The Reverend Edmund Kelly

The Reverend Edmund Kelly is a Tennessee historical marker in Columbia, Maury County.

Near the front, west corner Of Mt. Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church, 218 East 8th Street, Columbia, Tennessee

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Rev. Edmund Kelly was born in Columbia, TN in 1817. At age 16, he went to work at a boy's school. With a strong desire to learn to read, he paid boys with candy for lessons. In 1843, Kelly co-founded and was the first pastor of the Mt. Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church. In October 1843, he became Tennessee's first African-American ordained Evangelist. Kelly believed that enslaved people should join the fight for their freedom. Continued: Continuing his work as an evangelist, Kelly was with a delegation of African-American clergymen that met with President Lincoln and secured permission to minister to escaped slaves behind Union lines in 1863. During Reconstruction, Kelly traveled extensively, preaching and organizing churches and schools in different States in the Union. Kelly died in 1894 was buried in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1796 · Map of The Tennassee (sic) Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1797 · Tennassee Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1814 · Kentucky (Mathew Carey, 1814) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · The Southern States and Mississippi Territory (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1829 · Tennessee (A. Finley, 1829) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

More markers nearby

Mount Lebanon Missionary Baptist Churchsame spot
A. J. Morton Funeral Home/ 1946 Columbia Race Riotunder 1 mi
Freedmen's Savings Bank and Trust Companyunder 1 mi
Maury County Colored Hospitalunder 1 mi