Richard Allen, the founder and first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born a slave on February 14, 1760 on the Benjamin Chew estate. Deeply religious from an early age, Allen was converted at the age of 17. He began preaching in 1780 and was ordained in 1799. Through thrift and industry, he and his brother worked at night to pay for their freedom.
Despite his lack of formal medical training, Allen was a noted "Bleeder", the equivalent of our present day surgeons. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a leading physician of the time and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, gave praise to Bishop Allen for his services during the Black Plague in 1793 which took the lives of thousands of Philadelphians.
 

In 1791 Allen established what was known as the Blacksmith Shop Meeting House, when he purchased an abandoned blacksmith shop and moved it to a plot of ground on 6th Street between Lombard and Pine StreetsThis building was dedicated as a church in 1794 by Bishop Francis A. Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

From July 1805, Allen conducted services in the "Roughcast Church". This had been the first brick church erected on American soil by people of color. The African Methodist Episcopal denomination was organized in Philadelphia in 1816. Richard Allen was consecrated as its first Bishop at the General Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1816. In 1841 the red brick church was built to replace the old roughcast one, and remained in use until the present church (dedicated in 1890) was erected in its place on the original plot of ground.

Allen was an organizer of the Free African Society, a group that fostered self-help and self-dependence. He established day and night schools, and was co-organizer of the first Masonic Lodge among colored men in Pennsylvania, African Lodge 459 in Philadelphia.

From 1797 to his death on March 26, 1831, Allen operated a station on the Underground Railway for escaping slaves. This work was continued by Bethel Church until the Emancipation.

Bishop Allen was married to Sarah Bass Allen. He was the father of six children - Richard Jr., James, John, Peter, Sarah and Ann.
 

William Paul Quinn, the fourth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born on April 10, 1788 in Calcutta, India.

Quinn was admitted to the conference in 1816. He was ordained a deacon in 1818 and ordained an elder in 1838. He was present at the organization of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816.

Bishop Quinn pastored in Gouldtown, Springtown and Salem Churches in New Jersey. He also pastored in Pennsylvania and Illinois. He did monumental work as a great missionary: preaching, traveling and organizing churches in the "Western Mission".

He defied slavery and organized churches in Missouri and Kentucky. When he submitted his report on the churches he established, the General Conference at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania elected him a Bishop on May 19 1844.

Bishop Quinn presided over the General Conference in 1848. He delivered at that conference a written Episcopal address for the first time in any conference. He became the Senior Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church May 9, 1849, after the death of Bishop Morris Brown and remained the Senior Bishop of the church until his death in Richmond, Indiana, February 3, 1873. Quinn served as the Senior Bishop for 24 years and 8 months, the longest term a Senior Bishop had served up to that time.

Bishop Quinn was married to Mary Jane Quinn

Daniel Alexander Payne, the sixth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Charleston, South Carolina on February 24, 1811 to free colored parents, London and Martha Payne.

He attended a private school in Charleston, South Carolina and Gettysburg Seminary in Pennsylvania. He also did a great deal of studying on his own. Payne was the first Bishop to have formal theological seminary training. He, more than any other individual, is responsible for the A.M.E. Church's attention toward trained ministry.

Bishop Payne was ordained an elder in the Lutheran Church in 1837. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Annual Conference in 1842. He pastored churches in Washington, New York

He was an author of considerable merit. His book, "History of the A.M.E. Church", is his greatest work and has been an authoritative source of history of the first 75 years of the connectional church. Bishop Payne spent twenty years gathering material for his book.

Payne was married to Eliza Clark Payne. He was the father of one child and the stepfather of four children- Julia, John, Laura, Augusta and Peter.

Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne died on November 2, 1893.
 

Henry McNeal Turner, the twelfth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born on a farm near Newberry, South Carolina, February 1, 1834 to free parents, Howard and Sarah Turner.

Turner was taught to read by a white playmate. He worked in a law office where they taught him and allowed him to read books in the library. He also furthered his knowledge by reading in the library of a Medical College where he worked. He officially studied at Trinity College.

Bishop Turner was first licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1860 and an elder in 1862. While pastoring in Baltimore, Turner helped to recruit colored soldiers for the United States Army in the Civil War and President Lincoln appointed him Chaplain

 of the Negro Troops in 1863. He continued his appointment until President Johnson appointed him the first Chaplain of the regular United States Army. After the war, he became an agent for the Freedman's Bureau of the United States Government.

Turner organized A.M.E. Churches all over the state of Georgia and a number of members joined under his influence. He was elected a member of the Constitutional convention in Georgia in 1868 and 1870. He was later sent to the Georgia Legislature as a State Senator.
Bishop Turner served as a Presiding Elder in Georgia. He was elected the Business Manager of the Publication Department. He founded the Southern Christian Recorder, the Voice of Missions and the Women's Christian Recorder.

Turner was elected a Bishop at the General Conference in St. Louis, Missouri in 1880. During his tenure, he presided over the 8th, 5th, 1st, 12th, 6th and 7th Districts. He also established an A.M.E. church in West and South Africa.

Bishop Turner died on May 9, 1915.