John W. Stevenson (minister)

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John W. Stevenson
Born(1835-08-15)August 15, 1835
Baltimore, Maryland
Died October 1, 1898(1898-10-01) (aged 63)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation Minister
Religion African Methodist Episcopal Church

John W. Stevenson (August 15, 1835 - October 1, 1898) was an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church minister. He was the financier and builder of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, which was the largest black church in the country at the time of its building. He was a talented fundraiser and built a number of other churches and was pastor of many churches in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. He was an important figure in the church and eventually held the position of presiding Elder of the New York district.

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church church building in Washington, D.C., United States of America

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church located at 1518 M Street, N.W., in downtown Washington, D.C. It affiliates with the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Maryland State of the United States of America

Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. The state's largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after the English queen Henrietta Maria, known in England as Queen Mary.

New Jersey State of the United States of America

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is located on a peninsula, bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, particularly along the extent of the length of New York City on its western edge; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on the southwest by the Delaware Bay and Delaware. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but the 11th-most populous, with 9 million residents as of 2017, and the most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states; its biggest city is Newark. New Jersey lies completely within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia. New Jersey was the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income as of 2017.

Contents

Early life

Stevenson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 15, 1835, to John and Ann Stevenson. In 1840, the couple and their six children moved to Trinidad where Stevenson's father died within a year. His mother returned to Baltimore, with the six children and a seventh child which had been born to them during the passage. Stevenson was then bound out to work on the farm of J. P. Stamly. Stevenson was not considered well behaved and was sold four times until, at eighteen, he succeeded in purchasing his own times with earnings of extra labor. He moved to Philadelphia and took worth with a barber, and then a porter at the drug store of Henry Kollock. Stevenson showed himself to be talented and store clerks William Kearney and his brother began to teach him. Kollock sent Stevenson to a black physician practicing in the city, Dr. Wilson, so that Stevenson could learn medicine. Wilson sent Stevenson to the Philadelphia University of Eclectic Medicine where he took lessons from Professor Woodward. [1]

Trinidad The larger of the two major islands which make up the nation of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies 11 km (6.8 mi) off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. Though geographically part of the South American continent, from a socio-economic standpoint it is often referred to as the southernmost island in the Caribbean. With an area of 4,768 km2 (1,841 sq mi), it is also the fifth largest in the West Indies.

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Ministry

In 1858, Stevenson felt he should follow a different path and was licensed to preach by Rev. Joshua Woodlin and became the adopted son of Bishop Jabez Pitt Campbell. He was also influenced by Bishop Willis Nazrey. Stevenson was sent to West Chester, Pennsylvania, and then to Freehold, New Jersey, where he worked as an itinerant preacher and physician. He was ordained a deacon in 1864 and attended the general conference of the A. M. E. church. He was then sent to the Oxford, Pennsylvania circuit. He took classes at Lincoln University in Oxford for three years, studying under Bishop Matthew Simpson. [1]

Jabez Pitt Campbell Eighth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church

Jabez Pitt Campbell was a minister, activist, philanthropist and the eighth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent African-American church in the United States.

West Chester, Pennsylvania Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 18,461 at the 2010 census.

Freehold Township, New Jersey Township in New Jersey

Freehold Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 36,184, reflecting an increase of 4,647 (+14.7%) from the 31,537 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 6,827 (+27.6%) from the 24,710 counted in the 1990 Census.

Stevenson was a noted financier of churches, having built six churches by 1867. [1] He wrote a pamphlet about his work and about the financing of church buildings. [2] In this pamphlet, he describes the circuit preaching he did and the churches he built. The first church he built was in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1859. He later moved to a new circuit and built two more in Snow Hill, New Jersey, and Milford, New Jersey, with the support of Ezra Evans, a Quaker. He then moved on to the Delaware Circuit headquartered at Camden, Delaware. There he started a church at Dover, Delaware, with only the foundation laid when he moved to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, where he completed the financing and building of a church there. While that work was ongoing he moved to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where he built another church. In 1874 he moved to Burlington, New Jersey, where in a place called Mount Holly he built a church and a school house and remodeled another church. Three years later he moved to Trenton, New Jersey, where there existed a church called,"Old Mount Zion." This church was to be taken down and a new, larger structure built. During this time he also built a church in Yardley, Pennsylvania, across the Delaware River from Trenton. [2]

Milford, New Jersey Borough in New Jersey, United States

Milford is a borough located in western Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 1,233, reflecting an increase of 38 (+3.2%) from the 1,195 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn declined by 78 (-6.1%) from the 1,273 counted in the 1990 Census.

Camden, Delaware Town in Delaware, United States

Camden is a town in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,464 at the 2010 census.

Dover, Delaware Capital of Delaware

Dover is the capital and second-largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, DE Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD Combined Statistical Area. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware River coastal plain. It was named by William Penn of Dover in Kent, England. As of 2010, the city had a population of 36,047.

Stevenson was then appointed presiding elder of the eastern district of New Jersey with headquarters at Trenton; a district which included Princeton, Pennington, Rahway, New Brunswick, Elizabeth, Newark, Orange, Paterson, Washington, Morristown, Freehold, and Jersey City. Stevenson worked with churches at those places to relieve debt and build, particularly helping finance a new chapel at Washington. In 1880, he was appointed by Bishop Daniel Payne to Union Bethel Church in Washington DC for the purpose of building a new church, which would become Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and was dedicated on May 30, 1886. [2] The cornerstone was laid in September, 1881. However, Stevenson's methods were upsetting to some of his congregation, and Stevenson was removed [3] after asking for a salary that was deemed too high. [4]

Washington, Pennsylvania City in Pennsylvania, United States

Washington, referred to locally as Little Washington to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Greater Pittsburgh Region in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 13,663 at the 2010 census.

Daniel Payne Methodist bishop and educator

Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.), Payne stressed education and preparation of ministers and introduced more order in the church, becoming its sixth bishop and serving for more than four decades (1852–1893) as well as becoming one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. In 1863 the AME Church bought the college and chose Payne to lead it; he became the first African-American president of a college in the United States and served in that position until 1877.

In July 1889, Stevenson was appointed presiding elder of the New York Conference, [5] and he became pastor at Brooklyn's Union Bethel Church. [6] He then moved to St. Paul's AME Church in Orange, New York. He was removed from that position by Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner in 1892 in a dispute about Stevenson's salary. [7] Stevenson then moved to Boston. [8]

Orange, New York Town in New York, United States

Orange is a town in Schuyler County, New York, United States. The population was 1,752 at the 2000 census.

Benjamin Tucker Tanner African Methodist Episcopal minister

Benjamin Tucker Tanner was an African American clergyman and editor. He served as a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1886, and founded the Christian Recorder, an important early African American newspaper.

Boston Capital city of Massachusetts, United States

Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 685,094 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in New England. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth-largest in the United States.

During his career, Stevenson frequently contributed writings and even poetry to the AME journal, the Recorder. [9]

End of career and death

Stevenson was superannuated in Philadelphia in May 1894. [10] Stevenson died in Philadelphia on October 1, 1898, and was buried on October 5. [11]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Tanner, Benj. T. An Apology for African Methodism" Baltimore, 1867 p183-186
  2. 1 2 3 selections from pamphlet and from Tanner's biography are in Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p820-828
  3. ↑ Cromwell, John W. "The First Negro Churches in the District of Columbia." The Journal of Negro History 7, no. 1 (1922): p73-75
  4. ↑ Pastor Stevenson's Scalp, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) June 1, 1888, page 1, accessed December 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7789148/pastor_stevensons_scalp_the_brooklyn/
  5. ↑ New York Note, Washington Bee (Washington, DC) July 13, 1889, page 3
  6. ↑ That African Church War, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) July 7, 1888, page 2, accessed December 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7789188/that_african_church_war_the_brooklyn/
  7. ↑ Threw Communion Bread at the Elder, The Sun (New York, New York) October 14, 1892, page 2, accessed December 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7789304/threw_communion_bread_at_the_elder_the/
  8. ↑ To Preach Tomorrow, Harrisburg Daily Independent (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) May 20, 1893, page 1, accessed December 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7789356/to_preach_tomorrow_harrisburg_daily/
  9. ↑ Gardner, Eric. Black print unbound: the Christian recorder, African American literature, and periodical culture. Oxford University Press, 2015. p139-150
  10. ↑ Colored Conference Work, The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) May 14, 1894, page 1, accessed December 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7789204/colored_conference_work_the_morning/
  11. ↑ "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803–1915." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2010. From originals housed at the Philadelphia City Archives. "Death Records."., accessed at Ancestry.com. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
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