Jehu Jones Sr. (1769-1833)

Jehu Jones Sr. (1769-1833)

Jehu Jones Sr. was a free black entrepreneur in Charleston, South Carolina, most well known for owning the Jones Hotel. He was born in 1769 as a slave to Christopher Rogers, a tailor, and grew up learning his master’s trade. Rogers manumitted (freed) Jones in 1798 for...
Jehu Jones Jr. (1786-1852)

Jehu Jones Jr. (1786-1852)

Jehu Jones Jr., the first African American Lutheran pastor, was born in Charleston, South Carolina on September 4, 1786 to slave parents, Jehu Sr. and Abigail Jones. Jones’ parents were freed in 1798.  The elder Jones, who had been trained as a tailor, was able to buy...
Anthony Weston (1791-?)

Anthony Weston (1791-?)

Born a slave under the name “Toney” in 1791, Anthony Weston eventually became the patriarch of Charleston, South Carolina’s elite free black family, the Westons. Weston began his life as a biracial enslaved person who worked as a millwright.  Eventually, however, he...