History of Hosanna African Union Methodist Protestant Church, Chester Co., PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Coni Porter Uzelac . http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ********************************************************* African Americans in Chester County Submitted by Coni Porter Uzelac Bits and pieces of Pennsylvania Africana will be added to this site as time permits. Those of you who have additional information are invited to contribute. Please provide documented source material – the intent is to provide accurate information. We are definitely aware that corrections might be needed to already submitted information as additional research is completed. Topics included: Hosanna Church, A.U.M.P.: Past and Present Photo in front of Hosanna Church, c. 1905 Dedication of an Official State Historical Marker Honoring Hosanna African Union Methodist Protestant Church, Saturday, May 9, 1992 Ashmun Institute ------------------------------------------ HOSANNA CHURCH, A.U.M.P.: PAST AND PRESENT "One of the oddities right outside campus is a very small building situated between the University and Ye Old Lion's Inn. What is further unusual is the fact that there is an old, small cemetery surrounding this building. Some of the earliest graves date back to 1853, and the people in this area are still using this grave site. What is unusual about this is the church and graveyard are located right off a main highway. This fact does not alter but gives foundation to the story that this was part of the slave-to-freedom network. The general layout of the cemetery has been destroyed with age and lack of care. There are probably a hundred graves, not including the unmarked ones. Those tombstones still standing are covered with weeds and brush. Skunk weeds, which emit a horrible odor, dominate the graves on the left side of the church. The church itself is part of the larger congregation of A.U.M.P. A.U.M.P. is an abbreviation for the African Union Methodist Protestant church. It has head quarters in Wilmington, Delaware. It was founded in 1843, the same year the founder of the religious order died, Reverend Peter Spencer. It was given the name Hosanna. Rumor has it that the name of the church was taken from the Bible because it denoted a joyous praise to the Lord. The Negroes were giving thanks for their church. The dream of a lifetime came true, they had a church. And an important church it was. As previously mentioned, it was located on a main highway, which at that time constituted one half of the great crossroad. That crossroad is now known as Route 1 and Lincoln Road. This crossroad was only miles from the Mason-Dixon Line between freedom. Since the slaves were given Saturday noon to Sunday evening free, they helped the freedmen work on the church. They succeeded in constructing a small scale version of the large Negro churches in Philadelphia, and Wilmington. Hosanna is a small, red-bricked building with and pointed roof and a rectangular shape. It can barely seat a hundred people comfortably. It was originally built with a great heavy door, that has been changed to a light weight, paneled one. The floor has been redone and a railing added to the stairs. True to fashion, a small, grey outhouse is situated outside the church. It was a super, deluxe outhouse, as it has a stall for men and a separate one for women. The slaves and freedmen congregated and worshipped in this building. It was because of this that many masters tried to keep their slaves from Hosanna's Sunday meetings. The intermingling with freedmen gave the slaves a sense of acquired "uppittyness." Things ran smoothly for Hosanna. Its largest membership was from 1853 to 1880. It is already known that in 1853, Ashmun Institute was founded. The building of this school was inspired by the success of the little church. Also the industrious attitudes of the Negro land owners in Hinsonville supported the building of this school and donated valuable time, materials and effort to insure the success of this progressive endeavor. It was also about this time that the graveyard was established. It was one of the first marked grave sites for Blacks in this area. Hosanna offered the Negroes their first chance to feel important. They held Ladies Auxilliary meetings, which were of great help to the Ashmun Institute because they fed the workers. They did missionary work in the area and took care of the sick and clothed the poor. This work is still being done, although it is not as important now for the White residents of the area do this now. They are members of the Mennonite church. Hosanna was also important for her extensive Underground Railroad work. The slaves would mingle in with the slaves and freedmen from Chadds Ford or Philadelphia and leave on the wagon that took them home. If no one would claim them, or they had no one waiting for them, it was assumed they were free. Or sometimes that would enter the Philadelphia churches and used the basements to enter the white abolitionists homes, who would in turn smuggle them to Canada. Hosanna has hosted such great names in history as Frederick Douglass, who praised the little parish for her work in the field of freedom and self help. Harriet Tubman used the little church as one of her stop over pickup stations. The members of the church would switch clothes with the runaway slaves and give them food. In talking with the parishners of the church, I have have even heard the rumor that the little church had a tunnel of her own, that run into the mountains. This is, of course, a rumor or a legen perpetuated by the members of the church to keep alive that time in history when Hossanna was a shrine to Freedom. In the Present time, Hosanna has very few members. Almost less than 1850, when a new minister arrived at Hosanna with a new policy in regards to anti- slavery meetings. In accordance with the fugitive Slave Law, he objected to helping the slaves escape to freedom. Now there are other churches in the community. Transportation has enabled the residents to attend church in Oxford, or other surrounding communities. The church now has less than a dozen members. Some of which have been members of the church since 1906. Although their church is sometimes crowded on Sundays and the visitors contribute heavily to the upkeep of the church, the membership is only a constant dozen. The regular members are dying and no new ones are in sight. The only thing that keeps the young people in church is that they come with their grandparents and parents. As the older member dies, her family ceases to come to the church. The Records Keeper of Hosanna church, Mrs. Alvetta Westly died recently and the members are trying to find the records. Mrs. Westly had been sick and therefore unable to turn the records over to a member before she died. Mrs. Anita Webster, of Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Mrs. Westly is at the time trying to locate the records and return them to Reverend Wilmore, present pastor of Hosanna. Mrs. A. Scarit, a member of Hosanna since 1906, gave details on how the church operates. The Mother-church in Wilmington, as the headquarters is called, issued all orders to Hosanna. She appoints pastors to the church at the end to the annual convention if any complaints have been received. The members fill out an evaluation sheet on the ministers and return them to Wilmington, Hosanna has had many pastors, simply because a lot of them have been unsatisfactory to the community. The minister to have the longest standing was Reverend Broadly, who served for eleven years. He sometimes returns to preach, however his health does not allow them too much excitement. Mrs. Scarit also remembers the large pot-bellied stove that used to keep them warm. When the finances of the church increased, they bought an oil heating system. Now, the venerated church used gas heat. The out house is still used. Hosanna, A.M.U.P. now has correspondence with other members of the A.U.M.P. organization, in Maryland and Washington. The old glory of the church is forgotten, the members are the only ones who remember "when." Until the records are found, if they are found, the memories of Hosanna will die out with the last remaining vestiges of a time past."1 Marker Name: Hosanna Meeting House County: Chester Date Dedicated: 1992/5/9 Marker Type: Roadside Location: Old US 1 (Baltimore Pike) N of Lincoln University campus, Lower Oxford Twp. Category: Underground Railroad, African American, Religious Marker Text: Founded by free Blacks who had settled in this area, it was first known as the "African Meeting House." Formally organized in 1843 as an African Union Methodist Protestant church. A station stop on the Underground Railroad, its many visitors included Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Jeanne S. White presented the historical background at this program. If anyone knows who to get in touch with her, I would appreciate receiving her contact information. ------------------------- Educational opportunities In October of 1853, the New Castle Presbytery met in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and announced they would establish a school devoted to training African Americans for missionary service in Africa. It was called Ashmun Institute in honor of the Reverend JEHUDI ASHMUN (1794-1828) agent of the American Colonization Society in West Africa from 1822 to 1828. The plans for such a school were formed at the coaxing of JAMES RALSTON AMOS (1825-1864), who had been attending a school sponsored by the Philadelphia Synod of the Presbyterian Church but left under threat of violence from white students irate at having to study with a black student. Dr. JOHN MILLER DICKEY, Amos's mentor, interested the members of his local chapter of the American Colonization Society in plans for such a school. In an effort to raise money for the school, both Amos and Dickey traveled throughout the country giving sermons and talks on colonization and the Ashmun Institute. Presbyterians opened their pockets, and the main building of the Institute was opened 31 December 1856. The first Two students admitted the next day to classes were the brother, JAMES RALSTON and THOMAS H[ENRY] AMOS. The annual report of the Presbyterian Board of Education for 1860 noted that since Ashmun Institute opened, it had admitted eighteen students, of which three were missionaries. The missionaries were James and Thomas Amos and ARMISTEAD MILLER.3 Miller and the Amoses preached in churches around the country on the virtues of African Colonization.4 After being founded in 1854 as Ashmun Institute, the Institue was re-named Lincoln University after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. It opened its doors to admit women students in 1952. The March 1866 brochure has been reproduced here – it has been provided by the Library of Congress as a part of their "An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera. --------------------------- 1 This was a paper submitted to Dr. Samuel Stevens by Armstead Giolibar? May 1971. It was provided by the Chester Country Historical Society 225 North High Street West Chester, Pa. 19360. 2 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Historical Marker Program.PPennennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 3 African repository 34:27-28, 1859 4 Pitts, Reginald H. Founders and focus of the Ashmun Collegiate Institute for Colored youth, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1854-1866. Journal of the Afro- American Historical and Genealogical Society. 13 (3&4):150, 1994