Freeborn Garrettson

Freeborn Garrettson (1752 in Maryland – September 26, 1827 in New York City) was an American clergyman. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1775 and travelled extensively to evangelize in several states.

Kenneth E. Rowe's foreword to the book "American Methodist Pioneer," which presents the journals of Freeborn Garrettson, begins,"Freeborn Garrettson was unquestionably the most competent native born Methodist preacher in the American colonies in the founding period."

Early in his career, Garrettson served the faithful of the Delmarva Peninsula. Although he favored the revolutionary cause, he refused to fight in the American Revolution and was placed in jail for a time in Maryland. Most of the Methodist preachers who had come from England before the outbreak of war returned there once the war began.

In 1784, he went as a missionary to Nova Scotia, which led to the founding of Methodist congregations in Cape Negro and the free black settlement of Birchtown.

In the late 1780s, Reverend Garrettson settled in the village of Rhinebeck, NY to bring Methodism to its inhabitants. He married Mrs. Catherine Livingston in 1791 and held the first Methodist church services in the Benner House on Mill Street. During Garrettson's time as a minister, Methodism rose from obscurity to a place of importance among American religions.

Not long after Garrettson inherited several slaves, he freed them. Garrettson wrote that a "voice" moved him to do so. His journals divulge an anti-slavery stance, but do not reveal the extent of his activism. A wave of voluntary emancipation mirrored and followed Garrettson's time on the Delmarva. By 1810 76% of African Americans in Delaware were free, though slavery remained legal in Delaware. Garrettson wrote on the issue of slavery including a published work, "A Dialogue Between Do-Justice and Professing Christian." The Rev. Freeborn Garrettson's preaching on the Delmarva led directly to the emancipation of Richard Allen, who upon his return to Philadelphia founded the Bethel Church and then the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) denomination.

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