James Andrew
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James Osgood Andrew (1794 - 1871)

Bishop James Osgood Andrew
Born in Wilkes County, Georgia, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and
Brother of , , and
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Husband of — married 14 Jan 1844 in Greene, Georgia, United Statesmap
Husband of — married 24 Nov 1854 in Dallas, Alabama, United Statesmap
Descendants descendants
Father of
Died at age 76 in Mobile, Alabama, United Statesmap
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Profile last modified | Created 17 Oct 2015
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Contents

Biography

James was a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church and then Methodist Episcopal Church, South

1794 Birth and Parents

James was born in 1794 to Rev John Andrew & Mary Overton Cosby.

James Osgood Andrew was born 3 May 1794 in Elbert County, Georgia. He was the son of John Andrew (1758-1830)[1]

James Osgood Andrew was born May 3, 1794 in Washington Township, Wilkes County, Georgia, the son of Rev. John Andrew and Mary Cosby. [2]

Siblings

  1. Ann Andrew Roberts (1780–1852)[1]
  2. Mary Buer Andrew LeSueur (1786–1841)[1]
  3. Lucy Garland Andrew Henry (1799–1870)[1]
  4. Elizabeth Sydnor Andrew Davenport (1800–1888)[1]

1812 License to Preach and Ordination, Methodist Episcopal Church

James Andrew was the first native Georgian to enter the Methodist Ministry. [3]

James Andrew was licensed to preach in 1812 in Eliam Methodist Episcopal Church in the South Carolina Annual Conference of the M.E. Church. [4]

In 1814 was ordained a deacon and was admitted to the ministry in 1816. [4]

1815 First Marriage: Ann Amelia McFarland

In 1815 he married Ann Amelia McFarland (1796–1842)[1]

Early Ministry

The first twenty years of his ministry included appointments to the:

  • Salt Ketcher Circuit in South Carolina
  • Bladen Circuit in North Carolina
  • Augusta and Savannah circuits in Georgia. [3]

In 1829 Andrew was appointed Presiding Elder of the Edisto District, which included Charleston, South Carolina. [4]

He was elected a Delegate to quadrennial M.E. General Conferences from 1820 through 1832. [3]

1832 Elected Bishop

Andrew was elected as a Bishop by the 1832 General Conference. [4]

He moved from Augusta to Newton County, Georgia, to be near the Methodist Manual Labor School, of which he was a Trustee. This institution later developed as Emory College at Oxford, Georgia. His Episcopal assignments also took him to Annual Conferences throughout the south and the west. [3]

He was a member of Board of Trustees of Wesleyan College.

1840 Census

In 1840 James O Andrew was at home in Town District, Newton, Georgia[5] The household was comprised of:

Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49 1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49 1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29 1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19 1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19 2
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14 1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14 1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9 1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5 1
Slaves - Females - 24 thru 35 1
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23 1

Bishop Andrew and Enslaved Persons

That Bishop James O. Andrew was owner of dozens of enslaved African-American people is well documented in U.S. Census records.[6][7][8]

1843 Second Marriage: Ann Leonora Mounger Greenwood

In 1843 he married Ann Leonora Mounger Greenwood. She died in 1854.[1][9]

When Ann Leonora Mounger's first husband, Thomas Greenwood, died, William W. D. Weaver became administrator of his estate in September 1825, and assumed responsibility for the property and welfare of his sister-in-law, Ann Lenora Mounger Greenwood and her five children. Thomas is buried on the Weaver farm in the family cemetery.

Ann Leonora remained a widow until she married Bishop James O. Andrew. At that time, the slaves she owned were secured to her by a deed of trust executed by Bishop Andrew.

1844 Bishop Andrews Slaves and Methodism

In the 1840s, the bishop's ownership of enslaved people generated controversy within the Methodist Episcopal Church, as the national organization had long opposed slavery. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had been appalled by slavery. The church considered slavery to be "evil." Methodist preachers and church members were expected to take action to end the institution of slavery in America. [10]

Bishop Andrew was criticized by the 1844 General Convention and suspended from office until such time as he should end his "connection with slavery." Southern members disputed the Convention's authority to discipline the bishop or to require slave-owning clergy to emancipate the people whom they considered as property.[11]

Andrew became the symbol of the slavery issue for the Methodist Episcopal Church. But the details surrounding his ownership of enslaved people, and how he acquired them, have been debated.[12]

Andrew's defense at the 1844 General Convention [11] appears to be the first assertion that he never bought or sold enslaved people. Rather, Andrew became an enslaver through his wives.[13]

In 1816, Andrew married Ann Amelia MacFarlane, with whom he had six children. Upon her death in 1842, she bequeathed him an enslaved person. [3]

Andrew's second wife, Leonora Greenwood, whom he married in 1844, was also an owner of enslaved people. When she died in 1854, he married Emily Sims Childers. The oft repeated assertion that Andrew only came into slave ownership by way of marriage or inheritance was reinforced by George G. Smith in his 1882 biography of Andrew.[14]

Evidence exists to suggest Andrew may have first acquired enslaved people earlier than the death of his first wife in 1842. A James Osgood Andrew is listed as a resident of Athens, Georgia, in the 1830 U.S. Census. This Andrew is listed as the owner of two enslaved persons, although the New Georgia Encyclopedia sketch of Andrew concedes this man may not have been the man who was elected bishop. [12]

The 1840 Census lists Bishop Andrew as a resident of Newton County, Georgia, and the "Slave Owner" of 13 enslaved people. [6][12]

1844 Formation of Methodist Episcopal Church, South

In 1844, the General Conference, held in New York, regarded it as a very grave offense that the Bishop was the owner of a few slaves, but never demanded his resignation. A lesser request was that he desist from the exercise of his office. Ann Leonora was an innocent bystander of the controversy. It should be explained than an older lady of Augusta had bequeathed to the Bishop a mulatto girl in trust, that he should take care of her until she was age 19; provided she was willing, she should then be sent to Liberia, and that otherwise he should keep her, and make her as free as the laws of Georgia would permit. The girl refused to go to Liberia, and of her own choice remained legally his slave, although he derived no pecuniary benefit from her. She continued to live in her own house, and was at liberty to go to a free state when she desired. The mother of Bishop Andrew's first wife left to her a Negro boy, and she, dying without a will, the boy became, by the laws of Georgia, the Bishop's property.

A meeting of the delegates from the slave-holding states was held the next day after the General Conference ended and recommended a convention of delegates in Louisville, KY, on May 1, 1845. Some 16 Southern Conferences passed resolutions condemning the action of the General Conference regarding Bishop Andrew and recommended the formation of a Southern organization of the church. On the date designated, the Convention met and a distinct church was formed known as The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. James O. Andrew served as Bishop of this group, but it was the action relating to his and his wife's ownership of slaves that caused the division in the Methodist Church. The two churches remained divided until 1940 when the two branches were reunited.

The fluctuations in enumeration of the people held in enslavement by Andrew could be explained by births and deaths among the enslaved, the exchange of enslaved people, or by the buying and selling of enslaved people. The accurate count of enslaved people was important for government purposes. The Census count of "Slave Inhabitants" under the Three-fifths Compromise was a factor in determining the number of seats states with enslaved populations had in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Electoral College. The counting and valuation of enslaved people in tax digests was a factor in determining the amount of taxes to be paid by slave owners to local governments. [3]

M.E. church legislation [10]was that clergy should not enslave people, no matter how acquired. The abolitionist movement was evident within Methodism from its very foundation. [10]

Missionaries in the South had at first encouraged slaveholders to free any people they enslaved. But as the economic viability of slavery expanded in the South, adherence to those foundational tenets waned. In 1808, the General Conference granted that the regional conferences could craft their own guidelines on slavery. Allowing the conferences to make accommodations for slavery essentially reversed the anti-slavery heritage of the church, at least in the South.[15]

By the 1840s, Andrew, Longstreet and other southern Methodist leaders argued that accommodations for slavery fit within the Christian tradition, and positioned the church to influence southern planters for paternal protection and improved treatment of enslaved people. At the 1844 General Conference some delegates thought the larger issue was whether the M.E. Church would rule on the acceptability of slavery. But strongly abolitionist Northern delegates sponsored a resolution asking Bishop Andrew to "desist" from exercising the Episcopal office so long as he continued to enslave people.[16]Although Southern delegates countered that the Church would be destroyed in the many southern states that prohibited emancipation, the resolution passed by a vote of 110 to 69.

This censure of Bishop Andrew was intolerable to the southern dissidents who within days proposed a Plan of Separation between northern and southern Methodists. The next year representatives of the Southern Annual Conferences met in Louisville, Kentucky, to organize their own denomination. The first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South met in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1846,[17]and Andrew was invited to preside.

Bishop Andrew presided as the Senior Bishop of his denomination from 1846 until his death. He led the Southern ministers of the church in dividing from the main church over the issue of slavery in 1846, and became the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. During the American Civil War (1861–65), he resided in Summerfield, Alabama. [3]

1848 Slaveholder

The Newton County, GA Property Tax Digests for 1848 show that James O. Andrew was assessed for 27 enslaved people, and for 21 people in 1849.[18]

1850 Census

In 1850 James C Andrew, white, male, age 56 (born 1794 in Georgia), was at home in Subdivision 65, Newton, Georgia, with his family. He was a Methodist minister, engaged in welfare and religious services, with real estate valued at $6400 [19] His household was comprised of:

James C Andrew 56
Ann S Andrew 48
William Andrew 36
Sarah Laman 29
Martha Spencer 20
Andrew Gentry 16
James O Andrew 8

The 1850 US Census Schedule of Slave Inhabitants in the State of Georgia and the 1851 tax records of Newton County document James O. Andrew as the "Slave Owner" of 24 enslaved men, women and children from age 2 to age 65. [7][18]

1855 Third Marriage: Emily Wingfield Sims and Move to Alabama

In 1855 he married Emily Wingfield Sims (1796–1872)[1]

In 1855 he moved to Summerfield Alabama where he was enumerated in 1860 as the enslaver of 11 people. [8]

During the American Civil War (1861–65), he resided in Summerfield, Alabama.

1858 Founding Trustee, Central University (now Vanderbilt)

Andrew was a founding trustee of Central University, a Methodist university, in 1858.[19] It was renamed Vanderbilt University in 1872.[20]

1860 Census

In 1860, James O Andrew, age 66 (born about 1794 in Georgia, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was at home in Summerfield, Dallas, Alabama, with his family. His real estate was valued at $2000 and his personal estate at $17650. [21] His household was comprised of:

James O Andrew 66
Emily Andrew 55
Sally Andrew 35

1871 Death and Burial

After his retirement in 1866, he continued to conduct church conferences as his health permitted. He died on March 2, 1871, at the home of a daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. and Mrs. J.W. Rush, in Mobile, Alabama.[22]

He died 2 March 1871 in Mobile, Alabama and is buried in the Oxford Historical Cemetery, Oxford, Newton County, Georgia in Plot 171-A. [1]

He died March 2,1871 in Mobile Alabama. [3]

He was buried in Oxford. Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia, is named for him.[23]

Children

  1. Elizabeth Mason Andrew Lovett (1817–1856)[1]
  2. Mary Overton Andrew (1819–1822)[1]
  3. Sarah H Andrew (1821–1895)[1]
  4. Henrietta L Andrew Meriwether (1823–1862)[1]
  5. Octavia Osgood Andrew Rush (1835–1917)[1]
  6. James Osgood Andrew (1841–1907)[1]

Enslaved Persons

  • Miss Kitty -- Catherine Boyd, born about 1822. She was given the name Catherine at birth and as an enslaved person was known as "Miss Kitty." She is given the surname of her first known enslaver, Andrew, pending further information. She was buried in the Oxford Historical Cemetery next to Bishop Andrew. [24]
  • Jacob. In 1924, John Donald Wade wrote that Bishop Andrew's case at the 1844 General Convention had concerned an enslaved boy named Jacob, born say, 1824 and an enslaved girl named Kitty.[25]
  • Other Enslaved Persons enumerated but not named in slave schedules.

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Find A Grave: Memorial #37943106 Memorial for James Osgood Andrew. Find A Grave, database and images accessed 30 November 2019), memorial page for Rev James Osgood Andrew (3 May 1794–2 Mar 1871),citing Oxford Historical Cemetery, Oxford, Newton County, Georgia, USA ; Maintained by Sarah Locklin Taylor (contributor 46921363). Accessed 26 September 2023 jhd
  2. ↑ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. I. James T. White & Company. 1893. p. 521. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via Google Books. Cited by Wikipedia
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Wikipedia: James Osgood Andrew Accessed 27 September 2023 jhd
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Johnson, Rossiter (1906). "Andrew, James Osgood" . The Biographical Dictionary of America . Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. pp. 114, 117 – via Wikisource. Cited by Wikipedia
  5. ↑ 1840 United States Census. Entry for James O Andrew Ancestry.com (Paid site). Acessed 26 September 2023 jhd
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Population schedules of the sixth census of the United States, 1840. Georgia, Newton County. Schedule 2. Slave Inhabitants. United States. National Archives and Records Service. 1967.Cited by Wikipedia
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Population schedules of the seventh census of the United States, 1850. Georgia, Newton County. Schedule 2. Slave Inhabitants. United States. National Archives And Records Service. 1964.Cited by Wikipedia
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Alabama, Dallas County, Schedule 2. Slave Inhabitants. Reel 29. United States. National Archives and Records Service. 1965.Cited by Wikipedia
  9. ↑ "Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXJZ-BS1 : 17 October 2017), James O. Andrew and Ann L. Greenwood, 14 Jan 1844; citing Marriage, Greene, Georgia, United States, county courthouses, Georgia; FHL microfilm 159,052.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lawrence, William B. (August 13, 2020). "Slavery and the founders of Methodism". UM News. Retrieved January 15, 2022.Cited by Wikipedia
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Journal of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Volume 2. Lane & C.B. Tippett. 1844.Cited by Wikipedia
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Mills, Frederick (September 14, 2014). "James Osgood Andrew". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 15, 2022.Cited by Wikipedia
  13. ↑ Rivers, Larry E.; Brown, Canter (2001). Laborers in the vineyard of the Lord : the beginnings of the AME Church in Florida, 1865-1895. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. p. 6. ISBN 9780813018904.Cited by Wikipedia
  14. ↑ Smith, George Gilman (1882). The life and letters of James Osgood Andrew. Southern Methodist Pub. House. pp. 311–312.Cited by Wikipedia
  15. ↑ Lawrence, Brian D. (2018). The relationship between the Methodist church, slavery and politics, 1784-1844. Rowan University.Cited by Wikipedia
  16. ↑ Tubeville, Gus (March 1949). "Religious Schism in the Methodist Church: A Sociological Analysis of the Pine Grove Case". Rural Sociology. 14 (1): 30. Retrieved July 2, 2016.Cited by Wikipedia
  17. ↑ Milford, Brian K., ed. (2016). The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2016 (PDF). Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House. pp. 16–17.Cited by Wikipedia
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Ancestry.com. Georgia, U.S., Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]". Ancestry. Retrieved January 16, 2022.Cited by Wikipedia
  19. ↑ 1850 United States Census. Entry for James C. Andrew Ancestry.com (Paid site). Accessed 27 September 2023 jhd
  20. ↑ Clarke, Ida Clyde (February 6, 1910). "Stray Leaves From Tennessee History: History of Central University, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Later Vanderbilt. From Book on "Higher Education in Tennessee."". The Tennessean. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.Cited by Wikipedia
  21. ↑ 1860 United States Census. Entry for James O Andrew Ancestry.com (Paid site). Accessed 27 September 2023 jhd
  22. ↑ "The Late Bishop Andrew". Nashville Union and American. March 5, 1871. p. 3. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Cited by Wikipedia
  23. ↑ Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-915430-00-2.Cited by Wikipedia
  24. ↑ Nedra Rhome. Oxford's racial history uncovers slave's descendants but mysteries remain The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct 24, 2011. Accessed 26 September 2023 jhd
  25. ↑ Wade, John Donald (1924). Augustus Baldwin Longstreet: A Study of the Development of Culture in the South. Macmillan. pp. 274–275. ISBN 9780598973733.Cited by Wikipedia

See also:

  • Auslander, Mark. The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race & Finding An American Family, University of Georgia Press, 2011
  • Auslander, Mark. "The Myth of Kitty: Paradoxes of Blood, Law and Slavery in a Georgia Community, Emory University"
  • Smith, George G., The Life and Letters of James Osgood Andrew, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1882.
  • Wilcox, Louise F. Mounger-Monger and Allied Families,1991, Privately Printed.

James O. Andrew papers at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library

Acknowledgement

Andrew-930 was created by Katharine Jones on 17 Oct 2015. Karen Herndon proposed a merge of Andrew-2166 and Andrew-930 on 10 Sep 2019. Sue Hall completed the merge on 29 Nov 2019. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Katharine and others.





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Bishop James Osgood Andrew
Bishop James Osgood Andrew


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Day-1904 Jack Day
As a member of the US Black Heritage Project, I have added a list of the slaves owned by Bishop Andfrew on this profile with categories using the standards of the US Black Heritage Exchange Program. This helps us connect enslaved ancestors to their descendants. See the Heritage Exchange Portal for more information.
posted by Jack Day
Ivey-594 Karen (Ivey) Herndon
Andrew-2166 and Andrew-930 appear to represent the same person because: clear duplicate - birth matches, and bio on both profiles list similar facts
posted by Karen (Ivey) Herndon

Unmerged matches › James Andrew
Rejected matches › James Andrews (1796-1850) › James Andrews (abt.1795-) › James Andrews (1793-1827) › James Andrews Sr. (abt.1794-1855) › James Andrew (1796-) › James Alexander Andrews (1792-1819)

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Categories: USBH Heritage Exchange | Newton County, Georgia, Slaves | Newton County, Georgia, Slave Owners | Oxford Historical Cemetery, Oxford, Georgia | Wilkes County, Georgia | Mobile County, Alabama | Wesleyan University | Methodists