40
Livingston
College campus bordering North Lexington Avenue in Wilmore, Kentucky-'掳3 On one side is an inscription commemorating the college and on the other side is an inscription with this text: 104 BETHEL ACADEMY This was second Methodist school in United States. In 1790 Bishop Francis Asbury laid plans for Bethel Academy, four miles southeast of Wilmore on cliffs above Kentucky River. It was operating by 1794 and closed ca. 1804, due to lack of funds and Indian hostilities. Second site was in Nicholasville, 1820-93. This author hopes that what is written in this volume commemorating Bethel Academy, will serve as a memorial to the people who raised it up and to this institution that taught young men on the American frontier the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ores 1. j.D. Wright, Transylvania: Tutor to the West (1975) , pp. 6-11. 2. Bishop Thomas Coke quoted in "Bethel Academy ," Cyclopedia Of Methodism , ed . Matthew Simpson (Philadelphia: Louis H. Evarats, 1881), pp . 104-105. 3. E.T. Clark, The journals and Letters of Francis Asbury , vols. I and 11 ( ashville: Abingdon Press). See entries for each date. 4. See copy of this deed in Appendix A, Exhibit 1. 5. A.W. Cummings, Early Schools of Methodism (New York: 1886) , p. 50. 6. B.H. Young, A History of Jessamine County, Kentucky (Louisvi lle: Courier-journal job Printing Co. , 1898) , pp . 83-84. 7. Ibid .,p. 172. 8. Ibid ., p. 70. 9. Ibid ., p. 84. 10. Ibid ., p. 71. In the above reproductions of these letters, I have followed the printed format, style, and 路spelling as closely as possible. 11. N. Bangs, A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church (New York: T. Mason&: G. lane). This is but a portion of the regulations he lists. 12. See the text of this deed in Appendix A, Exhibit 1. 13. See the text of this Act in Appendix B, Exhibit 1. 14. See the text of this Act in Appendix B, Exhibit 2. 15. A.H . Redford , Th e History of Methodism in Kentucky , vol. 1 (Nashville : Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1870) , pp. 124-125. 16. W.W. Sweet , The Rise of Methodism in the West ( ew York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1920), pp. 93-99. 17. See the biography of Poythress in the article "Important Men Re lated to Bethel Academy" in this issue of The Asbury Th eological journal. 18. Thomas Scott;"letter to the Editors," Western Christian Advocate (Cincinnati: April 2, 1841) , p. 1. See full text in biography of Francis Poythress. See above. 19. "A Teacher Wanted," Kentucky Gazette, May 23 , 1798, p. 1. 20. Scott, "letter to the Editors, " p. 1. 21. Young, History ofjessamine County, pp. 196-197. 22 . "To the Public," Kentucky Gazette, November 28, 1799, p. 1. 23. See biography of Valentine Cook in the article "Important Men Related to Bethel Academy" in this issue of Th e Asbury Theological journal.