Elizabeth "Eliza" Bennis (1725 – June 1802) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

leader. She was born in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

and died in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Life

Bennis was born in

in 1802 to Isaac and Alice Patten. Her father died when she was eighteen. When she was twenty, she married Mitchell Bennis, a master saddler. In 1749 she was inspired by hearing Robert Swindells preach in Limerick; Swindells had arrived in Ireland with

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

the previous year. She became the first Methodist convert in Limerick, and subsequently a leading Methodist in the area, looking after Methodist classes and band meetings and becoming the church's leader. Women were allowed to preach in the early Methodist church, but Bennis asked the church leaders to send a preacher to Limerick. This was said to be the first time that the Methodists responded to such a demand. In 1768 she focused her attention on

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, where she established a Methodist group. She corresponded with Wesley, who acknowledged her success. In 1770 he asked her to return to Limerick where the group had become disorganised. In 1779 her husband was involved in the creation of the Limerick corps of

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respons ...

. Her husband died in 1788 at the end of a happy marriage which resulted in four children. Bennis died in 1802 in

Legacy

Her son published her letters posthumously in 1809. In the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

there is an embroidery by Bennis. In 2014 it was announced that the

Asbury Theological Seminary Asbury Theological Seminary is a Christian Wesleyan seminary in the historical Methodist tradition located in Wilmore, Kentucky. It is the largest seminary of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. It is known for its advocacy of egalitarianism, giving ...

had acquired documentation relating to Bennis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennis, Eliza British Methodists 1725 births 1802 deaths People from Limerick (city) Irish Methodists Irish emigrants to the United States