Journeys Of Robert Williams

Robert Williams
Irish Street Preacher and Methodist Circuit Rider

Lay Preacher in Ireland and Circuit Rider in America
First Methodist to preach in Virginia and North Carolina
First Methodist Printer and Publisher in America
Founder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Societies 1772
Founder of the Brunswick Circuit 1773-1774
Founder of Jerusalem United Methodist Church 1773

In 1772 news spread along the south side of the Roanoke River that a Methodist circuit rider was going to preach under the big willow oak on Ebenezer Coleman’s plantation. Robert Williams preached with power. The oak tree became a regular preaching place on his Brunswick Circuit and the place where Jerusalem United Methodist Church was born.

Robert William’s birth, baptism, and conversion are not documented. Neither is his call to preach. His travel journals, if there were any kept, have never been found. Dr. Bergland, researching his life and legends, employs church records, colonial history and imagination to tell the story (history) and stories (historical fiction) of an indefatigable (stubborn) Irish lay preacher.