March 9, 1807 — to Daniel Asbury
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
ASB_VOL3.PDF, PDF page 456
The proposition of a delegated General Conference was being voted on by the conferences looking toward the General
Conference of 1808. Because of Jesse Lee’s opposition the Virginia Conference had voted not to endorse it. Here Asbury is reporting on the Baltimore Conference.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
March 9, 1807
[TO DANIEL ASBURY]1
My dear Daniel:
God be merciful to thee and bless thee and thine. Doubtless you have heard, or will hear, that the motion of a delegated General Conference, as it came from the [New] York, was not permitted as a subject of conversation in the Virginia Conference.2 We have had great peace, and great increase in both conferences, upwards of 3000 in each conference, 18 preachers added. The principle was tried in Baltimore, 51 for, only eleven against, a delegated General Conference, to be planned at the next. And may I hope that the four yearly conferences will come forward in their delegated capacity and contend that the Superintendents shall be chosen by seven delegates from each of the seven conferences and by no means leave the matter to Philadelphia, Virginia and Baltimore.
I am now bound, about 3000 miles by the last of July. The Baltimore Conference have agreed to lend me Daniel Hitt to travel with me to the Western Conference and pay him also but I doubt if it would be proper to take him all round. Write me to Baltimore, it will be handed to Little York [Pennsylvania]. I do not intend to be so partial as to visit any one place twice in a year unless I am compelled to go through like my Lord to Samaria. Short and sure thine,
F. ASBURY
P.S. Only think 101 upon the list for the Baltimore Conference, 1807.3 South Carolina Conference Historical Society,
Wofford College Library. Transcribed by Albert D. Betts
Notes (3)
- A preacher, but not related to Francis Asbury. Envelope addressed Beaties Ford, Catawba River, North Carolina. He was presiding elder on the Swanino District, South Carolina Conference. Daniel Asbury was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, February 18, 1762. We are told that his parents, who are not named, differed as to the doctrines of Christianity and that Daniel grew up without religious instruction. At sixteen he went to Kentucky, where he was captured by a band of Shawnee Indians and taken to the West. He was adopted and kindly treated but endured many hardships. He was later taken up into Canada, and during the Revolutionary War was taken prisoner by the British, put in irons and imprisoned in Detroit. He made his escape and got back to his father’s house in Virginia after five years of captivity. His mother did not know him, but her joy was unbounded when she discovered her boy. He was converted and entered the traveling connection in 1786 and was appointed to the Amelia Circuit in Virginia. He was a useful preacher and served as presiding elder on the Savannah, Camden, Catawba, and Broad River districts, a total of fourteen years. He died on Sunday, April 15, 1825. It is said he was born on Sunday, captured by the Indians on Sunday, returned home on Sunday, was converted on Sunday, and died on Sunday. He was buried at Rehoboth Church, Catawba County, North Carolina. (See M.H. Moore, Pioneers of Methodism in North Carolina and Virginia, 167- 80.) ↩
- The conference was held at Newbern, North Carolina, but there is no reference in Asbury’s Journal to this in his remarks on the conference. (See February 4, 1807. See letter of February 11, 1807.) Asbury’s statement here does not agree with what is reported by Bennett. He says, “It was vigorously opposed by Jesse Lee and received only fourteen votes.” (See W.W. Bennett, Memorials of Methodism in Virginia, 508.) ↩
- The reference is not clear. ↩