Richard H. Cain

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Richard Harvey Cain (April 12, 1825 – January 18, 1887) was a United States Representative from 1873 to 1875 and 1877 to 1879.

He was born to free parents in Virginia and raised in Ohio. He attended divinity school in Hannibal, Missouri. He joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1848 and became a minister in Muscatine, Iowa [1] or possibly a pastor in Brooklyn, New York in 1861 [2].

He moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 1865 and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1868. He was elected to the state senate from 1868 to 1872. He also edited the South Carolina Leader newspaper (later renamed the Missionary Record).

He was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third United States Congress. He did not run for re-election in 1874 after his seat was eliminated, but ran for the 2nd district in 1876. He was elected to the Forty-fifth United States Congress.

After the end of his second turn, he returned to his church. He was made a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1880. He helped found Paul Quinn College and served as its president until 1884. He died in Washington on January 18, 1887 and is buried in Graceland cemetery.