June 22, 1799 — to Wilkins and Ridgly
NEW YORK, N.Y.
ASB_VOL3.PDF, PDF page 227
This letter is to Dr. Wilkins, who became a long-time friend of Asbury. In writing to Wilkins and to Ridgly, he refers to the appointment of George Roberts to Baltimore, Maryland. Roberts had been in New York. He was one of the outstanding preachers. He studied medicine. Because of his family he retired in 1806 and practiced medicine in Philadelphia though he retained a local preacher’s relationship.
NEW YORK, N.Y.
June 22, 1799
My much respected Brethren Wilkins and Ridgly:
As I have known you I address my letter to you. I have been greatly exposed to difficulties to find a preacher in Baltimore, and the Philadelphia Conference at last have found one, a man that will be profitable and pleasing to you. George Roberts being a married man, he will be more expensive than a single man, but his address will command a congregation, and draw support. I am, whether present or absent as ever in love to, and constant concern for your souls.
F. ASBURY
Drew University Library
Notes (2)
- Wilkins lived just outside Baltimore at Hookstown. His father was one of the first converts to Methodism in Annapolis. Wilkins married the daughter of Samuel Owings, a member of the first class organized in Baltimore. Wilkins was one of those who worked on Asbury’s Journal. He was appointed a member of the five-man committee at the Baltimore Conference of 1817 to elect a compiler for a life of Asbury. (See Smith, Recollections of an Old Itinerant, 163-65, 267-68.) ↩
- Probably Captain Charles Ridgly, builder of Hampton Hall. His wife was a Methodist and a sister of Mrs. Harry Gough of Perry Hall. He gave Strawbridge a farm. (See Cyclopaedia of American Biography.) ↩