A History Of The Rise Of Methodism In America - Media Sabda Org

A HISTORY
OF THE
RISE OF METHODISM IN AMERICA
by
John Lednum
CHAPTER 54
The names of the following twelve brethren appear in the Minutes of 1782, as new laborers in the
itinerancy -- George Kimble, James Gibbons, Hugh Roberts, Henry Jones, John Baldwin, Woolman
Hickson, William Thomas, John Magary, Ira Ellis, John Easter, Thomas Haskins, and Peter
Moriarty.
Mr. George Kimble was a traveling preacher for two years. Mr. James Gibbons desisted from
traveling in 1784. Mr. Hugh Roberts itinerated during three years, until 1785. Mr. Henry Jones, of
the South, continued to travel and preach, acceptably, until 1788 -- for five years. Mr. John Baldwin
labored in the South during sixteen years; for several years he was traveling book steward in
Virginia; he located in 1798.
Mr. Woolman Hickson became an itinerant in 1782. In the account given of Miss Rhoda Laws,
we have a glimpse of the preacher, and his usefulness on Somerset Circuit his first year. In 1783, he
and John Magary, a superior preacher, were in West Jersey. The next two years he was in the South.
In 1786, in Baltimore. In the latter half of 1787, Mr. Hickson labored in New York. At this time, he
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organized Methodism in Brooklyn; he preached, standing on a table, in Sands Street. Mr. Peter
Cooper provided a cooper's shop for him to preach in subsequently; soon, a class the first ever
formed in Brooklyn -- was organized, and Nicholas Snethen, afterwards a famous preacher, was its
leader.
Mr. Hickson's slender frame soon yielded to consumption. In New York, he was cared for while
he languished. In the latter end of 1788, the Methodists, who had provided a nurse for him, and had
paid her wages, buried him in New York. He was a young man of much promise, had his bodily
strength been equal to his soul.
Mr. William Thomas was of Kent county, Delaware, near the Forest, or Thomas' Chapel. He
continued in the traveling connection until 1790. This last year he stands on the Minutes as traveling
book steward for the Peninsula. After his location, he continued to live near the chapel, where we
presume he was buried; the time of his death is unknown to us.
Mr. John Magary was from England, whither he returned in 1784. In September of this year, Mr.
Wesley says, "I had a long conversation with John Magary, one of our American preachers. He gave
a pleasing account of the work of God there continually increasing, and vehemently importuned me
to pay one more visit to America before I die. Nay, I shall pay no more visits to new worlds till I go
to the world of spirits." (So Mr. Wesley, it seems, deferred his visits to us, till he could fly on
spirit-wings.) In 1787, Mr. Garrettson was informed, by a letter from Dr. Coke, that Mr. Wesley had
sent him to labor in Newfoundland; but, in 1788, Mr. Wesley mentions a Mr. Magary, which we take