Havens, James

Havens, James a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Mason Co., Ky., December 25, 1793. At eighteen he received license to preach, and in 1820 he entered the traveling ministry in the Ohio Conference. He served twelve years in circuits, and twenty-four as presiding elder. Possessing a strong constitution and vigorous intellect, he taxed them both to the utmost in remedying the defects of his early education, and in making "full proof of his ministry." He became one of the most powerful preachers of his time, and contributed perhaps as much as any other man to build up the Church in the West, especially in Indiana, where the last forty years of his life were spent. He died in November 1864. — Minutes of Conferences, 1865, p. 190.