Bishop Francis Asbury, by John Paradise, ca. 1812.


Oil on wood portrait of <i>Bishop Francis Asbury </i>, head and shoulders.
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If ever there was a man who defined the term "itinerant preacher" it was British cleric Francis Asbury (1745-1816). After arriving in Philadelphia in 1771, Asbury spent the next 45 years traveling up and down America on horseback, where he is said to have crossed the Allegheny mountains sixty times during the course of his life. In 1784, Methodist founder John Wesley named Asbury superintendent of all Methodist work in America. During Asbury's leadership, Methodism grew from about 5,000 members at the outbreak of the American Revolution, to near 214,000 at the time of his death in 1816.