Barefoot Boy of Berlin

 There is some confusion about Charles Albert Tindley’s birthdate. The majority of sources list his birthdate as 1851, but this date has not been confirmed by documentation and 1856 and 1859 are also sited. 1851 - 1933 is listed on Tindley’s gravesite monument.

Although various sources say Tindley was “born into slavery” or “born of enslaved parents”, others say his father, Charles, was enslaved and his mother, Hester, was a free woman. Tindley’s father was enslaved by Joseph Briddell, a Maryland planter who owned a farm south of Berlin. Tindley’s mother died when he was young, (various sources say when he was 2, 4 or 5), and he was raised by his mother’s sister, Caroline Miller Robbins, until he was old enough to be hired out and went to live with his father. “The Millers were free people long before slavery was abolished and were descendants of Arthur Miller. Arthur was an indentured servant who purchased and married Rachel out of slavery once his servitude was complete, thereby making all of their children free. Arthur owned a large enough piece of land that the area was nicknamed Millerstown.” (Sheree Tunnell, 2010 email). Tindley was raised by his mother’s family and claimed the status of his free mother. (Bernice Johnson Reagon)

Early Education

Tindley received no formal early education. Many sources say he was forbidden to have books or to go to church. He was self-taught and learned to read from studying discarded pieces of newspapers and papers he found along the road.  Tindley, in a later sermon, said he would continue to “study the ABC’s from bits of newspapers and without any teacher until I could read the Bible almost without stopping to spell the words.” Some sources say a local teacher taught him the rudiments and that he learned to read in Calvin B. Taylors’ home where he was hired out to work or went with his aunt when she went to work at the Taylor home. “Descendants on both his mother’s and father’s side had stories claiming in addition to his own efforts, Tindley received some lessons in reading from Calvin B. Taylor.” (Bernice Johnson Reagon) By 17 or 18 he could read and write. 

Later after moving to Philadelphia, he took correspondence courses and attended night school. He had two doctoral degrees at the time of his death.

Going to Church

As a young boy, Tindley had a growing desire to go to church. In a later sermon he mentions, “One Sunday an uncontrollable impulse came in my mind to go to church. I had no shoes or coat to wear…. In my patched pants and shirt I started to the church that my father was a member of, which was about five miles away….In the church I hid in the little gallery…where I could hear and not be seen….The speaker called for all the boys and girls who could read the Bible to take the front seat…. I was one who could ‘read the Bible’. No one in the church knew that but myself. I rolled up a big resolution and started. The people hissed and cleared their throats… to get my attention, but I made right for the front seat. I put my bare feet under the seat…and waited for my turn to read. When the lesson was read I rose and went back to my hiding place in the gallery, but not to be hid, for all the people were watching and whispering about the ‘boy with the bare feet.’ From that moment my ambition to be educated knew no bounds. I would plow all day in the fields and walk…fourteen miles at night going and coming to get to the school teacher who was kind enough to give me lessons. Through such methods and means I obtained information until I was able to take the examination for the ministry in 1885. (quote from Ralph Jones’ Prince of Peachers book.)