Boehm, Henry
"The patriarch of one hundred years : being reminiscences, historical and…." by Rev. J. B. Wakeley, D.D. is a historical and biographical memoir written in the late 19th century. It presents the life and ministry of Rev. Henry Boehm, using his extensive journals to portray early American Methodism, its pioneers, revivals, and circuits, culminating in his centennial celebrations. Readers can expect vivid portraits of figures like Bishop Francis Asbury and accounts of frontier evangelism, camp-meetings, and the growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The opening of the volume lays out the project’s origin: Boehm explains in a preface that, urged by church leaders and aided by Wakeley, he shaped a massive journal into a narrative meant to preserve the spirit and facts of “primitive Methodism.” A table of contents promises a life told through circuits, conferences, and key personalities. The first chapters recount Boehm’s Swiss Mennonite ancestry, his father Martin’s conversion and eventual role with the United Brethren and Methodists, and Henry’s own upbringing, schooldays under a Hessian teacher, conversion in a mill loft, and the misstep of delaying church membership. He then sketches early preachers (notably Robert Strawbridge and the fiery Benjamin Abbott) and describes the building and influence of Boehm’s Chapel, where a revival led him to join the Church and become a class leader. Subsequent chapters narrate the General Conference of 1800 in Baltimore and the Philadelph…
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