The Revd. Francis Asbury

The Reverend Francis Asbury holds a small book, presumably a religious text, in this 1814 engraving. In 1771 the English-born Asbury came to the British colonies in America to spread Methodism. He spent forty-five years ministering to the populace, remaining even during the Revolutionary War. In 1784, Asbury and Thomas Coke were named the first bishops of the American Methodist Episcopal Church.