Methodist Women: Mary Evans Thorne P/5

                                                           Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on Methodist Woman Mary Evans Thorne, who lived from 1740 - after 1813.

Mary was born in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her parents, who were of Welsh heritage, moved to New Bern, North Carolina, where her father died. Her mother remarried in 1767. Mary joined the Baptists in North Carolina when she was 23 and married James Thorne, but he died in 1762. After his death, she relocated with her mother to Philadelphia. New to the city, she sought a place of worship, found a Methodist service conducted by Joseph Pilmoor, which was more to her liking that the Baptist faith. 

Around the age of 30, she joined the Methodist church, against the wishes of her mother. Then her mother and her new husband retured to North Carolina cutting off all contact with Mary. Within two years of her conversion she had three classes and two Methodist bands meeting weekly under her tutelage. She was the first women class-leader of Philadelphia, having been appointed to lead a class of women by Pilmore, and she may have been the first woman in the American Colonies to hold the position. Class leaders in this era were spiritual laity, who were accountable for the pastoral needs of their class members.Mary supported herself by teaching and taking in sewing and visited hospitals tending to and praying for the sick and dying. Her devotion continued even after the British took over the Methodist Chapel, as she then held services in her home at the early part of the Revolutionary war.

Around this time, she met Captain Samuel Parker, a ship captain from England, who was entrusted with taking some of the injured soldiers back to Britain They were married on 12 February 1778 and she returned with him to England. Her husband served as a steward in London and she served as a class leader and later when they were living in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, they held the same positions. Parker died in England after 1813 and later, he and Parker's son moved to Philadelphia.

Read Part Six HERE