History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

Methodists in other places, and wished again to be in society with us, to remain, and we would form
a class. I took four of them into a class. There were others present, but I told them that I did not
desire any person to join at that time but such as had been formerly in society with us; and if any
others wished to join, they might have an opportunity after a few meetings. This was the first class
that was ever formed in Savannah. Who knows but the Lord will multiply his blessings upon us, and
make us a great people in this place, as well as in other places?"
Dunwody's successors had severe struggles. The local prejudice seemed, for years, unconquerable;
but in 1812, after obtaining pecuniary aid from various parts of the country, a church was erected,
bearing the name of Wesley Chapel, and dedicated by Asbury. Thus, about seventy-five years after
Wesley's persecutions in this city, his cause permanently erected its standard there, inscribed with
his own name, as it had in Baltimore, Norfolk, Richmond, Charleston, and nearly every other large
community of the South. In Charleston the struggling Church now advanced effectively; Hammett's
schismatic Trinity Church still held out for a part of the period, but at last yielded, and was absorbed
by the parent denomination. By the death of Wells, the chief lay pillar of Charleston Methodism had
fallen, but McFarland, his friend and partner in business, took his place. The pro-slavery
persecutions, in the times of Dougharty, shook the society, and public prejudice seemed long
unconquerable, so that when young William Capers was sent there, about the beginning of 1811, it
had but 145 white members on its records; but at the close of the present period it reported nearly
350 whites.
Methodism had struggled with hardly any success in Richmond, Va., and could show but
sixty-three members at the beginning of the period; at its close there were more than two hundred
and fifty. In no city in the United States had it, nor had indeed any form of real piety, slower
advances than there. Richmond is first mentioned among the appointments of the Minutes, in 1793,
as connected with Manchester; but it immediately disappears for six years. It is probable, however,
that a class was organized in the city as early as 1793, and that the itinerants of. Adjacent circuits
often preached for the little band. An English Methodist family, by the name of Barratt, and also a
local preacher by name of Lacey, located there before 1793, and are supposed to have been its first
Methodists. They procured the occasional ministrations of the itinerants of Williamsburgh Circuit,
and meetings were held in the court-house; but from this they were expelled by the magistrates as
soon as a "revival" began to break out. They were compelled now to resort to a "common," west of
the capitol; but Mrs. Barratt soon opened and fitted for their accommodation a large barn which
stood on her premises. Asbury, McKendree, and other great men "preached in this stable-church."
The congregation obtained again the use of the court-house. In 1799 Thomas Lyell, a very popular
preacher, was sent to them. Only two houses of worship could then be found in the city; one of these
was St. John's Church, whose resident clergyman preached there but three times a year, in order to
save the glebe [Oxford Dict. glebe n. a piece of land serving as part of a clergyman's benefice and
providing income -- DVM] lands from forfeiture; the other was a small Baptist chapel. Lyell
immediately began the erection of a Methodist church. Another was built in 1812, and now the
Methodists had become the strongest religious body in the city. The memorable burning of the
theater and loss of life, in the previous year, had aroused some religious thought in the public mind.
The first session of a Methodist Conference took place there at the beginning of 1812, and Jesse Lee
was appointed to the station. He labored with his usual energy, preaching four times on Sunday, in
the open air as well as in the churches, and holding meetings every night.