Underground Railroad: William Paul Quinn

William Paul Quinn was born on April 10, 1788 in Calcutta, India, and grew to be a rugged 6’3” tall man. After his introduction to Christianity by an Englishwoman, Mary Wilder, Quinn’s family ostracized him. Seeking refuge in England, Quinn espoused an Anglicized name and later moved to New York in 1806. Upon arrival in New York, he became a member of the Hicksites, an anti-slavery activist Quaker group. However, in 1808, when Quinn reached Maryland he converted to Methodist. The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) ordained Quinn as a Deacon in 1818 and in 1838 he became an elder of the church. Starting in 1836, Quinn built churches along the Ohio River southwest of the Lick Creek community in today’s Hoosier National Forest. Quinn’s chapels not only brought in several hundred new people into the AME denomination, they also served as a vast network to connect small churches to the larger community. Since there were churches on both sides of the Ohio River – the boundary between a free and slave state – those such as in the Lick Creek Community served as a vital component in the Underground Railroad for the region. William Paul Quinn’s life’s work centered on spreading the word of his faith and leading anti-slavery activism. In 1844, the church elected him a Bishop after he established several churches in Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky to oppose the institution of slavery. At the 1849 AME conference, Quinn was named the Senior Bishop. He held this position until his death on February 3, 1873 in his home in Richmond, Indiana where he lived with his wife, Mary Jane. In William Paul Quinn’s honor, the AME founded an African American college in Austin, Texas in 1872 – the oldest in the state – to provide an education to newly free African American men and women. The school, Paul Quinn College, moved to Waco, Texas in 1881 and again in 1990 to Dallas. Sources: African Methodist Episcopal Church 7th District, “AME Pioneers: The Four Horsemen,” http://www.ame7.org/history/pages/4_horsemen.htm [http://www.ame7.org/history/pages/4_horsemen.htm] “William Paul Quinn,” http://www.blackpast.org/aah/quinn-william-paul-1788-1873 [http://www.blackpast.org/aah/quinn-william-paul-1788-1873] Cheryl LaRoche, Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad: The Geography of Resistance. This information about the Underground Railroad is part of a geo-located multi-forest interpretive program. Please contact the U.S. Forest Service Washington Office Recreation, Heritage, and Volunteer Resources program leadership with any questions or to make changes.  SGV – Recreation Data and Information Coordinator.