John Emory
Encyclopedia
John Emory was an American bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

, elected in 1832.

Early life and family

John was born at Spaniard's Neck, Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Queen Anne's County is a county located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 47,798. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville is the county's most populous place...

. His parents were Methodists, his father a jurist who designed him for the law. His mother, however, who had been converted under Garrettson, devoted John at birth to the ministry. His eldest son Robert, born in 1814, became a professor of Latin and Greek at Dickinson College in 1836 and later its president. In 1841 he published a biography of his father, Life of the Rev. John Emory.

He was educated by tutors at Easton
Easton, Maryland
Easton, founded 1710, is a town within the Easton District of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 11,708 at the 2000 census, and 14,677 according to current July 2008 census estimates. It is the county seat of Talbot County. The primary ZIP Code is 21601, and the...

 and Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

, and in Washington College
Washington College
Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782...

, Chestertown, Maryland
Chestertown, Maryland
Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,746 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Kent County. The ZIP code is 21620 and the area codes are 410 and 443...

. He experienced "saving grace" at a Quarterly Meeting in 1806. He studied law in 1805 in the office of Judge R.T. Earle, Centreville, Maryland
Centreville, Maryland
Centreville is an incorporated town in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. Incorporated in 1794, it is the county seat of Queen Anne's County. The population was 1,970 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 21617 and the area code is 410. The local telephone exchange is 758...

, and was admitted to the bar in 1808. But his attention soon turned to the pulpit, against his father's protests, and he entered the Traveling Ministry of the Philadelphia Annual Conference
Annual Conference
An Annual Conference in the United Methodist Church is a regional body that governs much of the life of the "Connectional Church." Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge . Each conference is a geographical division...

 of the M.E. Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

 in 1810.

Ministry

Emory became well known, and his services were much in demand throughout the Middle States. He was elected a Member of the General Conference of 1816, and then to each succeeding General Conference (with one exception) through 1832 (when he was elected to the Episcopacy). He was sent as a delegate to the British Wesleyan Conference in 1820. He was appointed Book Agent and Editor for the M.E. Church in 1824, with offices in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. While a bishop, he continued his interest in the Book Concern, and during his management thereof was successful in paying-off all its debts, returning it to a solid foundation.

He was especially active in promoting the improvement of the literature of the M. E. Church. For example, he founded the "Methodist Quarterly Review," nearly all the original articles in the first two volumes being from his own pen. He was prominent in the founding of the New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 and of Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

, and was one of the principal organizers of Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...

 as a Methodist school. He was an able debater. In 1817 in a pamphlet controversy, he used his literary weapons, not unsuccessfully, against Bishop White
Bishop White
Bishop White may refer to:*Alma Bridwell White , Bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church*Arthur Kent White , Bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church...

of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In the controversy of 1828 which led to the founding of the Methodist Protestant Church
Methodist Protestant Church
The Methodist Protestant Church is a regional Church body which was officially formed in 1828 by former members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, remaining Wesleyan in doctrine and worship, but adopting congregational governance....

 he was the chief defender of existing M.E. polity. He was of a logical turn of mind, and had command of a pure, clear, and vigorous style. As a Bishop he was largely influential in giving the Methodist Episcopal Book of Discipline its present form.

College and university namesakes

Bishop Emory died in an 1835 carriage accident near his Maryland home. The next year, Methodists chartered both Emory College
Oxford College of Emory University
Oxford College is a two-year residential college specializing in the foundations of liberal arts education, and is one of nine divisions of Emory University. The college is located on Emory University's original 1836 campus in Oxford, Georgia, 38 miles east of the main Atlanta campus...

 (later University
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

) at Oxford, Georgia
Oxford, Georgia
Oxford is a city in Newton County, Georgia, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,892. It is the location of Oxford College of Emory University. The entire town is also designated as a shrine of the United Methodist Church. Additionally, Confederate soldiers are...

 and Emory & Henry College in southwestern Virginia. (The co-eponym for the latter is Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...

.) Both maintain their Methodist associations.

Bishop Emory is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery
Mount Olivet Cemetery (Baltimore)
Mount Olivet Cemetery is an old cemetery in western Baltimore, Maryland, on Frederick Avenue. It is known as "The Resting Place of Methodist Bishops."...

 in Baltimore near the graves of Bishops Francis Asbury
Francis Asbury
Bishop Francis Asbury was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now The United Methodist Church in the United States...

 and Beverly Waugh
Beverly Waugh
Beverly Waugh was an Americanwho distinguished himself as a Methodist Pastor, Book Agent, and Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1836.-Birth and early years:...

.

Emory United Methodist Church in New Oxford, PA, erected in 1887, was named for him after he helped to establish the Emory Sunday School during the church's early years - between 1832 and 1835.

External links


See also

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