Theophilus Gould Steward

Theophilus Gould Steward
File:Theophilus Gould Steward 1890.jpg
Born	(1843-04-17)17 April 1843 Gouldtown, New Jersey, United States
Died	Wilberforce, Ohio, United States
Buried	Gouldtown Memorial Park Gouldtown, Cumberland, New Jersey
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Rank	Captain
Unit	25th U.S. Colored Infantry
Relations	Dr. Susan Smith McKinney (wife)
Other work	Author, educator, clergyman

Theophilus Gould Steward (17 April 1843 – 11 January 1924) was an American author, educator, and clergyman. He was a U.S. Army chaplain and Buffalo Soldier of 25th U.S. Colored Infantry.

Life and career

Early years

Steward was born to James Steward and Rebecca Gould in Gouldtown, New Jersey. The son of free Blacks reared in a family that stressed education, he received his formal education in the Gouldtown public schools.

Career

Steward was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1863. Following the Civil War, Steward helped organize the A.M.E. Church in South Carolina and Georgia. He was also active in Reconstruction politics in Georgia. After the war he graduated from the Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia, and later was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree from Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1881.

From 1872 to 1891 Steward established a church in Haiti and preached in the eastern United States. In 1891 he joined the 25th U.S. Colored Infantry, serving as its chaplain until 1907, including service in Cuba during the Spanish–American War, and in the Philippines. Between 1907 and his death on 11 January 1924, Steward was a professor of history, French, and logic at Wilberforce University.

Personal life

Steward was married to Elizabeth Gadsden (d. 1893) with whom he had eight sons: Frank Rudolph (b. 1872; Stephen Hunter (b. 1874), Theophilus Bolden (b. 1879), Charles, James, Benjamin, Walter, and Gustavus (b. 1883). His second wife was Dr. Susan Smith McKinney, the third African-American physician in the United States.

See also

• African-American firsts

External links

• Works by Theophilus Gould Steward at Project Gutenberg
• A Charleston Love Story hypertext from American Studies at the University of Virginia
• Theophilus Gould Steward at Find a Grave