Robert Paine
Roxboro, Person County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Robert Paine. Leader in organization of Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1845. Bishop, president of LaGrange College, Ala., & author. Born 1 mi. E.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Born near this spot, Robert Paine rose to national prominence as a Methodist leader, helping organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, when the denomination split in 1845. He served as a bishop and as president of LaGrange College in Alabama, and was also an author.
Why it matters
Paine's career illuminates how the sectional divide over slavery fractured even America's churches a generation before the Civil War.
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