Lott Cary was born on the estate of William A. Christian,[5] in
Charles City County, Virginia,[6] thirty miles from Richmond,[7] about
four years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There
was no exact record kept of the time of his birth, although it appears
to have been about the year 1780.[8]
His mother and father lived together on the great plantation of their
master, centering their attention on Lott, their only child. His
mother gave no public profession of religion although she died giving
evidence that she accepted the Christian faith. His father, however,
was a pious man, a respected member of a Baptist church.[9] As a
result, Lott received some early religious training which may have
influenced his later life.
But there were temptings in his life; there were battles in his soul.
Why should a slave boy hope? Could he ever become free? Why not drink
life to the dregs? The chief among his playmates, he became the
mischief-maker of the place. Profligate, profane, polluter was his
title. Lott Cary tried to reform but he was only able to control
himself a few days. Before long, in 1804,[10] he was hired out by the
year as a common laborer[11] in the Shochoe tobacco warehouse at
Richmond.[12] There he grew more intemperate and profane and showed
little signs of reformation.
It was not reformation that he needed but regeneration as was
evidenced one Lord's day in 1807[13] as he sat in the gallery of the
First Baptist Church[14] and heard the minister preach. He was
hopefully converted and was baptized by Pastor John Courtney[15] into
the fellowship of the church. There he heard a sermon on the third
chapter of the gospel of John which so inspired him that he obtained a
Testament in order that he might read for himself the Lord's interview
with Nicodemus. In a short time he knew the alphabet, and with very
little assistance from the men at the warehouse,[16] he learned to
read this chapter and also to write.[17]
Cary was a changed man--industrious, thrifty, Christian. Whereas he
had been idle now he devoted his leisure time to reading and it is
said that one of the books that he read was Adam Smith's _Wealth of
Nations_.[18] By his application to reading and writing he was able in
a little time to make dray tickets and to act as shipping clerk.[19]
His work in the warehouse was "such as no person, white or black, has
equalled in the same situation.... He could produce any one of the
hundreds of hogsheads of tobacco the instant it was called for."[20]
For these services he was often given a five dollar note and the
privilege to sell small quantities of waste tobacco for his own
benefit.[21] He saved the money obtained in this way, and with the aid
of a subscription among his employers accumulated by 1813 $850 with
which he purchased freedom for himself and his two children.[22]
The following extract of a letter from William Crane to the Rev.
Obadiah Brown of Washington City, which he forwarded to the
corresponding secretary of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions,
corroborates, in the main, the foregoing statements as well as gives
some interesting sidelights on the lives of Cary and Teague:
_Richmond, March 28_, 1819.
You will probably recollect, that I introduced you to two of our
colored brethren in this place, who are accustomed to speak in
public; one named Collin Teague, the other Lot Carey. Ever since
the missionary subject has been so much agitated in this country,
these two brethren, associated with many others, have been
wishing they could, in some way, aid their unhappy kindred in
Africa; and I suppose you have heard of their having formed a
missionary society for this sole purpose. Some letters published
in No. VI of the _Luminary_ (written by Kizell, the Baptist
leader in Sherbro Island and by some others) have served to
awaken them effectually. They are now determined to go themselves
to Africa; and the only questions with them are, in what way will
it be best for them to proceed? and what previous steps are
requisite to be taken? They think it necessary to spend some time
in study first. They both possess industry and abilities, such
as, with the blessing of Providence, would soon make them rich.
It is but two or three years since either of them enjoyed
freedom; and both have paid large sums for their families. They
now possess but little, except a zealous wish to go and do what
they can. Brother Lot has a wife, and several little children. He
has a place a little below Richmond, that cost him $1500, but
will probably not sell for more than $1000 at this time. Brother
Collin has a wife, a son 14 years of age, and a daughter of 11,
for whom he has paid $1300, and has scarcely any thing left. Both
their wives are Baptists; their children, amiable and docile,
have been to school considerably; and I hope, if they go, will
likewise be of service. Collin is a saddler and harness maker. He
had no early education. The little that he has gained, has been
by chance and peacemeal. He has judgment, and as much keenness of
penetration as almost any man. He can read, though he is not a
good reader, and can write so as to make out a letter. The little
knowledge he has of figures, has been gained by common
calculations in business. Lot was brought up on a farm; and for a
number of years has been chief manager among the labourers in the
largest tobacco ware house in this city. He has charge of
receiving, marking and shipping tobacco; and the circumstance
that he receives $700 a-year wages may help you to form an
estimate of the man. He reads better than Collin, and is in every
respect a better scholar. They have been trying to preach about
ten or eleven years, and are both about forty years of age.[23]
Cary had been licensed to preach by the First Baptist Church,
Richmond, and he exercised his talent every Lord's day among the
colored people on plantations a few miles from Richmond.[24] It was
not many months before he was the highly esteemed pastor of the
African Baptist Church in Richmond. As a preacher, Cary was not
polished, but "his ideas would sometimes burst upon you in their
native solemnity, and awaken deeper feelings than the most polished,
but less original" and artificial discourses.[25]
Lott Cary early exhibited the power of an organizer. In 1815, William
Crane, who was a member of the First Baptist Church, felt that his
ought to use his talent among the twelve hundred Negro members of that
congregation. Consequently, he and David Roper[26] gratuitously
opened a tri-weekly night school in the gallery of the old church with
Lott Cary, Colin Teague and fifteen or twenty leading members of the
church as pupils.[27] Now Crane was able to inspire such a group to
practical missionary service, for he himself had been repeatedly urged
to become a missionary and had had close contact with Luther Rice as
one of the managers of the General Missionary Convention. But it was
left to Lott Cary to excite among the Negroes a strong interest in
behalf of Africa. The result was the formation of the Richmond African
Baptist Missionary Society in 1815. Crane was the president or
corresponding secretary.[28] This was necessary, for since the various
uprisings of Negroes[29] were making Virginia a hotbed of discontent,
the city of Richmond was wary of having Negro meetings unless they
were sponsored by white persons. Crane represented the Society in the
General Missionary Convention,[30] formed in 1814, and remained its
delegate for about twenty years.
At the first triennial session of the Convention at Philadelphia, in
May, 1817, a letter was read from the corresponding secretary of the
Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society and it was unanimously
Resolved, that the said letter be noticed on the minutes of the
Convention, and that the Board, if they find it practicable, be
advised to institute an African Mission, conformably to the
wishes of the said African Mission Society; and that the
Corresponding Secretary of the Board be requested to communicate
this resolution together with an encouraging affectionate letter
to that society.[31]
Feeling of sympathy for the African was high. Many slave-holding
Baptists felt that they owed the Negro a debt which they should
pay.[32] Moreover, the board of the Convention felt that the interest
in Foreign missions manifested by the Negro Baptists of Richmond was a
providential plan whereby the slaves brought from Africa might be
converted and returned to evangelize that continent.[33] Since,
therefore, mission work could be propagated in Africa in the English
language and for one quarter the expense required for other lands,[34]
the Convention felt no hesitancy in acknowledging the claims of
Africa.
Luther Rice, while in Richmond during the winter of 1817, visited the
African Missionary Society. "It afforded me much pleasure, indeed," he
reported,[35] "to observe the zeal, and intelligence and capacity, and
success, discovered in the African Mission Society."
As a matter of fact, the formation of the Richmond African Baptist
Society was an epochal event. The example was followed by the African
Baptist Church of Philadelphia[36] and by the Baptists of Petersburg,
Virginia.[37] The African mission spirit even permeated North Carolina
and Georgia, for during the years 1816 and 1817 the Negro Baptists of
those parts contributed $32.64 to the cause.[38] This contribution
far outstripped the donation of the white Baptists to the same cause.
During the same time they contributed only $14.27, $12.27 of which was
given by the newly formed African Mite Society of Providence, Rhode
Island.[39]
Lott Cary resolved that it was his duty to go and preach the gospel in
benighted Africa. It was at Crane's night school that this intention
was made known. After Crane had reviewed the report of Burgess and
Mills, telling of their exploring tour on the coast of Africa, Lott
Cary said: "I have been determined for a long time to go to Africa and
at least to see the country for myself."[40] There is no doubt that to
some extent Gary was awakened to a deep sense of responsibility for
his brethren in Africa by that part of this report which dealt with
John Kizell, the Baptist leader in Sherbro Island, the president of
the Friendly Society established by Paul Cuffee, the escort and guide
of Burgess and Mills on their exploring tour, the man directly
responsible for the beginning of the impractical scheme of deportation
on the continent of Africa by the American Colonization Society.[41]
But how was he to accomplish his object? Crane said,[42] "I had
thought of addressing the Corresponding Secretary on their (Cary and
Teague) behalf, for the patronage of the American Baptist Mission
Society, but again thought, that the Colonization Society might be
pleased with taking them under their care, and that their mission
might bear a more imposing aspect under the auspices of this society
than it would with the Baptists alone." Lott Cary was received by the
Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, May 1, 1819, and was accepted by
the American Colonization Society to work for them "without pay as
other engagements would permit."[43]
The treasurer of the General Missionary Convention reported $2 for
Africa received September 21, 1819, from a friend in Nashville
Tennessee. The next year the society appropriated $200 in cash and
$100 in books. Contrasted with this was the $483.25 paid April 17,
1820, by the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society to the
General Missionary Convention to be appropriated for Africa.[44] Thus
the Convention served only as a clearing house for the funds
contributed from Richmond. With this in mind we can more clearly
understand the following order voted by the Baptist Board of Foreign
Missions in 1820:
With African Mission Society, Richmond,
To various exp. for Collin Teague and Lot Carey ... 500 25.[45]
Furthermore, the historian of the Convention up to the year 1840[46]
relates that the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society, of which
Lott Cary was the recording secretary, appropriated to the cause of
African redemption $700, all of its funds collected during the first
five years of its existence. For many years thereafter the Society
collected and contributed annually from $100 to $150 to the mission in
Africa.[47]
Lott Cary was giving up much to be an apostle to his people--a
pastorate of nearly eight hundred members, a farm and house costing
$1,500 and a salary increase of $200 a year if he would stay.[48] But
he must go. There were promptings big and great. Cary and Colin Teague
are said to have wished to be where their color would be no
disparagement to their usefulness.[49] "I am an African," he is
reported to have answered an intelligent minister who asked him why he
was leaving,[50] "and, in this country, however meritorious my
conduct, and respectable my character, I cannot receive the credit due
to either. I wish to go to a country where I shall be estimated by my
merits, not by my complexion; and I feel bound to labor for my
suffering race."
It is highly probable that Cary possessed no such race consciousness
as is portrayed in the foregoing reports of Crane and Gurley. True
enough, the occasion for such sentiment was there in the institution
of slavery but had Cary imbibed the spirit? On the one hand, the free
Negro was not wanted in Virginia as is evidenced by an act which made
unlawful the permanent residence in the State of any slave set free
after May 1, 1806. But, on the other hand, this act was not generally
enforced because of the economic value of many of the freedmen.[51]
Thus it is doubtful whether Cary, whose salary would be increased if
he remained in Virginia, and Teague, both effectual workmen whose
industry was needed, would have to go away to gain a higher status.
Let us examine the facts further. Crane was certainly enthusiastic for
African colonization and Gurley was the secretary of the American
Colonization Society. Thus these statements, as well as similar ones
which follow, seem like attempts on the part of the friends of
colonization to make Cary say to the other free Negroes that
colonization was a desirable thing. Certainly such an attitude would
be a timely rebuttal of the anti-colonization sentiment of the Negro
ministry in general.
Furthermore, this reason for going to Africa was not in accord with
the one given at Crane's night school. Then he wanted to see Africa
for himself; now he finds America no place for the Negro. He could
have changed his point of view, but did he? If he did change his
view, he had changed again in less than two years (March 13, 1821)
when he wrote as follows to the corresponding secretary of the Board
of Foreign Missions:
If you intend doing anything for Africa you must not wait for the
Colonization Society, nor for government, for neither of these
are in search of missionary grounds, but of colonizing grounds;
if it should not suit missionary needs, you cannot expect to
gather in a missionary crop. And, moreover, all of us who are
connected with the agents, who are under public instructions,
must be conformed to their laws, whether they militate against
missionary operation or not.[52]
Thus if Cary made statements which favor colonization he was very
inconsistent, for it was he who was chiefly responsible for the
colonists openly defying the Colonization Society in 1824. Nor could
Cary write so well. It is most likely, therefore, that Lott Cary
wanted to go to Africa simply to see the country and to do missionary
work.
Prior to his public farewell, Lott Cary and Colin Teague were ordained
and they, with their wives, Joseph Langford and wife and Hilary
Teague, were organized in January, 1821, into a church. Lott Cary was
elected pastor. The constitution of this body which they were to plant
in Africa was modelled after the Samson Street Church of
Philadelphia.[53]
Cary's farewell sermon, preached in the meeting house of the First
Baptist Church, Richmond, was well ordered, without the rant common to
some preachers of that day, dignified and pathetic, and left a lasting
impression on the audience.[54] Teague had often remarked to William
Crane, "Sir, I don't hear any of your white ministers that can preach
like Lott Cary." Crane was anxious to hear him and after listening to
his farewell message from Romans 8:32--"He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things?"--he did not hesitate to declare: "I have a
most vivid recollection of the manner in which, towards the close, he
dwelt upon the word 'freely.' With thrilling emphasis he exclaimed
over and over, 'He gave them freely!' He rang a succession of perhaps
a dozen changes upon the word, in a manner that would not have
dishonored Whitfield."[55]
Lott Gary closed his sermon with this thought:
I am about to leave you and expect to see your faces no more. I
long to preach to the poor Africans the way of life and
salvation. I don't know what may befall me, whether I may find a
grave in the ocean, or among the savage men, or more savage wild
beasts on the Coast of Africa; nor am I anxious what may become
of me. I feel it my duty to go; and I very much fear that many of
those who preach the Gospel in this country, will blush when the
Saviour calls them to give an account of their labors in His
cause and tell them, "I commanded you to go into all the world,
and preach the Gospel to every creature;" (very emphatically he
exclaimed) the Saviour may ask where have you been? What have you
been doing? Have you endeavored to the utmost of your ability to
fulfill the commands I gave you, or have you sought your own
gratification, and your own ease, regardless of My commands?[56]
A distinguished Presbyterian minister said to Gurley, "A sermon which
I heard from Lott Gary, shortly before he sailed for Africa, was the
best extemporaneous sermon I ever heard. It contained more original
and impressive thoughts, some of which are distinct in my memory, and
never can be forgotten."[57] Elder John Bryce, assistant pastor of the
First Baptist Church, afterwards confessed that he had never been so
deeply interested in a sermon.[58]