Dodsworth, Jeremiah (1812-1867)

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1907

Ministry

Jeremiah’s obituary – see attachment – records how he was converted through William Clowes about 1834 at Hull, Yorkshire. He soon became a local preacher.

Although his first station is recorded as Hull, in 1839 he was sent to London, a mission station of the Hull circuit, for his first appointment with Rev. Thomas Holliday. Here he suffered various forms of persecution including being brought before the city magistrates.

His obituary records:- “For a few years his ministerial career was one of extraordinary brilliancy, his services were in great demand; wherever he went he attracted crowded audiences, who listened with attention and delight to the rich evangelical truths which flowed in streams of graceful eloquence from his lips. His sermons were clear in their conception, logical in their arrangement, rich in divine unction, practical in their tendency and abounding in great principles. They were clear and conclusive in their argumentation, and full of Christ. His preaching was most energetic, and having a clear, sweet, pathetic, and tremulous voice, the minds and passions of his congregations were under his control, and at times the effects produced were thrilling and astonishing.”

Literature

Jeremiah authored the following.

The better land; or, the Christian emigrant’s guide to heaven.1853

The Eden family; showing the loss of our paradise home…1861

Messiah’s many crowns:…1863                 

Family

Jeremiah was born on 21 December 1812 at Hull, Yorkshire, to parents John and Elizabeth. He was baptised on 23 December 1812 at Kirk Ella, Yorkshire.

He married Clara Chaffer (1805-1866) on 3 November 1836 at Sutton on Hull, Yorkshire. Census returns and birth records identify six children.

• John (abt1839-1878) – a commercial clerk (1871)
• Elizabeth (1841-1875) – married Lewis Frederick Armitage, a PM Minister, in 1863
• Jeremiah (1843-1916) – a drapers apprentice (1861); a PM Minister (1863-1874); a Wesleyan Minister from 1874
• Joshua (1846-1847)
• Joshua (1849-1863)
• Jesse (1855-1927) – a publisher’s traveller (1891); a bookseller (1911)

Jeremiah died on 11 February 1867 at Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham.

Circuits

• 1839 Hull
• 1842 Bedford
• 1843 Barton on Humber
• 1844 Hull
• 1845 Halifax
• 1847 Leeds
• 1849 York
• 1852 Burnley
• 1854 Bradford
• 1857 Keighley
• 1858 Malton
• 1861 Wakefield
• 1864 Wakefield (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1867/167 (Clara); 1867/486; 1907/352

PM Minutes 1867/10

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers