History of the Negro Race in America Volume II Part 62

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 pa.s.sing 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 cla.s.ses.

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 c.o.ker, 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 c.o.ker, 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 G.o.d 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 $6,267.43 Amount raised for general purposes $963.59

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 a.s.sist 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.