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Andrew C. Marshall is the next to last essay in A Noble Company, volume 5.

19th Oct 2014

Andrew C. Marshall (1755-1856), the next to last essay in A Noble Company, volume 5, was one of the leading African American pastors during the first half of the nineteenth century. As the successor to his uncle Andrew Bryan as pastor of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia, he was the heir of a remarkable heritage of black Baptist work in the area originating with the famous George Liele. Marshal experienced God’s redeeming grace rather late in life, when he was about the age of fifty. Even so, he began preaching soon after his conversion and became a renowned minister of the gospel, attracting hundreds to hear him. He was chosen pastor of First African in 1815 and remained there until his death over forty years later. His congregation grew to be very large, reporting 2,795 members in 1831, with 331 baptisms for the year. When Marshall passed away in 1856, it was claimed that he was more than a hundred years old.