West, John (1)

a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Charles City County, Va., April 20, 1768. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784, was licensed to preach in 1787, entered the traveling connection in 1790, and was appointed to Greene Circuit, in Tennessee. In 1802 he was transferred from the Virginia to the Baltimore Conference, his connection with that body lasting until 1825, when, at its organization, he became a member of the Pittsburgh Conference. For fifty-seven years (forty-four of which he was effective) "Father West" labored in the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, "and in every station his onerous and important duties were discharged with a fidelity but seldom equaled and perhaps never surpassed." He died July 22, 1847. "Modesty, innocence, and punctuality were prominent traits in the character of Father West." His death was as triumphant as his life was serene. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 4:238.