"Bishop James Theodore Augustus Holly (October 3,1829-March 13 1911)

Emigrationist missionary,and bishop,was born in Washington, D.C.  At the age of 14 his family moved to Brooklyn,New York.His father taught him the shoe making trade.Then in 1848 he began working as an abolitionist with Lewis Tappan,one of the nation's leading anti-slavery activists.In 1850 James and his brother Joseph opened their own boot making shop.In 1851,James married a woman named Charlotte in New York they soon moved to Windsor,Canada,just across the border from Detroit.The Holly's remained in Windsor until 1854.While there he helped former slave Henry Bibb edit his newspaper,Voice of the Fugitive.James also endorsed the Refugee Home Society and organized the Amherstburg Convention in Canada.Before leaving for Canada,James had joined the Protestant Episcopal Church.He became a church deacon in 1855 then in the following year a priest.Even as he continued his religious activities,James was drawn toward emigration,believing that African Americans had no future in the United States.In 1854 he was delegate to the first Emigration Convention in Cleveland.The next year he represented the National Emigration Board as commissioner.In 1856 he returned to the U.S.,settling in New Haven Connecticut where he was the priest of St Luke's Church and teacher in public and private schools until 1861.He now promoted black emigration to Haiti and made that argument in a series of lectures that was published in 1857 as Vindication of the Capacity of the Negro Race for Self Governance and Civilized Progress.In 1859 James corresponded with U.S. Congressman Francis P.Blair  about getting government aid for emigration.He also lobbied the Board of Missions of the Episcopal to fiance his journey Haiti.James did not inform the Board that he planned to take emigrants to Haiti on his trip.Then in 1861 he led 110 men,women and children from New Haven to Haiti.James first year in Haiti was full of personal challenges.His mother,his wife,two children,and thirty-nine other members of his group died of yellow fever and malaria.In 1862 he had become a Haitian citizen but return to the U.S. hoping for financial support to establish a mission station.His request was denied in 1865 the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church accepted sponsorship of his mission in Haiti.In 1874 he was consecrated missionary bishop of Haiti at Grace Church New York City,becoming the first African American bishop in the Episcopal Church.In 1878 he was recognized as bishop of the Orthodox Apostolic Church of Haiti.James eventually remarried.He and his new wife,Sarah Henley,had nine children.