Page:A short account of the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America.djvu/26

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CHAPTER III.

Of Leasing and Purchasing Ground, &c.

In this place it may be proper, also, to relate that the aforesaid two lots of ground, at the corner of Church and Leonard Streets, were leased for twenty-one years, with the privilege of purchasing them at any time previous to the expiration of that term, the price being fixed and agreed upon for that purpose, and inserted in the Lease, which was dated July 21st, 1800, and the names of the

Trustees chosen for the Lease, were Francis Jacobs, William Brown, Thomas Sipkins, George White, George E. Moore, Thomas Cook, George Collins and Peter Williams. The lot of ground adjoining in the rear of the two lots leased as aforesaid, fronting on Leonard Street twenty-five feet, and one hundred feet deep, being offered for sale a while after the Church was built, the Trustees embraced the opportunity and bought it, and having obtained an old house for a small amount, they brought it on the Lot, and repaired and fixed it up, with a little addition, for a dwelling house, which continued in use until the building of the brick house now on the same lot, bearing the No. 62 Leonard Street. In a few years after the building of the aforesaid Church, it was found to be

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