Henry Beard Delany (1858 - 1928)

Born 5 Feb 1858 in St. Marys, Georgia, United States

Husband of Nannie Logan — married 6 Oct 1886 in Wake, North Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died 14 Apr 1928 at age 70 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Henry Delany is Notable.

Henry Beard Delany was the first Black person elected Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Church in the United States. The Episcopal Church honors him, along with fellow African American bishop Edward Thomas Demby, who died on the same day in 1957, with a feast day on the liturgical calendar on the anniversary of their deaths, April 14.^[1]

Henry Delany was born into slavery in 1858, to Thomas Delany, a carpenter, and Sarah Taylor. After emancipation, the family moved to Fernandina Beach, Florida, where young Delany learned brick laying, plastery and carpentry from his father. He was able to attend a school funded by the Freedmen's Bureau and staffed by missionaries. In 1881 the rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in that town, Rev. Owen Thackera, funded a scholarship to allow Delany to attend St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, which Episcopal priests had founded in 1867 to educate newly freed men and women. There, Delany studied theology, music and other subjects.

Upon graduating in 1885, Delany joined the faculty, where he remained until 1908. He taught carpentry and masonry and supervised building projects, as well as (after the ordinations discussed below) served as the school's vice-principal (1889-1908), chaplain and musician.

In 1886, he married fellow St. Augustine's College faculty member Nannie Logan.^[2] They had ten children, including long-lived civil rights pioneers Sadie and Bessie Delany, authors of the autobiographical bestseller Having Our Say. His son Hubert Thomas Delany became one of the first appointed African American judges in New York City, and later in his long and distinguished career served as legal advisor to many prominent civil rights activists. His youngest son, Samuel, was the father of author and educator Samuel R. Delany, Jr.^[3]

Delany joined Raleigh's St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, was ordained a deacon in 1889 and a priest in 1892. From 1889 to 1904 Delany served on the national church's Commission for Work among Colored People. He visited Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregations as well as organized schools, and met with and arranged educational opportunities for prisoners. Upon being appointed Archdeacon for Negro Work in the Diocese of North Carolina in 1908,^[4] Delany resigned his position at the school, but continued to live on campus, for his wife continued to teach and serve as the college's matron. Raleigh's Shaw University awarded him an honorary degree for his educational activities in 1911.

Delany was unanimously elected suffragan bishop for Negro Work at the North Carolina diocesan convention, and consecrated in 1918. Bishop Delany died in 1928^[5][6][7] and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Henry Beard Delany," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Beard_Delany&oldid=1027209888 (accessed October 30, 2021).
2. ↑ "North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8HX-5NG : 14 February 2020), Henry B. Delaney, 1886.
3. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87967845/delany-family-museum-exhibit/
4. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87936501/hb-delany-consecrated-1908/
5. ↑ "North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3F3-VJN : 20 February 2021), Henry Berard Delaney, 1928.
6. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87935991/bishop-delany-obit/
7. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87935851/bishop-delany-funeral/
8. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVX-MF93 : 27 July 2019), Henry Beard Delany, 1928; Burial, Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina, United States of America, Mount Hope Cemetery; citing Find A Grave: Memorial #12418328.

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNZN-81G : 28 May 2021), Harry Delany in entry for Thomas S Delany, 1870.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNZ4-VS4 : 19 February 2021), Henry Delaney in household of Thomas Delaney, Fernandina, Nassau, Florida, United States; citing enumeration district ED 120, sheet 294A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,131.
• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS1S-JWX : accessed 28 October 2021), Henry B Delaney, Raleigh Township (excl. Raleigh city & State Penitentiary), Wake, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 137, sheet 19A, family 376, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,221.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML37-614 : accessed 28 October 2021), Henry B Delaney, Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 111, sheet 4B, family 83, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1136; FHL microfilm 1,375,149.

• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87935538/hb-delany-jr-obit/ (Son's obit)
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87935718/dr-bessie-part-1/
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87935648/dr-bessie-part-2/