Read Part One HERE
In this post I will focus on Methodist Woman Mary Tooth. She lived from 1778 - 1843 and was born in Birmingham, UK. Mary did not consider either of her parents to be "pious" during her childhood, though her mother "tried her and proved to do her good in her latter end" answering the prayers of Tooth's pious grandmother.
Mary visited Madeley for the first time in 1795 when she came to work as a teacher and domestic servant in the house of Mrs Mickelwright. When Mrs Mickelwright's son returned from sea and proposed to Mary she felt obliged both to decline and to find employment elsewhere, though she had no desire to leave Madeley. To stay as close as possible, she accepted employment in the neighbouring parish of Shifnal with a Mrs Lutton. Mary experienced a religious conversion in a meeting in "Mr Fletcher's Room (the vicarage tithe barn which had been converted by Mary Fletcher into a preaching room in 1788) in Madeley when Mary Fletcher was preaching on the Minor Prophets. Between 1795 and 1799 she was joined with the Methodists in Birmingham at Cherry Street Chapel during visits to her parent's home.
On the weekends during which she was not in Birmingham, Mary attended the parish church in Madeley as well as Mrs Fletcher's meetings before and after the Sunday services, returning to Shifnal on Monday afternoons. It was during this time that she build friendships with a circle of evangelical women leaders in Madeley, including Mary Fletcher, Sarah Lawrence, Mrs Yates, and Mrs Purton. Mary moved into the vicarage house next to the Madeley parish church with Mary Fletcher as her companion and help-mate in ministry in 1799. In 1808 Mary's sister Rosemond came to live with her in Madeley. From this time on Mary became a prominent leader in the parish "meetings" held in the various meeting houses established by John and Mary Fletcher, where she preached, led prayer meetings, and worked with children. Mary contributed to the building of a preaching house after Mary Fletcher's death in 1815.
Mary was the last and closest of Mary Fletcher's live- in companions and confidants and also acted as her executrix. She was very active in Methodist affairs in the Madeley and East Shropshire area in her own right. After the death of Mary Fletcher in 1815, Mary continued to correspond widely and was active in promoting the role played by women. Mary herself was preaching as late as the 1830s and her obituary states that she was acting as a leader for three classes until a few days before her death on 15 November 1843.
Read Part Ten HERE
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