Theophilus Gould Steward

Theophilus Gould Steward
Theophilus Gould Steward
Born	April 17, 1843; Gouldtown, New Jersey, United States
Died	January 11, 1924 (aged 80); Wilberforce, Ohio, United States
Buried	Gouldtown Memorial Park; Gouldtown, Cumberland, New Jersey
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Rank	Captain
Unit	25th U.S. Colored Infantry
Relations	Dr. Susan Smith McKinney (wife)
Other work	Author, educator, clergyman

Theophilus Gould Steward (April 17, 1843 – January 11, 1924) was an American author, educator, and clergyman. He was a U.S. Army chaplain and Buffalo Soldier of 25th U.S. Colored Infantry.

Life and career[]

Early years[]

Steward was born to James Steward and Rebecca Gould in Gouldtown, New Jersey. The son of free Blacks reared in a family that stressed education, he received his formal education in the Gouldtown public schools.

Career[]

Steward was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1863. Following the Civil War, Steward helped organize the A.M.E. Church in South Carolina and Georgia. He was also active in Reconstruction politics in Georgia. Steward moved from South Carolina to pastor the AME church in Macon, Georgia March 17, 1868. After the church was burned in a mysterious fire, he literally and figuratively built a new AME church. The cornerstone was laid January 16, 1870 in the presence of 2,000 black Maconites. After the war he graduated from the Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia, and later was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree from Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1881.

From 1872 to 1891 Steward established a church in Haiti and preached in the eastern United States.^{[citation needed]} In 1891 he joined the 25th U.S. Colored Infantry, serving as its chaplain until 1907, including service in Cuba during the Spanish–American War, and in the Philippines. He was a participant in the March 5, 1897 meeting to celebrate the memory of Frederick Douglass which founded the American Negro Academy led by Alexander Crummell.^[1] From the founding of the organization until his death in 1924, Steward remained active among the scholars, editors, and activists of this first major African American learned society, refuting racist scholarship, promoting black claims to individual, social, and political equality, and studying the history and sociology of African American life.^[2] Between 1907 and his death on January 11, 1924, Steward was a professor of history, French, and logic at Wilberforce University.

Personal life[]

Steward was married to Elizabeth Gadsden (d. 1893) with whom he had eight sons: Frank Rudolph (b. 1872; Stephen Hunter (b. 1874), Theophilus Bolden (b. 1879), Charles, James, Benjamin, Walter, and Gustavus (b. 1883). His second wife was Dr. Susan Smith McKinney, the third African-American physician in the United States. He was a cousin to African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) bishop Benjamin F. Lee.

Bibliography[]

Steward, T.G. (1885). Genesis Re-read. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Book Rooms. OCLC 23787616.
Steward, T.G. (1877). Memoirs of Mrs. Rebecca Steward. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Church Publications. OCLC 182539662.
Steward, T.G. (1897). Active Service, or Religious Work Among U.S. Soldiers. OCLC 48114600.
Steward, T.G. (1899). A Charleston Love Story. New York: F. Tennyson Neely. OCLC 1593693.
Steward, T.G. (1904). The Colored Regulars in the United States Army. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Book Concern. OCLC 1380129.
Steward, William; Steward, T.G. (1913). Gouldtown: A Very Remarkable Settlement of Ancient Date. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co. OCLC 1441631.
Steward, T.G. (1914). The Haitian Revolution, 1791 to 1804. New York: T.Y. Crowell Co. OCLC 23297934.
Steward, T.G. (1920). Fifty Years in the Gospel Ministry. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Book Concern. OCLC 24557286.
Steward, T.G. (1888). The End of the World; or, Clearing the Way for the Fullness of the Gentiles. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Church Book Rooms. OCLC 4090482.

References[]

^ Seraile, William. Bruce Grit: The Black Nationalist Writings of John Edward Bruce. University of Tennessee Press, 2003, pp. 110-111.
^ Alfred A. Moss. The American Negro Academy: Voice of the Talented Tenth. Louisiana State University Press, 1981.

U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School (1991). "Chapter 4: The Chaplaincy 1865-1917". A Brief History of the United States Army Chaplain Corps. Ft. Monmouth, NJ: Dept. of the Army. OCLC 26647374. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-11-18.

External links[]

Works by Theophilus Gould Steward at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Theophilus Gould Steward at Internet Archive
A Charleston Love Story hypertext from American Studies at the University of Virginia
Theophilus Gould Steward at Find a Grave

[1] Seraile, William. Bruce Grit: The Black Nationalist Writings of John Edward Bruce. University of Tennessee Press, 2003, pp. 110-111.

[2] Alfred A. Moss. The American Negro Academy: Voice of the Talented Tenth. Louisiana State University Press, 1981.

[1]

[2]

show v t US black church denominations and leaders
General themes	Religion in Black America Historically African-American Christian denominations Clergy
Methodist	African Methodist Episcopal Church (John Adams Sr. Richard Allen Sarah Allen Benjamin W. Arnett George Lincoln Blackwell Morris Brown Jamal Harrison Bryant John Richard Bryant Richard H. Cain Archibald Carey Jr. Daniel Coker James H. Cone James Levert Davis Jordan Winston Early Orishatukeh Faduma Floyd Flake Carolyn Tyler Guidry Sarah E. Gorham William H. Heard Reginald Jackson Henrietta Phelps Jeffries Absalom Jones Ben Kinchlow Vashti Murphy McKenzie Biddy Mason Lena Doolin Mason Robert Meacham Lyman S. Parks Daniel Payne Charles H. Pearce Clementa C. Pinckney William Paul Quinn Reverdy Cassius Ransom Richard Henry Singleton Charles Spencer Smith Theophilus Gould Steward Henry McNeal Turner William Tecumseh Vernon D. Ormonde Walker Lewis Woodson) African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (William H. Day Julia A. J. Foote James Walker Hood Thomas James Singleton T. Jones John Kinard Jermain Wesley Loguen John E. Price William Henry Singleton John Bryan Small Mary J. Small Jeffery Tribble James Varick Alexander Walters) A.U.M.P. Church (Peter Spencer) Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (William Yancy Bell William H. Miles)
Baptist	Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (Vernon Johns Martin Luther King Jr.) First African Baptist Church (Richmond, Virginia) (Lucy Goode Brooks) First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Georgia) (David George) First Baptist Church (Petersburg, Virginia) Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship (Paul S. Morton) Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association Joint National Baptist Convention Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention (Clinton Caldwell Boone Lott Cary) National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (Stewart Cleveland Cureton Joseph H. Jackson T. J. Jemison Willie James Jennings Henry Lyons Benjamin Mays W. J. Simmons) National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. (R. H. Boyd) National Missionary Baptist Convention of America (S. M. Lockridge) National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A. Progressive National Baptist Convention (Ralph Abernathy William Augustus Jones Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. Gardner C. Taylor) Silver Bluff Baptist Church United American Free Will Baptist Church (Benjamin Randall) United American Free Will Baptist Conference
Pentecostal	Apostolic Assemblies of Christ Apostolic Faith Church (William J. Seymour) Church of God in Christ (Charles Edward Blake Sr. Andraé Crouch Sandra Crouch Robert Michael Franklin Jr. Samuel Green Jr. Edwin Hawkins O. T. Jones Sr. John P. Kee Charles Harrison Mason Chandler David Owens Sr Gilbert E. Patterson J. O. Patterson Jr. Wayne Perryman Ted Thomas Sr. F. D. Washington Dickerson Wells Timothy Wright Lennox Yearwood) Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (Robert C. Lawson) Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God (James F. Jones James Shaffer) Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas Mount Sinai Holy Church of America (Ida B. Robinson) Pentecostal Assemblies of the World Pentecostal Churches of Christ (J. Delano Ellis) Reformed Zion Union Apostolic Church Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ (Elias Dempsey Smith) United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, Incorporated United Holy Church of America United Sabbath-Day Adventist Church
Catholic	Black Catholicism (Servant of God Mother Mary Lange Venerable Mother Henriette DeLille William Augustine Williams Venerable Pierre Toussaint Venerable Fr Augustus Tolton George Clements Bishop John Ricard Servant of God Sr Thea Bowman Sr Jamie Phelps, OP Clarence Rivers Fr Cyprian Davis, OSB Archbishop James Lyke Cardinal Wilton Gregory)
Other	African Orthodox Church (George Alexander McGuire) Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. (Charles Price Jones) Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America City of Refuge UCC (Yvette Flunder) Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation (George Augustus Stallings Jr.) Interdenominational Theological Center Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge Love Center Church (Walter Hawkins) Original Church of God or Sanctified Church Spencer Churches (Peter Spencer) Trinity United Church of Christ (Otis Moss III) United House of Prayer for All People (Marcelino Manuel da Graça Walter McCollough Samuel C. Madison C.M. Bailey)

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