CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT—GOVERNOR BASSETT’S DEATH AND CHARACTER.
The conference met in Philadelphia on April 20, 1815. Bishop Asbury was
so exceedingly ill that the laboring oar fell upon Bishop M’Kendree.
Bishop Asbury visited the conference room once only and then was obliged
to retire. Alas! when he departed his venerable form and whitened locks
disappeared, to be seen in that body no more. He always had a high regard
for the Philadelphia Conference. It was in Philadelphia he preached his
first sermon in America, and was “received as an angel from God.” He was
at the first conference in Philadelphia in 1773, when there were ten
traveling preachers in America, and he had attended it for thirty-two
years.
On Friday I went with Bishop M’Kendree to visit Bishop Asbury. He was
feeble in body but strong in God, and his wrinkled countenance brightened
at the prospect of soon seeing “the King in his beauty.” M’Kendree prayed
with his venerable colleague, who was hovering between two worlds.
I was appointed to Chesapeake District. It may appear strange I did
not remain on the Schuylkill District. John M’Claskey, who was on the
Chesapeake District, died the preceding year; it was proposed to appoint
Robert R. Roberts, but he feared that going down on the Peninsula would
injure his health. I had spent some years there and got acclimated, and
it was thought I could stand it better, and therefore he was appointed
to the Schuylkill District and I to the Chesapeake. Being a single man,
it was not much trouble for me to move, and I was glad to accommodate my
excellent friend, who had furnished me with a kind home for two years in
Philadelphia.
I entered upon my pleasant field of labor with joy. Over much of the
ground I had traveled before, and there were many old friends to welcome
me. My district was a noble one, including some of the best circuits on
the Peninsula.
On the 16th of May, in company with Robert R. Roberts and Ezekiel
Cooper, I went to visit Governor Bassett at Bohemia Manor. He was ill
in body, but happy in God. We had a delightful interview, and found him
ripening for the other world. How beautiful is religion in old age!
“The hoary head” is indeed a crown of glory, being found in “the way of
righteousness.”
The 31st of June I was at Father Henry Downs’s. He it was that imprisoned
Thomas S. Chew, and was converted by his prisoner. I mingled with the
fathers, who were familiar with Methodism almost from its origin in
America, both ministers and laymen. Such laymen as Father Downs, whose
history has all the charms of romance and all the power of truth, did
much toward establishing Methodism in its infancy in the Peninsula.
On the Fourth of July I visited my mother at the old family mansion.
I had not been home more than fifteen minutes when, to my great joy,
Bishop Asbury unexpectedly arrived. He came from the New England and
other Conferences with Rev. J. W. Bond, and was much better than when
I saw him last. The bishop was glad to see me, as will appear by the
following extract from his journal: “Happy at Mother Boehm’s. A pleasing
Providence, according to my wishes, had brought Henry in a few moments
before.”
He remained two days. He had visited that old home for the pilgrim for
thirty-five years, and received hearty welcomes from my father when
alive, and from my mother in her widowhood. He had completed his last
episcopal tour, and my aged mother and the bishop bade one another adieu
for the last time. I went with him to Lancaster, and then was reluctant
to leave him, and so I went a little further, for I had an impression
I should see his face no more. He gave me much excellent advice, and
cautioned me to take good care of my health, as I was then traveling in
a region of country not considered very healthy. He then embraced me
in his arms, pressed me to his bosom, gave me his last kiss and his
benediction. He rode on while I lingered and gazed till his venerable
form was beyond my vision. I felt a veneration for Bishop Asbury I never
had for any other human being, and loved him as I loved my own dear
father.
GOVERNOR BASSETT.
Governor Bassett died in the summer of 1815. He should ever have a
prominent place in the annals of early American Methodism. At this remote
period it is almost impossible to have a correct idea of the position he
once occupied, and the influence he exerted in favor of Methodism.
Some have entertained the idea that Methodism was adapted only to the
low and the ignorant, for the common people; but this is a mistake. In
its early days in America some of the loftiest families embraced it with
joy. Among the most distinguished was Richard Bassett. He was an eminent
lawyer, a judge, Governor of Delaware, a member of the old Congress in
1787, and a senator under the new constitution. He was a delegate from
Delaware to the convention that formed the Constitution of the United
States, and his name is enrolled on that account with those of George
Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and
other distinguished patriots and statesmen.
Mr. Bassett was rich. He inherited six thousand acres of land, much of it
near the Bohemia River. He had three homes, residing part of the time
in Dover, and then in Bohemia and Wilmington. I have been entertained at
them all.
Before he was converted he was a very fashionable man, and moved in the
highest circles in society. He had his good things in this life. But when
converted he was as humble and teachable as a little child. In person he
was a stout-built man, of medium height, and looked as if he was made
for service. His countenance was full of benignity, and his eye was
very expressive. He was a man of superior judgment, a safe counselor.
I used to ask his advice, and he gave it most cheerfully, and I always
found it judicious. His voice was very strong and musical, and at camp
and quarterly meetings he thrilled the people. He was distinguished for
benevolence, and given to hospitality. He has entertained over a hundred
at one time. His heart was as large as his mansion.
His first wife did not live long. She left an amiable daughter, who was
married to the Hon. James A. Bayard, who was a commissioner to form a
treaty of peace with England. With her father I visited Mrs. Bayard while
her husband was absent in Europe.
The governor was a Methodist of the old stamp. He admired all its
peculiarities; loved to worship in the groves, and had several
camp-meetings on his own grounds. He was one of the sweet singers of
our Israel. He delighted to hear the colored people sing; there was no
sweeter music to him. He held fast his integrity to the end. I often
saw him in age and feebleness extreme. Though princely rich, he lived
plainly, without display or extravagance.
His large possessions were in Bohemia, Cecil County, Maryland. It was
called Bohemia from Augustus Hermon, a Bohemian, who obtained a grant
for eighteen thousand acres of land. Richard Bassett became heir to a
part of this immense estate. He died in 1815, and his life-time friend,
Ezekiel Cooper, preached his funeral sermon. He was buried in a vault
he had prepared in a beautiful locust grove on the banks of the Bohemia
River. There sleep his family and the Bayards. The venerable old mansion,
distinguished for its antiquity, for the splendid paintings that adorned
its walls, for the hospitality that reigned there, and as the home of
Bishop Asbury and the old pioneers of Methodism, was burned down a few
years ago, and, like the owner, has passed away.