Fraser, Edward

Fraser, Edward a talented colored Wesleyan preacher, was born a slave in the island of Barbadoes. He was in youth so appreciated by his master that he was given a good education and made his confidential clerk. Converted in Bermuda, becoming a local preacher and called into the ministry in 1827, he was given his liberty at the request of the British Wesleyan Conference, and labored in several of the West Indian islands. As a preacher, he was thoughtful, calm, dignified, clear in exposition and powerful in application. He moved with dignity and grace among the people of his chargen training the young, comforting the sick, and relieving the poor. On perplexing questions his well-balanced mind and clear, logical views made him powerful among his brethren. He was for eighteen years district secretary. For the cause of missions and education he twice visited England, where the memory of his noble pulpit and platform deliverances are still remembered. At the annual missionary meeting in Exeter Hall, London, in his visit of 1837-38, he delivered a powerful address. He died at Grateful Hill, Jamaica, in 1872, aged seventy-four years. See Minutes of the British Conference, 1872, page 41; Smith, Hist. of Wesl. Methodism, 3:366, 367; Everett, Wesleyan Centenary Takings, 2:14.