Jacob Stroyer

Who was Jacob Stroyer?

Jacob Stroyer was an African-American former slave who became preacher in Massachusetts. He is best known for his autobiography, My Life in the South.

Stroyer was born on the Kensington Plantation in Eastover, South Carolina in either 1846 or 1849. Stroyer's father, Jacob, was born in Sierra Leone and was captured and brought to America as a youth. The younger Stroyer knew little about his father's family background, other than the names of his paternal grandparents. Stroyer's mother, Chloe, was born in South Carolina where her family had been enslaved for several generations. As a youth, he worked as a hostler. After the Civil War, he attended schools in Columbia and Charleston.

Stroyer moved to Worcester, Massachusetts in 1870. He attended Worcester Academy for two years. He was licensed as an African Methodist Episcopal preacher. In Newport, Rhode Island, he was ordained a deacon. He moved to Salem, Massachusetts to preach.

He first published his autobiography, My Life in the South, in 1879. This was revised in 1898.

Jacob Stroyer died in Salem Hospital in Salem on February 7, 1908 of heart disease.