All Angels Church
Near the Zion and African Union churches, there was a church called All Angels. Though the attendees of Zion and the African Union churches were African Americans and these churches had official affiliations with the Black community, the All Angels Church did not have any official connection with the Black community. Moreover, the minister or the leader of the church was a white minister called Thomas M.C. Peters. Furthermore, the church had an affiliation with St. Michael’s Protestant Episcopal Church, which was not a typical Black church.
At All Angels Church, there were African Americans like the Stairs and Riddles families and Irish Seneca attendees, such as Margaret McIntay and the Cassidy family. All Angels was considered unique back then because most African American New Yorkers and whites did not attend the same church in the early and mid-19th century.
The Irish attended a church were there were mostly Blacks because some people lived just south of Seneca Village or in the village. For instance, a group of Irish families, including the Lanes, the Berrys, and the Foleys, moved close to the Seneca residents William Pease and Sarah Wilson. These people and other Irish residents worshiped at All Angels.
The reality of Irish and African Americans worshipping or living together was a hope that Blacks had longed for: All Angels church demonstrated how different races such as Irish and African Americans could live and worship together peacefully.
