The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
Why this young man, who had obtained his freedom by going to the
British at the fall of Savannah,[29] in 1778, remained in America to
resume the condition of a slave, after the Revolutionary War, is not
known. It is known, however, that, unlike George Liele and David
George, men of adventurous spirit, Jesse Peter was not a pioneering
worker in strange fields. If, indeed, he ever traveled beyond Kiokee,
Georgia, in the one direction, and the city of Savannah in the other,
we have failed to note the fact. It is known, too, that he had an
indulgent master, and it is possible that he preferred a state of
nominal slavery, under his protection, to a probable state of want and
hardship in a foreign land. Or it may be he was willing to die for the
cause, and so deliberately entered again into the old condition of
bondage in order to enjoy the privilege of preaching, where Liele and
George had labored in other days.
It is to be presumed that Jesse Peter was regularly ordained to the
work of the Gospel ministry. We take this view because he exercised
the duties and privileges which ordination implies, without ever being
called in question for doing so. His three years of association with
Liele and George, in Savannah, during the British occupancy, moreover,
afforded him ample opportunity to be publicly and regularly
consecrated to his life-work. Certainly Abraham Marshall, of Kiokee,
Georgia, would not have associated himself with Jesse Peter in the
ordination of Andrew Bryan, of Savannah, in 1788, if Jesse Peter had
not himself been ordained to the work of the ministry.
Conditions in the earlier stages of Jesse Peter's pastorate at Silver
Bluff were such that he did not reside at his old home, but came and
went as a stated visitor. Accordingly, Jonathan Clarke, writing from
Savannah, Georgia, December 22, 1792, says, "Jesse Peter (whose
present master is Thomas Galphin), is now here, and has three or four
places in the country, where he attends preaching alternately."[30]
George Liele, writing from the West Indies, in 1791, had said to
Joseph Cook, of South Carolina, "Brother Jesse Galphin, another black
minister, preaches near Augusta, in South Carolina, where I used to
preach."[31] Referring to him, George White speaks as follows: "On the
20th of January, 1788, Andrew, surnamed Bryan, was ordained by Rev.
Abraham Marshall, and a colored minister named Jesse Peter, from the
vicinity of Augusta."[32] Benedict, referring to Andrew Marshall, in
the same connection, states that "he was accompanied by a young
preacher of color, by the name of Jesse Peter, of Augusta."[33] From
these testimonies, it is evident that Jesse Peter was a nonresident
pastor of the Silver Bluff Church from 1788 to 1792, if not for a
longer period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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