Troy Conference Missionary Society

An antique framed engraving. It is of a membership certification to the Troy Conference Missionary Society, an auxiliary to the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  It is dated June 21st 1852. Signed by Edmund S. Jones (local pastor of State Street Church in Troy, 1852), President and Stephen. D. Brown (entered Troy Conference in 1837, transferred to the NY Conference in 1865, died in 1875), Secretary. The print depicts a trumpeting angel hovering above a congregation of African American slaves and Native Americans. The annual Troy Conference event (7 days) was held that year in Plattsburgh, NY. This life membership certificate is for Mrs. Sophia Jones, stating that she paid ten dollars. The top of the certificate shows some white spotting. The top left corner is clipped and there is a 1 x 4 inch water stain at the bottom. Measures 19 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches. Very nice antique frame is probably original to the piece. Some pastors of the Troy Conference were noted abolitionists (Don Papson and Andrew Witherspoon). George S. Brown (1801-1880) was an African American missionary to Liberia six times. A part of the Troy Conference, he founded Sandford's Ridge UM Church and was a much-sought-after stone mason in the region.