Jesse Freeman Boulden
Jesse Freeman Boulden | |
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Baptist |
Jesse Freeman Boulden (October 8, 1820 – March 6, 1899) was a
Early life
Jesse Freeman Boulden was born a free man in Delaware on October 8, 1820, to Andrew and Theresa Boulden. The family were born when the law in Delaware manumitted slaves at the age of 28 and their children at the age of 21. In this way, only one of Jesse's siblings, a brother, was a slave. When his brother approached the age of 21, he fled to Pennsylvania with the help of the white children of his master to avoid being sold further South. Andrew was accused of aiding his son, and himself fled Delaware with the rest of his family to avoid persecution. In
During the American Civil War (1861–1865)
In 1860, Boulden moved to Chicago where David G. Lett was pastor at the leading Baptist church, Zoar Church. In March 1860, about 40 parishioners left that church to form Zion Baptist Church led by Boulden, with Rev Tansbury leading the old body. Tansbury returned to his previous home in Canada and on December 22, 1861, the two churches combined under Boulden's efforts to form a new church, Olivet Baptist Church, where Boulden served until 1863. Boulden then resigned and Richard DeBaptiste became its new pastor in 1863.[3][4]
That year, he returned to Philadelphia, but when news reached him that St. Louis pastor and friend of Boulden J. R. Anderson had died, he moved to
Politics
In 1866, he moved to Columbus, Mississippi, where he became a leader in the nascent Republican Party in northeastern Mississippi and was a member of the first Republican State Convention in Vicksburg in July 1867.
In 1869, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was highly respected in the state party, and worked to establish
In 1872, Boulden organized a northern Mississippi General Missionary Baptist Association convention, which rivaled Henry Jacobs' Missionary Baptist Association as the organizing body of Baptists in the state. Boulden disputed with Jacobs' group due to the inclusion of a number of congregations Boulden considered "disorderly". The two groups merged in 1890.[5]
Other activities
He was pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, originally called the First Colored Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. from 1877 to 1881.[citation needed]
In Mississippi, he was a trustee of the
Burial and legacy
He is buried at the Sandfield Cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi and has been the subject of 8 May Emancipation celebration performances at the cemetery.[6]
References
- ^ Booth, Charles E. Bridging the Breach: Evangelical Thought and Liberation in the African American Preaching Tradition. Urban Ministries Inc, 2000. p. 78
- ^ a b c d Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. pp. 707-712
- ^ Fisher, Miles Mark. The Master's Slave, Elijah John Fisher: A Biography. Judson Press, 1922. p. 178
- ^ Fisher, Miles Mark. "Negro Churches in Illinois: A Fragmentary History with Emphasis on Chicago." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 56, no. 3 (1963): 552–569.
- ^ a b Montgomery, William E. Under their own vine and fig tree: The African-American church in the South, 1865–1900. LSU Press, 1995. pp. 113, 117
- ^ "Jesse Freeman Boulden profile". much-ado.net. Retrieved March 8, 2024.