Atkinson, John, 1835-1897. Centennial History of American Methodism, Inclusive of Its Ecclesiastical Organization In 1784 And Its Subsequent Development Under the Superintendency of Francis Asbury: With Sketches of the Character And History of All the Preachers Known to Have Been Memebers of the Christmas Conference; Also, an Appendix, Showing the Numerical Position of the Methodist Episcopal Church As Compared With the Other Leadng Evangelical Denominations In the Cities of the United States; And the Condition of the Educational Work of the Church New York: Phillips & Hunt , 1884. (pp 419-20)
FRANCIS POYTHRESS.
Of Mr. Poythress’s early years little is known. He was born
about the year 1745. He, probably, was a native of Virginia,
where he was converted in his early manhood. He in-
herited a considerable estate and became dissipated. He
was led to repentance by the conversation and reproof of
a lady of elevated position in society. He began to read
the Bible and to pray in secret. He sought a religious
guide, but, such was the character of the clergy in Vir-
ginia at that day, he found none. He heard of the
Rev. Deveraux Jarratt and obtained his counsel. He re-
mained for some time with Mr. Jarratt, and at length
obtained the forgiveness and peace he sought. He was
moved to proclaim the Saviour he had found, and quickly
went forth to preach. This was before he became ac-
quainted with the Methodists. In one of his evangel-
ical journeys he met a Methodist preacher, who furnished
him the means of becoming acquainted with Method-
ism. As a result, he united with the Methodists and
joined the primitive itinerant band. He became a Meth-
odist preacher in 1775, under the authority of a quarterly
meeting in Brunswick Circuit, Virginia. His name ap-
pears in the Minutes of 1776. “ Henceforth,” says Dr.
Redford, “in North Carolina, Maryland, and Kentucky,
he was to be a representative inan of the struggling cause.
In 1783 he bore its standard across the Alleghanies to the
waters of the Youghiogheny. From 1786 he served it with
pre-eminent success as a presiding elder. Asbury
nominated him for the episcopate, in a letter addressed to
the Conference, at Wilbraham, in 1797. The preachers
refused to comply with the request simply upon the ground
that it was not competent in a yearly Conference to elect
Bishops. Poythress was to the South-west what Jesse Lee
was to New England—an apostle.”
Mr. Poythress was of about medium height and of stout
frame. In 1788 he was appointed to superintend the work
in Kentucky. Thenceforth, until his itinerancy ceased, he
was a voice crying in the wilderness. To Kentucky he
gave nearly all his remaining years. There he presided at
the Conferences and stationed the preachers when Asbury
was absent. He saw the importance of education, and, as
we have seen, labored to establish the Bethel school in the
new State.
Asbury was a judge of men, and the work he assigned to
Poythress, together with the fact that he desired him to
share the labors and honors of the episcopate, shows how
he estimated his capacity and his worth. It is said that
the administrative abilities of Poythress were great. He
had the bearing of a Well-bred gentleman. He was re-
markable for his gift in prayer, but his talents as a preacher
were not extraordinary.
We have seen that a cloud settled upon the life of this
brave and devoted itinerant. For some time while he
prosecuted his work he showed a degree of mental disturb-
ance. The exposures and hardships of his life in the
wilderness, in connection with a melancholy tendency of
mind, may have destroyed his cerebral equilibrium. At
any rate he was driven from the field by insanity, and
WVilliam M’Kendree, who was sent by Asbury from Vir-
ginia to take his place, was thereby introduced to the West.
Mr. Poythress retired from‘ his labors about 1800. He
died insane at the house of his sister, Mrs. Prior, about
twelve miles from Lexington, Kentucky, in or near 1818.
Methodism in the wilderness, 1786-1836, by Cullen T. Carter. Carter, Cullen Tuller, 1880- .Nashville, Parthenon Press [1959]
Rev. Francis Poythress was admitted on trial into the traveling connection at the Baltimore Annual Conference, May 21, 1776. About one month earlier Richard Henry Lee introduced the following resolution in Congress: “That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and independent states.” The adoption of this historic resolution resulted in the Revolutionary War with England. It also interrupted Poythress’s ministerial labors for a year—1777—when he served in the Continental army.
After serving a year in the army he resumed his service in the Church and was a member of the famous Christmas Conference which met in Baltimore, December 24, 1784, with Bishop Thomas Coke in the chair. Judging by his subsequent ministerial career he must have been one of the leading members of this historic Conference. Rev. Thomas Scott, contemporary of Poythress, spoke of him as follows—
Five feet nine inches in height, and heavily built. His muscles were large, and, when in the prime of life, we presume he was a man of more than ordinary strength.”of sound judgment, and great administrative abilities. In the absence of Bishop Asbury, he presided in the Conferences, and appointed the preachers to their work. His talents, ability, piety, and fidelity so secured the confidence and approbation of Bishop Asbury, that he was anxious to see him elected Bishop.”
Redford, A. H. 1818-1884. The History of Methodism In Kentucky. Nashville, Tenn.: Southern Methodist Publishing House, 186870.
“In 1786, he was appointed Presiding Elder over Brunswick, Sussex, and Amelia Circuits, in Virginia; and in 1787, over Guilford, Halifax, New Hope, and Caswell Circuits, in North Carolina. The important fields he had occupied evinced the high regard in which he was held by the Church, and the extraordinary success that had attended his labors was, under the blessing of God, the result of that zeal and devotion that ever afterward distinguished him, so long as he was able to lift the ensign of the cross.
When appointed to Kentucky, he had reached the meridian of life. He was in the forty-fourth year of his age. “He was a Virginian of large estate, but of dissipated habits in his youth. The conversations and rebukes of a lady in high social position arrested him in his perilous course. He returned from her house confounded, penitent, and determined to reform his morals. He betook himself to his neglected Bible, and soon saw that his only effectual reformation could be by a religious life. He searched for a competent living guide, but such was the condition of the English Church around him that he could find none. Hearing at last of the devoted Jarrat,* he hastened to his parish, and was entertained some time under his hospitable roof for instruction. There he found purification and peace about the year 1772. It was not long before he began to cooperate with Jarrat in his public labors amid the extraordinary scenes of religious interest which prevailed through all * Jarrat was a clergyman of the Church of England.” (pg. 38)
Arnold, W. Erastus. (1935). A history of Methodism in Kentucky. Louisville, Ky.: The Pentecostal Pub. Co. Herald press. (pp 58-63)
Among the eight pioneers of Methodism in Kentucky and
Tennessee in the year 1788, the name of Francis Poythress stands
pre-eminent. By those intrepid heroes of the cross the founda-
tion of Methodism was laid in those States, on which others
have since built, and others are now building. Their names
ought to be held in grateful remembrance by all who love the
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; but among all, we are
inclined to the opinion, there is not one of them to whom the
members of our Church, in those States, owe a greater debt
of gratitude than to Francis Poythress. (Rev. Thomas Scott.)
A Virginian by birth; of a wealthy family; the heir
to a considerable estate; rather wild and reckless in
youth; brought under deep conviction by the reproof of
an intelligent and pious lady of his community, he de-
termined to mend his ways, and began earnestly to seek the
salvation of his soul. But who was there to instruct
him? Those were the days when spirituality was low
in the Established Church, the prevailing denomination
in that part of Virginia. He read his Bible, examined
himself severely and sought peace in many ways, but
did not find it. Finally hearing of Devereaux Jarratt,
the evangelical minister of the Church of England, he
visited him, and was entertained for some time under
his hospitable roof. At length he found the peace that
he sought. He soon began assisting Mr. Jarratt as he
could, taking part in the great revival then in progress
in that part of Virginia under Mr. Jarratt’s evangelical
preaching. It was not long before he was preaching the
gospel. This was before the Methodists had come into
those parts, and he knew nothing about them. On one
of his preaching excursions, however, he fell in with
one of their preachers, who furnished him with a copy
of the doctrines and discipline of the Methodists. He
read them, and being convinced that they were founded
on the Holy Scriptures, he joined the Methodists and
was soon preaching among them. His conversion took
place in 1772, one year before the first Methodist Con-
ference was held in America. He was admitted among
the traveling preachers in 1776, and sent to Carolina.
For some reason, we know not what, his name does not
appear in the Minutes of 1777, but in 1778, he is listed
as one of the “Assistants,” and assigned to Hanover
circuit. He served various circuits until 1786, when he
was ordained an elder, and at once put in charge of a
District. Two years later he was brought to Kentucky
by Bishop Asbury and placed in charge of the work in
this great field. He remained the elder in all this vast
western territory until 1797, when, on account of fail-
ing health, he is placed for one year on the supernumerary
list. In 1798, he is in charge of the District in
the Holston country, but in 1799, he returns to Ken-
tucky and resumes his work as Presiding Elder here.
In 1800, he is put in charge of a very large District in
North Carolina, but before the end of the year he came
back to Kentucky so completely broken in health that
he was never able to do work again.
Poythress is described as having “the bearing of
one who had been well brought up, his deportment be-
ing very gentlemanly. He was disposed to melancholy.
He was an acceptable preacher, though not of the first
order of talents. He was greatly gifted in prayer;
when he prayed he seemed to bring heaven and earth
together.” The Rev. John Carr, of Tennessee, tells this
anecdote concerning him:
When traveling in Middle Tennessee, which was in 1793 and
years following, he sometimes found the table fare very rough;
but he was never heard to complain of what was set before him.
Knowing the destitution of the people, and being delicate in
health, he carried with him a canister of tea. At one place he
gave the canister to a good sister, that she might prepare tor
him a good cup of tea. She emptied the whole canister into
water and gave it a good boiling as so much greens, and brought
it to the table with an apology for not being able to boil it down
sufficiently, when Poythress kindly remarked: “Why, sister, you
have spoiled all my tea; it was not the leaves, but the juice that
I wanted.” Such ignorance was not uncommon among a peo-
ple who had come in contact with so little of the world,
and enjoyed so few of the luxuries of life. Many a
pioneer lived to an old age without ever seeing coffee or
tea.
Poythress was about five feet, eight inches high, and
heavily built. In early life he was a powerful man, and
even in extreme old age and suffering from the severest
afflictions, his step was firm and his appearance com-
manding. He had a high sense of honor and obliga-
tion. Though he did not rank with the greatest preach-
ers, he excelled as an administrator. Asbury once
nominated him for election as Bishop.
During his stay in Kentucky, whenever Asbury
could not be present, he always presided over the ses-
sions of the Conference and stationed the preachers.
He had been in this State but a little while until he
saw the need of schools in this new country, and it
was through his influence and efforts more than those
of any other, that Bethel Academy was promoted and
built. During his last year on this western District, he
traveled over nearly all of Kentucky and Tennessee,
and over parts of Ohio and Virginia. When he came
to this field, he found in Kentucky and Tennessee a lit-
tle over 500 members; and though his administration
covered one of the most trying periods in our history,
he left in these States about 2,500 members. It was he
who directed the forces in this formative period of
Methodism in Kentucky. He did indeed “endure hard-
ness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” His excessive
labors; his exposure; his long rides on horseback; the
rude accommodations he found in the cabins in the
backwoods; the rough fare; the perils of the wilder-
ness; the dangers from wild beasts and savage men—
all these broke down his strong physique, wrecked his
nervous system and left him at last hopelessly insane!
Symptoms of his mental derangement had been noticed
at times for several years. He would occasionally lapse
into a state of melancholy, and would be afflicted with
strange and unfounded hallucinations. His sister, Mrs.
Susan Pryor, lived in Jessamine county, about twelve
miles south of Lexington, and when the complete wreck
of his noble mind had been wrought, he retired to her
home, and there lingered until sometime in 1818, when
death brought him a happy release. The Minutes of
the old Western Conference testify to the love and
esteem of his brethren. In the Minutes of 1801, we
find this entry:
“Whereas Francis Poythress appears to be incapable of tak-
ing a station, it is agreed to by the Conference that his name
shall stand on the Minutes among the Elders; and that he shall
have a proportionable claim on the Conference for his support.”
At the next Conference we find this item: “The Conference pro-
ceeded to take into consideration the critical, deranged state of
unaccountability which Francis Poythress at present is in, and
judge it best, for the safety of the Connection that his name
shall be left off of the General Minutes. But at the same time
are tenderly concerned for his support and welfare—and there-
fore Resolved, that his name shall stand on our Journal; and
that he shall have a proportionable claim on the Western Con-
ference for his support; and further it is our opinion that his
name should be perpetuated on the Journals of this Conference,
for the same purpose.” In 1803, the Journal states, “Franch
Poythress stands on our Journal as a claimant for $80.90. But
it appears that he is able to support himself, and does not ex-
pect or wish his support from us. We therefore judge that he
should not be considered as dependent on us.”
We have searched diligently for the grave of this
good man, but have been unable to find it. It is some-
where in Jessamine county, though doubtless it is un-
marked. If it can be found, the Methodists of Ken-
tucky should place over his ashes a suitable monument
to commemorate the services of one of its most labori-
ous and efficient workers.
These men who came into this western wilderness
in 1788 were men of mark. They had the grace of God
in their hearts and iron in their blood. Their preach-
ing was in power and demonstration of the Spirit.