1703–1791

Introduction

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National Portrait Gallerybutton
portrait

Born: June 28, 1703, Ep­worth, Lin­coln­shire, Eng­land.

Died: March 2, 1791, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Buried: Wes­ley’s Cha­pel, Is­ling­ton, Lon­don, Eng­land.

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Biography

John was the son of Sam­uel Wes­ley and Su­san­na An­nes­ley, bro­ther of Charles Wes­ley, and husband of Mary Va­zeille.

John and his bro­ther Charles found­ed the move­ment which be­came the Me­tho­dist de­nom­in­ation. Charles was the main hym­nist in the family, but John trans­lat­ed a number of hymns (most­ly Ger­man) him­self.

John be­gan stu­dy­ing the Ger­man lang­uage on board the ship Sim­mons, which car­ried him and Charles to Geor­gia in 1735. Al­so on the ship were 26 Ger­man Mo­ra­vi­an col­o­nists, and Wes­ley wanted to be able to talk with them and share in their wor­ship ser­vic­es.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Translations