Mary Frances McCray

Mary Frances 'Fannie' McCray (1837–1898) was born Mary Frances Taylor on May 26, 1837, in Goshen Kentucky. McCray was born into slavery, and a majority of available information about her life comes from a biography written by her husband, S.J. "Mack" McCray and one of her sons (which son co-authored the biography is unknown). In her biography her husband portrayed McCray as a multifaceted Christian woman. Her life serves as an example of the power and the influence of religion during the time of enslavement and after. At the death of her owner, Polly Adams Adams' will stipulated that she was to be granted freedom and the funds to purchase land in Ohio. As was common at the time, the will was contested, but Polly Adams' relatives were not able to overturn it. In Ohio she married Mack McCray, a Union army veteran and a devout Christian. Her accomplishments include: the founding of a Free Methodist church in Dakota Territory; the founding of First Holiness church of Lima, Ohio; she was the first black female preacher of the Methodist Church in the Dakota Territory and, she led the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lima, Ohio.

Notes

Summary of this biography available at: Butler, Erin Bartels. Summary. Life of Mary F. McCray: Born and Raised a Slave in the State of Kentucky http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/mccray/summary.html

References

• S. J. McCray, Life of Mary F. McCray: Born and Raised a Slave in the State of Kentucky. Lima, Ohio: [s.n.], 1898.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/mccray/menu.html

• Terhune, Carol Parker. “McCray, Mary F.” African American National Biography. Edited by Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Oxford African American Studies Center.

Further reading

• Grendler, Marcella; Andrew Leiter, and Jill Sexton. Guide to Religious Content in Slave Narratives. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/religiouscontent.html
• Maffly-Kipp, L.F. The Church in the Southern Black Community (2001)

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/mccray/summary.html