Robert Strawbridge
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(d. 1781) Methodist preacher born in Drumsna, County Leitrim, Ireland. A member of the single protestant family in the area. Moved frst to Sligo and emmigrated to Frederick Co., Maryland from Ireland in the early to mid 1760's. Was one of the earliest pioneers of Methodism in America.
Preaching in his log cabin home and quickly organizing Methodist societies in the area, he helped establish the very earliest Methodist societies in North America.
Most likely always a layperson, he was criticized for administering the sacraments. The 1773 conference of Methodist preachers in America prohibited such preachers from such rites, except Strawbridge, and only then at the direction of Francis Asbury. Strawbridge was known to have continued even without Asbury.
