Anna Alexander
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Anna Ellison Butler Alexander | |
---|---|
St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia | |
Died | 1947 Pennick, Glynn County, Georgia |
Venerated in | Episcopal Church |
Feast | September 24 |
Anna Ellison Butler Alexander (c. 1865 – September 24, 1947) was the first and only African-American consecrated a
Early life
Alexander was born shortly after the
Her father Aleck was the personal servant and aide of his master, Pierce Mease Butler (1810–1861), who owned several plantations inherited from his grandfather, founding father and U.S. Senator Pierce Butler. Aleck Alexander had learned to read and write (despite state laws to the contrary) from Butler's wife, the British actress Fanny Kemble.[4]
Alexander later wrote that her part-Native American paternal grandmother had received her freedom after nursing Pierce Mease and his brother John Mease, before they assumed their grandfather's surname in order to inherit his plantations.[6]
Her maternal grandmother was from Madagascar, and her mother was the result of a rape by a white overseer. Fanny Kemble became estranged from her husband after witnessing such activities at his plantations, particularly by that overseer. Kemble wrote the anti-slavery Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839, published in 1863 and which helped influence British public opinion against the Confederate cause.[7][8]
The Alexander family soon moved to Pennick, Georgia to take advantage of land south of the Altamaha River previously held by poor whites who had moved further south to Florida to obtain land under the Southern Homestead Act of 1866. Her father became a carpenter-builder and a community leader. In addition to building his own family's houses, and helping others learn that trade, Aleck Alexander helped build a school for the community and used his own land as an experimental farm.
Career
Anna first taught at the public school in Pennick. Later, she moved to Darien, Georgia, at the mouth of the Altamaha River, where her sister Mary founded a school affiliated with St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church, and all three sisters taught. Anna also visited Brunswick, Georgia and St. Athanasius' Episcopal Church.[9] In 1894, with the cooperation of the Brunswick priest, Anna founded a mission in Pennick, while still teaching at Darien during the week, making a 40-mile round trip by boat and foot. [3]
The mission faltered when Anna accepted a position at St. Paul's Normal and Industrial School (as well as enrolled in the new teachers college there) in Lawrenceville, Virginia. In 1897, she returned to Pennick and revitalized the mission. The congregation was renamed Church of the Good Shepard, and Alexander also started a school. She supported herself by taking in sewing, and managed to buy property in 1902, where her brother Charles Alexander and other men then erected a church.
In 1907, bishop
The diocese of Georgia split in 1907 and Nelson chose to associate with the new
Alexander became the agent for governmental and private aid for both black and white residents, and enlisted neighbors of both races to help. Before his death, Reese recognized her decades of service. During the summers of her last decade, Alexander cooked for Camp Reese, the then-new (and now former) Diocesan summer camp on
Legacy
Alexander died on September 24, 1947, and was buried at the cemetery at Camp Reese. In 1998, she was recognized as a saint by the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and its Bishop Henry Louttit, Jr. Her diocese began advocating for larger recognition in the Episcopal Church.[12] In 2004, she was reinterred at Good Shepherd Church in Pennick, which she had founded and where she had worked for many years, although now visiting priests only hold services twice a month.
The
On March 24, 2019, two churches in the Episcopal Diocese of California merged, naming their new congregation 'St. Anna's Episcopal Church' in her memory. [17][19]
References
- ^ a b "Biography". Deaconessalexander.georgiaepiscopal.org. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "Anna Alexander". Satucket.com. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ a b A Life Beloved - Deaconess Alexander, retrieved 2022-10-02
- ^ a b By MARY STARR [email protected]. "Church to celebrate feast day in honor of local saint | Life". The Brunswick News. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "Deaconess Alexander". Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Fanny Kemble's journal". PBS. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ "St. Athanasius Episcopal Church, Circa 1874, Brunswick | Vanishing Coastal Georgia Photographs by Brian Brown". Vanishingcoastalgeorgia.com. 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "Episcopalrevival". Archived from the original on 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Resolution". Deaconessalexander.georgiaepiscopal.org. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "Deaconess Alexander". Deaconessalexander.georgiaepiscopal.org. 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "A Life Beloved – Deaconess Alexander". YouTube. 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "Sermons". Deaconessalexander.georgiaepiscopal.org. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ "Anna Alexander wins 2018 Golden Halo!". Lent Madness. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ a b Schjonberg, Mary Frances (2019-04-01). "Merged Episcopal congregations in California are first to take name of church's only African American deaconess". Episcopal News Service. Archived from the original on 7 Jul 2019. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ "St. Simons Island woman becomes Episcopal saint". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
- ^ Paulsen, David (2019-10-08). "Service celebrating new saint seals bond between her congregation and church that took her name". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved 2022-10-02.