1707. Negro.--Essex, a Negro man of Mr. William Clarke, Esqre.; Gueno, a R. Wo. of Walle Winthrop, Esqre.
Negro. Will, reg. serv't of Wm. Webster; Betty, reg'r serv't of Wm. Keen, March 9th.
1710. Negroes.--Charles and Peggy, Negro serv'ts of Mr. James Barnes, July 19.
Negro.--Jack, Negro serv't of Sam'l Bill; Esther, Negro serv't of Robert Gutridge, Oct'r 27.
By which it would appear that the community was not indifferent to their condition in as much as their marriages were public and legalized.
1747. Direct efforts for the religious instruction of Negroes, continued through a series of years, were made by Presbyterians in Virginia. They commenced with the Rev. Samuel Davies, afterwards President of Nassau Hall, and the Rev. John Todd of Hanover Presbytery.
Mr. Davies began his ministry in Hanover in 1747 and left Virginia about 1773 or 4. Mr. Davies, four or five years after his settlement in Hanover, "found it impossible to afford even a monthly supply of preaching to the congregations organized by him. Accordingly he sought an assistant in Mr. John Todd, a young preacher from Pennsylvania, who was installed in the upper part of Hanover, November 12, 1752."
In a letter addressed to a friend and member of the "Society in London for promoting Christian knowledge among the poor," in the year 1755, he thus expresses himself: "The poor neglected Negroes, who are so far from having money to purchase books, that they themselves are the property of others: who were originally African savages, and never heard of the name of Jesus or his Gospel until they arrived at the land of their slavery in America: whom their masters generally neglect, and whose souls none care for, as though immortality were not a privilege common to them, as with their masters; these poor unhappy Africans are objects of my compassion, and I think the most proper objects of the Society's charity. The inhabitants of Virginia are computed to be about 300,000 men, the one-half of which number are supposed to be Negroes. The number of those who attend my ministry at particular times, is uncertain, but generally about 300, who give a stated attendance; and never have I been so struck with the appearance of an assembly, as when I have glanced my eye to that part of the meeting-house where they usually sit, adorned (for so it has appeared to me) with so many black countenances, eagerly attentive to every word they hear and frequently bathed in tears. A considerable number of them (about a hundred) have been baptised, after a proper time for instruction, having given credible evidence, not only of their acquaintance with the important doctrines of the Christian religion, but also a deep sense of them in their minds, attested by a life of strict piety arid holiness. As they are not sufficiently polished to dissemble with a good grace, they express the sentiments of their souls so much in the language of simple nature and with such genuine indications of sincerity, that it is impossible to suspect their professions, especially when attended with a truly Christian life and exemplary conduct. There are multitudes of them in different places, who are willing and eagerly desirous to be instructed and embrace every opportunity of acquainting themselves with the doctrines of the Gospel; and though they have generally very little help to learn to read, yet to my agreeable surprise, many of them, by dint of application in their leisure hours, have made such progress that they can intelligibly read a plain author, and especially their bibles; and pity it is that any of them, should be without them." Mr. Davies furnished the Negroes with what books he could procure for them, and requested a supply from the society of Bibles and Watt's psalms and hymns. Having received a supply he distributed them to the great joy of the Negroes. "The books were all very acceptable, but none more so than the psalms and hymns, which enable them to gratify their peculiar taste for psalmody. Sundry of them have lodged all night in my kitchen, and sometimes when I have awaked about two or three o'clock in the morning, a torrent of sacred harmony has poured into my chamber and carried my mind away to heaven. In this seraphic exercise some of them spend almost the whole night. I wish, Sir, you and other benefactors could hear some of these sacred concerts. I am persuaded it would surprise and please you more than an Oratorio or a St. Cecelia's day." He observes: "The Negroes, above all the human species that ever I knew, have an ear for music and a kind of extatic delight in psalmody, and there are no books they learn so soon, or take so much pleasure in as those used in that heavenly part of divine worship."
On one sacramental occasion "he had the pleasure of seeing 40 of them around the table of the Lord, all of whom made a credible procession of Christianity, and several of them gave unusual evidence of sincerity, and he believed that more than 1,000 Negroes attended on his ministry at the different places where he alternately officiated."
Mr. Davies writes Dr. Bellamy, in 1757, "what little success I have lately had, has been chiefly among the extremes of Gentlemen and Negroes. Indeed, God has been remarkably working among the latter. I have baptized about 150 adults; and at the last sacramental solemnity, I had the pleasure of seeing the table graced with about 60 black faces. They generally behave well as far as I can hear, though there are some instances of apostacy among them." The counties in which Mr. Davies labored were Hanover, Henrico, Goochland, Caroline, and Louisa.
"The Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts," already noticed, in 1745 established a school in Charleston, S. C., under the direction of Commissary Garden. It flourished greatly and seemed to answer their utmost wishes. It had at one time 60 scholars and sent forth annually about 20 young Negroes well instructed in the English language and the Christian faith. This school was established in St. Phillip's church and some of its scholars were living in 1822, of orderly and decent characters.--Bp. Meade and Dr. Dalcho.
The year 1747 was marked in the Colony of Georgia by the authorized introduction of slaves. Twenty three representatives from the different districts met in Savannah, and after appointing Major Horton president, they entered into sundry resolutions the substance of which was "that the owners of slaves, should educate the young and use every possible means of making religious impressions upon the minds of the aged, and that all acts of inhumanity should be punished by the civil authority."
1764. The Rev. Ezra Stiles, D. D., afterwards president of Yale College, and Dr. Samuel Hopkins, undertook the education of two apparently promising Negroes with a view to the ministry; but it was finally a failure. Dr. Plumer's Report.
1770 While Dr. Stiles was pastor in Newport, R. I., there were many African slaves in that town. "Of 80 communicants in his church in that town, 7 were Negroes These occasionally met, by his direction, for religious improvement in his study."
Methodism was introduced into this country in New York, 1766 and the first missionaries were sent out by Mr. Wesley in 1769. One of these, Mr. Pillmore, in a letter to Mr. Wesley, from New York, in 1770, says, "the number of blacks that attend the preaching affects me much." The first regular conference was held in Philadelphia, 1773. Number of ministers 10 and of members 1,160. From this year to 1776 there was a great revival of religion in Virginia under the preaching of the Methodists, in connection with Rev. Mr. Jarratt of the Episcopal Church, which spread through 14 counties in Virginia and 2 in North Carolina. One letter states, "the chapel was full of white and black;" another "hundreds of Negroes were among them with tears streaming down their faces." At Roanoke another remarks, "in general the white people were within the chapel and the black people without."
1780. At the 8th conference in Baltimore the following question appeared in the minutes. "Ques. 25.-- Ought not the assistant to meet the colored people himself and appoint as helpers in his absence proper white persons, and not suffer them to stay late and meet by themselves? Ans.--Yes." Under the preaching of Mr. Garretson in Maryland, "hundreds both white and black expressed their love of Jesus."
1786. The first return of colored members distinct from white occurs in the minutes of this year, and then yearly afterwards, white 18,791, colored 1,890. "It will be perceived from the above," says Dr. Bangs in his history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, "that a considerable number of colored persons had been received into the church, and were so returned in the minutes of conference. Hence it appears that at an early period of the Methodist ministry in this country it had turned its attention to this part of the population."
Mr. Rankin writing on the general state of Methodism in the Colonies at the commencement of hostilities, observes, "in May 1777 we had 40 preachers in the different