Thomas Webb (Methodist)
Encyclopedia
Thomas Webb was a Methodist pioneer.

Webb was a British officer, served in the royal American army, and was wounded at Louisburg and Quebec. He was converted to Methodism in 1765 by the preaching of John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 at Bristol, England, united with a Methodist society, was licensed to preach, and gave freely of his means to found societies, attending conferences, and preaching frequently with great fervor.

Being ordered again to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, he was stationed at first at Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, as barrack master, and there conducted religious services in his house. When Barbara Heck
Barbara Heck
Barbara Heck was an early American Methodist, known as the “mother of American Methodism.”-Biography:...

 established a society in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, he went thither, making his first appearance in the congregation about February 1767. He preached in alternation with Philip Embury
Philip Embury
Philip Embury was a Methodist preacher, a leader of one of the earliest Methodist congregations in the United States.-Biography:...

, always wear his regimental uniform, with his sword on the pulpit before him. He was the most active worker and the largest contributor for the erection of a meeting house.

On being placed on the retired list, with the rank of captain, he thenceforth travelled much as a missionary, preaching in Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...

, Burlington
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 9,920....

, and other New Jersey towns, where he founded societies, and holding regular services in Jamaica, New York, which was his home. He began to visit Philadelphia as early as 1767, and there founded the first Methodist society, to which he ministered until the arrival of Wesley's itinerants in 1769. In that year he introduced Methodism into Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

, preaching in Newcastle and Wilmington
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

, and later he labored in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1772 he went to England, preached in Dublin, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and other places, made appeals for missionaries and pecuniary aid at the conference in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

and elsewhere, and returned in the following year with two of the preachers that were sent in response to his solicitations. Repeating his visit, he gained other recruits for the itinerancy. Returning to England at the beginning of the Revolution, he spent the remainder of his life at Bristol, preaching there and in the neighborhood, visiting Winchester during the war, where he preached to the Fren[ch prisoners in their own language, and addressing large congregations of soldiers and sailors at Portsmouth.
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