“R” is for Rosemond, James R.

  “R” is for Rosemond, James R. [1820-1892]. Clergyman. Born a slave in Greenville County, Rosemond was sold to a family of white Methodists under whose influence he was baptized in 1844. In 1845 he was appointed a class leader in the Greenville Methodist Church, South. In 1854, the church licensed him to preach and was a regular preacher at Sharon Church in Anderson District. The congregation raised $500 to purchase his freedom, but his owner demanded $800. After emancipation, he took the name James R. Rosemond and gathered a group of black Methodists in Greenville and established a separate congregation. In 1868 he was ordained a deacon and he eventually established fifty churches in the area stretching from Oconee to York counties. Because of his missionary efforts, James R. Rosemond was commonly called Father Rosemond.