Absalom Jones

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Absalom Jones

Born	1746 Delaware, USA
Died	February 13, 1818 (aged 72) Philadelphia
Occupation	Slave, priest
Known for	Anti-slavery petitioner
Spouse	Mary King

Absalom Jones (1746 – February 13, 1818), was an African American abolitionist and clergyman. He was the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church and is listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints and blessed under the date of his decease, February 13, in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as "Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818".

[edit] Biography

Jones was born into slavery in Delaware in 1746. When he was sixteen, he was sold to a storeowner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While still a slave of Mr. Wynkoop, he married Mary King, another slave, on January 4, 1770. By 1774 he had purchased his own freedom, and that of his wife by 1778.

He became a lay minister for black members in a Methodist church, along with Richard Allen the first African Americans licensed to preach by the Methodist Church. He later founded the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, which petitioned to become an Episcopal parish. Jones was later ordained as the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church. He was a well-known orator and helped establish the tradition of New Year's antislavery sermons.

Jones was also part of the first group of African Americans to petition the U.S. Congress. The petition was in regard to cruelty and brutality encouraged by the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. While U.S. Representative George Thatcher of Massachusetts responded with the desire to amend the Fugitive Slave Act, resistance to changing the law forced the proposal to fail.

Absalom Jones and Richard Allen founded the Free African Society.