From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Lampton, Edward Wilkinson

(born: 1857 - died: 1910) E. W. Lampton was a leader in the AME Church and the community of Greenville, MS; he served as bishop of the AME Church there. He was born in Hopkinsville, KY, the son of Albert R. [or Frank] Lampton and the grandson of Anna and Rev. Edward "Ned" Jones. He grew up in Bowling Green, KY, where he first attended school. Lampton earned his D.D. at Shorter College in North Little Rock, Arkansas and his LL.D. at Alcorn State College [now Alcorn State University]. He was elected bishop on May 20, 1908, in Norfolk, VA and assigned to the 8th Epicopal District.

Lampton was author of two books: Analysis of Baptism and Digest of Rulings and Decision of the Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1847-1907. He was also Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons of Mississippi.

Bishop E. W. Lampton was a widower when he died in Petoskey, Michigan, on July 16, 1910. He is buried in Greenville, Mississippi. His daughter, Mrs. D. Lampton Bacchus, the executor of his estate, was one of the African American women reformers of the late 19th/early 20th centuries. From their father's estate, the four Lampton daughters inherited the family home, a farm, and several rental properties. They constructed a two-story building that housed two stores, an auditorium, and meeting rooms.

Bishop Lampton was the husband of Lula M. Lampton (b. 1868 in MS); in 1900, the family of six lived on Theobald Street in Greenville, MS, according to the U.S. Federal Census. In June of 1909, there were several newspaper stories that Lampton and his family were run out of Greenville when one of his daughters insisted on being addressed as Ms. Lampton by white saleswomen in stores and by the telephone operator; Bishop Lampton attempted to re-enforce her demands. When asked by the African American media about the incident, Bishop Lampton initially denied the story, and would later speak out on keeping the races separate and African Americans always being on good behavior so as not to fuel a mob attack.

For more see the Bishop Edward Wilkinson Lampton entry and picture in Centennial Encyclopaedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church..., by R. R. Wright [available online at Documenting the American South]; "Would be called Miss," Waterloo Semi Weekly Courier, 06/15/1909, p. 6.; "Bishop Lampton's denial," Baltimore Afro-American, 7/10/1909, p. 7; "Bishop Lampton's troubles adjusted," Baltimore Afro-American, 7/10/1909, p. 1; "Another phase of Lampton affair," Baltimore Afro-American, 7/17/1909, p. 1; and "Daughters of late Bishop Lampton are doing well," Baltimore Afro-American, 7/22/1911, p. 1.