2 March 1844; Missionary John Watsford left Sydney with his wife in the Triton

The son of a convict, and borne in Australian in 1822, Missionary John Watsford rose to president of the General Conference of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1878. He had  the unusual position as of an Australian-born Wesleyan; most others were English-born. His father was pardoned convict. Appointed to the Wesleyan [...]

Missionary David Cargill: biographical timeline

Wesleyan missionary David Cargill died in Tonga, age 34.  His first wife , Margaret, died age 30, in Fiji, after  the birth of her 6th child, over  7 years of marriage.
20 June 1809: David Cargill was born in Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland on 20 June 1809, the second son of James Cargill, a banker, and Grace [...]

25 April 1843: did Wesleyan missionary David Cargill, die in Tonga, of a self-administered overdose of opium?

at http://19thcenturyartofmourning.com/19th_century_laudanum_bottle.htm
Two versions exist of the death of David Cargill; in one, he dies of smallpox, and , the other, an over dose of laudanum (liquid opium). Cargill’s diaries – and other reports of him – show he wore a high sense of self-importance. He was perhaps, at first, tempered by [...]

1853: [Ma'afu] “has introduced order, proprietery and rule” wrote Lyth after the arrival of Ma’afu amd Sefanaia Laulua

‘Wesleyan missionary, Lyth wrote repeatedly to King George Tuopu of Tonga asking for his intervention to control the behavour of Tongans in Fiji. …Ma’afu played no particularly prominent role in in Fiji until 1853, when Tupou ,at the request of the missionaries, appointed him and Lualala (the former Vava’u rebel) jointly to govern the [...]

From July 1840 to July 1853 Thomas Williams served successively at Lakemba, Somosomo and Bua

‘Disillusioned by wars, cannibalism, widow-strangling and general opposition Williams broke down and left the mission, reaching Sydney with Rev. Walter Lawry in December 1853 after several months in New Zealand.
Ex-printer, Calvert aids publication: While in Fiji Williams developed an interest in ethnography, illustrating his material with detailed sketches. His manuscript ‘The Islands and their Inhabitants’ [...]

24 May 1738: John Wesley’s conversion, while reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans was a foretaste of religious revivals at Vewa, Ono, Lakemba and Mbua Bay 100 years later

24 May 1738 was day and hour of John Wesley’s conversion, while reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  “It came, somewhat unexpectedly it would appear, at 8.45 on the evening of 24 May 1738 at a meeting in London of which he has left a definite record in his Journal: In the [...]

1703: John Wesley was born at Epworth, not far from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire

“Before Thomas Williams left England Methodism had gripped Lincolnshire, and at the time of his departure the grip was tightening.  John Wesley was born at Epworth, not far from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, in the year 1703. He was educated at Oxford, and paid a visit to America  but although profoundly interested in religion up to the [...]

1858: Mr. John Binner, Wesleyan teacher, and Mr. John Binner, oil trader are the same person

On the 10th September, 1858, the new British Consul arrived in Levuka. William Pritchard rented two rooms from  John Binner.  Binner was the Wesleyan mission Training Master at Levuka, and under another hat a considerable trader.
Binner’s fleet of trading boats: William Pritchard reported “Another of the complaints thus early brought before me was against the [...]