ASBURY, FRANCIS. - Founder of American Methodism, b. in 1745 at Handsworth, near Birmingham, England, d. in 1816 at Spotsylvania, near Richmond. From his youth he was a follower of Giovanni Wesley, who in 1767 admitted him among the “itinerant ministers,” that is, among those who, according to his
institution, were to travel preaching in all the places of a given region (circuit). In 1771 Wesley himself sent him to the English colonies in America. When he arrived, he found 600 Methodists; at his death, he left 211,000. In 1772, by letter, Wesley appointed him his general assistant for all the Methodists of the English colony.
During his administration, the American Methodists became independent of those in England and, without recognizing any higher ecclesiastical rank but only greater jurisdiction, changed the name of “superintendents” to that of “bishops.” From then on the American Methodists called themselves Episcopal Methodists, while the English retained the name Wesleyan Methodists. A. travelled preaching throughout all the regions that at that time constituted the United States; he covered 270,000 miles on horseback and ordained 4,000 ministers. To him is due the spirit of missionary activity that still pervades American Methodism and that, in the course of time, impelled it to found the Italian mission, distinctly anti-Catholic.