Richard DeBaptiste

Early life

Richard DeBaptist was born free in Fredericksburg, Virginia on November 11, 1831 to William and Eliza DeBaptiste. His grandfather, John DeBaptiste, was in the American Revolutionary War and was born on the Island of St. Kitt's and his uncle, George DeBaptiste, was in the War of 1812. Two brothers, George and Benjamin, took part in the American Civil War (1861-1865). He was educated in secret, first by a black man and then by a Scots-Irish man who had been a teacher in Scotland. In 1846, he and his family moved from Virginia to Detroit, Michigan in a pilgrimage of free blacks led by William DeBaptiste and Marie Louis More, where he continued his education under Richard Dillingham, a Quaker, Reverend Samuel H. Davis, pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Detroit. His father and uncle were builders and general contractors and Richard received education in brick manufacturing, brick building, and plastering. In the west, his father worked in the grocery business, and Richard assisted. When this business failed, they resumed contracting work, with Richard as a partner. In Detroit and later in Ohio and Chicago, he worked with his George DeBaptiste, possibly his brother, who was a noted conductor of the underground railroad in Detroit, in freeing fugitive slaves. In Chicago, he also worked with noted abolitionists John and Mary Jones.

Detroit and Mount Pleasant

He converted to the Baptist religion in 1852 at the Second Baptist Church in Detroit under Reverends William P. Newman and D. G. Lett. He was immediately active at that church and taught at the Sunday School. He married three times, first to Georgiana Brische of Cincinnati, Ohio in October 1855. Georgiana was the daughter of James and Louisa Brischo. The couple lived in Detroit until 1858, when they moved to Mount Pleasant, Hamilton County, Ohio. Georgiana died November 2, 1872. He married again in August 1885, and this wife died in April 1886. A daughter by his first wife, Georgia Mabel DeBaptiste (born November 24, 1867) was a noted journalist as well. He had three children by his first wife and none by his second, who died of tuberculosis. His third marriage was to Nellie Williams of Galesburg, Illinois on November 11, 1890.

Chicago

In Mount Pleasant, DeBaptiste was licensed to preach and organized a Sunday School. He also preached at the Union Baptist Church in Cincinnati. DeBaptiste was ordained at Mount Pleasant, Ohio by a council called by the Union Baptist Church of Cincinnati of five Baptist churches in Cincinnati and Loclkand, Ohio in April 1860. He taught public schools for black children in Springfield Township and Mount Pleasant for three years. Also, he organized and was pastor at a black Baptist church there form 1860 to 1863. In August, 1863, he succeeded Jesse Freeman Boulden as pastor of Olivet Baptist Church in Chicago, where he served until February 1882 when he was succeeded by James Alfred Dunn Podd. DeBaptist baptized over 1,700 people and organized many churches, including the Second Baptist Church of Elgin, the Third Baptist Church of Aurora, the Baptist Church at St. Charles, and the Second Baptist Church of Evanston. Also in Chicago, he attended lectures for two years at the Morgan Park Theological Seminary, a part of the University of Chicago. In 1869, he organized Illinois' first Colored Convention to fight for black civil rights.

DeBaptiste held numerous leadership positions of local and national Baptist organizations. He was elected corresponding secretary of the Wood River association from 1856 to 1887. He was elected recording secretary of the Northwestern and Southern Baptist convention in 1865 in St. Louis, Missouri and then corresponding secretary at the 1866 annual meeting. He was elected president of the consolidated American Baptist Missionary convention in Nashville, Tennessee in 1877 and reelected for the following four years, including in 1870 at Wilmington, North Carolina, which he did not attend. He was again absent in 1871 from the meeting held in Brooklyn, but from 1872 to 1876 he was able to attend and was elected president each of those years. At the 1877 meeting at Richmond, Virginia he was elected corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mission department, a position he held for two years. In 1870, he was elected president of the Baptist Free Mission Society, a white organization, at the meeting in Cincinnati. Also in 1870, he was elected corresponding secretary of the American Baptist National Convention, which met August 25–29 in St. Louis. About this time, DeBaptist was a trustee at Leland University. In 1881, he was elected corresponding secretary of the Baptist General Association of the Western States and Territories, and also held the position of treasurer of that group. In 1886 and 1887 he was elected corresponding secretary of the American National Baptist Convention, and elected convention statistician at numerous later conventions. In his various positions, DeBaptiste worked for integration and black rights and called for the condemnation of "black laws". This effort played an important role in the repeal of black laws in Illinois. In 1886 he was a leader at the American National Baptist Convention called by William J. Simmons. A major issue facing the group was unifying black Baptists and the convention featured notable presentations by James T. White and Solomon T. Clanton. He worked closely with Illinois' first black state legislator, John W. E. Thomas.

DeBaptiste also wrote in numerous journals. Following the work of founder Ferdinand Lee Barnett, he was co-editor with Reverend G. C. Booth at the Chicago Conservator and from September 1884 to December 1885 was editor of the Western Herald. He was corresponding editor of Reverend H. H. White's Monitor out of St. Louis, Missouri and was corresponding editor of Reverend R. L. Perry's National Monitor out of Brooklyn. He was president of the Cook County Building and Loan Association of Chicago, a group organized to promote black business. He was granted a Doctor of Divinity on May 17, 1887 by the University of Louisville.

Death and honors

In 1887, he was given an honorary doctorate of divinity by Simmons College of Kentucky.

He died April 21, 1901 in Chicago.