author
Henry Boehm
1775–1875
A traveling Methodist preacher who lived to be 100, he left behind vivid recollections of early American religious life and the rough, fast-growing circuits of the young United States. His long career placed him close to some of the best-known figures in early Methodism, giving his memoirs unusual firsthand interest.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1775, Henry Boehm was the son of Martin Boehm, an important religious leader whose home welcomed itinerant preachers. Henry became a Methodist Episcopal minister and was known especially as a traveling preacher, serving churches and communities across the early republic rather than settling into one pulpit for long.
His life stretched across a full century, from the Revolutionary era to the post-Civil War United States. That unusually long career made him a valuable witness to the growth of American Methodism, and later accounts connect him with Bishop Francis Asbury and the expansion of Methodist preaching circuits.
Boehm is remembered not only as a clergyman but also as a memoirist. His book Reminiscences, historical and biographical, of sixty-four years in the ministry preserves stories of ministers, revivals, and church life from an important period in American history, which is why his name still appears in religious history and older biographical collections.