Obadiah Summers served as pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chico in 1885, before moving on to serve congregations and build up churches in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Oakland.

Summers was born a slave in Missouri in 1844. During the Civil War he was compelled to serve in the Confederate Army as a servant to a Confederate officer. He was captured by Union forces in 1862, and had no intention of returning to Missouri as a slave. He enlisted in the Union army on January 18th, 1864, in Wyandotte, Kansas and served as a private in Company A of the 18th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops.

After the war he went to work for the railroad and in 1871 was licensed to preach by the A.M.E. Church. He probably worked at both jobs for some time. During his time in Chico he also seems to have been ministering to an A.M.E. church in Marysville.

In September 1885 the Chico Weekly Enterprise appealed to its readers to “Help Them Out.” Rev. Summers was raising money to clear the church of debt and was seeking help from Chico citizens.

In addition to appealing for donations, the church raised money with a variety of social activities. In May a social was held which the newspaper labeled a “grand and pleasant affair.” After recitations and songs, ice cream and cake were served. It wasn’t reported how much admission was charged or how much money was raised, but it was typical to charge 25 cents.

But to pay off a debt of over $100, the church was still seeking contributions. In his diary John Bidwell recorded several visits in May 1885 by “Rev. Mr. Summers (colored)”. These visits were surely part of the Rev. Summers campaign for contributions.

John Bidwell doesn’t record how much he gave, but he could be counted on to be generous to churches. On July 7, 1886, he notes “Rev.O.Summers (colored) lectured in our church.” That would have been the Presbyterian Church.

Widely popular and admired, Obadiah Summers was appointed the first black chaplain to the California State Assembly in 1895. The Chico Weekly Enterprise remembered and congratulated him.

Rev. Summers was married and the father of seven children. He died in Oakland on March 15, 1896 at the age of 51 and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.