Bio Garretson Gibson was born to Jacob and Rebecca Gibson in Talbot County, Maryland, USA. The family, including his parents and siblings Joseph, Henry, Mary Ann, Samuel, James and Louisa and their cousin Ellen Gibson arrived in Cape Palmas, on the Schooner Harmony on June 23, 1835. His father died in 1836 and their mother […]
Bio This former president was born in Kentucky, USA and lost his father at a young age. Along with his mother, he and three other family members moved to Liberia in 1853. The family settled in Clay-Ashland which was then called Kentucky. Coleman is described as a poor boy from Kentucky who had to quit […]
Bio Joseph James Cheeseman was born in Edina, Grand Bassa County when Liberia was still a colony. His parents were among the early settlers that migrated to the colony by the ACS. He was trained as a minister by his father, Baptist Missionary John H. Cheeseman. His father died when he was 16 years old, […]
Bio The first settlers left New York in February 1820 on the Elizabeth, and among them was Elijah Johnson, a Methodist preacher of outstanding character. Johnson had served in the US military and fought in the war of 1812. Upon arrival at the colony he established the first Methodist Episcopal Church of Liberia. He is […]
Bio Alfred’s mother, Milly Russell, was 1/8 black, and a slave to Mrs. Jane Hawkins Todd Irvine of Kentucky, USA. It is believed that Jane’s grandson, John Russell was visiting his grandmother on vacation from Princeton University, and became Milly’s lover. She had a son named Alfred after John’s visit, and he was a white […]
Bio Gardner was born in the USA in 1820. Both his parents were freed slaves and they moved to the Liberian Colony, arriving on January 11, 1831 on the brig Volador. The family settled in Grand Bassa County where Anthony grew up. He lost his mother in 1865, but his father was still alive when […]
Bio Smith was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1825. His family migrated to Liberia in 1833 when he was fairly young. He was orphaned at an early age, losing both parents to malaria. Not much is known of his early years in Liberia. Education He studied medicine under Dr. James W. Lugenbeel, who was […]
Bio E.J. Roye’s story begins with his father John Roye, a former slave from Kentucky, and his wife Nancy who moved to Newark, Ohio. The elder Roye was a successful land owner and partial owner of a Wabash River ferry. Edward James Roye was born in Newark, Ohio in 1815. He was of pure African […]
Bio James Spriggs Payne was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1820 to a mixed race Christian family. He and his father David Payne moved the family to the colony, arriving on the West African Coast on March 21, 1829 via the ship “Harriet”. David Payne was an ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The […]
Bio Daniel B. Warner was born on April 19, 1815 in Maryland, USA. His father was a slave who gained his freedom a year before Warner’s birth. In 1823, the family arrived in Monrovia via the brig Oswego through the American Colonization Society.He was raised and educated in Liberia. As an industrious teen, he worked […]