History of Lake City, (Columbia County) Florida United States of America

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Abraham Grant, A.M.E. bishop, was born a slave at Lake City, Fla., Aug. 25, 1848. He was sold at Columbus, Ga., in 1864, for six thousand dollars in Confederate money. At the close of the civil war he returned to Lake City, where he was a clerk in a store, and steward In a hotel. He removed to Jacksonville, Fla., was employed in a hotel and attended night school. He joined the A.M.E. church in Jacksonville, and in May. 1872, he was licensed to preach. He was ordained deacon by Bishop T. M. D. Ward in December, 1873, and elder in 1875. He was pastor of the Duval county mission, 1872-75; in charge of Lavella circuit, 1874-76, and at Tallahassee station. He was inspector of customs at Jacksonville, Fla., 1869-77, and county commissioner of Duval county by appointment of Governor Stevens. He was pastor of the church at San Antonio, Texas, 1868-71; at Austin, Texas, 1871-75; was presiding elder of the Austin district, 1875-76, and returned to the church at San Antonio in 1876. He was elected bishop of the ninth episcopal district comprising Texas, Louisiana, Washington and Oregon, at the general conference held at Indiana in May, 1888. He was a trustee of Paul Quinn college at Waco, Texas, for eight years, and vice-president and president of the board. At the Philadelphia general conference, May, 1892, he was assigned to Georgia and Alabama, comprising the sixth Episcopal district, and in May, 1896, to the first Episcopal district, which included the conferences of Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, New England, Bermuda and Nova Scotia. He was elected chairman of the board of trustees of Morris Brown college, Atlanta, Ga.; of Allen university, Columbia, S.C.; of Payne university at Selma, Ala., and was honorary vice president of the U.S. national educational association. Upon the death of Bishop J. C. Embry in June, 1897, he was also placed in charge of the state of South Carolina. He visited Europe in 1895, where he addressed the conference of the Wesleyan Methodist church, at Plymouth, and was entertained by Gladstone and Canon Wilberforce. He presided over a missionary conference at Sierra Leone and one in Liberia in 1899. He was president of the publication board of the A.M.E. church and a member of the executive committee of the ecumenical conference held at London in 1900.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Lake City, (Columbia County) Florida

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