Richard H. Cain

Richard Harvey Cain (April 12, 1825 – January 18, 1887) was an American minister, bishop, abolitionist and politician. After the American Civil War, he was appointed by Bishop Daniel Payne as a missionary of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. Cain served as a United States representative from South Carolina from 1873 to 1875 and 1877 to 1879. He also was one of the founders of Lincolnville, South Carolina.

Early life and education Cain was born to a black father and a Cherokee mother in Greenbrier County, Virginia, which is now in West Virginia. He was raised in Gallipolis, Ohio; Ohio state was a free state where he was allowed to learn to read and write. He attended Wilberforce University and divinity school in Hannibal, Missouri. The American Civil War broke out while he was at Wilberforce. He and 115 students from the mostly black university attempted to enlist in the Union Army but were refused. He represented Charleston County in the South Carolina Senate from 1868 to 1872. He also edited the South Carolina Leader newspaper (later renamed the Missionary Record). As editor, he hired future congressmen Robert B. Elliott and Alonzo Ransier.