A History of Methodism in Haiti 1817
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A HISTORY OF METHODISM IN HAITI 1817 - 1916 Thesis submitted to the University of London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by LESLIE JOHN GRIFFITHS School of Oriental and African Studies December 1986 ProQuest Number: 11015892 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11015892 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Haiti was the first French-speaking country outside Europe, and the first non-British colony, where Methodist missionary work was established by John Brown and James Catts in 1817. Their short stay was followed by a period of twenty years when the Methodists in Port-au-Prince were organised under Haitian leadership. The arrival of missionary Mark Baker Bird in 1839 brought this indigenous period to its close. The time between 1804 (the year of Haiti's independence) and 1860 (the year when a Concordat was signed with the Vatican) saw the Roman Catholic community in Haiti in schism with Rome. During this time, Methodists understood their r61e in terms of non-sectarian collaboration with those attempting to evolve national institutions. After the signing of the Concordat, a significant change of climate can be noted. The Roman Catholics became self-confident, foreign-led, and an anti- protestant church. On the Protestant side, the different churches (Baptist, Episcopalian, and Methodist) tended to line up with nationalists and freemasons who mounted a campaign against the Concordat. Protestants in general, and Methodists among them, became increasingly sectarian. Some important Haitian intellectuals, however, who had been formed within a Methodist communion which remained true to the teaching and influence of Mark Bird, continued to take the larger view. This thesis emphasises the work of men such as J.B. Dehoux, a key figure in the world of medicine in 19th century Haiti; and Louis-Joseph Janvier, diplomat and political theorist; and also E tzer V ilaire, poet, teacher, and vice president of the Haitian Court of Appeal. All saw religion in the context of wider questions and issues, and established a distinctive intellectual tradition. The concentration of work in the towns of Haiti, the narrow social limits of the Methodists after the initial and better-balanced phase, the failure to produce Haitian ministers, all led to internal dissension, limits on the possibilities of growth, and a reduction of influence in the country generally by 1916 - tendencies which only later were to be reversed. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page T itle 1 Abstract 2 Contents 3 Preface A Map of Haiti 6 Chapter 1 Obscure beginnings 7 Port-au-Prince 1816-1818: Cape Henry 1820 Chapter 2 At the hazard of our liv e s 36 Port-au-Prince 1818—1842 Chapter 3 A golden moment 68 1843-1847 Chapter 4 The sceptre of despotism 102 1847-1859 Chapter 5 No men or means 123 1860-1869 Chapter 6 Believing against hope 150 Mark Baker B ird 's last years: 1869-1879 Chapter 7 The plague and the sword 178 The first years of T.R.Picot: 1879-1885 Chapter 8 Romance or reality? 203 Haiti: a District of the West Indian Conference 1885-1904 Chapter 9 Like a leaf in a storm 236 The last years of Thomas Picot: 1904-1916 Notes 261 Appendix A Chronological lis t s of m inisters 308 Appendix B S ta tis tic a l tables 311 Bibliography 312 3 PREFACE The Methodist Church in Haiti, one District of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas, is the oldest Protestant Church in that country. It has much to be proud of especially in the fields of literacy, education, agriculture, community development, and theological reflection. The Synod of the Methodist Church in H aiti, at its meeting in Port-au-Prince in 1980, asked me to write an account of its history. I was returning to England after a period in Haiti, serving the Methodist Church there, that had begun in 1970. I accepted the Synod's request with great pleasure and have thoroughly enjoyed the work which has led to the writing of this thesis. Haitian historian J. Catts Pressoir produced his Protestantisme Haitien in 1945. It gave a lengthy account of the history of Methodism. So much of the m aterial he needed, however, was to be found in the archives of the Methodist Missionary Society in London and he did not have the opportunity to consult it. Much has happened and been discovered since. Consequently, I am convinced that the present work is much more complete as an account of the development of the small Methodist community in Haiti. I have been told in the course of this research that it is of very limited interest, mere "cultic history", and that it will inevitably suffer from having been written by a non-Haitian. I am glad to submit my work to others for their judgement. It is my view that Haiti, whose people, culture, and history have come to mean so much to me, needs a number of "micro-histories" to be written on various aspects of its national development. I hope that my work may be just one contribution in that direction. As to its being written by a non-Haitian, and an amateur historian at that, I can only here pay tribute to those with more skill and experience than I, for their readiness to look at much of what follows at various stages in its production. I am grateful to my friend M. Rosny Desroches, now Minister of Education in Haiti's post-Duvalier government, and the Reverends Alain Rocourt and Edouard Domond (successive Chairmen of the Methodist Church in H aiti) for help in this way. And also to the Reverend Dr. George Mulrain of the United Theological College of the West Indies for reading my manuscript with great care and making several helpful suggestions. Professors John Kent and Gordon Rupp have urged me to complete my work when my step was faltering and I am grateful for their supportive words. What I offer is all my own, mistakes and all, but it has been saved from many errors of judgement by the charity and frankness of those who have helped in this way. 4 I must also place on record the enormous debt I owe to the successive Circuit Stewards of the Wanstead and Woodford Circuit for giving me time to do this research. Also to the Overseas Division and Division of Ministries of the Methodist Church for helping with grants to defray the costs. I am grateful to the Central Research Fund of the University of London and the Scholarship Fund of the School of Oriental and African Studies for enabling me to visit H aiti in January 1984. I have used various libraries and archives; notably the SOAS library (where the Methodist Missionary archives are now stored), the archives of the British and Foreign Schools Society, the Public Record O ffice, the Cambridge University Library, the British Library (and its newspaper library), the Guille-Allks Library in Guernsey, and the Biblioth&que des Fr&res de l'lnstruction Chr^tienne in Port-au- Prince. I am deeply grateful to the Angus family in Port-au-Prince for giving me virtually free rein with the manuscript archives of Etzer Vilaire. Finally, I would pay tribute to three people who have gone more than the second mile. Professor Richard Gray has given me so much of his time and interest. He has goaded me constantly into seeing Haiti in a wider context and has enriched my reading and understanding enormously. The Rev'd H. Ormonde McConnell has read everything in every draft, and has sent me manuscripts from his personal archives. He has asked questions and made suggestions full of evidence of his long and intim ate experience of living in H aiti. And Margaret Bensley has taken all my oddly shaped manuscripts and turned them into beautifully presentable pages. Her patience, skill, and friendship, have all been laid at my disposal. I am grateful. My wife Margaret has so bravely borne these years of divided loyalty, constantly showing her interest and providing cups of coffee. It is to her, such a good friend for so many years, that I dedicate this work. Leslie Griffiths Advent 1986. 5 .1A - i • % SHOWING PLACES CITED IN TEXT THE IN CITED PLACES SHOWING Chapter One OBSCURE BEGINNINGS Port-au-Prince 1816-1818; Cape Henry 1820 A shipwright and a planter had introduced Wesleyan Methodism to Antigua, a freed American slave had begun the work in St. Eustatius. Soldiers in the British Army had taken their Methodist faith to Jamaica, Barbados, and elsewhere.^ It was Francis Reynalds, captain of the ship "H£bd", who interested the Methodists in opening up work in Haiti. Reynalds had put in to Port-au-Prince 2 in July 1815. He was a Yorkshireman and a zealous Methodist and he used the occasion of this, his only visit to Haiti, to explore the possibilities of opening a Wesleyan Mission in the new Republic. "His spirit was stirred within him when he saw supersitition and profanity reigning on every hand."'* Finding that the president was an active, intelligent, and enterprising man, strongly bent on improving the new republic, he ventured to address him on the probable advantages which would accrue to the community if a Protestant Mission were established in the main town.