The New Student's Reference Work/Asbury, Francis

As'bury, Francis, the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church ordained in America. He was born in Staffordshire, England, August 20, 1745. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a mechanic, but two years later was led to begin work as a local preacher. Later he joined the itinerant ministry, and after three years of service was sent as a missionary to America, being appointed in the following year general assistant by John Wesley. Here he brought new life into the work, and at the outbreak of the Revolution, when many other ministers returned to England, he kept on in his labors. At the end of the war, it was decided to found an independent M. E. church for America, and he was ordained in 1784 as bishop by his colleagues who had already been ordained by Wesley in England. For more than thirty years he worked earnestly and successfully, and the wonderful progress of Methodism in America was largely due to his efforts and ability. In many respects he was much like his teacher and chief, John Wesley. He helped to lay the foundation of the first Methodist college in America in 1785. He died in Virginia in 1816.