MORGAN'S HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY CONFERENCE Page 239
In 1882 he outlined the plans for the organization of the Connectional Sunday-school Union of the A. M. E. Church, and was appointed by the Bishops to develop it preparatory to the meeting of the general conference in 1884. In this work he was remarkably successful - so much so that the general conference not only adopted the Union, but unanimously elected him its corresponding secretary, making him the editor of all the Sunday-school publications issued by the A. M. E. Church.
He is a man of great force, energy and determination, and is greatly admired as a writer and speaker. He has always evinced a deep interest in Sunday-school work, and is admirably adapted for the position he now occupies. He is essentially a self-made man, studious, broad, progressive, and deeply earnest.
James Matthew Townsend, D. D., was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, August 18, 1841. He was the only son of William and Mary Ann Townsend, who were members of the A. M. E. Church, and during long and useful lives were devoted and earnest christians. His mother gained considerable notoriety as a church worker, and for thirty years was a strong advocate of the Wesley idea of sanctification, which life she enjoyed in a very eminent degree. From early childhood young Townsend received the most careful, religious and moral training at the hands of his parents, who in the meantime had moved to Oxford, Ohio. At the age of twelve he professed religion, and united with the A. M. E. Church, under the pastorate of that great and good man, Rev. John Turner. He had the advantage of a common school education, and being inclined to habits of reading and thought thus laid the foundation for future usefulness by years of careful study and research.
At the age of sixteen he was licensed for an exhorter, and two years later a local preacher. At the beginning of the rebellion he had a strong conviction that the war would result in the emancipation of his race, and therefore sought the earliest opportunity to take up arms in defense of the Union and Freedom. He enlisted in the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers - the first colored regiment to enter the service, and remained on the
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