Letters and Manuscripts of the Wesley Family

Images of manuscripts written by members of the Wesley family. The majority of these are letters, but also included are hymns and poems, a sermon by John Wesley, a petition, Thomas Coke’s ordination certificate, the will of Charles Wesley’s daughter Sarah, and some of the few surviving copies of minutes from the Irish conferences of 1778, 1784, and 1785. Wesley family members represented are John and Charles Wesley; their brother Samuel Jr. and their sisters Emelia, Martha, and Mary; Charles’s wife Sarah Gwynne, sons Charles Jr. and Samuel, and daughter Sarah; and Charles’ son Samuel’s estranged wife Charlotte and his son Samuel Sebastian (the famous composer). Many of these manuscripts are originals, but some are eighteenth- and nineteenth- century handwritten copies. Except for letters to Freeborn Garrettson copied by his wife Catherine, the identities of the copyists are unknown.