Thomas Birch Freeman

Thomas Birch Freeman (born December 6, 1809 in Twyford , Hampshire , † August 12, 1890 in Accra , Ghana ) was a missionary of the Methodist Church in West Africa.

Life

Thomas Birch Freeman was the son of the freed slave Thomas Freeman and his English wife Amy Birch, a farm worker. Freeman initially worked as a gardener and botanist for a landowner, but lost his job due to his membership in a Methodist community. He then joined the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in order to work as a missionary in West Africa in the future. In 1837 Freeman left for the Gold Coast (about today's Ghana ), but did not reach his destination until the spring of 1838. The mission station had been founded by Africans, but suffered from the high mortality of the missionaries. Freeman's aspiration was to expand the mission's work into Ashanti territory. In 1842 he followed a request from the Yoruba , an African ethnic group, and went to Abeokuta in western Nigeria . From this visit the "Yoruba Mission" was founded. Freeman used a trip to Dahomey to negotiate with ruler Gezo about the end of the slave trade. The expansion of missionary activities failed due to financial difficulties and finally led to Freeman's resignation in 1857, who was accused of mismanagement. He then accepted a job with the Gold Coast government. Three years later, in 1860, he was fired from this position for inability to manage finances. From then on he worked again as a gardener until he got a job in Anomabu (Nigeria) as a Methodist preacher in 1873 , which he held for six years. From 1873 until his death in 1890, Freeman lived and worked in Accra.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Andrew F. Walls: Freeman . In: Hans Dieter Betz u. a. (Ed.): Religion in the past and present . Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies. 4th edition. tape 8 , no. 3 . UTB, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8252-8401-5 , Sp. 290 f .
^ ^A ^b ^c J. Gordon Melton: Freeman, Thomas Birch . (1809-1890). In: Encyclopedia of World Religions . Encyclopedia of Protestantism, No. 6 . Facts of File, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-8160-5456-5 , pp. 235 (English).

personal data
SURNAME	Freeman, Thomas Birch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British missionary
DATE OF BIRTH	December 6, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH	Twyford
DATE OF DEATH	August 12, 1890
Place of death	Accra

[RGG4-1] A ^b Andrew F. Walls: Freeman . In: Hans Dieter Betz u. a. (Ed.): Religion in the past and present . Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies. 4th edition. tape 8 , no. 3 . UTB, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8252-8401-5 , Sp. 290 f .

[EOP-2] A ^b ^c J. Gordon Melton: Freeman, Thomas Birch . (1809-1890). In: Encyclopedia of World Religions . Encyclopedia of Protestantism, No. 6 . Facts of File, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-8160-5456-5 , pp. 235 (English).