Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A.M., (For Many Years Pastor of a Church in Rutland, VT, and Late in Granville, New York)
New York: John S. Taylor, 1839. First Edition. Cloth. 4 3/4 X 7 5/8 Inches. 348 PP. Good. Item #5129
Lemuel Haynes is noted as possibly the first African American to minister to a white congregation in America. Appiah & Gates (Africana, 1999) note that Haynes "was born to a black father he never knew and a white mother who refused to acknowledge him. In his infancy he was made an indentured servant to a white family in Granville, Massachusetts, who treated him as one of their children... Hayne's indenture ended in 1774, whereupon he became a Minuteman in the Continental Army. During the Revolutionary War he fought at the siege of Boston and Fort Ticonderoga,. After the war he studied Latin and Greek with local ministers and was ordained by the Congregationalists, apparently the first African American ordained by a mainstream white denomination."
Original cloth binding with gilt title-stamping to spine. Frontis illustration of Haynes and tissue-guard intact. Foxing and toning. PO pencil on endpapers long since erased (leaving some spotting). PO name in pencil on second page. Some minor staining and wear throughout. A more than acceptable copy of this rarity.
Price: $350.00