Some Black leaders in Omaha led businesses and others led society. The roles of pastors and ministers in the city’s African American community and beyond have not been well-documented. Among the stories that must be remembered is a man whose work to sustain and grow St. John’s AME Church is still unparalleled more than a century later. This is a biography of Rev. W. T. Osborne.
Early Life
Rev. William Tate Osborn (1855-1932), often recorded as W. T. Osborne, lived a long and distinguished life that affected thousands of people in several states.
Enslaved from birth on February 12, 1855, William was born in Burnt Corn, Alabama. When he was 10 years old in April 1865 young William became a freedom seeker. As United States Army troops were storming the traitors in Mobile, Alabama, William found the forces of Lt. Colonel Jonathan Merriam (1834-1919) and took care of Merriam’s horse. When the war ended, Merriam brought Osborne home to a town called Atlanta, Illinois, where Osborne did farm chores and was treated “as kindly as a son.” When he was new to town, the local district school held a vote among the other students to decide whether he was allowed to attend. He was, and graduated in the early 1870s.
In Illinois, William graduated from high school and enrolled at Wheaton College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1876 and a master’s degree in divinity in 1879. One of Wheaton’s first Black students, he was among the youngest students and he was the only Black graduate in the class of 1876. Young Mr. Osborne originally wanted to study law, and even though his friends encouraged him to enter the Congregational ministry, he chose to teach to earn money for law school instead…