000,000 in church and parsonage property owned by the Colored membership! The Colored members elect their own representatives to the General Conference, and are fully represented in all the work of the Church.
At the present time the Rev. Marshall W. Taylor, D. D., and the Rev. Wm. M. Butler are the most prominent men in the Church. Marshall William Boyd (alias) Taylor was born July 1, 1846, at Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, of poor, uneducated, but respectable parents. He was the fourth in a family of five children, three of whom were boys, viz.: George Summers, Francis Asbury, and himself; and two girls, Mary Ellen and Mary Cathrine. He is of Scotch-Irish and Indian descent on his father's side. Hon. Samuel Boyd, of New York; Joseph Boyd, of Virginia; and Lieut.-Gov. Boyd, of Kentucky, were blood-relations of his, and all descended from the "Clan Boyd" of Scotland. His mother was of African and Arabian stock. His grandmother, on his mother's side, Phillis Ann, was brought from Madagascar when a little girl, and became the slave of Mr. Alexander Black, a Kentucky farmer, who at his death willed his slaves free. His mother, Nancy Ann, thus obtained her freedom, and by the terms of the will she was put to the millinery trade, which she fully mastered, and meantime obtained an elementary knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic. She married Albert Summers, and bore to him two children, viz., George Summers and Mary Catharine. He ran away to prevent being sold, and she afterward married Samuel Boyd, to whom she bore three children, viz., Francis Asbury, Marshall William, and Mary Ellen. His father, Samuel, was the son of Hon. Samuel Boyd, of New York. He was noted for his independence of character; was a valuable but unruly slave. He was allowed an opportunity to purchase his freedom, and this he began to do, and had paid $250, three fourths of the price, when his master sold him to Tennessee. He promptly ran away from his new master, but unwilling to forsake his family, went back to Kentucky. His master pursued and overtook him at Lexington, where he had stopped. He refused to go back to Tennessee, and once more was permitted to select a master, and finally to again contract for his freedom, which he this time succeeded in obtaining. In consequence of his mother's emancipation, Marshall was free when he first saw the light of day. By occupation his father was a hemp-breaker, rope-maker, and farmer. The last he elected to follow after he was free. He employed his boys as farmers, but his mother strenuously opposed it, wishing better opportunities than could be thus afforded for their education. She at length succeeded in carrying her point.
In religion his father at first inclined to the Baptists, of which Church he became a deacon in the congregation of Rev. Mr. Ferrill, of Pleasant Green Church, Lexington. Later he became dissatisfied with the Baptists, and united with the African Methodists at Frankfort, Ky. He finally went back to the Baptist Church and died in that faith.
Marshall's mother, and all her people, so far as known, were Methodists. His early training and first and only religious impressions were Methodistic, which Church, after his conversion, he joined. His father had no knowledge of letters, so that all his home instruction came from his mother. Her text-books were the Bible, Methodist Catechism, and Webster's Elementary Spelling Book. And in these young Marshall became very proficient. He afterward attended school daily to Rev. John Tibbs, an African Methodist preacher, who came from Cincinnati to Lexington to teach free children and such of the slaves as would be permitted to attend. Some masters granted this permission, but the greater number refused it. Finally, some "poor white" fellows, unable to own slaves themselves, mobbed the teacher, rode him on a rail, tarred, feathered, and drove him from town. They were called black Indians. It was impossible to secure another teacher in Lexington for a day school, but Mr. George Perry, an intelligent free Colored man, had the courage to teach Sunday-school, in the Branch Methodist Church. It is now called Asbury M. E. Church. Marshall attended, as did his mother and brothers. In 1854 the family moved to Louisville, looking for a school. Finding none there, they continued their journey about fifty miles above there on the Ohio River, and landed at Ghent, a little village in Carroll County, Ky., opposite Vevey, Indiana. They indulged a hope that the children would be allowed to attend the public schools at Vevey, but they were doomed in this expectation. They spent two years at Ghent. Marshall and his brother obtained instruction during this period from the little white children who attended school, after hours, using "an old hay loft back of a Mr. Sanders's Tavern" for a recitation-room, and paying their teachers with cakes and candies bought with odd pennies gathered here and there.
On the 1st of August, 1856, there was an Emancipation celebration at Dayton, Ohio. Frederick Douglass was advertised to speak, and other eminent Abolitionists were expected to participate. Marshall's mother attended it. Soon after her return several slaves mysteriously disappeared from the vicinity of Ghent. Among them was a very valuable family belonging to Esquire Craig, of the village. Suspicion fastened on the old lady who had been off among the "Abolitionists." She was indicted by the Grand Jury, and thirty-six men filed into her cabin, and while she lay sick in bed, read the indictment to her. They ordered her to leave the place. She refused to go, claimed her innocence, but to no purpose. "They chased Francis with guns and dogs on the public streets in daylight; shaddowed the cabin and gave unmistakable evidence of a diabolical purpose." She soon after returned to Louisville.
Young Marshall became a messenger in the law firm of J. B. Kincaid and John W. Barr. Here his chances were good, both of these gentlemen aiding him in his studies. He did his work after school hours at the office, and attended a school which was kept in the "Centre Street Colored Methodist Church," until it closed.
Rev. Henry Henderson, a Colored Methodist preacher, now opened a school in Centre Street, and Marshall was duly enrolled among his pupils. On his retirement, Mrs. Elizabeth Cumings, a highly cultured and pious lady, taught a private school on Grayson, between Sixth and Seventh streets. He now went to her. She died soon after, when he was sent to a Mr. William H. Gibson, who had already opened a school on Seventh, between Jefferson and Green streets, in an old carpenter shop. Here he continued until 1861.
In 1866 Mr. Taylor opened a Freedmen's School at Hardinsburg Breckenridge Co., Ky. This was in an old church, the property of the M. E. Church South. It had been donated for church purposes by George Blanford. If used otherwise it was to revert to the donor. A Negro school was obnoxious to the community. His was the first there had ever been in the village, and notwithstanding the white people had long since abandoned the property to the Colored people this question was now raised in order to break up the school. It did not succeed, as they easily proved that the original intent of the donor was not violated, since Colored people still used the property as a church. Failing in this the school was tormented by ruffians. Pepper was rolled up in cotton, set on fire, and hurled into the room to set every one coughing. Finally threats of personal violence were made if he did not leave, but Mr. Taylor armed himself, defied the enemies of freedom, and stayed. At last, on Christmas evening, Dec. 25, 1867, the house was blown up with powder. The arrangement was to set off the blast with a slow match so as to catch the house full of people, there being a school exhibition that night. The explosion took place at 11:30 P.M., but owing to the excitement occasioned by the novelty of such a thing as a "Negro School Exhibition," the crowd had gathered much earlier than announced. The programme was completed before 11 P.M., and by this accident the school and teacher were saved. The old wreck still remains a monument to color prejudice.
By the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau another school-house was soon built, and the school proceeded. This was followed by a meeting-house. The white people, whose sentiments were now rapidly turning, subscribed liberally toward it.
In 1868 an educational convention was held at Owensboro, in Davies Co., Ky., of which Mr. Taylor was elected president. He soon after wrote a manual for Colored schools, which was generally used in that section. In 1869 he attended the first Colored political convention ever held in Kentucky, at Major Hall in Frankfort. He was one of the Educational Committee, and submitted a report. This year he was also a member of a convention at Jackson Street Church, Louisville, which inaugurated the movement for the Lexington M. E. Conference. He was licensed as a local preacher this year by Rev. Hanson Tolbert at Hardinsburg, and was assisted in the study of theology by Rev. R. G. Gardiner, J. H. Lennin, and Dr. R. S. Rust. He went to Arkansas as a missionary teacher and preacher at the call of Rev. W. J. Gladwin, and remained there one year. He organized several societies, of the Church, taught school at Midway, Forrest City, and Wittsburg; took part in the political campaign of that year; and was nominated, but declined to run, for Representative from Saint Frances County.
He preached in Texas, Indian Territory, and Missouri; was put in peril by the Ku Klux at Hot Springs; took the chills and returned to Ky., in 1871. He was then appointed to the Litchfield Circuit, Southwestern Kentucky. In 1872 he united with the Lexington Conference of M. E. Church on trial. He was ordained a deacon by Bishop Levi Scott at Maysville, Ky., and sent to Coke Chapel, Louisville, Ky., and Wesley Chapel, Jeffersonville, Indiana. He remained in this charge three years, during which time he published the monthly "Kentucky Methodist," and wrote extensively for the press. He was elected assistant secretary, editor of the printed minutes of the conference, and finally secretary. In 1875 he was sent as pastor to Indianapolis, Ind. He was ordained elder by Bishop Wiley at Lexington in 1876, and returned to Indianapolis. He took an active part in the political campaign of 1876, and was sent to Union Chapel, Cincinnati, 1877-8. In 1879 the faculty of Central Tennessee College, at Nashville, Tennessee, conferred upon him the title and credentials of a Doctor of Divinity. He wrote the life of Rev. Geo. W. Downing.
In 1879 Dr. Taylor was appointed Presiding Elder of the Ohio District, Lexington Conference. In 1880 he was sent as fraternal delegate from the M. E. to the A. M. E. General Conference at St. Louis; he having been previously elected lay delegate to the General Conference of the M. E. Church in Brooklyn, New York, in 1879. He was the youngest member of that body. Upon his motion fraternal representatives were sent to the various Colored denominations of Methodists. He was appointed in 1881 as a delegate from the M. E. Church to the Ecumenical Conference at London, England. He was the caucus nominee of the Colored delegates to the General Conference in Cincinnati in 1880 for bishop. He was always opposed to caste discriminations in Church, State, or society. He has opposed Colored conferences and a Colored bishop as tending to perpetuate discriminations. He does not oppose the election of Colored men, but wishes that every honor may fall upon them because of merit and not on account of their color. He has become famous as an eloquent preacher, safe teacher, ready speaker, and earnest worker; always aiming to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Certainly the Methodist Episcopal Church has reason to be proud of Marshall W. Taylor.
In this Church there are many other worthy and able Colored preachers. The relations they sustain to the eloquent, scholarly, and pious white clergymen of the denomination are pleasant and beneficial. It is an education. And the fact that the best pulpits of white men are opened to the Colored preachers is a prophecy that race antagonisms in the Christian Church, so tenacious and harmful, are to perish speedily.
FOOTNOTES:
[130] Stevens's Hist. of M. E. Church, pp. 174, 175; also Lednum, p. 282.
[131] And there was not a single State where this rule could be applied. Slavery ruled the land.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA.
The Colored Baptists an Intelligent and Useful People.—Their Leading Ministers in Missouri, Ohio, and in New England.—The Birth, Early Life, and Education of Duke William Anderson.—As Farmer, Teacher, Preacher, and Missionary.—His Influence in the West.—Goes South at the Close of the War.—Teaches in a Theological Institute at Nashville, Tennessee.—Called to Washington.—Pastor of 19th Street Baptist Church.—He occupies Various Positions of Trust.—Builds a New Church.—His Last Revival.—His Sickness and Death.—His Funeral and the General Sorrow at his Loss.—Leonard Andrew Grimes, of Boston, Massachusetts.—His Piety, Faithfulness and Public Influence for Good.—The Completion of his Church.—His Last Days and Sudden Death.—General Sorrow.—Resolutions by the Baptist Ministers of Boston.—A Great and Good Man Gone.
THE Baptist Church has always been a purely democratic institution. With no bishops or head-men, except such as derive their authority from the consent of the governed, this Church has been truly independent and self-governing in its spirit. Its only Head is Christ, and its teachers such as are willing to take "the Word of God as the Man of their Counsel." From the time of the introduction of the Baptist Church into North America down to the present time, the Colored people have formed a considerable part of its membership. The generous, impartial, and genuine Christian spirit of Roger Williams had a tendency, at the beginning, to keep out of the Church the spirit of race prejudice. But the growth of slavery carried with it, as a logical result, the idea that the slave's presence in the Christian Church was a rebuke to the system. For conscience' sake the slave was excluded, and to oblige the feelings of those who transferred the spirit of social caste from gilded drawing-rooms to cushioned pews, even the free Negro was conducted to the organ-loft.
The simplicity of the Negro led him to the faith of the Baptist Church; but being denied fellowship in the white congregations, he was compelled to provide churches for himself. In Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi the Colored Baptists were numerous. In the other States the Methodists and Catholics were numerous. There were few ministers of note at the South; but New England, the Middle States, and the West produced some very able Baptist preachers. The Rev. Richard Anderson, of St. Louis, Missouri, was a man of exalted piety, consummate ability, and of almost boundless influence in the West. He was the pastor of a large church, and did much to mould and direct the interests of his people throughout Missouri. He was deeply revered by his own people, and highly respected by the whites. When he died, the entire city of St. Louis was plunged into profound mourning, and over three hundred carriages—many belonging to the wealthiest families in the city—followed his body to the place of interment.
In Ohio the Rev. Charles Satchell, the Rev. David Nickens, the Rev. W. P. Newman, the Rev. James Poindexter, and the Rev. H. L. Simpson were the leading clergymen in the Colored Baptist churches. Cincinnati has had for the last half century excellent Baptist churches, and an intelligent and able ministry. There are several associations embracing many live churches.
In Kentucky the Colored Baptists are very numerous, and own much valuable property; but Virginia seems to have more Baptists among its great population of Colored people than any other State in the South. There are a dozen or more in Richmond, including the one presided over by the famous John Jasper. One of them has, it is said, three thousand members(?). But the District of Columbia has more Colored churches for its area and population than any other place in the United States. There are at least twenty-five Baptist churches in the District, and some of them have interesting histories. The Nineteenth Street Baptist Church is as an intelligent a society of Christian people of color as there is to be found in any city in the country. Its pulpit has always been occupied by the ablest ministers in the country. The Revs. Sampson White, Samuel W. Madden, and Duke W. Anderson were men of education and marked ability. And there is little doubt but what Duke W. Anderson was the ablest, most distinguished clergyman of color in the United States. And for his work's sake he deserves well of history.
Duke William Anderson was born April 10, 1812, in the vicinity of Lawrenceville, Lawrence County, in the State of Illinois, of a Negro mother by a white father. His father, lately from North Carolina, fell under Gen. Harrison fighting the Indians. Like so many other great men he was born in an obscure place—a wigwam. At the time of his father's death he was quite a young baby. He was now left to the care of a mother who, in many respects, was like her husband, bold and courageous for the truth, and yet as gentle as a child. It is peculiarly trying and difficult for a mother who has all the comforts of modern city life, to train and educate her boys for the duties of life; and if so, how much more trying and difficult must it have been for a mother on the North-western frontiers, seventy years ago, to train her boys?
Destitute of home and its comforts, without friends or money; no farm, school, or church, Mrs. Anderson began to train her two boys, John Anderson and D. W. Anderson. Of the former, little or nothing is known, save that he was the only brother of D. W. Anderson.
True to the instincts of her motherly heart, Mrs. Anderson was determined to remain upon the spot purchased and consecrated by the blood of her lamented husband. She could not divorce herself from the approximate idea and object of her husband's life and death. He had turned from the comforts of a happy home; had chosen hardships rather than ease that he might realize the dream of his youth, and the object of his manly endeavors—the right of suffrage to all. Her children could not build their play-house of Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, or Southey. All the instruction Duke William obtained came from his mother. She was very large and healthy. Her complexion was of perfect black. She was possessed of excellent judgment, patience, and industry. She stored the young mind of her boy with useful agricultural knowledge, of which she possessed a large amount.
An education does not consist in acquiring lessons, obtaining a simple, abstract, objective knowledge of certain sciences. It is more than this. It consists, also, in being able to apply and use rightly a given amount of knowledge. And though D. W. Anderson was never permitted to enter college, yet, what he got he got thoroughly, and used at the proper time to the best advantage.
Nature was his best teacher. While yet a very young boy he was awed by her splendors, and attracted by the complicated workings of her manifold laws. He began to study the innumerable mysteries which met him in every direction. He heard God in the rippling water, in the angry tempest, in the sighing wind, and in the troops of stars which God marshals upon the plains of heaven. In the study of nature he exulted. He sat in her velvet lap, sported by her limpid waters, acquainted himself perfectly with her seasons, and knew the coming and going of every star.
God was training this man for the great mission which he afterward so faithfully performed. No soul that was ever filled with such grand and humane ideas as was that of Duke William Anderson can be crushed. He knew no boundaries for his soul,—except God on one side and the whole universe on the other. He was as free in thought and feeling as the air he inhaled, or the birds in the bright sky over his head. His soul had for many years communed with the God of nature; had been taught by the mighty workings of truth, feeling, and genius within, and by the world without, that he was not to be confined to earth forever, but that beyond the deep blue sky, into which he so much longed to peer, there dwelt the Creator of all things, and there the home of the good! Like the "wise men of the East,"—knowing no other God but the God of nature,—his primitive ideas of religion were naturally based upon nature. In that wild and barren territory nature was impressive, desolate, and awful. The earth, air, and sky incited him to thought and stimulated his imagination. Every appearance, every phenomenon—the storm, the thunder,—speak the prophecies of God. He was filled with great thoughts and driven by grand ideas.
It is difficult to compute the value of the mother to the child. It is the mother who loves, because she has suffered. And this seems to be the great law of love. Not a triumph in art, literature, or jurisprudence—from the story of Homer to the odes of Horace, from the times of Bacon and Leibnitz to the days of Tyndall and Morse—that has not been obtained by toil and suffering! The mother of Anderson, having suffered so much in her loneliness and want, knew how to train her boy,—the joy of her life. And he in return knew how to appreciate a mother's love. He remembered that to her he owed every thing,—his life, his health, and his early training. He remembered that in childhood she had often, around their little camp-fire, enchanted his youthful mind by the romance of the sufferings and trials of herself and husband. And now finding himself a young man he was determined to change the course of their life.
No work so thoroughly develops the body and mind, and is so conducive to health, as farming; and, perhaps, none so independent. Anderson was naturally healthy and strong, so that farming agreed with him. By this he made a comfortable living, and soon demonstrated to his aged mother that she had not labored in vain, nor spent her strength for naught.
For a number of years he farmed. His motto was "excelsior" in whatever he engaged, and in farming he realized success.
As the father of Duke William Anderson had fallen under the U. S. flag, it became the duty of the Government to care for his widow and orphans. Accordingly, Duke William was sent to an Illinois school where he received the rudiments of a Western education. A Western education did not consist in reading poetry, or in examining Hebrew roots, but in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, and history. There were no soft seats, no beautifully frescoed walls, dotted with costly maps, or studded with beautiful pictures; not a school with a dozen beautiful rooms, heated by hot air. In those days a Western school-house was erected by the side of some public highway, remote from the town. It was constructed of logs,—not of the logs that have lost their roughness by going through the saw-mill, but logs cut by the axe of the hardy frontiersman. The axe was the only tool needed to fit the timber for the building. The building was about twelve feet in height, and about sixteen by twenty. The cracks were often left open, and sometimes closed by chips and mud. The floor was made of split logs with the flat side up. At one end of the building was a fireplace and chimney occupying the whole end of the house. At each end of the fireplace were laid two large stones upon which to rest the ends of the logs of wood, under all of which were laid closely large pieces of flat stones covered with an inch or two of mud. At the other end of the building was a door. It was constructed of thinly split pieces of logs held together by pieces of hickory withes which crossed each end of the door. This door was hung upon wooden hinges, one part of which, instead of being fastened to the door by screws, was fastened by little wooden pegs. The step at the door was a short piece of log flattened a little on the top and braced on the under side by small stones and pieces of chips. The roof was made of long pieces of split timber, the flat side out and the edges smoothed by the axe in order to make them lie snugly.
Such was the school-house in which D. W. Anderson was educated. And it may be that the plain school in which he was educated loaned him that modesty, plainness, and unostentatious air, which were among the many remarkable traits in his character. The circumstances and society by which boys are surrounded help to mould their character and determine their future. To a healthy and vigorous body was coupled a clear and active mind. He loved knowledge, and was willing to buy it at any price—willing to make any sacrifice. He was an industrious student, and possessed great power of penetration and acquisition. And every thing he read he remembered. The greatest difficulty with students is that they fail to apply themselves. A man may have the ability to accomplish a given amount of work and yet that work can never be accomplished except by the severest effort. It is one thing to possess a negative power, but it is quite another thing to possess a positive power. In this world we are set over against all external laws and forces. We are to assume the offensive. We are to climb up to the stars by microscopes. We are to measure this earth by our mathematics. We are to penetrate its depths and lift to the sun its costly treasures. We are to acquaint ourselves with the workings of the manifold laws which lie about us. If we would know ourselves, understand our relation to God, we must see after the requisite knowledge. Suppose that Duke William Anderson had despaired of ever receiving an education; sat down by the way in life and said: "There is no use of troubling myself, I cannot get what I desire. I am destined to be ignorant and weak all the days of my life; and if there is any good thing for me it will come to me. I will sit here and wait." Would the world ever have known of Anderson? His life would have shed no perfume; his name would have been unknown and his grave would have been forgotten.
But it was that courage which never knows defeat, it was that devotion that never wavers, it was that assiduity, and it was that patience that is certain to triumph, which bore him on to a glorious end, as a summer wind bears up a silver cloud. At the age of seventeen he began to teach school. What Colored man would have essayed to teach school on the frontiers fifty years ago? But D. W. Anderson was born to rule. He was of commanding presence, full of confidence and earnestness. He entered upon his new duties full of hope and joy. This was something new. There was a great deal of difference between handling the hoe and the pen. He found that there was a great difference between the farm and the school-house. But he was one of those boys who do every thing with all their might, and he was at once at home, and soon became master of his new situation.
Three laborious years were occupied in teaching. And they were years of profit to teacher as well as to pupil. He labored hard to be thorough; and he greatly improved and finished his own education during his teaching.
About this time young Anderson met, courted, and married Miss Ruth Ann Lucas.
Anderson soon made all necessary arrangements, and the nuptial ceremony was solemnized by the village parson on the 30th of September, 1830. With his bride he now settled down at home. For some years he lived the life of a farmer. His mother was riveted to the spot where her devoted husband fell at the hands of a besotted Indian. But her son was of a progressive spirit. He longed to leave the old home for one more comfortable. How strange that the old should sit by the grave of the past, while the young never weary of chasing some vague fancy!
He bought a tract of land, cleared it, and opened up a farm. He planted a large orchard; became the owner of seven horses and all the implements necessary to farming.
By his own industry and perseverance he had now acquired a neat little home; on his farm he raised enough produce for the consumption of his family, and still there was a large quantity left for the market. Apples, potatoes, wheat, corn, and other commodities brought him handsome returns.
On this farm were born five children, four of whom lived to adult age. The oldest child, Luther Morgan, was born October 10, 1831. The second child, Mary Catharine, was born in 1833. The third, George Washington, was born in 1835. The fourth, Elizabeth, was born in 1837. And the fifth and last child was born on the night of September 4, 1839, when, also, the mother and child died.
This sad event filled a hitherto happy home with gloom, and bowed a strong heart with grief. Anderson was a man possessed of a very tender nature, though he was manly and resolute. His heart was fixed upon his wife, and this sad providence smote him heavily.
During all these years, from his youth up, he had been very profane. He knew no Sabbath, worshipped no God, and was himself the highest law. He was filled with a grand religious sentiment, and only needed the grace of God to bring it out, and the love of God to show him where he stood.
The object of his youthful affection was gone. The faithful woman who had walked for nineteen years by his side was no more; her eyes were closed to mortal things, and she had ceased to be. He followed her body to the grave, and there dropped a silent tear for her to whom he had given his heart. It was the first funeral of anyone related to him, and its lessons were sharply cut into his heart.
He returned to a desolate home, where the sad faces of motherless children told that one whom they loved, and who had made home happy, was gone.
His mind now turned to religious matters. He began to think of the home beyond, of Jesus, who died for sinners, and wondered if he would ever be able to see the loved one beyond the tide of death. As he dreamed of immortality, longed for heaven, and wondered if Jesus were his Saviour, he was filled with a deep sense of sin. He felt more deeply a sense of sin. He felt more and more that he was unworthy of the Saviour's love; and if he had his just dues, he would be "assigned a portion among the lost."
For a long time he was bowed down under the weight of his sins, and at length he found peace through the blood of Christ. He was renewed. The avaricious man became liberal, the implacable enemy became the forgiving friend, and the man of cursing a man of prayer. But it was impossible for him to cease to grieve; so he thought he would sell the farm and seek another home. The farm was sold, the horses and tools, and every thing converted into money. The children were bound out, and all arrangements were perfected to seek another home.
He paid a visit to Alton, Illinois, where he spent two or three years. In those days Alton was the city par excellence of Illinois, and toward it flowed the tide of emigration. So favorably was he impressed with Alton, that he was determined to make it his home. Accordingly, he began to make preparations for moving the children. In the meanwhile he formed the acquaintance of a widow lady in Alton with whom he became very much pleased. She was a tall, handsome-looking yellow woman, of cultivated manners, and of pleasing address. Anderson's wife had been dead three or four years.
It was now August 17, 1842, and the hand and heart of Anderson were offered Mrs. Mary Jane Ragens and accepted. With his new companion he now returned to the scenes of his early days and to the four children who joyfully awaited his return. He had made up his mind to settle in Alton. He and his new companion began to prepare for the journey. The family now consisted of the four children of Anderson and two children of his wife, making a family of six besides the two heads.
During the time that intervened between the death of his first wife and his engagement to the second, he taught school in Vincennes, Indiana, Alton and Brookton, Illinois. The old home stood upon the Wabash River, and was quite upon the line that divided the two States,—Indiana and Illinois. His own children went to his school, and were carried across the river on his back. On the other bank stood the log school-house of which he was principal.
In those, days it was a matter of some comment to see a Colored man who dared write his name or tell his age, but to see one who was actually a schoolmaster was the marvel of the times. His teaching was a matter of comment in Vincennes, but Vincennes was only a little country town. But to go to Alton,—that city of great fame, then,—and teach school, was an undertaking that required strong nerves. D. W. Anderson had them. He never allowed himself to think that he was any person other than a man and citizen clothed with all civil rights and armed with God-given prerogatives. And so commanding was he, that a man who stood in his presence instantly felt him a superior. Moreover, the heated feeling and public sentiment which, on the night of November 7, 1837, wrested from the hand of God,—to whom alone vengeance belongeth,—a life, were not yet abated. Lovejoy, a peaceable citizen, had been deprived of free speech and struck down by the knife of the assassin; and could it be expected that a Negro would be spared? The times were exciting and dangerous, and yet Anderson was determined to take his place and work on in the path of duty, never wincing, but leaving the results with God.
Before in his quiet home and farm life, nature was his peculiar study. He had studied man in studying himself, but in the city of Alton he could study men. He loved to walk through its long streets, watch its hurrying pedestrians, and learn the manifold manifestations of city life.
Having been converted just after the death of his first wife, but never having connected himself with any church, he now joined the A. M. E. Church of Alton. His views from the first were Baptistic, but circumstances placed him among the Methodists. The elder in charge was the powerful preacher, the successful revivalist, and the eminently pious man, Rev. Shadrack Stewart. Some misunderstanding arose between the minister in charge and some of the members, which resulted in the withdrawal of the pastor, Rev. S. Stewart, Anderson and family, and quite a number of the leading members. Minister and all connected themselves with the Baptists. Anderson used often to say to his family: "That move placed me at home." He was indeed at home, and stayed there until he was called to his heavenly rest! He loved very much to study the Bible, and to meditate upon its great truths. The more he studied it the clearer duty seemed and the deeper and purer his love grew for that beneficent Being whom he owned as Lord and King.
It was now 1843. He felt that it was his duty to enter the Gospel ministry. Naturally a modest man, he shrank somewhat from this voice of God; but finally, in 1844, submitted to ordination. He was ordained by the Rev. John Anderson, father of the late Richard Anderson, of St. Louis, or by the Rev. John Livingston, of Illinois, though it is a matter of some doubt as to who was present at his ordination.
He now moved to Upper Alton, and pitched his tent under the shadow of Shurtleff College. His aim was always to excel. He had absorbed every thing that had come within his reach, and now he had placed himself where he could rub against "College men."
Some men have to study a great deal to get a very little; they lack the power of mental absorption, and, consequently, have to wade far out into the river of knowledge in order to feel the benefits of the invigorating waters. Not so with Anderson; he was an indefatigable student. He was always willing to be taught by any person who was able to impart knowledge. Every new word that saluted his ear was forced into his service; never mechanically, but always in its proper place. If he learned a word to-day, to-morrow he would use it in its grammatical relation to a sentence. He had no time for vacation; no mental cessation, but it was one unceasing struggle for knowledge. And no doubt his approximate relation to Shurtleff College helped to impart a certain healthy tone and solidity to his style as a writer and preacher which were ever strikingly manifest.
In a short time he moved out from Alton about twelve miles to the town of Woodburn, Madison County, where he remained for a year, during which time he taught school and preached occasionally. In 1845 he bought an eighty-acre farm on Wood River, about five miles from Alton. He moved his family on the farm, and began to make improvements. After the farm had been put in good working condition, it was not hard for Luther, the eldest child, to manage it. It might seem strange to the boys of to-day, who are dwarfed by cities and cramped by a false civilization, to know that Luther, a boy of fourteen, could follow the plow and swing the cradle. But, nevertheless, his father could trust most of the work of the farm to these young hands.
Duke William Anderson was a civilizer and a reformer. Wherever he placed his foot there were thrift and improvement. He never was satisfied with himself, or that which he did. He always felt when he had done a thing that he could have done it better. He never preached a sermon but what he felt that he ought to preach the next one better. In his great brain were the insatiable powers of civilization. He was prompt, rapid, decisive, and sagacious, working up to his ideal standard. It was not his object to simply improve and help himself; he was far from such selfishness. The basis of his reformatory and benevolent operations was as broad as humanity and as solid as granite. He never entered a community without the deep feeling that it should be made better, and never lived in one except his warm heart and willing hand went forth to minister to and sympathize with all who were in need.
He felt keenly the bitter prejudice which pervaded the community from which he had just moved, and was sensible of the weakness of the few free Colored citizens who lived in that portion of the State. Wood River was a healthy place to live; and the land was cheap and rich. He was not shut up to any selfish motives, but was planning for the good of his people. He knew that "in union there is strength," and if he could get a number of families to move on Wood River he could form a settlement, and thus bring the people together in religion and politics, in feeling and sentiment.
This plan was no idle dream. In due time he gave notice, and offered inducements, to the people to come. And they came from every section; and in a few years it had grown to be a large and prosperous settlement.
Duke William Anderson was the central figure in this community. His colossal form, his clear mind, and excellent judgment, placed him at the head of educational and religious matters. He was parson, schoolmaster, and justice. All questions of theology were submitted to his judgment, from which there was no appeal. All social and political feuds were placed before him, and his advice would heal the severest schisms and restore the most perfect harmony.
He now threw his great soul into the work of organization. He was filled with a grand idea. He felt that the purity and intelligence of the community depended upon their knowledge of the Bible and the preaching of the Gospel. It was a grand idea, though he had to work upon a small scale. It was this idea that made the Israelites victorious; and Anderson was determined to impress upon this community this primal truth. He knew that in knowledge only is there safety, and in science alone can certainty be found. Before this idea every thing must bow, and around it were to cluster, not only the hopes of that little community, but the prayers of four million bondmen. He was confident that in God he would triumph, and in Him was his trust.
The work was begun in the family circle. One evening it would be at brother Anderson's house, and the next evening at another brother's house, and so on until the meetings had gone around the whole community. A deep work of grace was in progress. The whole community felt the pervading influence of the Spirit, and large results followed. Anderson was wrought upon powerfully. He felt to reconsecrate himself to the Master, and live a more faithful life. This feeling manifested itself in the lives of those who were professors of religion, and the ungodly were anxious about their salvation.
From a very few believers the company of the redeemed had largely increased. One house would not accommodate them, and it became necessary for them to hold their meetings outdoors. It became very evident that this company of believers ought to be organized into a church, and a pastor placed over them. Duke William Anderson was the man to do this work, and, seeing the necessity of it, he immediately organized a Baptist church.
He was a man who never desired to escape difficult duties—rather, he always was on hand when hard burdens were to be borne. He approached duty as something that, though at the time hard, brought peace in the end. He loved the approbation of conscience, and never sought to turn away from her teachings.
It is a task seldom, if ever, coveted by the ministers of to-day, to attempt the building of a church edifice, though wealth, art, and all modern facilities await their beck.
And one can easily imagine what a formidable task it must have been to attempt the building of a church thirty years ago. He organized a church out of those who had accepted the Gospel. And the next work was the building of a house of worship. He put his great hand to this work, and in a short time the house was completed and his people worshipping under their own vine and fig-tree.
The house was unique, spacious, and comfortable, all in keeping with the plain people and their unpretentious pastor.
There is a great deal in discipline, and Anderson knew it. Before the organization of his church the people had been placed under no discipline or charged with any special work. But now their leader began the work of church discipline and practical preaching. The feeling that every person was his own man, independent and free, under the preaching of Anderson, gave way to the feeling that they were members of one body, and Christ the head of that body. The unity of the church was preached with great earnestness, and followed by large results. It soon became evident that Duke William Anderson was no ordinary man, and his fame began to spread. He had sought no publicity, but in secret had toiled on in the path of duty.
During his labors in building a meeting-house and organizing a church he had relinquished his hold upon the school; but now as the church was erected and he had more time, he was against his will urged into the school-room again. In the school-room he was as faithful as he was in the pulpit. He sought, with marvellous earnestness, to do with all his might that which was committed to his hands; and all his labors were performed as if they were being performed for himself.
He was at this time pastor of a church, teacher of a school, and owner of an eighty acre farm. If he were going to slight any work, it would not be that of another, but his own. He watched the growth of his little church with an apostolical eye, and nipped every false doctrine in the bud. His excellent knowledge of human nature facilitated his work in the church. He knew every man, woman, and child. He made himself familiar with their circumstances and wants, and always placed himself in complete sympathy with any and all of their circumstances. He consequently won the confidence, love, and esteem of his people. In his school he was watchful and patient. He studied character, and classified his pupils; and was thereby enabled to deal with each pupil as he knew their temperament demanded. Some children are tender, affectionate, and obedient; while others are coarse, ugly, and insubordinate. Some need only to have the wrong pointed out, while others need the rod to convince them of bad conduct. And happy is that teacher who does not attempt to open every child's heart with the same key, or punish each with the same rod.
If there is one quality more than another that the minister needs, it is downright earnestness—perfect sympathy with those to whom he preaches. What does it amount to if a man preach unless he feels what he preaches? Certainly no one can be moved or edified. But Anderson was not a cold, lifeless man. He loved to preach, though he felt a deep sense of unfitness. And it can be truly said of his little church, as was said of the early church: "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women."
It was seen by the prophetic eye of Anderson that an association would be the means of bringing the people together. Accordingly he went to work to organize an association that would take into its arms all the feeble communities or churches that had no pastor. In due time all arrangements were perfected, and a call issued for the neighboring churches to send their pastor and two delegates to sit in council with the Salem Baptist Church on Wood River, to consider the propriety of calling into existence such an organization. After the usual preliminary services, Rev. D. W. Anderson stated the object of the meeting, and urged the immediate action of the council in the matter. After the usual amount of debate incident to such an occasion, the proper steps were taken for the organization of an association to be called the "Wood River Baptist Association," with Rev. Duke W. Anderson as its first Moderator, to meet on Wood River annually. What a triumph! that day was the proudest of his life! He had spoken to the poor disheartened Baptists for fifty miles around, who were cold and indifferent to the Master's cause: "Awake! and stand upon your feet! Come with me to help the Lord against the mighty! Let us organize for the conflict. There is much to do; so, let us be about our Master's work." The call sent forth breathed new life into the people, and was the signal for united effort in the cause of the Lord.
It was not enough that an association was formed, it was not enough that a few churches were represented in that association; but it must do definite work. It must organize where organization was needed; it must send out missionaries into the destitute places, and give the Gospel to the poor. Thus Anderson reasoned; and the association heard him. Gradually the Wood River Association grew and extended its workings throughout the entire State of Illinois.
It was evident that the associational gatherings were growing so large that it was impossible to accommodate them. He advised the people to build quarters sufficient to accommodate all. Accordingly two or three rows of small houses were erected for the people to live in each year during the time the association was in session. People now came yearly from every part of the State. The great distances did not detain them. Like the Jews who returned to Jerusalem every year to attend the feast, they were glad when the time came to rest from their accustomed duties and journey toward Wood River. It was a delightful gathering. Brother ministers met and compared notes; while young men and maidens gently ministered at the tables, and led the prayer-meetings.
They enjoyed those meetings. There were no conventionalities or forms to check the spirit of Christian love. There was perfect liberty. There were no strangers; for they were the children of one common father. They were as one family, and had all things in common. The utmost order and harmony characterized their gatherings. Not a cross word escaped a single lip. Not a rude act, on the part of the boys, could be seen. Boys, in those days, had the profoundest respect for their seniors, and held a minister of the Gospel in all the simplicity of a boy's esteem.
In the morning of the first day of their meeting the association was called to order by the "Moderator," and opened with prayer and a hymn. Then, after the usual business, a sermon was preached. In the afternoon a doctrinal sermon was preached and discussed; and in the evening a missionary sermon was delivered.
Like the Apostle Paul he could say to the ministers of his day, that he had labored more abundantly than they all. He worked with his hands and preached the Gospel, esteeming it an honor. The church over which he presided had grown to one hundred and fifty active members, besides a large and attentive congregation. This church had been gathered through his incomparable assiduity. He had come into their midst with a heart glowing with the love of God. He had shown himself an excellent farmer, faithful teacher, and consistent Christian. He had led one hundred and fifty souls to Christ. That was not all. In the pulpit he had taught them the fundamental principles of Christianity, and demonstrated those principles in his daily life. His royal manhood towered high over the community, until he became to the whole people a perfect measure of every thing that is lovely and of good report.
He had every thing just as he could wish. He was proprietor of an eighty-acre farm, pastor of a flourishing church, schoolmaster of the community, enthroned in the affections of the people for whose well-being he had worked for seven years,—he might have remained the unrivalled and undisputed king of Woodburn community. But considerations rising high above his mere personal interests, led him to make a great sacrifice in selling his farm, severing his relation as pastor and teacher with a people whom he loved dearly, and who regarded him with a sort of superstitious reverence. The object of the change was that he might move to Quincy, Ill., where he might give his children a thorough education. He secured a scholarship in Knox College for his eldest son, Luther Morgan Anderson, and permission for him to attend. He put his son George W., and daughter, Elizabeth Anderson, to study in the Missionary Institute near Quincy. He now gave his time to farming, preaching, missionary service, and underground railroad work. His son, George W., says, concerning Missionary Institute: "At Missionary Institute the atmosphere was more mild, but such was the continued pressure by the slave-holding border of Mo., offering large rewards for the heads of the Institution, as well for those who were known to be connected with the underground railroad, that the Institution after having done much good went down."
The years of his residence at Quincy were full of public excitement, peril, and strife. He was a spirited, progressive, and representative man. This was the time of the Illinois Prohibition Law, making it a criminal offence to aid or encourage a runaway slave. The slavery question was being sharply discussed in all quarters, and began to color and modify the politics of the day. Anderson was a sharp, ready, and formidable debater, and was the most prominent Colored man in that section of the country. He was gifted in the use of good English, had an easy flow of language, was master of the most galling satire, quick in repartee, prompt to see a weak point and use it to the best advantage. He was a pungent and racy writer, and for a number of years contributed many able articles to the "Quincy Whig." He never spared slavery. In the pulpit, in the public prints, and in private, he fought manfully against the nefarious traffic in human flesh.
Dangerous as was the position he took he felt himself on the side of truth, humanity, and God, and consequently felt that no harm could reach him. At this time, to the duties of farmer, pastor, and contributor he added the severe and perilous duty of a missionary. He canvassed the State, preaching and lecturing against slavery. Often he was confronted by a mob who defied him, bantered him, but he always spoke. He was in every sense the child of nature, endowed with herculean strength, very tall, with a face beaming with benevolence and intelligence. He appeared at his best when opposed, and was enabled by his commanding presence, his phenomenal voice, and burning eloquence to quiet and win the most obstreperous mob.
It was quite easy for a man to be carried away by the irresistible enthusiasm of the excited multitude, and think the rising of the animal spirits the impulses of his better nature. But, for a man to be moved from within, to feel the irresistible power of truth, to feel that except he obeys the voice of his better nature he is arraigned by conscience—though the whole world without is against him, such a man is a hero, deserving of the gratitude and praise of the world.
There were heroes in the days of Anderson, and he was worthy of the high place he held among them. He was possessed of genius of the highest order. He appreciated the times in which he lived. He was equal to the work of his generation, and did not shrink from any work howsoever perilous. He worked between the sluggish conservatism of the anti-slavery element on the one hand, and the violent, mobocratic slave element on the other. Hence, the school of religious and political sentiment to which he belonged had few disciples and encountered many hardships. It was a desperate struggle between an ignorant, self-seeking majority and an intelligent, self-sacrificing minority. It often appears that vice has more votaries than virtue, that might is greater than right, and that wrong has the right of way. But in the light of reason, history, and philosophy, we see the divinity of truth and the mortality of error. We look down upon the great spiritual conflict going on in this world—in society and government,—and seeing the mutations of fortune we think we see truth worsted, and sound the funeral requiem of our fondest hopes, our most cherished ideals.
But the mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. Time rewards the virtuous and patient. It was faith in God, united with a superior hope, that gave him strength in the darkest hours of the "irrepressible conflict."
He was a faithful and indefatigable worker; and the State Missionary Society honored him by thrice choosing him as State Missionary. About this time he became an active member of the "Underground Railroad." His presence, bearing, and high character carried conviction. He made men feel his superiority. He was, consequently, a safe counsellor and a successful manager. He was soon elevated to an official position, which he filled with honor and satisfaction. Many slaves were helped to their freedom by his efforts and advice. He was bold, yet discreet; wise without pedantry; humble without religious affectation; firm without harshness; kind without weakness.
The conflict between slavery and freedom grew hotter and hotter; and the spirit of intolerance became more general. Anderson had proven himself an able defender of human freedom and a formidable enemy to slavery. But it seemed as if his efforts in the great aggregate of good were unavailing. His high hopes of educating his children were blasted in the burning of Missionary Institute by a mob from Missouri. It was evident that the slave power would leave no stone unturned in order to accomplish their cowardly and inhuman designs. It was not enough to destroy the only school where all races could be educated together, to disturb the meetings of the few anti-slavery men who dared to discuss a question that they believed involved the golden rule and hence the well-being of the oppressed,—they put a price on his head. He was to be hung to the first tree if caught upon the sacred soil of Missouri. He was secretly, though closely watched. One of his sons writes: "He took a deep interest in the Underground Railroad in connection with a Mr. Turner and Vandorn of Quincy, and a Mr. Hunter and Payne of Missionary Institute. These gentlemen, I believe, with the exception of Mr. Payne, are alive and extensively known in the North."
He was not lacking in the qualities of moral or physical bravery. He could not be bought or bullied. He was unmovable when he felt he was right. The bitterest assaults of his enemies only drove him nearer his ideas, not from them. He might have lived and died in Quincy if he had not greatly desired the education of his children, who were denied such privileges in the destruction of the institute.
At this time intelligent, to say nothing of educated, ministers were few and far between. St. Louis was blessed with an excellent minister in the person of the Rev. Richard Anderson. He was a man of some education, fine manners, good judgment, and deep piety; beloved and respected by all classes both in and out of the church, white and black. The Rev. Galusha Anderson, D.D., who pronounced the funeral sermon over the remains of Richard Anderson, says he had the largest funeral St. Louis ever witnessed. His servant, who had been an attendant upon the ministrations of Richard Anderson, said mournfully, when asked by the doctor if they missed him: "Ah, sir, he led us as by a spider web!" Richard Anderson saw Duke William Anderson and loved him. He saw in the young man high traits of character, and in his rare gifts auguries of a splendid career. He saw the danger he lived in, the hopeless condition of public sentiment, and advised him to accept the pastoral charge of the Baptist church in Buffalo, N. Y., where also he could educate his children.
Buffalo was an anti-slavery stronghold. The late Gerrit Smith was chief of the party in that section of New York. By his vast wealth, his high personal character, his deeply-rooted convictions, his wide-spread and consistent opposition to slavery, he was the most conspicuous character in the State, and made many converts to the anti-slavery cause. Buffalo was the centre of anti-slavery operations. Many conventions and conferences were held there. It was only twenty-four miles to the Canadian boundaries, hence it was the last and most convenient station of the U. G. R. R.
It was now about 1854-1855. The anti-slavery sentiment was a recognized and felt power in the politics of the Nation. Anderson appeared in Buffalo just in time to participate in the debates that were rendering that city important. He took the pastoral charge of the Baptist church and high standing as a leader. He remained here quite two years or more, during which time he used the pulpit and the press as the vehicles of his invectives against slavery. He did not have to go to men, they went to him. He was a great moral magnet, and attracted the best men of the city. The white clergy recognized in him the qualities of a preacher and leader worthy of their admiration and recognition. The Rev. Charles Dennison and other white brethren invited him to their pulpits, where he displayed preaching ability worthy of the intelligent audiences that listened to his eloquent discourses.
His stay in Buffalo was salutary. By his industry and usefulness he became widely known and highly respected. And when he accepted a call from the Groghan Street Baptist Church, of Detroit, Michigan, his Buffalo friends were conscious that in his departure from them they sustained a very great loss.
It was now the latter part of 1857. The anti-slavery conflict was at its zenith. This controversy, as do all moral controversies, had brought forth many able men; had furnished abundant material for satire and rhetoric. This era presented a large and brilliant galaxy of Colored orators. There were Frederick Douglass—confessedly the historic Negro of America,—Charles L. Remond, Charles L. Reason, William Wells Brown, Henry Highland Garnett, Martin R. Delany, James W. C. Pennington, Robert Purvis, Phillip A. Bell, Charles B. Ray, George T. Downing, George B. Vashon, William C. Nell, Samuel A. Neale, William Whipper, Ebenezer D. Bassett, William Howard Day, William Still, Jermain W. Loguen, Leonard A. Grimes, John Sella Martin, and many others. Duke William Anderson belonged to the same school of orators.
The church at Detroit had been under the pastoral charge of the Rev. William Troy, who had accepted the pulpit of the Baptist church in Windsor, Canada West, and started to England to solicit funds to complete a beautiful edifice already in process of erection. At this time John Sella Martin had obtained considerable notoriety as an orator. He had canvassed the Western States in the interest of the anti-slavery cause, and was now residing in Detroit. He was baptized and ordained by Brethren Anderson and Troy, and took charge of the church at Buffalo.
Detroit lies in a salubrious atmosphere, upon Detroit River, not far from Lake Erie; and at this time was not lacking in a high social and moral atmosphere. The field was the most congenial he had yet labored in. He found an excellent church-membership, an intelligent and progressive people. He was heartily welcomed and highly appreciated. He entered into the work with zeal, and imparted an enthusiasm to the people. He developed new elements of strength in the church. He attracted a large, cultivated audience, and held them to the last day he remained in the city. His audience was not exclusively Colored: some of the best white families were regular attendants upon his preaching; and they contributed liberally to his support. Detroit had never seen the peer of Duke William Anderson in the pulpit. He did not simply attract large congregations on the Sabbath, but had a warm place in the affections of all classes, and a personal moral influence, which added much to the spirituality of the church. In every church, thus far, he had been blessed with a revival of religion, and souls had been added as "seals to his ministry." Detroit was no exception to the rule. Under his leadership, through his preaching and pastoral visitations the church was aroused, and the result a revival. Many were added to the church.
It was now the spring of 1858. John Brown, the protomartyr of freedom, by his heroism, daring, intrepid perseverance, inspired,—swallowed with one great idea, had stirred all Kansas and Missouri to fear, and carried off eleven slaves to Canada and set them free. He had established his headquarters at Chatham, Canada West, and begun the work of organization preparatory to striking the blow at Harper's Ferry. Brown held his first convention at Chatham—only a few hours' ride from Detroit—on May 8, 1858, at 10 o'clock A.M. The convention was composed of some very able men. The following-named gentlemen composed the convention: Wm. Charles Monroe, President of the Convention; G. J. Reynolds, J. C. Grant, A. J. Smith, James M. Jones, Geo. B. Gill, M. F. Bailey, Wm. Lambert, C. W. Moffitt, John J. Jackson, J. Anderson, Alfred Whipple, James M. Bue, Wm. H. Leeman, Alfred M. Ellsworth, John E. Cook, Stewart Taylor, James W. Purnell, Geo. Akin, Stephen Detlin, Thomas Hickinson, John Cannet, Robinson Alexander, Richard Realf, Thomas F. Cary, Thomas W. Stringer, Richard Richardson, J. T. Parsons, Thos. M. Kinnard, Martin R. Delany, Robert Vanrankin, Charles H. Tidd, John A. Thomas, C. Whipple, J. D. Shad, Robert Newman, Owen Brown, John Brown, J. H. Harris, Charles Smith, Simon Fislin, Isaac Hotley, James Smith. Signed, J. H. Kagi. The following is the list of officers elected:
Commander-in-chief, John Brown; Secretary of War, J. H. Kagi; Members of Congress, Alfred M. Ellsworth, Osborn Anderson; Treasurer, Owen Brown; Secretary of Treasury, Geo. B. Gill; Secretary of State, Richard Realf.
The reader will see that two Andersons are mentioned, J. Anderson and Osborn Anderson. [Who these gentlemen are, the author does not know, nor has he any means of knowing.]
Rev. D. W. Anderson's ministry in Detroit was a success both in and out of the pulpit, both among his parishioners and among those of the world.
His wife was in every sense a pastor's wife. She bore for him the largest sympathy in his work; and cheered him with her prayers and presence in every good cause. She was intelligent and pious, loved by the church, honored by society. She found pleasure in visiting the sick, helping the poor, comforting the sorrowful, and in instructing the erring in ways of peace.
It is almost impossible to compute the value of a pastor's wife who appreciates the work of saving souls. If she is a good woman her influence is unbounded. Every person loves her, every person looks up to her. There are so many little things that she can do, if not beyond the province of the pastor, often out of range of his influence. Mrs. Anderson was all that could be hoped as a pastor's wife. She was of medium size, in complexion light, rather reserved in her manners, affable in address, very sensitive in her physical and mental constitution. Much of Anderson's service in Detroit must go to the account of his sainted wife. And it may not be irrelevant to remark that every minister of Christ's influence and success is perceptibly modified by his wife—much depends upon her!
Eighteen years of happy wedded life had passed. It was the autumn of 1860. Mrs. Anderson's health was failing. Her presence was missed from the church, from society, and at last on the 23d of October, 1860, she died.
On the 18th of March, 1861, he married again, Mrs. Eliza Julia Shad, of Chatham, Canada. He turned his attention to farming for a while, in order to regain his health.
At the close of the war he went South and taught in a theological institution at Nashville. Soon after he began his work here he received and accepted a call from the 19th Street Baptist Church of Washington, D. C. Washington was in a vile condition at the close of the war. Its streets were mud holes; its inhabitants crowded and jammed by the troops and curious Negroes from the plantations. Society was in a critical condition. There was great need of a leader for the Colored people. D. W. Anderson was that man. He entered upon his work with zeal and intelligence. He carried into the pulpit rare abilities, and into the parish work a genial, kindly nature which early gave him a place in the affections and confidence of his flock.
As a preacher he was a marvel. He generally selected his text early in the week. He studied its exegesis, made the plan of the sermon, and then began to choose his illustrations and fill in. On Sunday he would rise in his pulpit, a man six feet two and a half inches, and in a rich, clear, deliberate voice commence an extemporaneous discourse. His presence was majestic. With a massive head, much like that of John Adams, a strong brown eye that flashed as he moved on in his discourse, a voice sweet and well modulated, but at times rising to tones of thunder, graceful, ornate, forcible, and dramatic, he was the peer of any clergyman in Washington, and of Negroes there were none his equal.
He showed himself a power in the social life of his people by being himself a living epistle. He encouraged the young, and set every one who knew him an example of fidelity and efficiency in the smaller matters of life.
His early experiences were now in demand. The entire community recognized in him the elements of magnificent leadership. He was in great demand in every direction. He was elected a Trustee of the Howard University, of the Freedman's Saving Bank and Trust Company, Commissioner of Washington Asylum, Sept. 3d, 1871, and Justice of the Peace, 8th of April, 1869, and 9th of April, 1872. The vast amount of work he did on the outside did not impair his usefulness as a pastor or his faithfulness as a minister of the Gospel. On the contrary he gathered ammunition and experience from every direction. He made every thing help him in his preparation for the pulpit. His deep spiritual life, his nearness to the Master gave him power with men. No winter passed without a revival of grace and the conversion of scores of sinners. Thus the work continued until the house was both too small and unsafe. Plans were drawn and steps taken to build a new church edifice.
On the first Sunday in March, 1871, the old house of worship, on the corner of Nineteenth and I streets was abandoned, and the congregation went to worship in the Stevens School building. The corner-stone of the new building was laid on the 5th of April, 1871, and the new edifice dedicated on the 19th of November, 1871, five months after the work had begun. The dedicatory exercises were as follows:
At eleven o'clock precisely. Rev. D. W. Anderson, pastor in charge, announced that the hour for the religious exercises to commence had arrived, and he took pleasure in introducing his predecessor. Rev. Samuel W. Madden, of Alexandria, Va., who gave out the 934th hymn, which was sung with considerable fervor and spirit, the entire congregation rising and participating; after which, Rev. Jas. A. Handy, read from the 6th chapter, 2d Chronicles, and also addressed the throne of grace.
"Lift up your heads, ye eternal gates" was admirably rendered by the choir, when the following letter was read from the President:
"Executive Mansion, }
Washington, Nov. 18, 1871. }"To Rev. D. W. Anderson, No. 1971 I Street,
"Sir: The President directs me to say that your note of the 8th inst., inviting him to be present at the dedication of your church, was mislaid during his absence from the city, and was not brought to his notice till to-day. He regrets that his engagements will not admit of his attendance at the time you mention. He congratulates your congregation upon the completion of so handsome a place of worship, and hopes that its dedication may prove an occasion of deep interest to all who share in a desire to promote the spread of the Christian religion.
"I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Rev. Henry Williams, of Petersburg, Va., who was announced to preach the dedicatory sermon, selected the following words: "And he was afraid, and said: How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
Prominent among those present, who had been invited by Rev. Mr. Anderson, were His Excellency Governor H. D. Cooke, Hon. N. P. Chipman, Delegate to Congress; A. L. Sturtevant, Esq., Chief of Stationery Bureau, Treasury Department; Ed. Young, Esq., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics; Hon. A. K. Browne, Col. Wm. A. Cook, Dr. A. T. Augusta, and Wm. H. Thompson, Esq., of Philadelphia. While, seated around the altar, were Rev. Leonard A. Grimes, of Boston; Rev. Samuel. W Madden, of Alexandria, Va.; Rev. Geo. W. Goins, of Philadelphia; Rev. Jas. A. Handy, Washington; and Rev. Wm. Troy, Richmond, Va. At three o'clock, Rev. Leonard A. Grimes officiated and delivered an eloquent sermon.
A work of grace followed the dedication of the church; and from month to month souls were converted. On the 21st of January, 1873, he wrote the following letter to a Baptist minister residing in Chicago:
"1921, I Street, Washington, D. C., Jan. 21, 1873.
"Rev. R. DeBaptist:
"Dear Brother: I write to inform you of a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God in the 19th Street Baptist Church of which I am pastor. Without any especial effort, up to the last few days, there have been one to five converted every month, for the past seven years, in the congregation. This led too many to think that that was enough. At our watch-meeting I asked how many there were who would come to the front pews and kneel before God as a token to Christians to pray for them, and ten came. We had no other meeting until my weekly lecture, the first Thursday night in January after it. I saw a great feeling and called again; and there came twenty-two. The brethren and sisters decided to hold meeting the next night, and there came thirty-two who were converted. Now, at this date, Monday night, 20th, there came forward 'ninety-seven'; and there were over a hundred on their knees praying. Twenty-two found peace in believing last night.
"We are all well. Pray for us. Write soon.
"Yours ever,
He was taken sick on the 7th of February, 1873, and after a painful illness of eleven days, he fell asleep on the 17th of February, full of years and honors, and was gathered to the fathers. On the Monday evening, just before he died, he told his wife, daughter, and a small company of friends who surrounded his death-bed: "It's all well," and then, at 7:30 P.M., quietly "fell on sleep."
The news of his death cast gloom into thousands of hearts, and evoked eulogies and letters of condolence never before bestowed upon a Negro. His death was to the members of his church in the nature of a personal bereavement. The various interests to which he had loaned the enlightening influence of his judgment and the beneficence of his presence mourned his loss, and expressed their grief in appropriate resolutions. His life and character formed a fitting theme for the leading pulpits; and the Baptist denomination, the Negro race, and the nation sincerely mourned the loss of a great preacher, an able leader, and a pure patriot.
At the request of many people of both races and political parties, his body was placed in state in the church for twenty-four hours, and thousands of people, rich and poor, black and white, sorrowfully gazed upon the face of the illustrious dead. The funeral services were held on the 20th of February, and his obsequies were the largest Washington had ever seen, except those of the late Abraham Lincoln. The church was crowded to suffocation, and the streets for many squares were filled with solemn mourners. Thus a great man had fallen. The officers of the Freedman's Bank passed the following resolutions, which were forwarded with the accompanying letter from the president:
"Office of the Freedman's Savings and Trust }
Company, Washington, D. C., Feb. 20th, 1873. }"At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, held this date, the following resolutions were adopted:
"1st. Resolved, That in the death of the Rev. D. W. Anderson, Trustee and Vice-President of this Company, we sustain the loss of a most excellent Christian man, and an officer of highest integrity. In all his relations to us he was an endeared associate, and an honored, intelligent, co-worker: ever firm in purpose and faithful to those for whom he labored. Our long intercourse with him impressed us with the increasing value of his services to the church of which he was pastor, and to this institution.
"We also hereby express our sincere sympathy with his immediate friends, and especially his afflicted family.
"2d. Resolved, That, as an added expression of our esteem, this Board will attend and take part in his funeral services, as a body.
"3d. Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon our Records, and that a copy of the same be transmitted to his family."
"Principal Office, }
Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, }
Washington, D. C., Feb. 21, '73. }"To Mrs. D. W. Anderson.
"My Dear Sister: Allow me to transmit to you the enclosed copy of resolutions passed by the Board of Trustees of the F. S. and T. Comp., with the sincerest assurances of my personal sympathy.
"Very respectfully, yours, etc.,
The Board of the Commissioners of the Washington Asylum passed the following resolutions of condolence:
"Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life the Rev. D. W. Anderson, late President of this Board: therefore,
"Be it resolved, That in his death we have lost an honorable and faithful associate, a genial and kind-hearted friend, whom we delighted to honor and respect for his many virtues and sterling worth. In him the poor have lost a sympathizing friend; the criminal an even dispenser of Justice, and the Government one of its most efficient officers.
"Resolved, That we tender our most sincere sympathy to his bereaved family, and condole with them in this sad dispensation of Divine Providence.
"Resolved, That the resolutions be entered upon the Journal of proceedings of this Board, and a copy sent to the family of the lamented deceased.
"Mrs. D. W. Anderson,
Present."
The Young People's Christian Association, which he had founded, have spread the following resolutions of respect upon their minutes:
"Whereas, It has pleased the Supreme Ruler and Architect of the Universe to remove from our Association our beloved and estimable brother and Corresponding Secretary D. W. Anderson, whose Christian life was a beacon light, for all associated with him to follow, being humble, patient, forbearing, and forgiving, Therefore,
"Resolved, That in his death we have lost an humble and true Christian, possessing the same prominent characteristics which distinguished the Saviour of Mankind, doing good whenever he believed he was serving his Heavenly Master, administering to the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, binding up the wounds of those offended, and laboring zealously for the salvation of souls, but while we feel the severe stroke of death that has stricken down one of our best members, we bow humbly to the will of Divine Providence, 'who doeth all things well,' believing that He has summoned our brother to dwell with Him in peace and happiness and to join the Army that is continually singing praises to Him who rules both the Heavens and the earth, so we cheerfully bow and acknowledge that our loss is his eternal gain.
"Resolved, That we tender to his bereaved family our sincere and Christian sympathy in this their hour of bereavement, and pray that He who has promised to be a Husband to the Widow, and a Father to the Fatherless, may keep and protect them.
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be engrossed and sent to the family of our deceased brother, and that the same be entered upon the records of the Association."
And the church testified their love and sorrow in the following beautiful resolves:
"Baptist Church,
Corner of 19th & I Streets,
Washington, D. C., Feb. 28, 1873."Whereas, It has pleased the Almighty God, the Supreme Ruler of the universe to remove from us our much esteemed and beloved Pastor,
"Reverend D. W. Anderson,
"therefore, be it,
"Resolved, That we deeply deplore and lament the loss of so great and noble a pioneer in the cause of Christ, one who, like Christ, although scorned, traduced and ill-treated by enemies, went forward and labored in and out of his church for the promotion of the work of his Father in Heaven.
"Resolved, that as a Church we feel the severe stroke that has summoned from us our dearly beloved Pastor; but knowing that our loss is his eternal gain, we cheerfully submit to the will and order of that God who does all things well, that God who controls the destinies of nations, kingdoms, and empires, that God who 'moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.'
"Resolved, That we will endeavor by the assistance of our heavenly Master to live up to the teachings and examples set by our shepherd, thereby believing that when we are summoned to appear at the bar of God we will meet our Pastor in that grand Church above where 'sickness, pain, sorrow, or death is feared and felt no more,' 'where congregations ne'er break up, and Sabbath hath no end,' where 'we will sing hosannas to our heavenly King, where we will meet to part no more forever.'
"Resolved, That we, the Church, extend to the bereaved family our heartfelt sympathies, and that a copy of these resolutions be sent to them, and also entered on the Church journal.
"David Warner, Clerk."
The Mite Society of his church erected a monument to his memory in Harmony Cemetery, bearing the following inscriptions:
"The Christian Mite Society of the 19th Street Baptist Church render this tribute to the memory of their beloved pastor. We shall go to him, but he shall not return to us.
"Rev. D. W. Anderson,
"Born April 10th, 1812. Died Feb. 17th, 1873.
"'I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.'"He was ordained in 1844, and after a ministry of 21 years settled with the 19th Street Baptist Church of Washington, D. C., where he fell asleep in the midst of a great revival.
"For the cause of education, the welfare of the poor, the promotion of humanity, liberty, and the conversion of the world.
"He labored faithfully until the Master called him hence."
This beautiful life was studded with the noblest virtues. From obscurity and poverty Duke William Anderson had risen to fame and honors; and having spent a useful life, died in the midst of a great revival in the capital of the nation, holding more positions of trust than any other man, white or black; died with harness on, and left a name whose lustre will survive the corroding touch of time.
The Rev. James Poindexter, of Columbus, Ohio, and the Rev. Wallace Shelton, of Cincinnati, are now and have been for years the foremost Baptist ministers of Ohio. Both men came to Ohio more than a generation ago, and have proven themselves able ministers of Christ.
But of New England Baptist ministers Leonard Andrew Grimes is of most blessed memory.
It was some time during the year 1840, when disputings arose—about what is not known—within the membership of what was known as the "First Independent Baptist Church," of Boston, Mass., which resulted in the drawing out from the same of about forty members. This party was led by the Rev. Mr. Black, who had been, for some time, pastor of the church he now left. They secured a place of worship in Smith Court, off of Joy Street, where they continued for a considerable space of time. It was not long, however, after they began to worship in their new home, before their highly esteemed and venerable leader was stricken down with disease, from which he subsequently died.
This little band was now without a leader, and was, consequently, speedily rent by a schism within its own circle. But in the nucleus that finally became the Twelfth Baptist Church, there were faithful men and women who believed in the integrity of their cause, and, therefore, stood firm. They believed that "He who was for them was greater than all they who were against them." Though few in number, they felt that "one shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight," was a very pertinent passage when applied to themselves. And those who have been blessed to see that little "company of believers" grow to be an exceedingly large and prosperous church of Christ must be persuaded that God alone gave "the increase."
For a long time this little company struggled on without a leader. They were called upon to walk through many discouraging scenes, and to humble themselves under the remorseless hand of poverty. Unable to secure, permanently, the services of a clergyman, they were driven to the necessity of obtaining whomsoever they could when the Sabbath came. And what a blessed thing it was for them that they were placed under the severe discipline of want! It taught them humility and faith—lessons often so hard to acquire. They bore their trials heroically, and esteemed it great joy to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ. When one Sabbath was ended they knew not whom the Lord would send the next; and yet they never suffered for the "Word of God." For He who careth for the lilies of the field, and bears up the falling sparrow, fed them with the "bread of life," and gave them to drink of the waters of salvation. "Unto the poor the Gospel was preached."
After a few years of pain and waiting, after the watching and praying, the hoping and fearing, God seemed pleased to hear the prayers of this lonely band, and gave them a leader. It was whispered in the community that a very intelligent and useful man, by the name of "Grimes," of New Bedford, could be retained as their leader. After some deliberation upon the matter, they chose one of their number to pay a visit to "Brother Leonard A. Grimes, of New Bedford," and on behalf of the company worshipping in "an upper room," on Belknap Street—now Joy Street—Boston, extended him an invitation to come and spend a Sabbath with them. In accordance with their request he paid them a visit. Impressed with the dignity of his bearing, and the earnestness of his manner, the company was unanimous in an invitation, inviting "the young preacher" to return and remain with them for "three months."
The invitation was accepted with alacrity, and the work begun with a zeal worthy of the subsequent life of "the beloved pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church." Brother L. A. Grimes had been driven North on account of his friendly and humane relations to the oppressed. He had been incarcerated by the laws of slave-holding Virginia, for wresting from her hand, and piloting into the land of freedom, those whom slavery had marked as her children—or, rather, her "goods." A soul like his was too grand to live in such an atmosphere. In keeping the golden rule, he had insulted the laws of the institution under whose merciless sway thousands of human beings were groaning. He would live no longer where his convictions of duty were to be subordinated to, and palliated by, the penurious and cruel teaching of the slave institution. So, after having been robbed of his property, he left, in company with his family, for the fair shores of New England. He had sought no distinction, but had settled down to a quiet life in New Bedford. But a man of his worth could not stay in the quiet walks of life; he was born to lead, and heard God call him to the work his soul loved.
His quiet, unpretentious ministry of "three months" shadowed forth the loving, gentle, yet vigorous and successful ministry of a quarter of a century; a ministry so like the Master's, not confined to sect or nationality, limited only by the wants of humanity and the great heart-love that went gushing out to friend and foe. Those who were so happy as to sit under his ministry for the "three months" were quite unwilling to be separated from one whose ministry had so greatly comforted and built them up. In the young preacher they had found a leader of excellent judgment, a pastor of tender sympathies, and a father who loved them with all the strength of true manly affection. How could they retain him? They were poor. How could they release him? They loved him. After much prayer and pleading, Brother Grimes was secured as their leader, with a salary at the rate of $100 per annum. He returned to New Bedford and moved his family to Boston. His salary barely paid his rent; but by working with his hands, as Paul did, and through the industry of his wife, he was enabled to get along.
During all this time this little company of believers was without "church organization." At length a council was called and their prayer for organization presented. After the procedure common to such councils, it was voted that this company of Christian men and women be organized as the "Twelfth Baptist Church." The church consisted of twenty-three members.
On the evening of the 24th of November, 1848, occurred the services of the recognition of the church, and the ordination of Rev. L. A. Grimes as its pastor. The order of exercises was as follows:
Reading of Scriptures and prayer, by the Rev. Edmund Kelley; sermon, by the Rev. J. Banvard, subject: "The way of salvation," from Acts xvi, 17: "The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation"; hand of fellowship to the church, by the Rev. T. F. Caldicott; prayer of recognition and ordination, by the Rev. John Blain; charge to the candidate, by the Rev. Nathaniel Colver; address to the church, by the Rev. Rollin H. Neale; concluding prayer, by the Rev. Sereno Howe; benediction, by the pastor, Rev. Leonard A. Grimes.
The exercises were of a very pleasant nature, and of great interest to the humble little church that assembled to enjoy them. It was an occasion of no small moment that published to the world the "Twelfth Baptist Church," and sent upon a mission of love and mercy, Leonard Andrew Grimes! It was an occasion that has brought great strength to the Colored people of Boston, yea, of the country! It was the opening of a door; it was the loosening of chains, the beginning of a ministry that was to stretch over a period of twenty-five years, carrying peace and blessing to men in every station. And may we not, with propriety, halt upon the threshold of our gratitude, and thank that wise Being who gave him, a blessing to the church a friend to humanity?
Happy, thrice happy, was the little church that had wedded itself for life to one who had laid himself upon the altar of their common cause. These relations and manifold responsibilities were not hastily or 3rashly assumed. The little church felt keenly its poverty and weakness, while its new pastor knew that the road to prosperity lay through fields of toil and up heights of difficulty. Before him was no dark future, for the light of an extraordinary faith scattered the darkness as he advanced to duty. What man of intelligence, without capital or social influence, would have undertaken so discouraging a project as that to which Leonard A. Grimes unconditionally brought the sanctified zeal of a loving heart? To him it was purely a matter of duty, and it was this thought that urged him on with his almost superhuman burdens.
But to return to the "upper chamber," and take one more look at the happy little church. It was not the pastor's object to begin at once to perfect plans to secure a place more desirable to worship in than their present little room. His heart longed for that enlargement of soul secured by a nearness to the divine Master. His heart yearned after those who were enemies to the "cross of Christ." His first prayer was: "O Lord, revive thy work!" and it was not offered in vain. A season of prayer was instituted for the outpouring of the Spirit. The pastor led the way to the throne of grace in a fervent and all-embracing prayer. A spirit of prayer fell upon his people. Every heart trembled in tenderest sympathy for those who were strangers to the "covenant of mercy"; every eye was dampened with tears of gratitude and love; every tongue was ready to exclaim with Watts:—