Junius Crowley Ayler

Born in Virginia circa 1856, Junius Crowley Ayler was a minister, lawyer, and educator. He taught public school in Virginia and served as principal of the Suffolk Normal and Collegiate Institute for one year. In 1878, he married Alice V. Jackson of Suffolk; she died in 1901. After his ordination in the AME Church, he was transferred to the New Jersey conference, where he was pastor of a church in Princeton. He attended New Brunswick Theological Seminary, graduating in 1886. He also studied philosophy and read law. He was admitted to the bar in New Jersey in 1894.

Ayler served as pastor of Bethel AME Church in New Haven during the mid-1890s and was admitted to the bar in New Haven in 1898 on the grounds that he had been admitted to practice in New Jersey. He attended Yale Law School from 1898 to 1899. Ayler pastored churches in New Jersey and New York, and served as a presiding elder in the AME Church in both conferences. A Republican in his politics and a Prince Hall Mason, Ayler was noted as a linguist by William Henry Ferris in The African Abroad, volume 2. His biography in a history of the AME Church stated that he could read the Bible in ten languages and speak five languages. Author of “Guide Lights,” the pamphlet “Constitutional Rights fo the American Negro,” and many articles in the AME Review, Ayler received a doctorate of divinity from Chaddock College in Quincy, Illinois.

Guide-Lights; Lectures. Princeton, NJ: The Princeton Press, 1887.

"Distinctions," Christian Recorder, January 9, 1890.

"Historical Sketch of Rev. A. H. Newton," Christian Recorder, January 16, 1890.

"Notice", Christian Recorder, March 20, 1890.

"Notice", Christian Recorder, March 27, 1890.

"Salvation of Children," Christian Recorder, August 14, 1890.

"Ayler's Essay,", Christian Recorder, October 12, 1899.