Samuel Wesley (I)

WESLEY, Samuel (I). b. 1662 (baptised 17 December); d. 25 April 1735. Born at Winterborn, Whitchurch, Dorset, where his father was vicar until he was ejected from the living in consequence of the Act of Uniformity; he was the father of Samuel (II)*, John* and Charles Wesley*. He was educated at a dissenting academy, but joined the Church of England and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he lived in poverty. He married Susanna, the daughter of Dr Samuel Annesley, a celebrated Puritan divine (her strong intellect and her influence on her children have caused her to be called ‘the mother of Methodism’). He took Holy Orders, and was appointed to the living of South Ormsby,...