Morristown’s Bethel A.M.E. Church is looking for a new address.
Not a new home, just an address.
The church has asked the town council to rename Center Street as Bishop Nazrey Way, to honor its first pastor, Willis Nazrey, a hero of the Underground Railroad.
Born a slave in Virginia, he came to Bethel in 1845 to lead Morris County’s first church organized by African Americans. Seven years later, he was ordained as a bishop and sent to British North America (Ontario, Canada) to establish Methodist-Episcopal congregations.
These were dangerous times for blacks; in 1850, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which mandated the return of runaway slaves.
Bishop Nazrey (sometimes spelled Nazery) started the British Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada to serve runaway slaves, and served as a conductor for the Underground Railroad.
“Of the 52 pastors that have served Bethel, only one was elevated to the office of bishop. It is significant that it was the first pastor. Bishop Willis Nazrey stands among many great Americans who have called Morristown home,” said the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr., the present pastor of Bethel A.M.E.
On Tuesday, Pastor Sidney addressed the council. The governing body asked Mayor Tim Dougherty’s administration to prepare an ordinance for council consideration on July 17.
A small stone chapel built in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada, by freedmen and escaped slaves in 1856 was named for Willis Nazrey, who led the denomination. The Nazrey African Methodist Episcopal Church was added to Canada’s List of Historic Places in 1999.
Bishop Nazrey died in 1875 in Nova Scotia and is buried in Maple Leaf Cemetery in Chatham, Ontario. His name appears in Washington DC on the “Episcopacy Window” at the Metropolitan African Methodist Church, where funerals for Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks were held.
Pastor Sidney said Bishop Nazrey’s legacy should not be forgotten.
“The years prior to 1870 were extraordinarily difficult for African Americans. Their battle was a strange one. They were fighting to be recognized as humans and the hope that God actually heard their cries,” he said.
“The fact that Bethel’s doors are still open after 169 years for worship and service to the poor is a testament that the cries for human dignity were answered not only by God, but our neighbors as well — Christian and non-Christian.”
