Jarratt, Devereux

Jarratt, Devereux an early Protestant Episcopal minister, was born in the county of New Kent, Va., Jan. 6 (O. S.), 1732-33. His early education was neglected, and he had few opportunities of receiving instruction in youth; but he so far improved himself as to be able, at the age of nineteen, to take charge of a neighboring school. Soon after, he entered a family, in which one part of his duties was to read a sermon of Flavel's every night — a task which he performed at first with reluctance. The effect of these discourses was to convince him of sin. He now perused Russell's Sermons and Burkett's Exposition of the N.T.; but, being subjected to many temptations, he relapsed into his former state. He was finally relieved by a passage in Isa 66:12, and resolved to enter the ministry, for which purpose he went to England in 1762. On his return he served at Bath, Va., where he was eminently successful after some time, although at first his labors appear to have been disregarded. He died January 29,1801. He was the author of three volumes of Sermons, and A Series of Letters to a Friend, republished in 1806 in connection with his Autobiography. — Sprague, Ann. 5, 214; Methodist Quarterly Review, 1855, p. 502.