Jabez Pitt Campbell
| Jabez Pitt Campbell | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 5, 1815 Slaughter Neck, Sussex County, Delaware |
| Died | August 9, 1891 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Minister |
| Known for | American Colonization Society; eighth bishop of the AME Church |
| Spouse(s) | Stella Medley; Mary Ann Akins |
| Religion | African Methodist Episcopal Church |
Jabez Pitt Campbell (February 5, 1815 – August 9, 1891) was a minister, activist, philanthropist and the eighth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent African-American church in the United States.
Jabez P. Campbell was born free in Slaughter Neck, Sussex County, Delaware on February 5, 1815. Both his grandfathers were soldiers during the Revolutionary War, a rare occurrence, since only about 5,000 African-Americans served in the Continental Army. His father was Anthony Campbell, a Methodist preacher, and his mother was Catherine Campbell, both of whom were members of the AME church. When Campbell was young, his father used him as collateral for his mortgage. At an early age, his father left him without paying his mortgage, leaving Campbell to be sold as a slave. Campbell heard of the attempt to enslave him and ran away to Philadelphia where his mother lived. Despite his attempted escape, Campbell was captured and enslaved for four and a half years. He was meant to serve two more years, but he bought them from his master, and at age eighteen he was free.
Campbell married twice. His first marriage was to Stella Medley on October 23, 1844. In April 1854, Stella Medley died. They had one child, Catherine Stella Campbell, in 1852. Campbell married again in 1855 to a widow, Mary Ann Akins. She was previously married to Joseph Shire and had four children with him. Akins and Campbell did not have any children together.
In 1833, after a brief encounter with Christian Universalism and soon after being freed, Jabez Campbell joined Bethel Church, an AME church, in Philadelphia. In September 1839, Campbell was licensed to preach by the AME church. Bishop Morris Brown assigned Campbell to preach in the Frankford and Berks County circuits in Pennsylvania. From 1839 to 1843, he preached in the New England states. In 1843, Campbell became an ordained elder, and taught and preached in New York and Pennsylvania from that year until 1854. From 1855 to 1858, he was general book steward to the AME church and editor of the Christian Recorder, the official newspaper of the AME church. After resigning from these posts, he was assigned to Trenton in New Jersey and Bethel Church in Pennsylvania.
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