Daniel Coker

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Slave Trade Act 1807
Slavery Abolition Act 1833

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Reverend Daniel Coker born Isaac Wright (1780-1846) was an African American and the first Methodist missionary to the British colony of Sierra Leone.

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[edit] Early life

Daniel Coker was born in 1780 in Baltimore, Maryland, a slave to a white Indentured servant mother and a black slave father (though some sources suggest a white indentured servant father and a black slave mother) in Baltimore. Coker was educated with his white half brothers in Maryland

[edit] Immigration to Sierra Leone

In 1820, Coker immigrated to Sierra Leone with some 84 other Black Americans in an attempt by the ACS to establish and settle a colony at Sherbro. Coker was leader of the colony during its despair and he ensured the survival of the remaining few colonists when the time called for it.

[edit] Descendants

Daniel Coker, his wife, and his children settled in Hastings, Sierra Leone a newly established village for Sierra Leone Liberated Africans. Coker became the patriarch of a prominent Krio family the Cokers. Daniel Coker's son, Daniel Coker Jr. was a prominent man in the town of Freetown and the Cokers and their descendants still reside inside Freetown as one of the prominent Krio families. Henry McNeal Turner elaborated on this when he said 'It would seem, from all I can learn, that Rev. Daniel Coker played a prominent part in the early settlement of Liberia. The first Methodist Church established here was the African M. E. Church; but by whom established I cannot say. Tradition says it was afterward sold out to the M. E. Church. Besides the probability of Rev. Daniel Coker's having established our church here, he also played a mighty part among the early settlers of Sierra Leone. His children and grandchildren are found there to-day.'

[edit] Sources