felt within the O’Bryan family because Rev. O’Bryan’s daughter, Mary, the “Maiden Preacher” of the Bible Christians was married to Samuel Thorne. This interval of dissension led to the emigration of O’Bryan and his family, except for Mary, to New York on September 4, 1831. Although the founder of the Bible Christians was at this time fifty-one years of age and destined to live in exile in the United States for nearly forty more years, Rev. O’Bryan had finished his labors with the Bible Christians in England.

7. REV. WILLIAM O’BRYAN: HIS FINAL YEARS

Rev. O’Bryan had been a restless person all of his life, constantly travelling as an evangelist throughout Cornwall, Devon, and even further into the country. As an exile in the United States, this pattern of life did not change, and he con- tinued long, evangelistic journeys in New York and into Ohio and Canada with diminishing results. He never forgot the land of his earlier successes, and his tireless nature prompted him to cross the Atlantic at least thirteen times, again visiting familiar places and friends in Devon and Cornwall where now he was received with mixed feelings by the Bible Christians. His daughter, Mary, welcomed her father in her home in Shebbear, Devon, but Rev. O’Bryan’s wife, Catherine, remained at home in New York during all of these tours and family visits, as had always been her habit in Cornwall and Devon. Neither had the Bible Christians forgotten their obligation to their founder. In recognition of their responsibility to Rev. O’Bryan, they had continued to support him with a generous pension enabling him to live in retirement.

Rev. William O’Bryan died in New York on January 8, 1868 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York where a memorial was erected with the word “Father" clearly visible. Although Rev. O’Bryan may have been greatly discouraged and depressed over the strange turn of events in his relationship with the Bible Christians, he continues to be recognized by the Methodists as one of their founders and by other demoninations for his great religious zeal and spirit of evangelism which persists as an inspiration for all Christians.

Rev. O’Bryan’s portrait was placed in a stain-glass window of Methodist Founders in 1956 in Falmouth, England, and commemorative plaques were dedicated to his memory by his descendants at his birthplace and in Gunwen Chapel, Cornwall on February 6, 1978 in observance of the bicentenary of his birth.

8. GROWTH AND EXPANSION ABROAD

“The missionary work of the Bible Christians had spread throughout the outlying provinces of England. The first Chapel had been built in 1818 in Shebbear, Devon; in 1859, the Bible Christians occupied 453 chapels at home, and in 1900, the number had increased to 607. Between the years 1851 and 1860, separate Conferences were established in Canada, South Australia, and Victoria. The enterprising spirit of the Bible Christians was apparent in the fact that, in 1821, a Missionary Society was established for sending missionaries into dark

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