The Story of Deacon Henry McNeal Turner

Henry McNeal Turner was born near Abbeville County, South Carolina on February 1, 1834. His parents, Hardy and Sarah Turner were “free”, unlike many of the other African-Americans of that time. Even though the young Turner had the advantage of being “free” from bondage, there was still a law in effect that disallowed black children from learning to read and write.

As he grew up, unfortunately without his father, he worked in the cotton fields with the rest of his family. Though he wasn’t formally educated, Henry Turner was an intelligent young man. So he left the cotton fields and became an Apprentice Blacksmith. When he was fifteen years old, Henry became employed in a lawyer’s office at the Abbeville Court House. The other men who worked in the office saw he was intelligent, so they helped to educate Henry. He learned how to read, write, and do arithmetic during his time there.

Henry Turner eventually joined the African Methodist Episcopalian Church in 1848. Five years later, he became a minister. He was assigned as the director of a small mission in Baltimore. His lack of formal education was evident in his speech. In turn, Turner was criticized for his poor grammar. So, he remedied the problem by studying not only grammar, but Latin, Greek, and Hebrew too.

Turner became a minister at the Israel Church in Washington in 1862. In 1863, he became the first African-American Army chaplain. He was appointed to the 1st Regiment, United States Colored Troops, by President Lincoln.

President Johnson then appointed him to be the first Chaplain of the United States Army. He didn’t hold that position long because he wanted to return to the African Methodist Episcopalian Church in Georgia.

In 1869, Henry Turner was appointed to be the Macon postmaster by President Grant. However, Turner soon resigned that position because many whites disapproved of his color. So, he went on to become a United States customs inspector and a detective for the government.

In time, Turner rose to the position of Bishop African Methodist Episcopalian Church in 1880. He started periodicals, such as the Southern Christian Recorder in 1889 and the Voice of Missions in1892. He also authored “The Genius and Theory of Methodist Polity (1885).

During his adult lifetime, Henry McNeal Turner was a bishop, a civil rights activist, an author, and an eloquent speaker. He was rather a homely man in his face, and he had a large head. He was quite tall and had a massive frame. In spite of this, Turner was also a husband for total of four times. He married Eliza Ann Peacher in 1856; Martha De Witt in 1893; Harriet A. Wayman in 1900; and finally, he wed Laura Pearl Lemon. He fathered several children.

What is important, though, is that Henry McNeal Turner became exceptionally respected in the African-American, and in the African-Canadian societies. Several churches have been named in his honor.

Turner finally passed away while he was visiting Windsor, Ontario in 1915.