Reverend Thomas Henry

An original leather bound ledger dated November 4th 1856.

The inside page of the letter stated the date and an inscription reading "Hagerstown fourth AME church."

Page one of the ledger containing details about the church like the foundation date and important members.

By Kelly Ramos

HIS 240, Spring 2025

The exact date of the founding of Ebenezer AME Church is one lost to time. Earliest records of the church are dated to 1820 with mentions of earlier forms of the congregation existing within these documents, but with no exact dates. It was officially incorporated in Hagerstown in 1939 by one of the most notable leaders in the history of the church, Reverend Thomas Henry.

Rev. Henry was born in 1794 in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, as a slave and moved to Hagerstown at the age of 15 under the orders of the Barnes estat. Here Henry worked under Barnes until the age of 22. In that time, his faith had shifted from Catholicism to Methodism due to the influence of his owners. 

Rev. Henry recalls in his memoir having embraced religion in 1819. Between the years of 1819 and around 1833 he describes feelings of turmoil or “hanging over a well” relating to his religion. He would often spend nights praying for God to save his soul until, he claims, one night his prayers were answered and he found his religion. 

In 1821, Rev. Henry went back down to St. Mary’s County to obtain his free papers and while there, he spoke over the remains of his deceased cousin as he was laid to rest. This proved to be a pivotal moment in his life because, when he returned to Hagerstown, he joined Asbury Methodist Episcopal church. During his time there he would claim to have dreams about church members who were about to die. 

In his autobiography Henry mentions one particular vision shortly after the release of a man named John Francis, a new neighbor to Hagerstown. He describes leading a procession towards and down a hill, making their way “from Jacob Hess’s house to John Hoffman’s corner.” As Henry and the procession make their way onto the corner of Church and North Potomac, he recalls “a mighty gulf just at [his] heels” where he was then ordered to help the procession cross over the water. After this vision, he writes that this vision was realized by John Francis’ burial.

Rev. Henry was encouraged to assist where he could in matters of church proceedings and after a few years of leading services for burials, he was invited to attend a leaders meeting where he was appointed to lead the prayer. He would speak at Asbury MEC between 1831 to 1834 until a disagreement arose about where he would preach on New Year's Day. Per a rule by Asbury, Henry was not allowed to preach at the AME church but he chose to anyway, sealing his commitment to Ebenezer AME. 

For years after his time at Ebenezer, Rev. Henry was continued to accept duties in different cities in Maryland, including a church circuit on which he preached in Frederick, Hagerstown, and other nearby towns. In August of 1857, his wife would pass and be buried in the cemetery behind the Ebenezer church building. Later in his career after her death, he would travel further north to New York and New Jersey, finally making his home in Washington D.C. in 1872.