"Paul-William-Quinn" (April10,1788-February 3 1873)

Bishop William Paul Quinn was the fourth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.He was instrumental in establishing several AME churches in the U.S. Midwestern states during the pre Civil War period.His work for the African American Methodist community was highly regarded.That work included starting new churches in the Midwest and working with the underground railroad.Bishop Quinn serve as the senior bishop of the AME church for nearly 25,years making him the longest bishop in the church until his death.

There is some uncertainty about the details of  Paul's parentage most sources list him as having been born in Hindustan, near Calcutta,India.According to his own account,he was of  Indian descent.His family was wealthy from mahogany trading but when Paul was introduced to the
Christian faith by Mary Wilder,a Society  of  Friends evangelist  visiting from England,he was ostracized and sought refuge in England where he adopted an anglicized  name.He later arrived in
New York around 1806 and became a  member of the Hicksities,a Quaker sect  founded by Elias Hicks.The sect  was known for its activists role in antislavery movements.

From there,he moved to Long Island,then to New Jersey and finally Maryland where he converted to the Methodist Faith in 1808.Paul was licensed to preach as a Methodist minister in 1812.Four years later he was one of the founders of the AME denomination when it was formally organized in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania in 1816.Between 1816 & 1835 he was the pastor of small churches in
New Jersey but in 1836 he was assigned to the "Western Mission" and for the next eight years he served as an AME missionary traveling by horse and preaching the gospel to African Americans from New Jersey to Missouri.His name also became commonly associated with Underground Railroad activity,as he helped to establish African American churches in Kentucky,Indiana,and Missouri.

Bishop Quinn preached to African Americans & white Methodist but his work was mostly with AME congregations.The AME Church credits him with spreading the faith among both free African Americans and slaves especially in Kentucky and Missouri. Partly as a reward  for his service  to the church,Paul  was elected bishop on May 19,1844 at the denomination's general
conference in Philadelphia.He was 56.Five years later,in 1849,he succeeded Morris Brown as senior AME Bishop and held this position for nearly 25 years.During this period he presided over the growth of the church and in particular,the establishment of 47 AME congregations from Pittsburgh,Pennsylvaia to San Francisco,California.Among those congregations were AME churches in the Reconstructions-era South.

In 1872,the AME Church in Texas founded a college in Waco Texas intended to educate former slaves.They named it Paul Quinn College.A number of  AME  churches were also named after the former missionary turned Bishop.He was married  to Mary Jane Quinn.He  died in Richmod,Indiana.