Joshua Chapel
MSA SC 5496-51538

Morgnec, Kent County
African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1839

Biography:

Joshua Chapel was an African American Methodist Episcopal Church located on Morgnec Church Road on Morgan’s Creek Neck of Kent County, Maryland. The present structure is a single story structure with blue vinyl siding, a wooden belfry, and a small addition on the north side of the chapel. The Chapel is surrounded by an annex to the south, the cemetery to the west, an abandoned two-story house with wood siding to the north, and Morgnec Church Road on the east. Though no longer in use, the Chapel was built around 1898 and replaced the earlier structure, the “Old Tabernacle,” which was located near the “Camp Meeting Ground.”¹ Traditionally, people gathered at camp meetings in a clearing in the woods, where they preached and sang. Camp meetings led to an expansion of the Methodist Church in Kent County.² In the late 1700s, Methodist preachers were trying to expand and began organizing small rural congregations in free and enslaved black communities.³ Joshua Chapel is surrounded by tall oak trees and woods and at the center of a historic African American community on Morgan’s Creek Neck.

Several African American families settled in a village around this church. Today, a few of these houses still remain, though they are overgrown and dilapidated. At the intersection of Morgnec Church Road and Old Morgnec Road is an old 19^th century home with wood siding and covered with vines. Now abandoned, this could be one of the African American homes that surrounded the church. This village was referred to as “Corktown.” “Cork” is perhaps a variation of the pronunciation of “Caulk,” the last name of two of the trustees.⁴   Occasionally, the names Cork and Caulk are interchanged. This area was also referred to as “Melbourne” on the 1860 Martenet Map and on a consolidated list of draft registrations for the Civil War.⁵

Joshua Chapel was founded and accepted into the Delaware Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1839.⁶ At this point, no records have been found documenting the creation of Joshua Chapel. The earliest record referring to the church, however, is a land mortgage from 1869 between the Church Extension Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the church trustees: Charles W. Jones, Marshall J. Jones, Isaac Cotton, Samuel Gleaves, Isaac S. Jones, Isaac Caulk, John Stricking, Isaiah Caulk, and Samuel S. Gleaves. The mortgage was for $200 with 6% interest for one acre of land with the following bounds: “Beginning for the same at a stone set in the road leasing from Chestertown towards Millington near the Cold. People’s Church, and running thence South seventy nine degrees West ten perches thence North seventy nine degrees East ten perches thence sixteen perches to the beginning point containing one acre.”⁷  Isaac Caulk owned this land, which he conveyed to the Church Trustees. Before Maryland Highway Route 291 was built, the road from Chestertown to Millington was called Old Morgnec Road. This mortgage was satisfied in February of 1883 and was signed by the same trustees, except Isaiah Caulk from 1869 was replaced by Josiah Caulk.

The Caulk and Cotton families were integral to establishing this community and church. There is documentation of sketches of a church nearby a public road and Caulk family properties as well as a land plat that was surveyed for Joshua Cork, which includes about twenty acres along the Road to Millington.⁸ Isaac Cotton, born in 1830, came from a family who had been living in Morgan’s Creek Neck, a free black community. He and his wife Nancy P. Cotton bought two acres of land along Morgnec Road, which they mortgaged with William Ford in 1869. For $150, the Cottons mortgaged their land, which was part of Hugh Wallis’s land that he devised to his daughter Hannah Isabella Wallis after he died in 1857.⁹ This land was referred to as Darnel’s Farm, or the Middle Farm.¹⁰ Cotton was an early trustee of the church and signed the 1869 mortgage with the Church Extension Society.¹¹

At Joshua Chapel, there is a graveyard with 20-30 headstones, including members of the Cotton, Caulk, and Strycking families. Most of these headstones, however, are more recently dated to the 20th century. Located on a nearby village property are two grave markers. They are two wooden column with human heads carved on top, with the words “Father 1862-1963” and “Mother 1879-1946” inscribed on them.¹² These dates are too late for “Father” and “Mother” to refer to a founder of the church, but these markers could retain some Afro-Caribbean cultural tradition and therefore indicate that even after one hundred years of settlement in Kent County, Maryland, and the black community maintained some connection with their ancestors and possible Afro-Caribbean culture.¹³

Joseph Elbert was a black Methodist Episcopal minister and served as bondsman to Isaac Cotton’s administration bond.¹⁴ It is possible that Joseph Elbert may have served as minister for Joshua Chapel at some point in the 1850s to 1880s. There is a J. Elbert who lived near S. Gleaves who in turn lived on neighboring lands to Corben Ludolph Wallis. C.L Wallis received Darnel’s Farm from Hannah Isabella Wallis in 1866.¹⁵

            Trustee family names continued to be involved with Joshua Chapel through the generations. In 1904, some Joshua Chapel members attended the Delaware Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Listed under the Crumpton District, John Strychnine donated $0.50 and Marchel Jones and Joshua Caulk both donated $0.25 cents.¹⁶

By the 1970s and 1980s, however, Joshua Chapel was under the Millington-Pondtown Circuit, under the Easton District. According to the Official Journal Peninsula Annual Conference of the United Methodist  Church, Joshua Chapel was still operating in 1987 under the leadership of Rev. Vincent A. Hynson and the church had 12 members and was valued at $10,000.¹⁷  Joshua Chapel is now owned by the Joshua Methodist Episcopal Church and Rev. Phillip A. Henry of Odessa, Delaware.¹⁸

Return to Joshua Chapel Introductory Page

Researched and written by Kathy Thornton, 2012. 
 

This web site is presented for reference purposes under the doctrine of fair use. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: The site may contain material from other sources which may be under copyright. Rights assessment, and full originating source citation, is the responsibility of the user. Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website! Archives' Home Page    |    Maryland Manual On-Line    |    Reference & Research    |    Search the Archives    |    Students & Teachers    |    Archives of Maryland Online Governor     General Assembly    Judiciary     Maryland.Gov

© Copyright August 22, 2012 Maryland State Archives