A fact from Harry Hosier appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 5 November 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religion, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Religion-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.ReligionWikipedia:WikiProject ReligionTemplate:WikiProject ReligionReligion articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Christianity, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Christianity on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ChristianityWikipedia:WikiProject ChristianityTemplate:WikiProject ChristianityChristianity articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject African diaspora, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of African diaspora on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.African diasporaWikipedia:WikiProject African diasporaTemplate:WikiProject African diasporaAfrican diaspora articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Maryland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of Maryland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MarylandWikipedia:WikiProject MarylandTemplate:WikiProject MarylandMaryland articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The "Hoosier" spelling is more common in sources dealing with the origin of "Hoosier" (obviously), but this man's death precedes the first recorded use of that term by 3 decades and (non-Indianan) primary and secondary sources overwhelming prefer "Hosier". If we were to move this to a different page, it should probably go to "Black Harry". That was certainly the name he was generally known by at the time, but it's somewhat disrespectful to his memory and most sources include his surname.
Anyway, concerning "Hoosier", it is great if that connection causes more people to learn about him, but he almost certainly has either
(a) nothing to do with the term (his former master's ancestor may have been a hosier)
or
(b) represents a parallel use of a different spelling of hoosier, meaning "hillbilly".
Hosier never represented his own sect or group of believers; Hosier was disgraced by the time of his death; Hosier doesn't seem to have traveled to western Virginia, let alone Indiana (Asbury's travels beyond the Appalachians mostly occurred after Hosier's 1806 death, let alone his 1791 removal). The idea that Indiana's initial influx of Scotch-Irish hillbillies (who, btw, had a word "hoosier" that meant "hillbilly") used the name instead to reference a 30-year-gone disgraced black preacher (whose surname sources either spelled differently or didn't use at all) to talk about rough boatmen on the Ohio strains credulity. — LlywelynII03:16, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Reply
