BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY William Paul Quinn (10 April 1788–3 February 1873) was the fourth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, an independent black denomination founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1816.
In 1836 he was assigned to Indiana and Ohio as a missionary; he settled in Richmond, Indiana as his base, founding an AME Church there and several throughout these states. In 1844 he was elected as bishop.
Early life and education
Quinn was said to have been born in Calcutta, India to an Egyptian mother and Spanish father, according to an 1851 affidavit. He came to the United States as a young man by 1816, when he became active with the AME Church in New Jersey.
Religious career
He was said to have been in the US by 1816, when the AME denomination was organized. According to that account, he was ordained a deacon in 1818. His wife was Mary Jane Quinn.
In 1836 Quinn was assigned as a missionary to the Northwest, and traveled throughout Indiana anRichmond, Indiana, which he used as a base for his missionary work. Quinn became an elder in 1838. They founded the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Richmond, as well as similar churches in Dublin, Newport (now Fountain City), and Cambridge City, and most of the AME churches in Ohio and Indiana.
d Ohio to plant congregations. He settled with his wife in
On May 19, 1844, the General Conference of the church elected him a bishop. He became the Senior Bishop of the church in May 1849 and served until his death in Richmond on February 3, 1873. He was buried at Earlham Cemetery in Richmond.
Quinn argued that the Divine Command theory should be accepted without question, because God could be seen as always doing the right thing; even if he doesn't appear to be doing the right thing, the end outcome will be good. "Everything God does is good in essence."
Legacy and honors
- Paul Quinn College (founded 1872 by AME Church members), the oldest historically black college in Texas, was named after him.
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