Makemie, Francis

Makemie, Francis a distinguished Presbyterian minister, was born near Rathmelton, Donegal Co., Ireland, about the middle of the 17th century. After completing his academical and theological course, he was licensed by the presbytery of Laggan in 1681. He undertook a mission to Barbadoes soon after, and was ordained sine titulo, with a view to coming to America. From Barbadoes he went to Somerset Md., Ind., where he is supposed to have founded the Church in Snow Hill, and from thence he removed to Virginia. In 1699 he obtained a formal license to preach agreeably to the requisitions of the Toleration Act, and was very successful in his labors. He went to London in 1704, to make arrangements for the supply of his Church, and returned wish two ministers from Ireland. In 1705 he obtained with difficulty the certificates required for the exercise of his ministry, and aided, in 1706, in the formation of the Philadelphia presbytery, of which he was moderator. He died in 1708. Makemie published A Catechism (1691): — An Answer to George Keith, etc. (1692): — Truths in a New Life, etc. (1699): — A plain and loving Persuasive to the Inhabitants of Indiana asnd Virginia, etc. (1704): — A Letter to Lord Cornbury (Boston, 1707): — An Account of his Imprisonment and Trial (N. Y. 1755, and since). See Sprague, A nnals, 3:1.