Coppin, Levi J(enkins) 1848-1924

views updated

COPPIN, Levi J(enkins) 1848-1924

PERSONAL:

Born December 24, 1848, in Frederick, Cecil County, MD; died June 25, 1924, in Philadelphia, PA; son of John and Jane (Lilly) Coppin; married Martha Grinnage (a schoolteacher), September, 1875 (died, c. 1877); married Fanny Muriel Jackson (an educator and administrator), December 21, 1881 (died January 21, 1913); married M. Evelyn Thompson (a physician), August 14, 1914; children: (first marriage) Octavius Valentine; (third marriage) Theodosia. Education: Protestant Episcopal Divinity School, graduated, 1887; also attended Wilberforce University.

CAREER:

African Methodist Episcopal Church, licensed preacher, 1876, ordained minister, 1880, board member (some sources say president) of Sunday School Union, 1884-88, bishop for South Africa, 1900-04, leader of district of South Carolina and Alabama, 1904-08, and district of Baltimore, Virginia, and North Carolina, based in Washington, DC, beginning 1908, president of educational board, 1908-12, president of church extension board, 1912-20, assigned to district for the Midwestern United States and parts of Canada, 1916. Teacher at church school in Maryland, c. 1865; schoolteacher in Smyrna, DE, 1870s; City Mission, Philadelphia, PA, preacher, c. 1877; Bethel Church, Philadelphia, PA, pastor, c. 1880-81; Bethel Church, Baltimore, MD, pastor, 1881-84; Allan Chapel, Philadelphia, pastor, 1884-88; A.M.E. Review, editor, c. 1888-96; Bethel Church (also known as Mother Bethel Church), Philadelphia, pastor, 1896-1900; Bethel Institute, Cape Town, South Africa, founder, 1901. Also worked as a brick-maker and operated a flour store in Wilmington, DE.

WRITINGS:

The Relation of Baptized Children to the Church, A.M.E. Publication Department (Philadelphia, PA), 1890.

The Key to Scriptural Interpretation, Publishing House of the A.M.E. Church (Philadelphia, PA), 1895.

Fifty-two Suggestive Sermon Syllabi, A.M.E. Book Concern (Philadelphia, PA), 1910.

Unwritten History (autobiography), A.M.E. Book Concern (Philadelphia, PA), 1919.

Author of Observation of Persons and Things in South Africa, 1900-1904, A.M.E. Book Concern (Philadelphia, PA); and The Sunday School: Its Work and How to Do It. Also author of hymns and gospel songs.