King, John (3)

a Methodist minister, of whose early history nothing is definitely known, was one of the first lay evangelists who founded Methodism in this country. He came from London to America in the latter part of 1769, and his enthusiastic sympathy with the pioneer Methodists led him to throw himself immediately into their ranks. The Church hesitated when he presented himself for license, but, persistent in his determination to preach, he made an appointment "in the Potter's Field," where he proclaimed his first message over the graves of the poor, and began a career of eminent usefulness. Afterwards he was licensed, and stationed in Wilmington, Del. Thence he went into Maryland, and was the first to introduce Methodism to the people of Baltimore. In this latter place he preached from tables in the public streets, and suffered much opposition from frequent mobs. King was afterwards received into the regular itinerancy. He was a member of the first Conference of 1773, and was appointed to New Jersey. He soon after entered Virginia; still later he was again in New Jersey. He located during the Revolution, but in 1801 reappeared in the itinerant ranks in Virginia, and finally located in 1803. King was a pious, zealous, and useful man. He died at an advanced age, in the vicinity of Raleigh, N. C. He was probably the only survivor, at the time of his decease, of all the preachers of ante-revolutionary date.-Stevens, Hist. of the M.. E. Church, i, 87. (J. L. S.)