| Robert Richford Roberts |
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| methodist ministers | |
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| 1778 births | |
| 1843 deaths | |
| bishops of the methodist episcopal church | |
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He was born 2 August 1778 in Frederick County, Maryland . His father was of Welsh and his mother of Irish ancestry. They were communicants of The Church Of England . In 1785 the family moved to the Ligonier Valley , Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania . Robert united with the M.E. Church when he was fourteen years old. Until he was twenty-one his was a thoroughly frontier existence, with few books and quite simple habits. Yet early on he commenced with study, all the while being drawn gradually toward the Ministry. He began his ministry in 1802 , being licensed as a Local Preacher at the Holmes Meeting-house near Cadiz, Ohio . About that same time he was admitted to the Baltimore Annual Conference, and appointed to a circuit including Carlisle, Pennsylvania and twenty-nine other preaching appointments. It took as long as a month to visit the entire circuit. Roberts studied constantly. In 1804 a senior colleague reported that ''"his moral character was perfect and his head a complete magazine."'' As a Bishop he was involved in all the discussions and deliberations that culminated in the establishment of the Methodist Protestant Church . Bishop Matthew Simpson wrote of him ''"while during these excitements severe and exciting denunciations of the Bishops were publicly made–while they were called 'popes' and 'usurpers'–the patriarchal appearance and the humble and loving manner of Bishop Roberts disarmed prejudice wherever he went."'' Roberts soon after emigrated to Indiana and there accomplished much for missions in the West (i.e., western states, which then included Indiana, etc.). Bishop Roberts was a man of fine presence, simple and benevolent, and an eloquent preacher. He died on 26 March 1843 in Lawrence County, Indiana . He is buried on the grounds of United Methodist-affiliated DePauw University . The Roberts Park United Methodist Church in downtown Indianapolis is named for him. BIOGRAPHIES
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