Hi Wisby: I typed "Ceaser Springfield" and New York into Google and got a reference to a book published in 1918 called "Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York." The Assembly is one house of the New York State Legislature. From a section about the value of New York City churches as landmarks:
"Centennial of A. W. M. E. Church of Brooklyn"
"During the week from Sunday, February 3, to Sunday, February 10, 1918, the African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal church at High and Bridge Streets, Brooklyn, celebrated the centennial of its organization. As this is the first African Methodist Episcopal church in the State of New York, the circumstances of its formation are of no little interest. From an historical sketch prepared by Mr. Henry S. Robinson, historian member of the centennial celebration committee, it is learned that before the formation of the Bridge Street church, as it is called, the Brooklyn negroes went to the only Methodist church in Brooklyn which had a white congregation, and sat in the gallery. The subject of having a church of their own was discussed among the colored people as early as 1812, but it was not until 1817, when their numbers had grown so great that they had become conspicuous in the white Methodist church gallery, that they decided to take up the project actively. A meeting was therefore held on May 14, 1817, at which the negroes of Brooklyn formed a society to raise funds to buy land for a church. They agreed to pay fifty cents a month into the treasury for a building fund. A delegation was appointed to go to see Bishop Richard Allen of Philadelphia as to sending a preacher for this new church among negroes, and ordaining several of the delegates as local preachers.
"In the fall of 1817 a grand rally was held, $130 was collected and two lots were bought on the east side of High street, between Bridge and Jay streets.
"On January 12, 1818, the male members of the African Wes- leyan Methodist Episcopal Church in the Village of Brooklyn, County of Kings, State of New York, met and legally elected as Trustees Peter Croger, Benjamin Croger, Israel Jemison, John K. Jackson and
Caesar Springfield.
"On January 19, 1818, the certificate of their election was filed with Mr. Justice John Garrison of the Court of Common Pleas of Kings county and approved, and on February 7, the approved certificate of election was filed with the Clerk of Kings county; and thus the first African Methodist Episcopal church in the State was incorporated.
"The congregation worshiped in a church on High street until 1854, in the meantime having established a branch church in Flatbush.
"The site of the present church was formerly part of the Doctor Duffield estate. In 1829, it passed to the Pierrepont estate. On July 7, 1854, Edward and Margaret Pierrepont assigned it to the trustees of the First Congregational church, and 0n July 12, 1854, the latter sold it to the A. W. M. E. Church. Either on the fourth Sunday of July or the first Sunday of August, 1854, the Rev. J. Morris Williams, pastor, led his flock from the High street church to the new church on Bridge street. The present pastor is Rev. W. Spencer Carpenter.
"Not only is the Bridge Street Church the Mother of the A. M. E. Churches hut it is also one of the historic spots of the country and the north. It was in this building in the days of John Brown that the abolitionists harbored the slaves being smuggled from the South through the " underground railroad " to Canada, and the cellar of the Bridge street Church was a station on the way. In their idle moments the slaves carved a man into the stone floor in the cellar and he is still there."
If this is your man, you can plug "Ceaser Springfield" New York into Google Books and find six or seven more books that mention him.
Incidentally, John Brown, if you're not well acquainted with the history of the American Civil War, was a white abolitionist who in 1859, led an attack on a U.S. government arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (later West Virginia) with intention of using the captured weapons to start slave revolts in the South.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
John
