Richard Randolph Disney

Richard R. Disney was a free born African American to Henry and Rebecca Disney in MD. While working in Baltimore, MD he felt the need to preach and sought higher education at a seminary run by the Rev. Samuel Osgood at Springfield, MA. While attending school, he supported himself by working as a barber. He was married to Sarah Elizabeth.

In 1857, he was licensed to preach and he was subsequently ordained as a Deacon and then an Elder.  AMEC preachers began to work in Upper Canada in 1834 and a Conference was formed in 1840.¹http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/disney In 1857, Richard Disney went to Upper Canada to minister to the many blacks who had sought refuge from slavery in the years prior to the Civil War.  The AMEC churches in Upper Canada successfully petitioned the parent body to be allowed to form an autonomous church and chose the name British Methodist Episcopal Church. He was ordained Bishop in 1875 and his administrative area consisted of Ontario, Nova Scotia, Bermuda, the West Indies and British Guiana.²http://www.wikinedia.org/wiki/British In 1880, Bishop Disney began negotiations to reunite with the AMEC.  The reunion was effective that year and overwhelmingly ratified in June 1881. Bishop Disney was accepted as an AMEC Bishop and was assigned to the 10^th District.  In 1888, he was transferred to the 8lst District.

He lived in Greenville, MS until he was stricken with malaria and then he moved to Baltimore, MD where he died.