Edward Thomas Demby
| Edward Thomas Demby | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 13, 1869 Wilmington, Delaware, United States |
| Died | April 14, 1957 (aged 88) Cleveland, Ohio |
| Occupation | Bishop |
| Known for | Afro-American activist |
| Spouse(s) | Polly Alston Sherrill (d. 1899), Antoinette Ricks (m. 1902, d. 1957) |
Edward Thomas Demby (February 13, 1869 – April 14, 1957) was an African-American bishop and author. Ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States and later a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Arkansas and the Southwest, Demby worked against racial discrimination and for interracial harmony, both within and outside of his church.
Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1869, the eldest child of Edward T. Demby IV and Mary Anderson Tippett (both freeborn), Edward Demby received his initial education from his uncle, Eddy Anderson, who operated a school behind Ezion (Northern) Methodist Episcopal Church, a pillar of Wilmington's African American community. He then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend the prestigious Institute for Colored Youth and then to Baltimore for the Centenary Bible Institute. He also attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., Wilberforce University in Ohio and University of Chicago, and taught younger children to support himself.
Demby's first wife, Polly Alston Sherrill, died while he was serving in Tennessee. He then moved to St. Augustine's Church in Kansas City where, in 1902, he married Antoinette Ricks who had been one of Howard University's first nurse graduates and was then head nurse at Kansas City's Freedman's Hospital.
From 1894 to 1896, by then ordained an African Methodist Episcopal Church minister, Demby was Dean of Students at Paul Quinn College near Dallas, Texas. While there he was confirmed in the Episcopal Church. Bishop John Franklin Spalding of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado became his mentor and ordained him a deacon in 1898 and a priest the following year. First assigned to Mason, Tennessee, Demby served as rector of St. Paul’s Church in Mason, as well as principal of St. Paul’s Parochial School, and vice principal of Hoffman Hall. From 1900 to 1907 he ministered to parishes in Kansas City, Missouri, Cairo, Illinois, and Key West, Florida.
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