Lemuel Haynes House

Lemuel Haynes House

The Lemuel Haynes House is a historic house on County Road 27 in the village of South Granville, New York. Built in 1793, it was the home of Lemuel Haynes (1753-1833), the first African-American clergyman ordained in North America, from 1822 to 1833.

From 1822 until his death in 1833, the house was home to Lemuel Haynes. Born to a white woman and man of African descent, Haynes spent his early years in indentured servitude, but was educated by his master and introduced to the Congregational church.

He served in the local (Granville, Massachusetts) militia during the American Revolutionary War, after his indenture ended, and was formally ordained as a Congregationalist minister in 1780.

His service as minister to the Middle Granville church marks the first known instance of an African-American preacher leading a predominantly white congregation. Haynes spent many years leading a church in Rutland, Vermont, before ending his long career in Granville, New York.

It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.

The house was purchased from Charles Halderman as a private residence in 2009 by Bo Young and William J. Foote and is not normally open to the public.