The Biographical Dictionary of America/Ashmun, Jehudi

ASHMUN, Jehudi, missionary, was born in Champlain, N.Y., April 7, 1794. In 1816 he was graduated from the University of Vermont, followed a course of study preparatory to entering the Congregational ministry, and was appointed a professor in the Bangor (Me.) Theological seminary. Removing to Washington, D.C, he joined the Episcopal church, and edited a church magazine called the Theological Repertory. He was made agent of the colonization society, endeavoring to establish a colony of freedmen on the western coast of Africa. In 1822 he went with a body of freed negroes to Liberia, where, after several fierce attacks from the savages, he made friends with the principal chiefs, and successfully established the colony. He labored bravely and ably there for six years, and was then obliged to return to America on account of ill-health. He published Memoirs of Samuel Bacon, and contributed many articles to the African Repository. In 1835 R.R. Gurley published a memoir of his life. He died Aug. 25, 1828.