Primitive Methodist Women T-W

Primitive Methodist Women T – W

A – B | C – G | H – M | N – S | T – W


TIMMS, Rebecca Hunt (1803-66)

Born in Leicester on 8th December 1803, Rebecca was the daughter of James and Elizabeth. The family belonged to the Church of England and she was baptised on 17th December 1803 at St Mary De Castro, Leicester. She attended a Church Sunday school, but apparently had little secular education. Rebecca was converted and joined the PMs, becoming a local preacher in 1826 and then a travelling preacher in 1829. She was pledged by the Loughborough circuit in 1829. On 23rd June 1834 she married John Pratt, a carpet manufacturer, of Barnard Castle and they had at least four children. John died of Asiatic cholera (2nd September 1849), as did two of their daughters. Circa 1863 Rebecca married William Brining (1792-1867), a travelling preacher and continued to preach occasionally. She caught a cold on 1st January 1866, developed inflammation of the lungs, and died on 15th January 1866 at St. Helen’s, Auckland. PM itinerant, Jonathan Tims (1800-1878) was her brother.
Stations
1829 Preston
1834 Hull (half) Pocklington (half)
1830 Hull (4 years)
Obituary 
PM Mag. (1866) pp. 426-428
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TINSLEY, Ann (c1808/11-c1882+) [Mrs Longmire(s)],[Mrs Lonsdale],[Mrs Harland]

Born in Balderton, Nottinghamshire in 1808/11, Ann was the daughter of William Tinsley, a labourer. She became a travelling preacher in 1818 and in 1829 went to the Weardale Mission (Hull circuit) where she met and married John Longmire of Allendale, at St Cuthbert Parish Church, Allendale Town (26th August 1831). He was 10 years her senior. He died on 24th February 1832 and their son, John, was born on 21st July 1832. Records in Lincoln RO (June 1837) list an Ann Longmires (sic) on the Scotter station and the Gainsborough Circuit. As Ann’s name does not appear on the Stations after her marriage to John Longmire(s) it must be assumed that, although the circuits regarded her as a travelling preacher, the Connexion designated her a ‘hired local preacher’. On 15th August 1844, Ann (now aged 36) married William Lonsdale (1807-1863), a PM itinerant, in All Saints Parish Church, Gainsborough after the death of his first wife (5 October 1841). Her son, John Longmire (aged 12), went to live with a PM family in Fulbeck. The Lonsdales had a son, Walton, (baptised 2nd August 1846). After William Lonsdale’s death (19th May 1863) Ann married (date unknown) yet another PM itinerant, William Harland (1801-1880), after his second wife, Jane, died (12th February 1866). William Harland superannuated in 1872 and died (10th October 1880). The 1881 census states that Mrs Ann Harland, an annuitant, aged 70, was then living in Barton-on-Humber. There is no note of her death, but by now she would be well into her seventies.
Stations
1828 Grimsby (half) Lincoln (half)
1830 Hull (2 years)
1829 Hull (half) Lincoln (half)
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TWEEDY, Jane

Nothing further is known of her.
Stations
1831 Malton (half) Louth (half)
1833 Hull
1832 Louth
1834 Pocklington (half) Hull (half)
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WATKINS, Ruth (1803-18?)

Ruth worked as a travelling preacher, being taken out by the Tunstall Circuit in 1825, before she was appointed as a missionary to America (1829). She sailed for New York with William Summersides, his wife and two children, William Knowles and Thomas Morris and their wives on 19 June 1829, arriving on Friday 31 July. She sent back reports of her experiences and impressions of America. She suffered from ill health and became disillusioned because of lack support from the PM Society at home. Ruth is reported to have married an Episcopal minister, but she never mentions it. Nathaniel Watkins (1829-32), who also went to America and Canada, was her brother. His wife (first name and maiden name unknown) was a preacher.
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WEARING, Anne

Anne was a WM preacher from Devonshire who emigrated to America. She joined the PMs there and was taken out as a travelling preacher, where she alternated with Ruth Watkins in Philadelphia. Acornley refers to an ‘Edward Wearing’ and says he returned to England where he was a successful itinerant and then local preacher, who often talked of his time in America. There is no Edward Wearing on the Stations, only Anne Wearing. If there was an Edward working in England he could have been a hired local preacher or Anne could have returned and been similarly employed. On the other hand there is an ‘E. Waring’ on the Stations, but there is no record of his ever being stationed in America.
Stations
1830 New York, USA
1831 Hudson
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WELCH (WELCSH), Sarah

Sarah came from Bronington-in-Flint and was the daughter of Edward Welch. When she left the itinerancy she reverted to local preacher status.
Stations
1826 Hopton Bank (half) Prees (half)
1828 Presteign
1827 Hopton Bank
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WHEELDON, Elizabeth (Mrs) (1796-1840)

[Elizabeth Wheeldon was the married name of Elizabeth Hunt (q.v.)]
As Elizabeth Hunt she itinerated for one year. She married Richard Wheeldon on 18th June 1822 and after his death in 1826 she returned to the itinerancy as Mrs Elizabeth Wheeldon. She faced much hostility – being hit in the eye with a stone and having a “ham rick” pushed on top of her while missioning in Dorchester. In 1835 she married Samuel West (1805-1867), a fellow travelling preacher, and virtually continued her work alongside him, although not listed on the Stations. She died in 1840 and in December Samuel was paid £5 for her funeral expenses from the PM Itinerant Preachers’ Friendly Society. He then married Hannah Ride [step-daughter of John and Martha (nee Doncaster) on 18th May 1842].
Stations
1830 Darlaston
1832 Shefford (2 years)
1831 Darlaston (half) Wrockwardine (half)
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WHEELER, S

Nothing is known of her, except that she was pledged by Shefford Circuit (1832) and was pelted with rotten eggs at Barton Stacey, 13th October 1833.
Stations
1832 Shefford (4 years)
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WHITEHOUSE, WHITEHURST, WATERHOUSE, Hannah

Nothing further is known of her.
Stations
1821 Manchester
1825 Shrewsbury
1823 Oakengates
1826 Tunstall
1824 Shrewsbury (half) Preston (half)
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WILLIS, Sophia (1807-1885)

She was born in Sheerness-on-Sea on 2nd August 1807 and attended the Garrison church where her father was clerk. The BCs had missions in London and Kent in 1823/5 and Sophia was converted when she was 15. She became a member of the BC connexion, being very useful in prayer meetings. [The Arminian (later The Bible Christian) Magazine has an article reproduced from a weekly publication, The Pulpit, of an open-air service led by a Sarah Willis. She is described as ‘one of our local preachers in this Mission’. Might this be Sophia or one of her family?] In 1830 Sophia joined the PMs at Sheerness, becoming a local preacher and in 1839 she became a total abstainer. After struggling for eight years about her call to become a travelling preacher, she agreed in 1840 and was pledged by Sheerness Circuit (1841). She preached frequently, walking many miles and sometimes facing persecution. Accounts in the PM Minutes indicate that she was ill in 1844/5. Sophia left the itinerancy when she married Mr Francis Pinchin, (born 1814 in Market Lavington), a builder and PM local preacher. She continued to serve as a local and temperance preacher and was also a sick visitor. Although both continued as PM members and local preachers, there being no PM chapel in their village, they sometimes attended the WM or Congregational chapel. Sophia died at home in Spring Road, Market Lavington, Wiltshire on 15th May 1885 and was buried in the cemetery there on 21st May.
Stations
1841 Wallingford
1844 Market Lavington
1842 Witney
1845 Andover (2 years)
1843 Wallingford
Obituary 
PM Mag. (1886) pp. 489-490
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WILSON, Ann

Little is known of Ann, though local records have a number of tantalizing resolutions relating to her, which indicate that she did not always conform to circuit discipline. She may have reverted to local preacher status in the York area.
Stations
1828 Sunderland
1831 Darlington
1829 Brompton (2 years)
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WOODHOUSE, Phebe (Phebey)

Little is known of her, except that she was pledged by the Longton circuit in 1837 and local records shown her to have been reprimanded for “putting away” a member of the Burland circuit without due consultation, and the circumstances of her removal to the Preston Brook circuit.
Stations
1837 Ludlow (2 years)
1841 Preston Brook
1839 Burland (2 years)
1842 Lichfield (2 years)
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WODWARD, Ann (1810/1811-)

There is an ‘A. Woodward’ listed among the local preachers on the 1827 Brinkworth circuit plan – might this have been Ann? Little else is known of her, except that while she was stationed in the St Austell circuit she did not receive her full stipend, indicating that the circuit was financially embarrassed.
Stations
1832 Witney
1835 St. Austell (3 years)
1833 Salisbury (2 years)
1838 St. Ives
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WOOLFITT, Suzannah

Nothing further is known of her.
Stations
1821 Nottingham (4 years)
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WOOLFORD, Jane (1815-1891)

She was born in 1815 at Childrey, Buckinghamshire. In 1838 Jane married William Harvey, (1811-1902), a fellow itinerant, who born at Bilston, Staffordshire. Records show that, in 1840, they had one child, aged 4 months. They had four sons and a daughter. In 1881 census they are listed as living at 5 Union St., Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan. Jane died there in 1891 and was buried in Pant cemetery. One of their sons, Lucas J. Harvey, became a PM itinerant (1851-1928).
Stations
1835 Shefford (2 years)
1837 Wallingford
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WOOLSTONECROFT, J

Nothing is known of her, except that she was allowed to go home for three weeks in August 1832.
Stations
1831 Shrewsbury
1832 Bishops Castle (half) Presteign (half)
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