The Pastors of Siloam · 1849–1851

James A. Gloucester

Siloam's founder, who gathered a Black Presbyterian mission in Brooklyn in 1847, organized it as Siloam Presbyterian Church in 1849, and befriended John Brown.

Founding pastor

At Siloam

Siloam began in 1847 as a Presbyterian mission for Black Brooklynites. A county history published in 1884 records that it started under the Presbytery of Brooklyn with about ten members, meeting in a hall on Fulton Street. In Pursuit of Freedom calls Gloucester its founding pastor from 1847. The church's own history says that in 1849 he obtained the presbytery's permission to organize the mission as Siloam Presbyterian Church. That year the congregation moved to Myrtle Avenue. In 1850 it moved to 106 Prince Street, between Myrtle and Willoughby Avenues, its home for about sixty years.

Gloucester and his wife were friends of John Brown. Two of Gloucester's letters to Brown, dated February 19 and March 9, 1858, survive. In 1858, while Brown was raising money in New York, he stayed about a week with the Gloucesters, according to Brownstoner. They gave him $25, with a note urging him on.

The church dates his pastorate from 1849 to 1851. No source found so far says why he left. Amos N. Freeman succeeded him in 1852.

Life and ministry

James Gloucester was born in Philadelphia in 1810. He was a son of Rev. John Gloucester. Two of his brothers, Jeremiah and Stephen, also became Presbyterian ministers, according to the PCA Historical Center. Where and when James was ordained has not yet been found.

The Colored Conventions Project lists him as a delegate to the national convention of 1843. In Pursuit of Freedom, a Brooklyn public history project, records that he was principal of the African School in Carsville and a supporter of Lewis Tappan's American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In 1850 he and his family were living in Manhattan, according to a Brownstoner history of the Gloucesters.

In later years he worked as an herbalist and physician, with an office at Willoughby and Duffield Streets in Brooklyn, and he owned several drugstores. In 1886 he bought farms on Long Island and was defrauded by contractors. He died of pneumonia on March 21, 1890, at 197 Duffield Street, Brooklyn. He is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.

Family

Gloucester married Elizabeth Amelia Parkhill in the 1830s. In 1850 their household included four children: Emma, Stephen, Elizabeth and Eloise. Elizabeth Gloucester died in 1883. BK Reader reports that the Brooklyn Eagle estimated her fortune at $200,000 to $500,000. Rev. Amos N. Freeman, her husband's successor at Siloam, spoke at her funeral.

Sources (13)