The son of a wealthy free hotel proprietor and member of St. John's Lutheran Church, Charleston, S.C., Jones was recruited by John S. Bachman for Philadelphia seminary training to serve as a missionary to Liberia. He never went to Africa but, following ordination he founded three African American congregations including St. Paul's, Philadelphia. Without adequate synodical financial support, the new St. Paul's building was lost to creditors. That, together with his civil rights activism, apparently discredited him in the church. Interestingly, his brother Edward Jones, a graduate of Amhurst College was probably one of the first African Americans to receive a baccalaureate degree. In 1827 Edward became an Episcopal Priest and missionary to Sierre Leone and died in England.

St. Paul Lutheran Church was located at 131 South Quince Street, Philadelphia, founded by Jehu Jones, comprised of free Black members, the first African-American Lutheran church in the U.S. A professor and a student from the Lutheran School of Theology at Philadelphia uncovered the site in 1997 and found the cornerstone still planted in the wall. The Pennsylvania State Historical Society has approved a marker for the site.

(Illustration is an artist's rendition, based on family portraits.)

< Back To The Timeline