Gilbert Haven (September 19, 1821 – January 3, 1880) was a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

, elected in 1872. He was consecrated a bishop on May 24, 1872 at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

in New York. He was an early benefactor of Clark College (now

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the South ...

), visualizing it as a university of all the Methodist schools founded for the education of

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

(former African American slaves). He succeeded Bishop Davis Wasgatt Clark (for whom Clark College was named) as the President of the Freedman's Aid Society of the

. Rest Haven is a historically black section for burials in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery named after Haven.

Biography

Gilbert Haven was born in

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden is a hilly woodland area no ...

on September 19, 1821. He married Mary Ingraham in 1851; she died ten years later."Bishop Gilbert Haven Dead"
''The New York Times'', January 4, 1880, p. 1 They had two children, one of whom, William, served for 29 years as the general secretary of the

American Bible Society American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engag ...

. In 1846 he graduated with honors from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and then taught Greek and Latin. He traveled widely, visiting the

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, Africa,

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and Europe, and was an early proponent of equality of the sexes. He became a member of the New England Annual Conference in 1851, and served as bishop in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

to a conference composed entirely of African Americans.K E Rowe, "Gilbert Haven", ''For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations for United Methodists'', ed. Clifton F Guthrie, (Akron, Ohio: Order of Saint Luke Publications, 1995) p. 42 When in

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in 1877, he contacted

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, from which he never fully recovered. He died in Malden on the evening of January 3, 1880. He believed in the absolute equality of all persons, and if they are equal in the eyes of God, he held that civil society would have to recognize their equality under law and in practice. He was absolutely opposed to the practice of any type of racial separation in churches. Due to his radical egalitarian views, shocking at the time, no Northern conference would have him as a bishop—hence, his appointment to an all black mission conference. Among the books he wrote were ''The Pilgrim's Wallet'' (1864) on travel; ''National Sermons'' (1869), ''Sermons, Speeches and Letters on Slavery and its War'', and ''Life of Father Taylor''. After the Civil War he was editor of '' Zion's Herald'', a weekly newspaper for New England's Methodists. After his death Benjamin Tanner, editor of ''

The Christian Recorder ''The Christian Recorder'' is the official newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in the United States. It has been called "arguably the most powerful black periodi ...

'', wrote: "he was one of the few that made public opinion rather than followed it; and happily...he made it on the side of the poor... and the ostracized."Rowe, citing William Gravely, ''Gilbert Haven: Methodist Abolitionist; A Study of Race, Religion, and Reform, 1850–1880'', Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1973) p. 256 Bishop Haven is included in the

Calendar of Saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

prepared by the Order of Saint Luke and recommended for

The United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

References

External links

Haven Home Industrial Training School
historical marker
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Gilbert Haven papers, 1873-1875
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haven, Gilbert Wesleyan University alumni Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church American Methodist bishops American abolitionists 1821 births 1880 deaths People from Malden, Massachusetts People from Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts Methodist abolitionists 19th-century American clergy

Biography

See also

References

External links