Vasey, Thomas (1)

was an orphan ward of a wealthy and childless uncle, who disowned him on Vasey's becoming a Methodist. He began his ministry in 1776; traveled in the Dales in 1782, Liverpool in 1783; and in 1784 he was ordained a presbyter of the Church of England by Wesley, and sailed with Dr. Coke to America, where he shared the toils and perils of Francis Asbury. He was here ordained by bishop White, and afterwards returned to England, and, with Wesley's consent, accepted a curacy. In 1789 he resumed the itinerant work, and continued therein until 1811, when he was appointed to perform the liturgical services in the City Road Chapel. In 1826, with a pension from the trustees, he retired to Leeds, where he died very suddenly, Dec. 27, 1826, in his eighty-first year. See Stevenson, Hist. of City Road Chapel (Lond. 1872, 8vo), p. 152; City Road Magazine, 1871; Wesl. Meth. Mag. 1827, p. 142; May, 1830 (portrait); Stevens, Hist. of Methodism, 3, 467; Hist. of Meth. Episc. Church, 2, 155, 166; Smith, Hist. of Wesl. Methodism (see Index, vol. 3).