"Thomas Paul Sr."

Was the eldest of six boys born into a free Black Family in Exeter,New Hamshire.Educated at a Baptist school in Hollis,NH,Paul pursued a career in the ministry as did three of his brother.He enjoyed a reputation as an eloquent speaker and traveled throughout New England as a guest preacher.In 1804,he received his ordination.The following year,he married Cathrine Waterhouse and had three children,Ann Cathrine,Susan,and Thomas Jr.Sortly after moving his family to boston,Thomas Sr,was installed as the first pastor of the First African Baptist Church in December in 1806.He served this congregation until 1829,two years before his death.He was a leader in the movement to establish independent Black Churches in the United States.He assisted the Black Baptists in New York City in the establishment of the African Baptist Society,which later envolved into the Abyssinian Baptist Church.Paul's church took on several names between 1806 d the early 1830's,including the Independence Bapyist Church,the Abolition Church,and finally,St.Paul's.During his ministerial career,the Rev Paul also pursued foreign missionary work.In 1815,he traveled to Haiti under the auspices of the Massachusetts Baptist Society,where he stayed for six months.Unable to communicate in French,Paul met with limited success in his ability to convert Haitians.Back in Boston,Paul resumed his ministry and his participation in Black Masonic activities.He was chaplain and active member of the African Grand Lodge,no. 459,which later renamed the Prince Hall Lodge.His brothers,Benjamin,and Nathaniel,also Baptist ministers were actively involved in abolitonist activity especially in the development of Black communal experiments,notably,the wilberforce settlement.His daughter,Susan was ateacher of Black children and a member of the Boston Female Antislavery Society.His son Thomas was the first black graduate of Darmouth college in 1841 and went on to a career as a teacher and school principal in Boston.