Author: Mudge, Enoch
Biography:
MUDGE, Enoch (1776-1850: ancestry.com)
Born in Lynn MA to a well established New England family, he was the son of Enoch and Lydia (Ingalls) Mudge. After being converted to Methodism by the missionary Jesse Lee (1758-1816), he became the first native New Englander to be ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1793. A few years as an itinerant preacher took a toll on his health but he married Jerusha Hinkley Holbrook in 1797 while on the Maine Circuit. They settled in Orrington ME, where their four children were born. He was twice elected to the state legislature. After 1816 they made Lynn their base although Mudge was once again itinerant, travelling to various places in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. From 1832 to 1844 he was responsible for the Seamen's Chapel in New Bedford MA. Besides his poems he published many occasional lectures and orations. He died in Lynn and was buried at first in the Eastern Burying Ground there, then removed to Pine Grove Cemetery. (ancestry.com 4 Apr. 2021; findagrave.com 4 Apr. 2021; Appleton; Sprague) HJ