Joshua Henry Jones

Joshua H. Jones, 38th bishop of the A. M. E. Church, was born in Lexington County, South Carolina, June 15, 1856. He was converted at the age of ten years and immediately joined the Shady Grove A. M. E. Church of the Bull Swamp Circuit, Columbia Annual Conference, South Carolina. At the age of fourteen years he was made Sunday school teacher, and at the age of sixteen years he was made superintendent.

By the time he was eighteen years old he had served in all of the local spiritual and temporal offices of his church and was then licensed as a local preacher. He was a hard student, pursuing his studies into the late hours of the night by the pine-torchlight.

        At the age of twenty-one years, he entered the Normal and College Preparatory Course of Claflin University, Orangeburg, South Carolina, finishing the course in 1880. He then went out to teach and preach one year; returning to Claflin he entered the College Course in 1881, graduating with the degree B.A. in 1885. He then entered Howard University, Washington, D. C., and studied for awhile, leaving to enter Wilberforce University, from which he was graduated in 1887, receiving the degree B.D. And after leaving the university walls he still prosecuted his studies. He served eight years on the School Board of Columbus, Ohio, where he acquired a large experience in school management. In 1900 he was elected president of Wilberforce University, where he served for eight years. Thence he returned to the pastorate and presiding eldership for four years. At the 1912 general conference at Kansas City, Mo., he was elected one of the bishops of the A. M. E. Church, and was assigned to the Ninth Episcopal District, including Tennessee and Alabama. He now is bishop of Texas.

Bishop Jones passed away on November 24, 1932.  He is buried at Masssies Creek Cemetery located in Cedarville Green County, Ohio.