Asplund, John

Asplund, John an early Baptist minister, was born in Sweden not far from the year 1750. About i775 he visited England for the purpose of obtaining employment, and for a short time was a clerk in a mercantile house. Subsequently he entered the British navy, and came in an English man-of-war to America. While his ship was on the coast he deserted, and settled in North Carolina. In 1782 he united with Ballard's Bridge Church, Chowan Co., N. C. Subsequently he removed to Southampton, Va., where he was set apart to the work of the ministry. He returned to Europe in 1785, and visited .England, Denmark, Finland, Lapland, and Germany. Returning to America, he spent much time travelling through the states for the purpose of collecting statistics concerning the Baptist denomination. The results of his labors he published in a small folio volume in 1791. In the prosecution of his work, he travelled about seven thousand miles in about eighteen months, chiefly on foot, and gathered up a vast fund of information. In order to enlarge his Register and to make it as perfect as possible, he again set forth on his extended tours, travelling this time ten thousand miles, and forming the acquaintance of seven hundred Baptist ministers. He published the second edition of his Register in 1794. In his quaint way he says, "Having been brought up with a view to carrying on merchandise, I have been accustomed to keeping accounts; and I now prefer accounts of souls with their faces set Zionward to those which only respect money or trade." His death occurred in Maryland, whither he had removed, and.where he was drowned in 1807. See Lives of Virginia Baptist Ministers, p. 241-243. (J. C. S.)