In 1785, Bishop Francis ASBURY appointed Rev. Beverly ALLEN a Presiding Elder in the Methodist Church in NC. Some other notes from Asbury's Journal, dated December 1785 are listed, below. It must be noted that ALLEN seems to be following the Capt. Allen DANIEL clan, since he was appointed to GA in late 1785 which is about the same time they show up in GA. You see this quite often in early Methodist families - a family migrates to a new location and their Methodist minister relative soon follows. . <<< Came to Newbern.74 Found brothers Allen and Baldwin75 in the church; I preached at three o'clock, on, "The world by wisdom knew not God." The assembly was in session, and some of the members were friendly.76 Wednesday, 21. Sailed down to Beaufort, and preached in the church :77 the people are kind, but have very litthe religion. On the same evening I pushed down to the Straits,78 and the next day preached at the Straits chapel; thence I returned to town, and preached again; after which we sailed back to Colonel Bell's,79 whence we first started. Edward Morris was one of the preachers on the Roanoke Circuit which extended into this section of North Carolina. (See Minutes.) Asbury probably reached Swift's Creek in Pitt County. Since entering North Carolina he had proceeded through the present Gates, Hertford, Bertie, and Edgecomb counties. This whole section was a "swampy route" traversed by the Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, and Pamlico rivers, Swift and Fishing creeks, and other streams. New Bern in Craven County was laid out by Baron Christoph von Graffenried shortly after 1710 and named for the capitol of his native Switzerland. Here was estab­lished in 1762 the first school authorized by legislative enactment in North Carolina. Pilmoor preached in New Bern at Christmas in 1772 and stayed with William Wood there. Methodism flourished in the town during the early period, and Asbury frequently visited it. (Account of the Founding of New Bern; Grissom, op. cit., 7, 37, 169, 320.) John Baldwin was serving the Wilmington Circuit. Beverly Allen had been on that circuit the previous year and had remained in North Carolina in 1785 even though he had been appointed to Georgia. (See Minutes; Betts: South Carolina Methodism, 55.) New Bern at this time was the capitol of North Carolina. The church at Beaufort was an Anglican church which was used by preachers of various denominations and also for school purposes. (Grissom, op. cit., 149.) The Straits was a mainland conmmunity fourteen miles by land from Beaufort, bordering the straits of Core Sound. The Straits Chapel was Tabernacle Church, an Anglican meetinghouse. Colonel and Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Bell's sister were the first Methodists in the New Bern area, and Bell's Chapel was one of the first meetinghouses for Methodists. Colonel Bell's two sons, Caleb and Jacob, became Methodist preachers. (Grissom, op. cit., 150.) >>>> John R. Clarke Thomasville, GA