John Marrant (1755 - 1791)

Born 15 Jun 1755 in New York City, New York County, New York Colony

Died 15 Apr 1791 at age 35 in Islington, London, England

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Biography

John Marrant is Notable.

John was a Freemason.

John Marrant was one of the first African-American preachers and missionaries in North America.^[1]

Born free in New York City, he moved as a child with his family to Charleston, South Carolina. His father died when he was young, and he and his mother also lived in Florida and Georgia. After escaping to the Cherokee, with whom he lived for two years, he allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War and resettled afterward in London. There he became involved with the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion [1] and ordained as a preacher.

Marrant was supported to travel in 1785 as a preacher and missionary to Nova Scotia, where he founded a Methodist church in Birchtown. He married there before settling in Boston, Massachusetts.

He wrote a memoir about his life, published in 1785 in London as A Narrative of the Lord's Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant

In 1787 Marrant travelled to Boston, where he joined the first black Masonic lodge, founded in 1784 by Prince Hall. He became chaplain to chaplain of African Lodge #459., and several of his Boston sermons were published in both England and America. He did not, however, lose contact with his Nova Scotian flock, for he returned to the province to marry black loyalist Elizabeth Herries at Birchtown on 15 Aug. 1788.

Not only that but Prince Hall charged Marrant to give the address to African Lodge #459 on St. John the Baptist’s Day, June 24, 1789. And Joanna Brooks tells us that Hall even recruited two White Masons to print and distribute Marrant’s sermon address. This was the first printed formal address before the first African Lodge and among the first printed works by an African American in Western Civilization in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century.

In 1789, apparently believing his mission had been accomplished, he left for England. He continued his ministry at the main Huntingdonian chapel in Islington and on his death was buried in the adjoining churchyard.

Also published were a 1789 sermon to the Freemasons, and a journal in 1790 covering the previous five years of his life.

Rev died on 15 April 1791 and was buried in Cockfosters, London Borough of Enfield, Greater London, England.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marrant
2. ↑ "Find a Grave," database, (Find A Grave: Memorial #54281125 : accessed 26 August 2022), Memorial page for Rev John Marrant (15 Jun 1755-15 Apr 1791), citing Trent Park Cemetery, Cockfosters, London Borough of Enfield, Greater London, England; Maintained by Ash Montagu (contributor 46804013).

• Walker, James W. St G.; " “MARRANT, JOHN,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed January 6, 2021,
• https://blackloyalist.com/cdc/people/religious/marrant.htm
• https://www.princeton.edu/~jweisenf/northstar/volume3/brooks.html
• Marrant, J., Aldridge, W. (William). (1813). A narrative of the life of John Marrant, of New York in North America: giving an account of his conversion when only fourteen years of age ... with an account of the conversion of the king of the Cherokees and his daughter, &c. &c. &c. Halifax [N.S.]: Printed at the office of J. Nicholson & Co..
• Marrant, John; " A sermon preached on the 24th day of June 1789, being the festival of St. John the Baptist, at the request of the Right Worshipful the Grand Master Prince Hall, and the rest of the brethren of the African Lodge of the Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons in Boston. / By the Reverend Brother Marrant, Chaplain".
• http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/rev_brother_john_marrant.htm