James Alfred Dunn Podd (March 16, 1855 – December 23, 1886) was a leading Baptist preacher in
Chicago, Illinois
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. Podd was born in Nevis, West Indies on March 16, 1855. Podd's father was a leading minister in the
Wesleyan Methodist Church. As a boy, he and his family moved to the
Island of St. Christopher. Podd went to England for his studies. Upon completion, he returned to the West Indies where he received a government appointment in the department of education. He rose to the position of superintendent of schools for the island. He also worked as an editor of a journal on the island. When his mother died, he felt called to another path and moved to Canada, where he entered the ministry of the
British Methodist Episcopal Church
The British Methodist Episcopal Church (BMEC) is a Protestant church in Canada that has its roots in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) of the United States.
History
The AMEC had been formed in 1816 when a number of black congregations ...
. He left this church, converting to the Baptist religion and becoming pastor at a Baptist church in
St. Catherine's, Ontario. In 1879, he moved to
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
to preach at a church there.
[Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p252-256]
In December 1881 he was asked by
Olivet Baptist Church Olivet Baptist Church is a church located in Chicago, Illinois. The congregation first formed in 1861 through the merger of two African-American congregations.
History
Before 1860, David G. Lett was pastor at the city's leading Black Baptist chur ...
in Chicago to succeed
Richard DeBaptiste
Richard DeBaptiste (November 11, 1831 - April 21, 1901) was a Baptist minister in Chicago, Illinois. Before the abolition of slavery, he was an abolitionist and worked with his close relative, George DeBaptiste in the Underground Railroad, mainl ...
as its pastor, and he moved on February 1, 1882. In February 1883 he moved to Bethesda Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side.
Podd was charged a number of times with fathering children outside of marriage, but was always exonerated. Under Podd's leadership, the congregation built a chapel on 34th and Butterfield. Podd was very active in Baptist church leadership and participated and presented at Baptist National Conventions.
His health failed in 1886 and he spent some time on the East Coast hopeful that the sea air would help him recover. In late 1886 he was in Florida on a trip to recover his health when he died on December 23.
He was unmarried.
[The Rev J. A. D. Podd, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) January 3, 1887, page 5, accessed September 15, 2016 at https://web.archive.org/web/20170517012706/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6642951/the_rev_j_a_d_podd_chicago_tribune/]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Podd, James Alfred Dunn
1855 births
1886 deaths
People from Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis people of British descent
Clergy from Chicago
19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States