Moses "Daddy Moses" Wilkinson or "Old Moses" (c. 1746/47 Wilkinson's entry in the Book of Negroes gives his age as 36. – ?) was an American Wesleyan Methodist preacher and

Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot (American Revolution), Pat ...

. His ministry combined

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

divination with African religious traditions such as conjuring and sorcery. He gained freedom from slavery in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, was a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

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 ...

preacher in New York and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. In 1791, he migrated to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

, preaching alongside ministers

Boston King Boston King ( 1760–1802) was a former American slave and Black Loyalist, who gained freedom from the British and settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. He later immigrated to Sierra Leone, where he helped found Freetown and b ...

and

Henry Beverhout Henry Beverhout was an African-Caribbean methodist minister who led a company of Nova Scotian settlers who settled in Sierra Leone. Beverhout was an African-Caribbean person born free in St Croix, an island in the Danish West Indies.Fyfe C. (1991) ...

. There, he established the first Methodist church in Settler Town and survived a rebellion in 1800.

Early life

Circa 1746, Moses Wilkinson was born enslaved on a plantation in

Nansemond County, Virginia Nansemond is an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony and in the Commonwealth of Virginia (after statehood) in the United States, from 1646 until 1974. It was known as Nansemond County until 1972. From ...

. He was enslaved by Miles Wilkinson. Wilkinson was blind and mobility impaired, possibly due to surviving

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. He was unable to walk without assistance.

Self-liberation

The 1775

Dunmore's Proclamation Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document signed on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British Colony of Virginia. The proclamation declared martial law and promised freedom for slaves of America ...

promised slaves of American rebels their freedom if they would join the British forces fighting in the

. The following year, Wilkinson led a band of slaves to freedom, also freeing himself. He reached New York City, which the British forces occupied for years during the war.

Ministry

New York

In New York, the self-appointed, illiterate Wesleyan Methodist preacher gathered together a congregation. He was "a very fiery preacher, so much that some who watched him feared for his health." Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Shelburne, NS

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Shelburne, NS

Nova Scotia

When the British were defeated in 1783, they fulfilled their promise of freedom to thousands of former slaves, evacuating them to other colonies, and England. Wilkinson joined some 3,000 other

s in on ''L'Abondance'' to Halifax in Nova Scotia; he is listed with them in the ''

Book of Negroes The ''Book of Negroes'' is a document created by Brigadier General Samuel Birch, under the direction of Sir Guy Carleton, that records names and descriptions of 3,000 Black Loyalists, enslaved Africans who escaped to the British lines during t ...

''. The largest Black Loyalist settlement in

was established in

Birchtown Birchtown is a community and National Historic Site in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located near Shelburne in the Municipal District of Shelburne County. Founded in 1783, the village was the largest settlement of Black Loyalists and ...

, but the refugees found the climate and conditions harsh, and the Crown was slow to grant them land. In the spring of 1784, Shelburne was visited by William Black, the province’s future Methodist leader. Shelburne reported preaching to 200 Blacks at Birchtown, sixty of whom were converted by Wilkinson. His first convert was Violet "Peggy" King, a self-liberated freedwoman from North Carolina, whom he had met on ''L'Abondance''; she was married to

. In July 1786, Wilkinson and others organized a Methodist church with seventy-eight members, sixty-six of whom were black.

Sierra Leone

On 26 October 1791, 350 people gathered in Wilkinson's church to hear

John Clarkson John Gibson Clarkson (July 1, 1861 – February 4, 1909) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played from 1882 to 1894. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Clarkson played for the Worcester Ruby Legs (1882), Chicago White Stocking ...

from England explain the

Sierra Leone Company The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia (the Nova Scotian Settlers) after ...

's plans to reestablish a colony in West Africa, in what is now

. The previous attempt in 1787 had failed and he was recruiting Black Loyalists who wanted to try creating their own settlement in Africa. Displeased with the cold climate and discrimination from the resident whites, who included Loyalist slaveholders, Wilkinson, members of his Methodist congregation, and many blacks of other congregations emigrated; some 1196

Nova Scotian Settlers The Nova Scotian Settlers, or Sierra Leone Settlers (also known as the Nova Scotians or more commonly as the Settlers) were African-Americans who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone and the Colony of Sierra Leone, on March 11, 1792 ...

set sail from Halifax on 15 January 1792. The ships made landfall on March 9 1792. Wilkinson established the first Methodist church in Settler Town. The officers of the Sierra Leone Company clashed with members of the independent-minded Christian denominations, and matters came to a head with a failed rebellion led by Methodists in 1800. Two Methodists were executed; a number of others, mostly Methodist, were exiled elsewhere in West Africa. Wilkinson's brand of Methodism lost favour in the colony.

Legacy

His ministry inspired

Gowan Pamphlet Gowan Pamphlet (1748–1807) was an American Baptist minister and freedman who founded the Black Baptist Church (now known as First Baptist Church) in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States.Woodson, Carter G. ''The History of the Negro Church''. ...

, minister and

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

who founded the Black Baptist Church in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula ...

.Woodson, Carter G. ''The History of the Negro Church''. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1921. As detailed above, Wilkinson's preaching led to the creation of the Black Methodist community of Halifax.

See more

* List of Black Loyalists