John E. Price

Rev. John E. Price (February 2, 1823 – February 9, 1906) was an elder and minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church). He was a minister for around 50 years. He worked as a hod carrier for several years with Singleton T. Jones, who became a bishop of the AME Zion Church. He registered for the draft in June 1863, when he was 40 years of age. He lived in Harrisburg and identified himself as a shoemaker. He and his wife had at least six children: John D. Price, Marian Price, William Price, Sumner F. Price, Harriet Virginia Price, and George T. Price. He died on February 9, 1906. He died at his house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was survived by three relatives: Mrs. Mary Sigler, Mrs. M. Fisher, and Mrs. Mary Spotwood. (His gravestone states that his date of death is February 11, 1909, but his probate records were first filed on November 12, 1906 and show that he died in February 1906.) The 1909 year looks to be one of the dates of the probated estate, which was still processed in 1908 and had five years to sell land in Harrisburg.

Career Minister Price was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church). In July 1876, Price and Rev. John Bosley led AME Zion Church meetings for Philadelphia and Allegheny Churches at Grove Station, Castle Shannon. At that time, Price was the pastor of the Mission Church in Allegheny City. He was a pastor of the St. James' Methodist Episcopal Church in New Jersey from 1880 to 1882. In 1881, he was elder and musical director of the AME Zion Church in York, Pennsylvania. In 1884, he was appointed to head the Shippensburg church and provide oversight of the Newville church. He was the pastor of the West Street AME Zion Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1888. He held a rally that year with William H. Day and other ministers speaking at the church. A resolution was passed by his congregation commending his service with the church in 1888. Price was the preceding elder of the Philadelphia District and the pastor of the Wesley AME Zion Church in Philadelphia in 1893.

He was the assistant secretary of annual conferences. His areas of interests at the A.M.E. Zion Church conferences included book concern, journal, holy orders, complaints, missions, He was appointed missionary agent in 1886.

Reconstruction He founded and was president of the Garnet Equal Rights League at Harrisburg, which held lectures about equal rights for African Americans. He attended the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Convention of 1866, where he was on the Credential Committee.

In 1879, he helped plan for the Zion Hill Collegiate Institute Price, the secretary of the church's board of education, with William H. Day and Rev. M. M. Bell, established the Junior Biblical Institute. Day was its first instructor. It opened on February 23, 1885.

Writer and editor He wrote at least 15 hymns. He edited the first paper of the AME Zion Church, the Zion Church Herald and Outlook, with William H. Day. With Rev. Jacob P. Hamer, he edited the Zion Church Advocate, which was acquired by the AME Zion Church and it stopped publishing by 1876. He was on the Board of Book Concern in 1876, when the Zion Church Advocate was declared in debt.

He retired around 1896, when he was identified as Rev. Dr. John E. Price.