{{Short description|19th century African Methodist religious leader}} [[File:Bishop S. T. Jones.png|thumb|Bishop Singleton T. Jones of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] Bishop '''Singleton T. Jones''' (March 8, 1825 – April 18, 1891) was a religious leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion). Although he had little education, Jones taught himself to be an articulate orator and was awarded the position of bishop within the church . Besides being a pastor to churches, he also edited AME Zion publications, the ''Zion's Standard and Weekly Review'' and the ''Discipline''.
Jones helped establish churches before and after the Civil War and was known for his skills for helping blacks adjust to the post-war Reconstruction era. He wrote several hymns and his sermons and addresses were published a year after his death.
He was the first of the African American clergy to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity and was listed with Harriet Tubman as one of the most effective church members to understand and meet the needs of African Americans.
==Early life== Singleton Thomas Webster Jones was born in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 1825.<ref name="Hood" /> His parents were William H. and Catherine Jones from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Catherine was born in Liberty, Maryland.<ref name="Bradley bio" />
Jones was apprenticed to a lawyer, Thomas Kelly, in York, Pennsylvania at the age of ten. He worked on the farm, in the house, and as a cart boy until 1839, when he was released from the service. He then left for Philadelphia to find work but was unsuccessful.<ref name="Bradley bio" /><ref name="Murphy" /> He continued on foot to Harrisburg where he found employment at the Temperance House Inn. Jones attended the Wesley Union AME Zion Church, led by Rev. George Galbreath, who had baptized him when he was two years old.<ref name="Bradley bio" /><ref name="Murphy" /> He worked as a hod carrier with Rev. John E. Price in Harrisburg. He also worked on a boat on the Ohio River.<ref name="Bradley bio" /><ref name="Murphy">{{Cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Larry G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA412 |title=Encyclopedia of African American Religions |last2=Melton |first2=J. Gordon |last3=Ward |first3=Gary L. |date=2013-11-20 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-51338-2 |page=412|language=en}}</ref>
==Career== [[File:The united negro- his problems and his progress, containing the addresses and proceedings the Negro young people's Christian and educational congress, held August 6-11, 1902; (1902) (14761693156).jpg|thumb|left|Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of New York City, 1902]]
===Overview=== Jones was licensed to preach in 1846.<ref name="Hood" /> He joined the Allegheny Conference on August 23, 1849.<ref name="Hood" /> He was ordained deacon in August 1850.<ref name="Bradley bio" /> In 1851, he received elders' orders.<ref name="Hood" /> He transferred to the Baltimore Conference in May 1853. In 1857 he was ordained elder by Bishop Galbreath.<ref name="Bradley bio" /> He served in the New York Conference in 1857, the Philadelphia Conference in 1859, the New York Conference in 1864, returning to the Baltimore Conference in June 1866.<ref name="Bradley bio" />
On May 19, 1868, Jones was elected bishop May 19, 1868, and was consecrated May 31.<ref name="Hood" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Powell |first=Jacob W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vf8-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47 |title=Bird's Eye View of the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church |date=1918 |publisher=Lavelle Press |language=en| page=47}}</ref> He last served the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Old Zion church) in New York.<ref name="Hood" /> He was the first African American to receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity from a reputable college.<ref name="Hood" /><ref name="Progress">{{Cite news |date=1913-08-17 |title=Negro Progress Shown in African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Activities. |pages=11 |work=The Birmingham News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75681887/negro-progress-shown-in-african/ |access-date=2021-04-13}}</ref>
===Churches=== {{quote box|align=right|width=250px|His sermons are brilliant with unmeasured poetry, and abound in wit, invective, glowing rhetoric, and logic… No one sleeps under the preaching of Bishop Jones, for he has long been considered the most eloquent man in his denomination.|William Wells Brown, ''The Rising Son, Or, The Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=William Wells |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3N49AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA531 |title=The Rising Son, Or, The Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race |date=1882 |publisher=A.G. Brown & Company |pages=531 |language=en}}</ref>}} Jones served churches throughout Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Washington, and New Jersey.<ref name="Bradley bio" /> Jones was the pastor of the Zion Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church in Southwest Washington, D.C., by 1843. He established a mission, for what in nine years became the Galbraith African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in northwest Washington in 1843.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Congressional Record Galbraith African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Celebrates One Hundred Fifty-Six Year, 1843-1999 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-1999-pt5/html/CRECB-1999-pt5-Pg7018.htm | volume=145, part 5 |year=1999|access-date=2021-04-13 |website=www.govinfo.gov}}</ref>
After the Civil War, church leaders traveled into the southern states to spread the word to African Americans about the black-led African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Jones went into the southwest.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=David Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofamezion00brad/page/162/mode/2up?q=Jones |title=A history of the A.M.E. Zion Church : part I, 1796-1872 |date=1956 |publisher=Nashville : Parthenon Press |page=162}}</ref> Jones was noted for his ability to help his Harrisburg congregants manage the post-war challenges: {{quote|The keen desire for education, the awareness of self-effort and heartbreaking attempts to forge the race into strong souls of industry, found the Church spending long hours at prayer and study and communion, and with these, work, hard work.|David Henry Bradley, ''A history of the A.M.E. Zion Church'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=David Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofamezion00brad/page/144/mode/2up?q=Jones |title=A history of the A.M.E. Zion Church : part I, 1796-1872 |date=1956 |publisher=Nashville : Parthenon Press |page=145}}</ref>}}
He, with Harriet Tubman were identified as two people from the Church who best understood the needs of African Americans and offered wholesome and worthwhile contributions.<ref name="Progress" /> Jones was the Presiding Bishop of the Missouri Conference when the Jones Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Indianapolis, Indiana was named after him in 1872. The church was subsequently destroyed by fire. A historical marker indicates the location of the former church at North and Blackford Streets.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jones Tabernacle A.M.E. Zion Church Site Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=132757 |access-date=2021-04-13 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Editor=== Jones was a founder and the editor of the ''Zion's Standard and Weekly Review'', the second newspaper published by the Zion Church, which was a "pioneer in the movement for abolition of human slavery." At the time, he was the pastor of the Bleecker Street church and before he became a bishop.<ref name="Murphy" /><ref name="Rise">{{Cite news |date=1896-09-27 |title=Rise of a Great Church |pages=4 |work=The Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75659920/rise-of-a-great-church/ |access-date=2021-04-13}}</ref> In the late 1850s, William H. Day contributed poems and was an editor for the newspaper.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pennsylvania Center for the Book |url=https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/bios/Day__William_Howard |access-date=2021-04-13 |website=pabook.libraries.psu.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Did You Know? A Diverse Approach |magazine= Harrisburg Magazine |url=https://harrisburgmagazine.com/community/did-you-know/did-you-know-a-diverse-approach/ |access-date=2021-04-13 |language=en}}</ref> Jones was tasked to begin editing the ''Discipline'' in 1856.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=David Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofamezion00brad/page/135/mode/2up?q=Jones |title=A history of the A.M.E. Zion Church : part I, 1796-1872 |date=1956 |publisher=Nashville : Parthenon Press |page=136}}</ref>
===Works=== * {{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Singleton Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6l4PzQEACAAJ |title=Sermons and Addresses of the Late Rev. Bishop Singleton T. Jones of the African M.E. Zion Church: With a Memoir of His Life and Character |date=1892 |publisher=P. Anstadt |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Singleton T. |url=http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/prw4f/HT |title=Hand-book of the discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church |last2=Butcher |first2=Charles Simpson |last3=Hunt & Eaton |last4=African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. |date=c. 1890|publisher=Printed by Hunt and Eaton |location=New York}}
==Personal life== thumb|Mrs. Bishop S. T. Jones (Mary J. Talbot Jones) On November 29, 1846, Jones married Mary J. Talbot, or Talbert, of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Edward and Jane Talbert.<ref name="Bradley bio">{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=David Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofamezion00brad/page/162/mode/2up?q=Jones |title=A history of the A.M.E. Zion Church : part I, 1796-1872 |date=1956 |publisher=Nashville : Parthenon Press |page=163}}</ref> Their children were George Galbreth, Chester Stevens, Ann Catherine, David Eddie, Elizabeth Jane, Mary Ann, Singleton Thomas, William Haywodd Bishop, Alice Williamson, Joll Robinson, Jennie Catherine, and Edward Derussa William Jones. Both Jennie and Edward graduated from Livingstone College.<ref name="Bradley bio" /> His son, Edward D. W. Jones (1871–1935) was a bishop of the John Wesley AMEZ Church. In addition to serving as clergy, Edward was also editor of ''Comprehensive Catechism''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=David Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1f7DwAAQBAJ |title=A History of the A. M. E. Zion Church, Part 2: 1872-1968 |date=2020-03-09 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-5326-8829-4 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:John Wesley AME Zion Church (1).JPG|thumb|left|John Wesley AME Zion Church (est. 1847), located in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.]] Jones was an accomplished organist. He died at 1019 19th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 1891. He was still in active service at the time of his death.<ref name="Hood">{{Cite book |last=Hood |first=James Walker |date=1895 |chapter=S. T. W. Jones |title=One Hundred Years of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; or, The Centennial of African Methodism |url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/hood100/hood.html |access-date=2021-04-13 | publisher=A. M. E. Zion Book Concern|via=docsouth.unc.edu}}</ref><ref name="Bradley bio" /> His funeral was held at the John Wesley Church, now the National Church of Zion Methodism.<ref name="Bradley bio" /> His wife, Mary J. Jones, died in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 1895. She was said to have been a prominent member of the church.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Obituary: Mrs. Mary J. Jones |publisher=University of Georgia Press |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00241880 |access-date=2021-04-13 |date=July 15, 1895 |doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00241880 |isbn=978-0-8203-1481-5}}</ref> {{clear}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?&key=Jones%2C%20Singleton%20T%2E%20%28Singleton%20Thomas%29%2C%201825%2D1891&c=x Online Books by Singleton T. Jones] * [https://hymnary.org/person/Jones_ST1 Hymns by Singleton T. Jones]
{{Black church}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Singleton T.}} Category:1825 births Category:1891 deaths Category:American Methodist bishops Category:African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church bishops Category:African-American Methodist clergy Category:People from York County, Pennsylvania Category:African-American publishers (people) Category:African-American abolitionists Category:American abolitionists Category:19th-century Methodist bishops Category:19th-century American Christian clergy Category:19th-century American publishers (people)