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Everyday life in 19th century America - Religion

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 Charles Fraser (1782-1860) Church at St. Andrews. South Carolina


Pavel Petrovich Svinin (Russian-born American genre artist, 1787-1839)  A Philadelphia Anabaptis Immersion during a Storm


William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) High Street, with the First Presbyterian Church. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800


Asher Brown Durand (American artist, 1796-1886) Sunday Morning 1839


Unknown Artist, Moravian Single Sister, ca. 1810-1820


1836 J. C. Bridgewood (American artist, 1800s) Saint John's Church


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Lord is My Shepherd


 Charles Fraser (1782-1860) Church at St. James at Goose Creek, South Carolina


Pavel Petrovich Svinin (Russian-born American genre artist, 1787-1839) ) Black Methodists Holding a Prayer Meeting


William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Old Lutheran Church in Fifth Street, Philadelphia.


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) Sunday Morning


Charles Fraser (1782-1860) View of St. James Goose Creek


Henry Bacon (American-born artist, 1839-1912) Pay Attention


Charles Fraser (1782-1860) Meeting House near Jacksonborough, South Carolina


Carl Christian Anton Christensen (Danish-American artist, 1832-1912) - Burning of the Nauvoo, Illinois Mormon Temple in 1848  Destruction of the Mormon Temple (from the Nauvoo Patriot, Nauvoo, Illinois) "November 19, 1848: On Monday the 19th of November, our citizens were awakened by the alarm of fire, which, when first discovered, was bursting out through the spire of the Temple, near the small door that opened from the east side to the roof, on the main building. The fire was seen first about three o'clock in the morning, and not until it had taken such hold of the timbers and roof as to make useless any effort to extinguish it."


AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-c 1857 Cape May, New Jersey

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Mrs Jarena Lee , Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with eight clergy and five churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches and 17,375 members.

 

Mother Mary Elizabeth Clarisse Lang 1794-1882 Baltimore, Maryland

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Mother Mary Lange, the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, was born Elizabeth Lange in the around 1794, in Santiago de Cuba, where she lived in a primarily French speaking community. She received an excellent education; & in the early 1800s, Elizabeth left Cuba & settled in the United States. By 1813, she was in Baltimore, Maryland, where a large community of French speaking Catholics from Haiti was established.  It did not take Lange long to recognize, that the children of her fellow immigrants needed an education.  There was no free public education for African American children in Maryland until 1868. She responded to that need by opening a school in her home in the Fells Point area of Baltimore for the children. She & her friend, Marie Magdaleine Balas (later Sister Frances, OSP) operated the school for over 10 years.

Reverend James Hector Joubert, SS, who was encouraged by James Whitfield, Archbishop of Baltimore, presented Elizabeth Lange with the idea to found a religious congregation for the education of African American girls.  Father Joubert would provide direction, solicit financial assistance, & encourage other "women of color" to become members of this, the 1st congregation of African American  women religious in the history of the Catholic Church.  Elizabeth joyfully accepted Father Joubert's idea.  At the time black men & women could not aspire to religious life.  On July 2, 1829 Elizabeth & 3 other women professed their vows & became the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

Elizabeth, foundress & first superior general of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, took the religious name of Mary. She was superior general from 1829 to 1832, & from 1835 to 1841.  This congregation would educate & evangelize African Americans. And they would always be open to meeting the needs of the times. Thus the Oblate Sisters educated youth & provided a home for orphans. Slaves who had been purchased & then freed were educated & at times admitted into the congregation. They nursed the terminally ill during the cholera epidemic of 1832, sheltered the elderly, & even served as domestics at Saint Mary's Seminary.

Mother Mary's early life prepared her for the turbulence that followed the death of Father Joubert in 1843. There was a sense of abandonment at the dwindling number of pupils & defections of her closest companions & co-workers. Mother Lange never lost faith.  To her black brothers & sisters she gave herself & her material possessions; until she was empty of all but Jesus, whom she shared generously with all by witnessing to His teaching. God called her home, February 3, 1882 at Saint Frances Convent in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Oblate Sisters of Providence is the first successful Roman Catholic sisterhood in the world established by women of African descent.  It was the work of a French-born Sulpician priest & four women, who were part of the Caribbean refugee colony which began arriving in Baltimore, Maryland in the late eighteenth century. Father James Hector Nicholas Joubert, SS, a Sulpician priest discovered it was difficult for the Haitian refugee children to master their religious studies because they were unable to read. He heard of two devout religious Caribbean women who were already conducting a school for black children in their home in Baltimore.  In 1828 those two women, Elizabeth Lange (later Mother Mary Lange ) & Maria Balas accepted his proposal to start a sisterhood with the primary mission of teaching & caring for African American children. After adding 2 more women, Rosine Boegue & American-born Theresa Duchemin, they began studying to become sisters & opened a Catholic school for girls in their convent at 5 St. Mary's Ct. in Baltimore. Thus began St. Frances Academy. It is the oldest continuously operating school for black Catholic children in the United States & is still educating children in Baltimore.

African American nuns teach African American girls at Saint Francis Academy in Baltimore

The four novices in this pioneer society were forced to vacate their first house & moved to a rented house at 610 George St. Baltimore.  Here in their chapel the four women took their vows, & the first women religious order of women of African descent was officially founded on July 2, 1829.  In December of that year the four sisters & the school moved to a rowhouse at 48 Richmond Street.  This location would be the motherhouse for the order for the next 31 years. In the next few years the order & school quickly outgrew the rowhouse & purchased some adjoining properties.  A bigger school & new chapel were built in 1836.  The new chapel is especially significant because it was not only for the use of the convent of the Oblate Sisters of Providence but was also used by Baltimore's black Catholics.  This would be the first time American black Catholics had their own separate chapel for worship, baptisms, marriages, confirmations & funerals. 

The order continued to prosper & grow through the early 1840s.  However, the death of Father Joubert in 1843 left the Oblates without the person who had helped & supported them from their inception.  Since their primary mission was the education of men for the religious life, the Sulpicians decided not to minister to the Oblates any longer.  At the same time paid enrollment in the school began to wane; & by 1846, there were only 8 students in the school who paid tuition.  The order asked permission from the Bishop to beg on the streets in order to help support the convent.

Since the Sulpicians no longer ministered to the sisters on a regular basis, the Oblates began to walk the short distance to St. Alphonsus for the sacraments.  St. Alphonsus was a church conducted under the direction of the Redemptorist order & generally served the Baltimore's growing German community.  Through their association with the Redemptorists the sisters met Father Thaddeus Anwander, CSsR. who became their ecclesiastical director in 1847.  Under Fr. Anwander the order again began to grow & prosper.  A separate school was opened on the property & the first time the Oblates began to teach boys.  The sisters opened other Catholic schools for African American girls in the city as well as teaching adult women in evening classes & opened a home for widows.   In 1860, the sisters were notified that the Redemptorists were giving up their directorship of the community.

The order then came under the directorship of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).  Under the directorship of the Jesuits the OSPs for the first time began missions outside of Baltimore.  They opened a mission in Philadelphia in 1863, & one in New Orleans in 1867.  The order remained under the directorship of the Jesuits until 1871, when priests from the Josephite Fathers & Brothers became their directors. This was a natural alliance since the mission of the Josephites is to minister to the African American population.  Eventually the order founded schools in 18 states. Some missions only lasted a few years, while others endured & changed with the needs of the community. By the 1950's there were over 300 Oblate Sisters of Providence teaching & caring for African American children, as they do to this day.

Juliann Jane Tillman (fl 1830-1845) from Delaware

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In the first half of the 19th century, Juiann Jane Tillman was an AME evangelist. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with eight clergy and five churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches and 17,375 members.


On finding a wife in 1830s rural America

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Women in the Backwoods

Friedrich Gerstäcker, the son of a celebrated opera singer, was born in Hamburg on May 6, 1816. Destined to see the world, he came at the age of 21 to New York in 1837 where he stayed for several months. He arrived in Arkansas in 1838.  The translation was recorded in the Pennsylvania German Society Series 14- Ebbes fer Alle- Ebbes fer Dich, Something for Everyone- Something for You, 1980. The following article on Women in the Backwoods was written for a German magazine in the mid 1840's.  When Arkansas became the 25th state on June 15, 1836, two percent of households were headed by women who had few legal rights, until the passage of the Married Woman's Property Law in 1835.

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Cracking Nuts

On finding a wife in 1840s rural America

It was always interesting to me to see how the Americans "courted," and I will not forget a young man who took a wife in real American fashion.
 

Heinze - he was of German extraction - had worked hard and tirelessly to make a little piece of land arable, had built a good cabin, had split a few thousand fence rails so he could enclose a second field, had planted a small peach orchard, and had procured as fine a stock of chickens and young pigs as could be found in Arkansas. The natural consequence was that all the neighbors firmly asserted that Heinze was tired of bachelor housekeeping and wanted to get married. Despite all the gibes of his friends, however, he denied that this was at all certain and allowed that he "still had time to think about marrying." But this was not completely accurate. One morning in the middle of the week Heinze began with unusual zeal to black his Sunday boots and brush his blue wool coat with the shiny buttons.
 

His old father, who dwelt in the house jointly with Heinze, wondered. "Sonny," he said, "what's got into you, that you're putting on your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes on Thursday? Surely you're not going to do some courting?"

"Don't be silly," answered Heinze, brushing all the more briskly on his very dirty coat collar. "I'm going over to the new settlers to see a few cows I might buy."
 

"Hm-m-m!" The old man shook his head, while his son took the piece of bearskin from the saddle and in its place threw across a delicately tanned lambskin that was used only on rare occasions. The father's supposition turned to certainty when his son, right there in the middle of the week, while looking into the piece of mirror that he had never needed for shaving, combed his hair. Soon after he had finished his toilette, he went away whistling with his horse at the trot.

The old man's suspicion was well founded. Heinze didn't go near the new settlers, but took the road down to the river, and after a three-mile ride reached a neighbor who had two very pretty daughters and, in addition, a very respectable property. He had not firmly decided which of the two girls he would ask for, and was leaving this completely to chance. He got down from the horse, which began to graze quietly, and went into the house.


It was still early in the day and he found both maidens busy with their housework; the eldest was churning and the youngest was spinning, while the mother sat at the loom and made the shuttle fly busily back and forth. After the friendly greeting, Heinze backed a chair up to the fireplace and began to turn his hat around between his knees.


"Have you already planted your corn this year, Mr. Heinze?" asked the mother.


''I'm going to start right away, Ma'am," said Heinze.


"It's a dry spring this year." "Very dry."


"How's your father?"


"He's kicking about, thank you."


"Don't you think it will rain today?"


Here the conversation broke off, and Heinze twisted and turned his felt between his fingers in a truly inhumane way. The oldest daughter: tried a few times to start up some talk, but it was in vain. Heinze answered everything as tersely as possible, and fell back into his meditations. Finally noontime neared, the table was set, and food was brought out. The visitor stood, smoothed his hat, and said "Goodbye to you-all!"


Won't you eat with us, Mr. Heinze?" "Got nothing against it,'' Heinze answered, quietly turning around. He put his· hat under his chair and plunged straight off into some fried bacon and a dish of potatoes.


The food was cleared away, the women again took up their occupations, and evening approached. Bur the probable suitor still sat stock-still in his chair and looked searchingly but sidewise now at the eldest, now at the youngest daughter. The girls, who had long since noticed the glances of their suitor,·could hardly suppress their laughter.


Finally their father came in from the woods leading a few cows. He walked into the room, greeted the guest, and sat down next to him. Heinze now thawed a little and became more talkative, but still did not speak freely. He let himself be invited to the evening meal before he allowed that he ought to fodder and saddle his horse, and repeatedly asserted that he had to ride home at once. But the oncoming darkness and a threatening storm made any discussion of this useless, and without further invitation Heinze now carried the saddle into the house and tied the pony fast to a trough.

As soon as the storm was over, everybody sought a bed, and the suitor too found himself stretched out under the woolen covers. The whole family, including the guest, slept in one room. On the next morning, before it was yet quite light, the two maidens rose, heated the coffee, milked the cows, and brought out the breakfast of bacon and cornbread.


Now Heinze became restless, and the words lay on his tongue for asking the question about one of the daughters, but he could not utter them. The old man, to whom the mother had imparted her suspicions, noticed that. So, to spare the poor devil such an embarrassment, he took Heinze by a button, led him just outside the door, and there told him that both his daughters were already promised and on the following Sunday would both be married at the same time.


Heinze said only the one word - "Singular!" He pressed his hat harder down on his forehead, shook the old man's hand, asked him to bring his saddle out of the house, and ten minutes later was on his way home.


But he had used up a whole day, during planting time at that, and for this reason must not return home without having accomplished his mission. So when he rode by another little cabin, in which lived likewise a young but very poor maiden, he went in and finished his business in· an hour and a half. He quickly got the consent of parents and daughter, who knew him as a hardworking fellow. Four hours later he was walking in shirt sleeves behind the pIows on his own land, making furrows for planting corn, and eight days afterwards he rode with his bride to the Justice of the Peace and left as a married man.


Comfort Dogs + a Few Hats by American artist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

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Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) The Girl Holding the Dog


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Woman By A Window Feeding Her Dog 1880


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Simone In A Large Plumed Hat Seated Holding A Griffon Dog


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Woman In Raspberry Costume Holding a Dog 1900


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Woman On A Striped With A Dog or Young Woman On A Striped Sofa With Her Dog


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) A Girl Holding the Dog


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Elsie Cassatt Holding a Big Dog 1880


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Sara in a Large Flowered Hat Looking Right Holding Her Dog 1901


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Marie Louise Durand Ruel 1911


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Sara With Her Dog in an Armchir Wearing a Bonnet with a Plum Ornament 1901


Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Young Girl at a Window 1883

Women at Sunset

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George Cochran Lambdin (1830-1896) Sunset Musings 1887


Henry Inman (1801-1846) Mrs Robert Lowden


George Cooke (1793–1849) Mrs Robert Donaldson (Susan Jane Gaston)

Henry Inman (1801-1846) Frances Kemble Butler


Henry Inman (1801-1846) Lady with a Mask 1841


Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872) Susan Walker Morse The Muse

Everyday Life in 19th-Century America

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William John Hennessy (American artist, 1839–1917) Out and About after the Snowfall



William Hahn (American artist, 1829–1887) The Convalescent


Louis Lang (Amreican artist, 1814–1893) The Sewing Party


William Hahn (American artist, 1829–1887) Forbidden To Go Sleigh Riding


Luca Sacco (American artist, 1858–1912) The Fortune Teller


Louis Lang (Amreican artist, 1814–1893) Women's Art Class


John Carlin (American artist, 1813–1891) After a Long Cruise


Henry Bebie (Amerian artist, 1824–1888) The Sun


Henry Bebie (Amerian artist, 1824–1888) Conversation Group of Baltimore Girls


Hal Morrison (American artist, 1848–1927) Weighing the Cotton


George Whiting Flagg (American painter, 1816–1897) The Chess Players


Benjamin Henry Latrobe (British-born American architect & artist, 1764-1820) Preparations for the Enjoyment of a Fine Sunday among the Blacks of Norfolk.


Albertus Del Orient Browere (American artist, 1814–1887) Goldminers


Albertus Del Orient Browere (American artist, 1814–1887) At Home.

John Lewis Krimmel Paintings of Everyday Life Around Philadelphia 1810-1820

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John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) 4th of July 1819 in Philadelphia


One of the early artists who was attracted to painting 4th of July celebrations was immigrant John Lewis Krimmel. He was born in Ebingen, Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1787, and accidently drowned near Germantown, Pennsylvania, in July of 1821. He came to Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence had been debated & signed, in 1809, to engage in business with his brother but soon abandoned the business to concentrate on his art.

He began his art career painting portraits, but a copy of Wilkie's "Blind Fiddler" caught his attention; & he turned to humorous subjects and genre painting. Krimmel gathered information for his paintings in the American countryside around Philadelphia by observing local habits, rituals, & ceremonies, so even though he took most of his compositional formats from British prints made after paintings by the satirical artists William Hogarth & David Wilkie, his subject matter was familiar to his potential audience at the Pennsylvania Academy. He also painted more serious historical pictures, & at the time of his death he had received a commission to paint a large canvas on the landing of William Penn. Krimmel was president of the Society of American artists.


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Barroom Dancing 1820


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Portrait of Jacob Ritter Sr.


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Black Sawyers Working in Front ot the Bank of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Blind Man's Bluff


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Country Wedding 1820


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Fourth of July in Centre Square Philadelphia, 1812


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) In an American Inn 1814


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Members of the City Troup and other Philadelphia Soldiery


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Merrymaking at a Wayside Inn


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Nightlife in Philadelphia - An Oyster Barrow in front of the Chestnut Street Theater


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Pepper-Pot Woman at the Philadelphia Market. 1811


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Philadelphia Election Day 1815


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Sunday Morning in front of the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) The Sleighing Frolic


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Young Girl With A Blue Dress


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) The VillageTavern


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Wordly Folk Questioning Chimney Sweeps and Their Master Before Christ Church in Philadelphia 1811-13


John Lewis Krimmel (German American arttist, 1786-1821) The Quilting Frolic 1813

AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - Do coloured people have souls? - at Cape May, NJ

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Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) - Do coloured people have souls? - Returning to Cape May, NJ

Shortly after she impulsively stood up in the Bethel AME Church to preach a sermon which was lauded, Jarena Lee began to think about devoting her life to preaching.

I now began to think seriously of breaking up housekeeping, & forsaking all to preach the everlasting Gospel. I felt a strong desire to return to the place of my nativity, at Cape May, after an absence of about fourteen years...

When within ten miles of that place, I appointed an evening meeting. There were a goodly number come out to hear. The Lord was pleased to give me light & liberty among the people. After meeting, there came an elderly lady to me & said, she believed the Lord had sent me among them; & then appointed me another meeting there two weeks from that night.

The next day I hastened forward to the place of my mother who was happy to see me, & the happiness was mutual between us. With her I left my poor sickly boy, while I departed to do my Master's will.

In this neighborhood I had an uncle, who was a Methodist, & who gladly threw open his door for meetings to be held there. At the first meeting which I held in my uncle's house, there was, with others who had come from curiosity to hear the woman preacher, an old man, who was a Deist, & who said he did not believe the coloured people had any souls - he was sure they had none. He took a seat very near where I was standing, & boldly tried to look me out of countenance. But as I labored on in the best manner I was able, looking to God all the while, though it seemed to me I had but little liberty, yet there went an arrow from the bent bow of the gospel, & fastened in his till then obdurate heart.

After I had done speaking, he went out, & called the people around him, said that my preaching might seem a small thing, yet he believed I had the worth of souls at heart. This language was different from what it was a little time before, as he now seemed to admit that coloured people had souls, as it was to these I was chiefly speaking; & unless they had souls, whose good I had in view, his remark must have been without meaning.

He now came into the house, & in the most friendly manner shook hands with me, saying, he hoped God had spared him to some good purpose. This man was a great slave holder, & had been very cruel; thinking nothing of knocking down a slave with a fence stake, or whatever might come to hand. From this time it was said of him that he became greatly altered in his ways for the better. At that time he was about seventy years old, his head as white as snow; but whether he became a converted man or not, I never heard.

The week following, I had an invitation to hold a meeting at the (Cape May) Court House of the County... It was a solemn time, & the Lord attended the word; I had life & liberty, though there were people there of various denominations. Here again I saw the aged slaveholder, who notwithstanding his age, walked about three miles to hear me.

This day I spoke twice, & walked six miles to the place appointed. There was a magistrate present, who showed his friendship, by saying in a friendly manner, that he had heard of me: he handed me a hymnbook, pointing to a hymn which he had selected.

When the meeting was over, he invited me to preach in a schoolhouse in his neighborhood, about three miles distant from where I was. During this meeting one backslider was reclaimed. This day I walked six miles, & preached twice to large congregations, both in the morning & evening. The Lord was with me, glory be to his holy name.

I next went six miles & held a meeting in a coloured friend's house, at eleven o'clock in the morning, & preached to a well behaved congregation, of both coloured & white. After service I again walked back, which was in all twelve miles in the same day. This was on Sabbath, or as I sometimes call it, seventh day; for after my conversion, I preferred the plain language of the Friends.

On the fourth day, after this, in compliance with an invitation received by note, from the same magistrate who had heard me at the above place I preached to a large congregation, where we had a precious time: much weeping was heard among the people.

The same gentleman, now at the close of the meeting, gave out another appointment at the same place, that day week, Here again I had liberty, there was a move among the people.

Ten years from that time, in the neighborhood of Cape May, I held a prayer meeting in a school house, which was then the regular place of preaching for the Episcopal Methodists, after service, there came a white lady, of great distinction, a member of the Methodist Society, & told that at that same shool house ten years before, under my preaching, the Lord first awakened her. She rejoiced much to see me, & invited me home with her, where I staid till the next day. This was bread cast upon the water, seen after many years.

From this place I went to Dennis Creek meeting house (in New Jersey), where at the invitation of an elder, I spoke to a large congregation of various & conflicting sentiments, when a wonderful shock of God's power was felt, shown everywhere by groans, by sighs, & loud & happy amens. I felt as if aided from above. My tongue was cut loose, the stammerer spoke freely; the love of God, & of his service, burned with a vehement flame within me - his name was glorified among the people.

From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

Woman Evangelist Phoebe Worrall Palmer (1807-1874)

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Phoebe Worrall Palmer (1807-1874) Born Phoebe Worrall on Dec. 11, 1807 in NYC to devout Methodist parents. In 1827, she married Walter Clarke Palmer, a 24 year old physician who was also a devout Methodist. Palmer was an evangelist, author, & prayer warrior. She was instrumental in the founding of the American Holiness movement.

Phoebe Worrall Palmer (1807-1874)

Three of their 4 children died at a young age.  In 1840, Phoebe assumed leadership of the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, & the attendance grew, drawing clergy & laity from many denominations. In this same year, she began speaking in public primarily at camp meetings, & for the next decade, she traveled alone while Walter remained in New York City to run his practice & their household. In the 1850s, Walter joined Phoebe on her trips, including a 4-year evangelistic tour of Great Britain, where their audiences often numbered in the thousands. Phoebe was also involved in urban work in the New York City slums, where she founded the Five Points Mission, an urban outreach center with a chapel, schoolroom, rent-free apartments, & numerous other social service programs. She was also an active editor & writer, editing the Guide to Holiness, a leading journal of the burgeoning holiness movement, publishing a number of books on topics, such as holiness & women’s right to speak in public.  She wrote a book entitled “The Promise of the Father” which advocated women in leadership.

Phoebe Worrall Palmer (1807-1874)

From Phoebe Palmer, Promise of the Father. Boston, 1859 

“Earnest prayers, long fasting, and burning tears may seem befitting, but cannot move the heart of infinite love to a greater willingness to save. God’s time is now. The question is not, What have I been? or What do I expect to be? But, Am I now trusting in Jesus to save to the uttermost? If so, I am now saved from all sin.” 

“[W]e have never conceived that it would be subservient to the happines, use­fulness, or true dignity of woman, were she permitted to occupy a prominent part in legislative halls, or take a leading position in the orderings of church conventions.”

“And is it in religion alone that woman is prone to overstep the bounds of propriety, when the impellings of her Heaven-baptized soul would lead her to come out from the cloister, and take positions of usefulness for God?”

“Who would restrain the lips of those whom God has endued with the gift of utterance, when those lips would fain abundantly utter the memory of God’s great goodness?”

“The Christian churches of the present day, with but few exceptions, have im­posed silence on Christian woman, so that her voice may but seldom be heard in Christian assemblies.”

"It is not our aim in this work to suggest, in behalf of woman, a change in the social or domestic relation. We are not disposed to feel that she is burdened with wrong in this direction. But we feel that there is a wrong, a serious wrong, affectingly cruel in its influences, which has long been depressing the hearts of the most devotedly pious women. And this wrong is inflicted by pious men, many of whom, we presume, imagine that they are doing God service in putting a seal upon lips which God has commanded to speak. It is not our intention to chide those who have thus kept the Christian female in bondage, as we believe in ignorance they have done it. But we feel that the time has now come when ignorance will involve guilt..."

AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - Back to Philadelphia with her son 1822

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Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee - Returning to Philadelphia with her son

I had my little son with me, & was very much straitened for money & not having means to procure my passage home, I opened a School & taught eleven scholars, for the purpose of raising a small sum. For many weeks I knew not what to do about returning home, when the Lord came to my assistance as I was rambling in the fields meditating upon his goodness, & made known to me that I might go to the city of Philadelphia, for which place I soon embarked with a very kind captain. We had a perilous passage - a dreadful storm arose, & before leaving the Delaware bay, we had a narrow escape from being run down by a large ship. But the good Lord held us in the hollow of his hand, & in the afternoon of Nov. 12, 1821, we arrived at the city.

Here I held meetings in the dwelling house of sister Lydia Anderson, & for about three months had as many appointments as I could attend. We had many precious seasons together, & the Lord was with his little praying band, convincing & converting sinners to the truth. I continued in the city until spring, when I felt it impressed upon my mind to travel, & walked fourteen miles in company with a sister to meet some ministers, there to assemble, from Philadelphia. Satan tempted me while on the way, telling me that I was a fool for walking so far, as I would not be permitted to preach. But I pursued my journey, with the determination to set down & worship with them. When I arrived, a goodly number of people had assembled, & no preacher. They waited the time to commence the exercise, & then called upon me. I took the 3rd chapter John 14th verse for my text. I had life & liberty, & the Lord was in the camp with a shout. Another meeting was appointed three miles from there, when I spoke from Psalms cxxxvii, 1,2,3,4. My master was with me, & made manifest his power. In the County House, also, we held a meeting, & had a sweet waiting upon the Lord. I spoke from Hebrews ii,3, when the Lord gave me peculiar liberty. At a dwelling house one night I spoke from John vii, 46, when six souls fell to the floor crying for mercy. We had a blessed outpouring of the spirit among us - the God of Jacob was in our midst & the shout of heaven-born souls was like music to our ears.

About the month of February my little son James, then in his sixth year, gave evidence of having religious inclinations. Once he got up in a chair, with a hymn book in his hand, & with quite a ministerial jesture, gave out a hymn. I felt the spirit move me to sing with him. A worthy sister was in the room, who I asked to pray for him. I invoked the Lord to answer & seal this prayer in the courts of heaven. I believed He would & did, & while yet on our knees I was heaven. I believed He would & did, & while yet on our knees I was filled with the fulness of God, & the answer came. I cried out in the joy of my heart - "The dead is alive" & ran down stairs to inform a neighbor. Tears ran down the cheeks of my now happy boy, & great was our rejoicing together. He had been the subject of many prayers, & often had I thought I would rather follow him to his grave than to see him grow up an open & profane sinner like many children I had seen. And here let me say, the promise of the Lord is, "ask & ye shall receive." Dear parents; pray for your children in childhood - carry them in the arms of faith to the mercy seat, & there present them an offering to the Lord. I can say from my own experience, the Lord will hear prayer. I had given James the Bible as Haman gave Samuel to God in his youth, & by his gracious favor he was received. For the further encouragement of fathers & mothers to engage in this blessed work, let me refer them to Ecclesiastes xi, 6; "In the morning sow thy seed, & in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."

From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

Everyday life in 19th century America - Working Together

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Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884) Hop Picking 1862


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  At Camp Spinning Yarn and Whittling


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket


Henry Mosler (American genre artist, 1841-1920)  Quilting Bee


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Study for the Cranberry Harvest


Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884) Making Ammunition 1855


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Sugaring Off at the Camp, Fryeburg, Maine


Enoch Wood Perry (American painter, 1831-1913) Women Weaving Baskets


Frank Waller (1842-1923) Harvesting Hops near Cooperstown, New York


John Lewis Krimmel (German American arttist, 1786-1821) The Quilting Frolic 1813


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  The Cranberry Harvest, Island of Nantucket


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Berry Pickers


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906). Sugaring Off


Hal Morrison (American artist, 1848–1927) Watermellon Picking


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   The Conversation


 Linton Park (American painter, 1826-1906) Flax Scutching Bee 1885


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   The Maple Sugar Camp Turning Off


Thomas Eakins (American artist, 1844-1916) Mending the Net


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   Cranberry Pickers


John Whetten Ehninger (1827-1889) October


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   In the fields


Thomas Eakins (American artist, 1844-1916) Pushing for Rail


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   Sugering Off at the Camp in Freyeberg ME


Harry Roseland (American artist, 1867-1950) An Important Letter


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   At the Maple Sugar Camp


Louis Lang (Amreican artist, 1814–1893) The Sewing Party


Charles Sprague Pearce (American Painter, 1851-1914) Women in the Fields

AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - "A speaking woman is like an ass" - in New Jersey 1822

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Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844


Jarena Lee - "A speaking woman is like an ass" - in New Jersey

In November, I journeyed for Trenton, N. J. At Burlington I spoke to the people on the Sabbath, and had a good time among them, and on Monday the 12th, in a school house. Sister Mary Owan, who had laid aside all the cares of the world, went with me. We had no means of traveling but on foot, but the Lord regarded us, and by some means put it into the heart of a stranger, to convey us to the Trenton bridge. We fell in with the elder of the circuit, who spoke to me in a cold and formal manner, and as though he thought my capacity was not equal to his. We went into the sister's house, where we expected to stay, and waited a long while with our hats and cloaks on, before the invitation to lodge there was given. In the morning I had thought to visit Newhope, but remained to discharge my duty in visiting the sick and afflicted three or four days in the neighborhood. I was invited to a prayer meeting, and was called upon by a brother to speak. I improved the offer, and made some remarks from Kings xviii, 21. One of the preachers invited me to approach for them on sixth day evening, which I complied with much power, and before an attentive congregation; when God followed the word with much power, and great was our joy. On the 17th I spoke in the morning at 11 o'clock. I felt my weakness and deficiency for the work, and thought "Who is able for these things," and desired to get away from the task. My text was Timothy vi, 2-7. The Lord again cut loose the stammering tongue; and opened the Scriptures to my mind, so that, glory to Gods dear name, we had a most melting, sin-killing, and soul-reviving time. In the afternoon I assisted in leading a class, when we found the Lord faithful and true - and on the same evening I spoke from Hebrews ii,3.

The next day, sister Mary Owan and Myself set out for Newhope, where we arrived, after walking sixteen miles, at about six o'clock in the evening. Though tedious, it was a pleasant walk to view the high mountain and towering hills, and the beauty and variety of nature around us, which powerfully impressed my mind with the greatness and wisdom of my Maker. At this place I stop at the house of the gentleman with whose wife's mother I was brought up, and by whom we were agreeably received. The next evening we called upon brother Butler, where I addressed a small company, and God, through his words, quickened some. The next night I spoke in an Academy to a goodly number of people, from John iii, 14. Here I found some ever ill-behaved persons, who talked roughly, and said among other things, "I was not a woman, but a man dressed in female clothes." I labored one week among them, and went next to Lambertsville, where we experienced kindness from the people, and had a happy time and parted in tears.

I now returned to Philadelphia, where I stayed a short time, and went to Salem, West Jersey. I met with many troubles on my journey, especially from the elder, who like many others, was averse to a woman's preaching. And here let me tell that elder, if he has not gone to heaven, that I have heard that as far back as Adam Clarke's time, his objections to female preaching were met by the answer - "If an ass reproved Balaam, and a barn-door fowl reproved Peter, why should not a woman reprove sin?" I do not introduce this for its complimentary classification of women, with donkeys and fowls, but to give the reply of a poor woman, who had once been a slave. To the first companion she said - "May be a speaking woman is like an ass - but I can tell you one thing, the ass seen the angel when Balaam didn't."

Not withstanding the position, we had a prosperous time at Salem. I had some good congregations, and sinners were cut to the heart. After speaking in the meeting house, two women came up into the pulpit, and falling upon my neck cried out "What shall I do to be saved?" One said she had disobeyed God, and she had taken her children from her - he had called often after her, but she did not hearken. I pointed her to the all-atoning blood of Christ, which is sufficient to cleanse from all sin, and left her, after prayer, to his mercy. From this place I walked twenty-one miles, and preached with difficulty to a stiff-necked and rebellious people, who I soon left without any animosity for their treatment. They might have respected my message, if not the poor weak servant who brought it to them with so much labor.

"If they persecute you in one city, flee into another,"was the advice I had resolved to take, and I hastened to Greenwich, where I had a lively congregation, had unusual life and liberty in speaking, and the power of God was there. We also had a solemn time in the meeting house on Sabbath day morning, and in a dwelling house in the evening; a large company assembled, when the spirit was with us, and we had a mighty shaking among the dry bones.

On second day morning, I took stage and rode seven miles to Woodstown, and there I spoke to a respectable congregation of white and colored, in a school house. I was desired to speak in the colored meeting house, but the minister could not reconcile his mind to a woman preacher - he could not unite in fellowship with me even to shaking hands as Christians ought. I had visited that place before, when God made manifest his power "through the foolishness of preaching," and owned the poor old woman. One of the brothers appointed a meeting in his own house, and after much persuasion this minister came also. I did not feel much like preaching, but spoke from Acts viii, 35. I felt my inability, and was led to complain of weakness - but God directed the arrow to the hearts of the guilty - and my friend the minister got happy, and often shouted "Amen,"and my "as it is, sister." We had a wonderful display of the spirit of God among us, and we found it good to be there. There is nothing too hard for the Lord to do. I committed the meeting into the hands of the elder, who afterwards invited me to preach in the meeting house. He had said he did not believe that over a soul was converted under the preaching of a woman - but while I was laboring in his place, conviction seized a woman, who fell floor crying for mercy. This meeting held till 12 or 1 o'clock. O how precious is the sound of Jesus' name! I never felt a doubt at this time of my acceptance with God, but rested my soul on his every promise. The elder shook hands, and we parted.

From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

Summer with American artist Winslow Homer 1836-1910

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Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Weaning the Calf


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Waiting for an Answer


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Two Girls at the Beach, Tynemouth


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Three Boys in a Dory with Lobster Pots


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Woodcutter


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Veteran in a New Field


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Sick Chicken


AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - Preaching in Delaware 1822

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Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee - Preaching in Delaware

June 24, 1822  I left the city of Philadelphia to travel in Delaware state. I went with captain Ryal, a kind gentleman, who took me to his house in Wilmington, and himself and lady both treated me well. The first night of my arrival; I preached in the stone Methodist meeting house. I tried, in my weak way, to interest the assembly from the 2d chapter of Hebrews, 3d verse - "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation." God was there, as we had the most delightful evidence - and many had their eyes opened to see there was no escape from the second death while out of Christ, and cried unto God for his saving grace. I would that all who have not embraced the salvation offered in the gospel, might examine the question candidly and seriously, ere the realities of the other world break up their fancied security.

In July, I spoke in a School house to a large congregation, from Numbers xxix, 17. Here we had a sweet foretaste of heaven - full measure, and running over - shouting and rejoicing - while the poor errand-bearer of a free gospel was assisted from on high. I wish my reader had been there to share with us the joyous heavenly feast. On the 15th of July I gave an exhortation in the meeting house again to a listening multitude - deep and solemn were the convictions of many, and good, I trust, was done.

The next place I visited was Newcastle. The meeting house could not be obtained, and two young gentleman interested themselves to get the Court house, but the Trustees objected, wishing to know why the Methodists did not open their Church. The reason was "I was not licensed," they said.  My two friends waited on me to speak in the Market house, where I attended at early candlelight, and had the pleasure of addressing a few plain truths to a crowded but respectful congregation, from John vii, 46 - "Never man spoke like this man." On Sunday the same young gentlemen invited me to give another discourse, to which I consented, before a large gathering of all descriptions.

From here I proceeded to Christine, where we worshipped in a dwelling house, and I must say was well treated by some of my colored friends. I than returned to Wilmington, where in a few days I had a message to return again to C. My friends said I should have the Meeting house, for which Squire Luden interested himself, and the appointment was published. When the people, met at the proper time, the doors remained locked. Amid cries of "shame" we left the Church steps - but a private house was opened a short distance up the road, and though disappointed in obtaining egress to a Church, the Lord did not disappoint his people, for we were fed with the bread of life, and had a happy time. Mr. and Mrs. Lewelen took me to their house, and treated me, not as one of their hired servants, but as a companion, for which I shall ever feel grateful, Mr. Smith, a doctor, also invited me to call upon them - he was a Presbyterian, but we prayed and conversed together about Jesus and his love, and parted without meddling with each others creeds. Oh, I long to see the day when Christians will meet on one common platform - Jesus of Nazareth - and cease their bickerings and contentions about non-essentials - when "our Church" shall be less debated, but "our Jesus" shall be all in all.

Another family gave me the invitation to attend a prayer meeting. It was like a "little heaven below." From here I walked about four miles that evening, accompanied by the house maid of Mrs. Ford, a Presbyterian, who said she knew her mistress would be glad to see me Mrs. F. gave me a welcome - said she felt interested in my speaking, and sent a note to Methodist lady, who replied that my labor would be acceptable, no doubt, in her Church that afternoon. When I came in, the elder was in the pulpit. He gave us a good sermon. After preaching, this lays spoke of me to the elder; in consequence, he invited me to his pulpit, saying "he was willing that every one should do good." My text was Hebrew ii, 3. Though weak in body, the good Master filled my mouth and gave me liberty among strangers, and seldom have I spent so happy a Sabbath. Mrs. F. had a colored woman in her family one hundred and ten years of age, with whom I conversed about religion - how Christ had died to redeem us, and the way of salvation, and the poor old lady said "she wished she could hear me every day." I also called upon another, one hundred and sixteen years old, who was blind. We talked together about Jesus - she had a strong and abiding evidence of her new birth, and in a few weeks went home to heaven. Here she was long deprived of the light of the sun, and the privilege of reading God's blessed word; but there her eyes are unsealed, and the Sun of righteousness has risen with healing in his wings.

I left Mrs. Ford's and walked about three miles to St. George, with a recommend to a Mrs. Sutton, a noble-minded lady of the Presbyterian order, where I was generously treated. Here I preached in the School house to a respectable company - had considerable weeping and a profitable waiting upon the Lord. I accepted an invitation from a gentleman to preach in a Methodist Church three miles distant - found there a loving people, and was highly gratified at the order and decorum manifested while I addressed them. Mrs. Smith took me home with her, who I found to be a christian both in sentiment and action. By invitation, I went next to Port Penn, and spoke with freedom, being assisted of the Lord, to a full house, and had a glorious feast of the Spirit. The next night found me at Canton Bride, to which place I had walked - spoke in a School house, from Math, xxii, 41 - "What think ye Christ?". The presence of the Lord overshadowed us - believers rejoiced - some were awakened to belive well of Master, and I trust are on their way to glory. In Fields borough, also, we had gracious meetings.

At Smyrna I met brother C.W. Cannon, who made application for the Friend's Meeting house for me, where the Lord blessed us abundantly. We attended a Camp-meeting of the old connexion, and got greatly refreshed for the King's service. I rode ten miles and delivered a message from the Lord to a waiting audience - the Master assisted, and seven individuals, white and colored, prostrated themselves for prayer. Next day I rode to Middletown - spoke in a School house to a white congregation from Isaiah 1xiii, 1, and a good time it was. In the morning at 11 o'clock, I addressed a Methodist Society, and in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, spoke under a tree in the grave yard, by the road side, to a large audience. Squire Maxwell's lady, who was present, invited me home to tea with herself and nieces, and a Quaker lady showed her benevolence by putting into my hand enough to help me on my journey. The Lord is good - what shall I do to make it known? I rode seven miles that night, and gave and exhortation after the minister had preached, and felt happier than a King.

From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

Everyday life in 19th century America - Children

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Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) An Interesting Book

 
 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Scissors Grinder 1870


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) A Bedtime Story


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  Bluffing


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) At the Brook


Abbott Fuller Graves (American artist, 1859 – 1936) The Fisherman's Lesson



Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) Equestrian Portrait


 Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Ice Skater or Child Warming Hands


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) Guilty


 James Goodwyn Clonney (American genre artist, 1812–1867) Asleep


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) One for Mommy, One for Me


Abbott Fuller Graves (American artist, 1859–1936) Trying the Pipe


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) Story of Golden Locks


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  We Can't Be Caught


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) The Bitter Bit 1877


 Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  In the Hayloft


Seymour Joseph Guy (American artist, 1824-1910) Young Girl Reading 1877


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  My Best Friend


c John Joseph Enneking (American artist, 1841 – 1916) Pulling Out the Splinter


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Little Boy on a Stool


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  Daisy McComb Holding a Pink Rose


 Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Lunchtime


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)   Tete a Tete


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  Scholar


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  The Industrious Family


 Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  The Lesson


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)   The Peacemaker


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  The Little Convalescent


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)  Golden Locks, Left Behind


 Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  The Old Stage Coast


Carl Hirschberg (American artist, 1854 – 1923) The Orange


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)  St Patrick's Day


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).   The Storyteller at the Camp


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)  Hiding in the Old Oak


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  The Young Sweep


Samuel S. Carr (American genre painter, 1837–1908) Little Drummer Boy


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln


Thomas Eakins (American artist, 1844-1916)  Baby at Play


Eastman Johnson (American genre painter, 1824-1906).  What the Shell Says


Francis William Edmonds (Amrican genre painter, 1806-1863)  The Windmill


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Whittling Boy


Samuel S. Carr (American artist, 1837–1908)  Getting Ready for the Market

AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - Preaching in Maryland 1822

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Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee - Preaching in Maryland

I now travelled to Cecil country, Md., and the first evening spoke to a large congregation. The pastor afterwards baptized some adult persons - and we all experienced the cleansing and purifying power. We had a baptism within and without. I was next sent for by the servant of a white gentleman, to hold a meeting in his house in the evening. He invited the neighbors, colored and white, when I spoke according to the ability God gave me. It was pleasant to my poor soul to be there - Jesus was in our midst - and we gave glory to God. Yes, glory - glory be to God in the highest. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." I boast not myself. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God giveth the increase. I tried also to preach three times at a place 14 miles from here - had good meetings - backsliders were reclaimed and sinners convicted of sin, who I left in the hands of God, with the hope of meeting and recognizing again "When we arrive at home."

Returned back to Middletown. The next day the preacher of the circuit conveyed me to his place of appointment at Elkton. We had a wonderful outpouring of the spirit. At Frenchtown I spoke at 11 o'clock, where I realized my nothingness, but, God's name he praised, he helped me in the duty. Went again to Middletown, and from there to Canton's Bridge, and talked to the people as best I could. Seven miles from this place I found, by the direction of a kind Providence, my own sister, who had been separated from me some thirty three years. We were young when last we met, with less of the cares of life than now. Each heart then was buoyant with mildly hopes and pleasures - and little did we expect at parting that thirty three years would pass over us, with its changes and vicissitudes, ere we should see each other's face. Both were much altered in appearance, but we knew each other, and talked over the dealings of the Lord with us, retracing our wanderings in the world and "the days when life way young."

During this visit I had three meetings in different directions in gentlemen's houses, and a prayer meeting at my brother's, who did not enjoy religion. My good old friends Mr. Lorton happened to be there, who told the people that she had been to my house - that he knew Mr. Lee (my husband) intimately, and that he had often preached for him while pastor of the Church at Snow Hill, N.J.
I next attended and preached several times at a camp meeting, which continued five days. We had Pentecostal showers - sinners were pricked to the heart, and cried mightily to God for succor from impending judgment, and I verily believe the Lord was well pleased at our weak endeavors to serve him in the tented grove. The elder in charge, on the last day of the camp, appointed a meeting for me in a dwelling house. Spoke from Acts ii, 41 The truth fastened in the hearts of two young women, who, after I was seated, came and fell down at my side, and cried for God to have mercy on them - we prayed and wrestled with the Lord, and both were made happy in believing, and are alive in the faith of the gospel. The next morning a brother preacher took me to St. Georgetown. From, there I took stage to Wilmington, and called on my friend Captain Rial, in whose family I spent two days and nights. Went to Philadelphia to attend a camp-meeting. Returned again to Wilmington - where I was taken sick with typhus fever, was in the doctor's hands for some days - but the Lord rebuked the disease, gave me my usual health again, and I returned back to Philadelphia.

From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

Paintings of 1800s Americans heading West

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 Francis William Edmonds (Amrican genre painter, 1806-1863)  The Speculator


Pittsburgh, circa 1804 by George Beck


Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) In East Tennessee


 Fanny Palmer (American artist, 1812-1876) Published by N Currier The Express Trail


 J. Archer Indian Dinner Party. On the Wabash River in Indiana


 George Caleb Bingham (American genre painter, 1811-1879)  Family Life on the Frontier


Fanny Palmer (American artist, 1812-1876) Published by N Currier The Ferryboat


The World's Greatest Importing Establishment. Main Barns Of The Holbert Horse Importing Co. A.B. Holbert Proprietor. Greeley Delaware County Iowa.


Henry Ossawa Tanner (American artist, 1859–1937) Spinning by Firelight


 Lorus Bishop Pratt (American painter, 1855-1923) Fishing Along the Cache River


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) Prairie Burial


George Martin Ottinger (American artist, 1833-1917) Courthouse Rock


George Caleb Bingham (American genre painter, 1811-1879) The Squatters


Henry Mosler (American genre artist, 1841-1920)  Just Moved


 Cassilly Adams (American artist, 1843-1921) Indian Scout


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857)  With a Prisoner


George Martin Ottinger (American artist, 1833-1917) Away Away to the Mountain Dell - The Valley of the Free Immigrant Train


Lorus Bishop Pratt (American painter, 1855-1923) Shepherd and his Flock


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) The Wounded Hound


Cassilly Adams (American artist, 1843-1921) The Chief


 James Taylor Harwood (American artist, 1860-1940) Richards' Camp, Weber Canyon


Lorus Bishop Pratt (American painter, 1855-1923) Fishing along the Jordan


 George Martin Ottinger (American artist, 1833-1917) The Great Salt Lake From The Foot of Ensign Peak


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) Wild Duck Shooting on the Wing


 Cassilly Adams (American artist, 1843-1921) The Hunt


 William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) The Lazy Fisherman


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) The Trappers


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Getting the Cattle


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) The Fallen Trapper


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) The Expedition Party


James Taylor Harwood (American artist, 1860-1940) All the World's a Stage, Liberty Park


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Cattle Drive in Southern California


 William Rimmer (American artist, 1816-1879) Native Americans in a Lunar Eclipse


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point


Lorus Bishop Pratt (American painter, 1855-1923) Wheat Harvest in Salt Lake


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Harvest Time


William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) The Wounded Scout


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Return from the Bear Hunt


 William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) Advice on the Prairie


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Trip to Glacier Point


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Return from Glacier Point


William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Pacific RR Station Sacramento

AME Evangelist Jarena Lee 1783-1857 - Preaching in New York 1823

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Jarena Lee (1783-1857), Preacher of the A.M.E. Church, Aged 60 years in the 11th day of the 2nd month 1844, Philadelphia 1844

Jarena Lee - Preaching in New York

The call of the Lord was for me now to go to West Chester, N. Y., where I remained a little period with brother Thomas Henry and brother Miller; preached in a School-house and in the Wesleyan Methodist Meeting-house. When prepared to go home, a request was sent me to preach in the Court-house of the country, to which I rode ten miles, and addressed the citizens on two evenings. The Lord strengthened his feeble instrument in the effort to win souls to Christ, for which my heart at this time was heavily burthened. Next morning I let for Westhaven, where I visited a School of boys and girls, and was much pleased to see them engaged and improving in their studies. How great the difference now, thought I, for the mental and moral culture of the young than when I was a child!

In the month of June, 1823, I went on from Philadelphia to New York with Bishop Allen and several Elders, (including our present Rev. Bishop Brown,) to attend the New York Annual Conference of our denomination, where I spent three months of my time. We arrived about nine o'clock in the evening. As we left the boat, a person fell into the dock, and notwithstanding the effort made to save and find him, he was seen no more. 'In the midst of life we are in death.' On the 4th of June I spoke in the Asbury Church, from Psalms c, 33.

I think I never witnessed such a shouting and rejoicing time. The Church had then but recently adopted the African M.E. discipline. On the 5th I brought my master's message to the Bethel Church - Text Isaiah lviii, 1. "Cry aloud, spare not; lift up they voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins," The spirit of God came upon me; I spoke without fear of man, and seemed willing even there to be offered up; the preachers shouted and prayed, and it was a time long to be remembered.

June 6, Spoke in the Church in High Street, Brooklyn, from Jer. ix,1 - "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." In these days I felt it my duty to travel up and down in the world, and promulgate the gospel of Christ, especially among my own people, though I often desired to be released from the great task. The Lord had promised to be with me, and my trust was in his strong arm.

I left my friend in Brooklyn, and went to Flushing, L.I. Here we had quite a revival feeling, and two joined society. Visited Jamaica and Jericho; spoke in brother B's dwelling, in the church, and under a tree. Went to White Plains to the camp-meeting; the Lord was with us indeed; believers were revived, backsliders reclaimed, and sinners converted. Returned and spent a little time in Brooklyn, where I addressed the people from Rev. iii, 18, and John iii, 15.

July 22. Spoke in Asbury Church from Acts xiii, 41 - "Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish." I pointed out the portion of the hypocrite, the liar, the Sabbath-breaker, and all who do wickedly and die in their sins; they shall be to the judgment bar of Jehovah, and before an assembled universe hear their awful sentence, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," while the righteous shall be received "into life eternal."

On the 28th I went to Dutch Hill, L.I., and spoke before a congregation of white and colored, in a barn, as there was no other suitable place. I felt happy when I thought of my dear Redeemer, who was born in a stable and cradled in a manager, and we had a precious season. Brother Croker, of Brooklyn, and father Thompson were with me, at whose feet I desired rather to set and learn, they being experienced "workmen that needed not to be ashamed." But the Lord sends by whom he will.

The next Sabbath I weakly attempted to address my friends in New York again. Took the words in Math. xxviii, 13, for my text - "Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept." The place was greatly crowded, and many came who could not get in. A class met here, to which the preacher invited all who desired to remain, and thirty persons tarried. He called upon me to lead, but He who led Israel over the Red Sea assisted, and it was a gracious time with us. Some who remained from curiosity were made, like Belshazzar, to tremble and weep, while the spirit strove powerfully with them. One experienced religion and joined society. I expect in the resurrection morning to meet many who were in that little company, in my Father's house, where we shall strike hands no more to part; where our song of redemption shall be raised to God and the Lamb forever. Dear reader, if you have not, I charge you to make your peace with God while time and opportunity is given, and be one of that number who shall take part and lot in the first resurrection. Though I may never see you in the flesh, I leave on this page my solemn entreaty that you delay not to obtain the pardoning favor of God; that you leave not the momentous subject of religion to a sick bed or dying hour, but now, even one, seek the Lord with full purpose of heart, and he will be found of thee. "If any man sin, he had advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

I visited a woman who was laying sick upon her death-bed. He told me "she had once enjoyed religion, but the enemy had cheated her out of it." She knew that she must die in a very little while, and could not get well, and her agony of soul, in view of its unprepared state for a judgment to come, awoke every feeling of sympathy within me. Oh ! how loud such a scene calls upon us to be "faithful unto death" - then shall we "receive a crown of life." Also visited Mrs. Miller, who once "tasted that the Lord was good," but had ceased now to follow him. She had been a Methodist for many years - got her feelings injured through some untoward circumstance - had fallen from grace, and now was sick. A good sister accompanied me? we conversed with Mrs. M., sung an appropriate hymn, and my friend supplicated the throne of grace in her behalf. She had frequently felt the need of returning Saviour, and during prayer her heart became melted into tenderness. She cried aloud for mercy, wrestled like Jacob for the witness, and the Lord, faithful and the Lord, faithful and true, "healed her backslidings," and we left her happy in his father. Praise the Lord for his matchless grace. I entertained no doubt of her well-grounded hope; and on seeing such a display of God's power, I was lost in wonder, love and praise. Let the backslider hear and take courage.  Let all who are out of Christ hear the invitation - "Repent ye and be converted, for God hath called all men everywhere to repent."

From - Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs Jarena Lee, Giving an account of her call to preach the Gospel. Revised & Corrected from the Original Manuscript, written by herself Philadelphia, Printed & Published for the Author, 1849 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836

Jarena Lee (1783-1857) was an evangelist for the AME church in the first half of the 19th century. In 1816, Richard Allen (1760-1831) and his colleagues in Philadelphia broke away from the Methodist Church and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which, along with independent black Baptist congregations, flourished as the century progressed. Richard Allen allowed women to become evangelists and teachers but not church leaders. Jarena Lee was the 1st female to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Born in Cape May, New Jersey, she moved to Pennsylvania, when she married in 1811. She had felt called to preach as early as 1809, & revealed her wish to church leader Richard Allen, who responded symapthetically, but explained that the AME Church was silent on the question of women preachers. In 1817, an "ungovernable impulse" led her to rise in Bethel Church & deliver an extemporaneous discourse that so impressed Bishop Allen; that he publically apologized for having discouraged her 8 years earlier. With this verbal liscense from the bishop, Lee began her evangelical ministry, traveling hundreds of miles, often on foot, to preach before all races & denominations, at churches, revivals, & camp meetings. She traveled as far west as Ohio. Although she was never officially licensed & never organized any churches, her ministry aided in the rapid growth of the AME Church before the Civil War. By 1846, the A.M.E. Church, which began with 8 clergy & 5 churches, had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, & 17,375 members.

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