Mudge, Enoch

Mudge, Enoch a Methodist Episcopal minister, and one of the pioneers of Methodism in New England, was born of religious parents at Lynn, Massachusetts, June 21, 1776. He was converted at fifteen, under the ministry of Jesse Lee; entered the itinerancy in 1793, and labored assiduously; in 1796 he travelled, instead of the presiding elder, in Maine; in 1799 poor health obliged him to locate at Orrington, Maine, where he resided till 1816. While there he was twice chosen state representative, and had much to do with the passage of the "Religious Freedom Bill." At the end of this time he re-entered the itinerancy, and was stationed in Boston. He filled various charges until 1832, when he was appointed to the Seaman's Bethel at New Bedford, and there labored with signal success until 1844, when he was obliged by paralysis to retire from the active work of the ministry. He lived beloved at Lynn, and labored as his strength permitted until his death, April 2, 1850. He was the first minister that Methodism produced in New England, and his long and useful life was full of successful labor for God. He was an able and interesting preacher, and commanded universal respect and love. His published works are "a volume of excellent Sermons, and many poetical pieces of more than ordinary merit." See Minutes of

Conferences, 4:538; Stevens, Memorials of Methodism, volume 1, chapter 10; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, volume 7.