James Osgood Andrew (May 3, 1794 – March 2, 1871) was elected in 1832 an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
. After the split within the church in 1844, he continued as a bishop in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...
.
Early life
Andrew was born on May 3, 1794 in the township of Washington in
Wilkes County, Georgia
Wilkes County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,593. The county seat is the city of Washington.
Referred to as "Washington-Wilkes", the county seat and co ...
, a son of the Rev. John and Mary Cosby Andrew.
Rev. John Andrew was the first native Georgian to enter the
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
ministry.
Ordained ministry
James Andrew was
licensed to preach in 1812 in Eliam Methodist Episcopal Church in the
South Carolina Annual Conference
The South Carolina Conference is an annual conference (regional episcopal area, similar to a diocese) of the United Methodist Church. This conference serves the state of South Carolina with its administrative offices and the office of the bishop ...
of the
M.E. Church. In 1814 was ordained a deacon and was admitted to the ministry in 1816.
The first twenty years of his ministry included appointments to the
Salt Ketcher Circuit in South Carolina, the
Bladen Circuit in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, and the
Augusta and
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
circuits in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.
In 1829 Andrew was appointed Presiding Elder of the
Edisto District, which included
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
.
He was elected a Delegate to quadrennial
M.E. General Conferences from 1820 through 1832.
Episcopal ministry
Andrew was elected as a Bishop by the 1832 General Conference.
He moved from Augusta to
Newton County, Georgia
Newton County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,483. The county seat is Covington.
Newton County is included in the '' Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, ...
to be near the Methodist Manual Labor School, of which he was a Trustee. This institution later developed as
Emory College at
Oxford, Georgia
Oxford is a city in Newton County, Georgia, Newton County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census, the city population was 2,134. It is the location of Oxford College of Emory University.
Mu ...
. His Episcopal assignments also took him to Annual Conferences throughout the south and the west.
Controversy over slave ownership
That Bishop James O. Andrew was owner of dozens of enslaved African-American people is well documented in U.S. Census records.
In the 1840s, the bishop's ownership of enslaved people generated controversy within the Methodist Episcopal Church, as the national organization had long opposed slavery.
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
, the founder of the
Methodist movement
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
, had been appalled by slavery. The church considered slavery to be "evil." Methodist preachers and church members were expected to take action to end the institution of slavery in America.
Bishop Andrew was criticized by the 1844 General Convention and suspended from office until such time as he should end his "connection with slavery." Southern members disputed the Convention's authority to discipline the bishop or to require slave-owning clergy to emancipate the people whom they considered as property.
Andrew became the symbol of the
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
issue for the Methodist Episcopal Church. But the details surrounding his ownership of enslaved people, and how he acquired them, have been debated.
Andrew's defense at the 1844 General Convention
appears to be the first assertion that he never bought or sold enslaved people. Rather, Andrew became an enslaver through his wives. In 1816, Andrew married Ann Amelia MacFarlane, with whom he had six children. Upon her death in 1842, she bequeathed him an enslaved person. Andrew's second wife, Leonora Greenwood, whom he married in 1844, was also an owner of enslaved people. When she died in 1854, he married Emily Sims Childers. The oft repeated assertion that Andrew only came into slave ownership by way of marriage or inheritance was reinforced by George G. Smith in his 1882 biography of Andrew.
Evidence exists to suggest Andrew may have first acquired enslaved people earlier than the death of his first wife in 1842. A James Osgood Andrew is listed as a resident of
Athens, Georgia
Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...
in the 1830 U.S. Census. This Andrew is listed as the owner of two enslaved persons, although the New Georgia Encyclopedia sketch of Andrew concedes this man may not have been the man who was elected bishop.
The 1840 Census lists Bishop Andrew as a resident of
Newton County, Georgia
Newton County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,483. The county seat is Covington.
Newton County is included in the '' Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, ...
and the "Slave Owner" of 13 enslaved people.
The Newton County, GA Property Tax Digests for 1848 show that James O. Andrew was assessed for 27 enslaved people, and for 21 people in 1849.
The 1850 US Census Schedule of Slave Inhabitants in the State of Georgia and the 1851 tax records of Newton County document James O. Andrew as the "Slave Owner" of 24 enslaved men, women and children from age 2 to age 65.
In 1855 he moved to Summerfield Alabama where he was enumerated in 1860 as the enslaver of 11 people.
The fluctuations in enumeration of the people held in enslavement by Andrew could be explained by births and deaths among the enslaved, the exchange of enslaved people, or by the buying and selling of enslaved people. The accurate count of enslaved people was important for government purposes. The Census count of "Slave Inhabitants" under the Three-fifths Compromise was a factor in determining the number of seats states with enslaved populations had in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Electoral College. The counting and valuation of enslaved people in tax digests was a factor in determining the amount of taxes to be paid by slave owners to local governments.
In 1924,
John Donald Wade
John Donald Wade (September 28, 1892 – October 9, 1963) was an American biographer, author, essayist, and teacher.
Early life
Wade was born in Marshallville, Georgia. His father was a country doctor who served as a surgeon in the Civil War. Wa ...
wrote that Bishop Andrew's case at the 1844 General Convention had concerned an enslaved boy named Jacob and an enslaved girl named Kitty. The story was related in Wade's biography of
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, a prominent defender of the institution of slavery who had himself owned dozens of enslaved people. This tale claims the enslaved Kitty was so well treated that she declined Bishop Andrew's offer of freedom, a claim typical of the Confederate "
Lost Cause
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. Firs ...
" mythology. A memorial tablet for Kitty Andrew Shell placed in the Oxford City Cemetery in 1938 by H.Y. McCord relates this tale. (Locals call it "Kitty's Stone.") The stone tablet states, "''Kitty was a slave girl bequeathed to James O. Andrew by Mrs. Powers of Augusta, Georgia in her will when Kitty was 12 years of age with the stipulation that when she was 19 years of age, Kitty was to be given her freedom and sent to
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
''," which had been established by the
American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...
as a colony for free blacks. When Kitty was 19, Bishop Andrew had Dr. A. B. Longstreet, who was then President of Emory College, and Professor George W. Lane interview her about her wishes. Kitty declined to go to Liberia, saying, "''I don't want to go to that country. I know nobody there. It is a long ways, and I might die before I get there.''"
While Kitty was allowed many personal freedoms, she remained enslaved by Bishop Andrew until her death at the age of perhaps twenty-nine, in 1851.
Although under the laws of Georgia at that time, Bishop Andrew could have freed Kitty and sent her to a free state, he did not do so. Instead, he built a cottage for her in his backyard where she lived and worked for his family. As no legal marriage could be contracted by enslaved peoples under civil law, Kitty was allowed to live in a "marriage arrangement" with her enslaved husband Nathan Boyd, and the couple had three children.
Another version of Kitty's story sees her as possibly the daughter of James O. Andrew by another enslaved woman, or perhaps even his coerced mistress.
M.E. church legislation
was that clergy should not enslave people, no matter how acquired. The
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
movement was evident within Methodism from its very foundation.
Missionaries in the South had at first encouraged slaveholders to free any people they enslaved. But as the economic viability of slavery expanded in the South, adherence to those foundational tenets waned. In 1808, the General Conference granted that the regional conferences could craft their own guidelines on slavery. Allowing the conferences to make accommodations for slavery essentially reversed the anti-slavery heritage of the church, at least in the South. By the 1840s, Andrew, Longstreet and other southern Methodist leaders argued that accommodations for slavery fit within the Christian tradition, and positioned the church to influence southern planters for paternal protection and improved treatment of enslaved people. At the 1844 General Conference some delegates thought the larger issue was whether the M.E. Church would rule on the acceptability of slavery. But strongly abolitionist Northern delegates sponsored a resolution asking Bishop Andrew to "desist" from exercising the Episcopal office so long as he continued to enslave people. Although Southern delegates countered that the Church would be destroyed in the many southern states that prohibited emancipation, the resolution passed by a vote of 110 to 69.
This censure of Bishop Andrew was intolerable to the southern dissidents who within days proposed a Plan of Separation between northern and southern Methodists. The next year representatives of the Southern Annual Conferences met in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
to organize their own denomination. The first General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...
met in
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...
in 1846, and Andrew was invited to preside.
Later years
Bishop Andrew presided as the Senior Bishop of his denomination from 1846 until his death. He led the Southern ministers of the church in dividing from the main church over the issue of slavery in 1846, and became the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
(1861–65), he resided in
Summerfield, Alabama.
Andrew was a founding trustee of Central University, a Methodist university, in 1858.
It was renamed
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in 1872.
After his retirement in 1866, he continued to conduct church conferences as his health permitted. He died on March 2, 1871, at the home of a daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. and Mrs. J.W. Rush, in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
. He was buried in Oxford.
Andrew College
Andrew College is a private liberal arts college in Cuthbert, Georgia. It is associated with The United Methodist Church and is the ninth-oldest college in Georgia. Andrew is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Comm ...
in
Cuthbert, Georgia
Cuthbert is a city in, and the county seat of, Randolph County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,520 in 2019.
History
Cuthbert was founded by European Americans in 1831 as seat of the newly formed Randolph County, after Indian Remo ...
is named for him.
Selected writings
*''Family Government,'' 1846.
*''Miscellanies,'' 1854.
*He also contributed to religious periodicals.
Biographies
*Smith, George G., ''The Life and Letters of James Osgood Andrew, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South'', Nashville, Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1882.
See also
*
List of bishops of the United Methodist Church
This is a list of bishops of the United Methodist Church and its predecessor denominations, in order of their election to the episcopacy, both living and dead.
1784–1807
;Founders
* Thomas Coke 1784
* Francis Asbury 1784
* Richard Whatcoat ...
References
*Mills, Frederick V., Sr., "James Osgood Andrew," ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia''
*''Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967.
External links
Photo of Bishop AndrewMark Auslander, ''The Myth of Kitty:'' Paradoxes of Blood, Law and Slavery in a Georgia Community Emory University
James O. Andrew papersat the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew, James Osgood
Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South
American Methodist Episcopal bishops
American Methodist Episcopal, South bishops
Methodist ministers
Methodist writers
American religious writers
American letter writers
1794 births
1871 deaths
19th-century Methodist bishops
19th-century American bishops
People from Washington, Georgia
American slave owners