Byrd's AME Church

Byrd's African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church on Smyrna Avenue in Clayton, Kent County, Delaware.

History

According to the U.S. Department of Interior, National Register of Historic Places, Byrd’s African Methodist Episcopal Church was built on the outskirts of Clayton, Delaware in 1894. Byrd’s AME Church is a small Queen Anne style structure located at the eastern edge of Clayton, Delaware on a quiet street, Dickerson Street; its environment is Smyrna-Clayton Boulevard to the north, open fields to the south, and residential development surrounding the church. The church faces south on a slightly elevated parcel of land. It retains its earthen yard and considerable space on the deep lot behind its kitchen wing. The original cornerstone is dated 1894.

The church was built to function as a convenient, spiritual dwelling for the increasing African American population, which had to walk several miles to Mt. Friendship AME Church. Mt. Friendship was considered the "home church." The African American community, mostly consisting of railroad workers, generally walked the Kenton Road to Mt. Friendship rather than through Smyrna to Bethel AME Church. According to member, the late Lillian Ross Faust (born 1892), many of Byrd's first members were buried in Mt. Friendship's cemetery. Originally, the church bore the name of Clayton AME Church. The church's name was changed to Byrd's AME Chapel to recognize Reverend Elijah J. Byrd, who was appointed to the church on May 27, 1895. Reverend Byrd paid the debt of $300 to prevent the church from being sold in two weeks. Many of the earlier records for Byrd's have been lost; however, the land upon which the church was built was purchased on July 13, 1894 from Willis C. Dickerson and wife, Maggie C. Dickerson of the town of Westover, Somerset County, MD. The trustees John H. Murray and others (unnamed) purchased the site for $100..

African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African-American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It is the oldest independent Protestant denomination founded by black people in the world. It was founded by the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area that wanted independence from white Methodists. Allen was consecrated its first bishop in 1816. It began with 8 clergy and 5 churches, and by 1846 had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, and 17,375 members. The 20,000 members in 1856 were located primarily in the North. AME national membership (including probationers and preachers) jumped from 70,000 in 1866 to 207,000 in 1876.

Church name

Motto

"God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family"

Derived from Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne's original motto "God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our Brother", which served as the AME Church motto until the 2008 General Conference, when the current motto was officially adopted.