Samuel Wesley

Born in 1662, he became an Anglican clergyman and served for many years at Epworth in Lincolnshire. He also wrote poetry and prose, building a reputation as a serious religious writer as well as a parish priest.

His family life has made him especially notable in history. He and his wife Susanna Wesley had a large family, including John and Charles Wesley, who later became central figures in the Methodist movement. That connection often places him in the background of their story, but he was an important literary and religious figure in his own lifetime.

He died in 1735. Modern accounts remember him both for his own writing and for the remarkable household that helped shape one of the best-known movements in English religious history.