Thanks for the info
In my Sept. 4 story about the history of the First Methodist Church in Bennington I note — citing an account published about the history of the church in the Banner in 1909 — that the first known visit by a Methodist to Bennington was by a man named Freeborn Garrettson in September 1792. This was the extent of the information in the account I cited. I didn’t bother to try to find out anymore about him, so I wrote: “Who this man was or what he had to say is not recorded.”
Well, I still don’t know what he said, but thanks to Bruce Lee-Clark of Bennington, I now know that Garrettson was a traveling preacher who helped spread Methodism in New England, New York and what is known as the DelMarVa Penninsula in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Garrettson was a close associate of Francis Asbury, who I also mentioned in the article and who visited Bennington in 1795.
According to the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church Web site, Garrettson “saw the potential for the establishment of Methodism in New England. He encouraged Bishop Francis Asbury to appoint someone to this new mission field, hoping that he would be chosen. However, Garrettson was sent to upper New York State, and it was Jesse Lee, a pastor in Baltimore, who was asked in 1789 to introduce Methodism to New England.”
According to a 1958 article on Garrettson by William H. Wroten Jr., a history professor at Salisbury State Teachers College, Asbury also had a high opinion of Garrettson. According to the article, which can also be found online, “Asbury said, ‘It is incredible, the amount of good he has been instrumental in doing.’ ”
Mark Rondeau
Local News Editor