Introduction

Biography

Embry was con­vert­ed in 1855 in Ga­le­na, Il­li­nois, and was li­censed to preach in 1856.

He be­came a min­is­ter in the Af­ri­can Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal (AME) Church in 1863, joined the An­nu­al Con­fer­ence in 1864, was or­dained a dea­con in 1866, and was ap­point­ed an el­der in 1870.

He was elect­ed AME Sec­re­ta­ry of Edu­ca­tion in 1876, Fi­nan­cial Sec­re­ta­ry in 1879, bu­si­ness man­ag­er of the Pub­li­ca­tion De­part­ment in 1884, and be­came the 25th AME bi­shop at Wilm­ing­ton, North Ca­ro­li­na, in 1896.

Embry was a vi­tal force in the ear­ly days of the AME Church: He built the AME Pub­lish­ing House in Penn­syl­van­ia, pur­chased the South­ern Chris­tian Re­cor­der for the AME, was a mem­ber of the First Ecu­me­ni­cal Con­fer­ence on Me­tho­dism in Lon­don in 1881, and pu­blished the re­vised All­en AME Church Hym­nal in 1892.