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Southwest Georgia: African Methodist Episcopal Bishops With Deep Roots

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Researched and Compiled by Alonzo Hardy
Southwest Georgia: African Methodist Episcopal Bishops With Deep Roots
Joseph Simeon Flipper
Joseph Simeon Flipper (Bishop/Dean) — The Optional Facts
Joseph Simeon Flipper (1859-1944) was the 33rd Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the third president of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. Joseph Simeon Flipper was born into slavery on February 22, 1859 on the Ponder Place in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. He was the son of Festus Flipper and Isabella Buckhalter. He was a brother of Henry Ossian Flipper (1856-1940), the first African American graduate of West Point (1877). Joseph attended Storr’s School in Atlanta. He attended Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) from 1869 to 1876. He left school at the age of seventeen years and began teaching school in Thomaston, Upson County, Georgia, a vocation which he followed for seven years. In 1877 his parents moved to Thomasville, Thomas County, Georgia. Soon afterwards, he moved to Thomasville and continued teaching school.
In 1879 he was converted and joined the St. Thomas African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church) in Thomasville, Georgia. That same year he was commissioned by Governor Alfred H. Colquitt, captain in a Black company as a part of the state militia. They were known as “Thomasville Independents.”
He was married three times. He first marriage was to Amanda Isabella Slater on February 24, 1880 in Thomas County, Georgia. She was the daughter of Eliza Slater. This union was blessed with one daughter, Josephine G., and two sons, Nathaniel F. and Carl F. Flipper. Amanda was born about 1865. She passed away on December 24, 1918. He married second, in about 1921, Elizabeth E. Flipper probably in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Elizabeth was born about 1873. She passed away in 1931. Her parents’ names remain unknown. He married, third, Susie Lisbon Erwin in about 1932 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. She was the daughter of Thomas Erwin and Sarah Erwin. Susie was born September 2, 1883. She passed away on May 13, 1965.
Joseph was ordained a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, at Americus, Georgia in 1880. He was ordained Deacon at Thomasville in 1882 and a church Elder in 1883. He served at Big Bethel AMEC in Atlanta, GA. Later, he pastored at Pierce Chapel AMEC, Athens, GA and St. Paul AMEC, Atlanta, Georgia. He was presiding elder of the Athens District of Georgia. He served as secretary of the National Conference of the AME Church for 20 years. In all, he served more than 66 years as a Methodist minister.
In 1893 Allen University conferred upon him a Doctorate of Divinity degree. He later received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the Wilberforce University, Ohio, in 1906.
He was one of the founders of Morris Brown College. In 1887 he served as editor of the short-lived Atlanta prohibition paper called the Herald of United Churches. He also served as editor of the Voice of Missions, a monthly paper published by the AMEC in Atlanta. In addition, he served as agent for the Weekly Defiance, also published in Atlanta.
He was one of the first and largest stockholders in the Standard Life Insurance Company, stockholder and director of the Atlanta State Savings Bank. He was also a stockholder in the Independent of New York City.
In 1903, Joseph became the dean of The Theological Department of Morris Brown College. In 1904 he became president of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, serving until 1908. In the same year he was elected 33rd bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and assigned to the Ninth District (Oklahoma and Arkansas). In 1912 he was assigned to Georgia, where he remained for sixteen years. During this tenure, he oversaw the construction of Flipper Hall, Boys Dormitory at Morris Brown. He also erected the Central Park Normal and Industrial Institute in Savannah, Georgia and purchased ten acres for the Payne College at Cuthbert, Georgia. He later served in the Eleventh and Seventh Episcopal Districts of the AME Church. He was assigned to the Seventh Episcopal District of South Carolina at the time of his death. Bishop Frank Madison Reed was named to succeed him in this state.
Southwest Georgia: African Methodist Episcopal Bishops With Deep Roots
Bishop Flipper was a member of the Odd Fellows and Masons.
He died on October 10, 1944 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, at the age of 85, and was buried in South View Cemetery, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia.
William Decker Johnson
William Decker Johnson (1869-1936) •
William Decker Johnson (1869-1936) was the 42nd Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and founder of Johnson Home Industrial College in Archery, Georgia.  William Decker Johnson was born November 15, 1869 in Glasgow, Thomas County, Georgia to Reverend Andrew Jackson Johnson and Mattie McCullough. He received his early education at the common schools. At the age of 14 he began teaching at Ware County, Georgia. In 1904, Morris Brown College awarded William an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
William married Winifred Elmira Simon (1878-1950) of Russell County, Alabama on December 3, 1891 in Dougherty County, Georgia. To this union eleven children were born, but only four sons and one daughter reached adulthood. In 1911 he founded the Archery community of Webster County, Georgia, near Plains. In 1912 he founded the Sublime Order of Archery and served as Supreme Archer. That same year, he also founded the Johnson Home Industrial College of Webster County at Archery. It closed in the 1940s.
In 1879 he was converted and joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church) in Whigham, Georgia. He was licensed to preach in 1887; ordained Deacon in 1891, Elder in 1893, and Bishop in 1920.
The following are a few of the places where he was located as pastor: Westonia Mission, St. James AMEC, Columbus, GA., Wesley Chapel AMEC, Blakely, GA. and St. Mark AMEC, Archery, Georgia.
In 1894, William Johnson published his own newspaper, The Colored Mouthpiece. It was Blakely, Georgia’s first African American newspaper. The paper was a weekly with four pages of five columns each. It is unknown when the newspaper ceased publication.
He was presiding elder of the Bainbridge District, the Thomasville District, the Columbus District, and the Cuthbert District. After sixteen years as a traveling elder, Johnson was elected and consecrated the forty-second bishop of the A.M.E. Church at the general conference in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1920. His first assignment was to the Fifth Episcopal District in California and the Far West. He later served in the Tenth, Eight, and Seventh Episcopal Districts of the AME Church. He was assigned to the Seventh Episcopal District of South Carolina at the time of his death. Bishop Joseph S. Flipper was named to succeed him in this state.
He was a Mason, Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias.
Bishop William Decker Johnson died at his home in Archery, Georgia, June 17, 1936, aged 66 years. He and his wife are both buried in the Saint Mark A.M.E. Church Cemetery, Webster County, Georgia (near his home).
Researched and Compiled by Alonzo Hardy