Chapter 39

There surely was ground for regret that so small a portion of benevolent feeling was exercised towards this mission. Some individuals did contribute now and then; "A Georgia Planter" sent a part of $10;[192] a "poor woman" of the Rev. H. Malcom's congregation sent $3 for the African mission;[193] "a friend to Africa avails of jewelry for mission to Liberia, per Mr. E. Lincoln, $6";[194] the Negroes connected with the First Baptist Church, Washington, sent $15[195] and, no doubt, some others contributed.

It is not quite clear, however, why William Crane, still representing the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society in the Convention and the Rev. James B. Taylor, a delegate from Virginia and later the biographer of Lott Cary, did not challenge the statement that so little had been accomplished during the eight years of the existence of the African mission.

The Convention then adopted the following recommendation of the Committee:

_Resolved_, That this convention cherish a grateful recollection of the self-denying labors of our late lamented missionary to Africa, Rev. Lott Cary, and that we sympathize with his family, the American Colonization Society, and the church at Monrovia, in the loss they have sustained in his death.

_Resolved_, That it be recommended to the Board to take measures for supplying the vacancy occasioned by the death of Bro. Cary as soon as possible by an able white missionary, and that they endeavor to the utmost of their power to promote the success of this mission, as one in which the convention feel a special interest.

S. CORNELIUS, Chairman.

It was not until 1832 that the Convention saw the error of its conclusion and declared that it must depend "principally on _colored persons_, as missionaries and school teachers, in Africa."[196] Despite this color-phobia of the Baptists, nothing can explain away the fact that Lott Cary had lived helpfully and died honorably. Gurley[197] and Hervey[198] would make him a man of genius who, had he possessed educational advantages, would have won a worldwide reputation as preacher, as general or as chief magistrate. This square-faced, keen-eyed, reserved, cautious black held nothing back. From Charles City County to Richmond, from slave to freedman, from profligate to prophet, from sinner to saint, is a record that might have gone unnoticed; but from America to Africa, from governed to governor, from missionary to martyr is Lott Cary.

For over a score of years the little village of Carytown was the only memento of the man. But in 1850, the Rev. Eli Ball, an agent of the Southern Baptist Convention, while visiting all the Liberian Baptist Mission stations, found with difficulty the final resting place of Lott Cary. The next year a marble monument was sent out and placed over his grave.[199]

MILES MARK FISHER

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This spelling seems more correct than either the short form, _Lot Cary_, used by the Rev. D. Stratton, D.D. of St. Albans, West Virginia, in his "Life and Work of Lot Cary, Missionary in Africa," or the longer form, _Lott Carey_, used by the Rev. James B. Taylor in "The Biography of Elder Lott Carey" and by many other writers for the following consideration: There is no trace of Cary spelling his name Lot Cary. In the American Baptist Magazine and Gammell's "A History of American Baptist Missions" there are letters from or references to Cary marked Lott Carey, which are no doubt presumptions on the part of the printer or writer that the name is spelled like that of the Rev. William Carey. If, on the other hand, Lott Cary spelled his name either _Carey_ or _Cary_, that would only argue that his name would be better spelled Lott Cary as a means of distinction from the Rev. William Carey. "The Biography of Elder Lott Carey" written in 1837 is the source of much that is known of the man but seems to draw heavily from the "Life of Jehudi Ashmun, late Colonial Agent in Liberia, with an Appendix Containing Extracts from His Journal and Other Writings, with a Brief Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Lott Cary," written in 1835 by Ralph Randolph Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society. Many incidents of the life of Lott Cary are taken from the life and writings of Mr. Ashmun. It would therefore seem consistent to follow his spelling of the name. In this work, the name, Lott Cary, is used frequently--even signed to a letter to Mr. Gurley--and many references are made to it by Mr. Ashmun who probably knew Cary better than anyone else. Only once in the entire work, on page 126, never in the "Brief Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Lott Cary," is the name spelled _Carey_. This could be a typographical error. Furthermore, Mr. Randall who went to Africa as Governor of Liberia about a month and a half after Cary's death said, respecting a native settlement, "I propose to have it called after him, Carytown." (_The African Repository_, Vol. V, p. 1.) Appletons' _Cyclopaedia of American Biography_, Vol. I, p. 548, follows this spelling.

[2] This name is also variously spelled--Collin or Colin and Teague or Teage. The above spelling is from the American Baptist Missionary Union in their Missionary Jubilee volume, pp. 215, 267.

[3] _Proceedings of the Fifth Triennial Meeting of the Baptist General Convention_, 1826, p. 22; Earnest, _The Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia_, p. 95; $150 was appropriated for the mission May 23, 1823. Proceedings, 1826, pp. 22, 32.

[4] _Report of the Board of Managers of the General Convention_ in _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. II, pp. 396 ff.

[5] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340.

[6] Hervey, _The Story of Baptist Missions in Foreign Lands_, p. 199.

[7] Gurley, _Life of Jehudi Ashmun_, appendix, p. 147; Peck, _History of the Missions of the Baptist General Convention_ in the _History of American Missions to the Heathen_, p. 443.

[8] Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 199.

[9] _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 11; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 147.

[10] Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 200.

[11] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340.

[12] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 443.

[13] _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 11; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 147.

[14] The gallery was reserved for the slaves connected with the church and congregation. Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 202.

[15] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340.

[16] _Ibid._

[17] _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 11; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 147; Peck, _op. cit._, p. 443.

[18] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 148; Peck, _op. cit._, p. 443.

[19] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340.

[20] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 148.

[21] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 443.

[22] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340. His wife died shortly before this time, _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 11; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 147.

[23] _Fifth Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_ in _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. I, pp. 400f.

[24] _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 12.

[25] _Ibid._, Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 148.

[26] Cathcart, _The Baptist Encyclopaedia_, Vol. I, p. 288.

[27] _The Missionary Jubilee_, pp. 17, 18, 19; Tupper, _A Decade of Foreign Missions_, p. 875.

[28] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 444; The Missionary Jubilee, p. 214; Tupper, _op. cit._, p. 875.

[29] The outbreaks of Toussaint L'Ouverture in Hayti in 1789 and especially Gabriel in Richmond had not died away. Gabriel in 1800 organized 1000 Negroes in Henrico County. The plot, however, was betrayed by a slave Pharaoh and amounted to no lives lost except those of Gabriel and Jack Bowles who were executed. A public guard of 68 policed the city for some months afterwards. Cf. Ballagh, _Slavery in Virginia_, p. 92.

[30] From Article I of the Constitution of this body it is presumed that the Richmond Society contributed "a sum amounting to at least one hundred dollars" for their membership fee.

[31] _Proceedings of the General Convention_, 1817, p. 134.

[32] Gammell, _A History of American Baptist Missions_, p. 256.

[33] _The Third Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_, p. 180.

[34] _Proceedings of the Baptist General Convention_, 1829, p. 34; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, pp. 30, 32.

[35] Letter to Doctor Staughton, dated Philadelphia, April 30, 1818, in the _Fourth Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_.

[36] _Third Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_, p. 180.

[37] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary._

[38] August 5, 1816, the Negro Baptists of Warren County, North Carolina, contributed $5.15; August 18, of the County Line Association, Caswell County, North Carolina, $.69; September 1, of the Shiloh Association, Culpepper, Virginia, $1.90; October 21, of the Pee Dee Association, Montgomery County, North Carolina, $2.19; May 7, 1817, "a col. Wom." of Georgia, $1; June 2, "Coloured Brethren" of the Sunbury Association, Georgia, $21; June 16, "a man of colour 15 cts.--a woman of col. 6 cts." and August 1, "a man of col. 25 cts."--_The Third Annual Report of the Baptist Board_, pp. 146-149; _The Fourth Annual Report of the Baptist Board_, pp. 206, 208.

[39] _The Fourth Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_, pp. 206, 208, 210.

[40] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 444; Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 201.

[41] Cf. Journal of Mills in Spring, _Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills_.

[42] Letter dated Richmond, March 28, 1819, to the Rev. Obadiah B. Brown, Washington City.

[43] _The Missionary Jubilee_, p. 215.

[44] _Sixth Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_ in _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. II, p. 141.

[45] _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. II, p. 141.

[46] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 439; cf. also The Missionary Jubilee, p. 215. The constitution of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society restricted its funds to Africa.

[47] _The African Repository_, March, 1829; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix.

[48] This would have increased his salary to $1000 annually.

[49] Letter of William Crane to the Rev. Obadiah Brown.

[50] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 148.

[51] Russell, _The Free Negro in Virginia_, pp. 145-156.

[52] _Seventh Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions_ in _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. II, pp. 317f.

[53] _Ibid._, p. 399; _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 341; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 159; Peck, _op. cit._, p. 439; _The Missionary Jubilee_, p. 215.

[54] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 444; Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 202.

[55] Hervey, _op. cit._, pp. 201f.

[56] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 149.

[57] _Ibid._, p. 148; _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 12.

[58] Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 202.

[59] Earnest, _op. cit._, p. 95.

[60] Journal of Cary in _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. II, p. 399.

[61] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. III, p. 181.

[62] Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 202.

[63] _The Latter Day Luminary_, Vol. II, pp. 397f.

[64] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 439.

[65] Gammell, _op. cit._, pp. 247, 249.

[66] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. II, p. 181.

[67] Alexander, _A History of Colonization on the Western Coast of Africa_, p. 245.

[68] Latrobe, _Maryland in Liberia_, p. 9.

[69] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, pp. 149f.

[70] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary_.

[71] _The Fifth Annual Report of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States_, pp. 55-64.

[72] Liberia was named at the annual meeting of the Colonization Society, February, 1825. Fox, _The American Colonization Society_, p. 71.

[73] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 149; Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 202.

[74] Warneck, _Outline of a History of Protestant Missions_, p. 193.

[75] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 149; Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 203.

[76] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 149; Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 203; _The African Repository_, March, 1829, p. 13; _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 341.

[77] Gammell, _op. cit._, p. 244; Peck, _op. cit._, p. 441.

[78] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 439; Gammell, _op. cit._, p. 244.

[79] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. IV, p. 142.

[80] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 341; Gammell, _op. cit._, p. 244; Tupper, _The Foreign Missions of the Southern Baptist Convention_, p. 277.

[81] A Negro Baptist preacher who accompanied David George to Sierra Leone from Nova Scotia in 1792. For a detailed account cf. Rippon, _The Baptist Annual Register_, Vol. I, pp. 478-481.

[82] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. V, pp. 241f.; _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, pp. 222f.

[83] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, pp. 222f.

[84] At the annual meeting of the American Colonization Society, February, 1825, on motion of General Robert G. Harper, the settlement was named Monrovia, in honor of the President of the United States. Fox, _op. cit._, p. 71.

[85] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, pp. 244f. In the Report of the Board of Managers of the General Missionary Convention, May, 1825, "Lott Cary ... states that hostilities ... of the natives had ceased.... He asks for assistance to complete the work (on the church); and the Board feel pleasure in recommending the case to the hearts of all who are interested in the melioration of the condition of the African Race." Ibid., Vol. V, p. 216.

[86] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary_.

[87] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 196.

[88] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 213.

[89] _Ibid._, p. 214.

[90] _Ibid._, p. 213.

[91] _Ibid._, _op. cit._, p. 182.

[92] The laws of the Society required every adult male to work two days a week for the public good while receiving rations from the public store. This rule was dispensed with providing each colonist would cultivate his own land. _Ibid._, p. 186.

[93] _Ibid._, appendix, p. 150.

[94] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 187.

[95] _Ibid._, appendix, p. 150.

[96] Fox, _op. cit._, p. 72.

[97] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 150.

[98] _Ibid._, pp. 190ff.

[99] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 150.

[100] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. IV, p. 423.

[101] Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 204.

[102] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 203.

[103] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 214; Hervey, _op. cit._, p. 204.

[104] _Ibid., op. cit._, p. 215; _ibid._, appendix, p. 150.

[105] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 143.

[106] _Ibid._

[107] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 49.

[108] _Ibid._ p. 246.

[109] Gammell, _op. cit._, p. 247.

[110] _The Missionary Jubilee_, p. 215.

[111] The Veys inhabit this healthy country and are very intelligent. They have a written language although no books. Peck, _op. cit._, p. 441.

[112] Warneck, _op. cit._, p. 189.

[113] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 441.

[114] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 30.

[115] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 341.

[116] Cf. Jones, _The Religious Instruction of the Negro in the United States._

[117] These emigrants with one exception were from Newport, Rhode Island. Eighteen of them were, just before their departure and at their own request, organized into a church. Gurley, _op. cit._, pp. 308, 310.

[118] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 309.

[119] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, p. 368; Gammell, _op. cit._, p. 247; Peck, _op. cit._, p. 442; _The Missionary Jubilee_, p. 215.

[120] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 356.

[121] The schools and scholars in Liberia in 1827 were as follows:

Rev. Mr. Gary's school for native children 45 Rev. Mr. M'Gill's classes 16 Mr. Stewart's school 44 Miss Jackson's school 40 Mrs. Williams' school 30 Mr. Prout's school 52

Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 350.

[122] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, pp. 272f.; _ibid._, Vol. VII, p. 166.

[123] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 357.

[124] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. XXI, p. 183.

[125] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, pp. 32, 35, 36, 37.

[126] _Ibid._, _op. cit._, p. 356.

[127] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VIII, p. 144; cf. also Alexander, _op. cit._, pp. 248f.

[128] Baptized eighteen months before by Cary. He was a native evangelist at Big Town, Grand Cape Mount and styled himself John Baptist. Letter of Cary dated Monrovia, June, 1827, to Crane.

[129] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VII, pp. 305f.

[130] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VIII, pp. 143f.

[131] _Ibid._, pp. 53f.

[132] The General Missionary Convention made a remittance of $90 on February 15, 1828. _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VII, pp. 170, 176.

[133] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 442.

[134] Alexander, _op. cit._, p. 181.

[135] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary_.

[136] _The American Missionary Register_, May, 1825, p. 142.

[137] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 182.

[138] _Ibid._, p. 190.

[139] _Ibid._, p. 182.

[140] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary_.

[141] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 142.

[142] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 439; Stratton, _Life and Work of Lot Cary_, p. 3.

[143] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 190.

[144] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 232.

[145] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. V, p. 242.

[146] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340.

[147] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary_.

[148] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 340.

[149] This trip was to influence the free people of color in the United States to emigrate to Liberia. Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 151.

[150] Gurley, _op. cit._, pp. 340f.

[151] Peck, _op. cit._, p. 554.

[152] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, p. 216.

[153] Gurley, _Life of Jehudi Ashmun_, p. 157.

[154] _Ibid._, _op. cit._, p. 261.

[155] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. IX, pp. 212f.; Peck, _op. cit._, p. 442.

[156] _The American Missionary Register_, Vol. VI, p. 142.

[157] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, p. 216.

[158] _The Liberia Herald_ ran for three issues. Then the printer, Mr. Charles L. Force, died. _Ibid._, pp. 214ff.

[159] _Ibid._

[160] Rippon, _op. cit._, Vol. I, pp. 334, 482; Alexander, _op. cit._, p. 41; Crooks, _A History of the Colony of Sierra Leone_, p. 36.

[161] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 66.

[162] _Ibid._, p. 56.

[163] _Ibid._, p. 131.

[164] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 132.

[165] _Ibid._

[166] Alexander, _op. cit._, p. 247.

[167] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 126.

[168] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, p. 216.

[169] _History of African Colonization_, p. 225.

[170] Cf. Adams, _The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in America_, p. 92; Cromwell, _The Early Negro Convention Movement_, pp. 3-5.

[171] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VIII, pp. 53f.

[172] Cf. _Letters and Addresses of Lott Cary_.

[173] Cf. especially Gurley, _Life of Jehudi Ashmun_, appendix, pp. 153, 157. In speaking of going to Grand Cape Mount, Mr. Cary says, "I should have went up last year ... we may anticipate a middling severe struggle from the Mandingo priests who have been for years propagating their system of religion among that nation. They are a kind of Mahometan Jews--they are very skilful in the Old Testament...." _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VII, p. 305. Moreover, there is no known evidence that any other of the colonists could have written so well.

[174] Compare the Address of the Citizens of Monrovia to the free colored people of the United States with the account given in Gurley, _Life of Jehudi Ashmun_, pp. 136-138.

[175] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VIII, p. 203.

[176] $1 was the annual membership fee; 45 names were enrolled and the money paid. $7.25 was collected at the door. Ashmun contributed $5 extra. _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VII, p. 305n.

[177] _Ibid._, p. 305.

[178] _Ibid._, Vol. VIII, p. 170.

[179] _Ibid._, Vol. IX, p. 195; Peek, _op. cit._, p. 443.

[180] On August 31, 1822, Alexander, _op. cit._, p. 181.

[181] _The African Repository_, Vol. V, p. 14.

[182] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 153.

[183] _Ibid._, _op. cit._, p. 385.

[184] Gurley, _op. cit._, p. 385; cf. Journal of Lott Cary in Gurley, _Life of Jehu Ashmun_, appendix, pp. 153-156.

[185] Cf. Appendix L.

[186] Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 159.

[187] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. IX, p. 212; Alexander, _op. cit._, p. 279.

[188] Alexander, _op. cit._, p. 261.

[189] _The African Repository_, Vol. V, p. 10; Gurley, _op. cit._, appendix, p. 160.

[190] Alexander, _op. cit._, pp. 254f.

[191] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. IX, pp. 212, 215, cf. also p. 195.

[192] Cf. a letter to the treasurer of the Massachusetts Baptist Education Society in _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. VI, p. 181.

[193] _The American Baptist Magazine_, Vol. IX, p. 255.

[194] _Ibid._, p. 214.

[195] _The American Baptist Magazine_, p. 215.

[196] _Proceedings_, 1832, pp. 10, 33.

[197] _Op. cit._, appendix, p. 160.

[198] _Op. cit._, p. 207.

[199] Hervey,_op. cit._, p. 206.

COMMUNICATIONS

The correspondence of the editor often has an historical value as the following communications will show:

February 13, 1922.

_Dear Dr. Woodson:_

Your JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY has been so full of good material that I hesitate to call attention to two things in the last (January) number that seem unsuitable.

The first is the leading article on Slave Society on the Southern Society. For more than thirty years I have been combating with all my might the theory of slave-holding sovereignty set forth in that article. It is the essentially Southern view--a magnified view and an unreal view. The article is practically a mild form of the panegyric of the slave plantation which has been the stock in trade of defenders of slavery for a hundred years.

The reasons for slavery given on pages 1 and 2 do not accord with the facts, and if they were true would have minimized the protests against slavery, past and present. It is ridiculous to say that white men endanger their lives by working in the South when you consider how large a part of the cotton crop is raised entirely by white men.

The description of what was said to be the "usual" type of plantation house does not in my opinion apply to more than two hundred or three hundred plantations in the South at the outside. I have traveled very extensively in the South and have never seen more than three or four such mansions. The testimony of Olmsted and other writers is that ordinarily the slaveholder's house was poor and that he lived in a very poor fashion. As for the twelve sons and daughters in the planters' families, and the fifteen to twenty-five children in the negro families, it is perfect gammon. Not one family in a thousand had such numbers. None but a very few of the richest planters lived in the profusion described on page four. As for the enrolment in colleges between 1859 and 1860, and the incomes of the higher institutions, that is all bosh. Francis Lieber was a German by birth, found his service in South Carolina very uncongenial, and stood by the union. To compare slavery to apprenticeship is an affront. The day's work set down by Murat (whose history of the United States is a very obscure work) is contrary to evidence North or South. Regular nurseries were built only on a few large plantations. The arguments in favor of slavery on pages nine and ten are stated without qualification or contradiction. I deeply regret that a Journal of Negro History should admit an article so full of statements both untrue and dangerous to the Negro race.