African Americans History

Colored Church Being Razed

The abandoned colored church, near the Oakland cemetery, is being razed by Simon Swartzentruber, of Gortner. The lumber will be used to erect a repair shop at his farm home. The property was recently purchased by Mrs. Nellie Maffett in an arrangement with the town so that Fifth street, north of Green street, might be straightened so as to run parallel the entire length of the street. At the present time, should the street be widened, it would cut off the front yard of the Maffett property, adjoining the Episcopal Church.

Samuel Middleton Semmes, 1811-1867

Samuel Semmes was born in Charles County, Maryland, educated at Georgetown College, and admitted to the Cumberland bar in 1833. He was an extremely successful Allegany County attorney and was appointed Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals in 1844. He represented Allegany County as a State Senator in the Maryland General Assembly from 1855 to 1860. His brother was Raphael Semmes, an Admiral of the Confederate Navy during the Civil War.

Samuel Semmes was a slave-owner.

The Oakland, Maryland A.M.E. Church

John W. Wormack, Sr.
1905-1993

John Wormack was a retired Baltimore and Ohio Railroad employee who for many years had been active in a variety of civic and community service organizations. He is also the first African-American to seek political office in the City of Cumberland and as such was elected and served as Commissioner of Streets and Public Property for a four-year term from 1974 to 1978. John also served as a member and Chairman of the Community Relations Commission for the City of Cumberland for a period of over eleven years.

Honoring the memory of Presiding Elder Goodwind Douglas
1938-8-11 - 2016-8-20

Pastors Alfred and Carrie Deas

On May 21, 2016 Pastors Alfred and Carrie Elizabeth Deas were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Allegany County, Maryland NAACP Branch 7007. The following biography appeared in the ceremony program:

Reverend George Claudius Taylor, Oakland and Westernport A.M.E.

In the late 1840's an African-American congregation was established in Westernport, Maryland in the southwestern portion of Allegany County on the Potomac River. Known as the Brown Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1854 the group purchased a vacated Methodist church building on Front Street to serve the congregation. The Westernport Heritage Society indicates that the location was 109 Front Street.

Reverend Robert Meaker Powell, 1930 - 2003

The following is excerpted and edited from a lengthy obituary presented at a "Celebration of Life for Reverend Robert Meaker Powell, Retired." It was prepared for his funeral service held on December 13, 2003 at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Annapolis, Maryland.
       

Reverend John Gloucester
(1776-1822)

Early records from Cumberland's First Presbyterian Church note the visit from one of America's historic African American religious figures, or possibly a family member, in 1820.