Cain, Richard Harvey, 1825-1887

Reverend Richard Harvey Cain (April 12, 1825 – January 18, 1887) was a minister, abolitionist, and United States Representative from South Carolina from 1873–1875 and 1877-1879. After the Civil War, he was appointed by Bishop Daniel Payne as a missionary of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. He also was one of the founders of Lincolnville, South Carolina.

Cain was born to a black father and a Cherokee mother in Greenbrier County, Virginia, which is now in West Virginia. He was raised in Gallipolis, Ohio, a free state where he was allowed to read and write. He attended Wilberforce University and attended divinity school in Hannibal, Missouri. The American Civil War broke out while he was at Wilberforce. He later claimed that he and 115 students from the mostly black university attempted to enlist in the Union Army but were refused.