# Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward

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{{Short description|American A.M.E. Bishop (1823–1894)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward
| image              = Bishop T. M. D. Ward.jpg
| caption            = T. M. D. Ward (1902)
| other_names        = Thomas Mayers Decatur Ward
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1823|9|28}}
| birth_place        = Hanover, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1894|6||1823|9|28}}
| death_place        = Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
| occupation         = Bishop, missionary, minister, abolitionist
| known_for          = 10th Bishop and an early representative of the A.M.E. church on the Pacific Coast
}}

Rev. '''Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward''' (September 28, 1823 – June 1894) was an American preacher, missionary, [bishop](/source/bishop), and [abolitionist](/source/Abolitionism) who aided African-Americans escaping slavery. Ward is considered to have been a central leader of [African American religious](/source/Afro-American_religion) activity in the 19th century and has been referred to as “the original trailblazer of African Methodism” in the United States.<ref name=":0" /> In 1854, Ward took over leadership of [St. Cyprian's African Methodist Episcopal Church](/source/St._Cyprian's_African_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_(San_Francisco%2C_California)) in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Larry G.|editor1-first=Larry G|editor1-last=Murphy|editor2-first=J. Gordon|editor2-last=Melton|editor3-first=Gary L|editor3-last=Ward|date=2013-11-20|title=Encyclopedia of African American Religions|doi=10.4324/9781315047201|isbn=9781315047201}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lapp |first=Rudolph M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GALEv2uoSJkC |title=Blacks in Gold Rush California |date=1977-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-06545-9 |pages=160 |language=en}}</ref> He was an early representative of the A.M.E. church on the [Pacific Coast](/source/Pacific_coast), and he also served as the 10th Bishop of the A.M.E. Church starting in 1868.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ETQQAQAAIAAJ&q=ward&pg=PA1|title=A History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church: Being a Volume Supplemental to A History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, by Daniel Alexander Payne ... Chronicling the Principal Events in the Advance of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1856 to 1922|last1=Smith|first1=Charles Spencer|last2=Payne|first2=Daniel Alexander|date=1922|publisher=Johnson Reprint Corporation|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Reverend T. M. D. Ward, circa 1865 |url=https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/z1m91sss |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=UCLA Library Digital Collections}}</ref> Ward often went by the name '''T. M. D. Ward''', but was also known as '''Thomas Mayers Decatur Ward'''.<ref name=":3" /> 

== Childhood and early life ==
Ward was born September 28, 1823, in [Hanover, Pennsylvania](/source/Hanover%2C_Pennsylvania).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of African American Religions|last=Murphy|first=Larry}}</ref> His parents and grandparents were African American and had escaped from slavery and moved to Pennsylvania, where they became active in the [Underground Railroad](/source/Underground_Railroad). His uncle was [Samuel Ringgold Ward](/source/Samuel_Ringgold_Ward).

Ward grew up in Philadelphia, where he joined the [A.M.E church](/source/African_Methodist_Episcopal_Church) in 1838 at age 15.<ref name=":0" />

== Start of church career ==
At age 20, he received his license to preach and joined the [New England Conference](/source/New_England_Conference) in 1846.<ref name=":0" />  Ward became a church elder in 1849.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Afro-Am&month=0902&msg=hCr1q7HU8AiBus+ivFrdWA|title=H-Net Discussion Networks -|website=h-net.msu.edu|access-date=2018-11-28}}</ref>

Ward soon became a member of the AME church hierarchy in Pennsylvania. He was then elected secretary of the New England Conference for the territories within the national church.<ref name=":1" />  During this conference, Ward broached the idea of a "California mission". The church sent him to San Francisco to accomplish it.<ref name=":1" />

== San Francisco mission ==
When Ward arrived in San Francisco, he found the AME church to be very small and impoverished. He was forced to find outside work to survive. He lived in a small complex on 532 Bush Lane.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/account/signin?returnurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.com%2finteractive%2f2469%2f41199_1220706242_3974-00448%3fpid%3d1473318659%26backurl%3dhttps%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26dbid%3d2469%26h%3d1473318659%26tid%3d%26pid%3d%26usePUB%3dtrue%26_phsrc%3dpYT188%26_phstart%3dsuccessSource%26treeid%3d%26personid%3d%26hintid%3d%26usePUB%3dtrue%26_phsrc%3dpYT188%26_phstart%3dsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue&secRedir=1|title=Ancestry - Sign In|website=www.ancestry.com|access-date=2018-12-06}}</ref> Soon after his arrival, the church was attacked by an [arsonist](/source/arsonist) in 1854.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Afro-Am&month=0902&msg=hCr1q7HU8AiBus+ivFrdWA|title=H-Net Discussion Networks -|website=h-net.msu.edu|access-date=2018-12-06}}</ref> 

From 1854 until 1856, Ward worked as a Sunday School teacher and pastor at [Saint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church](/source/Saint_Andrews_African_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_(Sacramento%2C_California)) in Sacramento.<ref name=":22" /> In 1855 and later years, Ward was an active participant in the annual [California State Convention of Colored Citizens](/source/California_State_Convention_of_Colored_Citizens), including hosting the event at his church in 1857.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Herron">{{Cite journal |last=Herron |first=Paul E. |date=April 2022 |title="This Crisis of Our History": The Colored Conventions Movement and the Temporal Construction of Southern Politics |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/studies-in-american-political-development/article/this-crisis-of-our-history-the-colored-conventions-movement-and-the-temporal-construction-of-southern-politics/FBADFF636E3D59071555B45DB02DEF48 |journal=Studies in American Political Development |language=en |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=21–40 |doi=10.1017/S0898588X21000122 |s2cid=246985506 |issn=0898-588X|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Martha C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TsHPDAAAQBAJ |title=From Labor to Reward: Black Church Beginnings in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond, 1849-1972 |date=2016-06-24 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-3281-4 |pages=5–6, 8 |language=en}}</ref>

Ward became involved in the campaign to [Archy Lee](/source/Archy_Lee).<ref name="auto1" /> In 1857, Lee had been transported from Mississippi to Sacramento. In 1867, Ward helped raise US $50,000 for legal costs of three trials that eventually emancipated Lee.<ref name="auto1" /> Ward later spent US $3,050 to stop Lee's former owner from kidnapping him back to Mississippi.<ref name="auto1" />

After the beginning of the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War), Ward was president of the California [Contraband Relief Association](/source/Contraband_Relief_Association) and provided funds for the care of the [freedmen](/source/Freedman).<ref name="auto1" />  In the mid 1860s Ward was elected as Bishop to the Pacific Coast at the church's annual conference.<ref name=":1" /> Ward acted as a delegate to and was also the chair of the education committee of the California State Convention of the Colored Citizens.<ref name="auto" />

== Georgia and later life ==
[[File:Ward Hall, Western University.jpg|alt=Ward Hall (c. 1910), Freedmen University (now Western University of Kansas)|thumb|Ward Hall (c. 1910), Freedmen University (now [Western University](/source/Western_University_(Kansas)) of Kansas)]]
In his later years, Ward returned frequently to the [Northeastern United States](/source/Northeastern_United_States) to preach He was finally reassigned to the fifth district of the church in Georgia.<ref name=":1" /> In Georgia, he presided over numerous general conferences that were held there.<ref name=":1" />  In 1875, the church invited white Americans to the conference for the first time.<ref name=":1" />

In one of his sermons, Ward preached of the importance of education and stated, "Encourage learning and you will live; despise it and you will die".<ref name=":1" />

Ward was often described as "old man eloquent".  Another common description made by his colleagues was that he was an overweight man who charmed his audiences with a resonate voice and was a man of courage.<ref name=":1" />

In the late 1870s, [Freedmen University](/source/Freedmen_University) (later [Western University](/source/Western_University_(Kansas))) was founded and one of the halls was named Ward Hall after him for his work with African-American youth.<ref name=":1" />  

Ward was involved in the early 1880s with the founding of [Bishop Ward Normal and Collegiate Institute](/source/Bishop_Ward_Normal_and_Collegiate_Institute) in [Huntsville, Texas](/source/Huntsville%2C_Texas).<ref name="Foner-2023">{{Cite web |last=Foner |first=Roy |date=2023-06-16 |title=Lest We Forget: The Bishop Ward Normal and Collegiate Institute |url=https://www.samuelwalkerhoustonmuseum.com/post/lest-we-forget-the-bishop-ward-normal-and-collegiate-institute |access-date=2025-08-14 |website=Samuel Walker Houston Museum |language=en}}</ref> In 1886, Ward created a coalition of religious figures dedicated to the study of learning.<ref name=":1" /> 

In June 1894, Ward died in [Jacksonville, Florida](/source/Jacksonville%2C_Florida),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berry |first=Lewellyn Longfellow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVnPAAAAMAAJ |title=A Century of Missions of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1840-1940 |date=1942 |publisher=Gutenberg Printing Company, Inc. |pages=110 |language=en}}</ref> and he was buried in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ancestry.com|title=The Kansas Blackman|last=Driver|first=W.D|date=1894-06-22}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline}}
*[https://blackpast.org/aaw/archy-lee-case-1858 Archy Lee Case]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Thomas Marcus Decatur}}
Category:1823 births
Category:1894 deaths
Category:African Methodist Episcopal Church clergy
Category:People from Hanover, Pennsylvania
Category:19th-century American clergy
Category:Clergy from San Francisco
Category:African-American missionaries
Category:American Methodist missionaries
Category:Colored Conventions people
Category:African Americans in California

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Marcus_Decatur_Ward) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Marcus_Decatur_Ward?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.