Rev. Hezekiah Brown

A Brief Story about Hezekiah Brown and a Reported Lynching

On December 13, 1884, newspapers reported an awful lynching of a Black preacher and teacher at the Asbury ME Church but the County could not confirm that it actually happened. It was said he had married a white woman, with a son, after a long relationship. However, it was a false story likely by folks that were not happy with a white woman, and he son, attending a Black church and being educated in a school there.  What a welcome this was as a new public school teacher in Howard County.  He actually taught at what was likely the first integrated school in Howard County.

Two things that are important about this story are the location - Asbury, and that Hezekiah Brown who was not only a teacher and itinerant preacher in the area, but he was also a teacher at the Ellicott City Colored School.  Rev. Brown has been written about as part of the Howard County Lynching Truth and Reconciliation project (http://www.hocoltr.org/lynchings/rev-hezekiah-brown/).

Asbury-Jessup

Rev. Brown was associated with the school next to the The Asbury United Methodist Church for many years.  Asbury Church was formerly a Methodist-Episcopal Church and was noted on the Hopkins Atlas of 1860 just west of Route 1 on Guilford Road. This is one of the earliest Black communities and churches in our area and had been associated with the Locust United Methodist Church in Simpsonville that was formed in 1869 (http://asburyjessupumc.org/updating/ and http://asburyjessupumc.org/updating/).

The Asbury area and church would become very important to Guilford's Black community which was not established until the Maryland Granite Company hired a variety of Black workers when they opened in 1901 including Willis J. Carter, a granite driller and foreman and founder of the First Baptist Church of Guilford. Rev. Carter's oldest son Richard who was also a quarry worker and family farmer married Dora Mack whose parents, Cornelius and Catherine Mack, were members of the Asbury UM Church and donated the land where the current church sits. 

Rev. Hezekiah Brown taught at the school next to Asbury Church for 13 years from the fall of 1884 until July 1897, called colored school #2, District 6. The location was described by the school board as "Annapolis Junction".  Among the school Trustees during this time were Cornelius Mack, Daniel Boston, Amos Henson and Henry Carroll.  Aside from the dedication of teachers like Rev. Brown and the school Trustees, Asbury community brought us families and other long-term teachers, like Lorraine Arthur, who taught at the segregated Guilford schools.

A Biography of Hezekiah Brown

One the right is a photo of Hezekiah Brown and a short biography of the the man found in "Twenty-five years history of the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers, 1881-1905 / by W.P. Burrell and D.E. Johnson, Sr. 1909" from the Haithi Trust .https://hdl.handle.net/2027/emu.010001102103

REV. HEZEKIAH BROWN

Chief, Annapolis, Md.

Hezekiah Brown was born near Port Republic, Calvert county, Md., October 12, 1865. His parents were Marylanders. The mother, with a deep joy which escaped not in words, looked onward and tried to read the future, when the flood of years should have carried her new treasure from her arms. That flood has swept over her now, and all her highest hope and ambition is filled, and she is resting safe in heaven.

Captain Thomas Brown, his father, has reached the age of ninety-four years, and bought his father over forty-five years ago from a slave-holder. He is also preaching the gospel.

The son, Hezekiah, has had good opportunities for an education. He attended public schools for ten years and finished his education at Morgan College, Baltimore, Md.

He has been school principal for twenty-five years, a blacksmith for four years, an agent for the John C. Winston & Co. book store for three years, and a local preacher for eighteen years.

He was made Messenger of John Wesley Fountain, No. 1278, Ellicott City, Md., eleven years ago. He was Special Deputy for three years.

In 1905 he worked up eight Fountains and Rosebuds; in 1906 ten Fountains and Rosebuds; in 1907 twelve Fountains and Rosebuds. In 1908 he was appointed by the Grand Worthy Master to take charge of the Annapolis Division, and he has worked up since that time twelve Fountains and Rosebuds.

Rev. Hezekiah Brown died suddenly on September 9, 1928 after being the Grandmaster of the Maryland Oddfellows for six years.   There is much to Rev. Brown's story to be added.