San Andres Island

Founded in 1847

Philip Beekman Livingston, Sr. a sailor & merchant was originally from Scotland & probably first visited the Archipelago around 1800. He married Mary Archbold, a daughter of Captain Francis Archbold, who had settled on Providence with his family & slaves in 1788. Mary was born in Kingston in 1785, so she possibly went to Providence with her family when she was three years old.

The first son of Philip & Mary was Philip Beekman Livingston Jr., born on Providence Island on January 16, 1814. When Philip Beekman Jr. reached school age, the family moved to Jamaica.

In March, 1834 Mary Livingston decided to send her eldest son, Philip, to Providence to emancipate her slaves, & to divide the lands between them & himself. He conferred absolute freedom on his mother's slaves on August 1, 1834. He got married to Ann Eliza on December 7, 1839.

In the fall of 1844, Philip left for a visit in Oberlin Ohio possibly to see his relatives there. While in that city he attended preaching meetings held by a Rev. Cook & was converted. He was baptized in Lake Erie in October, 1844.

The month that Philip Beekman Livingston, Jr. set foot again on San Andres soil, this time as a preacher of the gospel, he had just turned thirty one years of age.

His first effort upon his return to San Andres was to teach some exslaves reading, writing & arithmetic.

His group of students built a thatched-roofed, dirt-floored shelter under a tamarind tree on May Mount. They usually had to meet at night because they tilled the fields in the daytime. The work of the young teacher was the tedious & humble beginning of a new era in the history of the Island. Livingston taught the Bible to the students & soon had a Sunday congregation meeting in & around his school.

At first he did not baptize, marry or perform duties as an ordained minister. On one of his voyages to Jamaica, Livingston sought church ordination. The east Queen Street Baptist Church in Kingston examined his beliefs & morals. They ordained young Livingston on June 5, 1849. Many believers of the loosely organized Baptist Church on San Andres Island were ready for Baptism. Rev. Livingston baptized several dozen, the first of whom was his wife, Ann Elisa, who was baptized on July 1,1849.

In 1877 Livingston resigned as Vice commercial & consular agent & concentrated on teaching his son Brockholst & tending the spiritual ministry of the church. The pastor was concerned about the lack of spiritual fervency among the believers. After much prayer & preaching, a conviction of sin fell on the people.

Members confessed their sins & asked each other for forgiveness. This resulted in the spiritual awakening of 1888. Two years before the awakening there were no recorded baptisms. In 1887 there were twenty-three. The year of the revival one hundred ninety six were baptized, & the next year there were another seventy eight. This revival was the crowning work of pastor Livingston, & it was discussed by the people for many decades.

Son Brockholst was ordained a deacon at that time & began accepting leadership responsibilities, including preaching.

Realizing that his days were numbered, Pastor Livingston put his home in order. He had his last will & testament made up, & ordained his son Brockholst to the gospel ministry.

In his home on August 29, 1891, Pastor Philip Beekman Livingston Jr. died of natural causes. His son Brockholst, officiated at the church funeral, & the body was buried in the churchyard just to the south of the chapel. He was seventy-seven years of age & had laboured forty-six years in the spiritual, educational, & economic development of the island.

At the end of the century it was estimated that ninety-five percent of the population of both San Andres & Providence were Baptists or sympathizers, & over ninety percent of the people could read & write. There were economically sound & morally erect. There was no jail, nor need of one. Thievery was practically unknown. Locks were not to be seen on the doors, & even the stores & shops in North End were closed up at nights & on Sundays without being locked. Almost everyone attended church on Sundays, including the crews of visiting vessels.

The first church building was a thatched hut, located on May Mount, behind the present church nursery house.

The second church building foundations were laid on September 28,1852, & the building was consecrated on October 16, 1853.

The third church building was built keeping in mind the increasing size of the congregation demanded a newer & larger sanctuary. Plans were drawn for a building along the lines of the large Anglicans style churches of Jamaica. The order of its construction was placed with a company in Mobile Alabama. In Mobile the entire church building was built including the windows, doors, & furnishings. Then under the supervision of the architect , the boards were numbered as the structure was dismantled; it was shipped to San Andres & unloaded at the Livingston docks. It is reported that church members carried the beams by hand to the hill where the church was built.

The architect, who accompanied the building supervised the reconstruction on its present site. The building was painted white & the wooden shingles green.

The building was fifty feet wide & seventy-five feet long & seated over a thousand people. The steep roof was topped by a tower & belfry that soared a hundred feet above the road in front of the church. There were two pulpits & a choir loft in the north side of the auditorium. The lower pulpit was used by the one reading the scriptures or giving announcements, & for unordained men who brought sermons.

Only ordained ministers, dressed in clerical collar & robe, would climb the spiral stair to the lofty pulpit. There they had eye contact with the congregation on the lower floor, & with those in the left, front, & right balconies.

Immediately in front of the platform was a baptistery under the floor, which was covered by a removable section of flooring when not in use.

The land on which this structure was erected was donated by James O. May, father of professor Vernon May. Dedicated on February 2, 1896. It has served for several generations & is still in use. It occupies the highest point on the island.

1845-1891............. Philip Beekman Livingston Jr.; Born Jan. 16 1814; Died August 29, 1891

1891-1911..............Brockholst Livingston; Born Jan. 1 1867; Died August 8, 1911

1911-1922...............Thomas B. Livingston; Born Dec. 4, 1889; Died May 9, 1960

1927-1945...............Noel Gonsalves; Born Sept. 10, 1882; Died Feb. 9, 1971

1946-1953...............Charles McCullough; Born Aug. 16, 1913

1959-1966...............George May; Born Aug.6, 1927

1966-1969...............Rodwell Morgan; Born Mar. 18, 1927

1970-1976...............Ed Duncan; Born June 16, 1930

1976-.......................Cipriano Stephens; Born July 11, 1944